Second World

”How the heck did you become a noble?” Giant Steve asked again.

Jack hide the fact that this quest was from his special chain quest. He chose to accommodate it as a kingdom factionʼs quest, which was partially the truth. He explained about the factions as he had explained the last time to Flame and the others. He told them that he had joined the kingdom faction of this country and thus how he had gotten this quest.

John lifted his hand again and asked, ”I have a question. You said we will be safe since there will be an army protecting us, but doesnʼt that also mean we wonʼt be fighting the monsters? Then how do we get the experience if we just stay at the back of this army? Since it was the army that killed the monsters, wonʼt they take the loots for themselves?”

Jack gave a wide smile. He then narrated again his experience from the previous kingdom factionʼs quest, where he accompanied a group of NPC cadets to clear out the mine. He told them how he had been appointed leader and that he gained experiences from the slain monsters despite not attacking the monsters at all. He also told them about the NPCsʼ disinterest in the loots dropped by slain monsters.

”You said you are appointed leader,” John said. ”Maybe thatʼs why you gained the experience, but what if you are just tagging along? The army wonʼt be appointing you as the leader of the army, right?”

Jack gave him another wide grin. ”As a matter of fact, they did. Well, not the entire army, of course. But they gave me command for a part of it, so I can order those troops around to kill monsters on the road.”

Everyone was quiet as they tried to digest Jackʼs words. Viral Cora turned to Jeanny and said, ”Big sis, you should have asked him to go on a quest together more often. He had all these interesting quests.”

It was Bowlerʼs time to ask a question, ”But if you need to be a leader of the NPCs to get the experience, then what about us? They canʼt be giving each of us another portion of the army to command, can they?”

Jack was just about to answer when John beat him to it, ”you are so dim-witted. If Storm Wind formed a party with us, he will share his gained experience with us.”

Bowler was having an urge to scold John back, but he could not find the words to.

John had already turned back to Jack. He said, ”that is the gain we get along the process. What about the benefit you offer to us?”

Ugh, this devil! Jack was hoping the lure of exp and loots to be enough for them. He could promise them some gold coins as payment for their help, but that would be his last option. There were eighteen of them here after all, with another six possible candidates to follow, two from Men of Solidarities, and the other four from Jeannyʼs friends.

He had 72 gold coins on him. Even if he used all these coins to pay them, each would only get 3 gold coins. He doubted that such an amount would be enticing at this point.

While he was lamenting about it, Jeanny spoke up, ”I think the prospect of exp and loots gained from high-level monsters are benefits enough. There is no need for brother Storm Wind to give us another compensation. I think the fact that he invited us to join such a rare event is another benefit by itself.”

Such an angel! Jack exclaimed in his mind.

”Well, if you say so,” John said and leaned back. Jack was slightly surprised to find the man not pushing this issue further.

There was, however, another person who did. ”Sister Jeanny, I know you are a kind person, but there is no need to be courteous at this time. He invited us to join, which means he needs our help. So it is natural for him to pay us.”

Jack looked at Swellgoing and said, ”I will be very happy if you want to leave right now.”

”I am not leaving unless sister Jeanny is! I need to protect her from your nefarious intention!”

Jack was speechless with this guy. What nefarious intention? This guyʼs jealousy was truly out of control. Jack ignored him and talked to the others, ”back to Johnʼs question. The third point of how long my quest will be. Iʼm not sure. The shortest might be one month, longest could take until six months.” He copied the dukeʼs answer.

”Six months?” Everyoneʼs enthusiastic expression started to dim down again.

Ugh, honestly, these guys were so hard to satisfy, Jack complained in his mind. ”It was just a probability, it should not take that long,” he said to them. ”Once we arrived at the ruin, we are just exploring it and then head back here. It should just be two months at most… I think.”

”You did not sound too convincing, friend,” John commented.

”Whatever. Now, who wants to join me in this expedition?” He decided to just throw the question out again. He had explained all he can. If they donʼt want to join, he wonʼt force them.

At the time, everyone was suddenly making weird faces. Jack was puzzled by their displays.

They started to look at each other. One of them asked, ”did you hear it as well?”

The person that was asked nodded his head. ”You too?” He asked.

”Whatʼs wrong?” Jack asked in confusion.

John answered him, ”friend, I think you just give us all a quest.”

”Yeah, Iʼm recruiting you to join me on my quest.”

”No, I mean, you literally giving us a formal quest. From the othersʼ expressions, I think I can speak for all of us that we have just gotten a system notification of a quest to accompany you on this expedition. It even got experience and gold coin rewards attached to it. There is also an additional reward of a writ that allows passage into the noble district. It even said that other additional rewards are possible depending on our performance.”

Jack was dumbfounded by the revelation.

”How do you do that?” It was Giant Steve who asked again.

”I did?”

”Yeah, this is some crazy shit! This is the first time I experience a player issuing a system quest,” one of The Manʼs subordinates exclaimed.

”You do?”

Jack was completely flabbergasted. He had no idea what the hell was happening.

”It seemed that you yourself are unaware of this?” John asked him.

”You think?”

”The NPC that gave you the quest must have granted you the authorization. It was somehow triggered when you issued us the invitation.”

Jack thought back to his conversations with the duke after hearing Johnʼs analysis. The duke did mention something like that when Jack asked him about recruiting other outworlders.

”He asked us before, remember? We did not receive a quest then,” Bowler said.

”At the time, he had not yet explained to us the nature of this recruitment, maybe thatʼs why the quest handout was not triggered,” Jeanny offered her opinion.

”Thatʼs right, it will be weird if everyone receives the quest every time he threw out a nonsensical invitation like he did the first time,” John added. ”Only after he laid out the nature of the quest that this quest handout was generated.”

”Have you people done analyzing the phenomena? So are you lots joining or not?” Jack asked.

”You have not yet say anything about the fourth point,” John reminded him.

If they had not received a formal quest as they had declared, Jack might have offered to supply the potions and ores required for the long journey. He had the blacksmith mobile tools so he should have no problem repairing the durability of their equipment as long as he had enough ores. He could also cook so he only needed to stock up on the ingredients. The potions and magic stones were the ones he might need to spend more coins to stock up.

But now that these people got a formal quest which meant that they would get a benefit when they completed it, there was no need for him to supply them by himself.

Jack gave them an answer, ”though I donʼt know how much you people are offered, I believe the quest rewards are generous enough. Everyone should make their own preparation for a long journey if any of you decide to join. I can help with repairing equipment and cooking, but you will need to supply the materials yourself.”

”I think that is fair, I can help with concocting potions, as long as you supply the ingredients as well,” Bowler said.

”What a good brother you are,” John commented, but with a derisive tone.

”I agree itʼs fair as well,” Jeanny added.

”I can help with equipment repairing as well,” Giant Steve said.

”So you are joining?” Jack asked again.

😉