Chapter 9 : Lonely Wanderer

The SwordNoobs divided and got employed as Training Hall instructors for the Orc Village and Rosenheim Kingdom. The salary was low, so they were able to easily get the position because no one wanted to work there. After getting employed, the SwordNoobs were completely entrusted with the Training Hall"s management.

"Those who want to learn the sword, come to the Training Hall!"

However, the majority of the players reacted indifferently.

"Training Hall? That"s just a place to hit scarecrows."

"Why would you do something so annoying to learn Sword Mastery? If you just go out and fight, you"ll learn it anyways."

The SwordNoobs were sneered at by even the beginners! Still, there were quite a few curious beginner players who sought out the Training Hall. They had visited the Training Hall because they couldn"t leave the city and village for 4 weeks when they first started.

"You hold the sword like this, and... rather than swinging it powerfully, you must swing it accurately. Don"t just blindly put your sword in front of you; you must watch the monster"s actions and attack their gaps in their defense."

As they had a lot of experience from the dojo, the SwordNoobs taught the beginners with ease.

"If you go to the Training Hall, they teach you how to fight."

"Is there a need to learn?"

"It"s definitely better if you do. People who"ve learned are completely different from people who haven"t in hunting."

It was enough to change the cries for recruiting party members in the square.

"Recruiting Swordsman. Only taking a person who has learned from the Training Hall for at least a day."

It was true that the combat ability of the majority of the beginning players was lacking. There was no reason for them to have experienced intense physical activity or fighting, and it was easy for them to panic at speedy monsters. Once they learned how to use the sword from the SwordNoobs, hunting was definitely easier. Since the SwordNoobs taught them how to deal with facing different kinds of monsters, players even sought them from other kingdoms as well and waited in line.

Every time the SwordNoobs held a lesson, people gathered in swarms. There was news that 500 to 1,000 beginner players would sit and watch the demonstration of the SwordNoobs.

"The sword is sharp, isn"t it? You don"t have to be afraid of it, because a properly learned sword will protect you and your teammates."

SwordNoob501"s lesson was smooth. He had his own charm because he was nearly the youngest in the dojo,and he knew how to serve his older brothers properly. To adults, he was like a nephew, and to the young students, he was as friendly as an older brother.

"So cool."

"He looks a bit intimidating, but I think he"s a good person."

A man looked the coolest whent he was devoting himself to his work!

As they committed themselves to swordsmans.h.i.+p while soaked in sweat in the dojo, the masters and disciples were sufficiently attractive. It was just that the women hadn"t had a chance to see that.

Working as an instructor in the Orc Village, SwordNoob419 showed a demonstration as he swung his sword. He had to move slowly so that the beginners could follow him.

"Chwiik. I can"t do it right, instructor."

The movements weren"t easy for the Orc females due to their characteristic slos.h.i.+ng stomach fat and rumps. Whenever that happened, the trainee instructors went right to work.

"This part like this..."

They would lightly grip a waist or hold a wrist and draw out the trajectory of the sword. Naturally occurring skins.h.i.+p! Satisfied smiles appeared on the lips of the SwordNoob disciples who were acting as instructors.

"Instructor, you"re so reliable."

"If you have time, could you come hunt with us? Chwi chwit."

They readily accepted requests from female Orcs.

"Of course."

As they fought together, the instructors taught them how to fight.

"I"m Leiachwi. Chwik. Could we learn again next time?"

"I"m SwordNoob419."

Even the friend requests that the SwordNoobs had wanted so dearly came along smoothly.

"Can we come visit the dojo while you"re on break?"

"Let"s, have a date at an amus.e.m.e.nt park."

Due to the aggressive female players, there was even the birth of disciples who went and had their first meetings. Having bravely finished their dates, the disciples spoke of their heroic exploits.

"I went to the amus.e.m.e.nt park with her, and... huhu. Sahyungs, colleagues, don"t be surprised! I grabbed her hand first."

[T/N: Sahyung is the polite way to address an older brother in training.]

"Noob419! You crazy? What"ll you do if you get slapped for that..."

