Chapter 47: Recruiting (3)

Eve was settled in the deepest part of the campsite.

I walked slowly, with Karls in front and Barel hidden behind me.

I could feel the gazes following us.

‘Girls who follow Eve.’

While I was away, Eve Wyler had already turned all of them to her side.

Honestly, that couldn’t have been easy.

‘Not bad. That means she prepared quite a lot.’

Just as I was thinking this, Karls stopped walking.

“This is the place, Shan.”

It was a clearing where a small campfire was surrounded by a dozen or so tents.

Right in the middle of it all.

“……”

A girl had spread out a carpet and was lying down lengthwise.

‘Eve Rotwyler.’

The girl known as the “Genius Little Noble.”

But with the Wyler Principality scenario underway, she should have already disappeared as an NPC.

Yet here she was, vividly alive and breathing right before my eyes.

So oddly, she was confidently lying here, holding her own power right in the heart of the revolutionary army camp.

“Hmm.”

Eve, crunching dried fruit as she warmed herself by the fire.

She glanced back at me and sat up.

Seeing her face glowing orange in the firelight, I swallowed my dry saliva.

‘She looks exactly as I saw her on the screen.’

Everything around the blazing campfire was bathed in orange, but strangely, only Eve’s eyes shone blue.

Unlike the clear blue of Karls, hers were a cold and heavy navy blue.

With those eyes, she was staring right at me.

Because of that, I had to suppress the many questions itching to slip out.

Now was not the time.

“…You’re late?”

Eve spoke leisurely, resting her chin on her hand.

She clearly knew I would come and had been waiting.

I nodded.

“I had a lot to take care of.”

Eve smirked and sneered.

“Oh, really? For someone with so much to do, you coming all the way here is quite the honor, I guess?”

What’s this?

‘Is it really necessary to be this sarcastic?’

I felt something was definitely off as I slowly opened my mouth.

“Just the two of us talk. Everyone else, step back.”

Right now, I had so many things I wanted to ask Eve.

So I needed to clear away these NPCs who were surrounding me like a threat.

Otherwise, it would be hard to speak freely.

But Eve shook her head.

“No. If you want to say something, just say it.”

“…Just say it?”

“Yeah. They’re all my friends. We have no secrets. So just go ahead.”

Her firm words caught me off guard.

It was basically telling me not to say anything.

With all these NPCs watching so obviously, there was no way I could talk about quests or strategies!

“……”

I reluctantly fell silent.

“Hmm.”

Eve silently scanned my party, then smiled sharply.

“There’s a face I haven’t seen before.”

She had spotted the boy magician standing next to Karls.

“Ah, Barel Hejit? Right, I get it now.”

She only nodded slightly, but it sent chills down my spine.

The fact she knew Barel meant…

‘She must know about the original game just like me.’

Eve was someone who had information about The World Forsaken by God, just like me.

So naturally, every move she made put me on high alert.

If she became an enemy, she would be the worst kind.

But I slowly calmed myself.

‘It’s still okay.’

When Eve was deceiving me under the name Eve Regal, I confirmed she didn’t know this world as well as I did.

‘First, when escaping the imperial territory, I vaguely felt that.

Second, when I robbed the dealer in the black market, I sensed it again.

So even if Eve is a similar existence to me…

‘I’m still at an advantage.’

No need to be nervous.

All these worries were useless.

“Eve Regal.”

I lifted my head proudly and called out the fake name she was using this time.

“Oh? So you’ve found the energy to talk now?”

Her gaze, commanding the girls like a queen, did not waver.

Just like in the original story, it was a beautiful and strong light.

At least now, entering the quest first and moving ahead, she probably thought she had the upper hand.

But I spoke to her confidently.

“Sorry, but step out of this quest.”

She told me to say whatever I wanted?

Fine, I’ll do just that!

“…What?”

Eve’s dazed expression met my words again.

“Your method is wrong, so step out of this quest.”

“Hey, you! What the hell—”

“It’s simple.”

I raised a finger and pointed directly at those navy blue eyes.

“You’re on the route you took. The ‘Detached Squad’ route for this quest.”

“……?”

“That only leads to half success. So drop it. I won’t say it again.”

Finishing, I boldly turned my back and walked away from her.

“Hey! Gilloshian!”

I heard a panicked shout but didn’t look back.

I wanted to do exactly that now.

I returned to the campfire where we had originally been.

Tirvaen was already there waiting for us.

“En Nuna, was everything okay? Did you talk with Shark Robren?”

“Yeah, he has his own story.”

“Right, the one with Madness from being a Quarter-Orc.”

To cure the Madness, we needed something called the Soulstone of the Orc Warrior.

And by obtaining it, we could win over Shark’s heart.

“But before that, looks like we’re going to have to fight first. Damn it.”

I sat down with a thud where the warmth reached me.

Staring blankly into the flames, my heart thudded for some reason.

Regret was rushing in late.

‘There was so much I wanted to say.’

Honestly, if I met Eve Rotwyler, I had planned to have many conversations.

How she ended up in this world.

How much she knew about this strange situation.

…And whether she could join me on this endless journey.

“That’s what I wanted to ask.”

But she refused.

Instead of meeting alone to whisper secrets, she brought all these NPCs to the table.

If that’s not a refusal, then what is?

‘Then I have no choice.’

If she starts with this attitude, talking is out of the question, and it will come down to a power struggle.

This quest we’re doing, Eve and I, isn’t something we can solve amicably by each taking a different path.

One of us has to give up their way to properly clear it.

[Quest] Stop the Kishiris Grand Cathedral’s plan and protect the children.

Special: Linked with Quest ‘You’re the Jailbreaker and I’m the Archbishop.’

