138 An SS Ranked Quest

Lily climbed the steps with caution. She didn't know if there were more bodyguards wandering around the staircase.

Luckily, there wasn't a single bodyguard on the staircase. They assumed that no one could get this far, so they left their main line of defense at the front entrance.

She arrived at the top floor.

Lily wanted to listen in on the mayor to see if she could understand the situation that took place.

The stairs led directly to the mayor's office. She could see the mayor in the distance sitting in his chair. He was a few meters ahead of her. The mayor wasn't looking around, so he didn't spot her. He had his head down looking at papers.

Deep in his mind, he was in a struggle; whether or not to ask the cities for help. His heart said no each time that thought popped up. He tried looking for different ways to bypass the problem without asking the cities. He was stupid.

The mayor planned to decrease the amount it cost to buy potions and repair items.

Doing this would appease the crowd that stood outside. Though the price of the new amount would only be temporary since they didn't have a way to mass generate potions.

He couldn't keep it at low values forever since the city's excess stock would run out.

Flower Queen realized that there wasn't anyone inside his office other than the mayor.

Nothing would happen to her if she walked up to the person. Lily didn't want to risk walking forward, so she waited and watched to make sure she would be safe.

After 10 minutes of nothing happening, she walked forward and greeted the mayor casually.

Seeing a random person appear out of nowhere scared the mayor out of his life. He blinked multiple time and rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing things.

"W-Who are you? Are you here to kill me?" The mayor said with a gulp of hot air. He put his hand to rest on a small red button underneath the desk.

"Nope, I want to talk," Lily said. She tried sounding warm and friendly but the mayor took it differently. Her alluring soft voice freaked him out even more.

The mayor tried not to sound scared, to maintain his reputation.

"What do you want to talk about?" The mayor said. He didn't stutter over any words, but he spoke like a blur; fast.

"The guilds leaving. Is there any reason why they left?" Flower Queen said as she squinted her eyes at the mayor.

"They didn't tell me any reason when they left. They said the city wasn't good enough for them," the mayor said as he put his head down.

"Why?"

"The city gives bad luck. That's what they told me," the mayor replied with a shrug.

"What do you think happened to the guilds to cause them to leave?" Flower Queen asked as she tilted her head. Her hair drooped down over her shoulder.

"Someone might have influenced the guild or they might have been bribed by other cities," the mayor said depressingly. He held onto the button in case she made any sudden movement.

"Bribery? Is there a way of getting them to come back?" Flower Queen asked.

"We could increase the cities prospects. Now that the prices are increasing in my city, our prospect is decreasing. People are going to leave if I don't find a way to fix all the problems," the mayor said.

He had an average city before the guilds left, and now the decreasing prospect of the city could lead to people leaving the city to live in other ones. He could lose his title as a city mayor.

"Do you know any methods to increase prospect?" Flower Queen asked.

"Having something unique that other cities don't have and having lots of gold coins to buy other things with," the mayor replied after thinking for some time.

"Any ideas on what's unique? Also, how does the city make gold?" Flower Queen asked. She always asked the direct questions without beating around the bush. She didn't want to make small talk with a stranger and she wanted a quest as soon as possible.

"We could have a giant statue for people to admire or a fountain that spew out rainbow-colored light," the mayor's eye widened as he thought about the second idea.

The other cities in the region didn't have this unique fountain. He needed gold to create it.

"Don't you need gold for that? How do you get your gold?" She reasked the question since the mayor didn't answer the first time.

"I have shops that give me gold by selling different supplies or clothes," the mayor said. He didn't dare to be specific for a stranger.

"So what can I do?" Flower Queen felt puzzled since there wasn't any quest notification appearing for any of the things he talked about. She didn't have to look for items for the fountain or have to get gold for the mayor. She continued to push forward with her words and see if a quest appeared.

"You could investigate why the guilds left and try to bring them back," the mayor said. A quest appeared.

[Quest: Hidden Motive]

[Objective: Discover why the guilds left and bring them back]

[Comment: There's more to the departure of the guilds than it seems to the naked eye]

[Difficulty: SS]

[Progress: Nothing]

[Time Limit: Two day, seven hours, 13 minutes, and 34 seconds]

[Penalty: Lyria City loses its title as a city; gives commoners in other cities a fear for their lives causing many of them to leave the cities and move to a different region of land]

[Reward: Land Deed]

The Quest was SS ranked which showed how big of a wall they need to pass. The penalty was long but it would have catastrophic problems for the other cities. If the people couldn't feel secure, then they had all the reason to leave.

He had to trust a complete stranger who appeared in his office to look for the guilds. There was only one reason why she didn't get a quest related to the fountain or gold; the mayor didn't trust her.

Who would trust a random person that barged into their home and asked if you needed help? They mayor choose the safe option and wanted her to do everything outside the city where it couldn't affect him too much.

Flower Queen responded by saying something that a normal player wouldn't ask, "Increase the rewards."

She asked in a flat tone to show she was serious.

The mayor felt the vibes he experienced when he first saw her walk in and speak in a soft voice.

"O-of course," the mayor said.

[Your Quest rewards has changed]

[Reward: Land Deed, One Red Silver item]

"All right, thank you," Flower Queen spoke in a soft gentle voice. She didn't want to push the mayor too much.

"No problem... and uh could you leave now," the mayor said. He didn't want to involve himself with her in any shape or form. She changed her tones in a blink of an eye.

"Ok," Flower Queen said.

She walked to the stairs slowly. She needed to escape the building without alerting the bodyguards.

Doing this was easy since she activated the space gem after she was out of the mayor's sight. She didn't want him to know that she had items that could teleport people to different locations.

Flower Queen appeared in the teleporter and walked towards the crowd who stood around the tower. She walked towards the front of the crowd by gently asking people to move out of the way.

Soon, she appeared behind Emile. She poked his back.

Emile turned out to see who it was.

"You're back already! Wow, you're fast!" Emile said with shock. It didn't take her long to enter and come back. Emile was prepared to wait an hour or two.

"I have a hard quest for you guys with decent rewards," Flower Queen typed in the party chat. She began to explain the quest.