Chapter 2

"Ugh, I drank too much yesterday, my head is spinning so badly."

As if to start the day early, the first floor was already bustling with people. Among them, Ivan spotted the waitress he had become familiar with yesterday and called her over.

"These rooms are quite clean and nice. The food was good too. I want to stay for a long time."

"Hehe, our inn is quite good, isn't it? How long do you plan to stay?"

"About a month for now. I'll decide on an extension when the time comes."

"Long-term guests get a discount, so just 5 silvers will do."

Ivan took out five silver coins from his pocket and handed them over.

The waitress, holding the gleaming silver coins, guided him to his seat with an even friendlier smile.

The breakfast menu was uniform; there was no option to order separately. A piece of rye bread, a bowl of thick stew, a bit of butter, and a little salad if needed.

The rye bread was so hard it couldn't be chewed as is. But if you put it in the warm stew, it would soften.

It wasn't that the rye bread here was particularly old.

Rye bread usually became hard and tough like this after cooling for just a few dozen minutes after being freshly baked.

'Tonight, should I eat white wheat bread?' Compared to the hard rye bread, the soft wheat bread was a bit more expensive. It was the opposite in Korea, where rye imports were extremely low, making rye bread more expensive. Nutritious food, health food, diet food—those kinds of names.

Well, they all amounted to the same thing.

While thinking about this, Ivan chewed and swallowed the stew. It wasn't bad. The place had decent cooking skills. After finishing his meal, Ivan headed leisurely towards the market street. The weapon shop was a bit off the main street. Ivan pretended to take something out of his backpack while opening his inventory and laid out a few broken swords. They were all items he had obtained while subduing the bandits yesterday.

"I want to sell these."

"They're all in a mess. Even the intact ones haven't been properly maintained."

The owner, examining the swords, shook his head.

"I can only give you scrap metal value for these. To use them properly, they would need to be melted down and remade."

Ivan, who had expected as much, didn't say anything and looked around the shop. The items weren't from a master craftsman, but they were decent.

You can't compare them to the items from the game era.

The items Ivan used to carry back then were the kind that only appeared in myths. 'If I had just one of those items, my fate would have changed.' Fully upgraded mythic-grade items? When he first opened his eyes in this damned world, he almost starved to death because he didn't have a piece of bread.

After thoroughly examining the weapons, Ivan picked a quiver of arrows and an axe. The axe looked like something between a tomahawk and a francisca, and it seemed versatile for various uses. Of course, it was also good for throwing and embedding in someone's head.

"How much for these two?"

"The scrap metal you brought is roughly the same value, so just take them."

It's human nature to feel a bit regretful when you hear something like that. Ivan finally picked up a cheap knife and left the shop.

This time, Ivan headed to the mercenary guild. The early bird catches the worm. Since new quests were updated every morning, the faster you moved, the better the job you could get. He moved quickly, but because he stopped by the weapon shop, the mercenary guild was already bustling with people.

It was different from the quiet evening yesterday. The weather was good, so everyone had come out early to work. 'Long-distance escort is a bit off-putting, but goblin hunting? That sounds appealing.'

While checking the new quests on the bulletin board, someone approached Ivan and spoke.

"Hey, you brought in the bag with the bandits' heads yesterday, and now you're looking for a job?"

Turning his head, he saw the receptionist he had talked to yesterday.

He seemed to be a senior, as he was the only one relaxed while others were busy.

"I can't leave immediately even if I take a quest now. I came to check if there are any good ones."

"Hehe, the sweet quests are snatched up by people like ghosts."

The receptionist, chuckling, glanced around and said,

"I've confirmed the heads you brought in yesterday. Your sword skills are quite sharp. All five heads were cleanly cut, as if you did it in one go."

A human head is tougher than you think. Realizing that he had cut them off in one go, the receptionist seemed to understand that Ivan was no ordinary fighter.

"A swordsman who roams around should be able to do that. It's not like I cut off a dragon's head; your praise is a bit excessive."

"Heh, you're right. But these days, there are too many who can't even do that."

He grumbled that there were too many who started as mercenaries just because they didn't want to farm, without knowing how to properly use a sword.

