Golden Experience-Chapter 241: “The continuation of that darkness”

“Conflict among thugs?”

“Yeah. The mafia in this town is all old-school, and there hasn’t been any significant conflict for a long time. But lately, it seems to have suddenly gotten noisy.”

“Could it be because of the angel attacks?”

“No, actually, it’s more like it started after the angels stopped coming. If it’s some kind of event, it’s like the angel event ended, and the next one began.”

In the Shape Kingdom’s capital, near the slums, Hideo was chatting with the bartender.

“This smells fishy…”

“Yeah. There might be a storm coming.”

Hideo was the only customer in the small bar, a place called “Mizuuri” (Water Seller). Despite being a bar, it always sold water. Why it was named a bar remained a mystery.

“No, it’s not a bar, and it’s not even a snack. I’ve been telling you, we’re a restaurant. And strictly speaking, you’re not a customer either.”

“Oops, did I say that out loud? Sorry, old man.”

“Stop calling me old man.”

“Mizuuri” was run by a player named Tohru, also known as ‘the old man’. Tohru used to be a mercenary, but now he had retired, running this small eatery and cooking daily. Although it had been less than a year since the official service started, his retirement seemed to be a busy and complicated life. Moreover, it wasn’t a complete retirement from the game, making it even more confusing.

The place was small, with only Hideo as a customer, but Tohru’s cooking skills were top-notch. He could create exquisite dishes from any ingredients. Rumor had it that Tohru, utilizing his experience as a mercenary, had honed his culinary skills, but the specific methods were kept secret, and he didn’t share anything on the forum. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Hideo met Tohru in the capital.

After crawling out of the underground ruins of Stanislav and realizing the need to enhance his combat abilities, Hideo decided to head to the capital.

The capital was a place where information gathered. For Hideo, who preferred talking to NPCs rather than players, the capital was an ideal new base of operations.

The reason Hideo chose the Shape Kingdom was because it had a large population of dwarves. They were the least popular race chosen by players at the beginning for their starting race, so if most of the kingdom’s citizens were dwarves, Hideo could avoid talking to players by interacting with dwarves. In countries with a high population of elves, beastmen, or humans, there was a higher chance of mistaking an NPC for a player, making the world a dangerous place.

However, the journey to the capital was not an easy one.

When he had traveled before, he prioritized travel time and paid a meager sum to ride a carriage. He didn’t notice it then, but apparently, solo travelers on foot in this world were targets for bandits.

Of course, Hideo was also a player. Ordinary highwaymen wouldn’t stand a chance against him. However, there were players like Hideo who were not good at talking to people, and unlike Hideo, they had taken a wrong turn. These players, turning to a life of highway robbery, were more formidable than NPC bandits. Perhaps leveraging the strength of being an immortal player, they could undertake high-risk, high-reward jobs that NPC bandits couldn’t handle.

Highwayman players, having gained abundant experience, attacked Hideo.

Of course, he considered transforming and defeating them.

But the thought that they might have taken a different path and ended up like him stopped him. They were Hideo, a glimpse of the future where he couldn’t meet Dr. Stanislav. Also, he briefly considered that if he lost his clothes here, he might not be able to enter the capital. Just a brief consideration.

“To enter the city, there is no need for any identification or the like. While there are outlaws like highwaymen in the world, preventing monsters from infiltrating is considered more important. Checking the identity of every passerby would take too much time and incur costs. Therefore, there is usually nothing special required to enter the city.

However, there is an exception, and that is clothing. There seem to be monsters that resemble humans, but many of them don’t wear clothes. Therefore, those who are not wearing clothes cannot enter the city.

It wouldn’t be an issue if it were truly a human, but soldiers are not kind enough to check that for everyone. In other words, losing clothes here is not an option.

So, Hideo ran.

Having somehow reached the capital, Hideo was running out of money and food. If he continued like this, he would starve and respawn in the previous city. Tohru, the one who saved him from such a fate, took Hideo to his shop, fed him exceptionally high-quality food, and, in exchange for helping around the shop, Hideo has been indebted to Mizuuri ever since.

Since customers hardly came by, there wasn’t much work to do. To keep the business running, Hideo, as part of his training, ventured a bit farther into the monster territory, hunted monsters for materials, sold them, and contributed money to the shop for his living expenses.

“But if it’s not related to an event, there might be some special quest conditions unlocked.”

