The First Major Update

Upon arriving at the Sharan lord's castle, we were able to complete the quest — and received a substantial reward of five gold coins besides.

"This money is the compensation that was to be paid to the Green Grape Mercenary Corps. Please accept it, Cain."

The Green Grape Mercenary Corps had failed their mission; the company itself had been disbanded. Even so, Viscount Rion paid me the compensation.

"Cain, I intend to gather troops here in Sharan Territory and retake Rion Castle. Will you help me?"

I chose the second option without a second thought.

Now that I could travel across the entire Holy Royal Empire, and with plenty of money already in hand, there was no reason to throw myself into a dangerous war. A fine hunting ground waited in the empire's southeast. It wasn't widely known yet, but it would become the place wealthy players chose when they wanted to level up fast.

"A shame. I hope we meet again under better circumstances."

Viscount Rion offered his farewell and withdrew into the lord's castle.

"Seolhwa. Let's go to the mercenary guild."

"Okay!"

The place I had in mind was a long way off. Seolhwa and I couldn't make the journey alone. The smarter move was to attach ourselves to a merchant caravan heading that direction — safer, and we could pick up extra pay along the way.

We managed to land an escort contract for a caravan bound for Shurie County.

Shurie County was a territory in the southeast of the Holy Royal Empire, bordering the Hongri Nation — a country locked in ongoing conflict with the empire.

"Cain, why are we going to Shurie Territory?"

"I heard... there's a dungeon there."

I hadn't actually heard any rumor. It was something I'd read in a beginner's guide before my regression.

"A dungeon!? There was a rumor like that?"

"Yeah. Let's focus on growing there."

"Got it!"

The road to Shurie County was tedious. A well-maintained highway stretched ahead of us, and with so many travelers using it, the security was excellent.

The Second Succession War had bumped my level up by two. The class that had been Mercenary Commander had shed the mercenary half and become simply Commander — apparently an automatic change once the mercenary corps itself was dissolved.

A massive castle came into view ahead. It was incomparably sturdier than Rion Castle, and the soldiers standing watch before it were a different caliber from Rion's territorial troops in every respect — from their equipment to the look in their eyes to the tightly controlled way they moved. They had the air of elite soldiers.

"We have arrived at the destination. Mercenaries, please come this way to receive your pay."

Seolhwa and I each received three silver coins.

"Cain, are we going to the dungeon now?"

"No. There's somewhere we need to go first."

I led Seolhwa toward a secluded stretch of ground. Large tents had been pitched there, and a considerable number of mercenaries stood guard around the perimeter. I'd only ever read about this place in a beginner's guide; actually being here for the first time, I was momentarily at a loss. I couldn't even tell where the entrance was.

That was when a mercenary approached and spoke.

"Are you a customer?"

"Yes."

"This way, please."

I followed his lead into one of the large tents. A merchant sat waiting inside.

"Welcome."

He seated us with practiced courtesy and brought over a catalog. Names and information of all kinds were written across its pages.

"Is there a particular slave you're looking for?"

"A sla...ve?"

Seolhwa got the word out in shock before I could even answer.

"Yeah. We're going to buy a slave here and hunt together."

"Is... is that okay?"

"Haha. You're an unusual one. Slavery is perfectly legal in the Holy Royal Empire."

The merchant cut in. He was right. Slavery was legal in the Holy Royal Empire — and Shurie County, sitting right up against the hostile Hongri Nation, had slaves of every kind.

"Show me the combat slaves."

"Oho. I have some fine merchandise. I'll take you this way."

The merchant led us to a row of iron cages. Sturdy men were locked inside.

"Might I ask about your budget, valued customer?"

"Six gold coins."

"Oho. Oho! Excellent! Excellent!"

The merchant, clearly pleased, repeated himself as he guided us to one particular cage.

"I recommend this slave. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠As you're aware, drawing a slave brand incurs an additional cost."

He smiled a satisfied smile and rapped on the bars. Inside, a man with copper-toned skin and a body corded with lean muscle glared back at him.

"Rather than buying several weak slaves and paying for a brand on each of them, you only need to purchase this one."

He looked strong just from the outside. And those eyes, full of fighting spirit, appealed to me as well.

"How much?"

"Six gold coins. I'll draw the slave brand as a complimentary service."

A fair price. Neither particularly good nor bad — exactly as it sounded. Perhaps he read the look on my face, because the merchant hurriedly added an explanation.

"Hahaha. Don't be alarmed. This slave is from the Land of Scorching Heat."

The Land of Scorching Heat. That was what they called the desert beyond the Hongri Nation. People from there were physically powerful, and they came with fire resistance on top of it.

A native of the Land of Scorching Heat for six gold coins? That raised my suspicions. According to the beginner's guide I'd seen before, slaves from that region started at a minimum of twenty gold — and a sturdy man like the one in front of me would go for as much as fifty.

I put a string of questions to him, and the merchant answered every one of them with unfailing courtesy. In the end, the man in the cage really was from the Land of Scorching Heat. I was the one who'd been mistaken.

The beginner's guide I'd read before regressing had been written from a future point in time. Meaning slave prices would rise. Wealthy players would start buying slaves here in droves, and demand would climb with them.

"Good. I'll take him now."

"Oho. Oho!! An excellent purchase. Finding merchandise like this for six gold is no easy thing. I'll draw the slave brand immediately."

