Hey everyone, this is yesterday's chapter, a bit late as you can see...
In any case, enjoy! And make to tell me what you thought about these last few chapters and what you expect to happen next.
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"There isn't much more to say anymore, everyone, if you leave the village, keep your eyes open for any irregularities, especially if you venture into the forest." Edimund said as he looked at everyone, before nodding at Testros and Misgurd
"We need to figure out what truly happened, ignoring what's happening right next to us would only be foolish."
"Was it a coincidence, or is there something behind this? We need to make this clear."
[DING]
[Hidden Chain quest activated, Forest Hierarchy]
[Requirements:
Find out what is happening at the center of the forest near Resko 0/1
Eliminate/solve the source of the problem 0/1
??? 0/1
]
"..."
'A Quest?'
'So something is indeed happening... Which wasn't surprising.'
'The way this was presented to me... This Quest likely has many criteria that need to be met before it triggers.'
'But the biggest one is likely meeting the Yirg and reporting its appearance to the Elders.'
'There is a big chance that in a normal string of events, no one would've found out about this until it was too late.'
'This is my chance to stop it from happening, or better put, this is a hint.'
'Whatever is happening in the forest will still happen regardless of who finds the Quest or when, it's simply too far away for me to stop it now.'
'I am not yet ready to dive that deep and seek the answer, but there is something I want to know first.'
"Before we leave, I have a question." Dale said as he raised his head
"Oh?"
"I know that there is the Wall somewhere deeper into the South, how close is that to the center of the forest?"
"Are you implying that the wall has something to do with this?" Testros asked as he tapped on the wall
"No, I was just curious and I also wanted to have a better idea of the environment."
'Though it wouldn't be bad to make them consider it an option as well.'
"From a geographical standpoint, yes, the Wall is located in the center of the forest, although I wonder if it can be called the center now."
"Even Resko used to be located in the forest, although we cleared most of the surrounding area long ago..."
"In the past, the entire south was a lush forest that went all the way to the distant mountains where it became an open green field known as the Southern Fields..."
"It used to be a Wyvern breeding ground, due to this, the Empire made it a Danger Zone and no further attempts at colonizing it were made, thus, I am unsure of what happened to it"
"While the wall was built right at the center of the forest following a carefully selected line..."
"But as time passed, most of the forest further South from the Wall ended up being cleared, either by the creatures that came from the sea, or by us."
"And since most of the Northern section of the forest has disappeared due to the desert... It's difficult to say where it stands now."
"Still... After many years without care, I imagine most of the cleared-out area in the South may have already regrown." Testros said as he thought deeply
"I see."
'I don't know if there is a connection between the two. I don't even know what the wall looks like...'
'However, if there is a quest, then something is happening and that means that the next few times I go to the forest, I'll have to pay attention to my surroundings, if I'm lucky, I may even scoop out some clues.'
'Regardless of it all, the Southern Corps is at the center of Resko's Questline, and I have the inkling they'll pose a much bigger role in this plotline despite the fact they aren't here anymore...'
'The more I know the better as I'm sure the Wall will one day pop up on my to-do list.'
"Since we're done here, I'll be returning to Yumi, wish you all a pleasant afternoon." Tina said as she got up from her chair and left
"... She has no patience as always." Barme said as he rolled his eyes
Instead, he looked at the trio and asked:
"So? You went there, brought anything interesting? Apart from this creature's ugly carcass…"
"..."
Testros and Misgurd kept themselves quiet, they didn't feel okay with sharing Dale's secret.
But he just shook his head and got up from his chair, opening his inventory and neatly placing everything they hunted on the ground.
"!"
This act surprised everyone apart from the ones that knew he had an inventory, and those were Testros, Misgurd, and Edimund.
"We hunted a few Moss Rocks, collected several plants and herbs, and…"
Dale went over what they got without hiding anything, and once he was done, the elders gazed at him with deep expressions.
[Your trust in the Elders has touched them, Resko Reputation+5]
"?"
