The Game Difficulty Is Crazy
Chapter 14
Serge Village
Serge Village was a small mountain village located about a one-day horse ride east of Haven City.
Clatter, clatter.
Log houses surrounded the village entrance.
A traveling merchant with a gentle expression, and mountain children giggling as they gathered around a carriage.
According to the original story, this place would later become an abandoned village crawling with the dead, but at the present time, Serge was simply a village with a warm and friendly atmosphere.
“Nice atmosphere.”
Romina muttered while standing at the entrance and looking over the scenery.
Then she turned to look at Glen.
“So. Our young master came all the way here to find some kind of party dungeon, right?”
“It’s clearly polite speech, but why does it sound so rude? Is it just me?”
“You told me to speak politely outside, didn’t you?”
Frowning, Glen glanced sideways at Romina and started walking.
A party dungeon.
As the name suggests, it was a special dungeon that could only be entered by forming a party of two or more people.
‘Originally, I planned to just skip it since I didn’t have a proper party member.’
However, by chance, Glen had discovered Romina in Haven—a talent more than worth recruiting as a party member—so he decided to spare the time.
That was because the reward for clearing Serge’s party dungeon was the final hidden piece obtainable within the Wordsworth territory.
One month ago, Glen had obtained the legendary skill Wrath of the Overlord at the Sildur Abandoned Village.
Ten days ago, he had acquired the legendary artifact Medlerus’s Antler at the borderlands.
If he obtained this last hidden piece, then all three hidden pieces remaining in the Wordsworth territory would belong to Glen.
‘If possible, I should collect all the hidden pieces in the territory.’
If his memory as Seong Yo-hwan matched correctly, the identity of the last hidden piece was a legendary cloak called Lavern’s Blessing.
It increased the wearer’s Agility and possessed an extraordinary ability that allowed the user to blend into nature and conceal their presence. If obtained, it would undoubtedly be a huge help.
‘Of course, if I can actually get it.’
In the original story, party dungeons lived up to their name—dungeons that could never be cleared solo. In fact, a player couldn’t even enter them alone.
Instead, the player had to form a party using NPC companions recruited through the story and clear the dungeon through their balanced contributions.
In other words, even Glen had no choice but to rely on his party member’s performance if he wanted the reward waiting at the end.
‘Still, with this one, it should be fine.’
Glen glanced at Romina walking beside him.
She wasn’t on his level, but she was clever, sharp, and strong. With Romina as a party member, clearing Serge’s party dungeon was more than possible.
And though she would later be called a candidate for the Demon King, even now Romina was quite strong, possessing five demonic rings.
Having five rings at the age of twenty was enough to completely crush most so-called geniuses.
‘Well, that’s probably why she became a leading Demon King candidate later.’
In any case, with Glen at six to seven stars and Romina at five stars, forming a party together shouldn’t cause any major problems.
Perhaps sensing his gaze, Romina suddenly turned her head.
“What? Am I pretty?”
“There you go again, talking nonsense.”
“Honestly, aren’t I pretty?”
“Up until you open your mouth.”
While exchanging pointless banter, Glen and Romina entered the village.
Some villagers began to show interest after seeing Glen’s appearance.
One young man even carefully approached and awkwardly bowed toward Glen.
“How is our young master so popular?”
“Shut it.”
It wasn’t that they recognized Glen.
Rather, seeing a noble-looking boy arrive at a quiet mountain village with a pretty maid simply felt unusual.
After standing there for a few minutes, a carriage loaded with bundles of straw entered the village entrance and stopped in front of Glen.
A young man wearing a straw hat jumped down from the carriage, removed his hat, and bowed respectfully.
“I am Boris, the village chief. What brings the precious blood of Wordsworth to such a humble village?”
“You recognize me?”
“As village chief, I should at least know who owns this land.”
The young chief smiled warmly.
“I just need a place to stay and a decent meal.”
“Our house has a room prepared for hosting noble guests. If it pleases you, may we guide you there?”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“Thank you for granting us the honor.”
Boris bowed deeply.
Glen returned a faint smile.
He was a very likable fellow.
Glen and Romina were immediately invited to the chief’s house and treated to a meal.
The table was filled with all kinds of delicacies that a mountain village could prepare.
Pumpkin pie dripping with rich sauce and fresh fruit were served, and their rustic charm was quite appealing.
Behind them, Romina occasionally glanced at the apples in the basket with wistful eyes, which was also a pleasant sight.
After finishing a neat and hearty meal,
Glen returned to his room and spread out a nearby map given by the village chief.
“What are you doing?”
Romina sat on the bed, swinging her legs while crunching on the red apple she had been eyeing earlier.
“I’m writing a dungeon attack plan.”
“A dungeon attack plan?”
The method for clearing the party dungeon was crystal clear in Glen’s head, but that wasn’t the case for Romina.
So he needed to implant everything—from the general flow to detailed responses—into her head.
“Didn’t you say we don’t know what kind of trial I’ll get?”
Just as she said, party dungeons assigned random trials to each party member to emphasize teamwork.
Because Romina’s situational judgment would be far more important in the moment, writing instructions might seem meaningless.
“That’s true. But that doesn’t mean impossible trials will appear.”
Glen smiled slyly.
He put down his rapidly moving quill and handed the completed instructions to Romina.
Seeing the densely packed text filling an entire sheet of paper, Romina’s eyes widened.
“…What is all this?”
“If you don’t know what’ll come up, just memorize everything.”
“All of it… memorize? This whole thing?”
Looking at her shocked expression, Glen shrugged.
“It’s only thirty-six items total. We leave tomorrow morning, so memorize it all by then.”
“Uh… wouldn’t it be better to just bring this and look at it when needed? Or you could tell me?”
Romina looked at Glen with desperation.
But—
“What kind of nonsense is that? In an emergency, when are you going to pull out paper and read it?”
Glen was far more cruel than she had imagined.
“You’re smart, so you’ll memorize it quickly. Right?”
Glen’s shadow loomed over Romina.
Looking at the smiling demon standing before her, Romina felt fear.
The next morning.
Glen and Romina left Serge Village and headed toward the nearby mountains.
‘Surprisingly quiet.’
According to the original story, monsters should have appeared all along the path to the dungeon, but all Glen saw were deer, squirrels, and other wild animals.
It was likely thanks to the regular purification expeditions led by the lord.
