Two days passed since then.
Seojin's men did their best to carry out his orders and the quest had progressed considerably thanks to them.
Main quest: A Seed of Hope
Quest Progress: 94%
Default Reward: 100%
Right now, a total of forty-seven people all over the town were supporting Seojin.
Seojin divided them in half as he did before, with half of them assigned to the supply team, and the other half the sales team.
'I don't have to rush. Nobody's checking up on me.'
The Ironblood Knights had yet to show interest in Seojin.
The same went for other players too. There were no newcomers, but the tourists thought that things in Berne were better than they imagined.
Even if someone said something strange on one of the community pages, it would be buried immediately.
'Just one more thing and the quest will be over.'
Mac told Seojin that he had gathered five extreme antagonists. If he could persuade them, he'd meet the minimum requirements.
'It's about time I moved on to the next stage.'
Seojin headed to the hall where Mac was waiting for him.
"They're inside, right?"
"Yes, but they're not friendly. I think it would be better to bring that adventurer you met before."
"You said she's in the smithy, right? There's no need. Even if they attack, it'll only take one potion for me to heal up."
"Understood." Mac backed down, remaining silent.
Seojin met a violent reaction as soon as he entered the room,
"We don't believe in adventurers!"
"How could Kane fall for someone like you?!"
"Get lost! Boo-!"
Just as Mac had warned, one of them even tried to swing a stick at him.
However, Seojin remained calm.
"Please calm down for a moment and listen to me. If you don't change your mind after hearing me out, I'll leave this town."
"Leave this town, huh? Do you seriously think we'd believe you? Believe an adventurer?"
"I'm sure you know what this is"
Seojin took out a piece of parchment and showed it to them. It was a magic-enforced contract that could force the contractors to uphold the deal no matter the circumstances.
Seojin wrote on the parchment and signed without hesitation before showing it to the residents again.
"I always keep my word. I know you hate adventurers, that's why I want to show my sincerity."
"Hah, ridiculous. We wouldn't have gotten this far if we fell for that kind of scam! Do you think you're the only one who has tried to trick us?!"
The air still felt rather violent, but there were some clear differences from before: while they were still doubtful, they were finally ready to listen to Seojin.
The quest was basically over at this point. It took only fifteen minutes to change their minds.
"Ah, sir adventurer! We must have had a ridiculous misunderstanding!"
"I'll do anything! We will protect our town with our own bare hands!"
"Your power will be used for the greater good of Berne! Everyone, join Mac Gray!"
The residents ran out like all their resistance was just acting.
Seojin saw a message pop up.
Residents Supporting You: 48
Residents Supporti…
…
Residents Supporting You: 52
The Tree of Life gains strength!
Life Remaining: 32%
Quest Progress: 100%!
The quest objective will be renewed!
'Yes!'
Seojin focused on the messages as he clenched his fists. Whatever happened next would be the most important thing.
He had only passed the first phase, so it was clear that things would only get more difficult after that.
Main Quest: Winter is Gone
* Surprisingly, you rallied up the wavering townspeople…
…
* Collect supplies to revitalize your town's infrastructure!
* Blacksmith's Demands: 100%
* General Merchandise Store's Demands: 100%
* Guild…
…
* Current overall progress: 100%
Quest progress has reached 100%!
Main Quest Renewed!
Time Attack! Additional rewards will be given for your outstanding performance!
"…What the?" Seojin muttered with a dumbfounded face.
The quest was completed straight after it renewed. Seojin's eyes widened.
"I've fulfilled the conditions before I had even started?"
He finally understood.
Seojin had formed two groups of residents. One group persuaded the other residents, and the other went to gather supplies from Ilynea. That completed the second stage.
The messages continued.
Main Quest: Sweet Spring Breeze!
* The once dying town is alive again. Residents are smiling, and a minimal number of supplies have been secured. It's all thanks to you!
* However, the residents cannot overcome this difficulty alone. Identify how Berne got into this situation and gather the information below.
* Key Figures: ???, ???
The first step was to earn the residents' approval, and the second step was all about supplies.
The third stage seemed to focus on collecting information.
Seojin snorted as the messages popped up in quick succession.
Talking with Mac Gray rewarded you with critical information!
"…Again?"
Relationship between Baron Bolton and Robert confirmed.
Personal Information Feature Unlocked!
Acquired: Character Information — Baron Bolton.
Acquired: Character Information — Robert, commander of the Ironblood Knights.
'What's character information?'
He had a new feature, but it was impossible to access it immediately.
You must be in the same area as the selected character.
Apparently, it was only applicable when he was in the same room as the character.
There was still one more thing left.
You secured additional information through your conversation with Morgan Feriah
Bonus Quest will be set as the sub-quest!
