Chapter 8 : Bound by Flowers

“Hoo… hoo…”

Standing there, Jaeho held the seed of the Spirit of Vitality stained with blood.

[ < Spirit of Vitality> has been activated.]

It was Jaeho’s weapon used even more frequently than a lifepiercer.

[You have slain a human.]

[Notoriety has increased.]

[Level up.]

[Level up…]

[You have ended the opponent’s undefeated myth.]

[You have acquired the title <Honor Destroyer> .]

[Deals additional damage to opponents with high fame or notoriety.]

“Ah… I’m, I’m fine…”

Mei’s voice trembled with fear.

“Ah, I’m fine. I just did what needed to be done.”

“Killing someone just because they liked flowers?”

The sense of dread intensified even more.

No matter what, how could I turn this fearful atmosphere around…

“…Huh? Look at that!”

Uster’s corpse turned to ash and disappeared.

There, a Tower Shield, stained with orange-yellow light, lay on the ground.

The very shield Uster had been using!

[< The Wall of Twilight>]

[Grade: Legendary (Quest Growth Type)]

[Usage Requirement: Strength 280]

[Defense: 320 (500 with Twilight synergy)]

[This is the shield of the Twilight Knights who guarded the final moments of the Holy Empire Gracia.]

[The spirit of the sealed Twilight Knights slumbers within.]

[< The Wall of Twilight> Awakens the will of the Twilight Knights for 5 seconds, blocking enemies.]

Jaeho felt it instinctively.

This item was extremely important to the person who had just died.

“Thank you, Alicia.”

An elf approached Jaeho, offering thanks.

“Hmm? Thank me?”

Jaeho slyly hid the seed of the Spirit of Vitality behind his hand.

“That guy came to Trian Village and caused a riot. We were tracking him to punish him for threatening us.”

“Ah… so he deserved to die.”

“Of course! By the way, you’re still in the Luxi Forest.”

“Ah!”

The elves of Trian had thought Jaeho left, risking their extinction.

Yet here he was, still lingering in the Luxi Forest, making Jaeho’s feet itch with guilt.

“Haha, I’m just here to enjoy the flowers.”

Loving nature as elves did, surely they would understand!

“As expected of the Regent of Spirits!”

The elves responded accordingly, fully living up to their expectations.

[The elves’ respect for you has greatly increased.]

“But… what about the human beside you…?”

“Huh?!”

Mei tensed as the elves suddenly turned their attention to her.

But their expression was nothing but pure contempt.

“She’s my assistant, researching flowers with me.”

“Huh?!”

Mei nodded repeatedly at Jaeho’s introduction.

It wasn’t a lie.

At most, she was just a flower detector.

“Ah! There’s a flower here! There’s one over there too!”

That was about it…

But the elves interpreted it differently.

“Hmm? You say she is Alicia’s assistant?”

With just a word, they were convinced.

The level of trust they held toward Jaeho was clear.

What’s more…

[The elves show ‘a slight’ curiosity toward you.]

“Hmm?!!!”

Mei recalled a notification!

Jaeho’s single word had delivered the greatest affinity buff effect in months of effort.

Though her expression remained unchanged.

That was because the elves’ hostility toward humans wasn’t something to easily overcome.

Still, at least Mei was far ahead of a complete failure.

“I heard even Tinlight always had an assistant with him.”

“Huh? Really?”

Jaeho was startled but nodded anyway.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

“What’s that? Another grizzly bear?!”

Jaeho looked around at the loud noise, but its source was Mei’s heart!

No one else noticed this.

“Well, I should be going then. Please make sure to visit Trian Village next time!”

“Yes, take care.”

After the elves left…

“…Why are you looking at me like that?”

Jaeho stepped back, watching Mei’s big, bright eyes fixed on him.

“Um… Alicia… ah, the nickname’s not set yet.”

Still not registered.

“Could you… please write me as your assistant?!”

