Chapter 3: Hey there! Time to unravel the story quest (2)

Melon-chan's eyes sparkled, "Then why don't we invite others in!?"

Her friend narrowed her eyes to slits and said, "This kind of thing is insider news. If I spread it around and tell others, I might never get insider news again," while patting her friend on the shoulder in a sympathetic manner, and said, "The quest from the NPC that gives skills is very easy. You have to log in early, then get robbed by the NPC thugs in that alley until you're penniless. After that, a benevolent NPC will come and give you one basic skill from the three main professions."

"Do I really have to be that fresh?? Why is that?" Melon-chan still wondered about this bizarre quest.

"It makes sense, though. Starting off with the 100 copper coins the system gives you, exchanging them for one basic skill, that's okay. The part about just having logged in, that's because of this news. It comes from a high-level player who tried to go and get his pockets picked. Turns out that when he entered that alley, no NPC thieves showed up. He tried various approaches, from taking a level 10, level 20, 30, 40, 50 characters in there, to even a level 1, who hadn't even gone to claim equipment from the start city's office or hit a single monster. The result was the same. So, that's the conclusion he came to."

"We could just take the newbie to that alley. Wouldn't that be nice? They'll get skills easily that way. Concerning the hundred copper coins that they were extorted, it's such a small amount, we can easily repay the newcomer," Melon-chan suggested an idea. "This could also serve as a way to attract customers to the guild."

However, her friend shook her head adamantly, saying ethically, "A secret is a secret. If we bring a bunch of newbies there, the news will surely spread far and wide. By then, I won't be able to get any secret news. I consider you a friend, that's why I'm telling you."

"Hmm," Melon-chan acknowledged, pointing at the person who was being extorted and then was dragged into an alley.

"Is that really okay?" her friend looked in that direction, then frowned and said, "It doesn't seem quite right. The news says that people who get skills are extorted at the mouth of the alley, and then the thieves will flee, and then the benevolent NPC will come to that alley entrance." But she was unwilling to pay much attention and continued to distribute brochure to the incoming new players.

Melon-chan pondered for a moment, and then she decided to go and check it out.

Sagittarius was very confused. He received information from Mina just like Melon-chan's friend had said.

When three NPC thugs approached to extort money, he pulled out all his cash to give to them, but instead of grabbing the money and fleeing into the alley, they locked both of his arms, carried him, and dragged him into the alley instead!

What! This isn't how the script goes. Moreover, Sagittarius couldn't resist at all. This is supposed to be the starter city, where NPC levels shouldn't be as high as in the main continent, right? Then why can't he, a main class level 50, struggle free?

As they reached a crossroad, Sagittarius glanced to the left and saw a person in a cloak that covered his face and figure, which was the benevolent NPC. Sagittarius didn't hesitate and cried out, "Help meeeeee!"

The person under the cloak moved, using warrior class skills to push one of the robbers away, and then knocked them out to save the pitiful Sagittarius from the clutches of the robbers. They ran away from the scene.

Sagittarius had been dragged far, almost out of the starting city, before finally getting a chance to express his gratitude.

As they were about to ask for the skill, the cloaked person spoke up, "Abducting you, they've gone too far. Would you like to report this to the city lord with me?"

It was the deep voice of a woman.

But that wasn't the point.

the point is.

BAMM!

All of a sudden, the quest window pops up, with the title "Story Quest" like that.

Fell victim to a shakedown. Is this what they call a Story quest??

[Help the trainee Valkyrie to eradicate the group of people who are planning to dominate the city.]

Sagittarius had never gotten to play a story quest before.

"Eradicate the group of people planning to dominate the city, the initial clue is a thief stealing money huh?"

After talking to himself in surprise for a moment, he then turned to reply to the person in the cloak, who he had just learned was a trainee Valkyrie (a female warrior of Odin, the great god of Norse mythology) with a cool voice saying,

"I am the victim, I must go to make a complaint!" Oh well, getting to play a part of the story quest, even if it's just a small piece of the main story, but as a player, one must be so happy that one's flesh trembles.

Ending up in such a situation, it must certainly be the result of the merit he has made working for humanity.

While Sagittarius was whimsically thinking about the impact of merit on gaming, he was escorted by a trainee Valkyrie to a secluded house, the kind you'd see in almost every Viking film.

In front of the house, there was a sign that read:

Lord's house – no business, do not enter.

An old man sat by a fire with a group of sturdy men, all facing the entrance. Then he got up, bowed to the person in the cloak and said, "Valkyrie has come to visit, is there something with which we may assist, or something you wish to ask?"

The Valkyrie maiden in her cloak pointed towards Sagittarius and said, "This person has been abducted by the Lackna gang within your city. You must hurry and capture them, and punish them!"

The old man walked up to examine Sagittarius up and down, then shook his head and said, "Valkyrie, even though you are a warrior of the great god Odin, you are still a trainee Valkyrie. According to your words, the gang within the city, not only steals money, but has started to kidnap adventurers. Yet, when I examine this young adventurer, who has been kidnapped, he must have resisted and therefore should have been harmed, right? But he does not have a single injury. So, how can you expect me to believe you?"

