Chapter 332 “I’m Your Grandfather!” “No-!”
Caught in the sack and unable to do a thing, Eleena could only entertain herself by playing games at the forums.
When she sensed that something strange and opened her eyes again, she found herself released from the sack.
The one who freed here wasn’t Edward’s party, however—but an old man with a withered face and looked like he could drop dead at any given moment.
The words over his read ‘Mayor of Crookes’ and was in yellow: a neutral unit.
Beside him were the two automatons that had kidnapped Eleena before, and they were holding the sack and rope in their hands.
The old man then drew out something resembling a compa.s.s and held it in front of Eleena.
There was no doubt that the needle was pointing straight at her.
“There’s no mistake.” The mayor of Crookes pocketed the compa.s.s while trying his best to make a tender face.
Be that as it may, his facial muscles seemed to have hardened-either because he had not made such a face for a long time, or because he was now just skin over bones. He just couldn’t convey tenderness, and his smile bore a strong resemblance to an undead’s vile grin. Eleena shrank by instinct, her little hand reaching for the steelskin tome hanging by her hip.
The two automatons promptly reacted to that, intent on staying between her and the old man-only for the old man to wave them off.
“Master!” The short automaton shouted worriedly.
The old man shook his head, however, signaling them to stay away. “It’s alright. Don’t worry, she’s just a child.” It doesn’t really show, buy Tyler Meredith was actually very happy. He had been prepared to months or even half a year for his automatons to return with his heir.
After all, it had been a long time since his daughter eloped, and after her death, the man had done all he could to distance himself from the city of Crookes, be it for self-preservation or for the sake of their child.
Tyler certainly never expected the child to be inside Crookes, hence saving a whole lot of time.
That alone left the dying old man happy and rejoicing in his heart, to the point that he didn’t care about the girl reaching for the tome.
Even though it did not look like an ordinary tome, he simply let it pa.s.s.
After all, her father had spent a lot of time running and probably wouldn’t have much money left. It was a stroke of stupendous luck for Tyler’s granddaughter to survive, let alone gain some special ability. Indeed, if Xi Wei wasn’t having an urgent need for believers in the very beginning for being a noob G.o.d and came in time to save Eleena in her desperation, she, along with Edward and the others would have been killed back when the beasts attacked their village.
And despite his old age as well as how his frail frame looked about to croak any time now, his body had been honed by the elven stone over a hundred years, making his body much stronger than a normal human.
Though he could no longer fight, he was still as tough as nails. In fact, he would be perfectly fine even if two strapping adults punched him with their ca.s.serole-sized fists, let alone a girl who looked around twelve.
As such, in his mind, it was alright for the girl to punch him a bit to vent her frustration and alleviate her terror from the kidnapping.
There was nothing wrong with Tyler Meredith’s reasoning too. In this word, only the rich could choose to learn spells or martial arts—peasants would never be able to afford the costs, and the limit of a lifetime for most of them would at best be the rank of priest.
However, that outdated rule was broken with Xi Wei’s appearance.
In his perspective, there should be equality as long as they were willing to work… even when it came to powerful special cla.s.ses like the Saintess-in-training and the Warrior Princess. If you keep goofing off instead of farming monsters or use safe Life Skills to earn EXP, you would never hold a candle against Players who work themselves to death.
In other words, if Eleena really whipped out her meteor hammer (bible) right now and smash it down the old man’s head, there is a huge chance a ‘critical hit’ sign would appear over his head while he keeled over, and go forth to Xi Wei’s side…
It was therefore fortunate that Eleena has gone through much despite her young age. In fact, she might have more experience and insight than ninety percent of the world’s population.
And when she noticed that the old man wasn’t hostile (his name wasn’t red), she quickly calmed down instead of attacking.
On the other hand, her self-control and the quickness at which she regained calmness made the old man appear even more satisfied: she might be young, but there was potential for development-a little instruction and she would definitely become a fitting successor to continue the Meredith’s family glory. “I know it’s definitely a little scary to find yourself somewhere you don’t know the moment you open your eyes. But it’s fine… We have all the time in the world, and I will explain everything.” The old man scratched his loose scalp. “Where do I begin? Right, first and foremost… you should call me grandfather.”
***
At first, Eleena had been doubting why the old man had her abducted and brought here, and was left stunned at his request.
