The quest details popped up in front of Siegfried.
[Subjugate Mountain Bandits]
[A new group of mountain bandits, the Supreme Mountain Bandits, has started appearing around White Town.]
[Subjugate the Supreme Mountain Bandits and retrieve the goods stolen from the Thierry Merchant Company!]
[Reward: Guccio’s Affinity +500, A Special Gift]
[Warning: The Supreme Mountain Bandits are a vicious and powerful group. Caution is advised when facing them.]
It was a straightforward quest aside from the warning.
‘I can just think of it as hunting monsters and leveling up. I will need to grind seven more levels to reach Level 210, anyway,’ Siegfried thought as he accepted the quest from Guccio.
He left the Thierry Merchant Company’s building and went straight to the place suspected to be the Supreme Mountain Bandits’ hideout.
***
The leader of the Supreme Mountain Bandits, Cesc Graham, was immersing himself in training.
“Hap!” Cesc shouted before grabbing the steel rod on the ground.
The steel rod had five plates crafted out of special metals on each side, and each of the plates weighed five hundred kilograms. In short, the special metal plates alone weighed five tons, and the steel rod made out of special steel weighed a hundred kilograms.
All in all, the total weight that Cesc Graham was lifting was a massive 5.1 tons.
Of course, this wasn’t an impossible weight to lift.
Why?
It was all because of mana’s existence.
A person’s muscle strength would increase a dozen to a few hundred times with the help of mana, and that was the reason why it was possible to lift such a heavy weight in this world.
However, that was not the case for Cesc Graham…
“Yeah, buddy! Lightweight baby!” he shouted a few phrases he had learned from an Adventurer in the past. The surprising thing about Cesc was that he was lifting 5.1 tons of weights without using a single drop of mana, and he was performing deadlifts, squats, and bench presses without using mana as well.
“Huff! Hap! Haaap!” Cesc lifted the weights a total of eight times. “Huff…! Huff…! Huff…!”
He collected his breath for around one minute before performing five deadlift sets in a row, but he didn’t stop there. He adjusted the weight plates and performed squats and bench presses as well. He squatted 4.6 tons and bench pressed 4.1 tons, and he did not use a single ounce of mana while doing all of those.
“Hmm… My bench press weight is not increasing at all… Have I been slacking off?” he scolded himself after finishing his workout. This monster of a human being had lifted a combined total of thirteen tons by performing three big lifts, and he had a personal record of fifteen tons.
However, he seemed serious when he rebuked himself, and it was because of the book that had turned him into a monster.
Cesc was a normal mountain bandit who was interested in bodybuilding, and he stumbled upon a book one day that said—anyone with a big three lifts total of less than twenty tons is an anchovy[1].
The book was titled Supreme King’s Book, and the skills of a true warrior were written down on it. In short, the book that Cesc had stumbled upon by pure luck turned him—who had been an ordinary mountain bandit—into the monster he was today.
Now, he was a monster capable of lifting weights in tons, and the crafting method for the special weights that he was using was written in the Supreme King’s Book as well.
“I wonder when I’ll be able to lift more than twenty tons and graduate from being an anchovy…?” Cesc seriously wondered.
The book mentioned that anyone who could lift a combined total of fewer than twenty tons and weighed less than a hundred and fifty kilos was an anchovy. In short, the Supreme King considered 99.999% of the population as mere anchovies.
It made Cesc wonder just how what kind of a monster the Supreme King was.
“Anyway, let’s graduate from being an anchovy first… Afterward, I can start dreaming about becoming the Bandit King,” Cesc desperately wanted to become a true warrior.
It was his dream to become powerful enough to make all seventy-two named bandit groups on the continent kneel in front of him and proclaim himself as the one and only Bandit King.
“Boss!” Zolge, one of his subordinates, was running to him while shouting, “There’s trouble!”
“Trouble?”
“Our scouts got messed up!”
“Messed up? Explain.”
“An Adventurer showed up and declared that he was going to subjugate us!”
“Hmm… Do I have to step up?” Cesc asked while rubbing his beard.
“I-I think so? Our bandit group technically doesn’t have anyone strong aside from you, boss… Hahaha… Haha…”
“Okay. Tell our brothers to stay hidden. I will personally take care of that Adventurer myself once he comes here.”
“Aren’t you going to go and take care of him, boss?”
“Not now,” Cesc said as he stood up from the bench.
“Hiiik!” Zolge cried out in horror as the bandit leader towered over him.
The bandit leader towered at one hundred ninety centimeters tall while weighing more than a hundred fifty kilograms. The pressure he was exerting thanks to his large muscles couldn’t be glossed over.
And his muscles were glistening under the sunlight…
‘I-I want to lick it… Ack! What the hell are you thinking? Moron!’ Zolge almost forgot his sexual orientation.
“Why can’t you go right now, boss?”
“I have to replenish my protein and take a shower.”
“…”
“Anyway, just tell our brothers to stay safe until he arrives here. I will personally take care of him by then,” Cesc said. He then entered his tent to replenish his protein.
***
Siegfried was baffled on the way to the Supreme Mountain Bandits’ hideout.
“What the hell? These guys are a bunch of weaklings… Aren’t they supposed to be strong? These guys are no different from a bunch of farmers wielding weapons that they had never learned how to use…” he grumbled in disbelief.
The Supreme Mountain Bandits averaged between Level 5 to Level 10, so Siegfried focused on beating them up with his fists and extorting information from out of them rather than killing them.
And that was why he quickly discovered their hideout…
He was currently on his way to their hideout.
