𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟕𝟓
Pabat!-
‘The Guild Castle huh……’
Even though it’s only been a few days, it felt like it’s been a long time. I looked around the empty room with only a bed, and then moved to the reception room located on the 2nd floor.
I thought that Black Sword, the Guild Master of Yonggammusang Guild, would be in the reception room, but the one waiting was a female player I had never seen before.
‘This Black Sword guy makes his guild members do everything until the end.’
“Ah, hello.”
“……Yes.”
Since I had to answer something anyway, I decided to ask the player in front of me the purpose of her visit before leaving right away.
“Did you come because of the staff?”
“That’s part of it, but…… there’s something else.”
“……?”
Something else? Did I drop another item besides the staff?
While I was trying to recall the items I picked up back then, the player opened her mouth with a cautious tone.
“We would like to ask you not to get involved with the Bulgeun Taeyang Guild in three months……”
“Not to get involved?”
“Y-yes.”
‘Hmm, so they’re going that route.’
It seems like they think that if I interfere again, the damage will be immense. In fact, it’s not unreasonable considering that the number of players who died back then exceeded 300.
Moreover, I killed all of Black Sword and the guys who looked like executives next to him, so they’re probably trying to avoid fighting as much as possible, right?
‘Come to think of it, I killed 1/10 of the Yonggammusang Guild members alone.’
“We’ve prepared 100 gold as compensation.”
“Huh? Only 100 gold?”
Jeokseong gave me 1,000 gold, but on the other hand, this wasn’t even a request for help. It was just 100 gold for staying put, so it might be a reasonable offer.
“Yes? Then how much do you want?”
“Well. Anyway, you came to ask me not to get involved with the Bulgeun Taeyang Guild and to return the staff, right?”
“For now, yes.”
“Tell him to come himself.”
I only said that and left the reception room. I could hear the player’s voice saying something like ‘no’ from behind, but I didn’t want to care, and as I went up to the 3rd floor of the Guild Castle, I met an unexpected person.
“It’s Rudin-nim.”
It was Aizen, whom I had just talked to.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to discuss what to do about the Demon King that appeared this time.”
Aizen, whom I met on the 3rd floor, said something puzzling. Why is the guy who’s in the Harpe Empire trying to discuss the Demon King? It seems like he’s trying to raid the Demon King, but putting aside various issues, the Teleportation cost would be significant for a guild-level raid.
“How are you going to handle the Teleportation cost?”
“We’re planning to go with other guilds. It’s a kind of alliance. And since we’re planning to go as a small elite group, the Teleportation cost isn’t really a problem.”
“Small elite group? Ah, and there’s no reward even if you go, right?”
“You didn’t know because you were in the Karzen Kingdom. You can receive a subjugation quest if you go to the Church of Light.”
They give a subjugation quest if you go to the Church of Light?
Then the story changes. Serestina, who introduced herself as the Archbishop before, said that the Demon King was a continental problem, so it seems like they’re distributing quests like this.
“What’s the total number of people?”
“The number of guilds that have agreed to the alliance is quite large, but considering the Teleportation cost as well, I think at least 500 people will gather.”
500 people?
‘Oh, this guy has never fought the Demon King before.’
That’s why he’s thinking of challenging it with only 500 people. But if even the guilds that have agreed to the alliance dispatch only a small elite group, it might be a considerable force.
‘No, should I participate in this instead?’
Forming an alliance with guilds means, in a word, forming an alliance. And if you form an alliance, you can’t damage each other. To put it bluntly, it means that even if I openly fire Magic Bullet Bombers, they won’t take damage, which makes a bigger difference than you might think.
“Anyway, I’ll go to the conference room.”
“Yes, would you like to come with me?”
“I have nothing to do in the Guild Castle anyway.”
I nodded and followed Aizen back down to the 2nd floor and headed to the conference room.
“Come to think of it, you’ve been in the Karzen Kingdom for quite a long time.”
“I received a pointless quest. I was late because I was trying to solve it.”
