Chapter 80

‘So, I’m looking for a veteran of the Second Human-Demon War….but without an arm. For information like this, it is best to ask in crowded places.’

Leeha knew the witness’s name and unique appearance, so the NPCs should know about it.

Leeha opened his map and zoomed in on the Nitai Village. The map was really helpful for Leeha.

‘If it wasn’t for this, I would have lost a lot of time.’

Every time he had to find something, he would have had to log out and back in again to find the information.

Since the time between reality and Middle Earth flowed differently, there was a risk of a huge loss of time if something did not go well in reality.

Logging out should be used only when necessary.

“Hehehe, die, monster!”

“Oww, you crazy! Throwing stones!”  Waaa—!

“Ahahaha, that kind of weapon does not work on me! My sword, my sword! Oh, I must pursue the archers!”

“Run away, run away, the crazy beggar is chasing us!”

“Kyaaa〜 •—”

What are they doing? A group entered Leeha’s line of sight as he walked towards the pub.

It looked like the neighborhood kids were surrounding someone and throwing rocks at him.

Being bullied must be insane.

‘I want to tell them to stop and…  maybe I could get a quest. In exchange for saving the crazy beggar, he might ask me to do something for him!’ …He thought.

If he had such a unique look, it is highly likely.

But for now, it’s not Leeha’s problem. It was crazy to get another quest when he was doing a quest with a time limit.

‘The important quests are, of course, Browless’s and the Lunchbox. I’ll finish those two quests first and come back to this city later.’

He walked back down the road and stepped toward the pub again.

It was a small to medium-sized city that even had a bank, but the inside was not so spacious.

Less than 10 minutes later, Leeha entered Nitai’s pub.

“Welcome.”

The old wooden door creaked, followed by a short reflexive greeting.

There were a few round tables scattered in the dark and the counter had some seats. Because it was just before sunset, there were few people gathered.

“One butterbeer please.”

Leeha naturally went to the counter and sat down.

At the appearance of an outlander, people’s eyes went to Leeha for a moment.

However, it was only for a while.

‘Whether it’s a human or an NPC.’

There was chatter and laughter, but when he heard their conversation, Leeha couldn’t make any sense of it.

“Here it is.”

“Thank you. May I ask you something?”

As soon as the butterbeer came out, Leeha opened his mouth.

In any case, only the owner of the pub was certainly an NPC. Of course, Leeha had to ask him.

“What is it?”

“I heard there was a one-armed man named Lepanto in this city…  Do you know him?”

“One-armed Lepanto? One-armed Lepanto… “

The bearded owner of the pub repeated the name over and over again but shook his head.

“Well? There are a lot of people without an arm in this town, but I don’t know their name.”

“There are a lot of people without an arm?”

“Just because the war is over doesn’t mean that their arm will come back.”

“Oh, then…  They all participated in the Second Human-Demon Wa-”

“That’s right. I mean, there are a lot of people like that in this town. Are you an outlander?”

“Ah… “

The pub owner only shrugged his shoulders.

It was a village where veterans gather? If that’s the case…

‘Isn’t it different from what I heard from the weapon shop owner?’

Leeha thought that it would be easy to find One-armed Lepanto. In a village where there were many people without one arm, there was no other choice but to wander around.

“Do you want me to ask them for you?”

“Yes. Please.”

“Excuse me! Does anyone know Lepanto? It is said that he is one-armed?”

The owner of the pub shouted at the customers.

They focused their attention on him. If the owner of the pub treated the people like this, it means that they were all NPCs.

“One-armed? Here, Jack is one-armed too! Hahaha, did you say it was cut off by a kobold?”

“This guy! It was a commander-level! It wasn’t an ordinary kobold!”

“Where is the stupid fighter that got his arm cut off by a kobold? Kuhahaha!”

“You! An arrow got stuck on your thigh and you have to drag your feet!”

“T-that’s because I was shot by a dark elf! Do you think they have normal bows?”

The man argued with his companion and waved his knotted sleeves.

He certainly doesn’t have one arm, but he’s probably not Lepanto. Besides, making fun of each other’s disabilities…  It was proof that they were not close.

“Lepanto…  Where did I hear that before? Who was it?”

“Hey, what’s over there! Long ago! That! The fencer that was active in the front lines!

Fencer!”

“Fencer?”

“It’s the one who wielded a rapier!”

“Ah, aaahh!! Skewer, skewer, is his name Lepanto?”

Skewer? Information flowed among the bustling drinkers.

“Who is that? The Fencer Lepanto, doesn’t he have an arm?”

“No… ? One might be missing. Both arms were fine when we saw him, but it was 20 years ago.”

“I heard a rumor that he was here, so I came here…  Do you know where he is?”

The drinkers gulped, and drank the butterbeer, and shook their heads.

