008. Misconception. (1)
“Hmm. Captain. No matter how much I think about it, I don’t think we can just leave like this.”
Joi, who had left the inn and was on the move, called Captain Chiko over, saying that no matter how much he thought about it, this wasn’t right.
“Didn’t the rest of you see it too? He put silver coins in the hands of those he couldn’t heal in a single go?”
“It’s incredible. It’d be difficult even for a saint.”
Chiko recalled the saint he had seen as a child, but even the saint hadn’t done such things.
“He only took your treatment fee once, and he spends money on patients like that? Doesn’t something feel off to you all?”
At Joi’s words, they pondered what exactly felt off, but everyone just tilted their heads.
“That mage must surely be a noble from a great house, one that piles up gold coins like fallen leaves. Otherwise, it makes no sense for him to be so detached from material desire.”
“Oh! You’ve got a point.”
At the idea that the mage was a great noble indifferent to money, everyone nodded in agreement.
“Moreover, he doesn’t tell us his name because he’s not interested in gaining a reputation? Isn’t this just a dignified way of saying it’s troublesome dealing with riffraff like us?”
“Or maybe he’s being considerate, worried we’d piss ourselves if we heard his name.”
“That could be it.”
The mercenaries nodded, thinking it sounded plausible.
“Then, could he be of the lineage of the Northern Steel Archduke, Jalmakucheun?”
“Maybe he’s not a noble but royalty? Wasn’t the former king black-haired?”
Listening to the mercenaries’ talk, Chiko felt, as Joi said, that they shouldn’t just leave like this.
He judged that a precious opportunity to forge connections with a noble had come.
“Joi. Go to the innkeeper and find out where the mage is headed.”
“Hahaha. Who do you think I am? I already found out, just in case. They say he’s headed to the Durendal Territory, about two days’ walk from here.”
“That’s on our way. Let’s move together. Pack your gear!”
After packing their gear, the mercenaries waited at the village entrance, and when they saw the mage, they ran forward and blocked his path.
“Mage, we are passing through the Durendal Territory. We shall escort you there.”
Having said nothing all morning, they suddenly offered to travel together, so an ominous thought crossed his mind—were they planning to rob him?
However, since he had an active Luck buff and felt no disquieting feeling, he decided to let them accompany him.
***
“We’ve walked quite a while now. Are your feet hurting or tired?”
The mercenary Joi was worried about Yanneu, who resembled his younger sister he had lost long ago.
“Master bought me sandals, so nothing hurts and I’m not tired at all.”
At Yanneu’s words, he looked at the sandals she was wearing; they looked new.
‘C-could those be enchanted sandals? Otherwise, it makes no sense for a kid to walk over three hours without her feet hurting. C-could those tattered clothes also be enchanted garments?’
Joi subconsciously swallowed his drool at the thought that they might be incredibly expensive magic items.
But realizing that acting on greed could cost him his head, he cast aside his ill intentions.
‘That guy just swallowed his drool while looking at Yanneu, didn’t he?’
It was the same one who had stood by Yanneu at departure, saying she looked like his lost sister.
He seemed to keep staring at Yanneu’s ankles, and Jinwoo belatedly realized how dangerous it was to be traveling with a young girl in the midst of rough mercenaries.
He had tried to hire mercenaries at the Mercenary Guild to serve as a physical shield, but now it seemed he had to be careful in selecting party members as well.
“Yanneu. Come walk over here. I’ll cast a spell on you.”
“A spell? I don’t think it’s time yet.”
“I’ll cast a spell to blind any man who lays a hand on you. Come here.”
No such spell actually existed, but upon hearing my words, not only Joi but the other mercenaries as well flinched.
***
“Let’s camp here.”
We ate bread for lunch and kept walking, and when it was time for dinner, I agonized over what to do before deciding to cook nine servings: for the seven mercenaries, plus me and Yanneu.
In truth, I only needed to cook for the two of us, but it seemed the mercenaries would drool watching us eat, so I decided to share.
Besides, as a Korean, discriminating with food was something I disliked from the start.
So, to prepare the nine servings, I took out a table and a gas burner from my inventory.
The mercenaries were startled to see tables and items appear from empty space, but they couldn’t bring themselves to ask openly.
