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My Villains Chapter 54
15. The Fools of the Ship's Horn Inn (I)
On the smartphone screen, a man was talking in an exaggerated manner.
[Alright, since many of you are asking, I'll explain the rules once more! First, consumable items are prohibited except for red potions! Oh, for archers and swordsmen, only basic arrows and basic throwing knives are allowed. No explosive arrows, ghost daggers, or anything like that— Oh, and no magic potions, silver bracelets, or bug items like 'jam armor' are allowed...]
While letting the ongoing rule explanation go in one ear and out the other, I quietly loosened my hands.
[Okay, I think that's enough for the rules... The first match of the Dark World Hardcore Legendary High-Level PK Tournament quarterfinals! Blood Knight Master vs. Ssamsara, Ssamsara vs. Blood Knight Master! No best of three or best of five, just a single match, hardcore PK!]
- Wow, a single match? This is a real man's battle, isn't it?
- That must have taken a long time to set up
- lol
- Aren't they doing a space-time tournament?
- These guys have huge balls lololol
- lol
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- Damn, he talks too much
- Are they not doing a space-time tournament?
- Just start already, stop stalling
- Please kill that Blood Knight Master bastard, I beg you TT
- You ignorant newbies, Blood Knight will win anyway, you idiots
- Asking for the 5th time, are they not doing a space-time tournament?
- They don't do tournaments for that shit game
- Damn
I turned off the smartphone screen, flipped it over, and focused on the computer monitor.
[Master Ssamsara: Do we have a 3-second manner?]
[BJ Stone Death Super Man: Just a moment]
[BJ Stone Death Super Man: Blood Knight Master, is that okay with you?]
"What nonsense." I felt a bit irritated but soon typed on the keyboard.
[Pique Application Note: Do as you like]
[Master Ssamsara: T_T]
[BJ Stone Death Super Man: Then we'll go with what we have]
Finally, the PvP started.
Despite the long buildup, the battle ended quickly.
The level 90 Holy Knight, who had applied all sorts of buffs for 3 seconds, met his death with his head separated from his body in the grasp of the level 90 Blood Knight.
[BJ Stone Death Super Man: Wow, that's insane, amazing]
[Pique Application Note: Please hold the server for a moment]
[BJ Stone Death Super Man: ?? Why?]
[Pique Application Note: Just a moment, I'll be right back]
As I exited to the character selection screen, I quickly turned on my smartphone.
- Instant kill lololol
- Ssamsara, you idiot, you talked big and got destroyed lololol
- Damn, that ended really fast
[Isn't this incredible, brothers? It ended in less than 20 seconds?]
- 20 seconds is amazing
- Blood Knight Master is a real madman
- lolol How can you beat that when he ignores three skills
- The timing of interrupting the heal lololol
- He hit with everything and then stunned right before the casting finished lol, that wheel must be pissed
- Blood Knight you bastard TmT
- Looks like it'll end soon, let's do space-time for part 2
I couldn't help but laugh at the rapidly scrolling chat.
Meanwhile, I selected a sub-character and connected to the server that SUB was holding.
[A new hero has joined. Shake hands to become allies, or fight to kill.]
And then came the shouting.
[What's this? What's 'CorpseMannerJokka'?]
- lololol What the hell lolol
- => =1 It's Blood Knight's sub-character lololol
- Screenshot ON
- lololol Ssamsara zombie mode
- Damn lololol
- Undertaker ON
Chuckling, I approached the corpse of the Holy Knight.
'CorpseMannerJokka', that is, the man holding a bronze crown and a bone staff, I suddenly felt lightheaded and mumbled in a stupid voice.
"Huh, Mr. Luke?"
I leveled up again.
This level up gave me quite a lot to think about.
I reached level 11 the day after arriving in South Harbor.
I hit level 12 right after the Ship's Horn Inn was attacked, and the next level up was just a day ago, at Prince Ulkar's camp.
And today, I became level 14.
Considering the cycle of level ups since level 11... It rapidly accelerated from 2 weeks, to 4 days, to 1 day.
"Ugh..."
My head is complicated trying to calculate the experience points.
I wrote down all the lives I've taken so far on a small piece of paper, but no matter how I look at it, this level up...
"Must be quest completion experience."
The required experience to reach level 14 is 5500.
Considering I had just leveled up, I needed at least 4000 experience points, even at the lowest estimate.
What monsters give 4000 experience points... Hippogriffs are 3800, and Forest Trolls are 4200.
Of course, at my current level, it's nearly impossible to defeat such creatures.
I haven't done any special training, so where did such a massive amount of experience come from?
The chances that I miscalculated are very low.
It's more convincing to think that the quest was completed with the mission 'Deliver the letter and return', and as a reward, a huge amount of experience was given.
In my opinion, this was quite important information.
The reality I felt on my skin and the game I used to play through a monitor were, of course, tremendously different.
The sense of reality was different, and predicting the future was several times more difficult.
To express it in gaming terms, the scenario always had the possibility of being twisted, and the degree of freedom was infinite. The battle at the dock that wasn't in the game, the early death of Poison, Ubar's henchman, the reply from an informant who shouldn't have existed... These small things aside, Prince Ulkar breaking through the siege and entering South Harbor was truly an unimaginable development.
In the midst of all this, experience points came in as a reward for the scenario progression.
Perhaps, could I use this quest completion experience as my 'milestone'?
Well, I don't know. Anyway, leveling up is good news.
With this level up, I invested 2 points in agility, bringing strength, agility, and health all to 20 points. This level of physical ability should be completely beyond human limits.
Magic power has also reached 5 points now, so for the next level up, I'll have to focus on raising magic power to 10 and learn three level 15 skills at once.
