《Back to Huk’rans》
Haroon woke up, and logged into Beyond. It was a day and a half after he logged out in game time.
"So you were in last night."
It was Seryu. She left the group she was chatting with when she saw Haroon leaving his room and greeted him. Suddenly recalling that she thinks he was an NPC, Haroon gave a blunt reply.
"I had some business to do."
"And do you mind if I ask you what that was?"
Though Haroon was a bit bothered to answer her nosy act, he decided to accept her request so he had to talk back to her.
"I met someone who knows a lot about the Huk’ran mountain ranges."
Seryu's face brightened hearing that.
"So does that mean you would…….?"
"It was just an advance investigation before I accept your quest. Only to find out that the place you are looking for is way too dangerous to go."
"Oh…. Is that so."
She couldn't help but to agree with him, as she also experienced Huk’ran mountains in a hard way.
"Make it 20K, then we will do itl."
"Excuse me? Isn’t that too much to ask?"
She didn’t hide that she was disgusted by Haroon's greed.
"What the hell? Are you trying to rob us or what?"
"It indeed was hard to find a man for this task, but that’s no small money.……."
Biryu and Mobius came and snorted at him.
"I don’t know how detailed your map is, but the map I will buy at 10K Gold will be drawn by experienced hunters and herb gatherers who were trained for several generations. Using both map would guarantee finding comparably safe passage," said Haroon
"There were such people? We asked everywhere and we couldn’t find a single person who’s entered the Huk’ran mountains before," Seryu said back.
Not to mention Seryu, even Mobius, the man who’s been looking for a pathfinder by himself, looked at Haroon with doubts.
"Do you know why Baron Thaust Castle is famous for its herb market? This castle is surrounded by ordinary mountains if we didn’t count the Huk’ran mountains. Merchants from the Empire, even from the whole continent visits this castle for its extremely rare herbs. Now, can you tell where these herbs are from?"
"So you mean…….. There ARE herb gatherers entering the Huk’ran mountains."
Seryu and Mobius seemed to be enlightened.
"Out-of-towners and even many townsfolk don't know this. There surely are families who gathers herb from Huk’ran mountains as their family business. But they keep it as their absolute secrets because of the intel for location of rare herbs. Only in that way they will be able to make a good fortune with herbs."
Seryu and Mobius couldn’t help but to admit that Haroon had the point.
Though Beyond NPCs are somewhat less civilized than in the real world, they were just as intelligent as real humans unlike the other games. Then some NPCs surely would be cannish, and even more to outlanders. Considering that those herb gatherers have been hiding their family business even to their neighbors, they wouldn’t reveal themselves easily for but a small offers of 1K to 2K Gold in trade of giving up their potential generation-long earnings.
'I mean, I wouldn’t do it if I were them,' Haroon thought.
Anyone would have deduce these out if they think what they would choose in such situation. In fact, Haroon’s words were completely bluff, solely based on his guesses. To him it seemed that Kaltz and his friend seemed to gather herbs from Huk’ran mountains, as if they were gardening in their own backyards. Also, utilizing the map that Kaltz gave him would allow him to find a safe route, avoiding many potential dangers. He recalled that the map had monster habitats recorded in good details even at a quick glance.
"Did you think that they would share their secrets for such money? I barely got them to agree to share their secrets under the agreement of not using it for any other purpose and not sharing it to other factions. To buy their trust, I had to list every single one of my personal connections. I’ve never failed a single request that I accepted, and I’ll tell you what the trick is. I accept the requests only after fulfilling all conditions of succeeding them. That said, to me it seems what you asked for is not possible without their map. I don’t know what your map has, but I don’t believe it will tell us detailed information about monster habitats and dangerous spots. That’s all I have to say, the choice is yours."
Seryu finally seemed to understood what he was asking for. 20K Gold was no small amount to her, but she thought it was worth it after hearing Haroon's words.
'He had never failed a single quest, huh. That’s quite a claim. Well, I suppose that would be possible if he does prepare everything beforehand. I guess he has quite a fastidious personality unlike his first impression,' Mobius thought.
Mobius used to underestimate Haroon since to him Haroon was just a NPC, a mercenary. He started to look at him differently.
"Alright. We’ll do as you say, Captain Haroon. Then, when can you get that map? And when will we be able to leave?"
