[ Chapter 8: Location of Ratzeburg]
While painting, Petrov heard the news about Weed’s return.
"Finally, I will meet my destined enemy."
While drawing around Vergo Fortress, Petrov had waited for this moment.
Suddenly the gates connecting Morata and Vergo Fortress opened. Several high level users rushed into Morata's regions and they were followed by other users. Since the gate was only guarded by two guards, they couldn't hold them.
In a short time, a huge number of users and residents gathered in several places.
Just when the painter was planning to meet the Lord!
"The Lord is holding a meat party."
"Really?"
"All meat from the warehouses are free. We are allowed to take as much meat as we wish. But of course, only while the stock lasts. And since the Lord is here, he will personally cook the meats."
"Let's go then!"
Unintentionally, Weed created chaos even worse than a monster attack.
All users were talking about the free meat from the warehouse.
It is almost unbelievable for a Lord to give away the stored meet for free.
"The Lord is letting go of all meat, including high quality boar meat."
“Gulp. High quality boar. The boar with high health that's only available at the other side of the mountain.”
Gulp.
Just thinking about the meat, they subconsciously swallowed their saliva.
"I shouldn't think. Maybe I should just go and eat? ''
He didn't want to owe Weed.
But sooner or later he needed to know Weed, so this was his chance!
"Let’s go."
Petrov hurried towards the place where Weed had set up his food booth.
There was already a long line of users waiting to get the cooked meat.
"Sigh. Will I get to eat today?"
"It won’t be long, since Weed can prepare the dish quite fast. Maybe you can eat after one hour."
Petrov let out a sigh and went to stand at the back of the line.
He waited for a long time. Petrov did not expect the multitude of people standing in line. He wondered whether the meat prepared by Weed was really that delicious.
The Sculpture Lifeforms began arriving at Weed’s booth.
A big and strong knight, Silver DarkSun and a big dog, Cerberus waited outside the booth. They didn't even need to stand in a line, Weed just handed over cooked food to them.
"Woof Woof.”
The taste of the meat was divine. Cerberus rolled on the ground and wagged his tail trying to get more food.
This was the first time he acted like a cute and friendly pet.
"The taste of the meat is fantastic."
"Weed’s cooking skill is better than my sword mastery (originally 'than the taste my sword')."
Even proud Silver DarkSun showed great respect to Weed.
With excellent adjustment of fire and the spices, Weed’s grilled meats were supremely juicy and flavorful, especially when he added salt and garlic sauce.
The moment Petrov saw their intimacy, he was almost dispirited.
'No. I can still make them my servants. If I try hard enough, the opportunity will come. "
While Petrov was waiting in line, he heard many conversations around him.
"Lord Weed is truly popular among women."
"Yeah, and she is really cute."
Petrov could finally see Weed as the line shrank by nearly half.
There are Dirt Men and Fiery Pebbles helping Weed grill the meats.
They helped Weed by stirring the stew, adjusting the heat, and spreading the spices naturally.
"Hmm, is she really beautiful?"
Then the sight of Hwaryeong caught Petrov’s eye.
It was such a rare sight, to see a beautiful woman willing to help a guy cook in the kitchen.
Her face glistened with sweat from the heat of the stove.
"How did he get such a beauty to be on his side?"
Now Petrov hated Weed even more.
At that moment, another exceptionally beautiful girl appeared at Weed's side. The girl worked with Weed almost flawlessly to prepare the meals and seemed as if they knew what each other was thinking.
Petrov would never forget the woman he met at St. George's Castle. Of all places, he found her while standing in line to get food from Weed.
A man with two beautiful women. Petrov's chest was burning with jealousy.
"Yurin."
Petrov felt more sorrow when he saw her laughing with Weed.
He wanted to go and meet her again. But he also wanted to eat meat, and leaving the line to talk to her meant that he would have to go back to the end of the line.
"I'd rather stand back like a man and leave Vergo Fortress in honour.”
Meat? Yurin? He didn't care. None of that even mattered anymore. The longer he stayed here, the more he suffered. He would just forget everything and leave it behind, but he just couldn't get rid the image of Weed and Yurin laughing together.
As he walked away, his ears were distracted by conversation around him.
"Who is that girl?"
"She is a painter..."
"Don't you know? She is Weed’s younger sister. They appeared together in their adventure in Todeum Kingdom."
"She is really cute. I want to make her my girlfriend...."
"Then Weed will be the brother-in-law. I wonder how your future's going to unfold.”
Petrov then turned and got back in line.
"Younger sister huh.”
Now he understood why Yurin left St. George's Castle.
#
The cost for the Geomchi’s eating and drinking came from Weed’s pocket.
"Give me that."
"My belly is about to explode."
Due to the gluttonous nature of the Geomchis, they had already eaten more than the others. But even so, they can still continue eating the newly served meat.
"Meat!"
"It is a steamed rib."
"Steaming improved the flavor even more."
Nevertheless, Weed continuously served them food. For any normal 504 people, it is impossible to eat that much, but not for the Geomchis.
“Poor Weed, being a professional chef must suck.”
"Even the dragon wasn't as tireless as them."
