บท 79: Chapter 79. Forced to Cooperate

"Where did you find that flower?!" Bowler exclaimed.

"Oh, just some place around here," John answered, "but don't bother to go searching; you won't find any flowers like this. There is only one in the entire area."

"And how do you know that?" Jack asked.

"Because I did the quest from Adventurers Association that requires this flower two days ago. I could only find one after circling the entire base of this hill searching for them. I came this way again for another of the Association's quests yesterday, and noticed the flower in the same spot again. I guess that after I submitted the quest, the flower respawned. I then picked it, just out of curiosity, but it didn't respawn even after a full day had passed. I assume that as long as I hold this flower, it won't respawn."

"Then you know we need that flower for our quest. Please give it to us, will you?" Bowler asked in a friendly tone.

"No. I don't think I'll be giving it to you," John replied calmly. "Not, that is, unless you do me a small favor."

"Are you blackmailing us!?" Bowler couldn't stay calm anymore.

"Oh, now, no need to use such language, think of this as a friendly exchange of favors," John replied without a hint of guilt.

"You really have balls to pull this stunt! Can't you see that you are alone while there are three of us? What's to stop us from just killing you and taking the flower?"

"Then you must still be ignorant of the rules of this world. When we die outside of the safe zone, we lose all our items, but that doesn't mean that we drop all our items for others to take. We will only drop some random one or two items. So, you see, if you kill me, the chance of you getting this flower is minuscule at best."

"I–If so, then the flower will disappear and it will respawn, right?"

"I don't think so. I think it will only respawn if you declare the quest a failure and retake it again later. But you are welcome to try if you like," John said indifferently.

"You are really a detestable fellow," Bowler spat.

John replied with a shrug.

'Is he telling the truth?' Jack directed his question to Peniel in his mind.

'It's more or less as he said. But I will add that a quest item taken by an unaffiliated party will be automatically removed from their possession after five days pass. Also, if it disappears due to the owner getting killed, it will respawn after three days. Or you can do as he said, cancel the quest and reapply for the same quest again.'

All options resulted in their having to waste a lot of time. The fastest would be to cancel the quest and reapply, but they would still have to return to the capital and come back again.

"Let's just kill this prick!" Bowler snarled angrily.

Jack thought about it for a bit. He then asked John, "What kind of favor do you need?"

"That sounds more like it," John grinned, rubbing his hands together. "It's nothing much, I just need help clearing a cave of the monsters dwelling inside. It's for my quest, you see. So, you help my quest, I help yours. Everyone gets their happy ending."

"What help? You are clearly hindering ours!" Bowler was unwilling to bargain with this degenerate.

John shrugged again, "Think about it. If you look for this flower yourself, you might spend the entire day just searching for it. Trust me, because it happened to me. Now, if you help me clear the cave, not only will you save time not having to run around the hill searching for a single flower, but you will also gain experience from killing the monsters in that cave. Won't that be more profitable?"

"Profitable my ass, I just don't like your attitude!"

Jack gestured to Bowler to calm down. Then he said to John, "Come over to the fire and let's talk more about this cave of yours. Oh, and tell your two friends back there to come over as well. There's no need to be sneaky."

John frowned when he heard that, but his expression soon returned to his usual calm demeanor. He looked back and yelled, and then he went over to where Jack and the others had made their camp. Not long after, another two people came to view; from their garments, one was a Magician, the other was a Ranger.

"This is Pointy Tip, that one is Weird Trap," John introduced the Magician and the Ranger as they approached. "And I am Saint John."

He then took the liberty of sitting down near the campfire, and invited everyone to take a seat as well.

"Who made you the host?" Bowler said unhappily as he sat down.

"Don't be too hung up on the details," John said, waving his hand airily. "Come, let's discuss the plan to raid the cave."

Jack Inspected John's two comrades. Both of them were level 11.

He then said, "First things first, we are not going to help you for free, and that flower doesn't count. The drops from the monsters will be divided, with us taking priority, as our group is higher in level on average."

"I'm only interested in clearing the quest," John said. His two comrades turned to him with wide eyes. Jack assumed they were unhappy with those conditions, but, oddly, they didn't voice any objections.

"That is generous…" Jack said with suspicion. "Seeing as you are looking for reinforcements, I reckon that you have ventured into the cave already? And the monsters inside are too strong for you to handle?"

"The monsters inside are, indeed, strong," John nodded. "But they are not the main problem. We could still eradicate them with patience; the problem is, there is a boss-like monster inside and the cave won't be considered cleared as long as that monster is still alive."

"How strong is it?" Jack asked.

"Level 20," John answered.

"F**k me! Level 20?" Bowler exclaimed, "You go elsewhere and find somebody else to help you complete that suicide quest of yours! How the heck did you get an Adventurers Association quest for such an impossible mission?"

"I took a mystery quest, one of the ones with lots of question marks on them."

"Why would you do that?"

"I was curious," John shrugged.

"Only a fool would take a quest that is so ambiguous!" Bowler scolded.

Jack coughed.

He thought about the level 25 Priest of Phobos who he had fought on a quest like that. This time it was level 20. He had no chance of defeating the level 25 Elite NPC, but if it was just level 20, perhaps he could still cope? He asked Peniel, 'Do you think we can win against this level 20 boss?'

'Depends whether it's an Elite or a Special Elite boss,' Peniel answered.

'The boss is only 6 levels difference from me, with my double attribute increases from dual-class, our attribute difference shouldn't be that far off, right?'

'If it was a monster below level 15, then yes, that would be the case. But after level 15, attribute increases for each level are higher than before level 15. This is to cope with Adventurers who have upgraded to Advanced classes; their attribute increases per level are also higher. So, if it is a Special Elite level 20 Boss, I would say that the difficulty will be somewhat similar to that level 25 Elite Priest you fought.'

"Did you see if that level 20 Boss is an Elite class or is it Special Elite?" Jack asked John.

"I didn't have time to do an Inspect. We ran the hell out once we found out it was level 20," John answered.

"Then how do you know it is level 20?" Flame asked.

"Well… There were, in point of fact, four of us, originally. Our Fighter did the Inspect. He blurted out 'level 20' just before he got squashed by the monster, which precipitated our hasty retreat."

"Then ask that friend of yours, he should have resurrected in town already, shouldn't he?"

"He is not my friend, we just met at the Adventurers Association and we formed a party together for this quest. After he died, he disappeared from the Party list. So I have no way to contact him now."

John looked at his other two comrades. "Did either of you happen to add him as a friend?" He asked them.

The two shook their heads no.

Jack sighed, "Well, I guess there is no other way but see for ourselves. Let's go then."

"Now?" Bowler complained, "I thought we were going to rest."

"Why waste time? I'm not tired yet. Are you?" Jack replied. "We didn't continue searching for the flower because it was too dark. But the cave is dark anyway, so it makes no difference if we go in by day or by night."

"Actually…" John interjected. "We should still wait till tomorrow morning; we have another party coming as reinforcements."