Episode 4
Test of Strength
Deacon was a hearty man with a massive body, clearly over 2 meters tall at a glance.
“That’s it! A man should show with actions, not a hundred words! I knew you were a real man, mister! Kuhahahaha!”
At his boisterous laughter, curious questions poured from those around.
“What’s going on? What’s happening?”
“They say the new guy and Deacon are having a match?”
“Really? That’ll be worth watching.”
“Won’t it end with another person being carried out? Last time he got disciplinary action for getting a newbie carried out after some ‘training’ or something.”
“Well, everyone’s been avoiding training since then, so he must’ve been bored.”
“Anyway, it’s good, right? We’ve been bored lately with nothing to watch.”
Apparently, Deacon was quite a famous figure in the excavation team. As flamboyant as his rugged appearance were the exploits passed around by the team members.
“Follow me, mister. There’s a usable open space right ahead. Alright, everyone, don’t interfere and make way!”
With a wave of Deacon’s hand, the team members filling the restaurant quickly cleared a path. Then, they began clustering around the open space, forming a circle as they followed Deacon.
“Hey, but even Deacon couldn’t defeat a dozen or so Imps, right?”
“That’s right…? Why?”
“Then won’t Deacon lose?”
“Ah, do you believe that? It’s clearly an exaggeration. Even if he fights a bit, how could he beat Deacon?”
Even if not as much as Deacon, they must have been curious too. An outsider visiting the excavation team after a long time, combined with the curiosity stirred by Ethan’s high praise. As rumors spread because of that, the murmuring among the team members in the open space grew louder.
“Hey, so who do you think will win?”
“Ah, of course, Deacon. Look at that body! How could anyone beat that?”
“Right, Deacon isn’t even an excavation team member originally. He’s a soldier seconded from the Western Guard for protection. His experience is different from some no-name adventurer, experience is.”
“Hey, want to bet on who wins?”
“Isn’t it too obvious?”
“Then put your money where your mouth is.”
It even reached the point of setting up a betting pool.
Watching that excited scene, Ethan quietly sighed.
‘How did things come to this?’
He had merely conveyed the facts as they were, and now a fight had broken out. It was absurd and ridiculous, but on the other hand, it felt like his responsibility, making him uncomfortable.
Rubbing his throbbing forehead, Ethan looked at the two men standing apart in the open space surrounded by people.
Deacon, his bull-like body writhing as if ready to charge at any moment, and the man standing awkwardly across from him. The man’s body was a well-balanced, solid build, but compared to Deacon, it did look shabby.
Even though fighting isn’t just about physicality, considering that weight class differences are absolute, the outcome seemed as clear as day.
‘Surely, I wasn’t seeing things…’
To the point where he even doubted what he himself had experienced. Just as Ethan let out another sigh with a troubled heart…
“Mister! We can start right away, right?”
Deacon, his burly body tensed with strength, shouted.
“I’ll go bare-handed, so if you need a weapon, speak up. I’ll give you a training wooden sword.”
“No need. I’ll also go bare-handed.”
The man answered with a relaxed attitude.
“Oh? I like the confidence!”
-Hyaa!
Almost before that answer finished, Deacon’s body shot forward as if waiting. A simple, straight-line tackle, slamming his massive body forward. An attack that was Deacon’s specialty, to the point many had been knocked down by that charge.
Deacon’s body, having closed the distance in an instant, collided with the man.
-Thump!
A dull cracking sound resonated simultaneously. It was around the same time Ethan tightly shut his eyes.
But.
-Crash!
“There, see! I told you it’d be over qui… Huh?”
“Huh…? Wh-what? What happened?”
“Dea…con?”
The moment Ethan reopened his eyes, what entered his sight was Deacon’s figure, embarrassingly embedded in the barracks building, contrary to everyone’s expectations.
“Whaaaaaat?”
Panicked voices echoed across the open space like a chorus.
I was also taken aback.
‘How is it this easy…’
It was a spar I accepted to test my new body in the first place. I just pushed my body forward, planning to receive any attack, but…
Unlike Deacon, who was thrown back and embedded upon impact, my body didn’t budge an inch. It seems this physique is sturdier than I expected.
“Wow! Deacon got knocked down!”
“Hahahaha! Oh my, the day I see Deacon flying has come.”
“He’s quite capable, different from his looks.”
“This is interesting!”
The excavation team members, initially panicked by the unexpected result, soon erupted in cheers.
“Hey, Deacon. You planning to keep lying there so pathetically?”
“Well, the barracks are comfortable.”
“Hahahaha! Don’t just lie there, do something, Deacon!”
The sight of the giant Deacon rolling on the ground must have been rare.
“Grkh… Shut up! You bastards!”
Unable to bear the boisterous laughter and jeers directed at him, Deacon shot up and yelled.
“It was just a momentary lapse, a lapse!”
Then, as if nothing was wrong, he charged at me recklessly.
-Kuh-huk!
Even colliding bodily once more, it was Deacon who rolled on the ground.
“So Ethan’s words weren’t all nonsense!”
Even though there must have been considerable pain, how quickly he got up was quite impressive, but…
-Hyaaah!
