Chapter 258: Side Story – Familiar (2)
vJ3Miss Park Sirin was a mage from the east.a3sBGtI
owYTb5“You mean you started traveling without even entering the Purple Hawk Academy?”DuuMf8R
clrK‘Travel’ was a nice way to put it, and at this point she was closer to being a vagabond.nmlNPU
jDi3S“Yes. There were some things I had to do.”Ufq8
Q3Ow1Miss Sirin replied as she continued engraving magic circles along the pathways used by the demonic beasts. Looking at her expertise with them, she looked like a fairly high grade mage.yO7f5
AKIUI6“This much should be good enough. Some of the beasts haven’t returned yet from their hunts. Let’s wait until they’re all asleep in the middle of dawn.”jqDw
TJQv“Sure. That was quick though.”MCCh
LzGFX“It’s all thanks to your Rune Magic, Mr. Korin.”LChdK
5GgShe was very courteous. She smiled before guiding the way to her tent.w7u
4yl22uDThere were three nests in total, each having dozens of demonic beasts in them. To deal with all of them at the same time, there were timed magic circles engraved all around them.9dN
DKtThe way to the village was also blocked off in case any of them ran away towards the village, meaning all the measures were in place.AWs2ktN
65MIt must have taken her a long time and effort to make all these preparations… which revealed that she must be a diligent kind of person.oasF
av0P9i“Miss Sirin. Would you like some jerkies?”z2x2
jNeua“Sure, if you don’t mind.”7qN
FJT6SLShe appeared to have spent the last two days repeating the same actions, while spending the rest of her time by a small campfire that she lit up with magic. In this cold weather, in the middle of the mountain with no other light sources nearby, this mage was here all by herself for the sole purpose of killing these demonic beasts.i1l6n
pyaOr perhaps, maybe that wasn’t the only reason.iT5
s0QsMages were extremely valuable. They were treated with respect wherever they went, and there was no need for her to do such voluntary actions in a place this secluded.pqj67bk
pJnAcademy students needed to fill in certain hours of volunteers, but she wasn’t an Academy student either.mm4p
e7gm9J“Mhmm…”JxAn
5sJZWhile nibbling on the jerkies I gave her, Miss Sirin took something resembling a map out of her bag.H10QFF6
LVi7“What is that?” I asked.1Sm3jWK
ak3f“Ahh…!”zu9Mol1
OOWpShe was greatly surprised by the fact that I saw it, and immediately hid it back inside the bag. She seemed… a bit clumsy.yzKCoEz
moBH“It’s… nothing.”nazd
D6Hoxz7“I see.”WYQFaFz
gq0SmI didn’t feel the need to delve deeper into what she wanted to conceal, and glossed over it.GwkMjbE
RB5dgI“By the way, Korin-oppa—”KWhDY4
WpiOppa?nlH
ZDllJzGI immediately turned my head around upon hearing that word.1FZOT
NGhy“Ah, umm…” she hesitated before apologizing. “Sorry, I have a habit of calling people older than me, ‘oppa’.”vM9W
2cZp7“It’s an excellent habit! That will make any guy happy!”cp7bdZ
tsUnZxgFuu… It was sad because no-one called me oppa except for Ran. I once asked Marie and Alicia to call me ‘oppa’, but they refused to do so with a strong look of repulsion so I couldn’t possibly ask them again.pxAD
42sJHoh? Wait a minute. Maybe Master will do it if I asked her.RjtM
jLznTVs[Uhh… Korin o, oppa?]0Z0R
6fMy7N2Kyaa~. Just imagining how embarrassed she would be, as she grumbled about her age while still reluctantly calling me oppa put me in a good mood.ThW
V5fjqThat was remarkable indeed. I decided to insist on it once I went back.gsPfRl
3agDHh“What are you thinking about?”AVm
hhCB4Kx“I’m thinking about my close friends.”N4Ry
yXI7QhObviously, I wasn’t so thick-skinned to call them ‘girlfriend candidates’.iPJyhA
eJte“You seem to have a lot of friends,” she said.orccm
Tf9B“I do.”r22FPU
SFeOf course, only a few among them were ‘friends’ with a special meaning behind them… Actually, I guess there were quite a lot.CBudmH5
lvpDlgc“Haa…” I sighed.mlR9BHy
sbis“What’s wrong?”D3jijS
rmq5U“Umm… Can I share a little story?”d4J0Jt7
K8jI needed someone to consult with. Jaeger and Lark would simply condemn me with prejudiced eyes after all.JSZ