While Dale checked his notification, Ophelia asked:
"Where you also the one who skinned these?"
"Y-Yes… I am not that good…" He replied humbly
"Oh no, I am not going to reprimand you, that would be short-sighted of me, instead, I would like to give you some tips!"
"Come by when you're free and I'll give you some lessons." She said with a gentle smile
Dale smiled as well, and then he said:
"These materials are useless to me, so…"
"I know, give them to me and I'll turn them into something useful in no time." Adamante proudly said with a smile
"It's a shame, but I'm not very good at this stuff…" Jyter, the retired miner said as he shook his head
"I can't do much without some ore…" Barme, the old blacksmith said as he let out a disappointed sigh
"Pfft, pathetic." Adamante added when she heard what Barme and Juter had to say
""WHAT DID YOU SAY, OLD WOMAN?!"" The two said angrily as their faces grew red
"I only spoke the truth, now if you excuse me…"
"Dear, could you pass by my house later and leave these materials there? I only have two arms and can't bring everything with me…"
"I will, give me half an hour." Dale said with a nod
She gave him a rare smile, grabbing a few of the pelts before leaving the room without looking back.
She was a strange old lady, but she had quite the energy!
"Urg, these old bags…" Barme said as he massaged his temples
'If only I had the ore, then I could work on something...'
'Adamante's abilities can only shine when they are used to enhance proper metalwork!'
'But without it... We can only rely on leather.'
"In any case, good work Dale, thanks to you we got a few more good things and the atmosphere around the village has only been getting better, thank you." He said with a hearty laugh as he cleared his head of his dark thoughts
"I can say the same, although I would be much better if I could do something…" Replied Jyter as he scratched his old head
"Looks like I'll have to thank you again, if this is truly a problem and not a coincidence, your actions have caused us to find out about it sooner and hopefully, prevent a disaster from happening…" Edimund said with a smile
[DING]
[Words of your recent feats have left a deep impression on everyone around you
Resko Reputation +10]
[Resko Reputation=116]
"Did this ever happen before?" Dale asked in a inquisitive tone
'They are all acting as if they know what the worst possibility is, so I might as well ask.'
"... Yes Dale, it happened once, and it's one of the reasons why I am retired now." Ophelia said in a depressed tone as she remembered the past
"I-I didn't mean to bring up…"
"It's okay, hopefully, this time, we can prevent anything bad from happening, but if we pray enough, perhaps nothing will happen at all."
"..."
'I would like it to be like that, but this village seems to be balls deep into trouble…'
'To the point not even God can help it anymore.'
'All around us, be it below it, behind it, or in front of it, even inside… Resko is completely filled with trouble and problems to be fixed.'
'But one step at a time I'll fix these… And as she said, perhaps God will finally give in and listen to our prayers...'
'Regardless, this place will one day turn into a proper city, I'll make it happen.'
'Although I wonder, would the Empire move again if such a thing were to happen? Or would it allow Resko to flourish again?'
'If we were to look at Resko's situation outside of its territory, then we have the Empire, the Church, and the communication between it and other places due to how remote it is.'
'Problems everywhere, each one harder to solve than the last one…'
...
Dale had a headache thinking about everything, and once everyone left, he left the room only to meet Misgurd alone.
"Is there anything you need, Guild leader?"
"Heh, cheeky kid, only in this place do you call me Guild leader huh?"
"I need to stick with the formalities…" He replied with a chuckle as he sat around the Counter
/Cling!/
"Here, take it." Misgurd said as he threw a metallic object toward Dale
It looked like a flat ice cream cone, but it had many inscriptions and one symbol of a sword and shield in the upper part of it.
Dale saw many symbols on it, but he failed to read them…
'I can't read it…'
'It's to be expected... Azimuth uses a different language with their own numbers and letters.'
'I heard that it's very similar to Chinese in the way the letters are arranged, but it sounds like English on a superficial look, but to hear their language, you need to turn off the translation option…'
'The problem is that Hardcore players can't mess with this option… Either way, it doesn't matter to me.'
