episode_0018

Hericia logged on to the interrunner and spoke to Leos.

“Wow…Leos, look at this! Is this the #1 most popular post again? How many points have you accumulated now?”

“Wait.”

Leos accessed the site and checked the remaining points.

“7,055 points”

“No…does that make sense? You’ve accumulated that much after not being active for just a week?”

[+ Earn additional points for more than 15 hours on top of popular posts]

[+ Earn additional points for reaching the highest number of comments]

[+ Earn additional points for breaking the cumulative number of views ranking in the shortest period of time]

Looking at the items, I could see in real time that an incalculable number of additional points were being accumulated. From what I can see, it is not a system where points are raised simply through views, comments, and recommendations, but it appears that the system is also raised incidentally.

But there was nothing complicated. It just maintains the #1 most popular post. Write articles that people will be interested in. If you meet that requirement, you can also earn additional points.

‘Information related to Redgate has not been released yet, and many people want that information for survival. It seems that some people who were working as individuals have a little bit of information and are selling it for money, but I am in a situation where I can’t use the money anyway, so it is meaningless. It’s better to use this when you need something or something.’

[Auction Participation Ticket]: 1,500P

As Leos began to have more points again, he was overcome with a desire to enter the auction house. But that was put on the back burner. It was because there was something I had to buy first.

[Due to lack of points, purchase of advanced artifact recipe is not possible.]

‘…It’s a shame.’

As long as you have the by-products of monsters, you can create any artifact you want. Even in the case of high-level artifacts, there were many fraudulent items that increased the survival probability by crazy amounts, so they were the type that had to be purchased as a top priority.

‘As soon as you accumulate points, you purchase them immediately. That’s the top priority.’

Leos thought so and went outside.

“Where are you going?”

“I go to kill monsters and collect materials.”

“Ah… Because of that low-level artifact recipe I purchased before?”

“Yes. They say it can be made with 3 red wolf fangs, so it won’t take long.”

“Brother! I will go with you too!”

Bendict tried to follow, but Leos shook his head.

“Wait inside. There is no place safer than this bomb shelter.”

After saying that, Leos walked out of the shelter. When you come up to the ground and open the huge door, the wooden plank house on the ground comes into view. Leos sat on the chair for a moment and sighed.

‘I can’t protect you forever, but…’

Leos knows too. That hiding and protecting Hericia and Bendict is not all that matters. It would be better to let them gain practical experience with monsters and encourage them to fight against them to help them grow.

‘If I do that, I’ll be less burdened and more comfortable.’

Leos quietly took out the photo from his pocket, looked at it, and muttered to himself.

“Garp, what do you think?”

– Well, do you think I would know how? My brother does whatever he wants.

“In the past, when he was working as an individual and not part of the government, he tried to train a mercenary group to fight mutants, but all of them were killed by mutants. It was impossible to respond to so many situations by teaching or informing something. In fact, it only increased my pride. It’s because of me that you died.”

– Brother A, why do you say that? The reason we died was simply because we didn’t have the skills. I told you everything one by one, but in the end, we made a mistake in a detail and were killed. How can we hold you responsible? But, we had a lot of fun thanks to you and our mercenary group, so wasn’t it okay?

“When you guys asked me to tell you how to respond, I shouldn’t have said anything. I made you think you could deal with me for no reason and put you in danger. If I hadn’t taught you how to fight, I would have run away without even thinking about fighting…”

– If you hadn’t told me, I would have been killed without even being able to kill a few animals. Still, isn’t it beneficial to kill a few of them? Well, the achievement hasn’t been officially recognized, but I’m still proud of myself!

Leos looked blankly into space. And laughed quietly.

“The problem is that you flatter too much. Even if you die, that habit won’t change.”

– The problem is that you worry too much on your own. Aren’t former Gatekeeper disciples getting stabbed in the back for trying to cover up like that? Look at that bastard named Derek. You didn’t know what happened in the past, and you protested a lot to the agency, saying that they were taking credit for catching all those dangerous things on your own, right? That damn bastard. I don’t know if I’m doing well now. Even if I hadn’t searched, I would have ripped off that guy’s head. Even our mercenary group that was left behind will jump out of their graves if they see you now.

“…It’s my fault.’

– What’s your fault? Those bastards go after monsters that aren’t mutants like that, but didn’t you ever hit a monster that you killed while fighting? If you had taught those guys how to deal with mutants, I would have killed them. If you could kill all the dangerous things in front of me by yourself, I should bow down and thank you. I am sure of it. You put those bastards in charge of catching mutants, right? Just total annihilation. Total annihilation.

Leos chuckled, got up from his seat, and trudged away.

– Are you going, brother? It’s been a while since we talked. Please tell us more.

“ done. I also have to get away from the past now. You are also a regret that I created.”

– Ah, that Bendict guy. Your personality is similar to mine? Still, I’m relieved that my brother won’t be bored.

“Uh, it was similar. Stupid and dull.”

– Hey, if you were weaker than me, you would be behind now, not me.

“What?”

– Hehe, that’s what you say, Mr.