Pale and Zephyr muttered while watching them eating and was amazed by their dreadful ability to keep eating.
The tower of meat in the beginning was devoured by Geomchis. But then, Barbarians who had just come back from hunting piled up an even greater amount of meat than before.
"More meat.”
"Wow!"
Other users in the vicinity also come and sat down with the Geomchis.
"Go on, have some."
"Brother, you are too generous!"
"Live small and in moderation. A greedy man will die young!"
"It's the weekend. Even a machine will break if overworked, so lets relax!”
"Exam, work, promotion. Exam, work, promotion. Aah ahh ha hah!"
Users were able to relieve the daily stress while eating excessively.
"I ate a lot."
"Weed’s grilled meat is really tasty."
"It's the best."
Fairies tore the meat into pieces and ate them while flying in the air.
After eating too much and gaining extra weight, the fairies found it harder and harder to fly.
Late at night, Geomchis that had couples sat near the campfires chatting.
"Finally, it’s time for dessert!" Geomchi exclaimed.
"Lately, Weed made a lot of enemies." Geomchi3 replied.
"From the broadcasting, Hermes guild is trying to kill Weed." Geomchi4 and Geomchi5 chimed
"They have a bad reputation. They are ruthless and greedy."
"They are the strongest guild in the Versailles Continent. Nobody can challenge them in terms of power."
The practitioners just listened quietly .
From the atmosphere, the practitioners talked pretty seriously.
Geomchi nodded.
"There is no need to rush into fight. We need to think everything through."
Weed, of course, had his own counter-measure against Hermes guild.
They stood in each other’s way to conquer the continent.
To complete the Sculpting 'Master Quest', he could just use [Sculptural Transformation] to avoid harm from them.
But even though he could escape from Hermes grasp, that didn't mean that they would leave him alone.
Geomchi3 throws a punch into the air.
"That's right. We need to take care of the youngest. The thought of leaving him alone like this…......"
"Thinking about the youngest, him fighting alone is indeed unpleasant. What’s more, he is Master’s successor.” Geomchi3 quickly replied.
"Well of course, we, the Geomchis, will help him. Give us some wise words, Master."
Geomchi looked up into the night sky covered with stars.
“Versailles Continent is filled with mystery, and here, we have freedom. Even if we have our own free will, we can’t anticipate what's ahead."
"..........."
What Geomchi expressed was his agreement with the the instructors and the practitioners.
In real life, there was a limit to both physical and mental ability.
There were no such things as stats, levels, skill proficiency, or other such parameters.
Although it was complicated, the continent of Versailles was the only world where Geomchis could live freely and fight strong enemies, have great adventures, and party with their colleagues.
"Men can only dream for such a world."
"I have no objection for a strong man to conquer the continent, but I won’t tolerate tyranny and vile characters who bother other people just to satisfy themselves."
"Yes, we all have the same thought."
Geomchi laughed.
"Are we not having fun while playing here?"
"Of course we have fun."
"We have so much fun."
The Geomchis came to Royal Road beating monsters and completing quests in order to improve their swordsmanship.
Maybe it sounded crazy, but they could enjoy freedom.
"We are stronger now. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, and when we are all together, we have power that can even achieve what a single person can’t."
"When the storm comes, those who do not fall will come out stronger."
That was the reason why Geomchi brought the practitioners to Royal Road, to raise their skills according to the level system of Royal Road, and having fun while doing so.
#
Ratzeburg.
Lee Hyun tried to get information associated with Royal Road from the Dark Gamer Union, but nothing related to ‘Ratzeburg’ came up.
Some users in the Hermes guild tried to recruit Dark Gamers through the bulletin board, and some articles were about disturbances caused by Embinyu Church and the people fighting it.
"I have to increase the chance of finding it in my first day."
If he tried to check every place in the continent, he might go crazy before even finding it, but he could try to narrow the possibilities from the clues.
"Fortunately, it is not a polar region."
From the natural environment it was either a rain forest or a desert, not a glacier zone.
"Yes, the races lived and spread out to the entire continent. The possibility of them settled in a peripheral island is small."
It was a simple idea, but even if he tried to search the big island, he needed to know which area should be prioritized.
"A place where there is a wide plain and a river."
Lee Hyun looked at the map of the Versailles Continent he had obtained.
The map was not perfectly made because it only gave information about areas explored by users, and since the map was obtained from many users, there might be some inconsistencies compared to real locations, so he couldn't just believe it blindly.
"Since there are four races, the city must be big, so it must be in a large, flat terrain.”
That alone greatly reduced the search areas.
There were a lot of trees, so it was likely a forest, and there were no high mountains around.
"Stone houses were built, that means there was no sand or wood around to build the house?
..... No. The Elves would have opposed of using wood. Anyway, if they built houses from stone, that means there were a lot of stones around.
They must have been able to dig a lot of stones from the nearby vicinity to build the houses ...... "
Lee Hyun tried to analyze the surrounding terrain of the Britten Alliance and the Ritten Kingdom.
"From the image, there were a lot of growing trees, birds and butterflies. It was likely around the central kingdom."
It was in the middle of the continent and a bit to the south.
The land is relatively fertile with monsters wandering around.
