Ch.126Interview

# 126. Confrontation

Appearing out of nowhere.

The sudden appearance of the nomadic band was truly like something materializing out of thin air.

The reason why nomadic bands were difficult opponents was precisely because of their mobility and stealth, but even in the game, it wasn’t this extreme.

‘Shit! If they attack from this distance, we’ll be trampled before we can do anything!’

Though Seyeon is tough, she’s not strong enough to block head-on attacks from dozens of riders. Eventually she might be able to, but… Anyway, this unexpected situation had arrived, and I shouted urgently.

“Grab him!”

At my shout, Yuri and Arang, who were closest to the prisoner, put their weapons to his neck.

As if by magic, the riders stopped moving. About 20 meters ahead.

‘Damn, were the nomads this intimidating?’

Cold sweat ran down my back. I could see the raid members tensing up as well.

A wandering group that isn’t particularly strong but extremely annoying when hostile.

This was our common perception of nomadic bands, but seeing them like this, the pressure was no joke.

After several minutes of suffocating, silent standoff…

A voice came from their side first.

“That person you’re holding is one of our family!”

Our family- Our family- Our family-

The booming voice hit my eardrums so loudly it created echoes.

‘Ah. I can’t project my voice that loudly.’

I nudged Yuri.

“Yuri. Can you relay what I say, exactly as I say it?”

“Yeah.”

“Tell them we know about the bandits who attacked us when we were just passing by peacefully and then ran away.”

Yuri immediately took a deep breath.

“WHAT FUCKING FAMILY ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, YOU PIECES OF SHIT WHO SHOOT ARROWS AT INNOCENT PEOPLE AND RUN AWAY?!!!”

You pieces of shit- You pieces of shit- You pieces of shit-

Yuri’s roar, not yielding to their voice, also echoed and crashed over them. I could see them murmuring among themselves even from here. I glared slightly at Yuri for freely arranging my words, but it was within acceptable limits. At the same time, I gave Subin a hand signal.

‘If things go south, shoot.’

Subin gulped and nodded. Unlike before, this was possible because they showed no signs of charging.

“We wish to clear up this misunderstanding, so how about releasing our family member first!”

They want to talk?

This confirmed 90% of my suspicions. Fortunately, they weren’t in a hostile state yet.

“In the middle. Just two people. Bring the one who attacked us.”

“If you want to talk! Come to the middle with just two people! Bring that bastard who shot arrows at us!”

“Agreed! But! You should also bring our family member you’re holding!”

The raid members’ eyes turned to me.

“Just the two of us going? What are you planning?”

“They’re not hostile. We can negotiate with words.”

“But what if they pretend to be crazy, steal the hostage, and then suddenly attack?”

“There’s something more going on here than we think. Did anyone notice the nomadic band approaching beforehand?”

The raid members’ expressions hardened.

“Something’s up. I think we need to talk to them.”

On the third floor, I twisted the standard approach. But here, the nomadic band itself chilled us to the bone with a pattern we’d never seen before.

An MMORPG raid target using a pattern never seen before?

First attempts were almost impossible in such cases.

So even though my legs were shaking, I needed to gather information. And I had to step up since I had the advantage in that area.

“One of the two will be me. And the other… Yuri. I’ll go with Yuri. Yuri, get ready.”

“Phew. Alright.”

“Subin.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m counting on you.”

“…Sure.”

I nodded to Yuri. She slung her axe over one shoulder and pulled on the rope binding the prisoner. The prisoner groaned in pain.

“Seong-hyeon, wouldn’t it be better to heal him to make a good impression?”

“No. This level is just right. Right now, we need to be in the position of ‘We’re extremely angry, but since you came rushing over begging to talk, we’ll hear you out.’ If this person looks too fine, they might think their attack wasn’t a big deal.”

Even while talking, we needed to maintain the upper hand. That was an obvious prerequisite.

That’s why I rejected Soyu noona’s suggestion and moved toward the giant who was staring intently at us.

“I’ll be back.”

**

“I am Rahan, leader of the nomadic band.”

“Seong-hyeon, adventurer.”

Up close, the nomadic band leader was an enormous giant. Rahan was an Ayor with dog or wolf ears on his head, standing well over 2 meters tall with shoulders so broad you could probably grill meat on them.

We silently observed each other for a while. Seeing Yuri repeatedly clenching and unclenching her fist, it seemed Rahan’s strength was difficult to gauge.

