—-

The option Kieran chose made Harlan give him a second look. ‘What keen eyes, out of the thousands of pages, this is one of the only three requests befitting his current Tier.’

“Is there something wrong?” Kieran noticed that Harlan looked at him somewhat differently and thought something was wrong with his selection. After all, after combing through the available choices, his present decision was one of the easiest there was.

“No, nothing. I’m just surprised you’d take this submission. It’s a joint request stemming from the Mayor’s Office and the Merchant Association. However, despite the large backing of those names, essentially all of our members have avoided this request,” Harlan revealed.

“Why is that so?” Kieran scanned the request once more but found nothing out of the ordinary. It didn’t seem like anything overly laborious or challenging to complete.

“Well, that’s because requests from the Merchant Association should have large rewards attached, given their immense wealth and vast trading boundaries. Yet, this request doesn’t offer a single hint of a reward. Also, it involves bandits. Due to how long this request has gone unanswered, they’ve received the time needed to become proficient at what they do. I reckon they’re slippery as loaches by now,” Harlan answered.

This reply plunged Kieran into deep thought. ‘Slippery individuals? Then the bandits must have Thief base class. That’s the only explanation for why they can easily slip away. As for the lack of interest in this request, I can understand why.’

“So, this is essentially a search and eliminate quest?”

“Oh?” Harlan chuckled softly. “No, no, little boy. You underestimate these bandits, my friend. Even the Merchant Association have decided to suffer some losses rather than call away some of their stronger guards from more bustling areas. In the end, this is just a simple kingdom and not even an empire, let alone the Five Great Empires.”

“So it all boils down to one of the highest grossing organizations being cheapskates….” Kieran said somewhat absentmindedly. His mind began devising a plan to extract the highest worth from this request despite the lack of apparent rewards.

“If you truly want to accept this request, visit Mayor Lowe. He’ll let you in on the specifics. Though, I’ll warn you now that you should remain vigilant and careful. Officials aren’t really ones to care for your safety; the wellbeing of their economy and area of governance come first in their eyes,” Harlan warned solemnly.

“No worries; I won’t let myself get taken advantage of,” Kieran said with a carefree smile. With the Merchant Association showing its unwillingness to expend resources, Kieran could only assume that high-value merchandise didn’t travel through the routes intersecting the Aeredale Kingdom. If that’s the case, Kieran wasn’t worried about this quest’s supervision or dangers.

‘It’s most likely insignificant parties aiming to make a living on the abundance of wealth the Merchant Association possess. It’s not like they’ll come to miss it anyhow,’ Kieran mused.

Suddenly, a notification appeared before Kieran’s eyes.

〈System: You have accepted the D Rank Quest «Mayor’s Audience»! Meet with the Mayor to complete the quest.〉

‘Given how simple this quest sounds, it’s undoubtedly a chain one; otherwise, it wouldn’t come from the War Deity Council,’ Kieran thought while swiping away the notification.

Afterward, he turned toward Harlan and thanked him for his help.

However, Harlan’s expression changed slightly while watching Kieran leave the premises. His eyebrows knitted as he sensed an unusual air surrounding Kieran.

“It’s identical to Commander Scar in the rumors. But why haven’t we received word of his inheritor? The only way for that to happen is if it occurred within these last couple of days when the Commander hasn’t had any contact with the council. If that’s the case, I may have just made an oversight. He isn’t weak…. He hasn’t had time to grow!”

For some reason, the War Deity Council members weren’t aware that Kieran held the title of an Inheritor. This meant the title was either inactive or it wasn’t strong enough to affect members of the War Deity Council. Otherwise, how these guys perceived Kieran would have been marginally better.

…

After leaving the War Deity Council, Kieran paused and viewed the Medallion of Growth in his palm. Factoring in how long had passed, there were still ten days of activity left on the rune item before it crumbled to dust. However, Kieran had no use for it due to its Lv.20 limitation.

As a result, Kieran opened up the Auction Menu provided by the Universal Currency Exchange Trading System and placed the item for active bidding. Because he wasn’t sure how much attention this item would garner, he enabled the option to bid with real currency.

‘This item might be worthless to me, but what about gaming organizations with fresh recruits? They’ll be looking to level them up as quickly as possible to get them up to speed. In other words, this could become a priceless item for them!’

