Chapter 60 060

Seojin did as he was told and came through the back door of the smithy. There, he met Trail, who looked a little flustered.

"So you're here. Did anyone follow you?"

"No," Seojin said in conviction.

The nearby players were busy searching for the source of the burst of light and didn't bat an eyelid at Seojin, who had been sitting there blankly. Instead, a considerable number of players were knocking on the front door of the smithy. Trail stepping out and closing the door at that very moment had looked suspicious as hell.

"Can you open the door please?!"

"I'd like to order something!"

They were pounding against the door, but Trail only looked at Seojin as if he didn't hear it.

"I left the latch on, don't mind them."

"It seems you'll be bothered by them later because of me."

"I don't care. Adventurers have been bothering me for more than a day or two… I'm not talking about you."

"Don't worry, I understand."

"I'm not lying… never mind, I won't make any excuses. Take a look at this first."

Trail was unfamiliar with that type of conversation, so he just showed Seojin what he had made, causing Seojin's eyes to grow bigger.

"It's a necklace… I didn't know you had the skills to make accessories."

"I do not. I've only made ones with blades and ones that could stop the blade. It took this form by itself."

"…What?"

'By itself? Does that mean the metal molded itself into a specific form?'

"It's made of high-purity gold. Gold is the most suitable material for this kind of work, but the moment I injected the energy you brought, it changed form as if it was alive."

"Then the explosion before…"

"It happened at that moment. The energy was more intense than I thought, even the gold couldn't contain all of it."

So, the energy that overflowed caused the powerful explosion of light.

"I was wrong to have taken this on. It was way beyond me."

Trail bowed his head in apology for wasting precious energy.

"It was inevitable. Using other materials wouldn't produce different results unless we had some mithril."

Seojin stated facts, not his personal feelings. The power of adamantine could not be contained properly in the metals of Midgard. Unless it was a mithril, a metal of God that was specialized for such work.

'The most important thing is that it took this form on its own.'

"Trail, has anything similar to this happened before? Metal that has not been smelted taking its own shape…."

"I've never seen such a thing in twenty years. It was like some absolute will made it to be so."

"Ah."

The meaning was clear.

'The devs set it up.'

"Absolute will" referred to the developer who created this world, and Trail was saying that it was meant to be this way.

'…So, I shouldn't trust the developer either.'

Seojin could have made gear several times better than this if he got his hands on mithril. Also, the effect would have been doubled if Ferguson did the forging instead of Trail.

'Do the devs want to control the balance of power? Like, they don't want me to own such OP gear?'

Seojin furrowed his brows, he felt the same displeasure as he had done when dealing with Ironblood. This wasn't power control; it was a shackle.

'Players should play games as they want. It's not very nice to put a leash on us like this…'

"But if all the energy was conserved," Trail interrupted Seojin's thoughts with an embarrassed look on his face. "…perhaps it would not be easy for you to use."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It was holy power, right? That was what I felt."

"It's similar… no, almost the same."

Trail nodded. "Anyone other than priests would be encumbered by the sheer weight of the power. I believe it would hinder your actions just by possessing it."

"…Is that so?"

Seojin was not so sure. Was Trail saying that it could be exclusive to priests? Priests had an additional "Faith" stat from the beginning, which defined how much power a worshipper could control. The more sacred the equipment was, the higher the stat requirement.

'…Oh, that's how it is?'

Seojin finally understood the situation. It wasn't a leash, it was more like an option.

'Using mithril would make great gear… for priests. Of course, I could sell it, but I wouldn't be able to use it as a Silver Tongue.'

Trail had used gold instead, and he was lacking as a blacksmith compared to Master Ferguson. The result was the necklace, which meant that not using the best materials and blacksmith led to the creation of exclusive gear.

'…I got them all wrong.'

Seojin's impression of the devs turned upside-down after realizing that he could make choices in the game, let alone the fact that he liked exclusive gear more than money.

"You told me about gear that would suit me perfectly. Did you have this in mind when you said that?"

"…I did. I didn't know that the energy would be so overwhelming, though."

Trail looked even more embarrassed, which filled Seojin with even more conviction.

"Thank you, Trail. It's perfect for me. I'll use it well."

"…Thank you for being thoughtful."

"I'm not being thoughtful, I mean it."

Exclusive gear meant more than just money. It would be of great help to his future gameplay! Seojin couldn't hide the big grin that crossed his face just thinking about that. Money came naturally when he enjoyed the game, and he could play the game more efficiently with new gear.

"Thanks to…"

The moment he was going to add an extra word of thanks…

[Strange hyoomahn. Ah know his face. Hay's lookin' fahwar yawl, whut should Ah do?]

Flappy messaged him. Seojin excused himself and replied.

[Strange human?]

