episode_0058

The morning after Ingrid left.

Jeong Yushin held his head and got up from the bed.

“Ugh, my head.”

His head felt like it was splitting from the hangover.

It was the price he paid for sipping on the Dwarf rice wine alone after Ingrid left.

When he lifted the bedsheets, a white rat was lying on its back, snoring away.

It said it was going to wander around the labyrinth city, but it was just shamelessly sleeping in the bed.

“Lin, wake up.”

When he poked its belly, the white rat flinched and slowly opened its eyes.

“Are you really not a person?”

“Squeak?”

The dazed white rat tilted its head.

“Never mind.”

Jeong Yushin put the sword he had placed near his head on his waist and went down to the first floor.

“Did you wake up?”

Tarman, who was busily moving in the inn’s hall, discovered Jeong Yushin and greeted him.

“Yeah. I brought the money here.”

Jeong Yushin handed over a leather pouch.

7 gold coins.

Out of the 10 gold coins he received from Ingrid yesterday, he only took 3 and planned to use the rest for the inn’s operating expenses.

He didn’t regret it.

It was because he solved most of his meals at this inn, drank alcohol, and slept there too.

“7 gold coins. Let’s keep enduring until you slowly get used to running the inn.”

“Th…Thank you!”

Tarman’s eyes turned red.

Seeing the man’s tears from the morning made him feel sick, so he turned his head away.

“Give it to Anne. And ask for breakfast too.”

“Yes!”

Tarman ran to the kitchen.

Jeong Yushin sat at the table, crossed his arms, and looked out of the inn.

His gaze was directed outside, but his thoughts were elsewhere.

With Ingrid’s help, he was exempted from the night patrol request.

He heard that the exempted requests are considered completed.

It meant that he accomplished a portion of the promotion conditions presented by the Explorer’s Guild.

Of course, he had to solve more requests to achieve the promotion conditions, but it wasn’t a bad start.

He recalled the memories of last night.

If the Brand of World Domination that Ingrid mentioned at the drinking party really exists, then there was a possibility that the Brand of World Transference also exists.

As he recognized the faint possibility visible through the bleak gap, he felt a thirst as if his throat was burning.

Indeed.

In the current situation, wouldn’t the best move he could make be to enter the labyrinth?

Since he could simultaneously achieve the request for collecting magic stones and subjugating monsters, he could earn some money.

It wouldn’t be a lot of money, but it would be bigger than the patrol request at least.

But he felt uneasy about leaving Anne and Tarman alone.

Moreover, there were those crazy Barbarois in the city who wielded their dicks like authority and acted secretly.

He also had anxiety about whether he could form a proper party.

‘Should I at least try?’

There were a few problems, but if he solved them one by one, he would surely see a way.

If nothing else works, he could just wait until Darmeon arrives.

He couldn’t be scared and give up at the possibility of failure.

As he was lost in various thoughts, Tarman brought breakfast on a tray.

“Ska-nim, I brought breakfast. Please enjoy.”

“Thanks. Just a moment.”

Jeong Yushin stopped Tarman, who was about to return to the kitchen.

“Yes.”

“Do you talk to Aldaine sometimes?”

“Yes. Is there anything you want me to tell him separately?”

“No.”

Jeong Yushin quickly stuffed the food into his stomach and got up from his seat.

He judged that it would be faster to go directly rather than making Tarman do it.

“I’ll be back after going to the monster dismantling site for a while.”

“Yes. I understand.”

Creak.

At that moment, someone came into the inn.

It was a boy with messy hair and full of freckles.

“Good morning. Ska-nim.”

The boy with messy hair came up and greeted him.

“Who are you?”

He was a familiar face, but he didn’t know who he was.

Jeong Yushin asked while tapping his single-edged sword.

“I came from the Swordsmanship Guild.”

“Ah.”

He thought he had seen that face somewhere, and it was one of the people he had seen coming and going from the Swordsmanship Guild. He didn’t know the name though.

Jeong Yushin opened his mouth. Since it was a familiar face, he decided to speak comfortably.

“Is Ashur doing well?”

“The Swordsmanship Guild Master is not doing well. And that’s why I came here. Ska-nim, it’s the Guild Master’s call. You have to go to the Swordsmanship Guild with me.”

The boy’s answer was ominous.

Jeong Yushin scratched his cheek.

“Is Ashur a little uncomfortable? Tell him to sit up straight.”

The boy with messy hair pretended not to hear Jeong Yushin’s answer and changed the subject.

“I heard that the Guild Master heard the story that Ska-nim fought in front of the labyrinth.”

“Rumors spread pretty fast. That’s right. Was the Guild Master jealous because I fought too well?”

The boy with messy hair shut his mouth and stared at Jeong Yushin intently.

