Chapter 256 - A Battered Wife
The silent morning continued inside the inn. Elliot was kneeling in front of his cocoon and placed the Twilight Brew near it. The light burst inside and like always, blinded him for a moment.
[ Twilight Brew required to hatch: 4/10 ]
'New quest [ A Battered Wife ] available'
'New quest [ The Smuggler's Tale ] available.'
Elliot smirked after seeing that the Manual gave him two more quests. He was now so close into hatching the Twilight Cocoon. He also needed to hurry up since the item might have another time for it to hatch.
He still has one unfinished quest too, the library quest was still on his list.
Elliot had hypothesized that for the worst case scenario, he wouldn't be able to get all the Twilight Brew required. But that he was doubtful that that wouldn't happen, at least by the pace the Manual is giving him the potions.
Another bad thing to happen was that the Twilight Cocoon would have to take days to hatch after it's been fed enough Twilight Brew. If this was going to happen, it would be dangerous since the Battle of the Champions would usually only take up to one week. If the cocoon would need more than a week for it to hatch, it was game over.
And something like this is dangerous. They knew what happens when the seal on the Twilight Wings is broken. But what if the Twilight Cocoon has its own seal and would cause the same disaster when it's not hatched?
This puts another strain on Elliot's shoulders. He was already carrying enough baggage, yet he still kept on collecting more.
"This is okay," Elliot said to himself. "To become the mightiest, I need to do what mighty people do."
[ A Battered Wife
Reward: Twilight Brew
// In a bakeshop near South entrance, a husband works as a baker. But the dough in his workplace isn't the only thing he's been getting his fists on. ]
"That's awful," Elliot gasped immediately after reading the quest. "You don't have a great sense of humor, Manual. That's… awful."
[ The Smuggler's Tale
Reward: Twilight Brew
// There are plenty of wagons that goes in and out of the city. But not all of them carries goods, some of them carries people. But they're not there in their own will. ]
Once again, Elliot could only gulp after reading the description. The Manual is getting darker and darker with its descriptions. But sometimes it would be short and concise. This time however, it chose to be dark.
Elliot was looking at the three quests and figured out he would take on the wife one first. It would be easy to find a bakeshop in a specific place than a wagon throughout the city. There would be hundreds just going in and out of it. He then would go to the libraty and finish the second one if time would allow him.
He took his sword and strapped the scabbard on his waist. He put his boots and his coat on. He was now fully prepared to take on the day.
As Lance and the others told then new participants, the Battle of the Champions would consist of another set of Rounds. But this time, only the Champions are allowed to participate. Each Round would have one to two participants, some Rounds have three, but that was rare.
In this phase of the competition, the pressure would be on. The points for each round would be different, but not related to the number of participants or the difficulty.
Also, the number of points would only be revealed after the Round, so the Champions would give it their all.
To prevent information leak from the Judges, there are no files for the Battle of the Champions. They would agree on everything orally, sealing the room they discuss in. No one is allowed to enter the room until the Judges' decisions are over. They discuss things for hours on end, only eating on pre-made food and would only stop when they're finished.
While Elliot was walking to the South entrance, he started to become skeptical. What would he do after he finds the baker? And which baker shall he find?
There are endless possibilities for this quest, with Elliot only realizing it. He thought this was going to be easy but he was wrong. He was about to turn around to go to the library first when he heard something.
"Please, stop," a female voice cried. Elliot ran up to where the voice was located and searched the scene.
He used his enhanced senses to find a woman begging in an alley. She was on her knees, had black eyes on both eyes, and her chin had a red mark from a cylindrical object.
Elliot didn't want to interrupt them just yet, but his body said otherwise. The man in front of the kneeling woman was raising his rolling pin and was about to hit her when he felt a wind pass through him. He paused for a moment, flinching after hearing a sound of a wooden object crashing on the ground.
His rolling pin was sliced in half, his eyes widening in fear as he watched his paraphernalia being cut off. He was shaking after he felt a terrifying aura behind him. There was another silent pause before a sword laid flatly on his shoulder.
"Move and I'll cut your head off," Elliot threatened. "What were you doing?"
"Disciplining my wife," the baker answered. He regained his confidence and rolled his eyes, pushing the sword out of his neck with the remaining part of the rolling pin. "What's it to you? Are you this b*tch's man sl*t?"
Elliot chuckled and slashed his sword on the alley's brick floor, wordlessly casting Wind Slash that created a scary mark on the ground. The baker gulped as he watched what the attack can do. He started shaking and slowly fell to his knees.
This time, not just because of the attack, but the suffocating aura Elliot was exuding. It was strong, ominous, and says that the boy is willing to kill.
"Mrs. Wife, go home," Elliot said. The woman nodded and crawled away, making sure to have a safe distance before she stood and run. "And you, I need to teach you a lesson."
–
"Absolutely not!" Madam Joane yelled. She opened her fan and covered her mouth with it, stopping herself from gasping too much. "Why would I let you bring Little Cecile in that bloodbath of a barbarian's competition?"
Barbarians was a common term being thrown at them. It didn't hurt them as much now that they got used to it all these years.
What was hurting Aquarius was that his own mother called him that. After all these years, she still looked at him that way.
"Mother, just let her go," Aquarius pleaded. "I will have Elliot's female friend cover her eyes for me."
"The boy who defeated Jester?" Madam Joane's brow quirked in interest. "Well, what is her profile?"
"She's a noble, her name is Florencia," Aquarius grinned, seeing a possible go signal.
"On one condition," Madam Joane spoke, leaning in closer to them. "You will come home often, okay?"
A tear was going to fall from Aquarius's eyes. He was gulping, holding the welling of tears in his eyes.. "Y-Yes, mother."