Chapter 215

The voice was none other than Soma.
“Because of the quest.”
“I see.”
Ming Hu nodded in response to Soma’s words. Then Soma continued.
“And you?”
“I’m here for the quest, too.”
“I see.”
Soma smiled and nodded at Ming Hu’s answer. Then his eyes flashed over Ming Hu’s head, and he continued, “I’m sorry.
“My lord.”
“What?”
“I see you still haven’t joined a guild.”
At Soma’s words, Ming Hu nodded with an awkward smile.
“Oh, yeah.”
“Well…”
“I don’t have a guild in mind yet, haha…”
Ming Hu said, quickly interrupting Soma as he was about to say something.
“Oh.”
Soma nodded in understanding with a rueful expression and continued.
“If you need any help or want to join the guild, just give me a shout! You’re always welcome, my lord. Haha.”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Well, I’m going to go break the quest now, have fun, and be sure to keep in touch!”
With that, Soma began to walk away. Once Soma was gone, Ming Hu approached the old NPC again.
“…?”
As Ming Hu approached, the old man sitting in the chair looked at him with a puzzled expression. Seeing the old man’s expression, Ming Hu smiled, sat down next to him, and opened his mouth to speak.
“The vibe of the city is really impressive.”
From the outset, questions about the barons and baronesses were out of the question. Ming Hu started off casually, talking about the atmosphere of the city.
“Grrrr, is that it?”
The old man chuckled.
“Yes. The city hasn’t felt this good in a long time.”
“I’ve never been anywhere else, but my city is a happy place indeed, and I owe it all to the Baron. Snicker.”
Ming Hu, who had been trying to decide when to bring up the subject of Baron Magnus and Baron Veron, quickly opened his mouth at the old man’s words.
“Baron Veron of Magnus?”
“Yes, the Baron is a very good man, and he regularly listens to our grievances and redresses them. Without him, many of us would be dead, and my son owes his life to Baron Veron, too, chuckle.”
“…Hmm.
But Ming Hu couldn’t agree with the old man. As far as he knew, Baron Veron was never a good NPC.
“I guess it’s not known to the normal NPCs.
It was only the old man who had yet to speak. It was possible that the dark side of Baron Veron was unknown, but it was also possible that only the old man was unaware.
‘Maybe the information is wrong.
It’s possible that the Black Nail’s information was wrong, although I don’t think that’s likely. As the old man said, Baron Veron could be a very sincere and good NPC.
“Oh, well, I guess I better get going. Good luck!”
After the old man finished talking, he got up and started walking away. With the old man gone, Ming Hu, who had no reason to be here, stood up and began to move in search of other NPCs.
“The Baron… You are a good man, and I would not be what I am without you.”
“Hehe, the Baron? He’s the best, and thanks to him, I live happily ever after!”
“I moved here from another city. This is a great place to be.”
After the old man, he met several NPCs, but they were no different from the old man. They all knew Baron Veron to be a good man. After listening to the NPCs, Ming Hu thought to himself.
‘Either the information is wrong. Or they’re hiding something.
The information was either wrong or they were hiding it thoroughly.
“The assassins can’t have gotten their information wrong.
But it didn’t occur to me that the information was wrong.
“They must be hiding it well.
It seemed that information about the dark side of Baron Veron was tightly controlled. With that thought, Ming Hu thought about meeting more NPCs, but shook his head. There was no point in meeting more.
“I should go to that thieves’ guild.
Ming Hu remembered the restaurant Madoros, a branch of the thieves’ guild Boros on the outskirts of the city that Baron Veron had frequented. Perhaps he should go there. With that thought, Ming Hu traveled to the outskirts of the city.
“Where would you like to be…”
Arriving at the outskirts of the city, Ming Hu looked around and muttered to himself. He’d thought there wouldn’t be many buildings on the outskirts, but there were more on the outskirts than in the plaza. And that wasn’t all.
“What kind of restaurant is this?”
More than half of the buildings were restaurants. Ming Hu began to move, checking off the names of the buildings one by one.
“Let’s just ask…”
As Ming Hu moved around checking the name of the restaurant, he realized how inefficient he was, so he grabbed a passing NPC and asked.
“Uh, I was wondering. Do you know where a restaurant called Maddor’s is?”
“Madoros?”
“Yes.”
“Go ahead and you’ll come to an intersection, take a right, it’s at the end of the street, it’s a long way, but you’ll find it when you get there.”
“Thank you.”
Feeling that he had done well to ask the NPC, Ming Hu thanked the NPC and began to walk in the direction the NPC had indicated.
“I told you to go to the right, right?”
