Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 69

69. Half the Battle (2)

“The reaction is incredible…”

Ail, staring at his personal screen, was sweating profusely.

The video he had personally uploaded was exploding with views, and community sites were buzzing.

The reaction was clearly better than Ail had anticipated.

Competition was still fierce, but the top guilds had reached a stalemate, and the rankings of the top players were fixed. There were no noticeable rookies, and a skilled player with a novel concept appeared, attracting the attention of many who were thirsty for fresh content.

Skill, concept, luck, and timing all aligned perfectly.

‘If no one recognized me, I guess my acting is passable.’

Ail had faithfully played the role of the eerie Inquisitor that people imagined while filming this video.

Chanting prayers while slaughtering monsters, a heartless and tearless fanatic.

It wasn’t just a concept play in the game; he had to look like a fanatic who fiercely believed in Ru.

And as a result, the reaction was explosive.

Fortunately, he wasn’t confident in his acting, so he adopted a taciturn concept, which hid quite a few awkward parts.

‘I’m glad I covered my face too.’

Ail used the screen distortion function built into Warlord’s replay recording system to make his face invisible in the video.

Unlike simple mosaics overlaid on the screen, this function made it impossible to recognize the face while still looking relatively natural, so he could hide his identity without degrading the quality of the video.

Furthermore, Ail deliberately concealed some of his important skills.

He was trying to gain fame, but if he recklessly revealed his Apostle-only skills or Flash Cut, his strategies could be figured out by opponents he faced for the first time.

Even famous players who appeared in various media often tried to hide some of their key skills, and Ail was no exception.

However, that didn’t mean he held back or didn’t give it his all.

He invested in doping potions as much as possible and hunted with even more dedication.

Above all, the video Ail uploaded was not just a complete recording, but an edited version with skips and viewpoint changes.

This kind of highlight reel naturally made him look even more skilled than he actually was, and with Ail’s already outstanding skills combined with editing, he was able to capture people’s attention at a glance.

‘I never thought that making videos as a hobby would be used like this.’

Ail had been among the top-ranked players in various online games while attending school.

When he first achieved the top rank in the arena season in his first game as a ranked player, he started video editing by creating a PVP [Player versus Player] highlight video to commemorate it.

Since then, he had gained a decent fan base thanks to his sharp game sense and flashy plays, and he had developed some skills in video editing, so he didn’t feel any difficulty in creating his current work.

Of course, it was still at an amateur level, so he was planning to hire an expert for the next video.

‘I wasn’t expecting much from WarTube content itself… but the income will be considerable.’

He had just created the channel and uploaded only one video, but the rapidly increasing number of views was unusual.

Even if he only uploaded videos occasionally, if the number of views remained at this level, the advertising revenue alone would be substantial.

He never expected to get such a successful response so quickly.

[‘Light’s Inquisitor, Ru’ is sponsoring you.]

[Favor of the Goddess +1.35% (Currently 58.42%)]

[Light Church Contribution +700]

[Sponsored item has been 지급되었습니다 [Delivered].]

[Holy Water (Normal) x 5]

“Huh…?”

Ail was surprised by the sudden messages and stared blankly.

He had received the most contribution points he had ever received, and he had received direct item sponsorship for the first time.

Holy Water was a very useful consumable item that could only be obtained from the Light Church, but Ail had not yet acquired it because the contribution points required were quite burdensome.

He was thinking of buying one, but he unexpectedly received five for free, which was a stroke of luck.

‘Seeing how generous she’s becoming lately, is she starting to gather influence in earnest again…?’

She had just woken up from her slumber and was having trouble gathering influence due to the backlash from creating an Apostle, but she seemed to be different in many ways from the beginning.

[‘Light’s Inquisitor, Ru’ is looking at you with a pleased expression.]

Ru seemed very satisfied with Ail’s performance.

Many users were trying to find out how to join the church or the pros and cons of exclusive jobs, even out of simple curiosity, so it was naturally welcome from her point of view, who wanted to expand the church’s power.

The more Ail, who had openly adopted the fanatic concept, became a famous user and made a name for himself, the more people’s interest in the Light Church would inevitably increase.

Ail didn’t know if this issue had a positive effect on the church to the extent that it could be felt quickly from the perspective of divinity, but it seemed certain that she had a way to indirectly find out the public opinion or reaction outside of Warlord.

‘I don’t know if she can directly look into the outside internet, or if she’s just eavesdropping on the conversations of Warlord users…’

[‘Light’s Inquisitor, Ru’ is complaining to you!]

“Um…?”

While Ail was thinking about something else, Ru’s new message appeared.

Ail, who was quite embarrassed by the sudden complaint from a pleased expression, read the text additionally displayed below the message.

‘Disappointed in the insincere attitude…?’

It meant that she was disappointed in the lukewarm reaction because he didn’t know how to be grateful and took the goddess’s grace for granted.

It was like asking him to prostrate himself and receive it, and Ail smiled and offered a sincere prayer of gratitude.

Even if she was an existence in the game, she was still the benefactor who had saved him from being trapped in an error, and he had a genuine sense of gratitude.

[‘Light’s Inquisitor, Ru’ turns her head away with a sulky expression.]

[The goddess’s heart is not something that can be easily turned back!]

‘Did I make a mistake…?’

