Chapter 257: Chapter 257 Clan (1)

Clan (1)

After the royal army returned, people learned that the army did exist and the reason they weren't visible at the Dimensional Plaza was because they had gone underground to raid an empty house.

However…

‘What happened?’

…no one knew the outcome.

Therefore, all sorts of speculation began to run rampant.

From whether they won or lost, to groundless conspiracy theories that the royal family was only pretending to fight the underground city.

New hypotheses arose among gossipmongers every morning, and eventually, a few days later, the royal family officially posted notices throughout the city.

To briefly summarize the content:

We, the awesome royal family, won, and even conquered Noark. So stop worrying.

I couldn't know how much of it was true.

But assuming that the notice was based on some truth, let's supplement a few missing points.

‘There was definitely no battle.’

I couldn’t find any traces of battle on the knights who were returning to the royal palace.

‘They probably ran away.’

Then where did they escape to?

It was a world surrounded by walls.

It didn't make sense for them to hide on the surface.

After all, there would inevitably be traces if that many people came above ground.

‘Then they’re still down here…’

“Bjorn! Stop slacking off and come carry this!”

Right, I should just move luggage.

Would I find an answer by worrying all day?

It was wise to wait for the Round Table with Clown to open.

Therefore, I ended my thoughts and moved my body.

“Ah, can you put the bed over here?”

I was currently at an orphanage run by the Leathlas Church, acting like a moving company employee and taking out luggage from a building that was scheduled for demolition.

It was time to start accumulating achievement points.

Whenever there were requests from the church, those of us with free time would go and complete them.

“Ainar! Did you think you wouldn’t get caught slacking off?!”

“I, I wasn’t slacking off, I was playing with the kids!”

“Waaaaaaaaah! This lady broke my doll!! She’s a doll murderer!”

“That’s… I was trying to teach her about vital points, and it couldn’t be helped…!”

Although there were various incidents today…

…we finished moving all the luggage after an hour or two.

Therefore, today’s request also ended here.

We then had a simple meal at a restaurant near the church, and I heard something interesting from Misha.

“You know? That orphanage we went to today, it’s that place.”

“That place?”

“You know, the old building that was scheduled for demolition, the one Dwarkey said he lived in for a while when he was young. That was it.”

“…I see.”

“Anyway, just saying! I’m going now! Ah, and I’ll be late today, so take care of dinner yourselves.”

We disbanded after the meal.

Misha left, saying she had an appointment with a former companion, and Ainar headed towards the sanctuary.

And…

“Huhu, it’s just the two of us now?”

“I have somewhere to go, so go home first.”

“…Huh?”

I sent Erwen home since she didn’t have anything scheduled and headed towards the guild alone. I didn’t have the escort knights who used to follow me everywhere.

Because they had all left last month.

They said they received orders to return.

‘I just accepted it back then, but they probably called them back because of the Noark operation.’

I wondered if they would send knights again if those Noark bastards had all escaped safely and were hiding somewhere underground…

But I didn’t get my hopes up.

One of the knights even told me before leaving, as if he felt a sense of camaraderie after spending a month with us.

[Please be careful. If assassins come again, the higher-ups judge that it’s more likely to be the work of a large clan than Noark.]

It seemed like ‘Antler’, who assigned me bodyguards, thought that the ‘assassination’ Clown mentioned referred to a large clan.

Well, it had already been almost a month since he said the assassin would come ‘soon’.

[But then shouldn’t you protect me even more? The large clans’ target is the royal family.]

[…You don’t have to worry about that.]

And judging by his tone, it seemed like the royal family was fully prepared to block the large clans’ attempts to influence public opinion.

So they didn’t need to protect me anymore.

‘Well, it’s more convenient for me too without them.’

I reached the Explorer’s Guild while organizing my thoughts. But I didn’t have to draw a number and wait like before.

There weren’t many explorers in the first place…

“Viscount Bjorn Yandel, your identity has been confirmed. I’ll escort you to the branch manager’s office.”

…and I had to enjoy the benefits of my hard-earned noble title.

“Not the branch manager’s office, but the regional manager’s office.”

The employee asked if I had an appointment, but I just used my noble authority to crush that trivial matter.

“Are you rebelling?”

It was the Barbarian Noble Mode, a combination of a barbarian who didn’t understand words and a noble who didn’t intend to listen.

“…I’ll escort you right away.”

We went up to the 4th floor, and the employee knocked on the door and announced my arrival. I heard a deep sigh from inside, and then the door opened.

I immediately entered and sat down on the sofa.

And I put my feet on the table and said arrogantly,

“Greet me.”

“…….”

“Aren’t you going to?”

The regional manager, who was working at his desk, got up and bowed as soon as I finished speaking.

“Vis… count Yandel… welcome…”

Geez, isn’t he used to it yet?

“Right, sit down.”

The regional manager sat down across from me after I allowed him to. It had already happened several times, but it was still thrilling.

Is this the true taste of power?

“…What brings you here today?”

Nile Urbans, the regional manager of the 7th district of the Explorer’s Guild.

He, who had a history with me, spoke to me politely, unlike in the past.

Of course, it wasn’t like this from the beginning.

He originally tried to talk to me as equals, but he started using this tone after I exploded in anger, asking if he was insulting a noble.

“I’m here to check if there are any explorers who applied for the recruitment notice.”

“You can do that at the branch manager’s office…”

What the hell is this guy talking about?

The reason I came all the way to the 7th district headquarters was because of him.

“Talking back… to a noble?”

“…I’ll check right away.”

“Just in case there’s a mistake like before, do it yourself. Don’t send someone else.”

“Yes…”

The regional manager then went downstairs to do what I told him, and I waited, munching on the snacks on his desk.

