The sight of his village broke sothing in Maglo. The mont he saw it, he lurched forward, ready to sprint straight down. If Do-Jin hadn’t jumped to stop him, the dwarf would’ve already thrown himself into the middle of the ss.
“Wait! If sothing’s off, we need to figure out what the fuck’s going on before you charge in!”
“Let go of !” Maglo barked, twisting hard to shove him off.
The dwarf was too worked up. Do-Jin could see it plain as day in his wild eyes and jerky movents. Words weren’t going to calm him down. He’d run into this kind of situation before. If soone was that far gone, he had no choice but to shut them down by force.
With a flick of his hand, he let a burst of Electric Shock rip through the dwarf’s body. Of course, the spell wasn’t cranked up to lethal levels. It was tuned to seize his muscles in an instant, paralyzing him long enough for Do-Jin to grab his scruff, hook a leg, and slam him flat onto the ground.
Maglo toppled into the snow with a heavy thud.However, Do-Jin knew the stubborn bastard wasn’t about to stay down. The mont his body responded, he’d be thrashing again. He needed to be pinned until the heat in his head burned out.
“Anemone.”
She burst into being right above the fallen dwarf, crashing down onto his chest. Maglo choked as the sudden weight pinned him like an anvil.
“Keep him down,” Do-Jin ordered, his voice steady and cold. “If he keeps thrashing, we’re just going to make this whole thing worse.”
Anemone tilted her head, not understanding the details but nodding anyway. Beneath her, Maglo’s eyes burned holes into Do-Jin, spitting venom.
“Y-you bastard...!” His voice shook, half rage, half humiliation.
Do-Jin shot it right back at him. “Quit your whining and look properly. See those humans in the village? You charge in swinging like this, you won’t even make it two steps before you’re chained and dragged off. And then we’re both screwed.”
“Ard n?” Maglo’s head jerked toward the village, his eyes narrowing.
Just as Do-Jin expected, he hadn’t even noticed. The angered dwarf had been ready to run in without a second thought.
Do-Jin let out a long sigh and flicked a hand at Anemone. She caught his intent and eased off, stepping back so Maglo could breathe again.
“Look carefully. There. And there. And over there. There are six in total, two in each spot.”
Maglo squinted, forcing his eyes to focus on the points Do-Jin was showing him. His normal vision couldn’t catch all the details at this distance, but Do-Jin’s Magic Eye and the surge of Farsight made everything sharp and clear.
Even so, it didn’t take long for Maglo to realize that the silhouettes didn’t match. Among the stocky, broad-shouldered dwarves, there were leaner, taller figures moving around. They were humans, mixed in with his kin.
“Those sons of bitches... those human fuckers are the ones who turned my village into this?” His thick hand went straight to the haft of his axe, squeezing until the knuckles whitened.
Do-Jin stopped him again, stepping closer. “I know what’s tearing at you. I know exactly what you want to do. But you and I both know the truth. If you really want to save them, the only way is to keep a level fucking head. You lose it now, you lose everything.”
Maglo’s face twisted. His jaw clenched, his eyes squeezed shut, and finally he gave a stiff nod. Do-Jin exhaled and pulled up the quest choice window he’d shoved aside while wrangling the dwarf.
[Romantic Treasure Hunt]
While tracking down Silvermoon’s legacy, an unexpected situation has unfolded.
⏵The vault has to be around here sowhere. Why risk yourself for nothing? It’s better to let this go and track down Silvermoon’s treasure on your own.
⏵ Maglo is my friend! I can’t turn my back when his ho is in danger. In the end, charging through head-on may lead to a better outco.
What a fucking useless prompt.
Do-Jin didn’t waste ti. His finger tapped the second option without a shred of hesitation.
***
Twelve hours had passed since they started watching the village. The place was still buzzing with activity. Keeping watch itself wasn’t difficult. The group occupying the village wasn’t keeping up much in the way of security anyway.
Well... it’d be more weird if they were worried about intruders way out here. Damn it. Just lying flat here and staring at the sa sight for hours is torturous.
All Do-Jin had to do was stare through a scope and track enemy movents, but the boredom was grinding him down.If Maglo hadn’t rembered to pack binoculars in his bundle of gifts, it would’ve been an even worse nightmare.
He pulled his eye away from the lens and stretched. That was when Maglo’s hand brushed his shoulder. When Do-Jin turned, a chunk of cheese was held out to him. It was as big as a fist and wrapped in bacon.
“Your turn. Go eat and get so sleep.”
Do-Jin accepted the greasy bundle and spoke as he chewed. “That ore vein you ntioned, it’s in that direction, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Three ard n headed that way earlier. After a while, three ca back.”
“What about the village?” Maglo asked.
“There were three pairs, two to a group. They’re rotating shifts. Looks like they swap out every eight hours. If we track the overlap, we can figure out exactly how many are running the rotation.”
“Alright. I’ll keep eyes on that. You take a rest.”
Do-Jin nodded, handed over the binoculars, and started to lean back for a breather. Then Maglo jerked like he’d been shocked.
“What is it?” Do-Jin crept back to a spot where the village was visible and narrowed his eyes, switching on his Farsight.
What ca into view was the back of a dwarf slipping into the central building. What stood out was the gear, armor, helt, and two massive axes strapped across his back. It was certainly unusual for a dwarf, and compared to the others shackled like slaves, the difference was night and day.
Do-Jin’s eyes narrowed. “Is that soone you know?”
He had only seen his back, but Maglo’s reaction said enough. He’d seen the man’s face and knew exactly who it was. Sure enough, Maglo gave a stiff nod.
