What’s the Other One, Then?
Rufo tilted his head. “What’s the other one, then?”
Another plan?
“The other one is a plan to cover for us so we don’t get caught while we’re moving around below deck.”
“Ah! Of course we’d need that.”
“Right.”
“But how do we do it?”
“That’s what you need to start figuring out now.”
“……”
“I’m kidding. What kind of idea like that would you come up with? Do I look like the sort of person who’d expect that much from you?”
With a dubious expression, Rufo nodded.
Sure, he was glad he wasn’t being ordered to do it, but somehow it still left a bad taste in his mouth.
“First, we already got permission to travel, right? We use that as an excuse and say we’re boarding a ship to head back.”
“Pardon? Head back?”
“Not actually head back. Just say we are. Once we board the ship and claim we’re returning, the pirates won’t be looking for us, will they?”
“But do you really think suspicious pirates will just leave us alone?”
They’d granted passage, but pirates were still pirates.
That didn’t mean their suspicion had vanished.
If Kim Tae-hyun and Rufo tried to board and leave together in one shot, of course the pirates would get suspicious first.
Are those bastards trying to stab us in the back?
“They probably will. They’ll likely say one of us has to stay behind or something.”
“Then that won’t work, will it?”
“We’ll just tell them to take the people here as hostages.”
“……!”
What a truly devilish idea.
The players toiling away outside were, before they knew it, being volunteered as hostages too.
Of course, they had absolutely no idea.
They couldn’t possibly imagine that, out of sight, Kim Tae-hyun was staking them as collateral.
“There are enough people gathered here. The pirates will believe it.”
They’d all been lured here under false pretenses, but even so, the talent gathered in this place was substantial.
If all of them were left behind as hostages, the pirates would have no choice but to trust them.
They weren’t disposable enough to abandon.
But Kim Tae-hyun was different.
If something happened, he could throw away anything.
A completely different breed from the sort of person who let greed ruin the job.
“B-but… won’t those people refuse?”
“We’ll just do it without telling them.”
“……”
Rufo was starting to want to run for it.
Was this man really an incarnation of a god?
Isn’t he more like the incarnation of a devil? Maybe the legend got passed down wrong…
“What’s with you?”
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
“Don’t worry about it. If we pull it off cleanly, there’s no problem. As long as it works out, we’re fine.”
“That’s true…”
If things went smoothly, there was never any problem.
The issue was when they didn’t go smoothly.
“Anyway, if we do it that way, there won’t be any problem getting the two of us out. Oh, and when you send the ship off, secretly send word too.”
“What kind of message do you mean?”
“Tell the kingdom army. Say we’re willing to help with the pirate subjugation.”
“?!”
Rufo stared at him in horror.
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
“What are you talking about?!”
“Why?”
“The k-kingdom army? Are you saying you were planning to fight the pirates?”
“I’m not planning to fight them, but if it becomes a problem, then sure, we’ll have to.”
Kim Tae-hyun was the sort of man who planned thoroughly.
He had no way of knowing how long it would take to get into the fortress underground and obtain the Authority.
And he still had no idea how he would obtain it.
That meant he had to take into account the possibility of trouble with the pirates.
And when trouble with pirates arose, what was the best method?
Give the pirates another enemy so they couldn’t focus on him.
Preferably one that was strong and dangerous.
“Ask the kingdom army. Ask them if they’re planning to subjugate the pirates. They’ve suffered enough at their hands that, if we’re lucky, we can get them moving. If not, nothing we can do. But if we can, it’ll make things easier in a lot of ways.”
There were several advantages to calling in the kingdom army.
First, if something went wrong, summoning them would create an escape route.
Second, it would cover up what they were doing right now.
Because only the facts had gotten out, that was why nobody knew—but going into a pirate fortress, doing repairs and maintenance, and taking payment in goods was the kind of thing that would normally get you cursed out nonstop.
The instant word got outside, his Infamy would explode.
But what if, before it got out, they went to the kingdom army and said, “In truth, we deceived the pirates in order to subjugate them!”?
Then everything they were doing now became part of a scheme to trick the pirates.
“……!”
Rufo’s face turned moved with admiration.
When Rufo looked at him with shining eyes, Kim Tae-hyun instinctively took a step back, as if creeped out.
What’s with this guy?
Rufo is impressed by your plan!
You have acquired the skill Tactics. You receive additional bonuses when commanding troops. Both Fame and Infamy affect the Tactics skill.
The Caterand Pirates, who had used Katerand Island as a fortress and ruled the surrounding sea for a long time, were a constant headache for the Atali Kingdom.
And ever since Captain Denelson had taken over, they’d even started attacking the Atali navy itself.
If someone made a major contribution to subjugating the pirate band, the kingdom would remember that name.
Subjugate the Pirates of Caterand
🎁 Reward: Title Pirate Subjugator, Commander of an Atali Kingdom naval vessel, audience with the King of Atali, ?, ??, ???
At the same time, the quest window popped up.
But Kim Tae-hyun coldly ignored it.
Are they insane?
Calling in the kingdom army was, at most, an emergency plan.
The ideal outcome was to slip in quietly, find the Authority quietly, learn it quietly, and leave quietly.
Calling in the kingdom army meant the whole island would turn into a madhouse the moment they arrived, and if that happened, Kim Tae-hyun himself would be in danger too.
Even the amazing rewards—the chance to meet the king, or command a warship—looked like nothing but traps in Kim Tae-hyun’s eyes.
An audience with the king, my ass…
If other players had heard him think that, they would have been dumbfounded.
An audience with the king!
There were plenty of rankers going mad trying to get even a single castle right now.
And this was a chance to meet the king in person.
