A man with whiskers like a rat's tail entered as I sat at the guild's table.
His sowhat familiar face suggested he frequented the Adventurer's Guild often.
He seed like a nobleman who only bought adventurers' spoils to emphasize his masculinity.
I wondered if my guess was right as he quickly found , strode over, and extended his hand.
"I never thought I'd et the city's hero like this!"
"Hero is too flattering a title. Weren't the guards who fought with weapons the ones who actually defeated the monsters?"
He pretended our eting was a coincidence.
"Ha-ha, so humble too. If only other adventurers were as modest as Sir Roland."
"Sir? I'm just an adventurer without any knighthood."
"But who would question Sir Roland's honor after you saved the citizens?"
After praising for a while, the man requested a handshake, handed sothing in the palm of my hand, and disappeared outside the guild with a sly smile.
He left with a silk pouch containing six gold coins.
The pouch itself was worth at least three silver coins.
"Is that man the last one?"
"Yes. He's the last nobleman officially coming to express gratitude. Your pouch must be quite hefty now. Please use that to fix the damage from before."
"Alright, I understand. I'm living comfortably thanks to the guild."
"It's not the guild, it's ."
"To , the guild is you."
Not even two gold coins would cover the cost of repairing the building and doors, but each nobleman I t gave five gold coins to save face.
They wanted to say, "I personally comnded the adventurer who saved the city this ti," in social gatherings, using excuses like "the city's hero had to pay for the repair of the buildings destroyed in the aftermath" or "he saved my servant."
"Anyway, these noblen. Just to make a talking point, they throw around gold coins like that."
"Most of the noblen in the Adventurer's City are quite rich."
***
Raei Translations
***
After seeing off the mustached guest, I briefly checked the statuses of other players through the forum.
The information was limited since it wasn't an internet forum but Han Se-ah's personal forum.
However, I could learn quite a lot thanks to the netizens who loved comparisons.
First, the Horned Wolf's city appearance conditions were to reach the 10th floor and hunt a certain number of tis.
It was unclear whether the count was for horned wolf magic stones or their by-products, but the event only started for players who could hunt the horned wolves without difficulty.
Second, the situation after the event were different for other players.
In Han Se-ah's case, I was able to look at the chat and took imdiate action, but other players didn't have a 6 Paladin Roland.
Consequently, casualties increased, and the city beca more chaotic.
Of course, the extent of the damage didn't reach a level where buildings were destroyed or city security was compromised.
If a player fought the horned wolves with their party mbers, guards would detect the commotion and start looking for other monsters.
Extra NPCs died in larger numbers, and if players were really unlucky, the innkeeper or restaurant owner where they stayed would die, causing them to lose their accommodation and property.
Thanks to Han Se-ah's stream, rumors about the Horned Wolves spread across the internet, with comnts suggesting that they were less dangerous.
While it could be an exaggeration driven by fans, gars with a sense of intuition would have figured it out.
Worst case, they could just reset to the morning before.
"The frequency of encountering people on the 10th floor has increased quite a bit."
"Apparently, parties hunting above the 11th floor have co down too."
As I followed Han Se-ah, thinking about various things, another adventurer greeted us with a nod.
It seed they recognized my face, showing no wariness and even attempting to approach us discreetly before deciding to step aside out of politeness.
Their actions were rather cute; if only they weren't a scarred man who appeared to be 2 ters tall.
From the spiked armor to the massive two-handed axe, he was definitely not a novice adventurer hunting Horned Wolves.
Judging by the nurous scratches on his armor, he was a veteran warrior with his own unique battle style.
The other party mbers trailing behind him also seed quite skilled.
"They've spread the rumor about what we saw in the guild. A silver Horned Wolf, much larger than the normal ones, has appeared."
"Isn't it better to hunt in the middle floors?"
"No. If you succeed in hunting that Horned Wolf, the nobles will seek you out."
Grace tilted her head at my words, possibly because she didn't understand the implications of being involved with nobility as a novice adventurer.
"What are the byproducts of the Horned Wolves?"
"Horns, eyeballs, fangs, claws, and skin."
"What were the features of the one we encountered?"
"It was enormous and silver, ah."
She exclaid in understanding.
The mont the nobles' bidding war began for the unique silver skin of the alpha Horned Wolf, the adventurer who succeeded in the hunt could retire and live a life of leisure.
While adventurers risk their lives to earn coins and silver, nobles squander gold on their portraits.
Just this morning, didn't they give several gold coins to create a talking point?
'Still, Han Se-ah will be the one to catch it. It's part of the main storyline.'
Wandering the plains aimlessly, I had no complaints.
Han Se-ah knew when the quest would start, and I trusted her to handle its progression.
For soone like , it was easier to run around and take hits as instructed.
Didn't they say, "If your body suffers, your mind will too"? Once Han Se-ah advanced the quest, my job was to smash the head of the alpha Horned Wolf that would reappear.
Planning and scheming for the future wasn't my style.
I've never even properly followed a sumr vacation schedule in my life.
"It seems that the Full Moon Wolf isn't attracted by this lure."
"Full Moon Wolf?"
"Oh, that's what they call it in the Magic Tower."
