Chapter 55
by lionHenes, who knew nothing of breakfalls, was dizzy from the impact of falling from the red wolf’s back. Meanwhile, Jun-sang fell into contemplation as he saw the newly appeared sub-quests.
First, he could infer that unlike normal quests, Epic Quests, due to their broad progression areas, don’t display all quest information at once but only when he enters a certain range. The problem was whether to tackle each of these sub-quests or quickly resolve only the main quest. Given the nature of Epic Quests, which continuously link, the duration of the quest was already uncertain. If he were to find and complete every sub-quest, this duration would undoubtedly become even longer.
This thought led Jun-sang to another hypothesis. Could it be that his rapid leveling up was the problem? Or perhaps swiftly handling cooperative quests alone? He didn’t know for sure, but since he had received a high evaluation, others must have received proportionally lower ones, so perhaps he was being separated from general quests in this manner.
“Tsk…”
However, it felt somewhat unsettling to simply ignore the banquet laid out before him. No, he thought, perhaps it could be the opposite. He might have been assigned a role to clean up quests that other travelers had missed, or a role to handle situations where essential quests hadn’t been properly resolved. He might have been deployed as a pinch hitter of sorts.
While Jun-sang was lost in these thoughts, Henes, who had been groaning from the impact of rolling off the wolf’s back, finally managed to get up.
“Aargh…”
Her back had hit hard, leaving her breathless, and for the gently raised Henes, it truly felt like her vision was blurring. But what greeted Henes, who had barely endured the pain and stood up, was only Jun-sang’s indifferent gaze.
“There’s somewhere I need to stop by. Get on.”
“…”
For a moment, Henes unconsciously clenched her fists. The urge to punch this unknown man’s head furiously welled up inside her, but Henes barely managed to suppress it.
“Phew…”
Henes took a deep breath and calmed herself down again, but she couldn’t show any sign of defiance towards Jun-sang. However, she was already bitterly regretting her hasty appearance and speaking to him earlier. She should have just waited quietly in the carriage as the nursemaid advised. She blamed herself for expecting a romance between a mysterious warrior who appeared like the wind and a beautiful girl in distress, which led her to this absurd situation.
But Jun-sang, who had no way of knowing such complex girlish emotions—or rather, believed he didn’t need to know—saw Henes hesitate and drag her feet. He then abruptly picked up her body again and placed her on the back of the red wolf.
“Don’t get distracted. Hold on tight.”
“…”
Henes pouted, wondering if he was perhaps worried after all, but she gripped the red wolf’s neck firmly as Jun-sang had instructed. Thanks to this, she looked rather undignified, but surprisingly, the red wolf’s fur felt clean and soft, like a well-washed blanket, unlike other animal hides.
As Henes climbed back onto the Crimson Wolf’s back, Jun-sang first marked his current location on the minimap and then began to sprint like the wind towards the area where the sub-quest had appeared. After crossing a small ridge beside the valley, a small slash-and-burn village soon appeared. The people living in the small village, probably no more than a dozen households, couldn’t help but stare wide-eyed when a sturdy man with flashing blue eyes suddenly appeared, carrying a beautiful woman on the back of a red wolf.
Jun-sang, with the red wolf, instantly leaped over the crude wooden fence of the slash-and-burn village and entered. People rushed out, holding weapons or makeshift weapons, and regarded Jun-sang warily. Jun-sang’s demeanor was too unusual to welcome him as a traveler for once. But the person who was the object of their wariness spoke as if such an atmosphere was insignificant.
“Wait here.”
For a moment, Henes was confused as to whether his words were directed at her or the red wolf she was riding. But Jun-sang, whether she was confused or not, gave another command to Gentle Breeze.
“Gentle Breeze, protect her.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Gentle Breeze began to flow and surround Henes’s body. Having completed the basic preparations, Jun-sang immediately moved towards the quest objective. The first target was a middle-aged man holding a rake and warily watching Jun-sang. The man, seeing Jun-sang suddenly approach him, gripped the rake like a spear and threatened him.
“S-stop!”
Of course, Jun-sang completely ignored the man’s words, approached him, and said, “Ask.”
“W-what do you mean?” The man couldn’t help but be bewildered by Jun-sang’s sudden words.
“You must have a favor to ask?”
“…”
Overwhelmed by Jun-sang’s intensity, who spoke with streams of fierce blue light emanating from his eyes, the man unconsciously began to babble about the troublesome problem he was currently facing.
“A-actually… I’ve been cultivating a small field, and a while ago…”
But Jun-sang raised his hand to stop him and said again, “Just the main point.”
The man, without time to wonder why he was being forced into a situation that felt like an interrogation, immediately responded to Jun-sang’s words. “Please catch the wild boars that appeared in my field!”
“…”
But Jun-sang did not answer. Instead, he first checked the updated message in his left vision.
(Sub) Bandes’s Request
: Bandes has been troubled by a family of wild boars that appeared in his field a while ago and have been devouring his crops. Hunt the monstrous wild boar family that easily break through traps and fences to harm the crops.
As the quest information updated, Jun-sang, without another word, left Bandes behind and approached a bewildered-looking woman, speaking to her again.
“Ask.”
