How a Black-Haired Barbarian Survived the Labyrinth in Another World-Chapter 117: What if a person suddenly changes?

"What's the nomination request?"

Joo Hyuk asked back.

Although promotion was just around the corner, right now, they were still a rookie party.

"So what's the content? Who gave the request? Honestly, I don't think we're at the level to receive someone's nomination."

"Listen first. It's a request from a temple dedicated to the Wind Spirit God."

At Cheolgamyeon's answer, Joo Hyuk crossed his arms.

The temple serving the Wind Spirit God.

He had heard that it was somewhere in the central district, but he had never been there.

It was also the sect to which the elemental mage Luke and Shimus belonged.

"You seem like you don't like it."

Cheolgamyeon quietly looked at Joo Hyuk and said a word.

Joo Hyuk rubbed his eyes with two fingers.

"I guess that's true. We’re barely about to reach intermediate level, and suddenly we get a nomination request, so it’s natural to be suspicious."

The rat beastman Mas agreed with a somewhat sullen face.

"Sca’s right. Priests are scary! They wear gloomy underwear and all!"

Joo Hyuk turned his head and looked at Kubo, the priest.

The dwarf priest was desperately drinking from a wooden cup.

"Kubo, anything to say?"

"What to say? Like Cheolgamyeon said, if it feels off, we can just refuse. Don’t overthink it."

Joo Hyuk stroked his chin and leaned back in his chair.

"I see."

"We don't know the details or the reward yet. We need to meet them and talk. Also, Sca, you're going to promote tomorrow, are you going to come with me?"

"I'll go together."

"Alright."

The party wrapped up the meeting casually and spent time talking about the festival.

They sat around chatting without realizing how much time had passed.

Eventually, the drinking session ended by evening.

The party members left the inn, heavily intoxicated.

"By the way, hasn’t Sca’s face brightened up a bit?"

Kubo muttered while walking down the street.

"Definitely. The poison on his face seems to have faded away."

Cheolgamyeon responded with a smile.

"Hmm... I don’t know. It seems like something dangerous and slimy is lurking."

Mas tilted his head and spoke.

Kubo tapped Mas on the shoulder.

"Mas, are you feeling weak after being locked up in prison for too long or something?"

"Tch. Maybe? I don’t know."

Mas scratched his head.

Joo Hyuk finished training with Karin early in the morning and met Cheolgamyeon to head toward the Explorer Guild.

As they walked together, chatting lightly, Joo Hyuk felt strange glances from the people around.

Joo Hyuk didn’t know, but over the past week, Karin had been working hard.

She had asked the captain of the guards and the villagers to please be quiet.

The people Joo Hyuk had helped naturally followed. No, they had kept it quiet from the start. It was too foul-smelling for ordinary people to handle.

They didn't dare speak out, fearing that rumors might spread and people would end up getting hurt.

There was also the reason she didn’t want to disgrace her benefactor.

But Karin didn’t stop there.

She spent her own money on a pheromone remover and made Joo Hyuk take it. Of course, the claim that it had a magic recovery function was not a lie.

Then she asked Anne to keep Joo Hyuk in the kitchen for a week.

Thanks to running around and sweating, the pheromone smell on Joo Hyuk’s body had been mostly cleared away.

Only a few beastmen with sensitive noses flinched and fiddled with their noses.

Cheolgamyeon nudged Joo Hyuk.

"People are staring at you a lot."

"They're the people I helped."

Joo Hyuk responded to Cheolgamyeon and waved at the distant merchants.

The merchants waved back with awkward smiles.

"Impressive."

"I guess so."

Joo Hyuk and Cheolgamyeon arrived at the Explorer Guild in the southern district.

The guild was crowded with explorers.

After waiting for about 40 minutes in line, they stood in front of a dog beastman receptionist.

"Hello. Explorer, what brings you here today... Hehe?!"

The dog beastman greeted them with a smile, but stiffened as soon as he sniffed the scent coming from the black-haired man.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh... nothing. Grrr."

The dog beastman felt his thighs instinctively tighten and his heart race as soon as he caught the smell coming from the black-haired man.

‘Why... why is this happening?’

Confused by his own feelings, the dog beastman tilted his head.

There was something dangerous and sticky hidden within the smell. If he concentrated, he might understand, but his body instinctively rejected it.

"What... what's going on?"

The dog beastman asked, twisting his body.

"We came for the promotion. Here’s our identification."

The dog beastman took the identification cards they handed him and nodded.