Expected reward: Two sacred relics from Eolem Grand Church.

Personally, the most important goal I wanted to achieve with this quest was leveling up.

‘Since I’m out hunting anyway, I might as well rake in some experience.’

Leveling up was critical for my future moves.

‘At least hit level 20 and move on.’

And I had to prepare for the next step.

If this quest was completed successfully, I would gain ‘pass rights’ inside the revolutionary army camp.

Of course, I’d also receive a sacred sword called the Vengeance Greatsword from the Eolem Church, but…

More than that, the freedom to move around was the greatest reward.

That was also a main reason I came to Aurax.

As I told Marquis Reith, the Nest of the Four Dragons was here.

I planned to claim my own dragon from that rare location.

So this quest had to proceed without a single slip.

The quest objective was simple.

…Stop the Kishiris Order from slaughtering the boys.

Then the method?

Naturally, I knew well how the Kishiris Grand Cathedral’s villain planned to do it.

It was a special event called the Monster Flood.

The culprit was probably already moving toward the deep hunting grounds.

When the time came, countless monsters would burst out from there onto the surface, sweeping everything away like a flood.

In the original game, we players called this phenomenon the Ultra Wave.

‘When that happens, all the boys in the hunting ground get wiped out.’

Of course, monsters don’t target based on gender.

It’s just that the wave’s path was the problem.

‘The wave passes only through the boys’ dormitory.’

There were exactly two dormitories in the hunting ground.

That was the root cause of the incident.

No matter how the team was formed in advance, those dormitories had to be separated by gender.

They weren’t adults yet, but still, they couldn’t mix boys and girls when sleeping.

The two dormitories weren’t far apart distance-wise, but cliffs separated them, making access difficult.

That made this selective disaster possible.

Wait until as many boys as possible gathered in the dormitory…

‘Then trigger the wave, and it’s over.’

Too easy.

‘I’m sure the Ultra Wave will happen on the first night.’

Most teams would come back successfully hunting their top prey, using their sense of achievement and adventure stories as fuel for a barbecue that early dawn.

Exactly at that time, the villain would trigger the event.

That priestess was a great villain who planned this, predicting how the children would move in this hunting ground.

‘Right. If she can do this, she’s capable of even worse.’

In any case, we had to move first to counter this scheme.

That’s why Eve Wyler arrived here several steps ahead of me and recruited all the girls.

Of course, I knew that route too.

‘The Detached Squad strategy. For sure.’

The goal was to recruit all the girls or boys to our side.

That would trigger a very powerful event.

A special event called “Where Did You Hang Out?”

‘It sounds like a karaoke night or something.’

A joking name.

But the event hid immense power.

‘Once triggered, the cohesion of that group is tremendously strengthened, and team members won’t leave.’

And one more thing.

‘Perfect control.’

Once you become the leader of the children, you can use them to carry out unified operations.

It was basically like commanding a small army.

That’s why it was the Detached Squad route.

‘Before the Ultra Wave happens, lead the children and launch a preemptive strike.’

Even if the culprit wasn’t caught, at least the Ultra Wave could be blocked.

Then the boys wouldn’t be slaughtered, and the quest would be completed.

‘Honestly, not a bad route.’

Also a relatively safe solution.

Right now, Eve Wyler was definitely using that strategy, controlling all the girls.

But.

“…That’s not the real strategy.”

My goal wasn’t just to keep these children safe and clear the quest halfway.

That was basic.

‘Beyond that, to expose the Kishiris Order’s villain and conspiracy.’

That was the true final goal of this quest, and the perfect ending I pursued.

For that, the Ultra Wave the culprit planned had to occur.

Of course, the children couldn’t die.

‘Only if the incident properly erupts can we drag out the hidden mastermind.’

That’s why the Detached Squad couldn’t trigger the Ultra Wave.

And that’s why I told Eve Wyler to step out of this quest.

…Did she even understand what I meant?

‘No way.’

She would definitely get greedy.

Since the moment she put on her hood, Eve hadn’t been cooperative with me.

She followed me smoothly only in the black market, but that was unavoidable then.

So I decided not to expect cooperation.

‘Instead, I have to think of a way to disrupt Eve’s Detached Squad.’

Just then, a shocking and good idea suddenly popped into my mind.

At that moment.

Dum, dum, dum…….

The drumbeat that rang out when we first gathered the children started echoing again over the dark cliff.

Even Barel, who had been sitting quietly, seemed to feel the vibrations.

Looks like team formation is wrapping up!

“Yeah, that’s right.”

I nodded, and Tirvaen frowned.

“Then Shark Robren will end up…”

Before she finished speaking, Karls lifted his head.

“Someone’s coming this way.”

Thud, thud.

Bursting through the bushes, the large man Shark Robren suddenly appeared before me.

“You must be Shan Alledro?”

“Uh… yeah. That’s me. Why?”

The bald man with a serious expression dropped what he was carrying onto the ground with a thud.

It was a huge deer of unknown origin.

“A gift. Got enough space in your inventory?”

…Looks like I’ll be eating deer meat to my heart’s content.

I reached out and shook hands with the Quarter-Orc.

“Glad to have you. Welcome to our team.”

[‘Shark Robren’ has temporarily joined the party.]

[Considered part of the party until this event ends.]

Now there were five of us.

‘Not a bad combination.’

Just as I nodded with pride, our eyes met.

“……!”

Beyond the campfire, Eve Wyler appeared and quietly raised her hand toward me.

Her expression was chillingly cold.

Swoosh.

Like Barel, she was sending me a message through sign language.

I read it and bit my lip.

“Unbelievable.”

The message was simple.

• You step out of the quest.

…So that’s how it’s going to be, huh?