Chapter 114 – LV.Nine Priest Seo Yun – [Three]

With permission granted from the camp people to sell the coal, Seo Yun borrowed the Bracelet of Haste from Han Siwoo.

After stuffing all the coal into the Bag of Infinity, she left the camp.

Seo Yun had a Health score of 11, and she moved tirelessly over distances that would have been exhausting to traverse on foot before. Even traveling back and forth between this Gangwon-do area and Happy Village was no longer a strenuous task.

Yet, the reason she hadn’t planned to go to Happy Village alone all this time to replenish provisions was the need to stay hidden and quiet to avoid catching the Troll’s attention. But now, it seemed the Troll had completely ceased activity and gone into hiding, hadn’t it?

So, Seo Yun returned to Happy Village for the first time in a long while. Sneaking in secretly in the middle of the night, since coming back openly might later get reported to the Troll.

The towering fortress wall, originally an apartment complex fence, couldn’t stop Seo Yun’s secret entry. When Seo Yun tapped her eyebrows twice, a pair of flaming wings stretching from her back to the ground emerged. Their flight performance wasn’t excellent yet—they were wings only capable of short-distance flight and leaps.

Spreading both wings and flapping them hard, sparks scattered as her body shot upward.

Seo Yun landed atop the fortress wall, dismissed the wings, and dropped to the ground. She moved quietly toward the tent where Oh Haengun was.

Though it was dark, Oh Haengun wasn’t asleep yet. His eyes widened upon seeing her.

“Seo Yun?”

“Quietly…”

Oh Haengun closed his mouth as instructed. Seo Yun asked,

“What about the Troll? Hasn’t it come here causing trouble, demanding Gaeulbi, all this time?”

“No.”

“Really?”

“It hasn’t even come to the village.”

“Not even to make peace, let alone vent its anger?”

Oh Haengun nodded, and Seo Yun once again suspected the Troll might be dead. But still, it was unlikely that a Troll, famous for its regeneration ability, would die from just a few hits.

For the same reason, the speculation that it was lying low due to injury from that incident also made no sense. Even if all its bones were broken or limbs severed, it should have fully recovered within a day.

Seo Yun continued pondering. Perhaps the Troll was suffering mentally, not physically? Meaning, the humiliation from that day was so shameful that it halted all external activities? Like someone who becomes a shut-in after experiencing a traumatic event?

If so, the situation still couldn’t be considered safe. If the Troll was that psychologically traumatized by that day, the emotions festering in its heart wouldn’t be mere resentment. It might suddenly stop being a shut-in one day, leap out, and seek revenge. At that point, even ten Oh Haengboks wouldn’t be able to stop it.

Anxiety welled up in her chest, but she still had things to do. Seo Yun asked,

“Do you happen to need more coal?”

“Coal? It’d be good to stockpile more, but why?”

“I brought some. Could I trade it for potatoes? I’ll take the potatoes from the warehouse myself later.”

Since Oh Haengun agreed, Seo Yun successfully offloaded the goods she brought.

Thinking it would be difficult to come and go here freely in the future, she asked,

“Do you know any other places where I could buy things? Other survivor groups that might trade various items for some leftover provisions?”

Oh Haengun provided a few addresses as Seo Yun hoped, and she noted them down. Later, if she needed more provisions, she could visit those places. Or she could inform the Dwarf mining coal about their locations to encourage inter-regional trade.

Oh Haengun stared at her intently for a moment before suddenly asking,

“You went all the way to Gangwon-do? Anyway, what hardships have you been through, Seo Yun?”

“What hardships are you talking about?”

When Seo Yun shrugged her shoulders, Oh Haengun clicked his tongue.

“Anyway, I hope you come back soon. The kids miss seeing you.”

“Specifically, who?”

“Well, if I had to name one, Kim Jihyeok?”

Seo Yun chuckled softly and entered the village warehouse, transferring the traded potatoes into the Bag of Infinity.

