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Chapter 56. Pickup Artist (1)
A stringed instrument with an unusual sound that made me gently sway my head faded in, playing an interesting music I’d never heard before.
The giant-horned taxidermied head hung on the shiny, wavy wooden wall, showing off its dominating presence.
There were so many decorations and plaques displayed on the wall that they filled the wall all the way down to the floor.
Occasionally, in rough footsteps or in a noisy atmosphere, the building shook with a squeaking sound.
I could hear the sound of glass crashing when the building occasionally shook due to the rough footsteps or the noisy atmosphere.
“How is it?”
Even in the midst of the overwhelming noise of the music and the accompaniment of the performance, Khea’s voice somehow still crept through the people as it entered my ears.
She smiled with a slightly excited expression.
I didn’t know what kind of reaction she wanted from me, but I was in a very excited state at that moment.
On the table in front of us, there were three dwarfs armed with heavy armor holding crude beer mugs as the contents of the mug spilled outside as they were toasting to each other.
In the seat next to me, some very handsome half-elf men were playing the lute, adding a sweet melody to the realm in between great music and just plain noise.
Every element in the large tavern where all of this unfolds so naturally got me all excited.
“It’s awesome!”
Khea grabbed the glass of beer placed in front of her and chugged it with a satisfied expression on her face, as it seemed the answer I gave was the one she wanted to hear.
The first place she brought me to as soon as we arrived at Azharus was her favorite tavern.
The name of the tavern was ‘Reed of Fordan’. Khea explained how strong and hard reeds that are grown in Fordan are twice to make sure that I understood it.
As I drank the beer after her, the sweet scent of the drink filled my mouth.
“I didn’t notice this when I came here before, but there’s been a noticeable increase in the number of players here now.”
Khea spoke as she looked around with her chin resting on her palm. After hearing that, I also took a look around the tavern and saw a few people who ‘seemed’ to be players.
However, their appearance seemed to focus more on ‘traveling’ rather than playing the game.
<Circuit> was a good place to enjoy a new experience or travel around, not just for the purpose of clearing the game.
Since it is a virtual reality game that stimulates all five senses, not only can you feel as if you are traveling in real life, but also enjoy the unexplored sights of the new world that you have never experienced.
This reminded me of the time back when I was on the ‘Dawn’ airship on my way to Langeru, and the players who got on it for the sole purpose of traveling.
This sparked a strong desire to one day take my parents to show this place around.
Thanks to the ability that transcends the space called the ‘Inventory’, one would be able to enjoy the travel without having to worry about the luggage.
This alone would be a guaranteed trip with incomparable simplicity and comfort compared to the days of my parent’s generation.
< The effect of the Blackberry Beer is applied. >
< Health recovery per second +3 >
< Duration +600 seconds >
A notification flashed in front of my eyes by the time when the bitter aftertaste of the sweet alcohol disappeared from my mouth.
I stopped the distractions that I was occupied with and decided to take a look around the tavern once more.
Then before I could even realize it, a dwarf joined us at our table.
“Look who it is! Khea, it’s been so long!”
His beard moved as he talked, which I found pretty cute. But the voice that came from him was very hoarse and husky.
This dwarf had solid muscles, tanned animal hair,  and shiny leather clothes all over his body with his hair neatly organized in a pomade style. One could easily get an impression that this was a ‘fashionable’ dwarf.
As soon as Khea saw the ‘fashionable dwarf’ she put a wide smile on her face.
“Lorad! Long time no see!”
“My goodness! It seems that your skin as white as the first snow of Langeru had received the blessing of Bellica! It’s lookin’ more delish than Lovik’s smoked meat!”
“And you still have that strange analogy of yours!”
A bond that must have been built up for a long time was evident in their conversation.
As I sat quietly among them, I looked at Khea, who suddenly grabbed my hand.
“Let me introduce him to you! This is Mose! He is my colleague.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the dwarf named Lorad turned his head and looked closely at me.
He especially looked very close at my hand.
“My goodness, this guy’s a ‘Sworder’ too!”
Then he frowned and tilted his head with a look of burden.
“There’s a saying, ‘When one Sworder appears, that place becomes the center of events. When two Sworders appear, that place becomes the center of a disaster.”
Khea quickly answered him in a hurry, her smile still kept on her face.
“We’re not here for a mission. We’re just here to relax.”
Lorad let out a big sigh of relief as he tapped me on my shoulder with a voice that got much livelier than before. He had short arms and small hands, but I could feel that the power in those hands was very heavy.
“Haha, sorry about that! I got all alerted for no reason. But please understand. Sworders always have a secret mission or two, right? When a Sworder appears everyone around them will immediately shut their mouths as they keep their eyes on what will happen.”
I had no choice but to nod my head as he quickly fired his words out.
“Hey, Khea. When are you going to introduce me to this Sworder over here?”
Khea opened her gleaming lips redder than her drunk blushed cheeks, as Lorad hurried her up.
“This is Lorad. He’s my friend. He’s the little bird with the biggest ears in Azharus. He’s the most famous vocalist in Azharus. He’s called the ‘Vocalist that never misses a sound he has heard’.”
“Haha, I am flattered!”
I immediately reached my arms out to him upon hearing Khea’s introduction.
“Nice to meet you. I look forward to working with you, Lorad.”
Then he suddenly laughed out loud as he tapped me on the shoulder again.
“Hahahaha! I do too!”
“Anyways, Lorad! You came to find us at the perfect timing!”
Lorad’s beard twitched as if it was about to trigger his talkative mouth, but Khea was faster.
“I see. You were planning on meeting me in the first place, huh?”
