A Dragon's Plea
"K-Kim Tae-hyun!" Kim Hyeon-ah cried out in shock.
He was her older sister Lee Se-yeon's rival, and one of her most hated players in Pandemonium Online! To think Tae-hyun was actually here. It was so out of the blue that she was utterly flustered.
"Y-you were the one who cooked all this?"
"I did a bit of cooking with the local chefs," Tae-hyun replied.
Kim Hyeon-ah looked around. The players were all lying on the ground with blissful expressions, relaxing in complete leisure. This was a sight absolutely unheard of at the port!
Cooking? Why did he do it? Is it a trap? Did he poison it? What's going on? Should I call Sis? Over something so trivial?
Seeing Kim Hyeon-ah lost in a spiral of dozens of different thoughts, Tae-hyun clicked his tongue.
"You overthink things too much... I just wanted to raise my cooking skill. No hidden motives. I figured I'd help train the local chefs while I was at it."
The chef players bristled at his words. Train us? If you 'train' us a second time, we'll die!
Unlike the players who had eaten their fill, the chef players were collapsed on the ground from sheer exhaustion.
He didn't actually poison them, did he...? Kim Hyeon-ah thought. The way everyone was knocked out looked exactly like they'd been hit with some kind of sleeping poison...
"Anyway, it looks like you own this city... Do you mind if we pass through?"
"I-I don't care if you pass through... Wait!"
Kim Hyeon-ah froze. Come to think of it, she needed Tae-hyun for Lee Se-yeon's quest. His sudden appearance here in the Asbian Empire felt like a stroke of destiny.
Yes! He's here for Sis's quest!
"W-wait a minute!"
Kim Hyeon-ah ran over and grabbed Tae-hyun's arm. The players lying on the ground watched this and began to whisper.
"...What kind of nonsense are you talking about?! Do you all want to die?!" Kim Hyeon-ah drew her sword in a rage.
The players gasped and tried to run... but they couldn't. They were so bloated that they suffered a movement penalty. Instead, they shut their mouths and kept their thoughts to themselves.
Seeing how angry she is, she must have a guilty conscience, right?
Makes sense.
To the onlookers, it looked like Kim Hyeon-ah was boldly making a move on him. Of course, if Kim Hyeon-ah knew what they were thinking, she would have clutched the back of her neck in sheer outrage. There was a limit to shipping people! How dare they pair her with him...!
"What's this? Are you trying to swing that sword at me?" Tae-hyun asked, genuinely puzzled. In his mind, there was only one reason to grab someone's arm: to lock them down and swing a weapon!
Carbanog states that grabbing someone's arm doesn't always mean they want to fight...
"N-no, that's not it... I'm saying I can help you if you're trying to level up your cooking skill." Perhaps because she wanted something from him, Kim Hyeon-ah's tone had become noticeably polite.
"You want to help?"
"Yes."
"...Why??"
"..."
Kim Hyeon-ah's face stiffened. I offer to help, and he immediately suspects me?! Has he spent his entire life being scammed?
The onlookers, of course, misunderstood this exchange as well.
Kim Hyeon-ah whipped her head around, her eyes blazing with fury. "Keep talking and I'll PK all of you!"
Lee Se-yeon raised her sister well, Tae-hyun thought, slightly impressed by her highly effective method of silencing a crowd.
"You're a guest, and you've already joined hands with my sister... and by joining hands, I mean forming an alliance! It doesn't mean anything weird!" Kim Hyeon-ah growled, desperate to clear up any misunderstandings.
However, her explanation only made things sound more suspicious.
Wait, were the dating rumors actually true?
Well, there's no smoke without fire, right...?
"Anyway, since you're a guest, I can't just stand by and not help... right?"
Hmm. Tae-hyun was several steps ahead of Kim Hyeon-ah. No matter what kind of wicked schemes she tried to cook up, she could never match him. He had already read her true intentions from her words.
Does Lee Se-yeon have a quest that requires my help? It's probably a quest that needs the Archisus Church.
There was always a reason when someone acted like this despite clearly hating every second of it!
Well, it's not like I have to help her back just because she helps me now.
Since Kim Hyeon-ah hadn't explicitly said, "I'll do this, so you have to help us in return," Tae-hyun had absolutely no reason to decline. He would just take full advantage of her offer!
Kim Hyeon-ah still didn't know Tae-hyun well enough. A shallow trick like this would never work on a man like him.
Kim Hyeon-ah certainly delivered on her promise. Using her authority as the port manager, she granted him exclusive use of the central plaza and forced all passing players to stop by.
"Now you can sell several times more dishes. See? I was a big help, right?"
"...But won't the players complain about this?"
"?? They'll complain no matter what we do."
Tae-hyun was simply too lenient with players; normally, lords exercised at least this much control. If they couldn't even do this, there would be no point in spending massive amounts of gold to run a territory!
Well, this isn't bad.
It was a perfect setup: setting up stalls in the central plaza as he pleased, laying out the dishes, and letting passersby see and buy them. Tae-hyun whispered to Lee Da-bi.
"Won't people build up resentment if the lord acts like that?"
"Maybe she's trying to suppress them with raw power?"
"I see... She must have learned all the wrong things from watching the Guild Alliance."
"...I don't do things like that?!" Kim Hyeon-ah snapped.
Tae-hyun had a natural talent for infuriating people, even when they were trying their best to remain polite. To make matters worse, Lee Da-bi was right beside him, doubling the irritation.
"I told you, this is well within a lord's authority!"
"Alright, alright. I should probably start setting out the food."
Tae-hyun searched through his prepared dishes for those with long shelf lives and special effects. Thanks to his skills, his cooking was imbued with all sorts of random options. One of them happened to be preservation effects.