“…”
The woman was startled by Jun-sang suddenly approaching her and speaking incomprehensible words, and she looked around, seeking help. It wasn’t just the villagers who were bewildered. Henes was equally flustered by Jun-sang’s appearance, as he suddenly entered the village and forcibly listened to their troubles as if threatening them.
Come to think of it… He had also forced her to ask for a favor in that way.
But Jun-sang, regardless of how others saw him, stormed through the village, forcibly seizing quests, and then quickly began to resolve them. The first place he went was Endel’s house.
(Sub) Endel’s Request
: Endel, who had been living abroad, recently returned here and inherited his grandfather’s legacy. However, his playful grandfather hid most of his legacy somewhere in the house. Help Endel find where his grandfather’s legacy is hidden.
Jun-sang pondered for a moment, then commanded Gentle Breeze, who was protecting Henes.
“Find hidden spaces.”
As the command was given, Gentle Breeze immediately scoured Endel’s house and the attached storage shed, informing Jun-sang of places where something could be hidden. Jun-sang went behind the house and lifted a small rock. But what was hidden there was not his grandfather’s legacy, but a python as thick as an arm.
“EEK!”
Endel gasped, terrified that such a large snake had been behind his house, but Jun-sang, with an indifferent expression, caught and killed the python, then moved to check another location.
The second place Gentle Breeze found was inside a shabby shed next to the house. When he opened the door, a thick layer of dust was the first thing that caught his eye.
“Gentle Breeze, clear it.”
As his words fell, the gently blowing Gentle Breeze violently swept through the shed, blowing the accumulated dust out of the shed. Jun-sang, who had instantly cleared the old dust, then dug through a pile of stacked hay and suddenly smashed a floorboard in the shed, breaking it.
“Ah! In a place like this!”
Endel gasped in surprise as a stone staircase appeared beneath the broken floorboard and quickly went down. What met his eyes inside were five or six barrels of alcohol and sacks of grain seeds.
“Ah…” Endel nodded and briefly examined the legacy his grandfather had left behind, then returned to Jun-sang with a joyful expression and bowed his head. “Thank you. Thanks to you, I was able to safely find the legacy my grandfather left behind.”
“Is this it?”
At Jun-sang’s question, Endel nodded and replied, “These alcohols were brewed every time my family and I were born. They are treasures incomparable to anything for my family.”
“…”
Jun-sang nodded and then checked the quest information.
(Sub) Endel’s Request
: Endel, who had been living abroad, recently returned here and inherited his grandfather’s legacy. However, his playful grandfather hid most of his legacy somewhere in the house. Help Endel find where his grandfather’s legacy is hidden.
->Completed!
Reward: A little experience, (Endel’s Letter of Introduction)
-> Would you like to claim your rewards now? (Y/n) _ (Caution) Unclaimed rewards will be automatically deleted after 7 days.
Jun-sang first received the experience, then extended his hand to Endel.
“Letter of introduction.”
Endel flinched for a moment.
“L-letter of introduction?”
“…”
Endel couldn’t help but be flustered by Jun-sang, who was silently staring at him, wondering if he was perhaps someone from the same “industry.” Endel was indeed disconcerted, as he had come here with the intention of finally settling down and living a secluded life, taking advantage of his grandfather’s death. But seeing Jun-sang’s unwavering gaze, Endel eventually sighed and replied, “Understood. Let’s go inside first.”
Endel led Jun-sang into the house, took out a piece of paper, wrote a few simple words, and handed it to Jun-sang. “I don’t know how you found me, but I’ve already retired from the guild and don’t have much influence. Are you really okay with this?”
“…”
Jun-sang silently nodded, then left Endel’s house and headed for Bandes’s field this time. Bandes, who had been waiting anxiously, rushed out to greet Jun-sang as he arrived with Henes on the red wolf.
“You’ve come at a good time. Look, those are the ones.”
Looking where Bandes pointed, he saw a large wild boar diligently rooting through the field, leading smaller pigs that appeared to be its piglets. Upon inspection, it certainly had a body size that could be called monstrous, but compared to the one he had beaten in the swamp earlier, it didn’t feel particularly large.
“Martial artist, pig.”
“Huh?”
Bandes, who had been following Jun-sang just in case, unconsciously retorted when Jun-sang suddenly muttered incomprehensible words, but the next moment, his jaw dropped at the sight of Jun-sang shooting out like lightning and ramming the monstrous wild boar’s side with his shoulder.
SQUEAL!
The monstrous wild boar died instantly from the impact of Jun-sang’s ram. The piglets, startled by their mother’s sudden death, scattered and fled, but they were all killed by the Dire Wolf and Timber Wolf, who had received Jun-sang’s command.
Jun-sang, who had bagged the wild boar’s carcass and stored it in his inventory, approached Bandes and extended his hand, just as he had with Endel. Bandes then hastily pulled out a silver ring he had carefully kept in his pocket and handed it to Jun-sang.
“This ring is all I can give you…”
Jun-sang immediately checked the ring Bandes had handed him.
Item Information
Name: Bandes’s Ring
Level Requirement: 10
Type: Ring
Grade: Uncommon
Effect: Petrify Resistance 5%, Fear Resistance 5%
Seed: 1 slot
Description: A ring Bandes accidentally found in the mountains.
It is possible to equip a seed in the groove in the center.