Chapter 7

The quest clear window faded away, but I couldn’t tear my eyes from the letter.

That mischievous Shin Jae-heon had swung his sword at people instead of monsters? It was a bit hard to picture.

Of course… the RP dungeon we’d entered had a medieval setting, the sub-quest was to reinforce imperial authority, and to clear this L-rank RP dungeon by preventing the continent’s destruction, we had to clean house within the empire first.

[Those who harbored irreverent thoughts are not limited to the ones in the audience chamber—we know this.

Thus, We send personal missives to each family.]

This handwriting was definitely Shin Jae-heon’s familiar scrawl.

Of course, it was written in this country’s language, with the system window handling the translation, but the translated font matched his handwriting perfectly, confirming the writer.

[Carman is a nation that tests a successor’s worthiness with the sword.

We Ourself underwent that ‘test’ while bereft of power, passed it, and now desire to put you to the test once more.]

My eyes widened.

[Therefore, to the legitimate bloodlines of each house: In two weeks, prove your strength anew.

A representative from the imperial family shall oversee the succession ceremonies.

And those who pass the ceremony and demonstrate true prowess shall compete in the swordsmanship tournament held in Carman’s name—and fill the vacancies left by those who lost their heads last night.]

The ones dragged to the audience chamber and executed wouldn’t have been third-rate nobles.

They must have taken out the heavy hitters to make an example.

Offering to let others fill those spots meant this swordsmanship tournament could be a path to rising status.

“Oh…”

I let out a short gasp of admiration. Shin Jae-heon, color me impressed?

The wording had a regal flair, but this succession ceremony talk wasn’t unrelated to me.

This was my chance.

Plus, Shin Jae-heon clearly knew my situation.

He’d at least know that Senia had suddenly fallen ill and lost her position as successor.

And becoming family head would give me more power than just being a noble house member…

Above all, with Senia’s poisoner somewhere in this house, I had to either tear the place apart or ransack it clean.

Good news all around. The corners of my mouth curved up.

“A second succession ceremony.”

My quiet mutter, combined with the imperial missive, threw the Pourlang family into an uproar.

The other houses were probably in turmoil too.

But none drew as much attention as ours.

Unlike the other families, where successors had been decided by clear margins of skill in their ceremonies, ours had seen Senia suddenly drop out, handing the role to someone else.

[Will Lady Senia de Pourlang reclaim her former honor?]

It was only natural that eyes would turn to me.

And I was confident.

A succession ceremony is the event where a house selects its heir.

There were those dissatisfied with holding another one when a successor had already been named.

Especially with the imperial family overseeing it directly.

If the original win had been overwhelming, a redo wouldn’t change the outcome—but those who hated imperial oversight must have had something to hide.

Why past tense? Because their heads had already rolled.

“Should’ve been more perceptive.”

Ugh. The first thing weak hunters need is the ability to gauge if their opponent is stronger than them.

Whether monster or human, rampaging against someone overwhelmingly superior just gets your head chopped off.

In that sense, the nobles who’d crossed Shin Jae-heon were total idiots.

Even if they didn’t know how feeble the emperor had been before his possession, when a person’s aura suddenly changed, shouldn’t you at least watch your step?

But the nobles in this RP dungeon seemed even dumber than I’d thought.

“How could a person change so much in one day…”

“I can’t believe it. It all happened in the audience chamber, didn’t it? No one knows what really went down.”

Some even claimed Shin Jae-heon had sneakily taken out the nobles with dirty tricks.

As if he’d bother with that hassle.

Others went further.

“Maybe the emperor’s hyping up rumors to play strong and build a faction loyal to the current imperial family.”

Of course, those loudmouths were promptly summoned to the audience chamber. And they never came back out.

I knew all this from my corner because of the hunter chat.

Shin Jae-heon said it so casually.

He’d always been plugged into the rumor mill back in Korea, and it looked like that hadn’t changed here.

How else could he pick up on all that without eyes and ears planted everywhere?

It wasn’t like they were cursing the emperor in the middle of the market square.

“Wow, when the hell did he plant all those spies?”

What gap did he even have?

Seemed like I wasn’t the only one fully adapted to this fantasy world.

“Anyway.”

It was day two of my training.

My opponent was A-rank Kikal de Pourlang. I was ranked as a regular civilian, not even F-rank.

The stat gap between A-rank and a civilian was massive.

“Can’t lose to some A-rank scrub.”

But there was definitely a range where skill could compensate for stats.

