Chapter 71 071

Vales flinched. He remembered Seojin mentioning mercy

However, he saw Seojin shaking his head in frustration.

"You devils may deceive, but you always have to pay the price that you promised. Not because you're good, but because you have to."

"…"

Vales looked at the man.

'He knows too much.'

Seojin looked human, but Vales doubted that he actually was. It was also true that the strange being had saved him from being enslaved by fallen angels, and limited the damage to the failure of the mission.

'This man is right. My karma is going to decrease too much.'

Karma. To humans, it meant the evil deeds one had carried out in their past life, but to demons, it was the source of their power. Also, one's karma was reduced drastically when another being treated them with pure goodwill.

"You're right."

Vales put an object down on the floor after quickly snapping something.

"I think that's good enough."

Seojin remarked, satisfied with the offer, which surprised Odie.

"Wait, hold on!"

She ran over in a hurry, but it was too late as Vales and the other demons had already turned themselves into a black mist and flown away.

"You can't just let that go!"

"Let what go?"

"That demon! I thought you'd let me kill it!"

Seojin laughed at her bold statement.

"You were going to kill a Level 100 final boss? That boss could mow down a bunch of level 99 raid team in one shot."

"B-but, you're a hidden class… you also blocked his attack earlier!"

"If he attacked again, we all would have died."

"What am I supposed to hunt then?!"

Odie was almost crying by that point. It was almost a miracle that she had endured so much considering her personality, which Haydall knew a bit too well.

"Well, Seojin."

Haydall sent him a desperate look as he sighed.

"While you didn't specify it in the contract, you said that Odie would get at least one achievement. Don't say you forgot about that."

-I'm so sorry! Please save me just once. I apologize on behalf of her. I'd be grateful if you understand what we average white collars have to go through…

Haydall's aggressive, businesslike tone, while he was basically begging him through private messages, forced Seojin to stop himself from cracking up.

"There's no way I forgot about that. Odie?

"Yes, what?"

"Hunting monsters isn't the only way to earn contribution. I told you to wait because there's a better way for priests."

"…Really?

"You have the purification skill, right?"

"I do."

Odie didn't even realize how obediently she was answering. Seojin pointed toward the tower where Vales had been resting.

"The final boss used to replenish his power inside that tower. There must be tons of evil energy left."

"Evil energy…?"

"You can purify it all and destroy of the core structure of the dimensional gate. Your score will skyrocket if you do that."

"…Ah!"

Odie couldn't do anything but nod, realizing that she had read Seojin's intentions wrong. He really had a plan for her while she was just going wild like a child.

Seojin urged Odie on as she hesitated.

"Hurry up. Another wave of demons would be a pain in the ass."

"Oh, okay."

Odie awkwardly headed for the tower. There were no demons left, so she easily channeled her holy power and purified the tower. The tower collapsed, and with that, all four of them heard the banging of the drum.

The thirteenth World Quest has been completed!

* * *

The sound of drums filled the huge expanse, causing everyone to scream in agony.

"No! No!"

"We were almost there, damn it!"

Merhen was one of those players. He ran into the quest almost as a stroke of luck and gathered companions to start the demon hunt. It was only the beginning of the month, which led him to think that he had plenty of time to complete it.

'I thought I could finally boast to Seojin and take a few months off after getting the reward!'

The demons began to disappear like mist. Since someone had already completed the World Quest, their progression was treated like it never happened in the first place.

"It was all in vain. I should have just done the raids instead," Merhen muttered to himself, but in all honesty, he was in a good mood even though he failed.

'I can do it too, if I try!'

In his meeting with Seojin, Merhen said those things were only for those built differently, not for someone like himself. However, even though luck was a big factor, hadn't he successfully reached the starting point and even tried the quest out!

'This was just my first try too. But still…'

Merhen looked at the empty spot where the devil had disappeared.

'It's not him this time too, is it?'

Even for Seojin, that couldn't be true. Solving a World Quest required skill, but encountering one was mostly dependent on luck.

'It's probably Ironblood. It's all right. I was a bit late this time, but next time…'

Just as he was gearing up for the next opportunity, however…

-Yo, you there?

A series of messages made him clutch his face.

* * *

Robert, the Commander of Ironblood, spoke after a long silence.

"Does it make sense to you that someone was faster than us?"

"No."

"Why did we fail then?"

"Well…"

Resik, a member of Ironblood Knights Guild, had nothing to say since Robert's words weren't exactly wrong.

They were superior in everything, whether it was the quality of their gear, the quality of their intel, and even when it came to sheer numbers. Despite all that, they had failed to complete the World Quest first.

If it happened once, it could be a coincidence, but it happened a second time.

"I'm asking why."

Resik realized that Robert was really asking him for a reason, but…

"I didn't think that you wouldn't even be able to give a debrief after what you went through."

"No! I'll tell you what I think!"

