Ch.1254-1+

# 125. 4-1+

‘You suck at this. (1 win, 99 losses)’

This was a very famous meme that almost everyone knew. And a similar meme existed in the game, which happened to be associated with the Albs, known as the “disgusting species,” raising gamers’ average blood pressure by at least 20 points.

‘You’re such a noob (gets destroyed later).’

Although there was a satisfying moment when gamers later beat up the Alb who threw that pathetic yet infuriating taunt, the frustration of being forced to watch that scene while playing through the story was… truly unforgettable. And now I was seeing it in person.

I completely understood why Arang was trembling with anger. The rest of the party members felt the same way.

“If Arang can’t find any traces, we don’t have any other options. What are we going to do?”

“Wait. Yehyun noona. Earth’s Memory isn’t available yet, right?”

“Yeah… Ttangttangi’s level is still too low.”

Ttangttangi was the earth spirit contracted to Yehyun noona, and Earth’s Memory was a technique similar to psychometry. It wasn’t useful for hunting, but it often provided helpful hints when solving puzzles or figuring out gimmicks. But thinking about it, considering that Albs were behind this cute little stunt…

“I don’t think we need to rush. We know for sure that a nomadic group is staying nearby, so if we just hang around, we’ll make contact one way or another. They prefer to discover others first and pathologically hate being discovered themselves.”

“Should we set up tents?”

“Yeah. No need to waste energy looking for something we can’t find anyway, and their patrol intervals are probably quite long, so let’s just settle down here. We can think about specific responses later. The message hasn’t appeared yet anyway.”

“Understood. I’ll handle the security plan.”

“I’m counting on you.”

It was overwhelmingly easier to let the nomadic group find us than to search for them. Even though this was a “floor,” a particularly advantageous space, we couldn’t know how vast the area might be, so naturally, we planned to do the same this time.

So instead of being swayed by the provocation, we decided it was actually convenient and set up a campsite. Since we couldn’t completely let our guard down or relax entirely, not knowing when the Alb who shot the arrow and fled might return, we were still able to naturally recapture the comfortable atmosphere we had enjoyed in Benas.

‘They can’t help but be concerned about seven unidentified humans wandering around in their patrol area. They’ll definitely come.’

So come on.

You won’t be able to afford the luxury of sticking an arrowhead-less arrow into a tree twice.

**

“Hmm.”

“It’s true!”

“Hmm.”

“That’s really all that happened! I-I swear! I even swore on the spirits!”

“Why did you attack in the first place, Eril?”

“W-well…”

Inside a tent slightly larger than the others.

An Alb was squirming nervously before a mountain-like man with folded arms.

“They didn’t die? You erased your traces? Your mission was just patrol in the first place. According to you, those humans wouldn’t have even detected you.”

“Ugh.”

“What was your reason for unnecessarily provoking them, potentially making them hostile and increasing the danger to all of us?”

“I-I’m sorry!”

“I didn’t ask for an apology. I asked for your reason for the unnecessary attack.”

“W-well…”

Eril answered in a barely audible voice, not daring to raise her head.

“Chief, you’ve heard those rumors too… about how the Albs were badly defeated and retreated from the Ansila Mountains… and how those monster-like human adventurers played a big role… So when I saw those human adventurers, I got angry and just…”

“The spirit of the Nomadic Group.”

“O-One! We are not oppressed by anyone! Two! We save those who are oppressed! Three! We do not abandon our own!”

Eril, who had been speaking in a tiny voice, squeezed out every ounce of energy to answer as loudly as possible. She instinctively felt that hesitating here would lead to serious trouble.

“Did those human adventurers oppress anyone?”

“N-no!”

“Did those human adventurers harm any of our people?”

“No!”

The man called Chief sighed. Eril thought she was safe, but she didn’t let her guard down.

Because while the Chief was strong, reliable, and worth following, he could be terrifying when angry.

“Eril.”

“Yes!”

“Border patrol for one month.”

“…”

“Answer me.”

“Yes…”

“You may go.”

Faced with the severe order to stand guard duty day and night without a single day off for a month, Eril’s vision darkened, but she quickly bowed her head in agreement when she saw the Chief’s stern gaze.

“Haaah…”

After Eril left the tent, the man who remained alone let out a deep sigh.

“As if everyone isn’t already on edge, she still hasn’t broken that habit of causing trouble… I thought I scolded her thoroughly last time.”

