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Chapter 12
The artisan district was a safe and quiet place.
That was only natural, since everyone there was busy clutching statues and bawling their eyes out as if possessed.
“+12 upgrade! Just once! Please let it succeed just once!”
“This will work. It has to work this time. If it doesn’t, that makes no sense. It’s a scam. A scam, I tell you.”
Pointing at them, Ray said,
“There is a fun legend that if you offer a small donation to the statue and make a wish, it will come true.”
“…That doesn’t look like a small donation.”
Gold coins were rolling all over the statue’s feet.
Priests in white robes were gathering them into sacks.
They were taking them so openly that there was nothing left to say.
“Evilon has many outsiders who’ve settled here. And of course, there are also residents who have lived here from the beginning. We coexist and build our lives together here.”
Saying that, he placed three coins into Heeyeon’s hand.
“Yorn’s bakery in the commercial district makes delicious bread every day. Would you like to buy some?”
Evilon Tour Guide – Side Quest (1): Buy bread from Yorn’s bakery in Evilon’s commercial district. The bakery owner, Yorn, is a mischievous man. Through conversation with him, try to buy as much bread as possible with three coins.
“I am the master of negotiation.”
Reward: Yorn’s delicious bread
Ray let Heeyeon off in front of the commercial district.
Heeyeon briefly considered what would happen if she just ran off with the money in her hand, but then immediately headed toward the bakery.
She still remembered how he had kicked a heavily armored man flying with a single strike.
A true Hecto-Pascal Kick.
Yorn’s bakery was a small, charming shop decorated like a cottage in the woods.
Sniffing the sweet, comforting smell of bread, Heeyeon stepped inside.
The first thing she saw after entering was an ordinary-looking old man who seemed to be Yorn, pointing angrily at a woman wearing a loud cooking outfit.
“This isn’t bread! Who would eat this?!”
Heeyeon reflexively looked at the thing he was pointing at, which was presumably bread.
It definitely was not bread.
“The customer is here, boss.”
“If someone is talking, at least listen!”
Yorn grabbed the back of his neck.
Heeyeon wondered for a moment if she should leave and come back later, but fortunately, Yorn was not the type to leave customers hanging for long.
“So. Why are you here? To buy bread? To become my disciple like this fool? Or are you here to negotiate with me?”
“…Number three.”
“Was it that Ray bastard again? He keeps sending people to me. Such a nuisance.”
Though he frowned as if annoyed, Yorn naturally led Heeyeon to a chair and sat her down.
“Now. My shop has many kinds of bread. But my principle is always to make healthy bread. I don’t make cheap bread that has to be discounted. Let’s see if you can buy more than the proper value with just three coins, young outsider.”
Heeyeon glanced over the prepared bread.
All of it looked colorful and delicious.
Since she didn’t know the market price well, Yorn kindly explained.
“With your three coins, you can buy two loaves of plain bread. But if you buy one cream bun, you can add two cookies. Or you could buy five cookies. How should you buy so that you’ve ‘gotten the most,’ young outsider?”
Heeyeon thought for a moment and pointed at something that did not look like bread.
“What about that?”
“…….”
“?”
“Things like that are not something you buy!”
His disciple muttered that he was being harsh, but Yorn shook his head emphatically.
“I can’t sell that. I can’t sell that in my bakery. I won’t. No! Things like that are not for sale for money!”
Heeyeon stared at Yorn for a moment, then raised her hand.
“I’ll take the cream bun and cookies.”
“Are you not going to negotiate?”
“No. I am now.”
Looking at Yorn’s expectant eyes, Heeyeon said,
“I’ll buy that bread too!”
What she pointed at was something whose existence as bread itself had been denied.
Yorn clutched his cheeks and cried out in despair.
There was no need for further negotiation after that.
Ray smiled as he looked at the bag of bread full in Heeyeon’s arms.
“You’ve won completely against Yorn in negotiation.”
“Yes!”
“And you brought something strange too.”
“I brought it as a keepsake. Also, it’s bread.”
For the first time, Ray’s smiling face cracked.
They shared Yorn’s delicious bread as they continued onward.
“As you just saw, outsiders can become disciples of shopkeepers in the commercial district. This has nothing to do with whether you already have a class. If you haven’t chosen one yet, becoming a disciple first can be a good experience.”
Ray carefully explained the components of Evilon to Heeyeon, handing out side quests along the way.
Then, at some point, he struck his forehead with an awkward gesture.
“Oh! My goodness. It’s already this late. I was supposed to finish something by today and forgot all about it.”
“?”
“I’m terribly sorry, outsider. Would you mind doing a small errand for me?”
Evilon Tour Guide – Side Quest (8): Help Ray, who completely forgot something he had to do.
“The errand reward awaits you.”
Reward: Full map of the land of knowledge <Cydron>, detailed map of the free city <Evilon>, small compensation
Ray pulled out a prepared slip of paper and placed it in Heeyeon’s hand.
“Go to the place written here, receive the item, and then come to the administrative district. I’ll be waiting there.”
Leaving Heeyeon behind, Ray drove off in the carriage.
Looking at the note, she saw it contained the places they had visited so far, in order.
“So this was a route memorization quest.”
The note even included a simple map, so retracing the route wasn’t difficult.
The hardship she faced during this simple quest wasn’t finding her way or talking to strangers.
It was territorial hostility.
“One bundle of sugar violets, please.”
“You’re here on an errand, right? Please wait just a moment.”
She was just about to receive the final item on Ray’s errand list, the sugar violets.
Then someone snatched it out of her hands.
“…??”
“Sugar violets. This is the last one, right?”
Heeyeon stared in disbelief, alternating between the shop owner and her now-empty hands.
