Chapter 69
Chapter 69
11. War of Faith -0
[General | (Hunter1) | Why have those Hunter Alliance scoundrels been so quiet lately?]
: It's not like those bastards running wild is anything new, but strangely there's been no wailing on the boards, so I'm asking. Surely there should be talk of someone getting their money shaken down at least twice a day, and once a week someone's last words should be written on the memorial board.
Could it be those thieving scoundrels have finally learned some shame?
└ (Hunter 2) : Gramps, keep talking like that and you'll end up on the memorial board yourself. Be careful lol
└└ (Hunter 1) : I'm only saying this because it's strange. And even if those scoundrels came swarming, I've got the chops to handle them, so it's fine.
└└ (Hunter 3) : Are you like, right on the verge of C-rank or something?
└└ (Hunter 1) : Well, not that.
└ (Hunter 4) : I heard something went down there recently? Apparently there was some internal strife. I heard from a friend inside the Alliance that a head got cut off or something.
└└ (Hunter 1) : So the jackals were quiet because they were busy tearing each other apart.
└└ (Hunter 4) : More than that, some weird white-haired guy got involved and—
└└ (Hunter 4) : Nah, never mind.
└└ (Hunter 1) : ?
└ (Hunter 5) : Please refrain from slandering the Hunter Alliance. Repeatedly spreading false rumors may result in penalties.
└└ (Hunter 6) : 🖕
[General | (Hunter1) | I'm an Alliance member]
: Honestly, it feels so damn good now that Jo is dead. I never liked the way that bastard acted from the start. He'd bleed you dry going on about how your rank would get cut if you didn't meet your weekly Credit quota, the fucking prick.
And you lot, if you ever see that white-haired guy passing by, treat him with proper respect. As far as I can tell, most of you aren't even in the same league as him.
└ (Hunter 2) : Are you really an Alliance insider?
└└ (Hunter 1) : yep
└└ (Hunter 2) : If you go around saying stuff like that, aren't you gonna get yourself whacked?
└└ (Hunter 1) : Actually I'm not an insider;
└ (Hunter 3) : Is that person everyone's been talking about lately really that strong? I've never seen a high-rank hunter, but they're still just hunters, aren't they? If you stabbed them with a knife, couldn't you kill them?
└└ (Hunter 1) : You only say that because you've never seen him. That guy fights like he's got eyes on the back of his head.
└ Moon Rabbit : Could you explain in a bit more detail? I'm really curious. How did he fight? What kind of skills did he seem to use?
└└ Moon Rabbit : Hello? Please answer.
└└ Moon Rabbit : I'm really curious though⋯⋯.
[General | (Hunter1) | Is this the guy who split the Alliance in half?]
: (Image attached - A portrait of a white-haired man painted in watercolor)
I heard a rumor that the person who wrecked half the Alliance factions has white hair, so I'm bringing this up. Wondering if it might be this person.
I have no desire to make a big score in the upper stages, and I prefer staying safe, so I'm part of the 100-Credit crew that only runs 100-Credit stages. That day, same as always, I was running random matching to earn an honest living.
And that's when I met him, you know?
At first I thought he was a newbie since he didn't even have any scars on his face, but he told me to just focus on staying alive, and then he wiped out those plant bastards in an instant. He seemed like someone who goes in and out of at least 500-Credit stages.
When a veteran shows up and sweeps away the weeds, you get curious about why, right?
So I asked why such an esteemed person was in such a humble place, and he said that what mattered to him wasn't Credits but cracking a lot of random boxes, so he deliberately came to easy places.
When I've cracked those random boxes, they only ever gave me stuff like generators. Does something even upper-rank hunters would covet actually drop if you get lucky?
└ (Hunter 2) : You think so? Someone actually collected people's data and did a full survey once, and apparently the speed of saving Credits and buying from the Shop is faster than the speed of getting rare weapons from cracking boxes. And even then, it's not stuff worth aiming for by the upper ranks.
└└ (Hunter 1) : Then why is that person farming random boxes?
└└ (Hunter 2) : How should I know;
└└ (Hunter 1) : Then isn't it something we don't know about, some secret only the upper ranks know??
└ (Hunter 3) : You draw really well. Did you draw that yourself?
└└ (Hunter 1) : yep. Before I picked up a sword, I was studying art at a bard school.
└ (Hunter 4) : A high-rank hunter wouldn't do anything without a reason, and here you all are chattering away about this and that. How pathetic. Spending that time wiggling your fingers on a stage would be far more productive.
└└ (Hunter 5) : Mind your own damn life
└└ (Hunter 1) : Don't fight in someone else's post, go hold hands and leave;
[General | (Hunter1) | So what's that person doing now?]
