The wagon wheeled down a rocky road, en route to Tonshen Village.
Inside the wagon, RedBand talked about the plan. His first idea was to get information from the villagers. They had to find the location of the Steel-Armed Gorilla’s Lair and its weaknesses, if there were any.
“There might be an inn where we will put our temporary spawn.” RedBand said. They had found out about temporary spawn in their previous adventure when they visited another village, Manhen Village.
If Ambrose didn’t put a temporary spawn in his inn room and log out, when he came back, he would be back in his dojo room. It would be quite funny way to fail in the quest already.
“I can ask the drunken adventurers if they know anything about Steel-Armed Gorilla.” RedBand said, and everyone nodded.
“By the way, who is this One-Leg Marcus?” Ambrose asked. “Also, the quest paper didn’t include the reward. How do we know if we get anything?”
“One-Leg Marcus’ family resides in Tonshen Village. He sometimes comes selling the crops from his village to Amaterasu, and when I went to buy them, for some reason, he offered me this quest.” RedBand said.
“I must’ve activated something for him to offer this quest to me.”
“So, he is a farmer.” Ambrose scratched his head. “I hope our reward is not a bunch of potatoes and cabbages.”
“You are far too negative!” Roza, the female archer, shouted from the side. “One-Leg Marcus is not the only one who is paying us to exterminate the Steel-Armed Gorilla. The whole village put a big enough reward together so they could pay for the adventurer group!”
“Oh, I see.” Ambrose nodded. “Why not the village chief? I thought it would be his duty to protect the village.”
“I have heard stuff that Tonshen Village’s chief is an obnoxious douche.” Felixar spoke in a deep tone. “That guy’s name is Lemberd, and ever since he became chief after his father died, the village has been in steep decline ever since.
“The taxes are insane, and most of the farmers had to turn into hunters to increase their income. However, because of the Steel-Armed Gorilla, most of the hunters died. That’s why we have to exterminate the gorilla and the monkeys, so they can keep hunting in a safer environment.”
“I understand.” Ambrose nodded.
RedBand knocked on the wagon’s wall and shouted. “Let’s stop for a moment!”
The horse neighed, and the wagon slowly stopped beside the road.
RedBand looked at others and said. “Let’s take a break. We will leave in half an hour, be here before that.”
“I am going hunting!” Andyy shouted excitedly and ran out of the wagon. He ran straight into the depths of the forest in search of experience points.
Everyone left the wagon and stretched their numb limbs.
Ambrose found a fallen tree trunk to sit on. He didn’t plan on going to the forest to hunt for experience points, as he doubted it would even make a dent.
[XP: 175/700]
He looked at the XP and then closed his interface again.
A sudden weight appeared on the side of him as Felixar sat on the same tree trunk. It was big enough for three adult men to sit on it.
Felixar pressed something on the invisible screen, which only he saw. He then started nodding his head rhythmically.
Ambrose looked at him and asked. “Why did you decide on becoming a tank?”
After asking the question, Felixar didn’t answer and continued bouncing his head up and down rhythmically.
“Hmm?” Ambrose frowned and moved his hand before Felixar’s eyes. He immediately pressed something on the invisible screen and turned to him.
“What’s up?” Felixar asked as if he hadn’t heard the previous question.
“How come you didn’t hear me?” Ambrose asked curiously.
“Oh, I was listening to music.” Felixar said and opened the invisible screen. This time, he made it visible for Ambrose as well.
Ambrose looked at the screen with fascination. The screen showed hundreds of music choices, but Felixar was listening to something out of the ordinary—Pirate Metal.
“You haven’t read the Help Guide, haven’t you?” Felixar asked.
“No…” Ambrose shook his head.
“Well, you should. There are some useful things, such as this. If you say ‘Music Interface’, you will also get this interface and can choose music to listen to.” Felixar said. “It is good for spending time.”
“Ah, thanks.” Ambrose thanked him and asked. “You were listening Pirate Metal. That is quite unique music.”
“Yes, I like it very much.” Felixar said. “You should try it too. Perhaps you will also like it.”
Ambrose nodded and turned to look straight. “Music Interface…”
The same screen appeared in front of him. There was so much music that it made him slightly dizzy.
He was never a big music listener, but he wanted to check it out.
Ambrose searched for pirate metal and soon found a few popular songs. He pressed the “play” button and heard music blasting in his ears.
He looked around, but no one paid attention to him; therefore, he was the only one who could hear this music.
‘Fascinating.’ Ambrose closed his eyes and listened to the music. It was very loud, and the singing voice was quite rough, as if a real pirate was singing, but alongside the powerful melody, it was actually not a bad song.
He listened to many different songs. When one song ended, another started. It was all pirate metal, and without him noticing, he also started nodding his head slightly rhythmically.
Soon, a hand touched his shoulder.
He raised his head and saw RedBand and his lips moving.
Ambrose stopped the music and closed the interface. “Yeah?”
“We are leaving now,” RedBand said. “Remember, do not play music while fighting. It is important to use your sense of hearing during battle.”
“Of course.” Ambrose nodded and wondered. ‘He noticed that I was playing music, most likely because he is used to Felixar doing that. I wonder if he once played music during a battle and it ended poorly.’
After everyone entered the wagon, the driver whipped the horses, and they began moving once again. 𝓋xt.𝐂𝑚
The clouds drifted across the sky as the sky started to have a darker hue.
Soon, darkness had fallen on the land, and everyone inside the wagon couldn’t even see each other anymore. But then, RedBand lit up a candle and held it in his hand.
After another hour of sitting in the dimly lit wagon, it finally arrived at the gates of the village.
“Finally!” Andyy rubbed his numb buttocks.
Everyone left the wagon as soon as they could and let out breaths of relief as they felt the light breeze coming from nearby forests.
The village was surrounded by a wooden wall that was five meters tall. The gates were made from thick wood, but they were currently open as there were still farmers doing fieldwork outside the village, and they would often return late at night.
RedBand went to talk to the driver. The driver would spend a night in the village and then leave first thing in the morning. They didn’t need to go back to Amaterasu via wagon anymore.
Once they had finished with their quest, they would undo their temporary spawn, log out of the game, and then log back in. They would be teleported back to Amaterasu to their own spawn spots.