DVEmJ2AShe might be able to provide a different opinion coming from an objective perspective. Most importantly… I had a feeling that I knew her from somewhere.Twm
KjbMMy unusual big-mouth might have been a mistake stemming from that sense of familiarity.joP1aN
pEunSpX“This is about my friend.”3yfIO5
2HIgWCI knew this sounded very much like it was about myself, but so what? Even if she were skeptical, she wouldn’t delve deeper into a stranger’s circumstances, right?70wg
fWoIYExcluding the story about the Precept, I shared the situation I was in.grkdtx
U9VceXr“You mean…”trp2
MVI4Miss Sirin dropped her head low after hearing my story. It seemed like her shoulders were shivering but… I might be seeing things.Wbov4
UWx“There are seven bitc–… I mean seven people around ‘your friend’, right?”E8DBh
wNCX6Tw“If you consider the one with split personalities as one, that is.”XaX
psCJs“Eight, huh… Haha, fuck. He’s the same as always, this fucker.”oVkdz
UzYgK“Miss Sirin?”olXWNZ
4QsI didn’t quite catch what she was mumbling under her breath, but instead of repeating herself, she lifted her head back up and said with a sarcastically bright smile on her lips.iE6LUS
7mSQ“So you’re saying you don’t want to choose one person and make the rest of them unfortunate, right?”s9J86E5
DXvr“That is exactly correct.”HKAehFv
2ZJYI didn’t want to do something that I would regret, and I wanted everyone to be happy. And although I didn’t tell her, it was also a problem related directly to my own life because of the Precept.BaGWy
JQ74GR“It’s a difficult problem.”pu4M
OfJIndeed it was… Perhaps there was no other way apart from persuading each of them one by one.oUJN
69fKiiQ“But before we discuss solutions to problems as complicated as this, we need to consider the personalities of the people involved. That will let us assess whether we will be able to persuade them or not.”wa1v8QY
VFd“Ohh…”R28
Hy0M3As expected of a mage, she was very logical. Why couldn’t our Marie-sunbae be as logical and rational as her?UPnuV
IfRA“What are some characteristics about them?” she asked. “I think it will help just to hear about some of their unique traits.”jQE
1JGWlN“Right. Umm…”pTRO
9z7XNI pondered a little, but for some reason, I had a feeling that I could share everything with ‘this person’.ZcYSJ83
2Ik“One of them is a senior who’s really cute and easy-going. She’s from a family of farmers, and she’s so affectionate that she boils the potatoes that she gets from home to share with her juniors.”4wn
IPyvmBut the unexpected twist here was that Marie was from a tremendously rich family.7KZbzVQ
cyddAJ“She really wanted to do everything for me. Ah… I still remember how she summoned a troop of wyverns to congratulate me for earning a peerage…”VuX1
ajVThat made me dizzy. I refused because of how much she was giving me, but Marie told me instead.inIvV
k23EAu[I can do anything for you, and I want to, as long as it can reduce the burden on your shoulders by even a little. Peerage? Land? Hresvelgr? None of them are that important.]1bi
K2iA[I want to give you e~verything I have, and do whatever I can for you. Because you’re so, so precious… And if you want to walk the hard and dangerous path… I want to polish that road even a little.]39v3
GBfgShe generously gave me everything. Whether it be money, peerage, manpower… and even her love.X3KsVJb
KtAa“I am grateful for everything she’s done. She’s been so much help, so adorable and… I feel so indebted.”Lw3P
4cdg“…”PmtvpFf
xXBCO– Crunch!abkUowj
KZYmI heard something break and looked up, only to find that Miss Sirin’s pen had been broken into two.lZ3Agz
Fc0q9W“Miss Sirin?”uWPby
36Dxq“Ah~ I accidentally gripped it too hard… Please continue.”rhJ
l8Q“What were you writing down?”GvbmeP
0ieXVlU“I wanted to organize everything and look at it objectively.”NWEc
QMlHoh… As expected of a mage. She was very systematic.sjL6bC
gJtThPt“What about the other people?”JMbuIw
gx5EDa“Hmm…”cMYicvL
6QmgQLI continued telling my story. I felt like I could share everything with this person.t5RJC
WWwo“It’s hard to say.”gBs
