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Matan’s Shooter 651
Leaving Blaugrunn’s earnest voice behind, Leeha terminated their complicated conversation.
“A dusk spirit that hasn’t shown itself in nearly a hundred years…”
Leeha’s thoughts quickly began to race.
“I can’t tell you how much trouble I’ve been through looking for you all. Oh, you are all here, right?”
Teehee, teeheesat!
Leeha was certain now.
The laughter of the dusk mystical creatures echoed from all around. Essentially, this place was a “Dragon Palace” for the mystical creatures of dusk.
“Mermaids are fully materialized water spirits, so the concept is a bit different… but I’m convinced this place has been a sanctuary for the dark spirits who’ve been hidden in the Lope Continent for the past century.
“Keeseet, what to do!? You’ve come all this way, it’d be a shame if we’re not willing to make a contract.”
“If it’s not too rude, may I ask why?”
Ideally, seeing a Shade’s form would have made conversation easier, but speaking was the only option Leeha had at the moment.
Above all, since they could see him, he remembered to wear his brightest smile.
“A reason? We just don’t want to! Especially not with humans, and certainly not with someone who’s not even an Alensterna.”
Laughter erupted once again from various places.
Leeha didn’t miss a single word they said.
“You seem to know a lot about humans, given how long you’ve been here?”
“Teehee! Of course! We even know about the humans who sometimes come here to play! There’s another human reaching out and dancing somewhere else right now. Teeheehee…”
Leeha quickly guessed they were talking about Luger. He felt a desire to screenshot that moment of Luger, though he wasn’t in any different situation himself.
More importantly…
‘If excluding Fernand, no other user has reached this place, then who are these ‘sometimes visiting’ humans?’
Leeha quickly realized who they might be.
“Are the visitors by any chance a man and a woman?”
“Oh! Oh! Oh! I thought the weapon on your back looked like Brown and Elizabeth’s! You’re not a Spirit Master but a Marksman?”
“Yes, right. I’m an acquaintance of theirs. They had asked for a favor. They said they had passed by here not long ago… I’m new to this area, so I’m not familiar with the way…”
“Teehee, you don’t know the way!”
“Fool, fool! The only ones who know the way in the dark forest of shadows are us!”
Just a few minutes ago, he had mentioned coming to see the dusk mystical creatures and now flipped his words skillfully. However, the dark spirits found Leeha’s sly smile and acting only amusing. Such unexpected joviality.
“Brown and Elizabeth passed here already more than three days ago!”
“No, it’s been two days!”
“Three days, isn’t it?”
If it wasn’t for the visibility issue, Leeha might have believed they were not “dusk” but “light” mystical creatures. Good, almost there.
“If handling them is this easy, maybe I should consider making a contract?”
was a thought that crossed his mind.
However, it wasn’t as straightforward in practice. As mentioned by Shade, currently, Luger was merely spinning in place, caught in the prank of the dusk mystical creatures.
The kind and informative conversation was possible thanks to a heightened spirit affinity much greater than any normal Spirit Master and an item inside Leeha’s bag, something Leeha himself had yet to realize. If he had thought a little more, talked a little more, he might have understood.
“Fool, fool! Three days is how long it took for a dinosaur to pass!”
If not for that singular word brought up by one of the Shades, Leeha might have come to realize it too.
“A dinosaur?”
“Woo, woo woo! No, no. Too comfortable near demon and I don’t like it!”
“You’ll get waterlogged, totally soaked!”
“But you can climb up! You won’t need a Shade’s shell anymore!”
Amidst the ruckus of the chattering Shades, Leeha asked. The dinosaur was gone.
At least officially, there was only one entity known to have that grand reputation.
“Wait a moment. The dinosaur you just mentioned, is it Toon?”
“Yes, Toon, Toon! They say Toon passed through here again, Toon!”
“-Really…”
Unintentionally, Leeha stumbled upon information she had not expected to find. Just three days ago, Toon had passed through this place.
※ ※
“Why? Why would Toon?”
His heart rate suddenly increased. Amidst the anxiety and tension, Leeha had many thoughts, but it wasn’t easy to deduce the reason why Toon had passed through. If one were to predict the movements of Bluebeard and the Demon King’s Army, there could be three compressed reasons. One was to restore Toon’s arm.
Magic like healing couldn’t regenerate an arm that had been shattered into pieces and disappeared.
Then, one assumption could be that Toon was heading towards a place with a stronger regeneration magic.
“Or… Toon was moving on its own to gather the monsters for the fourth wave.”
The [Holy Spirit] being fully formed means it can’t spread. Individually moving the monsters would have a high chance of them being defeated in detail.
Therefore, it was also necessary to consider the possibility that Toon was personally leading them to a single location.
“If it’s not that then… This is the worst assumption.”
And the third,
It was moving to recruit a ‘new force’ of monsters. The Eastern New Continent still didn’t have many users. Even so, was there a need for Toon to personally move and lead the monsters?
Thinking so, the third reason seemed the most plausible. And that new force, whether through persuasion or threats, seemed like an opponent worth Toon’s personal involvement, right?
“What’s the reason Toon passed through here?”
“Kishi! How would I know!? Did it go to its house or what?”
“Eugh, no thanks! Toon’s house?! It’ll be full of those unlucky dinosaurs!”
“It’s a relief it disappeared quickly!”
“Right! We’d become bad guys if we got mixed up with it!”
The Shades burst out in complaint. Leeha’s ears perked up.
“A house? Toon has a house? Full of dinosaurs, you say-”
“Don’t you know? The kingdom of dinosaurs! Toon’s house!”
“Humans are such fools. They know nothing.”
Despite the Shades’ laughter, Leeha didn’t hear them.
“Uh, crazy.”
It was as if the worst assumption had come true.
If Toon wasn’t a standalone creature but, like paleos, a creature that popped out from several tribes?
“Such a monster…
If, as the Shades describe, a ‘kingdom of dinosaurs’, then at the very least, there must be hundreds!
Then, there’s no time to delay any further.
“Which direction did Toon go?”
“Far East! That’s where Toon’s house is!”
“Shades, can you guide me to the exit? Time is of the essence!”
“Kishishis, why should we let you out? What can you even do?”
Leeha clenched her teeth.
Indeed. What could she do?
‘I’ve also cross-checked with Luger… Teleportation doesn’t work around here.’
At least, not ordinary teleportation.
It might be possible for a Sage like Hyein, or someone of a Dragon level or higher, but currently, Hyein is logged out. Besides, if Toon’s house is in the far eastern direction, or east anyway. Alexander is logged in, but…? Could Leeha call him?
Even in this situation, Leeha thought of the quest.
Hadn’t they said not to come with anyone?
Moreover, if it’s been three days since Toon passed, and two days since Brown and Elizabeth passed, it could mean it’s not too far away.
In other words, even if she were to encounter Toon, there’s a high chance she can’t call anyone. Yet, should she still search for Toon? Must she face Toon alone, without anyone’s help?
Leeha recollected what the dusk mystical creatures had said. At the very least, with the guidance of the dusk mystical creatures, it’s possible to escape this forest.
‘To send me off, implies that their favor is necessary… and considering the situation-‘ Leeha mulled over his options.
“Sigh, sigh. At least I know that attacks work….”
He can do it. He must do it.
“Shades, if you would allow me to leave-“
For the purpose of breaking this tough bond, Leeha had to be prepared to take a step forward. For the world, for the new continent, for the fourth wave, to prevent awakening Ghibrid. Setting all that aside, for himself.
“-I will kill Toon for you.”
“Kikiki! A human catching him isn’t possible!”
“To catch a dinosaur? A human? Kiki! This will be fun!”
And with that, Leeha’s daring proposition was accepted. The Shades, known for their playful and mischief-loving nature, didn’t just laugh off Leeha’s seemingly outrageous claim.
“What if? Wouldn’t it be fun? Then how about I record that fun thing and bring it here? What will you do for me in return?”
Leeha beamed broadly, confident that the Shades must be seeing his self-assured smile.
“What should we do for you? Hm? What should we do?”
“But still, a contract? Nah! We don’t like contracts!” exclaimed the Shades, expressing their reluctance to enter into a pact.
“It’s not about whether you’re a spiritualist or a wood elf, we don’t want to make a contract with a human!” they clamored.
Suddenly, another phrase caught Leeha’s ear.
“Mentioning Alen Serna too… fitting well with wood elves – wait, wood elves?”
It reminded him of someone. A dusk spirit that hadn’t been seen for the past 100 years. A wood elf of the same kind as Alen Serna. A player who had stuck with Chiyou without any specific job as a spiritualist or any apparent advantage.
‘Prea… Could it be- is her goal the dusk mystical creatures?
Did they side with them to form a pact? Leeha felt like laughing. It might not be the only reason, but it seemed like a plausible guess.
‘The seed of evil. Definitely related. It’s conceivable that the dusk mystical creatures could be affiliated with the demon king’s forces. In that case…’
Leeha smiled. It didn’t have to be a complete success. However, this alone could deal significant damage.
“You don’t have to make a contract with me. Instead!”
“Kikiki, so what should we do instead?”
Leeha laughed as he set his terms, which the spirit Shades gladly accepted. Approximately 3 seconds after accepting the quest, Leeha found himself relocated to the eastern exit of the dark forest.
“It’s different from teleportation… a dimensional shift within the dawn.”
Even in the midst of this, Leeha was eager to extract as much information as possible.
One of the most crucial pieces of information was that many locations in the eastern part of the new continent were immune to teleportation. Apart from a few specific points, virtually all forms of spatial movement, including teleportation, were impossible.
‘They seemed mischievous but not liars.’
However, the dawn mystical creatures were different. The power that moved Leeha was a different kind from teleportation, limited to within the dark forest.
The ‘deal’ he had made with them had earned Leeha detailed information on Toon’s movement direction and this escape alone.
“To think this entire place was the dark forest. Shouldn’t there be at least one warning sign? Right, Jellypong?”
[Mongmong?]
Jellypong tilted its head. In the middle of the map left by Brown and Elizabeth, a vast oval could be seen. That was the full extent of the dark forest.
The route to the eastern part of the New Continent without passing through the Dark Forest was so narrow that it was virtually nonexistent.
(To be continued…)
TL’s Corner:
If you find any grammar issues, errors, or unintelligible sentences, feel free to leave a comment or join our discord server so I can rectify any mistakes I made.
Thank you for the support you have given me dear readers!!!
I need a new laptop as my 6 years-old laptop is about to give up on me, the one I want to get costs around 1500$, so if you have any alms, you can help by supporting me in Patreon here.
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Matan’s Shooter 650
Luger had no questions like, “Are there quests unique to each area?”
or, “Does matching certain criteria in each area trigger changes?”
The reason was simple.
“It’s obvious… Luger himself is already breaking through similar quests… That must be it. Damn, I can’t afford to fall behind. Jellypong!”
[Myong?]
“It was a bit too much not to mark on the map the places we needed to go to – but since it’s to the east, we just have to charge forward, right?”
[Myong!]
Leeha ran toward a location marked with an arrow pointing east from their current position, labeled 260-280 / 3,800. This was an area inhabited by monsters ranging from levels 260 to 280, with a sniping distance of 3,800 meters available.
“Even Madame Ju had no idea about the eastern part of the New Continent. It was regrettable not to obtain monster data, but who knew we’d benefit from such a place. Heh:”
Leeha, who had only been given headaches by Gaza City without gaining much in return, gained new information thanks to the trickery (?) of Elizabeth and Brown.
“We have to stop by at least once to verify if this map is true. Let’s clear Black Bass Quest No. 5 first before departing.”
Fortunately, despite the map’s lack of detailed records, it included the Forest of the World Tree, which was near their current location. Leeha anticipated they could reach it by walking through the night without any incidents, underestimating the New Continent’s ‘night’ severely.
Leaving the house where Brown and Elizabeth had stayed, three hours later, Leeha’s steps faltered.
KUOAAAAAAA———-
With a loud explosion, Leeha felt the aftermath clearly on his skin. Yet, despite the risk and adventure, nothing was there.
“Ugh… Why can’t I see any flames?”
Leeha, who carried gunpowder and emergency bombs, was in a location where not even the slightest light could be produced.
The eastern part of the New Continent was a completely different environment from the west.
※ ※
“I can feel the heat, but…”
Walking in the forest at night was dangerous, a fact well-known to Leeha.
However, being neither a novice nor lacking experience in battles in various environments like Middle Earth’s bonfires and ‘Lightless of Forest’, Leeha had somewhat underestimated the situation.
“Damn, so this is the New Continent.”
Leeha thought individual firearms might be usable, but even flint couldn’t produce a spark of light here.
The forest completely blocked external light sources like the moonlight.
Internal combustion failed to ignite as well, essentially rendering visibility nil.
In this situation, Leeha, as a sniper, was virtually useless.
“Jellypong?”
[Myong?]
“Do you see anything?”
[Myong? Myong!]
“Right?”
