The 31st Piece Turns the Tables
chapter-18

There were two men who observed Seol and Aden’s conversation in the Adventurer Association.

One man even pointed at Seol as he was leaving the building.

“Hey.”

“What?”

“Did you see that?”

“See what?”

“Him. That guy.”

“Ah! Yeah, I see him. The guy in the robes, right?”

The first man only nodded in response.

“Yeah. It looks like he tried hard to hide the value of his equipment, but they’re just way too good. I also heard his conversation with the merchant very clearly with ‘Snoop’... I guess you have to use tricks like that to get good equipment like him.”

“He looks pretty strong…”

“No matter how strong he is, we should all be around the same strength since it’s only been a month. Everyone’s got a plan until they get stabbed.”

“What if he’s in a guild? It’s going to be annoying if he’s in a big guild…”

“No matter how many meerkats group together they’re still meerkats. Did you forget? Don’t you know what kind of people are the strongest in chaos?”

In a place without order, the most dangerous individuals are the ones that desired chaos originally.

“It’s the guys with nothing to lose.”

“Yeah, you’re right. But we need at least two more people if we want to do something.”

“We can just borrow two people from the guild then.”

“Okay.”

The two men were named Seo Jincheol and Baek Sang-gyu.

They were both originally bad people.

And it takes a bad person to quickly recognize another bad person.

Not too long after they arrived in Kongory, the two quickly became close.

The two then created a guild for people with the same values as them.

They were ‘amazing’ at least visually.

There was someone who had his entire body covered in tattoos. There was another person who had multiple, deep stab wounds. There was even a person with cauliflower ears with a neck as thick as a rhino.

Most people would be terrified just by looking at them.

And Jincheol and Sang-gyu fit in perfectly with them.

This group had already killed someone after coming to Kongory.

It was because they wanted to steal that person’s equipment and money.

The only difference was that the results of their actions were different from what would happen on Earth.

The people here didn’t care about the transferee’s identities and didn’t investigate or punish them.

It was hard for someone to take the difficult path once they have tasted an easier path.

This group believed that they were the kings of the new world.

“I want you to go back to the guild and bring about two more people. I’m going to go have a conversation with that merchant.”

“Alright.”

Jincheol gave a sly smile and left the Association.

Sang-gyu, who was now alone, approached Aden and spoke.

“You don’t look like an ordinary person… What are you doing here?” asked Sang-gyu.

Aden gave an undecipherable laugh as he greeted his new guest.

* * *

Translator - goguma

Proofreader - Karane

* * *

“Do we really have to go?”

“Haaah… it feels like I’m walking toward my death.”

“I heard that this Adventure’s easy so don’t worry too much.”

As the Remaining Time got closer to zero, the transferees became more anxious.

For some, it was a day. For others, days.

There were even some who had to take 2 weeks and a few whose Adventures lasted a month.

Each Adventure had their own different time limits.

This meant that the situation which happened when they first arrived in the city with people coming in droves won’t happen anymore.

‘It is a bit cruel though.’

Adventures were cruel themselves but the Rests were what were truly cruel.

A month of rest takes away everyone’s physical and mental edge. It makes them lax.

If they weren’t able to get used to this, it would feel like walking down to hell every time they would return to the Adventures.

Seol, unlike the others, was able to take on the Adventure with a much more relaxed mind state.

Because he, unlike the others, knew which path he’d had to take in that hell.

“Don’t die, alright?!”

“Stop fucking jinxing us!”

“We’re going to meet back here, okay?”

The transferees, who were crying like a couple that had broken up, were soon swept away by the light.

Gloooow…

Seol and the other transferees were being transported into their Adventures.

[You begin your next Adventure.]

[Your 3rd Adventure is starting.]

[Adventure 3. Nobira Transport Guard]

[Adventure 3. ‘Nobira Transport Guard’

In South Pandea, the World of Eternity, there are many different biomes. One of those biomes is the Great Silent Forest. You have been contracted to guard a transport headed to Nobira, a city near the Great Silent Forest.

The problem is that, on the path toward Nobira, there are groups of bandits who also hunt for ruins. You will probably be fine if you do not run into them, but if you do… it will not go too easily.

Objective: Guard the transport until it reaches Nobira. Your rewards will decrease as the number of people and wagons decreases.

