Chapter 157. Help Is Needed (3)
"What? The Sword Saint?! Really? Why?" asked Skaya in surprise.
"I don"t know. He wants help," replied Seo Jun-Ho nonchalantly, frowning.
"Are you sure it’s not an impersonator? Why would the Sword Saint need your help? He needs your help? Not Specter’s help?"
"...I know, right? Maybe it’s really an impersonator?"
Seo Jun-Ho sent a message for verification.
[Sonny: Are you really the Sword Saint?]
The reply came back much later.
[Swordpoint: Haha yes.]
‘Replying like this wouldn’t really prove your ident.i.ty, though…’
As Seo Jun-Ho thought so, one more message arrived.
[Swordpoint: (photo)]
"...Hey, it"s really him."
"Really? How do you know?” Skaya asked doubtfully.
"He just took a selfie and sent it to me. He even wrote, ‘It"s me, Kim Woo-Joong’ on it. That"s great handwriting."
"If it’s that much, then I guess it must be him." Skaya nodded coolly. "But why does the Sword Saint need your help?”
"I"ll ask about that right now."
Seo Jun-Ho"s fingers quickly tapped on the hologram keyboard.
[Sonny: Thank you for confirming. But what do you mean by needing my help?]
Again, the answer came after a long time. Why was he too slow?
[Swordpoint: If possible, could I tell you in persun?]
‘Oh, now there’s a typo.’
Seo Jun-Ho couldn’t take it anymore. Seo Jun-Ho muttered with frustration, "He"s very slow at typing. I"m dying of frustration. Shouldn’t the Sword Saint be fast?”
"Typing and reaction speed have nothing to do with each other. You can trust me, an engineering student."
"Anyway, I can"t stand this. It would be much faster for us to meet and talk.”
[Sonny: Where are you right now? I think it would be faster for us to meet and talk. I"ll go over there.]
[Swordpoint: Oh, thank you.]
[Swordpoint: I"m in Tuna Village in the Brahms Snowfield.]
[Swordpoint: I"ll be waiting.]
It took 6 minutes for those 3 lines to arrive. At this point, Seo Jun-Ho was certain.
‘The first message he sent me was prepared beforehand, then copy-pasted.’
If not, that message shouldn’t have arrived so soon. When Seo Jun-Ho got up from his seat, Skaya prepared her magic.
"Where should I send you?”
"Here…"
Seo Jun-Ho pointed to the top of the continent on the map in front of them.
"It"s not that far from here. In the northernmost part, it"s the Tuna Village in the Brahms Snowfield."
"How are you going to come back?"
"I’ll find my own way. You"re going to be busy anyway, right?”
"That"s true. I"ll text you when I finish talking to Shin Sung-Hyun later.”
Seo Jun-Ho narrowed his eyes at Skaya.
"I advise you, just in case, never emotionally…”
"Aaahhh, naggers are expelled from my room~"
His view changed in an instant. Skaya directly teleported him away because she didn"t want to be nagged.
Whoosh.
The cold wind unique to a snowfield brushed past his face.
"Sniffle... Hmmm.”
As the weather got chilly, the Frost Queen finally opened her eyes. The wetness on his head wasn’t from her drooling, was it?
"Contractor… Where are we…?”
"The Brahms Snowfield area. It"s not as cold as I thought."
It must be thanks to Cold Tolerance (C) that he had gained clearing the Winter Castle Gate.
"Ugh, I am a little cold."
"Tell me the truth. You"re not a Spirit of frost, are you?”
"It-it is because I just woke up. It will be all right in time."
The Frost Queen descended from his shoulder and went into the front of Seo Jun-Ho’s coat, like a kangaroo cub. Seo Jun-Ho looked down at the top of her head with suspicious eyes while walking. It was a snowy plain on all sides, but when he walked along a road sprinkled with soil, a village appeared.
"Hmmm? Are you an Adventurer?"
An old guard with a shabby spear sitting weakly on a chair in front of a wooden fence stood up.
"Yes, I have an appointment with someone."
"I think I know who it is. I was asked for a favor.”
He pointed to the back.
"After walking, go to the big house on the left where the big wooden chicken model is from."
"Thank you."
