abcnovels
Chapter 294: Sense of Mission 4
Chapter 294: Sense of Mission 4
Chapter 294: Sense of Mission 4
TL/Editor: raei
Schedule: 5/Week Mon-Fri
Illustrations: Posted in discord.
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As the glamorous lights enveloped Han Se-ah, a crowd surged towards her.
"Your hard work will indeed make the world brighter."
"May blessings follow the hero's path."
Priests, gripping Han Se-ah's hand firmly, bestowed a blessing infused with divine energy and then left the party without any hesitation.
As they departed, opportunists lurking nearby quickly converged on the spot.
However, once the priests voluntarily left, the situation changed.
The crowd, as if drawn by gravity, began to swirl around and then, one by one, they dived in.
Naturally, the first to rush in after the priests were the nobles.
"Oh, Hero! Your fame is well known."
"You went down South to help the Antibes domain recently, didn't you?"
"Ha, you are a great joy to the kingdom."
Groups of nobles gathered, possibly to avoid appearing as though they were politically maneuvering.
From a distinguished old man with striking white hair to young nobles who looked like they could conduct politics in a canyon, they all approached together harmoniously.
They didn't really discuss anything significant, perhaps indicating some sort of unspoken agreement; they were desperate to make their presence felt, laughing happily while excessively praising the Goddess and flattering Han Se-ah.
-Check out Se-ah’s stiff face
-What are you doing? Don't ruin the vibe, just smile
-It’s so damn funny how she squirms awkwardly when the old guys openly praise her
-Look at that face, it’s so suffocating, is this virtual reality?
-But what about those girls in the back? They here to see Roland?
"In other games, I didn't care about watching the hero from the other side of a monitor... but in a VR game, being the actual hero, makes it cringy as hell."
"Hey, Hero-!"
As a group of nobles lightly greeted and then left, their places were taken by young noble ladies dressed in thin, stylish dresses.
The presence of ladies fluttering dresses and frills instead of wearing armor and wielding weapons inside a life-threatening tower created a surreal dissonance for me, though it seemed no one else thought much of it.
Even if Roland always appeared pristine, perhaps the essence was aging.
Despite the variety of dresses, every person clung tightly to a symbol of the Goddess Faith, their eyes shining too brightly as they looked up at Han Se-ah admiringly.
"I've heard about your exploits at parties!"
"You uncovered the schemes of a wicked witch in the South, may I hear the story?"
"Um, uh, may I call you sister, oh!?"
Given it was a gacha game, there were plenty of buffed female characters, but as it was set in a medieval fantasy, the lack of social activities for women was expected.
It seemed they admired the hero for being a woman.
I had heard from some noblewomen that some of the social gatherings formed among young ladies were 'too close,' hinting at potential issues.
The flushed cheeks of these young ladies closely resembled those of fans standing in front of their idol.
"Now, don’t get too excited; it could trouble the Hero. I know everyone's excited, but we must maintain decorum when we speak."
"Ah, yes..."
"Oh! It’s okay. I didn’t take it as rude."
"Thank you for your consideration, Hero. But as nobles, we must uphold the proprieties of the social sphere."
The ladies giggled behind their fans and took an awkward step back, though their fervent gazes did not wane.
A slightly sinister young lady with black hair muttered softly, "sister-" almost frighteningly.
But even she, familiar with social gatherings, made no politically sensitive comments, merely offering her greetings before disappearing.
The warmth of the South, giant bugs, good witches and bad witches, the Lord of Antibes, and temples... the talk revolves only around the heroic deeds without touching upon their own family stories, which confirms it.
Meeting at such a party and the fact that nobles and young ladies do not even mention their own family names suggests that some sort of arrangement has been made, whether with the royal family or the Temple.
"...Ugh, this is draining. How the hell has Roland survived in parties like these?"
-LOL, rather than saying Roland 'survived' it... well, it's best not to say anything.
-Hey, speak properly or you'll get banned. Stop talking sh*t about teacher.
-It's not a false rumor, it's the truth
-The social gatherings Roland dealt with must have been different from the start, dummy.
-Would those gatherings be R-rated afterparties or what?
As Han Se-ah endured harassment from the nobles, the other party members were hardly better off.
Grace, the most approachable of the group, had already been completely encircled by a horde of persistent nobles.
They weren’t applying pressure or being rude, but they followed her en masse wherever she moved.
They were probably of lower rank than the nobles hounding Han Se-ah.
Katie, naturally, was shackled by her past.
