CHAPTER 9

While they helped me, they blamed the Chief and my parents for everything they did as if nothing had happened.

It's not funny that they pretend to be clean and don't care.

Apart from being resentful of Chief and my parents, the villagers' appearance overlapped with each other.

I could still hear the voice that was shouting that they were ruining the village.

It was more than the shady evil of the villagers, the equal hostility flowing out of the gate was more pleasing.

I barely chewed it out, holding back my nausea.

"It's hard to get rid of the land where these people live. Please take care of me later with something better."

"I will."

Meyer said so and then drove back ahead.

The chief, who came to stay in his position, breathed a sigh of relief.

However, the villagers' eyes were still keen on him.

It must feel like guilds and anything, and various supports came and disappeared.

This won't make a big difference, but the chief and my parents won't be able to go around naming loud voices like they used to.

'I like the name of the Black Knights too. In the first round, Fabian was still before fame, and I joined the expedition, so I ignored the expedition level, saying he was worth knowing.'

Jun's parents laughed at Fabian, saying, 'It's clear that he's a swindler, seeing him take a supporting wizard like you.'

After that, Fabian's expedition team made its name known as the warriors, they came to the stronghold belatedly.

How hard it must have been to take it off again!

'But you can't dare come to the Black Knights' stronghold.'

Thinking about it made me feel comfortable and at ease.

Thanks to this, I was able to leave the village more refreshed than the first round.

That alone made me feel better.

***

Having taken a breather, I launched the party window.

'I was so busy that I didn't have time to go into details.'

I had a special ability due to game systemization.

It was the ability to call up game interfaces including status windows.

This allowed me to check not only my level or the level of the party member, but also the remaining experience of the opponent, the magic delay time, the type of supporting magic received, and the remaining time.

I'm able to know information that others don't know.

In short, it was a scam.

I checked my information first.

Level 23.

In the beginning, it was 20 levels, but it seems to have been picked up by the Black Knights Division.

'Well, that dungeon level was level 35, so…'

I really almost died. I still patted the back of my neck.

Although I joined the team in the middle, I gained more experience than in the first round, perhaps thanks to the fact that the Black Knights Group dried up the seeds of the remaining beasts in the amount of experience gained compared to the first round.

'He was at level 21.'

Fabian, who was struggling with the level 35 dungeon, only killed the key beast with a focus on clear.

I was so sorry for the experience I could get from the rest of the beast.

But I couldn't help it.

The dungeon is limited in number. But because of me who was in the dungeon in advance, the Fabian expedition had to enter the dungeon except for one of its main players.

A level 20 supporting wizard. Even in the first round, it was useless to scan the dungeon with a cumbersome being who couldn't use their skills properly.

And it took them by the ankles.

It was the starting point for Fabian expedition members to see me with bad eyes.

Maybe it was the wrong button from then on.

"It's surprising to see an unconventional appointment to make a level 20 vice commander…"

At first, I thought Meyer was willing to offer me a position as vice commander because he didn't know my level.

Usually, it is difficult to understand one's own level, let alone others' level.

How surprised I was so surprised to learn that you have to use a level meter to learn your level!

Anyway, I hinted that Meyer might not know my level. There may be no difference between level 20 and 40 in his eyes.

However, Meyer seemed to have nothing to do with it. Rather…

It was ridiculous to think again.

But it wasn't wrong.

'Black Knight Meyer Knox… Level 80. Right. Meyer and my level average is 50….'

Although the game's highest level is 99, it was not easy to actually get the highest level.

It's worth doing when it's a game, and in this world, it's the realm of God.

'My ultimate skills save people. It's an equivalent exchange, but it's not normal.'

The minimum condition for breaking the Demon King in the first round is an average level of 60 expedition members.

Fabian's level was less than 65 at the time. I was 62.

Even considering that he worked hard to level up, Meyer Knox, who was level 80 from the start, was a real dog scam.

'Well, by this point, he must have been the final boss…'

After a blow from Meyer's level, I looked at his detailed abilities with trembling eyes.

As the strongest prosecutor, both physical attack and physical defense were high, and the magic attack power was no joke as he was the core of the Demon King in the first place.

'Magic defense is a little weak… but it's only relative to other abilities, and even this is higher than other people. What's this, you scoundrel…! That's why all my assassination attempts failed in the first round!'

It was weird that I couldn't break up if I was at that level and that stat.

That's unfair. If I knew this, I would have worked hard before I went to bed!

From organizing information about the difficulty level of the dungeon that Meyer might not be able to do, to knowingly approaching the Black Knights to leak information about it…

All my efforts felt futile.

'So now that Nova has joined the Black Knights…'

Nova Feltum.

He was younger than me, but he was the shield of the Black Knights wearing a big axe.

Nova, the rising star of the Black Knights, was strangely kind and friendly to me. Like I was his sister or something.

I was a little sorry to use that kid to leak information to Meyer, but…

'In the end, he broke the dungeon with Meyer and lapped up and returned…'

It reminded me of the bright and innocent smile that thanked me, saying that I had improved his position in the Black Knights.

Of course, even if Nova was grateful, there remained a guilty conscience. It's not like I'm going anywhere because I took advantage of him.

I scattered the list of party members to the end, but I didn't find Nova Feltum's name.

'I guess you haven't joined yet. I'll be nice to you when I see you later.'

Maybe it's because Nova thinks of me as an older sister, but I also care about Nova inside.

I also have a half-brother, but they're almost completely different…

Nova, who is better to me, was more emotionally close.

"What are you so vacant about?"

Meyer blurted out. I must have been suspicious as I mumbled to the air for a long time.

That's why I look at the status window when I'm alone. I was careless for a while because riding a horse was boring.

"Y-You know, nothing."

"That's fresh."

Meyer gave a big smile. Then he lifted his head and looked northeast.

"We'll be there soon."

I followed Meyer's gaze and saw a castle as high as the sky, buried far away in the mountains.

Duchy of Nokentoria. It was Meyer's stronghold.

***

The castle was a strategic stronghold in the forest. The sun rarely fell through the draped trees.

After climbing the mountain for a long time, we arrived at the castle.

A gatekeeper who found the expedition flag blew a trumpet to announce Meyer's return.

"Your Grace is back!"

The tightly closed gate opened, and the party strode to the castle.

This is my first time visiting the castle in Nokentoria. In the first place, there was no work to stop at the stronghold of other expeditions.

I have been to the Imperial Palace at the performance report meeting, the atmosphere of Nokentoria Castle was different.

It was more solemn and quiet, like a monastery.

'It's amazing that we already have a base, but it's a castle because he's the Grand Duke… Well. Since the base is around this point, I will organize the expedition to the third army.'

I put out my tongue.

When I was in the Fabian expedition in the first round, he had a stronghold only after the middle of the process. Even that was small.

When the temple was about to be built, it became quite large and had a small castle as its base, but it was not comparable to this castle.

In the first round, there were many voices envious of Meyer Knox's Nokentoria Castle.

'But everyone believed that Fabian would defeat the Demon King and become the Emperor. After defeating only the Demon King, the Imperial Palace becomes your base….'

At that time, everyone smiled and dreamed of a happy future.

I was jokingly saying, but everyone firmly believed that such a future would come true someday.

'But now I feel like I'm starting with a cheat key.'