To be precise, I haven’t solved it yet, but that’s what I said. Honestly, I wondered if it was a quest designed to be impossible to clear. That’s how insane the difficulty level is, but I didn’t think I needed to explain that much, so I just glossed over it like that.
Click-
And when we arrived at the 2nd-floor conference room and opened the door, as expected, I could see many people sitting inside the conference room……
“……?”
No, something’s strange?
When I looked closely, the people sitting there weren’t guild members, but players I had never seen before. Are they from other guilds? I remembered Aizen saying that they had formed an alliance, so I naturally had to think that way.
‘That being said, there are quite a lot of them.’
40 people? Maybe even up to 50 people were sitting in a row at the long table, and while I was watching them, Aizen sat in his original seat, and I also decided to sit in my original seat and quietly watch.
“Thank you for coming like this.”
“I’m personally interested in this subjugation.”
“Is that the case for the others as well?”
At that question, several players nodded. Although not everyone nodded, it seemed like they didn’t need to react, as their eyes were focused on Aizen.
“Then I won’t make this long. Please gather members from each guild. There’s no limit on the number of people, but I think it would be good to gather at least 20 or more.”
’20 people?’
If all 50 people gathered here were Guild Masters, it seemed like a total of 1,000 people would gather. It was twice as many as the 500 people Aizen mentioned earlier, but if asked whether we could catch the Demon King with that number, I could only shake my head.
‘Even if we only gather elite members, it will be difficult.’
At least the minimum number was 20, so in reality, more people could gather. Besides, if I summoned Ust as well, there was a possibility that the odds of winning would be much higher than in the battles we’ve had so far.
“Can I ask a question?”
At that moment, someone sitting down raised their hand and spoke. It was one of the few female players sitting here.
“Yes, please speak.”
“I heard that the number of players who have suffered at the hands of the Demon King is in the thousands, but will it be possible to raid with just us gathered here?”
“I think it’s worth trying.”
“If it’s worth trying…… will Rudin-nim participate as well?”
Aizen couldn’t answer the question of whether I would participate and looked at me. He was probably asking for my opinion. Since I had to participate for the quest anyway, I nodded, and after confirming my answer, Aizen answered the question.
“He says he will participate.”
“Oh, is the person next to you Rudin-nim?”
And then, several players looked at me with a renewed gaze. It seemed like they didn’t know I was Rudin. However, as soon as the fact that I was Rudin was revealed, even those who were quiet began to chatter noisily.
“That person was Rudin.”
“I heard he caught a Raid Boss alone. There’s a rumor that the items ranked first in the Auction House were all listed by Rudin.”
“The Yonggammusang Guild also fought him but surrendered immediately.”
“……”
It didn’t matter that they were chattering, but it was completely unrelated to the current topic. Moreover, since most of the people sitting down were chattering at the same time, it became almost chaotic. Aizen also didn’t seem to like this noisy atmosphere, so he calmed down the chattering people for now.
“Please save the chatter for later. And you can ask related questions directly to Rudin-nim later.”
“Are you saying you’ll give us time later?”
“It will depend on Rudin-nim’s circumstances. For now, I will take questions related to the Demon King.”
“What is the item distribution format?”
The woman’s question popped out as soon as Aizen finished speaking. However, it was a sharp question. It’s unlikely that everyone’s competitive spirit is rising to fight the Demon King just because of it.
They’re just fighting together for the reward. Therefore, it was better to clarify this issue in many ways.
“Are you asking about the subjugation reward?”
“Yes. You said that you would give rare treasures to each country as a reward. If you add the Church of Light, wouldn’t we be able to receive a total of 7 treasures?”
As she said, there were a total of six countries in Twilight. The reward also included giving rare treasures to the Church of Light and each country, so it was highly likely that we would receive a total of 7 treasures.
“Other than that, the items that come out after catching the Demon King will be divided according to contribution or achievement points, so it doesn’t matter.”
In other words, it seemed like she was saying that we should take the items that come out after catching the Demon King as we please, and share the rewards received from the subjugation request. However, it wasn’t unreasonable. If someone gets an item and someone else doesn’t, how many people would participate here? I wouldn’t participate either.
