Chapter 106

The raiding party that had come to the lush greenery to capture Karot was currently resting in a clearing located inside the lush greenery.
Of course, it was more like waiting than resting. The two captains of the raiding party, Knight Red Drake and Lairm, the leader of the Second Order, stared into the crystal ball with furrowed brows. In the crystal ball was the reflection of Crime, the leader of the First Order.
“What does that mean?”
Rheem frowned and opened his mouth to speak. Then Crime’s voice began to flow from the crystal ball.
-You said it, Red Kobolds are back with fewer numbers.
“I’m here to get Karot, and you want me to kill a Red Kobold and come back?”
-Hoo…
At Reim’s words, Crime sighed from the crystal ball.
Siaak
“Huh?”
The light faded from the crystal ball, and Crime’s form disappeared. Reim panicked slightly at the sudden loss of communication. It was then.
Swoosh!
Mana started to move rapidly.
“Warp?
The warp was obvious. Someone was warping here. Rheem tightened his grip on his staff. In response, the Red Drake Templar readied his sword, ready to strike at any moment.
Swoosh!
Then there was a flash of light and someone appeared.
“Huh?”
Reim couldn’t help but shake his head; the person who had traveled here through the warp was none other than the Crime who had sighed out of the crystal ball just moments ago. Rheem looked at Crime with a puzzled expression, as did the leader of the Red Drake Knights.
“After…”
Arriving at the clearing, Crime bowed slightly in greeting to the Red Drake Templar before looking at Reim and sighing once more. Laird frowned at the sight of Crime sighing at him.
“What does that mean?”
At Reim’s words, Crime slammed his staff to the ground.
Poof! Smack
Crime created a sound-blocking shield and opened his mouth to speak.
“Karot has already been caught.”
“…?”
“…?”
At Crime’s words, Reim and the Templar gave him a look that said, “What are you talking about? Seeing their expressions, Crime opened his mouth to speak once more.
“He’s literally already been caught, and I’m not going to find him by staying here.”
Reim and the Templar exchanged looks of disbelief.
“Who? Who the hell got her?”
“It’s him.”
Crime’s response to Reim’s words was short.
“…if he is.”
“…?”
Reim and the Templar had opposite reactions to Crime’s words. Reim had a look of defeat on his face, while the Templar still had a look of confusion on his face.
“Well, I guess I’ll just grab some Red Kobolds and get back to work.”
“Right.”
Sigh
Crime raised his wand to dismiss the sound-blocking shield when Reim seemed to understand, and then a thought struck him, and Crime smiled and looked at Reim and said, “I’m sorry.
“By the way, Karot, I hear you ended up being Rich.”
“…What?”
Crime’s words stunned Laird, and he looked very surprised. Seeing his surprise, Crime lifted the sound blocking shield.
“I’ll go.”
Swoosh!
Looking at Remy, who still looked surprised, Crime quickly warped away from the clearing.
* * * * *
Arriving at the forge, Ming Hu immediately approached Nerfai to see if he had any quests.
“Huh huh, not now.”
“Oh, I see.”
But there was no quest, and after confirming that there was no quest, Ming Hu left the forge with a rueful smile.
Jumbled
He then started walking toward the exchange. As he walked, Ming Hu opened his character window and checked his achievements once again.
“If it’s 18 million…
Ming Hu’s merit was now at 18 million. With this amount of merit, you could buy enough items to purchase whatever you wanted.
“I’m selling six thousand merits! I drilled through the second floor!”
“You drilled all the way to the second floor, I’ll take credit. How much are you selling it for?”
Arriving at the exchange a short time after passing through the imperial palace entrance, Ming Hu pushed his way through the still-crowded crowd of users and entered the exchange.
“That’s a lot.
The first floor of the exchange was more crowded than before. Ming Hu passed the first floor and went up to the second floor. The second floor was just as crowded as the first.
“Again. It’s quiet.”
The third floor, of course, was not. Looking at the empty third floor, Ming Hu grabbed a basket from the entrance and began to fill it with elixirs. After purchasing them, Ming Hu headed straight up the stairs to the fourth floor. That’s when it happened.