8kygBbNThe conclusion she came to after hearing that long story, was a bit of a disappointment.kbVVj6
XPNaetG“I’m sorry I couldn’t help,” she apologized.VwwV79C
hS3“No, it’s okay. At least talking about it like this has made me feel better.”ymt
YPx3lsEven a clever mage couldn’t untangle the knots of my complicated romance life.IFD7Wo
dDXDiP“I will be on the lookout first so you can go to bed,” she suggested.TT7UY
BGQHChUIt was a bit early to sleep, but we had to wake up early in the dawn so it was best to get some sleep ahead of time.tvceF8
9S8QtK“Okay. Thanks for that.”X9IH3
JRkZjJM………OW6ja
KipI……vpt
CA20…wcBx
GzMQnMyIn the middle of the night, a shadow was cast over Korin’s face, who was sleeping in a sleeping bag next to the campfire.QOq4WI
hIFNThe owner of that shadow, Park Sirin, was gazing down at his face with a chilling look of indifference that was completely different from the amicable smiles that had been on her face during the day.hbIA6
1J9“He’s still the same.”xBR
xHp6DHe was no different than before.D5s7
JnV7PaThat was just the kind of person he was.FyzTI
BXPLAb0He was too kind.SJG
VlyAnd even now… there were too many girls around him.Qyoqc
WaIpI0Getting the answers out from him weren’t that hard.emWPMsJ
T8BBoth in the past and now, he was weak to ‘drugs’. But for some reason, his resistance to magic had gone up ridiculously compared to the past, so she had to use a very strong curse to pull it off.i4iT
ZK5zPf“…Fucking hell. He’s way too handsome.”OX0s61X
3vCHShe had followed his traces on earth, and now Sirin knew his real name and his real face.pi3uDl4
vTcThe fact that it didn’t change her thoughts just reflected how deep her feelings towards him were.MQqIRko
xf8hSirin pulled out the notes she had written during her conversation with Korin.Glh
52tnOlAlthough he never shared their names, deducing the names based on their background, characteristics and personalities was an easy feat for a player of .fDxjx1e
OsqYq– Marie Dunareff8Gr
fKhww5A– Hua / Rann6S
tSPXe– Alicia ArdenXRCJ
8BHI2G– Lunia ArdenJKVT6V
17GLYY– Estelle Hadassa El Rathz2AjI
e8vt– Miruam Elizabeth El RathbRXQJ
9fwbFR– Erin DanuaWiQnfh9
6zxEach and every one of them were Unique Grade named characters – all of them were, without a doubt, key personnel of and some of the strongest people of this world.JYUk
aiANLooking at the notes of such powerhouses… the ‘list’, Park Sirin mumbled in a cold voice.KS3Vg
5nu“A lot of bitches to kill.”PRIi
N3lTDFoolish NPCs not knowing their place.bSRY4
hngt6WJ****WOhg7
8LThwDuring sunrise, Miss Sirin and I climbed down the mountain after eradicating the demonic beast nests.F884y
lUBd“…”hVp6l4B
QFXX5Gf“…”EaS
WPJCgkCThere were two pairs of disgruntled eyes on me as I returned to the village.hBg
7Zr“It’s not what you guys are thinking.”kU6ftr
nnoLD“Of course.”Q79SE
90Mok“Sure sure~”H1aiIF
Iig0y“Like I’m saying, that’s not it!”tlDqdxa
HcPhI might have a lot of women around me, but I wouldn’t flirt with another lady in just a single night on the mountain, okay?BGQY
MpDyrs“Nice to meet you, I’m Park Sirin.”2lmB
J59cmUq“…Jaeger Hinzpeter.”Pux
AWSZ“Hi, I’m Lark Buhgman.”zYkNkmA
4Xx0vThe three of them greeted each other. Miss Sirin had a slightly stiff look on her face, but she smiled after turning towards me.K4VN
Nf1A“Are they your friends?”6p6zKig
WkaH“Kind of.”tQfV
sHS“This little bastard…!” Jaeger raised his fist in a joking manner, but in that split moment, Miss Sirin’s expression quickly turned stiff.7J68WE
ZopS2“Come on, let’s stop mucking around. Are you done cleaning up the snow?”JYNc
j5WfyFeeling slightly spooked, I immediately stopped Jaeger and changed the topic, to which Lark replied.p2ZDf3
WbLUr“Not done yet, but it shouldn’t take long. A bigger problem than the snow were the demonic beasts occasionally coming down looking for food.”jYX
H0WdZ“We’ve dealt with all of them. There shouldn’t be any more issues there.”YZ1A
00c“Really? Well then… there’s actually not much left for us to do.”HmGVQVX
7Bmu0RAIt was a week-long volunteer mission, and I didn’t like the idea of going back already…YfiGM4