Though communication was limited to vocal sounds, the intent was perceived.
“… This would’ve been a good time for Blaugrunn.”
Apparently, Jellypong saw nothing as well.
It was akin to being blindfolded, making it difficult to take even a step forward.
“Is this some kind of status ailment or something blocking my vision?”
Leeha sat down, pondering without moving rashly.
“No, if it were a status ailment, it would show up in the system window. It can’t be a connection issue or something like that…”
Yet, the absence of light led Leeha to doubt the Middle Earth connection device. However, that was unlikely.
That would’ve resulted in system notifications or forced logouts.
Indeed, such situations weren’t unprecedented. Leeha remembered the time with Anderson and Hatchling Blaugrunn, entering a purifier near the Dragon Palace? The three entities had once ventured into the deep sea where not a speck of light entered. And even in those depths, devoid of light, their tactile and other senses remained relatively alive.
“Maybe summoning Koma will help?”
Leeha pondered for a moment. It seemed worth trying. After all, isn’t it a flame spirit?
“Since it’s self-igniting… Maybe its light won’t be swallowed up.”
In such a state, moving was practically impossible. Despite his attempt to activate the Correction Sphere, Leeha found that teleportation was also ineffective.
Leeha: Luger! Where are you?”
Luger: “Why should I tell you?”
Leeha: “You gotta be kidding me. Here you are, completely lost in a forest where you can’t see a thing, and you still act all high and mighty
Luger: Look! How did you…?”
He fell into a puzzled silence, then shouted,
Luger: “Can you see me? Is that it?”
Leeha: Pfft.
At Luger’s reaction, Leeha laughed. Once again, he realized that in terms of ‘testing the waters’, few were as susceptible as Luger.
Leeha: “Teleportation doesn’t work, huh?”
Luger: “Damn you. Don’t ask if you know.”
Leeha: “Why so serious? I can’t even begin to fathom how vast this forest is… How long have you been in here?”
Luger: “You don’t need to know.”
Luger curtly cut off the conversation. After all, their location was plain to see with the Musketeers’ teleportation ability.
Leeha opened the friend window to check.
“[Forest of Darkness].”
He smirked.
“It’s not like it’s a mystery to either of us that we’re in the Forest of Darkness. What’s the point of hiding? But seriously… Compared to other places that go on about being devoid of light and all, this is quite straightforward.”
As simple as it is, the problem is severe. Just one word, ‘Darkness’, with no further explanation.
To describe this space, which feels almost like a universe, with just one word ‘Darkness’ is indeed a cruel move by the administrators.
“Talk about a lack of description. There’s nowhere else like this, and to brush it off with just one word…”
[Myong, myong! Myong myong myong!]
“Huh? What’s wrong, Jellypong?”
[Myong! Myong myong!]
Leeha’s eyes still saw nothing.
Hoping against hope, he opened his eyes which he had kept shut to try and adapt to the darkness, but with the light level at zero, it was of no use.
However, he could feel sounds and textures, the sensation of Jellypong moving in his chest, and the wooshing sound of stretching.
Jellypong’s urgent voice and sudden reaction.
Leeha lifted the Black Beast.
“Jellypong! What is it! What’s there?”
“Myong, myong, myong myong!”
The sound of Jellypong’s limbs stretching out with a woosh was heard from all directions.
Not towards a single point, but it felt like an assault from everywhere. This meant Jellypong also couldn’t clearly perceive the threat!
Leeha quickly shouted,
“Stop! I’ll fire if you come any closer!”
Whether they understood the language was uncertain, but he didn’t bother to elaborate.
Instead, Leeha immediately used [Mana Clairvoyance].
[Mana Clairvoyance] wasn’t hindered by light issues, he thought he would surely see the existence, but still, Leeha saw nothing.
“Myong, myong myong!”
“I said stop. Stop!”
He must leave. He must get out of this forest.
“Damn it!”
But how?
He had tried throwing bombs, and even creating light with gunpowder and fireflies. All such efforts were futile in this space.
It felt like less than ten minutes since he entered the forest, but to find a way out,
he had no idea which direction to go. At that time, it wasn’t this hard to see.
In the end, there was only one course of action immediately available to Leeha.
Other than the sound of Jellypong, there was no sense of anything approaching, but that didn’t mean there weren’t ways to pose a threat, even in the current situation.
Leeha raised the muzzle of Black Bass skywards.
And then, he pulled the trigger.
As the echo of the gunshot faded, Leeha trained his voice forward in a low tone.
“I told you not to come closer. Approach any further, and I will shoot in your direction.”
A bluff, not a threat. How could he shoot at an unseen enemy?
Yet, a threat delivered with a roar always yields a result.
“Kishishish, how can you shoot when you can’t even see me? You’re not even looking my way.”
Leeha reflexively swung his gun toward the voice that suddenly came from his right rear.
Despite spinning around swiftly, the next voice came from his left rear.
“Woah, so fast! Too fast, kishi. But with that movement, you can’t possibly attack me.”
It was a laugh somewhat similar to Biyemi’s, but the whistling through the wide gap in the teeth felt profoundly more abundant.
Leeha focused on the chilling voice and laughter.
The one who was on his right had moved to his left while speaking.
The voice seemed almost right beside his ear, yet no sound betrayed the creature’s movement.
‘My footsteps are this loud, how can there be no sound from him? Could you be from the Miyaw race? Or a paleo capable of completely silencing their footsteps?”
Kishishish… An ominous laughter began to echo from all around Leeha.
Unable to ascertain if it was coming from a single entity or multiple, Leeha was forced out of choosing to fight.
A sniper unable to use teleportation, fighting blind in this place would render him utterly useless.
A fight would surely be a path to sure defeat, a lethal deadlock.
As Leeha was mulling over how to initiate a dialogue, the other party spoke first.
“I definitely smell something~… What is it?”
“What do you mean by ‘what’?”
“The stench, the stench. It’s similar to what the Undine folks emit, but there’s no Undine here. Only this strange jelly attached to your chest. There’s also a peculiar scent of gunpowder. Aren’t you a spiritualist? How can you be such a fool despite having an affinity with mystical creatures?”
The kishishishish laughter echoed again.
Leeha finally had a clue.
Although unable to discern the species, he had enough hints to figure out it was some form of creature.
“It’s a spirit!”
Identifying his affinity with mystical creatures instantly. And connecting his frequent summoning of a Koma and his contractual relationship with a fire spirit to the half-lifeform Jellypong species born from a water spirit!
“A spirit… Are you?”
“You didn’t come here to see us!?”
“No, that’s- well, yes. That’s why I’m checking. May I know your name…?”
His voice suddenly rose, and Leeha adopted a lower stance.
Judging from the laughter, he could easily infer the spirit was whimsical.
“My name is Shade Spirit Adom. But you’ve got the wrong address. We have no intention of making a deal with you. Kishiseth.”
The Shade Spirit laughed once more.
Though it was the first time Leeha heard the name of such a spirit, he did not panic.
Leeha: Blaugrunn-ssi, what is a Shade spirit?
He had a ‘cheat key’ that allowed communication at any time, even if they couldn’t act together.
Blaugrunn immediately responded. At last, Leeha understood. Well, it was obvious from the start. What kind of spirit would one expect in the [Dark Forest]?
Blaugrunn: Shade? You mean a mid-level spirit Adom? Did you encounter it just now? Where? It’s been known that Adom do not emerge into this realm lately.
Leeha: Recently? How long is lately?
Blaugrunn: About… 100 years?
Leeha: A hundred, that’s considered ‘recently’? Okay, got it. I’ve encountered it now, so I’ll talk to you later. Blaugrunn: Wait! Please, call me too! Leeha-ssi! Leeha-ssi!
(To be continued…)
TL’s Corner:
If you find any grammar issues, errors, or unintelligible sentences, feel free to leave a comment or join our discord server so I can rectify any mistakes I made.
Thank you for the support you have given me dear readers!!!
I need a new laptop as my 6 years-old laptop is about to give up on me, the one I want to get costs around 1500$, so if you have any alms, you can help by supporting me in Patreon here.
You can also donate here: https://paypal.me/lordfifth?country.x=PH&locale.x=en_US
For chapter updates and discussion join Betterdays discord here. -
Matan’s Shooter 649
For reasons unknown, they had been pursued to such an extent that they hadn’t even had the leisure to erase their tracks.
To Leeha, this seemed rather fortunate.
Wasn’t this the perfect opportunity to gather new information, given that their traces were abundantly left behind?
The moment Leeha set foot forward, creak… the wooden door of the house opened.
As the hinges creaked, Leeha immediately cocked his Black Bass.
With a click, the muzzle of the Black Bass instantly aimed at the door.
However, Leeha couldn’t pull the trigger. The shadow cast by the door was also pointing a lengthy barrel at Leeha.
“Luger??”
Leeha’s eyes widened in shock upon recognizing it. Ironically, the person more startled was Luger.
“How are you here? No, how on earth did you-“
It seemed Luger, who had started his journey much earlier than Leeha, had just arrived.
“What? A day? It seemed like you left almost two days before me. Only got here now?”
“It’s me who should be saying that. Damn it, did that bastard Fernand give you a crystal ball or something?”
“What are you on about? I thought I was going to die getting up here. Fernand isn’t the kind to hand out something like a crystal ball lightly, you know.”
“What? You came up here?”
Luger frowned, his reaction a mix of surprise and bewilderment. From this, Leeha could tell.
The route chosen by Leeha and the one selected by Fernand were the same.
That is, Leeha had followed the path Fernand had shared without deviation! But what had there been along the way? Impossibly high cliffs and the nuisance of Gryphonia swarms had blocked the “Fernand route”. Right. That’s why he was late. Took a detour, did you?
“You mean to tell me you climbed those cliffs? Impossible. How could you?”
“Phahaha! That’s a secret, a secret. Oh dear, poor Luger-ssi. Doesn’t the name [Pierce] mean you should blast through cliffs like those, no?”
Seeing Luger’s face twist even more, Leeha burst into laughter. Solo acts of bravado were merely amusing in Leeha’s view.
Luger wasn’t the one to question what penetration had to do with rock climbing. In his mind, the fact that “he was later than Leeha” was the only thing that remained.
“Damn, I was supposed to shoot upon sight.”
“Giggle, no way. If you had tried to shoot me, I would have pulled the trigger too, don’t you think? Could you have dodged it?”
“Do you think you could beat me in reaction speed?”
“Hmm, feel free to test it if you wish.”
Leeha slung his Black Bass over his shoulder, wearing a smile.
To anyone watching, this might have seemed like a tense confrontation, but for the Musketeers, it was just business as usual.
Luger searched the interior of the house with a loud ‘hmpf,’ showing his annoyance.
Leeha did not indulge in any further pranks.
Instead, the fact that he had run into Luger was reassuring.
“If you already checked the place, I doubt there’s any information left, might as well be rat droppings.”
Along with a premonition that there still might be useful information left in the house, and the confidence that if an enemy did intrude, they could handle it together, Leeha felt reassured.
“Jellypong, let me know if you find anything that looks like a book.”
[Swoosh]
After the quiet reply from Jellypong, Leeha too began to search around.
Most of what they found were articles of clothing. For a moment, Leeha wondered if these were part of “equipment items” but, as it turned out, they were just “clothes”. They could be worn or put in a bag, but there seemed to be no need to bother picking up ordinary to superior grade clothes without any special options.
Wearing clothes that Elizabeth or Brown wore wouldn’t necessarily teach him anything.
“A few utensils… that side seems like just a bin. Given the flies buzzing around, there might be food waste. Well, people who moved in a rush wouldn’t have bothered cleaning up their trash.”
Even after checking the master bedroom, kitchen, and living room, nothing particularly caught Leeha’s interest. It seemed that Luger also failed to find anything of note, as only the steady sound of his boots echoed continually in Leeha’s ears.
“There’s no hint-“
“Hm!?”
“-Oh, there isn’t? What did you find, Luger!”
It was then that Luger’s voice reached Leeha, who had been moving quietly. Dropping the clothes he was holding, Leeha immediately dashed towards Luger. However, if Luger had a weakness, it was in moments like this. He clumsily scrambled, making a racket as he quickly headed outside the house.
“Pff, do you think I’d actually tell you!”
“What is it! Show me!”
“Haha, this time I’ll take the lead!”
What Luger pulled out from his bag was a short-range teleport scroll. Seeing him take out a scroll closer to a ‘Blink,’
Leeha was flustered.
“Wh-What?! You’re going to play dirty?”
Even as he spoke, Leeha was thinking of using a scroll himself. But it was already too late! Knowing that Leeha couldn’t kill him, Luger turned his back and tossed the scroll.
“No! Wait!”
Whoosh—!
The ripping sound of the paper resonated triumphantly. He had thrown it with all his might, yet nothing had changed. Huh?
“What? Th-this damn- Defective goods from the scroll shop-“
“Haha! Defective? Is that even possible- Wait, how many do you have!? Don’t go! I warned you!”
