Second World

”This…” The duke was surprised by the young manʼs request.

”Wow, you really know how to ask for something, eh?” Jack commented.

”I canʼt make this decision, but I can give my recommendation,” the duke explained. ”Your achievement in the Trade Association is pretty competent, so I think you will have a high chance of being invited into our kingdom faction with my recommendation.”

”I will expect no less,” Dylan said as he folded his arms and leaned back onto his seat.

Jack must admit this younger man did know how to display a stylish demeanor.

”Now, do you mind…?” The duke asked Jack.

Jack was puzzled at first by what the duke meant, but realization soon hit. ”Oh right,” he said as he took out the three pieces of Fragment of Map.

During their time in the carriage, Jack had actually tried to fuse the three pieces together. Normally in past games, when a set of items that can be combined into one piece were brought together. They would automatically fuse, or at least they would send out an indication of how to fuse them. However, in the case of this Fragment of Map, there was no reaction whatsoever even when he touched the three pieces to each other.

He even wondered at the time if these three pieces were indeed the correct matching piece, or there were other versions of Fragment of Map. Peniel came and informed him that nothing happened because he didnʼt possess the required skill to perform the fusion. She however did not know the specific skills required for it.

Jack gave the three pieces of the Fragment of Map to duke Alfredo. He soon heard voice notification.

”Congratulations! You have completed the first part of the chain quest: Duchessʼ Cure, Fragment of Map pieces, receive rewards of 2 gold coins, and 30,000 Experience points.”

Somehow he was not so thrilled hearing the rewards. He looked at Dylan. The boy did nothing but be a distraction and a bait, and he received an upfront payment of 20 gold coins. While he had trudged through a long quest, and he only got a frigging 2 gold coins? Wasnʼt this a bit unfair?!

”What?” Dylan asked when he noticed Jackʼs stare.

”Nothing,” Jack said to him.

Peniel who sensed his feeling, said, ”I told you already that the individual quest of a chain quest is not much. The real reward is at the end of the chain quest. Now quit your moping already.”

Jack turned his attention back to the duke who was holding the three pieces of Fragment of Map. ”You have a way to restore them to their complete state?” Jack asked.

”Yes. Iʼve studied my one piece previously when it was still in my possession. It required a master Scroll-maker who also possessed master runecraft skill, or two masters of each craft working together, in order to restore these fragments.”

”I see, and I suppose you know such masters?”

”We have many in our kingdom,” the duke replied as he stored the fragments. ”I will take them to the one I trust.”

Jack nodded. ”So what do you need me to do in the meantime?”

”Nothing, I will inform you once the process is done, and share with you the information from the complete piece.”

Jack heard a voice notification at the same time, ”automatically receive chain quest: The Duchessʼ Cure, part 2, wait for duke Alfredoʼs news.”

That was unusually easy, Jack thought, he only needed to wait. Well, he would never complain if things went easy. There would be plenty of time that things went difficult.

”Before I forget, here,” duke Alfredo gave him a coin pouch as well.

Jack accepted it with puzzlement and inspected it. The inside was 32 gold coins. ”This…”

”I knew you had used your private coins to get the fragment in the auction. This is to reimburse you. I should have given you more, I just never thought there will be another party that is willing to fork out such a huge amount for this fragment as well.”

”Do you have an idea who that other party was?” Jack asked.

Duke Alfredo shook his head. ”No, I only know that they were outworlders, and they accessed the auction from a facility in Thenident. It was another city of our country, far away from here.”

”Um… about the coins used to obtain the fragment, I…” Before Dylan could finish his sentence, the duke gave him another coin pouch. There were 37 gold coins inside.

”Uh, what about my 10% interest?”

”Bro, didnʼt you just receive a 20 gold coins profit? Isnʼt that already more than your paltry 10%?” Jack said with exasperation.

”That was compensation for using me against my will,” Dylan grumbled, but he didnʼt pursue the issue further.

”We should separate from here,” the duke said. ”It will be better if we go out of this place individually. This place was mine, so I am sure of its security, but we donʼt know if anyone is watching outside of this place. I will leave first. You three take turns to leave at different times. The two of you keep the concealment coat, only take it off once you have reached a place where you are sure is safe.”

After giving his instruction, the duke left the room.

He heard Dylan whistled. ”This place is his? Not bad… Can I come here another time?” He asked marquess Fernando.

”You are not even able to enter this noble district freely,” the marquess reminded him, which caused his face to turn gloomy.

The marquess chuckled, ”donʼt worry. The duke is always good at his words. Once you are invited into our kingdom faction, you should be able to enter this district freely. You still have to pay if you want to come here though. But come look for me if you want to visit, I got a free pass here, so I will be able to bring you along… If my mood is good.”

”Ahaha, if you need anything from another city, just tell me. I will get it for you,” Dylan uttered cheerily.

So this was what a businessman was like? Jack thought. Good thing for him this game world put more emphasis on fighting skills, rather than trading skills.

They loitered around for a bit, with Dylan and the marquess enjoying the various beverages at the bar counter. Seeing that they enjoyed their time so much, he guessed he would need to be the second one to leave.

”Okay, I will take my leave first,” Jack told marquess Fernando.

The marquess replied half-drunkenly, ”see you-hic, take care…”

Then to his new young friend, Jack said, ”catch you later, just Dylan.”

The young man responded by giving him the middle finger without looking over.

Jack left the building and went towards the office tower where commander Quintus was at. He still needed to report on the completion of his faction quest. The last time he went there was by carriage, so he didnʼt memorize the way. Good thing there was a map system in this world. The layout of the district was visible in his map interface once he had walked through the area once. Furthermore, there were markings on the map to show important places, so he had no problem finding his bearings.

He first found a place desolate of people. After making sure from his radar that there was no one nearby, he took off the concealment coat. Before he took off the coat, he had activated the Orb of Disguise. So when the coat was off, it was Unrivalled Arcaner who was seen. The radar showed no people, but he still preferred to take precautions. In this case, if there was still someone spying on him, it will be his disguise mage that was seen.

When he thought about it more, he actually hoped that the Cult of Phobos did have someone seeing him right now. Maybe they would end up going to Death Associates causing troubles when they couldnʼt find him. After all, his Unrivalled Arcaner persona was still registered as that guildʼs member.

After walking for some distance, he looked for another deserted alleyway and turned back to Storm Wind after making sure that no one was around.

He finally arrived at the guard tower, but there was a different officer behind the desk. He guessed probably commander Quintus was not always there to take care of faction members. He submitted his quest completion and got 20 silver coins, 10,000 Experience points, and 50 Merit Points. He received an additional bonus of 150 merit points for successfully getting the item that the duke was interested in.

He was now halfway from becoming a Baron. He also noticed that the real value of these faction quests was on their hidden goals. The merit points received from fulfilling the quest requirements were trivial. The bulk of merit points gained was if they managed to perform well.

He asked the officer for another faction quest but he was told at the moment there was none available. So it was as commander Quintus had informed him, nobility faction quests were limited. Jack asked the officer how he could find out if there was a faction quest available. The officer simply told him to come every day to check.

😉