Chapter 41

“So… you’ll take the quest, right?”

Truth be told, I had been about to refuse.

The pay was tempting, sure, but a whole month? That was way too long. If I joined the party, I’d have to match my entire life and schedule to that cocky brat’s group. Not for a day or two—but an entire month? It was obvious this so-called event was going to be packed full of headaches. A cliché is a cliché for a reason.

“I don’t really feel like—”

But just as I was about to put the refusal into words, Shia gripped my hand tight.

“My dear. Let’s do it.”

“…Huh? Why?”

In response, the girl flashed me a dazzlingly bright smile.

“I smell noise, chaos, and mayhem. The scent of turmoil that will cure me of my boredom.”

Ah, that face. I knew that expression well.

It was the same look she had back in Sinan, saying it would be fun to go raise hell—her face full of excitement and thrill. Or going back even further, the face of my mom and little sister when they sat down to watch those messy weekend dramas, eager to see what kind of end-of-the-world disaster plot twist would explode next.

“So, yes?”

“…”

“Yes? Yes?”

“Ugh.”

Damn it. Why did she have to be so unnecessarily cute?

In the end, I let out a sigh and extended my hand toward the draconic lady.

“Fine. Let’s do it. The quest.”

“Hmph… an unfamiliar face. I am Hank Aduhn, leader of Hank’s Party. So? You there, you’re the one Miss Kate mentioned—the new recruit? Is that a letter of introduction you’re holding?”

“…”

I just gave him a look that said how pathetic he was, and his face twisted in anger.

“You insolent bastard… Can you not hear my voice? Kneel and show respect to blue blood! Do you not know it is a peasant’s duty to pay homage to those of noble birth?”

Ha… blue blood my ass. Coming from the second son of a backwater baronet’s family. This guy was less self-aware than me, an Otherworlder.

“Yeah. I’m the oh-so-gracious new member for your little party, brat.”

“…What?”

No sooner had I finished than one of his members, a twin-tailed human girl who screamed “I’m a mage” just by her outfit, jumped up in outrage.

“You cur! Watch your tongue! Do you even know who this is!?”

“Second son of Baronet Aduhn, right?”

“And you still dare address Lord Hank so rudely—!”

Tsk tsk… country bumpkins.

“Blue blood, huh? Didn’t you all grow up together in Ferom Village, on Aduhn’s estate?”

“And what of it!?”

“You think that just because you were all raised in the same tiny village, this brat suddenly looks like some kind of prince? Let’s be clear: being a baronet’s second son with no inheritance rights just makes him gentry. And I’m gentry too. So why the hell should I bow to him?”

“You—you’re gentry!?”

“Yeah.”

I pulled out my gentry certificate (which I’d already picked up in Central through Sodin Cross). The girl scoffed.

“You think all gentry are the same? Ferom Village has three thousand residents! You really think you’re on the same level as our young master?”

“Exactly. The same young master who got tossed aside like trash in his own estate. No business acumen, so he couldn’t even start a merchant company. Not smart enough to get into the Academy. Didn’t want to serve as a knight’s lackey either. So he ended up choosing to become an adventurer. That’s your noble young master, isn’t it?”

“You—how dare you speak to him like that…!”

Her face turned bright red under my verbal smackdown.

Wow. So the rumors were true. He’d built his party out of childhood friends from the same village. No wonder their loyalty was absurd. These yokels were worshiping the son of their village lord like he was royalty.

With the twin-tailed girl left fuming but speechless, Hank Aduhn stepped in again.

“You do have a sharp tongue. But if you want to join my party, you’ll find it won’t help to cross your leader.”

“Then I’ll pass.”

“…What?”

“I think you’re confused. It’s not me who needs you—it’s you who needs me. You clueless brats.”

“…!”

I kept pressing, dropping truth bombs one after another.

“I heard you rejected every applicant who came to join. Too weak? Useless. Too strong? Hurt your pride. Too talented? Threatened your position as leader. And now? Even if you put up recruitment notices on the board, no adventurer even bothers looking anymore.”

“…”

“Tsk… If it weren’t for the debt I owe to Kate, I wouldn’t even give a child’s play party like yours the time of day.”

That finally set him off.

“Then get lost!!”

“Oh? You sure about that? Don’t regret it later.”

“Regret? Me? Why?”

“Because once you turn me down, you won’t be able to recruit anyone through normal means anymore.”

“…What?”

“Tsk tsk. Let me ask you something. You close with Miss Kate? Close enough that she’d personally write you a recommendation letter for a custom-fit party member?”

“…”

“No, right? Which means the fact she gave you this letter was part of her duty. The only reason I’m here is because the guild decided to show some pity to a bunch of spoiled kids. And if you turn away even that kind of favor, how do you think the guild will judge you?”

“…!”

“You think the guild’s a joke? Don’t tell me you believe the guild tolerated your antics because they were scared of some backwater baronet? Let me spell it out—the ruler of Seol East isn’t your daddy, it’s the Adventurer’s Guild. If they wanted to, they could replace your little estate in an instant. And you, a measly silver or bronze-ranked adventurer, dare defy the guild? Wow, gutsy.”

“…”

“You blue-blood wannabe brat. Let’s be honest—you don’t even have the right to refuse me. But if you really want to, then write it down. ‘I rejected the guild’s recommended party member for no reason beyond my personal feelings.’ That way I can at least explain it to the guild.”

The brat ground his teeth hard at my words.

“…Fine. If you insist, I’ll give you a test.”

“Oh…?”

With a sharp glare, he drew the arming sword at his waist.