Her face which had been growing rounder recently was an adorable blankness.
“I’m the father of your mother… is it not normal for you to call me grandfather, once?” The old man added then.
“Mother’s father…” Eleena blinked.
That was when she suddenly remembered something her father once told her: her mother was a n.o.ble daughter, and she too, would one day return to that family…
The old man actually wasn’t exaggerating?
Eleena found it all hard to believe.
“You are my only heir and would one day inherit everything I have. That is why I wouldn’t deceive you.” The old man’s eyes were still fixed on Eleena, his smile now finally becoming more natural. “Back in my youth, I had inadvertently stumbled into a high elf ruin, and partially activated it and receive some extent of clearance… it was one reason for the smooth development of Crookes in her early days.”
Even though the old man had been a stranger minutes ago and it was weird for him to spill out his secrets, he didn’t have much timethere were too many things to teach his heir in his remaining moments, and if she didn’t work with him, the progress may not be ideal.
That was why he set the bait with ‘high elven ruins’ and ‘clearance’ from the get go. Eleena had already shown that she was notch more mature than children of the same age, and she surely would be maturity if that maturity was genuine.
As for her trial, in which she would take her own precautions against entrusting her property to unscrupulous elements, that could entirely be included in her instruction.
That said, testing an heir on the first meeting was folly. They wouldn’t be tested if the trial was too easy, and they would certainly fail if it was too difficult-finding them in the first place was meaningless.
Therefore, instead of picking an heir through first impressions, it was better to interact and learn about the other person, and only judge if they were suitable later.
“High elven ruins? Where?”
And just as the old man expected, Eleena’s eyes were sparkling when she heard him.
cause
That being said, he would never have imagined that Eleena was happy only because she had gained a clue for the prerequisite quest to an event…
“I could tell you that it’s beneath Crookes, but that wouldn’t mean a thing. You alone would never reach it.” The old man said self-a.s.suredly. “Or are you going to dig a hole down there?”
***
Yes.
Aside from making management over wanderers who came to Mount Meredith for crystal washing, the more important reason for the founding of Crookes was to cover up the high elf ruins.
With the city being built directly over the ruins, Tyler would be able to use the excuse of ‘no excavation in the city’ to justly and honorably prevent all miners from digging any tunnels to it.
“These two are named Beerus and Whis. Both of them are golems (automatons, but the old man couldn’t tell the difference) I found in the high elven ruins, and they would be at your side from now on, helping me to instruct—”
Before the old man could finish, a violent rumble echoed from outside the building, and even the floor was shaking.
It seems that the Tunnel Eye Serpent was closing in on Crookes.
“It’s almost time… I don’t know how that idiot Crookes got his hands on that thing, but since it’s now in range, this is it.” The old man sneered, and turned towards the two automatons.
“Energize the Pyrocrystal Cannon. Blow that thing into pieces!” He commanded. The two automatons nodded at the order and quickly left.
However, just when the old man turned back to Eleena, a figure suddenly slipped inside from a window.
The old man looked in that direction to find that it was one of his gardeners. “Did anyone allow you to come in? Get out!” He shouted angrily.
Even so, the gardener wasn’t at all concerned with his rage.
He was actually smiling sinisterly.
Beside him, Eleena thought about it for a moment before showing a look of understanding“It’s a swampman.” She warned the old man calling himself her grandfather.
Its ident.i.ty exposed by Eleena, the gardener’s body hence slowly melted into a puddle of black mud, and rea.s.sembled into a black human figure between breaths.
“You’ve actually come to die…” The old man snorted coldly and drew out his walking stick.
However, the cold sweat over his brow only showed that he was not actually calm inwardly.
He may have technique, but he was old and weak. While he could use his clearance to summon other things from the elven ruins to come to his head, would he really last until then?
But in the split second that the swampman surged as a tidal mud towards the two of them and as the old man face went pale, Eleena lifted her tiny hand, directly materializing a flashing sacred spear. It pierced the swampman in the head in one swift stroke, instantly emptying its HP Bar. The old man gaped at the holy light radiating from the young girl’s body, and was left speechless just then.
“Becoming mayor sounds good, but I prefer freedom and going on adventures with everyone,” Eleena said solemnly then. “So, Grandfather, forgive me for not going along with your wish.”
With those words, she left the room, intent on fighting the Tunnel Eye Serpent with the other Players.