The God of Liar

Berne, Ilynea, and Altagon were not all that different from one another when Midgard launched. Nothing special, but nothing too bad either.

The sudden change came like a thief in the night.

”That damned Lord suddenly cut off all support. Our chief asked why and he said… well, what was it… yeah, he said it was a part of a sequential development plan. That’s all that we heard.”

The small, but evenly distributed support, was suddenly concentrated on one town: Ilynea. As a result of those efforts, Ilynea became more crowded and financially successful.

It boasted generous rewards and consistently managed good-quality hunting grounds.

It was natural that players gathered there.

”It was Altagon’s turn next. They turned the town into something incredibly unique. It drew all kinds of warriors there.”

A town specializing in PVP—Altagon blatantly used the theme to its advantage.

The guards did not get involved in duels between players, and grocery stores sold all kinds of hidden weapons and poisons.

Considering the amount of money that PVP enthusiasts spent, it would be strange if the town wasn’t prosperous.

”We praised our Lord until then, because we thought we’d end up like that too.”

However, their hopes were dashed. The Lord changed his attitude all of a sudden when it came to Berne’s turn.

”We were abandoned and left for dead. We held out as much as we can.”

Redrix became dejected again.

Seojin sighed, but quickly spoke, ”I didn’t say you were wrong. But this is not the time, I told you, right? I need only the facts, no feelings or emotions.”

”…You did. All right, what else do you want to know?”

”The Lord of this estate, Baron Bolton. What kind of character was he originally?”

”A typical aristocrat, moderately greedy yet moderately generous.”

”And he changed all of a sudden?”

It was a dramatic change. It might have been more believable if Bolton was originally a businessman, but he wasn’t, so the change seemed too radical.

It was also successful.

Of course, Seojin had his own theory.

’Robert must have intervened. He was the first to make a walkthrough for this estate.’

The timing was also similar. His walkthrough was uploaded 9 months ago, around the same time as the change happened.

”From your point of view,” Seojin moved on to the next topic. ”What’s the problem with this town?”

”Well, there’s many, for starters.”

”Whatever comes to mind. Don’t censor yourself, just say whatever you think.”

”…First of all, we’re broke,” said Redrix, sounding agonized, ”The folks are not motivated, we hate adventurers a bit too much, and the monsters outside town are almost overflowing yet adventurers don’t visit often enough.”

”And?”

”The attitude of our Lord. That’s all I can think of for now.”

Seojin that listing the good aspects of the town wouldn’t even take half as much time.

He’d experience it himself. There were already no visitors, but in the case that someone did come, they were usually turned away after seeing the hostility of townsfolk.

’But I understand, I’d be feeling shit, too.’

Most of the visitors were tourists who simply looked around the collapsing town as if they were touring a zoo before leaving.

No wonder their hostility towards adventurers had peaked.

”Around how many people live here?”

”I’d say about 900.”

”How many are you close to?”

”I’d call five of them my friends, and then around twenty of them are my drinking buddies.”

”Please gather them all in one place.”

”Are you going to persuade them? Don’t bother—”

”Redrix,” Seojin interrupted Redrix. ”You only have to gather them, it will become my responsibility after that.”

Life Remaining: 12%

Seojin suppressed his impatience.

”We don’t have much time.”

* * *

Seojin scoured the official community site for Midgard as soon as Redrix left.

’I’ll look up charisma, the Tree of Life, and Baron Bolton for now’

He was going to find all the necessary information to proceed with his quest.

First of all, charisma. Fortunately, the search engine came up with some results straight away.

The secret of Derek, The Dragonlord, has been revealed!

There was a privilege given to the Dragonlord, a Hidden Class.

The information showed that the Dragonlord was also related to the hidden classes.

…has a unique stat system. It uses Charisma instead of Strength.

So, what is this charisma? It has 130% efficiency compared to normal Strength stats, which means 100 CHA is the equivalent of a whopping 130 STR!

That’s not all! When playing against those who have lower STR than the player’s CHR, the efficiency doubles…

That’s awesome.

Seojin felt it. His CHR was around 60. That was roughly the equivalent of 80 STR and almost 100 against someone whose STR is lower than 60.

’It sounds great, but I gotta check if it applies to human NPCs…’

Next was the Tree of Life.

It was written in the quest notification, and he’d also seen it in the message when the town’s life rose. He had to invest a little more time in this one.

’Once you plant a seed, you must nurture the Tree of Life to obtain the fruit… hmm.’

That was all he could find.

There wasn’t any other information regarding the tree’s shape, location, or anything else that could prove to be useful.

The Tree of Life. Ring any bells?

He sent a message to Merhen just in case.

Finally, he searched up Baron Bolton, but the result was surprising.

”How can there be so little information?”

The Landlord of Starter Towns, Baron Bolton. There was nothing of note. All information related to him was blank, as if someone had erased it.

’This really must be Robert’s intervention…’

At least Seojin could be sure. Only someone like Robert could pull off such a stunt.

Seojin checked out as much information as he could.

He closed the community screen and opened the in-game auction tab.

Transaction complete.

Redrix came back with a red face as soon as he finished preparing.

”I gathered them all.”

”…That was quick. All twenty?”

