Chapter 63
That country, that café, that seat, that drink.
It was time to announce the beginning of another peaceful gaming life.
By now, I had gotten into the habit of coming to this café every morning.
If I did not start my morning here, I actually felt strangely uncomfortable.
“Kid, why don't you try something different once in a while? Aren't you getting tired of drinking the same thing?”
“I thought if I kept drinking only this, maybe it could become a title or an achievement.
Besides, why don't you eat something too, Jin? Dorfin eats like a pig.”
“My goodness? Our Ingwang really has no filter when talking to this old lady! Take that!”
Thump.
It was just a light flick to the forehead, but it hurt quite a lot.
Still, perhaps because of that short phone call from the Chairman not long ago—“I have confirmed that Dorfin's problem has been resolved. I will pay half of the promised amount for now.”—Dorfin now looked like nothing but a lucky charm to me.
“We even let you go on a long trip without complaining, and this is how you talk to us?
At least tell us what happened!”
“Indeed. You said you would be back soon, but you stayed away for quite a while.
Tell us what happened.”
Even after defeating the Great Demon, we stayed in Haiang for quite some time.
To be honest, there was not much reason for us to leave Haiang.
We were recognized for our achievement in defeating the Great Demon, and our activities within the Alliance were officially acknowledged.
I spent a surprisingly pleasant time there, something that could never have happened in the Empire.
But now I had returned alone after receiving a summons from Grandpa Arlo.
Meeting Grandpa Arlo was fine, but this time I also had to meet other people, so I was not exactly thrilled.
“Sigh… I finally felt like I was actually playing a game for once…
I hate coming back to the Empire because it feels like I'm going to get dragged into some political drama.”
“Wasn't all of this caused by our Ingwang in the first place?
If Ingwang hadn't told that girl named Aien about himself at the beginning, things wouldn't have turned out like this~.”
“Hey, stop saying things that are true!
Do you think I don't know that?!”
It really felt like I had finally played a proper game for the first time, and my blood had been boiling with excitement, but now it had completely cooled down.
It felt like I had been living in another world all by myself, desperately struggling through everything, and had finally gotten to play an actual game.
It was like I had become the protagonist of a fantasy novel all by myself, only to finally return to reality!
The item I got after defeating the Great Demon was called the Fang of Appetite.
I had thought it was a material at first, but it turned out to be equipment.
Wearing it in my mouth and going around hunting monsters by biting them was honestly really fun.
However, because I had no skills that could actually deal damage, I was far inferior to Aien as a damage dealer.
Aien had diligently trained her techniques and acquired skills.
Levi would probably be a better choice.
So I decided to sell the fangs.
They were just too ridiculous.
Even during the battle against the Great Demon, it could practically be said that Aien and Levi had dealt all the damage.
So it was finally time for me to decide whether I was going to completely commit to the tank role or do something else.
“If you learn the Flow, you won't have to worry about that.
If you reach just about my level, nobody will be able to hurt you!”
“It is true that your attack power is lacking.”
“No, it isn't!
If I grab someone and completely reverse all the Flow inside them, they'll suffer until they die!
Even if I completely stop it, they die!
Clean and simple!”
“I wonder how long it would take this child to reverse and stop every Flow within a living creature.”
“No! Our Ingwang has talent!
Ingwang, ignore what that mutant lizard says!
You believe your grandmother, right?”
“Yeah.
And the village chief got an interesting toy this time.”
“You didn't listen to your grandmother…?”
The machine gun called the S-Board or whatever it was that the village chief had was, honestly, disappointing in one way.
Putting aside its performance, its maintenance cost was absurdly high, so it could only be used for burst damage during boss fights.
A magically treated machine gun had to be maintained by a specialist.
And since it was handmade by a master craftsman, only that craftsman could maintain it.
The ammunition was handmade as well, and apparently cost about a hundred times more than ordinary gunpowder ammunition.
So even if I wanted to use it during normal hunting, I simply could not afford to.
There was another problem.
It was too heavy for the village chief to use comfortably, and the recoil when firing was quite strong.
The village chief could not withstand it.
I guess I needed to make the village chief do more strength training first.
“That old man should be fine.
His body is becoming stronger faster than expected.
Before long, he should be able to use something like that with ease.”
“The problem is money~.
There's a limit to how much money we can make by selling the things that Mallang made, you know?
I think it'd be better to make it so we can support ourselves to some extent.”
“Hmm, I'll keep that in mind.
If it becomes necessary, I'm also considering recruiting that craftsman to our side.”
Aien had also made great progress while hunting monsters around Haiang after the battle against the Great Demon.
Her highly overpowered skill, Pilcham, was gradually becoming more proficient.
She was growing into a truly excellent damage dealer for the party.
However, according to Eroll's evaluation, although it was certainly a very powerful technique, even enemies with extremely high defense or resistance could not necessarily be cut down in one hit.
And if Aien stopped moving, the skill itself stopped working as well.
So while the skill was powerful, it was also somewhat tiring to use.
So much for a skill that was supposed to ignore defense!