Leeha, seeing Luger’s panic, regretted laughing even for a moment. In that time, Luger had pulled out another scroll, ready to use it again. Whoosh—!
Again, a robust tearing sound echoed, but still, there was no change in Luger.
“Why… Why doesn’t the teleport scroll work?”
“Why, you ask, you idiot!”
Leeha hurriedly ran and grabbed Luger’s arm.
Fernand hadn’t explained everything. However, he had mentioned the situation during his escape.
The reason they built a house in a place like this must be because of that! Even without space-locking magic, you can’t teleport in this area! It’s because it’s a highland, making it easier to spot enemies approaching.
Unless it was someone of Fernand’s caliber, no one would have approached the cliffs, and if Luger’s chosen route was the only way here, that made even more sense.
In addition to making fast escapes through teleportation impossible, any lifeforms that illegally entered this area would have ended up as ‘food’ for Brown and Elizabeth.
“Why? Why-“
“Quiet down, and let me see!”
“Wow.”
Leeha, still in the process of piecing his thoughts together, snatched a piece of paper from Luger’s hand. Luger also hurriedly focused on the paper along with Leeha. The paper had a drawing on it.
The drawing was so rushed and crudely made it was hard to make out. Yet, the two of them immediately knew what it was.
“A map!”
“Indeed, a map.”
Despite looking like it was drawn by an elementary student with their feet, the ‘honest house drawing’ had a pair of scissors marked on it.
It was clear to the two of them what the current location and this house meant. The issue was the arrows stretching out from the scissors, and the numbers written at the tips of these arrows.
“Hmm, they look like coordinates. What do you think, Luger?”
“That’s ridiculous. Do you really think the coordinates of Middle Earth would be marked as mere 250.270? Had your friend, the Sage, heard this, he would have laughed for hours.”
“I know, I know! It was just a toss in the air, no need to bite my head off.”
The numbers attached to each arrow were oddly different. There were six-digit numbers, easily readable numbers in the thousands, such as 2,000 or 3,000, and a mix of letters and numbers like 3001, 4001 on some arrows.
Luger burst into laughter after staring at the map for a while.
“Kekeke… Kahaha! Brown, you rascal, trying to belittle me.”
“What? What is it?”
“Heh, you don’t need to know. I’ll be on my way first. Feast your eyes till they fall out. It’s a gift for the dolt.”
“Tell me before you go!”
“Idiot, it’s the map left by Brown and Elizabeth. If you don’t know what it means, you might as well stay here forever.”
With those words, Luger left the house.
Leeha tilted his head for a moment but didn’t feel like blindly following Luger. Besides a matter of pride, both their quests had a condition of ‘come alone.’
He thought it might not be any different for the Three Musketeers.
“Damn. Would it kill him to share? Luger’s all right, but he’s too non-cooperative. Shouldn’t we help each other in times of need? 2,000 or 3,000 numbers—wait a minute.”
Something clicked in Leeha’s mind. On closer inspection, the styles of the numbers were different. The “3” in the number written as 3,000 and in 3001 were in different styles.
“Luger was sure. This map isn’t just for viewing; it was left behind by Brown and Elizabeth for us. And he could say so because?”
He could decipher the information on the map, and it was practically helpful to him. Considering the different handwriting styles and the intent of Brown and Elizabeth—
“Oh my god! That’s it! Yes, I’ve seen this before!”
Leeha immediately understood the meaning, “250.270 indicates levels! And 2,000 or 3,000 are distances! And—”
Had Leeha been an ordinary person, he wouldn’t have understood. What do 3001 and 4001 signify? Leeha recalled seeing such numbers once.
During a virtual union training, the information of the mechanized infantry division assined as Leeha’s opponent was marked with numbers!
“It’s the thickness! Used to indicate the thickness of armor on tanks or armored vehicles, probably in millimeters.”
There could be numerous units that ‘mm’ might represent if written by someone else. But, as Luger put it, isn’t this the map ‘Brown’ has left behind?
When considering information that the old generation’s [Piercing] might leave for the new generation’s [Piercing], this inference makes sense.
“In other words, the distance-related information was left by Elizabeth for me, and the thickness-related information was left by Brown for Luger. There was only one reason they left this information.
‘Find us, but come having grown stronger along the way… Wait, hold on. But does Luger even have that?”
Leeha vividly remembered the time Elizabeth had disregarded him. Elizabeth’s intent was “Clear more of Black Bass’s quests before coming!”
She could understand the concept of levels. Hence, leaving behind such information seemed most plausible. But what about Luger?
Luger’s Cobalt Blue Python was a different weapon from Leeha’s.
“That was something Bottleneck-ssi checked from the beginning. He said it was different from the Crimson Geckos or the Cobalt Blue Python… When was that? Could it have changed since then?”
The situation might have changed. After all, wasn’t Luger the first to discover a way to enhance the weapon?
“But that’s a different story. Enhancing it once doesn’t make a heroic weapon legendary, right?”
But he couldn’t be sure.
Above all, neither Luger nor Kidd had ever explicitly stated that the weapons were “end at the heroic class.”
In a place where information was closely guarded, taking their word at face value and believing it unchangeable was foolish.
“Really, not a single trustworthy person around,” Leeha thought. It was implausible that Luger, understanding Brown’s intent, would fail to grasp Elizabeth’s intent.
Yet, he asked no questions.
(To be continued.)
TL’s Corner:
If you find any grammar issues, errors, or unintelligible sentences, feel free to leave a comment or join our discord server so I can rectify any mistakes I made.
Thank you for the support you have given me dear readers!!!
I need a new laptop as my 6 years-old laptop is about to give up on me, the one I want to get costs around 1500$, so if you have any alms, you can help by supporting me in Patreon here.
You can also donate here: https://paypal.me/lordfifth?country.x=PH&locale.x=en_US
For chapter updates and discussion join Betterdays discord here. -
Matan’s Shooter 648
The powerful stream of water flying towards them took a sharp turn towards the sky as Lark wielded his sword a few times, turning into a spray that merely drizzled down from the air, much like rain.
“There, carp lord, let’s not do this. Nobody’s saying they’re going to slice you up for sashimi. It’ll all be over soon, so it’s better for us all if you just stay put. If you keep resisting, I’ll have to dive in there. Do you want a fight?”
Lark took a combative stance with his sword, yet Shoer could not muster any retaliation.
The Golden Carp paleos were known for their formidable strength and exclusive habitat, making it rare for anyone to achieve even a “Intimacy” achievement with them.
Most challenging were the elusive movements of the paleos in their half-human, half-fish form, which would have been impossible to keep up with had Leeha not possessed an “Mermaid Transformation” skill.
Yet, Lark had subdued them.
With a resolve that hinted at evaporating the entire lake and a display of his genuine capabilities, the paleos had no choice but to emerge from the water.
Even though they were stronger than many players, their subjugation by the Virtue Knights was swift due to the paleos’ lack of strategy, skill, and approach towards their enemies.
“Kahahaha!”
“Protector, o our Protector!”
“Silence, Pung”
“Hmm?”
“Look, the carps are crying. Wow, I’ve never seen fish cry before.”
Tears fell from the eyes of the golden carps transformed from paleos, and Lark, seemingly fascinated, applauded.
The irony was not lost on anyone that Lark himself had caused these tears to flow… Pung found the commander’s demeanor terrifyingly cold.
“You damned humans! I curse you all!”
Even Shoer, stammering at first, raised his voice without making a sound fearing his ‘children’ might get hurt further. He could no longer resist, especially when Lark started evaporating the lake water with his “Blue Hurricane” skill.
“Yes, yes. Do curse us all you want. Now, where’s the nearest paleo tribe? Sacred’s about to catch Pung of this. We need to move quickly.”
“Let’s see… if we head a bit northeast, you’ll find a turquoise mountain. There’s another paleo tribe there. Whoever brought this map really deserves extra pay.”
Pung informed Lark while perusing the map.
With a premium map marking all nearby paleo tribes, it was no wonder their advance was unhindered.
Of course, Pung had no idea that this map had traveled from the hands of the Shinobi-Gumi through Minis Royal Palace, finally reaching Virtue Knights through intricate connections.
“Alright, there! You two, head back to the royal palace and share the method of subduing the carps with other knight orders! Don’t forget to mention that at least fifty Pung mages or elementalists of expeditionary level would be needed to disperse lake water. The rest, prepare to march—”
“If Leeha were here— Mwahaha, if Leeha were here, you all would have been sentenced!”
“—What??
Shoer’s eyes sparkled with fury. With the water level significantly lowered by Lark’s skill, only the heads of the carps peeking from the lake shot him looks filled with resentment.
“Puhahat! Clearly, someone of New Continent fame is treated differently, huh? Even if Leeha were strong, it’s not like he’d be—”
“Wait, just a moment. Be quiet, Pung.”
Pung laughed off Shoer’s shout, but Lark did not.
“Err… Why Leeha?”
“What’s with Leeha? Even if he’s been on numerous expeditions, isn’t the top fame in the New Continent held by Alexander?”
“Well, that’s old news now.”
“It doesn’t have to be Alexander. There’s Shin Nara, and if we’re talking about wanderers, there’s Fernand. But to specifically mention ‘If Leeha were here’…”
What Lark felt was an unsettling feeling.
“A mystical creature that just cursed humanity now seeks Leeha over anyone else…?”
Lark’s contemplation made his head turn slowly.
Pung, having locked eyes with Lark, clapped his hands as if realizing something.
“Could it be, he’s involved with why the knight orders failed?”
“If Leeha can do it, surely he can. He must still have plenty of cards up his sleeve that we don’t know about. Hmm, but personally, I’m really curious how he did it? Unless he gets rid of that noisy gunfire – Ah, a silence spell! Was it a dragon trick from the past?”
Lark’s thoughts rapidly advanced.
It wasn’t the complete answer, but it was close enough to be considered essentially correct! Shoer had barely uttered a word, yet Lark progressed his thoughts to that extent, showcasing the insight that likely elevated him to the position of the commander of a hundred in the Virtuous Knight Order.
“Huh?”
“Go after those who left for the palace earlier… and check again. Investigate what happened during the subjugation with those who have reconnected. We might not obtain the dragon’s magic, but prepare to counter the silence skill by bringing a [Sound Detect] scroll. The places that have been annihilated the most were by the red goats and black cranes, right? Especially prepare thoroughly for those who are targeting that area. If we manage to catch even one-“
“What if it’s revealed to be Leeha? Then what?”
“Well, we’ll have to hold him accountable for turning his back on humanity. Right?”
Lark spoke brusquely but was never one to leave any “loopholes” unattended.
“Ha, interesting. I quite like it. Extraordinary indeed, to think he has been killing off our knights by the hundreds…”
His plans to completely eliminate Leeha’s movements in the New Continent were steadily accumulating.
“Keeeeee—–!”
“Ah, it’s so loud! Quiet! I wish it were a griffon instead!”
Despite the shivers that ran through his body, Leeha’s actions weren’t slow.
A monster with the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle, and yet a face resembling a human woman!
“It’s a relief it can’t speak, or should I say- Whoaa! Jellypong.”
Whoosh-!
A whooshing sound followed by a moment of turmoil was all it took for Leeha to lose his aim.
[Myong myong!]
Being ambushed by a Griphonia from behind, Jellypong had to maneuver in three dimensions hurriedly.
The Griphonias lived along cliffs.
This meant that thanks to Jellypong’s arms, which allowed quick cliffside mobility, Leeha could barely manage to combat them.
“I knew they wouldn’t be easy-“
From the ground, the cliff tops were obscured by clouds, invisible so much that reaching such heights was only possible just before a swarm of Griphonias attacked!
“Keeeee, keeeeeeyet!”
“Screaaaaaaaa-!”
Without the help of Jellypong, even Leeha would have had to flee regardless.
In other words, as long as Jellypong was there, the enemies were merely an annoying nuisance to Leeha.
Quick, quick!
The cries of the Griphonias were drowned out, and with every pull of the trigger by Leeha, the Griphonias definitively plummeted.
Watching their bodies turn jet-black towards the bottomless earth below, Leeha swallowed hard.
“Keeeeee-“
“Jellypong, whew, there, towards that protruding rock- Whoaaaa!”
Swooooosh—!
Jellypong’s arms stretched out long, chasing directly behind, securely grabbing Leeha’s body. Despite the assurance and agility, the intense chase and the fear of falling were not something that could be easily shaken off.
“Fernand, how on earth did he-“
Whoosh!
“-manage to climb up here by himself?!”
Whoosh!
“Mon! Meooow!”
In an instant, three shots. With that, another escape from the Griphonias was made as Jellypong maneuvered in three dimensions. Climbing such a steep cliff with just a set of rock climbing gear and a whip! Leeha felt a renewed sense of awe at the dignity of the adventurer Fernand.
[Mongmong! Mong!]
“Enough with the encouragement, just tell me we’re almost there, please-“
[Mongmong! Mongmong!]
