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Proof-reader: Girondono

[You have defeated the Leader of the Hetaro Bandits, Hetaro . ]

“Hoo, I’m finally done . ”

Soo Hyuk looked at the notification as he collected the drops, then opened his quest window .

[Bandits on the Kerin Plains]

On the Kerin Plains, where many merchants crossed, bandits had appeared . Currently, the bandits are causing the merchants considerable damage . Go to the Kerin Plains and eliminate the bandits .

[Hetaro Bandits: 20 / 20 ]

[Hetaro: 1 / 1 ]

[Quest Reward: 500 Gold]

Looking at the completed quest, a satisfied smile crept upon his face .

“Archmage’s Subspace . ”

[Warping to the Archmage’s Subspace . ]

The moment he arrived in the chamber, he headed straight for the magic circle and teleported to Hadrac . As he walked out of the warp gate, Soo Hyuk checked the time .

‘He should’ve arrived there by now . ’

The time now was just past 2 o’clock . By now, Romian should’ve made his way to his hideout in Hadrac .

‘Let’s visit him first . ’

Soo Hyuk opened his inventory as he started walking towards the suburb regions, which was located in the northern section of Hadrac . He then took out the map .

‘It’s complicated . ’

Soo Hyuk couldn’t help but frown when he opened the map . It was way too complicated .

‘Well, that’s probably why he chose that place . ’

Romian’s hideout looked difficult to get to even with the map . At the same time, it was an ideal location for a hideout . And so, Soo Hyuk managed to arrive at the suburban area with the map and started making his way to the hideout slowly .

‘Is it here?’

Soo Hyuk, who had been walking for a while, stopped in place . He checked the red dot on the map, then the buildings in front of and around him .

‘I think it’s here . ’

He had probably arrived at his destination .

Tock . Tock .

Soo Hyuk knocked after storing the map back in his inventory . However, there was no answer as time passed by .

No reaction at all .

“Is he still not here yet?”

It was at that moment .

Creak…

The door opened, then Soo Hyuk could see Romian, who was wearing a worried expression .

“Soo Hyuk-nim? You’re already here…”

Romian greeted Soo Hyuk with the same worried expression .

“Ah, please come in first . ”

With the sudden thought, Romian hurriedly guided Soo Hyuk into his hideout .

“Henkins had something to do so he’s went out for a bit . But why are you here… Did something happen?”

Romian asked as he sat down . At Romian’s question, Soo Hyuk opened his inventory and replied to his question .

“I have the key . ”

Soo Hyuk said as he held out the key .

“The key?”

Romain stared at the key in his palm as he exclaimed disbelievingly . However, he the cocked his head in confusion and stare back at Soo Hyuk .

‘Ah, right . ’

Soo Hyuk hurriedly continued at Romian’s confused gaze .

“This is the key that came out of the red marble . This should be the real key . ”

Now that he thought about it, Romian only knew about the red marble, and not the true form of the key . No, he would think that the red marble itself was the key .

“Ah, really?”

At Soo Hyuk’s explanation, Romian looked back at the key as he exclaimed in realisation this time . He then looked up at Soo Hyuk with a doubtful face .

[You have completed the quest ‘The Secret Cave’ . ]

The quest notification appeared at that moment .

“…”

But, Soo Hyuk couldn’t help but be confused even though he had completed the quest . The reason was because of Romian’s suspicion in his expression . Why was he wearing that face even though he had brought him the key?

“…This is truly difficult . ”

Romian opened his mouth, seemingly noticing Soo Hyuk’s confusion . Meanwhile, Soo Hyuk got a bad feeling from the first word he spoke .

“First, I have to apologise . ”

Romian apologised with a slight bow .

“I have underestimated Soo Hyuk-nim’s ability . I didn’t expect that you would be able to bring the key this fast . ”

Truthfully, Romian hadn’t expected that Soo Hyuk would be able to bring the key this soon .

“As I mentioned before, Celta’s cave contains many traps . ”

Phantom Thief Celta’s Secret Cave had countless traps, and this fact didn’t change even if one possessed the key .

“The problem is that my leg hasn’t healed properly yet…”

Romian wasn’t capable of walking normally yet, and to head to the secret cave while injured was equivalent to suicide .

“And I also have other things to prepare . ”

Romian added .

“That means…”

Soo Hyuk stared at Romian as his voice faded away . At Soo Hyuk’s gaze, Romian quickly continued,

“So our departure will take some time . One week at least…”

[Preparation Time]

Romian hadn’t expected that you would bring back the key so quickly . He thought that you would’ve taken at least one week . Also, Romian himself needs one week, as his body is still injured and he needs to prepare for the exploration . Find Romian again after one week!

[Key to Phantom Thief Celta’s Secret Cave: 1 / 1 ]

[Time Left: 7 days ]

[Quest Reward: Quest – Cave Exploration]

As Romian’s voice trailed away and disappeared, a quest appeared in front of Soo Hyuk . Looking at the quest, Soo Hyuk wore a regretful expression .

“I understand . ”

Soo Hyuk replied as he stored the key in his inventory .

“Then I’ll come again after one week . ”

He then stood up from his seat .

