The Wesley family had been the ducal house guarding the northern part of the kingdom for generations. As befitting the title of Duke in K-fantasy, they had a touch of royal blood, receiving blessings from the Goddess and treated as nobility while protecting the harsh snowfields.
Unlike the tragic tales of siblings massacring each other and shouting "Succeeding you, father!" to beco the Duke, this noble house had steadfastly maintained its position as a pillar of the kingdom. The only slight issue was that when Heroes Chronicle Season 2 began, an empire suddenly appeared in the kingdom's north.
Because of this, the Wesley family's role shifted from being the Northern Duke protecting the kingdom from the harsh snowfield's monsters to being the Northern Duke maintaining order at the border with the empire.
To describe it in the most similar way possible... It felt like the Minister of Defense being forcibly transferred to beco the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
"Hmm... This seems like so kind of character quest, doesn't it? Maybe a clue to upgrade Katie to 6★, or sothing like a performance upgrade similar to awakening.
The problem is that it's telling us to go to the northern part of the empire, not the kingdom, where a monster wave has occurred."
-Haha, are they forcing us to go to the empire just to get a taste of what they've created?
-For real, I guess the empire was created for a character enhancent event.
-The party mbers are already fixed from Season 1 with the Goddess's approval, so it's probably not for additional recruitnt.
-Didn't the Katie bring so necklace and broken magic armor given as golem food when she ran away?
-I rember sothing about repairing an ice armor... It must be a key repair part.
As Han Se-ah imdiately started talking about the quest, it was clear that while Olek's nonsense was entertaining to listen to, a party mber's enhancent quest was naturally more interesting. Especially if it felt like a hidden quest concealed within the ramblings of an unrelated NPC.
The viewers quickly shifted from missions and malicious chats intended to tease Han Se-ah, like comforting Roland or touching his chest, to speculating about the north.
However, there was sothing that Han Se-ah and the viewers failed to notice in their enthusiastic speculation: there was a huge obstacle to completing this character quest.
"...So the story about magical equipnt sleeping where the rainbow begins, huh?"
"Ah, I've heard that story too."
"I thought it was just a tale circulating in the northern empire. It's being told in the kingdom too, Miss Katie?"
"Well, it seems both the kingdom and the empire have similar thoughts when they see the pure white snowfields and high peaks of eternal snow."
Katie, as the daughter of a ducal family and a knight in the hero's party, naturally spoke informally to Olek, who was older than her. After checking the tent, she abruptly joined the conversation between Han Se-ah and Olek, apparently curious about their chat.
Despite interrupting and speaking informally, Katie's dignified appearance and straightforward attitude, befitting a Duke's daughter and surpassing the level of a senior adventurer, seed to prevent Olek from feeling offended. He responded politely to Katie's actions, which lived up to her nickna.
However, as the two continued their conversation, Han Se-ah's expression gradually hardened.
"Still, it's just a fanciful tale."
"A fanciful tale, you say?"
"They say even the kingdom's adventurers spent a long ti searching the high mountains between the kingdom and the empire, talking about the Goddess's equipnt sleeping there or a dragon's nest existing. Even our family's ancestors got involved."
"Hmm... If even a ducal family, not just so adventurers, searched for hundreds of years and found nothing, I guess this story is fake too."
Olek seed to sink into sadness, like a child realizing Santa doesn't exist and it's their late-returning father who secretly leaves presents. anwhile, Katie appeared smug, as if educating a junior knight who didn't understand the ways of the world.
It seed that being from the sa northern region, both second children, mbers of knight orders who hunted monsters and walked the path of the sword, and Katie being just slightly above Olek in rank, made her treat him like a junior.
Well, even if she was younger, her family's prestige and personal skill could make her superior. Besides, given that Katie and his childhood friend Alisa called Olek childish, it seed their ntal ages weren't that different despite the age gap.
The problem was that the conversation between these two was heading in the direction of "In the end, it's all just baseless rumors."
"Hey, what should we do? If there's no quest to go to the empire, we won't have any reason to go to the Sibedev domain. I wonder if a side quest related to the monster wave will open up."
-Haha, no, it's not a baseless rumor
-Look at the synergy between Katie and the childish one ruining the quest, haha!
-But seriously, we're already so busy climbing the tower, when are we supposed to visit the empire?
-These BB Gas bastards are so cruel, aren't most of the main quests ti attacks?