Responding to Leeha’s words, Jellypong shouted again, giving Leeha’s body another boost.
The figures of Griffonias circling the area disappeared from Leeha’s view in an instant.
“It’s too fast! Just a bit slowe-“
Shaaaaa…
Suddenly, the towering cliff that blocked Leeha’s path disappeared completely.
What unfolded before his eyes was the sunset sky and a toy-like object far in the distance.
*Home…! There, there it is!”
Beneath the pastel-colored sky, Leeha clearly saw the wooden house. Moreover, the excitement only grew when he knew whose home it was.
“Jellypong! … But if we’re floating up in the sky like this, how are we going to get down when it’s time-“
Just as a high-flying ride suddenly drops, Leeha’s body almost fell, topping at its highest point.
[Mongmong!]
“Woaaah! I hate rides like this the most!”
Floundering in free fall, Leeha’s descent was finally brought to a halt.
It was Jellypong, grounding himself with his arms acting as support pillars.
Leeha nodded, gazing at Jellypong’s arms digging back into the ground. It was somewhat of a shock, but he felt fortunate nonetheless.
“Thanks, Jellypong. The suspension’s not bad.”
Amidst this, Leeha fully understood Jellypong’s aim to minimize the shock.
“Phew, that takes care of the Griffonias – Is that what’s left now?”
Leeha measured the distance to the wooden house in his sight.
He had deliberately chosen ammunition with reduced count and a silencer for this moment.
The possibility that they might be there!
“Of course, they’re probably not there. The chances are almost 99%, but just in case…”
Days had passed since Fernand had contacted him, and even racing in a straight line from the World Tree’s forest had taken over 10 hours.
He had started off in the morning and only arrived at sunset; they couldn’t possibly still be there.
Despite thinking this, he couldn’t shake off the ‘what if’ feeling. After all, it was Elizabeth who had told him to come find her.
“If I passed the note directly to Fernand, then it was expected that Fernand would divulge this location.”
So then? Even if Elizabeth herself wasn’t there, could there be some other clue?
With cautious steps, Leeha approached the wooden house.
“[Mana Clairvoyance].”
Ziiing-!
Using the skill for reconnaissance, as expected, there was no response from people.
Only after confirming that there was no one inside the house did Leeha hastily enter.
“Huh-… not what I expected-“
It was true, he was slightly surprised.
He thought he would find no signs of someone being there, but contrary to expectations, various items were left inside the wooden house.
“What? Why did they move so hurriedly? It’s like they fled in the night…”
People who should live without leaving a trace more than anyone. Let alone after Fernand had visited, it was unthinkable for such beings not to know that other users might arrive here at any time.
“It’s impossible that Brown or Elizabeth didn’t know. Then why this movement? Unlike those who secretly disappeared during the Second Human-Demon War…
It was too negligent. There can only be one reason.
They were pressed for time.
(To be continued…)
TL’s Corner:
If you find any grammar issues, errors, or unintelligible sentences, feel free to leave a comment or join our discord server so I can rectify any mistakes I made.
Thank you for the support you have given me dear readers!!!
I need a new laptop as my 6 years-old laptop is about to give up on me, the one I want to get costs around 1500$, so if you have any alms, you can help by supporting me in Patreon here.
You can also donate here: https://paypal.me/lordfifth?country.x=PH&locale.x=en_US
For chapter updates and discussion join Betterdays discord here. -
Matan’s Shooter 647
“Huh, seriously. There are other things to worry about. Why the fuss?”
“It’s just. This whole thing – no, ‘this task.’
If word gets out, I might just become the second-ever in the history of Middle Earth, you know?”
“Wouldn’t that be a good thing? It’s unlike you to be burdened by such matters.”
Leeha chuckled. After all, wasn’t Kijung known for his animal-like instincts in managing the guild?
He never weighed too much upon the finer details, simply pushing forward towards the direction he felt and thought was right. That was his strength.
For someone like him, such worries seemed out of place.
“So, what’s the actual burden then? Look at the precedent set by Alexander. Didn’t he mention having an Advanced Quest? Is that what’s weighing on you?”
Leeha, noticing Kijung’s sigh, pressed on for an answer.
Kijung, as if waiting for this, finally spoke.
“They want me to prevent the awakening of Ghibrid. At least, to halt its resurrection in its perfect form. As hyung-ah guessed, those creatures are currently gathering monsters under the guise of the fourth wave, right?”
“That’s right.”
“I plan to disrupt them individually as much as possible to prevent them from assembling.”
“That’s the Advanced Quest, huh?”
“Indeed… Then, ‘preventing the perfect resurrection of Ghibrid’ would be the success condition, with the failure condition being Ghibrid’s perfect resurrection.”
Leeha nodded, impressed.
He thought, “An Advanced Job Change is truly an Advanced Job Change.”
“It’s no ordinary difficulty. Considering Ghibrid’s resurrection seems almost inevitable… even though we succeeded in [Sanctification], that only slows down the monster waves, not stops them.”
[Sanctification] was more of a preparatory measure.
The main task Kijung had been given was to thwart the gathering of these monster hordes! Should he succeed, the Demon King’s Army, failing to amass sufficient wave volume, would find it difficult to deal a catastrophic blow to the users and the L480s, making it challenging to secure more souls.
“Definitely, there’s a burden to bear. To take it on alone-”
“I’m not alone. They promised the support of three hundred Paladins.”
“-to break it- huh? What?”
Leeha was taken aback.
He naturally assumed that when Kijung spoke of being burdened, it meant he had to clear the task beyond a certain level by himself.
But Kijung had originally referred to it not as ‘too difficult a quest’ but ‘too burdensome a quest.’
A single word, but the nuance was significantly different.
“Even without having changed to the Holy Knight class, to get the support of three hundred elite Paladins.”
“Three hundred? Hey, wasn’t that about the number in the largest battalion from Minis? Besides, if they select the elites from Azwen… they might be stronger than a knight battalion sent by a major nation.”
“Right. Each one nearly at the level of the Sacred Knight Order?”
“But what’s the burden then? Oh, leading them is the burden? You’ve been a Star General, after all. Not up to three hundred, but still. Oh, but if they assin three hundred Paladins to you, whose jurisdiction do they fall under? Does that mean you’re running two guilds now?”
Leeha mumbled, suddenly curious.
Kijung shook his head at the question.
“No, leadership isn’t the burden. Just think of it as becoming a slightly bigger Star General, as hyung-ah said. Plus, I met the leader of those Paladin Knights earlier. He’s already on board.”
“On board?”
“The second coming of the [Nameless Paladin], all that… you know.”
Kijung sighed once more, a long, drawn-out sigh. As they entered the Vatican, they were greeted by a dazzling formation reminiscent of the honor they had received once before.
“So, no problems with command, huh? Ah, maybe you’re just worried that taking down monsters one by one would be too burdensome?”
“No. Confronting monsters is what I do best. Hyung, I’m a tank.”
“Are you kidding me? Then what exactly is the problem?”
Unable to contain his frustration any longer, Leeha raised his voice.
Kijung was leading Byulcho. If it had anything to do with the second class change, every member of Byulcho would support him both spiritually and materially. What about the 300 paladins from Ezwen who had agreed to help?
If the highly skilled paladins, comparable to the members of the Sacred Knights, combined their strength with Byulcho’s, even a group of 600 monsters wouldn’t pose much of a problem. Unless Kijung directly encountered Bluebeard or fell into Toon’s clutches, his quest was likely to encounter no significant difficulties.
Upon hearing this, Kijung sighed once again.
“If I succeed in the quest and become a Holy Knight, I’ll be made a Cardinal. Among them, I’d be an expert in the fields of sanctification energy, exorcism, and combat.”
“Really? Wow, that’s a huge promotion!”
“Yeah. Dude, remember Cardinal Romero from a while back?”
“I remember.”
“Do you also remember what kind of authority he had?”
“Um… What kind of authority was it again?”
As Leeha tilted his head in thought, Kijung spoke up again.
The real burden that worried him wasn’t about the combat difficulty or the hardships of the quest. It was about the responsibilities that the class of Holy Knight would bring upon success.
“Authority over all personnel deployed to the New Continent by the Ezwen Church, and the ability to issue ‘strong’ recommendations for cooperation from the knight orders of various countries deployed at the Pope’s request to the New Continent. You could say it’s essentially command authority.”
“Wait, you mean-“
“That’s not all. More importantly, a Cardinal -“
Kijung was cut off.
“-gains the right to be elected Pope after the current Pope.”
Becoming a Holy Knight meant that Kijung could no longer be the ‘Master Kay’ Leeha knew; his likelihood of changing roles was high.
“Hyung, if I become a Holy Knight, in the world of Middle Earth, there’ll be no user with more authority than me. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
After finishing, Kijung took a sip of his drink.
Glug, glug, glug. Leeha had nothing more to say to Kijung. That he couldn’t be of much help to his hyung, now that the quest was already accepted and wondering whether it should be deliberately failed, was a truly regrettable situation.
※ ※
“As expected, there are no mystical creatures in the Forest of the Tainted World Tree.”
While sighing in relief, Leeha loaded his magazine. Since the World Tree was tainted, the likelihood of monsters being nearby had only increased.
After finishing all his duties in the Gaza City, Leeha had immediately headed to the New Continent. He needed to concentrate on Elizabeth’s “Find Me” quest, but Kijung’s words lingered in his mind.
“It’ll be tough. It’s bound to be tough.”
A certain level of rights can be enjoyed. Until then, the obligations and responsibilities hidden behind those rights aren’t fully apparent. However, as rights increase, the accompanying obligations and responsibilities grow two, three times larger.
Sure, reigning as the highest priest of Middle Earth would bring many privileges, but if one had to constantly consider the impact of one’s gameplay on the vast world of Middle Earth?
While fundamentally diligent and kind-hearted, it’s possible Kijung might not be able to sleep peacefully, given the everyday burdens. I am the lord of Gaza City in Middle Earth, boasting the unique title of being the first ‘individual’ lord.
However, that title only goes so far, and in the end, I’m just another lord. Without the exceptional assistance of Ramhwa Yeon, Gaza City would still be recording a deficit in its finances. Simply owning a castle has hyungught its fair share of overwhelming situations…
If Kijung becomes a Holy Knight, the burden Leeha bore as the lord of Gaza City would seem negligible in comparison.
If this were just an average game, there would be no burden at all. Simply enjoy yourself. However, the fundamental question arises – is Middle Earth ‘just an average game’?
With an influx of items and an increase in the total circulation of currency, the exchange rate with cash has slightly decreased. However, thanks to the influx of new users spurred by various event videos, the demand for gold has significantly increased. Despite the drop in exchange rates, 1 gold in Middle Earth still maintains a market price of around 100,000 won.
Even when I was diligently converting gold into cash, the price fluctuated between 100,000 and 120,000 won, so essentially, there hasn’t been much change in the market rate.
“It’s more like stabilization. The fluctuating market price has lately been steady around the 100,000 won mark. Middle Earth is indeed a game. A game with a richly detailed story and more than human-like AI. But at the same time— it’s not just a game.
What would happen if a single person were granted substantial power in Middle Earth, where massive vested interests are intricately tangled?
I knew all too well. Various organizations would try to approach and win over Kijung.
“Ah, it’s tough, so tough! I’d rather solve a math problem with a definite answer—no, wait. I was bad at math, too.”
Leeha, who had struggled the most with calculating ballistics based on formulas while receiving sniper training, realized why Sniper Squad Leader Kim probably didn’t like (?) him much. After all, no one likes a student who doesn’t need teaching.
“First, let’s go see Mr. and Mrs. Brown’s house, as Fernand pointed out.”
[Mongmong!]
Leeha opened the map and started walking. There was too much on Leeha’s own plate to worry about Kijung.
“But that’s exactly… the thrill of Middle Earth.”
Despite worries that could crush one’s chest and concerns that could turn one’s hair white, Middle Earth was too fascinating to quit.
“It literally mixes life with the game. A world that strictly relies on the player’s choices amongst extreme difficulties, the very source of its addictive nature.”
When Leeha first set out to find Elizabeth, the northwestern region of the New Continent near the paleo tribe was in total chaos.
“I just don’t get it.”
“What don’t you get?”
Surrounded by shouts of encouragement and screams, the sound of swords cutting through the air and shields deflecting something, filled the area.
Even in the midst of a blood-drenched battlefield, Lark was unfazed.
“Why can’t they do something this simple when I’ve already shown them how?”
There was no need for tension. The subjugation of the paleo Tribe, symbolized by the Golden Carp, was essentially concluded.
“So, you’re saying there’s a budget left over? Users are one thing, but the NPCs have to be recruited again after they die. Jumping in without thorough preparation—”
“No, no, it’s not about preparation or anything. It doesn’t make sense unless the level of Minis’ Knights has dropped significantly,” Lark was meant to say this but was preemptively interrupted, as Pung toyed with his abacus.
It would have been understandable if it were an average guild composed of just users. Mistakes could happen because, after all, they’re human players.