Ail narrowed his eyes slightly and pondered inwardly.

He thought she would be easily appeased, but an unexpected reaction came back.

Perhaps he was too complacent because he was the only Apostle… he thought.

[You have been sponsored with contribution points.]

[Light Church Contribution +30]

‘She’s just being difficult, even though she’s going to do this anyway.’

Ail barely managed to hold back the laughter that was about to leak out.

“Ahem, good.”

Ail, who had finished praying and got up, checked his status window.

As a result of hunting while raiding the bandit camp, Ail succeeded in leveling up and finally reached level 30.

Even by the standards of the average user, it was the point at which he completely shed the label of a clueless beginner, and it was also the time to acquire the third skill.

However, Ail’s skill slot was not yet filled.

He had obtained three skill books by catching the bosses of the bandit camp, but none of them had useful skills.

Both in terms of grade and performance, they were far from Ail’s standards.

It was impossible for Ail to compromise and learn mediocre skills, so he gave up without learning all three skills.

‘First of all, I need to get a new skill.’

Whether to continue catching boss monsters here to obtain skill books, or to move to another place for higher-probability, higher-level skill books.

Ail pondered between the two options for a while.

Caw caw!

At that time, a white crow flew low through the trees and approached Ail.

The crow, flapping its wings, landed on his arm and held up one leg with parchment tied to it.

Then a smile spread across Ail’s face.

“A messenger from the White Forest…”

* * *

“You said you’d kill him soon, but when are you going to do it? Because you let him run wild, I was retaliated against and killed!”

Beken shouted in an agitated voice.

However, a calm voice, in contrast to his, was heard from the phone in his hand.

“I apologize for that. The assassination target’s abilities were beyond our expectations.”

Gane, the branch manager of Amaranth’s Esmair branch, replied.

It was clear that they were at fault for the delay due to the target’s skill exceeding the average range, and for failing to prevent the client from being killed.

However, the client who was killed seemed unable to accept that explanation and apology.

“You incompetent bastards! You call yourselves the best bounty guild in Warlord, but you can’t even catch a low-level player? I paid the same amount of money twice!”

Beken, his face red, shouted at the top of his lungs.

However, Gane seemed unaffected by his abuse, and his tone was still mechanically calm. “We have no intention of denying our mistakes. The teams that were originally commissioned have withdrawn, and we were going to return the second commission fee and send a new elite team… ‘were going to.’ That’s how it was supposed to be.”

“Were going to?”

“He was related to the Nightmare Guild.”

“What?”

Even Beken paused for a moment at the word Nightmare.

But he soon shook his head and desperately began to deny it.

“N-No! That can’t be! That’s nonsense!”

The top 6 guilds.

Even White Fang, a mid-sized guild that was quite well-known in the area, was a super-giant guild that he couldn’t even dare to look up to.

He vehemently denied the reality in his head, saying that there was no way Ail could be related to such a big shot, and that he was just a fledgling who was going crazy for a moment of pride.

At that time, Gane’s words pulled him out of the chaotic vortex he was colliding with.

“Of course, it didn’t seem like they knew each other. It’s certain that he didn’t have a deep cooperative relationship with Nightmare. Otherwise, there’s no way we could have gotten away with this unscathed.”

“T-That’s right! Then when did he…”

“But since a member of Nightmare has stepped in directly, nothing will change. We’re going to withdraw from this.”

“Wait… what?”

Beken, who had been delighted, opened his mouth in disbelief.

“You haven’t forgotten the agreement we made before the contract, have you? The commission is automatically canceled if it’s related to the top 6 guilds. But we’ll return all the commission fee except for the penalty.”

“W-What nonsense are you talking about! You’re backing down because of just one guild member from Nightmare? I can give you several times more money, so make sure you finish that bastard off!!”

Beken, who was jumping up and down, shouted like crazy.

He was making such a fuss that his saliva-spraying mouth seemed to devour the receiver.

But Gane answered without batting an eye. “Hey, can I give you a piece of advice? This industry is a business with high risks. If you give us money, we’ll go around stirring things up for the client. Sometimes, if you’re unlucky enough to get involved with a guild member from a large guild, the damage is enormous and it’s a pain in the ass to clean up. Do you know what happens if you accidentally run into a ‘big shot’ of a different class? A guild that was clearly fine until yesterday disappears in the blink of an eye. Without a trace.”

Unlike the previous moment when he had been quietly listening to the complaints, Beken involuntarily shut his mouth at his changed tone.

“But how was Amaranth able to create branches throughout Warlord and survive safely for a year? We protected the most important thing. We don’t even go near the territory of the top 6 guilds. No matter how small the connection is. Do you understand now?”

“That’s ridiculous…!”

“There’s nothing more to say. You’d better find another guild if you want to take on this job. With morons who can’t tell the difference between right and wrong.”

Click!

The call was disconnected.

Beken’s arm, which had stopped in place as if he had been turned to stone by petrification, trembled.

His older brother, the guild master of White Fang, coldly refused his request, citing the guild’s circumstances, and even Amaranth, who was said to be the best in the Warlord bounty field, refused his request.

It was the first time this had happened to Beken, who had been living well with his arrogance.

And he finally realized that he couldn’t do anything to Ail, who had killed him.

Beken couldn’t hold back his boiling anger and exploded.

“Aaaaaaah!”