Chapter 99: Wrapping up quests
By the time Xinya, Wei and Wandering Sound had finished doing their own thing, the sun had set only to rise again. The three of them weren't reunited at the boathouse until the afternoon sun was high in the sky.
Wandering Sound was the first to return to the boathouse, after getting the notice that he completed his quest another one appeared. Wandering Sound should have known that it would be a chain quest, nothing came easy in this game.
His new quest was to use the evidence he discovered to find the ruins of the Forgotten valley of Ensworth. Looking down at the book in his hand he was grateful that the old man let him borrow it. Usually from his experience, there would be some kind of quest he would need to do to obtain it.
Thankful that there wasn't, Wandering Sound hurried back to the boathouse to do some light reading. He thought about just reading it at the library with the old man, but the inside of the place wasn't comfortable to be in, and if he had to read such a thick book he wanted to be comfortable.
So without further ado, Wandering Sound left the dingy library and hurried back to the boathouse. As he walked inside, he didn't see anyone around, calling out Roaming Wind and Drifting Cloud's names didn't get any results, so he assumed that Roaming Wind was still out sightseeing and Drifting Cloud must have left to do something.
Since nobody was here, Wandering Sound thought it would be best to start reading the book. Going back outside on the deck, Wandering Sound found a very comfy chair that was facing the water and sat down in it.
As Wandering Sound look out at the breathtaking scenery, while hearing the ambient sounds of birds and waves crashing all around him, he knew that this was exactly the right atmosphere for him to be reading in.
Giving a comfortable sigh, Wandering Sound opened up the tattered blue book and begin reading. As he read he learned many things about the Forgotten valley of Ensworth. Such as it was a mystical, harmonious valley, where people and monsters lived in peace. It was said that it was founded by a monastery during the great war hundreds of years ago.
It was a place where people and monsters who didn't want to fight went to live in peace. The book also mentioned how the valley's people were heavily criticized back then for betraying their own kind. It got so bad that many towns in the eastern region tried to lay siege to it.
Seeing that their valley was about to be overcome with hate, the elders at the time sacrificed themselves to erect a barrier around the valley and the people inside. The town disappeared and so did the people inside of it.
From what Wandering Sound read he could see that there were some rumors about the place, one that really interested him was that the people who live inside of Ensworth are almost immortal, living hundreds of years beyond their normal lifespan and only very slowly aging in appearance.
Besides that, there were a lot of speculations of where Ensworth valley could be located at. Some people said that it was underground others said that it was floating somewhere in the sky above.
Wandering Sound didn't believe any of those speculations though, as he kept reading he saw that there was a bunch of mentions to the Yunlune Mountains. Wandering Sound knew that had to mean something, there were too many mentions of it.
Knowing that the Yunlune mountains were probably the place he needed to go next to continue on with his search of Ensworth, Wandering Sound opened up his map to see where the mountains were located at. Unfortunately for him, he was unable to do so, his map wasn't upgraded enough to search for mountain ranges.
Wondering what he should do next, he thought he should go back to that old man's library and ask him. He was just about to do so when he remembered that Drifting Cloud's map was upgraded. All he had to do was wait until Drifting Cloud returns and he could get the answers he needed.
With that plan in mind, Wandering Sound got up, putting the book inside of his inventory he went back inside of the houseboat. While he was waiting for Drifting Cloud to return, he decided that he might as well train his stats some.
Going inside of the living room, Wandering Sound pressed the giant red button on the wall and in just a couple of minutes the living room changed into a workout room. After looking at all of the workout equipment in the room, Wandering Sound picked the treadmill.
It would help him gain stamina and intelligence, but he could also practice running while using his flute in a safe environment. Getting on the treadmill, Wandering Sound began to run, while trying to play one of his old songs he created himself on his flute.
~contemporary romance
Wei was the second one to make it back to the boathouse, after running around town all throughout the night asking people questions, she felt mentally tired. She didn't realize how hard it would be getting people to answer her questions until she tried it.
Most NPCs she found would either ignore her or shoo her away, a couple of times she had to buy something before they would even begin to talk to her. It took her a while but she found out that if she made small chat with the NPC's first, maybe give them a compliment or two, she could get them to answer her questions easier.
Although it took her a couple of hours to come to this realization, she did come to it. After that getting the questions she needed answered was a piece of cake. Finishing the last questionnaire, Wei rushed back to Mary Joe's clothing shop with an excited smile on her face.
Walking into the clothing shop, Wei greeted Mary Joe who was standing behind the counter, "I'm back."
"So you are." Replied Mary Joe with a pleasant smile on her face. "Have you done what I asked of you?"
"Yes, I have," Wei handed Mary Joe the clipboard with the completed questions.
Mary Joe's facial features brighten up even more than before, "Thank you so much, you don't know how much you have helped me."
"You are welcome," Wei said feeling accomplished knowing that she helped someone without asking for assistance from anyone. She became even happier when the notification of the quest being complete popped up in front of her.
"Here you are," Mary Joe started. "A clothing voucher that entitles you to get an outfit free of charge from any clothing shop in the Ziam region.
Taking the golden ticket, Wei was beside herself, she couldn't wait to get that dress from earlier. As she searched the racks she couldn't find it anywhere. Having a bad feeling she went back to the counter where Mary Joe was standing.
"Miss Mary, do you remember the dress from earlier I wanted?" Wei asked.
The smile on Mary Joe's face disappeared and Wei knew she was in for some bad news, "Regretfully, the white princess dress from earlier has been sold. Usually, nobody comes into my store these days, but the Mayor's young daughter came in. She said someone was going around asking questions for my shop and was curious."
Wei was extremely disappointed by this, she really wanted that dress and she worked so hard for it. Seeing how distressed the young girl looked, Mary Joe thought of something that would soothe her.
"Don't be distressed, remember the voucher I gave you is good for any shop in the Ziam region." Mary Joe told her.
As if a light bulb turned on, on top of her head, Wei understood what Mary Joe was getting at even if she didn't outright say it. There were much better shops in Ziam than Mary Joes and one day while out on her adventures she would find one, so using her voucher now could be considered as a waste.
With that conclusion, Wei cheered up. Putting her voucher away, she said her goodbyes to Mary Joe and headed back to the boathouse with a skip in her step. It was just the beginning of the afternoon when she arrived.
As Wei walked inside the boathouse door, she heard someone playing some very catchy music. Going farther inside, while following the sound of the music, Wei saw Wandering Sound running vigorously on a treadmill without missing a beat as he played a song on his flute.
Wei just stood there and watched his performance, taking in the lovely view, that was him. Wandering Sound must have noticed someone staring because he stopped playing and turned around and looked at her, getting down from the treadmill.
With a big smile, Wei clapped for him, "That was great Wandering Sound. You should be a musician in real life!"
Wandering Sound blushed not saying anything, trying to change the subject Wandering Sound said, "So, how did your sightseeing go?"
done.co