Reign of the Hunters

Chapter 207 A Troublesome Dilemma (Part 2)

“Lord Moore from Dark Clay City. Look, she even has Moore’s badge.” the squad leader pulled Ye Ci forward, motioning for her to show Moore’s badge to Millard as a proof that he was telling the truth.

Ye Ci took the badge out from her inventory and handed it to the squad leader, who then handed it to Millard , “Look at this, boss! This is the badge of Dark Clay City’s lord am I right? Although I’ve only seen it once, I will not forget something as beautiful as this! There’s nothing more gorgeous than the badge of Lord Moore!” the squad leader boasted, as if it was his idea to capture Ye Ci.

Millard rolled his eyes and studied the badge silently to confirm its authenticity. He then looked at Ye Ci, and gestured for the rest of subordinates to leave the room. He spoke up after they have left the room, “Did the lord of Dark Clay City handed this to you?”

“No.” not wishing to lie to Millard , Ye Ci told him the truth.

“What? You lied to me!” the squad leader who remained standing by Millard ’s side drew his sword -

“Get out! I’m the one in charge here!” Millard immediately dismissed the squad leader before shifting his gaze back to Ye Ci, “If it’s not the city lord, it must be…”

“It’s from the mayor. He told me that the city lord wanted me to hand this letter to you.” said Ye Ci as she handed a letter to Millard .

Millard raised his eyebrows as he accepted the letter from Ye Ci. Different expressions flashed across Millard ’s face as he read the letter. Ye Ci was very curious about the content of the letter, and had even attempted to read what was written within. However, she was restricted from opening the letter by the system.

As she observed Millard ’s expression, Ye Ci was still unable to make a guess about the letter’s content. Despite that, Ye Ci paid close attention to Millard . She was ready for the worst case scenario. If Millard ordered his subordinates against Ye Ci, she was ready to kill every single one of the bandits should the need arose.

However, the worst case scenario Ye Ci was expecting did not happen. Millard raised his eyebrows and spoke to Ye Ci, “I’ve read the letter, but I still don’t trust you. Even if you’re favored by Moore, it does not mean that you have my trust. You do know that there’s a feud between us and the people of Red Lake City, and you happened to be a citizen of that city. I can’t do as Moore asked and entrust you with the next task.”

Ye Ci creased her eyebrows. Don’t tell me that I’m going to fail this Epic Quest just like that! But when she took a look at Millard , Ye Ci noticed that he had more to say, and she waited patiently for him to continue his words.

“But… I respect Moore’s choice. I’ll hand the quest to you if you can fulfill my conditions.”

As expected, NPCs were always trying to tempt players to fall into the abyss of endless errands by offering them huge amount of benefits. Ye Ci smiled at Millard , “What do you ask of me?”

“If you can reach the prestige of Respected in the Doran Thieves Guild, I will hand you the task.” said Millard . When Ye Ci tried to talk to Millard after he finished his sentence, she was only offered the same response, “You have not fulfilled my condition yet.”. It was apparent that Millard ’s condition must be met before she could proceed with the quest.

She now had to raise her prestige with the Doran Thieves Guild to the level of Respected.

But how? Ye Ci wasted no time in pondering such a question. Upon leaving Millard ’s house, Ye Ci noted that the bandits within the hideout were still red-named, with the sole exception of an NPC named John, who had a yellow name. After a brief conversation with John, Ye Ci knew what must be done.

She had to raise her prestige with the Doran Thieves Guild by robbing players. Her prestige level would rise with each kill of an NPC from Red Lake City.

Ye Ci stared at the description with mouth agape. You’ve gotta be shitting me! She would definitely be chased down and annihilated by players if she led the bandits against players who were nearby. If she opted to rob or kill NPCs from Red Lake City, her hard earned prestige level in that city would suffer a devastating blow. If she wanted to complete this Epic-tier quest, she must sacrifice her prestige in Red Lake City. Ye Ci refused to accept such a fate.

It was a very troublesome dilemma.

With her wit at its end, Ye Ci could only leave the place and return to Red Lake City to complete her side quest. After reading the description of the follow up quest, Ye Ci felt that she was the unluckiest person in the world.

The following was written in the description of her side quest: Deal a crushing blow to the Doran Thieves Guild (100 times). How can she deal a crushing blow to the Doran Thieves Guild? The are as follows:

Kill a bandit. Capture a bandit. Torture a bandit.