Ah, Ellen also leveled up.
Considering that she also had quite a lot of required experience left, I think she might have received quest completion experience like me.
Although her level only increased by 1, Ellen showed considerable growth as she had many stat and skill bonuses that she hadn't been able to absorb until now.
In terms of stats - strength and agility increased by 2 each, magic power by 2, and health by 1.
With strength, agility, and health reaching 8, 10, and 14 respectively, it should be much better than the average person. Of course, her magic power of 24 would be at the top level among her peers.
Skills were evenly distributed, and she also learned a new wind-based spell called 'Spirit of Dance'.
Thinking back to the last awakening... Except for Wind Fist and Flame Arrow, she figured out the other spells on her own, so I think it might be the same this time.
We'll see as we watch.
But Ellen, is she still sleeping even though it's already evening? I understand sleeping in since she came back at dawn, but she's been sleeping for over 12 hours now.
While thinking about this and looking back at the stairs.
"What's wrong? Waiting for someone?"
"Huh? No, I'm not waiting."
The one who appeared with the question was Daria, the red-haired waitress.
Appearing with a tray, she placed a large wooden bowl, round barley bread, duck eggs, figs, and thick beer on the table where I was sitting.
It's enough for five people, but this is my one meal. Phoenix's body has a really good appetite, you see.
What's in the wooden bowl is a thick porridge made by boiling lentils and various vegetables. There's also well-filleted fish and pre-grilled crocodile meat in it. It looked like slop, but it tasted quite good.
The flat barley bread was thick on the outside and dry on the inside, so it was a bit of a chore to eat on its own. Not bad when eaten with the porridge?
I tore the barley bread into small pieces and soaked it in the porridge. While waiting for the bread to soften, I took a couple of big spoonfuls of porridge and started peeling the duck egg.
I felt a hot gaze. It was Daria, sitting across the table and grinning.
"What's up? Why so awkward?"
"Nothing. It's just nice to see you eating well."
...A heavy fastball, and a smile revealing white teeth while resting her chin on her hand.
Her sea-green eyes were full of pink affection, making my face feel hot for no reason.
I had become quite close with Daria, but this heart-fluttering gaze started after Ubar's henchmen attacked the inn.
The owner of the Ship's Horn Inn was thinking of closing the business.
The young waiter he liked had died, and nearly half of the inn had burned down, so he had lost motivation. No, to be precise, he was scared.
However, thanks to my negotiation with the guard captain, twelve soldiers were now stationed at the inn all day.
Usually, it wouldn't have been very welcome to have guards occupying two tables.
But now it's a very special situation.
In the ominous atmosphere of the city, being able to receive protection from the guard was quite a privilege.
Thanks to this, the number of guests increased a little, and merchants who wanted protection also helped repair the inn to rent rooms.
That's why the owner didn't say anything even though he clearly saw Daria slacking off and playing with me. He treated me almost like a benefactor.
It was the same with Daria. No, it was even more so.
It seems that my actions as a stranger and wanderer, making unreasonable requests to nobles to protect the inn, seemed a bit abnormal.
Well, I admit that my actions might seem a bit over the top when viewed through the lens of this world's common sense.
But now Daria... Seems to be misunderstanding that everything I've done (requesting protection from the guard, accepting the lord's request and carrying out dangerous missions) was all for her sake. It's almost certain if I read her.
The reason I tried to protect the Ship's Horn Inn was - well, should I call it conscience? Or a sense of responsibility? Anyway, it was because of something like that.
Ubar's henchmen attacked the inn because of me.
The guard captain dismissed it as nonsense, but the fact that Poison recognized me at a glance was proof. They were indeed targeting me.
So naturally, I bear some responsibility for the inn burning down. That's why I did my best within what I could do.
Hand on my heart, I absolutely did not do those things to look good in Daria's eyes.
"Are you done eating?"
"Ah, no. Not yet."
So when I met Daria's affectionate gaze, I felt embarrassed. Not shy, but embarrassed.
"What are you going to do after you finish eating?"
"I'm going to rest a bit more. My body still feels a bit sore."
At my answer, Daria's brow furrowed with guilt.
Oh, you don't need to do that...
Before I could add anything, Daria took the initiative.
"Then - should I give you a massage before you go to bed?"
"Ah, a massage?"
"Yes. I've never done it before... But I'll try my best."
Ugh, a sentence that stirs a man's heart.
Such a line from someone who looks like she could be the queen bee at an American private high school.
I absolutely don't have the confidence to refuse, but I shook my head with a bitter smile.
"That might be a bit dangerous."
"Oh - why?"
"Ellen is sleeping. If she wakes up and sees your face, I don't think she'll say anything nice."
"Ah, right. Ellen..."
Daria pouted her lips with a deep sigh.
"Why does Ellen dislike me so much? Did I do something wrong?"
"It's not about doing something wrong. She just dislikes everyone."
"Everyone?"
"Yes, everyone."
"It doesn't seem like that."
Daria looked at me intently with a meaningful gaze. I casually averted my eyes and took a swig of beer.
"If Ellen is bothering you..."
"......"
"Do you want to come to my room?"
"Uh, what?"
I made a high-pitched sound and met Daria's gaze.
Daria turned her head in a rather natural motion and fiddled with the flower ring on her left hand.
Even though it had already been ten days since I gave it to her, the white cherry blossom still held a fresh vitality. Is it really enchanted or something?
Daria was wearing a brazen expression, but the back of her neck and ears were flushed red, clearly showing that she understood the meaning of what she had said.
Swallowing the words 'That might be even more dangerous' along with my saliva, I nodded.