Hyper Luck - Chapter 72. Traces

Chapter 72. Traces

The Horaces were carrying the colorful roofless wagons without touching the ground in the air.

From an NPC with sunglasses on who hired a porter to an NPC in a sailor’s outfit walking her winged dog. It became easier to find NPCs than players as we moved into the residential area.

After climbing for a while with Khea, a huge gate called the ‘Golden Side Door’ appeared.

The moment we went through the gate, a word came up in my sight along with a sound effect.

It was a huge square with a magnificent fountain that had streams of water lit up with green light, forming the shape of flower petals.

The square is the opposite of the residential area I passed by before, and now it is more difficult to find NPCs than players.

Beyond the fountain, there was a huge Information Guild building with a golden tile roof.

A familiar logo was drawn on the outside of the building because it was most likely that the building was built by a player’s company.

I’ve almost never seen this construction method of layering tiles on top of the roof in before.

Khea let out a gasp as soon as she saw the roof of the Information Guild building. It must’ve been her first time seeing such a beautiful roof like that.

It was only a natural reaction from her since many things that were familiar to me were some things that were completely new to her.

Many players were standing in front of the huge bulletin boards around the fountain. Khea and I were walking through the crowd to go to the Information Guild, so our eyes naturally turned to the bulletin board.

[[Recruiting for Regent Lode Exploration]]

[Looking for a bodyguard that could keep us safe whilst we move across the river valley area in the Southern part of Tikris. ‘Players preferred’.]

[Recruitment of underwater cave dungeon exploration located at the bottom of ‘Stagnant Lake’ in the northern part of Tikris, ‘Tank preferred.’]

[Our party needs a tank!

Any strong and sturdy tanks,

Tear this parchment and bring it to us!]

The bulletin board was mostly filled with party recruitment notices.

Among the bulletin boards by and for users, I noticed that the ‘tanks’ were very much preferred.

As it is a virtual reality game where you can feel pain, it meant that someone who took the lead in defending against the enemy’s attacks and taking the damage for others was very precious.

Meanwhile, some players in front of us pulled out the parchment from the bulletin board.

“My master once said that as the number of players increases, the Sworders will have fewer tasks to do. Now that I saw this scene, I understand what he meant by that.”

Khea seemed to be curious and confused as she watched the players continue to tear the parchment off as they left.

For us, it was considered more weird not to take risks and danger since we don’t really have anything to lose in the real world even if we were to get injured or even die.

As we watched the busy job search activities of players, we moved towards the front door of the Information Guild.

At the entrance to the Tikris Information Guild, there was a gatekeeper the size of a troll.

As soon as he saw the two of us, he stepped in front of us and bowed his head briefly to greet us.

“You two are Sworders. Please, right this way.”

***

***

He carefully led us to the empty wall next to the entrance, and then placed his hand on the wall. The wall did not block his hand, but rather swayed and waved like a rippling water surface. And as Khea and I confirmed that we hurried into the wall.

We entered the room perfectly insulated from the loud noise of the square.

A man who was watching us from inside approached us with a smile.

“Pleasure to meet you. My name is Virens, I am the ‘Gold Head’ of this department.”

A man with a good impression and a smile that showed off his white teeth asked for a handshake. He offered us to take seats, then he only sat down after watching us sit down completely.

“My goodness, I never thought that someone like you would come to this place.”

The man greeted me once again, as he locked his hands together showing an ardent interest in me.

I lowered my head without knowing as his overly polite manner made me feel a little uncomfortable.

“You must be Mr. Mose, the savior of Azharus. Correct?”

“How did you…?”

When Khea asked in an interrogating manner, Virens replied with a soft smile.

“This is information only accessible by the ‘Gold Head’ rank or above. Generally, players who work for the Information Guild are not allowed to have a position any higher than the ‘Silver Head’.”

This time he unlocked his hands and crossed his legs.

Clank!

The long earrings hanging from his ears swayed with a loud ring.

“What kind of information do you need? I could even track the sound of an animal. If you would like, I can even track the sound of the wind.”