After a while, Ming Hu reached an intersection, turned to the right as the NPC said, and walked straight ahead. Soon, reaching the end of the road, Ming Hu stopped walking, looked around, and began to search for Madoros.
“Found it!
As he looked around, he spotted a restaurant with a sign that read “Madoros” and headed straight for it. Arriving at the restaurant, Ming Hu opened the door and stepped inside.
“Huh huh, so, what happened?”
“So that’s why I… Huh?”
“Why But?”
“We’re out of appetizers, I’m so hungry I can’t talk…”
“Hey, hey, hey, I need some more meat here, so what’s going on?”
Inside the restaurant, many people were drinking, eating, and talking.
“…What do we do now?
From the information he’d gotten from the Black Nails, he knew that this was a branch of the Thieves’ Guild Boros, but he didn’t know what it was or how to get to it.
“Can I ask at the counter?
Ming Hu looked at the man in his mid-thirties manning the counter and thought to himself: this was a branch of Boros, and the man behind the counter was likely a member of Boros’ guild.
“Just say it and something will come out of it.
Finishing his thoughts, Ming Hu walked over to the counter.
“Would you like to place an order?”
When I got to the counter, the man said.
“I’m here to ask you something.”
“Yes?”
The man looked puzzled by Ming Hu’s words, and Ming Hu opened his mouth to speak, careful not to let the others hear.
“This is Boros, right?”
“…”
At Ming Hu’s words, the man said nothing. The smiling man’s expression turned stern.
“That’s right.
From the man’s grim expression, Ming Hu was certain that the man was a member of Boros’ guild or someone related.
“But why is it so quiet?
As he watched, Ming Hu realized something was wrong. Just a moment ago, the restaurant had been noisy with people talking, but now there was no sound at all. Ming Hu turned his head and looked behind him.
“…!”
Looking behind him, Ming Hu couldn’t help but be a little surprised to see that all of the people who had been drinking and eating and talking were staring at him.
‘What the… Are they all guilds?
They all seemed to be members of the Boros Guild. Just then, the man behind the counter, who was staring at Ming Hu with a cold expression, opened his mouth and spoke.
“Who are you?”
At the man’s words, Ming Hu turned back to look at the man and replied.
“I’m here to find out something.”
“I see, but before that…”
His eyes glazed over, he continued.
“Can you tell me how you knew about this place?”
“Oh, that’s…”
Ming Hu paused, pondering how to answer. He couldn’t say that he had learned it from his black nails.
That was the moment.
Profit
The door to the dining room opened and someone walked in. Ming Hu reflexively turned his head to look at the newcomer. It was a thin man who appeared to be in his mid-twenties.
“…huh?
When Ming Hu saw the skinny man enter the restaurant, he was a little embarrassed. Ming Hu looked at the skinny man with a puzzled expression.
“You’re the one who gave me directions, right?”
The man had obviously shown him the way here. But why was he here? Ming Hu didn’t understand for a moment.
“…”
At Ming Hu’s words, San’a smiled wryly, walked over and sat down in a chair, then looked at Ming Hu.
“Is he from here?
From his behavior, it seemed that he was one of us here in Boros.
“How did you know…? I want you to answer that.”
“Oh, that’s…”
“Sell Baron Veron?
According to Black Nail’s information, Baron Veron was a frequent visitor here. Saying that he was introduced to Baron Veron would have been a sufficient answer.
‘They’re going to think it’s weird.’
But the problem was that he had come to get information about Baron Veron. It would be strange to be introduced to Baron Veron and then try to get information about him.
“Ugh. Mabrun, this is stuffy.”
Just as Ming Hu was thinking, the lanky man who had given him directions stood up from his seat, sighed, and approached the counter.
Jaw
The lanky man who approached the counter put his hand on Myung-hoo’s shoulder and said.
“See, I told you, if she’s reacting like this, she’s probably not a guest, so subdue her and see.”
Ming Hu, who had been puzzled by the man’s behavior in placing his hand on his shoulder, furrowed his brow at the man’s words. At the same time, he felt a tingling sensation on his shoulder and a message appeared.
[Stunned for 1 second].
[You have been attacked by NPC ‘Mas’].
[Enter hostile status with NPC ‘Mas’].
[Killing hostile NPCs in a preemptive strike will not increase your criminal level].
[Reduces death penalty by 50% if killed by a preemptive strike].
“He’s probably passed out. Lock him up and call me when he wakes up.”
“Yes, sir.”
Ming Hu, who had been looking at the message, turned his head at the overheard conversation and looked at the skinny man, or rather, Mas, the chapter leader here.
“Did you just hit me?”