“What’s going on…” Bloody frowned at the sight of numerous people flocking to an adventure guild branch. Exchanging glances with the others, they hurried over. Huntsman cut a surprisingly nice path all the way forward, but stopped so abruptly that Ithiel ran into him.

The elf rubbed his sore nose, peeking out from behind the broad back. Uncertain at the sudden change in Huntsman’s expression, he stayed behind.

Ice’s eyes flickered over to Bloody, who groaned in annoyance.

The player in the middle of the room was handsome. It was the kind of look where you wouldn’t notice it at first glance, but become more and more fascinated the longer you stared. The black hair held a shade of red, matching well with the dark red scales that covered parts of his face like an expensive decoration.

Woodcutter’s pupils were slit like a beast’s, giving his glance an additional edge. No one dared to get any closer.

Woodcutter must have just finished saying something, as he closed his mouth and turned to leave. In the middle of the movement, he locked eyes with Bloody, and his eyes narrowed a bit. Then a smile appeared on his lips and he came closer.

“What a coincidence”, Bloody said dryly.

“Long time no see”, Woodcutter said slowly, eyes wandering over the rest of the group. “...I see that your party has changed. Are you playing carrier nowadays?”

Woodcutter’s behaviour was pointedly relaxed.

Ice could feel the stares from everywhere. His fingers trembled, but he persevered and stuck to Bloody’s side, not leaving him. Next to him, both Huntsman and Dead Rabbit looked ready to draw their weapons.

Bloody crossed his arms. “I don’t mind carrying people I like. As long as I have fun, everything’s fine. I don’t need to be overly serious about a game.”

The wolfman meant every word he said, but paused at the end anyway. ...Was that a cannonfodder line? He had read lines like that, where only the MC took the game seriously. Was he entering the cannonfodder route now?!

...No way. Cannonfodders didn’t have such perfect boyfriends like him.

Did they?

“You’ll never get anywhere if you only ever treat things as a game”, Woodcutter kindly advised. Again, that wasn’t wrong either, but it also sounded off to everyone.

Bloody waved his hand like shooing a fly away. “Oh, don’t give me that. It was nice seeing you, blah blah, I don’t actually care. See you, hopefully never again.”

Woodcutter raised an eyebrow. “Are you still caught up in how things broke off?”

People started to whisper. The ambiguous statement not only hinted at something, it also made Woodcutter appear like the hurt party.

Huntsman snapped. He stepped forward, covering Bloodless Sunset. “My cousin isn’t stupid enough to miss garbage. There are enough people willing to treat him well, unlike you.”

Woodcutter’s lips pursed. He stared at Bloody for a long time, then shook his head. “If that’s what you think happened, very well.”

The top player left the adventure guild, leaving behind a stunned Huntsman and frozen Bloody.

Bloody’s fingers twitched as his face slowly distorted. Finally, he broke out into a howl. “What’s with that only-a-misunderstanding trope hint?! Who does he think he is! Ugh, that goddamned son of a bitch shmmmmpf-!”

Ice quickly clamped Bloody’s mouth shut before he could continue to curse the top player of the game. That would only result in anti-fans gathering, especially considering they were surrounded by people. Most of who surely were recording. In the end, Bloody was someone who also earned money through ads - it wasn’t good for him to act like this in public.

“Don’t be mad”, he whispered in a helpless voice. In his arms, Bloody slackened immediately. “He’s not worth it. Don’t get angry.”

There was a hint of sadness in Ice’s eyes, mixed with affection. The wolfman couldn’t resist the gentle force and gave up with a sigh. He knew that Ice was worried he was still stuck in the past one way or another.

Really, the only way he was stuck was in anger. But to tell the truth, Ice was right. He shouldn’t waste his time feeling bothered by it any longer. Leaving it behind completely, like throwing away trash, would be better on him. Being angry simply meant he felt something for Woodcutter, and that guy wasn’t worth anything more than indifference.

“Brother, are you okay?” Dead Rabbit sounded awkward, but even he tried asking. Bloody gave him a pat on the head.

Ithiel had stuck to Huntsman’s back through the whole conversation, hiding behind him. Now that things had settled, he looked around.

