"Thanks guys~" Atlas patted both of their shoulders gently and smiled warmly at them before leaving the tavern with Ferin.
Just as he had guessed, this quest needed to be finished in real-time. It couldn't be done by skipping all steps and triggering a specific event. They had to take time and slowly find the clue themselves, and that meant investigating the NPCs and talking with them, getting information from them, and figuring out their relationships to each other.
"BunBunBoy hides such information, huh? Or maybe not. He shared where he went and did but not how he did it." Atlas muttered softly under his breath as he walked toward the Blacksmith with Ferin following closely behind him while holding his hand tightly.
"Is he really that stupid, At? Even I know that it's better to keep quiet than to explain everything about a quest." Ferin tilted her head slightly while staring at Atlas curiously with a curious expression on her face and asked him with a curious tone in her voice, "Maybe he wants more attention."
"It's a possibility." Atlas nodded his head slowly at Ferin's suggestion before smiling wryly at her while shaking his head slowly and said with an amused tone in his voice, "Or maybe he wants to let others learn from his experience. Who knows? We've arrived now. Let's just finish this fast before Night Cycle arrives."
"Right." Ferin nodded her head and looked around at the people passing by before noticing something strange, "Isn't this area supposed to be busy with NPCs? Why is there no one here?"
"Maybe it's part of the quest." Atlas replied, looking around as well until he noticed someone was lying inside the blacksmith store, "Or maybe... Something happened here."
They rushed toward the shop and found a Dwarf NPC lying unconsciously on the floor with a pool of red liquid underneath him. There were no wounds on his body, and the liquid...
"It's wine." Ferin said after sniffing the liquid on the ground while crouching beside the man and stared at him seriously with a disbelief written all over her face. "This man was drinking and knocked himself unconscious."
"Seems like it." Atlas agreed with her judgment while looking around carefully before noticing a broken bottle of wine beside the unconscious man, "More importantly, this NPC is probably the blacksmith who stole the item from Fyll the Archmage. It must be related to the quest."
Ferin raised her eyebrows.
"Wow, Horizon Online sure is full of surprises. This man is an NPC related to the hidden quest? Who would've thought?" She commented while staring at Atlas curiously before smiling mischievously at him, "Let's wake him up then!"
"I'll leave it to you." He said, stepping away from the man.
Waking up the NPCs was a pain because you had to wait for them to wake up by themselves. You couldn't use healing spells or potions on them. They wouldn't wake up that way.
However, a veteran player found a way to make NPCs wake up faster after many trials and errors. There were many ways, but the easiest way to wake up a Dwarf NPC was what they were trying to do.
Ferin grabbed the Dwarf collar and lifted him. He didn't wake up yet from this, so she picked up the broken bottle beside him and poured the rest of the wine into his mouth while using a gentle force to push him down on the floor.
It took a few seconds before the Dwarf's eyes snapped open suddenly, and he started coughing violently while gasping for air as he struggled to sit up while grabbing his head tightly while groaning weakly in pain.
"Ugh..." He groaned painfully while glaring at Ferin angrily without knowing what happened and asked her in annoyance, "What do you want?! Why did you pour wine in my mouth?!"
"Isn't it a disgrace for a Dwarf if they don't finish their drink? We helped you out, so you owe us." Ferin responded while looking at him with a mischievous grin, "Or maybe you didn't finish the wine on purpose? Sorry if that's the case. We spilled it a little bit when we tried to make you drink."
The Dwarf blinked, looking at the wine on the floor. His expression soured and he grumbled.
"Grr... I guess I do owe you one." He mumbled softly while shaking his head lightly and sighed in resignation while staring at Ferin with a slightly guilty expression on his face, "So what do you want from me?"
Atlas approached him and sat on the chair nearby before leaning toward him and asked with a curious tone in his voice, "Have you seen a pair of gloves? Patterned with strange symbols and emit faint light? One of my friends left it in the tavern last night, and we're searching for it."
"A pair of gloves?" The Dwarf blacksmith tilted his head slightly at Atlas' question and stared at him with a confused expression on his face while tilting his head slightly.
"I might have seen it in the tavern too when I was there last night. It's a peculiar item, for sure. I don't remember much, but I do remember someone with a scorpion tattoo in arm took it." He said honestly with a serious tone in his voice while looking straight into Atlas' eyes without hesitation as he spoke toward him seriously.
"A scorpion tattoo in arm?" Ferin frowned at his words and glanced at Atlas worriedly with a concerned expression on her face while staring at him intently.
He nodded at her. It was just the same as the information he had received before from BunBunBoy, so he believed it. The clues matched.
"Well, that's our next clue." Atlas said with a calm expression on his face before standing up slowly from his chair and smiled brightly at the Dwarf, "Thank you for your time."
[Ding! Hidden quest is updated.]
[Follow the clue and investigate the missing gloves! Find the man with a scorpion tattoo in arm.
Reward: Unknown]
This quest was getting closer to completion. They had to find this man and figure out what he did with the gloves.
"No problem, young lads. Come to me if you need to fix your equipment. For saving me from a biggest Dwarf disgrace, I will give you a discount!" The Dwarf blacksmith declared proudly with a cheerful tone in his voice while grinning brightly at Atlas and Ferin before waving goodbye toward them, "Come back soon!"
[Blacksmith Karsan is happy! You have gained +10 reputation.]
[You are now friendly with Blacksmith Karsan.]
"Alright~"
Atlas and Ferin smiled back at him. The reputation was something they didn't need, but it was nice to have it. It gave them a slight edge over other players, especially for Atlas who was known for his social nature with NPCs.
Their next destination was obvious now.
"Let's find this guy with a scorpion tattoo. I know where he is." Atlas said confidently without any hesitation while staring at Ferin with a smile. "This is supposed to be the hardest part, according to BunBunBoy. But with the information we have, we just have to go to his place without asking many NPCs."
Ferin tilted her head slightly and smiled mischievously at him. "Good. Let's go!"