But for a knight order, comprised at least half of NPCs, to slack off on their mission execution?
And no one even attempted to flee until they faced total annihilation?
“Muhohoh, you don’t think you’ll get away with this, do you?”
“Whoa! You got me there. Acting all tough when you can’t even leave the water—”
Pfwuuuush!
A water cannon shot out swiftly from the mouth of the paleo Tribe’s mystical creature, Shoer the Golden Carp.
The pressure of the water jet spewing from the mouth of the giant trout is even more powerful than that of the sea god!
“[Blue Hurricane]!”
(To be continued…)
TL’s Corner:
If you find any grammar issues, errors, or unintelligible sentences, feel free to leave a comment or join our discord server so I can rectify any mistakes I made.
Thank you for the support you have given me dear readers!!!
I need a new laptop as my 6 years-old laptop is about to give up on me, the one I want to get costs around 1500$, so if you have any alms, you can help by supporting me in Patreon here.
You can also donate here: https://paypal.me/lordfifth?country.x=PH&locale.x=en_US
For chapter updates and discussion join Betterdays discord here. -
Matan’s Shooter 646
The expression of someone who is pleased but cannot openly show it was clearly visible on his face.
It was only after fully enjoying the ‘look of respect’ cast by Kijung that Leeha addressed the palace guards.
“Cough, introductions are over. I was merely doing what needed to be done, after all. For the peace of the continent—”
“To carry on the will of the Nameless Paladin, we salute the Templar!”
“—It was nothing more than effort… Huh?”
Leeha’s expression changed as he began to reply. Directed at whom? Only then did Leeha properly look at the faces of the palace guards.
Their gaze was not on Leeha.
“Salute—Sword—!”
The palace guard at the door, with his sword raised in front of him, was looking directly at Kijung.
“Welcome! Guardian of the Sanctuary, Master Kay!”
Accompanying his greeting, all the cathedral guards around the Vatican, united in spirit and purpose, ceremoniously greeted Kijung. Even the players wandering around the Vatican were wondering what was happening, given the resonant shouts. The biggest beneficiary of the recent [Sanctification Quest] was not Leeha.
Nor was it the players who stopped by the Vatican’s treasure vault to claim their items.
It was Master Kay, a descendant of the Nameless Paladin, who had suddenly risen to a high-ranking position in the Vatican.
“Oh, uh, yes.”
However, the biggest beneficiary was struggling to grasp the situation.
“I initially came just to receive the quest rewards, but…”
Leeha sighed in the Vatican’s treasury vault. The treatment was vastly different than expected. While inspecting various items, none particularly appealed to him, nor could he concentrate properly because he was worried about Kijung.
Kijung: “Hey, hyung! What do I do with this? Where did you go?”
Leeha: “I don’t know. You’re a Templar, right? Throw out some words the Pope would like.”
Kijung: “No, it’s this side— Ahhh, it’s driving me crazy. I came to look at items with you!”
Kijung hadn’t received any items yet because he wanted to discuss various things with Leeha in the treasury. But Kijung was no longer beside Leeha.
Kijung, who was receiving VIP treatment, was having a one-on-one conversation in the Pope’s audience chamber.
“Still, it’s family first, right? No matter my achievements, I’ve never been treated that way.”
Leeha recalled the recent turn of events.
As he followed the cathedral guards without escort — Leeha trailed behind them willingly — approaching the moment to be granted an audience with the Pope, the Pope ran out of his seat to welcome Kijung.
“The second coming of the Nameless Paladin. It’s as if our Lord Ahlo has never ceased to extend His guiding hand to us. Come hither, Master Kay.”
The scene of the Pope, tears welling in his eyes, embracing Kijung left Leeha speechless from incredulity.
‘Would he have reacted like this even if I had vanquished Bluebeard head? Well, it’s nice to be welcomed like that but…’
Leeha had his own reasons for not being able to join the conversation between the Pope and Kijung, and why Kijung had declined the Pope’s invitation to join him.
“The same story came up again! Something about a Holy Knight or so!”
Holy Knight.
The Pope had mentioned to Kijung, currently a Templar, in passing. He said someone as noble as Kijung was fully qualified to be a holy knight fighting for the Church of Lord Ahlo.
Leeha missed hearing the part about being ‘noble’ due to bursting into laughter, but he had no trouble grasping Kijung’s expression and the nuance of the Pope’s words afterward.
“Is it a second class change?”
“Seems like it… Yeah, seems like it.”
It was an offer for a second class change. Aside from Alexander, who changed from Knight to Dragon Knight, no other second class changes had been revealed yet.
“Someone might have done it already, but Alexander’s the only known one. And Kijung’s second class change… To a knight class related to the clergy!”It was only natural that Leeha couldn’t focus on the items in front of him.
“Wow, me! Then that means… it could rival Alexander!”
Becoming a second-tier professional was something completely different from first-tier jobs, wasn’t it? It elevated the player to a new level, much like the best content in Middle Earth. Although Alexander had skills, his fame did not match his abilities until his transition to a Dragon Knight propelled him to the top, making him the unbeatable, strongest, and permanent rank 1 holder. After achieving this rank, he never once descended from that position.
Feeling as if he had accomplished this feat himself, Leeha was pierced by a sense of pride and pleasure.
However, this was accompanied by a feeling of regret, wondering, “Why don’t I have such an opportunity?”
‘No, that can’t be right. I must have it too.’
Leeha stopped in his tracks. If there was a profession that could be my second-tier job…
Swallowing his saliva, Leeha realized now was not the time to be lost in random thoughts. Just as he began to consider the profession that could be his potential second-tier job, he spotted an item he once saw – the Eye of Argos, a unique material item capable of creating a scope with infinite range.
After leaving this place, Leeha found that not even the Holy Grail Intelligence Guild, mobilized in its entirety, could find an item similar to it anywhere.
Picking up the Eye of Argos, Leeha thought, “But I don’t need this anymore,” and set it down.
Having already created a scope with the Eye of the Ice Ostrich, there was no need to acquire another item for a scope here.
“I don’t know how much more powerful Black Bass could become. If you can only see far but not aim, that’s no scope.”
It was no different from ‘Doctor’ Rubini’s precognitive abilities or illuminating maps, which was not what Leeha wanted.
“What I need the most right now. What I have to do moving forward.”
Leeha organized his thoughts and opened the friends panel of the Three Musketeers. Kidd was at Fibiel’s Musket Academy, and given the quest to protect Browless, Leeha figured he couldn’t leave for a while. And as for another musketeer, Luger’s location was, “Central New Continent Erika – Forest of the World Tree (Contaminated)… seems he’s found it already. Well, that position was likely from Fernand.”
Luger, having received a quest to seek him out from Brown, was already heading to the eastern part of the New Continent. Thus, Leeha’s next destination naturally aimed towards the eastern part of the New Continent. Leeha nodded in agreement.
“Good. If Blaugrunn can’t join, and the kid can’t be summoned, then I should choose based on the type of item that can protect me- or”
“-Ah, there’s Jellypong? Haha, my bad, my bad. Hmm… then I guess I don’t need a defensive item… It would be better to obtain an item that could be used in emergency situations. Something to divert the enemy’s attention~”
Meeting Elizabeth was on the agenda. Leeha thought it unlikely that even Jellypong, treated as an item, would be restricted by her. However, one must always prepare for contingencies – encountering monsters along the way or, in the worst case, being attacked by Elizabeth or the Matan’s Shooter.
“An item that can overcome that situation!”
The conditions to receive an item from the pope’s treasury this time were up to [Legendary] class. This condition alone acknowledged the presence of Mythical class items, causing many players to search for them.
Of course, the result was chaos. Leeha cleanly gave up on the desire for Mythical items.
“I’ll find it among the Legendary class. No, as long as it fits the purpose, even Hero class is fine. Let’s find what I need the most.”
Leeha scoured the pope’s treasury to find it. After two and a half hours, and even though Kijung did not show up, Leeha, absorbed in finding the item, did not even realize this fact. He was satisfied when, after two hours and thirty minutes of searching, he discovered an item.
“What is this…?”Leeha opened the description window for the item.
ㅎ ※ ※＊
[The Glasses of the Spy Hero, Kojobu]
Description: The glasses of the spy, codenamed [Kojobu], who infiltrated the Demon King’s Army during the First Human-Demon War. With nothing special to look at, these ordinary glasses were used to penetrate the tight security of five divisions of the Demon King’s Army and steal top-grade intelligence that led the Human-Demon war to victory. After the hero Kojobu passed away, it is said that in honor of him, a model of his nose was attached to his glasses.
“… Kojobu’s glasses? For real?”
Although the description was grandiose, the item Leeha picked up truly was ‘Kojobu’s Glasses’.
“What in the world—”
They looked like something out of a birthday party prop, yet they were hero-grade and related to the Human-Demon War?”
“Does this even make sense?”
Along with this thought, another crossed Leeha’s mind, “Well, it would make sense in Middle Earth.”
Not only was the description of the item ridiculously serious, but what was truly astonishing was its ‘effect.’
Just like how Leeha was amazed, these were indeed hero-grade items with a serious effect.
“This effect… wait, hold on.”
Leeha tried on Kojobu’s glasses. There seemed to be no noticeable change to him.
“What if this actually works?”
Then he took off the glasses. Leeha hastily summoned Jellypong.
“Jellypong!”
[Mongmong?]
“Hehehe…
[Combat Mode: Melee]!”
[Bong!]
Swoosh—
The jelly-like creature that was clinging to Leeha’s body and disguised as a vest instantly separated. From a lump of slashed slime, arms sprouted forth in moments.
Jellypong’s numerous arms, not only taking on various forms of weapons but also embodying their sharpness.
Leeha, looking at Jellypong, nodded.
“Perfect! Let’s go with this!”
[Mya, mongmong?]
“If we’re not looking for a coat with good defense or shoes that increase movement speed at this late time, and it’s not going to be sold at the auction, then I should use it because ‘effect’ is more important than ‘grade’, right?”
[Miyaw…]
Jellypong nodded its head with a troubled look.
Being an ‘item-type creature’ that didn’t fully understand everything Leeha said, agreeing was pretty much all it could do.
[You have acquired [The Glasses of the Spy Hero, Kojobu].]
That’s how Leeha received the reward for the [Sanctification] quest.
It was a couple of hours later that Kijung, looking troubled, appeared before Leeha.
Leeha and Kijung moved to the Holy Grill in Gaza City.
He wanted to inquire about various information and it was also time to do some inner-work maintenance after a while.
Besides, where else would be better to share secretive talks than in an ‘information space that is on your side’?
At least here, even if keywords related to the second job transfer were to leak, Ju wouldn’t be selling information that could harm Leeha.
“Why do you look like you’re about to die? You should be jumping for joy.”
“Haah… It’s just, it’s not as easy as it sounds. It feels like a lot of pressure.”
The fact that the cooking was excellent was a bonus.
Kijung let out a sigh as he dug into the well-cooked rabbit meat steak with gusto, devouring it in a single bite.
(To be continued…)
TL’s Corner:
If you find any grammar issues, errors, or unintelligible sentences, feel free to leave a comment or join our discord server so I can rectify any mistakes I made.
Thank you for the support you have given me dear readers!!!
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Matan’s Shooter 645
Contrary to everyone’s expectations, the Demon King’s Army showed no sign of movement.
Less than two hours remained until sunset.
If they were to attack, they would need to reveal themselves now to match the timing. Yet, there was no hint of an assault.
“Do you think even if Bluebeard himself showed up, they could breach our defenses in just two hours? What do you think?”
“Ah, Nara-ssi. You’ve been working hard,” Leeha greeted, raising his hand to Nara as she approached with a question.
Nara greeted him with a smile and sat down beside Leeha.
“I always have to come first. You remember you still haven’t fulfilled our last promise, right?”
“Oh, that- Ah- Ahh! That, I’ve been, ha, a bit busy outside. Sorry.”
The promise to meet just once outside. When exactly had they made that promise? It was a word given in Hong Kong, yet Leeha still hadn’t kept it.
Since coming to Korea, he had been entirely obsessed with Middle Earth.
Nara responded to Leeha’s apology with abroad smile.
She couldn’t help but think that he was someone who truly forgot about his surroundings when fixated on something.
“But what do you think their plan is? They surely don’t want the [Divine Staff] to be activated.”
“That’s true. I thought it might be a diversion, but that’s not it either. Besides tying the knights’ feet here, what else could they gain from it…? Maybe they’re just trying to waste time to prevent leveling up? At first, I even wondered if the Virtuous Knight Order was in collusion with them, but that doesn’t seem to be the case either.”
Leeha rested his chin on his hand as he responded to Nara’s question.
The plan that briefly crossed Leeha’s mind was to keep Sacred and Byulcho here while Virtue went around collecting [Subjugations]!
But that idea vanished soon as Virtue had not moved around after subduing three paleos, and the knight order Leeha had taken out using silencers and subsonic rounds were others.
