"Just as there are many roads to Rome, there's more than one way to get into the castle..."
"Such as?"
"Well, for example... hmm... uh, ah... hang on, let me think..."
In a dim, closed room at the end of the second-floor hallway of the Drunken Bird tavern, Ye Ao Nai He stood surrounded by the other four. They were cracking their knuckles, their faces twisted with anger and menace.
They had every reason to be furious. Ye Ao Nai He was the reason they had lost the jobs that would have let them infiltrate the castle guard... he had attacked someone and beaten him to death. In fact, he had fucking killed three people.
He had screwed everything up. Why shouldn't the other players be angry?
After Ye Ao Nai He hemmed and hawed for a good while without offering an answer, the other four finally lost patience. They rolled up their sleeves, surrounded him, and gave him a thorough pounding.
Outside the door, Valentin couldn't bear to listen anymore either. With a sigh, he pushed the door open and walked in.
"All right, all right, stop hitting him. I've heard something that might get you inside."
Valentin's words immediately brought the players' brawl to a halt, and they quickly gathered around him.
"Really!?"
"Shit, the NPC's the reliable one after all!"
"Tell us, tell us..."
"I've heard that there's going to be a banquet at Tavitsky's castle tonight. They'll need a lot of fresh ingredients..."
Ye Ao Nai He, now sporting a black eye, brightened.
"So we can disguise ourselves as vegetable farmers and sneak in while making a delivery?"
"???"
The wrinkles on Valentin's face immediately bunched together. He stared at Ye Ao Nai He in astonishment, as though he had just heard something utterly ridiculous, then