Misunderstanding (1)
I hummed thoughtfully. “Captain, no matter how I think about it, we really can’t just leave like this.”
Joy had been walking since we left the inn, but he suddenly stopped Chico and insisted this wasn’t right.
“Didn’t the others see it too? He’s handing out silver coins to people whose treatment didn’t even work in one go?”
“It’s an incredible thing. Even a saint would find it difficult,” Chico replied. He remembered the saint he’d seen as a child, but even that holy figure hadn’t done anything like this.
“He only took payment once for the captain’s treatment, yet he’s spending money like that on patients? Don’t you all feel something?”
At Joy’s words, the others pondered what exactly they were supposed to be feeling, but only tilted their heads in confusion.
“That mage is definitely from a great noble family—the kind that stacks gold coins like fallen leaves. Otherwise, it makes no sense for someone to be so free of worldly desires.”
“Oh! That actually makes sense.”
The idea that the mage must be a great noble indifferent to money earned nods of agreement from everyone.
“And the fact that he won’t even tell us his name because he has no interest in titles? Isn’t that just a polite way of saying it’d be annoying to bother remembering the names of small fries like us?”
“Or maybe he’s being considerate because he thinks we’d wet ourselves if we heard his real name.”
“That could be it too.”
The mercenaries nodded, finding the explanation quite plausible.
“Then… could he be from the family of the Steel Duke of the North, Jalmakchun?”
“He might not even be a noble—could be royalty. Wasn’t the previous king a black-haired man?”
Chico, who had been listening to the mercenaries’ chatter, started to feel that Joy was right—they really couldn’t just walk away. This seemed like a precious opportunity to build a connection with a noble.
“Joy. Go ask the innkeeper where the mage is headed.”
“Hahaha. Who do you think I am? I already checked. He’s going to Durendal territory—two days’ walk from here.”
“That’s on our way. We’ll travel together. Pack up!”
The mercenaries quickly gathered their gear and waited at the village entrance for the mage to appear. The moment he showed up, they rushed forward and blocked his path.
“Mage, sir! We’re also heading through Durendal territory. Please allow us to escort you there.”
They’d said nothing all morning, then suddenly offered to accompany us. My first thought was that these guys might be trying to rob us. But even with my Luck buff active, I didn’t get any bad feelings, so I decided to let them tag along.
Luck buff in effect — No sense of danger detected
***
“We’ve been walking for quite a while. Aren’t your feet hurting or are you tired?”
Mercenary Joy seemed concerned about Yanne. She reminded him of a younger sister he had lost long ago.
“Master bought me these sandals, so my feet don’t hurt at all and I’m not tired either.”
When Yanne mentioned the sandals, Joy looked down at her feet. They looked brand new.
‘W-wait, could those be magic sandals? Otherwise there’s no way a kid could walk for over three hours without sore feet. D-don’t tell me those ragged clothes are enchanted too?’
The thought that they might be extremely expensive magic items made Joy unconsciously swallow hard. But then he remembered that getting greedy could get his head chopped off, so he quickly killed the bad idea.
‘That guy definitely just swallowed when he looked at Yanne, right?’
Ever since we set out, Joy had been sticking close to her, saying she looked like his lost sister. He kept staring at her ankles. Only now did I realize how dangerous it was to travel with a young girl among rough mercenaries. I had planned to hire some from the guild as meat shields, but it looked like I’d have to be more careful when picking party members too.
“Yanne, come walk over here. I’ll cast a spell on you.”
“A spell? But it hasn’t been that long yet, has it?”
“I’ll cast a spell that blinds anyone who tries to touch you. Come here.”
Of course no such spell existed, but the moment I said it, not only Joy but all the other mercenaries flinched visibly.
***
“Let’s camp here for the night.”
We had kept walking after a simple lunch of bread. When evening came, I debated what to do and decided to cook for all nine of us—seven mercenaries, Yanne, and myself. Technically I only needed to make food for Yanne and me, but I figured the mercenaries would hover if they saw us eating alone. Besides, as a Korean, I didn’t like the idea of discriminating over food in the first place.
So I pulled a table and a gas burner out of my inventory to prepare nine portions.
The mercenaries were shocked to see a table and various items suddenly appear out of thin air, but they didn’t dare ask about it openly.