Virens showed strange confidence as he focused his eyes on my lips. As I was having a difficult time trying to speak feeling his burdensome gaze, Khea opened up to speak before I did.

“We are looking for a male sorcerer and a female archer who are both immortals.”

Virens made an uncomfortable expression as he smacked his lips and touched his hair, seemingly unsatisfied at the fact that Khea was the one to speak up first.

“Since Ms. Khea, with a radiant beauty yet shadowed by a cursed name, asked first. Allow me to investigate right away.”

The Gold Head stood up from his seat after giving Khea an ambiguous answer that barely stood on the line between rudeness and politeness.

Despite this, Khea sat comfortably on her seat without looking disturbed at all.

“There is an extremely low number of people who are sorcerers and also immortals, in other words, players. Nowadays, there are many trainee students enrolled in the White Tower.”

He slammed his book close as he pointed one of his fingers upwards.

“There is one player that just comes to mind. His name is ‘Kellion’…”

I got goosebumps the moment I heard his name. That was the name we were searching for.

Khea too waited for his next words quietly.

Virens, who was wearing a purple tunic, then opened his mouth in a lower, dignified voice after taking a brief moment.

“Quite an unusual player, he is. Originally, the White Tower did not accept players as students. It was a place that only children with great potential or prominent nobles can enter.”

Then he walked over to us and sat back elegantly in his seat.

“However, he hid his identity as a player and acted like ‘us’, deceiving everyone. The way he talked, acted, and even the way he thought.”

The Gold Head suddenly laughed out loud as he finished those words.

“What kind of player walks up and greets others with ‘Blessings of Bellica to you’!”

He continued to laugh out loud.

“He was perfectly disguised as ‘us’, then became a sorcerer graduating from the White Tower at the top of his class. It is said that he was hated by many other colleagues in the White Tower.”

I carefully placed my hand on the table, at Virens’s attitude as he continue the story.

He shut his mouth after he saw my action. Then he turned his head toward me, giving me a keen look.

“Mr. Mose, and Ms. Khea. I have a favor to ask you.”

“I would like to request a different informant to talk to.”

However, Khea cut his request off in an instant with a determined expression.

His expression began to harden again.

“Mr. Mose, what is your opinion on this matter?”

“Does the information we request cost money?”

At my question, he replied as he waved his hand and shook his head busily. The action seemed unusually playful.

“Not at all. We provide information to the Sworders free of charge. However,”

“However?”

“We would appreciate it if you could understand that the information you mentioned is about a ‘trace’ that is not normally provided, so we had to put a price on it.”

Virens suddenly changed to a very polite attitude as he carefully glanced at Khea.

“Then we will pay it with money.”

“As you already know, when it comes to exchanging information, money is the least favorable currency to be paid with. Unfortunately.”

“Then continue what you were saying.”

As I realized that he had smoothly turned the direction of the conversation like a snake, I decided to bring him to the main point in a hurry.

“In the northern part of Tikris, at a place not too far away, there is a mountain called the ‘Mount of Marlock’. And on top of that mountain, there lies an ancient ruin called the ‘Path of Olives’.”

He locked his hands as he licked his lips. It seemed like a habit of his at this point.

“I would like to request that you demolish that ruin.”

“Demolish?”

“Yes, all of it.”

“Why?”

“I’m afraid I cannot tell you the reason. All you have to do is destroy that ruin with strong powers of yours.”

After speaking some things that I found difficult to comprehend, he fixed his tunic and continued his speech with a whispering tone this time.

“The Central Committee of Tikris has not yet officially declared the Path of Olives as a ruin. Therefore, ruin robbers are not charged for damaging the ruin. Rather, it’s considered a heinous relic that needs to be demolished as soon as possible.”

“Then why not get the workers to do it?”

Virens replied immediately when Khea threw an objection.

“If it was just a general ruin then I wouldn’t have requested this to you two, who are Sworders. To be more specific, I’d like to request that you defeat the ‘ghost’ that resides within that ruin.”

“Ghost?”

