The Invitation to a Hero’s Death
“N-no, Count Anong. There’s really no need to rush so desperately to become a hero…”
“What are you saying, Hyung-nim? You were the one who told me in your letter what had happened!”
“What? I told you what happened?”
Tae-hyun stared at Count Anong like he’d just said something absurd.
He couldn’t imagine Count Marcel had actually written down the events as they really were.
He told him about getting captured and then crawling out in humiliation?
“Yes. Weren’t you the one who disguised yourself as a hostage and infiltrated that harsh, dangerous Katerand Island, Hyung-nim?”
“…”
Tae-hyun turned to look at Count Marcel.
Count Marcel avoided his gaze.
“And your deeds after that were astonishing as well. That courage—to risk your life and throw the pirates into confusion so the Atali Kingdom’s naval fleet would arrive at just the right moment!”
Count Marcel was now too ashamed to even lift his head.
There was nothing more embarrassing in the world than having your own bluff exposed like this!
“Hearing that moved me deeply as well.”
“That’s the spirit. Yes! In times as chaotic as these, what’s the point of sitting still? You’ve got to step up and act!”
“Exactly!”
“And to help with that, let me teach you a good method. Count Marcel knows it too.”
“...?”
Count Anong looked instantly intrigued by Tae-hyun’s words.
You have completely succeeded in persuading Count Anong.
Speech has increased.
Fame has increased by 150.
While Tae-hyun and Count Anong were talking, everyone else was waiting in the drawing room.
And naturally, since it was a noble’s drawing room, it was filled with luxurious, expensive things.
Flinch—
Ed-an sat in his chair, his fingers twitching.
He looked like a sparrow that had wandered into a grain mill.
For a thief like him, a place like this was simply too tempting.
Rufo drew his sword and warned Ed-an.
“Stay still.”
His job was to make sure Ed-an didn’t cause trouble.
“Now really, what have I done?”
“Your hands just twitched!”
“These are prosthetics. Sometimes they don’t listen to me.”
“Quit talking nonsense and sit still!”
“Don’t you think you distrust me a little too much? I may be—”
Ed-an said that as he rose from his seat.
At that moment—
Tap—
Crash!
Ed-an has been caught in powerful misfortune.
A glass bottle has shattered.
“…”
Evangeline, who had been sitting quietly, turned her head.
Because she was nearby, Ed-an had been dragged into her bad luck.
Not my fault.
Evangeline was rapidly becoming one of Tae-hyun’s party in all the worst ways.
“Everyone, the Count is calling for you— no! Who broke this?!”
A servant opened the door, came in, spotted the shattered glass bottle, and shouted in alarm.
Ed-an immediately pointed at Cain.
“That man made a mistake and broke it. Please understand!”
“What?!”
Your reputation in Anong Castle has decreased slightly.
Fame has decreased by 5.
Cain stared at Ed-an in disbelief.
But Ed-an wasn’t the kind of person who’d be shaken by a look like that.
“You bastard. Are you kidding me right now?”
“Fufu. If the Count is calling us, shouldn’t we get moving?”
As Cain lunged to grab him by the collar, Ed-an slipped away with the nimble movement of a Great Thief—self-proclaimed, anyway.
For Cain, it was enough to drive him up the wall.
Thud—
“Careful.”
As Cain collided into her while chasing Ed-an, Evangeline warned him.
Of course, Cain didn’t take that warning at face value.
He was already in a foul mood after getting sucker-punched by Ed-an.
“Careful of what? Huh?”
“…I’m giving you advice and you still don’t get it? Do whatever you want.”
“For crying out loud. Seriously, from NPCs on up, everyone looks down on me.”
Grumbling, Cain tried to brush past her, bumping her shoulder.
If it had been anyone else, maybe not. But now even this new player who had just joined was acting like she could dismiss him.
The sense of shared suffering he’d felt when he first met her—as one more victim of Tae-hyun—had vanished long ago.
Evangeline looked at Cain with pity.
Even after being warned, he was still like that.
He was the only one who’d lose out from bumping into her.
Soon he’d be swept up in severe misfortune and suffer all kinds of penalties.
“...?”
But Cain walked right past her perfectly fine.
Evangeline tilted her head.
“Huh?”
“Tae-hyun-nim!”
When Tae-hyun appeared with the two counts, Ed-an called out happily.
But Tae-hyun ignored him and asked Rufo,
“Rufo, that bastard didn’t cause any trouble, did he?”
“No. He did not.”
A conversation with not a shred of trust in it.
Beating his chest, Ed-an said,
“Tae-hyun-nim, please trust me a little more! If anything, that one caused trouble!”
As Ed-an pointed at him, Cain felt the back of his neck go stiff.
An NPC that really made him want to PK.
“What kind of trouble did he cause?”
“The glass bottle…”
“You can’t go around being that careless. Cain’s always had that side to him.”
“Fufu. Exactly.”
I seriously want to kill them.
While that was going on, Evangeline approached Tae-hyun.
“Hey, is that guy Cain’s Luck really high too?”
“No. Cain’s Luck isn’t high.”
If Cain’s Luck had been high, he never would’ve met Tae-hyun in the first place.
“Then why didn’t he get penalized when he bumped into me?”
“Hm?”
Tae-hyun paused for a moment.
Considering Cain’s class and stats, it made no sense for him to be unaffected by Evangeline’s bad luck.
“Ah…”
“...?”
Something came to mind.
The curse Cain had suffered from the Sadiq Order assassins.
You have been afflicted by Sadiq’s Left Hand.
This is a curse that cannot be lifted by ordinary means.
Luck is fixed at 0.
“I think it’s because he got hit with a curse that fixes his Luck at zero.”
“What?! There’s a curse that good?!”