Zap…zap…zap.
“…?
The sound of footsteps caused Ming Hu to stop walking for a moment. It was definitely not his own footsteps.
Zap…zap…zap.
I stopped walking, but the footsteps kept coming.
Sigh
Ming Hu looked toward the top of the stairs where he heard footsteps. A young man in his late twenties appeared.
Jumbuck.
The young man on his way down to the third floor also spotted Ming Hu and stopped walking.
“…”
“…”
Ming Hu, who hadn’t expected to see a user here, stared at the young man blankly. It was the same for the young man, and they stood still, staring at each other wordlessly.
‘I can’t believe I wasn’t the only one who broke through the fourth floor’
Ming Hu regained his senses and looked at the young man. He hadn’t expected to be the only user to break through the fourth floor.
“…Hello.”
Ming Hu bowed slightly to the young man in greeting, then began to climb back up to the fourth floor.
“Oh, yeah. hello.”
The young man also bowed to Ming Hu and began to descend to the third floor.
Sigh
After reaching the fourth floor, Ming Hu turned his head to look at the staircase to the third floor, then turned his head again to look at the staircase to the fifth floor and muttered, “I’m not sure what I’m doing here.
“You can’t be serious. You didn’t drill all the way to the fifth floor, did you?”
Ming Hu muttered something like that, then shook his head.
“No, we need 20 million. No.”
It took 20 million merit points to buy a pass to the fifth floor. There was no way they could have gotten to the fifth floor. Ming Hu stopped thinking about the young man and began wandering around, looking for the items he had decided to purchase.
“Calculate these, please.”
After finding all the items he had planned to purchase, Ming Hu approached the counter NPC and said
“Do you want to buy them all?”
“Yes.”
Ming Hu nodded in response to the counter NPC’s question.
[Recipe: You have purchased the completed Ogre Power Gauntlets].
[4.5 million fewer public service jobs].
[You have purchased a pair of shoes from production].
[1.6 million fewer public service announcements].
[You have purchased production gloves].
[1.9 million fewer merits].
Ming Hu muttered to himself as he opened his inventory and put the item in.
“I wonder how many I can buy…”
With the elixirs and items purchased, he now had 9.7 million merit points remaining. Ming Hu walked over to the scrolls and began looking for more recipes to purchase.
After purchasing an additional six recipes, Ming Hu placed the recipes in his inventory and headed back down to the first floor and out of the exchange. Once outside, Ming Hu walked to the forge, opened his inventory, and acquired the recipes he had purchased.
[You have learned how to craft the completed Ogre Power Gauntlet].
[You have learned how to craft a Shield of Blazing Flame].
.
.
.
[You have learned how to craft the Void Shoes].
After seeing the acquisition message and opening the crafting window to confirm that it was acquired correctly, Ming Hu passed through the palace entrance and arrived at the forge. However, when he reached the forge, he was forced to stop walking.
“What kind of person…
In front of the forge stood a group of people, at least twenty in number. Ming Hu looked at them and scratched his head. He didn’t understand why they were standing in front of the forge and nowhere else.
Jumbled
Ming Hu retraced his steps to enter the forge. As Ming Hu walked, the eyes of those standing in front of the forge turned to him.
“…”
As Ming Hu entered the forge, he was stopped in his tracks once again by the stares he received. Ming Hu frowned and looked at his workbench. Several people stood in front of the workbench.
“Why are they…
Ming Hu already knew the identities of the people standing in front of the workbench. The people waiting for him at the workbench were all wearing robes reserved for imperial mages. They were people he couldn’t recognize if he didn’t know them.
“Is the position of Head of the Order idle?
Ming Hu thought to himself as he looked at the mages standing before his workbench. It was clear from their presence that they were waiting for him. But did they know when he was coming, and were they waiting for him?
Jumbled
Ming Hu started to walk over to the workbench.
“Ooh, you’re here.”
“Ohhh!”
Spotting Ming Hu walking toward the workbench, Crime called out, causing the other Mages beside him to smile at him. Seeing their reactions, Ming Hu let out a short sigh and opened his mouth to speak.
“Hey, what are you doing here again?”