“This doesn’t make any sense…” Siegfried muttered.
“Maybe their boss is strong? Kyu!” Hamchi replied.
“Do you think so?”
“I have a feeling! How can these ragtag weaklings make a living out of plundering?”
“I guess you’re right… A single one of the merchant company guards could probably take on hundreds of them, so this doesn’t make any sense at all.”
Siegfried and Hamchi realized that the Supreme Mountain Bandits were probably nothing without their leader, so they walked toward the bandit hideout without much suspense.
“Why are the doors wide open…?”
“I think they’re asking us to come in.”
Thirty minutes later, Siegfried and Hamchi reached the makeshift village in the mountain, and they were surprised to find that the wooden barricades were all put aside to make it easier for them to go in.
“Come in! Come in!”
“Our boss is waiting for you!”
“You’re dead!”
The weaklings started taunting Siegfried.
“Have these bastards gone nuts? Hey! Come here! What did you just say?” Siegfried shouted and raised his hand.
“Ack!”
“Hiiik!”
“I-I’m sorry…”
The bandits immediately jumped up in fright and bowed toward him.
‘Is he a bandit leader or the eldest brother looking after his siblings…?’ Siegfried couldn’t help but wonder about their leader’s identity. Anyway, he managed to enter the bandit hideout without shedding a single drop of blood.
“Hey,” Siegfried called out.
One of the bandits immediately responded, “Y-Yes, sir?!”
“Where’s your boss?”
“T-There… He’s over there,” the bandit pointed at a large tent.
“Thanks,” Siegfried thanked the bandit and went straight to the large tent, and then he called out, “Excuse me! Can you come out if you’re home? I have something to discuss with you.”
“I’m coming.”
A deep voice replied from the tent, and a large man emerged from it.
“Huh? Their boss is a titan?” Siegfried tilted his head in confusion.
“Stupid owner punk! That’s a human! A titan is not that small! Kyu!” Hamchi exclaimed.
‘Then, what’s up with his size…? Isn’t he a giant instead of a human…?’ Siegfried wondered while looking up at the bandit leader’s imposing figure.
He flashed his Rune of Insight at the bandit leader.
[Cesc Graham]
[Type: NPC]
[Class: Strength Master]
[Level: 240]
[Affiliation: Supreme Mountain Bandit]
[Title: Boss]
[Titles: One Who Dreams of Becoming The Bandit King, Muscle Maniac, Descendant of the Supreme King, King of Exhibition, Large and Sturdy Man]
Siegfried noticed something in the bandit leader’s details. ‘Huh? Descendant of the Supreme King…? Don’t tell me…’
[Alert: The Quest – ‘Master’s Regret’ has been activated!]
A quest window popped up in front of Siegfried.
Search bit.ly/3iBfjkV for the original.
[Master’s Regret]
[Type: Quest]
[Details: Find and crush the seven successors of the people known as the strongest eight on the continent five hundred years ago.
[Progress: 0%]
[Descendant of Thunder God Vajra 0/1]
[Descendant of Sword Saint Murcièlago 0/1]
[Descendant of Great Sage Sieghart 0/1]
[Descendant of Blood Master Berserk 0/1]
[Descendant of Enlightened King Maugris 0/1]
[Descendant of God Arrow Windforce 0/1]
[Descendant of Supreme King Braum 0/1] UP!
The leader of the Supreme Mountain Bandits, Cesc Graham, was none other than the descendant of Supreme King Braum.
“Okay, this is great,” Siegfried muttered with a smile. It seemed that he would be able to clear not only the Subjugate Mountain Bandits quest but also a portion of Master’s Regret.
“Let’s have a go,” Siegfried said.
“Sure,” Cesc replied.
The bandit leader nonchalantly accepted the duel request and stood in front of Siegfried.
‘Hooo? Look at this guy. He’s purposely showing so many openings.’
Siegfried noticed that the bandit leader was full of openings, so he decided to take the initiative.
Shwiik!
Siegfried’s mace cut through the air and smashed Cesc’s precious place. The reason he aimed for that place was that Cesc wasn’t wearing anything else aside from his triangular underwear.
The steel mace slammed into Cesc’s nether region.
Clang!
The sound of metal clashing against metal echoed.
“Ack! What the hell was that?!” Siegfried shouted. The rebound almost made him let go of his mace.
‘Why did my hand hurt when I hit him there…? Is his underwear made out of metal or something?!’
Siegfried was shocked. He had smashed his mace into the bandit leader’s nether region, but it felt like he was the one who got injured instead. Another strange thing was that the sound went clang! instead of puk!
However, the most surprising thing was that Cesc Graham seemed fine.
“You have decided to go after a man’s weakness,” Cesc said without batting an eye. “I’m sorry to tell you, but I have no weakness. And my thing has the highest defense out of all of my body parts. You can’t even imagine what kind of hellish training I had to go through just to train my thing.”
“W-What? Where and how did you train your thing…?” Siegfried muttered in disbelief.
“I tied it to a rope and—” Cesc politely explained
“Stop!” Siegfried hurriedly interrupted. “I don’t want to hear it. Take this instead!”
Siegfried swung his mace one more time.
Clang!
The mace smashed into Cesc’s face, but it failed to deal any damage.
“You’ve hit me twice,” Cesc said.
“W-What are you…? A monster…?” Siegfried muttered in disbelief.
“It should be my turn now, right?” Cesc punched Siegfried’s chest.
Kwang!
“AAACK!” Siegfried screamed in agony before he was sent flying.
1. Anchovy is what Korean bodybuilders call scrawny people. ☜