‘Damn, this is nerve-wracking.’

Was this how it felt to meet a UFC fighter in person? I tried not to show my tension outwardly.

Once again, a breathtaking standoff at close range.

It broke when Rahan pointed at the prisoner next to Yuri.

“First of all, that friend is not the one who attacked you. This is the one who attacked you.”

Next to Rahan, an Alv woman with her head bowed was trembling violently.

“So? You want to exchange?”

“No. I’m asking how we can get our friend back.”

Despite his impressive entrance and size, he was quite gentlemanly. However, I had no intention of letting things slide just because he was being polite.

“If we hadn’t reacted quickly, one of us might have died. How do you put a price on that? How would your nomadic ‘family’ have acted if they were in our position?”

“…”

He couldn’t answer. The nomadic band was fundamentally a group of wanderers, and those who joined them invariably had experiences of persecution, making them the type to go berserk when attacked.

If we had been the ones to attack without provocation?

Forget dialogue—they would have foamed at the mouth and chased us down immediately.

“I’ll apologize and compensate.”

“C-Chief!”

“Quiet.”

Rahan, who had been standing with his arms crossed, uncrossed them and began approaching me. Yuri thrust her axe forward.

“Don’t come any closer!”

“Eril.”

“Y-Yes!”

“Come beside me and offer the fullest apology you can.”

Rahan, who hadn’t even blinked at Yuri’s menacing axe, brought over the culprit who had shot arrows at us. The trembling Alv woman took out a spirit—

Whoosh—!

Crack!

“Eek!”

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, you bitch?”

“No! This—spirit! It’s a spirit for making an oath! Really!”

“If you were going to do something like that, you should have said so first, you worthless piece of shit!!!”

“Kyaaaah!”

Yuri’s axe, which had been pointed at Rahan, was suddenly swung at the Alv woman. She screamed, clutching her head, as Rahan’s claws blocked the axe by a hair’s breadth.

Watching the axe and claws trembling against each other, I spoke.

“I question her intelligence. When someone approaches suddenly claiming to apologize and then draws a weapon, isn’t my companion’s reaction normal?”

“…Lower your axe. There will be no attacks.”

“Anyone can say that. Oh, I forgot—expecting common sense from an Alv who attacks without warning or reason was my mistake.”

The sarcasm came out before I could stop it. Wasn’t it infuriating that the culprit who shot an arrow and ran away, and now was making provocative gestures, was such a dim-witted “Alv”?

For a moment, I thought if all nomadic band members were like her, we might stand a chance in a direct confrontation, but the nomadic band leader right in front of me immediately suppressed that impulse.

Meanwhile, the cowering Alv very carefully took out her bow and, before either Yuri or I could say anything, snapped it in half with force.

Then she extended half of the broken bow to us and bowed her head.

“U-Until this bow is rejoined… I swear never to draw a bowstring… Please forgive my rudeness…”

Yuri snorted and lowered her axe as she saw the broken bow. I also nodded and took the bow.

The oath of the broken bow.

This was the Alv version of “dogeza.”

‘We’ve sufficiently broken their spirit.’

Unless we intended to kill that Alv, there was nothing more to gain by dragging this out. Without further practical benefit, pushing more would just be a waste of time.

“I accept your apology. Now, about the compensation?”

“I have information.”

“Information?”

The words “What kind of compensation is that?” almost escaped my lips before I swallowed them back. Despite knowing I shouldn’t blindly trust game logic, I almost made that mistake again. Moreover, the fact that he offered information rather than the expected gold, weapons, or treasures as compensation should have struck me as significant.

Fortunately, I didn’t make the mistake, and Rahan continued speaking.

“The nomadic band are wanderers, and few know as much information as we do. Normally this would be our secret, but since we don’t have much else to offer.”

“What if the information isn’t helpful to us?”

“Listen and judge for yourself.”

Rahan, who had remained calm even when blocking Yuri’s axe, sighed. Seeing the nomadic band member beside him silently aghast, it did seem like truly important information…

“If you’ve left Benas and are heading to Majikant, it would be better not to go to Majikant.”

“Majikant? Why Majikant?”

Majikant was the next city in the story after Benas. Whether to go there or not was the Tower’s decision, but—

“Demons.”

“What?”

“Demons have been summoned, and the city has become hell, they say.”

What on earth is this about…?