"Y-You are Sca and Cheolgamyeon. Please wait for a moment."

The dog beastman staggered and went in and out of the office.

"Here... Here’s your silver badge. Congratulations. You’re now intermediate explorers. I'll take your bronze badge. From now on, you can use the explorer headquarters in the center."

"I see. But is there any problem with continuing to use this place?"

"Of course not. But half of the requests on the bulletin board are for beginners. It’s something you should consider."

"I understand."

The dog beastman looked up at Joo Hyuk with moist eyes, but Joo Hyuk, overwhelmed with emotion, didn’t notice.

‘Finally.’

When he looked at the sparkling silver badge, he felt like he owned the world.

On the other hand, Cheolgamyeon carefully handled his own silver badge.

Joo Hyuk smiled and patted Cheolgamyeon on the shoulder.

"Why the sour face?"

"Sca, can you see the face behind the mask?"

"Of course, what else?"

"I see."

Cheolgamyeon smiled faintly and spoke again.

"Kubo and Mas will need to wait a few days to promote. For now, we should listen to the request details and pass them along to the other party members."

"How long does promotion usually take?"

"We’re lucky because of the festival, so the explorer guild’s workload is lighter, and the promotion evaluation went quickly. Usually, it takes more than a week."

"If Mas hadn’t been messing around with that strange priest, it would’ve been over faster."

"It wasn’t his butt, he took off the priest’s underwear. Actually, that was harder. He’s skilled, though."

"Was that a joke?"

"No."

Joo Hyuk briefly looked at Cheolgamyeon.

He was a decent guy with a good personality. Unlike royalty, he had a humble nature, and his ability to acquire information was quick.

‘Where does he get all this information from?’

He was a bit curious.

"Sca, don’t stare at me like that. Decide. Are you coming with me to hear the request?"

"No, I’ll leave it this time. I need to prepare for entering the labyrinth. I need to repair my equipment and buy necessary supplies."

"Take your time and only prepare what’s necessary. Depending on the request, what you need to take and how much you need can change."

"Got it."

Joo Hyuk parted ways with Cheolgamyeon and headed back to the inn to gather money and equipment, then walked toward the western district.

The goal was Boron’s forge. He bought a bottle of alcohol on the way.

Boron looked down at the pieces of iron with trembling eyes.

"What... what is this?"

"Armor?"

At Joo Hyuk’s answer, Boron looked up at him with a blank face.

"Crazy."

Boron scraped up the iron scraps and brought them in front of Joo Hyuk’s eyes.

"Does this make any sense? I’ve never seen anyone bring iron scraps and call it armor. Are you sure you wore this? You didn’t pick it up at a junk shop or anything?"

"It’s the one I wore."

Boron sat back down in his chair, looking as if he couldn’t believe it.

"How did you survive with armor this damaged? You should be dead."

"Well, weak Sca died, and the strong, cool Sca was born." freewebnøvel.coɱ

"What nonsense are you talking?"

"Let’s stop with the nonsense. Can you fix it or not? Just tell me that."

"You’re the one talking nonsense. And you need the original to fix it. Even a god of blacksmiths can’t fix this. Just buy a new one."

"Will you give me a discount?"

"Heh. You made a nice profit with the Cream Slime bread, didn’t you? Buy something good."

It was a bit surprising that the fame of the Cream Slime bread had spread even to the western district.

"Has the rumor spread here too?"

"It’s famous. You’re a bit famous now."

"Really?"

Joo Hyuk was confused.

"Didn’t you save people in danger? Everyone who saw you fight is talking about you in awe."

Joo Hyuk smiled contentedly.

"They must have seen me fight well."

"No?"

"Then?"

"You’ve become known as a ruthless fighter with a ton of instruments. People have wet themselves just watching you dance with a broken arm and swinging your sword while your fingers got chopped off."

"The rumors seem a bit exaggerated. I think there were some weak-hearted people."

"Did you fight like that or not? You pinned a person to the street with your sword, didn’t you?"

"Well, yes."

"Then it’s true."

"Alright, enough. Show me the armor blueprints."

Joo Hyuk followed Boron into the small room, where Boron spread several armor blueprints on the table.

"Anything decent?"

The plate armor blueprints seemed fine, but it looked too heavy.

‘Wear chainmail over a gambeson and then wear the plate armor?’

Not bad.

But if the gear was too heavy, movement would slow down, and stamina would drain quickly.

‘I need to reduce the weight as much as possible.’