“It’s a joke.”

“After hearing the news that you fought with a sword in your mouth, he clapped his knees and lamented.”

Hmm. Was it that bad?

“Tell me more.”

“He said, ‘Since the world suspects my teachings because he fought with a sword hilt in his mouth without any fundamentals, what more is there to live for?’”

Jeong Yushin’s neck tilted to the side.

Isn’t it swordsmanship with fundamentals?

That guy Jo did it like that too.

Or did he not?

Jeong Yushin carefully asked.

“Is he very angry?”

“He told me to come with you right away.”

“Tell him that I lack money, so I’ll go later.”

“He knows that you received 10 gold coins from Ingrid-nim, so he told me to come with you quickly.”

As expected, a stalker master like a ghost.

“Tell him that my back hurts today, so I can’t go.”

“He said he’s going to break your back.”

“Tell him I’m embarrassed to see my teacher, so I can’t go.”

Jeong Yushin and the boy had a brief staring contest.

“…Please just come. Ska-nim.”

“Hoo, I understand. But I’m going to stop by the monster dismantling site first.”

“You have to really come. We’re all going to die like this.”

“I said I’m going.”

After chasing away the stubbornly clinging boy with messy hair.

He left the inn, leaving behind Tarman, who was politely greeting him.

He walked towards the monster dismantling site while basking in the summer sunlight.

It was to return the single-edged sword that Aldaine lent him.

As Aldaine said, the performance of the single-edged sword was amazing.

But.

He was suspicious of Aldaine’s intentions for readily lending him such a high-performance sword.

It felt like he was trying to put him in debt no matter what.

Anyway, he wasn’t an elf he could let his guard down around.

Jeong Yushin walked for a while and entered the west district and found the monster dismantling site.

A familiar smell of blood.

A building built with red bricks.

Jeong Yushin passed through the yard and entered the monster dismantling site.

He grabbed a worker who was passing by busily and asked.

“Where is the head?”

“Ska-nim, have you come? Aldaine-nim is in the office.”

The worker greeted him politely and answered.

“Do you know me?”

“That Big-Nose guy often talks about you, so I know you.”

“How did you recognize me at once even though you only heard about me?”

“Well…you have black hair, don’t you?”

“Let’s see each other often.”

He ended up asking a foolish question.

Jeong Yushin’s face turned red as he realized.

He quickened his pace a little more and went to the corner.

After passing through the monsters with blood drained and cleanly peeled skin, hanging on iron hooks, he saw an office.

He knocked on the door.

Knock knock.

“Come in.”

When he opened the door and went inside, Aldaine was sitting in front of the desk.

Aldaine was writing something while scribbling with a pen among the stacks of documents.

“What is it?”

“I came to return the single-edged sword.”

“Just take it.”

Aldaine nonchalantly spat it out and started scribbling with the pen again.

“I don’t want to.”

“You don’t like it even if I feed it to you. Do you not like the shape? Is the performance bad? What’s the problem?”

“I can’t receive something like this without any compensation.”

It was only a matter of time before he would get caught if he just kept accepting it.

“Ugh. You’re really picky. Okay, okay. Give it here.”

When Jeong Yushin handed over the sword, Aldaine received it with both hands and stroked it.

He thought that he would go back since his business was over, but Jeong Yushin didn’t move.

Aldaine asked.

“Do you have something to say?”

“I’m going to enter the labyrinth, but I’m worried about the inn. Please protect it.”

“You don’t want to receive this, but you want to receive that. Just do one thing.”

“I’ll give you money if you want. Please protect it.”

Aldaine scratched his eye patch and sighed deeply.

“Hoo, I’ll send Big-Nose, so know that. Instead, you take care of the food expenses, accommodation fees, and labor costs.”

“Thank you.”

“Get out.”

Jeong Yushin bowed his head and left the office.

Thud!

As soon as the door closed, Aldaine deeply buried his body in the chair.

“I’m crazy. I tried to aim for one talented person and ended up getting caught.”

The red sword slightly trembled.

Aldaine’s eyes widened.

“You got caught too? Why?”

Shudder.

“You said you held it in your mouth? Huh. You’re all grown up. Younger sibling.”

Aldaine stroked the single-edged sword with a soft touch.

“A pair of siblings got caught at the same time. I don’t know what to do about this.”

Unlike his worried tone, a faint smile was on Aldaine’s face.

* * *

After leaving the monster dismantling site, he went to the blacksmith street.

He stopped by a store on the way and bought a bottle of alcohol.

When he went into the blacksmith shop where only flies were buzzing around, Boron was sitting in his seat.

Boron looked emaciated, as if he hadn’t eaten in a while.

“Did you come?”

Boron looked up at Jeong Yushin with hollow eyes.

“I bought alcohol.”

