[The Bulgeom Guild, once proclaiming themselves the world’s strongest, is shaken to its very core!]
[A scene as wretched as if struck by bombardment!]
[What in the world happened in the Bear Kingdom?]
[“I saw an Elf who looked just like Alicia!” More and more testimonies coming in.]
[Level 980, an unprecedented Monster! Is this a prelude to a supermassive Quest?]
News about the Bear Kingdom was being reported from all corners of the world.
Not only had the city been utterly devastated, but even the area beneath the Capital Castle, a symbol of authority and glory, was completely destroyed.
It was a catastrophe so immense that not even the might of the Bulgeom Guild could contain it.
Furthermore, pursuing the retreating Golem that had breached the castle walls was simply impossible.
And that wasn’t even the only problem.
“W-what is this… How did this happen?!”
Crowing, having rushed down to the Royal Treasury, scanned the ruins with a look of horror.
He knew that only the royal bloodline could open the treasury, and had barely managed to convince the Prince to unlock it for him. Yet now, the Royal Treasury had been smashed to pieces.
And not a single treasure remained inside.
“Th-they’re supposed to be in here! Where did all the treasures go?! Everything that was inside—where is it?!”
Crowing’s furious gaze turned to the surviving Rangers.
“How would I know? The Golem suddenly burst out and started swinging its fists—who had time to watch for anything else?”
“You bastards! You call yourselves Rangers?! Our entire fortune was being stolen and you just stood there and watched?!”
“Then what about you, Guild Master? You were holed up up there, just screaming your head off—what else did you do?”
“What was I supposed to do, you—!!”
“Calm down, Crowing!”
The Sub Guild Master stepped in to restrain Crowing.
“Maybe… Maybe there weren’t any treasures here to begin with.”
“How can you say that?! If that were the case, why would the Prince have resisted so hard against opening it?!”
At that moment, Crowing’s eyes widened, as if a realization had struck him.
“No way…”
“That’s right.”
The Sub Guild Master nodded as well.
“Maybe this wasn’t a treasury at all, but the place where that Monster was sealed. Unable to escape, they ended up using that thing.”
Crowing nodded in agreement.
“Realistically, there’s no way a Player could own something of that level. I’m sure of it! That thing was always a Monster kept by the Kingdom of Deran.”
It must have been locked away because if it were ever released, the nation itself would be on the brink of collapse.
“Where did that Monster end up going, anyway?”
“They said it headed toward Shuar Forest, but there’s been no trace of it since.”
“How could you lose track of something that size?”
“The tracking team said it just suddenly vanished.”
“Not a single one of them can do their job properly.”
Choking with anger—
Some other guild members, hearing this, were about to burst out again, but the Sub Guild Master stopped them with a glance.
A silent signal: there’s no point in worrying any further—it won’t do us any good.
Step, step.
Leaving the seething guild members behind, Crowing stepped deeper into the ruined treasury.
“…Are you really sure there wasn’t a single treasure left?”
The luxurious decorations and fine interior still clinging to the walls.
For a place meant to seal something away, the remaining traces felt all too out of place.
Rumble, rumble—
“?”
At that moment, the entire castle began to tremble, and the same alert popped up for every Player.
[The Guardian Deity of the Kingdom of Deran, <Ogik> , awakens from slumber due to the disturbance.]
And for Crowing, who stood alone inside the treasury, a separate message appeared.
[<Ogik> realizes his treasures have vanished, and erupts in fury.]
[ <Ogik> mistakes you for the thief who looted the treasury.]
“?”
—Who are you?
A voice rang directly inside his head!
[You have heard the voice of a great Ancient Existence.]
[You have fallen into a state of Fear.]
[You have become Powerless.]
[You have been Weakened.]
Just hearing the voice inflicted a torrent of status abnormalities upon him.
—Answer me.
“Cr-crowing… I-I am Crowing, King of the Bear Kingdom…”
—Bear Kingdom? I’ve never heard of such a place. But why would the King of the Bear Kingdom be here in the Capital Castle of Deran?
Crowing hesitated.
