The Reader and Protagonist Definitely Have to Be in True Love
Chapter 42: Reader/Protagonist: I’ll accept this task.

Chapter 42.1 – Reader/Protagonist: I’ll accept this task.

Windy Town1 is close to the Elven Forest. Since it is a place where travelers stop before exploring the Elven Forest or the Gnome Ruins, the mercenary guild set up an office there.

Anne, the receptionist, was playing with her fingernails, bored. The mercenary guild office was more boring today compared to recent events when there was a great change in the depths of the Elven Forest. Many low level spirit beasts were seen, and there was even a spirit beast stampede. A week ago, many people saw flames in the Elven Forest and the power fluctuations were on the level of a War God or Mage God. The power fluctuations have already subsided but many people are still frightened.

The elves live in seclusion in the Elven Forest, and it is not good to provoke this race of beautiful people. They have at least two Mage God or War God level warriors. That is the consensus of the people of the Chaos Continent.

From that day on, the elves seemed to be in some kind of situation. Now the task board is full of Elven Forest missions, and almost all of the mercenaries have run off to explore the Elven Forest. All sorts of news came – some people said they saw the signs of a curse, some people said they saw an empty Elven Forest, and some people even said that they saw a dragon.

When she heard the news, Anne was very amused at first then her thoughts became confused. After all, four years ago the legendary demon race appeared. Somehow, they had gotten through the Lost Land’s passageway into the Chaos Continent. Although the Temple of Light has repeatedly called for a grand alliance to fight against the evil demons, it has not been successful. That’s because when people come in contact with the demons, they realized how terrible that race is. Demons were born for fighting and destruction. Every demon is at least at the level of a Grand Swordsman. The most terrifying of them all is the Thunder Legion whose every member was at least a Sword Saint. In fact, the whole human race only has 100 Sword Saints. The demons have already conquered ⅕ of the Continent. If they hadn’t stopped of their own volition, the whole Chaos Continent would have fallen. Now that even the elves were in trouble, Anne felt the world was getting messier and her intuition told her that this was far from the end.

“Tap. Tap.”

Anne froze a bit before she reacted. There was someone knocking at the table to call her attention. There were two people on the other side of the counter: a black-haired youth and a silver-haired … elf?

Du Ze very calmly looked at the receptionist who was staring at Xiu, speechless. He was used to it. Whenever he had this close friend by his side, most people ignored him.

Du Ze knocked on the table again and Anne finally reacted. Her face became red. It wasn’t like her to fuss like this. She had spoken before to a lot of elven mercenaries, but none of them were so beautiful that they made her lose her ability to think.

Anne smiled professionally, trying to conceal her previous gaffe: “Hello, how can I help you?”2

“Mercenary registration.”

“OK, just a moment, please.” Anne took out a form from a drawer: “Please show me your warrior badge.”

Du Ze froze. He had forgotten this detail. The threshold for becoming a mercenary, though very low, requires at least some strength. A warrior badge serves as proof of a warrior’s rank. Ordinary non-fighter folk don’t have a warrior badge. Of course, the Earthman Du Ze has no such thing and Xiu left his in the Mage School.

Seeing Du Ze’s reaction, Anne could guess the situation.

“You can apply for warrior badges here but only at the basic level. If you want to upgrade, you will have to go to the relevant professional guilds.” Anne pointed to a particular door: “After paying a silver coin, you can go there for the test. If you pass then you can obtain a warrior badge.”

Test what? Test the combat effectiveness of this young man which is negative five?

In his heart Du Ze was weeping. Becoming a mercenary is very convenient because it gives a person free access to some countries and cities. Also, mercenaries can use the magic transmission matrix. Du Ze knew from reading the “Mixed-Blood” novel that the gold mercenary team is currently in the Star Empire. Even if he doesn’t use the magic transmission matrix, there is still the problem of how to cross the border into the Star Empire without credentials.

A hand placed two silver coins on the counter. It was the silent Xiu, not Du Ze. Anne stared at two silver coins, stunned for a moment, then realized that both of them needed to be tested. She called over a teenager: “Ron, take two gentleman to be tested for warrior badges.”

