Chapter 211
Coke was confused.
‘What is this?’
He lost more than a third of his health when hit by a bone thrown by a beggar?
‘A bug?’
It was a reasonable guess. A bug made more sense than a high level user like him being so damaged by a bone.
Who was he?
Less than half a year after starting Satisfy, he reached level 109 and was one of the best known players in Patrian. He also had a chance to hunt one of the most notorious monsters near Patrian, the orc captain, alone.
‘I will be a god in the future, so I can’t be hurt by a bone…!’
Coke’s goal was Grid. It was his desire to be called God Coke on the world stage, just like Grid. He had such a lofty goal that today’s experience was even more humiliating.
“You hit me so, I’ll hit you back!”
Coke rolled up his sleeves. Then he swung his hand at Piaro’s head.
“Keok.”
[You have suffered 3,140 damage.]
This time, it was a bean. It wasn’t even a big kidney bean, but a small pea. He was shocked as a pea flew out and hit him.
‘Unbelievable! It wasn’t a bug?’
Jeurereuk.
Blood poured from Coke’s mouth as he finally figured out the situation. He was able to realize that Piaro wasn’t a beggar, but a tremendously high level NPC.
‘I didn’t understand the subject!’
Satisfy was famous for never having a bug since it opened. It was rumored that the creator, Lim Cheolho, was a god. Coke belatedly tried to change his attitude. He attempted to avoid a situation by apologizing to Piaro. But it was still a crisis because the other users didn’t understand the atmosphere.
“That guy is throwing food! Coke! Smash him!”
“Teach that beginner and NPC a lesson!”
The users didn’t know that Coke was already half dead!
“Coke! Coke! Coke!”
“Get rid of that beggar!”
Coke was upset because of their cheers and fighting atmosphere.
‘Please figure out the atmosphere!’
He didn’t want to be killed by bones and peas in front of Patrian’s users, who looked up to him. Coke nervously looked at Piaro, but Piaro had no interest in him. He dismissed Coke at the level of a flying insect.
Grid felt admiration.
“What did you just do? It looks like you dealt big damage with the bone and pea?”
The user with the ID of Coke, based on the items he wore, he had a minimum level of 100. In addition, his armor had at least a rare rating. It was amazing that Coke coughed up blood after being hit by a bean.
Piaro explained to Grid. “I used qi. I can maximize my power by injecting qi into an object. In my hands, even a feather can become a sharp sword.”
“It is like a wuxia master.”
“Wuxia? What is that?”
“Strong people like you who transform the world.”
Grid and Piaro didn’t care about the other people making a fuss. The users became increasingly furious.
“That beggar is ignoring us until the end…!”
Coke didn’t take action, so the level 78th monk called Pitu and the level 85 berserker Dais rose from their seats. As they were approaching Piaro, the door of the inn suddenly opened.
“Sir Dio is coming!”
Dozens of soldiers rushed into the narrow inn. They stood and saluted as a white armored knight entered. The young man had particularly noticeable blonde eyelashes. He looked around the inn with narrowed eyes.
“It stinks. Are people eating worse than pigs? It’s incredibly stinky.” Dio held a blue rose in one hand and raised it to his nose. He smelled it and asked. “Has anyone here seen Duke Grid?”
“Duke Grid?”
“Is he talking about God Grid?”
There were no high level monsters near Patrian. It was because the knights and soldiers of Patrian used the monsters to train.
“Why would they be looking for a high level user in Patrian?”
“No. Why would God Grid come to this type of place?”
“You really don’t know.” In the end, Dio started to examine the users’ faces for Grid. “You’re not it. You also aren’t it. You as well. Um…?”
Dio’s gaze went to a corner. There was a beginner adventurer sitting next to a beggar.
“Take your hat off. Heok?”
Dio approached Grid and commanded, only to become terrified. It was because of an enormous stench that spread.
“Dirty guy…!”
Dio was a noble and a knight, so he had an unusually obsessive temperament about being clean. He became furious at Piaro, who hadn’t taken a bath for at least a month.
“How dare you go around in such a disgusting manner! What a shameless bastard! My nose will become paralyzed because of you! Don’t make me nauseous and go away!”
“Ohh!”
The users annoyed by Piaro thought this was a cool remark.
“Let’s go.”
Grid rose from his seat. He judged that it would be better to leave because Earl Ashur seemed to have noticed him.
‘I don’t want to delay the time.’
The big city Reidan. He had tremendous expectations about his city. He wanted to arrive quickly and check how much taxes he would get. Dio caught up with Grid who was trying to leave.
“Didn’t I tell you to take off your hat?”
“…The boat might’ve already sailed.” Grid grinned at Dio and asked. “Do you really think that I am Duke Grid?”
Dio bluntly replied.
“That’s right. I received a tip that Duke Grid was here.”
Grid’s face distorted. “Then why are you speaking like that?”
“Uh…?”
