Adrian shivered and suddenly found himself contemplating the meaning of life.
He did that a lot—spiraling into random thoughts while still methodically planning his next move.
The cries for help sounded muffled, and if he listened closely, there was a faint slapping sound, like something—or someone—was beating against a barrier.
If no one was in the cemetery itself… then there was only one other place to check.
The coffin.
Buried alive.
Adrian immediately had his glowing moth spirit lower its altitude and followed the weakening cries until he spotted a grave with freshly disturbed soil.
"This is it. Dig."
Worried he'd be too late, he used his staff as a shovel and joined Skeleton Bebe in furiously digging, like his life depended on it.
The moment they cracked open the dirt, the cries grew louder.
Adrian ordered Bebe to open the coffin but instinctively took a few quick steps back the moment the lid creaked open.
Too late.
A burst of green smoke*erupted from inside, and the word \[Cursed]*immediately appeared above Bebe's head.
How vicious.
Adrian muttered under his breath.
Normally in these setups, it would be poisoned darts or toxic gas.
But since Bebe was a skeleton and had no flesh or blood, poison wouldn't affect him—that's exactly why Adrian had sent him in first.
But a curse?
That was one of Witch Alice's specialties, along with corpse poison.
Adrian opened his system interface and checked his pet's status.
Sure enough, the curse was a damage-over-time*debuff.
That meant the person in the coffin wouldn't last long either.
Adrian didn't waste another second—he used a basic wind spell to disperse the green smoke.
"Cough—cough, cough…"
Inside the coffin was a young man in plain adventurer's garb, curled up and clutching his chest in pain.
He struggled to lift his head and looked at Adrian.
"You… you saved me… cough, cough!"
A coughing fit cut him off.
Adrian calmly pulled out a healing potion and handed it over, even as he cast Identify*to check the man's status.
\[Glion]
Status: NPC
A non-player character disguised as an adventurer? Interesting.
Glion's face was deathly pale, his eyes shadowed.
Even speaking looked like it cost him his lungs.
But he still refused the potion and shakily pulled out a silver, willow leaf–shaped bookmark.
"Please… go to Lantine… give this to… Mr. Zack…"
"Tell him… the Evil Witch Alice is still alive… she took… Duke Dorian's youngest daughter… to—"
He was clearly about to die.
Even force-feeding him the potion didn't help; the healing couldn't outpace the curse's damage.
It was obviously scripted—the system had designed Glion as a dying NPC whose sole purpose was to deliver a final message.
A "plot death," as they call it.
And Adrian hated*this trope more than anything.
Those scenes in movies or shows where a character gets to a critical point in their story and suddenly their eyes roll back and boom—dead.
Every time he saw one, it didn't feel like the character had died.
It felt like a piece of him had.
You think you can just drop a half-finished message and log off?
No. You can't.
The Great Sweetwine Dealer grants you immortality—starting now.
Adrian pulled out a small glass bottle, popped the cork, and splashed*its contents all over Glion.
The putrid, greenish liquid smelled like corpse rot.
"HURRRK—!"
Even as an NPC, Glion was bent over the edge of the coffin in a retching pose.
Blame the devs—they'd made NPCs so smart, they now reacted to things like disgusting odors.
Adrian calmly cast Identify*again to check Glion's condition.
\[Glion]
Status: NPC (Now a Zombie)
The zombie potion's conversion rate depended on the target's remaining HP—the lower the health, the easier the transformation. Adrian had just been trying his luck.
He hadn't expected it to actually work.
Excited, Adrian looked at Glion's now green-tinted face, mentally noting that the guy might never get his natural skin tone back. Feeling a bit guilty, he still took a step back—it really did stink.
"All right, I've saved your life. You've got no way to repay me, so the least you can do is finish what you were saying just now!"
Adrian extended a sincere invitation.
Glion seemed to freeze.
Maybe the system didn't quite know how to handle such a situation.
He just sat there in the coffin with his new green zombie face, looking more undead than an actual zombie.
After a two-second lag, Glion finally responded:
"Thank you, brave adventurer. You have saved me. But in my current state, I cannot be seen by others. I must ask you to go to Lantine and find Mr. Zack. Tell him: The Evil Witch Alice is still alive. She took Duke Dorian's youngest daughter… toward the port."
Success!
The system prompt popped up:
[The King's Bride]
Main Quest: (1) Search for Harrington
Investigate the scene and find clues (✔ Completed)
Go to Ebonreach and inquire about the Blood Butterfly (✔ Completed)
Track them to the Port (Ongoing)
Side Quest: (1) Glion's Request
Go to Lantine and find Mr. Zack
In Celestial Saga, side quests affected the overall story completion rate.
You could skip them and still finish the game… technically.
But given how brutally hard the "King's Game" path was, side quests were almost certainly intertwined with the main plot, and skipping them would almost guarantee a bad ending.
And with Adrian's personality, someone willing to grind affection points with every NPC in the game, there was no way he was letting any side quest slip past.
He made up his mind to find this Mr. Zack—but not just yet.
After accepting the bookmark from Glion, Adrian began asking questions:
"Who is Mr. Zack?"
"Why are you disguised as an adventurer?"
"How did you find out about Alice?"
None of them got an answer.
That meant Glion and this Mr. Zack were clearly part of something bigger.
Then Adrian asked, "Glion, do you have any final wishes? I'm sorry you've ended up like this. If there's anything left undone, I'd be happy to help."
"Wish"
was a high-trigger keyword.
Adrian had unlocked plenty of affection-boosting quests just by using it—it never failed.
Glion's eyes lit up.
"Really? You'd do that for me?"
Adrian smiled. "Of course."
Side Quest Updated:
(2) Glion's Bucket List
Watch the opera *Veil*
Get Mr. L's autograph
Try the honey bread from LeLe House
Drink the strongest liquor at the Drifter's Tavern
Travel along the Honeywind River
Watch the sunrise from the rooftop of the Grand Saint Cocolini Cathedral
…
Adrian's smile cracked.