Remaining Time [71:59]]

‘Three days… The first day will be easy though.’

After reading the summary of the Adventure, Seol looked around at his surroundings.

Aden was in the middle of ordering the workers to load the last of the goods. He then noticed Seol approaching him and greeted Seol with open arms.

“Hahaha! Right on time!”

However, Seol was looking elsewhere.

Four men with threatening faces were looking in Seol’s way.

‘Was that the guy from the Association?’

It looked like the guy who was stealing glances at him.

Seol wasn’t sure how he found out about this but he was sure that the three other men came with him.

“They’ll be joining us this trip. The four of them are in a group so don’t say anything about one because then the other will hear haha!”

“...I understand.”

Sang-gyu stared down Seol. It reminded Seol of a shark.

“I’m Baeksang. Please take care of us during the trip.”

Sang-gyu gave Seol his nickname instead of his actual name.

In fact, a lot of transferees gave their nicknames out instead of their actual names.

“I’m Snowman.”

“That’s a fucking mouthful. Anyway, let’s not get in each other’s way and go quietly.”

- He looks like he’d be the biggest trouble maker though

- This looks rough LOL You always get blamed for mistakes when you’re teamed up with a 4-man party!

- Look at their faces. They have to at least have three priors.

After they shared their names with each other, Aden spoke to all of them.

“I know it’s a request to guard the wagons, but you guys are just backup.”

“...What?”

“Backup?”

The group, other than Seol, were all confused by Aden’s words. Aden then broke the silence while giving a hearty laugh.

“I already have more than enough guards but you never know how things turn out, right? That’s why I hired more people than needed.”

“What should we do, then?”

“Just watch the mood and come out if a problem happens. We’ll take care of the scouting and night watches.”

Jincheol and Sang-gyu started whispering to each other.

“Wait, this is fucking easy? I should’ve known the moment he decided to take on this Adventure alone. He was trying to monopolize an easy Adventure like this by himself?”

“Shitty bastard. Let’s stick to our original plan. We’ll kill him, take all of his belongings, and then throw him out of the wagon.”

Aden didn’t catch their whispers at all. He just said one more line before making his leave.

“You guys can go in that wagon near the middle with the three ribbons on it. We probably won’t call you unless it’s mealtime so you guys can take a nap or something.”

“Sheeesh… nice benefits too.”

The moment Aden left, Sang-gyu looked at Seol and pointed at the rear of the wagon with his thumb.

“Let’s go in. We’ll get real close fast in three days.”

“.....”

Seol followed them into the wagon without a word.

Not too long after, they started to depart.

Seol continued to check his surroundings as the wagon moved.

‘I don’t know what their objective is, but… it’s clear they’re after me.’

Seol could feel their aversion to him from their words, actions, and gaze.

Even though they were having a loud, friendly conversation, they were cautious.

Furthermore, since the person who was staring at him at the Adventurer Association was joining the same mission as him, Seol was on guard.

‘Are they Trolls?’

They could be Trolls or… they could be Murderers.

The former was someone who joined an Adventure to intentionally ruin it and the latter was someone who killed the pieces.

They were both harmful to the party but their objectives and directions were different.

Trolls were after the fun that came from new, unexpected scenarios. They also could be the type that enjoyed ruining the progress on the table. Murderers, unlike the Trolls, were usually after another player’s equipment.

That was because it was much faster to get equipment from other pieces than from the Adventures.

Obviously, there were some Murderers who enjoyed killing itself and didn’t care about equipment.

Players like those existed in the heavens too.

Obviously, no one wanted to play with them so whenever they were rejected, the Murderers would change their masks and come back with a new piece.

‘I can’t exclude the possibility that they are murderers.’

Seol was on guard but he also thought it was a relief.

He would worry about them if they were normal people who fell into danger but he doesn’t need to worry about people who have ulterior motives like that.

‘Incidentally, those guys are idiots. Did they know what kind of Adventure they were getting themselves into?’

They either had to be extremely powerful individuals who were strong enough to not care about the details or extremely stupid.

‘They’re probably the latter… They’re going to regret it later.

This Adventure was not an ordinary Adventure.

Linked Adventures often played tricks with the difficulty.

For example, it would start off as an easy, ordinary mission but the difficulty would become hellish as it got closer to the end.