"Do you think I would have done that on purpose? We were looking at the fountain when our hands somehow touched, and she stayed still so I held it."

"She stayed still?"

"How should I say it, it was like I got the strange feeling from her that it was okay if I took her hand."

"There"s something like that? It"s not that you get slapped for just holding a girl"s hand?"

"It"s like, a feeling you can only know once you"ve experienced it."

The masters and disciples burned with their dreams of dating as they received the teachings of their dating seniors.

Female players weren"t the only ones who learned swordsmans.h.i.+p from them. There were as many men as women who learned how to use the sword from them in ma.s.ses. Women and men of all ages crowded into the Training Hall. It was because ever since their Sword Mastery skill rose to Advanced, there was a change in their ability as instructors. If they taught while showing swordsmans.h.i.+p demonstrations, the beginners would copy that swordsmans.h.i.+p. Even with that alone, the beginners" Sword Mastery proficiency grew rather quickly.

Beginner players who thought of themselves as disciples flocked over.

"Please teach me, instructor!"

"I want to hunt. Please lead us to the right path."

"At what time is today"s lesson?"

* * *

At the news that the SwordNoobs would raise your Sword Mastery skill, tons of people gathered. Even people who had left the village after 4 weeks and had been hunting returned to the Training Hall. There were also a considerable number of middle-range players who were over level 200. The Training Hall where scarecrows were set up was changed into a learning ground for actual martial arts by the SwordNoobs. It was annoying for the disciples because there were more people, but they received people as their students as long as there was an enthusiasm to learn. Even though the complete beginners had no money, they were taken in as students.

"The admission fee to become an official disciple is 9 pieces of barley bread."

"Ack!"

"You cannot become a true fighter if you do not know hunger. Hunger awakens the fundamental strength of a human being."

The students of the SwordNoobs, men and women of all ages, were spreading throughout the Versailles Continent.

Their robust shoulders and piercing eyes, as well as the tacit conversations they held amongst themselves, circulated through Rosenheim Kingdom and the Yurokina Mountains.

A group with a sword inscribed on the left sides of their chests looked for teammates in the square.

"It"s a pleasure."

[T/N: The speech from here on out is in a very manly, archaic style.]

"Long time no see. I believe I saw you once at the Training Hall. Shall we go hunting?"

"Sounds good. But how old are you?"

"Nineteen."

"We"re the same age. What is your lineage?"

"My master is SwordNoob385-nim."

"I received the teachings of SwordNoob417-nim, sahyung."

The SwordNoobs were being called teachers of the sword in Rosenheim Kingdom and the Yurokina Mountains.

The SwordNoobs didn"t forget their aspiration of hunting the strongest monsters on the Versailles Continent, either.

"We have honor to upkeep, too. Shouldn"t we catch something like a Bone Dragon or Imoogi within one month?"

They occasionally hunted even while instructing, and they also strove to raise their Sword Mastery skill. The Sword Mastery skill could be raised pretty quickly if you fought and overcame monsters stronger than yourself. The SwordNoobs didn"t even pay any attention to weak monsters that they could easily kill. Most of their Fame went up purely through hunting. Even a steep cliff was absurdly turned into a flatland if just two SwordNoobs got together.

"Sahyung, I"m bored; would you like to go up here?"

"Looks fun."

The SwordNoobs heightened their concentration as they climbed up the cliffs of the Yurokina Mountains. It was a chance for them to gain the precious experience of going through difficult, dangerous terrain on purpose. SwordNoob4 and SwordNoob5 went up along the ridge of the cliff, where it was difficult to take even one stride.

"Noob5."

"Yes, sahyung?"

"Would we die if we fell from here?"

They were so dizzyingly high up that there were clouds on the mountainside. SwordNoob5 looked down from the ridge and shook his head.

"We would live. We could grab the branches of trees growing out while falling and use the rebound to bounce up. Then should be able to lodge a short sword in the rock and slide down."

"Hm, we wouldn"t die from this much after all, eh?"

"Of course."

"I"m bored, so do you want to try jumping down from here?"