Even after taking out the equipment, deciding on a menu was the real challenge. After thinking about the ingredients I’d bought in Hilton Village and mixing things around, I realized I could put together something similar to an American black breakfast.
First, I borrowed the steel pot one of the mercenaries carried and filled it with white beans and water from Hilton Village, then hung it over the campfire. The beans needed to boil thoroughly on high heat.
On the gas burner’s frying pan—which allowed precise heat control—I added finely milled flour and roasted it until it turned brown. Careful not to burn it, I added the butter I’d purchased to create a fragrant roux.
Then I added a little water, salt, and pepper to the roux, turning it into a thick soup. It would have been better with tomatoes or hot sauce, but without those ingredients, this was the best I could do.
Once the roux soup was ready, I checked the white beans simmering over the campfire. They were boiling nicely and releasing foam. I discarded the bean water, poured the roux soup into the pot, and had Yanne stir it. As the roux reduced in the pot, its flavor soaked deeply into the beans.
The thickened white bean soup took on a slightly different character and became something close to baked beans.
In the frying pan, I rendered pork fat to extract oil, then fried eggs—one for each person—using the ones I’d bought in Hilton Village.
“Line up with your plates here.”
The mercenaries looked suspicious when they heard the mage was going to cook for them. Still, they each pulled out wooden plates from their packs and formed a line.
After the eggs, I sliced black pudding—Western-style blood sausage—and pan-fried the pieces until they were crispy. Instead of the fresh smell of blood, a savory aroma rose. I seasoned them with pepper and salt and cooked them until the Maillard reaction gave them a nice color.
In the remaining oil, I squeezed in honey and stir-fried a generous amount of honey mushroom caps.
On each plate I placed one egg, three slices of blood sausage, and a portion of stir-fried mushroom caps, then spooned the baked beans over everything like a sauce. A decent American black breakfast was complete.
It felt a bit strange eating this for dinner, but for people who had been planning to boil jerky into their hardtack soup, it was a feast. On top of that, we still had the meat pie the innkeeper had given us, so dinner was more than sufficient—it was practically overflowing.
“Thanks to you, mage, we get to enjoy such luxury even while traveling.”
“I never imagined I’d receive such a luxurious meal. Thank you—I’ll eat well.”
The mercenaries accepted their plates with admiration but hesitated to pick up their forks, clearly wondering if it was really okay to just dig in. But once Yanne picked up her fork and started eating, everyone else followed suit.
“We usually just boil beans plain, but making a soup with flour and butter like this gives it such a refined taste.”
“If you spread that sauce on the beans, then eat it with the egg and black pudding, the flavor becomes even better.”
At my suggestion, not only Yanne but the others began spreading the baked bean sauce on their food. The smooth yet deeply savory taste of the butter roux enhanced every other ingredient.
Joy in particular dipped the stir-fried honey mushrooms in the sauce. He was completely hooked on the unique chewiness of the mushrooms combined with the rich, nutty depth of the butter roux.
“The mushroom stir-fry even has a hint of sweetness. This really does taste like high-class food.”
“That’s right. Honey mushrooms are common and cheap in this region, but once you leave the area they become valuable, high-end ingredients. Eat as much as you can while they’re still plentiful.”
At the words “valuable high-end ingredients,” everyone started eagerly stabbing at the mushroom stir-fry with their forks.
The portions on the plates seemed a little small at first, but with the meat pie as well, by the time they cleaned their dishes everyone was patting their nicely full bellies.
Watching the satisfied mercenaries rub their stomachs, I felt quite pleased too. But something was missing. I didn’t normally smoke, so I didn’t crave a post-meal cigarette, but I really wanted a cup of coffee right about now.
‘A bitter yet fragrant Americano would hit the spot. Or even coffee mix! I should ask my secretary to send me some Maxim coffee.’
I also thought it would be nice if there was some kind of cooking-related skill that raised your stats when you ate a satisfying meal like this.
“All the tents are set up!”
Since we’d fed them, the mercenaries had pitched our tent for us. With people taking turns on night watch, it looked like we’d be able to sleep soundly.
“Yanne. Sleep using my arm as a pillow tonight.”
“Eh? Is that really okay?”
“Yes. Stay right next to me tonight.”
