The western entrance of Mulan.
Carl was standing guard and shook awake the senior sleeping next to him. "L-Look over there! Aren"t they our villagers?"
"Umm. What are you saying? Stand straight and keep watch. Um…" Darren, Carl"s senior, fell asleep again in a sleepy manner.
Carl sighed and shook Darren again. "Ah, really! Senior Darren, look over there!!"
"This brat is really... Heok!" Darren"s eyes popped open. Then he said urgently, "Hey! Quickly call the guard captain. Quickly!"
"Understood!" Carl went to call the guard captain.
Darren turned his head again to look at the people coming from afar. Their faces and clothes were covered in blood. Their clothes were torn and ragged. They obviously hadn"t eaten in a few days, and some of them were bleeding.
"What in the world..." Darren was looking at them with complicated eyes when he suddenly looked surprised. "Huh? That person...?"
Darren had been half-asleep beside Carl when the grandfather went out through the gate, but he had actually been watching. Then he saw the goblin falling down from one blow and thought it wouldn"t be a big problem because this was a strong grandfather. Even so, he didn"t have many thoughts. He just thought about sleeping at home after the end of his s.h.i.+ft and about what to eat tonight.
Now those thoughts had changed. He could see the residents and soldiers walking proudly behind the grandfather he had seen earlier. It was like a victorious general returning from war, and Darren gulped unknowingly.
"What the h.e.l.l is this grandfather?"
His thoughts on this didn"t last long though.
"What are you saying? The villagers are back?" Philos, the guard captain, had rushed over.
Darren pointed to the distant group and said, "Look over there."
The first words that Philos muttered when he saw them were, "Oh, G.o.d..."
* * *
After leaving the goblin"s secret cave, Kim Sujeong and I examined the health of the group. Fortunately, there were only a few injuries, and no one was dead. Thus, we led them back to Mulan. Upon our arrival, I could see the fl.u.s.tered guards in the distance. I spoke directly to the guard called Darren, "I want to see the guard captain."
"I"m Philos, the guard captain. Are you the one who led the villagers back?" A middle-aged man called Philos stepped forward.
Then a young man emerged from the crowd. "That"s right."
"You! You"re alive!"
"Masis"—it was the name of the young soldier who asked for my name before leaving the cave. He pointed to me and said, "This man is the one who saved us, Captain."
At Masis" words, Philos looked at the faces of the residents and soldiers and finally bowed his head toward me. "Thank you."
"Why are you doing this? Get up."
"No. Elder, you are the hero of the people of our village. You deserve respect."
"Eh~ hehe, this is really..." I scratched my cheek while looking at his figure that wouldn"t stand up straight no matter how hard I tried to get him to stop bowing.
This one… It was embarra.s.sing.
[The apostle "Fire Thief Looking Ahead" is looking pleased.]
We moved straight away. There were too many eyes watching us. We would be able to have a more detailed conversation in Philos" barracks. Masis wiped away his tears and bowed his head. "We were unable to save the rest of the group. I"m sorry."
"No... I almost lost you because of my bad judgment. Thank you for coming back alive."
"Captain..."
I looked at the two people and could see that Philos was a man of great character. Everyone could make mistakes, but not everyone could reflect on them. In that sense, Philos was admirable both as a leader and as a human. The corners of my lips curved up at the sight of the two of them.
"By the way, what happened? How did you survive?" Philos wondered.
"Ah, actually..." Masis started the long story about their capture.
They were heading toward the goblin village when they were suddenly overwhelmed by the ambush of the goblins behind them. They were captured and taken to the village. It turned out that there was a secret pa.s.sage that had been used to ambush them, and it was where they were imprisoned.
"We were waiting for an unG.o.dly death when he appeared and saved us." Masis glanced at me with eyes that shone like lanterns. This man was a bit creepy...
[The apostle "Fire Thief Looking Ahead" is smiling at your heroism.]
...This guy too.
"Once again, I am deeply grateful. How can I thank you..."
"No, I"m fine, so don"t worry about it."
...Please. I disliked this type of noisy thing.
Philos opened his mouth and said, "That reminds me, I haven"t heard the name of the hero who saved the villagers. What is your name?"
"I am Jackson. This here is Crystal. She helped me."
"h.e.l.lo, I"m Crystal."
"Oh, you"re a great beauty. Thank you for your help."
Look at this guy? He was a dangerous man.
Sujeong was slightly blus.h.i.+ng after being called a beauty. Hateful guy. How dare he look at someone who was like my daughter-in-law? There was no chance. I bared my teeth in a threatening manner. "Then we"ll be going!"
"Already?" Philos tried to stop us with an expression of regret.
Nevertheless, I spoke firmly. I was strict, majestic, and serious! "I"m busy!"
Then the moment I turned around and tried to quickly leave the barracks....
"Ohh! Jackson! You did a great thing. Thank you so much! I believed in you!"
...Ah, it was the d.a.m.n village chief. The moment Chen entered the barracks, he grabbed my hand and started to shake it up and down to express his grat.i.tude. A man suddenly grabbed my hands... I got gooseb.u.mps and quickly threw his hands away from me.
"Kuek... It was nothing. I just happened to pa.s.s by and save them."
I couldn"t be angry. He came to express his grat.i.tude to me. It wasn"t an att.i.tude that I could be angry at. Indeed, absolutely not.
"Ohh! No matter how accidentally you pa.s.sed by, it isn"t easy to act courageously. You are really great! Thank you!"
[Find the Goblin VIllage has been completed.]
