Operation (1)
Priest Pablo was genuinely astonished.
“It is truly surprising that the puppet of the evil god has formally requested a meeting, saying he wishes to speak with us.”
“What does he want to talk about?”
“The letter alone does not make it clear.”
“Then will you head straight down to the Orman Kingdom?”
“First we must deal with this Orc Lord before going down. The other brothers are gathering information, so we should soon learn why the puppet of the evil god has requested a meeting.”
“Could it be that he is asking us to stop because we are preparing to sever the Orc Lord’s strings?”
“Hmm. That is possible.”
Priest Pablo pondered whether he should speak with Patrick, who was right nearby, before meeting the puppets who had requested the audience in the Orman Kingdom. But since the Orc Lord was the immediate problem, he decided to leave Patrick alone for now.
“What? Your Excellency, is this true? You’re really going to lure out the Orc Lord and fight a decisive battle on the plains outside the castle?”
Patrick was shocked by Marquis Marcel’s announcement that they would engage in another major battle.
“It is.”
“But can we possibly win if we fight them head-on like that?”
After two crushing defeats, morale was at rock bottom and they barely had ten thousand able-bodied troops left. Patrick could not understand why Marquis Marcel would choose a direct confrontation against nearly forty thousand orcs.
“You ask because you were not present at the scene. The Tablon Order and the other churches have taken responsibility for dealing with the Orc Lord, so there is no need to worry. Once the Orc Lord is dead and the orcs revert to their former selves, we will not lose.”
Patrick could not fully believe the marquis’s words, but starting the next day, members of the Tablon Order began moving on the plains in front of the fortress. Priests and paladins dug into the ground with shovels, seemingly drawing an enormous picture.
“The real question is how we will lure the Orc Lord, Orchan, all the way down here.”
“Priest Pablo told me that as well.”
“What is the method?”
Patrick was curious about what method the marquis was referring to.
“He said you should send a letter. He did not specify the content, but Priest Pablo claimed that if you are the one who sends the letter, the Orc Lord will come down to this very plain and engage in a decisive battle. He did not explain why. Do you have any idea?”
Patrick was confused by the marquis’s words. He had heard that the Orc Lord Orchan was a fellow user when he met with the military personnel. At the time, they had talked about creating a cool game event. The problem was that a priest of the Tablon Order knew about that fact.
Could Priest Pablo be a user too? Is that why he looked at me that way yesterday? No, that can’t be. If he were a user, there would be no need to tell Marquis Marcel to have me send a separate letter. But then how does he know…
Patrick wondered how the priest had realized he was a user. At the same time, he grew curious about how many users existed in this game world. And when Marquis Marcel urged him to send the letter quickly, Patrick even began to suspect that the marquis himself might be a user. He decided he should start doubting anyone who was reasonably competent and had recently risen to prominence.
First, he wrote a letter to the Orc Lord Orchan suggesting a head-on confrontation right here. He wrote it in English. The people of this world would not be able to read it, but a user would.
However, no one volunteered to deliver the letter to Orchan. Approaching the orcs to hand them a letter was essentially a suicide mission.
“What about that magician who rode the red wolf? Since he tamed a Lycant—a wolf that originally belonged to the orcs—wouldn’t it be easy for him to deliver the letter to them?”
“That’s right. Bring him here!”
“Ugh, this stinks of danger from a mile away.”
Baron Cortner, the logistics specialist, had not even been asked to accompany him, yet he stuck close and chattered away.
“I asked around among people I know. They said the reason they called you is to give you a dangerous job. You absolutely must not accept it at face value.”
“A dangerous job… what kind of dangerous job do you think it is?”
Jinwoo could not help but feel uneasy. Since he was currently inside the fortress, the only dangerous task he could imagine was being sent outside to do something like a special forces mission.
“They might ask you to go to the orc encampment, spread poison smoke, and drop a Fire Storm on them.”
“Whoa. That’s ridiculous…”
He thought it was absurd, but nobles were perfectly capable of demanding such absurd things.
“You’ll find out what it is when you hear it yourself. They’ll probably pressure you so you can’t refuse.”
“Then what conditions should I demand in return?”
“First, a noble title from the Splain Empire. If it’s a hard and dangerous task, they’ll offer one. But it will be an extremely difficult job. If they say a title is impossible, get them to grant you toll exemption rights.”
“Toll exemption rights?”
“Yes. The Splain Empire occupies one-third of the Entrick Continent. If you obtain toll exemption rights across that territory, it would be a golden road for a merchant.”
“But I’m not a merchant.”
“Hahaha. Don’t think so narrowly. You can just lend those toll exemption rights to me. Then you can sit back and watch the money roll in, living a life of abundance.”
“Well… I’ll listen to what they want first and then negotiate.”
“All I have to do is deliver the letter to the orcs?”
“It would be good if you could confirm that the letter reaches the Orc Lord and observe his reaction afterward, but simply delivering it is enough. Can you do it?”
