Hard Carry Support

Chapter 56 - Knight Commander's Quest (1)

The party used the elevator that was powered by magic to go to the top of the Knight's Hall.

The entire place was very magnificent and had an aristocratic atmosphere, but that last floor was even more luxurious.

—It was an atmosphere worthy of the Empire.

In front of two gothic pillars, two knights were guarding the hallway.

"Hyun… The atmosphere here seems heavy…"

"Yeah. There only seem to be NPCs here."

Practice and Jini mumbled.

Just as the two said, the last floor had a solemn atmosphere that made it look as if the time here was frozen.

Anyone could've guessed that it was a place where a very important person was.

"This is the place where the second Knight Commander is, so it's normal that the security is tight."

"Isn't that someone really important?"

"Yes, the Knight Commander is a very important named NPC."

A little while before, Hyun had said that he would receive a hidden quest from the Knight Commander.

How was he thinking in approaching someone a normal user would have trouble getting close to?

Except for Ain, the other two were watching Hyun with a little bit of doubt.

"If you know how to do it, it isn't hard. I'll show you what I can do, so just watch."

Hyun made an unpleasant smile and called Ain.

Up until then, unless it went against her ambition, Ain had never refused Hyun's petition.

It was the same that time.

"You're planning to use «Assimilation», right?"

"Yes, lend me your body for a while."

Paf-! Practice and Jini were surprised when Hyun became light and scattered away. They looked around because they thought that Hyun had suddenly disappeared.

"Here."

After looking at both of them wandering around, Ain pointed at herself.

"Right now, I'm simultaneously Hyun and Ain—we're both sharing a single body."

At first, Jini and Practice couldn't understand the situation, but they soon realized what was going on.

They could hear Hyun's unique way of speaking in Ain's voice.

Hyun explained «Assimilation» to them.

It was a skill that allowed you to share your body with another person.

Jini was shocked after hearing that, while «Assimilating», both people shared their senses, among other things.

‘Then… Does that mean that Hyun can do whatever he wants with Ain's body?’

Her opinion about Hyun was about to change.

"He doesn't do anything weird to your body, right?"

"What are you talking about. It's not me but Ain who does those sort of things."

"Eh…? What does that mean…"

"N-no? H, Hyun, why are you making such lies…?!"

"Don't you remember? There was one incident a few days ago."

Hyun and Ain used the same body to top up each other's voices.

It was curious how they could perfectly tell who was saying what despite using the same voice.

"Ain, are you okay…?"

Jini asked Ain once more because she was worried.

"Oh… Yes?"

Ain avoided looking at her and remained silent.

Jini, who noticed something based on Ain's reaction, stopped asking any more questions.

"Wait, if you're both controlling one body… That means…!"

Practice said while clapping.

"The reason why I thought that there were two types of movements mixed in that video… Is because one of those was yours! Yeah, that was the secret behind that unbelievable multi-tasking!"

The effect of showing them «Assimilation» was huge.

It was truly a skill that went against common sense, and it was by far Hyun's favorite skill.

"Everyone, please wait here."

Hyun, who had «Assimilated» to Ain, walked toward a guard.

It was time to receive the hidden quest.

As Hyun approached the guards, they made an X and blocked the way.

"You can't go through here."

"Are you a user? Go back. Users aren't allowed in here."

Even though the guards had blocked their path, Hyun wasn't surprised at all.

There were some pre-requisites to activate a hidden quest.

What was needed was a ranking over Grand Master, to have the runes of a Heavenly Being, and to say the keyword.

Hyun was relaxed because he already knew all the requisites.

"Fufu… There's something I need to tell the Knight Commander."

"Hmm…?"

As Hyun began talking, the Knight became more vigilant.

From the outside, the girl looked pure and innocent.

But the girl's tone of voice was strangely unpleasant.

That happened because it was Hyun who was talking.

「…」

Ain just silently watched Hyun do as he pleased.

Practice and Jini also looked at him suspiciously from a distance.

The only one who didn't notice how strange he looked was Hyun.

Hyun didn't realize that the Knight was looking at him as if he was someone suspicious.

"I came here to deliver the message of the Heavenly Being Radiette to the Knight Commander. If you see the ID, you'll notice that I not only have the category of Grand Master, but I also have the rune of a Heavenly Being. So… I'm going to pass through."

"You can't."

"Thanks. Then… Eh, what did you say?!"

"I said that you can't pass."

"Why?"

"I'm not going to say anything further."

"Wait, there's something weird here…"

"Don't bother me anymore. I already told you that you can't pass."

Hyun was dumbfounded at the unexpected answer.

How the conversation flowed was different from what he remembered.

He had told the Knight every pre-requisite, yet was denied.

'What happened…? Is there another pre-requisite I don't know about?'

Now that he thought about it, there was another strange thing.

The Knight tried to kick him out while frowning as soon as he opened his mouth.

Even if the pre-requisites were different, he didn't remember even being denied the opportunity to explain himself.

Maybe… had they blocked the hidden quest with a patch?

Two people were looking at the troubled Hyun from a distance.

"As expected, the way to obtain a hidden quest isn't normal… Do you need to make yourself noticed by making the NPC angry?"

