A/N: I'm thinking about starting a Discord group! Since I'm working on this alone, I'm worried I might overlook a few things while writing this fic.
So, what do you guys say? Are you willing to help me brainstorm some ideas for the direction of the story? Let me know in the comments!
Peace out!
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"Hey, Old Man! You still haven't decided? Will you hand this building over to us? Then won't you be able to buy alcohol every day until you die?"
The men who entered the smithy were rough looking and their physique was good. They reminded Arthur, the street thugs of Seoul. They took a heavy-handed attitude as they handed a sheet of paper to Khan.
"What is this?" Arthur said though he already knows what that paper represent.
'So the Mero Company Plot finally started. Should I defeat them or leave it to Grid?'
Arthur thought and looked at Grid who just came and now he was sliding towards the door, clearly thinking about slipping away, not to get involved in our mess.
"It was a contract to sell this building and the land to the Mero Company." The leader looking guy said while waving it in the air.
That absolutely couldn't be allowed to happen. Khan's Smithy is the part of Pagma's old legacy.
'There's no way I'd give up this smithy!.'
As Arthur was thinking about Should he kill them or leave them for Grid he saw him only managed to move a few steps before he was caught by the gangsters.
"Hey, where did this newbie come from? You trying to sneak into our business like a rat?"
They started to question Grid in an intimidating manner.
"Did you come to steal the contents of our contract? You, are you a spy? Did the Skaner Company send you?"
Grid's face looked tensed and fear is clearly written on his face there is no armor on his body
'Grid came here only today, on the day when these outlaws break into Khans Smithy means despite advising him come straight to Winston he followed his original path and come here after visiting Barian.
Arthur shrugged, Either Grid came right after or late, he don't care. Even if he managed to slip away from here Arthur won't stop him. In the original story, fighting these outlaws might be Grid's destiny but here...
The outlaws continued to act tough with Grid, clearly trying to intimade him so he'd speak up.
Grid's face dried up and sweat beaded up on his forehead. As if remembering something bad about his life. Probably the debt collectors from Mother's heart is happy financial services.
He once saw him getting beaten up in back alley of their neighborhood by the employees (thugs) of that money lending organization.
He can easily save him from getting beaten up by them but he did nothing. Stood far away only watching him beaten up one sidedly.
If people know about this they might think Arthur was cruel but he didn't save him because one should carry the responsibility for their own mistakes.
He knew that three days prior to that beatup incident, he has given Grid 1000 Gold and a greatsword and Plate armour worth 100,000 Gold.
In the novel readers only saw how pathetic and idiotic Grid was but after interacting and living with him Arthur understood, alongside, being an persistent Idiot and pathetic he is also reckless and madman.
The Mother's Heart is Happy's loan was only 10,000,000 Won and his intrest on loan was only 500,000 won, only 50 gold coins, but he refused to pay. From this anybody could grasp his reckless nature.
He could repay the debt easily but to him gaming is more important than freeing himself from debt.
'Grid flinched back, well that's expected.'
Violent NPCs didn't fear the law. It was entirely possible to be severely injured or killed if Arthur even just touched these guys. Of course, he could report the NPCs to the guards, but their fists were closer than the law itself as Mero company and Winston's Lord Baron Lowe were in charoots.
'Judging by their appearance and atmosphere, they aren't back alley bullies. They don't just smoke joints and use bread shuttles. These were veterans.'
The Mero Company was the second largest business company in the Eternal Kingdom. They wouldn't give jobs to losers. These assholes were all gangsters.
'Based on their equipment, they're at least level 35.'
Gangsters over level 35! How many people have they hurt and killed in order to level up? Arthur couldn't imagine all the sins that these people had committed.
'There are five of them… In contrast, I am level 172. While my stats are superior compared to those of my level.'
According to stat points alone, his stats are arround an high ranker of level 250 up but till now he didn't distributed any stat point on any stats. His 1,150 stat points were still undisttibuted.
Arthur could easily take down those outlaws but re refrained, from taking action. He wanted to see what Grid woud do. But what came next was within his expectations.
Since becoming Pagma's Successor, Arthur have given Grid 'Mamon's Greatsword' and 'Mengel's plate armour' so he could protect himself properly but to make matters worse, he was unarmed and probably stored them in werehouse and too reluctant to waste 50 silvers.
Soon Grid smiled as brightly as possible and explained, "I'm not here to spy on you. I am just a customer passing by. So you don't have to be so vigilant. Heheh."
'Ah! He acted prudently and discard his pride. How expected of him.'
Acting subservient to these outlaw NPCs! Grid felt no shame. The hand of the man holding his shoulder loosened slightly.
"Customer? At this smithy?"
"Yes."
"Hoh? A customer of this smithy…"
The grip of the man's hand on Grid's houlder strengthened again.