An enormous pressure was released. Dio, the soldiers and the users in the inn were overwhelmed by the pressure and hesitated. It was because Grid’s dignity stat was comparable to the king of a nation. He threw off his hat.
“G-Grid…!”
“God Grid!”
Dio was astonished, while the other users cried out. Grid pressed his finger to Dio’s forehead. “If you knew I was Duke Grid, why did you speak without using honorifics? Eh? What did you originally say? Did you call me a bastard? Eh? Are we friends?”
Grid had bad feelings towards Earl Ashur’s knights as well. The one who killed Grid when he acquired Pagma’s Rare Book wasn’t Earl Ashur, but Earl Ashur’s knights. And Dio was one of them.
“I tried to endure it, but this bastard is too arrogant.”
Grid couldn’t suppress his rage and slapped Dio. It was a terrible experience for Dio, who had never even been scolded by his parents.
“Y-You hit me…!”
He bit his lips as Grid hit Dio’s cheeks again.
“You didn’t even apologize for not bowing! This rude bastard!”
Grid had matured after several incidents, but the roots of a human didn’t easily change. Grid’s natural tendencies weren’t good. Grid slapped Dio in front of all these people, without considering Dio’s position at all.
Slap! Slap! Slap!
Dio’s handsome face quickly swelled up like a toad. In the end, Dio’s string of reason snapped. He grabbed his sword, forgetting Earl Ashur’s order to ‘graciously’ bring Grid to him.
“Such humiliation…!”
“What? Do you dare to show disrespect to a duke? You want to be like this until the end?” Grid’s eyes shone. It was the same as when he was called the Psychopath Butcher. “You are sentenced to death.”
Jeeeong!
He swung Failure. Dio couldn’t cope with a single strike and was thrown back into the wall.
“Cough! Cough!”
The soldiers panicked as they watched Dio coughing up blood. Should they protect their leader? But wasn’t that considered a rebellion against the duke? As the soldiers were troubled, the cool blade was held to Dio’s jaw.
“Do you remember that day?”
“That day…?”
“The day that I found Pagma’s Rare Book.”
“I clearly remember.”
Dio couldn’t forget, since it was the day that Earl Ashur’s anger pierced the sky. Grid gritted his teeth, “On that day, I was killed by your swords. I will give you a chance to experience the same pain.”
Unlike a user who would resurrect if they died, the life of a NPC was finite. In Satisfy, killing an NPC was equivalent to murder in reality. Grid was unwilling to harm an NPC. It was even more so after forming a relationship with Khan. Due to that, he didn’t intend to kill Dio and was just planning to terrify him.
However, Dio became honestly scared and pissed himself. He started foaming at the mouth and lost consciousness. It was an event that would become a lifelong trauma for Dio, who had been an elite since childhood.
***
“It seems strange if you’re the duke of the kingdom.” Piaro remarked.
Grid shrugged. “This was a dirty case. I have a bad chemistry with this place.”
“So that’s why you hid your identity.”
The two people left the inn and were moving to exit Patrian. Coke rushed after them.
“Grid! Grid!”
Grid frowned. “Can’t you see that I am moving in secret? Why are you calling out the name of a person without thinking?”
“I-I’m really sorry. I was so excited that I wasn’t thinking…” Coke took out a piece of paper and asked Grid. “Please sign this!”
“…Sign?” Grid’s distorted expression disappeared. “Are you my fan?”
“You’re my idol! I want to be just like you!”
“Hmm hmm.”
He was an idol. Grid had been ignored by others for his whole life, so he had to be thrilled. He signed Coke’s piece of paper.
“Thank you.”
It was the moment when Coke, who would be included in the next 10 Rookies, became Grid’s real fan.
Meanwhile, Earl Ashur received the news about Dio.
“I can’t leave this alone.”
The embarrassment of his subordinate was the embarrassment of the owner! Earl Ashur became more furious at Grid and grasped his exact position with the magic spheres. Then he used Mass Teleport on him and his knights.
Grid stopped as he was leaving Patrian. He saw the light from the sky and Ashur appeared in front of him.
“In the end, you came here. Do you really want to die? Are you crazy?” Earl Ashur angrily asked Grid.
“I’m not like I was in the past. I’m no longer to be trifled with. Can you afford to go against me?” Grid asked arrogantly, and Earl Ashur scoffed.
“I’m the only great magician in the Eternal Kingdom, and one of the 10 great magicians on the continent.”
It wasn’t an exaggeration. Earl Ashur was the strongest man in the kingdom. That’s why he was appointed to the strategic point of Patrian.
“I’m not afraid of Pagma’s power. You aren’t Pagma. I have enough skills to get rid of you… Heok?”
Earl Ashur suddenly became shocked. It was because an overwhelming amount of energy was being emitted.
“I would like to compete with one of the 10 great magicians of the continent.”
It was the moment when Piaro’s competitive spirit was triggered.
“W-Who are you?”
Earl Ashur could no longer worry about Grid due to the unexpected emergence of a monster. It was putting the cart before the horse.