From the speech, it was implied that this Valkyrie was still a trainee; her words, together with the victim showing no injuries that should have resulted from resisting abduction, began to make the lord of the city to doubt the words of the trainee Valkyrie.

Then, twang! The quest window popped up once again.

[Help trainee Valkyrie searching for evidence, have the lord send soldiers to help sweep clean.]

The Valkyrie pressed her voice but couldn't argue back. The party she led was just adventurers who had newly arrived in the starter town, with no rights and no voice, unlike the familiar old faces of adventurers known among the NPCs.

But perhaps it was a fortunate convergence, possibly due to the merit from Sagittarius's journey to Mars to save the world.

Melon-chan popped her head in through the doorway and raised her hand, saying, "I can be a witness! I saw several thugs taking him into the alleyway."

The Valkyrie turned towards the door, not knowing what the expression beneath the hooded cloak was like, but the deep voice brimmed with delight at the sight of an old-faced adventurer appearing, turning back to ask the lord, "We now have another witness."

Did any players witness the event?

But even so, the quest window of Sagittarius didn't show that it was completed, indicating that this witness was insufficient. While Sagittarius was pondering what to do to make the word "evidence" pass the requirements set by the programmer, he thought, "Could it be the amount of witnesses?" But when he thought about having to find people who had been extorted to gain a skill from this Valkyrie, he got a severe headache. Because getting this simple skill from the quest was insider news known only in secrecy. And how would he find these "secretly informed" people?

At that moment, the lord responded as Sagittarius saw in the quest window, "Just a small adventurer is not enough for me to take action against Lackna. You, the Valkyrie, might not know, but Lackna's followers are very strong."

And then, snap! The quest window popped up again with the same message but added that

[Assist the trainee Valkyrie to find evidence so that the lord can start to sweep away the gangsters.]

* Since the credibility score of .Melon^^ is not sufficient for the town lord to agree to the crackdown, please search for additional evidence.

However, the appearance of a message related to the player named with the symbols "full stop" and "^^" sparked something in Sagittarius's mind!!

He pointed to himself and asked, 'So my words are not credible? I assure you that I have indeed been extorted by gangsters in your town for 25 gold coins and a little more for sure.'"

When Sagittarius spoke, the lord inspected Sagittarius again. As he was about to say something, it was as if a bug had occurred—the lord twitched once and then placed his right hand over his left chest, bowing to Sagittarius as if to apologize. He said, "With your words, undoubtedly serving as a guarantee, I should not have questioned you before I examined more carefully. Since you were the victim, I will immediately lead forces to wipe out those Lackna." He gestured with his hand, "Please follow me to help capture the culprits."

Sagittarius nodded with a smile. His former boss in the colony was Japanese, so he inherited the respectful and humble demeanor characteristic of a nation of order and discipline. He bowed respectfully to the lord gesturing outside, "After you, my lord." The lord nodded back and then told the sturdy men surrounding the fire, "Gather our forces and surround the Lackna house!"

A burly man, who appeared to be the lord's military commander, received his orders and ran out the back door.

Sagittarius, seeing this, could guess what scene he would encounter after walking there. He said, "Valkyrie, and you... erm, Ms. Melon, please go help the town lord together."

Trainee Valkyrie acknowledged.

On the other hand, Melon-chan think that she had arrived here, plus it was a strange quest that she had never seen before, and Valkyrie was there too! She had never seen Valkyrie before ever. With circumstances like these, she would follow to the very end anyway.

Moreover, she felt confused and did not understand. Initially, Valkyrie said there was a kidnapping, but the lord did not believe it. Even showing herself was not enough. But when the victim himself spoke, the lord agreed to go and subdue the robbers he claimed were so formidable. What did this mean? Valkyrie brought the victim, and the victim obviously had to speak in favor of Valkyrie. It contradicted the reason the lord didn't believe it from the beginning.

Why does a man who just logged into the game get to speak with more authority than Valkyrie, a warrior of Odin, the supreme god within the game??

One must follow to find out!

Outside the city

The reason Sagittarius invited Ms. Melon, was to express gratitude. It's possible that she might receive a reward from the quest for being a witness this time. As for Valkyrie, there was no need for an invitation; this character had to be at the forefront to fight the gang.

This time it was a Viking-style house in the dense forest, a hundred times dirtier and filthier than the lord's house, packed with more than a dozen villains. Although they were surrounded by the lord's forces, which were more than double in number, the battle was fierce, with no clear outcome; it was understandable why the lord wasn't confident about catching and punishing them.

With a deep voice, Valkyrie, seeing this, immediately rushed to help the lord's soldiers.

A Valkyrie is a Valkyrie regardless, whether she trains or not, she's a warrior of the god Odin. Against a group of human scoundrels, no matter how skilled they are, they wouldn't be able to do anything to her. As for Sagittarius, even though he doesn't wear a single piece of wear, he's a level 50 mage who can support and cast spells from the backline. However, he's somewhat worried for Miss Melon who rashly went to help the Valkyrie fight the thieves at the front lines with him. But seeing her skill [Heavy Crash], which is available to tanks of at least level 40, he felt somewhat relieved.