It wasn’t a lot, but she had secured enough provisions to last a month or two somehow.

Smiling with relief, she crossed the fortress wall the same way she had entered.

Moving again in the middle of the night, she headed back to the camp. Naturally fast on her feet and having borrowed the magic bracelet, her movement speed was practically on par with riding a car. So, the camp people were surprised that Seo Yun, who had left the village, returned astonishingly quickly, and they expressed amazement at the potatoes she had procured in such a short time.

“Our little Goddess uses the art of shrinking the earth!”

Gaeulbi laughed cheerfully, but Seo Yun couldn’t glare at that chimpanzee. Because the camp people watching her now, especially the elderly, had started praying.

She couldn’t make out what prayers they were muttering softly, but Seo Yun could feel something like energy rising within her. Realizing it was the Faith Score of the Immortal Kingdom, she groaned.

Another month passed, and Seo Yun busily moved around here and there.

The guns and ammunition that couldn’t be exchanged that day due to the failed trade between the Dark Mage and the Dwarf were still quite plentiful. Seo Yun took those items and traveled to the villages Oh Haengun had told her about, trading them for provisions (one village tried to seize both the items and the Hearth Priest entirely, but when she displayed her Level and summoned a spirit entity impervious to bullets, they readily engaged in trade). The magic bag and bracelet made inter-regional trade possible.

After that, soldiers occasionally snooped around the village a few times, but Seo Yun alone managed to chase them all away.

Protecting and feeding a village single-handedly meant the treatment Seo Yun received in this camp had reached a level comparable to what Oh Haengbok enjoyed in Happy Village. As was the case in both Happy Village and the Immortal Kingdom worldview, in this world now, a minority of Players were responsible for the lives of the majority. And a Hearth Priest with high Ability Scores had the capability to feed this small camp.

For Seo Yun, it was somewhat satisfying yet burdensome. After all, she hadn’t adopted these abandoned companion animals; she was merely temporarily caring for them.

Lately, the number of soldiers roaming this area had increased even more. It seemed they were all sticking together now, and even a LV.9 Priest felt threatened.

She couldn’t keep staying in this dangerous place with two teenagers.

She would have to leave someday, and when that time came, they would revert to being abandoned. And they would likely starve to death. If the Dark Mage Player Jeong Haneum, who was responsible for this place, returned, everything would be resolved, but he never came back.Then should I take them back to Happy Village with me when I return? But they are people who have already been deemed useless and abandoned. Feeding them would likely be a burden even for Happy Village. In an extreme case, I might even have to ask Oh Haengun to petrify them.

Seo Yun thought resentfully that all of this happened because the Troll went into hiding.

The Troll seemed to have been so shocked that he completely stopped exchanging various supplies for the Korean people. Furthermore, he might have even abandoned his ambitious plan to fill the position of a god or whatever it was.

Seo Yun thought. Then does that mean this side, which was trying to fit into that plan, should also make a different plan?

In other words, should I toss aside the plan of sacrificing myself to save the world and find something else to do?

A few days later, it happened suddenly when the Dwarf Mage visited the camp again.

The Dwarf barged into the village without any explanation and asked like this.

“Where did Jeong Haneum’s friend go?”

For Seo Yun, it was a bombshell. That Dwarf Mage was the leader of the mining village, the one who had been trading coal with the Troll. This side’s existence being known to that Dwarf had to be avoided. If the Troll decided to seek revenge, and he used Teleportation to go from village to village asking, ‘Haven’t you seen a chimpanzee?’, our location could be exposed immediately.

Worried about that, she had told the camp sentries not to let that Dwarf in if he came, but it seemed they hadn’t done their job well. Of course, the people left here were all dregs, and they had no ability to stop that menacing Dwarf and his group from entering the camp.

“Eulbi? Hide well so you can’t be seen.”

Gaeulbi nodded with a stiff face.

