Chapter 77 - Unexpected Meeting (1/2)
He could see a hut.
‘Is there one on every peak?’
There had also been a hut on the 1st Peak, although the resident, Ketan, had died. Soo Hyuk approached the hut while hunting Condas.
‘This house isn’t broken down.’
Unlike Ketan’s hut, the door on this hut wasn’t broken down. It was still fulfilling its role.
Creeak…
At that moment.
“…”
The door opened and a young man came out of the hut. Soo Hyuk, who had thought that the hut was empty, panicked at the sudden appearance while the young man also panicked at the unexpected guest.
“Um, who might you be…”
The young man spoke first. His eyes were full of wariness. It couldn’t be helped since an unfamiliar person was loitering in front of his house.
“I came here to gather some Helids and happened to spot your house. Haha…Then I’ll get going.”
Soo Hyuk replied awkwardly and turned around to leave.
“Ah, please wait!”
However, he had to turn back around again because of the young man’s shout. Soo Hyuk stared suspiciously at the young man.
“Are you a mercenary?”
“Yes.”
“Can you perhaps take on a job from me?”
The reason the young man called out was because of a job.
“I’m sorry.”
But Soo Hyuk refused.
“I only received tasks from the Mercenary Agency.”
If the quests weren’t from the agency, then they didn’t go towards his rank. It wasn’t like he didn’t have any quests or needed any gold, so there was no reason to get another quest.
“Please accept! It’s a very simple task! The Copine Corps in Hadrac. I have a friend called Romian there. If you just give this letter to him, then I’ll give you 10 gold.”
[Henkins’ Letter]
Send Henkins’ Letter to the Copine Corps’s Romian!
[Henkins’ Letter: 0 / 1 ]
[Quest Reward: 10 gold]
The quest notification appeared in front of him as the young man finished speaking. When Soo Hyuk read over the quest, he couldn’t help but jump in surprise.
‘Romian?’
It was because Romian was mentioned.
‘This person also knows Romian?’
He had wondered whether the people living on the peaks were also related to Romian, but he turned out to be right. Henkins was related to Romian.
“…I understand.”
Soo Hyuk said to Henkins, who had been waiting desperately for an answer. It was on the way anyway, and he might get some information related to Celta.
[You have accepted the quest ‘Henkins’ Letter’.]
A notification appeared as soon as he replied.
“Could you please wait a bit? I’ll go get the letter.”
“Okay.”
Hearing Soo Hyuk’s answer, Henkins went into his house and came out holding a letter a few minutes later.
“Here you go. You can send this letter to the leader of the 1st Company in the Copine Corps. The reward will be given by the receiver. Thank you so much for accepting my request!”
[You have acquired ‘Henkid’s Letter’.]
Soo Hyuk then replied after storing the letter.
“No, it’s okay. Copine is on the way back, and I also know Romian.”
“Huok! You also know Romian?”
Henkin exclaimed in surprise in response to his words.
“Yes, before I came here, I did a job for Romian-nim. I had to send a letter to the 1st Peak’s Ketan.”
“Oh, Ketan. Is he well?”
“Ah, that…”
Soo Hyuk’s voice trailed off as he regretted responding to Henkins’ question. Ketan was dead. Was it okay to tell Henkins about Ketan’s death?
“…”
Did he feel the Soo Hyuk’s uneasiness from his voice? Henkins’ smiled also slowly disappeared from his face as he realised. Staring at Henkins’ reaction, Soo Hyuk decided to answer truthfully.
“When I went to Ketan’s house, he had been murdered by somebody.”
Henkins was silent as he registered Soo Hyuk’s information. He only stared absentmindedly at Soo Hyuk, frozen from shock.
At that moment.
Step. Step.
‘…?’
The sound of footsteps rang out from behind him. Soo Hyuk turned around and looked at the source of the sounds. Then he couldn’t help but frown when he noticed who it was. The footsteps were actually coming from two people who were approaching them. The problem was the mark above their heads. It was a demon.
‘The Demon Guild?’
The two men had the Demon Guild’s Mark above their heads.
‘What are they doing here?’
The 7th Peak that he was at was an unpopular hunting area. He also wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t for his mission.
‘A mission?’
Why had Demon Guild members appeared here? Was it for a quest like him? When he was locked in thought, the faint conversation between the Demon Guild entered his ears.
“There’s two?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Yeah, what matters is if Henkins is one of them or not.”
Soo Hyuk was able to figure out their aim from their conversation. Their target was Henkins.
For what reason were they searching for Henkins? Although he couldn’t be certain, he assumed that it wasn’t good from their past record as the Demon Guild. While Soo Hyuk was in thought, the two Demon Guild members arrived in front of them and asked,
“Do you know us?”
“…No. I’ve never seen you before.”
Henkins replied while shaking his head. Like how the Demon Guild didn’t know Henkins, Henkins also didn’t know the Demon Guild members.
“Do you want to?”
“No, I was the one who did it on the 1st Peak.”
“When my imfamy score resets, I’ll send some money.”
“Fine.”
Meanwhile, Soo Hyuk caught onto a piece of their conversation.
‘The 1st Peak?’