"They’ll make me a map in two days after I pay them 10K Gold. For me, two days are enough to prepare things so we can leave as soon as you and the map are ready."
"Good. Then let’s leave on the third day."
Seryu handed a pouch with 15K Gold to Haroon on the spot.
Seeing so much money, Haroon’s eyes shook for a very short moment. It was truly big money, enough to make his hands tremble, and he was surprised that he could control his emotions that easily on taking the pouch from her.
"Then I’ll be leaving at once. And I’m saying this just in case: don’t even try to follow after me. I don’t want to fail this since they don’t like seeing me either."
"No worries. We are busy enough preparing for the mission."
After getting Seryu’s promise, Haroon left the inn skipping the meal.
'Let’s go ask Kartz if he could explain more about the map he gave me, then purchase supplies for my members. There should be plenty of time for the meal afterward,' Haroon thought.
He made right choice of visiting Kart’s herb shop.
Kaltz had way more information about Huk’ran mountains than he anticipated. Since Haroon had experienced the north ranges and had a rough look at the nearby terrain, he could easily catch Kaltz's explanation with the map.
"The highest layer in hierarchy of monsters in Huk’ran mountains are not wyverns nor ogres. It is the lump orcs, and it is known that there are at least 10 tribes of them. They are conquering the mountains withphysical capability and intelligence that are so high it is hard for us to comprehend."
Haroon could see that. Though he’d been slaughtering them as he attacked them at their most vulnerable moment, they had physical capability that were much higher than normal orcs.
Spending almost a day with Kaltz, Haroon earned valuable intels with detailed routes. It would be really safe if he used the secret routes that only herbalists use, but he had to make more options than that as he had no idea how many members Seryu will bring with her.
On the next day, he bought supplies for his members.
The price was much higher than he thought, almost twice as expensive as the market price in Viscount Paros Castle. Especially the weapons were very expensive and still most of them were sold out. As there was very few smithys in the castle, they were all experiencing an unseasonable economic boom. These were all caused by the users staying in the castle.
Haroon bought some throwing knives and daggers in various sizes. They were all normal-class items, and yet they were still expensive.
When he thought he bought all the items he needed, it was late in the afternoon. Only then he could take time looking and going around the castle.
The size of Baron Thaust castle was much smaller than Viscount Paros castle, except that it had a much larger herb market, but it was much more crowded.
'There are a lot of people. Why are there so many users in such a small castle? Oh right, the mine!'
Haroon could see what was going on. Seeing how he could see knights quite often, it seemed that the intel about the mine was known to other non-user factions as well.
'Maybe I should have asked for more,' he thought.
Their departure was made secretly at dawn while the fog was low.
"Is that all of you?"
Haroon asked, seeing only dozens of users following Seryu.
"Hoho, no. We sent our members ahead in advance and ordered them to wait for us at river Seine so we can avoid leaking the information. We picked our elites. They number about 300 just like before, but they are incomparably better members."
Seryu looked at Haroon as if she wanted to hear a compliment from him.
'Clever woman. She qualifies to be a leader. I suppose not all the nobles are the same,' Haroon thought.
She’s done well sending her members in advance. He’s seen how many user guilds and knightages were in the castle, so when they move in a big group, the intel agents would have noticed them.
"Then let’s get moving. The sooner the better," Haroon said.
He gave a heartless look at Seryu, then set off with Messenger Walking.
Seryu looked back at Biryu and Mobius who were following her, chatting and giggling, and bit her lower lip.
"Huh, what a blunt guy," Seryu murmured.
Haroon seemed to walk normally but was moving really fast, already going far ahead. Living as a merc for a long time must have made his walking faster than normal people, she thought.
"Get moving already!"
Seryu got upset for some reason, so she shouted at Biryu and Mobius in vain, and started running, following Haroon.
"What’s wrong with her?"
"I don’t know. Maybe that merc upset her again or something."
Biryu and Mobius followed the group running with Seryu.
Seryu’s group were able to arrive at the Seine river by late evening, where the other members were waiting.
After having a simple dinner, Haroon got to meet the leading members of Ko-M guild. Most of them found Haroon favourable as if Seryu, the guildmaster told them good things about him. This reassured Haroon, as he was concerned about dealing with people on the way to the mine.