If he only needed to deliver it without confirming whether it properly reached the Orc Lord, then he figured he could just go with a white flag, hand over the letter to the orcs, and come back. Besides, since Ilonan the Lycant had not left yet, there was also the option of using him to deliver the letter to the orcs.
“If all I have to do is deliver it, then yes, it should be possible.”
“Good. Once you deliver the letter, release this crow.”
“Um… but if I’m taking on a task like this, shouldn’t I receive appropriate compensation?”
In truth, it was not that difficult a job, so he could have just done it. But after receiving some coaching from Baron Cortner before meeting the marquis, he wanted to get something out of it no matter what.
“In a situation where humans have been defeated by orcs and everything is in chaos, are you really going to talk about personal gain?”
“Aren’t I risking my life as well? Moreover, last time I used up all my assets while spreading the poison smoke.”
It was true that he had spent everything; he had used up all the Molotov cocktails he had made.
“Take it.”
A servant handed over a money pouch containing twenty gold. Eight million won was not a bad amount.
After hearing Priest Pablo’s words, Patrick began compiling a list of people who had recently risen to prominence and checking whether they were users or not. In doing so, he had added the magician from the Arean Continent who used poison smoke and Fire Storm to the list. However, when he saw the man obsess over a mere twenty gold—something a user would not care much about—and wring it out of Marquis Marcel, Patrick concluded he was not a user. In the game, no matter how much money one earned, there was nowhere to spend it, so users did not cling to gold like that.
When can I go back to my family?
When he spoke to Ilonan while holding the Beast Sphere, the wolf-man—who had been in human form—put down the chicken leg he was eating and made a bored face.
Why are you asking that?
I’ve been tasked with delivering a letter to the Orc Lord. I plan to head up to the Akran Mountains using you, a native of those mountains, as my guide. I’d also appreciate it if you could interpret for me with the orcs.
Hmm. I was planning to stay a bit longer. The food humans eat is really to my taste.
Come to think of it, in front of the wolf-man’s table were pork, chicken, and even dried fruits coated in sugar.
If we go north, you won’t be able to eat food like this anymore.
The wolf-man was expressing his reluctance to return to his family through food. After carrying Jinwoo once and earning merit, he had been treated to the finest meals and had grown completely spoiled.
“You can come back after we go. Who do you think is paying for all the food you’re eating right now? If you refuse to go, there won’t be any more of this starting tomorrow.”
Annoyed at having to speak inside his mind, Jinwoo spoke out loud and told the others not to give Ilonan any more food starting tomorrow.
It’s not that I won’t go… but what about food while we’re traveling to the Orc Lord?
Jinwoo almost brought dog food from Earth to feed him but barely held back. Instead, he took out some smoked sausage and bacon to show him.
There’s plenty for you to eat. We’re leaving first thing tomorrow, so get ready. Now that I think about it, if you plan to come back, does that mean I can ride you again?
No, that would make it seem like I’ve become your servant. Ride a horse. The bit tastes like iron and I don’t like it. Also, I want to eat that thing called fish.
It seemed he had given the wolf-man too many delicious things; he had turned into quite the gourmet.
I’ll prepare some fish dishes for you.
He found an old horse at the fortress, mounted it, and set out with Ilonan. In the distance, priests of Tablon were diligently digging up the ground. It didn’t look like farming; they were digging as if drawing a picture on the earth. He wondered if they were creating a large magic circle to use in the fight against the orcs.
With Ilonan leading the way, they headed north and stayed overnight in houses where people had once lived. Here and there, he saw people hiding in forests or in dugouts.
He handed out the large quantity of bread he had bought from Earth and told them that since there were no orcs now, they should head south and hide.
“You tell us to go south, but why are you heading north, magician?”
“I have to deliver a letter to the orc bastards.”
“A letter? Why would you give a letter to the orc bastards?”
“To end this life. Whether we stop the war or bring it to an end, opinions must eventually be exchanged between both sides. So even if you go south, go further down past the fortress where the soldiers are.”
Watching the family walk away while eating the bread, Jinwoo himself grew curious. He wondered what exactly was written in the letter being sent to the Orc Lord.
Seeing the priests of the Tablon Order drawing a magic circle on the plain in front of the fortress, it was clear they were preparing for a battle on that plain. The thought that this single letter could lure the Orc Lord all the way there made him even more curious about its contents.
Unable to contain his curiosity, he took out the letter tube from his bag. The letter he was supposed to deliver was inside a round leather tube sealed with wax.
Do you want to read the letter?
Ilonan, who was beside him, asked as he watched Jinwoo agonize over the letter for a long time.
If you want to read it, just read it. Right now, the only human here is you. Even after you hand it over to the orcs, there won’t be any orcs who will tell the humans that the letter was opened first.
Ilonan was right. And even if Ilonan saw it beside him, the wolf-man was a monster. He would not be able to understand the common language of the Entrick Continent.
Just in case, he carefully examined the seal on the letter tube for any curses, prepared all his buffs, and then opened it.
It was a letter written on parchment.
“Huh? English?”