Pick Me Up!

A young man known as the Mercenary King and a rough-looking man moved through the forest, bickering as they went. I followed them, keeping low.

“It’d be better to stop now. What if we attract their attention by going deeper? A few monsters are no problem, but if all the monsters in this forest gather, we’ll have a headache.”

“We’re just here to see that egg bringing peace. It’s not visible from here.”

“I don’t get why that egg matters at all.”

“You can go back first if you want.”

“How could I leave my brother here? My wife would kill me.”

“Then just follow quietly.”

The two men pushed through the thick branches and bushes, moving forward. As the young man said, the egg standing tall in the middle of the forest was not visible due to the large trees blocking the view. However, after about five minutes of walking, they would come across a clearing where they could see the egg.

‘Is this the item that brings peace to the continent?’

Well, if ‘peace’ meant everyone dying, they might be right.

“There are a lot of presences, but no monsters are attacking.”

The young man looked puzzled.

“Aren’t they afraid of you?”

“Afraid? َAnd I told you not to call me brother. Call me boss.”

“I’m not used to that weird title.”

“How long will you cling to old-fashioned titles? We need to change too.”

“Okay, boss.”

Boss, huh. I smirked. He didn’t seem like an ordinary mercenary.

‘Brother Yoshu.’

The man had called the young man that.

It sounded familiar from somewhere. Following them for a few more minutes, I began to recall forgotten memories.

The conclusion came quickly.

“……”

Yoshu.

He was a kid I bought information from in the city during my first dungeon exploration. He begged for a gold coin, talking about some brilliant business idea.

I gave him a coin to get rid of him because he kept bothering me.

‘Ridiculous.’

Less than half a year had passed in the waiting room since then, but it seemed different inside Townia.

The kid who barely reached my waist had grown up significantly.

But the most surprising thing was something else.

‘A kid I helped by chance on the street has become such a big shot?’

And he showed up right when help was needed.

A probability less than a fraction of a percent.

It couldn’t happen without several coincidences stacking up.

‘It’s not just a coincidence……’

I sighed.

Even if it was close to reality, this world was ultimately a game.

‘System adjustments were made.’

The original reinforcements disappeared. Therefore, they added a new group of NPCs to assist the hero’s mission. And they appeared in the scouting mission before the boss stage to inform us.

‘They can’t escape it.’

No matter how much the prince and his followers tried to overturn it, the rules didn’t change.

A mission that couldn’t be completed couldn’t exist. No matter how difficult, there was always a strategy.

They only twisted the situation briefly, but the world remained the same.

“That’s the egg.”

The clearing on the forest outskirts. The young man muttered while looking at the tall egg in the distance.

The monsters scattered around didn’t attack the young man and the man.

More precisely, they couldn’t attack.

“It looks horrific.”

The man spat out.

The egg was tens of meters in size. The translucent outer shell quivered with greyish flesh underneath. In the middle of the shell, a red eyeball with blood vessels spread out swayed.

The young man frowned while staring at the egg.

“I need to check it out properly.”

“What do you plan to do after checking it?”

“The Empire and the Church are hiding a lot of things from us. They suddenly put a bounty on the princess and this incident too. They don’t tell us commoners anything.”

“What if the high-ups are lying?”

“Then……”

The young man hesitated and then shut his mouth.

He shook his head.

“Let’s go back for now.”

The young man turned around.

As their figures gradually faded, I stood up from the bushes only after they disappeared from sight.

The mission-clear window didn’t appear.

I thought the reconnaissance was sufficient.

‘No.’

Since the clear window didn’t appear, there must be something left to do.

I brushed off the leaves on my shoulder and headed to the members’ gathering place.

“In this case, a breakthrough is the only answer.”

“A breakthrough?”

“Form the airship fleet into a wedge formation and pierce through the monster horde. We can’t engage in a full-scale battle. We have to get to the egg quickly and finish the task.”

“That means that we will have to make a lot of sacrifices.”

“More than half of our forces will be lost, but we have no choice.”

Jenna and Katiio were intensely discussing mission strategies.

Ignoring the monsters and breaking through to the egg to complete the objective was one of the strategies I had considered.

I passed by Bennick, who was silently sharpening his dagger, and Kishasha, who was yawning.

“……”

Priasis sat at the base of a large tree. She had a visibly gloomy expression, her silver eyebrows furrowed.

“Ah, Han…… you’re here.”

Seeing me, Pria forced a smile.

Then she raised her voice a little artificially.

“Do you want my help with anything? I have nothing to do anyway.”

“It’s not that you can’t do anything.”

“I have no skill for fighting. I’ve practiced swordsmanship consistently, but compared to you, I’m like a firefly before the moon.”

Of course. The growth rate of heroes, enhanced by skills and engravings, couldn’t be compared to NPCs.

Pria had practiced swordsmanship for years but could only handle one or two monsters at most.

“Do you want to borrow my sword? Or maybe…… do you need a massage? Your shoulders must be aching a bit.”

Pria’s smile was playful but tinged with bitterness.

“I don’t need……”

I stopped myself. I remember being scolded by Edis for saying that before.

She said I had no understanding of people’s feelings.

“Come here.”

Pria patted the spot next to her. I sat down without a word, and Pria started to massage my shoulders.

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