“Okay!” The teenager named Ron ran over and when he saw Xiu, he became very enthusiastic:3 “Please, please, please come with me -”

There was nothing in the test room except for a human-shaped target. Ron pointed to it and stammered: “When, when you attack, attack, if it turns red you qualify.”

Du Ze looked at Xiu and saw that he had no intention striking first. Some silly, cute person then walked around the target and reached out to touch it. The texture is very good. He can already imagine how his hand will break if he hits it.

Fat chirp, I choose you!

“Chirp? Chirp~” The small Phoenix excitedly spread its wings, opened its beak, and spat out a tiny fireball. Attack complete.

Du Ze silently watched the small Phoenix float down onto his burned hair then started fighting with the fluff ball.

If you can’t destroy the target, why did you attack this young man?!

Xiu stretched out his hand, grabbed Du Ze’s right hand that was trying to pull down the chick, and put both their hands on the target.

“Boom!”

Ron looked with horror at the human-shaped target which was specifically used to test the strength of people and fully absorb the force of a Grand Sword Master’s blows. Is the slender and beautiful silver-haired elf a Sword Saint …?

Xiu met Ron’s eyes and said, his voice soft and cold: “We all passed?”

Ron nodded. That cold tone made him feel as though if he had an objection, his fate would be the same as that of the human-shaped target.

“I, I’m going to get your warrior badges!”

Du Ze watched the youth escape. The reader’s mood can be summed up as: A good student got a perfect score through beating up the exam proctor. The proctor chirped and revealed all of the exam questions to him.

Moe Lord, your aggressive side is showing…4

Xiu calmly took the warrior badge from Ron’s trembling hand. There were six red stripes on the silver blue-black badge which indicates that a person is at Grand Swordsman level.

Chapter 42.2 – Reader/Protagonist: I’ll accept this task.

In the “Mixed Blood” novel, a lower level person cannot see through a higher level person’s strength. Higher level people can hide the strength of lower level people. They can also suppress their own strength so that they seem lower level.

Humans tend to judge people’s strength through these warrior badges. The warrior badge is an important indication of rank, therefore people are normally eager to go to the various professional guilds to get their badge upgraded.

These were the perfect conditions that allowed the Moe Lord to play the pig to eat the tiger (pretend to be weak). After Xiu got the basic level badge, he never bothered to upgrade it, so in the novel, there was a “rich second generation”1 officer in the Star Empire who looked at Xiu’s low level warrior badge and proposed a duel to the death. When the chapter ended, that **** was still desperately wondering how he could end the abuse that the “Grand Swordsman level” Moe Lord was dishing out.

The readers were lamenting: please allow us to make a sad expression, lol.

When Du Ze and Xiu showed Anne the warrior badge, the receptionist handled everything very quickly. She gave them the new mercenary cards.

“These are your mercenary cards, please accept them.” Anne pointed at the mercenary guild’s magical bulletin board that was constantly updated with new tasks. “That is the task board. You are now mercenary level E so you can only take on E-level or no level tasks.”

Du Ze glanced at the task board curiously. With just one look, he saw that at the top was a task for exploring the Gnome Ruins and the other tasks were all related to the Elven Forest. Then his eyes were caught by an unusual task – an “Anti-Demon Crusade” mission… demons?

Now the demons have appeared on the Chaos Continent?!

Du Ze remembered how he had activated the metal pyramid and his eyes subconsciously moved to Xiu, but he saw that Xiu was staring at something, unblinking. The beautiful face seemed like it was covered with a layer of frost, exuding an intense cold that could chill someone to the bone. Du Ze followed Xiu’s line of sight and read the task that he was staring at. Du Ze could only sigh: Plot god, you are so hardworking, is this the conscientiousness that your profession demands?

After Xiu emerged from the Door of Wisdom, he found that his rival’s mercenary squad had left a message for Xiu: Xiu, if you can see this message go to the Star Empire and find us.

At that time Xiu had awakened four of his bloodlines, so he turned back into his elf form and left the Gnome Ruins. Xiu went back to the mercenary guild and was given a task that was perfect because he wanted to go to the Star Empire. The task poked his G spot.

Just like now.