Boron staggered and snatched the alcohol.

Before he could say anything, he quickly took off the stopper and drank the alcohol from the bottle.

Boron’s face was a lot livelier after taking the alcohol bottle away from his mouth.

“Kuheueueu. Did you come to buy equipment?”

“Yes. I’d also like to request for armor crafting.”

“What kind of armor?”

“I want to make something similar to the light armor from last time.”

“Similar? Be specific.”

Jeong Yushin pondered for a moment and said.

“Can you segment the iron plate added to the leather armor a little more and attach it in detail?”

“You want to make it easier to move? That’s dangerous. No matter how closely you attach it, there can be gaps. It’s also hard to maintain. You’d rather just add a small plate to the chest. It won’t be that uncomfortable to move around either.”

“I understand. Let’s do that.”

“Then the rest of the armor parts will be made the same as last time? It’s 1 gold coin and 25 silver coins.”

“How in the world did 25 silver coins suddenly increase?”

“It’s labor costs. Do you want to see Einhofer starve?”

“Geez.”

Jeong Yushin scratched his head in disbelief.

How many days has it been since the labor costs suddenly increased?

But he couldn’t bear to see Einhofer starve.

He decided to concede just this once.

He rummaged through his pouch and took out 1 gold coin and 25 silver coins and handed them to Boron.

Boron counted the coins and asked.

“Is the helmet usable?”

“It’s a bit disappointing. It’s cool, but the back of my head is too cool. I’m just going to die if I get hit properly.”

“It’s actually a bit disappointing.”

“Did you know that when you gave it to me?”

Jeong Yushin glared at Boron.

Boron looked up at Jeong Yushin blankly as if he was dumbfounded.

“You said you didn’t have money back then, didn’t you?”

“…Sorry.”

“Wait for a bit first. I’ll bring you something good.”

“Yes.”

Boron went to one corner and brought a helmet.

The helmet was a barbute with a visor.

“Isn’t that similar to the one I bought last time?”

“Look closely.”

Jeong Yushin narrowed his eyes and observed.

It was similar to the type that medieval knights wore. But there was a strange pattern drawn on the lower left surface of the visor.

“What is this?”

“Tsk. What else can I expect from a Barbaroi. It’s a pattern that symbolizes the Spirit God of Light. It’s a symbol of good luck.”

It felt like he was about to remember.

He looked at it in more detail while taking more time.

It was similar to the shape engraved on one side of the plate armor worn by Gilsian, the dog-person paladin who served the Spirit God of Light.

Jeong Yushin took his eyes off the helmet and said.

“I might not know. Do you have to give me this much crap? Let’s make it 20 silver coins.”

Boron’s face turned red.

“You, you crazy bastard. What am I supposed to eat? 30 silver coins.”

“It’s too expensive. 25 silver coins. It seems like this strange pattern is damaging my dignity, so it’s right to lower the price of the helmet.”

“…No, you don’t have to commit blasphemy, do you? I understand. Let’s do 26 silver coins.”

“25 coins!”

“Ugh. I’m going to die. A Barbaroi is killing someone!!!”

“I bought you alcohol. Let’s do 25 coins. I’ll buy it again next time.”

Boron glared at Jeong Yushin.

He wanted to kick that sly bastard’s butt, but he held back thinking about his disciple.

“…I understand. What about the weapon?”

“Give me a dagger. I’ll buy the rest later.”

“Why? No, what else am I going to find out? I’ll only get frustrated. The dagger is 1 silver coin. Come find the armor in a week. Are you going to take the helmet?”

“I’ll take the helmet then too.”

“I understand. Hoo.”

Boron sighed and went to the corner and brought a dagger.

He handed over the silver coin and put the dagger in his arms.

“Let’s see each other later.”

“Haigo. This is my fate.”

Boron lamented.

Jeong Yushin looked at the place where the sound of a hammer was coming from once and turned his back and left the blacksmith shop.

The next place he would go was the Swordsmanship Guild.

Jeong Yushin sighed without realizing it.

It seemed like Ashur was really angry, so he had no idea how to relieve his anger.

How in the world was he supposed to match the whims of the male elf stalker Sword Master?

Even reverse harem games weren’t this difficult.

He walked down the street again while thinking this and that.

When he arrived at the Swordsmanship Guild, the building was empty.

The bald vice Guild Master Killian was sitting at the reception desk.

“To the training grounds.”

“Yes.”

Killian raised his hand and pointed to the exit on the opposite side of the building.

Jeong Yushin quietly went to the training grounds.

There, Ashur, with his arms crossed, was quietly looking up at the sky.

“Ska, stand at attention.”

Ashur’s ice-cold voice echoed through the training grounds.

He swallowed hard.

‘Hoo. What was coming has come.’