“Rufo. You understand what I’m saying, right?”
“Of course! Kim Tae-hyun, I apologize for doubting you until now.”
“……?”
“If nothing else, I believe in your capability! I’m sure you’ll prove beyond doubt that you are the incarnation of the devi—no, the incarnation of Archisus!”
“Didn’t you just call me the incarnation of the devil?”
“Then let’s move!”
Rufo whipped around and sprang to his feet.
“Both of you?”
“Yes. In exchange, as proof of good faith, we’ll leave everyone here behind.”
“Ahem. It’s not that we don’t trust you… well, if it’s that much, fine.”
Just as expected, the pirates frowned the moment they heard both of them were boarding the ship.
But when they heard the mass of players swarming nearby would all be left behind, they finally accepted it.
The pirates simply couldn’t imagine that there might exist someone wicked enough to abandon all of those people.
“We’ve checked the goods… good. Nothing strange. You may go. But you’d better return quickly. These bastards here are slacking off without you around.”
“Heh. Then please work them hard in my absence.”
It sounded exactly like a conversation between a cruel slave owner and a slave trader.
Rufo shook his head.
Bwoooooo—
With the blare of a horn, the ship set off.
The other players were so busy working that they didn’t even notice a small ship departing.
The last few days had been a truly shocking experience for them.
When they’d lived in the city, they’d worked hard in their own way.
They took quests from NPCs, completed them diligently, and kept moving.
But compared to the work they had done here, all of that had been child’s play.
The pirates drove them relentlessly.
It was almost amazing how they kept bringing each class exactly the kind of work it needed.
Even players who used to boast, I’ve grinded so much labor doing class quests, nobody works harder than me! collapsed after just a short while here.
At first, some of them had cursed Kim Tae-hyun.
But now they didn’t even have the energy for that anymore.
All they could see were the quest completion windows from the pirates, their skill windows, and their experience bars.
“H-hehe…”
“I… work… skill… EXP… going up….”
Like people possessed, they threw themselves into their labor.
“They gone?”
“Looks like it.”
“Then let’s go too. Ah. Before that.”
“……?”
“Hand over the sword skill. You said you’d teach me your sword art.”
“Do you really have to put it like that? There’s a world of difference in how it sounds.”
Even while grumbling, Rufo took his stance.
A promise was a promise.
“The sword art I learned is called the Gataqua Swordsmanship.”
“Gata… what? No, who cares about the name. If it’s a sword style known by someone at your level, it’s got to be good.”
“Yes. It isn’t the sort of swordsmanship just anyone can learn.”
Rufo spoke with obvious pride.
Kim Tae-hyun thought to himself, Then is it really okay for you to teach it to me just because I threatened you?
Of course, he didn’t say that aloud.
He was the one who needed it, after all.
“The problem is whether you’ll actually be able to use it, even if I teach it to you. It’s an extremely difficult style.”
“Hmm…”
Kim Tae-hyun nodded.
He understood what Rufo meant.
In Fantasy Online 2, there were an incredible number of sword-related skills.
Some were single standalone skills. Others were linked together into full sword styles with chained techniques.
But they all had one thing in common.
You needed the skill to learn them.
Kim Tae-hyun’s swordsmanship skill was still only at the Beginner level.
Of course, getting a production-class character to the latter half of Beginner swordsmanship was impressive in itself, but that didn’t change the reality of it.
“I’ll try. Follow me.”
“All right!”
Your Swordsmanship skill is insufficient to fully learn Gataqua Swordsmanship.
The instructor’s skill is exceptional. You receive a bonus to skill acquisition.
Just as expected, he couldn’t learn it completely.
Kim Tae-hyun checked his skill window.
Current comprehension is insufficient.
You learned from an exceptional master. Bonus received.
— Circle of Defense
— Circle of Attack
— ……??
— ……??
— ……??
There were several skills he still couldn’t unlock yet.
Looks like I’ll have to work this one out in practice.
“How much of it do you understand?”
“Roughly? Circle of Defense and Circle of Attack, at least.”
Hearing his answer, Rufo looked impressed.
“You’re picking it up faster than I expected. To grasp two skills immediately… both of them are the foundation of the Gataqua Swordsmanship. Circle of Defense is a skill where you draw a circle around yourself and dominate the surrounding space.”
Rufo lightly drew his sword in an arc.
That alone created a visible line, and a powerful force burst outward from it.
It felt so intense that the moment you stepped inside, you’d be struck down at once.
“It’s especially useful in chaotic melees with lots of enemies. No matter what enemy comes at you from behind, you can respond immediately.”
Rufo swung his sword once more, then pointed at a boulder.
“Next is Circle of Attack. Circle of Attack designates a single target as the center, then draws a circle around them. You attack from that circle.”
Rufo began slowly circling around the boulder he’d indicated.
Then suddenly—
Flash!
Kakakakang!
The circle that formed around the rock constricted inward and shattered it completely.
Kim Tae-hyun clapped, genuinely impressed.
“Wow. I’m impressed.”
“Really?”
Rufo scratched his head, looking embarrassed.
“Yeah. I’d forgotten you were actually an excellent swordsman.”
“……What exactly did you think of me before this?”
Rufo grumbled, but Kim Tae-hyun ignored him and activated the two skills.
Circle of Defense.
Circle of Attack.
He could use both of them to a certain degree.
Not as cleanly as Rufo, of course.
“By the way, doesn’t this style have any kind of area attack?”
“If you master the Gataqua Swordsmanship to the end, you’ll find out.”
“Oh. Really?”
“Yes. The Gataqua Swordsmanship is profound and endless—”
“Got it, got it.”
“……”