"Most of them don't last long and either die or return home with a limb missing. Well, it's fine if they die or give up. But with too many of them, the success rate of quests drops. There are countless who go to hunt monsters and return without even using their swords."

A few mercenaries nearby flinched and moved away. They seemed to be the kind who had run away from farming.

'Not wanting to farm, so they take up swordsmanship? Does that mean they want to die because life is boring? They lack sense.' Being a mercenary wasn't a glamorous job.

If you wanted romance, you should become a knight, not a mercenary.

From Ivan's experience, most mercenaries were scammers, ruffians, psychopathic killers, and trash. The real good ones were few, and the rest were cripples clinging to a life that could end at any moment. They would take escort quests to protect from bandits, and if there were no bandits, they would sometimes become bandits themselves, practicing the golden rule.

Of course, trust was a very important value among mercenaries, and a few trustworthy ones commanded high prices.

But that also meant there were many who had built a solid wall against honesty, trust, and reliability.

"There are just too few useful people these days."

"Maybe so."

But why would someone he wasn't particularly close to come and talk so much? Did this guy have nothing better to do? Was he so sociable that he couldn't keep his mouth shut? Ivan narrowed his eyes at him.

"You don't just want to chat, do you? What do you want?"

At that question, the receptionist smiled and said,

"Ivan Eshirson, the mysterious adventurer from the north. I've heard of you. I only remembered after you left yesterday."

"I didn't know my reputation was that great."

"Is the rumor true that you killed a hydra in the west?"

"I did kill it, but it wasn't fully grown. It only had three heads."

Hydras grew an additional head as they matured. A fully grown one would have nine heads, and some said over a hundred.

Compared to those mythological monsters, a three-headed hydra was just a bit more vicious snake.

Ivan didn't think it was something to brag about.

"Even with three heads, a hydra is still a hydra. Ordinary warriors would find it hard to get close due to the poison."

"Only weak warriors would find it hard."

"Maybe to a strong warrior like you, everyone else looks weak. Hehe."

Then he changed his expression seriously and said,

"Come inside. I have a quest that suits a strong warrior like you."

He introduced himself as Billy Angate, not just a receptionist but the branch manager of the mercenary guild.

"If you're the branch manager, just say so. What's this 'branch manager-like' talk?"

"Want to know about the internal structure of the mercenary guild? I'll tell you if you want."

Boring talk. Ivan sat down and got to the point.

"What's the quest?"

"The monsters in the eastern forest have suddenly become aggressive recently. Go in and find out the cause."

"Any idea why?"

"Well, I don't know, but there was a strong magical reaction in the eastern forest recently. A mage from the Blue Tower will join. A few of our people will go with you."

Ivan started calculating in his head without answering immediately.

"Hmm."

Actually, it wasn't a very appealing quest. It looked dangerous at first glance. Plus, a mage from the Blue Tower.

'Do I have to deal with those eccentric guys?'

Every mage Ivan had seen so far was a bit off. If they were from the Blue Tower, they would be the real deal.

"Does the mage from the Blue Tower have to come along?"

Ivan asked hesitantly, and Billy nodded.

"It might be related to the magical activity. How can you investigate without a mage? Besides, this is a quest from the Blue Tower. I know they're troublesome, but it's impossible to go without a mage."

Ivan's expression stiffened.

'Should I refuse?' A troublesome quest with troublesome companions.

It was best to avoid it if possible. Just as Ivan was leaning towards refusal, Billy took out a money pouch and said,

"Oh, I forgot to mention the reward. It's a hefty sum for a Blue Tower quest. One gold coin. How about it? Does it sound appealing?"

"When do we leave?"

One gold coin, 100 silvers.

Enough to live comfortably for a few months.

The value of 100 bandits' heads. It was too much to refuse. Four days later, in front of the eastern gate. They were supposed to meet here, but the time wasn't precise. They were supposed to gather around sunrise. Pocket watches or wristwatches existed, but they were too expensive for personal ownership. Only wealthy merchants or nobles could afford them, not the mostly bottom-of-the-barrel mercenaries.

Fortunately, the mercenaries he would be working with this time were among the few trustworthy ones in a sea of scum.