Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 18

Queens Blonde (1)

Thud! Slish!

With each skillful movement of Aile’s sword, blood gushed out, and the sounds of tearing flesh tickled his ears.

He was dismantling the corpse of the boss monster Tragul, while Alisa sat nearby, watching him.

The zombie creatures, perhaps frightened, didn’t dare approach Tragul’s corpse, allowing them to sit and rest or proceed with the dismantling in peace.

“You’re very skilled. It looks like you’ve done this a lot.”

“I have done it a lot since I started this. By the way, did anything useful drop from that archer’s corpse earlier?”

“Two equipment items did drop, but nothing I can use… I think I’ll just sell them at the store.”

Alisa said.

Even though she was the only one who took down the archer, Aile couldn’t just snatch the loot. It wouldn’t be right.

Besides, since it was leather armor and archery-related, there was little chance of any items Aile could use, so he successfully passed on the yield.

Thud!

Aile, stabbing the dismantling knife in again, recalled her skills and, naturally curious, asked.

“Are you perhaps leveling up a secondary character? Taking down an archer as a healer, and then handling two melee classes alone… it doesn’t seem like you’re doing this for the first time.”

“Haha, no. This is my first time as a Warlord.”

“Ah, then…….”

Aile nodded, understanding the situation immediately.

The words ‘as a Warlord’ were key.

That meant she was from another virtual reality game.

“Which game did you come from?”

“Well… Tree World.”

Alisa answered with an awkward smile.

Aile also reacted with a somewhat embarrassed expression.

“Ah……! Tree World… I’ve heard a lot about it.”

“Probably not in a good way, right?”

At her question, which suggested she knew everything, Aile nodded.

The virtual reality game Tree World.

It was infamous in the industry for unusual reasons.

Tree World, which appeared in the early days when the virtual reality game market was just beginning to take off, suffered from bizarre bugs that appeared frequently, despite the fairly well-received quality and gameplay compared to its competitors.

The developers, worried about intensifying competition, released the game hastily, resulting in a massive number of bugs that they hadn’t had time to check.

They hurriedly carried out reinforcement updates, but problems kept popping up in other places, creating unexpected bugs. With Kim Hae-seung, the main director, even resigning amidst the chaos, it was only natural that the game’s reputation plummeted.

Of course, they managed to stay afloat by patching up the urgent holes, but Tree World, which was already on a downward spiral, completely crashed with the emergence of Warlord, and now it was a game facing server shutdown with a market share of less than 0.01%.

“Haha… it was still fun, though. The bugs that appeared with each update became fun in their own way as I started to enjoy them as content. I guess you could call it enlightenment… more than anything, I couldn’t leave easily because of the memories I had built up in the game.”

Alisa said with a wistful expression.

In fact, unlike most people who followed the trend, she had moved to Warlord from other games very late.

“But even the biggest cities became empty, and now they say they’re closing the last remaining server soon… so I came here. The more I play, the more I realize how amazing Warlord is. I had heard about it beforehand, but I never imagined it would be this high quality… the competition is a bit scary, but it’s still a good game.”

“It certainly is.”

Aile also agreed with her words.

New World, Armenia, East Horn, and more.

Many virtual reality games that were well-received and enjoyed immense popularity all collapsed in the face of Warlord’s emergence.

With overwhelming gameplay and completeness that couldn’t be compared to anything before, the users and even the rankers of each game abandoned everything and moved to Warlord.

As a result, the competition became several times fiercer, and at the same time, the buzz and scale also increased accordingly, and the game market grew dozens of times.

“Then you must have been a ranker in Tree World?”

“I did manage to get into the rankings as a Priest. Nothing too impressive, though.”

‘As expected…….’

As expected, Alisa’s extraordinary skills were no coincidence.

Being listed in the official rankings as a Priest, a specialized healer class in Tree World, meant she was a very skilled player.

A player’s skill in virtual reality games usually transcends individual games, and if someone was skilled in another game, they were likely to be the same in Warlord.

The current Warlord rankers were mostly those who had occupied the top ranks in other games in the past, so it could be confidently asserted that there was a correlation.

“What about you, Aile? I bet you were a famous ranker in another game.”

“No, Warlord is my first virtual reality game.”

Aile answered truthfully.

But Alisa naturally burst into laughter, not believing him.

“Come on, no way.”

“I’m serious. Not being able to play virtual reality games because of circumstances has been the biggest regret in my life.”

“Really? That’s surprising.”

Alisa said, sounding amazed.

Of course, she only reacted that way outwardly; she still didn’t believe Aile’s words at all.

Alisa’s discerning eye, honed as a ranker in another game, was different from that of unskilled users, and she could gauge his skills just from the scene of him taking down Tragul.

But seeing that Aile didn’t want to reveal it, she assumed he had some story behind it and silently moved on.

It was her way of being considerate, as there was no point in prying further in a situation where nothing would change even if she asked more.

“So, what are you planning to do now?”

“I need to get out of here, in case those guys who died decide to do something.”

Even in online games played through a computer, once you’ve been trolled, you can get so worked up that you can’t focus on anything else.

There was no need to explain further what would happen if you were PKed [Player Killed] in a virtual reality game that you directly experienced, and received a two-day connection penalty.

You could ask a friend to take revenge, or even commission a third-party high-level mercenary.

Moreover, since at least one of the seven users he killed was likely to be affiliated with a guild, staying here for long was not a good idea in many ways.

“I got a quest item from Tragul, so I’m planning to head towards Queens Blonde.”

“Oh? I’m going that way too; we have the same destination.”

Alisa said, clapping her hands.

The reason why she, as a healer, had come here alone without any party members was that she had inevitably come to complete a quest, and the completion area for that quest was Queens Blonde.

“Then, would you like to go together?”

She suggested joining her with a bright expression.

But Aile shook his head with a self-deprecating smile.

“I belong to the Order of Light.”

“Oh, really?”

Alisa reacted as if she hadn’t expected that.

But that was it; she still looked like she was waiting for his answer.

Puzzled, Aile asked her instead.

“…Does it not matter to you that I belong to the Order?”

“Hmm, is that supposed to be a problem? I’m Catholic. I think what matters isn’t what religion you believe in, but what kind of person you are.”

Aile was silent for a moment at her words.

He was confused as to whether she didn’t properly understand the system of Ru and his followers, or whether she could say that even knowing it.

But regardless of which it was, it didn’t seem like her offer would suddenly be withdrawn.

Then, all that was left was his choice. As he had felt in the previous raid and fight, the existence of a healer was a great help.

Especially a healer who was a former ranker from another game and had the combat skills to take on two melee class users alone. Parties and guilds would be clamoring to recruit such a talent, even offering more money or a better distribution ratio.

But even so, Aile instead set a condition.

“I don’t mind for a short while, but I have circumstances that make it impossible for a long time.”

Aile would now begin working to overtake the rankers in earnest, and he didn’t have the luxury to take it easy.

Of course, he didn’t think that Alisa, being a former ranker, would fall behind to the point of being a nuisance.

But no matter how good she was, it would be impossible for even her to keep up with his routine, which would now be close to being a grind.

“Is that so? It’s a shame, but that’s okay.”

Alisa nodded and replied.

She didn’t seem offended even though Aile didn’t reveal the detailed reason.

She held out her hand, and Aile also stuck the dismantling knife he was holding into the monster’s corpse before extending his hand to meet hers.

“It’s only for a short while, but please take care of me.”

“I look forward to working with you too.”