There are twenty-four large rivers flowing in the region near the cities in the kingdom!
Based on the material and topography of the stone, Lee Hyun found that dozens of places were likely to be Ratzeburg City.
"To find a city that existed thousands of years ago in Versailles is really not easy."
He tirelessly worked for three days to analyze the details of the map.
"Browse the photos of travelers."
The photos available were from the famous places visited by users and were readily available on the net.
Lee Hyun continuously searched the place that matched with his thought.
"This is not the same. Not even the grass and trees are on the right place ... The flow of the river is different, and the direction of the sun. And in this picture, even if it's a huge plain with crops, there are too many rocks. The direction of the wind, the grain fields, it doesn't match. "
He couldn't find the land with agriculture traces.
Lee Hyun joined in group meetings of the Royal Road Farmers to view the photos.
Royal Road was also a place for farmers to fulfill their dreams. Royal Road Farmers.
From planting the seed to harvesting the crops, all was done by the Farmers Guild.
Just by watching the flower growing, the butterflies and the bees would bring happiness to the mind.
Investment in the land resulting to the increase of the value of the land. This is where they would just sit and get rich, like the real estate Merchant Guilds.
There were organizations that specialize in overseeing the land.
While analyzing the photos posted there, he still couldn't find the place that matched Ratzeburg.
"Hmm, the clue is too tricky. Totally not an easy task."
Rather than torturing himself trying determine the place directly, Weed picked several places that were close enough to his vision of Ratzeburg.
In two days, after analyzing the clues with all the resources he had he narrowed it down to sixty eight places.
"It would be somewhere among these places. I guess all that's left is to solve the riddle. In the end it's a brain game."
Among the places, there were forty two places that were close to a human town or city.
Lee Hyun looked to change the direction of his thinking.
Ratzeburg was a terrain relatively good for any race to live.
The river with snake-like figure, the terrain would likely be easy to defend against monsters.
"If I wanted to build a house and settle down ..."
Analysis from the house perspective!
Instead of thinking about the value of the land, he just chose a good location with good resources to be obtained as he built the house there.
"I would choose an optimal location."
A free city's, Al-Bath, area popped up in Lee Hyun’s mind.
In addition to the fertile and wide plains, there were great rivers surrounding the villages that gave them three sides of protection from the monsters.
And there are moderately steep mountains beyond the plains.
"Orcs troops stationed here could fight quite effectively. The farm and granary wouldn't be easily raided."
When the monsters came to steal the food, defending against them would be easy, and there are plenty of stone quarries nearby.
Even then, there were five other places that almost meet the characteristics of Ratzeburg. It was not a simple matter.
" Ratzeburg was most likely located in one of these six places ....."
Lee Hyun was in deep distress.
All six points were far apart, and it would take a lot of time to go directly to each place.
There was also possibility of Ritten Kingdom or Britten Alliance being built on top of the ancient Ratzeburg City.
"I’m going to check the Al-Bath area first. Then I will check the other places after I return."
In the end, Weed made up his mind.
Other than the time he attended his class, when he returned to Royal Road, he made some sculptures in Vargo Fortress to increase his skill proficiency.
At midnight, Yurin walked in to check on her brother, "Oppa, are you not going to sleep?"
"I have a lot to think about."
"What’s wrong?" Yurin asked while grabbing a bottle of milk from the fridge.
"Nothing, I'm just trying to figure out the quest about the first city in the continent."
Lee Hyun explained to her in detail about what he thought and what he found.
Various materials from the computer equivalent to three thick books, a blackboard full of illustrations and lots of notes were pasted around.
What Weed had done to find Ratzeburg City was just like a scene in a drama.
"So, from the image of the city I had seen, this is all the data I got."
Lee Hyun's voice begin to drop slowly. He was too proud to let his smart sister catch him in a mood like this.
"Oh, you want to find the picture of the city?"
"Yes."
Lee Hyun’s paints a dinosaur like a frog, a river like a worm, and an ant like three transformers. Such was his painting skill.
He used the picture from photos of Royal Road to find similar places from the image he had seen on the video and sketched pictures of them.
"Here, Borghese Nice of Aidern’s Kingdom?" [T/L:Borghese Nice is a temporary name. Alternative name is Nice Maribor. I will use Borghese, but other translator may use Maribor]
"Huh? I think the free city of Al-Bath fits better?"
"No, I was there, there was even a Butterfly Garden."
Yurin used the mouse to adjust and rotate the image on the computer screen.
"See. Look at this. Here."
In the screen, Lee Hyun saw a river wriggling like a snake, wide plains with lots of trees, birds and flowers.
Even though the flow of the river was slightly different, the view of the plain, the forest, the mountains were exactly identical.
"The place you're looking for is a plateau . And Ilste Plain is perfectly matched, right, Oppa?"
"......"
His eyes kept rolling, looking at the monitor. No matter how many flaws he saw, the view was too similar with the image of Ratzeburg City.
"Keuheum(cough)! Why not. Let’s stop by at least once before going to Al-Bath, we've got nothing to lose."
(Edited by a Bored Random Proofreader. P.S.: Weed, just admit that your sister is smarter already.)