These are Fake! - Chapter 218



Only Krnovel

218. To the village of Benda

“Are you moving through the mercenary guild?”

When asked about Horton’s suggestion, he shook his head.

“No. On the contrary, the mercenary guild is now trying to get out. If they throw in more S-class mercenaries in the wrong atmosphere, it will be a huge blow to the guild if problems arise again. That’s why no one wants to step forward.”

“No one?”

“Yes, that’s why I came to you. Because I need help from at least one more person.”

I nodded to him immediately.

“Okay, let’s go together.”

“Oh, as expected.”

A smile appeared on Horton’s face.

It seems that he thought deep down that I might reject such a bad situation.

“So when would be a good time? Can you prepare in a day or so?”

“There’s nothing to prepare. I just need to pack a few simple things. If Mr. Horton doesn’t mind, we’ll be on our way.”

“Haha, of course I’m fine.”

“Then please wait a moment.”

After saying that, I went to pack my things.

As I said, I just grabbed a few things and left the house with Horton.

Then I stopped by the Diamond Card Guild for a moment and informed them that I would be leaving Savara for the time being.

Only after that was over could I leave Savara.

The means of transportation was easy as Horton had already prepared two horses.

Four days after leaving Savara.

We arrived at the village of Benda.

* * *

Warm, warm.

“I guess this is the village of Benda. It really is a big village.”

“Yes, it’s a large town. But the atmosphere is a little different from what I expected.”

After arriving at the village of Benda, Horton and I went straight into the village.

The town was large enough to be called a city, but it was surprisingly bustling.

There were so many people passing by and it was so noisy that I thought the atmosphere would be dark due to the monster problem.

Horton and I wondered about that, and then headed to a nearby inn.

“Welcome, sir!”

It was a large three-story inn, and the stable keeper came running out and skillfully grabbed the reins of our horses.

I glanced at the stable and saw that there were quite a lot of horses.

“It looks like you have a lot of customers.”

“Are you here on a request? Don’t worry. There’s plenty of room. Come on in.”

The stable keeper responded to my monologue immediately, and Horton and I looked at each other.

We nodded and entered the inn.

Buzz buzz!

Noisy!

As soon as I entered the inn, a loud noise hit my ears.

A huge number of people were already occupying the seats inside the inn.

At first glance, it didn’t seem like there would be any empty seats.

“There’s plenty of room, tsk.”

As Horton grumbled, a clerk came running over and asked,

“Are there two of you?”

“Yes.”

“There’s no other space left. Is that okay?”

The clerk said and pointed to a table on the outskirts.

Two men were seated there, and there was one chair left empty.

“Tsk, I’m done… … .”

“Let’s join, Mr. Horton.”

Horton turned as if to go somewhere else, but I caught him.

Just as he was about to say something in puzzlement, I spoke into his ear.

“As the stable keeper said earlier, something seems to have happened. Let’s gather some information here and go.”

“Ah! That would be great. Hey, show me around.”

Horton nodded, understanding what I meant, and eventually followed the clerk’s instructions to a table with an empty chair.

“I’d like to join you as I said earlier.”

The two men nodded when the clerk said so, as if it had already been discussed.

After we sat down, we ordered some light food and listened.

“Hahahaha! Of course! If you give me that much money, there’s no reason not to come! It’s free food, it’s free food.”

“Let’s make it big this time! We’ve all gathered here, there’s no way we’ll fail like the mercenary guild!”

I had to filter it out because the atmosphere was noisy, but I was able to get a general idea of ​​the situation.

The village of Benda made another request, and this time it seemed to be from multiple guilds rather than just one.

From what I’ve heard, it seems like the Adventurer’s Guild, the Contractor’s Guild, the Free Knights’ League, and a certain magic tower are participating.

Horton told me he heard it too.

“It seems that since the Mercenary Guild failed, the village of Benda has reached out to all sorts of places. Not only the Adventurer’s Guild and the Contractor’s Guild, but they’ve even called in the Free Knights’ League and the Rondalura Tower. They seem to be in a hurry.”

The League of Free Knights was literally an association of free knights who did not belong anywhere.

The reason we formed an organization as a federation rather than a guild was because of the pride and self-esteem that is characteristic of knights.

Although it was smaller than other guilds, it was a group with outstanding skills.

And I asked Horton about the magic tower.

“I know about other places, but what kind of place is Rondalura Tower?”

“It’s one of the magic towers in the capital. It’s a fire magic tower and boasts powerful attack power. That’s probably why it was called that.”

“I see. It seems like the village of Benda has also made up its mind.”

“I think so.”

As we were talking like that, the eyes of the two men at the same table turned towards us.

Only then could I get a closer look at them, and they were both quite strong-looking men.

The atmosphere that was created was not ordinary.

Just in case, I used my Identify ability to briefly check the two people’s abilities.

Ssssssss!

-Combat power: 6735

-Combat power: 7198

‘They are the masters!’

Surprisingly, they were master-level players.

Judging from the atmosphere, it seemed like those two people were just sitting in the same place and not in the same group.

‘So that’s why people avoid this place.’

Only then did I nod my head, not knowing the reason for the empty seat, and tried to give Horton a hint.

But before that could happen, two men spoke first.

“Looking at their appearance, are they mercenaries?”