'Ouch, that must have hurt.'
Grid frowned due to the pain. Curse words almost popped out of his mouth, but he remained patient. Instead of scolding him, he tried his best to maintain his smile.
Why? Otherwise, Grid might get hit! There was an old saying that you couldn't spit when there was a smile on the other person's face.
The gangsters eyed him with suspicion.
"The street operated by the Mero Company has a large number of weapons stores, so why would you come to a smithy like this? Isn't this strange?"
"There might be many weapons stores, but this is the only smithy. I don't want to buy a weapon, but instead find a blacksmith for production-related work. Therefore, it was inevitable that I came here. Besides the guy over there, he was the one who invited me here. Hehe, I had no idea this smithy was troubled since I am new to Winston." Grid quickly sold Arthur out.
Grid could debut as a lead actor right away and would be the perfect candidate for the New Actor Award at the end of year ceremonies If he have a little good appearance and tone were subservient. He continued to smile and the suspicious gangster released him.
"I somehow feel like hitting you, but you're a blacksmith as well? Umm, indeed. You're so weak that you can't be a spy… Okay, get out of here. Don't think about coming here again."
'Did he want to hit me? Did I look poor and weak? These scum thought they could make fun of me just because of how I looked?' The fury in Grid's heart boiled over. However, he remained patient.
"Hehe, thank you for believing in me. I'll be going now."
Grid was able to keep the smile until the last minute as he quickly headed out of the smithy.
"Oi! You Bastards! What do you think you are... " Just as Arthur was about to retort Khan hold him back.
One of gangstets reacted immediately and draw his sword, "What! Do you want to die like this old man's son you punk!"
"Please forgive him! He is still a new, don't mind him he's just upset." Khan begged them not to take any actions against Arthur as he started to see him like his own son.
The thugs looked at him then dismissed him like a nobody. He was boiling inside with rage.
Khan said with tired tone, "Yes… there's nothing to be gained from dragging this dirty work out too long. It is better to avoid such things. I'm too tired now."
As he paused for a moment, Khan blinked his bloodshot eyes. It was to stop the tears from falling down.
"Give me that contract. I'll sign it as you wish."
"Eh? R-Really?"
"Ohh! Good thinking Old Man!"
"It took a long time, but you have finally made a wise decision."
The gangsters cheered at Khan's words. It was like a festival. The one who seemed to be the leader handed the contract to the old man.
"All you have to do is sign. Then you can take it easy."
"..."
Shaking his head Grid quitey left the Smithy and headed toward the square, to see the drama unfolding from there.
Khan gazed at the contract and hesitated for a moment before reaching towards the contract with trembling hands. At that moment, tears fell from Khan's eyes. "Ahh! This is the end of my seven generation family business! I won't be able to face my ancestors after death!"
The sight of the sad and depressed Khan was unbearable. But the gangsters mocked him instead.
"You abruptly stopped blacksmithing, so isn't it natural for the customers to turn away? And Old Man, didn't you have a child? Your only son died, so you turned to the bottles? You don't have a successor, so once you die, your family line will naturally be cut off. You were defending something that had no value. Didn't your debts just increase? Pathetic, truly pathetic."
"You! Don't mention my son with that vulgar mouth!"
"Why the hell are you so loud? Do you want to be scolded like last time?"
The gangster called 'Johnson' threatened to hit the old man. I was angry when I saw Johnson.
Arthur's anger was boiling up alongside his Patience were running thin, but for the sake of the Quest he remained silent.
At that moment, a gangster called 'Um' spoke, "Look, the contract should be completed today."
Then the one called 'Praga' jumped in like an excited foal, "No, I'm mad. Didn't we have to wait a few months for the old man to acceptwhile that old man refused? Think about how much we suffered because of him!"
The gangster called 'Neil' continued, "I agree… Fuck, we couldn't even properly handle an old man. We received less pay on the scheduled date because of this."
Then the silent leader, 'Veil' smiled coldly and said, "That's right, you must compensate us for the damages we received."
Veil slapped the old man's cheek and said, "Hey Old Man, once you receive the money for selling this smithy, half of it will be used to pay off your debt, while the other half will be handed to us. Isn't it obvious to compensate us for the damages you caused?"
"You dog bastards!" The old man, Khan, angrily replied to Veil.
"Hey, you don't have a wife or son to feed, so why do you need a large amount of money? You should help the poor, young people like me."
"..."
Arthur's insides were boiling with anger.
'Arthur don't have any affection for senior citizens unrelated to him, but…'
When Arthur used public transportation such as the bus or subway, he always yielded his seat to the elderly. They were the ones who worked hard to build his future so these much courtesy should be given to the elderly.
'Young pups treating grandmothers and grandfathers like this… they were worst than trash!'
Arthur dedicated since 'the Protagonist' didn't take his job it's left for him to complete.