But only somewhat, because Miss Melon couldn't defeat the Lekna gang, which means her level must be close to that of the other party. It's reasonable because when Sagittarius was resisting the three gang members, he also couldn't break free and couldn't fight back either.

Miss Melon was hit with a [Heavy Crash] from the other party and was sent flying to land right in front of Sagittarius. While launching spells on one hand, Sagittarius also helped Miss Melon up.

The Valkyrie, seeing this, stepped forward to intercept the gang threatening the two in need, pushing them back with force.

The lord's soldiers started on their own, setting up shield walls on both sides, only to be overwhelmed by the gang members, causing the lines to continually fall back, nearly breaking at any moment.

Seeing this, the Valkyrie could only turn back to Sagittarius and Melon-chan, calling out tensely, "The other side has a unique skill [copy status] and a rare skill [limit break] at 5%, making everyone overpowered. I will bestow the skill [limit break] upon you, so you can be on par. You will help me fight!"

BAMM! The warning alarm sounded.

Both Sagittarius and Melon-chan have oddly received a [limit break] into their skill slots.

[limit break]: Increase all stats by 10% for 10 seconds, with a 10-minute cooldown.

"Why do we keep losing!" Melon-chan yell out. How could an NPC from the starting town be such a high level? Right now, with her 10% limit break, a guaranteed sweet victory, she dived into the fray.

Sagittarius was a bit stunned, as if he was starting to piece together the story of this quest. As he understood more, he also leaped in, no longer thinking that as a mage he had to stay back as he did initially.

When the other side fought him, they had to [copy status] from him automatically, then boost all stats by another 5%, but with his 10% increase, any punch thrown was sure to result in a definite and strong counter!

"Even though there is a cooldown, it takes a bit longer to apprehend this group of criminals, but I guarantee we will catch them all!

As Sagittarius was dodging the other side's copied magic spells, he was also thinking to himself.

Previously, who knows how many hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of players, the NPCs refer to as 'adventurers,' have been extorted, and Valkyrie has granted them basic skills like [Slash]. That's because they were prey for this Lackna gang. But for some reason, when it was his turn, the Lackna gang did not extort him but captured him instead, leading to a turn of events where Valkyrie had to come to his aid and he had to complain to the lord of the town, who already knew it was the work of this gang. But this gang has a cheat that allows them to defeat anyone, which is why they have the right to dominate the town.

Because of this cheat, first, they can kidnap players and drag them to the building's corner, where they can't resist, no matter how strong the player is. It's only when Valkyrie comes along with the plot that things change. Second, they can defeat the lord's forces, and the responsibility to arrest them falls to the players and Valkyrie. Then comes the quest reward, the skill [limit break], which is bestowed and used to subdue the bandits."

The person who wrote this scene organized the sequence of events quite well. Initially, it was used for an abduction that cannot be resisted. Later, it was for allowing the players to fight on their own, so it wouldn't be boring to watch the town guards arrest people. Even though the storyline seems a bit less important.

Once the cooldown is finished, Sagittarius uses [limit break] to cast an explosive fire spell which collides with the enemy's fire explosion. Of course, with a 5% difference, it leads to defeating the opponent in the end.

Definitely win depends only on time.

The plot requires a victory that is hard-earned, but it was easy from the start.

As the town's guard began to capture the entire Lackna gang, black particles started to evaporate from the NPCs of this group. The skills [copy status] and [limit break] also disappeared. The deep-voiced Valkyrie pointed to the particles, saying with certainty, "Just as I suspected, it is Loki (the god of mischief) interfering with the human world."

 Once the god of mischief was no longer aiding them, the gang quickly confessed to the lord, as swiftly as the Valkyrie had predicted. The lord began to bow to Sagittarius and Melon-chan, humbly saying, "If it wasn't for the two adventurers, we certainly wouldn't have been able to handle the Lackna gang." He then placed his hand on his chest to express his gratitude.

This was the quest's closing phase.

 After the battle, Melon-chan stood there somewhat dazed, witnessing all this and receiving a super rare skill in a confused state, continuing to stand there bewildered.

Sagittarius, undaunted, reprimanded the starting city lord, "You knew which group was harming people, yet you did nothing. If I hadn't insisted, there would have been more victims. You should try to be a better city lord," he chastised, sticking to the quest line, the city lord had let a gang with cheating skills dominate the town for a while.

When the man next to her criticized, Melon-chan snapped back to her senses and quickly grabbed the arm of the "new player," whispering urgently, "He's really stubborn, but he's an NPC with the stature of a city lord. If he takes a dislike to you, he can order the soldiers to drag you out of the city. As a new player, you should be leveling up around the starting city first." She had heard about the city lord NPC kicking people out of the city and urged the "new player" to apologize quickly.

But the reaction of the city lord was not what she expected. He bowed his head and apologized, leaving Melon-chan utterly baffled.

Could it be that the lord NPC has no ego at all, or is the lord NPC not an AI but an employee of the MGC company playing this character, and the man she whispered to is the son of the company president, which is why the city lord did not dare to retaliate?