Chapter 314
Chapter: 314
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 314
>Chapter Title: Under the Surface (5)
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Owen finally came to his senses after some time had passed.
[Can you believe it? This damn quest is finally done! If I hadn't gotten a job change item in this themed dungeon, I was thinking of packing up and moving my base to the capital to at least follow the main storyline.]
Owen gazed into empty space, his voice thick with emotion.
Probably, in his eyes, a new quest window invisible to the rest of the party was floating there.
[You know what? I really, really wanted to go home all this time! My father's face, the Holy Emperor's family—especially our cute little Sisle—kept flashing in front of me every day.]
[...Then why didn't you just come back?]
Sungjin asked with a sullen face.
He had unconsciously phrased it as "why didn't you come back?" instead of "why didn't you go?"
But it felt so natural that Owen didn't find it strange at all and just shook his head.
[Rookie, you wouldn't get it. I've got all these miscellaneous quests popping up from the status window every day. Most of them have to be done on the southern front.]
Kill the sea beasts that inhabit near the front lines. Attend the events of the Varsha tribes, especially the Bolanta tribe. Boost the morale of the soldiers serving on the southern front.
All quests like that kept pouring in, so Owen simply couldn't leave the southern front.
On top of that, the future main streams shown by the status window.
[Main Stream 3 – Save the Hol□!]
[Main Stream 4 – Save the Hol□!]
[Main Stream 5 – Defeat the □□□ □□!]
Somehow, they seemed like they'd have a major impact on the safety of the Holy Emperor's family.
How could Owen pretend not to know and ignore them when he knew full well?
Thanks to that, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and complete every single miscellaneous quest the status window threw at him.
His only consolation was watching the stream progress gauges fill up bit by bit.
[And that's not all. If I don't complete them on time, I get hit with massive penalties every time!]
Threats to slash his pitiful cash in huge chunks were still the lesser evil.
If he deviated even slightly from a quest, it immediately caused major friction with the Varsha tribes or wiped out all the trust he'd built up.
Sometimes, it even put Owen's life directly in danger.
[It's weird! My status window just tells me to collect a certain amount of items. It leaves me free to do what I want!]
[Penalties exist, huh. That's pretty strict. Then again, considering everything up to now, the status window guiding Owen does seem to have a particularly tough personality.]
Sungjin, who had been listening to their conversation, subtly frowned.
'What was Grandmother thinking?'
He'd simply thought Owen was doing something for the family.
But now, it seemed Grandmother's share in Owen's unauthorized departure was bigger than expected.
No, what were the criteria for the status window issuing quests in the first place? How could it force a Guest ID user so precisely?
[By the way, what was the goddess like? Was she really blindfolded with a golden spear like in the setting book?]
At Dexter's sudden question, the silent villains turned to Owen with curious eyes.
Why not? They'd all been in Pangea Chronicle long enough to have basic curiosity about the goddess, said to be this world's absolute being.
But as Guest ID users without access to high-end facilities, they'd never meet her directly.
[Uh...]
However, Owen's expression turned a bit subtle.
[Yeah, exactly like that. She had a blindfold over her eyes, though it somehow felt like she could see fine. And she looked incredibly strong. Definitely worthy of being called this world's strongest. But...]
[But?]
[I'm not sure if you could really call her a goddess. She gave off strong vibes of a merchant instead.]
...A merchant?
That was pretty unexpected to Sungjin.
Wasn't Justitia supposed to have a rather dignified personality? And even if faint, she had that absolute 'aura' befitting 'Code Zero'.
[She praised me excessively for being the first on the server when I gave her the job change item. Then she started trying to sell me stuff, talking about special perks and all. Said it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance with a huge discount. So I politely declined and left.]
"...What the hell, man?"
Sungjin shot to his feet and yelled.
He was so flabbergasted he'd unconsciously spoken in the imperial tongue without realizing.
"Hey! Why'd you pass up such a golden opportunity? If you didn't have anything to buy, at least check it out!"
"Hm?"
Owen blinked at Sungjin.
"But 1/10th of the regular price? That's super suspicious, right? Doesn't make sense. And pushing me to buy stuff felt totally like a scammer..."
"What...!"
"Right? No matter how good the deal, business is business. Sellers always aim to squeeze the maximum profit from customers. You think a merchant would sell real goods at 1/10th price?"
Sungjin was speechless at the blunt response.
'No, this guy always seems so sloppy, so why's he weirdly picky about important stuff?'
He'd gone to the trouble of handing over the necessary item, yelling at her to sell limited-edition eyepatches and other essentials at rock-bottom prices.
Now all that effort was for nothing!
As Sungjin clutched his throbbing head, Owen asked worriedly.
"What's wrong? You sick, rookie?"
"Urgh..."
Hey, shut up. You're the cause of my headache!
Ah, this idiot. What the hell am I supposed to do with him?
