YM778.TV Chapter 381
“yes. The application deadline is in 5 days, and the test will take 3 days thereafter.”
“okay. Please attach the room to the main alley.”
“All right. And this is the list of major tenants in this city that you instructed me to do last time.”
“ah! Good, good. thank you.”
Iha imagined for a moment where Ki-jeong and Bo-bae were and what they were doing, and then received another document from Pator.
“Let’s see, who is giving our city a lot of money…”
Lee Ha, speaking in an uncle-like tone, flips through the pages one by one.
I have already heard from Ram Hwayeon that paying a lot of taxes means good income, and that as a city manager, it is necessary to manage them ‘specially’.
“Even if I can’t give a good gift, I have to at least help with business so that it doesn’t interfere with business— hmm?”
As Lee Ha was repeating Ram Hwayeon’s teachings, an item caught his eye.
“Fairy 『Kitsune狐』. Does it mean ‘fox’? Even the owner pays…?”
If a word is not necessarily translated in Middle Earth, it means that the user set it that way on purpose. It’s not caused by NPC.
Besides, isn’t a fairy a similar concept to a tavern?
If you remember the owner Chiyo’s occupation in Japanese, you couldn’t think of anyone with the same name other than a ranker.
“Mr. Peytor, is this Chiyo, by any chance, referring to a stranger?”
“That’s right, Lord Seong.”
“In our city…? Uh, since when? A user without reporting to me—no, a stranger can own a building in our city—” “
That’s not it, Lord. Chiyo owned that building a long time ago.”
“ah! Is this from Minnies?”
“you’re right.”
After listening to Fator’s words, Iha was able to agree. And at the same time, I felt goosebumps running down my spine.
‘No way… No, let’s not think about it that way. You can’t be sure. But when you’re this close – no, not that close!’
It’s literally in your stomach!
I had a bad feeling from the moment we met at the end of the national game.
What was hidden in those body movements, a lascivious charm that could sufficiently hide the insidiousness?
A scenario flashed through Lee Ha’s mind like lightning.
‘Are you saying you were watching me in my city? Investigate right now—no, no, no.’
Lee Ha, who was about to get up and run out, gathered his thoughts again.
I knew that there were sufficient conditions for Chiyo to be active in City Kazua.
so?
I chase after him and say, ‘You were spying on me, right? Are you going to ask, ‘You sold information to Faust as a member of the Demon King’s army?’
‘That’s nonsense. Even if they do, there is no evidence.’
Iha’s instincts were already stirring. At the same time, the words Faust spoke when he was cornered flashed through my mind.
―Bad bitch….
‘It was clearly said [bitch]. female helper. ‘It was a mistake to think that it was an NPC… that deals with information.’
Possibility of being a user.
No, at this point I have already been able to come to some conclusion.
‘Bar… The Holy Grill is only a ‘restaurant’ on the outside. There’s no way that a tavern can’t function as an information guild. ‘I need to find out.’
Stepping forward now could mean ruining all the opportunities we have had.
The following are not assault soldiers, but snipers. You must aim for one shot, one kill. To achieve this, it is important to induce the enemy to let down his guard.
“Mr. Peytor!”
“Yes, Lord Seong.”
“Here, please find out which guild this person named Chiyo belongs to. If you are not currently affiliated with any guilds, have you ever joined or left any guilds?”
“All right. Lord Seong-”
“I’ll go out for a while and come back.”
Peytor didn’t complain and didn’t have any questions.
There would be no NPC who could lie or deceive in front of someone with the ‘Dignity’ buff applied to them.
“Okay, that’s right… This time, I’ll flip that mask over and make you sit in front of the [table].”
[Yuck!]
“Let’s go, Mr. Blaugrun.”
[Kyu!]
Iha put Blaugrun on his shoulder and left the office. Of course, there is only one place he is heading to.
“Because our information is not easy.”
It was the sacred Grill City Gaza branch.
* * *
“Chiyo… the most famous foreign dancer on the continent.”
As Ju tightened her brows and was lost in thought, Blaugrun next to her made a similar expression.
[Kyuuuu….]
It looked so cute that I wanted to bite it, but Iha couldn’t even see that appearance right now.
“Think about it carefully. Have you ever seen her before, like when you were chasing after Rising Sun? When chasing the Shinobi-gumi.”
“I have never received such a report. But – Leeha, I think your guess is quite reasonable.”
Ju nodded and continued speaking.
“She must have enough connections with high-ranking officials at Minnis. If I had tried to get involved in a national war, it would have been enough to not show up on the battlefield.”
“Right? Right? And because you are a user! No, because you are a stranger! What if you spread your guild members all over the continent? The ‘information network connecting the entire continent’ that I was talking about is fully possible to build!”
“But I don’t think the solidarity between strangers will be that strong. In fact, even if Chiyo is an ‘enemy outside the class’ as Leeha speculates, she would not actually gain much.”
“Of course not! Because I failed! If there had been no intervention from the Pope – would the entire Puviel army, including me, have been lost in a battle of wits with her? In fact, even if the Faust and Crowley alliance, which had been coming all the way up from the plains of the march, had arrived a little faster, the main army would have been in a dangerous situation…” The
more he thought about it, the more suspicious Chiyo became.