The system had called this voice the Guardian Deity of Deran.
If he claimed Deran had fallen and he was the new king, he would surely not receive any kindness from such an existence.
—Ah, come to think of it, a human came seeking me not long ago. Things did seem noisy. So, it has finally fallen?
—It was inevitable. They indulged in comfort, intoxicated by the glory they believed would last forever.
Fortunately, Ogiq didn’t seem particularly upset about Deran’s downfall.
So Crowing let out a sigh of relief… but in truth, an even bigger problem remained.
He knew at a glance—Ogiq was not only a Guardian Deity, but also a “Dragon”.
—But where have all the treasures they offered me gone?
“T-treasures?”
—The place where you stand was where my treasures were kept.
“A seal… No, it wasn’t the Royal Treasury of Deran?!”
—That’s right. Occasionally, they borrowed from it, but I could overlook that much. However, by the looks of it… everything has been stolen. I don’t wish to get involved directly, so I’ll give you a chance.
“A chance?”
—It’s simple. As the new king of this land, fill the treasury again with lost treasures.
“…What?”
—If you do so, I will overlook this incident.
“That’s ridiculous!!! We’re victims, too! Why aren’t you blaming the real thief instead of me?!”
—Then go and bring the thief to me.
For a Guardian Deity, he was astoundingly irresponsible and unreasonable.
—And if you refuse? Should I step in myself?
Rumble, rumble, rumble—
As the entire castle shook and cracks appeared throughout the walls, Crowing turned pale as a ghost.
“A-all right! I’ll do it!”
—Hmph. You should’ve said so from the start. Humans only seem to listen when it’s spelled out in action.
“Kuugh…”
Crowing couldn’t help but wonder.
How on earth did things get so twisted?
***
The Golem, with a stride as massive as its size, covered a tremendous distance in a short time.
But soon, its limits were reached.
After barely entering the Shuar Forest, the Golem’s summoning duration ran out and it was dismissed, with half of the materials used being returned.
…To Jaeho’s Inventory.
[Your Inventory capacity has been exceeded!]
[Random items will be scattered on the ground.]
Crash, crash, crash—!!
A mountain of items poured down, nearly enough to crush those standing nearby.
“Even with just half, it’s still more than we can handle.”
“Well, we did throw everything in there…”
Wansik spoke with an expression of disbelief.
“Do you always play the game like this?”
“Of course not. Normally, I just run a quiet flower shop.”
Jaeho stole a glance at Third Prince Piso.
“Ooh… Y-you made it out safely…”
Having been locked in the empty treasury, he seemed to have finally regained his senses, thanks to the sudden downpour of treasures when the Golem vanished.
“What are we going to do with all this?”
Wansik, sitting atop a pile of treasure, asked.
“We can’t just leave it all here, can we?”
“Of course not. Who would that benefit…”
But taking all of it with them was physically impossible.
“If only we could hide it somewhere…”
“Alicia! What do you think about this?”
Tina called out to Jaeho, proposing an idea.
“Why not ask the Orc Tribe here! Surely they’d know a suitable place to hide it?”
…From the very beginning, I thought something was off—are you really okay with this? Handing all these treasures to a Monster?
Wansik asked cautiously in a whisper, not wanting to get on an Elf’s bad side.
“Hm… It’s a reasonable idea.”
“What?”
But even Jaeho agreed, leaving Wansik to look back and forth between them with a bewildered expression.
What kind of insane logic was this?
But he quickly saw it wasn’t so insane after all.
They set out for the Orc Tribe’s encampment they had encountered (and raided) on the way to the Bear Kingdom.
“Chiik!! Elves!! Get lost! Get out of here!”
“How much more must you torment us?!”
The Orcs went into a frenzy at the mere sight of Jaeho and Tina.
Those who didn’t know the situation could only tilt their heads in confusion.
No one could guess the humiliation these poor Orcs had suffered, all due to a misunderstanding that they were lackeys of a Dragon…
“Now, now, that’s not why we’re here today. We need your help.”
Jaeho tried to calm the Orcs.
“Chii!! We don’t know any Dragons!”
