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Chapter 83: Two Pillars

Someone with good talent had appeared, and it wasn’t the normal kind; it was a rarity. After all, how many people could climb to B-rank in just 3 days?

It wasn’t impossible, but not just anyone could do it. One’s ability had to be at least A-rank to accomplish that feat. In other words, the talent this time was at least A-rank.

Tock. Tock.

Jackal knocked on the door as when he arrived in front of a room.

“Master! It’s Jackal!”

Creak…

Not long after his shout, the door opened and the guild master of Lime Guild, Alex, appeared.

“Hmm? Are you going somewhere?”

Noticing Alex’s attire, Jackal cocked his head and asked.

“Oh, I have to quickly go to the sewers. There’s a possibility that those things could crawl out soon.”

“… You mean them?”

“Yeah, but what do you want?”

Alex asked back after nodding to Jackal’s question.

“Ah.”

At Alex’s question, Jackal exclaimed as he recalled why he was here. Then, he went straight to the topic.

“I have something to report.”

“Is it urgent?”

“… I believe that it’s quite urgent.”

The sewers were important, but this matter was also important.

“Hmm, can I hear it on the way?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s go.”

Alex started walking with Jackal by his side, who had began reporting.

“There’s mercenary who has reached B-rank in just 3 days. He doesn’t have a guild.”

Before long, Alex stopped in place.

“What? Really?”

It was because the report was not what he expected.

“I told Lactone to prepare.”

“Does Drak know about this?”

Alex asked.

“Yes, they manage the agency with us after all.”

The Lime Guild and the Drak Guild. Hadrac was managed by those two guilds. Although their area of jurisdiction was separate, they had equal rights over the Mercenary Agency. In other words, it was likely that the Drak guild also knew about this new mercenary.

* * *

“Hoh.”

The master of the Drak Guild, Ian, sighed in admiration.

“At that speed, he should be A-rank at least.”

At Ian’s words, the person sitting opposite him, Lockon, replied while nodding.

“Yes, at least A-rank. If we’re thinking long term, then he could be an S-rank as well.”

A-rank was already guaranteed. If they thought long-term, then the mercenary was an enormous asset with the potential of S-rank.

“You’re sure that he doesn’t have a background?”

Ian asked. No matter how he looked at it, the mercenary’s ability was too great. He couldn’t believe that they didn’t have a background of some sort. Maybe he could be hiding his guild?

“Although they don’t officially have a background, I hired an information guild just in case. They should be on to it right now.”

Lockon had the same thought as Ian, so he had hired an information guild. The information guild should be investigating right now.

“Good job.”

Ian said with a satisfied expression.

“But where are we going?”

Lockon asked. Currently, Ian was getting armed even though he usually hated being armed. That meant that there must be a reason for Ian’s actions.

“The sewers.”

Ian replied after he had equipped all his gear.

“Is it because of those things?”

“Yeah. That’s why me and Alex decided to check it out.”

Ian then continued,

“Ah, does Alex also know about it?”

“Yes, since they acquired the information first.”

“Okay.”

Lockon nodded in understanding.

“Then I’ll be back.”

He then exited the room to head for the sewers.

* * *

‘Hmm?’

Jang Yool frowned.

‘What’s this?’

Still wearing the frown, Jang Yool started typing away on his keyboard.

“Wha…”

Then a forced smile crept upon his face as he pressed enter.

Seuk…

Jang Yool turned his head around to stare at Yang Joo Hyuk. Meanwhile, Yang Joo Hyuk also happened to turn around just in time to see Jang Yool’s forced smile.

“What is it?”

Yang Joo Hyuk asked as he met eyes with Jang Yool.

“Well, how should I say this? It’s a bit unclear now.”

Jang Yool said as he began to reply to Yang Joo Hyuk’s question.

“People from the Lime Guild and Drak Guild have taken notice.”

“What? From two guilds, not one?”

Yang Joo Hyuk couldn’t help but be surprised at Jang Yool’s words. As a city-state and a mercenary state, Hadrac was managed by two guilds. They were the guilds Jang Yool mentioned, the Lime Guild and the Drak Guild. Something had gotten those two guilds to be interested, but exactly what was he talking about?

“Did someone got B-rank in 4 days or something?”

If he had to name an event that the two guilds would take an interest in, then a mercenary achieving B-rank in 4 days was one of them. Was it that? Or was it something else?

“Yes, someone got it in 3 days.”

Jang Yool replied in response to Yang Joo Hyuk’s words.

“Wow, 3 days? That’s quite fast. Who was it?”

Yang Joo Hyuk asked while sighing in admiration. But Jang Yool hesitated to answer his queston.

“…”

Yang Joo Hyuk felt suspicious. Why was Jang Yool hesitating?

‘Don’t tell me…’

Yang Joo Hyuk suddenly thought of a figure and frowned.

“Soo Hyuk.”

At that moment, Jang Yool finally stopped hesitating and replied.

Yang Joo Hyuk couldn’t say anything in response. After staring absentmindedly at Jang Yool for a few seconds, Yang Joo Hyuk opened his mouth.

“Soo Hyuk?”

“The Archmage’s Descendant?”

