War Online

Chapter 79: World inside a portrait

Looking at the sudden quest prompt, at first, Wil was excited that some terrifying being lives on the 2nd floor but then after looking at the rewards, a frown appeared on him, "only 10K exp, and 12 silver? Sigh do I have any choice my 100 gold is still with Borris, after all."

He accepted the quest and said, "Ciara, in a couple of hours, there'll be guests here. Will you alone be enough to cook for 10 people?"

Ciara placed her arm with a fist on her chest and replied, "Leave everything to me, master. Borris already bought enough ingredients for the next week. So, we have plenty in the kitchen."

Wil nodded, "okay, I'll leave the menu to you, then. Get going."

As she rushed back to the kitchen, Wil started walking towards upstairs while sending a message to Aster.

Time Traveler: 2 hours. Our meeting will be scheduled in 2 hours at my mansion here at Deloris. And just in case, remind them that either only the Guild Leader or Vice guild leader can represent their guild in our meetings.

Shadow Blade: Understood, young master.

Reaching the first floor, he saw everything was perfectly cleaned and properly arranged too. He didn't roam around and continue to climb the stairs.

Wil frowned as he saw the corridor of the second floor is also the same, which means the servant cleaned it too.

"But, the quest says they went missing here. Maybe, one of the rooms?"

As soon as he saw the doors on either side, he realized the interior of the second floor is completely different from the first or ground floor. Perhaps, it is intended for guests. So, it looked more like an inn or a hotel.

On a long corridor, there are six rooms on the right side and five on left, with doors closed.

Wil opened the first door on the left and looked inside to see a perfectly cleaned room with a properly arranged bed, wardrobe, etc

*Ding. You stepped inside Mayor's guest room. You receive 20 exp for every second.

A smile appeared on Wil, "cool. Not as good as Royal guest room but at twice effective than Vip rooms in an inn." 

The first room on the right was also in the same condition and quite identical to it.

Wil started opening each door one by one and closing it after finding there's nothing wrong.

But, when he opened the fifth door on the left, he saw it was dusty and have spider webs here and there. Unlike the previous rooms, this one is also bigger than the rest.

He stepped inside the room

*Ding. You entered the Mayor's room. You receive 30 exp for every second. 

There are no signs of two of them but as soon as he saw the cleaning equipment and a portrait on the wall, Wil immediately came into a conclusion.

He walked towards the portrait and takes a closer look at it.

It was a portrait of a pot-bellied fat middle-aged man with a bow in one hand while gazing at a dead lion below his feet.

As soon as he inspected it, details appeared before him.

Portrait of Brier

Description: It is the portrait of Brier, who served as the 35th mayor of Deloris town.

Since there wasn't any other info, Wil frowned, "that's it? It seems like this is a normal portrait but my intuition tells me that this is the source of trouble. Is it the spirit of Mayor haunting this room?"

To test his theory, he spoke loudly, "wherever you are, come out and return my servants."

But, there was no response to his words.

"If you want to play hide and seek, then, suit yourself but this is my house now. Anything that is not related to me doesn't have the right to stay here. Just like this portrait."

Wil then walked a few steps and reached out for the portrait to throw it out.

As soon as he touched it, suddenly, his surroundings changed to a cleaner room, and then, received a notification.

*Ding. You entered an Illusionary realm

Looking at the notification and his surroundings, his lips curled up, "now, this is interesting."

An Illusionary realm is an illusion world created by the power of the mind. Its power depends on the user or the item that casts it. The more powerful the user or item, the more trouble it is to break.

There are many types of Illusionary realms. Some have monsters inside it. Some have treasures while some have memories.

But, there are common rules that all types of Illusionary realms will follow. One is that its power cannot be changed once it was cast and the caster can't control it.

Second is that once the defensive mechanisms disappear, the illusion realm will also be destroyed.

Third and final rule is that everything inside is just an illusion. You can be trapped forever but cannot be killed. Even if someone died, they'll just return to the real world.

It was one of the ways to exit the illusionary realm, although, for some strong Illusionary realms, people will just resurrect instead and go through the same thing over and over again. 

The place Wil was in is actually the same room and same mansion. He instantly realized it's the memory type. A relatively weak one that shows the memory of the person.

"According to Borris, it's been 15 years since the last mayor. So, I guess I'm at the same time period, right now. Maybe, both of them are also here. I need to find them first. But, before that"

After Wil checked his skills and realized they weren't in grey, a grin appeared on his face, "good, then let's solve it in my style."

He opened the door and exits the room and saw there's an NPC at the end of the corridor who look like in a hurry for something. Before the other guy gets to ask who Wil is

Wil raised his bow towards him and conjured a fire arrow. Before the NPC knows what's going on, an arrow that made of fire struck in his throat and he fell on the floor. A clear amount of shock was seen from his lifeless eyes. 

Wil slowly walked as he took the bow in his hand and started to climb down the stairs without glancing at the dead body.

Reaching the first floor, he walked towards one of the rooms but then, as he heard sounds coming from the ground floor, Wil turned around and continued to climb down the stairs.

As he further went down to the ground floor, Wil found two level-100 soldiers are dragging away the Mayor while the latter is pleading. From the corner of the hall, he saw four servants are watching the scene. To his surprise, two of them were Dessie and Borris.

*Ding. You found missing servants

*Ding. You completed the quest. You received 10K EXP and 12 silver.

Wil ignored it and put his entire attention is on the soldiers. 

As soon as they turned around, Wil thought it was a chance and without giving any warning, he conjured a big Fireball and threw at one of their backs.

As it struck it one of the soldiers from behind, a crt appeared and he died on the spot while his body continued to burn for the next ten seconds.

The Mayor and the other soldier jumped away in instinct after seeing him dead.

"You two, what are you doing there. Come here. Let's go back," As a cold tone resounded across the hall, "Master" both the servants cried out in excitement at the same time.