-Whack!
“Th-that time, I slipped…”
-Thud!
“W-wait a sec!”
-Crunch!
No matter how many times he got back up, the result didn’t change.
“Grrkh!”
With a final sound of something breaking, Deacon groaned and planted his face in the dirt.
“Deacon, you’re not going easy on him, are you?”
“Haven’t you been slacking off too much? Looks like your muscles turned into balloons?”
“Even a drunk person wouldn’t keep falling over like that by themselves, what are you doing?”
The sight of him being mocked by his comrades even evoked pity.
“My goodness. At this rate, we won’t even know what happened.”
“What trick did that guy use to make Deacon so helpless?”
“Well, seeing him get knocked down just from body contact… seems like he’s no match at all…”
Just as the murmuring grew louder…
“What on earth are you all doing?!”
A sharp voice pierced through the crowd’s commotion.
“You’re busy with excavation preparations, yet you have time to slack off?”
“J-Jarette, miss!”
“A-hem! Everyone, let’s move.”
“W-we just stopped by for a moment!”
A woman with striking red hair as intense as her voice. At her words, the gathered excavation team members scattered, checking their expressions. It was evident at a glance she held a high position in the team. No, more than that—I know this character.
‘A named NPC…!’
Her name is Jarette Dormongatt. Because she is the overall head of the excavation team and the daughter of the local lord, a fairly important NPC in Black Desert.
“And why are you two standing there dumbfounded?”
In the vast open space now emptied of team members, only Deacon (still unable to get up), me, and Ethan remained awkwardly. Jarette, standing askance, shook her short, red hair falling to her chin and scrutinized me from head to toe.
“But… who are you? Ah, perhaps the one Ethan brought?”
“That’s correct. He is the one who saved me from the Imp horde.”
Ethan answered Jarette’s question.
“I should have introduced him earlier, but we were delayed as he was resting to regain his strength.”
“Hmph, all talk. You brought in so-called experts, and now that you’ve finally found the ruin’s entrance, you’re just idling around…”
Jarette clicked her tongue, clearly dissatisfied with Ethan.
“Disappearing without permission, bringing some strange person—what were you doing?”
“We were explaining how I managed to return alive, and a bit of a dispute arose.”
Despite her brusque tone that could be grating, Ethan explained the situation without retort.
“Defeated the Imps alone?”
“Yes. Without my savior’s help in the stone chamber, I believe I wouldn’t have returned.”
“And you expect me to believe that story now?”
As Ethan continued, Jarette’s frown deepened. It seems Jarette also found the story hard to believe.
‘Were Imps that threatening of a monster?’
Frankly, from my perspective, people’s reactions are puzzling. Of course, the first battle I faced was burdensome, but Imps are entities you overcome relatively early in the game. Even though they aren’t such powerful enemies, the reactions around me are unusual.
‘The atmosphere being subtly different from the game is one thing, but the questions since I arrived here aren’t just one or two.’
Perhaps it’s only natural.
Just as I was lost in such thoughts…
“Well, the truthfulness isn’t that important anyway. Good. We need every hand we can get right now. You there.”
After listening to Ethan’s story for a while, Jarette turned her gaze toward me.
“According to Ethan’s account, you seem quite strong. Will you take on guard duty? The Imps have been growing ferocious lately, and we’re short on security personnel.”
A truly noble, high-handed attitude.
But Jarette’s proposal was welcome news to me.
‘This is the main quest…!’
The numerous questions that arose since arriving in this world unthinkingly.
I might not be able to easily answer a single one, but one thing I know for sure is that I must follow the main story no matter what.
To prepare for the evil gods and destruction I will eventually face.
To understand what kind of world this is that I’m in.
And furthermore, for my own survival.
In the end, all those questions lead to a single answer.
Following the story at the very heart of this Black Desert world.
Absorbing information and growing stronger amidst all sorts of incidents so that nothing can threaten me.
Becoming strong, exploring, advancing.
Perhaps no different from when I was sincerely dedicated to the game…
A simple, straightforward, yet definite conclusion.
“Understood.”
I nodded at Jarette’s words.
“I like a decisive answer.”
Jarette, who had shown a prickly attitude until now, curled the corner of her mouth for the first time.
“What’s your name?”
Whether she liked it or not, Ethan’s story must have piqued her interest.
“Jarette, as I said before, my savior has lost his memory…”
At Jarette’s question, Ethan, who had been quietly observing the conversation, hastily answered on my behalf. On the way back from the stone chamber to camp, I had faked amnesia when Ethan asked various things. So, I hadn’t given my name yet.
“So, you don’t know his name either?”
A name…
“No, I do have a name.”
Right. Since I’ll be living in a completely different form from my previous life, I suppose I need a new name.
After a brief moment of contemplation, I broke the silence and answered softly.
“Allen.”
The name of my Black Desert character, an existence like my other self that was with me until I died, the one who came closest to being the strongest.
This name surely won’t be lacking to hold my resolve.
“You can call me Allen.”
“Good, Allen. I’ll entrust you with the excavation team’s security. We depart tomorrow, so don’t dawdle and get ready.”
I readily nodded at Jarette’s words.
