Chapter 29 029

"What does this mean?"

Rousseau, leader of the 42nd Shield, was blinking blankly. It was because of the new guild member, who ran down making a fuss a short while ago.

"What's the problem again? There's nothing special in Berne?"

"Yes, sir, nothing special."

Rousseau stared at the new guild member for a moment before speaking.

"So, what do you want me to do? You want to make it something special, eh?"

"No, it's not that…"

"Of course, the town is nothing special, it's gonna crumble at any moment. Do you not even know that?"

"No, sir, it's not that…"

"No sir, not that sir, yadda yadda! Are you bored? Do you want me to keep you busy?"

"No s… I'm sorry."

"Whatever, get out of here and don't make a fuss."

Rousseau waved the new member out of the room. Like always, over-enthusiastic noobs were the problem. Rousseau rested his head on his hands and stared blankly at the community page.

'It's just a prank to draw poor idiots to Berne.'

Any players who failed to resist their curiosity would have to cry themselves a river as they made a new character. The author of the post would probably giggle excitedly when he found out the news. It was painfully obvious as to why it was written.

'Bust still… maybe someone will actually fall for it?'

He'd asked the newbie if she was bored earlier because he himself was bored. There was nothing like watching someone else's disaster to kill time. Rousseau clicked on the refresh button once again. How long had it been now?

"Oh."

I picked Bern after reading the other post.

There was a new post! Rousseau checked the contents, ready to laugh.

It wasn't a troll. Nothing bad here except fewer players.

"…Is he double trolling?"

At least it made him smirk, but he couldn't laugh for long.

It's real, check my screenshot, lol.

Rousseau frowned as panic crawled under his skin.

"It's just photoshopped… no, that doesn't make sense. Reed!"

The door flung open at the same time Rousseau burst out of his seat.

"Yes, guild master!"

The guild member rushed in through the open door. Rousseau pointed his finger at the community page with wide eyes.

"What is this? Why didn't you tell me about it?"

"…What? I'm sure I told you about Berne."

"You should have told me you weren't kidding, you idiot! We're going to Berne! Notify the baron!"

Rousseau shouted with a look of complete confusion on his face. It was no one else's disaster but his.

* * *

"Make no mistake! Today's work is more important than dealing with the Lord and spending my money, Mac!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Order anyone who thinks they're not good enough to stay at home. Only those confident in acting should come out right now."

"I see."

Mac Gray, Deputy Chief of Berne, ran around frantically as he led the residents. He sent the depressed-looking residents into their houses, and only a few confident ones remained. Mac finished up and approached Seojin again.

"I've organized everything, but won't there be a shortage of men?"

"This is more than enough, spread them out across the spots I marked on the map. We still don't know when and where the dude will come from."

Mac Gray fluttered off again, that order was going to take some time. Seojin pulled the community window up.

"Bunny."

-We're just about done. The items from the smithy are all in the warehouse now, and we'll be holing up in there soon too

"Glad to hear it. You should never show yourselves, especially you and Redrix."

-Yes, I'll make sure nobody sees us."

The blacksmith's shop was their wild card, so it could not be exposed for now.

'It's about time.'

The Ironblood Knights—Seojin thought he'd cross paths with them at least once before he finished his work here. He just confirmed that a screenshot of Berne was posted on an online community.

'If I've seen it, the Ironbloods must have seen it too. The 42nd Shield in charge of Berne might make a move at any moment.'

They'd probably be running wild by now, so Seojin decided to roll out the plan he'd prepared with the townspeople. First of all, he had to cover up the existence of the smithy completely. Second, Seojin and the townspeople had to pretend they were fans of the Ironblood Knights. They were the two basic principles of the plan. The details were subject to change as they didn't know who would check the town, but the core remained the same.

'That makes it easier to build up. I have to make them lower their guard to see what they really think.'

That meant the leader of 42nd Shield would only see the scripted situation that Seojin had planned, i.e. the townspeople would fawn over and do anything that the Ironbloods said.

* * *

"…So, it was true."

Rousseau couldn't hide his surprise. He had no problem visiting Berne since he was a very important guest of the Lord. He rode the fastest carriage possible and came to see the exact same situation that was depicted in the screenshot.

'What the hell happened?'

The NPCs were smiling brightly, and while there weren't any players, the residents alone created a vigorous atmosphere. Rousseau couldn't understand what he was seeing.

'It should've been on the verge of collapse.'

