＜ 8. Duel is a big deal in town (3) ＞
When Andrea was Jeonghyeon, she had already passed through Adsel countless times.
It was always the same way. If you see the villagers who are crazy about dueling and are taken to the village chief’s house, you will receive two offers.
Become the mayor’s dog, or get rid of people who get in the way of the mayor.
So far, it’s a proposal that doesn’t matter which one you choose. No matter which one you choose, the scenario will flow as planned. The real turning point is right after that. While working for the village chief, he realizes the town’s ugly secret.
The words that the village chief made a deal with Arpan are all lies. He simply chose a method called ‘Duel’ as an excuse to rule this village. Those with the lowest scores in the ‘Duel Tournament’ become slaves, and the winner is eliminated without even knowing it by the village chief.
The challenger who realizes this secret chooses an option.
Keep the secret and receive the reward from the village chief, or expose the secret and fight against the village chief’s subordinates.
Andrea, to be honest, preferred to keep secrets more often.
Adsel is a town that you will hardly ever come back to once you’ve passed it anyway. The reward given by the village chief was generous, and the cost of revealing the secret was not easy to bear.
Just as no one feels remorse over murder in a game, Andrea casually allowed the villagers to live in the village chief’s lies.
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Not only that, but revealing the secret didn’t make anything better. At the end of a slick character’s speech in the game, the story ends with a lesson that the villagers must rise above their lies and win a new life…
‘But where is the new hope in a place like this?’
If you think about it coldly, even if the truth was revealed, it didn’t do much good. Anyway, the villagers still can’t get out of the 25th floor. If so, isn’t it just a return to the gloomy life before the village chief gave false hope?
Although it felt ironic for Andrea, who had been struggling to die and descended into the dungeon, to call becoming a challenger ‘hope’ itself.
Anyway, Andrea decided to take a different route.
There was no choice in the game, so I couldn’t even choose a method.
‘And maybe a way that might be of the greatest benefit to me.’
Whatever Andrea’s plan was, Trisha was indignant. She was completely unaware of this truth, having only barely passed Adsel before.
“You make a child like that just because you lost at a game of cards? These aren’t crazy bastards. Let this go.”
Trisha knew full well how horrible the life of a slave was. She was ready to rush into the kitchen and smash the innkeeper who was beating the boy.
Andrea said in a calm voice, not letting go of Tricia’s hand.
“After that?”
“what?”
“Will that boy’s situation change if he smashes the owner? No, on the contrary, after we leave, they will suffer more severe lynching. Besides, we can’t even take that boy with us. That boy is not a challenger.”
“…”
Trisha bites her lip. She too knew that Andrea was right. However, once excited, emotions did not subside easily.
“Then… what do you mean?”
“Let’s go back to our seats. Let’s talk about the details again above.”
Trisha looked back several times on the way back to her seat. The image of the beaten boy continued to be trampled upon.
“I ordered duck confit and two dark beers.”
“…”
Trisha was thrilled to see the owner serving the food as if nothing had happened. Andrea noticed that Tricia was glaring at her owner as if she were going to kill her.
They finished their meal without a word and went up to the room. Just then, Marco got out of bed and was warming up.
“Was the meal bad? Everyone doesn’t look good.”
“…”
Trisha sat down on the bed with a sour expression. Andrea sighed and sat down in her chair.
“Mr. Marco, since you need to know everything about the situation, let me explain. Listen to Trisha, too. I’ll explain even the things I couldn’t tell you before.”
Andrea explained everything to them.
The fact that the village chief is ruling the village under the pretext of dueling, that the promise to Arpan is all a lie, and that the people are ignoring it, thinking that it doesn’t matter as long as they are not enslaved.
“It’s not like they’re trying to cover up all the right things with a duel. It is also a means of confirming one’s social status. Being defeated in a duel means, ‘You have a higher chance of being enslaved next time than I do.’”
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Not to mention Marco, and even Trisha, who had heard it once, seemed quite shocked.
Andrea further speculated that there might be something else behind it. No matter how you think about it, the villagers’ obsession with dueling has far exceeded the normal level.
‘I couldn’t find out how the scenario progressed while playing the game so far because it was fixed. But after all, maybe something else is intervening…? If it’s an existence that’s powerful enough to bewitch the entire village…’
But there was no need to bring up speculation. It’s only going to stir up some confusion. Andrea thought to herself that she should prepare just in case.
Trisha asked, rubbing her temples to see if she had a headache.
“So what are you going to do now? Grandfather of the village chief, no, should I at least get rid of that bastard?”
“No, it’s actually a troublesome problem. Even if you beat the village chief and reveal the secret, it’s the same as if the villagers don’t have an answer.”
“Can you at least save the children who are enslaved?”
“Tricia, think hard. We could die if we went head-to-head with the pack the chief hired. And I am against taking the risk of dying when there is no benefit to our party.”
“…”
Trisha kept her mouth shut. It was rationally understandable, but emotionally difficult to understand.
Marco shook his head and opened his mouth.
“I agree with what Andrea said. It seems there is no need for us to risk ourselves to rid this town of absurdity.”
Tricia looked betrayed. However, Marco’s words were not over.
“But Andrea, if you said this far, doesn’t that mean you have other plans?”
Marco suddenly figured out how Andrea was going through the dungeon. Andrea nodded.
