Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: Kill Squad
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His notoriety was still high, so the driver's tone wasn't exactly friendly. Of course, it wasn't like he refused to give them a ride, so it wasn't a major problem.
It was just a bit unpleasant, nothing more.
‘Where should we go?’
Lee Shin pondered the driver's question.
But since he didn't have a particular place in mind, he first checked his ongoing quests.
Kingdom Quest - The Revival of the Eteun Kingdom
Haipen Gillaim, descendant of a renowned swordsmanship family.
He longs for the kingdom's past glory.
However, the royal family of Eteun is already addicted to pleasure, rotten to the core.
Join him and gather the scattered forces across the continent to...
‘Not this one.’
The rebellion quest was a bad idea, no matter how he looked at it. Setting aside the difficulty, the risk was far too high.
It was the same even though his level was much higher now.
Lee Shin skipped the message as soon as it appeared and moved on to the next one. But the next was just as perplexing.
Class Quest – Salseong
The Salseong, known as an unprecedented serial killer.
But unlike other legends, his name, achievements, and origins are unknown, shrouded in a veil of mystery.
As his successor, you must uncover his deeds.
Find the hidden achievements of the previous Salseong and carry on his legacy!
•Quest Condition: Discover the Salseong's hidden achievements (1/5)
•Quest Reward: ???
‘This is also a bit…’
Normally, class quests weren't this vague.
While some were difficult, the class instructor would usually provide clear instructions on what needed to be done.
Even though Avala Online pursued stark realism, this level of user convenience was usually maintained.
But Lee Shin's case was different.
The person who should have guided him was already dead.
He hadn't even left behind a guideline; he had just scattered clues across the continent, telling him to figure it out himself before departing.
Thanks to that, Lee Shin had to find everything from start to finish on his own, and since he had no idea what to do, his only option for now was to wander around a lot.
‘I’ll clear this one slowly, too.’
For that reason, after skipping the second quest, Lee Shin had nothing left.
Lee Shin asked Arthur.
"You got any quests you're working on?"
"Me?"
"Yeah. One that can be shared. If you have one, send it over."
Lee Shin spoke as if Arthur had been holding onto it for him!
In truth, sharing one's own quest with others was not a common occurrence.
After all, acquiring a good quest required a certain level of skill.
It was no exaggeration to say that quests had a massive impact on a user's growth.
Depending on the grade, a single quest could raise one's level by dozens or yield items that couldn't be bought in shops.
Generally, the returns were much greater than simply hunting monsters.
This was why the value of high-ranking explorers skyrocketed at higher levels.
From that point on, leveling up just by hunting became nearly impossible.
Consequently, rankers and guilds, who were in competition with each other, tended to control information about quests as much as possible and avoided sharing it.
In more extreme cases, it could even lead to wars between guilds, escalating into mass Player Kills.
Of course, such intense competition wasn't common, but it was certainly a sensitive issue.
"Ah, yes."
Of course, neither Lee Shin nor Arthur considered it a sensitive matter.
They both took it as a given.
If he asks for it, I have to give it!
Arthur checked his quest window, then shook his head and said.
"I found one, but it'll probably be too hard to do right now."
"Just send it over."
"Pardon?"
"It might be different when I look at it."
He wasn't saying it to belittle him. It was just a simple statement of fact.
Objectively speaking, the standards of a player in the normal range like Arthur and a former top-tier ranker like himself were bound to be different in anyone's eyes.
Thinking there was a point to it, Arthur shared the quest information with Lee Shin.
[Party member, Arthur, is sharing quest information.]
<Special Quest – Kin Slayer>
...But the name was somehow ominous!
"......?"
Lee Shin narrowed his eyes.
The name was intuitive enough that he could roughly guess what kind of quest it was.
It would be about subjugating orcs.
But the real question was why something like this had appeared at all.
It would be understandable for mutually hostile races (like elves and humans), but why this?
The "Special Quest" prefix alone indicated it wasn't a common occurrence...
Lee Shin looked at Arthur.
‘What has he been up to?’
He hadn't given it much thought because he wasn't particularly interested, but looking back, their first meeting hadn't been ordinary either.
No, their meeting itself had been strange in the first place.
The starting point for the orc race was in the northern part of the continent, very far from here.
This was a setting created to protect low-level users during the ongoing war between humans and orcs.
Thanks to this, orc users could safely pass the beginner stage.
But it wasn't all advantages; they could only travel freely to other regions after reaching a certain level.
In other words, the fact that Arthur, who was not even level 100 at the time, was in Eteun was strange in itself.
Lee Shin checked the quest information.
Special Quest – Kin Slayer
A traitor must not hesitate. Grow by drinking the blood of your kin.
•Quest Clear Condition: Subjugate 1,000 orc settlements.
•Reward: Experience, Special Skill
‘A traitor?’
The word made him even more curious about Arthur's past.
"Ah, that's..."
At Lee Shin's inquiring gaze, Arthur immediately began to speak.
And the story that followed was surprisingly uneventful.
***
"It was normal at first."
"What was?"
"When I first started the game. I just did quests normally, leveled up, and then went to find an NPC for my class advancement."