He was mainly assuming entering a forest area, but he wanted to make it versatile.

Joo Hyuk grabbed his head, deep in thought.

"Why is this taking so long?"

Boron came in, gulping down his drink.

Joo Hyuk picked up the plate armor blueprint and showed it to him.

"Boron, see this blueprint?"

"Why?"

"Can you reduce the parts that can be trimmed down?"

"Sure, I can do that. What’s your plan?"

Joo Hyuk grabbed Boron and explained.

"The shoulder part, we’ll use one spaulder and one foldrun."

"We’ll make the foldrun part thicker and add a stop ridge. We’ll throw away the shield and block with the body, right?"

As expected, Boron, the blacksmith, understood immediately even with a brief explanation.

"Yes. Then, I’ll wear a single-piece ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) plate armor that covers both the chest and back."

"Then what about the lower body?"

"I’ll wear monster leather pants and iron greaves. The boots will stay the same."

"Your crotch looks dangerous."

"..."

Why does he always have to say things crudely?

"I’m thinking of putting a longer chainmail over it."

"Your gauntlets will have leather and iron, right? I get it. Almost done, huh? If you had all this, I’d think you were heading to war. What about the helmet?"

Joo Hyuk recalled the last fight. Too much blood and poison splattered everywhere.

It was better to avoid such accidents as much as possible during a fight.

"Show me what you’ve got. The helmet I saw last time was fine, but the eyes were obstructed."

Boron stroked his beard.

"I’ve got one ready, but you can check it later. What about the shield?"

"A heater shield."

"Looks too heavy."

"It’ll be fine. Probably."

With the recent level-up, his physical abilities had increased.

He figured he could walk around the labyrinth for a while with the full plate armor. He was trying to reduce the weight as much as possible, anyway.

No matter how light the armor, one wrong move could be fatal.

But wearing heavy armor would drain his stamina.

Finding the right balance was key.

"What about the weapon? You didn’t break your longsword, right?"

"I’m keeping it safe. Two daggers, and give me an arming sword."

The dwarf nodded.

"Sca, did you make some money? You’re not holding back."

"Ah..."

He hadn’t thought about the price in the heat of explaining.

Joo Hyuk slowly opened his mouth.

"...How about settling everything for just three gold coins?"

Boron’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"No... You crazy bastard! Don’t you have any conscience? Don’t you have a heart?! Ah... I feel like I’m dreaming."

The dwarf placed his hand on his forehead and staggered.

"Let’s make it four gold coins."

The dwarf collapsed to the ground with a thud.

"Why don’t you just take it all? Even thieves don’t do this."

"Ha. I’ve helped you a lot when things were tough. Don’t do this."

"Are you saying you're going to eat me now that I’ve gained some weight?"

"Isn’t it better when things go smoothly? Let’s settle on five gold coins."

"Ugh...!"

The dwarf pulled at his beard like he was about to rip it out.

"You bastard! A chainmail costs three gold coins!"

"...Yes?"

He definitely spent one gold coin and twenty-five silver coins when getting light armor last time.

"Why is chainmail so expensive?"

"Why? Because it takes a lot of work!"

"It’s still too much..."

"The full plate covering the chest and stomach, and the shoulder armor is also plate. It’s different from the armor we made last time with leather base and small iron plates."

"So what’s the fair price?"

"All together, it’s six gold coins."

"..."

It was about five times the amount he had spent last time.

Joo Hyuk thought for a moment and nodded.

"Let’s settle on that."

Boron’s mouth dropped open.

"...No discount? You’re really just going like this?"

Joo Hyuk smiled gently and handed over the gold coin pouch.

"It’s armor that will protect my life. I think it would be awkward to ask for a discount. Here, take it."

The dwarf took the pouch with a blank expression, as if he were dreaming.

"...Then why did you make all that fuss?"

"My old self just showed up for a moment."

"What does that mean? Forget it, I don’t want to know. Come back in five days. Are you going to take the weapons first?"

"No. I’ll take everything at once later. By the way, where’s Ainhoffer?"

"He’s on a short vacation."

"I see. Then I’ll see you later."

"Yeah... yeah."

Boron scratched his head as he watched Joo Hyuk leave the forge.

"Why’s he acting like that? People die when they change suddenly."

Still dazed, Boron grabbed a bottle of liquor and gulped it down.

"Sigh. Useless thoughts. Time to get to work."

At the peak of summer.

In the hot, sweltering heat inside the building.

The dwarf picked up his hammer.