“Ass…istant?”

Jaeho had heard elves said Tinlight had an assistant too.

He thought nothing of it at first, but for Mei, this was a whole different matter.

After two months of playing the game… no, almost three, the job change quest finally arrived!

[*Class Change Quest*]

[The elves recognize you as the assistant to the Regent of Spirits.]

[Being the Regent’s assistant is nothing grand.]

[All that’s needed is the Regent of Spirits’ permission.]

[Success Condition: Permission from the Regent of Spirits]

[Reward: change to <Assistant Regent of Spirits>]

[Note: You will be bound to the Regent of Spirits.]

This was the job change quest that had just appeared for Mei.

Its class description was so insignificant it felt like a speck of dust.

Most people would look at it and say, “Why even bother? Are you crazy?”

But not everyone in the New World wanted to be the main character.

Just as Jaeho only wanted to run a flower shop, Mei only wished to be friends with the elves.

“Well… sure, I guess?”

Jaeho accepted without much thought.

[You have changed your job to <Assistant Regent of Spirits> !]

“Hehehe…”

Jaeho deliberately ignored her oddly darkening demeanor.

“We’ll each go our separate ways once we leave the forest…”

[‘Mei’ has been appointed as .]

[‘Mei’ is bound to you and can be summoned anytime.]

[‘Mei’ and ‘Alicia’s Plant Encyclopedia’ are now shared.]

“Huh?”

It was an unexpected development.

“Bound…?”

Its function was quickly confirmed.

[Do you want to summon <Assistant Regent of Spirits>?]

“Yes.”

Whoosh—

At that moment, lightning flickered over Mei’s entire body, and she instantly appeared right in front of Jaeho.

It was an intuitive skill that needed no explanation.

“Hmm… by the way, is the Regent of Spirits a class?”

Mei asked, somewhat late.

“Didn’t you know before the job change?”

“Well… I just did it. What is the Regent of Spirits anyway?”

From what Mei knew, the first classes people obtained were usually the most ordinary.

To put it bluntly, names like “Warrior” or “Mage”—uninspired titles.

There was no unique class called by a proper noun from the start.

“Hey! Are you sure you’re not a newbie?”

That explained everything.

How else could she fight monsters so skillfully and kill people so brutally?

“…Yeah, something like that.”

Jaeho answered dryly.

He didn’t want to share the heavy mission written into his class with her.

Because…

“The Regent of Spirits is a flower shop specialized class.”

That was how Jaeho defined the Regent of Spirits.

“Well, since you said you run a flower shop.”

Fortunately, Mei didn’t really care about fighting either, so it was fine.

“Hey! And from now on, speak comfortably.”

“Huh?”

“I’m your assistant now.”

“Honestly, the formal speech makes me feel suffocated…”

She didn’t dare say how she truly felt.

***

“Aaaaaaah!”

Unlike Jaeho and Mei, who maintained a somewhat warm atmosphere, Uster was on the verge of madness.

Death was about five minutes away due to forced termination.

— Jukjang!!! Jukjang-nim!!

— Whoa, what’s this? Why all of a sudden?

Jukjang, the master and ranker of Prime Guild who cast Uster, was wrapped in a white cloth after hearing Uster’s urgent lament from the bus driver heading to the Luxi Forest.

— Jukjang-nim, I’m done! Waaah!!

— What’s wrong? Speak calmly.

— I, I…

After hearing the whole story (excluding the fact that he had needlessly provoked an elf and got attacked), Jukjang let out a long sigh.

— I told you not to go there recklessly. There’s a reason rankers avoid that place.

— I wasn’t killed by an elf but by a player!

Uster said, filled with grievance.

— Hmph. So that’s why you dropped your class quest item?

Jukjang knew he was full of himself, but couldn’t imagine Uster was stupid enough to lose his class weapon.

“This is a common problem among so-called geniuses.”

Because they’ve never died, their coping ability right before death is poor.

