47 – My Miseries – 2

The garden in front of the massive lord’s estate was temporarily opened, and all those who had protected the city from the overflow entered the spacious garden.

This could be seen as the lord’s own way of expressing gratitude, showing his willingness to welcome those who had dedicated themselves to the city into his private domain.

The city residents gathered in several layers of circles around the perimeter to watch, making it practically a city-wide event.

“The Lord of Turis is entering! Everyone, please rise—!”

“Hmm.”

The lord of the small city of Turis was an elderly noble who gave off a robust impression, as if he had been quite formidable in his youth; although he looked similar to a human on the outside, his skin was exceptionally pale, and a white horn protruded from the middle of his head, glowing mysteriously.

Despite his hair being graying and white, his body was robust and solid, giving onlookers the impression of a veritable wall.

It was as if he was the personification of this fortress city, Turis, built on a hill.

Having previously heard from Viv that there were various types of NPCs and that the Lord of Turis charged a toll to enter the dungeons, he had been quite worried deep down about what kind of guy would show up—but judging solely by first impressions, the lord was completely different from what Gi-jun had expected.

Furthermore, seeing the white hair and the horn somehow reminded him of the divine beast, the unicorn… No, was that rude?

—Bababampabam—.

“Cut that out! What is the point of trumpets when several people have died? Stop it. More than that, I wish to quickly see the heroes who saved today.”

As the lord entered the award ceremony area set up in front of the estate, he waved his hand to immediately silence the trumpets and, brushing aside all tedious formalities, went straight into the rewarding process.

First, he bowed his head in gratitude to the mercenaries who would not receive rewards directly from him, thanking them for their hard work for the city.

For the soldiers defending the city, he called out the names of the deceased one by one, declaring that the city had been saved through their sacrifices; seeing even the surviving soldiers sniffle in emotion made him think that this man was truly worthy of being the master of this fortress city.

—Seriously, politicians are really something when it comes to those kinds of shows.

Lucy completely blew away Gi-jun’s touch of emotion.

‘In times like this, you should just stay quiet instead of spoiling the mood, Lucy.’

—What do you think his Charm stat is? Wouldn’t it be around Rare rank? Just by calling out names like that, how many soldiers did he manage to make cry?

—Keehee?

—He doesn’t look like he has that much? You dummy, it might just be because he’s old and his Charm effect isn’t working properly.

Perhaps, as long as he was with the spirits, he would never be allowed to experience a truly touching moment.

Even while Gi-jun was having such thoughts, the awarding of rewards proceeded in order.

The lord personally handed out reward money to the soldiers who had performed exceptionally well, ordering their promotions on the spot, and one who had been particularly active even received a special double promotion of two ranks or more.

Next to receive rewards were, of course, the knights of the territory.

Named monsters had also invaded the other walls besides the eastern wall that Gi-jun had defended, and the knights of the territory had distinguished themselves by fighting and successfully defeating them.

“My knights, you all did splendidly. The one who held back the enemy until collapsing from exhaustion deserves even greater praise. And—ah, my dear knight Tolchi.”

“I am only sorry that I could not remain on the battlefield until the very end, my Lord.”

Tolchi had taken off his helmet since he was in front of the lord, and those who learned of his race for the first time because of this were all astonished, yet they finally understood the monstrous strength and tenacity he had displayed so far.

The lord shook his head as he looked at Tolchi, who could not raise his head in shame.

“No, that is not it. What you should be sorry for is something else. It is that you confronted a powerful enemy without sparing your life, despite being someone who must continue to serve me.”

“My Lord…”

“You are the true exemplar of a knight defending this city. You defeated countless enemies and were the primary contributor to keeping the wall from collapsing to the end. So, I hope you do not feel ashamed of yourself. You are wonderful in every way, but that endless competitive streak of yours is your only flaw.”

At the sight of the lord speaking with a bitter smile, Tolchi could not find any words to reply and bowed his head once more.

As if comforting him, the lord patted him on the shoulder several times and recited the massive rewards to be bestowed upon him one by one.

Despite the reward being more generous than anyone whose name had been called so far, everyone acknowledged his achievements with cheers and applause.

Only Gi-jun—looking at the earring with a distinct pattern hanging from just one of Tolchi’s ears—remained silent.

“Then, you are the last one remaining—’Jun.'”

And finally, it was Gi-jun’s turn.

The lord stared at him with a serious expression, and then grinned.

“You said you are a Flame Human.”

“Indeed.”

“Gasp—”

“It is fine.”

Although he had wondered up to the very last second if he really had to go this far to maintain his arrogant concept, the moment he spoke informally, the venue fell into a commotion, but the lord stopped the unrest with a brief word.

“He is a powerhouse. He is not a person to be bound by such a small city, and moreover, he is not our citizen. Demanding our kingdom’s etiquette from him is a foolish endeavor.”