Ko-M guild's rank 1 was Seryu, followed by Biryu. Nando, who was ranked 3rd in the guild, was their most skilled player whose level was at 64. His sharp eyes and well refined movements suggested that he was physically capable in the real world as well.
There was another figure who had a similarly impressive image.
DeathCry, level 61 warrior who was ranked 4th in the guild had a very menacing look and had equipped 4 small axes.
The way he acted and spoke suggested that he was the commander of the guild.
Seeing the meeting of the top 10 rankers of the guild, the leaders, Haroon could see that these two users were practical leaders of the guild. Though they had the guildmaster as Seryu and vice-leader as Biryu, it seemed that they gave most of the rights to run the guild to the other two.
'Seryu is more capable than I first thought.'
Haroon thought she was just a noble who enjoys the power she has, but she actually knew how to handle her people well.
"We'll be resting here today."
As soon as Haroon spoke, the users collapsed down on the ground.
The place the party settled down was between the boulders, with large pebbles lying on the ground, near the summit where there were not a lot of trees growing. Though it might not seem like a good place to spend a night as there was not a lot of cover to hide themselves from monsters, it was fortunate there were no sign of monsters. Actually it was safer since no monster would settle down on such a desolate mountain summit.
"Bloody hell, I’m dying!"
"It feels like my arms and legs aren't mine."
"I kinda envy those early log out shift guys."
People made complaints and whined about being tired.
Seryu lied down on the ground for a while, not even bothering to wipe her face covered in dirt and sweat, then barely stood up. The scene of her members exhausted on the ground here and there came into her eyes. Their armors were covered with dirt, monsters' and their blood, their weapons were damaged and rusted, and their faces were drawn as if they would die any moment.
Fortunately, and with the help of Haroon changing the route several times, they were able to avoid encountering the lump orcs, but lump orcs weren't only the creatures living in Huk'ran mountains. They met monsters and beasts so much that they lost count. The map that Haroon had was for herbalists, so the routes were rugged and narrow. If it wasn’t for Haroon they wouldn't even have thought they were actual routes. Because they were moving as a large group, they had to take some battles that could have been unnecessary if their numbers were small.
Who would have experienced such rugged mountains when they lived in a small barrier?
They were exhausted passing dozen of mountains that were so steep they had to crawl over. Poisonous snakes and insects attacked whenever they let their guard down. Monsters attacked, drooling for unanticipated food.
Ko-M Guild members’ tiredness had reached its extreme as twenty days had passed looking for the mine and going through tough fights. They had gone through four battles just that day. Many places had dense vegetation, as well as many monsters. Whenever they had to pass those places, battles were inevitable. The number of users who died to insect poisons or monsters at least once has gone over 100 already, and the rest got small and big wounds. They couldn’t get proper medical treatment as the magicians were tired as well. In fact, casting healing magic was dangerous for the magicians including Seryu as they were so exhausted.
"Captain Haroon, how much further do we have to go?"
Seryu asked. Her words even had some desperation in them. Even if she was expecting it to be hard, she could never have imagined it would be this bad. The monsters that were blocking their path were simply beyond their imagination.
The monsters living in Huk'ran mountains were at least twice as strong or more than the monsters they'd experienced. One third of the group got logged out by them. Moreover, the magicians who were exhausted by the forced march would not last more than a few days.
Haroon recalled a giant pit he saw on that day instead of replying to her.
Though it wasn’t marked on Seryu’s map, Haroon was certain that was the Sky’s Pit, which was marked on the map Kaltz showed to him. It was known that this pit was formed by a small area of mountains being collapsed into the ground because of the giant underground waterway that goes through the entire mountain range.
Considering the distance they covered after seeing that pit, Haroon was sure that the destination wasn't far from where they were staying.
"I can't go any further. My legs hurt to much, darling~"
It was Biryu, whining at Mobius. Haroon supposed Mobius achieved one of his goal at least: winning Biryu’s mind. They were already giving off some strange aura when they left the castle. Now they were showing everyone they became a couple.
"Let me see your legs, I'll massage them for you. Ugh, look how your pretty legs are all swollen, babe. This should help to relax your muscles."