Though I pulled out tables, burners, and other equipment, I was stuck from the very first step of deciding the menu.
Thinking of the ingredients I had purchased in Hillton Village and trying to piece things together, I thought I could put together a menu similar to an American Black Breakfast.
First, I borrowed the steel pot the mercenaries carried and hung it over the campfire, putting in white beans purchased from Hillton Village and water.
The white beans needed to be boiled thoroughly over high heat.
In a gas burner frying pan with adjustable heat, I put in finely ground flour and roasted it until it turned brown.
Taking care not to burn the flour, I added purchased butter and made a fragrant roux.
Then I added a bit of water, salt, and pepper to the roux to make a thick soup.
Tomato or hot sauce would have been nice, but with no such ingredients, this was the best I could do.
Once the roux soup was done, I checked the white beans on the campfire; they were boiling nicely with foam.
I discarded the water the beans were boiled in, poured the roux soup into the bean pot, and had Yanneu stir.
The roux soup reduced in the pot, coating the white beans with its savory flavor.
Thus reduced into a thick consistency, the white bean stew became a variation of baked beans.
And in the frying pan, I rendered pork fat to make oil, then fried eggs for everyone using the ones bought in Hillton Village.
“Line your bowls up here.”
The mercenaries were suspicious when told that the mage would cook their food too.
But everyone pulled wooden plates from their packs and lined them up.
After the eggs, I sliced the black pudding—a Western-style blood sausage—and fried it in oil as if deep-frying.
Instead of the smell of fresh blood, an earthy odor wafted out; I sprinkled salt and pepper and grilled it until the Maillard reaction set in.
Then I added plenty of honey mushroom caps, left over after extracting honey, into the remaining oil and sautéed them.
On each plate I placed one egg, three pieces of blood sausage, and sautéed mushroom caps, then ladled the baked beans over them like a sauce, completing a plausible-looking American Black Breakfast.
It was a bit odd for dinner, but for those who had expected to eat hardtack soup boiled with jerky, it was a feast fit for royalty.
Furthermore, with the meat pie obtained from the innkeeper, the dinner was more than plentiful.
“Thanks to the mage, we get to enjoy such luxury while on the road.”
“We never expected such a lavish meal. We shall eat well.”
The mercenaries received their plates in admiration, yet hesitated to lift their forks, watching to see if it was truly alright to eat.
But once Yanneu picked up her fork and began eating, everyone else started as well.
“I’ve only ever boiled beans plainly, but boiling them into a soup with flour and butter makes it taste so refined.”
“Dipping the egg and black pudding in that sauce on the beans enhances the flavor even more.”
At Jinwoo’s words, not only Yanneu but the others began spreading the baked bean sauce on their food as well.
The smooth yet subtly salty depth of the butter roux amplified the flavors of the other ingredients.
In particular, Joi dipped the sautéed honey mushrooms in the sauce and fell in love with the chewy texture of the mushrooms combined with the savory, deep flavor created by the butter roux.
“The sweetness coming from the sautéed mushrooms truly makes it feel like a high-class dish.”
“Indeed, honey mushrooms are common and cheap in this region, but if you leave the vicinity, they say it becomes a precious high-class ingredient. Make sure to eat plenty while they’re common.”
Hearing that it was a precious high-class ingredient, everyone began stabbing at the mushrooms with their forks.
The food on the plates alone seemed somewhat insufficient, but with the meat pie available, by the time they finished their plates, everyone was patting their full, satisfied bellies.
Watching the mercenaries pat their bellies in satisfaction, Jinwoo was quite satisfied as well.
But something was lacking.
He didn’t smoke, so he didn’t crave an after-meal cigarette, but he longed for a cup of coffee after eating.
‘A bitter yet aromatic cup of Americano would hit the spot right now. No, coffee mix! I should ask my secretary to send me some Maxim coffee at least.’
He also thought it would be nice to have a cooking-related skill that raised stats when eating a satisfying meal like this.
“The tents are all set up!”
Having received a meal, the mercenaries set up tents for us to rest in, and since some stood watch, it seemed we could sleep soundly through the night.
“Yanneu. Sleep on my arm tonight.”
“Huh? Is that alright?”
“Yes. Stick close to my side tonight.”
Remembering the mercenary named Joi glancing at Yanneu lasciviously and swallowing his drool, Jinwoo laid her down beside him using his arm as a pillow.
