Chapter 49

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]

Chapter 49: The Judge with the Longsword (2)

‘Rank three, two defenses…’

Yeongwoo carefully examined the record of Chungju’s Strongest Sword engraved on the regional status board.

‘He has committed murder twice since becoming the Strongest Sword. Given the low frequency, he might not be a reckless person.’

Since the defense count of the Strongest Sword is also the murder count, the probability of a wicked person having a high defense count is high.

On the contrary, someone who refrains from unnecessary murder would naturally have a lower defense count.

‘This time, the mutant is also dead… Hopefully, there won’t be a need to fight.’

Of course, it wasn’t that there were no variables at all.

For Yeongwoo, it was necessary to meet the merchant who had come to Chungju.

However, what if the Strongest Sword does not welcome contact with the merchant and outsiders?

What should he do then?

“….”

Yeongwoo shifted his gaze from the corner of his vision to the notification that had been flashing since earlier.

「You have one unclaimed achievement reward.」

「Do you want to claim the reward?」

It referred to the reward for achievements accomplished using ancient certificates.

‘Was it an Relic-grade achievement? Anyway, it can’t be used when trading with the merchant.’

Yeongwoo sighed with disappointment and approved the reward claim again.

Then he immediately realized his mistake.

Snap.

Suddenly, a familiar sound rang out from the empty space inside the vehicle.

‘Oh, no.’

Pop, pop!

In front of Yeongwoo, ten blue coins appeared in a row.

With ten blue coins, it amounted to a whopping 500,000 Karma. Yeongwoo’s eyes widened at the unexpected income, but another surprising event occurred.

-Kiit!

The golden goblin that had been crouching quietly between Yeongwoo’s legs suddenly bounced up like a bullet.

“….!”

The goblin, right in front of Yeongwoo’s eyes, swiftly swept away the ten coins that had materialized in the air and gracefully landed in place.

“Uh.”

Even Myeongae, who had a gloomy expression, was taken aback at this moment.

Jongsu, who had barely sensed the movement, alternately looked between Yeongwoo and the goblin with a bewildered face.

“What… What was that just now? I didn’t see it properly.”

Of course, even if he had turned around in time, he wouldn’t have fully seen the goblin’s movements.

Even Yeongwoo, the Gyeongbuk’s Strongest Sword, hadn’t properly followed the goblin’s trajectory just now.

‘It picks up money on its own. Well, that’s only natural.’

「Golden Goblin」 – Relic Slave

【Stores items in a subspace.】

【Picks up things that turn into money.】

In gaming terms, it could be considered a pet with an automatic acquisition function.

Yeongwoo silently watched the now calm goblin and brought the belongings he had scattered around the back seat to the goblin’s vicinity.

The goblin, then, looked at Yeongwoo and quietly opened its subspace pouch to sweep up his belongings.

‘It doesn’t pick up everything visible. It prioritizes my possessions as the top priority… and only collects things that have been instructed.’

So, if you instruct it, will it bring things that are certain to be someone else’s?

With this thought in mind, Yeongwoo immediately asked Jongsu.

“Jongsu, do you have any coins? Anything will do.”

“Oh, of course. You should always carry cash…”

As Jongsu shrugged his shoulders and took out a crimson coin from his pocket, Yeongwoo gave a command to the golden goblin.

“Bring that.”

The goblin, just like before, shot up at an incredible speed.

-Kiit!

It shot out like lightning, snatched the coin caught between Jongsu’s fingers before he could react, and returned to Yeongwoo before he even realized.

“Huh?”

“What?”

Jongsu showed a delayed reaction, looking puzzled.

In response, Yeongwoo took a coin from the goblin and bounced it back to Jongsu.

“Sorry, just experimenting.”

“I-it’s okay. It startled me a bit, though…”

Jongsu’s face was quite red.

He had been momentarily and significantly flustered.

After all, how could someone not be surprised when an otherworldly creature suddenly appeared and took away money?

“The world… is changing in a very strange way.”

Myeongho, who had been observing the back seat through the rearview mirror, interjected with a subdued voice between the two.

Then he pointed to his chin and gestured somewhere in front.

“It seems like Chungju has become strange too.”

“Yes…?”

Having heard Myeongho’s words, Jongsu turned his head to look outside the car window, and Yeongwoo also observed the situation between the front two seats.

Then, their eyes widened.

‘People…?’

People were visible from the city entrance.

Of course, Yeongwoo had encountered an elderly gang of bandits in Sangju, but Chungju was different.

“Whoa, what’s that?”

Jongsu exclaimed, his mouth wide open, because there were so many people.

Just by what could be seen immediately, there seemed to be at least a hundred.

They didn’t look like a gang of bandits, just scattered around in different places.

“Yeongwoo, have you ever seen something like this before?”

Myeongho, referring to the scene of several people in the driver’s seat as ‘something like this,’ meant that such a sight was not common in the post-reset world.

To this, Yeongwoo tilted his head and said.

“Well, I’ve been to a few cities, but I’ve only seen part of that region. Anyway, it’s a peculiar sight. So many people gathered like that.”

Perhaps it was related to the absence of mutants and monsters in this area.

In that case, were there also so many people inside the city?

“Slow down a bit. Let’s try talking to the people on the roadside.”

Responding to Yeongwoo’s request, Myeongho gently applied the brakes, decelerating.

People spread across fields near the entrance to the city began to turn their heads one by one.

And it was only at this point that Yeongwoo realized.

These people were not welcoming outsiders.

Despite everyone looking at the SUV they were riding in with curiosity, it seemed they were constantly scanning the sky.

‘They’re waiting for monsters. They’re all people who came out to earn money.’

Only now did shivers run down his spine.