“He left before I did. No, he was thrown out of the village. He got drunk and crippled three n in a fight.” As Maglo spoke, the dwarf in question stord back out of the building. He was yelling, jabbing a finger at soone inside, clearly furious.
Wait a second... Do-Jin thought.
That scar along his jaw, twisting his beard into a grotesque shape. That gaudy, jewel-studded eyepatch covering a ruined eye was none other than Rokkel, the smuggler scum. He dealt in anything related to weapons, drugs, or slaves. In the future, he’d go on to collaborate with the Cult of Ruin. He was the biggest piece of shit if there ever was one.
The mont Do-Jin recognized Rokkel’s face, a quest appeared. It wasn’t an update to one he already had, but a brand-new one that was marked as Fate.
[The Stench of Rotten Sprouts]
Grade: Fate
Objective: Annihilate the Rotten Sprout
Reward: EXP, Gold, ???
A foul seed festers in the earth, rotting as it waits to take root. It cannot be allowed to sprout. Only by eradicating it can Lostania take one step closer to a better path.
Yeah. Figures Silvermoon isn’t the real issue anymore.
Do-Jin had co all the way here chasing Silvermoon’s legacy, but instead, he ran into the bastard who would eventually grow into a nad villain, a full-blown scourge in the history books.
Strictly speaking, neither saving the village nor digging up Silvermoon’s stash requires killing Rokkel.
However, Do-Jin knew letting him crawl out of here ant trouble down the line. That had to be why the system itself threw down a separate Fate quest.
Fine. If that’s how it is, I’ll go at this even harder.
At this point in ti, Rokkel had yet to beco so powerhouse, brawler-type villain. Before years of feeding on cri had hardened him, he was weaker. Of course, that weakness didn’t an harmless. If Do-Jin let his guard slip, that man would slit his throat quicker than he could react.
“That bastard,” Maglo muttered, his voice shaking with rage and grief. It snapped Do-Jin out of his thoughts. “He’s brought humans back into the village.”
“It still doesn’t change a damn thing,” Do-Jin said flatly. “We stick to the basics. We scout their strength, figure out what we can actually pull off, and move from there. Nothing else matters.”
“Right. You’re right. We’ll follow your plan.”
Nothing had changed. So the two of them kept watch, switching shifts and gathering intel. They tracked enemy numbers, weapons, guard rotations, and squad positions. Piece by piece, the picture ca together.
“Confird count is thirty.” Do-Jin sumd up. “All humans except Rokkel. Six permanently stationed at the mining site, the rest holed up in the village.”
Maglo’s expression grew darker. “If we’ve counted thirty with our own eyes, that ans there could be more. We’re just two n... what the hell do we do against that?”
Do-Jin gave a faint, humorless grin. “You know who my most reliable ally in the world is?”
Maglo blinked. “Who?”
“It’s complacent enemies. There’s nothing better than them. And those bastards down there, they’re not even imagining soone’s watching. That makes every single one of them our ally.”
“I know it’s easier said than done. But... no. You’re right. If it’s a fight we can’t dodge, being scared of the numbers is the dumbest way to start,” the dwarf concluded. He locked eyes with Do-Jin, holding the stare so long it got uncomfortable.
“What?” Do-Jin finally asked, irritated. “Quit staring like that. It’s creepy.”
Maglo hesitated, then blurted it out, his face tinged with awkward pride. “From this day forward, I’m calling you my brother. That’s how it is.”
Almost imdiately, the system chid in with a new notification.
[Relationship Established!]
[Favorability: 50]
Do-Jin let out a small laugh. Looked like he’d scored way too many points with this middle-aged dwarf. “Don’t you think you’re being a little shaless for calling your brother? Forget the age gap, look at the difference in our faces.”
“Shut your mouth, you little shit!” Maglo barked, slapping a hand to his chest. “A man is laying his heart out, and all you can do is crack jokes? Try taking it seriously for once, damn it!”
***
The fact that the enemy had no idea they were even being watched was an advantage bigger than anything else. Do-Jin wasn’t about to waste it. He built the plan piece by piece, ruthless in its precision, and spent the next two days drilling every little detail until there wasn’t a hole left to poke through. “Everything’s ready. If we stick to the plan, there’s no way we lose.”
Maglo, who’d started out anxious and half-broken, wasn’t the sa dwarf anymore. Two days under Do-Jin’s lead had hardened him. The careful preparations, the traps, the rehearsed timing, they weren’t just tactics. They had beco his lifeline, his hope, and his confidence.
With this little shit at my side... yeah. We can do this.
He pressed his eye to the binoculars and muttered. “Should be about that ti now.”
They were positioned in the dead zone between the village and the mine. On foot it took more than forty minutes to travel between the two, which ant the three guards who rotated shifts were forced into isolation every ti they made the trip. It was a perfect choke point.
“They’re coming,” Maglo whispered.
Right as he called it out, three ard n trudged down the slope into the low ground. From either the mine or the village, no one would ever see them here. Laughing and dawdling without a care in the world, they walked right into the jaws of their fate.
“Ah, fuck . It was about to be my turn, then the shift had to change,” one of them complained.
“You should’ve drawn lots better. You know Aguros never shuts up once he starts.”
“That useless fuck who never blows his load. He could put a troll to sleep.”
“And tell this. How the hell do we have these many n and only five won between us?”
“If you don’t like it, take it up with the boss. Who knows? Maybe he’ll throw in a dwarf bitc—”
The filth on his tongue was unable to leave. His head simply vanished, erased in a blast of searing blue lightning. One instant he was sneering, the next there was nothing above his shoulders but smoke and the stench of burnt at.
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