“Lepanto is in Nitai? Well, if he is here. If it was ‘Skewer’ Lepanto, he should be a Nitai Marshal.”

“Then! Kuhaha, it was fun to see three orc’s heads getting skewered by a thin rapier Phils! You’re a guard, right? Do you know any Lepanto? Skewer Lepanto!”

“No, I don’t. I am a guard, and there are a total of 50 guards in this city. There is none with the name Lepanto. No one uses a rapier.”

All the drinkers seemed to be veterans of the Second Human-Demon War.

The story about Lepanto soon turned into their own stories, and as drunkards usually do, they are bragging about themselves.

‘Hmm, I guess I’ll have to listen to more stories like this to get more information.’

This might be the limit of a pub.

Leeha’s plan changed. It was easy once Leeha found him, but he also thought that there was no easy way to do that.

“Then, do you have any information about Mister Brown and Miss Elizabeth?”

“Three Musketeers? I heard that Browless is in the capital.”

“No, not Browless, but the other two.”

Leeha’s question changed.

If they are veterans, they should know some information.

“Two people? Are they dead? Are they alive?”

“Then… ? Haven’t you heard that they were alive?”

“Aren’t they the ones who ran away with their child?”

“These guys, making a big deal out of nothing. And that nonsense is a lie! I remember hearing that they died.”

“T-that’s right. Okay. Thank you.”

As expected, it was the story of the lovers eloping that was deeply remembered by people. Leeha escaped the pub as he saw the veterans arguing that they died.

‘Damn it…  if it continues like this… It would be unavoidable to go looking around myself.’

Well, it doesn’t mean that Leeha got nothing at all.

Rumors of being alive, betrayal, surrender… And a man named Lepanto who was a warrior active on the front lines during the Second Human-Demon War. A fencer with a rapier. His skill would have been considerable…

Would a talented person speak nonsense?

‘If I think positively, it is only natural that those drunkards didn’t know about the betrayal or surrender. Doesn’t that mean he’s a person with a tight mouth? In other words, what if he couldn’t speak freely because what he saw was true?’

It was very likely to be true.

If he had such skill and personality, one could expect roughly what his appearance would be.

‘Somewhat serious looking. He must be someone with tightly closed lips. You should be able tell just by looking at his impression.’

The day was coming to an end.

There were 19 days left to complete the quest of Browless, and 12 days to complete the lunchbox quest.

‘I don’t have time. Let’s go and look around all the shops.’

Leeha started walking all over Nitai.

“Well…  I have never heard of such a name.”

“Lepanto! I know who he is! But is he in this city?”

“You didn’t know?”

“I’m sorry, it’s time to close the store.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to go to the city hall and check the resident registration? Isn’t that the young man who came next door?”

“Lepanto…  Lepanto…  I don’t think there was anyone like that.”

“Thank you.”

Leeha took a deep breath.

“Phew… “

He looked around the city until midnight but to no avail.

‘How could this be?’ I have no strength to walk. Where should I look?

‘Was he famous? Of course, he was famous 20 years ago, shouldn’t they be able to recognize his face? He would not have a common job if he used a rapier.’

It was now midnight.

No more NPCs roamed the streets. The lights at the marketplace were extinguished, and there were a few patrol guards and a number of users walking around.

“Ehehehe.”

“Ahh! I was surprised! Who are you?”

Leeha was startled by the sudden sound of laughter.

“Ehehe, would you like to play war with me?”

“Oh?”

It was the ‘crazy beggar’ he saw during the day. It was quite late at night, why didn’t he go home?

‘No, he doesn’t have a home. That’s why he’s a beggar. By the way, how did he get behind me?’

Leeha was perplexed by the current situation.

Wasn’t he on a street that no one was walking? Doesn’t that mean that Leeha didn’t realize that he was being followed?

No matter how much he was preoccupied with his thoughts, it was different from before.

Leeha’s assimilation rate was raised by 50%, and his senses were raised.

‘But I didn’t know someone was following me?’

This was something strange. Leeha’s instincts were tingling.

Leeha looked at the crazy beggar.

His beard and hair were thick, so his face couldn’t be seen properly. His bangs went down to his chin and completely covered his eyes and nose.

Wide shoulders and back, strangely bent knees, and…

The crazy beggar had no left arm.

“Uncle, your name…  is it Lepanto?”

Middle Earth was also a game. There was no way it would ask a user to blindly look for someone.

And in the situation that Leeha was in, it was not an exaggeration to say that he had met all one-armed men of Nitai.

And a one-armed beggar appeared in the end.

The crazy beggar swung his right arm and shouted.

“Hihi, Lepanto! Lepanto! Let’s go, squire! Give me my sword, my rapier!”

Rapier. Leeha was certain.

This crazy beggar must be Lepanto.

(To be continued…)