The Angler and the Knight
I sat quietly at a table tucked into a corner of the guild, fidgeting with my guild card for no particular reason and keeping a wary eye on my surroundings.
Only minutes ago, this place had been a riot of clinking mugs and roaring adventurer chatter. Now the atmosphere was oddly awkward. People were still drinking, still pouring over quest notices, still chatting with their companions — but the problem was that every few seconds, someone's gaze came flying our way.
A sideways glance.
A man at a nearby table had been staring at me, and the moment our eyes met, he whipped his head away.
Another sideways glance.
This time it was a guild staffer shuffling paperwork.
...This is uncomfortable.
I hunched my shoulders and tugged my satgat down a little lower for no good reason.
There was really no need to agonize over the cause.
Considering what had happened in the middle of this very guild not long ago, it was almost a miracle things had ended as quietly as they had. The halberd swung by that drunk bald adventurer had never even reached me — some mysterious green barrier had appeared out of nowhere and shattered the blade of that fearsome-looking weapon into fragments.
And the guild card that had been completed at just that moment had thoughtfully spelled out the reason for me.
I looked down at the card in my hand once more.
No matter how many times I read it, the contents didn't change.
Protection of the Black Tortoise.
Apparently this was a fragment of the power Hyunmoo had spoken of.
I hadn't even tried to activate it — it had simply triggered on its own the moment danger was detected, which suggested that at the very least, its defensive capability was considerable. I'd seen with my own eyes a man-sized halberd explode into pieces on contact, so I figured I could stop worrying about getting one-shotted by a slime anytime soon.
The problem was—
"...Angler."
—this part, in the end.
I tilted the card this way and that, but my vocation didn't suddenly transform into swordsman or mage.
Worse, the ordinary skill printed so proudly beneath it was Angling [Beginner].
If you covered up the one hidden skill, every angle of that card screamed perfectly ordinary rookie fisherman.
Let's say I can block with Protection of the Black Tortoise.
Then what?
Enemy attacks. The Protection blocks it.
And I'm standing there holding a fishing rod.
"......."
No matter how I turned it over, no answer came.
Was I supposed to hit things with the rod?
I stared at the wooden fishing rod leaning against my back with a grave expression, then shook my head. Granted, this was a game world, but I had no desire to fight a bloody, life-or-death battle against monsters using something built for catching fish.
Besides, Ryu Origin had never been a game where one person solved everything alone.
The fundamental design had you assemble a party of five and divide up the roles, and the stronger the opponent, the more it mattered how well you balanced tank, damage dealer, and support. Of course, once players were sufficiently geared and leveled, you could brute-force your way through to some extent — but at least in the early game, party composition was genuinely important, as I remembered it.
And here I was, without a party or a single offensive skill to my name.
Wait. Am I... a tank?
I considered it for a moment.
Hidden skill: a defensive ability.
Vocation: Angler.
Weapon: a fishing rod.
"...What kind of combination even is this."
Just as I was muttering under my breath, about to thunk my forehead against the table—
Screee— The guild's massive door swung open.
I looked up without thinking and froze mid-motion.
"...Whoa."
Someone was coming in.
And they were enormous.
A thick coat draped over broad shoulders did nothing to hide a rock-solid frame, and the shaggy beard swallowing half his face made him look, from a distance, less like a man and more like a giant bear walking on its hind legs. His forearms looked thicker than my thighs, and even measured against the other adventurers in the guild, he stood a full head taller.
And walking beside that burly bear of a man was the receptionist who had registered me just a little while ago.
Their destination was obvious.
Me.
Why... why are they coming toward me?
Instinctively, I straightened my back.
Was there some problem with the hidden skill?
Registration revoked?
Or maybe they'd decided I was a dangerous individual with an unidentified ability and were taking me to a cell—
"Hey there!"
A voice like a rolling thunder cut through my imagination.
The burly man strode right up to me and bent his massive frame forward slightly. Up close, he was even bigger. My neck actually ached from looking up at him.
"You the one with that hidden skill?"
Then he laughed, a great rumbling guffaw.
I gave him an awkward half-smile.
"Ah, haha... Yes."
Having no idea how else to react, I popped up out of my seat, and the habits ground into me over years of office life came pouring out faster than I expected.
I bowed at the waist. Nearly a full right angle, actually.
"Suryeon, registered today! I look forward to working with you!"
"......."
A beat of silence passed.