***
‘...Omitted... In the game, mages have a quasi-noble status setting, but if this status gap exists, users will flock to mages for that advantage. If there is a skew in the ratio between classes, the game’s balance could break, so I believe this should be fixed in a patch...’
Illeon Busker smiled as he read the report submitted by Park Jinwoo.
“‘We should downgrade the mage’s status.’ Has anyone ever submitted a report like this?”
“No. There have been four mage-class players so far, but this is the first feedback regarding status. Therefore, I believe we should say that mages have the handicap of being unable to see their skill trees.”
“Oh-ho. That would work. We can say the inability to see the skill tree is a mechanism to balance class ratios.”
“Yes. And he asked us to send him coffee, like we did with the gas burner. We informed him that coffee beans also exist within the game.”
“Indeed, if he goes around trying to obtain coffee on his own, unintended things may happen. That should be entertaining.”
Illeon Busker looked over other reports after Park Jinwoo’s.
“There are racial differences in the play reports, and differences in lifestyle in that world as well.”
Illeon Busker recalled the memories of those who had been active as players so far.
And he recalled their dispositions.
White and Black gamers from North America and Europe often proceeded with an Evil alignment.
Because they thought it was a realistic game, they easily fell to the temptation of crimes they couldn’t commit in reality.
And many lost their lives due to such choices.
However, the three Asians lived lives of utmost restraint and, as if they had agreed on the direction of their progress, all pursued a Good alignment.
It was truly peculiar.
“Interesting. Is this due to racial influence? Or is it education and environment? I never imagined there would be such differences. Why are they so different?”
“If I may conjecture as a fellow Asian, it is because of belief.”
“Belief?”
“Yes. In Asia, there is a firm belief that those who do good are surely rewarded, and those who do evil are punished. Therefore, they believe that doing good deeds in the game will result in benefits.”
“So they still believe in encouraging good and punishing evil. Well, the sales of the crime game series GTA were overwhelmingly dominated by the West.”
The concept of encouraging good and punishing evil had existed in the West as well.
But it had long since become a faded concept, a philosophy no longer trusted.
Because the boundaries of good and evil, which would have been clear in the past, had grown ambiguous in modern times depending on the situation.
The East should know the ambiguity of good and evil based on circumstance as well, yet he believed the reason encouraging good and punishing evil still held sway was due to the Confucian mindset of Easterners, who readily conformed to power and authority.
And he believed that due to this difference in mindset, the survival rate and gameplay tendencies of the testers changed drastically.
“What of the other matters?”
“Unfortunately, France’s Beriang has died. We cleanly erased him according to the manual. And the newly selected tester is Piena, a female pro gamer from Chile.”
“Hmm. Beriang is regrettable. I thought he would survive a long time since he was a paladin. As for Piena, I shall go pick her up personally tomorrow.”
***
Having handled his affairs in modern life and logged back in, he watched Yanneu sleeping beside him and saw the mercenaries rotating watch duty.
Having someone standing guard all night was certainly reassuring.
Thinking that hiring these guys might not be a bad idea, he rose and approached the mercenary standing watch.
It happened to be Captain Chiko on watch.
“How is your hand?”
“I no longer feel pain when moving my fingers. Thank you once again.”
Just to be safe, he cast another healing buff on him.
Chiko bowed his head so deeply it seemed to touch the ground, expressing his gratitude.
“By the way, where are you returning from?”
“We were mobilized for the civil war of the House of Barui and are now returning.”
“The ducal house’s civil war?”
It was likely a succession war.
“Don’t large mercenary corps usually participate in such affairs?”
“Yes. Only large mercenary corps should go to a civil war. We had signed a two-year monster subjugation contract with Count Hellion’s family, but they gathered the mercenaries employed by Count Hellion and sent them to the civil war of the House of Barui.”
“They gathered strays to use as sacrificial pawns. Seeing that you returned safely, I suppose you fought on the winning side.”
“Yes. We were truly fortunate. A paladin named Beriang joined our side, allowing us to secure victory. Without him, we would have lost.”
As if tracing the exploits of the paladin Beriang in his mind, Chiko’s eyes grew hazy.
“I’ve rolled around as a mercenary for over ten years, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone that strong.”