When Seo Jun-Ho handed over one silver as a token of grat.i.tude, the guard smiled brightly and thanked him back. Seo Jun-Ho entered the village and looked around lightly. There were single-story brick houses with long roofs, similar to Korean eaves.
"The village has a good atmosphere. It looks a bit like the houses of the Joseon Dynasty."
"I also saw it in a historical drama. It"s a unique feature of snowy and rainy areas since it can be dangerous if they get piled up on the roof."
"Hoooh."
Her knowledge increased. The Frost Queen looked up and asked, "But Contractor, what do you mean an appointment? Who are you meeting?"
"The Sword Saint."
"…What? When did you make that appointment?"
"While you were sleeping..."
When Seo Jun-Ho had fought for his life against Kal Signer, the Frost Queen had been watching a drama in her residence. This was why she didn"t see the Sword Saint whom he met right after the battle.
"When I told you he was stronger than you, didn’t you say there was no way?"
"Even if human beings on Earth are strong, they are still beneath me,” the Frost Queen said with pride.
"Look carefully this time. His strength is said to have reached the peak in this day and age."
"…Hmmm, I will have to see if he is stronger than myself."
As the guard told him, when Seo Jun-Ho found the large wooden chicken, he saw a big house on the left. As he approached the door, he didn’t even have to knock.
"I"ve been waiting…"
Kim Woo-Joong was walking toward Seo Jun-Ho with a bright smile.
"It has been a while."
Squeeze.
While the two shook hands, the Frost Queen stared openly at Kim Woo-Joong. Observing his every detail, she nodded slowly. “Hmmm, he looks decently strong… His level does not look that low."
"Hahaha, thank you for the compliment."
“…!”
“…?!”
Seo Jun-Ho and the Frost Queen froze at the same time. Looking at their reaction, the Sword Saint tilted his head and asked, "Did I make some kind of mistake?"
"No, it"s not like that... It"s the first time someone’s ever noticed her."
"Oh, I understand. Certainly, it"s not very common to be able to see Spirits.”
Kim Woo-Joong gave a pleasant smile.
"I was lucky enough to learn how to communicate with Spirits from the elves."
“...”
"Let"s go inside first and talk.”
Kim Woo-Joong led the dazed Seo Jun-Ho into the house.
"It"s a house I rented temporarily.”
"It"s nice."
Kim Woo-Joong offered Seo Jun-Ho a seat, sat opposite him, and served warm tea. Kim Woo-Joong’s deep eyes glanced briefly at Seo Jun-Ho. At that moment, Kim Woo-Joong seemed as if he had remembered something and gave an apology. "Oh, I apologize. It"s a habit of mine to observe people when I see them...”
"I understand. It"s inevitable if you"re a Player. It"s a kind of an occupational disease." Seo Jun-Ho shook his head and refused the apology.
It was because Seo Jun-Ho was also evaluating the Sword Saint.
"He feels similar to the last time I saw him.’
The fact was ridiculous that a small chuckle escaped Seo Jun-Ho’s lips. How much stronger had Seo Jun-Ho gotten since that day? His level, as well as his stats, had increased at an insane rate. However, the huge wall known as the Nine Heavens still looked high, to the point where it had become a little annoying.
"You are incredible." Kim Woo-Joong admired honestly. "Player Seo Jun-Ho"s growth rate is terrifying."
"You"re being too nice."
"Haha, I still have a long way to go.”
A brief greeting was exchanged.
Seo Jun-Ho opened his mouth to speak. "I saw the message. I can"t believe you need help… How can I help you?”
"Well, let me explain."
Taking out a map, he pointed to a canyon on the side of the Brahms Snowfield. Seo Jun-Ho pointed at what stood out. "Isn’t that a place where it"s so cold that not only people but also monsters don"t live there?"
"That"s right, but there are people who live in places like this."
"How in the world...”
"It"s a cave."
A Cave? In the canyon famous for its severe cold in the Brahms Snowfield?
"But a cave alone shouldn’t be able to stop the cold.’
When Seo Jun-Ho revealed a look of disbelief, Kim Woo-Joong added further explanation. "It"s the dwarves."
“...!”
Dwarves, like elves and orcs, were a famous race. Even before the world changed, they were familiar beings from novels, movies, and various games.
