Chapter 30
Ha-neul had no particular reason for visiting Yor's cave.
She just came because she finally had some free time.
After all, between editing and managing Chae-rin's chat room, she didn't have much personal time.
So she just dropped by since she had time... but who knew she'd end up hearing about such a big matter.
She felt troubled.
While reporting to the Guild would be easy enough, she didn't have much of an excuse prepared.
When she went to report it, there's no way the receptionist would just say "Oh, I see" and believe it, right?
They would definitely ask about the circumstances. That's where she'd be at a loss for words.
According to rumors, the thieves who stole the demon's arm were said to be as strong as an A-Class mercenary squad.
And to join an A-Class mercenary group, you needed to be at least level 110.
That's how monstrous they were.
So if she, who had barely reached level 70, claimed to have caught one, they would obviously be suspicious.
"Then what should we do? I don't have any other options either."
Of course, Yor had considered this problem too.
But he had no one else to ask - being someone who couldn't freely show himself, there weren't many people he could make requests to.
Though he knew it was difficult, in the end he only had about two people he could ask, including her.
"Or maybe we could say Chae-rin helped take him down together. Hmm... would that be hard too?"
At Yor's words, Ha-neul turned her head away for a moment.
There was something that made her uncomfortable. Yor noticed her awkwardness and immediately asked.
"Don't tell me you still haven't told her?"
He was asking if she hadn't told Chae-rin about becoming friends with Yor.
Ha-neul remained silent at his question.
Yor drew his own conclusion.
"I see, you haven't told her yet."
Though he didn't understand why she was hesitating. Yor was needlessly worried their relationship might sour at this rate.
'Well, she'll handle it herself.'
For now, Yor decided to let it go.
Perhaps because the topic was uncomfortable, Ha-neul, who had been fidgeting, asked Yor something to change the subject.
"But how did you end up killing her?"
"He tried to make some strange contact right in front of me, so I killed her."
"Right in front of you?"
"Yeah."
"What kind of idiot..."
Ha-neul made an expression of disbelief.
But Yor could understand the other person's actions.
If they had tried to run away, he would have caught them anyway. After all, a Manifestor like himself was sensitive about information regarding his identity.
The woman probably knew that and took the gamble of making contact right in front of him.
Either that, or they were truly lacking in intelligence.
As Yor thought this, he made his request to her again.
This time with a somewhat more earnest tone.
"Anyway, please help. I'll compensate you well. And if possible, I'd like you to find out some information too..."
It was then.
Suddenly a quest window appeared before Ha-neul's eyes.
+
[QUEST - Evidence Distortion]
Report the criminal Yor caught to the Guild!
Don't forget to pass on the information you've gathered to the Guild!
Success Reward - Goblin Shaman's Orb, Increased chance of preventing future calamity
Failure Penalty - ???
+
"?"
"?"
Both Yor and Ha-neul tilted their heads simultaneously.
A quest appearing suddenly at this timing.
While the timing was somewhat meaningful, what it implied was clear.
'This means I have no choice but to accept the request...'
It meant that Ha-neul herself had to accept this quest no matter what.
+
After accepting the quest, Ha-neul left the cave shortly after.
The sun was starting to set.
Even though she could fly through the sky, nights were still dangerous.
Besides, to conserve mana, she needed to walk near the Outside Layer anyway.
'Should have done this from the start.'
Last time, she seemed to have run low on mana from flying from the Outside Layer.
As expected, changing her method significantly reduced the mana consumption.
After all, even she, who focused on learning Support Magic, could handle the monsters in the Outside Layer.
After leaving the Forbidden Forest, she let out a small sigh of relief.
While getting the quest was good, a strange pressure weighed on her.
"Phew..."
Especially the phrase "Increased chance of preventing future calamity" in the success reward shook her heart. Future, all of a sudden. The meaning behind that phrase was fairly clear.
'Doesn't this mean it's related to the Main Stream?'
A clue about the Main Stream she had been waiting for had appeared.
For something like this to come to a mere User like herself. It was both fascinating and burdensome.
Ha-neul thought about Yor for a moment.
'Just who is he?'