“There are so many people here. Maybe we should leave?”

“Yeah, just a second.” Bloody forced himself not to mind the people talking and walked towards a board.

Even just skimming over the paper threw a quest at his face.

【Story quest - The helpless mermaid

An injured mermaid is asking for the help of the Foreigners. Her people living in the northern sea have been attacked by a hungry Leviathan. She could only barely escape with her life.

The Leviathan is still being fended off by the remaining merfolk in the city. The mermaid is asking for everyone’s help to kill it before everyone is devoured!

Duration: 18 days until the defenses break down. ? days until everyone is dead

Reward: Access to the merfolk city for everyone
Failure: The merfolk city’s destruction

The quest will be considered a failure if more than a certain amount of merfolk die before the Leviathan is killed.】

【Note: Story quests

Story quests are accessible to any player who wishes to join. Being informed of the quest is automatically counted as an invitation.

Story quests will affect Haven to a certain degree. There are various ways to participate in a story quest, so forge your own path ahead!

More info on story quests can be found under...】

Seeing the quest and remembering the Emperor’s words, Bloody quickly waved everyone over. The quest was accepted automatically as it would happen one way or another, there was no personal punishment no matter the outcome.

Or maybe you could fuck it up enough to get a personal punishment. That surely was an option in Haven.

The moment they had the quest, the group almost ran away from the increasing number of people. Huntsman had picked up Ithiel and directly carried him off to safety.

In a small, dark alleyway they stopped.

“So he got that quest first, huh”, Bloody rumbled. “And a good relationship with the questgiver on top of that. Like a damn protagonist for sure.”

“It’s a general quest. Everyone has it, so it shouldn’t be too advantageous for him?”

“Do you really think so?” Bloody crossed his arms, growling a bit. “There’s gotta be an advantage for being the one who uncovers the quest first. Not to mention that Woodcutter found the quest even earlier than expected, which means he saved the mermaid from suffering for a longer time. Obviously he’s gonna have it better than anyone else! He-”

Ice saw Bloody’s tensed jaw and couldn’t help but call out to him. “Bloody…”

The other beastman snapped out of it. He ruffled up his hair, making the fur-like structure stick up even more. “...Sorry. I’m just… miffed at this going his way.”

“Let’s steal the quest.” Dead Rabbit’s words made everyone turn to him in surprise. The assassin’s lips were pursed into a pout, making him look more childish than his actual age. Only his eyes were blazing with determination.

“I agree.” Huntsman stepped up as well. “Let’s show him not everything will go his way just because he wants to. He’s too arrogant for his own good.”

Ithiel wanted to comment that saying they could easily steal the quest was just as arrogant, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.

“Well, this quest doesn’t have a definitive action that ends it. If there’s something we could do first…”

“It’s killing the Leviathan.”

Everyone exchanged glances.

“So we’re planning on killing some sort of huge underwater monster? With this group?” Bloody chuckled. It wasn’t intended to be degrading, it was just the truth.

Ithiel raised his arm like a little boy at school. “No!”

“No?”

“The Emperor said that from now on, quests will be done in a way so everyone can join! That means that there’s a violent way to solve it… but there also must be one that isn’t dependent on strength!” Ithiel smiled happily, opening his notebook and showing off the page with the notes he had taken.

“Did he say that?” Excited, Dead Rabbit looked over to his older brother.

“He did!” Bloody nearly did a jump. “You’re right! There’s gotta be a way to solve it without fighting. Or, with fighting but leaning on some sort of weapon. Something that allows people to win even without level advantage.”

“Do we have a hint?” Huntsman spoke directly to Ithiel, who perked up at being asked.

Ithiel nodded up and down. “Apparently, Woodcutter decided to film how he met the mermaid? He shared that, ah, video? And uhm, everyone saw that he got an item. That item must be important. However, currently it is in pieces.”

“The classic quest with broken items includes several mini quests to get all parts. Once they’re united, the item will become OP”, Bloody spelled it out. “Woodcutter is bound to focus on the items.”

“Let me check something.” Ice turned away from everyone a bit. He opened up his chat system, poking White Light. Despite now being in opposing guilds, White Light didn’t mind sharing some easily accessible info with Ice.