The Workload Is Too Much
“The client, the two companions, and three people in total will be escorted to the dwarf village. You don’t need to worry.”
Kim Chul neatly organized the information with a gentle tone.
I never could have imagined he would look exactly like the psycho player from earlier.
“As long as I’m around, no monster will lay a single finger on the clients.”
Kim Chul hit his own chest with a confident thud, basking in his own glory.
“How……?”
Sihyun asked with a trailing voice, her words hanging in the air.
That was the question on everyone’s mind: how had he changed so dramatically?
“Because Kim Chul is a client who values minimal effort.”
“You’re weak?”
“Sihyun-ssi has something solid in you too, right? The kind of thing you absolutely refuse to budge on.”
“Eh…… ah! Ramen is non-negotiable! Soft and mild!”
“……”
It was a simile that was somehow hard to agree with.
“In short, that’s the idea. For Kim Chul, ramen is the client.”
“I see…… so you know about that kind of thing too?”
Fafnir felt a flicker of pity watching Sihyun stare at him with awe.
He had told her it was all from the novel, but she wouldn’t believe it anyway. What could he do?
“Alright, shall we depart right away? Let’s go.”
“That way won’t work. The Crossfire Guild is blocking it, aren’t they?”
She had guessed, but she still asked as if she didn’t know!
“Ah, right.”
Kim Chul continued.
“Don’t worry. We’ll take a separate route.”
Kim Chul led the group along the path they had been following.
“Wait a second.”
“Yes?”
“We’re leaving tomorrow or the day after.”
“Eeeh?”
Anxiety flashed across Kim Chul’s face the moment he heard Fafnir.
“But then my Elizabeth…… by then the golden time will have been wasted for a long while……”
“Elizabeth?”
Fafnir asked.
“You mean the sledgehammer I broke earlier?”
“A sledgehammer?! Elizabeth is my companion!”
She wasn’t just a good item or car.
It was a childhood doll or figure that he treated like a precious treasure.
The true face of an otaku!
‘This guy is for real.’
“So as long as I can repair that sledgehammer, it’s fine, right?”
“I guess so……”
“I’ll fix it.”
Kim Chul swept his eyes up and down Sihyun and smirked.
“You?”
“What? Hey! I’m a blacksmith too!”
“No, it does seem like you’re a blacksmith. But your level and skill……”
“Aaaah……! I’m getting annoyed!”
“The two of you stop it.”
Fafnir added.
“You have a hidden class too, and you’re apprentices to dwarf blacksmiths, so you should be able to handle emergency repairs.”
“Hmm, even as the client, asking me to fix Elizabeth is a bit…….”
“No, really.”
After Kim Chul joined,
Fafnir began maintenance until the interpreter arrived.
‘Hunting is important, but I need to prepare for the time we reach the dwarf village.’
First, he had to repair the damaged elite skeletons for Kim Chul.
Once free time opened up, Fafnir used dark mana and materials to restore the skeletons’ damage.
– Elite Skeleton 1 restored.
– Elite Skeleton 2 restored.
……(continued)……
– Elite Skeleton 4 skill mastery increased.
“Clink!”
“Clank-clank!”
Most of the revived skeletons were missing one limb or had hollow ribcages.
“Clink! (Master!)”
“Clack-clack! (Master! Make me an arm, please!)”
“Clank-rack! (That was too much, right?)”
Every skeleton was overflowing with complaints.
“Clack-clack! (Even if I don’t die, this is too much!)”
“Clink! Clank-rack! (Look at this! Is this what a skeleton looks like?)”
The skeletons were all shouting at once.
Watching that scene, Fafnir’s eyes suddenly reddened.
‘Even after turning into this state, they’re still worried about me…….’
Since skeletons couldn’t speak, moving their jaws looked like they were worried!
‘Honestly, I went a bit too hard.’
During hunts, I summoned them every day and moved them constantly.
When traps or rough mountain paths appeared, I used them as bait or scouts without hesitation.
‘Even though they’re game summons, treating them like that isn’t right.’
Normally, we just rolled around together, so I never thought much of it.
But seeing it now made me feel bad.
“Alright, line up from 1. Reward time.”
I had rolled them, so I had to reward them.
Usually I gave them one or two pieces of Max Capybara bone, but today I gave each two.
“Clink!”
“There there, eat nicely.”
“Clank-clank!”
“You all did really well today. And among you…… 1.”
“Clank?”
1 tilted its head and came forward.
“Today you fought a weapon by yourself, protected my life several times. This is the reward.”
Three pieces of Capybara bone and one rare dark mana crystal.
“Clank! (Mas, master……!)”
“Since your contribution is the best, I’ll give you the prize. From now on, fulfill your duties as the first skeleton.”
“Clink……”
“Skeletons’ favorability rose by +5.”
The skeletons’ eyes welled up with tears.
“Clink……”
“Clack-clack! (Hey…… I trusted you!)”
I needed bones to restore their bodies anyway, so I wrapped the reward in that word and gave it like that.
It was pure three-way one.
Watching from the side, Sihyun shook her head.
“If that guy has a pet he raises, he must feel really sorry for it……”
***
The next day.
“Who’s coming?”
Kim Chul said beside the maintenance group.
“From which direction?”
“North.”
“Then it must be him.”