“Yes. The ghost had taken many lives after its sudden appearance at the ruin. We’ve already tried hiring skillful players but nothing worked. That’s why I’m requesting this from you.”

Khea’s and my eyes met naturally.

From the first look, we already figured that it was a mission with unusual content. Despite our brief silence, he did not give us a chance to rest, continuing breathlessly.

“If you solve this problem for us, then I promise you will receive huge rewards from the Information Guild.”

“Is that the price of the information that we requested earlier? The irreplaceable price?”

“Yes, this is very much irreplaceable and more valuable to me than money.”

After receiving Virens’ resolute answer, I finally reached an agreement with Khea with my eyes, and I nodded.

“We accept. However, we will be investigating this case by ourselves. And if we find anything that does not match the description you just gave, then we will not act the way you want us to.”

“Of course, Mr. Mose the Sworder of Asparagan.”

Virens nodded at my words and clasped hands and hurriedly came back with a piece of fluttering parchment.

[Phantom of the Path of Olives]

Clash Quest

Difficulty: B++

History: A historic site located on the Mount of Marlock, the Path of Olives was originally a mansion owned by the powerful ‘Beyless’ family half a century ago. Early on, this ruined site was developed as a tourist destination for many people to visit.

A few days ago, an evil spirit appeared on the Path of Olives, killing multiple nearby passersby. Nobody knows if it’s a ghost of the Beyless family or a spirit with a powerful grudge that came from somewhere else, but it’s as clear as Bellica in the sky that further damage can only be prevented by eradicating it.

After examining all the contents on the parchment, I accepted the quest. Virens jumped up from his seat with a satisfied expression and bowed his head.

“I wish you the best of luck.”

After passingly receiving his bow, Khea and I hurriedly rushed to the empty wall, facing the noise of the square.

“No matter how many times I think about it.”

Khea opened up to speak. However, a phrase came out of my mouth reflexively after her.

“Something doesn’t add up.”

Khea looked at me immediately after I finished my words.

“It doesn’t make sense for the head of the information Guild to entrust a task to Sworder in exchange for information in such a blatant way.”

“I wonder if it’s even our best interest to follow the trail of Kellion and Sharan.”

Khea shut her mouth at my question.

“If we were asked to do a quest such as this in exchange for the information, I suspect that they might be involved in a fairly cumbersome quest.”

Khea suddenly slapped my shoulder and stared at me with a fierce gaze.

“She’s your friend, Mose. She is your friend. Are you saying that it doesn’t matter where she is just because she’s an immortal? Because it doesn’t matter if she dies? And even if she’s involved in a cumbersome quest, isn’t that more of a reason for you to go find her to help her!?”

She started getting angry at me like burning flames.

Ah.

What I just said was completely in the sense of a gamer’s perspective.

For a moment, I received the quest which Virens requested as just a ‘bothersome quest’.

Every day, Mose was being turned into a being further away from Lee KiHo from reality as Mose was getting higher stats and levels.

As a result, I was starting to feel a sense of disparity in this world of .

Khea’s heart must have sunk when she heard me speak like that since she was a person from this world. Because she didn’t understand the mindset of a player, and that was only natural.

I looked back at Khea’s angry face without avoiding her gaze.

“She is my friend. So I have to save her. I’m sorry. My thinking was short there.”

I looked at her and sincerely apologized. Her eyes began to soften back.

“Mose, you are different from other players. But even if you are, I know there is always room for you to change. This is my selfish wish, but I want you to stay the same person, ‘stay as Mose’.”

At her appeal, my head rang like a bell at new year’s midnight.

My heart started to throb as if I’ve been hit in the chest.

“Khea.”

I wrapped my arms around her shoulders. She didn’t try to avoid my gaze but also didn’t try to meet my gaze.

She was just silently waiting for my answer.

“I will never change. I, Mose, will never.”

I said with all my sincerity.

Before I consider this as a mere game, I thought about the special sociality of virtual reality and the butterfly effect that my thoughts could bring. Then I said it again.

“I will never change. I promise you.”

____