“I’m sorry . ”

“No, it’s fine . ”

With a goodbye, Soo Hyuk left Romian’s hideout . Then with a deep sigh, he retraced his steps back to the Mercenary Agency . The reason he was going back to the agency was because he had to complete his ‘Bandits on the Kerin Plains’ .

‘When will the promotion appear again?’

After achieving C-rank, he had completed many missions, but the promotion notifications hadn’t appeared once . Exactly how much more missions did he have to do to be promoted?

‘I wish that this quest is the last one . ’

While thinking about his promotion to B-rank, Soo Hyuk was able to arrive at the Mercenary Agency after 20 minutes of walking .

“Here!”

Soo Hyuk climbed up to the 2nd floor and handed his token to the NPC on the counter . After the NPC received his token, a notification appeared in his eyes .

[You have completed the quest ‘Bandits on the Kerin Plains’ . ]

[You now have the qualifications to be promoted . ]

[You can now attempt a promotion quest . ]

“…!”

Soo Hyuk’s widened to their limit as he read the notification .

‘It’s here!’

He could now be promoted .

‘Huh . ’

Who would think his fantasies would come true?

“Here is your token . ”

While Soo Hyuk was staring absentmindedly at the notice, the NPC had brought back his token with the rewards for the mission .

“Ah, yes . ”

Snapping out of his thoughts, Soo Hyuk hastily grabbed his token and rewards, then raced down the stairs to line up at a line on the 1st floor .

“Next please!”

His turn came a few minutes later, and as Soo Hyuk sat down in front of the counter, the NPC asked,

“What can I do for you?”

“I want to see the promotion missions . ”

Soo Hyuk replied as he held out his Mercenary Token .

“Hmm?”

The NPC let out a flustered sound as he received the token . Noticing the NPC’s reaction, Soo Hyuk stared curiously at the NPC .

‘What’s going on?’

Why was the NPC so agitated?

“H-here it is…”

Noticing Soo Hyuk’s gaze, the NPC held out the mission list while still exuding agitation . Soo Hyuk looked at the NPC suspiciously, before looking down to check the list .

‘A linked quest that isn’t tedious . ’

For B-rank promotion missions, they were always 100% guaranteed to be linked quests . Right now, Soo Hyuk wanted a quest that wasn’t tedious and didn’t take long, even at the cost of higher difficulty .

‘Oh!’

A few moments later, Soo Hyuk discovered a decent mission on thelist .

-Unusual Ogres Conditions – Ogres: 30, Twin Head Ogres: 2

‘There’s a hunting quest?’

The previous pages he had looked through were dominated by item and request missions, but the ‘Unusual Orcs’ mission required only hunting .

‘That was lucky . ’

Through the posts on the official Pangea homepage, Soo Hyuk had found out that pure hunting promotions quests were almost non-existent on the lists . In other words, he had been really lucky this time .

‘Let’s go with this . ’

Soo Hyuk also knew one more piece of information . That a linked pure hunting quest was always followed by another hunting quest . It wasn’t false . Not one or two, but tens of lucky people had posted about this . Having made his decision, Soo Hyuk said to the NPC while handing back the mission catalogue .

“I will do this mission . ”

[You have selected the ‘Unusual Ogres’ quest . ]

* * *

Lactone hurriedly moved his feet, one by one .

‘I have to report quickly . ’

He had to report to his superiors .

‘The Drak Faction could snatch him first . ’

Tock . Tock .

“It’s Lactone!”

Arrving at his destination, Lactone banged on the door while shouting breathlessly .

“Come in . ”

When the voice inside called out, Lactone immediately opened the door and walked inside . Then Lactone could see the room’s owner, Jackal, rising from his bed .

“What is it?”

Jackal asked Lactone with a yawn .

“I have something to report . ”

“Report?”

“Report? Yes, there’s a mercenary about to be a B-rank . He doesn’t have a guild . ”

Jackal frowned heavily at Lactone’s words .

“Did you just wake me from my sleep just because of that?”

Maybe for S-rank, but making such a ruckus because of a future B-rank? Even if that person wasn’t in a guild, Jackal still couldn’t understand .

“Well, it’s 3 days . ”

But expecting Jackal’s reaction, Lactone continued with his report .

“3 days?”

Jackal couldn’t help but ask back .

“What 3 days?”

“It’s only been 3 days since he registered as a mercenary . ”

Jackal widened his eyes at Lactone report .

“What? 3 days? 3 days today? Since he registered?”

Jackal continuously fired question mark after question mark at Lactone with widened eyes .

“But B-rank today?”

“…Yes . ”

Lactone replied with a nod at Jackal’s question .

Jackal fell in thought . Of course, his state didn’t last long .

“Is it real?”

Jackal asked Lactone, snapping out of his thoughts . B-rank in three days? No guild? He couldn’t believe it .

“Yes, I personally gave him the mission list . ”

Lactone replied confidently in response . If others had told him, he wouldn’t have believed it either, but he had personally given him the mission list .

“Are you sure he has no guild?”

“Yes, I’m sure . ”

At Lactone’s reply, Jackal climbed down from his bed, then asked Lactone again .

“Which mission?”

“Ogre hunting . ”

“Prepare . I will see the master . ”

“Yes . ”

Jackal exited the room together with Lactone . Then Lactone walked down the right passage while Jackal took the right,

‘B-rank in 3 days…’

Jackal thought,

‘A fine ware . It’s been a while . ’