"It"s surprising that the dwarves have been living here... It makes sense though, considering their technology."
"Yes. Do you know about the dwarves" nature?"
"I know some basic things."
They were a very dexterous species. They were belligerent, alcohol-loving, had a strong ego, and hated being ordered around. They were a fierce species that returned grace with tenfold grace and resentment with tenfold resentment.
"Lastly, I understand that the entire tribe moves around on a regular basis."
"That"s right. The dwarves have a great migration every 100 years at the earliest and every 500 years at the latest."
There was a reason why they were doing this. One was to find a good branch of a mountain range. Second, it was because it took around that much time for sightings of them to start circulating.
Tap, tap.
Kim Woo-Joong tapped on a canyon in the west, quite far from Brahms Snowfield.
"Hamel Ice Gorge. This is where the dwarves decided to move to this time."
It was time to get to the point. Kim Woo-Joong read Seo Jun-Ho"s eyes and said, "A problem arose here."
"A problem…?"
"The dwarves have built a cave in Hamel Ice Canyon to move into already, but… someone else has moved in."
"By someone else, do you mean another guest moved into the dwarves" cave without permission?"
"That"s right, it is really troubling. The situation has become very complicated."
Kim Woo-Joong looked as troubled as a real estate agent ahjussi.
"But you can simply just get rid of most monsters, right? Sword Saint?”
"I was going to, but I couldn’t, so I had to ask you, Player Seo Jun-Ho, for help."
"I"d like to hear in more detail."
"Have you ever heard of the Ice Witch?"
Seo Jun-Ho shook his head. "I"ve never heard of it before."
"It"s a kind of Spirit walking around the snowfields. It was originally a banshee-based monster, but after hundreds of years, its power became even stronger and it eventually became something like a boss monster. Now, because of her, the dwarves" new base has become a Dungeon."
"Hmmm... but if you, the Sword Saint, failed, there"s nothing I can do."
It was a conclusion Seo Jun-Ho came to after observing Kim Woo-Joong’s ability with his own eyes and skin. However, Kim Woo-Joong refuted his claim.
"The reason I failed is simple. It was because I couldn’t get close to the Ice Witch."
"…Was it because of the cold?”
"That"s right. Have you heard of the heat wave on the 3rd floor? You can think of it as a cold version of that."
Seo Jun-Ho had Cold Tolerance (C), but was C-grade resistance enough?
‘Honestly, I think Team Leader Gong Ju-Ha would be more appropriate than me.’
Kim Woo-Joong and Gong Ju-Ha belonged to two different compet.i.tive Guilds, so the former requesting the latter’s help would be impossible.
"The dwarves and I will support you both materially and morally."
"The dwarves and the Sword Saint will support me...”
Then, Frost Queen asked Kim Woo-Joong, "Human, then will we have the ownership of all the rewards that come from the Ice Witch?"
"Of course, I hate the act of stealing other people"s achievements."
"...Hmmm, I see. And human, speak with honorifics."
"I"m sorry if I hurt your feelings… No, I apologize."
While Kim Woo-Joong was humoring the nitpicking Frost Queen, Seo Jun-Ho was contemplating. It was only once, but it had already been proven that the Sword Saint was a man of his word.
‘In other words, it"s a request to clear the Dungeon in his place.’
It was no different from a ‘personal request’ on Earth. The other party would provide all supplies for the Dungeons. All he had to do was clear the Dungeon.
‘And an Ice Witch… I have a good feeling.’
Seo Jun-Ho thought that he could greatly increase his magic if it went well. There was no reason for him to refuse.
"I will do it."
When Seo Jun-Ho reached out his hand, Kim Woo-Joong smiled brightly and held his hand.
"Thank you for your decision. Then, let us make our move."
"What do you mean by move?"
"You should meet the client. They will give you the support."
Seo Jun-Ho"s eyes twinkled when he heard the word. A ‘client,’ and a dwarf at that. This was the first time he was going to see a member of a second race in Frontier.
"I"m looking forward to it. To see a dwarf in person…”
"Oh, looking forward...” Kim Woo-Joong muttered with an awkward look. "Don"t look forward too much."
"What? Why?"
"Ahem." Kim Woo-Joong coughed dryly instead.
What?