“However,” the lord continued, looking at Gi-jun.

“Even so, I have no choice but to give you the highest treatment. Although I cannot help but say it is truly obnoxious that you take everything you can get without showing any courtesy—what can we do, when all of us were saved by you?”

“I merely did what I could. If many others, including Knight Tolchi, had not fought risking their lives, the walls could not have been protected.”

“Did you all hear that? The ‘Hero of Today’ says you all are the best.”

At the lord’s added words, cheers erupted in the venue once more.

Although Gi-jun thought, *This wasn’t my intention,* he had no choice but to be swept away by this atmosphere.

The lord smiled again and calmly recited his achievements.

“The Flame Human, Jun, achieved countless exploits at the eastern wall. He constantly assessed the battle situation with his wide field of vision, and slaughtered the enemy by firing thousands, tens of thousands of spells with an unbelievable, colossal amount of mana—achieving the miraculous feat of coordinating the defense so that not a single casualty occurred at the eastern wall throughout the entire battle.”

From behind, someone shouted, “Mage-nim!” and cheering voices were heard.

Of course, his achievements did not end there.

“He confronted the Dullahan, one of the main commanders of the enemy that attacked targeting the eastern wall, single-handedly and ultimately defeated it.”

“He courageously stepped forward to lure away and eventually slew the Banshee, an undead that would have caused massive casualties had it been left alone.”

“He saved Knight Tolchi from a crisis and disintegrated the enemy leadership by purifying the enemy leader with flames.”

“Furthermore, though everyone might have overlooked it, there is a point that must be addressed: he performed the stupendous feat of detecting and wiping out the Shadow Wraith unit that attempted to sneak into the city under the cover of the enemy named’s surprise attack. This is something we only learned of belatedly through an oracle handed down to the temple this morning, but fortunately, there were those who discovered the scene, so we were able to obtain testimonies.”

At the mention of a Shadow Wraith unit, the venue was stirred up once again.

He had not known since such high-grade monsters did not appear in the tutorial, but it seemed to be a monster with quite a reputation in these parts.

As Gi-jun was having such fleeting and sorrowful thoughts, wondering what on earth the point of their tutorial was and what the people who had gone through the second round were thinking right now, the lord finally finished discussing the exploits and began bestowing the rewards.

“As a reward for this, I first bestow 3,000 Leta common gold coins.”

“3,000 coins!”

“Even the 500 coins that Sir Tolchi received was an astronomical amount…!”

“But this city would have surely fallen if the Mage-nim had not been here, so this is only natural.”

“A hero, he is a hero!”

For some reason, the people were cheering and getting much more excited the moment the rewards were announced than when the achievements were being recited, making him wonder if this was indeed the magic of money.

According to what he had previously heard from Viv about the value of a gold coin, one coin could be seen as having the value of approximately 900,000 to 1,000,000 Korean won, so 3,000 of such gold coins amounted to hundreds of millions, which was already an amount too large to carry around normally.

Despite this, the reason a culture of awarding large quantities of gold coins like this—rather than checks or bank transfers—had arisen was, needless to say, due to the development of subspace magic and the Summoned who could store thousands or tens of thousands of gold coins in their inventories without any problem.

‘Of course, there is a capacity limit on the inventory too, though.’

The inventory increased in size and weight limit along with the owner’s growth.

Even when he first fell into the tutorial as a Level 1 Common grade, the inventory had only been about the size of a slightly large backpack—which was impressive in its own right—but now that Gi-jun had grown tremendously in all aspects, he could easily store not just thousands, but hundreds of thousands of gold coins without a problem.

“Furthermore,”

The lord continued speaking as he watched Gi-jun lift the chest containing the gold coins awarded to him with one hand and store it into his inventory.

“The Flame Human, Jun, will be treated as a first-class citizen in Turis for the next five years, and will not pay any tax other than the consumption tax. Yes, including the dungeon toll. This also applies to his party members.”

While this was a powerful benefit for Gi-jun, it also doubled as an blatant bribe asking him to stay in Turis even a little bit longer.

For Gi-jun, who had already been feeling somewhat uncomfortable about the term “dungeon toll,” this was akin to scratching an itch, to the point that it felt more pleasing than the gold coins whose scale was too grand to feel real.

“However, the Summoned must pay other taxes besides the ones they pay to us. Fortunately, I have a way to assist with that. In the name of Monoceros, the Lord of Turis who rules this territory of Leta, I award 50,000 Leta Points to the Summoned, Jun.”

No, as I thought, you really were a unicorn.

At that moment,

a message arrived to Gi-jun, announcing the end of this short yet long quest.

—Sudden Quest Accomplished! You have proudly achieved 1st place in contribution for this quest!

