Chapter 34: Still hiding things
It was when Jin was halfway up the cellar stairs that the system finally recovered from whatever error it had encountered.
The flickering black bars that had bled across Jin’s vision steadied, and the broken windows of text reassembled themselves one by one.
And a new notification appeared.
[ Quest Parameters Restored ]
[ ✦ NARRATIVE QUEST: THE SWORD BEFORE ITS LEGEND ✦ ]
[ Certain lives are destined to shape the history of the world. This child is one of them. The existence of the boy marks the beginning of a legend that should have started years into the future. The fate has accelerated, and the narrative sequence beyond this point will depend on the choices involving this subject. ]
[ Quest Rank: ★★★★★★ ]
[ Quest Difficulty: ★★★★ ]
[ Narrative Value: ★★★★★★★ ]
[ Primary Objective: Ensure the child’s survival until the opening of the original narrative. ]
[ Secondary Objective: Preserve the sword entrusted to him. Under no circumstances may it be stolen, destroyed, or permanently separated from its rightful bearer before the appointed narrative point. ]
[ Hidden Objective: ▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮ ]
[ Failure Conditions: Subject’s death/ Permanent loss of the wrapped sword ]
[ Reward: Uncertain ]
[ Note: This quest can not be rejected ]
Jin stood motionless on the stone steps and read the description once.
Then he read that again.
"The narrative sequence beyond this point will now depend upon the choices involving this subject."
So it really was happening.
The novel was changing.
Ever since he woke up in this world - he had been thinking about it. The system wants him to be involved in the story, and Encrid Gannon is someone who wasn’t even relevant to the plot.
So the moment he starts being involved in the story - the plot would change.
’To call it a plot anymore seems wrong, it is my reality now.’
The novel that had become his reality would change, and everything he knew about the novel might just turn out useless or in the worst case, make it dangerous.
His eyes drifted to the next line.
Quest Rank: ★★★★★★
"...Quest Rank?"
That was new.
Until now, the System had only attached stars to Skills, but seeing them in the quests - it seemed like the system judged everything based on stars.
’ So the quests have rankings as well?’
His gaze moved downward.
Quest Difficulty: ★★★★
Then lower still.
Narrative Value: ★★★★★★★
"...Three separate ratings?"
Jin frowned.
The System, as always, offered no explanation.
He considered the stars for a long moment. If they’re measured the same way as skills.
A five-star skill was extraordinarily rare.
Six stars...
Unless you are the son of a duke like Enrcrid, it would be hard to even come across them.
And yet this quest carried six stars as its rank.
His eyes drifted to the final line.
"...Seven?"
That wasn’t even a scale he’d encountered before.
From his previous deductions, that must mean that this was a very important quest to the story.
After several seconds, he arrived at the only conclusion that made any sense.
The Rank measures the quest itself.
Difficulty is self-explanatory.
And Narrative Value...
His gaze instinctively travelled back towards the prison below.
...measures how important this event is to the story.
If that interpretation was correct...
Then this wasn’t just another side quest. It was the equivalent of a main storyline quest.
His attention returned to the objectives.
The primary objective was straightforward enough. He had to keep the boy alive.
The secondary objective was oddly specific. It was not merely to protect the sword but to ensure it was never permanently separated from its owner before the appointed point in the narrative.
That wording lingered in his thoughts.
There must be something special about that sword for the system to mention it specifically...
’Of course there would be. It belongs to the Sword Saint, after all.’
His eyes shifted to the next line.
Hidden Objective: ▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮
"...Still hiding things."
Jin sighed.
"I suppose that would’ve been too easy."
He continued reading.
Reward: Uncertain
His shoulders slumped ever so slightly.
"...That’s disappointing."
Every quest until now had at least promised something tangible.
Skills.
Experience.
Information.
This one offered... nothing.
Finally, his eyes reached the last line.
’This quest cannot be rejected.’
Jin blinked.
Then he immediately looked back at it.
"Cannot be rejected..."
He hadn’t even considered the possibility.
"So..."
A slow smile crept onto his face.
"Quests can be rejected."
That was new.
The System had quietly revealed another rule simply by denying him the option.
He folded his arms.
"Useful to know."
Not that it mattered.
Even if the option had existed...
He would never have refused this one.
Not after recognising who sat behind those iron bars.
He stepped out into the pale daylight of the yard, where thirty-seven tied bandits sat in rows and the freed prisoners huddled at fires wrapped in stolen southern cloth, where his four knights stood guard over a fortress full of the north’s missing property.
’Right, then,’ Jin thought, and pulled out the ledger. ’Let’s go ruin Rodric Maren’s life.’
He called for paper, ink, and every literate person in the stronghold.
Sir Gareth found him an hour later in one of the reclaimed storehouses, seated at a long table buried beneath caravan manifests, merchant records, and opened ledgers. Sheets of parchment lay scattered around him, several already bearing the White Griffin seal, while Jin himself was halfway through writing his fourth letter.
"Young Master," Sir Gareth said, approaching the table. "May I ask what you intend? The evidence in that ledger is enough to hang the Maren heir three times over. The direct course would be to ride for the estate and place it in His Grace’s hands."
"It would."
Jin never looked up from the page.
"And then it becomes a dispute between houses."
His pen continued moving.
"House Gannon accuses House Maren. House Maren claims forgery. Every noble in the North chooses whichever version best suits his own interests, and the ledger becomes nothing more than another weapon in a political feud."
Only after signing the letter and sprinkling sand across the fresh ink did he raise his head.
"Evidence presented by an interested party is always viewed with suspicion."
He tapped the stack of recovered manifests.
"But evidence identified by the victims themselves is another matter entirely."
His finger moved to the courtyard beyond the open door, where rescued merchants and caravan workers were already sorting through the recovered goods.
"When the merchants identify their own cargo, when village heads recognise supplies meant for their people and when caravan masters confirm the names and dates recorded in this ledger..."
"...then no one can dismiss it as House Gannon’s accusation."
He closed the ledger with a quiet thud.
"It becomes an established fact."
A faint smile crossed his face.
"And facts have a troublesome habit of refusing to care about politics."
Sir Gareth stood silently, his eyes drifting from the letters to the piles of stolen property filling the storehouses.
After a long moment, he gave a slow nod.
"I see."
By the time the sun began its descent, the letters had already left the fortress.
The swiftest horses in the captured stables carried them in every direction, ridden by the freed merchant’s clerk and two of Berrick’s most dependable men.
One rode to every merchant guild that traded along the Serpentine.
Another travelled to the village heads of the fishing settlements whose missing supplies appeared throughout Volk’s records.
A third rode for Lord Ferris Cavel, whose mining caravans had vanished no fewer than three times according to the recovered manifests.
Each letter bore the White Griffin seal pressed into crimson wax.
Each carried the same message.
Your stolen property has been recovered from the bandits of the Eastern Ridge, together with documents identifying the patron responsible for their crimes.
You are invited to the old watch fort overlooking the Serpentine Bend to identify your property and bear witness to its recovery.
Encrid Gannon
✦ ✦ ✦