Chapter 61. Promise
"Thank you for saving our village and killing that wicked Goblin king. You even rescued the young girls and the vigilant guard members. We would be eternally grateful to you."
Ale Village Chief Gustav said as he bowed his head, gratefulness was written all over his face.
His shoulders which look stiff often were now slightly relaxed. It was like a big burden was now gone from his shoulders.
"No, you don't have to bow your head."
Ian waved his hands as he said that.
It was the third time that the Village Chief Gustav was bowing his head to him.
Ian was fine with it at first but doing it excessively would only make him feel awkward. After all, he was making the most profit here.
"No, our whole village owes you."
It's been a day since Ian had killed the Goblin king and returned to the Ale village.
The first thing he had done was of course treating Tacan with a health potion. Gustav had an antidote for the poison, so they didn't have to worry much about the poison.
But Tacan's injuries were still numerous and Ale village only has low grade health potions.
They were enough to sustain Tacan's life but he would take a long time to recuperate. He was currently resting in his home.
"By the way, Is the antidote ready?"
The second thing Ian had done was to give the Goblin king's heart to Gustav.
There was not much left till the expiration date of the quest 'The cure for the Count'. Ian had to quickly take the antidote and leave for Arth.
"Yeah, I have already made the antidote."
Thankfully, it didn't take much for the Village Chief Gustav to make the antidote. He was really a skilled alchemist.
"Thank you."
Ian thanked Gustav as he handed him eight veils of the antidote. The liquid in the veils was of dark blue colour.
Ian quickly examined the information of the antidote.
* * *
The antidote for the deadly poison of the monster Venomous python. It is made by the unknown alchemist 'Gustav'.
* * *
The description was short but it was enough to find out the authenticity of the poison.
Truthfully, Ian was not expecting that he would get eight veils of the antidote. At most, he was expecting five veils.
"It looks like you were not expecting this much antidote."
Village Chief Gustav also noticed the confusion in Ian's eyes and said.
"Yeah, I was not expecting this much antidote."
"Well, honestly, I was expecting only five veils of antidote at most. The last time I had made the antidote for my friend, I was only able to fill three veils."
"Then, is there any specific reason this time?"
Ian asked as he felt curious about it. He can guess that the reason was connected to the Goblin king's heart that he had given to him.
Ian's guess was also correct.
"The reason is the Goblin heart you had given me. It was really unusual."
"Unusual?"
Ian tilted his head as he asked.
"Yeah, it was unusual because it was larger than the average Goblin king's heart. It's efficiency was way more too."
'Maybe it's because the Goblin king was a Blood Goblin king?'
Ian wondered in his heart.
He thought about the message he had received from the system and how the Goblin king was way stronger than he had imagined.
It was certainly unusual and his intuition was telling him that it would lead him to a major event.
"It won't affect the antidote, right?"
Although Ian had already checked the information of the antidote, he still asked for confirmation.
"Your concerns are unnecessary. There won't be any effect on the antidote. I would even say that it has increased the quality of the antidote."
"That's good."
Ian took a sigh of relief.
Well, in the end, he was the one who was the most benefited from this.
Not only did he get the antidote, he even leveled up to level 50 and his spear mastery was now in intermediate grade.
He got a new title and the most profitable thing for him was to get the extra veils of the antidote.
He would be left with seven of them after giving one to the Count.
'I wonder how much I can sell this for.'
Ian was sure that he would get at least 50-70k USD from selling the antidotes. It was a huge sum of money but Ian was dealing with the top guilds here.
Currently, his main candidate to sell the antidote was Dark Luna guild.
At the same time, Ian had to be careful about selling the antidote. After all, only Ian had the antidote in the game.
The top guilds can be really unreasonable and they would surely want to know where Ian had gotten the antidote from.
In the worst case, they would try to threaten Ian. That's why he would have to do everything in utmost secrecy.
"I would excuse myself now. The former Count's health is at concern here. I can't delay any longer."
Ian said as he looked at Village Chief Gustav.
"I understand. Please visit our small village whenever you want. We would welcome you anytime."
"Sure."
Ian left the house after that.
He had to quickly leave for the capital now. He was already late because of hunting the Goblin king.
He can't delay any longer!
"Ian!!"
As Ian was preparing to leave on his horse, someone blocked his path. It was the elf magician Alice.
"You promised to give me an interview."
Alice said as she glared at Ian. If she hadn't waited for him, then Ian would have certainly left without even saying goodbye.
"Can't we do it for later?"
"No, we can't. You even promised to give one."
'I did say something like that.'
Ian scratched his head as he thought. It didn't look like Alice would let him leave without the interview and truthfully, she had helped him a lot.
He can at least give her an interview.
"Five minutes! Do it quickly."
Ian finally agreed and Alice beamed a bright smile on her face.
Five minutes were more than enough for her.
"So, tell me about your experience while playing Ark…"
Alice quickly started asking various types of questions like 'What is Ian's level?' and 'How is he so strong?'
Ian had seen some interviews of the rankers on the internet before. So, he had some basic knowledge about interviews.
