Genius Corpse-Collecting Warrior - Chapter 30

Devil’s Holy Sword (2)

The atmosphere in the bar was as tense as the demonstration of a loaded crossbow.

In the thin ice-like air where you never know when the trigger will be pulled.

“Siena.”

Dallen opened his mouth in his usual dry tone.

“…….”

At those words, Sienna, the owner of the bar, turned her head towards Dallan.

His eyes are fiercely glaring with deep wrinkles between his eyebrows.

Dallen accepted the gaze with an indifferent expression and chewed the remaining ice in his glass.

This is delicious. Was it magically frozen?

“…I know you’ll just look at me this time.”

Sienna whispered to the escort knight who was bleeding on the floor, sighing in exasperation.

Again.

She slowly lowered the shoe that had been trampling on the knight’s head.

He then pointed a finger at the young nobleman who was still in a daze and said.

“Hey, take your escort and get out of my bar. “If you don’t want to lose a knight in a faraway place and get scolded by your father, it would be better to quickly go to a temple or an apothecary.”

“Ugh. Oh, I got it. “Don’t shoot.”

“Get out now. Count to three. Three, two….”

“Aaaah!”

The young nobleman wakes up in a hurry as his numbers dwindle.

He helped his knight, whose arm and leg were pierced by an arrow, and quickly left the tavern.

thud.

Sienna, who had been watching the two people leave until the end, turned around and headed for the back door as soon as the bar door closed.

“Dallan, you’re a little late. “Can you talk a little about the nomination requests that have come your way?”

“Sure.”

Come on.

Dallen poured the remaining ice in the glass into his mouth and followed her.

After the two people left through the back door.

Sigh. Sigh.

As if a storm had passed, the only sound that could be heard inside the bar was the sound of bourbon being polished.

The silence didn’t last long.

“…So let’s finish talking about the transaction we were talking about earlier.”

“Have you heard the rumor that a cult organization has been suppressed in the Eastern District?”

one two.

The guests begin talking again.

Some bastard got into trouble. He’s just a loser of that bastard.

Most of the customers who came to the information store in the back alleys of the Bronze District were people who didn’t even bat an eye at anything.

Someone dies. It’s a common occurrence in this neighborhood.

It’s too trivial an incident to be scared of.

Rather, most of them began to reflect on Dallen and Sienna’s reactions and calculate how to approach them cautiously.

Dallen’s price is a little higher.

The contact route is preferably through the information vendor at Crow’s Nest.

Of course, the words and actions revealed on the surface were completely unrelated to such calculations.

“It is said that Eastern District 7 has clearly entered a period of decline.”

“I heard that the Silent Company is recruiting new members. “Do you know anything?…”

As usual, the guests chatted and exchanged rumors and information.

Slosh. Okay. Okay.

Between them, Bourbon silently began wiping the blood stains from the floor with a mop.

***

“Are you satisfied with your acting?”

Sweet.

As soon as Sienna’s office door closed, those were the first words Dallon said.

Sienna stopped lightly clicking the heels of her shoes and answered with a deep sigh.

“It was more than I thought, huh? “He looks like a bear on the outside, but on the inside, he’s more of a wolf than anyone else.”

“It sounds like a swear word.”

“Then should I say snake instead of wolf?”

“That’s double lust.”

Sienna laughed. Even when I laughed like that, not even a small sound escaped the information office, which was well-insulated.

Dallen sat down on the long, soft sofa, leaving her rattling the tea leaf container.

“We brought in some new furniture.”

“that’s right. Thanks to someone, the bar business was very good. “What kind of manners is it to openly sell shady information in a place where more than half of the security commanders are gathered?”

“Thanks to you, the number of customers has increased. “At the bar or on the information desk.”

Dallen laughed lowly. Sienna said, bringing out two glasses and refreshments.

“…It’s thanks to you. “I hate being in debt, but I’ve already owed you twice.”

The first thing was to prevent the customers of the Bronze District from falling into the hands of cultists.

The second thing is that in the process, our information position was greatly increased.

While Sienna added that, Dallon raised the glass in a serious manner and savored the scent.

“hmm.”

Coffee scent.

It’s been a while.

I’ve been so busy over the past few weeks that I’ve finally been able to taste the coffee beans sent to me by the elder wizard of the Elgaia Tower.

Sienna looked at him with curious eyes and slowly smiled.

“How will I repay it? what do you want?”

Dallon tilted his teacup and took a sip without answering.

A rich nutty flavor and a bitter awakening effect that spreads inside your mouth.

A slightly sour scent that lingers gently as it passes down the throat.

This is really killer.

Dallen remained silent for a while, enjoying the scent and taste, and only opened his mouth when Sienna’s glass was half empty.

“I am a customer. “They are an information dealer and a commissioning broker.”

“yes.”

“Then you just have to do your job well. Then, one day, I will be in debt.”