-Throwing in a super long round-trip quest from the kingdom's center to the northern empire while setting a ti attack, wow~
As the two whispered to each other with an air of "Yeah, yeah, we don't believe in rumors anymore," Han Se-ah must have been ready to go crazy and jump around.
I an, it's a character quest, but the person involved is denying its existence!
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Just as hidden backstory (feat. Empire) was created for Roland Bretagne when Season 2 started, Katie Wesley also got her own hidden backstory (feat. Family).
It seed that since the empire and kingdom had finally managed to create a passage through those treacherous mountains and establish exchanges, there was bound to be intertwined history between noble families. Since party mbers were exclusively from the kingdom, this backstory appeared to be a way to incorporate the empire as a new field.
But there was a minor issue: for so unknown reason, the Wesley family's ancestors had ventured not just to the kingdom's north, but all the way to the northern empire.
"No way! If they'd just put it in the kingdom's mountains, we could go to the duchy later! Hunt monsters! Look around! Stop by to show off the daughter! We could find it along the way!"
-It's been said since ancient tis: send adventurers to the kingdom and nobles to the empire. GG
-No matter how much you scream at the quest window, the quest item hidden in the northern empire isn't going to move, lol
-What can you do? You were talking big, and now it's backfiring, haha!
-So what can you do if you don't strengthen your party mbers~~~~~~~
-This strear gets exactly what she talks about, is this the karma of the East? The retribution is impressive :)
The problem was that Han Se-ah couldn't tell Katie about this.
Han Se-ah, or more precisely, the 'player,' was set up as a country bumpkin who ca to the city of adventurers by carriage from a naless rural estate to beco an adventurer.
From the start, hidden classes like being from a noble family or having royal blood, hidden lineages, and hidden family histories were the exclusive domain of NPCs.
How could a country girl from a naless village in the kingdom's southeast suddenly talk about the northern empire, hundreds of kiloters away and over a year's journey by carriage, let alone about the hidden secrets of a ducal family that was a pillar of the kingdom? She'd be treated like a madwoman.
Moreover, with priests openly communicating with the Goddess and saints regularly appearing, it was hard to lie about receiving divine revelations. So all Han Se-ah could do was pray desperately for a side quest to the empire to appear between the main quest and character quest.
[Rolands Sturdy Heavy Sword donated 10,000 won!]
If you run to the empire before reaching the 60th floor, I'll give 100,000 won lol
[Katie Love Team donated 50,000 won!]
Are you abandoning your team? Not enhancing? Looking down on 4-stars because you have born 5 and 6-stars? Blatant discrimination?
[Katie Enthusiast donated 30,000 won!]
Hey, shouldn't we do the character quest before defeating the boss?
It was the established flow of the stream that when Han Se-ah struggled with an unsolvable problem, viewers always ca with missions.
Lying in the tent set up by the Ice Cross Knights, with them even taking care of the night watch, I leisurely watched Han Se-ah's stream. Her face was contorted as she suffered from both chat and donation harassnt.
Having more people around did make things convenient in this way. Even if we had to take turns for night watch in pairs, the Ice Cross Knights could handle it, allowing the hero's party to rest properly at night like true heroes. Of course, with everyone having superhuman bodies, they wouldn't get tired whether they stood watch or not.
"Roland, won't your eyes hurt if you keep looking up like that? Should I lend you so cloth for a blindfold?"
"I'm not trying to sleep, just thinking about the story Olek told earlier."
"The one about the treasure under the rainbow? When the children at the temple heard that story, they'd run outside on rainy days, and the nuns would often scold them for catching colds."
As I lay in my sleeping bag, watching Han Se-ah's struggles, Irene naturally approached . It seed the awkward pampering ti wasn't over yet, as Grace had co after my conversation with Katie, and now Irene approached, like well-oiled gears.
She ca to the head of my sprawled-out sleeping bag, gently lifted my head, and offered her lap as a pillow. After briefly admiring her large pouch of divine energy that shaded from the sun so well I didn't need a blindfold, I dropped a piece of bait.
"I've heard this story while traveling too, and I don't think it's completely baseless."
"Oh my, really?"
As I savored the gentle touch of her hand smoothing my hair and the soft feeling of her thigh against the back of my head, I glanced slyly at the cara approaching to capture this scene with uncanny precision.
If the player couldn't tell the truth, I'd have to do it myself.
After all, our Katie needed that enhancent.
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