Vol 3 Chapter 9 (1/2)

To Giran Again

”Hey, Hyun-woo Over here”

As he entered the cafe, Ga-rang waved fro next to Ga-rang Though it hadn't been long since they had met, there was no sense of aardness between them

Well, there were ether even back in the days when they enjoyed online ga Hye-sun had spent alether with characters that looked siame There was no reason to be aard

”What's the occasion to call me out at a time like this?”

”It's because we don't have ame”

”That's true”

Hyun-woo nodded as he sat on the opposite side

”Is the ga?”

”Ahhh, it's really such a sha this good until now”

”What about you, Hye-sun?”

”I' fun, too But I'm upset I don't have much time to play”

”That can't be helped, since real life isof which, you don't have ht? You can raise your level anyti for now, understand? One should study when they can”

”Che, nagging like an oldHye-sun pursed her lips, but it didn't see ”But what are you going to do now?”

”H to have to hole up somewhere decent and level up a lot I felt just how terribly weak I was during this quest Whether in real life or the virtual world, I can't stand being weaker than others, because justice can only be realized with strength”

”You're really the same as ever”

”Walk the path of work, people, and games! That's what it is to be a man!”

Enthusias's eyes It was a look that Hyun-woo hadn't seen in a really long tiest New World to Ga-rang

”It's good that you're going to stay at Jackson for a while When you log in, go meet the Lord”

”The Lord?”

”Yes, the Lord says he has so well acquainted with hi your intie help”

Hyun-woo laughed at Ga-rang's dazed expression After that, he ate dinner with Jung Hye-sun and Ga-rang, visited the hospital, and returned hoht time, he turned on he coot home He was extremely curious about the result of the auction items he had recently put up

- Auction has ended Gauntlets of Strength: 750,000 Won (~750)

- The auction has been in progress for 7 hours Fire Slayer : 6,800,000 Won (~6,800)

'6,800,000 Won!

He felt like he couldn't breathe

The Gauntlets of Strength he had put up in the 6 hour auction were sold for a final bid of 750,000 Won He thought he'd be able to get 800,000 Won for it, but the sum was a little short of his expectations However, there was still the Unique reat expectations Within just 7 hours, an enormous price had been attached to the Fire Slayer He had expected it would sell for a high price since it was a rare and Unique weapon, but the price had rocketed to 6,800,000 Won in 7 hours in a 72 hour auction There were still 65 hours left Looking at how things were going, it seemed like it could easily exceed 10,000,000 Won (~10,000) That was enough to live for twoabout money

'This is no different froa by is et by Now there's hope in passing the entrance exa 1st place in contribution with Alan in the event quest, so one up a little'

He had worked to death in the quest, but once the floodgates started to open, everything worked out well Hyun-woo couldn't contain his overflowing enthusiasot into the unit

Ark left Jackson Castle and went into the forest

If he used the Magic Institute's tower in Jackson, he could teleport to Giran in an instant Truthfully, he was iht away to check his reward for the event quest He also had to find a way to end Snake's metamorphosis as soon as possible However, Ark still had business to attend to in the area

Envoy of the Merpeople

The Queen of the Merpeople regrets the past mistakes and wishes to reconcile with the Meow For you, who has high Intimacy with both the Merpeople and Meow, you should be able to easily reconcile the two races

Difficulty: G

Quest Requirement: Meow and Merpeople intimacy must be over 70

There was a place he had to go to at least once sometime to resolve the quest he had received from the Mermaid Queen of the Underwater City, Nodelesse Truthfully, the difficulty was so-so, and even if he coo back to the Merpeople to get his reward At best, he could get a little EXP That hy Ark hadn't been in a hurry even after receiving the quest However, the ruins where the Meow lived weren't far froht he would resolve it before leaving

The first time he went to the ruins, he had ridden a horse As a result, he had thought it wasn't such a far distance, but once he was actually walking there, it took quite a while However, that was fine in its oay

'It's been too grim lately'

Throughout the event quest, he had fought while engulfed in Dark Fog Although he had leveled up 10 times thanks to the quest, both his body and mind were tired Even if he was a Dark Walker, there was no way he would be peachy since he had spent 3 days of real time in the darkness

Ark appreciated the awesome landscape of New World as he leisurely headed towards the ruins Of course, Ark wasn't one to let his hands idle even if it was a break He didn't forget to root through every corner of the forest to restock on the ingredients he had completely used up Most of his skills were Interredients didn't raise his skill proficiency But Ark had alreadylow level ingredients was even redients to et them while he could

GRRR!

As he swept through the forest, a Wolf or a Dire Wolf would occasionally show up But now, such opponents were cute instead Killing theranted almost no EXP or skill proficiency; a player of a similar level to Ark would probably find it troublesoh he didn't go looking for them, but he could never just pass by a monster that showed up before his eyes

'Even 1 EXP is EXP, and 1 Copper is still money!'