Sienna slowly lowered her gaze without saying a word. For a while, there was only the two people sipping in the office.

In that silence, Dallon suddenly thought.

‘It’s a snake.’

When it comes to skill and cunning in this game, it’s definitely not a wrong analogy.

Because he has been injecting the poison of debt into the hearts of people he considers important without them noticing.

‘There is nothing more fatal to the hero candidates being recruited than a sense of psychological debt.’

It’s not easy to win someone’s favor with simple money or things.

What is more effective is the moderate level of burden and debt that comes from the fact that you have received help for free.

This was the method Dallon mainly used to recruit NPCs as he played the game over hundreds of times.

Even though the game became a living, breathing world, the method did not change much.

He erased his debt to LeBaron by resolving his debt relationship and opening a blacksmith shop in a good location.

By saving Volkmar’s life and helping him take control of the commercial world, he put shackles on his hands.

It was in the same context that he saved Felber’s disciple and opened the opportunity for revenge on Gawain.

‘And Sienna Eclasia is one of the NPCs that plays an absolutely important role until the very end.’

If Gawain or LeVeron Ahakim are the top recruits.

Siena is definitely ranked 0 in recruiting.

She is an intelligence merchant and a decent combatant who dominates the underworld even when the secret of her true identity has not yet been revealed.

As secrets that no one knows are revealed one by one, she will become an even greater force than before.

Of course, that premise was also based on her temperament.

From the moment he decided that he was his, he had a stubborn disposition that would not betray him no matter what.

‘It’s crazy difficult to raise your likeability, but once you get over a certain point, from then on, you become a more reliable ally than anyone else.’

And after playing this game for a long time, Go-in-jae’s intuition told her that her likability had already reached that point.

The events that have been constantly occurring in recent years and the appearance that Dallon has shown in the meantime must have had a great influence.

Sweet.

Dallen put down his cleanly emptied coffee cup.

If everything has been overcome anyway, there is no need to put any additional burden on it.

Rather, a better option is to slightly loosen it.

The key to winning people’s hearts is to capture them clearly, even if it moves a little slowly.

“Don’t worry too much.”

“…what?”

“During the fight against the Apostles of Rebellion, I did not help much in finding out their movements. “I guess the reason I kept those flies in the store for a week was to make it convenient for them so they wouldn’t be lured directly to me.”

The reason Sienna neglected such a serious guest until Dallan arrived was more for Dallan’s sake than for her own benefit.

In fact, a person of her caliber would not be reluctant to be the son of a baron from a remote corner of the empire.

Even if a crossbow were put in your head instead of the guard, it would be enough to express your deepest regret in the name of the Crow’s Nest.

Nevertheless, what does it mean that such a genuine customer was not kicked out until Dallan arrived?

‘They claimed to be a kind of filter and bait.’

A filter that filters out flies in the middle, taking the hassle out of them, so they don’t get caught directly by Dallen.

Anyway, the flies won’t give up even if she comes out and chases them away.

However, the target changes to Dallen himself.

Maybe he did something like that again at the inn where he was staying.

Of course, if I had come to the inn, I would have just been beaten by his hands one more time.

“…Thank you if you think so.”

Sweet.

She put down her empty glass.

“It’s just that it wasn’t an action that would cause me harm. “Because I definitely have something to gain.”

Sienna said that and stood up with two glasses.

Unlike his usual attitude of always hiding a trick, he is particularly honest today.

This is also evidence that her trustworthiness is approaching a critical point.

Watching her make fresh coffee and tea, Dallen laughed lowly without saying a word.

‘There was something to be gained.’

Rather, it is something I am happy to do.

If you can’t get anything, that means you’re an incompetent intelligence dealer.

You don’t need incompetent colleagues.

In a world heading toward destruction, the only people Dallen needs are those with outstanding abilities.

Even if it was extremely difficult to get them on my side, what was important was their ability, not their difficulty.

In the face of an apocalypse that can never be overcome on one’s own, no matter how many capable heroes there are, there are not enough.

Anyway, it was time to get to the point.

Dallen asked, leaning forward.

“So what is the nomination request?”

As if she had been waiting, Sienna took out a wad of paper that was stuck on one side of the bookshelf.

What was placed on the table was a thick bundle of request forms.

A pile of paper that seemed to be almost half a span thick. Sienna spoke, rattling the tea leaves.

“This may be a bit long, but should we talk over another cup of tea?”

“I guess so.”

Dallen nodded.

A cup of coffee is not enough for this kind of paperwork.

***

Over the past week or so, a total of 46 requests for nominations have been received from him.

Even though we filtered out requests where the identity of the client was unclear or were too absurd, that was the extent of it.

Dallen, who was listening to Sienna’s brief briefing, suddenly felt his eyelids becoming heavy.

A mental fatigue I had never felt even when I was killing hundreds of frogmen and monsters.

‘At this level, the pile of documents is more scary than the monster.’

