Episode 13

[Divine Knight officer “Howa Shediana” is nowhere to be seen. Find his classmate, Divine Knight officer “Abrea Shediana,” and ask about Howa’s whereabouts.]

Seeing all the Divine Knight players crowded here, I thought we’d be getting a quest from Howa, but apparently not. Did the quest have to progress a little further before Howa appeared? Without any particular suspicion, I immediately headed to the central fountain where Abrea always stood.

With long ivory-white hair and mysterious blue eyes, Abrea was leaning against the fountain with all his military discipline completely gone, unlike the other Divine Knights.

He was my favorite NPC. I’d been oddly drawn to him since the CBT (*closed beta), to the point that I’d even tried starting as a Divine Knight because of him. Was his appearance my type...? It probably was. I liked white-haired beauties who had the air of a languid canine predator.

And I liked his personality too. Unlike the other Divine Knights, who strangely bound themselves to god of their own accord, it was interesting that he was a character with a clear sense of self who actually doubted god.

Feeling glad to see him, I stood in front of Abrea, scrolled the wheel button to zoom in, and admired his face. Since I stood quietly in front of him, Abrea recognized me and whipped his head around to look at me. The way he looked at me felt as if he were saying, “What do you want, bothering me like this?” so I immediately clicked Dialogue.

[- Abrea: What?]

Man, I really liked his temper. Other job NPCs used honorifics according to rank, but this guy spoke informally to me equally whether my rank was soldier or commander-in-chief.

[(Ask if he knows Howa’s whereabouts.)]

[- Abrea: You’re looking for Howa? He’s currently gone to the Doa Bisax Continent with the knight order because an emergency order came down... Ah. Are you Honeybread, the one Howa mentioned?]

[(Silently stare at him.)]

[- Abrea: It’s just, I did hear Howa ask me to help with the investigation in his place when he left, but I’m the type who can’t really be conscious in the morning, so I didn’t catch his companion’s name properly. Ah, fine. Sorry, I said I’m sorry. Stop looking at me like that.]

Abrea spoke in a grumbling tone and lightly raised both hands.

[- Abrea: You probably haven’t heard what kind of mission it is yet, so I’ll explain. Listen carefully and don’t miss anything.]

[- Abrea: A report came in that a strange current has appeared in “Land Where Breath Ceased: Heart,” the central region of Ateliena. For us, currently embroiled in disputes around that location, it’s quite a troublesome matter. The appearance of a variable in war means a greater possibility of unnecessary wounded and dead, and that can lead to a loss of military strength.]

[- Abrea: So first, we received orders to dispatch an investigation team and find out what’s going on. Originally, Howa was supposed to take on that mission, but as you heard earlier, he ended up going to the Doa Bisax Continent because of an emergency order, so it was changed to me accompanying you instead.]

[- Abrea: You understand the mission, right?]

▷ Say that you understand.

▷ Ask him to explain again.

The choices appeared. If I chose the second option, I’d definitely get to see Abrea get annoyed, but it was obvious he’d just repeat the same explanation, so I chose the first option without hesitation.

[(Say that you understand.)]

[- Abrea: Good. This is why I like you.]

[- Abrea: Then come to Base 41 once you’re ready. For the sake of the frail investigation team, we’ve decided to move through the “Eunseo Tribe’s Secret Passage” to avoid combat. As long as we arrive safely at the passage, there shouldn’t be any fighting, but just in case, come armed.]

[- Abrea: Ah. For reference, the investigation team from Aihtetas will also be coming with us, so even if you make eye contact, don’t pick a fight and just ignore them. As you know, we currently have a temporary agreement with them, so even a small verbal spat could make things difficult in all sorts of ways.]

[- Abrea: Since you are none other than His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, you understand what I mean, don’t you?]

With that, the conversation ended and Abrea disappeared. The quest was also updated with an order to move to Base 41.

The Eunseo Tribe’s Secret Passage was a cave used by weasel beastkin NPCs to come and go while avoiding the conflict, and it was a neutral area that could only be accessed after fully raising your rapport level with the Eunseo Tribe. Since it was a neutral area, you couldn’t attack members of the opposing race even if you encountered them, so most PvP players didn’t bother spending time to raise their rapport with the Eunseo Tribe. Because of that, this passage was known as a route exclusively for life-skill players who gathered or crafted.

