Chapter 23: A Mage’s Worth

Levan narrowed the distance, his face concealed behind a mask.

Who’s that?

That was the exact expression.

At that moment, Q-T Q-T, who had been hidden behind the romantic swordsman, spoke up.

“Oh, as expected, it’s Renya. Found him in one go?”

Levan nodded.

It seemed the group consisted of only these three people.

Found him, you say? 

Why on earth?

Levan’s mind raced.

And within seconds, he reached a conclusion.

“Could it be because they saw Amtoslin?”

Damn, the trackers had already caught up!

Levan wiped the cold sweat from his brow.

It made sense—they had tracked him despite using a teleportation scroll and deliberately hiding out in Houm’s house to prepare.

This meant these guys were definitely incredibly skilled.

The romantic swordsman said,

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. No need to fight, friend. We just wanted to talk with you.”

“Hey, saying it like that just makes you sound more like thugs. Show some manners when you speak!”

“How?”

“Step aside! I’ll talk.”

After being scolded by Q-T Q-T, the romantic swordsman wore a sulky expression and stepped closer to Renya.

Then Q-T Q-T, smiling brightly, started introducing herself to Levan.

“Hello! My name’s Q-T Q-T. We’re from a guild called Freedom. We didn’t come here to cause trouble but because we’re curious about you, so we took the liberty of seeking you out.”

Unlike the romantic swordsman who spoke bluntly, Q-T Q-T was courteous from the start.

Still, the suspicion remained undeniable.

And Freedom? 

Although Levan was fairly well-informed about warlord guilds, this was the first time he’d heard of Freedom.

“Just a casual social guild?”

No matter. What mattered was the reason they approached him.

Levan planned to coldly reject the interview but decided to accept it instead.

It’d be a headache if they tried to retaliate for refusal.

Levan said,

“Understood. Come on in.”

“Oh, you actually have a room here too?”

“Just a house of someone I know in the 400.”

“Oh, I see.”

Once Levan agreed, Q-T Q-T smiled kindly and showed a genuine warmth.

Four people entered Houm’s house and sat around the table.

Levan said,

“I’ll just keep my mask on, alright?”

“Doesn’t matter, but is that really necessary?”

“What do you mean?”

“I guess it’s to hide your identity, but honestly, by now your face is probably all over WarTube clips. Your death was probably caught on an Amtoslin solo raid video or something. So if you wanted to hide, you should’ve done it when you were capturing Amtoslin.”

She had a point.

What good was hiding his face now?

Especially from people who already knew it.

So he decided to take off the mask.

As Levan removed his mask, Q-T Q-T expressed surprise.

“You’re good-looking.”

“Enough. Before we talk, did someone track me?”

“That’d be me. I’m the scout.”

Levan looked at Q-T Q-T, who pointed to Renya.

Renya was bowing his head, his face hidden beneath a wide-brimmed hat. Hearing “scout,” that hat seemed oddly like a scholar’s gat.

Levan asked,

“Do scouts really track people?”

“Renya isn’t a dealer but a supporter. So he has some skills. And here’s the thing—while you were hunting Amtoslin, Renya was the one protecting you from snipers.”

“You protected me?”

“Yes, yes. Didn’t you notice? Among the spectators, there were even some Black guild members.”

Levan understood many people gathered during the Amtoslin hunt.

But with so many onlookers, trying to snipe a major target was reckless.

* I couldn’t have imagined this.*

Black guilds were groups that didn’t hesitate to use unsportsmanlike tactics for profit.

But even so, they usually took care not to be seen.

Yet they attempted to snipe a big target? If they’d failed, Levan could have died.

“But… why?”

However, Levan’s first thought was suspicion rather than gratitude for being protected by Freedom.

So he asked bluntly,

“Thanks for protecting me, but why?”

“Just because. You’re kind of… hard to look at.”

“From my experience, there’s no kindness without reason.”

“Hoho, I see. But don’t take it too seriously. We really just saved you. If you want to repay us, just answer a few questions we’re curious about.”

Q-T Q-T naturally guided the conversation toward what they wanted.

Levan realized Q-T Q-T wasn’t ordinary.

“If it’s something I can answer, I will.”

“Thanks! First question—are you a mage?”

“…What?”

“Ah, don’t misunderstand! It’s just that Renya has the ability to sense and distinguish others’ auras.”

Levan glanced at Renya, but his face remained hidden under the wide brim.

Levan asked sharply,

“Why are you asking that?”

“I said it’s just curiosity. We’re not interested in Amtoslin. Although we came to Helum because of Amtoslin, now we’re more interested in you.”

“So why?”

“Because we’re curious. You seem like a warrior-type, but your aura feels like a mage… it’s fascinating. Ah, and we’re not YouTubers or anything. We’re just genuinely curious and came to find you.”

Q-T Q-T spoke honestly with as much sincerity as possible.

Yet sometimes sincerity seemed like a disguise.

Levan, still suspicious, thought the same.

“So?”

Levan hesitated.

What did these people really want? Pure curiosity?

He didn’t think so.

No one would track someone just to satisfy simple curiosity.