"Hohoho, thanks, darling. That feels good, I love it."
These two’s canoodling irritated exhausted members. Haroon didn't bother about them. He didn't even get jealous especially when the girl was Biryu the idiot.
"We are low on food. And the guild members’ stamina being at their lowest concerns me as well."
Seryu complained about the situation. Since her sister and other leading members couldn't do anything when they stopped marching, she couldn't even hold a meeting even when she wanted to.
"We’ll be there as early as tomorrow, as late as three days."
"Really?"
Seryu rejoiced hearing his words. Mobius too, was excited and looked at Haroon, even forgetting to massage Biryu’s legs.
Though Mobius had a light, nimble body, he too was exhausted from continuous battles and forced marching. Dark circles were drawn under his eyes like the other members long ago. Haroon’s words started to spread like a wave on a pond caused by a small stone, and that made the members faces start to have a good glow.
They slowly started to look at Haroon, chatting low.
"I'm expecting to see mineral lands consist of six small-sized mountains when we go over this mountains. We might have to go over another mountain if we are unlucky, but we are almost there."
"Whew. Thanks."
Seryu thanked him though they weren't there yet. It would be a counter evidence of how severe the journey was. Not only her, but many others who heard him rejoiced.
"Listen, I assume you would have heard him so I won’t repeat. The sun will set soon, so hurry the tasks given to you. The ones who are on the queue of logging out shall prepare the tents first."
"Yes, ma'am!"
Seryu made a smile of deep relief, seeing her members repeating after her order louder than ever. Seeing Haroon’s back going uphill to scout around for potential danger, Seryu gathered her hands together and shook them. She was praying for his safety.
If it wasn't for him, the map would have been useless. They got used to him navigating and stopped wondering how he was able to find the right direction and places marked on the map. Even the users who studied map reading couldn't do that.
The more they interacted with him, the more capable they thought he was.
'If only he was a user, not an NPC…….'
Seryu blushed when she secretly had this thought.
Human or NPC, she had no interest in smelly men, but the existence of Haroon had been reassuring her, even though it was for a short period of time it was enough to make her look at Haroon as the man. Her eyes would light up when looking at Haroon.
The hopeful news from Haroon boosted Seryu's guild member's morale. When they set up tents and prepared the meals, Haroon returned from scouting. Everyone's eyes were full of trust when looking at Haroon.
At first, they only thought of him as an NPC who’s guiding the way. After a few days, they saw him as an experienced mercenary. After that, he became an indispensable member of the team. Every action of his hands and every word of his became the most important thing to them. Throughout the trip, he saved them from the poisonous insects, swamps that sucked the entire body down, horrifying beasts and monsters.
Though they fought with monsters four times that day, they knew it could have been more than ten times if it wasn't for him.
But that wasn’t everything he did for them. Whenever they were so tired they couldn't move a finger and when their heads were about to be chewed on by the monster’s teeth, Haroon’s throwing weapons saved their lives. Almost everyone in the party had received his help. Though Seryu was their leader, Haroon's position had become absolute after a few days in a mountains. At least in Huk'ran mountains, Haroon was the captain.
There was no member who didn't know that every decision and order came from Haroon's mouth. As they all knew nothing could be safer than listening to him, there were no complaints toward him.
"We don’t like how he is foul-mouthed and curt, but he is an NPC. We would have found him disgusting if he was a user, but he lived his life as a mercenary going through lots of danger, so his actions are prudent and trustworthy. He is qualified to lead us."
That's what the magicians – who trusted their heads and their capabilities more than anything said, and they followed his orders.
"Just how high is his level? I really wonder how high his Agility stat is to move that fast. On top of that, his swordsmanship is somewhere comparable to the knights. Just look at how fast he can move in the mountains! Is that even possible even if he lived in the mountains his entire life?"
"Have you seen how Captain Haroon throws his knives? I couldn’t chase them with my eyes. A life ends whenever he waves his hand. Just imagining what would happen if he was our enemy freaks me out.”
Swordsmen and warrior-type members admired his pure strength.
Smiling, Seryu handed Haroon a bowl of soup. A loaf of white wheat bread was quietly sinking on the side.
Haroon’s words were right.