I waited with my head still bowed, sneaking a look up to gauge the reaction.
What came down over my head was a booming laugh.
"Bwahahaha! Now that's a kid who knows how to greet properly!"
I am not a kid.
I objected only in my head.
Mentally, at least, I was considerably older than this man likely assumed.
When I straightened up, the man thumped his own chest, still grinning.
"I'm the Guildmaster of the Ryukel Adventurer's Guild. Just call me Guildmaster."
"The... Guildmaster?"
Before I knew it, I'd straightened my posture again.
Someone far higher up the ladder had come to find me personally.
The Guildmaster seemed to find that amusing, because he smiled through his beard and held out a huge hand.
"Could I see your card?"
I handed over the guild card.
Swallowed up in that enormous hand, the card looked positively tiny. The Guildmaster checked Protection of the Black Tortoise first, narrowing his eyes with an expression of mild interest for a moment, before his gaze came to a stop on the vocation line.
"An Angler, eh."
"...Yes."
I couldn't explain why, but somehow it was embarrassing.
"A life profession, not even a combat class, holding a hidden skill..."
The Guildmaster studied the card a few moments longer, then burst out laughing again.
"That's a good one!"
"Er... is it funny?"
"Of course. A hidden skill is something you might see once in an entire career working at a guild — and the one person who happens to have it turns out to be an Angler."
I took my card back with a less-than-thrilled expression.
So it really is a weird combination.
Still, the Guildmaster didn't seem to be looking down on me. If anything, he looked like a man who'd stumbled upon a fascinating case he'd never seen before, and he fell into quiet thought for a while, stroking his beard.
Then, the laughter gone from his face, he looked down at me.
"But having a hidden skill doesn't mean I can simply hand you commissions."
At that unexpectedly serious tone, I straightened up without thinking.
The Guildmaster glanced once toward the spot where Protection of the Black Tortoise had activated, then continued his explanation. No matter how powerful my defensive ability was, that didn't change the fact that I was a brand-new adventurer with zero combat experience — and above all, so long as my vocation wasn't specialized for battle, facing monsters alone was simply too dangerous.
I'd been worrying about the exact same thing until just moments ago.
"So for the time being, you'll be better off moving with a party."
"A party?"
"That's right. And as it happens, we have a suitable candidate."
With that, the Guildmaster turned away.
"Wait here a moment."
Before I could get a word in, he was walking off with the receptionist.
I sat back down in my chair.
"......."
And then I was alone again.
People around me were still sneaking glances.
With nothing better to do, I fidgeted with my fingers.
A suitable candidate, huh.
Don't tell me this is some secret organization that collects hidden skill holders?
I entertained all manner of wild fantasies while I waited, and after a short while—
I spotted the Guildmaster coming back from across the hall.
And beside him was someone I'd never seen before.
"...Oh."
This time, my eyes were drawn for a different reason entirely.
A knight, armed head to toe in metal armor.
The plate armor covering chest and shoulders was plainly practical, without a trace of flashy ornamentation, and a longsword hung at the hip. The face, too, was completely hidden behind a closed helm — nothing of what lay inside could be seen at all.
Clank. Clank.
With every step came the low metallic sound of armor shifting against armor.
That is a real knight.
My eyes couldn't help but sparkle.
Every time I saw something like this, it hit me all over again — this really was a fantasy world.
The Guildmaster stopped in front of me.
"Kept you waiting, didn't I?"
I rose from my seat.
The receptionist stepped up beside the knight and made the introductions on their behalf.
"This is Tasuka. Registered as an adventurer yesterday, vocation Knight. Same rank as you, Suryeon — Stone."
Yesterday?
One single day my senior.
Some of the tension drained out of me.
The knight introduced as Tasuka looked down at me.
With that helm on, there was no telling what expression they wore.
After a moment, a single gauntleted hand extended toward me.
It seemed to be an offer of a handshake.
I reached out my small hand and took it.
Cold and hard.
It was easily big enough to swallow my entire hand whole, which only drove home, once again, how small I'd become.
"I'm Suryeon."
I looked up at the knight and smiled, a little awkwardly.
"I look forward to working with you."
Tasuka said nothing, only gave a single nod.
...The quiet type, huh?
Still, it didn't seem like a refusal.
The receptionist collected both our cards and headed for the counter, and after a simple round of paperwork, we were registered as a temporary party. According to the Guildmaster's explanation, it was a system that let rookie adventurers take on commissions together until they formally founded a party of their own.
