Chapter 3: Black Crow Castle

"You're telling me this, as if I didn't already know?!" Violet looked puzzled at the man standing in front of her.

He was dressed like a dilettante traveler, the collar of his unfitted robe revealing a scar that stretched from his neck down to his clavicle.

This was Kars, Violet's companion and the vanguard of her mercenary group. He was usually at the front of their adventuring team, disarming traps and scouting enemy movements.

His origins were shrouded in mystery. Although he frequently complained about poverty in front of Violet and other companions, every piece of jewelry on him worth no less than one hundred Gold Coins.

Maybe he was a runaway aristocrat evading a marriage arrangement, or someone with another identity altogether.

Anyway, judging by his demeanor, he didn't resemble at all the wandering traveler he claimed to be.

As for why he chose to join Violet's mercenary group, according to him, it was to win the heart of the one girl in the world who had moved him: Violet.

To put it bluntly, he was here to pursue a girl.

Upon recalling this, she slapped away his hand as he tried to take advantage of the situation. Then she raised her hand, covered her lips and said with a smile.

"I obviously know what to do. Leave it to me!"

Kars looked a bit stunned. He scoured his mind for possible quick money-making methods, but dismissed them one by one. We're not talking about pocket change here; it was a whole ten thousand Gold Coins!

That's not ten thousand Silver coins, nor ten thousand Copper coins, but shiny gold pieces that could buy half a small town!

Unless he did that kind of thing...

Swallowing his saliva, he looked at Violet with a gloomy gaze. With difficulty, he said, "You're not going to... go to that place, are you?"

Without waiting for her to answer, Kars rushed back to Violet's side, exclaiming, "I absolutely won't allow it."

At this moment, the ten thousand zillion thoughts stormed through the soul of Lin Xiaozheng hidden within this body. Only facepalm could express his feelings towards Kars, who only had women in his mind and was on a completely different wavelength.

Feeling extremely irked, she lifted her heel and stomped fiercely on Kars' foot. The pain caused him to retract his own foot and recoil involuntarily.

Once she managed to shake off the man who was almost on top of her, Violet crossed her arms, looked at Kars with disdain and said.

"You, filled with nothing but lustful thoughts, I'm talking about Black Crow Castle. What were you thinking?" Violet inadvertently revealed her thoughts about the forbidden Black Crow Castle.

Once spoken, her words could not be taken back. The eerie silence in the air served as a reminder.

Lin Xiaozheng had just arrived in this world and was yet to fully integrate with his memories. That's why he blurted out such words.

Oh no...

Suddenly, the entire tavern grew silent, everybody had clearly heard what Violet had said.

Black Crow Castle, a deserted castle near the town, was a place that adventurers would rather not mention.

Many fearless folks have tried to explore it, but none returned; not even their remains were found.

Legend has it that a ghost mage resided there, who didn't like to be disturbed. If you didn't heed the town elders' warning and chose to question and rush over there.

Well, no one has ever come back.

The path to the castle was at the back of the town. By following the path, climbing the mountain, and trudging through the dense forest, you could reach the destination.

As no one visited for a long time, the road on the mountain had almost vanished. Only the grey spires of the castle could be seen through the trees.

No one knew the kind of family that lived there before the castle fell into disrepair. Hence, the name was given by the crows that resided there.

A flock of crows lived there year-round, returning at dusk each day.

Unnervingly, whenever any adventurer planned to visit the castle, these crows would disappear in the initial days. However, as the regular flock of crows circled around the castle's spire under the sunset glow, the townsfolk knew.

The exploring adventurer was already dead.

And now, this young lady, new to the town, despite several warnings, was planning to go there.

As the awkward silence lingered, Violet gave an embarrassed cough and left the tavern by herself with her chin high.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Kars, disconcerted, scratched his head, looked at Violet's retreating figure, and then, without concern for his dignity, chased after her.

In his eyes, a man's dignity wasn't that noble of a thing. In his heart, he knew it was his mistake that led to Violet's slip of the tongue. His regret drove him, and all he wanted to do now was to apologize.

He couldn't lose his hard-earned goodwill over such a petty incident.

Or so he thought.

However, the heavy atmosphere in the air didn't dissipate even after their departure.

The mercenaries drinking in the tavern knew what this meant, so the look in everyone's eyes changed.

Getting ten thousand Gold Coins in a short time was impossible in other towns, but not here.

An annuity bounty from the Mercenary Guild to eliminate the evil creatures in the Black Crow Castle had accumulated to an astronomical two hundred thousand Gold Coins.

Any mercenary or group could undertake this task.

However, due to the danger of this task and the horrifying mortality rate, the Mercenary Guild rated it a Malos Level Task.

'Malos' meant that, unlike other tasks, no form of deposit would be provided before completion.

This meant it was impossible for anyone to get one-tenth of the two hundred thousand Gold Coins and run off with it.

This was absolutely impossible and would not be allowed to happen.

Despite the Mercenary Guild's meticulous planning, this kind task was not flawless.

Another downside was the highly challenging objectives of the task, making it so that even the Mercenary Guild couldn't impose some conditions to compel mercenaries to complete it.

Eventually, under the suggestion of a wise man, the completion condition for such a task became charting a map of the area to be explored.

Whoever returns first with the map would win the bounty of 200,000 Gold Coins.

As a result, anyone wishing to undertake this task and hoping to make a fortune had more than just the task's risks to face.

The greatest danger came from those who wanted to freeload... the greedy other mercenaries!