“…Come on, give me more atmosphere. Like, something might be stirring in the shadows.”

Tohru understood Hideo’s outdated role-playing and occasionally engaged in such conversations for the sake of creating an atmosphere.

“Yeah, you’re right. Something might be stirring in the shadows…”

“Yeah…”

It was the usual conversation with no substance. The only difference this time was that there was a proper source.

“Anyway, it seems that mafia conflicts are happening frequently. If you want to train, how about having a little fun with the punks?”

“Yeah…”

If it was a mafia conflict, even if it was an event or a special quest, it wouldn’t be related to a catastrophic raid boss. Even if he stuck his nose in, he shouldn’t be killed outright. The experience gained from facing monsters within a day’s journey from the capital would be known, and it might be a good change of pace to engage in player-vs-player combat—though it was with NPCs.

“Alright, let’s peek into the nearby mafia hideout. Old man, where is the mafia’s hideout?”

“Cut it out with the ‘old man’, dude. It’s just a rumor, but around here, in the slums just after entering, there’s a bar called Blood-something. Supposedly, it’s a mafia-affiliated place…”

“Are you going alone? …Alright, I’ll go too. If it’s related to some event, it’s worth checking out.”

Accompanied by Tohru, they headed towards the slums.

Ordinarily, it would be discouraged, but Tohru, being a former mercenary with considerable combat strength, would probably be able to handle it. There was no need to worry.

As they approached the bar, a tumultuous atmosphere could be felt. It seemed that a conflict was in full swing.

In the bar, thugs armed with wooden planks and knives were brawling. Some fought as if they were not afraid of being slashed, but maybe they were players.

“Some players disguise themselves as highwaymen, so it wouldn’t be surprising if there were players infiltrating the mafia.”

“We’re a bit late. Let’s join in!”

Hideo immediately attacked a nearby thug, knocking him out. If they were just street gang members, they would be weaker than monsters, making them no match for Hideo.

Meanwhile, Tohru skillfully used a knife, cutting down the thugs. He was genuinely going for the kill. If Tohru’s face became known to the mafia, there was a possibility of his shop being attacked. However, since the shop was Tohru’s personal area, it would be safe as long as he was inside. If it were destroyed from the outside, they would be helpless, but in the city, even the mafia wouldn’t go that far.

However, there was a risk of being ambushed, making it impossible to leave the shop.

Tohru’s high intent to kill stemmed from his intention to eliminate all the gang members present. Once there were no witnesses, there would be no need to worry.

Perhaps getting involved in the mafia conflict was Hideo’s way of training, using it as an excuse to finish off everything before getting entangled.

About an hour had passed since the fight began. They defeated all the thugs present and suppressed the conflict. It was likely a territorial dispute, but it wasn’t clear who had won in this case.

“Hey, Hideo, did you notice?”

“Hmm? Notice what?”

“Some of the punks I turned into minced meat, their corpses have disappeared.”

“Huh? Does that mean players were mixed in?”

“No, if they were players, their bodies should disappear instantly upon death and respawn. For them to disappear after this much time…”

“Could they be undead?”

“It’s possible. Maybe some kind of undead that can’t be distinguished from humans, like vampires…”

In Hideo’s mind, the androgynous face of the person next to the Seventh Calamity appeared. A vampire in the classic sense, dressed in aristocratic fashion. Despite having a slender face that made it difficult to determine gender, wearing what was seemingly men’s clothing suggested it was a man.

Behind the escalating mafia conflict in this city was the involvement of vampires. If that was the case, it wasn’t a new event.

Probably, this situation was brought by Hideo from those underground ruins. In that dusty underground, an extension of that darkness where he couldn’t move a finger. He hadn’t intended to escape, but the image of the relentless pursuit of the white calamity kept coming to his mind.

If that’s the case, it might be something Hideo has to resolve.

“Old man…”

“I’m with you. Don’t involve everyone. And don’t call me ‘old man’.”

It seemed like they needed to investigate the gangs in this city. If Hideo’s thoughts were correct, the Seventh Calamity was planning to use vampires to secretly control this capital.

At the moment, Hideo might not be able to directly confront a calamity-level entity, but he might be able to interfere with their plans. Especially if that androgynous man wasn’t as strong as he appeared. If vampires were involved, that man would likely show up, and in that case, Hideo should be able to handle it.

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