The Failure Marquis Is A Genius [EN]: Chapter 126

16. Disguise: The Sentimental Thug

As I fiddled with the Diamond-tier request form, the middle-aged man watching me jumped up in alarm, trying to stop me.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?”

“Just what it looks like.”

“Why is a Bronze-tier adventurer sniffing around a Diamond-tier request?”

“It’s just ten Owlbears, right? I think I can handle it.”

My consistently nonchalant attitude seemed to frustrate the man, who thumped his chest.

“Have you even seen an Owlbear in person?”

Have I seen an Owlbear in person, you ask…

In the North, we hunted Owlbears for fun. There were so many that we’d bag three every time we went on patrol.

Beside me, Campbell looked sick, like he was having PTSD. Come to think of it, this guy almost died after falling into an Owlbear habitat.

I even tasted Owlbear dung. That nauseating flavor… I’ll stop there.

“Of course, you haven’t. I get it. You want to take on a high-level request to score big points. I’ve seen a lot of guys like you.”

The middle-aged man continued.

“I’ve never seen any of those reckless adventurers survive long. Value your life. I’m saying this because you remind me of my son.”

“Excuse me, but who are you?”

I asked, since he’d been meddling for a while now.

“Ah! I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Bron. A seasoned adventurer with fifteen years of experience. You can call me senior.”

He reeked of *kkondae* [a Korean term for an older person who is condescending or preachy] energy.

I glanced at Campbell, who just shrugged.

Still, his rambling wasn’t entirely useless, so I decided to humor him for a bit.

“What’s your rank, by the way?”

“Ahem! I’m Silver!”

“Fifteen years and… Silver?”

Was my question too blunt?

Bron’s face turned red.

“Ahem! Are you looking down on Silver?”

“Not at all, but… isn’t that a bit low for the amount of time you’ve been at it?”

“Tons of adventurers die before they even get out of Bronze. In this business, it’s not the strong who survive, but the ones who survive who are strong.”

Seeming uncomfortable with the constant mentions of his rank, Bron quickly changed the subject.

“Anyway, stay away from Diamond-tier requests. Bronzes can only take Bronze-tier requests, and Silvers can only take Silver-tier requests. That’s the rule of this world.”

I had never heard of such a rule.

Not really trusting what Bron *ajusshi* [a Korean term for middle-aged man] said, I asked a guild employee again.

The answer I got was:

“Yes, that’s correct. Adventurers can only undertake requests that match their rank. This is to prevent accidents that may occur from performing requests beyond their capabilities.”

“Are there any exceptions?”

“There are no exceptions, but if you form a party with an adventurer of a higher rank than yourself, you can undertake a request one rank higher. In Khan’s case, you would be able to undertake Silver-tier requests.”

So, Bron *ajusshi* was right after all.

Is this what fifteen years of Silver experience gets you?

Oh, wait, it’s fifteen years. My bad.

I went back to the bulletin board and scanned the requests.

-Silver-tier Requests-

[Slay Five Orcs] 15 points

[Exterminate the Ratman Tribe] 30 points

[Collect Thirty Boar Tusks] 20 points

[Explore the Entrance to the Forest of Demonic Beasts] 50 points

Silver requests definitely offered more points than Bronze requests. If possible, I wanted to skip the Bronze requests and start with Silver requests.

To do that, I needed at least one Silver-tier adventurer.

My and Campbell’s gazes naturally turned to Bron *ajusshi*.

He was standing with his arms crossed, clearly sulking.

He seemed upset that we didn’t trust him and went to ask at the counter.

“Ahem! What is it now? I’m busy, so make it quick.”

This *ajusshi* was seriously sulking.

“Senior.”

“…What did you just call me?”

“I called you senior. As a newbie adventurer, what else should I call someone with fifteen years of experience in this business other than senior?”

“Heh, hahaha!! That’s right. That’s right. Yes, our junior! What else are you curious about! Ask me anything!”

What a simple guy.

But he didn’t seem like a bad person.

