How can the ring be of use to Ye Ci?
The ring had no real use other than helping her to gain the trust of Andrei. I could not put Fa'tar to sleep, allowing Ye Ci to safely rescue Andrei. It could not stop the patrolling soldiers from spotting her, nor could it allow her to walk into the dungeon to Andrei's rescue.
In short, the ring was far less useful than the Lethal Poison.
However, there was still an upside to it. Ye Ci did not have to end the life of Fa'tar. This meant that Red Lake City could continue to flourish and prosper. Ye Ci felt that she was a noble person. She even thought of the future of Red Lake City in the process of completing her quest. I deserve the Best Citizen Award!
Of course, it was just Ye Ci's fantasy. Her Brooch of Deceit could only be used to disguise herself, and would not work on anybody else. She could not disguise Andrei as a soldier and bring him out of the dungeon. This meant that she could no longer complete the quest. A distressed Ye Ci sat fishing at the bank of the moat not far away from the prison. Although appearing to be fishing, Ye Ci was actually deep in thought. A few of the fishes that she caught even managed to escape.
Just as Ye Ci was at her wit's end, two soldiers walked past h, while having a conversation. One could easily miss their words if one was not paying attention to them.
In Fate, every NPC had their own thoughts, which would affect their decision making, actions and emotions. If a player paid attention, he or she could always notice that every NPCs exhibited a different behavior, and their dialogues are not repetitive.
The attention to details of the game was very impressive.
Ye Ci was originally not interested in having conversations with NPCs. After all, as a reincarnator, she has experienced a lot of such instances in her past life. She was not at all amazed by such a feature. Fate in its later stages was even more realistic than its current state.
However, today was different for Ye Ci. She was extremely agitated, and could not focus on the problem the she was facing. When the two NPC soldiers walked past Ye Ci, she chanced upon their conversation.
"Aiya, I'm so tired! We've been patrolling the streets a lot, but our salary is so low." Soldier A stretched himself, he was very tired.
"I know right! I barely have enough to drink after handing part of my salary to my wife." said Solder B. It was apparent that Lord Sha'gar have not been giving his troops a raise for a long time.
"See? It's good to be single. Even if my salary is little, I can still spend them on drinking and playing cards. I get to spend all the money for myself, unlike you who has a wife and children to take care of." Soldier A chuckled.
"You don't know how good it is to get married." Soldier B shook his head and sighed, "No matter how you look at it though, it's true that we've been earning too little. When can I earn as much as our Chief Warden?"
"Dream on, buddy!" Soldier A chuckled, but he seemed to harbor the same sentiment for Chief Warden Fa'tar as well, "Say, we're all basically doing the same job, but we don't get to rest, eat lousy food, and our pay is shit! The guy Fa'tar on the other hand gets to enjoy lavish meals. Hell, he even gets to have his afternoon naps. He's not even doing anything, but he's earning way more than us! We're all the same, but why are we treated so differently?"
"That's just too unfair." said Soldier B as he pointed at the hot sun, "Look at that goddamn sun. We don't even get to rest, or find somewhere shady to hide away from the sun, but Fa'tar gets to have his afternoon nap! This is really, really unfair!"
"Yup! What a jerk! He's always so strict as well! We'll have our wages deducted for the slightest mistake we made! I hope he screws up big time someday! I'll be happy to see him get sacked by Lord Sha'gar."
That was the conversation between the two NPC as they walked past Ye Ci.
The simple grumbling between two NPCs that appeared so trivial was like a light in Ye Ci's darkest moment. She was able to finally come up with a plan that would allow her to rescue Andrei from the prison.
However, the plan required an extensive planning and careful observation. Ye Ci could not afford to act rashly. There was only one chance for her to succeed. If she failed, she might never be able to complete the quest ever again.
Bai Mo was curious why Ye Ci would always disappear during noon time every single day. Because of that, he was forced to allow a short 30 minutes break for the guild's dungeon-clearing activity or find a replacement for Ye Ci's position. No longer able to tolerate such behavior, Bai Mo finally asked before heading into the dungeon.
"Oh great Gongzi You, where are you headed this afternoon?"
Ye Ci chuckled at Bai Mo, "What do you think?"
"Stop joking around, just where are you going? Don't you feel guilty that the rest of us have to wait for you in the dungeon everyday?" Bai Mo grabbed hold at Ye Ci's cape as she was about to leave, "You're not going anywhere today if you don't give me an answer."
"Aiya, it's just for a little while. You can just find a replacement or clear some monsters away, you don't have to wait for me."
"The reason…" Bai Mo refused to allow Ye Ci's escape without a satisfying answer. He clung on to her cape. We can do this all day long.
"It's for an Epic-tier quest." Ye Ci was initially reluctant to reveal the nature of the quest to anyone before she completed the quest. She was not someone who would boast about things. She preferred to quietly inform the people who were close to her after the quest was done. If Bai Mo did not stop her from leaving on this day, she would never have told him the truth.
"An Epic-tier quest?" Bai Mo was momentarily stunned. He then let go of Ye Ci, "Where did you get it?"