“Garp, I want to be with these guys for a long time. I hope you don’t die. The only people I have left are these people. You know that I was abandoned by everyone. I thought I didn’t get lonely, but that’s not true.”

– Well… shouldn’t I just protect it?

“I’m afraid that you’ll resent me like my former students did, so I’d rather create a situation where I can fight mutants.”

– Are you crazy? Bendict may not know, but that girl, Hericia, is certain to die. Isn’t Bendict going to search for him too?

“Just give me plenty of artifacts. High-level artifacts are difficult to obtain even in the Empire.”

– No… you’re going to give it to Hericia and Bendict, that dumbass? That precious thing? Is that perhaps why you write like that on The Interrunner?

“Yes. It’s something I don’t need if I want to survive alone anyway. However, those who are with me will need it.”

– Ugh, even if I do that, I’ll be lucky if I don’t end up being treated the same way as my former students. If something goes wrong again, they didn’t properly inform you about the mutation. Aren’t they going to say that you didn’t train them? They are people who drain the liver and gallbladder and only suck the honey. If I come back to life, I will not do anything dangerous and just suck honey under my brother. There is nothing special about this!

“Be sure to do that.”

With those words, Leos went outside.

*****

A man covered in blood shouts as he rummages through the corpse.

“found! This guy has quite a bit of food, right? It’s hidden inside my body.”

“Well done.”

As the silver-haired man approached, he gathered his things and threw the private loan away towards where the monsters were.

A group of marauders, they called themselves [Ulderic].

“Captain, it looks like you’ve shaken off all the bastards nearby now? Monsters are slowly disappearing around me.”

While the members of Ulderick were talking, a mutant appeared, and the man threw away the corpse that he had kept in his inventory as if he was used to it and offered it to the monster as if it were a reward.

-Munch…Ahh…

Mutant monsters began eating human corpses, and Ulderick’s leader, Kyler, gestured and spoke.

“Since we cannot deal with the mutants, they take advantage of this opportunity to escape.”

In an instant, with agile movements, the Ulderic marauders began running towards a place where there were no mutants. And soon enough, sections without monsters began to appear.

“Captain. Isn’t this strange? Why can’t I see any monsters?”

“I don’t know. Very little is known about the Red Gate. But this is luck. A safe zone without monsters. If so, people will gather.”

“Hehehe I guess so? This time, let’s kill it quickly, steal some food, put the corpse in the inventory, and feed it to the mutants. Who knew this? If you throw a human corpse, mutants will prioritize it and eat it.”

Kyler, the leader of Ulderick, smiled with satisfaction and looked at the corpse filled with inventory.

“There are plenty of corpses, and now that we are in the safe zone, all that remains is to rob them.”

“That’s right. Oh, by the way, boss. I think we should be a little more careful, right?”

“Why?”

“You know the community called Interrunner, right? Isn’t that the only place where the network is running right now, so people are all gathering in that community?”

“I know. That’s the only place I can get information now.”

“Yes. But perhaps because we’ve leaked so much, people are starting to talk about Ulderick? It seems like there are people watching us. There is talk about being careful.”

“At any rate, they are trash who can’t do anything. What’s so scary about people who write shit on the internet?”

“Hagiya. That LEO? Isn’t that strange guy also drawing aggro by writing about Redgate recently? If he was that expert, he could step in now and wipe out all of Red Gate and extort a huge amount of money from the Empire. People are assholes too. I can’t believe you believe such useless information. In my opinion, it is a novel. Surely the person who wrote it is also a scum?”

Kyler giggled and nodded, then put his mouth to his hand as if telling him to be quiet.

“Oh… it’s a person. That guy looks like he has a lot of baggage, but do you think he can shake it off?”

“Approach quietly.”

Ulderick, a group of marauders, slowly began to approach one man, and soon the distance between them narrowed to less than 20 meters.

“Why isn’t it moving?”

The Alderick guys held their breath and waited for the other person to make a move, but the man had been holding his breath and not taking any action since entering the dense forest.

The man who slowly drew his sword, Leos

He spoke towards the bushes where the Alderic members were hiding.

“Why were you following me earlier?”

Kyler thought there was no way they had been caught, and waited without anyone responding.

“If you don’t come out within 3 seconds, I will judge you for following me for impure purposes.”

Several members of the Alderic marauder group chuckled.

“Look at that bastard talking. Aren’t you holding on to your shit, thinking that whatever you do will lead to something?”

“How many people are we and that idiot.”

“Brother, let’s play with that bastard for a bit and then kill him, right? What if you follow me for impure purposes, you damn bastard.”

Even though his subordinates were making noise, he did not do anything to stop them. Because I knew it would cause a bigger commotion. Kyler was just holding his breath like a snake stalking its prey.

The terrain is not good. So, aim for the time when the opponent escapes out of the bushes and kill him. That’s what I thought.

-Hwiik!

The sound of something cutting through the air was heard, and then a dagger struck the head of one of the Alderick members, leaving a hole in the head.

“Gagging…!”

A member of the marauder collapsed in the bushes without even being able to scream properly. Leos spoke emotionlessly toward them.

“Since you ignored the warning, I will judge you as an enemy and kill you all.”