Sang-gyu’s group let out a loud laugh while in the middle of the conversation.

“Hahahaha! This is seriously a complete piece of cake.”

“This Adventure’s going to be easy thanks to our cowardly patron~”

The cowardly patron they were referring to was probably Aden.

The group turned and asked Seol a question as if they suddenly remembered him.

“Ah, right! Dude! What’s your class?”

“Class?”

“Everyone gets one when coming into the world, no? What class did you choose?”

“Summoner.”

“Ha! Haha! There was a boring class like that too?”

“Hahahaha… stop… he must be so embarrassed.”

“And what’s so bad about that?! A man’s gotta dream big if they’re in a land of opportunity like this! How cool is using your fists, a spear, a sword, or anything else like that? You’re just going to hide behind your summons and watch? That’s not a real man, is it?!”

“Pfft… Ah, sorry. I’m so sorry. He’s just the talkative type. Even if it’s wrong I hope you can try to understand. But he’s definitely skilled enough to be our ace, so you can trust him.”

- Ace… dies, right?

- Snowman: Haha true~ They should buff Summoners.

- But why are they so annoying? I wish Jamad or Karuna would come out and cut them to pieces.

- What is he going to do by killing his own party members? He can just use them as meat shields.

One of the men approached Seol with half-closed eyes to ask him another question.

“So, are you in a guild?”

“I haven’t joined one yet.”

“What?”

The four couldn’t help themselves from smiling.

It felt reassuring that Seol didn’t have anyone behind him.

“Still, people need something they can rely on.”

“I recommend you join a guild when you get back. We’re the ‘Predator Guild’. If you’re interested, come check us out later when you get back.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

They said ‘when you get back’ twice as if they were trying to promise themselves to never let him back.

They were constantly looking down on Seol and ignoring him. But still, Seol didn’t react to it at all.

‘They’re a bit annoying.’

Seol was able to deduce that they had ulterior motives through the conversation.

Unfortunately for them, their sly motives won’t ever come true.

However, because of his reserved attitude, the four thought of Seol as an easy target they could kill whenever. And because of that, nothing happened during their travels.

A few hours passed and it became time for dinner. Seol had finished resolving himself.

His 1st character and 2nd character…

Both of them faced issues during the first night.

‘So there’s a high probability of those problems happening again this time. No, those problems will probably happen for certain.’

Because that’s how this Adventure was set up.

“Hey, come out and have some alcohol!”

“Alcohol? You have alcohol?”

“I thought it would be nice for us to have a drink since there weren’t any problems and the people here won’t have to stand watch.”

“This place really is the best!”

Sang-gyu’s group got off the wagon and walked toward the camp that had been set up. Seol followed not too long after.

A lot of people were sitting in small groups, eating meat, and drinking alcohol.

“Here. It’s heated up really nicely so it’ll go down easy. You’ll love it.”

Aden passed alcohol to everyone.

Seol stared at the cup.

[Insight Activates.]

[You detect a strange smell from the alcohol.]

Seol turned his head to the side and pretended to drink the alcohol.

More accurately, he used Shadow Hand to let the alcohol flow to the ground but no one noticed.

“Haaah… That was amazing.”

“Man~ I could definitely get used to this!”

Sang-gyu’s group wasn’t satisfied with one cup and reached for more.

‘It’s almost time for Aden to start talking.’

And as Seol expected, Aden seemed to have thought the mood was right for him to propose something.

“What? We’re going to be dropping by somewhere else before we go to Nobira?”

“I’m sorry, but the decision has already been made. But for your troubles, I will triple your rewards.”

“T-Triple? How much will we be getting then?”

“600 gold coins per person. How about it?”

600 gold coins for a mission this simple?

If Sang-gyu’s group thought even a little bit they would’ve noticed the fishy smell, but… their decision-making must have been off. Sang-gyu’s group nodded.

“Alright!”

“Hahaha, that’s great to hear! So, we’ll be going to…”

It was at that moment.

Seol hurriedly shouted.

“Duck!”

“What?”

Ffffffft!

Dozens of arrows flew toward the wagons.

Stab!

Stab!

“Grgh…”

“Kargh!”

Seol could read a message that had popped up.

[The main contents of ‘Nobira Transport Guard’ have changed.] [‘Nobira Transport Guard’ has changed to ‘Moving Carriage’.]