Reborned Top Gamer: Spell-Swordman Rule the World

12 THEY ARE ASKED FOR HELP

After their successful two months at Echo Corridor, Walt decided that they should head further northeast where he was sure the hidden task would be waiting for them although he did not tell them that. Jenny now followed his lead without questioning or whining which made things a whole lot easier for him. They packed up all their equipment and collected all the money they had earned and left the hotel as the three-man team that defeated the sabretooth jaguar.

“We’re like unstoppable! A force to be reckoned with!” Ailsa spoke animatedly as they made their way through the snowy grown. Jenny laughed and Walt smiled as she hopped ahead doing cartwheels and skipping. She was the only one who could move around freely like that because she did not have layers of fur on her body, unlike Walt and Jenny who was clad head to toe in thick clothes.

“So, where are we heading Walt?” Jenny asked after a few minutes of walking.

“I’m not sure…” he replied causing both Jenny and Ailsa to stop in their tracks to look at him. They did not know how to read maps and trusted him for their sense of direction. So, when he said he was not sure, they were understandably bothered.

“What do you mean you’re not sure?” asked Ailsa.

“Yeah, what do you mean, Walt?” Jenny added. Walt rolled his eyes at them and thought that women were too hysterical. The area around Echo Corridor was largely unexplored and as a result, did not show up on the map as much as other areas of Fantasy. The point of this was to challenge players so that they keep their eyes peeled and to be ready for danger at any point in time but Ailsa and Jenny always get flustered whenever they were unsure of a situation.

“I mean, this area doesn’t have any landmarks on the map. It just shows land,” he explained but they just stared at him “I know something will show up because I’ve played around these parts before. Trust me,” he said again but they kept staring. While he did not know exactly where they were going, he knew the game would prompt something to show up. After a few seconds when they said nothing, he sighed and walked ahead and the girls grudgingly followed him.

They walked for an hour, taking a break once to snack on some fruits before they finally reached a village that was almost the size of a town. Walt gave Ailsa and Jenny a smug smile and they rolled their eyes at him before following him into the village which had buildings as big as the adventurer’s hall in the Land of Origin. Dogs were used as the main mode of transportation there; they saw four or six dogs pulling sled-like carts around. Horses, mules, and donkeys could not easily withstand the cold there as much as those dogs, so they were scarcely used.

“Wow, it says Echo Village but it’s pretty big for a village,” Ailsa said as they walked slowly through the village. Everyone there was peering at them. They looked tired and sickly, they were coughing and moving around slowly like dejected people.

“The people here look like villagers though,” added Jenny who felt uncomfortable seeing all those people in pain. She hated pain, she hated being in pain and hated seeing people in pain.

“Well, what do we do now Walt?” Ailsa asked and placed a hand on her hip, giving him a bored look.

“Well, from what I remember from my previous game, a task should show up soon. It’s a game remember? They have to give us tasks.”

“Okay, I hope you’re right,” Ailsa replied and they walked into a tavern. The occupants looked at them with weary eyes but kept to themselves. Walt guessed they had to be system prompts. The three of them seemed to be the only players in the tavern, so they ordered three pints of beer and settled into a booth. Almost immediately, a waitress brought three bowls of hot food to their table and placed it in front of them.

“We did not order this,” Ailsa said to her, confused. The lady replied by gesturing to a man who sat at the other end of the room and before any of them could say a word, she walked away. Walt looked in the strange man’s direction and locked eyes with him.

“He keeps staring at us,” Walt said when he turned back to Ailsa and Jenny.

“What do you think he wants?” Ailsa asked.

“Well, we’re about to find out,” whispered Jenny. Then the three of them looked up to see the man who sent them the steaming bowls of food that were making Ailsa’s mouth water. He looked a bit agitated and twitchy like he has a secret he wanted to tell. He had close-cropped ginger hair and was painfully thin.

“H-hello,” he said, “I am Luuk, the leader of this village.” Walt and the others exchanged looks at the mention of him being a leader. He ignored their looks and started to tell them at length about the problems that his village was facing. Apparently, the winter that season was the worst one they had ever experienced. There was strong mana(energy) in the cold wind which chilled them to the bones and weakened them. Only the strong people in the village could resist the mana. As a result of this, a lot of the elderly, young and weak villagers were sick.

“I am aware that the three of you have strong professions. I want to ask you to help us fight this evil plaguing our land,” he said as the closing line of his explanations.

“Of course, we’ll gladly- ow,” Ailsa was interrupted by Walt who pinched her to make her stop talking. She glared at him but he ignored her death stares.

“Okay Luuk, we’ll help you but what’s in it for us?” Walt asked. Luuk frowned and looked at the other two who just stared and waited for his response.

“You will be very well rewarded with gold coins. All the gold pieces you can carry,” he said and Walt’s face broke into a smile. He realized that this had to be the hidden task, which was not the same as the one he got in the previous game. They accepted the task; it would increase their experience points substantially and cement their standing as a team. Luuk took them to an inn where they were to stay, free of charge until they find the source of their problem in the village and destroy it.

The inn was located near the outskirts of the village and had a large open field that was completely covered in snow. It was a stone wall building that was two stories high and had a rustic appeal. As always, Ailsa and Walt were given a room together while Jenny had a room to herself opposite theirs. They settled into their rooms and Walt called a meeting.

“Now, this is probably going to be the most dangerous and the most profitable adventure yet,” he started “so, I want us to all be at our very best. Jenny, I know you’re afraid of pain but you’re very good at defense. So, I want you to work on increasing your defense skill, make it the best you can.” Jenny nodded her acknowledgment and he turns to face Ailsa with a smile.

“Ailsa, you’re the strongest race here. You have a lot of potentials to unlock, so we need to help you exploit them.

“Sir, yes sir!” Ailsa replied with a mock salute which made Jenny laugh and Walt roll his eyes.

“More importantly, we all need to train and practice our skills. There’s a field out there where we can train,” he said and the girls agreed. Then they discussed the tactic they should employ in catching whatever was producing the mana. Walt and Jenny could feel the mana all around them, it seemed to swirl all around them, cloaking them but when they expressed this to Ailsa, she had something different to say. She claimed that the mana was all around her too but had higher concentrations in some places.

Walt reasons that because she was an elf, she had a greater level of mana in her, therefore she could locate other creatures with high mana levels. He explained this to them and added that Ailsa should lead the searches they go on. After the meeting, they all agreed to go off the game since it would have been 24 hours that they had been playing in real life. They also agreed to spend thirty minutes in real life before resuming the game.