Chapter 182: The Familiar Stranger

Rhode had always thought that there would be no one here because all the way here, there were no signs of battle at all. That was why he was sure that no one had walked that path before. However, it seemed now that his judgement had been overturned since right now, there were two people before him.

"Leader? What happened?"

While Rhode was surprised, Anne walked toward him while carrying the shield behind her. Although usually she always looked sleepy and careless, she had sensitive reactions in battle. When she saw Rhode stop walking, she could immediately see that there was some trouble ahead. That was why she quickly prepared for battle. When Anne saw the scene before her, she was also very surprised.

Under the dark magic light, Rhode couldn't clearly see the appearance of the two people in front of him. They seemed to be one male, one female—a young girl and an old man. They were currently being surrounded and seemed to be at loss. The Goblins were waving around the weapons in their hands while the girl held a sharp dagger in her hands. However, it didn't seem to be any use.

What are they doing?

Rhode hesitated for a while then shook his head. He didn't know what was happening, but no matter what, he couldn't just let them die before him. That was why Rhode quickly raised his sword and attacked the Goblins that seemed to be very happy, moving back and forth as if they were intoxicated.

"Anne, go protect them." After saying this, Rhode activated Shadow Flash and quickly killed the Goblins.

To those Goblins, Rhode's arrival was just like the beginning of a nightmare. Glittering sword light instantly sent them into the air, precisely ending their lives. At first, the Goblins didn't seem to know what was happening, so they panicked. Only when their comrades' corpses fell onto the ground did they wake up from their dream and quickly run away. However, they were still unable to change their fate and a crescent moon-shaped light penetrated their body, completely stopping their screams.

At this moment, Rhode put down his sword and looked at the two people before him.

Neither seemed to be an adventurer.

The young girl was wearing glasses and her golden hair fell over her shoulders. She looked very quiet and was wearing an ordinary travel robe. She was holding nothing besides the dagger in her hand. Standing behind her, the old man dressed almost the same as her, the only difference was, he's holding a stick. It seemed to be for his self protection.

"You are..."

Looking at the two people before him, Rhode frowned. Their sudden appearance really made him puzzled and the way they dressed didn't make it seem like they were here for an adventure. This place was considered very dangerous and usually normal people wouldn't came here. But these two actually walked passed the Goblins and Four Clawed Lizard "defenselessly" and arrived here. It really didn't make any sense... This place wasn't too far from the core.

Not only that, what made Rhode even more puzzled was that those two people looked very familiar. It felt like he had seen them somewhere before. This familiar feeling really made him perplexed. When he met them, he had almost called out their names, but he didn't do so because he didn't know whether he should do so.

Who are they?

The girl before him wasn't a beauty, but she looked elegant and quiet, with a pair of big eyes gave her a dexterous and lovely feeling. Rhode was sure that he had never seen her before, and the same went for the old man behind her. However, they looked very familiar.

"You are..." Rather than guessing, it was better to ask them directly.

"Thank you for your help." Hearing Rhode's question, the girl thanked him and bowed. "My name is Alice. This is my teacher, Fabran. We are wandering scholars and we came here to investigate something. Unexpectedly, we encountered those Goblins and were really surprised."

"Scholar?" Hearing her introduction, Rhode once again observed them. Indeed, they did look like scholars. He had also encountered similar things in the game, but his inner doubts did not disappear.

"In such a dangerous place? Didn't you guys encounter any trouble?"

"We're quite confidence in that." Facing Rhode's question, she smiled, took out a compass, then showed it to them.

"We have this. Through it, we can find out about those evil, terrible monsters in advance and avoid them... It was always smooth since the beginning, but we don't know why when we came to this hall, those Goblins suddenly rushed over as if they found something, and so we were trapped..."

Having said that, the girl showed a troubled expression. Rhode glanced at Anne with weird expression. Of course, they knew the reason why those Goblins rushed toward here; it must be caused by his attacks from before, and the two accidentally encountered them... If she was telling the truth, then it was Rhode who put them in a dangerous position!

"This is a very dangerous place." Rhode decisively tossed this matter aside since he had a more important thing to do. "I suggest you to leave this place earlier because these ruin aren't as simple as you think. Those monsters have already been eradicated by us; you can directly leave from here."

Having said that Rhode nodded toward them.

"Then, I'm going to leave first." Having said that, Rhode signalled Anne to leave. However, at this moment, that girl called out to him.

"That... please wait, Sir."

"Is there a problem?" Hearing the girl's voice, Rhode stopped his step, turned around, and asked. He looked at her expression carefully, and suddenly he had a hunch that this girl would show him an apologetic smile, after which she would ask to go together with them.

At this moment, seeing Rhode, the girl showed an apologetic smile and asked. "Excuse me... but can we go together with you?"

What's going on?

His doubts were getting stronger. He could swear to the heavens that he had never seen this girl before, but his consciousness didn't think so. From the first time he saw this girl, he felt that she was very familiar; whether what she was going to do or say, he seemed to be able to guess it beforehand... It was too illogical, right? Rhode recalled the list of hundreds of NPCs in the Paphield region in his mind, but he was 100 percent sure that he had never seen this girl called 'Alice'.

But why did he feel that this girl was very familiar?

"I'm sorry, but I can't bring you guys together with us." Rhode couldn't find the reason, but he didn't plan to bring them with him either. "We have something we want to do here. We're very sorry, but we don't have the time to do such an unnecessary thing."

Rhode once again shook his head and rejected her. He hadn't yet figured out the uneasiness in his heart, which was why there was no way he would bring these two people along. Although on the surface, there's nothing strange and they both also looked defenseless, he didn't want to take any risks. There were so many examples of this kind-hearted behavior leading to a bad ending in the game. There were even players that helped NPCs who had experienced hardships and difficulties in the labyrinth until they reached the destination, but in the end, the seemingly harmless NPC would transform into a hidden boss. Rhode was not willing to waste time on such things; it was just increasing unnecessary danger.

Hearing Rhode's words, the old man behind him snorted as if he were dissatisfied with his answer. However, the girl still smiled and asked. "Please don't say something like that, Sir. From the way you dressed... you guys are supposed to be adventurers, right. How about I give you some reward? And... I can guarantee that I'll just follow along from behind and won't cause any trouble. How about it?"

Having said that, the girl smiled and lifted her head. He didn't know whether he saw it incorrectly or not, but at that moment, there seemed to be a golden light in her eyes.