[Find Ice Crystal Grass: No Rank Requirement. Go to the land of extreme cold to find ice crystal grass, pay is negotiable. Client: Eddie. ]

The content of the task is not important, what is important is the client – Eddie. Rose, do you remember that year when you abandoned the Moe Lord?2

Remembering the past, Du Ze recalled how he had sprayed his computer screen with blood when he witnessed how the Moe Lord was abandoned by everyone, including his childhood sweetheart, Rose, and his childhood friend Eddie. The two of them and Xiu had grown up together in the same orphanage and had entered the Mage School together.

However, when Xiu was arrested by the Temple of Light and tortured, Eddie and Rose did not testify for their childhood friend. They were afraid of being implicated because they had grown up with Xiu in the same orphanage. Du Ze’s heart was broken when Rose made an appointment with the undead Xiu but, instead of a cute sister, a group of knights from the Temple of Light appeared.

**** you! If only you had supported Xiu spiritually, he wouldn’t have blackened! QAQ

When Anne saw Xiu staring at the bulletin board task “Find Ice Crystal Grass,” she very kindly advised him: “I recommend that you do not take this task. Although it doesn’t have a grade, the difficulty is at least A level. In fact, the task has been on the board for a long time. I know the one who put it up, he is also a mercenary. His companion was poisoned by the Black Fire Lizard so he needs to get the ice crystal grass to heal her.

Anne sighed: “They are very pitiful but the extremely cold environment is very difficult to explore. In addition, the ice crystal grass is guarded by a powerful monster. Only an A-class mercenary group can defeat it but he cannot afford to hire a class mercenary group.”

Like in the original plot of “Mixed Blood,” Rose was poisoned and Eddie was trying to recruit mercenaries to gather ice crystal grass. Du Ze looked at the silver-haired elf’s cold face. In order to get revenge on Eddie and Rose, Xiu will accept this task like in the novel.

Xiu noticed Du Ze watching him. He picked up his mercenary card from the counter.

Huh?

Du Ze couldn’t believe it: “You aren’t going to accept that task?’

Xiu gently stroked the back of Du ze’s neck with his hand. His face was still cold but when he looked at Du Ze, there was a hint of warmth in his green eyes.

“You want to go to the Star Empire.”

– Therefore that is unimportant.

Du Ze’s heart started pounding fiercely and he felt dizzy as though he was out of oxygen. His head went totally blank.

Moe Lord, you cannot act like this, if this goes on this young man won’t be able to hold on …3

Some silly, cute person put both hands on his headphones, covering his ears that were feeling hot. His eyes were darting back and forth. His voice sounded strange in his ears, as though someone else was speaking: “You, you don’t want to see them?”

The silver-haired elf was silent. Xiu looked like a volcano covered with ice, icy and oppressive. Seeing Xiu like that, Du Ze put his own mercenary card in front of Anne and said to her: “I’ll accept this task.”

Anne wanted to persuade him not to but she found out that she was totally incapable of entering their world. Those two people only had eyes for each other.

“You said,” facing the startled Xiu, Du Ze said earnestly, “that you would take me to see your ‘good friend’.”

In the Lost Land, there was a Lich who said to his only companion: “After I get out, I’ll take you to meet my good friend.”

– A very ‘good friend.’

******

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[Find Ice Crystal Grass: No Rank Requirement. Go to the land of extreme cold to find ice crystal grass, pay is negotiable. Client: Eddie. ]

Xiu’s eyes widened and he stared fixedly at the client’s name.

Eddie?

– Rose and I are innocent, we know nothing.

– We don’t have anything to do with him.

– We’re the ones who are the most frightened, okay?! To think that there was an undead beside us!

“… I’ll accept this task.”

The receptionist saw the task and wanted to advise Xiu against accepting it, but she saw that Xiu seemed frozen.

The receptionist was sure that he was like a devil who crawled out of the abyss to get his revenge.

– excerpt from “Mixed Blood”

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The author has something to say:

Author: [Moe Protagonist: No Rank Requirement. Turn the blackened protagonist back into the Moe Lord, payment is a face-to-face interview. Client: Author.]

Reader: I’ll accept this task.

Author: [Push Down the Reader: No Rank Requirement. Push down the Tsundere Reader, payment is a face-to-face interview. Client: Author.]

Protagonist: I’ll accept this task.

Author: If I were to say that these two tasks are actually just one task, would you believe me? ⊙▽⊙