Seo Yun covered her face as much as possible with a windproof mask and hood. She could only hope that would hide her identity.

Seo Yun stepped in front of the Dwarf, who kept grabbing camp people and asking ‘Where’s Jeong Haneum?’, and asked.

“Why do you need Sir Jeong Haneum?”

The Dwarf Mage seemed surprised that a little girl was blocking his way. He looked right at her and answered.

“Why? Because Players need to band together to get some work done, so I want to meet him. But that friend Jeong Haneum, is he pissed off about last time and doesn’t want to see me? Everyone just says Jeong Haneum left for good and can’t be met anymore, is he being this childish?”

It seemed he wouldn’t leave until he knew Jeong Haneum’s location. After some thought, Seo Yun told the truth.

“That guy, he really left.”

“But his mother was here, wasn’t she?”

“He abandoned her and left.”

When Seo Yun explained in detail when he left and why he left, the Dwarf Mage finally shut his mouth. He suddenly had a thoughtful expression.

Was he feeling guilty because the camp ended up like this due to his fault?

It didn’t seem so.

The look in the Dwarf’s eyes as he silently scanned the surroundings now was unusual. Perhaps he was calculating whether, if the Player guarding the camp was gone, he could take all the supplies here.

It was a sufficiently plausible guess. That Dwarf was a bastard who promised to give Provisions if they worked hard, then irresponsibly just dumped the coal and left, wasn’t he?

Seo Yun prepared in her heart to threaten him, or to fight.

The Dwarf’s suspicious gaze turned toward her.

“But who are you? I haven’t seen your face before······”

It was when the Dwarf asked that.

The Dwarf Mage had brought his subordinates again this time, and one of them recognized her.

“Seo Yun?”

Surprisingly, he recognized her identity just by looking at her eyes.

Seo Yun, who turned her head toward the voice, also recognized who he was.

‘That guy······?’

He was the Warrior Player she met when she was taken to the Dawn Corps. The nameless LV.4 Warrior, the one who acted high-handed as soon as they met, saying she should treat him as a Senior and show respect because his Level was high.

Seo Yun had included him when she escaped from the Corps. Later, she gave him some Provisions and let him go back to his home, but she hadn’t expected to meet him here again.

“You know her?”

At the Dwarf’s question, the LV.4 Warrior answered loudly.

“I do! Didn’t I tell you before? When I was taken to the Dawn Corps, I was about to die after those Skeletons got shot, and some Priest girl crawled over, gave me a Heal, and took me to the rear to save me······”

“Ah, the one you’ve said about thirty times?”

It seemed that help had really left a deep impression. The LV.4 Warrior looked at Seo Yun, nodded with an embarrassed face, and began explaining Seo Yun’s heroic deeds from that time to everyone present.

How when surrounded by Centaurs, that Priest girl fought alone and took them all down and survived. How when the soldiers went to that place later, there were dozens of Centaur corpses left. How her Level rose by 2 in just one day, and so on.

After hearing all that explanation, which could fill a few pages of a heroic tale, the Dwarf Mage asked suspiciously.

“This tiny girl is that strong? What’s her Level now?”

Seo Yun had already half given up on hiding her identity. With the mindset of at least intimidating him so he wouldn’t get any foolish ideas, she said.

“It’s 9.”

The Dwarf Mage’s eyes widened.

“You were a Senior. Wow, that high?”

“I guess from living diligently?”

Soon, the Dwarf Mage used a Detection Spell to check her Level and expressed surprise once more.

“It’s true? Huh······”

The gazes of everyone around focused on Seo Yun’s face. They all seemed shocked that this little girl had such a high Level.

The Dwarf Mage opened his mouth with an admiring voice.

“If you’re that good at fighting and have such a high Level, perhaps······”

“Perhaps what?”

The Dwarf Mage, who looked like a middle-aged man getting on in years, made this proposal with an extremely polite attitude.

“Would you like to go hunting with us?”