“I see. Regarding the subjugation reward…… we will gather the people here again and proceed in an auction format.”
“Auction?”
“The item will be given to the person who calls out the highest amount. And that amount will be divided among the rest of the people.”
‘It’s the bidding method that often appears in online games.’
After listening to the explanation, that’s what it was. When an item comes out in a raid, the person who wins the competition by bidding with money buys it, and the money purchased is divided among the party members. And since most of the players here seemed to know this common method, they didn’t say anything else.
“So you’re saying that if you don’t get the item, you’ll at least get money.”
“However, since the distribution method can become complicated, I will limit it to gold instead of cash. Are there any other questions?”
“When will we depart?”
“We plan to depart two days later, on Tuesday evening. You can prepare until then. If there is anyone who has difficulty with that, please let me know now.”
“……”
“……”
It was a weekday, but since it was evening time, no one said they had difficulty with it.
‘But if it’s Tuesday…… Nayra’s erosion rate will exceed 50%.’
Well, it was fortunate that we weren’t going a week later. If we were going a week later, wouldn’t I have given up on the alliance and everything and challenged it alone and failed?
If I had failed like that, I wouldn’t have cared what the Demon King did afterwards, but thankfully, he said we were going two days later, so I could prepare and wait.
‘Should I look through the cash transaction window from time to time and try to draw out S-rank skills?’
Anyway, after a few more questions were exchanged, it seemed like the meeting was coming to an end.
“Well, if there are no more questions, I’ll end it here.”
I was going to go into my room in the Guild Castle and draw out S-rank skills as soon as the meeting was over, but as soon as it ended, several players got up from their seats and approached me.
“Rudin-nim. Can we talk for a moment?”
“Ah, I’d like to, but I’m busy.”
For reference, that guy Aizen showed a cold-hearted side by leaving the conference room alone without helping. After sighing inwardly, I used the excuse of being busy to slip out of the conference room and went straight up to the 4th floor where my room was.
“Ah, Rudin-nim.”
“……?”
At that moment, I met someone on the 4th floor, and upon checking, it was Hwaryeon, a member of the same guild. Of course, only guild executives could enter the 4th floor, so the number of people I could meet was limited.
‘That aside……’
My gaze naturally turned to the staff Hwaryeon was holding. It was a very familiar staff.
“That’s a nice staff.”
“Right? I went through a lot of trouble to buy this.”
‘She’s rich too.’
I looked at Hwaryeon, who was speaking proudly, and nodded awkwardly. The reason I was doing this was because the staff Hwaryeon was holding was the Flame Staff that came from Deronak.
I thought it would be nice if Hwaryeon had it someday, but I didn’t expect her to actually have it.
‘How much did that sell for? 140 million?’
I didn’t know if Hwaryeon was as rich as Aizen, but since she just said she went through a lot of trouble, it seemed like she wasn’t that rich.
‘Hmm, should I put out other items in the next auction?’
What if I put out Deronak’s items one after another? Hwaryeon would spend all her money, even the money she doesn’t have, to buy them. The Flame Staff is also included in the set item, so wouldn’t it be human nature to want to collect them all?
‘Yeah, I can’t make someone a debtor.’
I wonder if I’m too kind even thinking about it myself. Anyway, while I was thinking about the real-time auction like that, I realized that Hwaryeon was staring at me.
“Rudin-nim. If possible, could you lend me Deronak’s equipment?”
“……Yes?”
“I’d like to buy it if I could, but I don’t have that kind of money. I think I’ll get it if we successfully complete this subjugation…… is it not possible?”
This is strange. What Hwaryeon is saying now is based on the premise that I caught Deronak. Since she wouldn’t know that I actually caught him, it was probably a guess.
‘But why is she making a guess like it’s a certainty?’
Anyway, the answer I had to give was the same, but a different thought briefly crossed my mind.
‘If I lend the equipment to Hwaryeon……’
Wouldn’t we gain a tremendous fighting force, even if it’s not as good as me? Moreover, if you add the unique item, the Ring of Immortality, she might become as strong as Aizen.
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