Chapter 36: Off To Ritsen

A shudder ran through Paul at the spine-chilling letter, and he grimaced.

“Ugh, I don’t want to see that person…”

“Did you read it all? I’m telling you, that guy must have swallowed a whole stick of butter.”

“Tell me about it.”

Paul shivered and handed the letter to Gorgon, who also shivered and threw the letter into the blazing fireplace.

It wasn’t the first time he had received a letter like this.

Ever since he attended the banquet in Gorgon’s place, the king or prince of that place had been persistently sending these kinds of letters.

Paul crawled on his knees to Khan, who was studying, and arbitrarily rested his head on his sturdy lap, lying down on the floor.

Khan glanced at Paul and then turned his gaze back to the book in his hand.

In <Arcana Chronicles>, a slavery system once existed.

Most of the slaves were ‘other races’ who had been kidnapped or whose groups had been attacked by humans.

At that time, the s*ave market was rampant.

And this too was a piece of content for the players.

No matter which kingdom you chose as your starting village, you would always start in a small village on the rural outskirts.

As a result, there was very little prior information that players could know.

Until then, the only races players saw were their own.

But the moment they left the village and headed for the city, information that other races existed was gradually sprinkled.

The method could be a quest, or it could be in a conversation overheard from a passing NPC.

Anyway, as you gathered information, you would eventually discover a s*ave market held in a prosperous city.

The reactions of people who saw the s*ave market were largely divided into three categories.

People who had no interest from the beginning.

And people who just enjoyed it, saying it was just a game so this much was fine.

And people who expressed their aversion, saying that even if it was a game, this was too outdated.

The problem started from there.

Opinions were divided, and factions were formed.

One day, when the conflict between players was escalating, a quest with the same content appeared for all players at the same time.

Later, such quests were called ‘Continental Quests’, meaning they could shake the entire continent, and this was the first war between players that occurred in <Arcana Chronicles>.

At the end of a fierce war, the slavery system disappeared from the continent, and the other races who had been captured as slaves were released and regained their freedom.

Afterward, various races were able to live together.

And as if that were the right answer, around the time the aftermath of the war was settling down, many new races that players could play were added.

The term ‘other race’ is no longer used.

This is because it was promised to name beings who live in a society as people.

So, although each has a separate race name, they are comfortably called people when referred to collectively.

But that didn’t mean everything was solved as if measured with a ruler.

Although most kingdoms agreed to abolish the slavery system and release the slaves, there were people who illegally held s*ave auctions underground even after that.

Thanks to that, the ‘Resistance’, which took the lead in cracking down on such people and rescuing slaves, newly emerged.

Well, now, that’s all an old story.

Before Paul started playing <Arcana Chronicles>, it was a series of eventful incidents.

Wars were frequent within the game, the continent was in an uproar with big and small incidents, and recently, there was another uproar because of the main story related to the gods?

He, who played casually, didn’t know much.

Only the stories he heard from the people he occasionally met were somewhat memorable.

For reference, the last race to be added in <Arcana Chronicles> was the ‘elf’.

Conversely, it meant that two years had passed since the discovery of elves, without a new race appearing.

Various conditions were required to unlock a race, and in the case of elves, it is said that the guild master of the number one ranked guild in <Arcana Chronicles> discovered them.

But it seemed the process was not entirely smooth, as elves disliked humans more than other races.

In the first place, during the time of the slavery system, elves were naturally the number one hunting target.

As a result, they had a natural aversion to humans, and that guild master had added to it.

Elves were basically the embodiment of beauty.

Skin as fair and white as snow, eyes like glass beads, and long, thin eyelashes.

Their fine platinum-blonde hair sparkled like jewels when it touched the light, and they always had a pleasant scent.

It was like the smell of forest grass, sweet fruit, or flowers.

And basically, their body lines were graceful and elegant, so they were beautiful even when they were still.

They were like that in appearance, at least, I don’t know about their fierce personality.

Of course, that was about the NPCs.