Ye Ci checked the game time. It was the time when Fa'tar was about to have his afternoon nap after having his lunch. She had no time to spare. "I'll tell you about it later. This is a very crucial moment for it. If I screw this up, I'm not going to complete this quest." said Ye Ci as she activated the City Recalling Stone.
Bai Mo knew about the rarity of such quests, and the uncertainty when it came to completing quests like this. He immediately let Ye Ci go and waved at her, "Go, I'll get someone to replace you."
"Okay. Alright then.." Ye Ci disappeared from Bai Mo's view with a flash of white light before she could finish her sentence.
Ye Ci immediately headed to the area near the prison when she arrived in Red Lake City. After a few days of careful observation, Ye Ci could imitate Fa'tar's behavior almost perfectly. Of course, she would always disguise herself using the Brooch of Deceit as she observed Fa'tar.
As usual, after a short while after a soldier delivered lunch into Fa'tar's office, he came out of the place and headed back to his home in the city center. Ye Ci was disguised as a Dwarven Warrior nearby, pretending to be shopping in one of the shops.
"Good afternoon, Lord Fa'tar."
The merchants in the city would always greet Fa'tar when they heard the clinking of his heavy armor. Despite being a mere Chief Warden, Fa'tar played a more important role than the general of the city's garrison. He was in charge of keeping any criminals locked away and protecting the safety of the merchants and NPC in the city.
This was also the reason why Ye Ci avoided robbing the NPCs within the city, and could only pick on the NPCs in the surrounding villages. No matter how strong she was, Ye Ci would be wiped out if she took on Fa'tar, who was a lvl 100 Elite NPC.
"Good day, how are you?" Fa'tar was strict only to his subordinates and vicious only to his enemies. He was a very friendly person to the other normal NPCs. Of course, players were not classified as NPCs, and Fa'tar would usually view players with disdain. As an NPC that came from a noble bloodline, Fa'tar hated the players, who were commonly known by the NPCs as "outsiders". Fa'tar even thought that the law and order in Red Lake City was deteriorating because of the presence of the "outsiders".
Fa'tar's thoughts did not matter to Ye Ci. When she saw Fa'tar walking past the shop, Ye Ci immediately left the merchant district.
Ye Ci hid into an alley nearby the prison, and snuck into an abandoned house. She then activated her Brooch of Deceit. Moments later, Fa'tar emerged from the abandoned house in his shining armor..
He looked just like the real one.
This was one of the huge advantage provided by the Brooch of Deceit. A player could disguise himself or herself into any NPC that he or she has interacted with. The disguise was perfect. As long as players were able to imitate the behavior of their disguised NPC, even another NPC could not tell the difference.
That was why the soldiers posted in the prison had their wits shocked out of them when Ye Ci appeared at the entrance. They were surprised and baffled to see Fa'tar suddenly returning to the prison. The soldiers immediately stood at attention and saluted Ye Ci, "Lord Fa'tar, good afternoon."
Ye Ci snorted coldly, perfectly mimicking Fa'tar's behavior, "Good afternoon? From what I can see, the afternoon is indeed good for you!"
Ye Ci imitated Fa'tar's speech perfectly, and the Brooch of Deceit was able to emulate every single features of Fa'tar's expression. None of the soldiers realised that the Fa'tar standing in front of them was a fake one.
"Mi- Milord…"
Fa'tar was known to be overly strict to his subordinates. The soldiers knew they were in trouble, when they were caught lazing of on duty. However, Ye Ci's aim was only to intimidate the soldiers. She opted to punish them lightly and hoped that she did not arouse their suspicion.
"It seems that you think that being a soldier in Red Lake City is dry and dull. How can you doze off in such a good weather? I must punish you, so that you know what it means to be a soldier." Ye Ci exclaimed loudly with a solemn expression.
The soldiers were all shivering in fear.
"You must've grown impatient in this cool and comfortable prison. I want you to go patrol the streets, and teach those outsiders who dare to cause trouble a lesson." it was widely known that Fa'tar hated the "outsiders" and would always make such arrangements. The soldiers did not suspect a thing when they were given such an order. On the contrary, they were secretly happy that they only received a light punishment from Fa'tar.
With the soldiers out of the way, Ye Ci headed deeper into the prison. That was where the most vicious criminals in Red Lake City was held, and Andrei was one of them.
"L-lord Fa'tar, w-why are y-you here?" the soldier on duty was shocked to see Fa'tar. It was common knowledge that Fa'tar would be taking a nap at this time. Something serious must have happened if he suddenly showed up."
"What? I can't show up in the place that is under my supervision?" Ye Ci snorted, "If I did not come here today, I wouldn't have known that my loyal and hardworking subordinates are all dozing off during my nap time. You've all disgraced the image of the Red Lake City military!"
The soldier did not even dare to speak up. He was lucky that he went to bed earlier the day before, and was not tired. He would usually be dozing off at this time, and if he was caught red handed by Fa'tar… The soldier gulped. He did not even dare to imagine what would happen to him.
When the soldier saw Fa'tar heading towards the cells holding the criminals, he immediately handed him the keys, "Milord, are you interrogating one of the prisoners?