Chapter 9
Chapter 9
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: The Party Met in the Forest (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
⚙ FIELD STAGE ⚙ Tebere Plains East 1.
The next morning.
-Clop! Clop!
The horses charged vigorously across the plains.
Having gotten plenty of rest overnight, the horses that had seemed a bit worn out before were full of energy today.
In truth, every time I saw a fantasy world, I couldn't help but think that horses were the most pitiful creatures of all.
Sure, settings varied a little from story to story, but in pretty much every unchanging fantasy world, the standard mount was a horse.
Whether their owner was ambushed by bandits, heading off to slay a dragon, or marching to war, the horse always carried them forward heroically.
And the rider ended up hailed as a hero, while the horse remained just a horse.
No special treatment whatsoever.
"......They look good today."
Over the past six months, I'd had so many random thoughts that I often found myself fixating on pointless things like this.
It was like some inexplicable pity welled up in me.
"Ah, h-ha! Th-thank you, Miss Cyan."
Suddenly, the swordsman driving the carriage blushed and laughed awkwardly.
I hadn't said that to him, so why was he reacting like that? Misunderstandings were one thing, but why the blush......
'Ah, no way.'
-Rustle.
I leaned out toward the front of the carriage, just in case. Right up close to where the swordsman was sitting.
"......Wh-what the—?!"
"Careful, Mr. Rain!"
The swordsman jolted in surprise and slipped off the carriage.
If the priestess next to him hadn't grabbed him, he probably would've tumbled straight into the dirt.
'This is a problem too, huh......'
The reason was probably my appearance.
Yeah, honestly speaking, the Cyan I'd created was pretty.
Thanks to Novel Online's excellent character customization, I'd been able to craft such a perfect beauty.
There had even been a user character popularity poll event, and Cyan had placed third.
The event rewards were decent, so I'd put some effort into coordinating her design. Even with my ranker's fame, though, she only hit third.
I'd doubted my eyes at the unexpected result.
First and second place had overwhelmingly more votes, and both were male characters.
I'd overlooked one key fact: this wasn't a vote for the prettiest or coolest character—it was a popularity poll.
First place went to a beastkin painted head-to-toe purple, modeled after the "Blue Oni" character.
Second was the "Knight of the Sun," decked out in armor with a sun emblem.
Honestly, I'd been shocked at first, but looking at the rest of the top ten made it click. They were all bizarre, outlandish designs.
In that context, Cyan's ranking was actually a solid showing.
Most made you recoil in disgust or struggle not to laugh on sight. Cyan's third place was probably thanks to her achievement as the first user-created boss character.
......Well, third place ain't bad.
"Seriously, what are you doing being so clumsy? You almost fell—that was dangerous!"
"Sorry... you saved my life......"
I left the obvious couple to their devices and checked out the map they had.
Even if I was traveling with them to the city, knowing the local geography couldn't hurt.
First, how far to the destination?
'Still a ways off.'
This area was roughly the eastern section of the Tebere Plains.
Three days to Asral City.
In the game, portals made it a quick hop, but here I had to travel on foot like this.
Even open-world games usually had portals, and Novel Online had them too, but apparently this world didn't.
Really inconvenient.
Maybe that's why adventurers here were so used to camping. Not that they enjoyed it.
'But what's this?'
As I scanned the map, I noticed spots marked with little house icons.
And one circled—that had to be today's destination.
"Hey, what's this place?"
"Oh, that's Pione Village, Miss Cyan. If we hustle today, we should arrive soon."
"Pione Village?"
According to the priestess, it was called Pione Village.
I knew the name.
If you progressed the main story quest through the elves, Pione was one of the villages you had to visit.
Normally, it was only accessible during that storyline, but here it seemed open.
"We're stopping there to buy some food and fuel. And we need to drop off the injured and the bodies."
"I see."
I glanced back at the trailing carriage.
The elf there met my eyes and bowed in greeting.
Right, the wounded and corpses were still loaded on that one. The dwarf had done a good job with the preservation, so no smell.
"We'll hand off the injured first, then report this to the Adventurer's Association. It's a clear breach of contract. We're supposed to cooperate against magical beasts, but they ditched us and ran......"
The swordsman bit his lip as he spoke.
He must've been furious. I'd cursed too when NPCs abandoned me mid-quest.
In Novel Online, character death came with hefty penalties.
Stats dropped for a while, EXP reset, and sub-quests had to restart from scratch. A real pain.
But these guys?
It wasn't just annoying—they straight-up died.
No resurrection or revival meant game over.
No wonder they were pissed.
"Honestly, I was scared too. I hadn't been out of the temple long, and I thought I'd finally started pulling my weight... but what if I died?"
Even the god-serving priestess wasn't much different.
Yeah, very realistic reactions.
Hard to have unless you were actually living here, not just a resident NPC.
What if they learned the 'backstory' of this quest? They might lose faith in humanity altogether.
"But seeing Lady Jimo send us to meet you feels like a blessing. We got lucky."
Whatever, not my problem.
I needed to gather travel funds, then find a way to recover my forgotten spells once in the city.
I could roam human lands freely now, but demon or heavenly realms were different.
Monster levels there were on another scale.
I could handle their bosses easily in-game, but not in this state.
'I've recovered all the spells from the tower books. The rest I have to find myself.'
To prioritize returning to Earth by collecting the Shards of the World, I needed Cyan's game-level power.
Insurance was nice, but just insurance.
