Other lords, in the end, all want the same thing.
It is not as if they are like Bingsu demanding a 50 percent tax rate, but even when they raised it to 20 percent saying they had to recoup the payoff for taking a castle with so much effort, Ignis stuck to the minimum tax rate until the day he disappeared.
Until the day Ignis disappointed him, Haein decided to live as a blind devotee of Ignis.
He did not care if it was abnormal. In the dark age of childhood when he wanted everything to be over, the one who saved him was none other than Ignis.
“…”
That long story was known only to Haein’s family and to Suyeong. To others he was nothing more than a rabid Ignis otaku.
While Fang watched with a bit of tension, flicking his gaze between the distant Ignis and Haesal’s alt, Haesal, who had been silent the whole time, typed in the chat.
[Party/SupremeArcHaein: Fang]
Seriously, that username… he had heard it was made back in grade school, but every time he saw it, it felt ridiculously provincial. Fang shook his head and answered.
[Party/Molar: Ah yes, yes]
Then Haesal threw an unexpected question.
[Party/SupremeArcHaein: Fang, you are good at taking screenshots, right?]
[Party/PleaseSaySomething: Yep]
[Party/PleaseSaySomething: Fang, you even do screenshot gigs]
That was true. He had a good sense for angles and framing, used an expensive graphics card, and was decent at post-processing.
Thanks to that, he made pocket money at about 300,000 gold per shot.
[Party/Molar: Ah, I am closed right now]
It did pay well, but it was still a hassle. The fee was too small to call it real money, and booting up the software and touching each shot took time, so he had temporarily stopped.
Just then a trade request popped up under Molar’s UI.
[System: Do you accept a trade request from SupremeArcHaein?]
[Yes/No]
Fang reflexively clicked Yes and was about to type a polite refusal when an amount was entered.
[Party/Molar: Uh, but I am too lazy now so I am not taking]
[The other party has set the trade amount.]
[10,000,000 gold]
[Party/Molar: I mean it depends, it is flexible]
[System: Do you accept the trade?]
[Yes/No]
Faced with an amount he had not even imagined, Fang turned mercenary.
For that price he could film even a full wedding ceremony video.
There was nothing to think about, it was Yes. Haesal seemed not to care about what Fang had just said and dropped four brisk letters.
[Party/SupremeArcHaein: Shoot]
Shoot who? There was no need to ask. Fang immediately turned on his screenshot post-processing filter. As if revving up at last, the graphics card spun up its fans with a whirring hum.
[System: The trade has been completed!]
With that neat line, Fang adjusted the camera so the angle would track Ignis.
[Party/Molar: I will do my utmost]
Perfectly transparent before capital, Fang moved in as close as he could without entering Ignis’s line of sight and rotated the camera.
By default, the character customization presets were not bad.
Since the base settings skewed toward good looks, unless you went into fine-tuning and showcased your own bad taste, characters in Erha Online generally looked pleasing.
Ignis, too, even without touching fine-tuning, had a very solid base, though behind that lay the fact that back when Ignis created the character, there was no fine-tuning mode for model customization.
That past was something Fang could not know.
Let’s see… how to shoot to make it look good.
It was true that still poses made pretty screenshots easier, but motion had its own appeal, catching the flutter of a coat, collar, and hair, so it was not bad.
The Conqueror’s Coat Ignis wore now was a long coat with a broad chest and a hem down to the ankles, so the more he moved, the better the compositions he could capture.
Even if the subject was not cooperating and probably did not even know he was being screenshotted, Fang rapidly changed angles and machine-gunned the screenshot key with dazzling speed.
Meanwhile, Yeonjun, for once making uninterrupted progress, was clearing quests steadily and charging toward level 81.
With the returnee buff, portal fees and various surcharges were waived, and the plaza’s dedicated NPC even lent him temporary gear, which was certainly convenient.
If he finished the backlog of main quests to raise his combat level and then raised his lagging life skills, the vast content accrued over ten years would be waiting for him.
“There is a ton beyond combat content too.”
He had no intention of touching hardcore content, so he set that aside.