The problem occurred at that point.
During the class advancement process.
"A duel, right?"
"That's right."
The orc's class advancement test is a duel. Based on the outcome, a suitable class is recommended.
While there's some room for personal choice, it's meaningless if you don't perform well.
Due to the nature of the orc race, the opinions of weak orcs are mostly ignored (...).
In other words, it was a crucial duel that would determine his future class! Arthur knew this, so he prepared for the duel with all his might.
He got his gear, researched the opposing NPC, and prepared single-use buff items...
And he also prepared poison.
"What?"
"Poison. I slipped it into a potion and gave it to him before the duel. While saying I was looking forward to a good fight."
"Why?"
"I just didn't think I could win in a straight fight...? And there was no rule against it..."
"......"
Lee Shin thought for a moment before replying.
"Well done."
"Ah, thank you."
"No need for thanks. So what was the problem?"
Even after hearing this much, Lee Shin still looked like he didn't get it.
Poison wasn't against the rules, so wasn't it just a brilliant off-field tactic?
Lee Shin genuinely thought so.
"Apparently, it wasn't allowed."
"Why."
"Something about duels having to be honorable. So I was immediately exiled."
"......"
In truth, something like this rarely happens.
But as they say, like fan, like star; the problem was that Arthur's way of thinking had been heavily influenced by Lee Shin.
He had become naturally similar by frequently hearing news about Lee Shin and becoming deeply engrossed in it.
"...Anyway, after I was exiled, I've been on the run ever since."
He said that in the process, he had spent so much time in hiding that he acquired a shapeshifting skill and moved to the <Orc Outbreak Area> in the Eteun Kingdom for a quest.
The orcs in the lower regions were the weakest, after all.
A good place to hide.
‘I see.’
As expected, it hadn't been a smooth past.
Lee Shin checked the quest status.
[Subjugated Orc Settlements: 1/1,000]
"You've done one."
"Yes. But I barely managed that one by throwing every consumable I had at it..."
"How many of them were inside?"
"A few hundred. So I gave up right after finishing one."
"......"
Lee Shin remained silent.
An enormous grind!
‘I can see why he gave up.’
The reward would likely be decent, but this was a type of quest Lee Shin didn't particularly enjoy.
"Don't you have anything else?"
"This is the only one I have. The rest all disappeared when I was exiled."
"......"
"Or, would you like to look for public quests?"
At Arthur's words, Lee Shin turned his head. It was the first time he had heard of such a thing.
"What's that?"
"It's a quest where users on the community forums gather parties to proceed."
"...Never heard of it."
"It didn't exist in the first game. It's rare to find one with good rewards, though. Still, should we take a look?"
It was a suggestion with no downside.
"Go ahead."
"Yes."
***
At Lee Shin's command, Arthur went to the Avala Online community forums, set the region to the Eteun Kingdom, and showed him the public quests.
However.
[Marine Monster Subjugation]
[Auction House Shill]
[Transcription Assistant]
[Lunchbox Delivery]
[Poisonous Herb Gathering]
......
......
‘...These all suck.’
Nothing caught his eye.
The content was mediocre, and the rewards were practically non-existent by Lee Shin's standards.
‘Strawberry Picking... the reward is 1000 gold? Who posts this kind of junk?’
Lee Shin was dumbfounded, but it was actually to be expected.
If a quest were truly good, it wouldn't be publicly recruited for like this. People would try to monopolize it.
The fact that the region was the Eteun Kingdom was another major reason.
The Eteun Kingdom had a very small user base, and even those few users were generally not inclined to party play.
Thus, the region itself was an environment where it was difficult for good quests to be released.
"...Forget it."
Lee Shin scrolled down for a moment, then simply closed the window.
It didn't seem like anything better would pop up.
Even if there was something, it was so bad overall that he would have to suspect it was a scam.
"You're not looking anymore?"
"Yeah. Let's just do that other one."
"I'll share the quest with you."
[Party member Arthur has proposed to participate in the quest.]
After accepting Arthur's quest invitation, Lee Shin headed to the orc outbreak area.
***
Riding in the carriage, Lee Shin opened the map and thought.
‘At least we won't run out of numbers.’
He remembered seeing an enormous number of orcs in the forest when he passed through the orc outbreak area before.
Thanks to that, it seemed he wouldn't have to waste time waiting for them to respawn.
A somewhat positive point.
"Hoo."
Stretching, Lee Shin closed the map.
Then he opened his full inventory.
There was still some time before they arrived, so he planned to organize the items left over after selling things at the auction house.
But then.
"Whoa!?!"
"?"
Arthur suddenly shot up from his seat. He turned to Lee Shin with eyes wide in shock.
"What is it?"
"I, I was still looking for quests..."
"Find something good?"
"No, that's not it... Look at this!"
[Kill Squad Recruitment]
‘Kill Squad?’
It wasn't common, but it happened from time to time.
Lee Shin turned his head again.
"What about it? Don't these pop up occasionally?"
"Not that, look at the description!"
"What is it that's got you so..."
[Kill Squad Recruitment]
•Recruiting a party to capture the shameless plunderer, the player 'Arthur'.
"......!!!"