'As to how I can understand him? As I said, everything is being translated in real-time, and if I check the description of this badge, everything that is written on the badge will be translated to me.'
'This doesn't work for other languages I wasn't supposed to know, like the ones that appeared on some of the ruins of the Tutorial…'
"What is this?" He asked as he inspected the metal object
"That on your hand is a mercenary badge, previously you were a Rank 1 mercenary only in name, but after what you did, I had Barme make a new one for you from the old rusty badges we had."
"Why not give me one of those?"
Misgurd shook his head and said:
"It's not so simple, every 10 years represents a generation, and each generation has a letter associated with it."
"Once all letters pass, a new number is created and the process restarts, but across the entire history of the Mercenary Guild, the number only changed once."
"And as you know, the main language used in the Empire has 35 letters, so one full cycle is at least 350 years long."
"If you flip it over, you'll see the Number '2' followed by the letter corresponding to your generation, thus the need to melt it down to make a new one."
"Well, not quite, we do have a few 'blank' badges, they only need to be engraved and that was what happened in your case."
"Most of the other badges were, unfortunately, melted down over the years."
"..."
"... Thank you, I'll work hard to be worthy of it." Dale said seriously as he tightened his grip on it
"... BUWAHAHAH!"
Misgurd started to hysterically laugh.
"Be worthy of it!? I like how well you spew bullshit!"
/Slap!/
He slapped Dale's back and said:
"Just live, that's already enough."
"A mercenary needs to stick to his codes but be sure to always have a plan B… Else everything becomes useless."
"I gave you this one due to your actions, and it means you are now officially a Rank 2 Mercenary, this is 2 ranks higher than the trainee we have, and one rank higher than the first rank, AKA 'Novice'."
"You are now a proud Rank 2 'Accomplished' Mercenary. You're strong enough to receive a higher ranking, but the last thing I want is to receive a complaint from the inspectors when they arrive…"
"Not that it would matter anyway, but as they say, the first impression says a it all!"
"Once they arrive and see your abilities far outgrow the range of your badge, they'll be more than happy to give you a new one!"
Misgurd turned around and got ready to leave…
"Train hard and soon enough I'll have enough excuses piled up to promote you again! BUWAHAHA!"
"..."
Dale stood there, looking at the laughing Misgurd.
Once he left, he shook his head and smiled.
"The day is still long, although I can't train due to my injury, I can still move."
'I'll finish a few things and if by the time everything's over, if my injury is still not fully healed…'
Dale left the Mercenary Guild and went directly to Adamante's house where he helped her load in many of the bodies of the creatures he slew inside.
In the close future, she would turn all of these things into pieces of armor and weapons, Dale was excited to see what sort of equipment she would make.
She also gave him a tip, telling him to stop by Illia's Inn since she is the best cook in the village, and all of this meat should be used for something instead of being left to rot…
He was a bit disappointed to receive no Quests from her, but given her personality, it does fit that she wouldn't ask him for help.
Not even the task of helping her move the carcasses around was considered a Quest.
But then again, it wasn't anything impressive, all of the loot in his inventory, he just had to go there and hand it over...
After this, Dale went to Yumi's alchemy shop where he was welcomed by a surprised Tina, but once he explained that he was there to hand in some of the herbs he collected she let out a strange sigh of disappointment.
She thanked him in the name of Yumi who was now resting and closed the door without saying much more.
Dale wasn't offended by this though, continuing on his path.
He passed by Illia's house and saw the children playing around.
Because these children were too young to work in the fields, Illia was given the task of taking care of them in their parent's stead.
He soon found her and thanked her once again for the room, and after a slightly awkward conversation, he gave her all of the meat he had collected.
She did not ask where they all came from, and instead just smiled before saying she would make him a feast!
Once he was done talking with her, he was once again dragged around by the kids, and after playing with them for a good half hour, Dale went to his room to take a short rest…
He would continue on with his adventure after a short but deserved pause...
…
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Notes
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