HC: Pacifist | Ch. 253 - Algae Coffee (Patreon)

Eron sipped on his Algae Coffee. He didn’t care if it was a statbooster in the game. He was in the mood for it, and he could afford it. He sat comfortably in his armchair, examining his ledger. The route was exceeding his expectations so far. After he reached 400 in charisma, his stat bonuses significantly increased his profit margins and allowed him to gain more. 

His giant pelican pet, in whose mouth he comfortably sat, flew so smoothly that, were it not for the map, he would never have imagined he was flying over Storm Island. He smiled as he recalled when he had to travel here by ship and how he had shipwrecked three times before he could finally overcome the fearsome weather. 

Nowadays, thanks to his A-grade pet and the [Heart of the Ocean] he carried in his inventory, these storms felt like a summer breeze. At this rate, he would arrive at the orca pod within the hour.

The rock lizards have canceled your trade agreement.

“Uh?” Eron blinked a few times at the strange notification. “What do you mean? Canceled?” He was a level 54 broker, for goodness sake. How could someone poach his business contract? The only hint he had ever had of contracts being canceled was one skill he unlocked at broker level 34.

Firm Handshake (Profession)

Skill description: You have a firm handshake and a persuasive voice. Your customers feel bad about canceling their deals with you.

Effects:

Increases resistance to contract cancellation.

Restrictions: Merchant, lvl. 34.

At the time, he had spent a few reluctant days, anxious that someone would steal some of his precious business connections. Then he’d spent a few weeks investigating how he could steal other merchants’ contracts. He hadn’t been able to find any clues. However, it looked like a competitor had.

For them to steal his contract with the rock lizards, they had to be brokers, too. Was it Samira? No. She just stuck to the Fire Pits. Rock lizards lived way out of her turf. If it wasn’t her, that meant there was another player in the broker profession.

The rock lizards weren’t among his best customers or suppliers by a long shot. However, what if his competitor got to the orca pod, for example? That would be a massive hit. He couldn’t have that. He messaged his guild leader, Zin, and readjusted his route. After the Water Caves, he’d go to Rock Canyon and find out who had the gall to encroach on his backyard.

*

After Drake called his attention to it, Roth’s mind connected all the dots and realized his mistake. In the earlier days, he could make all the peace treaties he wanted, and no one would have been the wiser. Not anymore.

Even though he had never admitted it openly, all guilds had at least a strong suspicion that he was the key to awarding extra stats to VIP union members. He had just shaken his tail in Antioch. What if they came running to Sapphira after receiving news of a new faction in the agreement?

“Shoot. I should have thought of this,” Roth chastised himself. “At least, from what I know, there’s a rock lizard dungeon close to each of the mid-grade cities of the Rock Canyon. It was a foolish mistake, but I can still salvage this.”

“I know. Sorry. I should have thought of it, too.”

Roth couldn’t help but feel touched by Drake’s concern. Even though Drake could have just ditched him after he left prison, he was giving his all to help him get out of this mess. He had to work hard so that he could leave the game and take care of his family and Drake. He owed them far too much to settle for any less.

“I already have some ideas lined up. I’ll think of a way to confuse any pursuers. How are the Union’s finances?”

“They’re fantastic at the moment,” Drake grinned. “We just had a fortuitous encounter.”

“Really?”

“Listen, we didn’t want to worry you too much, but Loki has been sending some people to cause problems for the Union. He deployed mercs and the assassins of his guild to hunt Union members.”

Hearing this, Roth felt a mix of shame and anger. He knew the method. How many times had Loki hired IronIre in New Earth to carry out this kind of intimidating mission? Provided there was enough cash in hand, it was an excellent way to squash an up-and-coming guild. 

Before Roth realized it, his heart was pumping blood and adrenaline, and his nostrils were flaring. It was one thing to go after him but another to go after his friends. Unlike him, they were innocent. 

“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” Drake added quickly, catching the signs of stress in his body language. “We’ve taken care of everything.”

“Uh? How?” Roth asked, befuddled. His friends weren’t past level 20 yet! Drake’s confident smile, however, told him that he was serious.

“Remember the hint you gave me about the Gazpachos?”

“Yes?”

“The Raviolis helped me track them down. Then, I turned them over to the authorities. As a reward, they have tasked me with organizing part of the city’s renewal project. It’s an epic quest!”

“Epic? Really?”

“The feedback from the Union has been amazing, and the applications to join have spiked! All the trash that Pegasus was publicizing on their website only added to the publicity for the Union, which is already more than 12k strong.”

“W-what? Really? Because of the Gazpachos?”

Drake nodded happily.

“So that’s why they disappeared from my reputation page! They don’t exist anymore?”

“No. They’re all locked up.”

Roth had never imagined that the information he passed to his friend as an afterthought could have escalated so much. It all had started with the intel unearthed by the ratans in the sewers. Hiring NPCs really was worth it. He should set up an intelligence network in Sapphira. Maybe there were rats or mice in the city. There had to be, right?

“I’m so glad things worked out. But I still don’t get it. Just because of that quest, the assassins have stopped hunting Unionized workers down?”

