Chapter 80 - Routed (1/2)
“So-Soo Hyuk!”
“F*ck!”
The two Demon Guild members screamed when they finally came to themselves. They realised just who they were trying to mess with from the notification.
“P-please wait!”
They continued to shout in panic as Soo Hyuk stared at them.
“L-let’s talk!”
“It’s a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding!”
“We weren’t going to attack you!”
Listening to their desperate screams, Soo Hyuk, who had been planning to leave only one alive, changed his mind. He then asked the two men,
“What are you doing here?”
In response to Soo Hyuk’s question, the Demon Guild members hurriedly answered,
“W-well, we received a job…”
“I know about that.”
Soo Hyuk had already found out from the 7th Peak that Heron was using the Demon Guild. And so, the moment he spotted them in this building, he realised that Heron must’ve hired them again.
“What I want to know is what kind of job did you receive?”
“…We were told to subdue.”
The Demon Guild answered after hesitating for a moment.
“Really? Just subdue?”
“Yes.”
The Demon Guild members nodded furiously at Soo Hyuk’s question.
“Of course, now we won’t even think about our task.”
Their job was impossible from the beginning. They wouldn’t have accepted it no matter what if they had known from the beginning that the mercenary was actually Soo Hyuk.
“Can we briefly send a message to our guild master?”
“Yes, but first, I want to ask something.”
Soo Hyuk continued as he answered their question.
“An NPC should be locked in here somewhere. Do you know where he is?”
“Ah, are you talking about the NPC called Romian?”
“Yes.”
“He’s over that way.”
One of the Demon Guild members replied while pointing further inside. At their reply, Soo Hyuk walked past the Demon Guild members and headed toward where they were pointing to. Then not long after starting, Soo Hyuk managed to find Romian.
Romian also discovered Soo Hyuk and made a surprised expression. The look in his eyes showed the confusion he was feeling right now.
“I went to the 7th Peak to do a different mission. I met Henkins-nim there and received another task.”
Soo Hyuk started to speak as he untied the binding on Romian.
“He told me to deliver a letter. But when I came here to deliver the letter, a person called Heron lead me here.”
“…I see.”
Romian nodded absentmindedly.
“What about the mercenaries guarding this place…”
There had been three mercenaries guarding him just a few minutes ago, and they had left in the direction that Soo Hyuk had come from. What had happened to them?
“They were close acquaintants so I managed to persuade them.”
Romian’s jaw dropped at Soo Hyuk’s answer. The bindings also came completely off at that moment.
[You have completed the quest ‘Imprisoned Romian’.]
A notification also appeared. Soo Hyuk briefly glanced at the notification then stood up with Romian and opened his inventory. There was still one more quest he had to do.
“This is Henkins-nim’s letter.’
Romian silently received the letter from him. Then a notification appeared again.
[You have completed the quest ‘Henkins’s Letter’.]
Soo Hyuk stared at the notification and thought,
‘Will he be able to give me 10 gold?’
The reward for ‘Henkins’s Letter’ was 10 gold. It wasn’t much. It was comparable to pocket change. However, would Romian be able to give him 10 gold?
‘In this situation, I would be hard pressed to even get 1 gold.’
After all, Romian had been imprisoned moments ago.
“Hoo…”
Romian sighed deeply as he finished the letter. He then raised his head to look at Soo Hyuk and spoke,
“I’m sorry.”
“…Eh?”
“I don’t think I’ll be able to pay you right now.”
Then as Romian continued, Soo Hyuk realised what he was sorry about
“The situation turned out this way…”
Romain continued with a sad smile while stealing glances at Soo Hyuk’s expression.
“Um, could you please help me one more time? If you do, I’ll give you 200 gold extra as well as the 10 gold. You just have to escort me to my room.”
The moment Romian finished talking, a quest notification appeared.
[Escort Romian!]
Romian cannot stay in the corps any longer. First escort Romian to his room!
[Quest Reward: 200 Gold, Quest – The Secret Cave]
[Quest Fail Condition: Romian’s Death.]
Soo Hyuk widened his eyes in surprise as he read through the new quest. There was an extra quest reward apart from the 200 gold. It was a linked quest. But the most surprising thing was the linked quest’s name.
‘The Secret Cave?’
The quest name was ‘The Secret Cave’ He made his decision then.
“I will escort you.”
Soo Hyuk replied to the waiting Romian.
[You have accepted the quest ‘The Secret Cave’.]
Soo Hyuk thought as the notification appeared,
‘He doesn’t ask for Heron to be killed.’
Soo Hyuk had wondered if Romian would ask him to kill Heron, but he hadn’t. Putting the thought at the back of his mind, Soo Hyuk walked in front of Romian and led the way to his room, preparing against any possible attacks.
‘They aren’t here.’
Fortunately, the Demon Guild members had left in the time he had left them. As a bonus, the locked door had been opened wide at the entrance.
* * *
Crash!
Baal knocked over his chair as he stood up.
‘What the…’