Faust and Crowley.
It is no exaggeration to say that those two are clearly the most famous rivalry in Middle Earth.
‘okay. Even then, the two of them held hands. This would be impossible without a bridge connecting them in the middle. From then on, I thought it was strange, but in the end I couldn’t get any clues… Who was it that connected that bridge?’
Can a user like this do it?
There is no way.
However, there would have been no situation where they would have been given quests at the same time.
In the end, the most reasonable thing is that a user who knew them well and had fame and power provided the bridge.
“Then what Mr. Lee Ha wants now is-”
“Everything about Chiyo. If she owns buildings, how many of them are there in what city? Her buildings, perhaps bars or fancy restaurants? In such a place, information such as who are the main customers who frequent the place, who are the other strangers by her side, etc. I want to know everything about her.”
Anything that could simply be handled as administrative work was left to the butler NPC.
If this is ordered, the butler NPC Feitor will be able to investigate using City Gaza’s personnel.
However, Lee Ha did his best in that regard as well.
If Chiyo is that ‘enemy outside the class’, then most NPCs might not be able to catch up with her, but instead end up nudging a blade of grass.
We had to be fully prepared in case a snake really came out.
“It won’t be easy if she’s truly an enemy outside the class.”
“That’s why I’m asking Madam for a favor.”
“great. I’ll look into it. But – to find out everything, it would take at least a month or more. Two or three months to research every detail? And if she really is an enemy outside the class… it may take more than half a year.”
Ju was writing down the following demands on a rectangular piece of paper.
“okay. We will provide generous tax benefits for the duration of the investigation.”
And that alone made Lee Ha laugh.
‘It is a sacred grill where secret information such as Rising Sun’s hideout was investigated in just a week or 15 days. But does it take that long to investigate Chiyo’s personal background?’
Of course, it was set systematically in consideration of her level and ranking, etc., and her influence within Middle Earth, but that was a hint to Lee Ha.
‘There’s definitely something there.’
[Kyukkikyuk.]
Blaugrun, who had moved to Iha’s side, nodded, imitating Iha’s serious expression.
“Ah, speaking of tax benefits, can you tell me a few more as a bonus?”
“It’s a bonus. Are you treating information like some kind of fruit? Ooh, good. Tell me.”
Ju frowned slightly, but Lee Ha just shrugged his shoulders and showed a shameless expression.
If the business skills of Sacred Grill are good, taxes on the income will also be a significant portion. Reducing that is truly a ‘big price’.
‘Receiving a couple of pieces of information as a service is basic.’
Lee Ha thought carefully and asked two questions.
“The first one is simple. A place where you can shoot monsters of level 210 or higher from a distance of 2,500m. I hope the monster is a little bigger.”
“Hmm, that’s it- whatever. all right. receipt. next?”
“The second one might be of interest to Madam as well.”
“What are you so hesitant about?”
“Regarding the selection of expedition members for the New World. Please tell us what you know about the number of people selected and the selection method. Is it still within reach of the capital?”
“Giggle. Anyway… they are using us too well.”
Ju smiled.
Lee Ha suddenly thought that he couldn’t tell how fortunate he was to have this NPC on his side.
* * *
“It seems so far away. What do you see, Mr. Blaugrun?”
[Kyuuu.]
Blaugrun shook his head.
Most monsters exceeding level 200 exist within dungeons.
This is because in Middle Earth, where the majority of low- to mid-level users exist, if high-level monsters appear throughout the field, the difficulty level increases rapidly.
If it appeared in a field rather than a dungeon, it would only appear in a neutral area, a wasteland, or a very remote place, not on the land of any country, like where Iha is now.
In a way, it was a natural consideration, but even Lee Ha-woo found it surprising.
“Huh, it’s so true that there is a monster like this in the field, not in the dungeon… They say they care about the users for some reason. A gamer who can’t be bothered and can’t be bothered.”
Lee Ha sat down on the floor, took out the Black Bass, and muttered.
The place I am currently in is the Red Mountains near Radcliffe, where Iha had once been.
‘But it was so bad. Radcliffe hasn’t been completely restored yet… It certainly seems like if the user castle lord doesn’t intervene and leaves it to the NPC, it will follow a very realistic flow of time.’
The village of Minis, which was first attacked by Chimera and Bluebeard, was beginning to recover as NPCs moved in again.
Compared to City Gaza, it was a place where the original form of the village, including buildings and walls, remained intact, but it had not yet been properly restored.
This is a huge difference compared to the City Gaza built by Ram Hwayeon and built by Iha, which has already been almost completely restored.
‘Well, if it weren’t for Ram Hwayeon, City Gaza wouldn’t have been much different from here. Phew, I feel dizzy just thinking about it.’
How many hours had it already been since we passed Radcliffe, crossed the border of Minnis, and climbed the Red Mountains?
Iha and Blaugrun finally discovered small dots that decorated the sky in the distance.
“If possible, please let me know that it is a large species…”
Iha opened the scope cap of the Black Bass and looked at the black dots scattered on the ‘other peak’.
Those hovering in the sky at the top of a peak in the Red Mountains are flying monsters called ‘harpies.’
They were monsters with the upper body of a woman and the wings and lower body of an eagle.