Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Orc Pursuit
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"As ordered."
Hundred led five sturdy men to fetch the equipment, then selected forty soldiers who had finished arming themselves and began commanding them. He assigned roles suited to the new weapons and quickly formed ranks and squads.
A knight was a war expert trained from childhood.
On top of that, thanks to the territory's nature with many experienced bandits or mercenaries, plenty knew how to handle weapons. The advantage combined to sharpen the morale of soldiers who had been mired in defeatism—it was palpable.
"It's mealtime!"
"Eat some meat first!"
Flower, the head maid leading the dozen or so remaining Anaks, shouted to gather everyone. Meat stew bubbled in a large pot, and a few men tended a bonfire where wild boar sizzled.
Crunch.
He tore into a wild boar hind leg.
'It's greasy. And that gamey smell...'
The meat quality wasn't bad, but the lack of seasonings was severe. Even just sprinkling salt would make it far better, but the distance from our territory to the sea was over several hundred kilometers, even for a frontier.
Worse, the path was infested with evolved beasts turned magic beasts, bandits, and slash-and-burn settlers no different from bandits—things even I, the lord, couldn't easily procure.
Especially now, fleeing after losing the territory.
'Come to think of it...'
Perched on a large rock, chewing the stew and meat the soldiers brought, a sudden thought struck him.
'Am I eating data scraps right now?'
Items from Earth couldn't be brought to Ardania, nor vice versa.
Only his body.
Only this flesh connected the two worlds.
Or rather, 'had' connected them. Until Revenge intervened.
'This is ridiculous.'
Eating a wild boar leg caught with a mouse click to fill his real-world belly—was that physically possible?
And it wasn't just that.
"Log out."
He returned to Earth. He spat out the chewed wild boar meat onto the floor.
Splat.
The meat hit the floor. He stared at it motionless.
Then, about a minute later.
Crackle!
The meat on the floor warped like a punched display. Moments later.
[Wild]-[Boar]-[Leg]-[Meat].
Crackle!
The chunk distorted and vanished, replaced by text. Even the text warped away, leaving only a few drops of saliva mixed with meat on the floor.
"What the hell... is it really data?"
He chuckled dryly at the inexplicable phenomenon, then logged back in to Ardania.
'Whatever.'
It might baffle someone else, but he brushed it off lightly.
'If it's a gain, that's enough.'
"More, my lord?"
"Hand it over."
Butcher, who quit mercenary work to run the territory's sole tavern [Slaughterer's Rest], sliced off well-roasted hindquarter meat.
"...Hm?"
Turning at the herbal aroma spreading in his mouth—unlike before—Butcher winked. He must have some self-proclaimed cook's ingredients stashed.
'At least it's edible. Limits aside.'
Still absurd. A word to reach Earth, packed with restaurants, yet stuck eating every meal in Ardania.
No choice.
'No money.'
His entire fortune: 83,000 won. Even picking cheap menu items, it wouldn't last half a month, let alone full.
Worse...
This money had to go to pay-to-win spending.
'Argh! Should've spent strategically!'
Around 40 million won could've geared everything—equipment, skills, guardians, pets—to heroic grade. But he blew it all on legendary classes.
At least he pulled a legendary class—but no, he didn't!
Crunch crunch.
Back in his one-room after logging out, he kept chewing meat while organizing thoughts.
'Wait it out first. Basic income hits September 1st.'
South Korea was wealthy with solid welfare.
Every citizen got 1.2 million won monthly basic income regardless of work, plus extras for veterans like him. Three years as a soldier at 3.5 million monthly meant another million monthly for nine months.
So, no work needed for 2.2 million incoming monthly.
His residence—a government-run room tower, even owned outright—meant free utilities if not wasteful.
Food was the issue, but solvable in Ardania.
'Go free-to-play for a while, focus on Ardania.'
No moving hunting grounds soon anyway—food for him and residents. The slowly accumulating EXP and gold weren't negligible, so hunkering in Windbreak Plateau was rational.
'Plus, need skills.'
Rare, heroic, legendary skills were pipe dreams, but common and advanced ones buyable with gold from skill shops.
