Traces of the Forgotten Order

Owning even a single proper work of art could influence an entire territory. It didn't just affect the residents' discontent or loyalty; it could also grant various buffs to the players utilizing the territory. Even looking at The Valley right now, various artworks of the Archisus Church were constantly providing buffs. Some places even gathered treasures plundered from all over ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just to stack buffs...

"How is it? Pretty decent, right?"

The older men stared at the artworks with immensely proud faces. Although they couldn't appraise them due to their low relevant skills and stats, they could still tell at a glance that these were masterpieces. A player's intuition!

"These are artworks from the era of the Ancient Empire."

"What?! Really?!"

"They're that high-class?!"

The older men were shocked. They had figured the items looked expensive, but they never expected the Ancient Empire to be involved.

"Wait, hold on. Just because it's from the Ancient Empire doesn't automatically make it a masterpiece. That rye bread from the Ancient Empire we got last time was so rotten we couldn't even eat it."

"How can you compare rye bread to art? Art is bound to be a masterpiece."

As the older men wasted time bickering over useless details, Tae-hyun cut in.

"I don't think that's what's important right now. The real issue is how we're going to move all this."

"Mmm!"

The older men agreed with Tae-hyun's point. The sheer volume of the unearthed artworks was certainly no joke. They had hauled them out in a hurry, fearing they might never get them out or that someone else would snatch them first, but now what?

"Don't you guys have plenty of mounts anyway? Why don't you summon your mounts, load them up one by one, and drag the rest behind you?"

"Do you think the Guild Alliance is a bunch of pushovers? Well, they certainly look like pushovers, but they're not that incompetent. Tae-hyun, if we head toward Uruk, we'll definitely get caught."

Having been burned time and time again, the Guild Alliance had established a fairly systematic security network. They had guild members constantly patrolling near the kingdom's borders. From the perspective of the ordinary guild members, it made them complain, Why do we have to go this far? But Su Ning was stubborn.

—It's better than getting beaten up because we didn't do it!

Su Ning knew. Right now, they were only keeping an eye out for Smith's White Knight, the mages of Midas, or bastards like Kim Tae-hyun... but they never knew when another pack of jackals might descend upon them! And he wasn't wrong.

"Ah, that Su Ning bastard. He's way too quick on the uptake."

"How did he know we were planning to disguise ourselves as bandits to cross the border?"

"Then instead of heading toward Uruk, why don't you head ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠straight south? If you go straight south, you'll end ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up right in the Atali Kingdom."

"...!"

"Oh. Is that really okay?"

The Orc uncles brightened up. If Tae-hyun, the king himself, gave them permission, nothing could be more convenient.

"In exchange, those need to be restored, so let me do it. I have a quest to clear."

"We can easily do that for you. Should we leave them near The Valley and wait for you?"

"Why The Valley of all places?"

"Well, it's the closest and most famous spot."

"It's been a while since we've seen The Valley anyway; we should go check it out."

The older men nodded, pleased with the arrangement. Since most of them played exclusively in the Uruk Region, they had been itching to visit the kingdom's cities. They had briefly stopped by The Valley in the early days, but it must have changed tremendously by now. They wanted to see it.

"Well, you can go wait there, but..."

"Great! Let's move right away then. We need to push through the plague fog before those Guild Alliance bastards spot us."

The Orc uncles summoned their mounts and began loading the items one by one. The pieces that were too large and difficult to move were tied up separately and dragged behind.

Wait a minute.

Tae-hyun spotted something nestled among the artworks.

"Would it be alright if I kept this one?"

"Huh? Why that?"

"I mean, you can have it, but wouldn't something better be, well, better? Look at this statue. Isn't it awesome? It's all muscular and rugged, just like an Orc."

"No... you guys can keep that one."

Tae-hyun and the older men had vastly different tastes. The older men preferred paintings or sculptures of heavily armed, muscular warriors, but what Tae-hyun chose was... an incredibly plain, small statue.

Hey. You of all people shouldn't be clueless about this.

Tae-hyun pointed at the statue. It depicted a person dressed in incredibly ordinary attire, but at their feet, a single rabbit was exquisitely carved.

Come on... isn't this suspicious enough? I thought this statue was related to your order, Carbanog.

Tae-hyun had a reason for thinking this. First of all, the rabbit carving was surprisingly detailed. If the person was sculpted half-heartedly while the rabbit was carved with extreme precision, wasn't that intention highly bizarre?

...Shouldn't you have realized that before I had to point it out?

Alright, my bad. With Carbanog appealing with tearful notifications, Tae-hyun didn't have much to say.

But the Archisus Church vanished pretty easily...

The quest window continued to pop up regardless of his thoughts.

Wait, what...? There was actually a legacy left behind by the Karbanog Church? Tae-hyun was genuinely shocked.

Carbanog was shocked too. Wait, we had something like that?

.......

"Kim Tae-hyun!! We were worried sick thinking you'd vanished!"

The rankers spoke with voices full of genuine concern. There had never been, and likely never would be, another moment where the Guild Alliance rankers worried about Tae-hyun this much.