Side Quest: Troubleshooting!
* Reduce the Goblin population close to Bern by at least 90%.
* Morgan Feriah, leader of the 'Royal Human Resources Team' of Valaran, has prepared an appropriate reward for your services.
'The goblins around Berne… so, the bonus quest has been promoted to the main quest.'
In addition to that, it seemed Morgan Feriah was not just a soldier, but a man who answered directly to the king.
Seojin grinned.
"Just gimme a freakin' break."
* * *
Main Quest: The End of The Story!
* The end of your long journey is just around the corner. Your final choice will decide how this story ends.
* Main Objective: Reach at least 320 visitors per day.
* Optional: Gain support from Baron Bolton.
* Optional: Gain support from over 90% of Berne's residents.
* Optional: The more supplies, the better. Make sure to secure enough supplies.
* Default Reward: 1200%
"It's always like this after all."
Endless system messages.
Seojin stared at the final quest that popped up before his eyes.
Ultimately, all the quests he did so far were only a tutorial for this, and the final goal was to increase the number of players visiting Berne. The rest were just nice little additions to earn him some money. Whether the town survived or not was ultimately up to the players.
'I'll do it all, though. Why should I give up all the sweet rewards?'
Seojin smacked his lips. Securing supplies meant that he had to spend his own money, and persuading residents meant that he would have to invest a colossal amount of time.
As for persuading Baron Bolton? That meant he needed to borrow the Baron's army to clear the goblins. Hunting the goblins himself was an option too, if he could do that.
It would be tricky for ordinary players, but Seojin was not one of them.
'I'll just keep doing as I did before.'
Most residents already believed in his cause and were persuading the others.
It was only a matter of time before he met the requirements. As for the investment? He was already doing that before the quest came up.
At present, about 500 Gold will be enough to satisfy the quest's conditions.
The remaining 500 Gold was intended to be left as compensation for the users who would flow into the town.
"Sir! Sir!"
Mac rushed over to Seojin, who was racking his brain hard.
"What's going on?"
Holding his knees and panting, he spoke with a big smile on his face.
"We bribed the guard! We secured a route!"
"…Really?"
The route to the Lord's castle was secured. This meant that he overcame the system restriction of not being able to leave the town during the quest.
Seojin ordered him calmly as if he had been expecting it.
"Get the carriage ready. Let's go right away."
* * *
"I'm the Deputy Chief of this town, and you, sir, you'll be my…"
"Attendant?"
"Not exactly like that…"
"But it'll be something similar, so?"
Mac Gray reported to Seojin with a nervous look on his face.
"Yes, you are supposed to accompany me as an attendant… or something like that. Our official purpose is to tell how Berne is doing these days to that shithea… I mean the Lord."
"Can I meet the baron face to face?"
"That has never happened before. I usually just handed the report to Thompson, the steward."
Thompson.
According to Mac, he always drew a clear line between public and private matters. Too clear that it sometimes felt rather bleak.
'I'll have to use my skills there if necessary…'
"But the most important thing is the intervention of the 42nd Shield."
"Oh, the subcontract… I mean, partners of the Ironbloods."
"Yes, sir. They're watching over the castle.
The 42nd Shield was a guild directly related to the Ironblood Knights.
Considering Robert's position, it wouldn't be surprising if he had more than a thousand, or even ten thousand guild members. However, the maximum number of members allowed in each guild in Midgard was fifty.
So, they formed a guild union—if the heads of each guild gathered and agreed, they could form a huge group.
'But it's not as comfortable as a guild, it's not possible to chat with the members and share the warehouse.'
But that was even better for Robert, as this meant he could chat with key personnel and share valuable items only with them.
'They're a shield guild, so a tertiary subcontractor?
The 42nd Shield literally meant that they were subcontractors of subcontractors of subcontractors. The lower guilds of the Iron Blood Knights were given different names depending on the level of their members.
'Knight, sword, then shield. Knights are the primary contractors, swords are secondary, and shields are tertiary.'
So, the ones that were powerful and capable but couldn't reach the level of Ironbloods would be given titles such as the 1st Knight or the 7th Knight.
The closer to one the number was, the better.
The 42nd Shield barely met Robert's minimum standards, and that was why they were in charge of a place like Ilynea; Ilynea was merely a starter town that Level 10 noobs visited.
"Then…"
Seojin was about to ask more questions, but the carriage slowed down.
"Oh, it looks like we've arrived."
Seojin held his breath, waiting.
He could hear the coachman and the guard talking, and the carriage began to move again.
Fortunately, the guard seemed to have tasted enough money.
The following message caught Seojin off-guard.
Arrived at: Ilynea.
Current location: Berne
'… What does that mean?'