“Come. If your skills match your big mouth, I’ll accept you into my party. But if you’re all talk, then you’d better be ready to pay for mocking me—with an arm.”

I smirked and pulled out the mace hanging from my hip (which was actually a staff).

“A test, huh? Sure, why not. Let’s see what the second son of a village chief’s estate can do.”

…
…
…

Ten minutes later.

In one of the guild’s training rooms, the brat and I clashed under the watchful eyes of his party.

“Hup!”

Bang!

“Haah!”

Craaaack!!

Of course, there was no such thing as a “fierce duel” between me and this brat.

According to the draconic lady, at best he was a mid-level Mana User. Considering he had just come of age, it wasn’t bad talent… but compared to me? That was like a single red blood cell in a centrifuge against the whole ocean.

So what was this situation?

Come on. Obviously I was holding back. This was what you’d call a “training match.”

I adjusted my strength perfectly, just enough to make him feel the gap—about half of it, no more, no less. A delicate balance, thin as paper, that he could almost but never quite break.

“Hrrraaaah!!”

Claang!

“Oh, not bad.”

“Shut up! Bashing!!”

Boooom!!

Right about now he had to be seething, stuck in that narrow margin where he felt like he could break through but never actually did.

“Come on, keep going. This can’t be all you’ve got, right?”

“I’ll kill you!”

Hank’s party members gasped at the back-and-forth of what looked like a high-level exchange.

“Wow… he’s even with the young master.”

“No, he might actually be fighting better…”

The comments came from a long-haired oxkin youth and a gray-haired archer girl.

But then, the twin-tailed mage snapped, shouting at the top of her lungs.

“What nonsense are you spouting!?”

The oxkin only shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, I mean… is that really something to get so worked up over? It’s not like this is the first time we’ve seen someone stronger than the Young Master. Just look at Miss Kate…”

“You have to consider age! Age! Hank’s only eighteen this year! Those other people were all old men!”

This time, the gray-haired archer girl quietly sided with the oxkin.

“If you put it that way… that guy’s our age too.”

“He can’t even use mana! He’s just a Novice! Hank’s a Mana User! That alone makes him more amazing!”

“No, wait—if you think about it the other way, the fact that a Novice can go toe-to-toe with a Mana User means he’s amazing in his own right…”

“Selan! Whose side are you on!?”

“Eh? Ah… o-of course, I’m on the Young Master’s side. Yeah…”

And then, for the first time, the girl in white priest robes who had been quiet spoke up in a lazy voice.

“All three of you, quiet down. Instead of yelling, you should be observing that man’s fighting carefully. Before long we’ll have to work with him. We need to know what he’s good at and what he’s not.”

The twin-tailed mage flared up immediately.

“You’re saying that rude man is going to join our party? Ridiculous! Hank would never allow it!”

“Who knows. I understand the Young Master’s pride is wounded, but let’s face reality. Didn’t he always say he wanted someone who wasn’t so weak they’d drag us down, but not so strong they’d undermine him as leader? A reliable frontline who can tank? Who could possibly fit better than that man?”

“But…”

“And he was right about one thing. Making enemies of the guild won’t do us any favors. Because of Hank’s stubbornness, we skipped the guild’s training program, ignored their advice not to go below the fourth floor, and went straight to the fifth. They even offered us a guild guardian at a discount, but we turned it down just because he didn’t want interference.”

“…Ugh.”

“I think this is the limit. I get that he wants to prove himself to the lord as fast as possible so he can push aside his older brother. But if he keeps being this stubborn, it’ll be too much to tolerate as party members.”

“And what if you can’t tolerate it? Hank’s the leader.”

“Then I’ll leave. The party.”

“…What?”

“I said I’ll leave.”

“Illeia, you…!”

“I’m not like you or Selan, childhood friends of the Young Master. I’m not like Cheche either, his sworn retainer. I’m just a junior priest drafted from the Earth Mother Kanan’s church in Ferom Village.”

“…!”

“I have the freedom to choose my own path. Neither the Young Master nor any of you have the right to criticize me for that.”

“…”

“And since I’m already saying what I want, let me add one more thing—I have zero interest in the Young Master. So stop flaring up every time I talk to him. It’s pathetic.”

The twin-tailed mage was about to explode at the priest girl, but the oxkin youth quickly stepped between them.

“Whoa, whoa. Chill. Relax those faces. Looks like it’s wrapping up.”

Hank Aduhn was swinging his sword with a face that screamed, just a little more, just a little more and I’ll pierce his guts! I was starting to time the end of this little training match.

Clang!

I caught his blade and spun to the side at just the speed he could follow.

I’d already read his shallow swordsmanship to the bottom long ago. Guiding his moves was child’s play.

Buckler.

Sure enough, just as I predicted, he swung the buckler on his left arm.

Crash!

The buckler collided with the mace—well, the staff disguised as a mace—in my hand.

He braced with his back foot to keep from being pushed back. And once his foot stopped, the next move was obvious: a lateral slash.

Whish!

I deliberately ignored the gaping opening that would’ve let me smash him in the face a hundred times, and thrust just a breath slower. His natural response?

Vertical guard.

Claang!!

Right on cue, he reacted exactly as I expected.

Honestly, for a Mana User, this wasn’t bad at all. Moves this formulaic showed he’d spent a lot of time drilling swordsmanship.

But that’s all.

His vision was narrow, his movements rigid. A sign of someone who’d trained alone too long without real combat experience.

Looks like he’s going to plateau here for a long while.

Of course, if he had even one-sixty-fourth of my talent, that wouldn’t matter and he’d keep growing. But this brat? Not a chance.

Well… not my problem.