Chapter 144 – Dirty South (1)
Crockta gave a warm farewell to Maillard and the Rehabilitation Brothers.
Edgar had committed suicide and disconnected, but there was no news about him showing up in Maillard again. Other Heaven and Earth members gradually reappeared but Edgar never showed up.
According to Robina, while he hadn’t been an excellent user, his skills grew quickly after he entered the Heaven and Earth Clan.
The words that Ji Hayeon said to him earlier popped into his head. There were people who used illegally modified capsules and drugs to increase the assimilation rate and gain profits. The awakening of the drugged person would also usually depend on the contract.
Edgar might be in such a situation. But Crockta had no way to get in touch with him and had to leave Maillard.
It was the true south now.
“Thanks to Crockta, I was treated well.” Anor laughed.
“You are quite good dot. You are so popular in Maillard… of course, I am very popular in Quantes dot.”
Crockta was an icon for the users, so the accompanying Anor and Tiyo were treated very well.
“I miss the caruks.”
“When the time comes, we will see them again dot.”
It was possible to move faster by taking horses instead of caruks. The caruks were left to the Rehabilitation Brothers. The caruks, who had great advantages in the desert area, weren’t useful in the continent. In the Rehabilitation Brothers, they were taken care of as ‘Crockta’s mount.’
“This is the first time I am going to the south dot.”
“How come?”
“It is the land of humans.”
There are many humans in the south. The northwest of the continent was a harsh place where orcs and creatures lived, while the northeast was the land of the elves, dark elves and gnomes. The south of the continent was where humans lived together.
It was the most populated, fiercest and disruptive land, the south. In particular, the center of the continent contained many species due to its geographic location, meaning there were occasional fights among species.
They had to pass through it to arrive in the south. Tiyo wanted to meet his father Hedor while Crockta was trying to completely eliminate the remnants of the Thawing Balhae Clan, who had joined the Heaven and Earth Clan.
And Anor had no thoughts. “What does the food in the south taste like? Won’t there be an abundance of hot and fat foods? Many fruits as well. Hahaha.” He chuckled from aboard his horse. “Look. There are many new creatures on the continent!”
Anor stretched out his hand and bones started to rise. It was a strange bipedal creature.
“Lay it down again dot!”
“Why? The bones are fresh as it just died.”
“It is unsightly dot.”
“This is discrimination. Tiyo will be like this when you die.”
“……”
Tiyo fired General at the bones. The bones were smashed to pieces.
“Ah! My bones!”
“The dead have no words.”
“Too much…”
Crockta smiled as he watched them, but he soon fixed his expression. He started to feel something from the forest they were riding through. There were presences moving here and there simultaneously. The movements were too sudden for them to be people passing by.
As they rode along the path, the video of White Knight Andre, no Baek Hanho popped into his head. He annihilated all the bandits and declared war against Crockta.
That’s right. Bandits!
“It is started once again. Kulkul.” Crockta laughed as he turned to Tiyo and Anor. “Shall we take a break?”
“That’s right. IT has been a while. I want to rest. Isn’t it hard?” Anor replied while patting his horse’s mane.
Tiyo smiled at Crockta. “I don’t think I should sweat before resting dot.”
“If you sweat from this then you are weak.”
“I won’t sweat dot.”
At that moment, Tiyo twisted his body and fired General. A bandit hiding behind a tree was hit by General and flew in the air. He bumped into another tree and fell to the ground with a groan.
“Bandits can only make me sweat a little around my eyes dot!”
Tiyo had already noticed the approach of the bandits.
“Cover everything!”
At Tiyo’s attack, the bandits jumped out and rushed towards them. Anor, who had no idea what was going on, screamed and hid behind Crockta and Tiyo.
“They are gnats dot.”
Crockta got off his horse while Tiyo showed brilliant marksmanship while holding the reins of his horse.
“Iyat! Iyat! Kiyooh!”
Chong! Chong! Chong! Tiyo’s magic bullets accurately knocked down the bandits approaching.
Crockta also wielded his greatsword. However, he hesitated and didn’t attack anymore.
“……!”
The enemies’ weapons were terrible. Some of them were stepping awkwardly while holding farm equipment. Some held swords or spears, but their eyes were terrified.
The man in the front exclaimed. “I-I-If you leave what you have, w-we won’t kill you!”
It was a pathetic voice. He realized they weren’t a match after seeing their companions knocked up because of Tiyo, but he spoke the threat because there was no room to back off.
“I only have this.” Crockta pointed his greatsword.
There was no need to fight. Tiyo also stopped firing General.
“What dot? Sorry I hit you dot.”
“These bandits have no killing intent. They are bandits but…”
As the clouds moved, bright sunshine fell in the forest. The shadows of the forest were removed, revealing Crockta’s form.
The bandits were stunned. A huge size and rugged face. The fearsome greatsword. The opponent was much more vicious than they imagined. Crockta looked at them without saying anything. The bandits stepped back at his gaze. The tattoos covering the body and the terrible belt at his waist made him seem like a demon.
The person in the lead bowed first.
“W-We’re really sorry!”
The other bandits identified the situation and also bowed while begging for mercy.
“We’re sorry!”
“Spare us!”
“It is hard to eat and live!”
Bowing to the overwhelming enemy!
Tiyo hit Crockta’s waist. “Smile a bit dot.”
“……”
Tiyo had a point. He didn’t look so scary when smiling. A nasty person wouldn’t smile.
Crockta smiled at them and said. “Stand up.”
The reaction was explosive.