”I almost had to drag them into the bar. I told them it would be our last drink together before departing.”

”Did you tell them about me?”

”I struggled to stop them from getting up right away.”

Redrix laughed bitterly. That was clearly a sign of trouble.

”It’s my turn now. Let’s go.”

* * *

Mac Gray was a local born and raised in Berne, who turned forty-four this year. He had spent his entire life here, and now he was getting ready to depart because he thought there was no hope left for his hometown anymore.

There were people just like him all around right now.

They’d lived here for at least twenty years, but had now given up their last hopes.

They were friends who drank together every evening.

Normally, they would have been chatting away with glasses scattered around the table, but today’s atmosphere was very gloomy.

In the end, Mac grumbled, unable to endure the silence, ”What does he mean, not like the other adventurers? Redrix had clearly lost his mind.”

”Have some faith in him, man. Sometimes he’s more than just a lame-ass punk. ”

”After everything that’s happened?”

That was being not thoughtful, spineless even if he truly thought that way—He didn’t say that out loud.

Even the one who refuted it, wasn’t speaking up anymore.

’Adventurers are different. They’re not tied up in this world.’

Mac had always thought like that. The adventurers who suddenly appeared in this world one day were completely different from the people of this world.

This world’s natives were like a vending machine to them, only exist to give them rewards. They didn’t even care about their own life because they could be resurrected. The locals here were like vending machines to them, they only existed to pay them rewards.

They didn’t even care about their own lives since they could be resurrected.

The problem was that they treated the life of local people the same.

No matter how many monsters there were, if there was no ”reward,” the adventurers wouldn’t move an inch.

’Disgusting things. Is that what you think of human life?’

Rather, they were welcomed by the wealthy, such as the royals and nobles.

Due to the abundant rewards that were offered, it was only natural that the adventurers would behave nearly as if they were an extension of those people’s bodies.

”I’m here, lads!”

The door burst open as Redrix entered.

Mac knew Redrix was trying to be cheerful, but he didn’t want to go along with him.

”Is that the guy? Behind you?”

Behind Redrix, who stood with an awkward expression on his face, was a young adventurer who had an indifferent gaze.

”…That’s right.”

”What a waste of time. What the hell is so special about him?”

Mac’s voice turned cold without him realizing it. Those eyes. Those damned eyes were looking over them as if they were monkeys trapped in a cage.

”I won’t talk anymore for your sake. I’m leaving.”

Mac jumped out of his seat.

The people around him jumped up as if to form a queue.

It was at that moment that the adventurer opened his mouth.

”Look at these pathetic deadbeats acting like irresponsible little kids. No wonder your town has gone to shit.”

”…What?”

”Did I stutter? I said no wonder the town has gone to shit.”

The air froze and the room went completely silent. Twenty pairs of eyes stared fiercely at the adventurer.

But he only continued to mock them, ”Huh, what do I see here? Egos? Redrix, I’m sorry, but I’ve changed my mind. These people aren’t worth my time.”

”Ha, as if we asked you!”

”Is that petty pride all you’ve got? You idiots have no idea what’s really important.”

Mac clenched his teeth; his fists were shaking. The adventurer had finally crossed the line.

”Even beasts try to protect their nests. Yet you guys…”

”You think you know something? Huh? What do you know about us, you goddamn vagrant?!”

”Well, now I know that you’re inferior to beasts.”

Mac had enough. Chairs rolled as Mac lunged forward and his friends tried to hold him back.

”Let go of me! I had enough! I’ll smash bastard’s skull open!”

Mac had immense strength due to the heavy farm work he did. He shook off all his friends and rushed forward, throwing a punch right at the guy.

Well, he tried to.

”Smash my skull?”

Mac found his knees hurting. It was only then that he realized he was seeing everything from a strangely low angle. The adventurer was looking down at him.

”That’s funny. So, you still have the courage to throw fists at an adventurer? Do you have enough emotion left to feel humiliated?”

”Ah? What in the?”

A mournful voice rang out. Mac was kneeling before the adventurer. He gnashed his teeth as he tried to get up, but his legs betrayed him.

”You mustered up your final dregs of courage for what, because I hurt your shallow ego?”

”…We-we did our best!” someone shouted from the back of the room. It must have been Hamilton—he thought.

Then, another man yelled, ”What else could we do? Who are you to look down on us like that?! We only live once, unlike you, we’d really be risking our lives!”

”Sure, I don’t die. Death is merely a short break for me, so what?” The cold voice of the adventurer pierced their ears. ”Does whining make a difference? It’s easy to shift the responsibility onto others. Losers love to surrender to their sweet lies, saying things like there was no other way, that they did their best, or that there’s nothing they can do about it!’”

There was an uncomfortable silence. No one was glaring at the adventurer anymore. Some looked up at the ceiling blankly, and others looked down at the floor.

”Justify yourselves all you want. Your hometown won’t return once it’s gone.”

”We are—”

”That’s why!” The adventurer interrupted the villager’s pointless rebuttal.

At that moment, the pressure weighing their shoulders down disappeared.

Soon after, a sweet voice rang out that forced them to listen without realizing it.

”I came here to help you. Fortunately, it looks like you all have enough will left to make it happen.”