“It’s not a question. We want to take on a request, and we’d like to take on a Silver-tier request. Would you be willing to party up with us?”

“Hmm…”

Bron scratched his chin.

He looked troubled.

“There’s a huge difference between Bronze and Silver. It’s not a problem to take you along, but I’d feel bad if you got killed or injured.”

“*Ajusshi*, don’t worry about that. Me and the vice-captain… Khan are super strong.”

“Everyone says they’re strong. Showing it with your skills is another matter.”

“Ugh, this frustrating *ajusshi*. So…”

I waved my hand to stop Campbell.

I realized what Bron truly wanted.

This wasn’t the Isekai; it was a signal from my experience living on Earth.

I took out a money pouch from my subspace pocket, subtly approached Bron, and shook his hand.

“Is there really nothing we can do?”

Bron felt the heavy weight as he shook my hand, and a smile crept onto his face.

“Hahaha!! Alright! It might be a bit dangerous, but if the invincible Bron is here, there’s nothing we can’t do. Just trust me and follow along! My juniors.”

Campbell looked dumbfounded at Bron’s sudden change of attitude.

I winked at him.

This is what you call social skills.

Take this opportunity to learn something instead of just thinking about food.

* * *

The request we chose was to hunt five Orcs. It was worth 15 points. A decent first request.

As we headed to the area where Orcs frequently appeared, Bron’s mouth moved non-stop, like it had a motor attached.

“Where were you guys before?”

“We were in the Blue Hawk Mercenary Company.”

“Oh! You were in that famous mercenary company. That explains your confidence.”

“That’s not the only reason.”

Bron didn’t seem intimidated at all, even after hearing that me and Campbell were from the Blue Hawk Mercenary Company. Instead, he became even more boastful.

“If you were in a mercenary company, you must have spilled some blood with your swords.”

“We occasionally participated in territory wars.”

“Tsk tsk! Don’t think that monsters are the same as people just because you’ve killed some people. I’ve seen a lot of adventurers like you who came from mercenary companies.”

“Is that so?”

“Of course. People and monsters are completely different. Orcs, in particular, are much larger than humans… Ah, except for that friend over there. This is getting awkward.”

Bron *ajusshi* talked a lot, but he had a strange talent for losing points the more he spoke.

“Anyway, they’re completely different from people. You guys may be quite sturdy, but that only works against *nongnobyeong* [historical Korean peasant soldiers] who used to work on farms. You need to realize that it’s useless against monsters.”

I felt like my ears were bleeding, but I endured it for the sake of the request points. I’d have to find a different Silver than Bron when we got back.

As I listened to his chatter, we arrived at the Orc-infested area. A wooden sign that read “No Entry for Non-Adventurers” was stuck in the ground.

Whether we were lucky or not, we encountered Orcs soon after starting our patrol.

To be precise, it wasn’t luck, but my intuition, which I had honed to the point of exhaustion in the North.

I found them by the footprints on the ground, the broken branches, and the unique, fishy smell of Orc dung.

Exactly five of them.

The exact number of our target.

“Ahem, it’s time for me to step up.”

Bron *ajusshi*, who was full of swagger, waved his arms and stepped forward.

“Observe how strong a Silver-tier adventurer is, and how different they are from Bronze.”

The Orcs saw Bron *ajusshi*, and their eyes rolled back as they charged at him.

Bron performed a concise sword dance against them.

Swish! Swish!

“Oh…”

“He’s not a complete fraud.”

That was me and Campbell’s shared opinion.

Bron *ajusshi* definitely had the experience of a fifteen-year Silver.

He continued the battle against the five Orcs with ease.

Moreover, he even had the *yoyuu* [Japanese word meaning余裕, or composure/room to spare] to open his mouth and teach us during the battle.

“Unlike humans, monsters have tough tendons and hard bones. If you use flashy techniques against these guys, you’re likely to get *rekt* [slang for destroyed].”

Swish! Swish!