Once the branding ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was finished, I completed the Family Pact with Fersin as well.

It was a necessity — the class restriction of Head of the Household meant I could only party with those bound to me by a special bond. And as it turned out, the party's experience bonus applied to Fersin as well.

"Huh... not bad."

It had been written in the patch notes, but NPCs grew differently from players. Ordinary players gained experience by killing monsters, the way you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would in any game. NPCs, on the other hand, grew stronger through repeated training and real combat. Their growth was closer to reality. The fact that Fersin was receiving the party experience bonus seemed to mean he could gain experience from monsters the same way a player could.

I fitted Fersin with gear and headed for the dungeon in Shurie Territory.

"Is this the dungeon you were talking about, Cain?"

"That's the one."

From the outside, the dungeon looked like an altar. Descend the stairs at the entrance and you could go from the first underground floor all the way down to the eighth. The deeper you went, the stronger the monsters that appeared.

"Let's go!"

"Okay!"

Wolves on B1. I'd already known that, and I wasn't particularly worried about the first floor.

And then—

Clang! Clang! Clang!

"Watch out. There are a lot of them."

"Okay!"

There were far too many. The beginner's guide had only said that buying a slave and taking them into the dungeon would let you level up quickly. It had said nothing about this many monsters. Only after we'd cut down the pack of wolves crowding the entrance could we catch our breath. If Seolhwa's and my levels had been any lower, it would have been dangerous.

"Cain, there are so many monsters here."

"Yeah... that's actually a good thing."

This is an opportunity. While other players competed over field hunting grounds, Seolhwa and I would have an empty dungeon all to ourselves, free to kill as many monsters as we wanted.

We stripped the wolf carcasses of meat and hides and pushed deeper in. The floor was large, and the number of wolves on it was enormous. We hunted without pause for a full hour and managed to clear every wolf on B1.

"Cain, we could make a lot of money just selling the meat and the hides!"

"Nice. We were short on money."

We rested, then descended to B2.

Goblins. And a lot of them.

A goblin's individual combat power was about the same as a wolf's — if anything, a little weaker. But they moved in larger groups, and they were smarter.

Clang! Clang!

Goblins lunged from the blind spots the torches couldn't reach. That was only the beginning — dozens more poured ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in from the front and the rear.

"I'll hold the ones coming from the front. You and Fersin clear the rear."

"Okay!! Be careful!!"

Starting with that encirclement, they just kept coming.

"Wow... they really don't stop."

It was excessive. The wolves on B1 had only attacked from within a set area. On B2, it felt like every goblin in the place was swarming us at once. We ended up doing unintentional mob hunting for two hours, and just when the numbers had thinned somewhat — the monsters respawned.

"Ah..."

"Seolhwa, run. Back to B1."

"Okay!"

The respawn was too fast. We punched through the goblins, fell back to the first floor, and had to fight the wolves that had respawned there as well.

Monster respawn. In Hero, places where monsters respawned the way they did in an ordinary game were extremely rare. One of them was this Beginner Dungeon.

An hour later, it was only after we'd come out of the dungeon that a deep sigh finally escaped me.

"Wow... I completely burned myself out."

We'd fought without rest against a tide of monsters that never stopped coming. It was the first time since I'd started playing Hero that I'd hunted this hard. You simply couldn't fight like this on a field hunting ground — not unless it was a war.

"Let's sell the items and go rest at an inn."

"Okay..."

We sold the junk items from the hunt at a shop in Shurie Castle.

"That's ten silver coins in total. Please come again."

"Whoa... jackpot."

"Ten silver?"

That was money you'd have to hunt in the field for a week to earn. Even reasonably dangerous contracts almost never paid more than five silver coins as a day's wage. And what we'd sold was nothing more than the loot from clearing the B1 wolves twice. We hadn't even picked up the items the goblins on B2 had dropped. There hadn't been time.

"This is insane."

The experience was a jackpot, but the income was an even bigger one. The beginner's guide hadn't mentioned any of this either. It had only said the experience was decent — nothing about making money. That was probably because so many players had hunted in the dungeon and sold the byproducts in Shurie Territory that junk-item prices had crashed.

Right now was different. Seolhwa and I were the only ones who knew this dungeon existed. It would take other players a fair amount of time to find it — it was a considerable distance from Rion Territory, the starting zone.

We finished selling the junk and headed to an inn.

"Seolhwa, are you free tomorrow morning at seven?"

"Yep!"

It was one in the morning. I was asking her to sleep six hours and log straight back in, and she answered without a moment's hesitation. I was dedicated to Hero, but Seolhwa was... really passionate too. Playing like this was how she'd become the strongest swordsman among the players.

And the reason she worked so hard was probably that this place was better than reality. For both of us, the real world had never been heaven. The only difference was the nature of the wound — mine of the heart, hers of the body.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Uuuuugh."

I was exhausted. I didn't want to get up. The fatigue from yesterday's dungeon run hadn't gone anywhere.

"Uuuuugh."

I got up anyway. Six-forty. Eating breakfast, washing up, and logging in — twenty minutes was going to be tight. I dragged my tired body through a breakfast I couldn't even taste, washed my face and brushed my teeth at the same time, and sat down at the computer.

Six fifty-five. I did some light stretching while Hero loaded.

Another day.

It begins.

For the future. For Mother and Hyemi's happiness.