Chapter 5: Secret Quest

As the three of them started walking through the street, Ryth saw how the village was bursting with vitality. There were people who are pushing their carts along the streets and there were people who are reaping their grains. There were also little kids playing with each other, running around with a smile on their faces.

Up in the sky, the sun shone brightly as the wind made a slight relaxing atmosphere. These made the moods of the people who felt it, better. This perfect morning help motivates people to do their best and become more energetic.

After some time walking, Hill asked, "My lord, this is not the way to the dungeon. We actually walked too deep into the center of the village where we should have turned left earlier, not right."

Ryth lightly smiled and replied. "No, we are actually on the right track. We won't head to the dungeon right away because we will need to stop at a certain place."

"Where are we headed to, my lord?" asked Llyod curiously.

"I told you guys already, didn't I? stop calling me 'My lord', call me 'Myth' instead. We need to avoid any suspicion." answered Ryth.

"O-okay, Myt... lord." Llyod replied awkwardly.

Hill rolled his eyes at Llyod and said. "Don't worry my lo... Myth. I will make sure he do what you just told us to do."

Llyod Rebuked. "Heh, even you nearly said i-" before he could finish his sentence, Hill nudged Llyod with his elbow. "Focus." Hill said. Llyod didn't say anything and shrugged his shoulder and sighed. "Okay..."

Ryth shooked his head and smiled. "We are going to meet a certain person first."

Llyod and Hill got confused and after some time, Llyod asked. "Who? We are supposed to not know anyone on this village..." then like a lightning struck him, he came to a realization, gave a light smile and continued, "As expected of my lo- Myth! You have already gather the information that we needed! Haha!"

"Uhm, actually I just asked Mr. Roland yesterday whether there is a blacksmith or not in this village. And he said that there was a blacksmith, but now he's retired and become a stockbreeder. He broke his arm long ago so now we are going to meet him." Replied Ryth with a smile.

Seeing Ryth brimming with confidence, the two of them decided to not ask anything and trust their lord's decision.

When they walked to the inner area of the village, many kids shouted.

"Hey, Look! They wear armors and carried a weapon on their backs! There is one guy who has a sword on his left waist!" exclaimed one of the kids.

"Oh, it's true! Are they adventurers?" said the other one.

"Although their armors looked worn, they are so cool! I want to become an adventurer when i grow up!"

After they received some equipments from Mr. Roland, they are now fully equiped with armors and each of them carried a weapon. Ryth wore a dark blue leather armor and carried a sword on his left side. Llyod, on the other hand, carried a great big sword on his back, wearing a leather armor too. Although he prefers to wear plate armors, but Mr. Roland doesn't own one. So he only could wear the leather armor. Hill, of course, being the archer have chosen a magnificent big bow for his choice of weapon. He carried many arrows on his back as well. He wore a black leather hoodie and black leather trouser.

Ryth smiled and said. "Haha, kids sure have full of energy." Seeing kids playing with smile on their faces reminds Ryth of his younger sister. Ryth smiled bitterly and shooked his head. He turned his head towards Llyod and Hill and said. "We are almost there."

Ryth stopped in the front of a big house. It was a humble house with gardens but it is quite huge. There were sounds of chickens that could be heard from behind the house. Just as Ryth was about to knock on the door, a big man had already opened the door and greeted them.

"Hello, I'm the owner of this house. Are you guys here to buy some eggs or chickens?" the man smiled as he asked the three of them.

Ryth's right eye lit up. "Ruddy! Yeah, This is great!" Ryth said to himself. "With him here, i could obtain new equipments any time I want as long as I could heal his arm!" thought Ryth. Ruddy looked like he is in his early fifthies, with brown short hair and brown beard. With slightly sharp eyes, thick eyebrows and brown skin, you can see how much intelligence he had from his years of experience in life. His body is huge with his height around 185 cm. Even Lloyd had to slightly tilt his head to look up at Ruddy's face.

Ruddy is actually one of the NPCs in 'The Throne' that gives players a secret quest. The quest cannot be triggered if the players didn't come to his house and saw the smithing inside. After they saw the smithing inside, they could ask why Mr. Ruddy stopped being a blacksmith and he would give the player a quest to obtain something to cure his arm. In return, Mr. Ruddy will make weapons and armors for the players for free. As long as they had the materials needed, he would make anything for them. Even Ryth found this secret quest by coincidence.

Although he's excited but he tried his best to remain calm and then said. "Good morning, Mr. Ruddy. I'm Myth, and this is Llyod and Hill. We are actually not here to buy chickens but rather we are here to discuss some other matter with you."