Issue: skills class-specific.
Class change disabled unrelated skills. He'd hoped Ardania reality loosened restrictions, but system correction prevented use.
"Duelist isn't bad, but..."
Same-lineage jobs shared skills. Like Swordsman (common) → Skilled Swordmaster (advanced) → Sword Ghost (rare) → Sword King (heroic) → Sword Saint (legendary)—same lineage shared.
Branching severed sharing: Swordsman (common) → Fencer (advanced) → Flash Fencer (rare) → Duelist (heroic) → Grand Champion (legendary). No sharing from advanced on.
Buy Fencer skills, change class? Locked.
Even Sword Saint later? Bought skills wasted!
"At least Sword King would've been no-brainer..."
No heroic Sword King either—infuriating. Heroics plentiful, but after so many pulls?
'Duelist's decent. In Revenge, rated above Sword King even.'
But Duelist skills all one-on-one. Inefficient for his one-vs-many or many-vs-many fights.
'Plus, Duelist's crit-based. More skills, more loss.'
Skills boosted crit chance: on small/medium/large attacks, post-parry... Mostly useless. His crits fixed near 100% anyway?
No crit guarantee on non-vitals despite high chance.
"Can't go archer or tank... Mage or priest? No way."
He gritted teeth, bought Duelist skills. Minimally: one common, one advanced.
[Flash (Common) (Passive)]
Critical damage +10%.
[Duelist's Oath (Advanced) (Active)]
Consume stamina/mana: attack speed +30%, critical damage +50%.
Many skills, but crit-focused, so these. Prices stung: common skillbook 6,500 gold; advanced 77,000 gold.
"Insane. Over tenfold jump..."
Plateau boar averaged 8 gold drop. Common book: ~800 boars. Advanced: nearly 10,000.
Minus resupply trips, ~5,000 boars daily meant 48 straight hours for one advanced.
'At least boar tusks sell... But arrows/potions eat profits.'
[Inventory weight exceeded 50%!]
[Inventory weight over 50%: HP/MP natural regen disabled!]
While scribbling household ledger on Cheda's belly, character Killians's inventory filled again.
Not full—halfway—but auto-hunt's brute tit-for-tat without regen exploded potion costs past income.
"Drop rate's trash already—no deficits."
Like always, he looped the hunting ground, stuffing discarded meat/weapons till 240% weight, then entered Ardania.
"Daddy... legs hurt."
"Yeah, yeah. I'll carry you."
"You can barely walk—shut up and add to my load!"
The 1,000 territory folk trudged north on mountain paths. Mostly able-bodied men, yet pace torturously slow.
'No baggage, two days, under 30km...'
Army days: daily march 150km. Even general units, called low.
'Made sense—I, lowest mana aptitude, kept up.'
Officer training: 300km base. Special forces 1,000km—flying or full lightness skill, not marches.
He scanned the folk.
Fleeing lost territory soured moods. Endless march exhausted them.
'Bad. Magic beasts might strike.'
Then.
"My lord! My lord!"
A soldier sprinted from rear—south—screaming hoarse. Scout left as rear-guard precaution.
"What? Why so urgent?"
"Behind! The rear! Huff huff. Orcs... huff."
"Breathe first. Orcs are slow. Just location, I'll han—"
"They caught up! All of them!"
"What? How? You rested, conserved stamina—orcs catch you?"
Then.
Thud thud thud!
Earth shook afar. Looking up shocked: orc heads crested the ridge.
'Already?'
Drawing Starter Sword from Ardania inventory, still uncomprehending.
Orcs slow, noisy—magic beasts should've hit. Scout fastest in territory caught?
But cresting hill...
He understood.
"Yip! Yip yip!"
"O~~ Rorororo!"
"Hahaha! Found 'em! Humans there!"
Dozens of orcs emerged beyond hill.
Riding wolves too.
"Those damn... why wolves carrying orcs?!"
Not all.
Center: largest orc on biggest wolf. Wolf's head-horns marked Hundred-Man Beast.
And behind him—familiar face.
Balkan Orc Warrior (Rare)
Hamrom
Monster I'd killed once.
Glared with bloodshot eyes.