Still, Alice's rapid questions and enthusiasm were enough to overwhelm him.
He was also being careful about his answers. There were some things that he can't openly say like his skill 'nature cooking'.
When Alice asked about his cooking, Ian just vaguely replied, saying that it was because his cooking skill proficiency was high.
Ian wanted to keep it as vague as he can.
Alice was of course dissatisfied with it, but seeing Ian's stern gaze, she didn't push on this topic.
"Then, what's your class? I can say that it's not a normal class. Is it a hidden class?"
Alice was really interested in knowing the answer to this question, but she could not help frown when Ian opened his mouth.
"I'm classless."
"..."
For a while, Alice didn't even speak. She was stupefied beyond belief hearing that.
She even felt that Ian was trying to play a prank on her. After some time, she finally asked.
"Are you joking with me?"
"No, I'm not. I'm really classless."
"Look, no matter how much of an idiot I look, I'm still not one. Do you really think that you can fool me with that?"
Alice felt like Ian was deliberately trying to hide his class.
It also made her more curious about it, but more than curious, she was furious. Alice was thinking that Ian was making fun of her.
'I know it's hard to believe but I'm really classless.'
Ian screamed in his mind. He knew that no matter how he tries to explain, Alice won't believe it.
He has to find a way to make her believe him…
"Ah, what's with her?"
As Ian was thinking of a way to explain this to Alice, he noticed that she was just staring at empty air without saying anything.
Ian was confused at first but he quickly understood what was going on.
Someone had messaged Alice.
"Ah, can't you find someone else? Well, I understand… but I'm busy…!! Sigh, Ok, I will go cover it..."
'She's using the whisper function.'
Ian thought as he looked at Alice. There were two features that can be used to communicate with other players in the game.
First one was the in-game messaging function and the second one was what Alice was using at that moment.
This function was called whisper. In simple terms, it was just a call in-game.
Ian had once used the in-game messaging function to talk with Ria, but he never got to use the whisper function.
"I understand. Sigh!!"
The call finished after a minute and Alice leaked out a sigh.
It looks like she was angry about something but she let out her anger by sighing. Then, she looked at Ian with an apologetic face.
"Sorry, I have to go. Some work has come and I can't continue the interview."
"It's fine. Your work is more important."
Ian said with a blank face but inwardly, he was happy. He didn't have to explain about him being classless now.
"I would contact you later. Let's add each other as friends."
"Sure."
Before leaving, Alice added Ian as a friend. She quickly left after that. It seems like her work was something important this time.
'I should go now.'
Ian thought as he got up on his horse.
Then, he quickly went towards the exit point. The exit point was located in the west side of the village.
On his way, there were several villagers who were greeting him. Ian's reputation in the village was now maximum.
He was the hero of Ale village. If he wants to, he can even take the position of the Village Chief in the Ale village.
But he would certainly won't do it.
Ian was not the type to become a lord or a ruler in the first place. He was more akin to adventures.
'Why is he here?'
As Ian came closer to the exit point, he saw someone standing there.
The man was wrapped up in bandages and Ian even wondered how he was standing on his feet.
Ian called out to him.
"What are you doing here, Tacan?"
"I'm here to say goodbye to you. I, at least, wanted to see you off."
Tacan said as he smiled.
"You should focus on resting currently."
"Haha, maybe, but still, I would have regretted it if I hadn't said goodbye to you and there is something else."
"What is it?"
Ian asked while sitting on the horse. A wind blew at that moment and both of their hairs swirled in the wind.
It was like a scene straight out of a movie.
"I wanted to have a duel with you."
'Is he crazy?'
That was the first thought in Ian's mind when he heard that. Tacan was having difficulty in even walking.
How can he have a duel with Ian?
"I know I'm not in the state to fight and I'm also not saying that we should fight currently, but in the future, I really want to have a taste of your spear."
Ian laughed when he heard that.
When he was in the fantasy world, someone had said that same thing to him. That's why, Ian laughed.
"Sure, let's have a duel in the future."
A smile formed on the lips of Tacan when he heard that.
"Then, it is a promise."
"Yeah, a promise. Let's meet again in the future."
No one knows if they would really meet again in the future, but Ian had a feeling that Tacan would surely find him to have a duel.
"I would work hard to beat you."
"Sure."
Tacan moved away from his way after that. Ian started to walk slowly towards the exit. At that moment…
Several vigilant guards members came and straightened their backs. They looked at Ian and saluted him.
"We would be forever grateful to you!!!"
They all shouted at the same time. Not only Ian had saved most of them, he even had strength enough to defeat the Goblin king.
They were in awe of his strength!
'This is getting too dramatic.'
Ian thought as he looked at the vigilant guards members once. Then, he pulled the reins of the horse and left Ale village.
'I would become stronger.'
Tacan thought as he looked at the back of Ian which was getting farther away.
Fighting spirit rose in his heart when he thought about Ian's strength. He would certainly become more powerful and have a duel with Ian.
It was now Tacan's goal!!