—You successfully defended against the overflow and removed all the culprits and fatal traps of the quest. With the added effect of the title [One Who Lifts the Veil (R)], the rewards are amplified beyond the limits!

—Your level has increased by 6, reaching 25! Strength (U) rose by 4, Dexterity (L) by 3, Endurance (U) by 4, Light Mana (L) by 3, and Spiritual Power (L) by 4!

—As a quest reward, your lowest stat, Strength (U), increased by 5, your second lowest stat, Endurance (U), increased by 3, and additionally, your Charm (L) increased by 3!

—As a quest reward, you have obtained 1 Skill Point, which can be used to raise the level of a skill of your choice!

—As a quest reward, you have obtained 50,000 Leta Points from the lord!

—A truly brilliant exploit. All the gods presiding over Leta acknowledge that you have achieved an accomplishment more than enough to offset this year’s tax. This year’s tax has been waived!

—Sudden Quest Accomplished! You have proudly achieved 1st place in contribution for this quest!

—You successfully defended against the overflow and removed all the culprits and fatal traps of the quest. With the added effect of the title [One Who Lifts the Veil (R)], the rewards are amplified beyond the limits!

—Your level has increased by 6, reaching 25! Strength (U) rose by 4, Dexterity (L) by 3, Endurance (U) by 4, Light Mana (L) by 3, and Spiritual Power (L) by 4!

—As a quest reward, your lowest stat, Strength (U), increased by 5, your second lowest stat, Endurance (U), increased by 3, and additionally, your Charm (L) increased by 3!

—As a quest reward, you have obtained 1 Skill Point, which can be used to raise the level of a skill of your choice!

—As a quest reward, you have obtained 50,000 Leta Points from the lord!

—A truly brilliant exploit. All the gods presiding over Leta acknowledge that you have achieved an accomplishment more than enough to offset this year’s tax. This year’s tax has been waived!

Gi-jun blinked in utter surprise.

In an instant, the digits of most of his stats changed.

Since a difference of even a single stat was substantial once stat ranks reached Unique or Legendary, he felt dazed as he experienced his physical body evolving beyond simple reinforcement in real-time.

What was more, a skill point—he had never even heard of such a thing before!

“It is gratifying to see your surprised face. Yes, indeed, that was the face I wanted to see.”

The lord burst into hearty laughter at the sight of the startled Gi-jun and, clearing his throat with a cough, continued speaking.

“I have one final reward to bestow.”

As the lord grabbed the horn on his forehead with a look of firm resolve, tension rushed through the surrounding area.

“Uh…”

“No way…?”

“Is that the thing that is hard to see even once in a lifetime?!”

No, wait a minute.

He wouldn’t, right?

He really wouldn’t, right?!

—Crack!

Right before Gi-jun’s eyes, the lord went ahead and snapped his own horn!

Moreover, having apparently pulled it out close to the root, its length and thickness were extremely substantial.

The lord grinned at the sight of Gi-jun’s appalled expression and held it out to him.

“This is the essence of our clan, accumulated over many years. I confidently declare it to be of the highest grade, whether as an ingredient for an elixir or as a material for equipment.”

“N-No, I cannot accept this.”

“Take it. It is a fitting reward for the hero.”

No, this was such a burdensome thing…!

However, since declining any further would be tantamount to insulting the lord, Gi-jun had no choice but to receive it in the end.

He did not even need to look at its information. This was at least a Unique-grade item.

—Politicians really go this far for a show…!

‘If this is truly just a show, I need to run away from here right now without looking back.’

—And if it isn’t a show?

‘I need to run away from here right now without looking back.’

—The conclusion is exactly the same…

As Gi-jun, who was already bound to feel a psychological debt toward the lord, sighed and put it into his inventory, the lord suddenly approached and whispered into his ear.

“If possible, please go easy on him.”

Ah.

As Gi-jun could not reply and only gaped his mouth, the elderly lord patted his shoulder with a sorrowful smile.

“Of course, if you deem that he has crossed the line, do as you wish. I will never blame you.”

“…You.”

Stepping back from him, the lord shouted aloud.

“With this, the award ceremony is concluded! Let us all remember those who have departed, praise the heroes, and adorn this day with alcohol and songs!”

Because the cheers of the crowd erupted all around following that, Gi-jun could not question the lord any further.

“Jun! Today is your day! I will consider it an honor to have fought alongside you!”

“And from now on, we shall drink! Together, we will drink and vanquish the enemy known as alcohol!”

“Let’s go, Jun!”

Soon, the Orcs, including Chabanvesh, flocked over and pulled and dragged Gi-jun along.

Gi-jun accompanied them while wearing a bitter smile, and had to fill his stomach with alcohol without rest until that night.

At that place,

Tolchi quietly approached.