After a moment's agonized thought, Sungjin thrust a small hoof in front of Owen in resignation.
"I'm dying here. Forget the rest—just give me the cash and I'll buy it for you, so stay quiet."
"......"
Owen stared at Sungjin with an unreadable expression.
Well, yeah—demanding money out of the blue wouldn't fly.
Even if this guy was the world's biggest moron.
But—
"Hm? You need cash? Sure, how much?"
Incredibly, Owen casually responded and started fiddling with the trade window!
A vein finally popped on Sungjin's forehead with a snap.
"You moron!"
Whack!
"Argh!"
Owen, suddenly struck hard, rubbed the vivid flower-petal mark on his forehead and yelled.
"Why'd you hit me again?!"
"You gonna keep doing stupid shit like that?"
"But why're you mad when I'm giving you cash?"
"Who the hell just hands out cash when someone asks? Get your head on straight!"
"What? That's the reason? I don't get it at all! Then don't ask in the first place!"
"You idiot, you're completely missing the point! It's not about me asking—it's you giving it away so easily! Don't you get that yet?"
As the two butted foreheads and bickered, the oblivious silent villains watched with fond smiles.
[Good. They're getting closer?]
[Indeed. Young people bond so easily.]
Of course, it was a misunderstanding born of not understanding imperial tongue.
Only Dexter, receiving full translation service, stared at them in disbelief.
'What the heck are they doing? Why fight over something so pointless?'
* * *
Fortunately, a chance to make up for Owen's blunder came soon.
The moment the party stepped out of the dungeon, the goddess summoned Sungjin back to her space, seizing the brief gap.
[......]
Looking around the now-familiar darkness, Justitia faced Sungjin and blurted out.
[I tried hard!]
[What?]
[I really tried to sell that Guest ID user the items you mentioned!]
...Yeah, okay.
He acknowledged the effort.
How desperate must she have been for Owen to think she was a total scammer instead of a goddess?
[It's fine. Sell them to me instead.]
[......]
Justitia looked utterly deflated at Sungjin's reply.
She'd gone through all that trouble to sell one item, and now doubt was crashing over her.
[You could've just bought them from the start, no?]
[Giving items to that guy out of nowhere would've been weird. Plus, I didn't have much money earlier.]
Did he have money now? Of course.
Even after all that tussling, Sungjin had successfully extracted the right amount of cash from Owen.
The guy had been utterly baffled while handing it over.
-Why the heck did I get hit?
Anyway, Sungjin browsed Justitia's shop menu and quickly found what he wanted.
〚Purchase this item?〛
〚*Confirm* / Cancel〛
Even as he hit the button, Sungjin inwardly clicked his tongue.
'Whoa, and this is at 10% off—still ridiculously pricey.'
He breezed through the payment and stashed the item in his inventory.
Justitia eyed him curiously.
[Why would you need something like that? □□□ □□. Nothing in this world could possibly interfere with your mind...]
Rustle.
He suddenly felt a chill in his chest, but Sungjin casually cut her off.
[It's cute? Limited edition...]
[......]
[What? Why? Mind your own business.]
As he glared at the exasperated Justitia, something squirming behind her caught his eye.
Twitch.
[That...]
It was a black lump the size of a finger joint.
It crept along, changing direction stealthily—like a small dust ball tumbling in the wind.
But it was clearly a conscious being.
The moment it met Sungjin's gaze, it startled, hesitated, then poofed into the darkness.
Noticing his stare, the goddess spoke.
[It would've taken a bit longer for that to move on its own. But thanks to tweaking the probabilities at your request, it grew faster than expected. It'll take proper form soon.]
Right. The Dark Justitia.
As long as this game ran, as errors accumulated, it would keep being born and growing.
Fwoosh!
Reflexively, Demon King No. 2 appeared right in front of Sungjin's nose.
But instead of hurling fire, Sungjin just stared into the darkness where it vanished.
[...Not destroying it this time?]
Justitia, paling slightly at Demon King No. 2, asked.
[Well, it'll take time before it grows beyond your control, right?]
No need to make it experience death repeatedly in the short term.
Pitiful thing—its fate was sealed anyway.
Slink.
As if reflecting Sungjin's will, Demon King No. 2 slinked away into empty air.
[You...]
Sungjin cut off Justitia, who looked like she had plenty to say.
[Spare me. Anyway, business is done. Send me back.]
When he came to, Owen was shoving his face right up to Sungjin's again.
This time, the guy was in the middle of a fuss, saying the rookie had spaced out even after leaving the dungeon.
[......!]
Whoa, that was close.
He'd almost habitually gone for the forehead flick!
And Owen gaped stupidly at the item suddenly thrust in his face instead of a flick.
"Limited-edition rabbit eyepatch? Rookie, how'd you...?"
"There's ways."
That was right.
The baby goat was smugly holding out a pitch-black limited-edition rabbit eyepatch.