Ye Ci nearly cursed out loud as she stood at the entrance of the city hall. Just what the hell is wrong with all these quest?

Really, the game developers were not the ones to be blamed. Who would have thought that a player would receive the side quest and the Epic-tier quest at the same time? At the same time, nobody would expect that particular player to choose Red Lake City as her home city.

Just as Ye Ci was faced with this headache-inducing dilemma, she received a private message.

“Gongzi You, did you tell NightAndDay about the thing between me and Into The Sunset?” the sender of the message was none other than Wandering Cloud. Ye Ci could feel his anger even when it was only a text message.

Ye Ci narrowed her eyes. Had NightAndDay spilled everything to Wandering Cloud? It can’t be! He was the leader of a large guild, there was no way he would do something stupid like that. Noticing that NightAndDay was online when she opened her friend list, Ye Ci immediately sent him a message, “Wandering Cloud is bothering me.”

She received an instantaneous reply from NightAndDay, “He’s bothering you? Why?”

“What do you think?”

NightAndDay immediately grasped the meaning behind Ye Ci’s words, “I’ve never told him anything. Do you think I’ll do something so stupid after what he did?” said the man as he shook his head.

Ye Ci felt the same way as well. If NightAndDay was unable to keep such a trivial thing a secret, there was no way he could achieve what he had. There was only one possibility: Wandering Cloud made his own assumptions. Judging from his tone, he was not entirely sure of his accusation as well, “Alright, sorry for bothering you.”

Before she could turn off her chat window with NightAndDay, Ye Ci received another message, “By the way, about the fifth BOSS of Castle Ruins… Did you run or did you jump?”

Many of the major guilds were unable to clear the Castle Ruins even after the First Five was already announced. They were still bogged down by the final BOSS. Tang Dynasty was one such guild. NightAndDay himself took command in the dungeon exploration, and was unable to solve the problem at the third stage of the BOSS battle. That was why he decided to ask Ye Ci for a hint.

“200,000 gold coins.” Ye Ci immediately asked for a price.

“F*ck me! Can you be even more of a scrooge?! You want me to pay you 200,000 gold coins just for a word? Do you seriously think that the money I have fell from the sky?” NightAndDay was driven mad by Ye Ci.

“Then you can go ask someone else.” Ye Ci wasted no time with NightAndDay. She was annoyed by the blinking message notifications from Wandering Cloud.

“Wait, wait!” NightAndDay immediately sent a message to catch Ye Ci’s attention. This was the only chance he could get an answer from someone, “Just tell me, please!”

“Many of the guilds out there have cleared the dungeon. Why must you get the answer from me? You can simply ask around.” Ye Ci was baffled. Castle Ruins was a 500-man dungeon. There must be someone who was willing to tell him the answer.

“I did, but the answers I received were all false. I had no choice but to ask you.”

“200,000 gold coins.” Ye Ci did not even blink, “Don’t forget that you’ve caused a substantial amount of losses to my guild when your members attacked mine the last time. This is not a high price to pay.”

“Alright, alright! 200,000 gold coins it is! So do I run away from it or do I jump?” NightAndDay could only admit defeat. He had come to realize that he must not always follow his emotions. If things could be solved that way, the affair between Wandering Cloud and Into The Sunset would not have happened. He was no longer disgusted by Gongzi You’s attitude of placing benefits above all else. “I’ll pay you when I leave the dungeon. Just give me the answer. Please, please!”

“It’s neither of them. You have to lie down.” said Ye Ci to NightAndDay. Just then, she received yet another message from Wandering Cloud, “Did you not bring him along to explore the dungeon?”

“I placed him in charge of the third and fourth squadron.” NightAndDay was visibly calmer when he received his answer, and was able to converse with Ye Ci in a calm and composed manner. One might even think that he was not even in the process of exploring a dungeon. Ye Ci admired his attitude. Everything is fine as long as the guild members could work together to clear the dungeon. The achievement of First Blood, or securing a spot in the First Five were not important. They should be enjoying the game, not being r*ped by the game.

“I should charge you another 200,000 gold coins for leaving him so idle,” Ye Ci gritted her teeth, “Can’t you keep your own members in line? Stop bothering me with your guild’s problems!”

NightAndDay could understand Ye Ci’s annoyance, “Just try getting rid of him on your own just this once. I am going to deal with him soon enough. I’m sorry.”