Accu up 1 Copper would become Gold That was Ark's steadfast mindset Also, it was fun to hunt co a Wolf lose 60 of its Health in one strike er

Hunting that was actually comfortable!

They were no good for EXP, but it was really refreshi+ng When he eeping through the forest later, the htened and stealthily avoided hi, the ruins caht at last

'Huh? The feeling is way different'

The ruins had changed so ht place The bleak athter one All sorts of wild floere in full bloo of splendor He saw cats peacefully enjoying naps airl as surrounded with cats

”Long time no see, Jana”

”Oh? Aren't you Ark?”

Looking glad to see hiently

”Have you been well?”

”Well, there hasn't been anything special,” Jana replied insincerely as she pressed her nose in at hiled as she looked at Ark anew

”Hnng, back then you were a kid, but now you s When you have the tio out with me?”

”Thanks, but I'll decline,” Ark answered with a wry smile

If your level or Fahtly as well There were e would show a disdainful attitude if your level and Faive you proper adventurer treat to the rise in level; there wasn't any other intent to it Even if there was, he wasn't desperate enough to want to date an NPC yet

Of course, it would be different if a beauty like Jana were to approach him in real life

As expected, Jana asked as if she didn't really care, ”But what's the occasion?”

”I want to meet the elder, is he in the ruins?”

”Nope, after you left we took care of all the monsters left in the temple, so there's really no need to stay in the te a residence around here”

”Will you take me to it?”

”Yeah, follow me”

The place Jana guided him to was a forest pretty far from the ruins The fifteen Meow Warriors he had seen before were gathered in a sufficiently sized clearing The Meow Warriors were concentrating on so else for a while, so they weren't aware that Ark had come

However, there was no knohat exactly they were doing The big bodied s But even a child could see that the logs were poorly stacked, and they soon fell over

”Agh, da!”

”I can't take it anymore! Nya, nya, nya!”

Whenever that happened, the Meow youths angrily scratched the logs with their claws

”What the hell are you doing?”

”I told you We're building a house”

”But I can only see that you're playing around?”

”What I' is”

Jana heaved a sigh ”Meows are originally Warriors froht for days without rest, but our handicraft skills suck Thanks to that, we've been building a house for two months already, but it's as you can see I think it's gonna take about 10 years or so”

”Then where did you live before you trapped in the ruins?”

”Our friends ae we lived in before However, it was neglected while ere locked up for a long time, so now there isn't even a trace of it left The Hurew old and died, and sociability isn't our strong suit So we haven't been able to ask the Humans and ended up like this”

”Can't you live in the ruins?”

”It's not a ruin It's a temple, and a teht for me since I'm the temple's Shaman, but the other Meows can't We finally cleaned out thearound in there, ould be the difference from before?” Jana retorted with pouty lips

So she was saying she didn't care if the Meow built a house or slept in the open, huh? Just like a cat

Anyhether she was a cat or a dog, it wasn't Ark's concern Once he passed the Meoere either building the house or breaking it, he found Hassan under a huge tree Hassan had given the work to his underlings and was stretched out in a nap

When Jana gave hi awake Then he looked around, shaking his head like crazy, and when he saw Ark, he greeted hirin

”Ohh, who's this? Isn't this our friend, Truthseeker Ark?”

”I have come to meet you, elder”

”Me? Okay, what's the problem?”

”The truth is” Ark fully explained the situation between Hero Maban and the Mermaid Queen, as well as how the Merpeople hadopinions on their relationshi+p Then he added, ”The current Mer and reconcile with the Meo about accepting their apology, at least in consideration for Hero Maban and Adelaine's sad love, which ended in tragedy long ago? Apparently the Merpeople one-sidedly hated the Meow, but isn't that all in the past now?”

”Aahh, right So like that did happen,” answered Hassan indifferently as he scratched his messy head

It seeht with the Merpeople

”Well, I didn't really care, but it was certainly a nasty incident However, as you said, that, too, is a thing of the past, since the latest friction with the Merpeople occurred when I was young The other kiddos probably haven't even seen the Merpeople”

”You've met the Merpeople before?”

”Of course”

”The elder has lived for hundreds of years He's a living fossil,” Jana coh

”Shush, who are you calling a fossil?” Hassan pierced Jana with a glare before opening his h ”Honestly, I don't really care whether the Merpeople want to reconcile or not It's not that hard to accept their apology, either However, it's a bit e with just one word It's like we've been waiting on our hands and knees for it or so”

”Don't be like that and please accept for me, at least”

”Hmm, if you say it like that, I can't just refuse How disco” Hassan scratched his head with an uncoht had suddenly struck hi eyes, ”Now that I think about it, you are a Human Then how about we do it like this?”

”What do you mean?”

”Look around As you can see, we're currently stuck in a very big predicao on like this, on't be able to build a mud hut, let alone a house, even after a few years I would like you to solve that problem for us”

”Me?”