The memory of that mercenary named Joy staring at Yanne with a lewd expression and swallowing hard was still fresh. I made her use my arm as a pillow and lay down right beside her.
***
…omitted… In the game, mages are set with quasi-noble status. If the class disparity is this large, users will naturally flock to the mage class that holds social advantages. If there is a severe imbalance in job distribution, it could break the game’s balance. Therefore, I believe this should be corrected in a patch…
Elon Busker smiled as he read the report Park Jinwoo had submitted.
“Lower the mage’s social status, huh? Has anyone ever written a report like this before?”
“No, sir. Four people have chosen the mage class so far, but this is the first feedback regarding status. We should probably mention that mages have the handicap of being unable to view skill trees.”
“Oh ho. That sounds good. We can say that the inability to view skill trees is the mechanism that balances job distribution.”
“Yes. Also, he asked for coffee like the gas burner, so I informed him that coffee beans exist inside the game as well.”
“Good. If he has to run around looking for coffee, unexpected things might happen. This should be entertaining.”
Elon Busker continued reviewing the other testers’ reports after Jinwoo’s.
“The play reports also show clear racial differences, as well as differences in lifestyle in that world.”
Elon Busker recalled the memories of those who had played as testers so far. He also remembered their personalities.
White and Black gamers from North America and Europe often chose evil alignments. Because they thought of it as a realistic game, they easily fell for the temptation of crimes they couldn’t commit in real life. Many of them had died because of those choices.
But the three Asian testers were living with extreme restraint. As if they had coordinated their approaches, all three were pursuing good alignments. It was truly fascinating.
“Interesting. Is this heavily influenced by race? Or is education and environment the bigger factor? I never expected such a clear difference. Why are they so different?”
“As a fellow Asian, my guess is that it’s because of belief.”
“Belief?”
“Yes. In Asia, there is a firm belief that those who do good will surely receive blessings, and those who do evil will be punished. Therefore, they believe that performing good deeds in the game will grant them corresponding benefits.”
“So they still believe in the idea of ‘rewarding virtue and punishing vice.’ Well, it’s true that the West overwhelmingly led sales of the crime game series GTA.”
The concept of rewarding virtue and punishing vice existed in the West as well. But it had long since become a faded idea and an untrusted philosophy. In the past, good and evil had been clearly defined, but in modern times the boundary had grown vague depending on the situation.
The East surely understood this situational ambiguity of good and evil, yet the reason “rewarding virtue and punishing vice” still worked was likely due to the Confucian way of thinking among Eastern people, who easily submit to power and authority.
And because of these differences in mindset, the testers’ survival rates and playstyles had diverged dramatically.
“Anything else?”
“Unfortunately, France’s Beriang has died. We erased him cleanly according to the manual. The newly selected tester is a female pro gamer from Chile named Piena.”
“Hmm. A shame about Beriang. I thought a paladin would last longer. I’ll go pick up Piena myself tomorrow.”
***
After living a normal modern life and logging back in, I saw Yanne sleeping beside me. The mercenaries were taking turns standing night watch. Having people on guard all night was certainly convenient.
Thinking it wouldn’t be a bad idea to hire these guys permanently, I got up and approached the mercenary currently on watch. It happened to be their captain, Chico.
“How’s your hand?”
“I don’t feel any pain even when I move my fingers now. Thank you once again.”
Just to be safe, I applied the healing buff one more time. Chico bowed so deeply his head nearly touched the ground as he expressed his gratitude.
“By the way, where were you guys coming from before heading back?”
“We were mobilized for the civil war in the Barui ducal house and are now returning.”
“A civil war in a ducal house?”
It must have been a succession war.
“In a situation like that, don’t only large mercenary groups get hired?”
“Yes, normally only big companies go to civil wars. We had a two-year monster subjugation contract with Marquis Helion’s house. The marquis gathered all the mercenaries he’d hired and sent them to the Barui ducal civil war.”
“So they rounded up the strays and sent them as cannon fodder. Since you came back safely, I assume you fought on the winning side.”
“Yes. We were truly lucky. A paladin named Beriang joined our side, and only then were we able to win. Without him, we would have lost.”
Chico’s eyes grew hazy as he recalled the knight named Beriang’s exploits.
“I’ve been rolling around as a mercenary for over ten years now, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone that strong.”