Chapter 42: Favor Exchange

Within the village, Scorn's army had been completely routed, and the villagers were cheering loudly. The old village chief, who happened to be none other than the father of the future legendary hero, Percival, finally reunited with his son.

As the two caught up with each other, footsteps echoed from the village entrance. Qin Ming, covered in blood, walked back into the village, carrying the severed head of Scorn, whose face was still twisted in disbelief.

Seeing Scorn's head, the same lord who had managed to escape, now lifeless in Qin Ming's grasp, the crowd's cheers became even more fervent. The excitement among the villagers soared.

Percival, standing among the people, leaped onto a nearby platform and raised his battle axe high, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Villagers! I am a knight under King Arthur, and I, too, am one of you! I have returned with Arthur's vanguard, and I officially declare to you: the evil rule of the Terror Duke in this land has come to an end! You! Are free!"

"Ooohhhh!!"

With Percival's proclamation, the entire village erupted in celebration.

The oppressive rule of the region's overlord had been shattered, and with the prophesied king, Arthur, poised to establish his forces here, this land would now fall under the protection of the Round Table Knights, marking the official start of a rebellion against the Terror Duke. The battle between both sides was far from over—it had only just begun.

As the villagers rejoiced, Percival stepped down from the platform and approached Qin Ming.

Glancing at the severed head on the ground, then turning to face Qin Ming, the muscular warrior, nearly bare-chested, grinned widely and extended his hand.

"Hello! I'm Percival, a knight of the Round Table! Thank you for saving our village and my family! I owe you my gratitude!"

Ding! Percival's favorability toward you has increased! Current favorability: 300!

Hearing the notification from the Nightmare Space, Qin Ming grinned in return. The man in front of him, clearly straightforward and genuine, made Qin Ming's smile even brighter as he grasped Percival's hand in a firm shake.

"Hyena, at your service. It's an honor to meet you, Percival!"

300 favorability! That's enough to exchange for one of Percival's green-grade items!

Should I go for his shoulder armor? His pants? Or maybe his boots?

If I push the favorability to 500, I could even exchange for that blue-grade battle axe he's holding. Even though it's only blue, it's a storyline item, and the stats are amazing!

1,000 favorability? Qin Ming was tempted by Percival's signature skill, Invincible Axe Slash, a powerful B-rank ability. But he was also realistic.

Let's not get ahead of myself. A 1,000-point favorability requirement? That's out of reach for anyone!

Just as Qin Ming and Percival finally met face to face with mutual respect, a piercing scream suddenly echoed from the distance, followed by panicked shouts from the village women.

"Help! Someone help! Something's happened!"

Startled by the sound, Qin Ming and Percival exchanged a glance, assuming an enemy had slipped into one of the buildings unnoticed. Without hesitation, they sprinted toward the source of the noise.

When they arrived, however, it wasn't some stray enemy soldier causing the commotion. Instead, what greeted them were two bodies.

Lying on the hay, the militia captain lay dead, his eyes wide open in death. Beside him, the corpse of a village woman lay motionless as well. The sight caused the gathered crowd to frown and murmur amongst themselves.

No one could figure out why, in this safe second-floor area, two of their own had been mysteriously killed. Could an enemy have sneaked in? But if that were the case, why would they only kill these two? One of them was already gravely injured and practically defenseless.

While the villagers whispered in confusion, Qin Ming stood at the front, his expression blank as he looked down at the bodies.

As an adventurer, he immediately guessed who was responsible for this.

It's got to be White Wolf.

The method—ambushing and killing someone who was already incapacitated—was classic adventurer behavior. It looked like White Wolf had targeted the militia captain's silver weapon, taking a gamble to score some loot.

White Wolf had been cautious, killing them and fleeing the scene immediately, knowing that while the villagers wouldn't figure it out, Qin Ming, another adventurer, certainly would.

If he had stuck around, it would've been too risky. I'd definitely have gone after him.

Sighing, Qin Ming shook his head in frustration, kneeling to close the militia captain's eyes.

White Wolf really is a rabid dog, willing to do anything for a bit of loot.

But hoping to get a silver-grade item from an already dying elite mob? That's nothing short of delusional. It's not impossible, but the odds are laughably low.

I highly doubt that scumbag would be that lucky.

After searching the area and finding no trace of the culprit, the villagers turned to extinguishing the remaining fires and burying their dead with honor. As for the enemy corpses? They didn't receive the same treatment.

No markers would be erected for them—far from it. After stripping the usable armor and gear from the dead, the villagers carelessly dumped the bodies into a mass grave and buried them hastily.

Surviving the ordeal, the villagers decided to celebrate their newfound freedom. They quickly gathered food and drink, and the festivities began. Invited to join, Qin Ming took the opportunity to get closer to Percival, trying to build rapport.

He was hoping he could trigger a hidden quest or perhaps unlock the next chapter of the story, similar to how it had worked in the Cadillacs and Dinosaurs world.

Unfortunately, such good fortune didn't come twice. No hidden quests appeared, and after all his efforts, the only result was Percival's favorability increasing by an additional 10 points.

Once all the tasks issued by the Nightmare Space were completed, there was a return timer in place—an adventurer could only remain in the scenario for a maximum of 48 hours, or two days.

During these two days, Qin Ming made sure to spend all his accumulated favorability points.

With Percival's favorability at 300, he exchanged it for a pair of green-grade pants, Percival's Battle Pants, which provided +2 Strength and +2 Constitution.

As for the favorability he had earned with the village? Thanks to his heroic efforts in defending the village from destruction, his favorability had skyrocketed to a staggering 755 points! After accounting for the 250 points he had already spent, he still had over 500 points remaining.

With those 500 points, Qin Ming exchanged them for a special village item:

Name: Certificate of Honor from Percival Village

Type: Consumable (Dim Silver)

Effect: Increases favorability with a storyline character by 150 points (up to a maximum of 500 points).

Description: A certificate of honor bestowed by Percival Village. Show this to anyone, and you'll have the perfect excuse to boast, "Look, I single-handedly saved an entire village! Here's proof!"

Having spent all his favorability points, Qin Ming then turned his attention to another reward—the title tasks.

(End of Chapter)