In the New World, players generally don’t lose items upon death while hunting.

But field PvP was an exception.

Though random, the system was designed so the most fragile item at the moment of death usually dropped.

Uster dropped his shield for that reason.

He died while casting the skill stored in the shield!

— So do you remember who the opponent was?

Uster was Prime Guild’s brightest prospect.

A genius who quickly obtained a rare-class and was expected to advance to a unique class soon.

But that wouldn’t be possible without .

— I don’t know.

— Of course, you can’t know the ID. You’d need a face recognition skill.

— Uh… He looked really fierce…

So intimidating that it was hard to describe.

— Ah, I think it was a golem.

Absolutely!

There was no way he could admit he was beaten to death by a newbie in the Luxi Forest.

“No way it was a newbie!”

He might really have been a ranker.

He had approached under the guise of a newbie to monitor Uster…

— Hmph… at least it’s lucky it was the Luxi Forest.

If a golem player had gone there, no bus driver would even mention it.

Moreover, considering the forest’s special traits, the tracking might have been easier than expected.

— For now, log out and rest. I’ll check if anyone recently got a bus driver.

I’ll also notify any nearby guild members doing quests in the desert.

— Got it.

Though far from the truth… it didn’t matter.

As long as he could find the shield…

***

After learning that Jaeho played the New World, his father Wooram’s attitude changed drastically.

He had once criticized it as a pointless game but now actively supported Jaeho.

— Hmm… How’s the atmosphere these days? When do you think you’ll become a veteran?

— But a fighter is better than a warrior, right?

— If you lie around too much, you’ll get sick. Take care of your body. Don’t clean today, just exercise!

From Jaeho’s perspective, his father’s change was fascinating.

“How much did you want him to become a fighter?”

He even managed to stop his mother from intervening, almost feeling like a criminal.

The peak of his fervor was the New World capsule that appeared in a corner of Jaeho’s cramped room.

Jaeho looked back at Wooram with a helpless expression.

“Haha! How do you like it?”

He crossed his arms and smiled proudly.

His whole face was full of pride.

“Where did you get the money to buy this when you haven’t even finished setting up the gym equipment?”

“I looked for a secondhand one. It wasn’t expensive. If my son is passionate about something, as a father, how could I not support him?”

A father who urged him to work hard at the game…

No, rather, Wooram’s determination to make his son a fighter was terrifying.

But both Jaeho and Wooram gave off the aura that neither would ever lose.

Still, the reality at home was different.

“Does your mother know?”

Wooram hesitated.

“Ahem… Actually, I wanted to talk to her about that.”

His broad shoulders tensed slightly.

“Since you kept nagging, how about I say I bought it for you?”

“…No! This is more important than money! Am I supposed to take all the blame? I already said the capsule room is more than enough!”

“Ahem… Why are you being such a baby? But still, aren’t you better than me?”

“Are you even making sense? I don’t care. I’m just going to say it as it is.”

“You little brat!”

Wooram showed an awkward reaction uncharacteristic of him, but Jaeho remained unmoved.

“When Hye comes, just don’t say anything and slam the door shut! I’ll handle the talking.”

Then Wooram went off to the gym again… and Jaeho opened the door wide for his returning mother.

“Hey! I thought these two had quieted down with age. Why are you acting up again? You have no excuses left, selling your son out like this…”

“No, that’s not it, honey. There’s a misunderstanding… Hey! Changho at the gym! That guy’s trying to sell the secondhand equipment, but it’s not selling well…”

Immediately, Wooram, who had been called to the gym, was explaining the situation with a grim face.

“So, what happened…?”

Wooram continued his long-winded excuses.

“Huh?”

His gaze suddenly landed on Jaeho’s room.

Through the slightly open door, there was his son’s calm smile.

“That brat…!!!”

He wanted to rush toward the closing door…

“Don’t give the kid a hard time!”

But he absolutely couldn’t.