That was a surprising turn of events. Is there some sort of insider thing with the members of the loan shark people? That was an interesting part that I may have neglected if I was a player wgo will immediately challenge the target without investigating and analyzing the problem and the root cause behind it. Luckily, due to my experience before on "Choose their Fate" quests, I am not in a hurry to finish it. In fact, I have to go slow and analyze the situation more.
After the incident with the lackey, the group left and the guy who got angry from the kids who accidentally bumped into him were "cleaned" up. He is now cold and no longer breathing, which made me smirk. The leader of this loan sharks are someone capable and quite strong. His decision to "clean and uproot the cause" was quite smart of him.
Of course they didn't just leave the cold corpse of the lackey. They carried it along with them. To think their boss is very wild, dangerous and easy to be offended, I will not be surprised having several of them carrying corpses around the place though I wanted to avoid that though. Observing the road they are using, I can see that they are getting near to where the Silverdrider Pub is but that is not something they would do to reach, The leader started entering stores and stopping on stalls collecting money on the owners currently attending the stores.
At first, I was expecting some of these store owners to beg and cry for an extension for their debts but for some reason, that didn't happen and instead, I saw them pay without second thought. It was quite puzzling to see this. Usually, loan sharks are quite a big trouble to people who are in dire need of money. They usually appear when you needed money and will charge you hefty amount of money once the deadline for the debt is due. Seeing them readily pay them money made me think again on my next actions.
While they were on the way to the Silverdrider Pub, the group also did some detour around and continue to collect money on the way. All of the store owners did not hesitate to give them money. After careful observation, I found out that the store owners did not even have any fear or hesitation on their faces and body language. NPCs might not be human but they possess human traits which normally manifest to normal people which is why the reading the body language from them works well too.
It didn't take them long before they finally arrived into their destination. The same Silverdrider Pub that NPCs with notorious deeds and questionable things gather. In the near future, it will be also the place where illegal transactions of items are sold and exchanged. Some of the insider info and bounty contracts will be also accessible here. Of course that will be in the future and has nothing to do with me right now.
In the end, not a single store owner begged, initiated a fight and do something that will be against the loan sharks. So far, everything was peaceful. It was like it was not even a loan shark I am dealing with.
"Why do I feel like something is amiss?" I muttered to myself.
"Choose their Fate" quests are quite annoying. It has many endings and has many branching futures depending on your actions. You can compare it with visual novel with routes and selections of endings but with only a limited action and precise thinking on what outcome you are aiming for since this quests are once only. They cannot be repeated to see what happened in the other route. In short, you are stuck on what ending you get. And of course, the better the ending, the more generous the reward given. Sometimes it is more rewarding than normal quests so players who are well versed with "Choose their Fate" quests will make sure to gather up all kinds of info on the quest before they will decide what will be the outcome. And I am one of them.
Entering the Silverdrider Pub right now is just plain stupid. The info I got is not enough for me to proceed and I am quite sure something much more is within the quest. Just when I was still trying to think on what to do to gather intel, a few players that have not change in the slightest appeared in my line of sight.
"Those guys!" I saw 4 players who are all without a doubt, my old guild members in the past timeline. They are also the guys who called me earlier this morning. None other than Teruyama and his gang.
I never expected to see these guys here already. Perhaps it was due to the power of money since you can buy a starter pack using real money to power level up to 20 and pass by the Gate Guardian without hitch after the patch was given out. New players who wanted to go directly to the capital without farming in the beginner village for a while will be very happy to purchase that pack. It was a guaranteed level 20 after purchasing it with some freebies like weapons with some random stats and a few items that are rarely dropped by monsters.
Does luck really gets me in favor today? Why am I so lucky? Seeing these guys right now is one of what I am trying to do but since they are still beginners, it was not worth to go back to the beginner village and camp kill them all. But seeing them use the power of money to progress faster, I can't wait to show them the power of hard work against players who uses the power of money to progress. Looks like Lina's quest and the Blacksmithing will have to wait, I have to let them taste the bitter taste of karma first. And I can't rest yet if I can't deliver the rightful punishment they deserved after bullying me in the real world and alternate world. That is just how far they can go...