C1sDYyk“Should we do some hunting nearby and provide the villagers with some meat?”3Od74Nr
UPbVxTI could do the hunting and Jaeger could do the cooking. We’ve had some meat together, and surprisingly enough, Jaeger was actually a very good cook when it came to meat.izl
AHeJLJn“We could, but I heard this while I was cleaning up the snow yesterday. There seems to be an interesting legend around this village.”Z1kG
qZYl4iNNow what was this going to be about? I listened on with doubt but Lark also joined in, which added to the credibility.r20
IWg“It sounded quite credible,” commented Lark.C3Oq8k
loTS“Really? What kind of legend is it?”rlKK
SAHWas there something in this village? Well, it was a village that you would go to and from in the game, but…634bbgR
NUajBp“Apparently there’s a secret place that hides treasures~”Xa1YmZ
DnrIz“Ah…”6nV3N7t
nJ8IoIt was Miss Sirin who reacted to that statement. After that was me.BIQ
wy0NNN0“A place with treasures?” I asked back.gvGZ
htoK“Yeah. Apparently there was a hero who hid all sorts of worldly treasures there in the distant past.”GZsZ50Q
Ytxx9The legend didn’t have any proof to back it up, but it brought back memories for me.w2yl
qXs2iWas this… that?U81qc3v
Jj8Although I had never been here in the game apart from the one time I had to come here for the main playthrough, I recalled how this was the village where you could meet a random spawn of a Treasure Hunter NPC from whom you could buy a treasure map.WdE1
WawJiEWait… was the map Miss Sirin was holding onto last night…DXL4Gr
o53T5rl“Miss Sirin? Were you also looking for those treasures?”UMZJm
b03“Ah, umm…”YpdLx
lXTHShe hesitated to reply but soon lowered her head and admitted to it.DLw4w2
JETqW“Yes. That’s… probably the same thing that I am looking for.”IVms
A5yeU9GI see. Now I could understand why a mage was volunteering here for basically free.ShAf0x
VIUqkYk****YNl2iq
6E37w6In there were a lot of NPCs that you could come across as a random encounter. Among them was also a treasure hunting NPC who gave up on his career and was looking to sell his map.vmPJeb
LgqhAnd the place you could visit through that treasure map… Well, although it wasn’t that meaningful for me it would still be a decent little event.yd00k
ZrJ“It’s amazing that you came all the way here based on a treasure map that you bought.”GZIzGD
hQlcdpt“No, I was just curious.”7Oe
jFRXThis Miss Park Sirin here seemed to have encountered the treasure hunter that I hadn’t met before, and purchased the map.gh3
6XTLOne would normally consider them a scammer, so it was surprising that a citizen of this world like herself would make such a purchase which otherwise only players would buy.DcNPlW
kYR“Would you like to look for the treasure together?” I offered.s7Ij
2k5zBh“Sorry? Umm…”DhEr
TCzai6“You never know right. We might be able to find an actual treasure.”i3myv
H0iiVActually, this wasn’t a treasure that could make you filthy rich or one that required you to split the treasure down equally. Everyone could only get it once and the same person couldn’t get another one.Y4WAgC
6Xe5vBThe only reason I offered Miss Sirin to look for the treasure together was because of my friendship with these damn friends.oZEJAo
NB9NWy“Ohh, treasure hunting huh… My dream used to be becoming a treasure hunter back in the days.”6VN4
vF7L“…It sounds tedious but well, if you’re going Korin, I’ll come along.”E3k
wJnKgJaeger and Lark. Although they were always pushed to the back in terms of priority since they weren’t the strongest combatants of our groups, it would be a good gift for them now that everything was over.Xdy
14ClhZWell, it depended on them though.Fi6lXb
ikL“I’m actually quite skilled at finding treasures, you see. What do you think, Miss Sirin?”2zuSxJG
aXpRS“Mhmm… If you say so, Korin-oppa…”3eZ1b
lgDDMiss Sirin contemplated a little before eventually accepting my offer.ksN9ieR
CvFJ“All according to plan.”R1P
LwvoKEThat seemed like quite the evil smile on her face… No, I must be seeing things.2qzrjID
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