In this ‘waiting line’ in front of him, there were even several boys who looked like they could be middle school students at most.

“Uh… how should I put it? It’s incredibly bizarre.”

Myeongho also felt uneasy in the scene of people standing in fields, wielding weapons.

On the other hand, Jongsu remarked.

“Seems like they’re ready to catch monsters as soon as they appear?”

He reached a similar conclusion as Yeongwoo.

After all, Jongsu was an Early Bird holder.

As a person who had been aggressive from the beginning of the reset, his response was natural.

“All those people came out to catch monsters?”

Myeongho found it hard to believe, raising his eyebrows as he glanced at the people.

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]

Jongsu casually supplemented.

“Well, we can only see it in hindsight. They survived because they actively fought, right?”

Jongsu’s right hand was already near the Early Bird at his waist, probably preparing for any unexpected attacks.

Since there were many people around, it might be a precaution against potential surprises.

“Mr. Myeongho, please slow down ahead.”

At Yeongwoo’s request, Myeongho stopped the car.

Then, people who had been merely watching from a distance began to gather along the roadside.

Seeing this, Myeongae, who had been peering out of the car window, exclaimed and pulled away from the window.

“I-is this okay?”

Myeongae’s eyes began to tremble, as if she had seen orcs.

“….”

At times like this, what could be said to reassure her?

After a moment of thought, Yeongwoo pointed towards Myeongae’s side of the car and said.

“Check to see if your husband is there. Chungju seems to have handled this situation well.”

Then, as Myeongae unconsciously looked back at the car window, Yeongwoo opened the opposite door and stepped outside.

Tap.

The entrance road to Chungju was made of smooth asphalt, and when Yeongwoo stepped on it barefoot, the color of his skin stood out prominently.

Perhaps it was because of this.

“Oh.”

“Huh?”

Some of the Chungju citizens who had been surrounding the car and making noise suddenly showed surprised reactions upon seeing Yeongwoo’s bare feet.

“This person is barefoot.”

“Really, he’s barefoot.”

Some of them even asked, “Why is he barefoot?” However, the majority seemed to understand.

When the body’s output exceeds a certain level, it becomes difficult to wear shoes.

And this meant that:

‘Chungju’s Strongest Sword also walks barefoot.’

Inverting this again meant that many people survived even after seeing Strongest Sword barefoot.

Yeongwoo usually hid his titles, so his head was currently bare, but the citizens of Chungju seemed to already perceive him as a Strongest Sword.

“Welcome!”

Someone in the crowd suddenly threw out a welcoming phrase.

Then, others followed suit, each uttering awkward lines:

“Welcome…!”

“Welcome to Chungju!”

“Nice to meet you!”

Then, the bravest among them, who was closest to Yeongwoo, finally brought up the main topic.

“But… Why did you come to Chungju? May I ask?”

As this remark was thrown out, the commotion outside the vehicle, which had been filled with contextless welcoming phrases, suddenly fell silent.

In fact, everyone wanted to ask that question.

“….”

In response, instead of immediately answering, Yeongwoo looked around for a moment and then threw out a question.

“Most cities I’ve passed through so far were reduced to ruins in just one day, but this is different.”

Depending on what you hear, he had a pretty scary line.

How can we know whether these barefoot foreigners directly reduced those cities to ruins?

Perhaps that is why the faces of Chungju citizens, who were smiling brightly on the outside, hardened.

“Yeah… “Everyone is doing their best.”

This answer was also given by a ‘brave person.’

“We think this will end one day. So, we are doing our best to normalize the city.”

City normalization…

It was the first future-oriented expression I had heard since the reset.

I don’t know what the secret is, but Chungju established reset measures faster than other cities and started putting them into practice.

‘It’s really unique. Are all big cities like this?’

Yeongwoo glanced at the black pillar of light that was still shining in the distance.

He had planned to go to Chungju only to meet the merchants, but he thought it would be a good idea to meet the Strongest Sword in person as well, if possible.

|The current area is ‘Chungju.’

|The strongest in this area is ‘Shin Youngju 22.’ Rank 3, 2 defenses.

Yeongwoo’s gaze was fixed on the black pillar of light, and the ‘brave one’ who noticed this looked uneasy as he withdrew.

It was time to reveal why he had come here.

Yeongwoo, looking at the cityscape of Chungju on the roadside where the car was heading, opened his mouth.

“I came to meet Chungju’s Strongest Sword……”

“Oh……!”

“Emergency!”

Before Yeongwoo’s sentence could be completed, everyone, including the ‘brave one’, was shocked and hurriedly ran towards Chungju.

As everyone feared, they assumed that an outsider had come to succeed Chungju Strongest Sword.

And the method of succeeding Strongest Sword was only through murder.

Thud!

The sight of a hundred Chungju citizens running across the field looked like a herd of gazelles fleeing from a lion.

“What, what is this?”

Myeongho, got out of the car with a bewildered expression due to the unexpected situation.

Meanwhile, Jongsu in the passenger seat also got out of the car, but unlike Myeongho, he had a very amused look on his face.

“Well… it’s already fully fortified here. Wouldn’t it have been like this in the old days too?”

“The old days…?”

Myeongho, who didn’t catch the context, tilted his head, but Yeongwoo remained silent, as he seemed to know what Jongsu was talking about.

With almost all objects turned into stones now, there was no way to communicate, not even a phone call.

So when an emergency occurred, how would they notify others?

By foot.

It had to be done by people running to spread the word.

Of course, it depended on Ba-bal surviving and reaching the destination to function properly… but since Yeongwoo didn’t come to fight, he didn’t want to harm people unnecessarily.

“…Anyway, Chungju’s Strongest Sword will come this way soon. Let’s go out to greet him too.”

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]