Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 175

The New Year has started, but my schedule hasn’t changed at all.

It’s another day in Deron.

January 1st.

It’s already past 1 PM, and after taking in the sunrise in Deron, I got to bed late, which is why my login time is so late.

But other users are in the same boat. I nodded, noticing the dramatically reduced login rates of my guild members.

With no close friends among the guild members right now, my gaze shifted to the friend list.

Lately, I’ve been focusing on Jupiter, so I haven’t checked on my first friend since the server merge.

That fact weighed heavily on my mind.

I sent a message to Arthur, whose online indicator was lit in the friend list.

Yeo – [Arthur!]

Arthur – [Hey. What’s up?]

Yeo – [Just thought of you and reached out. What were you up to?]

Arthur – [Was just about to hit the dungeon. Perfect timing! Do you have time right now?]

Yeo – [I have plenty of time.]

Arthur – [Then how about running a dungeon together?]

A dungeon, huh? Any dungeon with Arthur was welcome.

I guessed Arthur’s specs at this moment. Being a heavy user who doesn’t shy away from spending, she probably had specs close to mine.

Yeo – [Sure!]

Arthur instantly sent me the coordinates. Checking them, I saw that it was the dungeon known to be the toughest at the moment, [Vampire Orc’s Forward Base].

It was populated by orcs who embraced the darkness of the Fallen Moonlight and regained their long-lost fighting spirit.

That was the theme of the dungeon.

Before heading off to cover the distance, I stretched out my arms and shouted loudly.

Though it had been quite a while since I took this pose, it felt as natural as before.

“Come forth!”

With my shout, the air quivered, and the magnificent Battle Wolf Urrang jumped out.

Thanks to the increased specs, I was able to summon mounts from that world according to the progress of my main quests.

Was it because the dimensional rifts connecting both worlds had become weaker?

Whatever the reason might be, being able to summon mounts sure felt great.

Urrang—

Long-awaited, Urrang approached and rubbed against me with its large body.

Such a cute creature.

Whenever I touch its fluffy fur, I find myself wanting to raise a big dog in reality as well.

“Let’s go!”

Urrang!

Tack-tack-tack-

Riding on Urrang, I charged ahead energetically. While enjoying the swiftly passing scenery, my eyes kept moving to survey my surroundings.

I couldn’t predict when and where some mad fanatic would leap out.

The ongoing bad blood with the Exorcist Guild since the first day of the server merge hadn’t disappeared yet.

It seemed this relationship would continue until one of the two guilds fell first.

How long did I run? After moving to the same channel as Arthur, I could spot her in front of the dungeon.

“Arthur!”

Arthur wasn’t alone. There were already three members in a party, including a wizard and an archer, not counting me.

If I joined in, we’d have four people, but we needed one more member to start the dungeon.

“Welcome!”

Upon reaching Arthur, I quickly unsummoned Urrang and checked the nicknames of the party members.

All were humans, with Arthur being among the Round Table Knights.

First, I eyed the user with the nickname Merlin.

He was an elderly wizard in a navy blue robe, with a long white beard.

Of course, it was hard to guess his real age. He probably created this character just for the concept.

Next was Tristan.

From the huge longbow on his back, he was the archer.

I tilted my head at that sight. Archer users had become quite rare these days.

“Oh, you are…”

As indicated by their nicknames and guild names, it was clear they were role-playing enthusiasts.

I approached Arthur and asked, “Wow, real Round Table Knights, huh? Are there others too?”

“There used to be more during the start, but now it’s slimmed down a lot. People have quit playing.”

“Ah, I see.”

I nodded at Arthur’s words.

It’s not uncommon for close friends to suddenly leave the game.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Yeo, Arthur’s friend. Nice to meet you.”

“Well, likewise…”

“I’ve heard a lot about you from Arthur. They say you’re a very skilled knight.”

The first impression of them wasn’t bad at all.

I needed to make a good impression on them. If I wanted to woo Arthur, I had to pay attention to the people around her as well.

“Yeo, do you know any healer users? If not, we might need to find one separately.”

It was Tristan who asked me that.

I nodded. Among the logged-in guild members, there was an unusually low number of healer users.

My friend list was similarly barren. It seemed that since it was the first day of the new year, most people were opting to spend time in the real world instead of the game.

Considering that, those gathered here were indeed true Deron users, weren’t they?

I nodded to myself at that thought.

“This dungeon has quite a bit of difficulty. We need to find a healer with decent specs. Set the gear Ether level around 10 or so.”

Arthur’s words made Tristan nod in agreement.

I looked up at Arthur with a strange expression. I hadn’t realized it before, but she was so natural when looking down on others.

About five minutes later, we had a healer.

“Hello!”

Joining our party was a cheerful Elf Priest.

Her large staff, which she held behind her, caught my eye.

It seemed more focused on enhancing buff skills rather than improving healing efficiency for party members.

“Do you know the strategy, Priest?”