“Yes.”

Yang Joo Hyuk watched Jang Yool nod twice then changed his question.

“Exactly what happened?”

If it wasn’t Soo Hyuk, he would just note down their character ID. After all, the two guilds weren’t even that big in the grand scheme of things. But the story was different when it involved Soo Hyuk. He had to know exactly what was going on.

“The two guilds are preparing to rope him in. Because he doesn’t have a guild yet.”

The current Soo Hyuk didn’t belong in any guild. Of course, he did belong to a tower, but that wasn’t a guild, and belonging in a tower didn’t affect one from joining a guild. There were also guilds made up of NPCs.

“Also, Soo Hyuk is currently on a promotion quest.”

“Is he the type that’s popular with NPCs?”

Yang Joo Hyuk mumbled to himself. Soo Hyuk had already attracted a top NPC of one of the towers.

“Matab then Hadrac…”

This time, he was attracting the top NPCs of Hadrac.

“But it’s a relief that he can’t become the Mercenary King.”

The Rank 1 Special Class Mercenary King. Soo Hyuk had already become the Archmage’s Descendant, so it was impossible. He had made the first step which was to attract the attention of the Lime and Drak Guilds, but it was still impossible for Soo Hyuk to become a Mercenary King. It could be said to be a relief.

“But he could still gain other privileges so report on the situation regularly.”

Yang Joo Hyuk said to Jang Yool. He couldn’t become the Mercenary King, but there were other things that he could get. For example, unique privileges.

“Yes, I understand.”

Jang Yool replied to Yang Joo Hyuk and turned back to watch his monitors again.

* * *

“Hoo…”

Soo Hyuk sighed deeply as he walked up the stairs. The reason he sighed, was because of the promotion quest.

[Unusual Ogres]

Ogres don’t live in groups. This is common knowledge. However, rumours have been spreading that the ogres on the Crimson Mountains have been moving in groups. One of the two pillars of Hadrac, the Drak Guild, is trying to locate the source of the rumours. Go to the Crimson Mountains and investigate the ogres there.

[Ogres: 0 / 20]

[Twin Headed Ogres: 0 / 2]

[Quest Reward: ???]

“Why does it have to be the Crimson Mountains…”

He had thought that he just had to hunt ogres. He had thought that it would end quickly as there was an ogre hunting area nearby Hadrac. But he was wrong.

The hunting area was already chosen. The Crimson Mountains. His kill count didn’t rise unless the ogres were hunted in the Crimson Mountains. The problem was the location of the mountain range. From Hadrac, he had to walk south for 1 hours and 30 minutes to finally arrive at the Crimson Mountains.

“Maybe if there were some decent monsters along the way.”

He wouldn’t have sighed if there were monsters along the way, however, he hadn’t seen a single monster along the way. More exactly, the path was a ‘safe zone’ where monsters rarely appeared. Some users would be relieved, but to him, it just felt like a waste of time. And there were more.

“Will they be oneshot…”

The level of ogres in the Crimson Mountains wasn’t low. At level 200~250, they were quite high levelled. In other words, there was a high chance that they wouldn’t be killed in one hit.

“Still, they move around in groups. I’ll be able to finish quickly.”

It wasn’t a huge problem if they couldn’t be killed in one hit. He had many spells in his arsenal after all. And more than anything, the ogres here were all bunched up together in groups, therefore, he could use big AOE spells more effectively.

Soo Hyuk closed his quest tab and trudged along quietly.  Then after a while, Soo Hyuk stopped walking as he arrived at the Crimson Mountains.

“Hoo…”

Standing in front of the entrance, Soo Hyuk checked the time while sighing once more.

‘1 hours and 20 minutes.’

It was 10 minutes shorter than expected. Of course, even if the walk was faster than expected, annoyed at the fact that the walk had taken him 1 hour and 20 minutes, Soo Hyuk stomped into the mountains with an annoyed frown on his face.

Step. Step.

Soo Hyuk started walking up the mountain range. There were ogres at the foot of the mountains, but there weren’t many, and the twin-headed ogres resided higher up the mountains as well.

‘They should be starting to appear from the middle area.’

The twin-headed ogres only lived above a certain height on the mountains. In other words, he would have to climb higher in order to complete his quest.

It was at that moment.

-Uooooh!

-Uaaargh!

Soo Hyuk stopped walking at the sounds in the distance and stared to his right.

Boom! Boom!

The moment he turned his head, loud booms reverberated through the forested mountain.

-Uoooh!

-Uooong!

Roars then followed the booms. They were ogre roars.

‘How many are there?’

Soo Hyuk wondered as he turned towards the direction where the roars came from. And so, Soo Hyuk arrived at his destination and stopped in place.

‘One, two…’

Soo Hyuk counted the ogres he could see.

‘Wait.’

But before he could count to five, Soo Hyuk became suspicious.

‘What are they doing?’

The reason he stopped counting, was because of the ogres’ behaviour.

-Uooooh!

Bang!

-Uooooong!

Bang!

‘Fight?’

Two ogres were fighting each with their massive fists, while the others were calmly watching them.

Translator and Editor Notes:

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