Bern was a dying town. That wasn't a rhetoric or a metaphor. The numbers were showing that Berne was rapidly losing life. It was a fact. The town could have collapsed at any moment, yet it had made a complete one-eighty.

'I checked the life last month and there was only eighteen percent left… it was an inch away from collapsing.'

Life Remaining: 79%

Right now, Berne's life was almost the same as when Robert first came up with his plan.

'Did I time-travel or something?'

Sadly, however, it was only Berne's vitality that had returned to the past.

'This is not good, not good at all.'

It was Rousseau who oversaw the town, so he would have to take responsibility for this. However, considering Robert's personality, it wouldn't just end with him leaving the guild.

'I'll have to delete this character, and I won't be able to play Midgard for at least six months until my gears are unbounded again.'

Rousseau had carved The Seal of Binding into all of his equipment. The effect of the seal was simple: it increased the performance of the item by ten percent and was bound to the user for ten months. That meant it couldn't be traded. He'd agreed to it in order to improve his performance, but now it was what tied him down. Rousseau was already making decent living from playing Midgard, so one slip and his wallet wouldn't be fed for at least six months.

'…No.'

He had to solve the problem somehow. Rousseau smacked his lips nervously as he snuck around the village. However, all he could see were NPCs.

'What? Did these bots do this all by themselves? Or did they change their minds when I didn't keep them in check?'

Rousseau clenched his jaw as anxiety crept up on him.

'…Let's think rationally. They wouldn't be able to do shit without cash, even if they changed their minds. There must be someone, maybe a group, who intervened here.'

While Rousseau didn't know the details, he was sure that someone must have interfered.

'I hope it's a player…'

The situation would be much more complicated if a high-ranked, aristocratic NPC had gotten involved. But if it was a player, Rousseau could simply kick their butt in the name of the Ironblood Knights. Even if they resisted, the name of the Ironblood Knights was plenty to crush a few low-level players.

'Found you.'

After a while, Rousseau finally located a man who looked like a player. Curved, foxy eyes and purple hair. Surprisingly, he was walking around and commanding the NPCs.

'Is he the only one?'

Rousseau waited patiently, but there were no other players around no matter how long he waited. He seemed to be controlling the situation all by himself.

'I can't believe he pulled this off by himse… now is not time for admiration. I should be glad.'

The method didn't matter. The only thing Rousseau needed to care about was the results. It was his job to kick that man out of here and reinstate Berne back to the dreadful state it was in before.

"Excuse me."

Rousseau was on the move. As he approached the man without hesitation, the man tilted his head in surprise.

"Who… oh, no way, are you a player?"

"I am, can we talk in private for a second?" Rousseau spoke bluntly, but the man was already looking at the NPCs again.

"…Everyone!"

"Privately…"

"We're finally seeing the results of all our hard work! It's a new player!"

"Wow!"

"Welcome to our lovely town, Berne!"

NPCs responded to the man by shouting passionately.

'So, it was all his doing… just as I thought.'

The man had said that their hard work had finally paid off. This player must have led the people and given them a purpose.

"I want to have a conversation in a quiet place."

Rousseau spoke again, but the man didn't listen.

"I'm a little busy right now. Could you wait a minute? You can go to the chief's house to receive the Main Quest…"

"I'm a guild master affiliated with the Ironblood Knights. I'll say this once more, we need to talk in a quiet place. Only the two of us."

"Ironblood… Oh."

The man's eyes widened as Rousseau revealed his personal information above his head.

"Guildmaster of the 42nd Shield Guild."

"…You're really one of them."

"Yes."

"Then… oh, what did you just say? A quiet place? Is that right?"

"Without any NPCs."

"Oh, NPCs! Wait a minute please!"

The man sent them off hurriedly.

"He's one of the Ironbloods. Yes, that Ironblood! Go ahead and finish what you've been working on… I've told you about him… yes, it's him!"

'…Do they know me?'

Rousseau thought to himself as he watched the scene unfold. The man mentioned the Ironbloods over and over again, and the NPCs stared at Rousseau in awe as soon as they heard the news. The man rushed over to Rousseau right after clearing the room.

"Sorry, for making you wait."

"Do you know me?"

"What? Of course I know you! You are one of the Ironbloods! Robert is the head of the guild, right?"

Rousseau looked into the man's twinkling eyes and realized what was going on. He knew about the Ironblood Knights, not Rousseau. Also, it was clear that he knew about the guild too.

'This is going to be easy.'

Rousseau felt the anxiety in his heart evaporate.