Fafnir hid his body among the surroundings.
Last time he was the one waiting first, so this time he wanted to surprise the other.
But when Lightning Hand arrived, his expression was odd.
“……”
“Haa……”
He looked like he had shouldered the worries of the entire world!
Fafnir stopped joking and stepped out.
“You’re here.”
“Ah, ah! Yes.”
“So the promised item?”
“Th, that……”
Lightning Hand hesitated for a long time before speaking.
“I’m truly sorry.”
“It’s not over yet?”
“No, the translation process is finished……”
“Finished?”
“But it didn’t translate. The translators said their skills were insufficient.”
At first I thought it was nothing special.
But the top translator user at Aluinsi shook his head.
“Ah, this won’t work. The level is too low.”
“What? Your level is 297, right? Even then it won’t work?”
“H…… I’ll introduce my master NPC. The fee is 12 gold……”
After that, Lightning Hand kept looking for translators everywhere.
“Sorry, it won’t work.”
“Hahaha…… adventurers carry many strange things.”
“I don’t know what this is. Can’t you sell it to me?”
Countless rejections piled up.
The labor costs added up, all calculated as loss for the Hermes Wing side.
“Now we can’t even accept the translation fee. We’ll refund the cost, so please cancel the request.”
“……”
Fafnir stroked his chin.
‘Is this something beyond imagination?’
Even the top translators couldn’t translate the option?
Curiosity burned even brighter.
‘That’s one thing, but this is another.’
Fafnir took a deep breath and confronted Lightning Hand.
“If you can’t do it, cancel. But for free?”
“Huh?”
“The hourly waiting fee for the translation, plus the improper promotion by aggressively pushing the product, and the compensation for the asset disruption caused by receiving the deposit.”
Right now the client was entirely Fafnir’s side.
At times like this, you had to be assertive.
“No…… I can give you the first two, but the last one is a bit……”
“Do you think the client’s words are wrong?”
Swish, throb.
Lightning Hand’s eyes trembled at the sight of Kim Chul.
‘That man is Manbyeongjiwang Kim Chul……! Why is that crazy guy here?’
From now on, he had to speak carefully.
One wrong word and he would fight Kim Chul.
“……”
Lightning Hand stared silently at Fafnir.
Fafnir blinked calmly, not giving in.
‘Why? What? Why?’
Countless curse comments.
Even the old netizens from his active days had seen ‘kka’ comments.
This was just a small glare.
“With after-sales service, this is what I have to receive. I’m truly apologizing with all my heart.”
“H, but……”
“Oh, and I’ll throw in a rare item too.”
Lightning Hand’s fist began to shake.
“Waaah!”
The sound of a fist crying!
“Make a decision quickly. I have to hunt.”
Fafnir had never liked wasting time.
Especially now, even less.
“Well, that’s a bit difficult……”
“Yes? Then what…… first, post a review, then speak properly. Crossfire and…… the bulletin board and…… Five Star……”
“But…… this time it’s definitely our fault, so of course we have to do it!”
Creak, creak.
Kim Chul banged his weapons together and made noise.
Lightning Hand bent lower every time.
“Instead, this transaction……”
“Transaction? What transaction?”
Fafnir tilted his head.
“You came here for travel rations, goods, and materials, right?”
The various materials and camping supplies for skeleton restoration and training!
Of course it was only natural to buy at market price.
“Waaa……”
“Ah, ahahaha……”
Sihyun and Siyeon scratched their heads beside him.
“He really is a scammer.”
“The other side did pretty well too, so…….”
“Still……”
Extortion, atmosphere setting, and profiteering!
I wanted to slap my own head.
‘In any case, I learned that these shards are more valuable than I thought, so I’ll have to adjust the plan a little.’
Fafnir finished his thoughts and spoke.
“Now that this is settled……”
“Ah……!”
Finally released!
Color returned to Lightning Hand’s face.
“Sihyun-ssi, Siyeon-ssi.”
“Huh?”
“Yes?”
“You two come too. Let’s do the transaction.”
“Us too?”
“The shards were obtained together by the three of us. Then we should receive it together.”
“……Thinking about it, Fafnir seems too soft.”
“Me too.”
Sihyun and Siyeon came over laughing.
To Lightning Hand, it looked like the three of them were moneylenders.
***
After Lightning Hand left,
Fafnir was smiling with satisfaction.
‘One rare item each, plus an additional penalty of 200 gold.’
The penalty was 30% of the deposit, so 60 gold.
He received a fortune worth sixty million won.
‘Well, most of it will be used for gold anyway.’
Reinvesting in gear, using undead, or organizing troops required huge money.
And that wasn’t all.
He also needed to replenish the money spent on Bokdol and thought about living expenses.
It was tight.
‘I have to earn and earn more.’
Money was strength and life coin.
To fight Flush for the long term, he needed a solid wallet.
“……”
At that moment, Kim Chul’s expression twisted.
“Shit, these bastards again……”
“Why?”
“Ah, it’s not about the client.”
Kim Chul explained.
“Crossfire. There were people asking me to gather materials here. They’re calling me on voice now. I’ll cut it off quickly.”
“Crossfire?”
For a moment, sparks flew in Fafnir’s mind.
“So that’s it……”
If the guess about this call was correct,
he might have to slightly revise the existing sales plan.