"Who Knew Listening Back Then Would Pay Off Like This!"
"Who knew listening so closely back then would pay off like this!"
Jukenen silently thanked his own stellar memory. As they had descended to the mortal realm, the other demons had done nothing but blabber about their grand plans for the Erance Kingdom.
—Keke. I'm going to go corrupt the nobles first.
—I'll target the commoners. They're incredibly easy to fool.
—You fools. If you're going to do something, you have to think big. A senior demon who serves the same master as me has already established a tight grip on the Erance Kingdom. I'm planning to join him.
—Oh...
—Really? How amazing is he?
—Prepare to be shocked. He is actually a high-ranking noble of the Erance Kingdom.
—No way!
—He even has his own order of knights...
—Ooh!
The demons had marveled in unison. In the end, even those who had planned to go elsewhere decided to tag along. Demons descended to the continent to feed on the emotions and souls of other races. For a feast like that, they were more than willing to cooperate with their own kind.
"Jukenen. Why are you so quiet?"
"No, nothing, Master! I was just lost in thought!"
"The Erance Kingdom... It's close enough, but what matters is the strength of those demons. If we go all that way and they turn out to be Low-grade or Intermediate, it won't even cover our travel expenses."
If they were only Intermediate Demons, it would be much faster to just summon them directly! Putting weak demons in a cage would only result in them dying instantly and getting reverse-summoned back to the Demon Realm.
"No, Master! They were all Advanced-grade demons or higher! And from what I heard, the demon already residing in the Erance Kingdom is even more powerful!"
"Hmm..."
"It's true! Please believe me!"
"Fine. I'll take your word for it."
"!"
Jukenen was so deeply moved that he slammed his forehead against the floor of the cage, weeping tears of gratitude.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for believing in me!"
"Haha. Don't mention it."
What a heartwarming scene between an Apostle and a demon! Gusion, however, watched the display with an extremely jealous look on his face.
"Why are there so few people around?"
Entering the borders of the Erance Kingdom, Kim Tae-hyun was puzzled. Normally, the popular hunting grounds in the fields outside the towns should have been packed to the brim with players. Not everyone could level up through jackpot quests like Tae-hyun. When normal players couldn't clear quests, grinding at popular hunting grounds was the standard procedure.
Yet, the fields were so empty that vacant spots were clearly visible even in the most coveted zones.
"Ah. That's because of the quest that popped up in the Erance Kingdom right now," Yu Ji-soo explained.
A Legendary-grade quest! It was a server-wide event triggered by the unprecedented crisis of the King of Erance Kingdom collapsing.
Ah. Right, that was a thing.
Tae-hyun checked his quest window. Come to think of it, he had completely forgotten about it because he was too busy beating up corrupt nobles. He had assumed other players would have cured the King by now...
The Fallen King of Erance
The King of the great Erance Kingdom has collapsed! Although the kingdom's priests and mages have stepped forward, proper treatment is not being administered. Figuring out what disease the King of Erance Kingdom has contracted and how to cure it is a task only a great adventurer can accomplish. Find a way to cure the King of Erance Kingdom's illness!
🎁 Reward: ?, ???, ?????
"It's been over a month, so shouldn't everyone be past the midway point of the quest by now?"
Yu Ji-soo nodded. "Probably, though they're keeping it quiet. Some parties I know are working on it, but they're all keeping it hush-hush."
For Legendary-grade, or even just Rare-grade quests, players were notoriously secretive about information. If you were working hard to clear a quest and someone who saw your leaked info overtook you at the last second, nothing could be more frustrating.
There were a few streamers who openly broadcasted their quest progression, but they rarely benefited from it. They either got systematically sabotaged by rivals or had their quest objectives snatched away. It was always one of the two.
Gu Sung-wook of the Black Rock Guild was scaling the wall of a small castle alongside his guildmates.
"Found him! You bastard!"
You have discovered Pueras, the mage who sold the plague!
"We found him first!"
"Awesome!"
The Black Rock Guild members cheered. Looking around, it seemed other players hadn't discovered this small castle yet.
This was a massive chain quest that had started the moment the King collapsed. They had followed a thread of tiny, agonizing clues all the way here. A suspicious mage who had once visited the royal palace!
Flutter!
"Wh-what?!"
"He's escaping?!"
"No way! We applied all our skill seals!"
The guild members stared in horror as the mage took flight, completely unfazed by the various debuffs and curses they had just inflicted on him.
"Don't let him get away! Catch him!"
But the mage was already widening the gap. The guild members fell into despair.
"No...!"
"Ughhh!"
Even if the world were ending, they wouldn't cry this bitterly. To think the clue they had finally grasped was flying away!
"Ah... seriously, how are other people even doing this?"
The difficulty was simply absurd.
"In my opinion, the trap of this quest is that there are too many clues."
"Is that so, Unni?"
At Lee Se-yeon's words, Kim Hyun-ah's eyes sparkled.
"Yes. When a high-difficulty quest throws too many clues at you, it means only one thing. Most of them are traps. Even if you follow them, they'll be hard to find, or outright fakes..."
"Then how should we clear it?"
"We need to wait a bit. For long-term quests like this, no matter how much people try to hide information, it's bound to leak out bit by bit."
While no information appeared on the public bulletin boards that everyone could see, such details were actively shared on secret sites where information was bought and sold.
They paid money to get information. Since there were so many people playing Pan-On, it was impossible to hide everything completely.
"If we wait, we can gather the information and make a calculated judgment. Let's just grind and wait until then."
