Arcane Sniper

Chapter 982

『If a Descendant of a Hero does not remain active for a certain period, their authority can be passed on to someone else. In some jobs, there have already been turnovers within months. It might seem irrelevant to the Musketeer sector, but… Pyro and Chiyou? Aren’t they active? Although they are heading in different directions.』

Did it mean to strip titles granted to those in a state of long-term logout?

Listening to the penalties within the system of Middle Earth, Leeha managed to hold onto some hope.

The Holy Grail, which was aware of the turnover among the Descendants of Heroes, presumably had access to such easily ascertainable information.

『Hmm, do you want us to try and establish contact with them? Let’s first look into those who have recently experienced a turnover. But don’t get your hopes up too much. Who knows how many we can actually reach… Not all of them have the same temperament or circumstances as our lord. I wouldn’t want to hear that you were disappointed because of me.』

‘That’s true’, Leeha thought. Despite being Descendants of Heroes, most users would likely be content with mostly solo play or participating in small groups to which they belonged.

The probability of Leeha being the owner of a city or castle was low. There was also a high possibility that Chiyou or the Demon King’s Fragment’s chaos might not be related to their jobs, and above all, they might not want to get involved in such matters.

The Descendants of Heroes had distinct characteristics that set them apart from ordinary users.

‘Either they are extraordinarily skilled, or…’ they engaged in gameplay in ways so unconventional that they defied imagination. Whatever the case, it was clear that the Descendants of Heroes differed fundamentally from typical users in both disposition and characteristics.

‘If even one comes, that’ll be enough. If I’m a bit greedy, two could be…’

In any case, this presented an opportunity. It was an advantage that could allow recruiting a new ally—a remarkable one currently making waves as a high-ranking or outsider-level ally. Even if just one person stepped forward to handle matters for the “Sacred Alliance”!

Leeha and the other rankers could face battles with more peace of mind.

‘As quickly as possible. As many as possible.’

There was a reason behind Leeha’s urgency. He had exited the official website and entered the global community. One reason for his logout from the Holy Grail was precisely this.

“Title: You Build Middle Earth.”

The global community post had a staggering 7.3 million views. Given that the post had only been up for six hours in real time, many more users likely hadn’t seen it yet because they were busy playing Middle Earth.

Leeha was gritting his teeth as he saw the author of the post.

“Chiyou…”

* * *

Alexander officially opposed both the “Sacred Alliance” and the “Third Faction!”

The “Sacred Alliance” was the largest community encompassing both users and NPCs in Middle Earth.

In other words, Alexander officially defined Chiyou’s forces as a cancerous element of Middle Earth gameplay and advocated their elimination.

Alexander’s broadcast had already been uploaded as a recording on YTube. There was no way Chiyou hadn’t watched it. Now, there would be significant constraints on secretly crossing between the New Continent and the Old Continent.

Securing supplies would be challenging as well. If such circumstances unfolded, Chiyou’s forces would have to wither away.

However, she was not the type of user to wither away. The course of action Chiyou chose was a frontal assault. Leeha couldn’t help but fixate on a portion of the post Chiyou wrote.

She addressed the players bored with the mainstream narrative of the Middle Earth world.

Those frustrated by only the usual players receiving attention consistently.

Those who preferred PK between users rather than fighting NPCs in the game.

Those wanting to test the limits of what could be done in the game.

Invite them all to join them in realizing those dreams.

She argued that such an approach was also a form of gameplay and should not be condemned.

She further stated that what they were doing was merely one of the many ways Middle Earth offered to play, as evidenced by the lack of any system level sanctions.

It wasn’t merely an excuse.

She knew that refuting Alexander’s words with “We are not in league with the Demon King’s forces. We’re not bad!” was something only novices would do.

Instead, directly articulating “why we engage in such gameplay” provoked the dark desires of the Middle Earth’s player base.

Her rhetoric had enough of a politician’s luster to enchant a significant number of users.

‘Dammit, can’t they think on a larger scale…? That’s only relevant while playing on the table. If the table is flipped, everything ends! The game can’t survive in such conditions!’

Since Chiyou’s goal was to dominate the game, the current hegemony would be completely destroyed.

Given that Middle Earth was a game and the majority were ‘ordinary’ players, if a new alternative, on par with Middle Earth, emerged, the regular players would immediately desert it.

Leeha wished the users would think this far.

Of course, there might have been such insightful users. However, when more than half of the comments were inundated with subscription requests, Leeha clutched his head.

The post, which had garnered 7.3 million views, had accumulated about 600,000 comments to date.

“I can’t just leave it like this.”

And this wasn’t the only community in existence.

Surely, Chiyou would gather his followers by every means, and this needed to be stopped from the onset.

Before more than 300,000 potential vampire users or vampire collaborators emerged, even a little.

The problem was the number of users capable of doing this was extremely limited.

“Huuu…”

Leeha steadied his breathing as he organized his thoughts.

He was well aware he was one of those few users.

Some users, resentful of the spotlight on Leeha and other few users, could even lean toward Chiyou.

However, if they succumbed to the fear of such a possibility and let Chiyou roam the internet freely, it would soon become uncontrollable.

“It’s not like I am scared of worms to the point of not making soy sauce.”

Having roughly organized what he wanted to say in a memo, Leeha intertwined his fingers and adjusted his posture.

“Alright. Let’s go.”

The light from the monitor reflected in his eyes. Leeha clicked the writing button. With a ‘thud’ sound, a popup window appeared.

