Hidden Quest, Disciple?

He silently thought to himself while looking towards the vicious little girl.

'What kind of bad luck is this?'

Their eyes met and the little girl suddenly smiled mischievously, her cheeks puffed up due to the forceful intervention of her laugh.

He was provoked by this and instantly felt angry that he badly wanted to beat that girl up to teach her some etiquette.

Then suddenly the people that surrounded them dissipated like smoke and he was shocked by this sudden situation that he was unable to react for a little while before he heard the giggle of the little girl.

"You really are cute, those expressions of yours are extremely magnificent, hehehe."

She saw that he was still foolishly standing there thus she continued.

"Hey, how do you like my Domain of Illusions? It's superb right? I even thought that I had managed to create real people."

She bragged and this time Mirage asked her with wide eyes.

"T-that was an illusion?! How could they look and sound so real and lifelike?!"

She proudly puffed her chest and answered his question by declaring her shocking identity to him.

"That's a given. It's a spell that the Great Illusionist Mercedes had personally created after all!"

She closed her eyes and waited for the shocked gasp to escape out of his mouth but she didn't hear anything even after 5 seconds had already passed.

Thus, she opened her eyes and looked at his reaction only to see him staring blankly at her with confusion on his face.

She felt annoyed and shocked because of his plain reactions all of a sudden, she asked herself how could he possibly not know her great and widely known name?

She hesitantly opened her mouth and carefully asked him as if she was afraid that he might be offended by her questions.

"You... couldn't be possibly living under the rocks, right? How come you don't know my name when I am obviously famous and renowned on the whole of Dystopia?"

Mirage's expression became blank and just stood on the spot silently.

***

Mirage opened his mouth and helplessly said.

"I really don't know you, little girl. Let's just say that I'm a country bumpkin that lived a life under the rock, so could you please stop pestering me now?"

Although he was quite offended because of the spell she had used on him earlier, he still nevertheless treated her with great patience as he was a bit wary that the town guards might question him for the reasons about the abandonment of an 'innocent' little girl like her on this busy of a street.

He could do just that, but he didn't want to stir up unnecessary trouble to the guards as well, thus he just let her be and let her follow him like an annoying buzzing fly.

She, the said Great Illusionist has already been pestering him for half an hour just because he did not know of her 'great name', he felt dizzy because of the endless barrage of questioning from her and he even felt that he might get brainwashed if she would continue her pesky attitude for another hour.

He was tired physically and mentally and just wished for the girl to leave him alone but it seems that this girl was conceived out of a malevolent ghost because she was still stubbornly sticking close to him all this time.

She even started to state all of her 'glorious' achievements in the past yet he did not even know of the authenticity of her claims thus he did not know if what she was saying were all true or just made-up lies.

He couldn't take it anymore thus he stopped in his tracks and pleadingly looked at the girl and said.

"A renowned person like you should be quite busy all day, don't you have things that you need to attend to? I am really busy right now because I need to go out of town later to earn my keep, so could you please leave me alone?"

Upon hearing that he was leaving the town, the little girl's purple eyes started to shine and glittered brightly and excitedly asked him with anticipation.

"You're going out of town as well? How about you let me accompany you on your travel? It's quite dangerous to travel alone inside the vast Misty Forest after all."

He wanted to reject her when he suddenly received a notification on his game screen.

[ A quest has been generated. Tap to open and see the quest's further details. ]

< Quest Information >

[ Great Illusionist Mercedes' Request ]

[ Rating: 2 stars ] [ Type: Hidden Quest ]

[ Details: Mercedes wants you to accompany her out of town to explore the Misty Forest with her for a whole day. ]

[ Clear Requirements: Accompany Mercedes for 24 hours. ]

[ Clear Rewards: Mercedes' Favorability (10), EXP (1,000), Gold (10). ]

[ Quest Failure: Mercedes' Favorability (-10), Player Level (-1). ]

He did not expect for a quest to get generated all of a sudden and the next thing he knew was that he's already back inside the dreadful Misty Forest again, but this time a little girl is accompanying him on his journey.

Well, he didn't really mind her presence though as the quest rewards she gave were really quite good and could even be called bountiful.

He could also ride her bus- erm no, it was so that he could seek her help to bring justice to the 'grievances' he suffered at that Goblin Castle.

He was lost in his wild fantasies when the little girl had unknowingly led him towards the deeper recesses of the Misty forest, her eyes were glowing brightly as she led the way.

***

In front of the stupefied Mirage was a pack of average size brown dire wolves that were greedily staring at them with their vicious predatory eyes.

He gulped and subconsciously took a step back but then he remembered that there's a little girl that he had to 'protect', thus he braced himself and courageously took a step forward.

He reached down his right hand and unsheathed the sharp bone dagger tied to his waist, he then said to Mercedes without looking back.

"Stay behind me and I will deal with these dogs."

He sounded extremely valiant and heroic yet she only looked at him with an odd gaze but she did not say anything and just did as she was told and silently stood behind him.

She was silently thinking to herself while staring at his back.

'I could've easily dealt with these wolves with a single flick of my hands but then I will only dampen his heroic spirit and deal a huge blow to his confidence if I chose to interfere now.'

The pack of wolves slowly crept their way towards Mirage and Mercedes while some wolves were left behind to go behind them and attack their flanks.

He saw this and he had no plans to let them complete their encirclement thus she immediately leaped and slashed his dagger towards the wolf nearest to him.

He managed to land a hit at the neck of the wolf thus he unhesitatingly proceeded to stab its sides while the wolf beside it immediately came to its rescue and fiercely lunged towards him.

The mouth of the wolf was wide open and it looked as if it would bite his head off if he didn't move, but then Mirage had already sensed its approach thus he did a graceful jump backward.

He was like an immortal crane that used its white and sharp feathers (bone dagger) to attack its targets while it elegantly flew in the air and avoid the attacks that were aimed at it.

Mercedes was quietly observing his actions at the back and at this moment shock was visible on her adorably cute face.

'How could there be someone as graceful and as handsome as this youth? He's not that strong but there's potential in him that maybe I could train.'

She was lost in her thoughts of accepting Mirage as her disciple while her eyes were fixed on the fierce fight happening right in front of her.

[ < LV7 Dire Wolf > has been slain. 50 EXP has been awarded for the kill. ]

A kill notification appeared on his game screen but he ignored it as he was quite busy dealing with the rest of the wolves.

He should have a harder time dealing with this ferocious pack of wolves and yet he was able to deal with them quite easily?

He was confused but he did not even have the energy to think of this as there were still wolves waiting to be dealt with.

There are no problems with this as long as it could help him with his current situation.

There are some wolves that occasionally 'missed' their attacks on him albeit narrowly, he would've suffered a troublesome injury if those attacks had really managed to hit him.

He had killed another wolf when he noticed Mercedes at the corner of his eyes who watched him with an interested expression.

He then immediately linked the strange actions that the wolves had displayed to her and knew that she had helped him deal with the fatal attacks for him.

He greatly appreciated her actions thus without further thinking, he directed a thankful smile towards her to show his appreciation.

Seeing him smile while his body was covered with the various wolves' blood made the curious expression of Mercedes froze in fear.

At this moment, Mirage just looked like a psychopath that found his next target thus she subconsciously backed off with her body feeling cold all over.