What organization wouldn’t kill to receive an additional 100% Experience Acquisition Rate? Given the right circumstances, a player could jump from Lv.1 to Lv.20 in a few short hours. Granted, they’d be at a disadvantage because of the exhausted opportunities; however, that didn’t bar these individuals from future encounters.

After browsing through the current currency exchange rate, Kieran soon closed the Universal Currency Exchange Trading System. The rate of Gold coins had once again increased, rising to $2,500 per coin. As much as Kieran was tempted to dump 1,000 Gold on the market, he decided against doing so.

‘I can’t saturate the market just yet. I need something to form an endless loop of desire and opportunity first,’ Kieran decided.

Immediately after, Kieran set off toward the center of Aeredale City where the Mayor’s Office was located. As one of the most influential places aside from the Royal Castle situated outside the city limits, it was only fitting to be located inside the well-guarded area of the city’s central zone.

It didn’t take long for Kieran to reach that area as he made a beeline through the town without stopping to sightsee or note the massive increase in players. However, something unusual occurred in the background once he entered the Mayor’s Office.

“Whoa… who is that?” A bystander exclaimed.

“I have no idea, but she’s beautiful, isn’t she? I swear I’d simp after her if she let me just have her bathwater.” Another joined in with a lecherous and unsightly expression.

“Yo, dude! That’s so cringe…. Would you share, though?” Another commented beside them.

The city folk’s attention quickly turned to a composed woman who seemed to be roughly 30 years old. She was dressed in silver armor that struggled to conceal her mature curves as her ruby eyes scanned the crowd. She gently moved aside her jet-black bangs with a slight frown.

Although this ordeal occurred quite often, this woman still felt uncomfortable when the masses stared at her. In fact, she was compelled to act as disgust brewed in the pits of her stomach and worked on her nerves. “Either continue to look and fall before my blade or go on about your day; the choice is yours.”

The woman’s cold voice swept through the surroundings although it wasn’t loud. As for who this person what, it was one of the widely-regarded players currently on the Gamer Republic’s Exemplar Records—Ezra.

Although it was currently unofficial, she was the Guild Leader of Eclipse—an Overlord-level guild in other gaming titles whose only purpose served as stepping stones to perfect Zenith Online.

In terms of how guilds or gaming organizations were regarded, it depended on a few crucial factors. The strength of the guild’s leading members was one of the judging criteria. Their financial power was also considered, followed by their ability to combat guilds of similar level.

The rankings from lowest to highest were, Gradeless, Third-class, Second-class, First-class, Overlord, Behemoth, and finally Leviathans. The current Eclipse only fell into the mid to high end of the strength spectrum, but the Guild Leader Ezra alone was enough to make quick work of the players present.

“Guild Leader Ezra, there’s no reason to fret. We came all the way here from the Aubrililes Kingdom in search of an advantage to secure our rankings in this game as well, not to worry about insignificant people,” A poised bespectacled man said. His dull azure hair was short, barely passing his ears, but it matched the longbow in his hands.

“I understand, Lux,” Ezra nodded before indifferently looking toward the others. “So… what makes this place so special that it continues to appear on our radar?”

“No idea, but that’s something we’ll have to find out,” Lux replied.

Kieran would never have expected that his repeated actions of garnering fame through the World Announcements would spur prominent names like Eclipse into action. It was only a matter of time until his small waves caused an unstoppable typhoon in the form of surging competition.

…

The inside of the Mayor’s Office matched what one would expect—a formal setting with a systematized area. There was a waiting room with several seats, a receptionist desk, and an abundance of information boards. The last notable feature was the large bay windows that gave a clear line of sight to the city from every angle. However, thick curtains obscured most of the view right now.

“Hello, how may I help you?” A receptionist at the desk asked.

Kieran stopped looking around and turned toward the desk. “I’m here to honor a request the mayor has put in with the War Deity Council. Is he in?”

“He is available, Sir Aatrox. If you would please walk to the end of the hall and make a left followed by a right, you’ll arrive at the mayor’s personal office,” the receptionist replied.

The receptionist didn’t doubt Kieran’s words for two reasons. One, his Knight-level fame also produced a trustworthy effect. Two, the quest in his possession made it so Kieran experienced no hardship meeting with the mayor.

Following the provided directions to a tee, Kieran arrived at the mayor’s office with a soft knock.

“Come in!” A gruff voice answered.