FILLI'S WHEREABOUTS (II)

WHEN Luo Yan arrived at the East area, he immediately saw the tree house that the Gatekeeper was talking about.  It was built on the branch of the highest tree.  It was made of bamboo, its design very simple and a bit messy.  An obvious sign that it was made by amateurs.  

The game designers were really thorough.  Even the fact that this tree house was supposedly made by young elves were taken into account.  The more he experienced this VR version of Arcadia, the more his desire to work at Moonlight Media increased.  He really wanted to work with the people who designed such a game.  That was one of his goals before he died.  Maybe he could continue that in this new life.    

Anyway, he was not in a hurry to make any final decision regarding his future.  There's still a lot of time for that.  He's situation now was different from his last life.  Now, he had the means to take any path he wanted.  Whatever that would be, he would make sure that it would bring him happiness.  Not just for him, but also for the 'Luo Yan' who didn't manage to live past the age of 10.  He would definitely live a fulfilling life for the both of them.

Enough of these sappy thoughts.  He should go and talk with those twins first.  

Luo Yan raised his head to look at the tree house.  He bent his knees and then jumped.  He landed on one of the branch and went straight to the entrance of the tree house.  The moment he entered, he immediately saw the twins in question.  Probably because the space inside was not really that big.  He looked at the twins.  Like other moon elves, they had white hair and also green eyes.  And being twins, they also looked exactly alike.

The two looked surprised when he suddenly appeared.  One had the name 'Ivo' on top of his head and the other had the name 'Iro'.  

"Noctis?  What are you doing here?" said the one named Ivo.

"I want to ask something to the both of you.  What exactly happened on the day that Filli went missing?" Luo Yan said, going straight to the point.

A shocked expression appeared on both twins' expression.  Iro looked guilty while Ivo immediately calmed down.

"We already told everyone what we know.  Filli looked upset that day.  Then he suddenly said that he would go to the forest to kill some monsters so he could prove to his father that he's already strong enough.  We thought he was just joking.  The next thing we knew, he suddenly sneaked out of the village and then ran to the forest," Ivo said calmly.

What he said was in line with what the Gatekeeper told Luo Yan earlier.  But he still felt that that was not the whole of it.  Luo Yan sighed.  Did he still need to convince these two to tell him the truth?  He stared at Ivo and he couldn't read anything on his face.  Then he glanced at the other twin, Iro, who immediately looked away and did not dare to meet his gaze.  

From the looked of it, he wouldn't be able to get anything from this Ivo.  But Iro from the other hand, he would probably get something if he guilt tripped him a bit.  Or if that wouldn't work, then he'll just use violence.

"Will the both of you not really tell me the truth?" he asked.

"We already told you the truth," Ivo said resolutely.

"I see.  Then don't blame me for doing this."

After he said that, he dashed forward and attacked Ivo.  Because they didn't expect it, Luo Yan's attack easily connected.  He didn't use too much force but Ivo still fainted.  He raised one of his brows.  He actually didn't expect this NPC to faint after just one attack.  He used his fist to attack so he didn't kill him, did he?  If he did, would he respawn?  Well, whatever.  At least he's out of the way.

"W-what did you to my brother?" the other twin said unbelievably.

"I punched him obviously."  Luo Yan turned to Iro.  "Now that your brother is unconcious and no longer awake to spout lies, I want you to tell me the truth about what really happened that day."  

Iro looked down.  "I-I don't know what you mean."

"Come on, Iro.  You know your brother was lying.  That's not really what happened when Filli disappeared and you know it.  You're both hiding something.  Don't you even care that what you're doing might cause Filli's life?  It's already been a month since he disappeared.  Aren't you even worried about what has happened to him?  If he's still alive or if he's already dead?"

Iro just kept his head down.  Luo Yan shook his head.  He couldn't believe he made a long speech just to convince an NPC.  But if he couldn't find a trigger that could make this NPC admit his wrongs, then whatever he would say wouldn't matter.

"I thought the three of you were friends?  You grew up together, didn't you?  But I guess, seeing that you let him go missing this long, I guess you'd be more than glad if he's already dead."  Iro flinched.  Was his guilt tripping actually working?  "Poor Filli.  His soul was probably now crying somewhere because his two friends just let him die.  How sad it was--"

"Enough!"

"How could it be enough?  It will be enough once I told everyone in the village what you twins did.  What do you think our fellow villagers would think?  The Elder?  Your older brother?  I will tell you what, they would hate you."  Iro's body started to shake uncontrollably after he said that.  No, it's more accurate to say that his body started shaking when Luo Yan mentioned his older brother.  Looked like Lou Yan finally found the trigger.  "Your older brother will hate you."

Iro raised his head, tears falling from his green eyes.  "We didn't mean it!"

Luo Yan secretly smiled.  "You didn't mean what?"

"W-we were just playing around.  Like usual.  We were just trying to cheer him up.  He's upset you see.  He told us the argument he had with his father.  S-so we thought that maybe we should all go to the forest.  Fight some monsters and all that.  Filli agreed because he wanted to show his father that he really could do it.

"So we went to the forest via a secret route that we discovered when we were kids.  We didn't have any particular destination, so we just ran around.  We didn't encounter any strong monsters along the way.  T-then... then I suggested that we should go to the Silent Marsh.  The Elder always forbid us from going there so we thought that we could probably see a strong monster there.  My brother and Filli agreed.

"W-we just entered the marsh when Filli di- disappeared.  We didn't know what happened.  He just vanished!  We panicked.  When we went back here, my brother already changed the story of how Filli went missing.  He said that if we tell the truth, they would blame me.  We- we're just afraid.  We really didn't mean it!  We also want to find Filli!"

Then he cried even harder.

Luo Yan ignored him because he already got the information he wanted.  He no longer cared about the drama this NPC wanted to play.  He took out the map of the Crescent Woodlands and just as expected, a new area on the West of the map appeared.  The name below the area was;    

Silent Marsh.