: He seems famous on the boards and the rumors have spread word-of-mouth, but strangely there are no sightings. If he has white hair, he'd stand out easily—has no one run into him?
└ (Hunter 2) : If you ran into him,, what would you do,, are you looking for him or something,,,?
└└ (Hunter 1) : I wanted to ask him the secret to his strength
└ (Hunter 3) : If he's not being seen, he's probably already been promoted to C-rank. Just like all those hunters who were briefly famous on the boards.
The date for conducting the 『Battle-Demon Ascension (鬪鬼昇格)』 rite had finally been set.
[Silver-Traced Spear : Let's do it a week from now.]
[Noah Won : Got it. What about the location?]
[Silver-Traced Spear : I'll handle the preparations myself, so just accept the invitation promptly when the time comes. If the date gets pushed back because you've gone and gotten yourself injured or something, be prepared. I'll make you pay the price.]
[Noah Won : You just focus on yourself, Sergios. You're the one ranking up, not me.]
[Silver-Traced Spear : Be punctual.]
"Bastard."
Still no manners, as always.
But that doesn't extend to actual dislike. Because I know that while parts of his personality may be twisted, his core isn't.
When I recall our first meeting, he was a complete lunatic, but now I know he's crazy, sure, but consistently unhinged. That's far better than someone who's only inconsistently polite.
Above all, isn't he someone who'll cross over to C-rank before me? If an acquaintance clears the path first, it'll be that much easier for me to adapt to the C-rank hunter world.
Even with Glass Sword Lord on my side, connections like this are better the more you have.
These days I was preparing for promotion. While slowly raising the proficiency of the skills I'd acquired⋯⋯ I was also organizing my relationships in line with my growth progress.
For example, the secondhand trading community I'd previously created for debtors.
Once I'm promoted to C-rank, I won't be able to access D-rank communities, so after I go up, this community will disappear. So I'd picked a suitable successor and was handing things over.
Once the handover was complete, I planned to loosely connect them to Sohye afterward. She wasn't a debtor, of course, but building up this kind of power base would help her in many ways.
Because the System was a fairly dangerous place to navigate alone.
Unless you're an oddball like Sergios, it's better to make allies in some form or another.
As an extension of that, I'd also settled things with the Hunter Alliance in advance. I wouldn't touch Alliance members who'd come up to C-rank, so they shouldn't touch my people remaining in D-rank.
Muyeon accepted the negotiation with terms more generous than what I'd offered. He said he'd even provide support if I requested it for Sohye and my other connections.
When I asked why he was throwing in benefits I hadn't even asked for.
'Because you⋯⋯ will be able to climb beyond even that.'
He gave me that answer and then shut his mouth firmly.
I understood it meant he didn't want to get on the bad side of a future powerhouse⋯⋯ but well. There's no particular guarantee I can reach the realm beyond C-rank. He said it in a fairly confident tone, so I was left uncertain.
Maybe he'd seen some basis for that confidence in me.
After handling all those practical matters, the time had come to handle the emotional part. Namely, farewells.
[You are a promotion candidate. If you become stronger beyond a certain threshold, you will be immediately moved to the promotion stage and the C-rank promotion procedure will commence.]
Once I helped Sergios with his promotion rite—I planned to enter the promotion rite with Elijah myself. After that, I'd be in a state where it wouldn't be strange for the System to abduct me at any moment.
So I had to say my goodbyes in advance.
I'd set the schedule yesterday. When I contacted Sohye for the first time in a while, she was startled, and when I said I was being promoted, she seemed both glad and wistful. Partway through, Sohye's older sister Sojin butted in and left a chat message telling me not to go.
I'd said I'd move at 8 o'clock in System time, so an invitation from Sohye should be arriving soon. I waited for a moment with the System window open.
And soon.
Ding!
[Hunter Kim Sohye has invited you to a stage. Will you move?]
The invitation arrived with a cheerful notification sound. I tucked the plush doll I'd brought as a gift for Sohye (Hyejin had made it in her spare time for her disciple / it smells slightly burnt) under my arm and murmured.
"Alright, move."
Fwooosh──!!
White light filled my vision, and I moved to Sohye's world. To that desolate world where the Zombie Virus had once rampaged.
.
Tap.
My toes touched the ground, and I opened my eyes. The view was wide open, and a gust of wind blew past, brushing my cheek. The place I'd been summoned to was a rooftop. She must have called me from outside rather than inside a building.
The first things that caught my eye were the drastically improved appearance of the city⋯⋯ and the bustling sounds of people carried on the wind.
"Stop lazing around and move the materials! Hundreds more people are coming back to being human this week too!"