A curse that locked Luck at 0 was practically a blessing to Evangeline.
She grabbed Tae-hyun’s hand and urgently asked,
“Where do you get that curse? Can I learn it? How? What’s the method?”
“Haha. I like the enthusiasm.”
Tae-hyun’s reply sounded ominous somehow.
Evangeline instantly took a step back.
“If there’s something you want…”
“...”
“Then you’ve got to work hard for it, right? Right?”
Tae-hyun had absolutely no intention of giving anything away for free.
Evangeline grumbled inwardly and nodded.
Would it kill him to just tell me?
When Tae-hyun had asked her things, she’d answered without much thought.
But with him acting like this, she felt thoroughly cheated.
Bwooooooo—
As a loud horn rang out through Count Anong’s manor, the players inside the castle walls who had been busy with their various tasks all turned their heads.
Usually, a sound like that meant Count Anong was about to give a quest.
“What’s going on?”
“Kim Tae-hyun went in to see the Count, didn’t he? Is some quest popping up?”
“Come to think of it, I heard a boss monster showed up near Marden Castle.”
The players buzzed among themselves.
They were all saying different things, but one thing was the same.
Their faces were full of anticipation.
Kim Tae-hyun had come here, and he’d spoken with the Count, so it felt like the prelude to some huge quest.
Hear me, all adventurers of Anong Castle! A great danger approaches from Marden Castle, and to resolve this crisis, I require your strength!
Just as expected, the quest window appeared immediately.
Defend Anong Castle
The fallen Marquis Marden seeks to fulfill once more the ambition he failed to achieve in life.
When he lived, Marquis Marden was praised as a man of extraordinary caliber. He is by no means an easy foe.
Stand against Marquis Marden and the army he leads, and defend Anong Castle.
🎁 Reward: ?, ??, ???, rewards from Count Anong, increased reputation within Anong Castle
“...!”
The players’ expressions changed.
This was an opportunity.
Even people who weren’t rankers or members of large guilds had a chance to take part in a large-scale quest.
“I want to participate!”
“I’m a painter—can I still join? I’ll even paint the banners!”
“I absolutely want in too!”
Watching the players below react so passionately, Count Anong nodded with a pleased expression.
“To think even adventurers possess such burning righteousness. The future of Anong Castle is bright, is it not, Hyung-nim?”
“...Yes…”
Count Marcel looked overwhelmed with guilt.
“Count Anong. Even so, perhaps there’s no need to be too proactive… Doesn’t the castle’s army have its limits? And Marquis Marden was an extraordinary man even long ago…”
“What are you saying, Hyung-nim! Is it not precisely when the innocent are in danger that we must act boldly?”
“N-no. If we just wait, the other nobles will fight him for us anyway…”
Listening from beside them, Tae-hyun nodded to himself.
Every word of that is true.
Count Marcel had plenty of bad traits—he was cowardly, lazy, and… well, there were lots of other flaws too—but when it came to reading a situation, he was dead-on.
In this situation, personally stepping forward to fight was a stupid move.
Right now, no one even knew who Marquis Marden would attack.
Making the first move in that situation was practically the same as asking to be attacked first.
The other nobles hated taking losses themselves.
“If he goes somewhere else, why would we need to fight?”
“It would be better if the other nobles dealt with him instead.”
Tae-hyun knew that too, which was exactly why he was encouraging this sucker—no, Count Anong—so enthusiastically.
You can’t leave a boss monster like Marquis Marden alone for long.
The moment it devoured a few territories and started building momentum, it would become a massive headache.
Back in Fantasy Online 1, there had been plenty of boss monsters that weren’t killed early and eventually grew strong enough to threaten the entire continent.
“If we wait, the other nobles may indeed fight him for us. But to be the first to step forward and fight honorably—that is what Count Marcel is trying to say. Isn’t that right?”
“Huh?”
Tae-hyun placed a hand on Count Marcel’s shoulder.
“Isn’t it?”
“Uh… yes…”
“As expected, Hyung-nim! I knew I could trust you! Then I shall go meet with the knights, so please come when you are ready!”
With a hearty laugh, Count Anong opened the door and strode out.
Count Marcel covered his face and lowered his head.
“I’m trash…!”
“Bit late to be realizing that now.”
The area around Anong Castle became a flurry of activity.
Soldiers who had been outside returned, of course, and players who had been elsewhere heard the news and came running too.
Watching the castle steadily prepare itself, Ed-an suddenly thought of something and asked,
“Tae-hyun-nim, but can Anong Castle’s troops alone really attack Marquis Marden?”
“Of course not. Why would we go out of our way to march to where Marquis Marden is and attack him there?”
Tae-hyun had no intention whatsoever of going to Marquis Marden’s location and attacking him.
Fighting where the enemy held the advantage was idiotic.
You had to make the enemy come to you, to a place where they were at a disadvantage.
Tae-hyun intended to make Marquis Marden come all the way to the front of Anong Castle himself.
“I’m going to make that bastard come to us.”
“As expected! But how will you make that happen?”
“That part’s your job.”
“...Pardon?”
Tae-hyun held out a letter.
At once, Ed-an took a step back.
He had a terrible feeling that the moment he accepted that, there’d be no more escape.
“Go to wherever Marquis Marden is, deliver this letter properly, and then come back alive after you’ve given it to him.”
“...May I read what’s inside?”
“Of course not. If the seal’s broken, the Marquis will get suspicious. Still, I’ll tell you what it says. It tells him we’ve got his scepter, so if he wants it back, he should come and get it.”
“...!”
“And I added a few insults too.”
“...!!!!”
The way Tae-hyun had said, “come back alive after you’ve delivered it,” suddenly sounded chilling.