As masters, the two of them had already assessed our skills.

So I was looking at Horton, who seemed to be a lower-level expert, but had better skills.

Horton nodded.

“That’s true.”

“Then I guess I can guess why you came to this town.”

“Haha, are you here to find the bodies of your comrades?”

Horton’s expression turned sour at the words of the two people who were openly treating the missing mercenaries as dead people.

I gave him a warning by kicking him with my foot before he could make a mistake.

Horton, who soon understood, immediately brightened his complexion.

I don’t know if they are masters, but they seemed to know from my signal that they were strong.

“Are you trying to pick a fight? What’s your business?”

But the words that came out of his mouth were harsh.

It was because there was a lingering bad feeling in my heart, but the two of them thought it was typical mercenary speech and snickered as they spoke.

“I am Trejo, the leader of the Free Knights, and this is… … .”

“This is Getas from the Adventurer’s Guild.”

The two introduced themselves.

Horton also said to him:

“I’m Horton, and this is Astin.”

“I see. I just approached you because I thought we could help each other since you’re mercenaries.”

“Help? What do you mean?”

“As you can see when you come here, we’re taking on the failed request from the Mercenary Guild. There aren’t any here, but several other guilds have also come.”

“… … .”

“But there’s just too little information. If the Mercenary Guild failed three times, it’s not an easy task, so there’s just too little information. I asked the Mercenary Guild before I left, but they wouldn’t tell me anything.”

Horton’s expression hardened again.

But Trejo continued talking regardless.

“If you give us the information, we’ll help you. If we catch the monsters quickly, we’ll be able to find the missing mercenaries quickly, right?”

Horton’s gaze turned to me.

I nodded.

Even without that, the situation was not enough with just the two of us, so there was no reason to refuse if we just gave them the information and they said they would fight for us.

Horton replied that he had the same thought.

“Okay. I’ll give you the information. But there’s one thing you need to know.”

“Huh, what is it?”

Trejo and Getas smiled, as if they had expected Horton’s approval.

“It’s not that the Mercenary Guild didn’t want to tell you, it’s that they didn’t tell you because they didn’t know anything. After all, not a single person has returned from three requests.”

“… … .”

“… … .”

At those words, the smiles of both people disappeared in an instant.

I never thought I would hear an answer like this.

“So Horton, you don’t know anything either?”

“It’s not that there aren’t any. I just heard one thing.”

“One? What is that?”

Instead of answering, Horton stared at the two of them.

“I don’t know what that means,” said Getas.

“Are you trying to make a deal with just one piece of information?”

“You shouldn’t try to take advantage of us just by saying that you’re going to help us. If we pretend not to know anything after hearing all the information, aren’t we just going to be the fools? If you don’t like it, then just leave it like this.”

Trejo immediately responded to that.

“What do you want?”

“Let us move with you. That way we can find the mercenaries.”

Trejo and Getas nodded.

“It’s not a difficult request. Alright, we, the Free Knights League, will accept it.”

“Our Adventurer’s Guild will accept you as well. Now, speak.”

Horton revealed the information to him.

“According to the person who guided the mercenaries, during the three guided tours, they never heard any sounds of battle.”

“Battle sounds?”

“never?”

At those words, Trejo and Getas made strange expressions.

They too are troubled by what to take this to mean.

In the meantime, food was brought out and placed on the table.

The two thought for a moment and then got up from their seats.

“The monster hunt starts tomorrow morning.”

“We won’t wait for you, so if you come out late and complain about our absence, it won’t be of any use.”

After saying that, they each went to where their subordinates and guild members were, as if they were going to discuss things.

“Now let’s eat.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Only then did we start eating.

By the time the meal was over, the inn was quite empty.

In the meantime, the free knights and adventurers left.

After finishing our meal, we also stood up from our seats.

Once we got our room at the inn, we left.

Because I had someone I had to meet before leaving tomorrow.

Horton and I went out of town again and stood in front of a house 30 minutes later.

It was a very shabby house, but you could tell that someone was living there because of the light coming out.

Knock knock!

Finally, Horton knocked on the door.

“who are you?”

A voice came from inside, and it was the voice of a child.

“It’s me. The mercenary I met in the capital last time.”

Squeak.

Then, an old door that looked like it would fall off at any moment opened and a person appeared.

“How have you been?”

The person who appeared was a boy who looked to be around 13 or 14 years old.

Horton greeted the child in the softest tone possible.

The child greeted me without any hesitation, as if they were already familiar with each other.

“hello.”

“I came to see you as I told you last time. Oh, this is the colleague who came with me. My name is Astin. Can I come in for a moment?”

As the child’s gaze turned to me, Horton introduced himself, and only then did the child nod.

“Yes, please come in.”

“thanks.”

Horton greeted the child as politely as he could, and went inside.

As expected, the inside of the house was very narrow and shabby.

There were no adults, and there was only one person lying on a small, worn-out bed on one side.

She was a girl who looked to be about eight years old.

While I was checking the inside, Horton spoke quietly to me.

“That boy is the one I was talking about.”

“That kid?”

I was a little surprised.

I told you in advance, but I didn’t know you were a child.

Horton continued.

“Yes. That kid is the Pathfinder who guided us to where the monsters were.”

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