“Simple horizontal slash! Vertical slash! Thrust! Just remember these three. The rest of the applications are just combinations and linkages of these three techniques. Actually, you don’t even need linkages. You can easily become Silver just by being good at horizontal slashes.”

Swish!!

The last Orc’s head fell off.

Bron *ajusshi* wiped the sweat from his forehead with a proud look on his face.

“There! Did you see that? This is the difference between Bronze and Silver…”

“Watch out!! Something’s coming from behind!”

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

A huge figure burst through the bushes, shaking the ground.

The creature with blue skin and a club was a Troll.

A medium-to-large monster with grotesque regenerative abilities and brute strength.

“Ugh! A Troll? Why is a monster that should only be in the Forest of Demonic Beasts out here?”

Bron, greatly alarmed, fell on his butt.

Trolls were crazy monsters that were on a completely different level from Orcs.

Kuaaaah!!!

The Troll, recognizing us, roared and began to charge wildly.

“Damn it! How did I survive all this time just to die so futilely like this…”

Bron, struggling to get up, pointed his sword at the approaching Troll and shouted at us.

“You guys run! We can’t handle that thing. I’ll buy you some time here, so go to the guild and call for a Gold-tier or higher adventurer.”

Oh. That’s a bit touching.

Usually, in these situations, they’d abandon newbie adventurers and run away.

I thought he was just a *kkondae* who liked to teach, but he was a *ajusshi* with a sense of responsibility.

I received his favor, so I had to repay it.

I placed my hand lightly on the hilt of my sword and stepped forward.

“What are you doing! Get back! Run! Useless stubbornness won’t work against that thing!”

Kuaaaah!!

The Troll was right in front of us.

I could see the hot breath and dirty saliva it was spewing.

Bron, judging that there was no escape, despaired.

“Ah, God…”

As he called out to God, a sword strike was drawn.

Drawing a line like a comb.

Swoosh!

At the same time, a hairline crack appeared.

It wasn’t the Troll’s neck.

It was the thicker torso that split.

1÷1=2

The math I learned on Earth was wrong.

I split one guy once and got two pieces.

Blue blood poured down like a rainstorm, and the Troll’s once-massive upper and lower body were cleanly separated.

Kuang!!

The Troll was so heavy that a cloud of dust rose as soon as it hit the ground.

Bron, who had been watching all of this, stammered in confusion.

“What the…”

Thankfully, the usually talkative Bron had lost his words.

Though I think he’ll find them again eventually.

I shook off the blood and sheathed the *Cheonma Sword* [Heavenly Demon Sword].

“Horizontal slash. Is this right?”

“Uh… huh?”

“I tried to imitate the horizontal slash that senior taught me.”

After a long while, Bron finally came to his senses and nodded frantically.

“Y, yes, that’s right. That’s a horizontal slash.”

“Why are you suddenly using honorifics?”

“Ahem, I don’t know… Anyway, good job. Your horizontal slash is perfect!”

* * *

“Did you hear the news?”

“You mean the adventurer party that got promoted to Silver in the shortest amount of time?”

“I heard they’re going to be promoted to Gold soon.”

“Damn it, I wish I could get a high-speed promotion like that too.”

Recently, one adventurer party had become a hot topic in the Galanah Adventurer’s Guild.

A party that had swept all the Silver-tier requests in less than a month since its formation, and even went on to clear Gold requests.

Because of this, requests ran out for a moment, and adventurers protested as a group at the guild headquarters.

That’s how amazing and reliable this party’s request completion speed was.

Rumors spread that they had single-handedly cut down a Troll, slapped a sleeping Ogre’s butt and returned alive, but no one believed them.

Still, everyone acknowledged the skills of the Khan-Campbell-Bron duo.

“Congratulations! You already have 999 points! If you complete just one more request, you’ll soon be promoted to Gold with 1000 points.”

Our party was doing so well that I could feel the guild employee trying to be as friendly as possible.

But neither me nor Campbell were particularly impressed.

Compared to the North, where we risked our lives fighting monsters every day, this was just child’s play.