“Of course. Don’t worry about it.”

The Elf Priest said that while pulling out a red jewel from her pocket.

It was a special Transcendence Stone only obtainable in this dungeon.

A trophy that only those who cleared the dungeon could show.

Arthur finally nodded in approval.

“I’ll check on doping and potions, and then we’ll head out.”

What a great start. Arthur said that and led the party members toward the dungeon.

Just as we reached the entrance of the dungeon, she turned back to me and jumped straight into the dungeon.

I followed Arthur’s lead, jumping myself toward the dungeon entrance.

The remaining party members behind us began to look at us with puzzled expressions.

“W-What, is there some special meaning behind that action?”

The question came from the old wizard Merlin.

Arthur replied to him, “They say all users on the Korean server do it this way.”

“Oh, ooh… What a fascinating culture…”

Perhaps since the guild leader personally showcased this new culture, the guild members felt they had to follow suit?

Tristan and Merlin leaped into the dungeon like Arthur.

The last one left was the Elf Priest.

Jump already, you earling!

“Um…”

The Elf Priest finally jumped into the dungeon with an awkward smile.

The dungeon itself went smoothly. With Arthur’s outstanding tanking ability combined with my incredible swordsmanship, we barreled through the dungeon quickly.

“Wooa… This is comfortable…”

“This is quite astonishingly fast…”

I smiled widely while hearing the Elf Priest and Merlin’s comments.

Yes, this is it. I hadn’t heard any compliments about my skills in quite some time.

The fixed party members and party members I usually play with got used to my skills, so they no longer expressed amazement.

Hearing praise after such a long time made my shoulders lift. Naturally, my pace of wielding the sword quickened as well.

“Ha-yah!”

There’s still more to impress! I swung the massive Demon Sword around proudly, as if showing off to my party members.

It wasn’t just any ordinary weapon. It was the appearance of a world item.

Nobody other than me wielded this Demon Sword, so everyone would be puzzled.

Exactly ten minutes into the dungeon, Merlin, who was quietly observing from behind, cautiously spoke up.

“Yeo, that sword of yours has a very unique appearance. Could you tell me where you got it?”

“Are you talking about this sword?”

I turned around and slung the Demon Sword over my shoulder.

Since I had just tidied up all the monsters around us, I was feeling pretty relaxed.

Starting with Merlin’s question, the rest of the party began to show interest in my sword.

I proudly slammed the sword down on the ground.

Boom!

Arthur already knew what kind of sword it was.

I linked the information about my sword to show the party members.

Though the special abilities of the world item had faded, the item grade, special name, and appearance remained.

“Woo, a world item…”

“This is unbelievable…”

World items aren’t something anyone could just get ahold of.

Though there were rumors that the Kraken and the Black Dragon world items had been released a few more times, neither this Demon Sword nor Jupiter’s Holy Sword had seen anyone acquire them additionally so far.

“Excuse me, if you don’t mind, could you share the journey to obtaining this Demon Sword? I really, really want to hear it.”

Merlin’s reaction exceeded my expectations.

Seeing his fervent response, I was slightly taken aback as Arthur whispered to me in a small voice.

“Merlin is a fairy tale author. He really loves stories like this.”

“Ah. Aha.”

It wouldn’t be right to turn him down after he asked so earnestly.

So I shared my journey with him throughout the dungeon.

I even embellished the parts that might confuse him along the way.

“And so… back then…”

“Ooo…”

Merlin’s reaction was superb.

I became even more excited, yammering away.

As we neared the end of the dungeon, the Elf Priest, who had been silently listening, cautiously spoke up.

“Um, if you have the Demon Sword, then there’s the Holy Sword, right?”

“Uh, yeah… I guess so.”

“The Holy Sword…!”

As soon as the Holy Sword was mentioned, Merlin became even more enthusiastic.

I frowned. Why was the Holy Sword suddenly coming into play?

The owner of the Holy Sword was Jupiter. That little sparrow, chirping around.

“Owner of the Demon Sword, do you perhaps have a relationship with the owner of the Holy Sword? I read on the internet that all the owners of the Holy Sword are users from the Korean server.”

He must have even done a search within that short time frame.

I nodded reluctantly at Merlin’s question.

Though I didn’t have a completely unfamiliar relationship with him, it wouldn’t be accurate to say we were particularly close either.

“I beg you! Could you help me meet the owner of the Holy Sword?”

I frowned again. I didn’t like how Merlin seemed more interested in finding the Holy Sword and that little sparrow before I even finished talking about the Demon Sword.

“Merlin, aren’t you curious about the rest of the Demon Sword story?”

“N-No, I just want to hear about the Holy Sword too.”

“What do you think is cooler, the Demon Sword or the Holy Sword?”

“Of course, the Demon Sword!”

As expected from a fairy tale author, he had a good sense of style.

I nodded satisfactorily and resumed the story that I had paused earlier.