There was nothing else Ye Ci could say to NightAndDay. After closing the chat window with him, Ye Ci opened the messages from Wandering Cloud.

“Gongzi You, say something!”

“Gongzi You! How could you tell NightAndDay about something like that? Have I ever wronged you? Why did you do this to me?”

“Say something! Do you think I’ll let it slide if you remain silent?”

“I’m warning you! If you don’t respond, I will find you, and I will make you pay! You’ve caused me trouble, and I’ll make sure that you suffer for a lifetime!”

……

Wandering Cloud’s messages were all anonymous as he was not a friend of Ye Ci. However, Ye Ci knew who the messages were from judging by the names mentioned in the messages.

As she read the messages, more were flowing into her mailbox. There was no way Ye Ci was willing to be dragged into this mess. It was for her best interest to act dumb, “Excuse me, may I know who is this?”

The blow this message has dealt to Wandering Cloud was devastating. He felt as if somebody has poured a huge bucket of ice onto him. He was utterly lost for words

Wandering Cloud could not connect to a voice chat with Ye Ci as she was not a friend of his, and he knew that his messages would appear anonymous as well. Despite that, he expected ye Ci to be able to guess his identity after all the messages he sent.

Wandering Cloud’s temper soared.

He was so angry that his brain was about to burst from all the rage. It was not clear if Gongzi You did not know who he was, or was simply feigning ignorance. No matter what the answer was, he knew he had to get to the bottom of things.

He suppressed his anger and sent another message to Ye Ci, “Gongzi You, it’s me, Wandering Cloud!”

“Ah, it’s you! Why are you spamming me with messages?” Ye Ci knew that it would be hard to deal with Wandering Cloud after reading his reply.

“Did you… Tell NightAndDay about that?”

“What are you talking about?” Ye Ci narrowed her eyes.

“Uhh… You know…” Wandering Cloud’s answer was very vague, “Floral Apartment…”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about! What is Floral Apartment anyways?” Ye Ci continued to feign ignorance. If Wandering Cloud was smart enough, he would be able to take the hint.

As expected, Wandering Cloud was still quite rational. He remained silent for a long while after receiving Ye Ci’s message before sending her another message, “You don’t know?”

“What do you want me to know?” Ye Ci pursed her lips.

With that, Wandering Cloud was forced to take believe Ye Ci’s words. He could no longer bring himself to continue his questions. Doing so would only mean that he was admitting his affair with Into The Sunset to Ye Ci. Judging from Ye Ci’s words, he was sure that she would not reveal his secret. In a circumstances like this, there was no choice for Wandering Cloud but to trust Ye Ci’s words.

“Ah, it’s nothing.” Wandering Cloud immediately ended the topic. NightAndDay might really have discovered something. Or, could it be…

“Why don’t you add me as a friend, Gongzi You? I’m sure we’ll have the chance to work together in the future.” despite his suspicions, Wandering Cloud attempted to build up a relationship with Ye Ci. It would benefit him greatly if they could become friends. This girl had connections with the leaders of many major guilds. If he was able to secure a friendship with her, he might be able to put her to use if he had a fall out with NightAndDay.

Ye Ci raised her eyebrows.

These words… He said the same thing to her in her past life… But how did she respond to them back then?

Hiya minna-san! Welcome back to the weekday daily release of ROTH! This awesome chapter is brought to you by Jimmy, the awesomtacular translator of this awesomesauce novel!

So... Since I didn't receive any response in the comments last chapter, I'll just hafta assume that all of you are okay with the weekday daily release and weekend break then. I'll be keeping this pace up until the end of the month, and hopefully I can be releasing on Saturday and Sunday as well.

I've bought and played Inquisitor Martyr (I have to see for myself if it's a good game). I've played that thing for a couple of hours and I like it. The story is quite good. You're an Inquisitor investigating a very ancient and derelict warship, the Martyr, that has close ties to the Inquisition. And well, shit happened and you just can't stop playing this game. Aside from the rather shitty controls (yes I get it, it's an "ARPG" but Jesus they should allow you to turn off the "left click to move" option it's a pain in the ass!), I'd say the game is pretty solid. If only my laptop is that shitty I would've been able to truly enjoy the game.

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Don't forget that we have a teaser next page! First in the comments type.... FIRST BLOOD!

Desu Vult!