Having Demon's Blood was meaningful enough to begin with.
As she pondered these questions, she decided to focus on completing the quest first.
Taking the criminal to the Guild and reporting him. And while at it, leaking information about the criminal's identity.
Looking at just the quest content, it was extremely simple.
The problem was that this wasn't something a low-level player like herself should be reporting.
So Ha-neul decided to take a somewhat roundabout approach to sharing the information.
"Welcome. How may I help you?"
"I'd like to make a request."
She would find someone to relay the message on her behalf.
In other words, a proxy for a proxy.
The Adventurer's Guild's request system worked in a rather unique way.
First, when a problem arose, individuals could request adventurers through the Guild.
As long as it didn't seriously violate the law, you could post almost any kind of request.
From finding lost puppies to exterminating rats in the sewers. You could post even such trivial requests to the Guild.
A request to connect with a somewhat skilled adventurer?
Without having to explain the circumstances in detail, slipping the receptionist some money would quickly resolve it.
That's how Ha-neul was able to meet with an experienced A-Class party of three.
Since there weren't any A-Class adventurers among Users yet, they were all NPCs.
This should be enough for them to believe they subdued the fleeing criminal.
Ha-neul handed over the criminal's corpse and requested them to report to the Guild on her behalf.
The reward for the request would be 80% of the bounty on the criminal's head. Since she hadn't caught them herself anyway, and Ha-neul just needed to complete the quest, it was a reward she could offer.
The adventurer party showed some suspicion at first, but since they had nothing to lose, they gladly accepted.
And so the A-Class adventurer party reported back to the Guild with the criminal's corpse.
Claiming they had caught the fleeing wanted criminal.
"My goodness, did you really catch her? Where did you find her?"
"Ah yes, really! We found this suspicious woman on the way to the Empire. When we asked who she was, she attacked us, so we caught her."
"Hmm... did she say anything else?"
"She did."
Fortunately, the adventurer party didn't forget to pass on the information to the receptionist.
About the Lemegeton organization, and the demon-worshipping sect.
Now that information would climb up through superiors until it finally reached the Empire's ears.
Watching the adventurers receive their bounty, Ha-neul let out a small sigh of relief.
"Phew..."
Good. This should complete the quest.
Looking at the darkened night sky, Ha-neul thought about what would unfold in the future.
*
And then about 3 weeks passed.
"Really, thank you. You saved me."
"N-no problem..."
I gave Ha-neul the Goblin Shaman's Orb as her quest reward.
While it would be awkward for me to use, she as a mage could put it to good use by embedding it in her wand.
You shouldn't underestimate something just because it's from a goblin. Goblin Shamans were quite high-level creatures.
Thanks to her completing the quest well, fortunately no pursuers came to this forest.
Since the corpse had already been discovered, there was no need to continue the investigation.
Though I hear there's chaos outside the forest.
They say each country is desperately searching for this Lemegeton sect or whatever.
A demon-worshipping sect. They couldn't just leave something like that alone.
Especially since some of their followers were said to have skills above A-Class adventurer level, they had no choice but to be wary.
Hearing such information, I could feel a strange emotion.
My request had caused an uproar across the entire world.
Of course, the root cause was ultimately the criminal and the Lemegeton group but...
In the end, I was the one who triggered the quest.
I already knew what it meant to trigger a quest from what Yoo Chae-rin had told me.
It happens when the quest itself is important to the world. Or when the subject who issued the quest is an important figure in the world.
'What am I?'
Thanks to this, I couldn't help but pose a philosophical question after a long time.
What am I, and what is this world?
While this place is a game to Otherworlders, to me this world was now real.
I had never once thought my life was fake.
But suddenly Otherworlders appeared, and one or two chaotic events started happening. Because of this, I couldn't help but think a bit deeper.
'...I don't know.'
After thinking for a while, I just shook my head and decided to focus on what I needed to do.
That is, survival.
Questions about the self are always heavy.
And I'm somewhat distant from heavy things. More precisely, I didn't have the luxury to think about such topics.
So let me just do what I need to do.
With that mindset, I moved to gather food.
One thing was certain - the world was still in chaos.