Login is required for this function.

“Huh? Didn’t I log in?”

Leeha hurriedly entered his ID and password. Another ‘thud’ sound accompanied a new popup window.

Unregistered ID.

“Huh? Didn’t I register?”

He still appeared somewhat clumsy.

* * *

While Leeha was writing online, a small commotion was occurring in Gaza City.

Specifically, the commotion was taking place near the Bottleneck smithy.

“Oh! It’s Luger! Luger!”

“Kidd’s there too! The Kidd who annihilated the chimeras!”

“Can you add me as a friend, possibly? I’m level 253 as well and—.”

Boom────────!

“Get lost.”

Luger fired a shot into the sky and continued walking.

The users were momentarily frozen. The delayed-fuse bomb Luger fired exploded three seconds later, raining sparks from the sky.

The fear of really being killed if they blocked his path quickly dominated the surroundings.

“Waaah!”

“R-run! Call the guards, call the guards!”

“But where did Kidd go, I just saw him?”

He might not really shoot. Or he might just as well. He might fire a warning shot. But even with such a shot, there’s a possibility of dying.

If you’d rather not get involved, fleeing is the best strategy!

All the users who were once near the 『War Mercenary』 Luger, infamous for being ‘insane’ and bearing the side nickname of ‘warmonger’, had already disappeared.

“Ha, cockroach-like fools.”

“… Even I thought you might really shoot. What do you think they believed? Avoiding mad dogs roaming the streets is only natural.”

As Luger entered the Bottleneck smithy, Kidd, who had already arrived, muttered.

“What? M-mad dog? Hey, after I paved the way for you!”

The Beard Brothers wanted to chuckle, but they had to quickly turn their heads away when Luger glared at them.

Kidd shook his head at Luger’s words.

“Who gave me a chance to settle? By the time you fired a single shot, I was already here.”

Then, he subtly opened his coat.

Revolver bullets nestled snugly in a speed loader hung densely from the inside of his coat.

As they had met by chance while he was coming to refill, the fully loaded bullets Kidd possessed indicated that he had already completed his ‘supply run’.

“Ugh, enough. Talking to you is only a headache. Old man! Bring over all types of cannonballs!”

“How’s it possible that the more he talks, the shorter his sentences get?”

“Ha-ha, it’s a compliment, a compliment! If those shells we made were useless, we’d have blown this place sky-high already!”

Even as Bottleneck shouted, Luger’s attitude remained unchanged.

The dwarf, already accustomed to this damned rogue, clicked his tongue as he suppressed his anger.

Luger grabbed the shells from Bottleneck and glanced briefly at Kidd.

Kidd was staring blankly at a corner of the forge’s floor.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you leaving?”

“There’s a mark here.”

“A mark?”

Luger paused in gathering the shells and went beside Kidd. A part of the forge’s dirt floor was scuffed, as if someone had rubbed it with a foot.

“Oh, ohhh! If you’ve got everything packed, get out there and get to work! They say all the Demon King’s Fragments have awakened; we don’t have time to dawdle here!”

“Why are you flustered, old man?”

“What? Who? Who’s flustered—?”

When Bottleneck hastily approached to push them aside, it only resulted in more curiosity. While Luger scrutinized Bottleneck’s complexion, Kidd bent closer to the ground, nearing the floor with his face.

“There are letters… traces as if someone started to erase them. Maybe it read… ‘t — day— la— r, el — v— n, lor—…’.”

Kidd perceived the letters in English.

As he examined the half-erased alphabets, he pondered for a moment.

“What does it mean? Who— no… Ha-ha, no need to ask who’s responsible. Judging by the old codger’s flustered reaction, there’s only one person who could’ve doodled here. Isn’t that right?”

Luger chuckled as he stood beside Kidd.

Bottleneck felt guilty for some reason. Although Leeha hadn’t specifically asked to keep it a secret, it was likely significant.

Especially when considering the rivalry among the Three Musketeers!

“Two days later, at eleven, and ‘Lord’. Is that correct?”

“I-I don’t know!”

All Bottleneck could do was evade the question. However, seeing the dwarf turning away, Luger and Kidd nodded.

“Probably attempting to—.”

“Trying to snag something solo again. It’s irritating enough that he hogged all the credit for the Tiamat battle, now he’s got his eyes on…”

“This time… we won’t let it slip.”

Having discovered Leeha’s clues through Kidd’s intuition and Luger’s nose, it had been set that the three would meet here two days later at eleven.

Their eyes sparkled as if they had found new prey. While writing a rebuttal piece directed at Chiyou, Leeha felt his nose itch for some reason.

* * *

“Let’s see then…”

A bespectacled man tidied the scattered documents on his desk.

Although he was busy moving, his confusion seemed to render his efforts inefficacious.

“Should I start with this, or should I tackle that first? Hmm, I feel like I heard something about it then…”

Unable to prioritize his tasks, the disoriented man awkwardly chuckled to himself after talking out loud.

Finally, when he sat back down in his chair and gazed vacantly at his desk, someone knocked on the door.

“Oh, yes!”

— Lord Bernard, a guest has arrived from Fibiel.

“Fibiel? Bishops? But there’s no one scheduled to come.”

—It seems you need to meet them.

“Uh, me? Why? We didn’t have any appointment.”

The man tilted his head in puzzlement.

It was the first time he had heard the security NPC speak in such a way since he began working there.

“Who could it possibly be…?”

—Very well, I will let them in.