That meant she was receiving complex looks from nobles connected to the North, saying, "Miss..."
Back in the North, she was known as a runaway young lady, but here in the tower, she was viewed as a hero saving the world?!
Irene was less surrounded by nobles and more by devout followers of the Goddess Faith.
Naturally, our saint candidate seized the opportunity to spread the word of the Goddess.
Unlike the other party members, her area had turned into a small prayer meeting at a corner table.
So, where was I?
"...Hey, but where is Teacher Roland?"
-Teacher Roland's experience is unmatched.
-Wondered where he went, turns out he's been holding out on the balcony LOL
-Saw him sneak off with a plate of finger food and hide, like a retiring sergeant.
-Wondered why there were so many people around, turns out they got ditched?
-The tank handed over the aggro to the mage and bailed
I stood on one of the mansion's balconies, the door shut and curtains drawn, enjoying the view of the underground city illuminated by magical lights.
Shutting the door and drawing the curtains at a social gathering basically signaled a desire for some private time.
Who would dare risk their political career by pulling back the curtain and forcibly opening the balcony door when they didn’t know who might be inside?
Thanks to that, I was enjoying web surfing in a very comfortable situation.
After all, it was right to leave everything to our player.
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Raei Translations
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My hiding in a secluded balcony wasn't because of the nobles.
As seen through Han Se-ah’s camera, the nobles are very well-behaved.
The type of domineering nobles you'd find in a fantasy novel are exceedingly rare.
Even if a noble is particularly troublesome, they wouldn't dare to make a scene when it wasn't even their own home, especially if their adversary is a hero under the protection of the temple.
So, the annoyance wasn't the nobles.
The real nuisance was the merchants, desperate in various ways.
"Hey, Hero!"
"Look here—I was first!"
"Good day!"
Comparing the nobles to hyenas was a bit off.
If the nobles were as relaxed as lions that had already hunted their prey, the merchants rushing in after the nobles had left resembled hyenas.
While the nobles had lined up as if by arrangement, this group resembled a bunch of kids racing to the cafeteria.
I watched the chaos while popping a biscuit topped with cheese and either salmon or shrimp into my mouth.
Thanks to Han Se-ah logging into this world, the food seemed even tastier.
As Han Se-ah got caught up in the aggressive greetings rush from the merchants, I found myself sipping sweet wine for quite a while, using the chaotic scene as a backdrop.
Knock-knock
Knock-knock
"Hmm?"
A polite knock sounded at the balcony's glass door.
Just the fact that someone had knocked on the glass door already showed they were completely ignorant of the etiquette of social gatherings.
Curious, I turned and opened the door, and, as expected, it was Irene.
Knocking on a curtained, closed balcony door—if she had been a noble, it would have been considered not just rude but downright sinister.
However, the story is different when it's not a noble knocking.
"Come in, Irene."
"I couldn't see you in the hall, so I've been looking for you for a while, Roland."
Although she had violated the unspoken rules of social gatherings, Irene had adhered to the common courtesies by knocking, as expected.
It seemed she had already dispensed blessings and spread the word of the Goddess among the devotees in the hall and then began searching for the other party members.
Considering Han Se-ah, Grace, and Katie were all caught up with guests, she turned to me.
I could easily imagine Irene, true to her future saint status, wandering around empty-handed without even a small glass of champagne, hesitating after seeing Han Se-ah overwhelmed by people.
As a member of the hero's party and a saint candidate of the Temple, Irene wielded significant power.
She could have bulldozed through the crowd, regardless of whether they were nobles or merchants, declaring, "I'm taking sister with me!"—her authority was such that it wouldn't have been seen as overstepping.
The problem was Irene’s soft, tofu-like personality, which made her hesitate, worried that asserting her rightful power might inconvenience others.
In fact, if she had decided to pull Han Se-ah out to the balcony by now, it wouldn’t have been a nuisance but rather would have been something Han Se-ah would have deeply appreciated.
Through the camera, I could see that Han Se-ah, harassed by merchants and enduring their nonsense, was clenching her teeth in frustration.
"Is it too noisy and tiresome inside?"
"Is that why you came out here? Because it's too noisy inside?"
"It is noisy, indeed. I always feel this way at the capital too—nobles' parties just don't suit me. I'd rather be in an adventurers' tavern, listening to their rough talk; it's more relaxing."
Irene nodded slightly at my words, understanding how annoying the merchants could be, having observed from the sidelines.
Could her coming out here mean she intends to continue the conversation that was abruptly cut off last time?