After some time…

“Here it is.”

…he came back up with a few documents.

I snatched them from him without even thanking him for his hard work and read them, and there wasn’t much difference from two days ago.

“There’s only one more applicant, and even he’s not very good.”

“I apologize.”

“It’s not your fault.”

I showed my generosity as a superior and then read the documents again. There were exactly 31 explorers who applied for the companion recruitment notice I posted a few days ago.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

There weren’t many applicants, contrary to my expectations.

It was because there weren’t many explorers who wanted to enter the labyrinth in the current situation.

‘But I thought there would be more applicants since the clans were all destroyed.’

I dismissed my disappointment and put the documents down.

There weren’t any explorers who were worth interviewing, at least on paper.

I still couldn’t find the ‘special class’ I was looking for.

So I had no choice but to wait.

“Um, but…”

“Just say it.”

“Is there a specific class you’re looking for?”

“Not really, I just need someone competent. But why?”

“Because there’s a famous name among the applicants.”

The regional manager then started talking about how competent, trustworthy, and promising that explorer was.

It seemed like he wanted to find me a companion quickly and not have me visit him anymore.

But…

“Stop!!”

I threw the documents on the ground and stormed out of the regional manager’s office.

No matter how good his specs were…

“Just do what I tell you!”

…was he crazy to suggest adding Hans to the team?

____________________

Almost two weeks had passed since the fire. I could summarize the things I had done during that time into a few categories.

Grinding achievement points at the temple.

Sparring with the chieftain at the sanctuary.

Checking prices in Commelby, the commercial city.

And relieving stress by bullying the regional manager at the guild every three days.

Although I had a productive schedule, there weren’t any significant results yet.

The value of currency would continue to rise for a while, so I decided to hold onto it for now.

‘It seems like it will take at least two or three months for the priest to reach the minimum achievement points…’

And it was the same for recruiting companions.

There was no sign of the special class I needed for the 6th floor, and I couldn’t find suitable candidates for the two remaining spots to fill the 10-person limit.

‘So we have no choice but to go up with just six people if the labyrinth opens before then.’

It was a bit disappointing.

Usually, when you split into two or more teams, you would meet up on the 5th floor.

It’s because you would lose a lot of time if you had more than five people and had to go through the 4th floor.

It was a painful loss for explorers, whose time was gold.

‘…But we’re still not ready to split into two teams of three. It’s better to meet on the 2nd floor and go up safely.’

Of course, it was a bit of a premature worry.

If the labyrinth’s opening was postponed for a few more months, it would all be meaningless. The important thing was when the situation would stabilize.

‘Maybe I’ll know today.’

The 15th, the day Ghostbusters opened.

I prepared to enter the community from the morning and headed towards the sanctuary.

Because I couldn’t just enter this time.

‘GM.’

The GM suspected me of being an evil spirit.

He would probably target today.

If I were him, I would have done the same.

12 hours in the community.

In other words, 12 seconds in reality.

This short period of time was a huge weakness for community users.

Because they were cut off from reality for 12 seconds.

Since they couldn’t even get up if their neck was stabbed with a knife, it was possible to distinguish between players and non-players if you used this time well.

But…

‘It’s still a bad move to not enter.’

I decided to enter the community.

I judged that there would be a lot of information since there was a major incident between the royal family and Noark.

And besides, the GM’s right-hand man, ‘SoulQueens’, had joined the Round Table as a new member last time.

If ‘Lion’ didn’t participate, she might even be able to connect me with Lion later.

‘…Is that a bit of a stretch?’

Anyway, the point was this.

Life is all about preparing for the unexpected.

I didn’t know if the GM would try to confirm my identity during those 12 seconds, but there was no reason not to prepare.

“Bjorn, you called for me?”

“Ah, I have a favor to ask.”

“Favor?”

“Can you try wearing this on your face?”

I arrived at the sanctuary and summoned Karon, then handed him the ‘Golden Mask’, a hidden item I obtained from the Crimson Fortress.

“What’s this? I like it because it’s shiny…”

“It’s a magic tool that changes your face for 30 days.”

“Huh? But why are you giving it to me?”

“Because you have the most similar build to me.”

I then asked Karon to drink in the city while wearing my face until tomorrow morning.

“It’s not a difficult request, but why are you doing something so troublesome?”

“I have somewhere to go secretly tonight, without my companions knowing.”

“…It seems like that beastman isn’t very understanding.”

Huh? Why is ‘beastman’ suddenly being mentioned?

I didn’t understand what he meant…

…but I immediately understood after his next words.

“It’s a warrior’s instinct to have children. Is that why you came to the sanctuary today?”

I hesitated for a moment and then nodded.

I judged that this excuse would be better for keeping secrets than the one I had prepared.

“Anyway, don’t worry about this! I’ll make sure that beastman woman doesn’t suspect anything!”

No, she’ll definitely find out if she comes.

That’s why I told him to just drink outside all night.

“I’ll trust you. You’re the second wisest warrior after me.”

“Re, really?! You think of me like that?! I’m happy!”

After explaining the precautions and the route, I sent Karon, who was now disguised as me, to the city, wearing my equipment.

And…

「Character has used ‘Golden Mask’.」

「Character’s appearance changes for 30 days.」

…I put on the mask and then took it off, changing my face to Karon’s.

I had to hide my face in the sanctuary.

If there were sightings in two places, everything I had done today would be meaningless.

‘I should also go back to the city.’

I quickly put on Karon’s equipment and left the forest, heading towards the city, in case someone who knew Karon recognized me.

And I got a room at a random inn and stayed there.

After some time…

「The character’s soul resonates and is drawn to a specific world.」

…Phew, I hope he didn’t cause any trouble with my face.