“Or have they really given up? Just letting the sanctification proceed as is?”
“That’s the curious part. If that were their intention, what’s the purpose of Toon’s illusion, then?”
Leeha lightly lifted his Black Bass to measure the distance to Toon. Considering the magnification of the scope and the size of Toon within it, the current distance was roughly 260m.
Alexander also attempted to drive the Bailephus and burn them at once, but even a slight hint of action had Toon’s illusion and the horde of monsters fleeing far away in repetition.
“Toon is too busy healing to notice, I suppose. After all, Leeha-ssi blew his arm off.”
“Heh, was that all my doing? If Nara-ssi hadn’t properly blocked the surroundings, I might have collapsed from shooting flying monsters.”
Leeha stuck out his tongue and chuckled. Nara burst into laughter with a puff.
Amidst this enjoyable atmosphere, a different thought suddenly occurred to Leeha.
“But it makes you wonder. If everything we’ve seen so far is just an illusion, maybe the real Toon is somewhere else, hiding to conduct some secret mission… No, wait a minute.”
It’s not a diversion. The [Divine Staff] is about to have its [Spirit] affixed. But all this aside, where and what is Toon doing?
It wouldn’t be like Bluebeard to just watch!
“Could there be a more important mission…? By letting the activation of the [Divine Staff] proceed, they bind our feet here, while in the meantime, they’ve gone somewhere else?”
If it’s not a diversion but merely a bait, where has the real Toon gone?
The place he is now must be where Bluebeard is most concerned about!
“Ah, it’s almost over. Once the sun sets beyond those mountains, it’s done. Come on, Leeha-ssi!”
“Ah, yes? Yes!”
Nara helped Leeha to his feet. His immersion-broke, and his thoughts flowed away.
Around them, the knight orders were already in a festive mood.
With barely ten minutes left, preparations for the festival food began everywhere.”
Hyung! Hyung! Come over here! Jin Gonggong-nim brought some snacks from the capital!”
“Giggle, it’s been so long since I tasted something like this. Leeha-ssi, please join us too.”
Byulcho and the Sacred Knights were almost moving like a coalition as they prepared for the gathering. Led by the hand of the nation, Leeha also made his way to the festival site, hoping against hope that his concerns about Toon were just unfounded worries.
[The activated Divine Staff has received a response from the deity.]
[Six holy horns have formed.]
[Cardinal Romero’s prestige spreads throughout both the Lope and Erika continents.]
“There, there! Look! Something’s forming at the top of the Divine Staff!”
“Whoa!? What’s that? Some kind of bell?”
Shaaa—–…!
Clusters of bright light formed and flickered at the very top of the Divine Staff, so bright that those who first pointed it out were nearly the only ones who could properly see it.
However, there was no need to see the form of the holy spirit directly.
Something more certain reacted with Leeha’s body and eyes.
[You have completed the Sanctification quest.]
[Quest completion reward pickup location: The Ezwen Papacy]
[The knights who contributed to the sanctification are awaited at the Papacy.]
[Your level has increased.]
“Nice! It’s finally over! Bluebeard, Toon, Ghibrid, in the end, we won!”
“Ah, Kijung-ssi! We’re not even drinking, why are you acting all drunk?”
With [Sanctification] completed, there were still concerns about where Toon might be but, at least to some extent, Kijung’s words held truth.
“It’s done.
‘The Root’ can’t be used anymore. If the knights can block the monsters one by one from now on-‘ The plan by Bluebeard to fully resurrect Ghibrid won’t see the light of day. At least for today, Leeha decided to enjoy the festival with the knights gathered here from various countries.
“Ingredients! Any cooking ingredients!? I’ll whip up a dish in a flash! Today, I am the left-paghetti chef!”
“If you’re the left-paghetti chef, then I’m the right-paghetti chef!”
As Leeha enthusiastically jumped into the middle of Byulcho, Kijung said,
“Kijung-ssi, please.”
“Ugh, Kay…”
“I just found out there are levels to being unfunny. What you just did is a fail, Kay.”
Kijung’s expression, trying to suppress a smile, was met with groans from Bobae, Hyein, and Tale.
“Kijung…? I can’t even take it easy with this. You’re trying to make it funny – you probably need to get hit today.”
“Why, why! It was hilarious!”
“Quiet, man! Come here!”
As Leeha chased Kijung with Black Bass held upside down, Kijung hurriedly circled around the bonfire.
Laughter bloomed among the Sacred Knights and the nearby knights.
“Let’s also get ready.”
“Preparation’s already done. We’ve even handled the budget. Just need to execute it now.”
Instead of laughter, a few of the knights chose to move in secrecy.
“They’re opening the Papacy’s treasury?”
“Yes, that’s why I told you to log in quickly!”
“Sleeping and you text me to come quickly! How’s sleep supposed to run away? You could’ve at least called to wake me up!”
Leeha and Kijung bickered as they hurried along. After completing the sanctification, Leeha could truly rest at ease following the joyful festival (?) with Byulcho, the Sacred Knights, and others. However, perhaps because the tension had been completely eased due to getting an exceptionally good night’s sleep, logging in took a bit longer than expected.
“Hey, what if everything has been wiped clean? Ah, of all days, why did I oversleep today?”
“There mustn’t be much to worry about; around thirty people visited in total, so it can’t all have been taken.”
Kijung replied, shaking his head as Leeha hurriedly moved his feet and asked.
“Huh? Thirty people? How many members does the knight order have to only go in with thirty -”
“You’re such an idiot, hyung. Do you really think thousands of knights would be entering and exiting the Ezwen Papacy? The groups simply participated under their groups’ names, and the Pope himself decided the rewards. Well, the representatives dispatched or the high ranking users might have received some valuable items, though.”
“Ah, then the people who went back and forth to the Ezwen country are…”
“Right. Those who received the quest. That day, the attendees at the cathedral were the targets.”
Kijung had already heard information from the guild members of Byulcho who had gone to the cathedral to receive their rewards. Those who had the right to receive rewards from the Ezwen Papacy were the players who had initially moved to find and secure the [Divine Staff]. Hence, including Leeha, the number didn’t even reach thirty.
“Mmm, Alexander almost missed out except for the last week, though.”
Listening to Kijung, Leeha nodded. However, truth be told, he did feel a bit of sourness for being one of the last ones to receive the reward.
Kijung chuckled at Leeha’s reaction.
“Think positively, hyung! When else will you get the chance to give Alexander a ride on the bus? Who knows? Maybe that fair-play enthusiast will see this as a ‘debt’ and help out next time.”
“Well, that’s a valid point.”
After all, those who greatly contributed to this event were indeed the Sacred Knights, Byulcho, and other such groups. While Alexander did participate earnestly during the last week, Leeha’s companion, Lee Jiwon, hardly made a mark except for showing his face a few times in Leeha’s absence.
The first and second ranks didn’t earn their spots for nothing. They have mastered the art of pushing the tough work onto others while sharing the fruits of labor – a craft well understood by people in Middle Earth.
Just as Leeha was about to get angry, he suddenly thought of someone else.
“Rick, but if we’re taking this just among us, Lark, the ‘Knight of Bastards’, will be super annoyed, won’t he?”
“That guy can be a bit more annoyed. No, I hope he gets even more annoyed.”
Laughing at Leeha’s comment, Kijung couldn’t help but burst into laughter as well.
Still, Leeha, Kijung, Shin Nara, Bobae, and other players had the right to receive their just rewards at the cathedral. But Lark? Despite being in a leadership position within the Virtue Knights, he had no right to choose items from the cathedral’s treasury.
He wasn’t a quest recipient from the start. Though he contributed to securing the [Divine Staff] and thus received an item along with the cathedral’s blessing, compared to the rewards of Leeha and Kijung who were primary quest holders, it was considerably less.
“Phew, hello! We came regarding the completion of a quest!”
Finally reaching the entrance of the cathedral, the two men approached. Leeha tried to speak to the guards of the cathedral’s Pontifical Swiss Guard who didn’t blink an eye, nor did they look in his direction.
“Um? Excuse me? I’m trying to -”
“Cathedral guards, turn left, turn right—March!”
Suddenly they shouted an order. Their booming voice drowned out Leeha’s words.
Kijung, startled, even raised his sword and shield, but Leeha, quickly understanding the situation, merely wore an awkward smile.
The members of the Pontifical Swiss Guard, positioned at various points around the cathedral to protect it, simultaneously turned their bodies towards the source of the voice.
Not just the guards in front, but those at the sides all turned to look at Leeha and Kijung.
“Ah, really. This is why it’s tiring to be famous. Ah, Kijung, this must be your first time experiencing something like this, right?”
“This is such a hassle, I could die.”
He nodded his head.
(To be continued…)
TL’s Corner:
If you find any grammar issues, errors, or unintelligible sentences, feel free to leave a comment or join our discord server so I can rectify any mistakes I made.
Thank you for the support you have given me dear readers!!!
I need a new laptop as my 6 years-old laptop is about to give up on me, the one I want to get costs around 1500$, so if you have any alms, you can help by supporting me in Patreon here.
You can also donate here: https://paypal.me/lordfifth?country.x=PH&locale.x=en_US
For chapter updates and discussion join Betterdays discord here. -
Matan’s Shooter 644
When Leeha went to Bottleneck about the “Silencer,” Kidd was present. In other words, it was impossible for a marksman of Kidd’s caliber to simply hear the idea and let it go!
After Leeha successfully crafted a silencer, it meant that Kidd also created a silencer suitable for the Crimson Geckos in Bottleneck’s forge.
“Compared to Cobalt Blue Python or Black Bass, it’s a revolver that uses smaller bullets! And the moment Kidd’s knowledge of firearms is factored in—
It’s only natural there’s another bullet type that drastically reduces the amount of gunpowder, even more than the [Subsonic Bullets]! By reducing the speed even more than the nearly subsonic bullet, they achieved a completely flawless [Silent Shooting], with not even a “pop” or “pfft” sound!
However, the damage was significantly weakened, to the point where a Luger hit in the foot would only dance around in surprise, but that’s hardly the point! If you could shoot from close range without making any sound—
“You just need to pass by the target and shoot them in the solar plexus or heart and then disappear. Nobody around would be able to hear a thing.”
The damage doesn’t matter at this point. Since you can aim for insta-kill spots. Leeha trembled with excitement and fear. It was a reminder that, despite always being quiet and not very talkative, the people of Middle Earth were always up to big things.
“Incredible… Luger. You know that’s such a harsh insult it can’t even be translated right now? And you had it coming. So maybe cool it with the fooling around.”
Even as Leeha sauntered out of the tavern, Luger couldn’t catch up to him. Leeha chuckled as he watched Luger healing his wounds.
“The Eastern Lands of the New Continent… Well, it’s going to be exhausting for a while.”
With only 3 days left until “Sanctification,” with the majority of knights who were rampaging for the “Subjugation” achievement already dealt with, there was almost nothing left to interrupt Leeha’s plans except for the Virtue Knights. What did it mean that Fernand had left and even Kidd had disappeared? Leeha didn’t realize at all that not everything had been revealed to him and Luger by Fernand.
“Is that really true?”
“Yes, Your Holiness. It is presumed the child between Brown and Elizabeth, referred to as Kyle, is thought to be the Matan’s Shooter.”
“So, he… he is the son born to Brown and Elizabeth…”
The pope frowned. Memories stored in the Glasses of Truth, which Fernand had used, were coming to mind. Fernand observed the pope’s complexion closely. The pope had also led the Holy Knights of Ezwen during the Second Inhuman War, boosting morale across the fronts of various countries. He couldn’t have been unaware of Elizabeth and Brown’s active involvement at the time.
‘It wasn’t just familiarity. They were recorded as having a significant friendship.’
However, there was no warm smile from the pope. It was to be expected. At the time when full power was obtained in the last source of trouble, the unbelievable destructive power and range of the Musketeers were already an open secret among the high officials.
Since the identity of the “Matan’s Shooter” was known but could not be specified, it was natural to view them as a team. From the pope’s perspective, Elizabeth and Brown were already perceived as “enemies.”
Moreover, among those “enemies,” the most critical figure. It was natural that all focus would shift to Kyle once it was revealed he was presumed to be the Matan’s Shooter.
Hudid, and therefore barely visible, the Pope stared intently at the image for a long time.
“So, you’ve informed the Three Musketeers, including Leeha?”
“Yes, I judged it to be okay… I delivered the note from Elizabeth. It was about finding themselves. It seemed somewhat urgent, as if there wasn’t much time left.”
“No, not that. The thing you mentioned earlier,” the Pope shook his head.
Unlike what Luger, Leeha, and Kidd had been told, there was ‘another piece of paper’ meant for Fernand. A seal of a different class than the note to be passed on to the descendants of the Three Musketeers. It was something Elizabeth had urgently handed over to Fernand as she was leaving—a letter that couldn’t be opened by just anyone.
“Ah, I didn’t mention that. The letter I was to deliver to Browless,” Fernand clarified.