Players also had those elven characteristics, of course, but just as it looks strange and awkward when someone who doesn’t suit blonde hair has blonde hair, it felt somehow out of place even though they were pretty.

When creating an account in <Arcana Chronicles>, the initial appearance of the avatar reflected the real-life appearance.

From here, you would customize and fix your appearance one by one, but since it took a long time, there were people who put in a lot of effort from the beginning, and there were also many who just did it roughly and moved on.

Paul was also like that.

When his nickname was even chosen for him by a friend, would he have put in a lot of effort to create his own avatar?

He remembered just leaving it to the program.

Well, fortunately, his original appearance was decent, so even with a little touch-up, he was able to create an appearance that didn’t feel out of place as an elf.

However, he didn’t have the unique beauty and elegance of elves, and he had a rather plain and somewhat cute face.

Due to his bubbly personality, in his early days when he didn’t wear a mask, he was often told that his appearance suited his personality very well.

…Anyway, the reason I’m telling this long story is because Ritsen, who sent this letter, was the kingdom that opposed the abolition of the slavery system until the very end.

On top of that, the fact that he approached Paul as soon as he found out he was an elf who had appeared in place of Gorgon and endlessly made advances on him was one of the reasons he was reluctant.

Given that history, it was difficult to look at it favorably, even if it wasn’t done with bad intentions.

On top of that, his appearance was decent, but his actions were…

Paul buried his face in Khan’s thigh and sighed.

“What’s wrong?”

“Hmph.”

“Are you hurt somewhere?”

“…No.”

Although there was someone he didn’t want to see, he couldn’t just not go when an invitation had arrived.

Gorgon also seemed to want to go, and Khan would enjoy going and looking around…

Of course, if he went, he might have to meet the person he didn’t want to see.

If he had a much higher level, or if he had a title from another kingdom, it might have been different.

But since that wasn’t the case, if he rashly refused the order of a royal, he would receive a corresponding penalty.

Simply, he could be banned from entering that kingdom, or a bounty could be placed on him throughout the region, and depending on the situation, he could be restricted in his actions, such as having a pursuer attached to him.

So, it was better in many ways to just go along with things related to the royal family.

‘Come to think of it, I think I heard that Ritsen currently has a scarecrow NPC as its king, and a player is reigning from behind…’

Paul got up awkwardly and opened the quest window again.

The letter had burned and disappeared, but the invitation and the quest remained.

As he was slowly scanning the contents again, his eyes widened.

[Time remaining (real time) – 46:25:19]

[Time remaining (real time) – 46:25:18]

[Time remaining (real time) – 46:25:17]

***

Wait, 46 hours…?

“…Gor, when did this letter arrive?”

“A month or two ago?”

At those words, Paul was startled and sat up abruptly.

And he looked at Gorgon, who was sitting in front of him teaching Khan how to write, and shouted.

“Hey, why are you showing me this now?! There are only a few days left!”

“Well, you’ve been gone for the past two months, ignoring my words and going to that cursed land, haven’t you?”

Saying that, Gorgon broke the quill pen he was holding in his hand.

Thanks to that, ink splattered everywhere.

Feeling a little guilty, Paul laughed awkwardly.

“Uh, hahaha, ha… I’m sorry.”

“As long as you know. As long as you know.”

Paul held his head.

If it was a relief, it was a relief that Ritsen and Hwion were right next to each other.

The war had also ended a long time ago, so travel between the two countries was possible.

‘I was planning on taking my time and looking around after a long time! That’s all down the drain… First, the urgent thing is the temple, so I’ll go to the temple first… I still have some time for Ritsen, so I can go today, right?’

Paul jumped up from his seat and shouted.

“This is no time for this, Gor! We have to pack!”

“Suddenly?”

“It’s not sudden…! We have to go today! I have to go to Hwion too!”

“Ugh… I’m busy too.”

While grumbling like that, Gorgon diligently disappeared to pack his bag.

Paul opened the closet and rummaged through the clothes.