Currently, Lee Se-yeon was leading the members of the Yuseong Gaming Team, hunting while streaming on the Yuseong Gaming channel. Thanks to that, her popularity was through the roof.
Her viewer count was in the top three among all active personal broadcasts! Lee Se-yeon's name was already world-famous, and although Yuseong Gaming had finished as runners-up in the tournament, it had left a deep impression on the public.
Questions like "Can't you invite Kim Tae-hyun to the broadcast too?" popped up every now and then. It was only natural for viewers to want this. They were the two most famous rankers in Pan-On.
If Tae-hyun actually appeared, the viewer count would pierce through the heavens.
In fact, the PR staff of Yuseong Gaming had once cautiously asked Lee Se-yeon about it.
—By any chance, would you be interested in doing a joint broadcast with player Kim Tae-hyun as an event... Eek. I'm sorry.
—Then, even just a photo together... I'm sorry! I deserve to die!
Of course, everyone got terrified just by looking at Lee Se-yeon's expression and backed off. But they couldn't help but linger on the idea. Even if they didn't broadcast together, just taking a photo and using it for promotion would have an incredible effect!
"U-Unni! Let's go hunt quickly!"
Kim Hyun-ah could see it. Although Lee Se-yeon's expression didn't change much, her fists were clenched tight! She was pretending not to look at the chat window, but she was seeing everything.
"The chat is talking about player Kim Tae-hyun..."
"Ah. Shut up, please."
"Yes, ma'am."
Ryu Tae-su, a massive fan of Tae-hyun, wanted to say something but quietly shut his mouth. If he spoke up, he felt like he would literally get beaten up!
"Baron Alcott!"
"What did you say?"
"Baron Alcott?"
"Say it one more time!"
"......"
❌ The guards' affinity has decreased.
❌ The guards now perceive you as an arrogant noble.
❌ Unfavorable rumors are spreading among the guards.
⚠️ If the rumors continue to spread, you may acquire a negative title.
Isn't this too much?!
Alcott was startled. He had only asked them to repeat it a few times because he liked the sound of "Baron," but to think such a cascade of penalties would hit him.
It was the triple combo of Low Reputation, Low Speech skill, and High Infamy. In this state, even a noble could earn contempt with just a few words.
"Ahem. I shall head inside."
Alcott tried to enter the lord's inner castle. Ordinary players couldn't enter, but Alcott was now a noble and a lord. He should at least be able to enter the inner castle.
"You cannot enter."
"Right, thank... What?! Why?!"
"Our Lord ordered that... um..."
"...Speak!"
When the guard hesitated, Alcott urged him. What kind of order had the lord of this territory given?
"...He ordered us not to let in any nobles below a certain rank..."
"So, you're saying I, Alcott, cannot enter because my rank is too low?"
"...Yes."
"You bastard! Tell your lord to come out!!"
"Stop it, you idiot! What are you doing!"
The high-ranking Pyromancer, Crawford, grabbed Alcott and held him back.
Just ten minutes ago, they had shared a very different conversation.
—Hey, just trust me. Who am I? Aren't I a noble of the Erance Kingdom? The inner castle is a free pass for me.
—Oh... I'm starting to respect you a bit.
Just ten minutes after that conversation, Alcott was making an absolute fool of himself.
"No! This isn't right! That guy is just weird!"
Having acted all confident only to be utterly humiliated, Alcott's face turned beet red as he threw a fit. I will absolutely get in! Of course, that didn't make the closed gates open. There was no way someone with a low Speech skill like Alcott could persuade the guards.
Crawford sighed and said, "Let's just find another way in. Either sneak in, or raise our contribution points to request an audience."
"No...! I'm going to enter legitimately!"
Did I make a mistake coming with this guy? Crawford slightly regretted it. Still, having done some dirty work together in Pan-On, they had developed a sort of love-hate bond...
His skills are decent, but his actions are just...
Alcott was good at everything else, but he always made stupid mistakes like this! Even now, he was acting so pathetic.
"Ugh... Sob, sob..."
Alcott finally backed down. Crawford shook his head.
"Just you wait...!"
"Hey. Why are you saying 'just you wait' to an NPC?"
"I can't forgive this! I've never been treated like this even in the Guild Alliance!"
"Ah, the Guild Alliance. How is it doing lately?" Crawford was curious. After the Guild Alliance split up, there had been nothing but rumors.
• Will the Guild Alliance file for bankruptcy soon? The end of Pan-On's largest coalition?
• Guild Alliance plunders Atali Kingdom... Most players react: "It seems like absolute madness."
Yet, they seemed to be running somehow without collapsing.
Alcott nodded. "Yeah. It's running. We managed to catch our breath, and the investors said they'd wait and see since they've already put money in. Aside from the western part of the kingdom being blown away, we're managing to clean up the mess somehow."
"But wouldn't it be better for you to just leave? If you're a lord in the Erance Kingdom, another guild would be better."
"Ugh... That's true, but..." Alcott hesitated. There were two reasons he stayed in the Guild Alliance: the Guild Alliance's hospitality, and Tae-hyun's orders.
From the Guild Alliance's perspective, Alcott was a true-blue player who pledged loyalty despite not being Chinese. They even went so far as to tell him, "You are practically Chinese!"
"They told me I'm like a Chinese person."
"Oh..."
"What was that 'oh' just now?"
"Nothing. It was a compliment."
"...Anyway, the Guild Alliance treats me well in their own way, so... Fine. Let's do it."
"?"
"I'm going to kill the guards and go in!"
"......"
Crawford slowly began to take a few steps back.