The letter, enchanted so only the recipient could open it, was intended for Browless. In essence, [Pierce] and [Bullseye], the Musketeers from the old times and participants in the Second Human-Demon War who suddenly joined the Demon King’s Army, were trying to communicate something to [Rapid Fire], also a Musketeer from the old era.
“Well done. Had you mentioned that, someone of Leeha’s straightforward nature would have rushed to deliver the letter to Browless.”
“That’s right.”
The reason Fernand chose not to deliver the letter was singular. The messages for Ha Leeha, Kidd, and Luger were fine as they amounted to a sort of ‘occupation-related quest’. The relationships between Leeha and Elizabeth, Luger and Brown, and Kidd and Browless could be seen as a typical ‘master and apprentice’ situation within their professions.
“And since they are already enjoying the game from a favored position. But for Browless, it’s different.”
Moreover, Elizabeth and Brown, who were suspected to be with the Marksman of the Demons, were concerning. If Elizabeth and Brown were to take Browless with them, whether to lure him into joining the Demon King’s Army or, conversely, to assassinate him?
Fernand didn’t want to bear such responsibility alone. After all, he was an ‘adventurer’ and a figure associated with the Holy Kingdom of Ezwen.
“For Browless to cross over to the side of the demon king would be too dangerous. A danger that could pose a significant threat to the Holy Kingdom of Ezwen and potentially harm me as well. Above all, Fernand, who loves wandering and adventuring in unknown lands, would decidedly refuse to be involved in any more troublesome situations.”
“Did Elizabeth and Brown completely turn into the Demon King’s Army?”
“I’m not sure. They didn’t seem like such people.”
“The ‘Marksman of the Demons’, long vanished even from the legends… And to think that their son might be involved. What exactly are they planning? Taking a son, crafted to be the Marksman of the Demons, among the Demon King’s Army, what could possibly be the reason?”
The Pope clenched the arms of his chair as if to break it.
Fernand had no further information. He quietly awaited the Pope’s instructions. Though they had spared my life and given me a message, it doesn’t necessarily make them completely villainous… However, undeniable evidence exists. They attacked Alexander from the source of all evil and massacred numerous guilds. Even if they claim to be good people, not a single member among the guilds wiped out by them could understand that. Naturally, Fernand couldn’t view Elizabeth or Brown favorably, which somewhat justified his current actions.
“Go to the royal palace of Fibiel. No, not just to Fibiel’s palace but to each royal palace. Tell them a meeting has been called.”
“Should I move without putting it into an official document?”
Given the matter’s sensitivity, it must remain undisclosed. This pertains especially to Elizabeth and Brown’s betrayal, with plans to reveal the letters they sent to Browless.
The Pope’s directive was clear: confirm but do not disclose, for the sake of users and fighters in the New Continent still battling the Demon King’s Army. Revealing that a human, once an ally, perpetrated a terrible slaughtering at the last source of evil would only breed misunderstanding, distrust, and demoralization.
“Understood. In that case, when and where will the meeting take place, and who will be attending?”
“Ten days from now. By then, the ‘Sanctification’ should be complete, ensuring no remnants of demons can approach. The location will be here, and the attendees will be—”
The Pope paused to clear his throat.
“—only the kings of each country and a minimal number of guards. The treacherous trio’s correspondence with Browless will be revealed to all present.”
“Yes.”
“Absolute secrecy is imperative, Fernand,” the Pope implored.
Fernand found the Pope’s caution somewhat novel, but understood the necessity. Given the historical records of Brown and Elizabeth sniping the Matan generals from great distances during the Second Human-Demon War, the Pope’s stance was unsurprising.
“Yes, I’ll be extremely careful.”
“Also, apologize to Browless for me.”
Fernand nodded. Browless was put in a position where he had to read a secretly sent letter in the presence of all attending kings—his closest companions.
“So, you’re going alone once the Sanctification ends?”
“How can I not when no one else is allowed to come?”
“But, alone! How can you, Leeha-nim? It’s dangerous, and who knows what lies there.”
“Sounds like you’re acting as my guardian. To think, Blaugrunn seems more like a nephew to me.”
Leeha laughed, appreciating Blaugrunn’s concern but feeling an unavoidable pull this time.
“I could follow invisibly—”
“No, no. Even the Ice Ostrich monsters noticed Blaugrunn’s invisibility.”
Blaugrunn huffed, about to protest, but then stayed silent. Technically, Blaugrunn had never encountered them directly. He could have argued ‘I’m capable enough!’ but there was one compelling reason not to.
“Even Bailephus and Alexander found them formidable. It’s safer for me to go alone.”
Leeha pointed towards a golden dragon circling the area near the ‘Divine Staff.’
Blaugrunn, cheeks puffed, turned away, saying, “Fine, do as you wish, Leeha-nim.”
Leeha chuckled, watching Alexander circle in the air. While Lee Jiwon never appeared, rankers like Alexander and Pei Wu often patrolled near the ‘Divine Staff,’ keeping their distance whenever Toon’s illusion emerged, not daring to approach.
“Today marks the 21st day. As the sun sets, the Sanctification will be complete. If there’s to be an assault, today’s the only chance,” everyone thought, making the vicinity of the ‘Divine Staff’ more crowded than when it was first secured.
“Alexander and Pei Wu weren’t here during the occupation, but today is different. Kidd and Luger are here too. They’re all probably waiting for the Sanctification to end before making their move.”
Leeha fiddled with Black Bass’s magazine.
(To be continued…)
TL’s Corner:
If you find any grammar issues, errors, or unintelligible sentences, feel free to leave a comment or join our discord server so I can rectify any mistakes I made.
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Matan’s Shooter 642
“Would you be alive if that was the case?”
Fernand nodded momentarily upon hearing her audacious words. Was it really like receiving a ‘solid punch’?
‘But it dropped to nearly zero out of ten? What kind of strength does one need to have for that…’ Fernand paused his thoughts and shook his head.
‘It’s not that important anyway,’ he thought, deciding it was better to just attribute it to “Matan’s Shooter”.
“So… the reason you tracked us down?”
Above all, it was Brown, a male entity’s deep voice that broke into Fernand’s musings, leaving him no room to maneuver. Fernand quickly shook his head, realizing these beings had some serious misunderstanding.
“Seriously, am I being interrogated right now?!”
“This guy, feels bad for hitting us once and thinks it’s okay to just stand there! Who are you calling an auntie, huh? Ever seen an auntie this pretty and young?!”
“Keep it in, honey! If you hit him one more time, this guy’s going to die! And having a son does make one an auntie, so what’s your point-“
“What did you say, dear?”
“No, I mean, let’s just calm down and sit. Okay?”
Listening to the quarrel between the male and female entities, Fernand couldn’t help but laugh. Their absurdly incompatible personalities, poor choice of location, and yet knowing they were “Matan’s Shooter.”
made no sense to him.
“This reminds me of Leeha. Is this what the atmosphere among Musketeers is usually like?”
Fernand asked with a lighter heart. The bickering couple quieted down.
“Answer the questions we ask. Just because you claim to know Kidd and Leeha doesn’t mean you’re not an enemy to us.”
“I truly am not your enemy. If you are doubtful, you are welcome to search my bags entirely. My identification is inside. I am an adventurer affiliated with the Ezwen Church, wandering to gather as much geographical information about the Erika Continent as possible.”
The [Pioneering King] introduced himself modestly.
After a moment of rustling sounds, Fernand felt tickled by their murmured discussions. Though he couldn’t understand everything, he could tell his suspicion had been cleared, evidenced by the removal of his mask.
“So, you happened upon this place by chance?”
“Yes. I came near because I was curious about the presence of human residences in a place far beyond my imagination.”
“Well, expecting someone to knock and ask, ‘Who’s there?’
in a place like this was off the cards. The fact that you used only techniques not detectable by mana sensing was impressive enough.”
It wasn’t just about having spatial locking in place all the time. Fernand imagined being shot on sight if he had used a skill categorized as ‘magic’ to approach their home. Given their abilities, it was almost a certainty.
“Thank you.”
Fernand bowed his head while still bound.
“Well, then. How are things lately? Your continent must be facing quite the hardship too?”
“Yes… but we are managing to find solutions.”
The significant reason for the increase in players’ difficulty was failing to cleanse all sources of evil magic. The nominal boss that hindered the last cleansing of the source was “Toon.”
However, unknown to Fernand, the real boss, one that no one could face at the source of the evil magic, was indeed “Matan’s Shooter.”
Thinking about the irony that they were causing their own suffering, Fernand found it difficult to piece together their true identities.
Was their rambling conversation meant to distract and confuse him? However, even Fernand wasn’t an easy user to deal with. He could catch on to any oddities in their conversation immediately after the masks were removed.
‘Their son is missing.’
While he had seen three through the magnifying glass, now only the couple remained visible. The son, shrouded in a black aura and wearing a hood, was now nowhere to be seen.
‘Did they deliberately hide him?’
Fernand wanted to inquire about the son, about Matan’s Shooter, but he found himself unable to speak. Given their unpredictable patterns, asking even one question could have cost him his life.
“Excuse me, may I have your names?”
“You already know, don’t you?”
Brown replied brusquely.
At this question, Fernand nodded.
“If you are who I think you are, then you would be Mr. Brown and Ms. Elizabeth.”
The traitors of the Second Human-Demon War.
Fernand did not phrase it that way.
However, being able to access the royal archives of Fibiel, it was unlikely that Fernand did not know their names.
The reason Fernand asked their names was singular.
“Then the other one is…”
“No need to be curious, unnecessarily—” Just as Brown was about to show his irritation, a door inside the wooden house opened.
All three of them turned their heads simultaneously. The person standing in front of the opened door was recognizable to Fernand.
“Son 1480!”
Son 1480 was swaying, his hand pressed against his forehead.
“Kyle!”
The call was urgent.
Fernand instinctively knew it was his son.
“Darling!”
“Damn it, what’s going to happen now—what’s your name?”
As Brown moved to support the staggering Kyle, he glanced towards Fernand.
“It’s Fernand.”
“Get out. Now! If you’re still in sight in 3 minutes, I’ll have no choice but to kill you.”
“Three minutes—no, first you have to untie me—”
“Damn it!”
Brown, irritated, came closer and untied Fernand. The situation was unclear, but with only 3 minutes and no option to teleport, he had to hide.
“Fernand!”
As Fernand was about to depart, a hastily written note was thrust into his hand.
“Hurry!”
“I’ll pass this to the Musketeers, but… how do I find you? Should I tell them to come here? Or do you have another hideout?”
Even then, Fernand was trying to lessen the burden on the Musketeers. Of course, it was also to gain hints about new geographical information he was unaware of.
“No. We’re leaving. Now, immediately. Find me.”
“Find you? That won’t be easy… You could at least give me a hint!”
Elizabeth bit her lips tightly, her eyes darting around, which Fernand noticed.
“East. I can’t say more. Hurry!”
Fernand nodded and left the house.
Using the same method he planned for his escape, he tied a whip to a rock and vaulted down the precipice.
Before leaving, he caught Elizabeth’s gaze one last time, understanding something crucial.
“It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell me. It wasn’t about not disclosing her location merely as a test.”
The nuance Fernand perceived was clear, “I can’t say more.”
Some undisclosed information.
By speaking it out, Fernand faintly understood, she would face ‘certain disadvantages.’
“A bugging device? Or to whom? A device connecting to Bluebeard—no, if that were the case, she wouldn’t have made those strange comments from the start.”
While many things seemed suspicious, the truth Fernand saw with his own eyes was conclusive. The shift in attitude from Brown and Elizabeth began after their son, Kyle, stepped outside in the year 1480.
“If it’s related to that?”
Whoosh!
As Fernand rapidly descended through rock climbing, his mind was cluttered. Yet, what he had to do was simple.
Fernand: “Leeha-ssi, may I have a moment of your time for a chat?”
Leeha: “Oh, Fernand! It’s been such a long time! What’s up?”
He had to start acting on the request Elizabeth had given him. Even if he was unaware of certain matters, the users related to her, the Three Musketeers, might know.
Fernand sent private messages to Leeha, Kidd, and Luger respectively. The four met at a pub in Juma City. Crash! A chair flew backwards.
Rising aggressively from his seat, Luger drew his weapon forward.
“Shall we open that mouth again? Where did you say you saw them?”
“Luger. Now is the time to rely on Fernand’s information. It would be wise for you to sit back down.”
“Kidd’s right. You wanna act like a fool who can’t hold it in?”
Luger’s obsession with “Matan’s Shooter” was naturally infuriating, being arguably the top fan amongst all Middle Earth users. However, this time even Kidd and Leeha could not just sit back and watch.
“So, they told us to come find them?”
“Yes.”
“To the east?”
“Ah… The east is the east! What east? Is there a straight path leading to the New Continent’s east?”