"Ah, found them. It's probably better to sell these, right? Since they'll have to sit out while we wait."
"A long shelf life is definitely best. But..." Lee Da-bi thought to herself. How on earth did he make a pudding that never spoils no matter how long it sits? It was obviously one of the random effects, but anyone looking at it couldn't help but wonder if he had dumped a bunch of chemical preservatives into it.
"You'll have your soldiers guard the stalls, right?"
"...Fine."
"Also, we need to cross the desert. Give us some identification items so we don't get attacked by the local forces."
"..."
◈ Grants safe passage through the Asbian Empire.
◈ Prevents attacks from imperial guards and soldiers.
"And..."
"Ugh, seriously, give it a rest already!"
"...I was just going to say thank you."
"Oh, n-no. I didn't realize..."
"Actually, that was a joke. I wanted to ask what Lee Se-yeon is up to. What kind of quest is she doing?"
"Do you really think I'd tell you?"
"Whatever it is, I don't think it's something you need to hide so desperately... Well, whatever. It looks like she's clearing a quest in the Asbian Empire, so I'm sure I'll hear about it soon enough."
Urgh. Kim Hyeon-ah felt a sharp jab of pain. In truth, Lee Se-yeon was currently running around doing various tasks to gather named NPCs. It wouldn't be surprising if rumors started spreading soon.
"Don't forget how well I treated you."
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Of course."
When he comes back, I'll gently suggest the quest to him, Kim Hyeon-ah thought.
When I come back, I'll make sure to slip away without meeting her, Tae-hyun thought.
It had been a while since they last visited Alexeos's Lair. The entrance was so well-hidden that anyone who hadn't been here before would never be able to find it.
But where are the Dragon Tooth Warriors?
Normally, when an intruder approached, the Dragon Tooth Warriors controlled by Alexeos would emerge to greet them. But this time, there was no sign of them. What was going on?
Did he decide there was no need to send them out?
Flash!
⊳ You have entered Alexeos's Lair.
Tae-hyun stepped inside with Lee Da-bi. It was best to just see Alexeos in person and ask him directly.
"!!!"
"!!!!"
You have encountered the Ghost Dragon, Alexeos.
Your Magic skill increases significantly.
Your Black Magic skill increases significantly.
Your current Magic skill level is too low to identify the magic cast upon Alexeos.
Your current Black Magic skill level is too low...
Even though they had met Alexeos before, their magic skills rose just like last time. It was a spell so powerful that their skills increased simply by looking at it, even if they couldn't fully comprehend it!
But that wasn't what mattered right now. Tae-hyun and Lee Da-bi were shocked for an entirely different reason.
"Lord Alexeos. Your body...!"
Alexeos was a Dragon Lich who had rejected death to turn himself into an undead. Though his physical form had been skeletal and gaunt, it had definitely been there—massive and powerful, as expected of a dragon's corpse.
But now, Alexeos's body had completely transformed into a spectral, ghostly state.
"What happened?!"
- It has been a long time, Avatar of Archisus. Why did you not stop by last time?
"Because there was a matter where I had to sacrifice myself for the peace of the continent."
- Oh... No, wait. There is no way the Avatar of Archisus would do such a thing.
Just because he had become a ghost dragon didn't mean he had lost his mind. Hearing the Avatar of Archisus talk about self-sacrifice was just too bizarre!
Tch.
Carbanog remarks that the dragon is annoyingly quick-witted.
"No, Lord Alexeos! How can you say that after all the effort I've put in for the continent? Who defeated Uipoatl? Who stopped Nevuchadnezzar when he returned from the dead? And what about Hakkaras, the wicked Black Dragon who insulted every Red Dragon he saw?"
Supreme Eloquence
...
Tae-hyun shamelessly pressed his point using his titles and achievements! Even if Alexeos had ten mouths, he wouldn't have been able to argue back. It was an undeniable fact that Tae-hyun had gone through all that trouble.
- I misspoke. My apologies.
"Don't just apologize with words, give me something. My blessing ran out, so how about renewing it..."
Tae-hyun coveted Alexeos's blessing. It was far more broken than most holy skills! That single buff made the entire trip here more than worth it.
- ...Currently, I have lost most of my power. I am in no state to bestow such a blessing.
"!!" Tae-hyun looked utterly devastated. Wait, what?
Is he lying? Tae-hyun whispered to Lee Da-bi.
It doesn't seem like a lie, Lord Tae-hyun.
If he's lost most of his power, does that mean we can raid this lair? It is a dragon's lair, after all.
But wouldn't the consequences be a bit dangerous? He's not even completely dead yet.
So you're saying we should kill him off completely before we raid it?
...T-that is not what I meant.
While the two whispered to each other, Alexeos waited patiently. When Tae-hyun still didn't ask any questions, Alexeos decided to start explaining on his own.
- Yes. You must be curious. I understand. You wonder why a great dragon such as myself has lost his power.
"Actually, I'm not really curi—"
- I bound my soul to a phylactery to turn myself into a Lich, but suddenly, that connection is weakening. My power is slowly dispersing.
"I see. I'll keep that in mind if I ever decide to become a Lich in the future."
Despite Tae-hyun's lukewarm response, Alexeos kept talking anyway.
- Few are as trustworthy in these matters as the Avatar of Archisus. I implore you, find a way to restore my connection.
"Mmm..."
- I know it is a difficult task. But if you succeed, you shall have my, Alexeos's, heartfelt reward...
Alexeos had no idea. Tae-hyun wasn't debating whether to accept the quest or not...
He was debating whether to rob the dragon's lair or not!
I shouldn't do it. Lee Da-bi is right, he's not completely dead yet...
- Are you listening to me?
"Huh? Ah. Yes. I'm listening."