Ano nodded his head seeing Yone and walked ahead, leading Yone towards the office where a middle-aged NPC wearing silver-rimmed glasses sat behind a massive wooden desk, flipping through old parchment scrolls.
The moment Yone and Ano entered, Overseer Rakan barely spared them a glance, continuing with his business until Ano stated why they had come, drawing the middle-aged man's attention to them.
After some back and forth, Ano hesitated but eventually followed Night's advice. And instead of offering 50 silver he changed it to real-world money and offered him 400 dollars, it was more realistic than a whooping 50 silver that would cripple their guild as his brother said.
Yone mused as he heard his reasoning but didn't dwell much on the matter and accepted it inwardly. He also knew that 50 silver was unrealistic, even though he knew they had such funds, only because they truly needed that amount for their guild's development.
Only, the real reason he accepted was totally different. It was related to his future plans, a plan that his measly leftover amount of money at home could not affect, and he needed even more money.
'I could always demand more money, but I know better than anyone that playing the long game is way better,' Yone thought.
"Alright, we have a deal," Yone said, extending his hand and signing the contract Overseer Rakan provided.
Seeing this scene, Ano eagerly shook his hand and took a sigh of relief inwardly, he truly was on edge this whole time and was afraid Requiem would cancel due to the change of plans.
After both finished the contract process, Rakan placed it on a brown file and uttered," If anyone breaks this contract, they will have to pay 100 times the amount and lose ten levels. If you don't comply, then you will be kicked out of every town, city, and facility under the Golden Gate Kingdom.
Ano raised an eyebrow at his words and wondered how they would be able to tell he had not sent the money in real life. But didn't dwell much on the matter and stood up to leave. He knew that the game developers most likely had their ways and wouldn't have such an obvious bug in the game that could easily be exploited.
"By the way, why did you change your mind, weren't you okay with it almost an hour ago?" Yone asked as Ano reached the door and was about to leave, curious whether it was his sister's influence or something else altogether.
Ano turned his head and replied with a scratch of his head," Ohh, that...while waiting for our appointment I asked for approval from our guild master and he wasn't satisfied with the other deal so he suggested another, I'm just a vice guild leader in White Wings after all."
Yone froze as he heard his words and didn't even blink nor react to Ano asking him to have more trades in the future as he opened the door and left, his mind was still replaying the words Ano just uttered.
'Asked for approval from our guild master...Asked for appro...' His thoughts were suddenly cut off as Rakan stood up, tidied up his clothes, and stood in front of the closed door seemingly waiting for something.
'The hell? Since when did Ano become a vice guild leader? He was always the guild leader and his sister the vice guild leader in my past life,' Yone felt something was truly wrong and a few things had actually changed on this timeline but his thoughts were once again cut off as someone entered through the door with Overseer Rakan bowing respectfully and asking him to sit on the main seat.
'Mayor? What is he doing here instead of his office?' At this moment, Yone could clearly feel that he was getting surprised by one event after the other that he just leaned back on his chair and let everything play out,' Small details, but from what I'm observing right now only those small details are a bit changed and any big details are currently intact. And that's what matters.'
'Also, if Ano is only vice leader now...then who the hell is leading the White Wings? No...no time for that now, I should focus on the Mayor and quest return,' Brushing away that sudden thought, Yone identified the Mayor just in case this wasn't his twin brother or something.
[Ranold] (Elite, Friendly)
Level 17
HP 2700/2700
MP 1700/1700
"Welcome, Mayor Ronald," Rakan's indifferent attitude, displayed in front of Yone and Ano, was nowhere to be seen as he carried himself in a very respectful manner.
Yone turned his head and locked into the board-shouldered man wearing a dark blue robe with golden patterns. For some reason, he felt that the Mayor, who was supposedly a regular NPC, wasn't an ordinary NPC anymore.
'Is this related to the unique quest rarety and its importance to the kingdom?' That was the only logical conclusion Yone could reach as he watched this sudden scene play out. It was as if the NPCs weren't robotic anymore but were far smarter than usual, something that only occurred after the second major update.
"Requiem," The mayor spoke as he took the contract filed and placed it in front of him casually reading through it," We need to talk."
Yone remained seated on his chair but his guard was up the whole time. He had never heard of an NPC reaching out to players themselves about their quest, much less knowing his exact whereabouts and taking the initiative to speak.
Ranold gave a brief glance at the signed contract in front of him before fully shifting his attention to Yone.
"I received a report that you uncovered an abandoned hideout that went under the lake's shore. Would you care to explain?"
Yone calmly retrieved the mysterious box from his inventory and placed it on the desk," I found this inside. The assassin wasn't there when I arrived, but I found a captive...also, I believe they will come back in a matter of two hours or so, I suggest sending out troops to apprehend them."
Yone guessed that Ranold had such knowledge because he had completed the sub-quest and was thus informed by the system, given the quest's contents. It was just that the feeling of talking to an NPC who acted like a real human left a bad taste in his mouth.