The Orc Chieftain at the front shouted frantically.
“No, that’s not it…”
Swish—
Before Jaeho could finish his explanation, Tina drew her sword and pointed it at the Chieftain.
“Listen when Alicia speaks.”
“Chiik…”
He quickly put down his weapon, instantly subdued by the threat.
It wasn’t so much about fighting as it was a survival instinct.
If holding a weapon was suicidal, best to let it go.
***
Jaeho brought the Orc Chieftain to the place where the treasures were piled up.
“Chiik?! W-what is…?!”
The Chieftain’s eyes widened at the literal mountain of treasure before him.
Even he, who had lived his entire life as a bandit in these woods, had never seen so much in one place!
“W-what is all this?”
“It’s what we brought… But we’re having a bit of trouble dealing with it at the moment. So, we were hoping you could store it somewhere for us.”
“Chiik? You want to store it with us?!”
“Something like that. But do you have a place that could handle this much?”
“Chii! The dens of our warriors are the safest places of all!”
“…But Tina single-handedly cleaned you out.”
“Chiik.”
No matter how strong Tina was, being cut down by a single Elf definitely pointed to a problem.
“Orcs are a race that relies on numbers. If they’re Rangers, they can just take everything from us anyway.”
Wansik chimed in with some extra reality.
“In other words, if the Bulgeom Guild decided to make a move, they’d just rob you right back. We really need a place that can guarantee safekeeping.”
“Chiih…”
The Chieftain scratched his chin, thinking hard.
“If it’s about safe storage, there is a suitable place. The Shuar Bank!”
“What? A bank?”
Jaeho was taken aback by the sudden mention of a bank.
“That’s right. It’s the bank that manages this whole Shuar Forest region. Not that its only customers aren’t just us Orcs…”
Even so, it was quite the novel discovery.
Not to mention, the idea of a Monster classified as an Orc by Players using a bank at all.
“Chiik—but there is a problem. That place is the Goblin Bank.”
“Goblin Bank? That’s interesting. But why is that a problem?”
Jaeho clearly didn’t understand.
“Sigh. You clueless fool.”
Wansik sighed, patting him in frustration.
“A Goblin can tell your race just by glancing at you. Don’t you know that?”
Despite having caused nothing but massive incidents since starting the game, this guy didn’t even know basic Goblin behavior…
“That’s because I’ve never seen a Goblin before.”
“…What? How can someone play the game this long and never run into a Goblin?!”
“What do you want me to say? I just haven’t, so I haven’t.”
“Goblins are incredibly greedy creatures.”
Tina stepped in to explain.
“If it’s gold, they go absolutely crazy for it.”
“Chiik—at the same time, they are also outstanding mechanical engineers. To protect their own treasures, they use fearsome machines.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound so bad. So what’s the problem?”
“Goblins are naturally deceitful and tricksterish. They might safeguard your treasures, but there’s a very high chance you’ll be double-crossed. Even we’ve been conned by them more than once.”
“Then how’s that a bank?”
“They’ll keep it safe, sure! You just won’t ever get it back.”
“This is just—”
Jaeho couldn’t bring himself to finish his sentence.
So you can entrust your stuff, but you’ll probably never see it again?
Who in their right mind would call that a bank?
“Chiik—but you guys should be fine.”
“…That sounds suspicious. Are you trying to swindle us? You’re not in league with the Goblins, are you?”
“Chiiin! D-do you think I’d do that? After the beating you gave us?!”
The Chieftain jumped in fright.
“The reason I’m saying you’ll be fine is because of that. Even if the Goblins try to skim some off the top, you can just beat it back out of them.”
“?”
He had a point.
“So you went on a crime spree the whole way here? Just beat everyone senseless like a lunatic?”
Wansik’s words poked at Jaeho’s conscience.
“Ahem, well then, let’s check out this Goblin Bank. We should talk to them directly.”
“Chiik—this way.”
“Ah, before we go, can you have your warriors guard this place?”
“That’s no trouble at all.”
After calling over Orc warriors to keep watch, the Chieftain led Jaeho’s party deeper into the forest.