At that moment, as Levan silently pondered, the romantic swordsman broke the silence, feeling frustrated.

“Hey Q-T Q-T, Renya, both of you, turn off your recording.”

“Why record…? Ah, okay.”

On the romantic swordsman’s order, the two switched off their recording devices.

Only then did Q-T Q-T realize her mistake.

Above the heads of the romantic swordsman and the two others appeared the “Camera Off” icon.

The romantic swordsman said,

“I told you to leave it to me, so what are you doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“Forget it. From now on, I’ll handle this. Hello, friend. My name’s Romantic Swordsman, vice guild master of Freedom. I can even reveal guild info if you want.”

Half-speaking in informal speech, half-formal, he didn’t seem to care.

He continued cheerfully,

“Hey, I just thought you might be misunderstanding us. We’re really not a Black guild or YouTubers. We’re not here to sell info or anything. Believe it or not, we just came because we’re curious about who you really are.”

“What’re you doing?”

“Well, I mean, I’ve never seen a mage fight so cool before. Especially when you made sparks fly while swinging that club—it was just like Thor.”

Starting from that, the romantic swordsman enthusiastically praised Levan’s battle skills.

“Is this guy serious?”

Levan, listening to his words, asked,

“So? You followed me just to know that?”

“Of course not. If you really are a mage, there’s something we don’t want to do.”

“Something you don’t want to do?”

“Hmm, well, this is just our personal opinion…”

The romantic swordsman looked to the other two for confirmation.

Then he smiled innocently.

“If you really are a mage, have you thought about joining our guild?”

“Are you kidding me? Our guild is small but elite, and quite high level. Want to take a look?”

He opened the guild info window to show the details.

Levan waved his hand, declining the kindness.

“No, thanks. I appreciate it, but I’m not thinking about joining a guild yet.”

“Why? Joining is good. Our guild level is 3, so we’re respected wherever we go. We have fewer members, so extra experience points come in pretty nicely.”

“I’m fine. Just keeping an open mind.”

“Ah, no other reason. We just think it’d be fun. What level are you? Everyone in our guild is triple digits. So if you really are a mage, we can support you with our full strength. How’s that? You won’t have to tank, and we don’t ask for anything in return. Freedom is really just a casual guild for mature users.”

Not only the romantic swordsman but also Q-T Q-T looked at Levan with bright, hopeful eyes, clearly wanting him to join.

“What are these guys about?”

Levan was even more bewildered.

Were these guys really trying to recruit him just for fun?

He couldn’t understand why they would cast him for such a trivial reason.

Especially in a level 3 small but strong guild.

When Levan didn’t respond, the romantic swordsman lowered his voice.

“Hey—”

But was he afraid of a lowered voice?

They were inside a village, even inside Houm’s house.

After declaring they weren’t a Black guild, they wouldn’t dare do anything reckless.

So Levan wasn’t afraid.

But despite the low tone, the romantic swordsman pulled a ring from his chest and offered it to Levan.

He said,

“If you join our guild, I’ll give you this.”

“What is it?”

“Check it out.”

Levan examined the ring’s options as the romantic swordsman suggested.

[Yojung Spring’s Dew]

[- Grade: Unique]

[- Restrictions: None]

[- Durability: 10/10]

[- Options:]

[Intelligence +30]

[Magic Power +500]

It was a unique-grade ring.

In other words, a gift.

Hah, a gift now? *

Levan couldn’t help but laugh.

Why would these guys go so far just to invite someone they barely knew?

That made him even more suspicious.

The romantic swordsman said,

“You sure are skeptical. But really, there’s no hidden meaning. Seeing a mage fight so amazingly like a warrior made me interested enough to invite you. I, and our guild master, like unique people. Renya there was also an outsider like you. Right, Renya?”

Renya nodded silently.

Renya didn’t seem to share the cheerful nature of the romantic swordsman or Q-T Q-T.

The romantic swordsman continued,

“Hey, you don’t even know our guild’s exclusive skill.”

“What is it?”

“Don’t be surprised. It’s cooldown reduction. Cooldown reduction. A full 10%.”

Cooldown reduction was short for cooldown time reduction.

Levan’s ears perked up because his skills didn’t rely on intelligence or magic power, but cooldown time was essential.

“I know guild skills are randomly selected, and cooldown reduction is extremely rare, but you got it?”

Now Levan was interested.

With a unique ring and a guild skill, they could reduce skill cooldown by 20% in total.

After some thought, Levan said,

“Alright. But I have a condition.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s true I’m a mage-type, but I have personal reasons, so even if I join, I want to limit the personal information shared.”

“Oh, good, good. That’s fine. When you trust us someday, you can reveal more if you want.”

“...You accept that pretty easily, huh?”

“Don’t worry. Renya did the same. So, will you accept the guild invite?”

What was so good about this?

Levan hesitated, but the romantic swordsman eagerly sent the guild invitation.

And as promised, Levan accepted.

[You have joined the Freedom Guild.]

[Your guild rank has been promoted from New Member to Regular Member.]

[Guild exclusive skill applied.]

[Skill cooldown reduced by 10%.]

And just like that, Levan unexpectedly became a new member of Freedom Guild.