A Firm Resolve Never to Suffer Alone!
Ed-an pleaded with a desperate look on his face, but Tae-hyun didn’t waver in the slightest.
“You’re coming with me.”
“Uwaaaahhh!”
Ed-an slunk into a corner with a tearful face.
“So is the Sadiq Church really that scary?”
“That’s something you should’ve thought about before picking a fight with them!”
Thud!
Tae-hyun kicked the whining Ed-an again.
“Urk!”
“You think I wanted to make enemies of them? You were the one who said the king’s bedroom was empty, so we went in! Now that I think about it, this is completely your fault, isn’t it?”
Thud! Thud!
When you got down to it, this whole mess had started because Ed-an had suggested going to the king’s bedchamber.
Once Tae-hyun finally stopped beating him, Ed-an came to his senses and opened his mouth.
“Th-the Sadiq Church is infamous for being sinister and relentless. Once they make you an enemy, they’ll keep coming at you until you’re dead.”
“Well, it’s not like they’d be the first ones.”
Tae-hyun answered blandly.
He’d had enemies like that since Fantasy Online 1. There had been so many of them, he couldn’t even remember all their names properly.
Even before he’d started hunting rankers, Tae-hyun had made a habit of hunting down other murderer players. Since they attacked other players out in the field, they dropped more items when they died.
The best way to collect items was, as always, taking other people’s stuff.
Thanks to that, murderer players had ground their teeth and targeted Tae-hyun nonstop.
‘You evil bastard!’
‘No matter what, who steals from a thief who already stole it?!’
‘I’ll never forgive you!’
Of course, every single time they came after him, Tae-hyun stripped them clean.
Any murderer player who clashed with Tae-hyun had to choose one of two paths.
Die until they were too broken to try again—or give up and leave.
Since Tae-hyun was acting so unconcerned, Ed-an slammed both hands on the table.
“You should be worried! I’m telling you, they’re absolutely not pushovers!”
“I am worried already. That’s why I’m going to catch them.”
Ed-an looked like a man who’d tried to remove a lump only to get another one attached.
In the end, wasn’t that just another way of saying Tae-hyun was taking him along to fight the Sadiq Church?
“N-no… maybe we could just avoid them…”
“You said they’re famous for being persistent, didn’t you? If that’s true, just avoiding them won’t solve anything.”
“Th-then at least leave me behind—”
“Haha. How could I possibly fight alone without the great thief Ed-an? I’ve got faith in your skills.”
The sudden acknowledgment—great thief—made tears spring to Ed-an’s eyes.
They were not tears of gratitude, of course.
“Look at this guy. You shouldn’t cry so easily. Getting moved over something like this…”
“I-it’s not that I’m moved…”
“Not moved—overwhelmed, then? Got it.”
While the two of them were bickering, others came looking for Tae-hyun.
Rufo and Pelmas.
“His Majesty is asking for you, Tae-hyun.”
“We weren’t the only ones summoned, were we?”
At Tae-hyun’s question, Rufo shrugged.
“Well, if His Majesty intends to declare the Sadiq Church an enemy and send out a subjugation force, wouldn’t he summon everyone he can?”
The area in front of the royal palace was packed with people.
Most of them seemed to be players.
Word had spread that the king was about to issue a continent-wide quest, and players had flocked in at once.
A low murmur rolled through the crowd.
“A continent quest?”
“That’s what I’m saying. If it’s the Sadiq Church, it’s definitely going to be a continent quest. We should join in and get our share. Better than most dungeons, probably.”
“Can we even clear it?”
“It’ll be fine. Tons of other people are joining too. Just participating will make it worth it.”
People talked over one another, each voicing their own expectations.
Everyone’s thinking the same thing.
In truth, these massive quests were ideal for small guilds, parties, and solo players.
Since so many people gathered for them, the burden on each individual was lower.
You didn’t have to perform some incredible feat yourself for the quest to succeed.
The rewards might be a bit smaller, but that was still a huge advantage.
By now, it was common knowledge that the humiliated Atali royal family was recruiting adventurers to subjugate the Sadiq Church.
The crowd watched the raised platform with eager eyes.
The king’s attendant cleared his throat several times, then began to speak.
“Adventurers gathered here today, you have come well!”
His voice, amplified by magic, boomed all the way from the front of the square to the very back.
“You all know of the tragedy that occurred yesterday. That wicked Sadiq Church dared bare its fangs at the sacred royal family! How foul, how despicable, how cruel and—”
Tae-hyun muttered under his breath.
“Do we really need the whole long-winded description?”
“—atrocious an act it was! Adventurers gathered here! You have assembled in righteous fury against this outrage!”
At those words, Tae-hyun looked around at the people nearby.
Eyes glittering not with justice, but greed.
There wasn’t a trace of righteous indignation anywhere.
“Mm. Well. I guess you could call it righteous… maybe.”
Tap tap.
“...?”
Someone tapped Tae-hyun on the shoulder.
It was Ju Hyeon-yeong.
“Hello.”
“Oh, hey. Come to think of it, did you get away safely during that attack?”
“Yes. They didn’t really target the chefs much. They went after the soldiers first. But did you try the food I made? I made it myself, but it turned out so well I was really happy.”
...!
Ju Hyeon-yeong was not the kind of person who bragged about her own skill.
For someone like her to say it had turned out really well—
Just how good had it been?
I need to know.
“I didn’t get to eat it. Everything got overturned in the middle of the chaos…”
“What? Really? That’s too bad.”