In front of him, who was rubbing his temples, Sienna put down the thirty-third request without finishing summarizing it.

She said.

“Are you tired?”

“It’s not easy. “I will take back what I asked you to summarize one by one.”

After all, intelligence business is not for everyone.

Sienna smiled slightly at Dallan’s joke and gathered the hanging requests into one bundle.

“I think it would be easier for both of us to just choose based on the conditions. “Do you have a desired amount or item of compensation, or a preferred request?”

Dallen thought for a moment and then answered.

“An elixir that improves physical strength. Or, it would be good to have a client who can provide those types of arcane spells or rituals.”

In this world, the only way to increase your abilities is to level up.

Rather, leveling up is a privilege available only to players.

Other NPCs either went through years of rigorous training or improved their abilities through special methods.

‘Special elixirs or permanently applied spells or rituals are typical examples. A contract with an evil spirit is one of them.’

I’ve thought about it several times during my break, but it’s a long way to improve my physical strength by leveling up.

Moreover, if you think about the characters he raised in the past, there were not many cases where he focused on raising their physical strength.

It’s time to find another way to restore the balance of broken abilities.

Of course, Sienna, who didn’t know the context, looked puzzled by the conditions Dallen put forward.

“…health? “Is it possible that you lack stamina?”

“After sitting at the desk for so long, I definitely felt like I was lacking.”

A low-smiling, round-about remark.

Sienna still didn’t understand, but she didn’t ask any more questions.

“…That could be possible. Because beating a monster and having good butt endurance are different.”

Rather, it matches his rhythm and avoids mentioning details.

Because she knew best that everyone had secrets that were best kept hidden.

“It’s an elixir, a spell, or a ritual that can increase your physical strength… Please wait a moment.”

“Sure.”

Dallen sipped another cup of coffee and sat down on the sofa.

Sienna quickly sorted through the nearly 50 requests and searched again to see if any of the ones she had filtered out met the conditions.

After a short period of time, when Dallon had finished his cup of coffee neatly again, she spoke.

“here. “It was roughly narrowed down to about eight.”

Sienna once again summarized and explained the selected requests.

Five out of eight were requests from farmers in the upper or western districts who mainly deal with medicinal herbs, and drug dealers in the back alleys.

Dallen gently pushed them to one side of the table.

“Let’s put this on hold for now.”

Actually, there was nothing wrong with receiving requests from herbalists.

Since they were the ones handling the raw materials for the elixir, it was safe to say that they were closest to Dallen’s purpose.

However, what Dallen wants is not simply herbs for health promotion purposes.

In order to strengthen his superhuman body, he would need legendary herbs or elixirs.

‘There are only a handful of people in this vast bronze district who handle such items.’

And for an NPC of that caliber, of course everything from name to nickname was in Dallen’s mind.

Unfortunately, among those who requested nominations from him, there was no such big-time herbalist.

“Of the remaining three, two are temples. One is the temple of Powell, the god of light, and the other is the temple of Sisela, the guardian god of water.”

“I’m not attracted to either of you.”

Sienna smiled mischievously.

“Are you from the North and believe that Hadash’s Eternal Palace really exists?”

“Aren’t race and faith separate?”

Dallen answered with a sour face.

Of course, it wasn’t that he really believed in the northern warrior god.

Nevertheless, I thought that a simple and ignorant god of fighting would at least be better than the gods worshiped in the Empire or the Eastern Kingdom of Knights.

Because in this damn world, there was no way that God wouldn’t get stabbed in the back.

“Then there is only one thing left. Actually, I don’t really want to recommend it. “This is a request I missed once.”

Sienna said in a disapproving voice.

“The request was a bit strange. “As for the success reward…well, I can’t guarantee for sure whether you will get what you want.”

“What do you mean?”

Dallen asked, scratching his chin.

Sienna frowned slightly and handed a one-page request form to Dallen.

“The client is a trainee knight of the Holy Knights. And the request is…to help me defeat the demon in the labyrinth and retrieve the holy sword that was stolen by him.”

The hand that was scratching my chin stopped for a moment. Dallen carefully read the request form he had been handed.

After a moment of silence, he spoke.

“I’ll take this.”

“…really?”

Sienna’s eyes widened. Dallen lifted the corners of his mouth fiercely and nodded.

“Yes, thanks to you, I will finally be able to go to a place called the Labyrinth.”

Knock knock.

Thick, long fingers tap the request form on the table.

The devil in the labyrinth who stole the holy sword.

Dallen knew the guy.

This guy is one of the boss mobs that appears in the mid-game that gave Dalen as much trouble as the Apostles of Reversion.

I didn’t think we’d meet each other already, but there’s no harm in meeting him early.

“Please contact the client. I will come see you soon.”

Dallen stood up.

The ax at my waist seemed to be trembling, as if anticipating the blood of the devil I would soon taste.