Chapter 29
Seeing the malnutritioned children with yellow skin and dry hair, Betta immediately understood what Roland meant.
2He roasted all the spider legs he had left on the fire.
Roland, on the other hand, bought some salt from Lake View Tavern. When he returned, the spider legs were ready.
The giant spiders had long legs. Roland took out the longsword that he bought from the blacksmith but never used and cut each of them into four parts. Then, he sprayed salt on the legs and waved at the children.
1If Betta had called the children, they wouldn’t have dared to approach.
Roland was different. He had lived in Red Mountain Town for more than a month and even told the children stories when he was free. Of course, that was when he had Language Proficiency.
So, the children were familiar with Roland. They all walked over when he waved at them.
“Get yourselves into a line. Everyone will have enough.” Roland delivered a part of the spider leg to the child at the front.
Stunned, the child who got the delicious spider leg first looked at the food in his hands with disbelief.
He was not scared of spider legs. When he was too hungry, he even had rinds as food.
He also had fish before, the smaller ones, because the bigger ones had to be sold for money to buy other things such as clothes or oil.
Most people in Red Mountain Town made a living from the lake, but few had the privilege to enjoy fish meat.
The mayor owned Red Mountain Town and the lake. Six percent of the fish that the villagers caught, or the money that they earned by selling the fish, would go to the mayor.
Once the mayor found out that a villager lied about the amount of fish or money, they would be kicked out of Red Mountain Town.
Such a mayor was among the merciful ones. It was said that some other mayors would simply hang the liars.
The child looked at the spider leg in surprise. Instead of eating it, he rushed home with the leg and intended to share it with his family.
Every child who got the spider leg did the same, except a few who were too hungry. They had a small bite of the food before they ran home.
About half an hour later, the children all dispersed happily after getting the spider legs.
Roland and Betta sat next to each other on the bridge. They enjoyed the remaining spider legs as well as the beautiful view of the lake.
Finishing the spider legs, Betta asked, “What do we do next?”
Roland looked at the maple forest in the distance and asked matter-of-factly, “You need to ask?”
The following days were not the luckiest period for the giant spiders, because two ferocious hunters searched for them for hours every day. The children in the town could get a roasted spider leg in the evening, too.
Children were the least problematic people. Since Roland and Betta were nice to them, they naturally grew closer to them.
Roland had to practice Language Proficiency and did not spend too much time with the children. Betta, on the other hand, taught the children his basic sword arts.
So, every evening, a bunch of children would be waving wooden sticks next to the lake.
The villagers eyed Betta in an increasingly friendly way.
An incident happened seven days later.
That day in the evening, when Roland and Betta were distributing roasted spider legs to the children, six dissolute adults approached. They scolded the children away and said to Roland angrily, “Isn’t it unfair that you’re not saving any meat for us?”
Some people were simply unreasonable. They believed that they should have everything that other people had, and they would make a scene if they couldn’t.
5Roland glanced at the six of them, only to discover that three of them had a history with him.
A month ago, they had a fight outside of Lake View Tavern.
Besides, one could easily tell that the six of them were no good. Roland waved his hand and said, “Go away! Are you not ashamed of begging as healthy adults?”
The young man in the lead was angry. He exclaimed, “Hey, aren’t you good guys? We’re poor folk, too. Why don’t you give us a hand? Those brats do not need your food. Their parents won’t let them starve.”
Roland sighed and looked at them. “You think this is fun?”
Roland was an adult, but he was only seventeen in the game and not threatening at all for the strangers.
Also, more importantly, Roland appeared as a “good guy,” and good guys were always taken advantage of.
The rascals laughed hard. Their leader barked, “It is not. We know that we can’t beat you, but it’s fine. I’ve remembered those children. You can’t stay in Red Mountain Town forever. When you’re gone, I’ll beat them and their parents. What do you think?”
The children immediately ran away when they heard his declaration. They glared at the young man angrily.
Roland looked at him and suddenly smiled.
Betta, who had been roasting the spider legs and enjoying the show, also stood up in excitement.
The few rascals seemed to be regarding Roland and Betta as the kind of outsiders who were kindhearted and would not ask for trouble.
It never occurred to them that those two people were still essentially players.
Roland looked at Betta and smiled. “Your quest must’ve been triggered, too, right?”
Betta warmed up his fingers and smiled intimidatingly. “Of course!”
“Defeat the six troublemakers (Regular)!”
1It was a white quest… But for Roland and Betta, it was definitely a gold, epic quest, because it was too fulfilling.
1The young man felt that it was no good after seeing their faces. He was about to say something more, but neither Roland nor Betta were talkers.
Without wasting any time, they charged at the rascals.
The rascals were rather scary in the town, but they were absolutely incapable of resisting two professionals who had been through real battles.
Roland and Betta did not use any weapons or skills. They knocked out the six rascals in twenty seconds bare-handedly.
Then, they began to kick the rascals hard.
“The outsiders are beating us!”
“Help!”
Miserable cries echoed over the lake. Many villagers heard them, but they simply ignored the noise and focused on their own business.
Roland and Betta had no intention to stop.
The system did not say that the quest had been accomplished.
So, they had to keep on beating.
5