“Hiik! We’re sorry! Spare us!”
“My wife and children are waiting for me!”
“Sir Orc! Mercy!”
Crockta glanced at Tiyo. He shrugged and immediately changed his words.
“You should’ve left it as before. Look the way you want dot.”
“……”
Anor came forward and helped them up. “Phew. Stand up. This person looks like a serial killer but he isn’t bad. Stand up. It’s okay.”
He was wearing a dark robe, but as soon as the dark elf Anor appeared, they started to recover.
“Pff. Anyway, life is unfair dot. Pffft.”
Tiyo giggled.
Crockta muttered, “…Kid.”
“W-What did you say dot?! Say it to me!”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Don’t lie dot! You called me a kid dot!”
“You heard wrong.”
“Eek!”
Tiyo jumped and clung to Crockta. He tried to place Crockta in a headlock, but he just looked like a child hanging on.
“What are you doing now? These kids.” Anor muttered as he stared at them. “Is this the right time?”
“T-Then?”
“Listen to these people’s stories! Go and talk to them!”
“Um…”
There weren’t many bandits in this area, which was the north of the continent. It was so peaceful that people hardly ever turned to the criminal path. But this happened as soon as they headed south. The south might be different from the continent that they had experienced.
“I’ll do that.”
Crockta completely recognized Elder Lord as a real world. In the world of Elder Lord, he had power. In other words, a Hero. With great power comes great responsibility, so he wanted to help people who were in need. He should find out their circumstances.
The bandits’ eyes widened.
***
They were residents of a small village in the forest. They didn’t have much, but it was still a life of freedom. Then one day, an existence appeared that took all of that away from them.
Knights.
“They told us to follow the Emperor.”
“Emperor?”
“Yes.” One bandit said. He was their leader called Hans. “As you know, there is no emperor on the continent. It is an unwritten rule. The advent of an emperor had always led to the persecution of other species.”
“But someone is calling himself an emperor?”
“Yes. The knights are gathering villagers and farmers like us under the emperor’s name. They speak nice words but we will be serfs. It is no different from slavery. So we refused.”
Once they refused, the knights turned like they had been waiting and devastated the village. Anyone who rebelled was killed. In the end, they had nothing left and become bandits attacking adventurers and merchants in order to survive. However, their combat power was weak so they were often defeated.
“It is our fault but our children are starving…sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize.”
Crockta’s group reached their home. The elderly, women, and children poked their heads out from tents in the forest. They looked frightened at the sudden appearance of a heinous orc.
“Umm…”
All of them were starving and their ribs poked out from underneath their skin. In particular, the children’s conditions were serious.
Hans sighed, “We are eating fruit in the forest and hunting, but…”
Tiyo clicked his tongue.
“What are these knights doing dot? The emperor of where?”
“The king of Esperanza.”
“The king had a change of heart…”
In the case of orcs, each city was operated independently. The elves were similar to orcs, but they were weakly connected by the world tree. Gnomes regularly voted for their representative.
In the case of humans, there were royalty and nobles. However, the king’s power wasn’t strong and he was mainly regarded as a symbolic entity representing the nobles. Something seemed to have changed.
The advent of an emperor would shake the entire continent.
“It is unknown if the other species know about this.”
“If he does this, they will probably find out dot. But this is serious dot.”
Anor’s ears pricked, “The emperor…is he like the orc’s great chieftain?”
“Yes dot.”
“Then do we have to worry? Don’t we have the great chieftain here?”
“Ah! That’s right dot! The great chieftain…oof!”
Tiyo and Anor tried to tease Crockta again. Crockta quickly blocked their mouths and said, “Anyway, this is a pitiful situation…I want to help.”
“How dot?”
“This much…”
Crockta looked at the residents. There weren’t many of them because they were originally a village. The Rehabilitation Brothers could afford this number. Besides, the Rehabilitation Brothers were formed for the purpose of helping others. They would also listen if Crockta asked them to do it.
Crockta told them, “Go to Maillard.”
“Huh? Maillard?” Hans questioned. He became even more polite after hearing the name Crockta.
“There are people in Maillard who will help you out.”
“Do you mean us?” Who…?”
“My friends are known as the Rehabilitation Brothers.”
“Rehabilitation Brothers?”
Hans was dubious. “But Maillard isn’t close. It won’t be easy to reach there…”
They had to worry about the daily meals. Crockta shook his head as if telling them not to worry.
“Here.”
Crockta pulled out some gold coins. He had become a top ranked player while playing the game and could afford at least this much.
“This…!”
Han’s eyes widened. For ordinary people, gold coins were worth a huge amount of money. Crockta pulled out several, not just one, and placed them in Hans’ hands.
“Why is this…?”
He didn’t put away the gold coins on his palm as he stared blankly at Crockta. Crockta scratched his nose and shrugged.
“A warrior shouldn’t turn a blind eye to those in distress.”
“……!”
“Just take it. The gold coins are just shining stones to me. I can spare a few stones if it saves you from starving!”
Hans was thrilled. “Ahh…please forgive me for taking this. Crockta!”
“Don’t do that.”
“I wouldn’t be willing if it wasn’t for the children! Thank you!”
Crockta raised him up. As the two were talking, the villagers started to falter.
Tiyo was the first one to notice.
“……?”
Tiyo suddenly felt horseshoes approaching. The village residents were terrified when they looked to one side. He followed their gaze to see a group of humans. The humans were mounted and in full-body armor. They held lances and swords.
Knights.
“Now, are you willing to follow the emperor?”