“Can’t you just make it again later?”
“I used up all the ingredients that boost Luck.”
...!
“If I get the chance later, I’ll make it for you. As thanks, now that I’ve learned the skill.”
“Uh… sure.”
Tae-hyun kept a straight face, but inside, his anger toward the Sadiq Church and the player Burford had doubled.
I’ll kill them twice.
“Are you going to participate in the quest?”
“Probably. You?”
“I’m thinking of joining too, if chefs are allowed. My friends want to participate as well.”
“Chefs should be able to. Blacksmiths too.”
Tae-hyun said that while looking at three familiar faces in the distance.
Kim Ji-sahn, Park Seong-chan, and Woo Jeong-sik.
Those idiots really do keep showing up everywhere.
The sort of honest thought that would’ve made all three of them furious if they’d heard it.
“Really? Then we might run into each other during the quest. If we do, I’ll give you some food.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
After Ju Hyeon-yeong stepped away, Kim Ji-sahn—having recognized Tae-hyun—came hurrying over.
“Tae-san-nim! Are you joining the quest?”
“I am, but I have no intention of going with you.”
...!
Kim Ji-sahn took a step back, his inner thoughts exposed.
“I-I wasn’t thinking that—”
“At least wet your lips before you lie.”
Meanwhile, the attendant’s speech was nearing its end.
“Any adventurer who distinguishes themselves in this subjugation will be rewarded in the name of His Majesty the King! Compensation will be distributed according to merit, so strive with all your might!”
The Sadiq Church had always been an evil force gnawing away at the peace of the continent.
Though it had once vanished under the allied assault of other churches, it had secretly rebuilt its power underground and returned.
Joining hands with the current King of Atali’s uncle, it had tried to assassinate Damiano II and failed.
Enraged, Damiano II now intended to wipe them out.
Churches hostile to the Sadiq Church would answer his call.
If you, an adventurer, participate and distinguish yourself, the king will reward you accordingly.
Subjugate the Sadiq Church
🎁 Reward: ? (Determined by merit points.)
So it’s a merit-point quest.
This wasn’t the kind of quest where you simply cleared it and got a fixed reward. The reward changed depending on how much you contributed.
For instance, if you joined the subjugation and did absolutely nothing, then even if the quest succeeded, you’d get almost nothing.
But what if, during the assault on the Sadiq Church, you stood at the very front and cut down holy knights left and right?
Then, when the quest succeeded, you’d receive an enormous reward.
In large-scale quests like this, strategy was everything.
How could you raise your merit score as efficiently as possible?
Already, the eyes of several players had changed.
There were countless ways to rack up merit points.
Subjugate the Sadiq Church: Current quest merit score is 5,800.
Huh?
The sudden message made Tae-hyun blink in surprise.
Five thousand eight hundred?
Had he read the number wrong?
Subjugate the Sadiq Church: Current quest merit score is 5,800.
He could hear other players nearby talking.
“I’m at 0. What’s your merit score?”
“Mine’s 17.”
“What the hell? Why do you start at 17?”
“Because when the Sadiq holy knights attacked, I was there shooting arrows at them, idiot.”
“That’s such a scam! It’s not like your arrows even injured them!”
“If you’re jealous, you should’ve shot some too.”
Only then did Tae-hyun understand what was going on.
So they counted what happened at the palace too.
If that was the case, then it made sense that Tae-hyun’s score was so high. He had saved the king’s life and driven off the holy knights.
If the quest succeeds, this might even be enough to aim for first place.
Back in Fantasy Online 1, Tae-hyun had never liked merit-point quests all that much.
Large guilds had simply been too favored.
There really was no beating sheer numbers.
With so many people stacking merit points, there was a limit to what any individual could do.
Of course, Tae-hyun had broken past that limit before—but those had been special cases.
Normally, it was difficult.
But this quest was different.
For one thing, he was already starting with a huge lead thanks to saving the king’s life.
And because of that, his affinity with the king had risen too.
There would likely be several ways to exploit that while clearing the quest.
Moving with the royal army, for example. Or embedding himself with the knight orders…
This actually looks pretty doable.
Tae-hyun checked the cloth imbued with the Authority of Archisus.
His Divine stat was still too low to even tell what was inside it.
After all this trouble, if the skill he got turned out to be nothing special…
No, that makes no sense. No way. There’s no way.
Tae-hyun reassured himself with all the conviction of a man trying very hard not to panic.
Once the quest was issued, people began moving busily in all directions.
Everyone had their own approach.
“The moment we’re ready, we move. We’re getting there first!”
Large guilds didn’t bother recruiting extra people. They had already finished preparing.
With the strength they had now, party play was no problem, so there was no need to gather more.
“Looking for party members! Mages preferred!”
“Any healers? Our party tank will protect you for sure! He’s practically a semi-ranker! We won’t let anything touch you!”
Unlike the big guilds, smaller guilds and independent parties were trying to pick up people on the spot.
Their original numbers felt a little too thin, so they were looking to bulk up.
Given how dangerous the enemy was, it was the obvious choice.
“I’m a shield warrior—could I maybe join your party?”
“Sorry, our tank slots are already full.”
“I’m a level-70-plus spearman. Got room for one more damage dealer?”
“Sorry. We’ve already got enough DPS.”
“I’m a blacksmith…”
“Are you kidding? Get lost.”
A ruthless market where anyone unnecessary got turned away.
That was the reality of pickup parties.
No one wanted to bring along a player whose class they had no use for.