"I'm not sure that's what's happening. Maybe something went wrong?"

Jini just nodded while Practice tilted his head.

After a while, Hyun came back to where they were while scratching his head.

It seemed like he tried it a couple more times but ended up failing again.

He used Ain's voice to mumble, 'there's no way this is happening…'

'What went wrong…? Rank over Grand Master, Heavenly Being, Radiette, was there something else I needed…? I'm sure there wasn't.'

What Hyun didn't think about was that Asrian's AI was more advanced than the one Asra had.

Because NPCs in Asrian were more advanced, they judged the users based on what they saw and felt.

From a guard's point of view, letting someone pass who laughed suspiciously was not doing their job properly.

Hyun would've never guessed that he had failed in obtaining the hidden quest because of the first impression.

Practice tried to give his opinion.

"What about trying it again…? This time in a more relaxed tone of voice."

Ain suddenly spoke.

"What if I try it?"

"It's probably not going to work."

Hyun shook his head.

"It probably will have the same result. All I can think is that the quest has been blocked because of a patch."

"But… I'm better at acting than Hyun."

"If you can't trust me, I'll have to show you."

Second try.

Hyun disassimilated and let Ain do everything.

Ain waited a little bit for the Knight to change.

She concluded that she wouldn't be able to convince the guard Hyun had talked to.

After the guards changed, Ain walked toward them, and once again, they blocked her path.

"Users can't pass through."

"I have a favor to ask."

"Hmm? A favor?"

Translator - Daniel Shin

Proofreader - ilafy

* * *

Ain's sentences were composed of short words, but at least they didn't have an unpleasant tone of voice.

Rather than that, because of the clear tone of voice, everyone would just think of her as a girl of her age.

"I want to meet the Knight Commander."

"Hmm… That's going to be hard. He isn't someone anyone can see."

"But… Heavenly Being."

"Heavenly Being?"

"The Heavenly Being Radiette has asked me to send him a message."

Ain's way of speaking in short sentences was surprisingly effective.

The guard's expression became more serious when she mentioned the Heavenly Beings.

"Are you telling the truth?"

"Yes, this is the evidence."

Ain showed her hands.

There, you could see a blue lightning that shook like a wave.

The Rune of a Heavenly Being, unlike an average Heaven's Rune, emitted a white light.

At that moment, they developed absolute trust in Ain's words.

"This…!"

After looking at the Rune in Ain's hands, the Knight's eyebrows shook.

"I'm going to guide you to the Commander's room."

"Wait," Ain said while turning around and pointing at the rest.

"I have allies with me. Can they also come?"

"Hmm… There's no problem."

Fufu, Ain made a triumphant smile while turning around.

Hyun couldn't believe what was happening.

"What happened? Can we just pass…? Is it that the Knights can let someone pass or not based on their preferences?"

"Well, it ended up in success, so it really doesn't matter anymore, right?" Practice said while patting Hyun on the shoulders and smiling.

Even though Hyun thought about it for a while, he couldn't find the reason.

Well, just like Practice said, the plan had succeeded, so it didn't matter anymore, right?

They got up and followed Ain.

* * *

Everyone faced the Knight Commander.

They were let in because, even if the four of them attacked at the same time, they wouldn't be able to harm him.

At the current point of the game, the Knight Commander was overwhelmingly stronger than the users.

Thankfully, in Asrian's language, there were no honorifics, so it didn't matter that Ain was talking to the Knight Commander informally.

After listening to Ain's words, the Knight Commander's expression became serious.

"Hmm, it seems like, with every day that passes, the forces of the Abyss are planning even more evil things. But did you say that Radiette saw you with good eyes? You can be proud of that. After all, Heavenly Beings are never wrong."

Suddenly, the Knight Commander frowned.

A great portion of the soldiers was unavailable because of an important schedule.

But if what this girl said was true, they'd have to move quickly.

That was why Hyun had concluded that it was the only time they'd be able to do this quest.

"We're lacking in soldiers, so there's nothing I can do about it. If you're not busy at the moment, can you accept my request? First, I want to entrust you with a reconnaissance mission."

Ting- After the long conversation was over, everyone got a notification.

[<Heaven's Hidden Quest: Explore the Evil's Seed Dungeon>]

- Incredibly, the Empire's Knight Commander has made a request to a user! This is probably the first time something like this has happened. The quest's mission is to explore a certain place. According to what the commander said, it is a place where a seed of evil has bloomed. Receiving a quest from the Knight's Commander is something rare!

[Reward]

- Heaven's Medal of Honor x 10

- Skill points based on the performance (Minimum +1 ~ Maximum +10)

- Increase confidence based on the results.

"Woah!"

After reading the rewards, Practice took a deep breath.

"It's the first time I’ve seen something like this… Ten skill points?"

"Well, that's only if they reward us with the maximum amount."

"This… Is amazing."

Jini also couldn't keep her mouth closed because of the surprise.

It was the first time she'd seen such a huge reward while playing Asrian.

With 10 Heaven's Medal of Honors, you could buy a unique item from the Heaven's Market. It truly was an incredible reward.