Drake smirked, “It was one of the conditions I asked for from Magister Mildred. At first, she hesitated a little, but when I told her we were great friends, that seemed to sway her.”

Roth gulped. He wondered whether Drake’s audience with the Magister could have coincided with his massive spike in charisma. Maybe that was the determining factor for the magister to assign a military escort to the Union’s artisans. Or perhaps it wasn’t. Magister Mildred had always been nice to him in all their encounters, and the truth was that, even though Drake had put an end to the Gazpachos’ matter, he was the one who had weakened them enough for this to happen.

“I’m really glad. What kind of rewards do they give?” asked Roth.

“So far, all we know is that the quest significantly boosts profession XP. All Union craftsmen are leveling up like crazy! Just because of that, it’s worth it. Depending on how well each one does, I guess we’ll receive more rewards.”

“Sweet!” commended Roth.

“So, what are you going to do to throw the guilds off your scent? They must have figured out you’re in Rock Canyon already.”

Roth thought for a while and then smiled. “You know what, transfer me 2k gold. I’ll pay you back in a day.”

Drake twisted his mouth.

“What? What did I say wrong?”

“Nothing. That kind of line… I used to hear it all the time when I was a loan shark. Just some strong memories. That’s it.”

“I’m serious, though. I’ll pay you back.”

“You’re killing me, Roth. Just stop with the shark borrowing lines. I’ll tell H to transfer the gold to you. See you later!”

And Drake was gone. Roth came off the call feeling embarrassed about his earlier fluke, guilty about causing trouble for his friends, amused by how he had triggered Drake’s traumas, and anxious about how to get the guilds off his back.

Hiss.

Roth gulped and turned toward the two hundred lizards waiting patiently for him to get off his call. He’d been rude. “I-I’m sorry, Lizzie. You were saying?”

If these were the moles, he would have probably lost some precious reputation points with them, but the rock lizards seemed to be a patient race, and Lizzie just kept the dialogue going as if nothing had happened.

“As I was saying, this talk of peace has brought back painful memories. You see, in ages past, lizards used to rule the world. You should have seen us then, martyr. We were humongous. We could level mountains. No one could stop us.”

Was Lizzie referring to the dinosaurs? If so, he’d done the whole dinosaur thing in New Earth. How many dinosaurs had he seen in that game?

“But then, we fell,” Lizzie continued regretfully. “For eons we struggled under the domain of the furry monsters that plagued the world. Then came the humans, turning us into wallets and purses. All seemed lost when a miracle happened. Fire rained down from the heavens and changed us. After the rain of fire, we awoke some of our dormant reptilian potential, but differently. Whenever one of us becomes strong enough, we start our pilgrimage to the swamps where we can transcend and join the great lizard warriors. I can feel I’m close, but I can’t seem to break through,” she said regretfully.

“The lizards fight amongst each other for scraps and compete for territory and food. Perhaps if we joined forces instead, more of us could do the great trek to the swamps and elevate ourselves to the ranks of the great lizard warriors. Then, we wouldn’t just craft armor for the great ones but wear it too,” she said proudly.

The whole dialogue made Roth think of MountainTop, the tank from the Griffins. He was the only lizardman he knew personally. Could these elevated ones be the lizardman race? He’d read in the forums that they were based in a swamp, which resonated with what he knew.

“I think that there’s only one possible solution,” she said finally.

“A peace treaty?” asked Roth.

“No, no, no! Of course not! Surrender. The inferior lizards have to surrender to us.”

“I-I beg your pardon?”

“Go visit the other lizards. If they all agree to surrender to us, then they can hand out their precious treasures, and more of us can transcend and join the great ones in the swamp.”

Roth massaged the popping vein in his temple. This wasn’t the direction he had thought things would take. He had believed that Lizzie wanted his help to reconnect with her brethren. It turned out that she wanted to use Roth’s overwhelming charisma to make other lizards surrender.

“Tell you what, I’ll meet with the other representatives and hear them out. Is that OK?”

You’ve received a new quest: [Unify the Lizards].

Unify the Lizards (Epic)

Description: The lizards have been involved in a violent conflict and seek the help of a mediator. Perhaps you can help them.

Would you like to accept? [Y/N]

Roth sighed and clicked yes. At least, in this game, there was no limit to how many quests he could take on. Since he was an ecotailor, and he would probably need to keep meeting with lizards to get their shed skins, he stood nothing to lose from agreeing to it.

With a growing list of things to do, Roth decided it was time to go. 

“By the way,” he invited, “here is a catalog with all the products of the factions I trade with. Please let me know if there’s anything you’d like.”

Lizzie grabbed the ledger gently with her maw and set it on the floor. She used her long, flexible tongue to flip the pages. “Here! We are interested in these.”

[Power Truffle] has been added to the rock lizard’s procurement list.

[Snake Fruit] has been added to the rock lizard’s procurement list.

“Oh, wow. Alright. I’ll try to bring these over to you.” These rock lizard's had expensive tastes. Just like Prince Piglet needed medicine, these lizards needed statboosters.

Roth bade his farewells and left toward the city. It was time to muddy the waters.

Ch. 252 - Gifts

INDEX

Ch. 254 - Muddy the Waters