“Yes, if we find a helper and use this situation to create ‘something to do with a different benefit’, it’s a different story.”
However, Andrea’s plan was unclear at the moment. So it was difficult to explain everything clearly to Trisha and Marco.
Andrea had no choice but to ask first.
“Honestly, I can’t say with confidence that everything will work out. But that doesn’t mean you have to be intimidated by a decent solution. I will look at the situation and give you instructions, so just follow them carefully.”
Marco’s face was determined, and Trisha nodded as if she couldn’t help it.
Andrea closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath.
‘If you’ve made up your mind to do it, you’re going to do it. We’ll see what happens later.’
Andrea began to explain the plan to the group.
After hearing all of his plan, the party made faces that made it difficult to say anything. Half-doubt, doubt, faces with a complicated mixture of various emotions.
“So… according to your thoughts, the people sent by the village chief will come looking for us soon?”
Andrea nodded. Marco seemed to still doubt whether it would really be as he said.
But just as he was about to finish his words, someone knocked on the room. Andrea smiled.
“You are here already.”
*
“So far it’s going as you say.”
These were the words Marco said as he left the village chief’s house. Night had already arrived and the surroundings were dark.
Anyway, so far, it’s the same progression as the general scenario. Andrea nodded.
In the end, the village chief asked Andrea and the others to do a ‘disgusting job’. There is one challenger who is obscuring the atmosphere of the town. I ask you to quietly eliminate him.
The reason why he bothered to ask Andrea’s party was simple, since he could have used his companions. This challenger was not noticed by the village chief, but was well respected by the villagers.
Only by using a challenger who does not know the village situation well, if the incident is discovered, the charges can be added as it is a solo crime.
‘He will remain as a lofty village chief until the end, that’s all.’
Andrea, of course, had no intention of playing as the village chief wished. The reason he waited for this proposal was because the chief’s stumbling block was the biggest supporter of this plan.
‘If I went out in search of this person without receiving an offer from the village chief, I would have raised unnecessary suspicions. Now that I have a justification, I can visit it casually.’
Even if the village chief didn’t bother to tell her, Andrea knew where the helpers were. An old hut tucked under a large chestnut tree in a secluded place outside the fence of the village.
Andrea gave Trisha another job and sent Marco back to the inn. If there were a lot of people, there was a possibility that the helper would feel unnecessarily threatened. Persuasion was enough to be alone.
Inside, I felt a very subtle presence. Andrea carefully knocked on the door of the cabin. In an instant, the presence I felt inside faded.
After a while, the door burst open.
It was darker inside the cabin than outside, but Andrea’s eyes saw through it. Thanks to the Shadow God’s blessing, the darkness was no longer a major obstacle to Andrea.
A wooden cane with buds sprouting from its tip came out ahead of the people. The wand was pointed at Andrea.
“Wow, back off! If you come in carelessly, I won’t let you go!”
Brilliant blonde hair that reached her shoulders, a petite body that could not be said to be large even as a joke, and eyes like a small animal that would burst into tears at any moment. From the looks of it, it was clear that this woman had no challengers to intimidate.
But Andrea knew the woman was not talking empty words. It was clear that if Andrea did anything threatening, the woman would immediately silence him with the help of the Earth God.
Andrea raised both hands and indicated that she had no intention of making a threat.
“Hello, priest. I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but I’ve never come to harm you.”
“Do not lie! Are you sure the village chief ordered you to come here? You are the fourth already!”
It was a familiar line. A line that I always hear every time I greet a helper. As always, Andrea wished the three previous challengers the best of luck.
Originally, it would take a long time to convince the helpers here. However, Andrea already knew how to drastically reduce persuasion time.
“Did you have the ‘Eye of Truth’? Shouldn’t that confirm that I have no intention of harming the priest?”
After talking about it, they eventually go through the process of confirming the authenticity with the helper’s artifact, the ‘Eye of Truth’. Andrea always wanted to skip this obvious dialogue section, but she finally got around to it.
A helper who looks suspicious as if he doesn’t know the fact. I felt a lot of the same stares in the cabin.
Boys and girls who have yet to get out of Haiti, or some adults who can tell they have lived a harsh life.
All of them were enslaved people who performed poorly in Duel competitions.
In the end, the helper had no choice but to follow Andrea’s words. A child with messy hair brought the eyes of truth to the helper.
Andrea held the eyes of truth in her hand and spoke clearly.
“I have no intention of hurting or harassing the priest and the people in the cabin.”
The red light did not emanate from the eyes of truth. Only then did the helper lower his staff and let go of his guard.
“I’m sorry. We’ve been through a lot of unpleasant things lately… What did you come for?”
Andrea looked straight at the helper. It wasn’t a playable character, but the face of a familiar NPC that I inevitably faced every time I entered Adcell.
Emilia, a priest serving the Earth God and a righteous challenger who gave up exploring and chose to protect the enslaved people.
If you come to this cabin to harm Emilia, she will tell you the whole truth and offer to fight. There, the challenger had the choice of joining forces with her to fight the chief’s hordes, or harming her and receiving the chief’s pay.
But her role now was not to make offers to the challenger. On the contrary, accepting an offer was the role she had to play now.
An important moment on which the success or failure of the plan depends. Andrea finally spoke up.
“Priest Emilia, would you like to help me? I know how to root out the absurdities in this town.”
＜ 8. Duel is a big deal in town (3) ＞ End