[$1,000 have been acquired.]
[Experience has been acquired.]
[Save Mulan"s Residents has been completed.]
[$5,000 have been acquired.]
[Experience has been acquired.]
[You can"t level up anymore because you don"t have a cla.s.s.]
[Once you change cla.s.ses, you will receive the rest of your experience rewards.]
[1,000 fame has been acquired.]
[The t.i.tle "Hero of Mulan" has been acquired.]
[Affinity with all NPCs in Mulan has greatly increased.]
[In the future, all of Mulan"s stores will be 10% cheaper.]
Thanks to this, I wouldn"t have to go back to Mount Smir.
"Come to the smithy later. I want to make a great weapon for you!"
"I understand."
It wasn"t until after the storm that was the village chief had pa.s.sed through that I could speak to Philos. "Then work hard."
"Ah, excuse me..."
"...?"
"You can go to the training camp if you haven"t got a cla.s.s yet."
"Training camp...?"
"That"s right. Kunta, the training director there, is responsible for the cla.s.s change of the adventurers. If you have business there, can you deliver a letter to him?"
Ttiring~
[Philos" Apology]
[Difficulty: F-
Mulan"s guard captain has written a letter of apology to the training director, Kunta.
Philos will feel a bit more comfortable if you give this letter to Kunta.
Go to the training camp and give Kunta the letter from Philos.
-Completion Conditions: Meet with Kunta 0/1.]
"My misjudgment almost led to the loss of the soldiers that Kunta cared for. I feel so sorry and guilty that I can"t face him. However, I have courage because of you. Can I ask you to deliver the letter?"
Well, Philos was a responsible person. However, he couldn"t go and apologize directly, so it was only to this extent.
"I understand. I will do so."
[The quest has been accepted.]
I left the barracks with Sujeong and walked through Mulan"s square. It was a lively place that was great to look at. The people here were meeting someone, mingling, or living naturally. I saw this scene and thought about how humans could be so beautiful.
[The apostle "Fire Thief Looking Ahead" is interested in the lives of humans.]
...What the h.e.l.l was this guy?
On the way to Mulan, I was able to ask Sujeong about this guy"s ident.i.ty. I learned that after eating a Star Fruit, you could be chosen by a "constellation." It was a tremendous opportunity to get a legendary cla.s.s, and she kept asking how I got it all the way to Mulan. I could only answer in one way. "It was given to me?"
I spoke the truth, but she looked a bit upset. So, I was forced to appease her by feeding her something.
"How much is a wolf skewer?"
"One for $5!"
"Give me two."
I quickly bought two and handed one to Sujeong.
"Don"t think that this will resolve everything," she said while taking a big bite of the skewer.
Sujeong looked like she had been starving for days, and I smiled unconsciously. She must"ve been very hungry. Keke. I bit the wolf skewer I was holding.
[The apostle "Fire Thief Looking Ahead" is drooling.]
...Aish, he made the food tasteless. Couldn"t this guy eat? What kind of constellation was he that he couldn"t even eat this? Tsk tsk.
"Sigh, this is my luck."
I endured the fire thief"s clamoring every time I took a bite and started to walk slowly to the training camp that Philos had mentioned.
[The apostle "Fire Thief Looking Ahead" is staring at you.]
* * *
"One!"
"Ey!"
"Two!"
"Ey!"
The place we arrived at was the training camp we had been searching for. The scene of many people hitting the scarecrow was quite a sight. There were users as well. I used the word "user" that Sujeong taught me as I scanned their faces one by one. People of all races and cla.s.ses were wielding their weapons in unison. It once again reminded me that this was a new world.
"It"s a nice sight."
"...Huh?"
"There is no discrimination."
Kim Sujeong was impressed by my words and turned back to look at the people again. I stood there for a long time until someone said from behind me, "Did you come here to train?"
Turning my head, I saw a man with a quite manly appearance. His name was Kunta.
...This guy was Kunta. He seemed to be a muscular man who could fight well.
"I"m here to give you a letter."
"A letter for me?"
I handed over the letter from Philos straight away. Kunta quickly started to read it. His eyes became bigger as he repeatedly glanced at me. "This is a letter from Philos. Thank you for bringing it to me."
[Philos" Apology has been completed.]
[$200 have been acquired.]
[Kunta"s affinity has risen slightly.]
I nodded as I checked the reward I got for little effort. Then I told him, "Now that I"m here, I want to change cla.s.ses."
"Yes. I have read Philos" letter, so I know. Jackson, you saved the villagers and my soldiers."
That Philos—he did something useless.
"You originally had to perform a full quest, but out of grat.i.tude, I will use my discretion to skip the process. Well, I don"t have to look at Jackson"s strength after you wiped out the goblins. Hahaha." Kunta laughed pleasantly.
Well, it was good for me if I didn"t have to do the quest.
"What cla.s.s would you like to pick?"
[Warrior]
[Martial Artist]
[Archer]
[Magician]
[a.s.sa.s.sin]
[......]
There were more than 10 cla.s.ses floating in the window. I scanned through them carefully to check the available cla.s.ses. Originally, I could have learned this from the tutorial, but I did not do so. I asked Kim Sujeong standing next to me, "Which cla.s.s would suit me?"
"Personally, I think martial artist is a good fit. You are good at kicking."
Martial artist... indeed, it would be a shame to waste my kicking skills. I pressed on it without worrying. However...
[System: An error has occurred. You can"t change to that cla.s.s.]
"?????"
What was this nonsense?