As both Valyr and Tryndall were listening to Antoine's response, a notification sound resounded within Valyr's mind, prompting him to take a look at the notification he had just received. After he was done reading the description of the notification, he then shifted his gaze towards Tryndall, who was looking at him with a gaze that conveyed surprise, as well as a hint of excitement.
"Did you also get a quest?" Instead of using the party chat, Tryndall sent a message to Valyr directly through the chat function. In response, Valyr lightly nodded as he asked Tryndall as to whether the name of the quest they got was the same.
Once the two of them had confirmed that they had obtained the same quest, Valyr went ahead and opened up the quest's description within his mind.
Ding!
[The Clossbay Conspiracy] (City Quest)
Difficulty: B
Though you have been able to find the whereabouts of the Clossbay Killer, as well as the Clossbay Killer's true identity, they continue to remain rampant to this day due to circumstances you do not know. With that, you wonder to yourself. What is their goal? What is their purpose? What do they aim by doing these killings?
Such an answer to those questions has remained elusive… until now.
After interrogating one of the people that's part of the Clossbay Killer identity, you find out that the people doing the killing are forced into their current situation, informing you that there's an entity greater controlling them. Your mission is to find the mastermind behind this operation once and for all.
Quest Objectives:
> Figure out the mastermind of the operation (0/1)
> Apprehend the mastermind of the operation (0/1)
Quest Rewards:
> 500,000 XP
> Level +1
> [Arbiter of Clossbay] title
Quest Penalties:
> Affinity -1000 with the mayor of Clossbay City
> Reputation -100 in Clossbay City
> Future repercussions
[Note: Don't take anything for granted.]
————
'A city quest, huh. I guess the system thinks the world quest wasn't enough for me.' Lightly scratching his head as he felt his head slightly ache due to the quest, Valyr pondered over the reason behind him and Tryndall obtaining the city quest, only then realizing that the situation had now taken a turn where the entire city was at stake.
From the name itself, a city quest was a type of quest that involved the entire city, with quests of this type most of the time dictating the survival or the disappearance of a city. In that regard, it was similar in nature to a world quest.
However, unlike a world quest, failing a city quest did not just stop at the city related to the quest disappearing. Instead, its repercussions spread far greater than that, with a core city quest being forced on the person who had accepted the city quest beforehand being a highly likely result.
If one were to fail the respective core city quest, then it would escalate into a kingdom quest, then an empire quest, and eventually, one would find themselves forced to complete a world quest.
Fortunately, unlike the Clossbay Killer quest from back then, where he finally obtained a lead to work with once he worked together with Tryndall, Valyr was glad to find out that their current interrogation with Antoine was leading them closer to completing the city quest they had received.
Aside from that, they found out through the objectives of the quest that Antoine was still hiding a few more things from them regarding the situation with the Clossbay Killer. With that in mind, it went without saying that the direction of the interrogation had now shifted to squeezing out more information from Antoine that would allow them to make more progress on their quest.
"The city forced you five to kill innocent people? Is that correct?" As Valyr asked this question to Antoine, the latter felt his consciousness slipping away as he lightly nodded in response.
Feeling somewhat grateful that his body was giving him a way to get out of his mess, Antoine embraced the feeling of unconsciousness sinking in… only to be jolted awake once more as Valyr stabbed his spear into the man's inner thigh.
"Aagh!!!" Crying out in pain once more, it was only then did Antoine realize that the two people in front of him would stop at nothing to keep him awake, feeling as if the two still had more questions to ask him.
Inwardly lamenting to the heavens as to why the ones that were following him were heavy-handed in their actions, Antoine eventually accepted the fact that he wouldn't be left alone until the two before him were finished asking him questions.
"Is there a specific reason as to why the five of you were forced to kill innocent people?" Hearing this question come out of Valyr's mouth, Antoine pondered over the question for a bit before proceeding to answer.
"They told us… it would allow the guards' reputation to increase within the city…"
"The guards… the city guards?" Muttering these words in response, Valyr lightly scratched his head before sending a message to Tryndall through the party chat. "Does that mean the city guards and the Clossbay Killer are in cahoots all this time?"
"Well, that would definitely explain the incident from a few days ago where the five were detained by the guards. Remember how they were released the following day?" Sending a response to the question Valyr asked him, Tryndall then looked at the latter as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Yeah. I have a couple more ideas regarding the relationship between the Clossbay Killer and the city guards, but I'll leave that for when we finish the interrogation." Nodding in response to the question Tryndall sent him, Valyr decided to finish their conversation for the meantime as he returned his gaze back to Antoine.
"For now, we have to figure out who the mastermind is."
"So, if I'm getting this correctly, the reason why you five are killing innocent people is so that the guards can do their job and increase their reputation within the city." As these words escaped Valyr's mouth, Antoine lightly nodded in agreement before wincing in pain. "And you told me earlier that the city is the one that's forcing you five to do this."
Nodding as he looked at Antoine in silence, Valyr then told the latter, "Since you've been so cooperative throughout this interrogation, you only have to answer one more question, and we'll allow you to leave."
"I'll tell you everything you want to know…" Unsurprisingly, with Valyr telling him that he was free to leave once he answered the man's next question, Antoine became more cooperative than ever before. "Please… just let me leave…"
"I will. Don't worry about that." Valyr reassured him, to which Antoine nodded in response.
"So, can you tell us who exactly forced you to five to become the Clossbay Killer?" As this question came out of Valyr's mouth, a hint of expectation covered his face. After all, if Antoine told them the identity of the mastermind, then they would be able to complete the quest the following day. However, rather than respond to the question as soon as possible so he could be free…
Antoine instead remained silent.