In truth, Eril was quite skilled. She was agile and stealthy, good at reconnaissance, and like a proper Alb, she was proficient in archery and spirit magic, while consuming very little food.

If only she didn’t cause ‘incidents.’

But expelling her was out of the question. He had no intention of doing so anyway, but the Nomadic Group had originated as a gathering of those who had lost their place to return to.

They never cast out someone who had become family unless they betrayed their own. The first Chief had been that way, as had the next, and the previous one as well.

So he, the current Chief, had always followed that principle and would continue to do so.

‘Hmm. They should be back by now.’

Eril had said it wasn’t far. He had sent another scout to confirm immediately after receiving her report, so they should be returning to base by now—

“Huff, huff, Chief!”

“Felton.”

“Shit, we’ve been caught!”

“What?”

“Fer was captured by those human adventurers!”

“And you call yourself a scout, Felton! Explain the situation in detail!”

At the man’s thunderous command, the scout who had suddenly burst into the tent took a deep breath and continued his report.

“Well, Fer and I approached the area you mentioned… but it seems they set a trap, expecting us to come. Fer was captured, and I barely managed to escape.”

“And Fer?”

“His ankle and arm are injured. That’s why Fer gave up on escaping. I tried to take him with me, but he told me to go back and report the situation…”

Crack—

The armrest of the chair the man was sitting on cracked.

“Gather the squad leaders. And Eril too. Right now.”

“Yes, sir!”

The man felt the back of his neck rapidly stiffening because of a single arrow shot by a troublemaker who had acted impulsively out of anger.

**

I thought it would take at least a few hours, but I was wrong. We hadn’t been waiting long after setting up the tent and leaving Arang, Danya, and Yuri on guard duty when we caught a fish.

“Urgh.”

And it was quite a big fish at that.

We had one fishing rod but caught two fish, so we let one go. One was enough anyway.

“Hey. Still not going to talk?”

“…”

“Keeping your mouth shut isn’t going to help you, mister.”

Yuri poked at the bound Nomadic Group scout (presumably), but he only groaned and continued to exercise his right to remain silent.

[Complete it.]

Because of this simple message that appeared when we faced the scout, we couldn’t use more aggressive methods, which seemed to make Yuri impatient.

If the message had been something clearer like “Defeat the Nomadic Group” or “Persuade the Nomadic Group,” our goal would have been much clearer, but with just a vague “Complete it,” we felt we shouldn’t treat him too roughly.

“Oppa. What are we going to do?”

The party members looked at Subin and me. It was a headache. If we just stayed like this, the Nomadic Group would soon come looking for us due to their nature, but from the outside, it looked like we were intimidating their man, which could instantly sour relations.

“Then, how about we just send him back? After treating his wounds, as a messenger for our intentions.”

“What? Unnie! He’s the one who attacked us first!”

“The party leader seems to want to avoid fighting if possible… right?”

I nodded at Yehyun noona’s question. Winning a fight is good, but winning without fighting is much better. I once told Subin this and got smacked for it, but it’s no exaggeration to say that I always try to take the easy way out. Isn’t that why people look at my walkthroughs instead of banging their heads against the wall?

However, for some, emotions seemed to be more important than reason.

Particularly Arang, who had failed to track and had to face “You’re such a noob” for the first time, and Yuri, who had deflected the arrow.

“Even if we send him back, we should extract information first.”

“Agreed. And we should keep a hostage in case things go south. They’re extremely protective of their comrades, right?”

“Wouldn’t having a hostage be distracting if a battle breaks out?”

Yuri and Arang’s points were valid, so the party members continued to debate.

Meanwhile, I stared at the [Complete it.] message and thought again.

‘Thinking conventionally, it’s either becoming enemies and killing them all, or building rapport and becoming friends. Is that all there is to it?’

I searched my memory for the original Nomadic Group storyline but couldn’t recall anything specific. If completing one of those two options was the mission, it would probably have appeared like [1. Become hostile.][2. Become friendly.] like on the 3rd floor…

Thud-thud-thud-thud—

“Oppa!”

“Nyah!”

[Sunghyun!]

“Party leader!”

“Kuhehe.”

My thoughts were interrupted by the sudden sound of hoofbeats and laughter.

‘…Hoofbeats?’

The party members were drawing their weapons with shocked expressions.

“Holy shit.”

I did the same.

Because dozens of mounted figures had suddenly appeared less than 200 meters away.

This was a pattern that didn’t exist in the game.