Chapter 68
Chapter 68
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 68
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Target
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Chapter 68.
A shameless lie.
But Gillaim believed it.
“Is that…! Is that truly the case?”
“Of course. You are my one and only knight, are you not?”
“……!!”
His desire to believe it played a significant role.
*I knew it! My lord would never have abandoned me!*
It was far easier to accept than the alternative of being abandoned.
“*Sob*…!”
“……”
[Gillaim’s loyalty increases.]
“I will follow you for eternity!”
“Ahem, yes.”
Lee Shin gently pushed Gillaim away.
It would look strange if a mere adventurer and a Count’s knight appeared too close.
With so many eyes on them, it was best to be cautious.
“Let us speak of the details in the reception room.”
“Ah, yes! I mean, of course.”
* * *
Soon, they arrived at the reception room. Inside was a group of players.
‘Who are they?’
As Lee Shin turned his head, Gillaim explained.
“They are my squires.”
“You’ve taken on squires?”
“Yes. There are circumstances… I will explain the details later.”
Postponing the explanation, Gillaim said he had a brief matter to attend to and immediately left the reception room.
“Please wait here for a moment. I will be back shortly.”
“Alright.”
Lee Shin and Jeong Yu-ra went to sit in a corner.
“……”
The other players were on his mind, but there was no need for him to make the first move.
After glancing back and forth at Lee Shin and Jeong Yu-ra, a female player who seemed to be the center of the group approached and asked.
“Excuse me.”
“Yes.”
“Do you happen to know that NPC?”
Lee Shin turned his head.
Then, without the other player noticing, he scanned her appearance from bottom to top.
With his keen eye, Lee Shin could gather a fair amount of information from that alone.
He synthesized all this information and came to a quick conclusion.
The opponent’s level.
‘Around 180, I’d say.’
A high level, even compared to his own. Moreover, her equipment was quite good.
‘Her gear is expensive, too. Did she buy it from the auction house?’
She was decked out in equipment that, at her level, was generally unobtainable without spending a lot of real cash.
And there were four such players.
‘So they’re heavy users.’
While Lee Shin was quietly assessing her, the player continued to speak.
“Uh… excuse me?”
“Ah, yes. What was it you said?”
“I asked if you know that NPC. If you do, I thought it would be great if you joined us….”
“……?”
A sudden party invitation!
Lee Shin’s eyes narrowed.
‘So suddenly?’
Although it was conditional, it was still abrupt.
Before wondering about the reason, suspicion was Lee Shin’s first reaction.
‘Is it a trap?’
The first thing that came to Lee Shin’s mind was the possibility that they were a party of marauder players.
The current situation closely resembled one of their primary methods.
1. Approach by striking up a friendly conversation.
2. Invite the target, whose guard is down, to a party.
3. Wait for the right moment, backstab them, and make a run for it.
The party composition also lent weight to his suspicion.
One woman and three men.
To the average player, this might not seem strange, but to Lee Shin, it was different.
‘It’s a classic setup…’
To Lee Shin, this composition looked like one lure and three executioners.
Usually, a female player with a decent appearance would reel in a naive player, and the remaining three would then deal with him.
It was a common tactic.
At least, it was in the world Lee Shin came from.
Lee Shin probed.
“A party?”
“Yes. If you do know him…”
“Why?”
“Pardon?”
“We don’t even know each other. On what grounds would I trust you enough to travel together?”
His words carried a hint of caution.
He planned to discern whether they were truly marauder players based on their reaction.
However, the player’s response was outside the scope of his predictions.
“Uh… what?”
“What?”
“You don’t know who we are?”
The female player’s eyes widened as she pointed a finger at herself.
It didn’t seem like an act; she looked genuinely flustered.
“I don’t, no.”
“I’m Arin!”
“……And I’m Arthur?”
“…You really don’t know.”
At Lee Shin’s response, the player who had introduced herself as Arin looked quite shocked.
Just in case, Lee Shin asked.
“Are you a ranker or something?”
“No?”
“?”
“Not a ranker……”
Pausing for a moment, Arin pulled up a YouTube channel and showed it to Lee Shin.
[Arin]
[Subscribers: 2.33 million]
“This is who we are.”
“……!!”
* * *
2.23 million subscribers.
The woman who introduced herself as Arin was what they called a “big name” in this industry.
It was only natural that Lee Shin’s expression changed.
“So you’re a YouTuber.”
“Yes.”
“May I take a look?”
“Of course. Go ahead.”
Lee Shin scrolled down the page.
Most of the videos were game-related, with incredibly high view counts.
Some videos had even gone viral, surpassing tens of millions of views.
‘That’s high.’
Lee Shin looked at the player named Arin with a newfound expression.
He had thought she was either a bit strange or a marauder for being so friendly from the get-go, but…
‘…I was wrong.’
Now he understood that her confidence was well-founded.
She was genuinely famous!
Anyone interested in Avala Online would have likely heard of her at least once.
“See?”
Meeting Lee Shin’s gaze, Arin’s lips curled into a smile.
Her shoulders were held high with pride!
“We’re not suspicious people.”
“I see.”
“So, can you tell me now?”
With no reason to be wary anymore, Lee Shin concocted a suitable answer.
“We don’t know each other.”
“Really? Then what were you talking about?”
“Nothing much. He just told me to wait a bit. That the Count would be here soon.”
“The Count?”
“Yes. I’m here to receive a reward.”
“Ah, I see.”
Arin nodded.
This time, it was Lee Shin’s turn to ask.
“What about you?”
“We don’t have much of a relationship either.”
“But you said you were his squires.”
“To be precise, we were hired.”
“……?”
“So…”
As Lee Shin showed interest, Arin elaborated.