The shop owner seemed just as flustered.
“Excuse me…?”
“Yes. It’s the last one! All you need to do now is go to the administrative district and receive your reward.”
“Ugh, those administrative district people always hand out quests that are exactly this kind of annoying.”
“Excuse me? That’s mine.”
At Heeyeon’s repeated calls, the other person finally turned around.
Just by looking at his eyes, she could tell he was looking down on her.
“What? Why. Just get it again. Why are you making a fuss?”
“……”
Heeyeon was so dumbfounded she couldn’t speak.
When she looked at the shop owner, the woman shook her head.
That meant this was indeed the last one.
Even knowing that, the man continued pretending not to understand and tried to take the item for his own party.
Heeyeon found that extremely irritating.
“That’s mine. You should wait your turn and receive your own item.”
“Ah… seriously, you’re such a pain. Hey. You look like a complete beginner, so can’t you see this? This?”
He pointed to a small badge pinned to his chest.
It showed the shape of a blunt sword with a red slash across it.
“A sword.”
“No, it’s a guild badge. A guild badge! You should know that if you offend us, your future in this game is going to get rough. Right?”
“Me? How would I know…?”
At her honest answer, he looked frustrated.
To Heeyeon, it just looked like more territorial bullying.
Even the newbie hiding behind him and suppressing a smirk was a newbie just like her.
Someone had run around diligently collecting items, while someone else got to stand around comfortably because they had a guild.
That wasn’t something worth bragging about, yet that other newbie was smugly puffing out his chest as if it were.
“Anyway, I got here first and I picked it up first. You took it from my hands. Give it back.”
“Right. Give it back.”
“Righ—?”
“?”
The two of them froze in surprise at the sudden interruption.
Heeyeon at least had it easier. She knew the voice.
“King!”
“Duck, hello!”
Somehow having found her, Kingsmaker appeared with her usual black scythe on her back.
In her hand, she was holding up the newbie from the other side who had been mocking Heeyeon.
Literally holding him up.
“W-What are you doing?!”
“What do you mean? Why? I just swung my hand and you happened to get caught, so why are you yelling at me and making things difficult?”
With an attitude that showed she didn’t care in the slightest about grabbing someone by the collar, Kingsmaker smiled brightly at Heeyeon.
“You came into the game and didn’t contact me? I could’ve shown you around better than the administrative district.”
“I didn’t call you because I thought it might be troublesome…”
“No, no! I’m not busy at all!”
Heeyeon briefly considered saying that proper manners did not involve grabbing people by the collar, but decided to stay quiet.
Honestly, this was satisfying.
Still, why was it so quiet?
The high-level bully who looked ready to hurl a skill at any second had become unusually silent.
Detecting the strange change, Heeyeon turned her head and immediately made eye contact with him.
In that brief moment, his face turned pale.
Then he dropped to both knees and offered the sugar violets to Heeyeon.
“I have committed a death-worthy sin. No, not a death-worthy one, but still a serious offense. I’m sorry. I’m sorry! I’m sorry!!”
After his triple apology, he grabbed his newbie friend from Kingsmaker and fled at lightning speed.
Heeyeon, now holding the violets in confusion, looked at Kingsmaker with wide eyes.
What was that?
Was she some kind of all-purpose cheat code that was still alive?
At any rate… the problem was solved.
While Heeyeon was still slow to catch up mentally, Kingsmaker handled everything for her.
They went out to the main road, took the carriage into the administrative district, entered the agency building where Ray was waiting, and placed Heeyeon in front of him.
Only later did Heeyeon realize she hadn’t even walked on her own during the whole process.
Kingsmaker had an excellent strength stat.
[<Evilon Tour Guide – Side Quest (8)> / <Evilon Visit Log> Quest completed!]
The full map of the land of knowledge <Cydron>, the detailed map of the free city <Evilon>, and a small payment have been granted.
Heeyeon stared blankly at the silver and copper coins jingling as they filled her inventory.
Ray then asked,
“Outsider? Do you happen to have any plans after this?”
“No. I don’t have any fixed plans.”
I thought this was a healing game.
She swallowed the rest of the sentence.
Ray then took out Evilon’s detailed map and handed it to her.
“In that case, would you mind taking a look at this place for a moment?”
“?”
The place he pointed to was the East Gate.
His straight finger slowly moved to indicate the hill road outside the East Gate.
“If you don’t have any particular plans, I think it would be worthwhile to stop by there.”
“Where is it?”
“It doesn’t really have a name. People just call it the Hill by the East Gate. The only thing near it is an old cemetery. But there are some rather troublesome people living there.”
“……”
“If you have time later, it might be nice to stop by and do them a small favor.”
It didn’t appear to be a linked quest—no notification window appeared in front of her.
It seemed more like a quest introduction than anything mandatory.
Heeyeon roughly memorized the direction Ray had shown her and nodded.
She wasn’t thrilled about going to a hill with a graveyard, but if she really had nothing else to do later, it didn’t seem bad to visit.
For now, she needed to finish her somewhat one-sided and very pleasant reunion with Kingsmaker, who was waiting for her.
As Heeyeon stood up, Ray said his farewell.
“Welcome once again to the free city of Evilon, stranded outsider. May innocence accompany your adventure. And may truth harbor no malice.”
“…Ah, yes.”
Even though her response came a little late, Ray only gave a sly smile.
With his long red-tinged hair, he had a foxlike smile.
“Duck, I’ll feed you something delicious!”
As if she had been waiting for that, Kingsmaker once again hoisted Heeyeon up and ran outside.
Looking up at the bright blue sky, Heeyeon thought, quite serenely, that Evilon really was a place with beautiful weather.
