103 [BONUS] The Smiling Caravan

BONUS Chapter for reaching 400 GT!

Thank you everyone!

----

A hog was a giant pig the size of a man with usually dark hide, lazy eyes, two large protruding tusks, and a no-care attitude that only wanted to eat any food that came close to its snout be it grass or scraps of banana peels. On their backs were rows of thin foams of chair and silks of bags and other items buckled on the Hog's shoulders and near its legs.

Though a hog was big in size, they were nimble when they walked, even more so when they ran. They were not to be miss with when angered, but they were quick to calm down with a portion of food swayed in their eyes.

Leading the Caravan was a beast with the face of a pig with a frame of a human. He had a protruding tusk, squinty eyes, and a friendly smile. He was garbed in fine silk, pants, and a small hat over his ears, but his fine dress couldn't hide his bulging stomach.

"Hello, my name is Hoggy, and I'm at your service. *snort." Hoggy removed his hat and bowed slightly. He had a deep nasal and jolly tone.

"These are my two bodyguards. My ever so gallant Kobold friend, Harris, and my sweet, sweet Hobgoblin, Salud."

"Caravan? What's that?" a player asked.

"I heard that it's a transportation service."

"Where do they go?"

Hoggy smiled. "Any place in the Sand Dunes! Here are the places where we stop and resupply. Have a look if the place matches your fancy!"

Ren didn't have time to waste, and he pressed forward from the other curious players.

"Do you want to travel to these places?" Hoggy asked Ren and the list of places displayed on his screen.

Ren immediately pressed Kartacol and paid the price. Due to the distance, he had to pay 1000 gil.

"Thank you, stranger." Hoggy beamed. "We'll leave after thirty minutes and get to your destination tomorrow morning. Is that fine?"

Ren only nodded.

"Is he an NPC?"

"Is this some kind of an event?"

"Let's go and join the ride!"

"It's rather expensive."

The others said, and Ren paid them no mind. He waited to the side while rubbing little Pii on his shoulder.

"How much to the Pink Salty Dessert?"

Ren heard a player ask, and that got his attention.

Looking over at the Caravan, five players were asking Hoggy and based on their youthful faces, they seemed to be in their mid-teens and seemed to be a group of friends based on their closeness.

There were two girls in the group, a pretty face with innocent green eyes, golden curls of hair, and porcelain white skin. While the other was dark-skinned, with beads of dark violate hair tied in a ponytail. The rest of the group were boys.

The reason why Ren got curious was that the group was going to Pink Salty Dessert. Nothing was there but barren sands of pinkish sea. There were even sand fish there, Dessert Piranhas and flamingoes, and all sorts of birds.

It was a tourist spot except that it's actually the home of a [World Boss].

However, this early in the game, no one should know that, except maybe another information leaked by a Beta Tester or a lucky player who spotted a beast because sometimes [World Boss] would show itself in its territory at random where you were totally caught off guard more than once and by the time that you managed to put a team to defeat it, it had long gone disappeared.

Ren's vein twisted, and he massaged his head. Just the sheer thought of the amount of work and brainstorming he did in the past to put all clues and information of the [World Bosses] was a nightmare.

Facing a [World Boss] this early was suicide, and Ren wouldn't stop that group if ever they did attempt to go in there with that intention in mind.

It was none of his business.

After thirty minutes, Ren finally hopped into one of the Hogs while other players also went to the ride just for the fun of it. The group of five also occupied another Hog before they set sail south of the Dessert.

"This is so exciting!"

"It's like traveling but on a back of a Giant Pig!"

"Did you hear what that pig leader said? It looked like we have to camp at night!"

All sorts of buzzing sounds traveled in Ren's ear while Pii took a nap around his neck.

With nothing to do but actually sightseeing the empty landscape, Ren opted to check his messages. He put it on silent mode a while ago since Leonel kept pestering him.

Ren read Leonel's message and couldn't help but shake his head at the last message he sent.

[Leonel: Ren! One of the Vice commanders said I should give him the Black Carapace Shield we got in Gargantuan Cave and promise me a spot in Black Lion.

But I didn't, and I think he got angry and put me on the substitute even though my GS is higher than the rest.

It wasn't a problem since I knew I would pass this tryout once I showed him my skills!

The problem was that the Vice commander said that all loots we gained in the cave would belong to Black Lion, and only core members and regular members were given equipment. In contrast, the applicants don't get any.

I think this initiation is just a façade so they could have free laborers.

And then I heard that even regular members only get scraps! It's the core members that are given priority!

What a load of bull!]

Ren didn't reply to Leonel's long rant. He knew how a guild operates and it looked like Leonel wasn't liking it.

Ren then proceeded to read the other messages.

Rosie left him one too, and he deleted it as soon as he read it. She wrote only a few words, but Ren discarded them from his mind.

[Rosie: The High Castle, Room 47, my place. Mwah]

Ren couldn't fathom what that girl was thinking, sending him something like that. She didn't even know what he looked like.

Ren only shook his head before reading Nikolai's message next.

[Nikolai: Mister . . . Scar went by our house this morning asking how we defeat Vulcan . . .

I think he was threatening my sister, so I had no choice but to spill the beans that it was you who defeated it, and I didn't even know what happened since I died.

I'm sorry, mister, I was forced to give him your game number.

I think that Scar will call you]

Ren wasn't angry at Nikolai, and he wasn't worried that Scar would find out about his identity since no one knew his face. The game couldn't be a hack, and even if he wanted him investigated, he had to hire people to search for him in the game world first.

Ren smirked. Good luck with that.

[Ren: It's fine. Don't worry about it. I can take care of myself]

No one knew in Golden Phoenix how to defeat Vulcan and Ren was confident that Scar could catch up on how to beat that Boss within multiple tries.

However, Scar didn't have that option since all eyes were on him, and every time he couldn't clear Vulcan's Cave was a headline in the E-sport news.

Scar was desperate at every try, and Ren knew that the latter would call him in-game soon.

And Ren was counting on it.