They readily said words that would astonish others if they were to hear. Even though their skill proficiency would be reduced, their level would fall, and they could even lose equipment they were wearing on the one in ten thousand chance that they died, they had no qualms. SwordNoob5 took it in as if it was nothing as well.

"That seems like it"d be fun?"

"I"ll jump first."

It was a short distance to the edge, but SwordNoob4 leapt off the ridge at full speed.

They were living as freely as the wind while having tastes of challenges.

* * *

After entering the underground prison, Weed arrived at the place where the prisoners of the Matallost Church were being held within four days. He would have been able to shorten the time far more if he had focused solely on breaking through. However, he sucked the area dry of monsters as he advanced, so it took longer.

It would have taken a little longer to destroy that many monsters with Weed"s damage alone, but Yellow"s partic.i.p.ation in battle was a big help, too. When they were on the plains, there were many times when Weed mounted him and used him mostly like a horse because it was the innocent Yellowy. If he fought while speeding about like a horse, that alone would raise EXP and running proficiency. In a dungeon where there wasn"t much s.p.a.ce to run, Weed used Yellowy mostly for gathering j.a.ptem. But this time, Yellowy found a valuable use for himself. He would unleash a powerful kick with his hind legs on the Dark Knights that Hwaryeong had put to sleep with Seduction Dance.

A bull"s back kick!

When he kicked them powerfully with his tremendous strength, the Dark Knights went flying brutally. It was as good as a Sword Kaiser attack. Having received an enormous blow, it was powerful enough to make the Dark Knights die in an instant if Da"in and Hwaryeong just stabbed with a cudgel or shortsword. As the girls started taking care of the Heretic Hunters, Disciples, and other monsters with Yellowy, their hunting efficiency improved even more.

Mooooooo!

Like a fighting bull, Yellowy savored his victory whenever he struck monsters with his hind legs.

"Well done, Yellowy."

When Da"in stroked his head, Yellowy enjoyed it while slapping his short tail. Weed had spoken a little of his sad woes regarding Da"in, but Yellowy didn"t pay any attention to that and got along well with Da"in. There wasn"t a proverb saying that speaking into a cow"s ear was like knocking at a deaf man"s door for nothing.

Weed briefly a.s.sessed that the battle speed had become faster.

"He"s finally worth the cost of his gra.s.s." Weed was infinitely stingy with his praise! Since Yellowy was earnestly carrying around a bag and even taking part in battle, even slightly positive words came from Weed. "What"s the market price of Korean cows these days? Before a person who"ll buy meat at a high price shows up, it"ll be better not to sell him."

Breaking through the underground prison! It was a very large labyrinth, but Weed didn"t even struggle in the middle of it. It was a dungeon that others had already explored, so he had determined the overall path through Dirtman and had run over with precision.

The priests of the Matallost Church were emaciated and wearing robes black with dirt.

"Who are you?"

"I defeated the Embinyu Church and came to bring you back." Weed showed them a relic of the Matallost Church. Only then did the priests believe him.

"Why have you come only now to save us?"

"Dang, I thought us old guys would be locked up here forever and just die."

They were actually irritated that he hadn"t saved them quickly. If you didn"t go through a quest earnestly, these kinds of complaints would come up.

Weed also had much to complain about. "I came here as fast as I could after making sculptures, selling j.a.ptem, and selling off the quest. I did the best that I could."

He had pride that allowed him to justify himself in any situation! Other players would lack the patience and could"ve even gotten angry at the old priests for being so unscrupulous, but Weed wasn"t like that.

"I apologize. It was because I was trying to convey you safely, as remnants of the Embinyu Church may have been hiding. For now, please come out with us." Since the old priests were also his clients, he didn"t forget to put on a friendly smile.

"In any case, thank you for coming to rescue us."

The priests rose from their seats. Weed was able to easily release them from the shackle-like apparatuses on their ankles even though he wasn"t a Thief. He used his Blacksmithing skill to get rid of them altogether. There was no way he would miss out on a chance to get good iron material.