⚔ PASSIVE SKILL ⚔ “Death, I will reject you.” - Death, I reject you. ※ Attribute: Light / Range: None / Max Targets: 1 ※ Note - (Cooldown: 24 hours) ▶ The incantation of regression created by the Transcendent of Time. Automatically activates when user's HP reaches 0. Fully restores HP and MP upon revival. 'If this works here, I could die once and be fine... but I still don't want to experience death.'
Time to play it safe.
Avoid needless risks. Only intervene when there's zero threat to me.
In other words, no pointless heroics.
I had zero interest in heroic titles. Remembering how rankers slaved for the Hero title made death sound better.
"Ah, there it is! Miss Cyan, that's Pione Village!"
"Already?"
At the announcement, I looked up ahead.
This was my first time seeing it in person.
Everything in this world was, but this place was inaccessible even in-game.
"......Hold on, everyone see that?"
"Huh? What, Rain?"
The swordsman's face darkened.
I peeked out and spotted several familiar carriages entering Pione Village.
Identical to the one I was on. A heavily armed merchant caravan, nearly a hundred strong.
He was right.
'......As expected. The quest's already started.'
I couldn't help but chuckle.
Lucky break. Hidden quests like this had under a 5% trigger rate.
"Those are the 'Turk' merchant's carriages—the bastards who ditched us to the Minotaur......!"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 2.
⚙ NEUTRAL STAGE ⚙ Pione Village Pione Village.
A remote settlement nestled between valleys.
Crossing it led to the Holy Empire Ires' territory—the first faction humans encountered upon spawning.
Despite the border name, the scenery was spectacular.
A river flanked a modest wall protecting against beasts.
The guards at the entrance looked aged but seasoned warriors.
For a frontier village, it was sizable. Being a hub for merchants and adventurers naturally expanded it.
Buying land here probably made you rich quick.
Guess I'm human after all.
'Anyway.'
This situation was getting annoying.
The furious group charged at the merchants to complain the moment they spotted them.
Understandable, but boring as hell from my view.
"Does that make sense?! Our party nearly got wiped out! We even had casualties. How do you take responsibility for this?!"
"Beats me! I joined midway, so I don't know if they ditched you!"
"That's why we said get Turk! He's the one who hired us—"
-Thud!
"Urk!"
A burly, muscled man shoved the swordsman.
Youth or level gap? He toppled easily.
The guy's level? Not high. Looked veteran, but 55—nothing special.
Meh.
"You snot-nosed brat thinks you can mouth off to adults like—"
-Grab.
As he went to stomp the swordsman, a woman stepped in.
The elf casually gripped the man's arm, thick as her waist.
"......Hey, ignoring the contract breach wasn't enough? Now you're attacking us?"
"Guh, an elf......!"
Yeah, the mercenaries would fold against her.
Huge level gap, and her combat experience outclassed them.
'How long do I have to watch this farce?'
Elves had passives boosting combat efficiency—critical hits and evasion up.
"That's right! The Adventurer's Association won't stand for this if they know! Our temple will expose your caravan's dirty deeds too!"
"We dwarves never forget those who harm kin, especially humans."
With the mage's support and priestess buffs, it'd be a massacre. Protecting allies might limit them, though.
A fight here would draw the caravan's other mercs, putting these guys at a disadvantage. They weren't exceptional sans the elf, and one wasn't even combat.
"You little shits...! Boys! These brats need a lesson! Grab your weapons and hurry!"
He bellowed, and more mercs swarmed.
Fights were fun to watch.
Ranker duels with decayed ultimate skills were flashy, but 'trash mob brawls' were peak entertainment.
The desperation of the weak using every dirty trick was a riot.
Too bad I had to stop it for the quest.
'A fight breaks the quest, so time to step in.'
-Rustle.
I shed my hood.
Best to burn "High Elf!" into those mercs' minds.
Helped hide my identity and secure quest progress.
"D-Do you know how many died because you cowards ran?!"
Swordsman drew his blade.
Fight in ten seconds.
Before then.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ [Kneel.] -Boom!
"Gah! Wh-what......?!"
"This magic... Miss Cyan?"
Perfect timing to mediate.
With force.
I tuned Graviton narrowly, pinning only mercs, sparing adventurers.
"......I won't tolerate more of this petty squabbling."
Channeling haughty, prideful High Elf.
That's how they were in-game and by lore.
"I want quiet rest, yet your trivial drama disturbs me?"
"S-Silver hair...... A High Elf?! Impossible! Why's a High Elf with these brats?!"
The elf beside me squinted suspiciously.
Fooling a real elf? Solid acting.
"What I do is none of your concern. Even if I killed you, you'd have no right to complain."
"Grgh!"
I widened the spell subtly, alerting outsiders.
Hidden quests were tricky here.
Show enough power to meet conditions, but too much fails it outright.
That's why not Giga Graviton—just regular.
Should suffice...
'He should show now.'
I glared at the mercs while focusing senses on the entrance.
-Step. Step. Step.
Someone approached. Four escorts, and the center one was 'him.'
Yeah, this massive caravan's owner.
-Clap! Clap!
"?"
Applause from the entrance.
All eyes turned to the newcomer.
"Now, now, let's end this here. Adventurers, calm down. Mercs, you too."
A man in fine clothes stood there.
"......And you, beautiful High Elf lady."
Jackpot.
[Turk Caravan Owner 'Stran'] I locked eyes with the merchant Stran.