"Huh? Where are those Orcs?"

"They said it was too hard here and went back."

"Oh dear! What a shame! We should have helped them more!"

The rankers said so, but their faces were beaming with pure joy.

They really must have hated those older men. Tae-hyun alone was enough to turn anyone's stomach inside out, but with the older men added to the mix, the level of sheer, unadulterated trolling had reached astronomical heights.

"Look, Kim Tae-hyun. We've arrived."

The rankers, who had literally carved a path with blood, stretched out their hands and pointed ahead. Despite being a dreadful place blanketed in plague, a surprisingly large crowd had gathered in one spot.

Even the churches! Tae-hyun was surprised by the Guild Alliance's preparations. Not only were the elite members of the Guild Alliance present, but there were also numerous church NPCs mobilized by the alliance. Indeed, purifying the Plague Wasteland was an impossible task through player power alone.

"—Why did you summon the Pope of the Archisus Church? He is an untrustworthy man!"

Tae-hyun wasn't particularly surprised by the familiar bishop's reaction. Just as Necromancer players were used to villagers screaming, Eek! A monster! whenever they entered a town, Tae-hyun was thoroughly accustomed to church NPCs reacting this way. Chatter all you want! I'm still going to strip you of everything you own!

"—You go too far! How dare you speak like that in front of the Pope of the Archisus Church!"

"...?"

Tae-hyun turned his head. Huh? He hadn't realized, but were there Archisus Church NPCs here as well?

"—W-Wait, you were badmouthing him with me last time! Why are you acting like this now...?"

"—When did I ever do that! What utter nonsense!"

"—Ahem. I also believe it is highly inappropriate to insult the Pope of the Archisus Church. Besides, the Pope is not your childhood friend, Bishop. Watch your manners..."

"—Indeed. It is rather unseemly for you to insult the Pope when you, Bishop, have never once sacrificed yourself for the greater good."

Isn't that last remark basically telling him to drop dead? It was wrapped in elegant phrasing, but telling someone to "sacrifice themselves" was just a polite way of telling them to go die.

"—You wicked scoundrels...! Just how much did he pay you?!"

"—How dare you insult our faith?! Retract those words this instant, or we will throw you into the plague fog!"

Crash! Clang!

"..."

"..."

The members of the Guild Alliance stared at Tae-hyun, utterly speechless. How on earth did he manage to make benign church NPCs start beating each other up the literal second he arrived?

"Kim Tae-hyun. Just what kind of skill do you have that makes stuff like this possible?"

"It's not a skill, okay?"

Tae-hyun stepped in between the brawling church NPCs to break them up. He couldn't let them fight right now.

"Everyone, calm down. Please understand the bishop. After all, a mere sparrow can never comprehend the grand will of a phoenix."

"—Ah... As expected...!"

"—We shall show him mercy!"

"—Have you all lost your collective minds?!"

The bishop, suddenly cast as the sole lunatic in the crowd, practically jumped out of his skin. He couldn't comprehend what kind of dark magic Tae-hyun had cast to make all these NPCs behave this way.

"—...What in the world are you doing?"

Even the Death Knights looked on in sheer bewilderment at the sight of the humans brawling amongst themselves. The Death Knight squad of the Auston Kingdom. Ever since an unidentified player had freed them from the underground dungeon, they had been wandering the lands to fulfill the oath they swore to the kingdom. Because of them, the Guild Alliance had been forced to wait even after finally finding a way to purify the Plague Wasteland.

"—Wait, His Majesty of the Atali King—"

"Never seen you guys before! So, Guild Alliance. Is everything ready?"

"Everything is ready. Look, you Death Knights! Here is an NPC carrying the bloodline of the Auston Royal Family!"

"—Oh..."

"—Though his bloodline seems rather diluted, he does indeed carry the blood of the royal family!"

The Death Knights nodded in satisfaction as they looked at Steinhauer.

"—Are you the ones who will pledge your loyalty to me?"

"—We are, Heir!"

"—Will you obey my commands unconditionally?!"

"—We will, Heir!"

"—Even if I raid the kingdom's treasury to fund my gambling habit?"

"—...Well, we suppose that is within your purview, but do you absolutely have to do that?"

By this point, both the Guild Alliance and the Death Knights were beginning to share the exact same thought: ...Did we bring the wrong guy?

Regardless of their existential dread, Tae-hyun urged them forward.

"What are you waiting for? Hurry up, finalize the agreement, and let's start the purification. I have a lot of things to do."

"..."

A sudden wave of foreboding washed over the guild members. Purifying the Plague Wasteland was a long-cherished dream of the guild. But... but... what if this was actually paving the way for an even greater disaster?

"It'll be fine. He's just one person, after all."

"Exactly. Let's get this over with quickly."

...Why does this feel so familiar? Back when they had mobilized the entire guild's forces just to crush Kim Tae-hyun, someone had asked, Shouldn't we just ignore him? only for another to confidently ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠reply, He's just one guy, we can just trample him! Ah, those were the days!