While he had nothing to say, it would be best to make something up at the very least. He would lose his position the moment Robert thought that it was his fault.

"The quest was completed in the southern part of Valaran. It's a low-level zone, so there must have been a difficulty difference, especially compared to us. Ten players could have cleared it with a thousand golds' worth of investment."

It was easier than he thought to come up with an excuse. Any other boss would think he was straight-up lying, but Robert replied as if he was genuinely curious.

"But three of our members could've solved it. Difficulty doesn't matter."

"Yes, also…"

Thanks to that, Resik regained his confidence. He explained that the southern part of Valaran was near Erzebet, which meant that Seojin was likely to be there and was the one who cleared the quest.

"He's a hidden class, or he invested a huge amount of money into his account, or he could have been born with superior gaming senses."

The lower the level, the higher the efficiency of investing money.

High-level players had to spend a terrible amount of money to get high-quality gear, but high-quality low-level equipment could be obtained at a much more reasonable cost.

"And…?"

"Other than that…"

"Are you trying to say that the core assets of Ironblood are less competent than a single rookie?"

Robert leaned forward and asked the question as if he was trying to provoke Resik. Or perhaps he was angry. Resik needed to see through the true meaning of the question. He racked his brain at full speed for a moment before simply nodding.

"…Yes."

"You may leave. There will be no punishment."

"Thank you, union master!"

Resik survived because Robert was thinking the same thing as him. Robert glared at the empty seat Resik had sprung out of in a hurry.

'I'm getting greedy.'

He even felt the temptation to break the rules.

'One time is a fluke, but not the second.'

Robert was not impressed when Seojin discovered Orichalcum. Midgard was bustling with players and no matter how competent Ironblood were, there could always be a lucky player. Things like that could happen once, twice, or multiple times—that is, if they were all different players. It was Seojin, time and time again; one man had caused all of the incidents so far.

'Movelon, Berne, Erzebet, and Churai Island… he's better than me.'

Of course, there was much more information about the game compared to when Robert had started playing the game. The problem was that much of it was a trap under the guise of being useful information.

It could facilitate the gameplay, but they would miss out on the many key rewards they could get.

The biggest contributor to that was Robert himself.

However, Seojin avoided all those traps and came out with remarkable results wherever he went. It would be easier to foray into another continent if he had such a good man under him.

'But that's being too greedy… right?'

Someone decently talented was easy to handle. They just had to feel respected, and they would do the rest of the work. However, a competent on the level of Seojin wouldn't be swayed so easily.

The reason he's playing this game must be different.'

He wasn't just trying to make money or get on top of other players. He must have had his own simple goal rather than a practical reason.

Ironblood could never sate such desires.

'Because we're not here to enjoy the game.'

The members of Ironblood were practically no different from office workers, including even Robert himself. Whatever the structure, it was safe to say that none of them purely enjoyed the game.

"Could you call Henrite for me?"

The answer was clear. He couldn't put one good man and Ironblood on the same scale.

'But my judgment could be wrong…'

So, Robert did something he never would have done in normal circumstances.

"Did you call for me?"

"Henrite, did you do what I told you to?"

"It's almost done, but I need collateral before I give him full support."

Henrite groveled like a dog wagging its tail.

"You can finish up within two weeks, right?"

"Of course. Shall I get ready and send my boys out?"

"Not yet, don't make a move until I tell you to. Oh, and also."

"Yes?"

"We need good men in our ranks, right?"

"The more, the better. That was the job I was doing… wait, boss?"

Henrite paused.

"Are you thinking of accepting him?"

"I'm thinking about it."

Henrite was surprised, to say the least. When Robert said he was thinking about something, that usually meant he was already leaning toward it. All Henrite could do now was be supportive of his decision.

"B-but…"

However, Henrite couldn't even bear to nod, as that Seojin guy looked dangerous even in his eyes.

"Why?"

"Don't you think he'll be hard to control? He's unpredictable. I'm not saying this because he screwed me over once, but…"

"Go on."

"…I worry that would do more harm than good to Ironblood… you know how I feel, right?"

"I know. You're worrying that I, the guild master, can't even control one rookie player and he might shake off Ironblood."

"N-no, boss, it's not that…"

Henrite freaked out, thinking that he should have just followed what his experiences told him. Fortunately, Robert gave him a second chance.

"I think I'm being too greedy after all, right?"

"No, I think it's a good decision too. You can keep him in check if things go south, plus, what he could do to Ironblood? This is the Ironblood Knights we're talking about."

"Hm, is that so?"

"Yes!"

"If that's what you think… I guess accepting the opinions of the members is one of the leader's duties."

"That's right. That's one of the reasons we managed to grow up like this!"

Henrite hastily agreed and Robert gave him a satisfied smile.

He was looking at the community page.

I hope that you'll give me the compensation face-to-face. Actually, I'd like to see you more than the compensation itself.

The comment was written by Anti-mainstream.