I watched the whole process closely.
What had taken a few menu clicks in the game required, in reality, filling out forms, verifying the cards, and receiving the guild's official approval.
Similar, yet different, all over again.
Once the registration was finished, the receptionist headed for the quest board this time.
A moment later she returned holding a single sheet of paper.
"I think this would be a good fit for you two."
The quest notice was laid on the table.
I leaned forward naturally.
A simple map, accompanied by a few lines of text. Three goblins had been spotted in the forest outside Ryukel; the request was to exterminate them before any harm came to passing travelers or nearby farms.
One word seized my attention.
Goblin.
"...!"
Real ones.
Actual goblins.
In the game I'd killed more of them than I could count, but this was different. I'd fallen into a fantasy world, become an adventurer, and the very first extermination commission I received was for goblins.
Now THIS is fantasy.
The corners of my mouth lifted before I could stop them.
Swords and magic, an adventurer's guild, a knight for a party member.
And a goblin hunt.
My worries about being a skill-less Angler evaporated from my head entirely, if only for the moment.
"Hehe..."
By the time I came to my senses, the giggling had already escaped.
Ah.
I hastily clamped my mouth shut.
And right at that moment, something descended over my head.
Clank.
"...?"
It was Tasuka's gauntlet.
The cold steel carefully cleared my satgat and settled gently on top of my head, then moved slowly — two, three pats, gentle enough not to mess up my black hair.
Pat. Pat.
I went completely rigid.
...What is this?
Only my eyes rolled upward.
Tasuka remained silent as ever.
With the helm on, I couldn't see any expression either.
Apparently, seeing me get all giddy over the mere mention of goblins had prompted a consoling pat on the head.
Ah.
The reason dawned on me a beat too late.
I must look like a kid to them, that's why.
Considering the body I was in, it made perfect sense.
Short, baby-faced, and currently skipping around in delight over a goblin culling quest — to anyone watching, I could only look like a little child setting out on their very first adventure.
...I'm twenty-eight, though.
I pursed my lips.
Then another thought struck me.
Wait, no.
Well — technically not anymore.
Which somehow made it all the more unfair.
When I subtly dodged Tasuka's hand, the gauntlet hung frozen in midair for a moment before quietly withdrawing.
The receptionist, visibly fighting back a smile, handed the quest notice to me.
"Your objective is to confirm the extermination of three goblins. If you decide it's too dangerous, do not push yourselves — come straight back. This is the first commission for both of you, after all."
I took the notice in my hands.
Some of the lightheaded excitement I'd been floating on settled a little at those words.
In the game, goblins were early-game mobs — no matter how you fought them, a few button presses put them down. This world was different. The terror I'd felt when that halberd came crashing down toward my head was still vivid in my memory.
If I died, could I just reload and try again?
No... there was no way that was happening.
I gripped the quest notice a little more tightly.
But I still had to do it.
I needed to see how much of Hyunmoo's power I could actually call upon, and above all — if I was going to live in this world, I couldn't lean on someone else's help forever.
"...Okay."
I murmured it quietly and lifted my head.
Right beside me stood Tasuka, wrapped head to toe in armor.
I wasn't alone.
That fact alone put my heart somewhat at ease.
"I'm counting on you, Tasuka."
This time, it came out more naturally than before.
Whatever expression the knight wore behind that helm, I still couldn't tell — but Tasuka regarded me for a moment, then gave a slow nod.
And then headed for the door first.
The heavy footsteps faded into the distance.
I slung my basket over my shoulder and gathered up my fishing rod — then, spotting the guild card I'd left on the table, snatched it up in a hurry.
"Ah, this too."
I shoved the card into my pocket and ran after Tasuka.
"Wait for me!"
The guild doors swung open, and the afternoon sunlight spilled in a long slant across the floor.
Just this morning, I had been an office worker.
By the time I opened my eyes, I'd become an angler, contracted with a divine beast, and registered at the Adventurer's Guild as a Stone-rank rookie.
And now—
I was going goblin hunting alongside a knight I'd met not five minutes ago.
...What an absolutely unhinged day.
And yet, somehow, my steps felt light.
Watching the armored back walking ahead of me, I quickened my pace to keep up.
And so began the first commission of Suryeon the Angler and Tasuka, the knight of mysterious identity.