[He's thuh wun who fallered yawl last tahm.]

That would indicate he was from Ironblood.

'They're putting another tail on me after everything they went through?'

It was incomprehensible. The Robert whom Seojin knew wasn't so stupid, and he would know that his henchmen needed to stay even lower if he had any common sense.

'That's weird.'

Seojin thought that he needed to check it out.

[Ever seen the movie, Go-Between? That's your job now. Please tell him my words without revealing yourself.]

* * *

Lian, the ex-Ironblood assassin, was watching Trail's shop with interest from the roof of the opposite building. No one would find him sticking his legs out on the ledge thanks to his stealth skills.

'He must be in there… is he going to come out of the back door?'

He, like the other players, had seen the flash of light, but unlike them, who banged on the shop door mindlessly, he was attempting to figure out what was going on.

'Things like these are undoubtedly connected to him. There can't possibly be anyone else like him appearing in such a short time.'

Ironblood had been stomping on numerous rookies and nobody could escape their grasp, except for Seojin, who even landed a beautiful punch on Henrite's ugly face.

'I'd better wait at the back door.'

Lian stood up and leaped onto the roof of the shop where he could easily watch the backdoor. A man that Lian had never seen before walked out after a while.

'Oh, so it wasn't a makeup pack? Is he a type of wizard that specializes in transfiguration or something?'

Lian never heard of such a class, but also thought that anything might be possible when it came to this guy. He followed the man with weightless movements as he was already sure that it was Seojin.

'I'd like to see what he's doing now.'

It wasn't out of hostility or ill intent, it was more like curiosity. He was wondering what kind of human being could have done such a thing, however…

"…!"

Lian froze as something touched his shoulder.

'Is it Ironblood, or…?'

Lian looked back but he couldn't see anything.

'Am I imagining things? Or the wind… no, there's no way that it was.'

It was an absurd expectation. Lian searched for Seojin once more before reading the words that magically appeared in the air.

[Who are you?]

It wasn't a system message or anything, the letters were literally written the air in front of him.

"…Did Henrite send you? To kill me?" Lian asked with a hint of annoyance, and the letters formed a reply.

[Aren't you the person from Ironblood? I'm asking because you're following me again.]

"Oh, my God, no way… you're Seojin?"

Lian's eyes widened. He never had seen or heard of this kind of skill. What kind of class would allow him to do such a thing?

[I thought you were following me for that reason?]

"Well, that's true, but I'm not a member of Ironblood anymore. I'm a lone man. You're watching me right now, right? Look, I've made my status info public."

He was telling the truth. The only thing that popped up on his head was his name. Seojin wasn't that easy to convince, however,

[It's not hard to quit the guild temporarily.]

"…Well, fair point. What should I do to gain your trust? I quit the guild because of that incident. I already felt ashamed, but I made up my mind thanks to…" Lian shook his head. "Scratch that, I'm not here to see you anyway… actually, I wanted to take a look at you because I got curious, but I would like to tell you something."

Come to think of it, he didn't have to persuade Seojin and it didn't seem easy to either. There was no answer this time, and Lian realized that the man he was chasing with his eyes was gone. He realized that when seeing his skill deactivate as he lost his target.

'No wonder, I wouldn't expect any less from someone who screwed Henrite over.'

Lian had completely given up his lingering feelings. Seojin was a few steps above him despite only being around Level 20.

"I'll tell you what I wanted to say before leaving. I have my own business to take care of too, a man's gotta eat."

[What do you want to say?]

He finally got an answer.

Lian continued, "Robert will post a new official statement. It'll say something along the lines of, I'm so sorry, my men made a mistake, and I'll compensate the ones who suffered. Don't take it, though."

He stole the information with his authority right before he left the guild.

"He'll propose a long-term benefit for you. At first, it may seem small but it grows bigger and bigger up to the point where you can't give it up easily. People like you won't be swayed easily, but they have more than you can imagine…"

Pausing there, Lian sighed; he recalled his old self falling for the same trick.

"…I'm bad at talking and I don't really know what I'm talking about in the first place. Here, take this."

Lian put a piece of paper down on the spot.

"I'll leave this behind, so read it. Just remember, don't take anything that Robert offers you. You already crossed him once and he's going to milk you dry. I'm leaving, don't get caught, and GG."

Lian shrugged and left. The message was delivered, and everything else was up to Seojin's judgment. Lian thought that it was enough of a reward for screwing Henrite over. Soon, Lian's note floated up into the air. Flappy made sure that Lian was definitely gone and brought the note to Seojin, who was sitting on a nearby bench.

"Good job."

Seojin handed her a magic stone and checked Lian's note. Huh. Seojin breathed out a sigh.

"These guys… they're just pyramid scheme scammers."