Chapter 35 : Rebirth of the Desert Knight

“We have to admit that we underestimated him too easily.”

“Grand Duke Arif!!”

As one of the pride of the Rasel Kingdom, the nobles were shocked to hear him admit his mistake.

Wasn’t he the one who initially made this decision after his meeting with the king?

“What must be clarified first is that the past transactions between the Rasel Kingdom and the Spiritizing Agent… those were clearly not trades with the Elves. Isn’t that right?”

“Ah… yes, that’s certainly true!”

But the sharp criticism that followed quickly convinced the nobles, who nodded in agreement.

“For now, since we don’t know how much information the other party has related to the Spiritizing Agent, we need to approach things more cautiously. Either way, since the other party is above the Spiritizing Agent, there will definitely be points we can exploit.”

“Hmm, when you say it, Grand Duke… well…”

And so, the Rasel Kingdom noble council was once again adjourned following Grand Duke Arif’s will.

Whatever his intentions, from Jaeho’s perspective, it was fortunate that war did not break out immediately.

***

The vast flower fields spread out within the Elysia Garden.

Several days ago, greenhouses made of glass had begun to rise.

From afar, the members of the Jeonluck Association shared a common thought.

This place is already scorching hot, so why build such sealed greenhouses?

But contrary to their assumptions, these were advanced facilities equipped with highly developed magical engineering technology.

“We inscribed magical formulas along each frame of the greenhouse. Through this dial, we can adjust the temperature and humidity.”

Jaeho nodded with satisfaction at Red’s explanation.

With this, he felt they had taken a big step toward a proper flower shop.

“Honestly, it would be better to get the Elves’ help on this.”

“Ahem.”

As another mage remarked, instead of applying magical engineering, they could have used the Elves’ help to harness spirits.

The problem was…

“I just found out too late…”

Apparently, Lunior had rushed the process along for this reason.

No turning back now.

The quick reaction of the cunning one was clearly aimed at indebting Jaeho.

“Well, since it was basically free service…”

All the money Jaeho spent (which came from his own thieving profits) went entirely toward constructing the greenhouse.

“Thank you all for your hard work.”

Jaeho expressed his gratitude to the mages.

“It was nothing. It wasn’t that difficult.”

“Well then, we’ll take our leave.”

“Ah, wait a moment.”

Jaeho stopped them.

These people had endured the desert’s harshness and worked without complaint—it wouldn’t feel right to send them away empty-handed.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. This marks the start of promoting the flower shop.”

“I’ve also prepared something to help those who are returning.”

“?”

In an instant, Mei and Samantha appeared holding magnificent garlands.

Jaeho placed them around each person’s neck.

It felt like they had just won a prestigious competition.

The mages, initially baffled by this sudden act, soon began to feel something stirring.

“Th-this is…?”

Red checked the item information and confirmed the garlands’ identity.

[ <Thank you all for your hard work!> Garland]

[Grade: High]

[Usage Restrictions: None]

[This is a magical-use garland directly crafted by the Spiritizing Agent for your hard work.]

[Can be easily destroyed by strong impacts.]

[<Fragnant Healing> : Increases mana recovery rate by 5% per second.]

“Wh-what is this…?”

The garland having options was shocking enough, but its performance was even better.

From a mage’s perspective, mana reserves were always something to be cautious about.

“No, wait, are garlands even classified as special items?”

This was an incredible discovery.

Wearable items were generally divided into weapons, armor, and accessories.

Garlands would have seemed to fall under accessories, but surprisingly, they did not.

Red was already wearing a necklace, and if garlands were judged in the same category, dual-wearing wouldn’t be possible.

“Th-this is revolutionary!”

A new item part never before known!

“Ohhh, amazing.”

Other NPC mages were also impressed by Jaeho’s garland.

“I’ve seen cases where flowers are used in alchemy, but this is the first time I’ve seen flowers themselves utilized.”

“Ha ha—that’s what makes our flower shop special.”

As the mages praised sincerely, Jaeho rubbed his nose.

“The first step seems to have fit well.”

But Jaeho had no idea.

It wasn’t just a step, but an endless zipper.

***

With the greenhouse built, the flowers’ growth would gain momentum, so Jaeho felt the need to organize the work more systematically.

First was Mei, whose class was ‘Spiritizing Agent’s Assistant’ (Jaeho still couldn’t understand why the class had that name).

She was incredibly useful in many ways.

The skills Jaeho possessed were things that ordinary people could generally acquire, so Mei mostly had the same ones.

Of course, due to the class traits, she was somewhat less efficient than Jaeho but more than sufficient for management.

Next was Wansik.

Currently, Wansik was regarded by the Jeonluck Association members as a senior figure.

He had sacrificed himself to find a way to improve relations with the Elves.

Thanks to him, excluding Jaeho and Mei, he had built the friendliest relationship with the Elves.

“Well, he seems to have many complaints himself…”

Regardless, he took on the miscellaneous tasks of the flower garden and the Elves’ errands, fulfilling his role.

Wansik, who had once complained fiercely about his position, now seemed resigned.

Above all, being respected by the Jeonluck Association was not a bad situation.

“And the biggest problem is…”

Samantha.

Her current position was very ambiguous.

Although she had been with Jaeho for a long time after Mei, her relationship with the Elves was still poor.