At one point, I’d been curious about the secret passage and had raised a life-skill class I had no connection to, steadily doing Eunseo Tribe rapport quests, but... the part that demanded tremendous patience and persistence didn’t suit my impatient personality at all, so I ultimately gave up. Because of that, I’d only ever looked at the passage through screenshots or videos recorded by other people, so being able to go there myself, even in this way, felt moving in a new way.

Filled with excitement, I hurriedly started recording gameplay footage. Then I ran to the travel statue and moved to Base 41 without delay.

Title: What’s with this MS (*main story)?

Author: [Jeop-a] GonnaMakeABigOne

I’m a Military Physician, right?

But while I was pushing the main quest while watching Jaesugang-nim’s stream,

the contents are kinda different.

It’s not like there were any branching choices either, were there?

(17 comments)

- Meanwhile, your nickname reeks of a dead game.

   └ [Author] What are you talking about? This isn’t even a game.

- How is it different?

   └ [Author] I was definitely told to escort the investigation team alone and go through the Eunseo Tribe passage, but Sugang-nim went with Adam (*the NPC in charge of Jeop-a Military Physicians in Dusk), you know? Something about the elder telling him to go along.

      └ Didn’t you just see it wrong?

         └ No no, I’m a Military Physician too, and the author and I got the same contents, but it’s a bit different from Jaesugang’s.

            └ This smells like an Easter egg.

- My main story is different too. I’m not a Military Physician, I’m a Priest, but when I talked about the story with my friend, they said it was strangely different?

   └ [Author] Whoa;; is this a hidden story that opens only if you meet some condition?

... (View more comments) ...

* * *

TIP - (...) The bereaved, who had begun denying god in this way, formed the heretical group Aihtetas around the “Military Physician” and “Warrior.” And after the First Terror Incident broke out, the Great Temple, which corrected their classification from simple heretics to terrorists, established Overawhev with the “Divine Knight” and “Priest” at the forefront.

* * *

[Guild] TheySayEveryNicknameIsTaken: ㅠ Guild master, are you really not going farming?

[Guild] Honeybread: yeah

[Guild] Honeybread: no tank?

[Guild] TheySayEveryNicknameIsTaken: We don’t have people at all, so I managed to lure in Goso-nim and Sogo-nim, but I can’t find a farming party... I guess everyone went to push the main quest...

[Guild] CeylonTea: We only need a tank...

[Guild] CeylonTea: (hint hint)

[Guild] CeylonTea: (hint hint)

[Guild] CeylonTea: (hint hint)

[Guild] CeylonTea: (hint hint)

It was right after I arrived at Base 41, met a trembling Eunseo Tribe NPC, started a conversation, and heard, “Frequent earthquakes are occurring inside the cave, so please hurry and begin the investigation-hyot.” They kept calling me in guild chat, so I answered, wondering what was up, and they told me to come to the farming party.

Normally, I would’ve considered going farming just once, but since it had been a while since I’d had a quest accompanying Abrea, my heart leaned more toward pushing the quest than farming.

[Guild] Honeybread: lol good luck

[Guild] CeylonTea: fuck you

I refused flatly and checked the next order to continue the quest.

[Speak to the Eunseo Tribe tomb raider “ChuiChui” and move to the secret passage.]

The white furry weasel a little off to the left of the trembling NPC was ChuiChui. I immediately approached ChuiChui. Then Abrea, who had been following me around, also stood before ChuiChui with slow steps.

[- ChuiChui: Ah! Welcome-hyot! You’re the investigation team who agreed to investigate the cave, right-hyot? You can go down to the passage this way-hyot. It’s quite deep, so please be careful not to let go of the ladder-hyot!]

[- ChuiChui: We’ll need to close the passage later, and then it may be dangerous because no light will be visible, so the last person to go down should take this bell and shake it like mad when everyone has arrived safely-hyot!]

After finishing speaking, ChuiChui suddenly wiggled his tail, got down on all fours, and scrabbled furiously at the ground he had been standing on with his hind legs. Then, on the dug-up ground, a pit appeared with a ladder firmly tied in place.