I had even met a real demon and fought with the Twilight Church several times.

“Amazing! Amazing, juniors! You’ll soon be able to reach Gold like me.”

Bron *ajusshi* had also been promoted to Gold after I was promoted to Silver.

The *ajusshi*, who had escaped Silver after fifteen years, drank alcohol and cried his eyes out, saying thank you.

It was a sight to behold, seeing a *ajusshi* with a bushy beard doing that.

Anyway, the next day, the *ajusshi* said he didn’t remember anything, but I’m sure he remembers his face being as red as a carrot all day.

“Already Gold… I remember when I was trying so hard to get from Silver to Gold like you.”

“It was a whopping fifteen years.”

“Ahem, why are you bringing that up again?”

Anyway, I only helped him as a reward for risking his life for us when the Troll appeared.

I almost threw him away and replaced him with another Gold adventurer because he couldn’t forget his tadpole days after becoming Gold and was showing off his Gold pride, but I barely managed to hold back.

“I’ll be right back.”

I headed to the back alley because I needed to pee.

For reference, the Isekai is very backward, so unless you’re a noble or a servant living with a noble, you don’t really care about toilets.

At least women use a screen to relieve themselves, but men urinate in public as a daily routine.

At first, I was disgusted by public urination, but it’s already been several years since I came to the Arnia continent, so I’ve become accustomed to this culture.

Shuaaaaa

I thought as I peed in the back alley.

Just one more request and we’ll be Gold.

Once we become Gold, we can head to the Holy Nation and find the Golden Branch.

‘By the way, Sloth is amazing too. Even though the *gyoju* [Korean word for religious leader, often used for cult leaders] wants the Golden Branch so badly, he’s deliberately not looking for it.’

Thinking of Sloth reminded me of Zion.

It hasn’t even been a month since I was separated from her, but it already feels like a year has passed.

That’s how much Zion was a big part of my life in the Arnia continent.

‘I wonder if she’s gotten much stronger.’

She definitely has become stronger.

Because she’s the protagonist of .

There’s a reason why they say protagonist buff.

My wish was for Zion to become stronger than Sloth.

As I was lost in thought.

A boy came out from the other side of the back alley.

He had a buzz cut, but he was quite handsome.

‘What’s that guy doing?’

I had seen him around the Adventurer’s Guild.

I remember his face because I wondered if even kids like that were becoming adventurers.

The boy, holding a bowl of milk in his hand, looked around anxiously.

Meow~!

The boy’s face lit up at the sound of a cat.

“Aeong-ah!”

Did he even give it a name?

The boy’s face lit up as soon as he found the cat, and his eyes welled up as soon as he saw the cat limping on one leg.

“Where did you get hurt like this again?”

The cat must have been very hungry, as it frantically lapped up the milk with its tongue.

The boy stared intently at the cat’s injured leg and gently stroked it.

At the same time, a dazzling light spread out.

Spaaaah!!

It was cozy and warm.

It was dazzlingly sacred.

My heart felt touched.

How long has it been since I’ve felt such a comfortable feeling since coming to the Arnia continent?

It was a ‘real’ feeling that was completely different from when I was tricked by Greed’s illusion in Liang.

And the system window that appeared in front of me.

[You have been exposed to the Holy Power of the Saintess.]

[Fatigue is recovered]

[Stamina recovery amount increases]

[All stats temporarily increase]

Saintess.

That was the word that caught my eye more than anything else.

That boy, no, that girl pretending to be a boy, is a Saintess? Really?

Yaoong!!

The cat, which had injured its leg, jumped powerfully into the back alley as if nothing had happened after the light spread.

She had healed the injured leg simply by touching it.

I was so dazed that I was unknowingly staring blankly at her.

Perhaps my gaze was too intense.

The girl who had fed the cat turned her head and our eyes met.

“Hiccup!!”

Her eyes widened in surprise.

Then, she grabbed the cat’s food bowl and quickly disappeared into the other side of the alley.

I unknowingly said to myself.

“What was that just now?”