WTYTIAAN Chapter 33
by VolareBrook struggled for a moment, probably feeling that Yan Yunqing was right. He was indeed a coward. He knitted his caterpillar-like eyebrows and finally relented, “Alright, I hope you are as righteous as you say.”
“Two years ago, I went to the former residence of Teacher Adelaide… that place is relatively remote, and not many people know about it. I stayed there for an afternoon, and before leaving, I wanted to clean up the teacher’s house.”
“Over the years, no one has bothered to visit the teacher’s house. It’s full of dust. But when I was cleaning, I found some of the results of Jera’s investigation into the teacher’s death back then in a hidden compartment.”
Brook’s face was pale as he slowly began to speak, “The City Lord, in collaboration with the Fifth Prince, killed the teacher together.”
“Because the teacher knew one of their secrets.”
“The City Lord… no, it should be said the Campbell family, together with the Augreir family, were secretly trafficking in magical creatures.”
Yan Yunqing: ?
Yan Yunqing was stunned, “Trafficking in magical creatures?”
“Yes.” Finally revealing the secret he had kept hidden for more than two years, Brook breathed a long sigh of relief, “They secretly trafficked in magical creatures, selling them to some nobles, and also using them to do some shady things. The teacher was killed by their magical creatures.”
Yan Yunqing was surprised, “But aren’t magical creatures untamable?”
Magical creatures have no intelligence and are monster units. How could they be sold as commodities? Does anyone really like those things that exude a decaying aura?
It turns out that as long as the profits are high enough, some people will risk their lives to try the impossible.
“I don’t know the specifics. I only know that Teacher Adelaide was investigating Kaelena… the student who died in an accident six years ago after being attacked by a magical creature. The teacher suspected that Kaelena’s death was related to Dean and the Fifth Prince, so she had been secretly investigating.”
“The teacher must have touched their secret magical creature trafficking industry chain and was discovered, so she was killed.”
“Later, Jera also investigated what the teacher had discovered, knowing that continuing the investigation would definitely lead to him being targeted. So, he specifically came to warn us not to continue investigating, but unfortunately…”
Yan Yunqing lowered his eyes, completing Brook’s words in his mind: Unfortunately, Jera didn’t have time to clean up the traces of his discovery, and the truth killed him instead.
“That day, after I learned about those things, I wanted to tell Link.” Brook’s eyes were filled with remorse, “I told him about it, but he told me not to bother with it anymore and to pretend that nothing had happened.”
“We had a big fight. I said he wasn’t worthy of being the teacher’s student. Even though the truth was right in front of him, he was cowardly and weak, afraid to touch it…”
“After the argument, I applied for an outside mission. That mission was very dangerous, and I almost didn’t make it back alive. I was seriously injured. When I recovered from my injuries… I learned that Link was dead too.”
Brook’s hands were tightly clasped together, nervously picking at them. The knuckles of his right thumb were already bleeding. His expression was numb and painful, and he was deep in self-doubt.
“It was me, it was the information I found that killed him…”
Yan Yunqing crossed his arms, sorting out the things Brook said one by one.
First of all, the cause of the matter was definitely Fei Wu, the Fifth Prince. He coveted Kaelena and wanted to obtain her, so he made a high-profile invitation, but Kaelena refused.
So, the rejected Fifth Prince ordered Dean (probably a lackey?) to teach Kaelena a lesson.
But Kaelena’s talent was too outstanding, and Dean had long been jealous of her. Having received the Fifth Prince’s order, he privately used a magical creature to kill Kaelena and slaughtered half the village.
This matter had a huge impact. The appearance of a magical creature in a place where no gods had ever fallen would definitely attract the attention of many people. The problem was that the origin of this magical creature couldn’t stand scrutiny. It was a profit chain formed by the collusion of the Fifth Prince’s maternal family and the City Lord of Seta City.
So, the Fifth Prince, or someone related to the Fifth Prince, suppressed the matter. But Adelaide wanted to seek justice for her student and secretly investigated this profit chain. As a result, Adelaide was also killed.
Adelaide’s students wanted to find out the truth for their teacher, but they stepped into the abyss step by step and ultimately died an ignominious death.
That was the ultimate truth of the matter.
After Yan Yunqing sorted out the ins and outs of this matter, he wasn’t surprised to see that [Explore the Truth of the Magical Creature Attack on the Village Six Years Ago] was marked as completed.
A large wave of experience points hit him, and his character level instantly jumped up several levels, reaching level nineteen.
Just a little bit more, and he would reach level twenty.
Sure enough, doing large main quests gives a lot of experience.
But the exploration of [Curse of Sunset (in progress)] still remained at 90%, with the last piece of the puzzle missing.
So, was he really wrong? The curse of Sunset Village wasn’t entirely because of Dean and Fei Wu’s secret actions.
Could there really be a curse?
The best at casting curses… necromancers? But there was no trace of a necromancer in the entire event.
For a time, Yan Yunqing also felt a little lost.
Perhaps… he should investigate the specific causes of death of those who moved out of the village?