Mr. Ruddy looked a bit confused, but then he said. "Uhm, okay... come in, lets talk inside."

The four of them walked inside the house and once they were inside, they saw a smithing and many equipments for blacksmithing. But they were dusty and the smithing looked like it has not been used for a long time. They walked straight to the living room and once inside, Mr. Ruddy turned around and said. "Please sit."

After all of them had sit down on the chairs, Mr. Ruddy asked curiously. "May i know what is the thing that you want to discuss with me?"

Ryth smiled and said. "Mr. Ruddy, we know you are an esteemed blacksmith, so we want you to make some equipments for us. Of course, we will prepare the materials ourselves and once the equipments are ready, we will pay you."

Mr. Ruddy looked slightly surprised and then he smiled bitterly, saying "Uhm, I think you should already know that I can't make any weapons nor equipments anymore." He then pointed at his arm and continued, "See? This hand? It was broken a few years ago. I can't even exert any power to my right arm."

Ryth smiled and with confidece shown on his face, he said. "What if I could heal your arm completely?"

Mr. Ruddy stood up, slamming his left hand to the coffee table beside his seat and asked with a loud voice. "YOU CAN HEAL MY RIGHT HAND?! REALLY?" he has an excited but anxious look on his face.

Llyod and Hill, both were surprised too. They did not know that Young Master Ryth could even heal a wound, much less a broken hand. They keep thinking to themselves, 'Since when did lord Ryth could use any high tier healing magic?'

Ryth already knew what kind of reaction Mr. Ruddy would show to them, so he lightly smiled, tapped his index finger on the table as he said. "To be exact, it's not me who can heal your injury, but a certain item. I can obtain it for you but in exchange, once your injury is healed, I want you to make us some equipments. I will also give you the materials needed to make those equipments. what do you think?"

Mr. Ruddy couldn't believe what he had just heard and asked, trembling with excitement, "Really? You really mean it?"

"Of course, I give you a hundred percent guarantee that it could heal your injury." Replied Ryth with a smile.

"That's great news! In fact, if its really true, then I definitely will make all the equipment for all of you and also, I won't even charge you for the smithing fees! If you really could heal my arm, I will make anything you want!" repeated Mr. Ruddy with anticipation on his eyes.

Ryth laughed and extended his right hand towards Mr. Ruddy as he said. "Okay, I interpret it as an agreement that you have accepted my offer."

Mr. Ruddy felt that he could trust Ryth without any doubt. He then took Ryth's right hand and shaked it. "We have a deal!"

Ryth naturally know that this item he need to find is a very rare item in 'The Throne'. The fact that Mr. Ruddy, an NPC from that game is really here, proved that his deduction about 'The Throne' and this world are the same is right. The difference were only the names of the villages, cities and kingdoms. He also know the true value of this item. A single drop of it could heal all of the injuries and sickness one would have. For this item, a mere broken arm was simply an easy task to be dealt with. This item is called 'Dragon's tears'. Like its name stated, it's a potion dropped from defeating a dragon. The effect of this potion is just too great.

He already expected that Mr. Ruddy knew about the potion, because in the game, when Ryth had accepted the secret quest from him, Mr. Ruddy had told him that he also issued a quest to some adventurer he know. But none of them succeed in obtaining it. So Ryth know, that Mr. Roland would agree to his offer and wouldn't charge for the smithing fees. Ryth was just saying about the smithing fees as a gesture of formality.

Mr. Ruddy tried to calm his mind as he sat back on the chair and said. "It's Dragon's tears potion, right?"

Ryth smiled and nodded his head.

"I don't know where your confidence came from, but as long as you can heal my right hand, i will make anything you want." Replied Mr. Ruddy.

"Okay, we will go to obtain the item now. See you tomorrow, Mr. Ruddy." Ryth slightly bowed his head to Mr. Ruddy. He then turned his head towards Llyod and Hill, signaling them that it's time to raid the dungeon. Both of them stood up from their seat and followed behind Ryth as he walked out the door.

Mr. Ruddy was slightly shocked about the reply Ryth gave him, saying that they would return tomorrow. That potion is not something like cabbage! You won't find it in some random places! But then he heaved a heavy sigh, because although he was a little sceptical about it, but deep inside his heart, he wanted them to succeed.

The three of them headed out to the dungeon. After two hours of walking, they finally arrived at a huge dungeon entrance.

"Okay, Dragon's Tears potion, Here we come!"