Leeha sighed deeply. How could they possibly find them? Kidd and Luger felt equally bewildered. They had wandered the vast lands of the New Continent, where new paleos and monsters resided, but the mere mention of “east” was too vague for them to follow any leads.
Fernand glanced over the Three Musketeers before speaking.
“If you go east from Juma City for a while, you’ll come across the forest of the contaminated World Tree. Cross it, over two mountains, and climb the cliff, and you’ll find their whereabouts.”
“Eh? The forest of the contaminated World Tree?”
“Yes.”
As Fernand nodded, Leeha’s eyes widened. It was a simple reaction, but not one to be missed by the other two.
“Don’t tell me. Do you know where it is?”
“This guy! Did you meet them all by yourself?”
“Wait, hold on. I haven’t met them… But I know where it is. There can’t be two World Tree forests, and that place is… the essence of the New Continent,” Leeha spoke with certainty, as it was confirmed by the highest-ranking mystical creatures.
Fernand’s eyes grew wider once more.
“I see. Then, doesn’t that narrow down the range quite a bit? At least the ‘east’ they spoke of must be beyond the Forest of the Corrupted World Tree!”
Narrowing down the search area was a relief, yet it was still a daunting task. Fernand sounded pleased, but Leeha still felt troubled.
“I’ve never been to such a place… And to think that Elizabeth would have us find it. Whether she’s an ally or a foe.”
At least it was clear she wasn’t an immediate enemy to shoot on sight; otherwise, Leeha would have already met his end in the last stronghold. But not being an outright enemy doesn’t mean much. What if she was a unique enemy like Lark, existing in a grey area?
“A trap…? A deceit? No, if that were the case, they wouldn’t have let Fernand go. Wait, is that exactly the twisted way of thinking? They send Fernand back, have us look for them, and then deal with the Three Musketeers in their own way?
And what would they gain from doing that? Besides a death penalty, there’s not much loss, unless—are they aiming for a 48-hour block? That would be ten days in Middle Earth time. With only three days left for the quest to protect [Divine Staff], Leeha’s absence for ten days would cause significant confusion both before and after the quest’s completion, especially since the knight order, blinded by the achievement [Subjugation], might strike at any moment without warning.
While Leeha, Kidd, and Luger were lost in their thoughts, Fernand exclaimed, “Ah!” and pulled something out of his bag.
“And she asked me to give this to you.”
Elizabeth’s last note. The small note placed on the table caught the attention of the Three Musketeers. And in that moment, a hologram window opened right before their eyes.
(To be continued…)
TL’s Corner:
If you find any grammar issues, errors, or unintelligible sentences, feel free to leave a comment or join our discord server so I can rectify any mistakes I made.
Thank you for the support you have given me dear readers!!!
I need a new laptop as my 6 years-old laptop is about to give up on me, the one I want to get costs around 1500$, so if you have any alms, you can help by supporting me in Patreon here.
You can also donate here: https://paypal.me/lordfifth?country.x=PH&locale.x=en_US
For chapter updates and discussion join Betterdays discord here. -
Matan’s Shooter 643
[Find Me]
Description:
“Brown and I need to move east. It won’t be fast. But it won’t be easy for you to follow us, either. Most importantly, if there’s another being near you, ‘we have no choice but to use it. Come alone. I’m sorry I can only say it like this, but find me. Not for me, nor for the world, but for you.”
- From Elizabeth, one of the Three Musketeers of the previous generation, [Bullseye] Elizabeth is looking for her successor who will inherit her power. Explore the eastern part of the New Continent alone to find her. But, as she warned, you cannot bring anyone with you.
Encounter Reward: ?
Failure Conditions:
- Death of Elizabeth before the encounter
- Discovering Elizabeth with another life form
(Party play, summoned creatures, tamed pets strictly prohibited)
Failure: ?
Will you accept?
“What’s this? Elizabeth is-”
“Brown is looking for me?”
Leeha was about to mention the quest content when Luger suddenly spoke out, making him shut his mouth.
The note itself contained no details. It simply triggered a quest pop-up for the current Three Musketeers “upon seeing” the item.
So, it turned out Leeha had received a quest to find Elizabeth, while Luger received a quest looking for Brown.
“Huh? Then what about Kidd? What about [Rapid Fire]? He’s at the Academy, but he doesn’t have any quest?”
“It did appear… Hmm. It doesn’t say to come anywhere.”
“So then what?
“To strictly protect Headmaster Browless.”
Kidd made a puzzled face and shook his head. Leeha and Luger also found it absurd.
Who is supposed to protect whom?
It’s not about Browless protecting Kidd, but it’s about Kidd being instructed to protect Browless?
“So the failure condition is… the Headmaster’s death?”
“That’s right.”
Such a quest wouldn’t appear as a joke.
A quest always implies a possibility of becoming reality!
Leeha reviewed his own quest again. His quest’s failure conditions also clearly stated, “Death of Elizabeth before encountering… It means a serious threat is imminent.”
Especially since Kidd received a quest that simply instructs to protect Browless, this note could not be a plan to lure and kill the Three Musketeers. The main concern was the ‘come alone’ part. For Lee, this condition was critical.
“Luger or Kidd tend to move alone, but me… I understand party play is not allowed, but summoned creatures and pets too?”
This meant that utilizing the ‘Koma’ would be difficult.
“What about Blaugrunn? Is that also not allowed? Or what about Jellypong?”
If Jellypong appeared in the [Item] info window, could it be considered an item? Jellypong might be feasible, but expecting help from Blaugrunn and Koma seemed almost hopeless.
“So, should I start searching from the location where the World Tree’s forest was…?”
Exploring the unfamiliar lands of the eastern New Continent alone to meet Elizabeth could be interpreted as the quest’s demand.
Moreover, there was another strange point. What’s the problem with coming with someone else?
Despite there seemingly being no issue, Elizabeth clearly warned about it.
“If there’s another creature with you, ‘we unavoidably have to open fire’.”
“The handwriting is oddly curved.
‘We’ is mentioned here.”
We have no choice but to use it.
Leeha focused on the part where, after consistently using ‘I’, Elizabeth referred to ‘we’ only in that context.
“Is she talking about Mr. Brown? Or is it someone else…?”
As Leeha tried to decipher the true intention behind Elizabeth’s words, not everyone was engaged in deep thought.
“Of course, I’ll do it. This isn’t the important part. Just find Brown, smack him one, and ask why he’s doing all this.”
In some ways, Luger was thinking similarly to Lee.
“More importantly, we should focus on Fernand. You said you met them.”
“Really?
“Who is the Matan’s Shooter you speak of?”
Luger instinctively realized. It meant that Brown’s quest dialogue wasn’t much different from Elizabeth’s.
In that case, there was only one path left.
If Brown and Elizabeth were unable to fully control the Matan’s Shooter, hence their use of ‘we,’ then the identity of this Matan’s Shooter could only be one person.
“Yes, I even tested it on my way back.”
Fernand rummaged through his bag and took out a magnifying glass.
“Here are the three of them captured. This is possible due to the game’s inbuilt image-saving feature of an item, which cannot be prevented by screenshot blocks.”
It was natural for the eyes of the Three Musketeers to widen in shock.
“Is it really, Fernand-ssi? You mean to say the Matan’s Shooter is in there? Show us!”
“It’s a remarkable feat. To reach that place where no user has ever been-“
“But I cannot show it to you right now. I cannot immediately reveal it to you.”
Despite rushing over eagerly, Kidd and the others were only met with Fernand slipping the magnifying glass back into his bag.
Veins throbbed on Luger’s forehead.
“How many times do you think you’d have to die before you’d drop that magnifying glass? Showing us now seems less risky, don’t you think?”
Luger raised the barrel of his Cobalt Blue Python at Fernand’s forehead, but the Pioneer King did not change his expression.
“It’s not that I don’t want to talk about the Matan’s Shooter. I’m not even sure if it’s appropriate to say I know. More importantly… I think there’s a matter more significant than just handling this among ourselves. I’ll report to the Papacy first before discussing this further.”
“We already know who it is. Apart from Brown and Elizabeth, there’s only one other option. I’m just curious about their appearance. Just show me that.”
“The face is captured well enough to recognize the features.”
“Yeah, so just show that-“
“I can’t. Reporting to the Papacy comes first.”
Tension surfaced again on Luger’s forehead.
But Fernand held the upper hand.
No matter how bold Luger was, causing a scene in Juma City, a unique town in the New Continent, and getting chased away was not an option.
Thus, listening to their conversation, eventually, Kidd had no choice but to accept the quest.
“Letting such a hint pass by doesn’t seem right. Regardless of the difficulty, it feels like we’re incredibly close to the Matan’s Shooter.”
Moreover, Kidd had one different thought.
‘They must have underestimated me before…’
There was a story Kidd wanted to hear from headmaster of the [Musketeer Academy].
“Let’s see if you can still say that after looking at this silencer and scope. Especially since even Fernand is barely starting to step into the eastern part of the New Continent, a whole new world.”
With such a place in mind, the anticipation of encountering many situations where Black Bass’s quests could be cleared was not insignificant.
“Since the [Sanctification] quest is almost over anyway. I’ll have plenty of time to roam around after it’s completed.”
While the members of the Virtue Knights Order and other troublesome figures were of concern, such issues were currently insignificant to Kidd, who had a mountain of personal matters to deal with.
Kidd nodded and asked Fernand, “So, you’ll inform us immediately after reporting to the Papacy?”
“That’s… Yes. Though personally, I’m not fond of your obsession with the Matan’s Shooter.”
He smiled awkwardly.
“Okay! Then make sure to contact us later, all right?”
“Understood. I’ve conveyed everything I needed to, so I’ll be on my way now.”
Fernand left Juma City for the Ezwen Holy Empire. The knights frequented a tavern where only the Three Musketeers remained, eyeing one another.
“I think Luger and I will be leaving soon… How about you, Kidd? Will you be okay?”
“Predicting such unpredictable matters. So, you’re saying you’ll protect Browless? No, no. From Brown and Elizabeth’s perspective, they might no longer need you. Hm. It signifies you’re already out of the running for the next Matan Shooter.”
Luger mocked Kidd, letting his imagination run wild with the quest contents, even though the term “the next Matan Shooter” or its nuances hadn’t even been hinted at.
This made Leeha genuinely curious about how Luger’s nerve cells worked.
“Protecting the headmaster… Luger, you’re actually right.”
“Eh, right?”
“If it were the me from before, I would have hardly been a help concerning the headmaster’s decisions.”
“So? What about now-“
“There’s nothing more I can say to you except for my thanks.”
With that, Kidd rose from his seat, slightly lifting his coat to reveal four Crimson Geckos.
Leeha immediately understood.
“Your enhancement has finished. And it seems to be incredibly satisfactory.”
Kidd had hinted at his growth even during the [Sanctification] quest. Considering the enhancement was complete, his abilities must have improved unimaginably from before.
“Like how I can easily hit 36m after Black Bass got upgraded.”
Leeha nodded.
Luger, who often visited the Blacksmith at Bottleneck for ammunition, understood where Kidd’s confidence stemmed from.
“Hmm, you think a little enhancement improved your skills?”
“Luger, even if I’ve gotten used to your provocations, they’re still annoying. If you continue, I will have to take action.”
As Luger kept taunting, Kidd’s expression hardened further.
Luger, sitting across, could not see everything about Kidd, but Leeha could. He could see Kidd’s hands moving-nimbly under the table.
“Pfft, take action? What could you possibly do here? Want to go outside? You were the last to enhance and yet so full of yourself- Ahhh!?”
Luger suddenly screamed.
Everyone in the tavern turned to look at him.
“Arrgh… You, you- doing such things in the village-“
“What have I done? I’ll leave the potion here.”
Standing up, Kidd pulled out a potion from his bag.
The sudden commotion left Leeha momentarily stunned.
What had Kidd done? Why was he thanking him? It was a few seconds later when he understood, seeing the blood streaming down from Luger’s foot!
The hands moving-nimbly under the table! And back at the blacksmith, during the enhancement attempt, the words Kidd heard!
Leeha stood up abruptly. As Kidd walked toward the door, Leeha had no choice but to shout, “Aaaah! Kidd, you, you snagged my idea again!”
“What are you on about. See you later, then.”
Kidd used a teleportation sphere, but Leeha knew. How had Luger’s foot been injured ‘without any signs’? There was only one reason.
“Damn you, gunslinger! You dared to make a silencer!”
“That’s exactly it! Damn! You overheard it and secretly made one, didn’t you!”
(To be continued…)
TL’s Corner:
If you find any grammar issues, errors, or unintelligible sentences, feel free to leave a comment or join our discord server so I can rectify any mistakes I made.
Thank you for the support you have given me dear readers!!!
I need a new laptop as my 6 years-old laptop is about to give up on me, the one I want to get costs around 1500$, so if you have any alms, you can help by supporting me in Patreon here.
You can also donate here: https://paypal.me/lordfifth?country.x=PH&locale.x=en_US
For chapter updates and discussion join Betterdays discord here.
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