They had hoped to improve things with flower wreaths, but she had insisted she would never wear one.

She was already a semi-Ranker and didn’t share the same sense of desperation others did.

“So it’s difficult to decide what role to assign her.”

Going outside only caused awkward skirmishes with the Elves, so she mostly stayed inside the flower shop.

She hadn’t dug in the desert sands for a long time, and the golems were also long unused.

Having the highest-level Player in Elysia just watering flowers was a serious waste of labor.

“Hey! If it’s about that…”

“…Samantha.”

Samantha turned her head at Jaeho’s call.

“Bored?”

“…What?”

At that baseless question, Samantha looked completely blank.

“You don’t even go out to level up anymore; you just stay in the flower shop.”

Come to think of it, Samantha herself realized she had hardly left here recently.

“Mei specialized as a flower shop class from the start, traveling with me, but you didn’t, right?”

“That’s true…”

Her class, ‘Sand Sculptor,’ was an all-around combat class.

In New World, anyone could enjoy various content according to their tastes, but the main focus was still combat!

However, the Elysia Garden where Jaeho was located was an unusually peaceful place.

“For a place like this, the biggest player-on-player battle in New World history happened here.”

But on average, there was almost no fighting.

This wasn’t the environment Samantha needed to maximize her abilities.

Still…

“Well, it’s not bad.”

“Yeah…”

Jaeho was momentarily taken aback by her response.

“Hm? Why do you say that?”

“I thought you seemed too frustrated, so I considered giving you something else to do.”

“Oh, if that’s the case, I’m fine with anything.”

“Really? Well, it might be more interesting than watering flowers.”

At those words, Samantha felt a slight glimmer of hope.

Not that she was excited, but it was clear she was bored…

“There’s a hidden vault of Brejal somewhere in the desert. Could you use your golem to find it?”

“You’re amazing at digging holes, after all.”

***

Far away—

Samantha sat dazedly in the middle of the desert.

Nothing was visible at the moment, but beneath the Fermasa Desert, Sand Golems were searching every nook and cranny.

“Am I… okay like this?”

She had done well before.

The Prime Guild was a fairly famous prestigious guild.

But if asked how much influence it had in the New World, it was just one of many guilds.

Looking at the New World as a whole, the Prime Guild’s influence was minimal, and Samantha’s relationship with guild members was neither good nor bad.

But after meeting the unpredictable Alicia, who only sought her own enjoyment, Samantha’s life in the New World completely changed.

She had become the center of the hottest incident in the New World.

The whole world was watching, and Samantha’s face was becoming increasingly well-known.

—Hey, you’re amazing! You were on the broadcast too!

—How did you end up with Alicia? She looked scary, but is she nice?

—Let me join too! Where is that? Give me the coordinates!

Even acquaintances were looking forward to Samantha…

Moreover, within the Prime Guild, there were calls to change their evaluation of Jaeho.

Of course, Wuster was a pain…

Still, it was an opportunity they didn’t want to miss within the Prime Guild.

When Samantha, like Jaeho’s right arm, took root, it was the perfect time to expand into the Elysia Garden.

“…Who’s the first right arm?”

First right arm was definitely Mei.

“The left arm might be okay too… though the things she actually does aren’t much…”

As that thought crossed her mind, Samantha suddenly felt as if she had been struck on the head with a hammer.

“Not much… I was thinking wrong.”

A sudden realization came to Samantha.

She recalled how Jaeho had called her an ‘enjoyer.’

“Am I… really enjoying the game?”

She had stuck around for her promotion, and even now, she worried about that.

Could this be called enjoying the game?

Absolutely not.

It was just a race to get ahead of others.

Of course, if she could find joy in that, it would be fine.

“But I wasn’t enjoying it. Day by day, I just got increasingly irritable and sensitive.”

Moreover, Jaeho, who had watched her closely until now, would probably listen without objection if she spoke about promotion.

He knew she wasn’t a scary or ruthless person like her appearance suggested.

Still, Samantha had never uttered a single word about promotion.

Why…?

“Ah…”

She sighed softly.

“I was enjoying life here…”

A revelation broke through Samantha’s heart.

A new way of facing the New World.

And the system noticed her change as well.

[* Class Quest *]

[You, who have been wandering without establishing your true identity.

You, the founder of the Elysia Garden, have finally received the chance to end that confusion.

But as the reborn you, you must overcome the trials of starting everything anew.]

[Upon accepting the quest, you will immediately change to .]

[* Warning: Some skills may be changed or become unusable.]

[If you refuse the quest, you will maintain <Sand Sculptor> .]

Samantha’s hesitation as she stared at the quest window was long.

The terrifying explanation that some skills would disappear was tantamount to denying all the effort and time she had invested so far.

“If it’s not a promotion but a class change… does that mean the unique class is still far off?”

About to step into the ranks, turning back now was difficult…

“Accepted.”

“…Class change complete.”

Samantha’s report to Jaeho was tinged with awkwardness.

“But… unfortunately, all the Sand Golem-related skills have been removed.”

She had assumed she’d keep some Sand Golem abilities as a Spirit Knight of the Desert.

“I’m sorry…”

“No, it’s okay.”

What could Jaeho say in response?

And so, the search for Brejal’s vault was temporarily suspended.