I had zero intention of despairing.

Which was why… I was rummaging through the room right now. Senia de Pourlang’s room. Why? Because of quests like this:

And ones like this sweet deal:

Training was training, but without base stamina and stats, it wouldn’t yield results, right?

Swinging a sword around would help with spec-ups too, but as a system user—even a civilian—that was possible now.

“Let’s see.”

Still, I’d raised my HP a lot by grinding sub-quests.

Once Defense hit 10, even the maid slamming the door didn’t deduct HP anymore.

“This growth spurt is kinda addictive.”

It’d be a blast as a game. Unfortunately, this was reality.

S-rank baseline HP was in the millions. High-end A-ranks topped 1.2 million; lower ones around 400k depending on class.

“So that guy’s at least 900k, then.”

And mine was 200?

These stats were still too low.

It was a succession ceremony, so it wasn’t about whittling HP—a sword to the neck would end it—but in my current state, one swing from Kikal de Pourlang (Senia’s brother) would kill me with the sword wind alone.

“So I need at least 100k HP.”

That meant hitting C-rank dealer levels.

And boosting HP by 100k in two weeks.

That was when it hit me.

“Whoa.”

+10%?

At 200 HP, that’s just +20 now, but it’d scale with growth.

And it was a daily quest. Jackpot? Did that mean it’d pop every day?

I quickly opened my skill window. Usable skills first.

Mountains of unavailables. Scrolling down, finally a lower-rank one.

The others didn’t even say how much to raise due to insufficient stats, but this one did.

Problem was pulling it off successfully.

No way an A-rank attack couldn’t be parried. If the stats allowed it.

I grabbed the sword I’d stashed in my room and slipped outside.

It was right around 5 a.m.

This was the only usable skill right now.

Had to spam it somehow to rank it up. What choice did I have?

Right then, impeccable timing—a new quest popped.

Yes!

“100?”

+100 for three skill uses? Jackpot!

My steps to the training grounds felt lighter.

Run a lap for +10%, three forms for +100, right?

“Wait.”

I stopped in my tracks.

Do the three forms first to hit 300 HP, then get the 10% bonus—total 330?

When do brain-muscled dealers actually use their heads? Right now!

During stat math!

This was way better.

“Nice.”

I was loosening my wrists in the knight order’s training ground when—

“Senia.”

Too early for knights, but a voice echoed in the empty space.

Turning around, there were the Pourlang viscount and his wife.

What were they doing popping up here at dawn?

“What brings you here at this hour…?”

I kept it polite, per RP dungeon rules.

They exchanged glances, then fixed their eyes on me.

The viscountess spoke first.

“Is your recent training because the succession ceremony is being held again?”

Fair enough—your formerly bedridden daughter suddenly popping up to swing a sword would be startling.

I nodded.

“Yes. Another chance came along.”

To grind sub-quests and boost my stats.

Truth be told, I had zero interest in being viscount or whatever, but I needed to become the successor.

The viscount’s eyes widened, then he sighed.

“Senia, don’t push yourself. I understand how you feel, but in your weakened state…”

I’m twenty times stronger than when I was laid up! Couldn’t say that, so I just listened quietly.

“He’s right. I’m happy, but it breaks my heart.”

The viscountess eyed me carefully, then said,

“You don’t have to force it. You know that no matter what you look like now or become in the future, you’re still our daughter—your brothers’ little sister.”

If I’d heard that without knowing better, it might’ve tugged at my heartstrings.

Yeah, RP dungeon or not, to them Senia was their real daughter.

And that daughter had lost everything to a wasting illness, becoming a shut-in.

Now, out of the blue, she’d picked up the sword again.

They had to be terrified she’d face even greater despair.

But I couldn’t swim in a pot of感動 soup.

No matter how nice they sounded, Senia’s poisoner was definitely lurking somewhere in this house.

“I know. Thank you, Mother, Father.”

Thanks for the worry! But no thanks to the interference!

I flashed a light smile and gripped my sword again.

Seeming relieved by my bright(?) demeanor, the couple watched me a bit longer before leaving.

“Alright, time to get serious.”

The Pourlang 1st Sword Form was a skill Senia de Pourlang should’ve been able to do with her eyes closed.

But as a total newbie to it, unless I wanted to advertise “I’m not actually Senia,” I couldn’t use it in front of others.

Once I confirmed the viscount couple was gone and readjusted my grip—

“Seny.”

What now? Turning, it was Kikal de Pourlang this time.

You too, showing up at dawn?