Han Se-ah, whose acting skills still left much to be desired, stealthily approached Grace.
Grace had slowed down her pace to chat with , and they ended up huddled together while walking.
"But, did you really start speaking informally with Roland?"
"Yes, I ntioned it briefly yesterday when you were talking with the other mages."
"Oh"
Their whispered conversation was still audible due to the close distance.
The way she paused and glanced at made it clear she was eager to speak informally with too.
Of course, I didn't need to look into her eyes to understand her intentions
-Just go and ask him to talk informally, right?
-LOL, speaking informally with the teacher because of money?
-We are now witnessing the collapse of the hierarchy in real-ti.
-Nope, go back to using formal speech for life and serve him.
-Where does a beginner adventurer get off speaking informally with a senior adventurer?
She seed obsessed with completing missions.
Seeing Grace's smiling eyes or them standing side by side outside the inn, I couldn't help but feel a sense of alienation.
Anyway, while Han Se-ah was hesitating and choosing her words, I took the initiative.
"You can speak informally too."
"Uh, ah, really? Yes!"
"It's ridiculous for a party leader to speak formally with their companions."
"That's true, umyeah."
"Is it difficult to switch right away?"
Her eyes glistened happily when I naturally granted permission. The success of the mission probably contributed to her delight as well.
With the warm atmosphere, we began preparing our al.
Since we had already gathered, we decided to eat sothing simple.
Grace blankly watched Han Se-ah take a mat from her inventory.
"It's fascinating every ti I see it... If I had sothing like that, hunting would be so much easier."
"Hunting?"
"It would be convenient for preserving the freshness of our ga. Not inside the tower, but outside."
Grace looked at Han Se-ah, who could only think of hunting inside the tower, with amusent.
As they talked, the image of an innocent genius witch unaware of the world's ways grew more and more solid.
I savored the steaming stew.
It was fortunate that the horned wolf hadn't appeared at Marianne's inn.
The food at other beginner-adventurer inns was so bad that we'd rather spend silver coins on buying proper als.
As we quickly finished the hearty stew, a scream reached our ears.
"Ah, help!"
The sound was faint, so it was hard to tell, but Grace, with her keen senses, also put down her stew bowl and looked in the sa direction as .
Sandwiched between extraordinary physical abilities and a sensitive scout, Han Se-ah asked us in confusion.
"Um, what's going on?"
"...Soone's screaming, right?"
Still not used to speaking informally.
I left explaining to Grace and imdiately sprang up from my seat.
My first step was a smooth leap, followed by a launch up that tore through the grassy plains.
"Find your way back!"
"Yes!"
With Grace's confident reply, I rushed towards the screams.
I couldn't hear shrieks from the peculiar creatures of the plains.
Therefore
"Ro-Roland?!"
"Bandits?"
It was possible that the troublemakers were not Horned Wolves but bandits preying on the influx of adventurers on the 10th floor.
A distinctively ugly man with a hooked nose aid his weapon at as I charged towards him, tearing through the earth.
A party of four n in armor were pinning down two won.
The two won might have co to hunt Horned Wolves, but one man's sledgehamr was covered in blood, and a pair of legs protruded from the tall bushes.
A group of inexperienced adventurers consisting of one man and two won had been caught by a party of interdiate-level adventurers.
"Ah, damn it."
"Help us, please!"
One of the won, covered in dirt from being pressed on the ground, reached out to , sobbing.
A tear rolled down her cheek, revealing her fair skin beneath.
Judging by the fact that the three of them had reached the 10th floor, the woman must be a 2 adventurer.
Gacha characters were blessed with beauty incomparable to ordinary country girls.
It seed that a party of dark-hearted n had succumbed to their desires and attacked.
"Hey, do you have any excuses?"
"Dieee!"
One of them, seemingly unaware of who I was, charged at with a sword drawn.
The other three shivered without showing any intention to resist.
They must have been overwheld by my charge, tearing through the earth.
No matter how kind and polite I may be, I am not so benevolent as to catch criminals gently and hand them over to the guards.
The panicked n knew this as soon as our eyes t.
But as an interdiate adventurer, his thrust was well-executed.
He aid for the gaps in my armor, his blade piercing through as if he was more experienced in killing humans than monsters.
The sword penetrated the seams of my lightweight armor, accurately stabbing my armpit.
"Ouch, damn. This isn't the skill of soone who's only tried it once or twice."
"Wha-what?"
The sword that pierced my skin crumpled and broke as if smashed by a hydraulic press.
From the tip of the blade to the hilt, and even the hand of the man holding it.
With a grueso crunching sound, everything below his elbow twisted grotesquely.
It was the reflective damage that could even shatter the skull of the 10th floor boss.
A re human body could not withstand it.
Co to think of it, was Roland designed as a PvP character?
Reflective damage wouldn't be as significant against boss monsters.
***
Uhh the website will be all over place this weekend, I'll try and set the updates overnight but the server requires 48hrs to properly set so I'm sorry to anyone caught reading at those tis... multiple refreshes until it loads a working version does work though.
I'll probably finish the chapter releases for the week sooner then wait the night of before applying the changes.
2/4 Enjoy the chappy!
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