As a former ranker and lord, he had never had time for it, since he was always fending off constant challenges, but now he wanted to try filling in the compendium.
For now, well, he had little time, but nothing was urgent.
Step by step, start with the fish compendium, then plant compendium, then mineral compendium.
If possible, he wanted to try the cultivation compendium too. There was even a food compendium.
His eyes shone at the overflowing content. He was not the same as back then.
Let’s do the things he could not do then.
With that modest wish, and thinking it might be nice to play as Ignis, the whisper alert chimed.
[Whisper/DoHaesal: Hello!]
Ah… Yeonjun’s lips stretched in a long line at a contact that was not exactly comfortable.
Honestly, it was uncomfortable.
The mere fact that someone who remembered him from those days existed right there in front of him was stressful.
Because the Yeonjun of now was not someone as worthy of admiration as the Yeonjun of then.
The Yeonjun of now was a shabby extra who had clawed his way into a big company only to spend his evenings sticking labels on envelopes.
[Whisper/Ignis: Hello]
No sooner had Yeonjun forced his reluctant fingers to type a whisper than a mailbox alert popped up at the bottom of the UI.
[Whisper/DoHaesal: In case you might need it]
[Whisper/DoHaesal: I crafted some level 80 masterwork gear]
[Whisper/DoHaesal: I mailed it, so use it comfortably!]
Reading the rapid-fire messages, Yeonjun opened his mailbox.
Masterwork pieces—every slot socketed and fully gemmed—were arriving in a row.
Masterwork meant crafted gear that, on top of maximized quality bonuses, had additional options attached.
To craft gear as masterwork, you needed the artisan’s finishing materials specified for each item level.
They were low-level finishes now, so probably not expensive.
Still, seeing the three letters DoHaesal stamped as the maker, he figured Haesal must have been too lazy to farm and just had time to spare.
[Whisper/Ignis: Thank you]
After offering thanks first, Yeonjun set a boundary so Haesal would not repeat this.
[Whisper/Ignis: I really appreciate it, but]
[Whisper/Ignis: I am going to run all the instances with free matching anyway]
[Whisper/Ignis: I do not need options this good]
[Whisper/Ignis: Save your materials]
He meant it.
Free matching was a dungeon system designed so players who had trouble with party play, or for low-level instances where party matching was scarce, could clear with NPC AI.
Whether Yeonjun’s DPS was like beating on things while slurping ramen or whether he wore the best-in-slot for the level and blew things up, the NPCs would still move as scripted AI. Giving him this would be pearls before swine.
[Whisper/Do Haesal: It is fine!]
[Whisper/Do Haesal: These do not cost much, please accept them comfortably :)]
He may have said that, but it made Yeonjun uncomfortable. Since he had insisted he was not that Ignis and was only a third party lucky to snag the nickname, Yeonjun was reluctant to interact with Haesal.
[Whisper/Ignis: I feel bad about it, that is all]
[Whisper/Ignis: From last time, I will just accept the thought, thank you]
Interpretation: please do not send more.
There was no way Haesal’s brain would take it that way.
Watching from a distance far enough that Ignis would not notice him, Haein saw Ignis’s gear switch to what he had sent and clutched at his chest.
“Ignis put on the gear I gave him!”
It was hard to keep pestering when the subtle wall he felt was there, but just the fact that Ignis was wearing gear he had crafted was the best reward for Haein.
He immediately began making the next set, for the level 85 requirement.
See, I knew starting over from a newbie would not stick.
Haein forced his pounding heart to calm and watched the screen, cheeks tinged pink.
By the way, is he going to keep pushing the not-me concept?
For now, he was roaming ghost maps where it was hard to find people, except for newbies pushing the main quest and a few coming to take screenshots, so maybe it was possible.
But once rumors started, no small number of users would rush in hoping to meet the legendary named and take a proof shot.
He would handle it however he wished, but if word got out that Ignis had returned, guilds wanting to recruit Ignis to their side would pop up one after another.
That probably would not happen, and must not happen, but what if Ignis joined a guild other than Yeonhwa?
Haein did not even want to imagine it. That must not be allowed.
A drastic plan was needed to capture Ignis.
Leave a Reply