Her explanation was this:
At Gillaim’s request, they were only pretending to be squires; in reality, they had accepted a quest.
Therefore, their journey together would end once they received their reward.
“What’s the reward?”
“A skill. A Secret Swordsmanship skill.”
“……!”
Lee Shin’s eyes widened.
‘Secret Swordsmanship?’
If that was true, it was an excellent reward.
Although some players preferred tangible rewards like gold or equipment, for affluent, cash-spending players like them, a skill was far more appealing.
It was something that couldn’t be obtained just with money.
“What was the quest?”
“A subjugation quest. He said he’d give it to us if we just participated in one subjugation, so we’re traveling with him.”
“What are you subjugating?”
“We don’t know. He adamantly refuses to tell us. But the reward was so good we just accepted.”
“Ah…”
Lee Shin nodded.
Indeed, if a Secret Swordsmanship skill was the reward, it was worth the risk.
It might be a different story if they weren't confident in their abilities, but that didn't seem to be the case for Arin's party.
What was strange was Gillaim.
‘What is he planning?’
He understood that Gillaim was trying to take down something he couldn’t handle alone.
But he was already a Count’s knight, wasn’t he?
Wouldn’t it be far more realistic to build more trust and then get the Count’s help?
‘I’ll have to ask him when he gets back.’
Gillaim returned shortly after.
As soon as he came back, he sent the players outside. It was to catch up with Lee Shin.
Lee Shin asked.
“What have you been up to?”
“I have been searching for you, Lord Lee Shin.”
“Call me Arthur.”
The name Lee Shin must not be revealed, not under any circumstances.
“…I have been searching for you, Lord Arthur.”
“This whole time?”
“Yes.”
Gillaim’s expression, a mix of various emotions, suggested he wasn’t lying.
“…However, I was ultimately unable to find any news of you. So, I recently began planning other things as well.”
“Other things?”
“Yes. Though my abilities were insufficient to find you, Lord Arthur…”
“That’s fine.”
“Thank you.”
Gillaim bowed his head slightly.
Then he continued his explanation.
“Did you not say before, Lord Arthur, that you would revive this kingdom?”
“Did I say that?”
“Haha! You most certainly did.”
‘Damn it.’
“…In any case, I believed you were surely alive, and I have been making various preparations on my own.”
“Huuuh…”
Lee Shin let out a sigh.
An unpleasant memory had surfaced.
[Quest – The Revival of the Eteun Kingdom]
A treason quest he had been forced to accept to pose as the 8th Prince.
It was a notoriously malignant quest with not even a speck of a chance of success, but it hadn’t mattered at the time.
He had planned to bolt anyway.
So he had just accepted it, and after ditching as planned, he had buried it deep in his memory.
Of course, with how things had turned out, it had come back like a boomerang, but what was done was done.
He had to accept it and assess the situation.
“What exactly are these ‘various preparations’?”
“Mainly, the elimination of political enemies.”
“Political enemies?”
“Yes. Those who would later stand in the way of your path to the throne, Lord Arthur. I have been seeking out and eliminating such individuals.”
They were primarily from the Royal Knight Order, he said.
Although he hadn’t received a direct order from Lee Shin, he figured they were a group destined for conflict later anyway.
He had judged that killing them on his own wouldn’t be a problem.
“I see.”
“How did you survive, Lord Arthur? Were you not captured by the Knight Order?”
“I was lucky. The knights let their guard down, and I slipped away while they weren’t looking. And I had Kilgeo’s help.”
“Kilgeo? …Ah, that rogue?”
“Yes.”
Gillaim frowned.
But he soon realized something was off.
Kilgeo was nowhere to be seen; instead, an unfamiliar player was with Lee Shin.
“But where is that man?”
“Kilgeo is dead.”
“Pardon?”
“He died acting as a decoy for me.”
“What a relief… I mean. What a regrettable turn of events.”
“……”
Though his words expressed regret, Kilgeo’s face had brightened considerably.
From the beginning, he, a knight, and Kilgeo, an assassin, were never going to get along.
Their dispositions were polar opposites.
So he had always felt a bit uncomfortable, and to hear that Kilgeo had died without him having to lift a finger, and while fighting the thorn-in-his-side Royal Knight Order at that, he couldn’t help but be pleased.
“Haha!”
“……”
“Truly a tragic loss.”
[Gillaim is greatly pleased.]
Even considering all that, he seemed a bit too happy…
In any case.
After vaguely glossing over his recent past, Lee Shin returned to the main topic.
“…Anyway, you said you were making other preparations besides eliminating political enemies. Becoming a Count’s knight was part of that?”
“That is correct.”
“But according to those adventurers, you’re planning to subjugate something separately? Was that a lie?”
“No. That is also correct.”
“……?”
Gillaim shook his head, and a question mark appeared over Lee Shin’s head.
“Why?”
“Pardon?”
“I mean, why go through all that trouble? Wouldn’t it have been better to just get the Count’s help? You would’ve needed the Count’s permission to take time off anyway…”
Gillaim’s current position was that of a guard knight.
A guard knight, naturally, cannot leave the Count’s side at will.
To take personal time off, he would obviously need the Count’s permission, and to get permission, he would need to build trust.
This was the part he didn’t understand.
“Wouldn’t it have been better to just focus on the Count from the start?”
“Pardon?”
“I’m saying, wouldn’t it have been better to gain the Count’s trust and receive his support, rather than handing out a Secret Swordsmanship skill? Since you have to…”
Since you have to do it anyway.
But Gillaim cut Lee Shin off and answered.
“Ah, that is not possible.”
“Why?”
“Because the Count is the target to begin with…”
“…!?”