"Please release us, too!"

Many other prisoners were tied up in the place where the priests of the Matallost Church had been held. There were 35 people from Dwarf, Elf, Barbarian, and hunter races who were scattered in the North on a small scale. Weed released all of them as well.

At around that time, the people who had received the Rescue the Prisoners of the Matallost Church quest and had been hunting in the area gathered.

"What, he"s here already?"

"How did he come so quickly?"

The partic.i.p.ants of the quest that had dumbfounded them hadn"t thought he would arrive so quickly, even if he was Weed.

It was now time to leave the underground prison. The path out of the prison wasn"t very difficult-- they were able to leave quickly because the spectators who had followed Weed in were hunting in the important points of the underground prison and the players who were partic.i.p.ating in the quest cleaned up the monsters.

"We give you our thanks for saving us."

"I simply did what I had to do."

"There is something we must do as soon as possible, so would you wait for a moment?"

"Yes. If it is a righteous deed, I will wait however long it takes."

Under the watchful gaze of Weed and the quest partic.i.p.ants, the Matallost Church"s priests went to the temple, cleaned, and lit torches. Then they performed a ritual that appeased the vengeful spirits of the River of Lamentation.

SWOOs.h.!.+

Then the stagnant and murky waters of the River of Lamentation flowed smoothly downstream.

Ding!

It was quite a considerable compensation. The reward was from the Matallost Church that guided with death becoming active again.

Weed hadn"t explored the underground prison to save the prisoners. He had left most of the annoying tasks to other players, but even so, his level went up by 1.

Yurin, Da"in, and the other players went up 10 to 20 levels thanks to the huge EXP they earned as a reward.

"Yahoo!"

"This quest is the best!"

To those who had partic.i.p.ated, it was a quest that had given them a big reward that was tough to swap with any kind of treasure.

Weed didn"t get b.u.t.thurt over the level ups of the others. Naturally, you would get stronger if your level went up. However, stats or skill proficiency were more important than that. If you only raised your level quickly, then in the end, your stats would fall short of your raised level. That would make your growth lag, so it was actually faster to backtrack quite a bit.

As the change from the completion of the quest, the contaminated River of Lamentation that had been murky with yellowness slowly became clearer.

The old mercenary Smith spoke heavily. "So this is what happened. The Matallost Church... I thought it was a church that had only harmed the Versailles Continent..."

Ding!

The A-rank difficulty quest was resolved. He had taken Smith and had proceeded with the River of Lamentation purification and the fight with the pursuers of the Embinyu Church. It wasn"t just the resolution of Smith"s curiosity about Count Savoid; it had to be regarded as the resolution of a part of the entire chain quest as well.

The old Mercenary Smith said, "Then come anytime to the tavern where I was. Since it"s you who gave me lots of alcohol, I should be able to buy you a drink. I know quite a lot, so ask if there"s anything you"re curious about anytime."

That was the poor Mercenary Smith"s absurdly scanty reward. How much wine and brandy had he gulped up until now... However, Weed didn"t argue. He had received many unreasonable quests because of his uncontrollably high Fame. There were times when the reward was big, but there were also times when it was small.

He tried to be understanding with an open mind. "Looks like I"ll have a nightmare tonight."

In exchange, he resolved to write a ton of insults about Smith in his journal.

"I gained many experiences because I was able to do this with you, elder. It is a pity that we cannot travel the Versailles Continent together anymore."

The Mercenary Smith laughed, revealing the gaps in his spa.r.s.e teeth. "It"s time for the old me to return to the tavern. It"s enough that I did adventures when I was young. Even if I do have a curiosity, I don"t think I"ll be able to move in person anymore. That"s right, I shouldn"t need my mercenary card anymore, either. I"ll give it to you."

Weed wasn"t one to refuse a gift or bribe given to him.

"Identify!"

It was a mercenary card, which could be called a precious treasure for Mercenaries; even if they weren"t Mercenaries, many people used the Mercenary guild to receive quests.

"It should be good if I sell it off."