Lorad’s beard twitched as his eyes narrowed.
“Right, this little bird’s always open to his buddies.”
Then he pushed his body forward a bit into the table. Then he abruptly lowered his volume as if the following conversation was confidential.
Khea also leaned her body towards Lorad and carefully spoke up.
“Have you seen a mage and a woman with a bow who are immortals’ in Azharus?”
“Of course I have.”
“Really?!”
After hearing his answer, Khea and I looked at each other and turned our gaze back to Lorad. But Lorad tilted his head once and clicked his tongue.
“A lot of them, actually. At least hundreds of’em. If you look around this tavern right now you’d find at least a dozen of those people called players. It’s hard for me even if you give me such a vague explanation. Nowadays, it’s easier to find a specific pebble in Azharus than to find a specific player.”
Then Lorad stroked his beard a few times.
“Except, a Magician player is extremely rare.”
***
Reaper Scans
[Translator – Dawn]
[Proofreader – Karane]
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***
Then he shrugged his shoulders. Then he fixed his posture on his seat as if he was trying to get to the main point. The part of the table that was against his thorax looked very uncomfortable in particular.
“Anyways, Khea. A lot of things happened while you were gone.”
“A lot of things happen all the time here though.”
“Well, no. This one’s a little different.”
With a very serious expression on his face, unlike before, the dwarf pulled out an object that looked like a small black marble from his inner pocket.
“This is a new type of drug called ‘Vanetic’.”
The drug was wrapped in crumpled parchment paper. Then Lorad carefully placed it on the table so that we could examine it carefully while avoiding any chance of the marble touching the skin.
“Be careful. It’s a drug that is absorbed through the skin, so it can be taken in an instant without even realizing it.”
As Khea and I moved our heads closer to the black marble, he quickly wrapped it back in parchment and brought it gently into his arms.
“So, what kind of drug is that?”
After hearing Khea’s question, Lorad stared at Khea and me with shaking eyes as his beard also trembled.
“It’s a narcotic. It’s a drug hundred times stronger and more terrifying than the ‘Lobrang mushrooms’ grown in the Black Mountains.”
Khea’s expression started to stiffen up.
“I thought narcotic drugs were strictly forbidden by the ‘Adults’ of Azharus?”
Then as if she felt my gaze, she turned to me in order to explain the question I may have.
“I’m talking about the tribal representatives I mentioned earlier. Azharus is especially sensitive to drug matters.”
Khea’s face started to take an even darker turn.
She seemed to be strongly opposed to the fact that such a thing was being trafficked in her hometown.
I too hardened my face up, feeling the serious atmosphere between Lorad and Khea.
“This drug has become the easiest item to acquire in Azharus right now.”
Lorad, with his gloomy expression, took the black marble deep into his inner pockets once again.
“What happened in this city? Please, explain to me.”
At Khea’s insistence, Lorad wiggled his beard.
“Khea, as you already know, Azharus had accomplished an exponential growth after the inflow of a large number of players into the city. I’m sure you also already know about the factories managed by the players that were built in the city.”
“Yes, I know very well of it. You’re talking about ‘NGTEC Potion factories’ or ‘Varmont Fashion’.”
It felt very strange hearing the names of famous brands in the real world where Lee KiHo lived from Khea’s mouth.
Such large companies were manufacturing products under their own brand in the virtual reality game Circuit.
I too had seen brand labels that were very familiar among the many potion bottles at the general store before.
“Thanks to those factories these days, the lives of the people of Azharus are starting to get better, and some people are making a lot of money. So we all started to like players.”
Then he pulled the drug out of his inner pocket again and started to caress the drug marble he had taken out.
“But nowadays, all of the taverns in Azharus have suddenly started to overflow with this drug called ‘Vanetic’. And the Vanetic addicts started to pile up like dead bodies on the streets at night.”
“Lorad, you haven’t taken that drug before, have you?”
In response to Khea’s question that contained her concern, Lorad jumped almost in a convulsive manner, with blood vessels appearing on his forehead.
“I would never do such a shameless act, I swear on my name of the ‘Little Bird’!”
He said, as he fiddled around with the marble in his hand.
“The situation seemed to be getting serious. So I thought I should go out to investigate. I got my hands on this drug through ‘trading’ as people told me. I wanted to reveal the source of this drug.”
“You mean you did such a dangerous thing all by yourself?!”
Lorad shook his head at Khea’s rebuke.
“I won’t just stand and watch my hometown as it gets ruined!”
“So, you must’ve met the guys who sold you the drugs then?”
“Of course.”
And Lorad cautiously looked at me.
“This drug
”
Even before Lorad could start his sentence, the door of the tavern swung open. The sound was so loud that everyone in the tavern focused their eyes on one place, as the noisy atmosphere suddenly turned into utter silence.
The skinny, blue-eyed man standing at the entrance of the tavern snorted excessively and smirked with his chapped lips.
The man with piercings on his nose, eyebrows, lips, and philtrum naturally took a seat in the corner of the tavern.
Lorad’s expression began to turn pale after he watched the scene.
“It’s them.”
He continued, with a terrified voice. I carefully took a look at the man who took a seat in the corner of the tavern.
And it only took one look to realize,
That he was a player.
As soon as the certainty took a spot in my mind, Lorad’s voice continued.
“He’s a player. This drug called ‘Vanetic’ was created by players. They even move as a ‘guild’ too. They’re members of a group that runs the huge potion factory.”
“What’s the name of the guild?”
Lorad barely calmed down his shaking shoulders after hearing Khea’s question.
“Pickup Artists.”
Said Lorad, as he quickly shut his mouth.