"Why are there so many zombies in this country⋯⋯ Can't we ask them to slow down the human restoration a bit? We're already short on decent housing, and if they just waited as zombies instead of being people, we'd save on food too."
"Are you even human? Say that exactly as-is in front of the victims. You probably won't get to see tomorrow's sun."
This city, where once only the footsteps of the dead and the silence of pale concrete could be heard, was now pulsing with unmistakable vitality. People, each bearing a scar somewhere on their bodies, moved along the roads and worked.
I was gazing down at the sight for a while, feeling something strange, when I heard my name called cautiously from behind.
"You're here, Noah?"
"Ah, it's been a while, Sohye."
"⋯⋯It's changed a lot, hasn't it?"
"You must have worked hard. No matter how much the military maintains its power, they wouldn't have stockpiled enough food to feed this many people in advance."
In a world where plant bastards run rampant, how much farming could you even do? Most of this city's food supply was probably⋯⋯ being handled by Sohye, who'd received the System.
So the visible population count was, in a sense, her effort and her fruit.
"W-well, it's not that much⋯⋯."
Sohye fiddled with her glasses frame, looking bashful.
I gave her the plush doll I'd brought as a gift, and received a pile of combat rations in return.
Honestly, since it was an item that didn't help with survival, I'd considered bringing something else instead of a doll⋯⋯ like a frozen cheesecake, which was still a luxury item.
"P-please tell her thank you so much. I'm so happy⋯⋯!!"
But seeing Sohye clutch the doll tightly and squeal with delight, Hyejin had apparently been right.
After chatting for a bit, I learned that she'd received the title of 'Supply Company Commander' from the military and was diligently converting Credits into food.
When I asked if that didn't leave her short on Credits to spend on growth.
"Weak monsters die if you throw grenades at them."
"Ah."
She seemed to be collecting stage rewards by loading up on modern firearms and blowing everything up. And the resources consumed that way were replenished through trade with other hunters, and the growing population was used to process resources.
That was how Sohye's world was slowly but steadily building a virtuous cycle.
"So overall⋯⋯ we're slightly in the black."
"⋯⋯⋯⋯."
Sohye doing well was a good thing. A good thing, but⋯⋯ it stung a little.
My Seoul was short on population no matter how I managed resources, and here they were catching passing zombies and duplicating their population. I couldn't exactly call it a blessing in disguise.
In my heart, I'd love to receive a large group of refugees that just sprouted from the ground somewhere. Anyway.
This structure was good. There was no reason for Sohye to collapse.
Since she held the holy water distribution process in her hands, even if the military didn't cooperate, she could control the conversion rate indirectly by adjusting the holy water supply.
Depending on Sohye's growth, she could gradually adjust the amount of zombies being turned back into humans. As long as she didn't overdo it, society would grow on its own, and Sohye herself could draw a stable growth curve.
"With such a stable situation, you'll be able to prepare for C-rank promotion safely. I'll go ahead and wait for you."
"I'm not sure if I'll be able to go up⋯⋯ but I'll do my best. Oh, but⋯⋯."
Sohye hesitated for a moment.
"They said there's been a disruption in holy water production."
"Pardon?"
"The Saintess said something urgent came up, and when I offered to help, she said I'm not qualified. She wouldn't even tell me what it was."
"⋯⋯⋯⋯."
Holy water, huh.
Holy water was essentially the driving force of Sohye's world. There must be mountains of zombies that haven't become human yet, and if the supply got cut off here, it would be troublesome in many ways.
Sohye, with an apologetic expression, asked for my help.
"You must be busy too, Noah, and I'm sorry to ask this. But could you⋯⋯ just take a look once? Of course, I'm absolutely not asking you to do it empty-handed⋯⋯."
"I'll check it out first and get back to you."
"Yes, okay⋯⋯!!"
This would be my last little errand at D-rank.
I stepped back for a moment and contacted the Saintess. Since I'd handed over her contact info to Sohye, our contact had become infrequent, and the brief message I'd sent while tracking Elijah's whereabouts was the most recent record.
Since it had been a while, I considered leaving a greeting. But given her catastrophic typing skills, I figured it would be easier for both of us to skip the pleasantries entirely, so I got straight to the point.
[Noah Won : I heard from Sohye. Something came up?]
[Noah Won : If you need help, a deal is possible.]
About three minutes later, a reply came.
[Andersen : ps]
[Andersen : The church is voting to choose the next god to serve]
[Andersen : A strange god looks like it'll get elected so I'm assassinating the voters]
[Andersen : Assassinating]
[Andersen : I'm in the middle of it]
[Noah Won : ?]
What on earth was going on.