As far as Arthur knew, the Resident Mage was known to be a recluse.
His nature and attitude made it so that not many liked him and those who tested his temper were given harsh treatment. This resulted in most people staying away from him, including the NPCs and the players.
Of course, for the players, this happened much later. They didn't have the same thinking as the NPCs and went to extreme lengths to test the temper of the old man. Only after several players were irreversibly harmed did the others decided to stop.
The Resident Mage had basically trapped their characters in a prison such that even if they logged out and logged back in, they would still stay in there. No matter how much the players tried, they had no way to escape.
It reached a point where the players had no option but to give up on their accounts and start anew. Thankfully this was just the newbie village, and even if they had lost their progress, it wasn't enough to make them suffer too much.
But after seeing this, a lot of players decided that it was better to not interact with the man. After all, he didn't even give them any quests or rewards by default. The quest that Arthur had embarked on was difficult to acquire and the complexity was something that would make most people give up.
After the initial month or two of the Game's launch, most players would focus on getting out of the newbie village. Thus, they wouldn't waste their time in talking to NPCs which would only delay their progress.
Additionally, by that time, most of the guides about initial leveling had been developed. Players would simply follow those and skip any other quests that would hinder their growth. Though this was something that was also limited to only the Kestrel village.
The Resident mage was unique to this place after all. Or rather, this particular Resident mage was a unique NPC.
Due to having known all this, Arthur was confused as to why there was another person talking to the man. The man was dressed in the equipment of a warrior. He had full body armor, but had no helmet. Under his armor, one could see black leather armor while a long sword hung on his back.
A shield was also placed on his back, the long sword diagonal to it. The shield was rather plain, having a rough metal surface with no particular mark or design. Though overall, it looked tough.
'Who is that?' Arthur wondered as the two men talked a bit loudly.
"You don't understand Bernard!" A man dressed in the clothes of a warrior spoke. "If you do not tell us, things will only get difficult!" he said out loud.
"Humph! No matter how many times you ask, my answer will be the same." The Resident mage denied.
But Arthur who heard their words, picked up on some new information.
'His name is Bernard? I don't think it was ever mentioned before… they just called him Resident Mage.' Arthur recalled.
Feeling curious, Arthur used the inspect skill on the man.
>Inspect partially successful!<
——
Target: Resident Mage Bernard (NPC)
Class: ???
Level: ???
HP: 100%
MP: 100%
——
"Huh… it really is true." Arthur confirmed.
This was one of the roundabout ways to confirm the truth in the world of Somnium. If one learned new information and it was pertaining to a person or object, depending on the rank of the appraisal skill one could confirm it.
If the information was true, the Inspect Skill which was unable to glance at the information before would suddenly show it. Of course, other bits of information would still be kept hidden and one would need to learn it themselves or get a stronger appraisal skill.
But for Arthur, just this was good enough.
'What about that guy?' Arthur used the skill on the warrior as well.
>Inspect failed!<
But much to his surprise, the skill just failed right away.
'He must be a lot higher in level.' Arthur could guess.
Just as he had thought this though, he heard the conversation get tense.
"Why do you do this? You could have easily lived a good life and yet you chose to defy everyone and came to live here." The warrior replied with frustration in his voice. "Just… just tell us about their whereabouts and you will be gladly welcomed back. You don't need to live in this backwater anymore." He persuaded.
But the old man was as stubborn as a mule, not moving an inch.
"If you think you can threaten me, Doyle you are mistaken." The old man retorted. "I may be old, but I can still kick you out of here!" Resident Mage Bernard said as a wave of energy spread out from him.
Arthur who felt it knew that it was mana and that a fight was about to break out here.
The expression of the warrior also got tense before he shook his head.
"Fine! If you don't want to tell me, you will just have to bear the consequence yourself." The warrior named Doyle said before turning around.
But in this time, Bernard spoke, "If you think I am intimidated by this, you are wrong. I came to this village and will serve my punishment as ordered." The man proudly shook his head.
Sigh!
The warrior simply let out a sigh before leaving through the gate. Arthur had already noticed that the warrior was coming his way and had thus ducked away.
It avoided any attention from the warrior and he didn't expose any clues either.
"Come in. How long are you intending to listen in?" unsurprisingly, Bernard had noticed Arthur and his actions.
After all, he had spells set up all around the perimeter and would know if anyone was near.
"Sorry…" Arthur apologized while being careful.
"Hmm… So did you find anything? Or did you come here empty handed?" Bernhard questioned.
"I did… I managed to get this." Arthur said before taking out the statue.