Why did it feel like this task was getting longer and longer?
“Right.” Brook seemed to have remembered something. He stood up and rummaged in a box in the corner.
Yan Yunqing’s thoughts were interrupted, and his attention returned to Brook.
After searching for about ten minutes, he finally found something in a pile of junk, “This… I found this when I was cleaning the teacher’s house… along with those documents, but I don’t know what it’s for.”
Yan Yunqing took a closer look. Brook was holding something that looked like a crystal ball, but the surface was a bit cloudy and covered with a lot of dust, making it look very inconspicuous.
Yan Yunqing stared intently at the crystal ball, and after three seconds, [Appraisal] gave its feedback.
[Primary Magic Awakening Stone]
Can be used by mages to detect the magic talent of 100 beginners. {Usage Level: Level 21 or higher}
“Awakening Stone?” Yan Yunqing was puzzled, “This was placed with those documents?”
Brook: “Not… accurately speaking, this thing was placed separately. The teacher seemed to value this awakening stone very much and put it in a delicate box.”
“Although things like Awakening Stones are quite expensive, they aren’t rare items for the teacher, so I thought it might be related to what the teacher was investigating. So, I brought it back, but I didn’t have time to tell Link the day we argued.”
Yan Yunqing reached out and took the awakening stone. The moment the awakening stone was in his hand, a prompt box popped up in front of him.
{You have obtained item key 2/2, do you want to open the dungeon [Sunset – Lingering Shadow of the Curse]?}
{Please go to the designated location to open the dungeon}
It turned out to be… a dungeon key?
Wait, when did he get the other dungeon key? The system didn’t remind him before?
According to the system prompt, Yan Yunqing found the other dungeon key he had obtained from his backpack…
[Henry’s Longsword]?
This…
Yan Yunqing’s brain short-circuited for a moment, but he quickly thought of something. He surprisingly pulled out the longsword that Old Jason had given him, and his fingertips brushed against the high-grade magic stone on the scabbard.
“Brook, let me ask you a question.” Yan Yunqing wiped the sapphire-like magic stone, “Six years ago, Kaelena won the final victory in the grade competition. Your teacher… Adelaide, did she reward Kaelena with a few high-grade magic stones?”
Brook was stunned for a moment by Yan Yunqing’s question, and he tried hard to remember, “Kaelena? Oh, yes, she used to be very good… I think so? I’m not very clear about this, but the teacher was very generous to her students. If they won the grade competition, it would be normal to give a few magic stones.”
Yan Yunqing threw another [Appraisal] at the longsword, and the feedback was the same as last time, but a few more lines of information were added.
[Peace Knot hand-woven by Kaelena]
[Magic Stone given by Kaelena]
The two appraisal entries and [Henry’s Longsword] formed a new item description.
Yan Yunqing pinched the dusty and slightly old peace knot. Good heavens, it turned out that Kaelena’s beloved was right in front of her, not far away! It was you, Henry!
At first, he thought that Kaelena’s reason for rejecting the Fifth Prince was just a random excuse, but he didn’t expect that she really had a beloved!
Yan Yunqing knew that Old Jason’s son, Henry, was a member of the village patrol guard and had even gone to the swordsman academy for further studies. According to his age, he and Kaelena should have grown up together as childhood sweethearts.
Wait… Did Kaelena suddenly apply to return to the village that day because she passed the primary mage exam and wanted to tell her beloved the good news?
This curse… wasn’t it also related to these two?
As this guess emerged, Yan Yunqing watched as the exploration of [Curse of Sunset (in progress)] quietly jumped forward a bit, becoming 93%.
It really was related.
Yan Yunqing had always thought that this was a tragic story of a commoner being persecuted by the powerful, but now it seemed to have turned into a story of the dragon slayer becoming a dragon?
Never mind…
In any case, he should be able to completely explore this task clearly when he returns to open the dungeon.
Yan Yunqing put away the sword and stood up. The wooden chair made an unpleasant creaking sound. He looked at Brook, who was looking down and didn’t know what he was thinking, “Okay, all the questions have been asked. I’m leaving.”
Brook was stunned, “You… are just leaving like this?”
Yan Yunqing tilted his head, “Otherwise? Are you going to treat me to breakfast?”
Brook: …
Brook was speechless, “Don’t you want to… say something to me?”
“Like scolding you for being a coward, shrinking back for two years and not daring to avenge your teacher and your best friend?” Yan Yunqing laughed, “Come on, do I look like someone who doesn’t know the suffering of the people?”
“Doesn’t know… the suffering of the people?” Brook didn’t understand this kind of talk at all. He repeated Yan Yunqing’s words, “What’s that?”
Yan Yunqing waved his hand, “It just means I’m very cultured. In short – people fear existences that are much stronger than themselves, and they also fear death. That’s normal. You don’t have to take my previous words to heart.”
“You are already very strong, guarding the secret alone for two years, without being silenced by the enemy—”
“Congratulations, you have allowed this secret to see the light of day again.”