When they reached the summit, they were able to see six consecutive small mountains. The rising sun illuminated the mountains. Not many trees were growing on them, so the ores exposed to surface reflected the sunlight, glowing as if the mountains were big giant jewels.
Even at a first glance, they could see the place was a rare open-air mineral land even if it wasn't the place marked on Seryu's map.
The scene boosted their morale, so they were able to reach the valley of the mountains after only three hours. They set up their base at a plain area by the valley, and rested for a while absorbed in the exotic scene. The mountains seemed rather desolate as there was not enough natural dirt for the trees to grow high. Also, the boulders comprised of several different colored minerals seemed bigger than they thought in the distance.
"We found the place. This mountain seems to be especially rich in iron ore. Those red stones tell us that they contain iron ore."
"Magnetic stones are reacting strongly. Though we need to check what other minerals are there, at least it's full of iron. We don’t need to dig deep down to mine them, as they are already exposed to the surface. We are sitting on a bonanza. Do you see how that stream is tinted red? It is evidence that the iron near the surface has reacted with it."
Even if it wasn't an exciting report from the magicians, Miras and Oxmam, Seryu knew that they found the place seeing Haroon packing up in silence. The intel she had was saying that the mountain had more than iron ores, full of valuable jewels and minerals not to mention gold and silver.
Everyone was impressed looking at the mountains.
"I’ll get going then," said Haroon.
Seryu has been trying her best doing anything to avoid him as she didn't want to hear that, but at last she had to face him.
"Can’t you be with us until we return?"
Her words contained her affection toward him and they shook Haroon’s mind.
They'd been through quite a few joyous and sorrowful moments until they reach this place. Haroon had also thrown out his hatred toward her long ago. And at some point, he began to feel her kindness. It was especially warm, exciting and sometimes uncomfortable.
It felt like he would feel something special toward her if he stay by her any longer. He once had to carry her on his back when she was exhausted, and he felt sudden feeling of desire to reveal that he is a user too.
If she finds out that he is a user, not an NPC who can’t have proper marriage life – including sexual relationship -, she might really try to get him.
Haroon was a man too. Though he didn't like the way she, a noble thinks, her ambition and many other woman appeals did attract him.
He thought he would never get such feeling toward a noble, but now he did.
'If a borderer like me dates a noble, it is very likely that it is not going to end well,' he thought.
But it was still true that his hatred toward nobles still lingered. Also, he had things to do in this place.
"I have things to do. After that, I need to go to where my members are, so I can't accompany you any longer."
"I see. Yo-you only want to leave us as soon as possible, don't you? I thought we got close somewhat…."
Haroon could fully feel her disappointment.
"I heard dragging out the separation only grows sadness and longingness."
Though his reply was rather curt, Seryu's eyes lit up hearing it. Something tingling, something sweet came from his words and made her feel better. But she knew it was time for her to let him go. She also knew he wasn't kind of person who would stay even if she asked him to.
"Here is 5K Gold, the rest of what we promised. And this is my gift. It’s a teleport scroll with coordinate set at Baron Thaust Castle, so I hope you find it useful. Will we be able to meet again?"
Her sweet words made Haroon’s face twitch very slightly, but he hid his feeling and nonchalantly received the scroll and the money.
"I have a gift for you as well. Some intel."
"Intel?"
Seryu raised her eyebrows with great expectations.
"Be careful of the man you call Mobius," Haroon whispered.
Amazement flashed across her face on Haroon’s words. As far as she knew, Haroon was a trustworthy man. And he was saying something unbelievable.
"Whwhat do you mean?"
"I’m not sure if it is him, but someone has been dropping marking stones on the path we took. This means you have another group following you. If I am right about that, there is only one person who would do this."
"No way…."
Seryu shook her head and refused to believe what he just said.
"I said I’m not sure. But you can never be too careful."
Seryu couldn't close her mouth in amazement.
"Also, I don’t have enough time to tell everyone farewell, so tell them on my behalf. Then, see you again."
Haroon left the place without waiting for her reply. Seryu's members were busy looking around the mountain, and Seryu was still in shock, even forgetting to say farewell to Haroon.
Translated by Channy
Edited by Kmatt and Tom.
Editor's notes:
Channy: Thank you for reading 🙂
Kmatt: And if the ironsnake is too strong for me I'll lure it over to you^^