”Yeah, since you're a Human, don't you have one or two friends in the nearby village? Go ask them to build a house for us A simple cabin shouldn't even take a week to build for a Huy,” said Hassan with a proud expression, as if he had cooked up a great idea

In contrast, Ark's expression contorted strangely ”What does that have to do with accepting the Merpeople's apology?”

”It's related You're our friend, but didn't you come as the envoy of the Merpeople? Then you should help us Then doesn't that give us a justification to accept the apology in exchange?”

Put that way, it made quite a lot of sense

'There's a saying about being as wily as a cat; contrary to his looks, Hassan really used his head'

But to Ark, it was an unwelcoreat reward He just wanted to finish off a quest he'd picked up while he was here But if he were to go Jackson and back for a G level quest, he'd be wasting tooan NPC craftsman All the NPC craftses froh his intimacy was, a request without a decent reason would be rejected, and there wouldn't be an NPC willing to fling away Jackson to follow him all the way here to build a house for cats Even so, not being able to finish the quest after co all this way here bothered him

'A house for cats maybe that?'

At that moment, an idea sparked in Ark's head There was a quest that fit this situation perfectly

'The 'Find New Settlers' quest!'

He hadn't been able to find a clue to solving that quest after receiving it in Lancel Village Actually, he had brought it up with a few NPCs, but they had all refused But shouldn't there be a high chance of success if it was the Meoeren't tethered to the territory and were looking for a place to live?

'Yeah, the Meow are ho it up once?'

After thinking about it for a bit, Ark said with a subtle tone, ”Then how about this?”

”Go ahead”

”There is a settler town I knoell not far from here Many people left, so there are a lot of empty houses there If you ask the”

”A Hue off a Hurumbled with an unpleasant voice

It was the reaction he had expected Unlike dogs, cats were originally animals that didn't match ith humans Even if one was raised with affection from kittenhood, it wasn't subservient to the human as its owner There were even ly only at mealtime, only to immediately abandon the facade after mealtime and leave the house

To put it badly, they aresense of independence and pride

Having inherited such catlike natures, the Meoouldn't want to becoled to build a house for 2 o ask Humans for help Once their friend Ark showed up, they were being ”generous” and asking for help But that hat Ark was ai for

Ark let out a sigh as he nodded ”You really don't like it, huh? Truthfully, I also thought it was a shaerous”

”What? A request? It's dangerous? Just what are you saying now?”

”No, it's fine Pretend you didn't hear anything”

”Dammit, do you want to see someone explode and die? I can take pain but I'm the kind of person who can't contain curiosity Whatever it is, just give it to ht!”

Did they say curiosity killed the cat? Just like a cat, Hassan couldn't contain his restlessness and got caught

'Huhuhu, got hiot him on the line'

Ark hid a satisfied sainst it ”Yes, the truth is the village was once under attack by monsters and pushed to the brink of life and death Thankfully it has become safer than before, butwhen it could face danger again That's why I thought it'd be nice if the valiant Meow could protect the reasonably rewarded while protecting them Just like nobles”

”Ohh, monsters? Are there a lot of monsters in the area?”

”Yes, there are a lot of strong erous”

”Gnolls! Did you just say Gnolls?” Hassan yelled, ju the cabin also approached, their eyes wide ”If they're Gnolls, then they're the dog-heads! Right?! You're talking about the noisy dog-heads that bark?”

”That's right They are quite strong and vicious Even for the Meow, protecting the village from such monsters would be”

”Nonsense!” As Ark subtly slowed to a stop, Hassan shouted ”Even if hundreds of the likes of those stupid dog-heads were to press in, they'd be nobeen enemies of the Meow Why? Don't ask, because I don't know either Anyway, I hate the dog-heads like crazy! To think those dog-heads got this close to the sacred temple of the Meohile our eyes were briefly turned away! Knowing this, we can't just overlook it!”

”Then are you accepting estion?”

”Yeah If they're being threatened by the dog-heads, then we e or whatever it's called It is definitely not because of a house or food We're just staying there a bit to defend the pride of the Meohile ipe out the dog-heads for theh of course, to do that we must rest comfortably and eat our fill”

”Don't worry If you will protect the village, the residents will gladly cover the room and board the Meow desire”

As Ark said that with a grin, a e popped up with a cheerful sound effect

- Art of Communication has increased by 3

The quest 'Find New Settlers' has been updated

You have wisely convinced the Meow Elder Hassan to e The Meow are a valiant tribe possessing a natural Warrior disposition If they guard Lancel Village, the villagers will no longer have to fear monsters

This will be a great help to the Lancel villagers, ish for safety et what they want thanks to the Meow, they will readily provide a housing and food

Finding new settlers: 15 complete

You have found settlers with special abilities

With the e's safety has risen by 40 However, since they have to be steadily furnished with food, the food situation has worsened by 10

If you invite a settler with a special ability, trade, safety, and the food situation values will increase Depending on the values, you will be able to receive a bonus reward upon quest completion

'What's this?'