Caelus Online

31. The Caspallian Family (Part 1)

With an awkward atmosphere falling over the four as they rested, everyone fell into their own internal thoughts as the issue with Fortuna and Chester was brought to the front of their minds.

After a short while, Ben decided to break the awkward silence with a question.

“So, Russel, what is inside the satchel?”

Showing a massive grin Russell raises 2 fingers. With a tentative expression, Marie questioned Russel.

“Do you mean 2 gold?”

With a shake of his head and a widening grin, Russel broke the suspense.

“Nah, we got 20 gold. Plus whatever we get for returning this heirloom thingy.”

Russel pulled a medium sized black box out of his inventory and presented it to the group.

After hearing the news and looking at the wooden box that had taken damage from staying in the sea for a long time, Connor let out a delighted laugh, happy their combined effort paid off.

“Damn, Chester was correct. I was honestly starting to doubt it after an hour and a half, but this will be a small fortune to get us started!”

With Connor now laughing in happiness, the rest of the group started to feel joy at the reassurance that Chester’s information was spot on and they could make a fortune from this game.

Connor, calming himself down shook his blond hair theatrically, flinging water onto the ground around him as he swept it back and out of his eyes.

“Well, since we have already got this much money, Russel, Ben, you guys both take your assigned 5 gold and go buy yourself the equipment you need, Marie and I shall go and hand over this heirloom.”

With everyone in agreement with Connor’s suggestion which was the most efficient way forward, they all added each other as friends and parted ways. While Ben and Russel vanished off into a street towards the west, Marie followed Connor as he retraced his steps back through the city while cheerfully chatting as they walked. After some time navigating the streets, they arrived at a crossroads in the upper section of the city.

Looking further upwards, in the distance they could see the castle bathing in the mid-afternoon sun, with a wide array of large buildings and mansions taking up the space between. Their target is one of these mansions, however, they did not know exactly which building was their target.

Connor decided to ask a nearby guard who pointed them to a building further up towards the castle, so they started making their way closer towards the large and imposing mansion of the Caspallian family.

The Caspallian family from what Connor knew, were a famous family known for their sailing prowess. They had been involved with the Alennos kingdom’s navy for generations, working their way up to reach where they are today.

6 years ago, the family apparently had lost an heirloom that was treasured by the current Marquess Caspallian’s wife. They were unsure of where it had gone missing and had set up a commission through the adventurer’s guild in hopes that someone might be able to locate it.

For Connor and the rest of the group, this quest would be incredibly helpful for making connections alongside gaining the necessary money to get their various projects underway.

Finally arriving before a large white mansion with a small front yard, Connor and Marie spoke to the heavily armoured guards at the front gate.

“Excuse me, sir, I come regarding the commission the Marquess had posted with the adventurer’s guild. May we speak with him?”

Looking down on Connor, the guard snorted.

“Huh, more people here to try and meet the lord through that request. Go away.”

Hearing the guard’s response, Connor frowned in annoyance that he encountered one of the guards Chester had mentioned might be present. However, still happy he had some advanced knowledge on how to handle this kind of situation, Connor started his performance.

“Ok, well just make sure that you have a damned good excuse for the marquess when he finds out that someone with actual knowledge about his missing heirloom was turned away just because you could not be asked to get off your arse and find someone to validate a claim.”

Turning away, Connor started to walk away, inwardly angry at having to deal with the guard’s stupidity, but managing to calm himself down as he understood that this may have been a repeated issue the guards at this mansion needed to deal with in the past. Even still, Connor still felt resentful that the guard was so dismissive when he should be properly doing his job.

Marie, seeing that Connor was starting to walk away became somewhat flustered, not sure what to do now the situation had turned sour.

“Connor, we should just tell the guards that…”

Connor hearing Marie start to say something, quickly interrupted her.

“Why should we tell them anything? Chances are with their negligent personalities they will just try and take advantage of us and claim the credit for our hard work.”

Giving Marie a quick wink to hint to her this is all planned, Connor turns and gave the rude guard a glare. Continuing to turn around to walk away, Connor heard the distinctive sound of a sword being drawn.

“Stop right there, commoner. You shall not insult an esteemed knight of the Caspallian family.”

with a glance back over his shoulder, Connor’s blue eyes turned icy cold as he spoke to the guard in a chilling voice.

“You want to draw your sword on me? You want to strike me down for pointing out your own inadequacies?”

Fully turning around, Connor slowly walked back towards the guard as his low voice continued to ring out.

“I am an immortal adventurer. You kill me, I will revive. If you think the other Immortal adventurers will take this kind of insulting threat laying down, you will have made enemies with an unkillable army who will not take the attitude of a guard like you well. Now, you have 2 choices.”

Now standing just out of the guard’s sword reach, Connor held up 2 fingers.

“One, kill me and start a war with thousands of immoral adventurers, or two, tell the butler or the marquess that there is someone with knowledge about their heirloom and have them come and validate the information.”

Hearing Connor's words and sudden change to a cold and threatening tone, the guard took a step back with an ugly expression, clearly intimidated by Connor’s harsh words and realising that he might have made a mistake to draw his sword.

“Whatever. Fine. I will bring this up to the Butler, obediently wait here.”

Connor, still angry that the guard’s tone was still as belittling as ever, just rolled his eyes as the rude man walked inside the ornate iron gate, leaving his silent companion to watch over the two players.

Connor knew that his threat was hollow. Only a small population of players would care, and even fewer would take action. However, since the NPCs at this point were ignorant of the attitudes and restrictions of players, Chester suggested that should he encounter any trouble when visiting the Marquess, he should use this as a threat. This guard was likely someone who in the future would be among the group that betrayed the Marquess, so Chester had no hesitation suggesting this method to him

After all, there was nothing Chester hated more than betrayal.

Coming out of his thoughts, Connor noticed that the silent guard was looking at him and was about to speak.

“I’m sorry about him, his personality can be a bit prickly at times, especially since after that quest was posted, many people came giving false reports in an attempt to get close to the Caspallian family.”

Shaking his head, Connor let out a sigh, deciding to give the nice guard some friendly advice.

“I had sadly figured that was the reason, however, you can never know when something is real, so by being negligent and so openly hostile, you may end up driving away the only lead you will receive. And that’s never a good situation.”

Giving a simple hum in agreement, the guard went back to remaining silent.

After a few minutes, the rude guard returned with a smartly dressed young man behind him. The butler was wearing a formal black morning coat and white gloves, while his long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail.

Giving a slight bow with only his head, the butler introduced himself.

“Greetings Immortal Adventures. I am told you have information about the heirloom that the Caspallian family has been searching for?”

Seeing that the guard had brought a butler with a ponytail instead of the elder head butler, Connor inwardly sighed before responding in a pleasant tone.

“Yes, we do. We have located and obtained the item that is currently safely stored in my inventory. May we go somewhere private so I may present the item to the head butler or the marquess?”

Letting out a slight breath, the butler evaluated Connor with his eyes that radiated displeasure.

“Just so you are aware, any attempt to provide a fake replica or deceive the Caspallian family will result in your incarceration.”

With a sigh, Connor crossed his arms as his eyes narrowed showing his annoyance at the constant posturing.

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