Ha!
They really did a great job designing that skill!
Still!
Aien was training harder than anyone else in our group, so I thought she would eventually find some kind of solution.
She was truly an amazing girl.
I should learn from her too.
“She is naturally diligent, so there is no particular reason to worry.
And since traveling with you has not driven her mad, she should be fine.”
“If you want to follow that girl's example, shouldn't you train even more under this old lady?!
Looks like I'll have to stay by your side for a while~?”
“Sure, let's do that.
No, I mean, don't actually cling to me!
Aaaah! Get away from me!”
“Ingwang~ you're so cute!”
As for Mallangi, he had already been a fully developed NPC since the time of the Corruption War.
So instead of skill proficiency, what he needed now was variety and experience.
And Levi…
She was a little troublesome.
Maybe things would be okay if she simply did not talk to me.
But she kept talking to me so much that I felt like I was going to develop a nervous breakdown.
“Should I get rid of that annoying thing for you?
I can't erase its existence like I can with that little brat over there, but I could lock it away in an eternal cycle~.”
“…I'll keep that as one of the options.
Don't complain later if I actually choose it.”
“Kid, it seems you've really been having a hard time.
What is it?
Does facing your own sins make things even harder?”
“Let's stop talking about that.”
One way or another, we had somehow managed to form a party that could be called balanced, even if it was a little strange.
Our companion NPCs were growing far beyond what I had expected.
Wasn't this exactly how a proper RPG was supposed to go?
Rather than dealing with fanatics and all that nonsense, I simply wanted to travel around with these guys and clear dungeons.
The ultimate goal of the game was to recover Pie.
Then I would raise my companion characters for that purpose.
There was nothing wrong with that kind of progression.
While I was telling Jin and Dorfin various stories about what had happened in Haiang, it seemed that the time we had agreed to meet had arrived.
Although it had been a while since I had seen him, Grandpa Arlo appeared with his familiar kind smile.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
Three people I had never seen before were following behind him.
Judging by their clothes, they seemed to be nobles.
They all had expressions filled with irritation, so apparently they really did not want to meet me.
I felt the same way.
I had been worried that I might be the only one feeling this way, so this was actually a relief.
Maybe we had this in common.
Perhaps we would surprisingly get along well.
At least, that was what I wanted to believe.
Dear nobleman, you understand me, right?
We both dislike each other right now.
“May I sit down?”
“Why are you asking that now?
Did you order something?”
“I saw something called Clown Pig Steak, so I decided to order it.
As far as I know, that monster is poisonous, so I am curious to see what kind of food it will become.”
It was a pig monster with an ominous purple body, covered in spotted mushrooms that looked like something nobody should ever eat.
The steak was served with similarly suspicious-looking mushrooms as garnish.
It had a sharp, strange flavor that was impressive enough to make me never want to eat it twice.
Grandpa Arlo sat down with a hearty laugh, looking as if he was looking forward to it.
The nobles who had followed him sat down beside him one after another.
I wanted to say:
'You were the ones who wanted to meet me, yet you made things difficult by saying we couldn't meet in the Imperial Palace because the Emperor was there.
And now you're all sitting here looking annoyed?'
I had thought about why I had been summoned.
Grandpa Arlo himself had called me, and I had also heard that I would have to deal with nobles.
Naturally, all sorts of possibilities came to mind.
“Do you know why you are here, facing us like this?”
First possibility: Don't go outside the Empire and cause trouble.
Second: Why are you showing such a favorable attitude toward the Alliance?
Explain yourself.
Third: Explain what you discussed with the Alliance and what your relationship with the Great Hero of Salvation, Eroll, is.
And finally, the optimistic possibility:
Don't join the Alliance.
We will treat you better.
Let's negotiate.
Either way, these were all far too realistic matters.
For someone like me who simply wanted to be a player, they were way too heavy.
It wasn't that I hated it.
I didn't hate it.
The problem was that I had just been enjoying the feeling of finally playing an actual game, and suddenly I had been dragged back into reality.
“Well, I do have a promise with the Great Hero.
So I'm not really sure why you've called me here.”
“Come now, since when have you called me the Great Hero?
The reason I called you is because I have a proposal to make.”
Hmm.
Then should I assume that those nobles came along to judge whether I was actually worthy of receiving such a proposal?
What was this?
I hadn't even submitted a résumé, yet I was suddenly at a job interview.
And to make matters worse, it was an aggressive pressure interview.
How ridiculous.
Judging by their expressions, it was almost as if they were saying:
'Why do I have to deal with someone like that?
I don't want to look at such a lowly foreigner for even one moment!'
…Actually, it would be more fun if they were just stereotypical, arrogant nobles.
Then I could laugh right in their faces.
Could it be that they were making those expressions simply because the place chosen to meet me for recruitment was this café?
If they were really so narrow-minded, and if they were the kind of childish people who openly displayed every unpleasant emotion they felt, then I would never work with them no matter what proposal they made.
I leaned back crookedly like some delinquent and spoke in a voice full of dissatisfaction.