Considering the scarcity of mercenary cards on top of that, he would be able to get an enormous price for it. He could tell from the just fact that the players who had gone through the Rescue the Prisoners of the Matallost Church quest with him were all astir over it.

The old Mercenary Smith gave him another gift. "Take this as well."

Weed took it as he was told again.

It was an antique seal that had a stamp made of jade and a golden dragon crafted with gold that could be used as a handle. A very old item, its color wasn"t like that of goods these days. A part of the jade stamp was also broken.

"Identify!"

Weed raised his head. It occurred to him that this was a remarkable item.

"What is this?"

"It"s something I picked up in Count Savoid"s mansion, back in my Mercenary days. I"ve been treasuring this seal because it seemed like good luck was coming my way after getting it, but... you can use it now."

"I will receive it gratefully."

Weed put the seal into his pocket.

Ding!

It was as he expected beforehand. "Looks like the Agent of the Niflheim Empire quest will happen with this."

If he wanted to find out the exact origins of the item, he needed a slightly more powerful identification.

"There"s something I have to take care of first."

Weed looked around. There were many players who were fascinated while watching the transformation of the River of Lamentation. Since it would cause a historical change on the Versailles Continent, it also wasn"t hard to see someone busily sending a whisper.

"My level went up by 4. I got a lot of Fame, too."

"Really? d.a.m.n. I should"ve taken the quest too. I heard the hunting in the underground prison was pretty good?"

He could also see the players who had gotten the Rescue the Prisoners of the Matallost Church quest being happy.

Weed spoke to them. "Everyone."

"...?"

"The quest did not end with the rescue of the Matallost Church prisoners."

"It was a chain quest?"

"Then will you share another quest?"

Like a generous man from the countryside, Weed put a big smile on his face as he nodded. "Of course. It"s a quest we started together, so shouldn"t we see it to the end together?"

Matallost Church"s chain quest!

The priests of the Matallost Church were walking towards Weed.

"Though we have been relieved of a great anxiety, there are too many things that must still be done. We also have to pick out new devotees in order to right the church..."

"I get the anxious feeling that there are still those who follow the Embinyu Church in this area."

The Destruction of the Embinyu Church 11th Sect and the Matallost Church"s Long-Cherished Wish requests were still left.

"The remnants of the Embinyu-- there ought to be quite a powerful group left over, so they"ll probably have to be completely defeated. And for the Matallost Church"s Long-Cherished Wish, they"ll likely want to take in a lot of devotees and prosper as much as any other church."

He could roughly tell what kind of requests were left from their names alone.

It wasn"t bad for Morata, either. The Matallost Church was a militant group with considerable holy power! With the heal, blessing, and holy offensive magic they had shown when escaping from the underground prison, there would be quite a lot of people who would want to become devotees. If he allowed beginners to use the movement portal to the River of Lamentation as well, the revival of the Matallost Church would be good for Morata, at least! Even if it was a chain quest, the sweetness of the quest had been sucked dry after destroying the Embinyu Fortress and even rescuing the Matallost Church prisoners. Weed planned on sharing the quests to the others here instead of fulfilling them himself.

"WOAH!"

"The Lord of Morata, WarG.o.d Weed will share the chained quest."

"Hooray for Morata"s Lord!

The people who had been unable to hide their jealousy while looking at the River of Lamentation gathered quickly.

"Please share it with me!"

"Me! Me first!"

They were like baby chicks who were opening their beaks to receive a worm that the momma bird had caught!

Weed spoke. "However, a fixed partic.i.p.ation fee of 998 Gold..."

"..."

"..."

There was a calm silence.

Weed"s words just spread far and wide. "This is a chance that comes few and far in between. I will cut 30 Gold for those who have brought at least 2 friends or teammates. If at least 7 people apply, I will even give a group discount."

This was unmistakably a rip off.

Like making excessive profits at a beach in the summer holiday season, it was a rip off they really couldn"t refuse!

Only Hwaryeong was smiling prettily as she rejoiced. "How awesome! Weed-nim is even sharing a quest that he got with difficulty to others; he is kind to a fault."