Chapter 315 Eleena’s Last Name
Lancaster Hideout.
Edward’s group teleported at the lifestone looking gray-faced.
They were not returning after being killed by some powerful monster—they had merely used Town Portal Scrolls-a newly added item from the System shop to return to the place they were last revived.
That was also why they appeared quite ragged, which was quite different from recently revived Players who always looked revitalized.
Aside from Eleena, everyone was covered in sticky, brightly-colored goo that were even dangling along their sleeves disgustingly.
“Joe, there’s still one on your head.” Gou Dan said, hanging his head.
“Dang!” Joe shuddered as he caught the crab-sized black spider off his head that was baring its fang and flung it to the ground. The spider burst apart and splattered green blood as its short HP bar emptied in an instant, all of its remains vaporizing into thin air. At the same time, Joe dropped on his rump as if he was utterly drained. “I don’t want anything to do with those nobles anymore!”
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The truth was that Edward’s party had accepted a request by a Lancaster noble. They were to retrieve a gonfalon and a deed to his estate from his abandoned former residence, the former of which was said to be a gift from the former emperor.
Edward’s party did not think much about it since the same quest appeared in the System, with Edward the Quest Demon naturally accepting the assignment and dragging his party to work.
They ended up finding the old residence occupied by a Spider Shadow-a monster that seemed to have come out of nowhere. It was merely Level 24 and wasn’t too strong despite having an elite template, and each member of Edward’s party could in fact face it alone.
What was troubling, however, was that Spider Shadow was a Shadow-type creature. While its level was too low to develop magical abilities to camouflage in the shade, the concept of width did not apply to its body.
In other words, it could move through any opening-even if it was a hair’s breadth.
Moreover, it was especially fertile, filling the entire studio with tiny studios like the one that was crawling over Joe’s head just now.
Because of the control of Rules, the creatures of this world could never fully inherit the abilities of their parents (or monsters would rule the Prime Material Plane by now). The little spiders only partially awakened their Shadow-type bloodline and could wander through the tiny cracks of the wall like their mother. Still, even though the broodlings were around Level 1 to 8, and Players with high strength stats like Joe could send them to their maker with one punch… …But there were just too damn many of them! Not to mention that they were very leaky! Punch them to death? They would spit goo that looked like puke in your face!
And with Jessica the Holy Lancer once again away from the party, the absence of her guard and purification spells made things worse.
That said, Jessica did burn off much of her EXP when she used Sefarim, the greatest treasure of the elves once again. Her level had dropped back to around level thirty, and that was only because she regained some in the victory against Aojo the Artificial Abomination, or she might have dropped to the standard of newbie echelon at Level 20.
Moreover, Sefarim seemed to be ill after defeating Aojo, which was why Jessica had left the party to prevent any problems for the time being to bring Sefarim back to Trinia. Edward and the others had decided to accompany her initially, but because Sefarim was a treasure to the elves, her upkeep had to be performed behind closed doors at the Moon Pavilion. Aside from Jessica who was an exemption by grace of being compatible with Sefarim, the others could only wait outside.
The elven siblings Selene and Jamie had even assured Edward’s group that the upkeep would be brief, which they believed… only to wait for three days without any developments.
It was only after Princess Leah who happened to be passing by then suggested that they ‘ping Jessica on the forums and ask her directly’ that they came to a realization and did so, and learned that there was still a long time needed for Sefarim’s upkeep… the elven siblings simply had a different perception to time, and any duration short of a year was ‘brief’…
But that’s a conversation for another time. Either way, after Edward’s group used dye balls to mark Spider Shadow and took quite some time to take it down, the smaller spiders that were assaulting them in suicidal fashion finally scattered and fled.
However, the already rundown residence that was already on the verge of collapsing naturally crumbled after Edward’s party battled against the spiders.
Even though the Players were supernatural individuals that had all sorts of abilities that prevent them from being crushed, it still took them a lot of time to find the deed and the gonfalon underneath the rubble.
Worse still, when they all assumed that it was quest accomplished, the noble’s face paled the instant he saw the gonfalon that was dyed in every possible color, and immediately turned to run.
The quest they had gone through such lengths for was hence in stasis.
If the name over the noble’s head wasn’t green and judged him an ally, the utterly irritated Joe would have drawn out his Giant Toe and claim his head, or perhaps even debone him!
Edward promptly dissuaded him. The System did mention that the quest would be accomplished once the noble accepted the quest item, and all they had to do was convince him to take it.
However, their client proved to be most uncooperative and even accused Edward for trying too hard to act like a noble—that not only did he lack the air of a noble, he was a stain to their image, even irritating the good-tempered Edward to the point that his veins were bulging. It was fortunate that Eleena came forward eventually. Even though she didn’t usually like to talk, she relied on her sweet childlike demeanor and flawless noble mannerism, denying the noble any grounds to nitpick.
Lastly, as Eleena requested (with Joe inching closer with a false smile and jiggling chest muscles), the noble compromised as he accepted both deed and gonfalon with a sour face, allowing the quest to be accomplished by the skin of their teeth.
“By the way, although I know that Uncle Redkin had you learn noble manners, I didn’t expect you to really know it, Eleena.” Edward praised.
The nobles’ lesson in formalities was an important part in the education of younger nobles, far surpassing the importance of teaching them morality. That was why although many noble children proved to be spoiled brats who throw their weight around and had chips over their shoulders, there never seemed to be any issues with their manners. After all, in the perspective of most nobles, even if one was had the wealth of nations, they were no more than crude self-made men if their noble manners failed the passing mark.
And they wouldn’t count as a member of high society. That was also why learning noble manners was viewed as a path to the upper-classes, just as it was expensive to hire a specialized instructor for that purpose.
That was why Edward was surprised that Eleena had really learned noble manners.
“Still, compared to how much of a stickler for rules Eleena had been back in the village, I like her lively self now,” Joe said cheerfully, even as he took off his clothes and squeezed out the stinking spider goo on the floor (which drew disapproving looks from other players around him).
“Because noble stuff is too troublesome.” As the Saintess-in-training who possessed passive purification skills that kept her from getting dirty, Eleena opened the wrapper of a lollipop before putting it into her mouth with a happy look on her little face-unlike other Players, her quest rewards tend to include various candies and snacks for some reason. “It’s better if things stayed like they are now.” “By the way, what was Eleena’s last name?” Gou Dan asked, curious. “I know her father’s last name is Redkin, but he mentioned before that Eleena uses her mother’s name, and I’ve never heard her use it.”
“Maybe saying it out loud could cause trouble,” Edward said, turning to Eleena. “It’s fine if she doesn’t reveal it if that’s the case.”
“Meredith.” Eleena, however, didn’t hesitate. “Father said that it would trouble me so I shouldn’t reveal it… but I think that’s fine now. I am Eleena Meredith.”
