You can clear the game with just one life by relying on a useless person!

Chapter 7: The Game's Plot of Divergence?

It was the fourth day after You Che's transmigration, and also three days before the end of the prologue.

As usual, Youche got up early today, but instead of rushing to the Adventurers' Guild to grab quests like he had in the past few days, he went to the town market—he had arranged to meet the young man from the Merchant Guild there last night.

"Mr. Yu Tetsu!"

Without waiting, You Che heard the call almost as soon as he arrived.

He turned around, looked at the boy who was walking towards him with his guards, and gave a standard, formulaic smile: "Good morning, Mr. Roland."

Roland Wood was the boy's name. Although the Wood family he came from was not an old noble family, the influence of the "Oak and Gold Coin Merchant Guild" they ran could reach half of the continent.

This identity is also the reason why You Che, who could have left the town on his own, chose to find him instead of running away.

The route to the heart of the kingdom is not far, but a long pass stretching for thousands of miles blocks the way, which is the kingdom's main line of defense against foreign enemies.

This is not a level that an adventurer can easily cross. Even during normal times, passage requires complicated procedures and detailed checks. It's no longer possible to get through by simply shouting "Long live Hydra!"

As for bypassing the pass? That would require traversing thousands of miles while the dark races' forces were closing in, and then passing through several interconnected high-level maps...

You Che was very confident in his skills and positioning, but if he had to take this path, he would rather stay and gamble that he had the real protagonist's script, and his survival rate would probably be higher.

Therefore, Roland's role becomes apparent at this point.

As one of the heirs to the largest merchant guild in the Western Kingdom, he thought passing through the pass would be very simple.

The best way to survive is to infiltrate his convoy and head to the safe zone.

Young Roland, of course, was unaware of You Che's schemes. He approached You Che and greeted him with a smile, "Good morning. Let's set off."

Today is Roland's last day in the town, and his plan is to visit the town's market and pick out some specialty items from the East.

As for You Che, his job was to assess the value of those goods for Roland, which was exactly where Roland needed him.

It was just dawn, but the market area on the outer ring of the town was already bustling with activity. The town's cobblestone streets were still glistening with morning dew, and the townspeople were already preparing at their stalls.

Fresh ingredients from farms outside town are the most popular. At this time, most farmers are busy with the start of their day's work, while their wives and children come to town to set up stalls.

Their stalls displayed potatoes and root vegetables that still smelled of earth, along with the occasional fruit and small live livestock.

On the other side, the weaver's stall displayed coarse linen and wool blankets, simple in color but clean and neat.

Further in, there are some stalls selling cheap breakfast items, the most common of which is the dry bread that You Che ate in prison.

Adela Town has a small population, and most residents know each other. The main source of customers for the market is adventurers.

However, adventurers don't usually come here to shop early in the morning, so the townspeople who have nothing to do while waiting by the stalls greet each other and chat casually.

Women in coarse cloth aprons chatted and laughed across the stall, while an old craftsman with gray hair wiped the ceramic bowls used for selling. Apprentices and children were busy working, glancing at the breakfast stall from time to time while looking at the dry bread with longing.

In this atmosphere, Roland led You Che at a leisurely pace, while the guards followed at a distance, discreetly scanning the crowd.

Roland would occasionally stop to look at the goods on the stall, seemingly assessing their value, and sometimes even seeking Youche's opinion.

You Che answered all of Roland's questions fluently, which made Roland increasingly satisfied.

"Mr. Youche, you should know something about our Chamber of Commerce, right?" After walking for a while, Roland suddenly asked.

You Che nodded: "Of course, the famous Oak and Gold Coin Merchants Guild. I recognized you as soon as I saw your badge."

"I see." Roland glanced at the round gold coin badge with an oak branch wrapped around it on his outer robe and chuckled. "I was wondering why you were staring at me like that."

"So, you accepted my invitation because of this?"

You Che said, "That factor is definitely involved, but you yourself are the main reason."

"Although you are young, you already have considerable experience, exceptional intelligence, and a friendly demeanor. You are sure to achieve great things in the future. It is precisely because of you that I joined us."

"You really think so?" Roland asked, somewhat surprised.

Of course it's fake. You Che just wants to join the caravan; he doesn't care who the captain is.

So You Che nodded seriously: "Of course."

Roland didn't show his delight, but he couldn't help but smile slightly: "Then thank you for your praise, Mr. You Che."

"But speaking of which, I also have a question to ask." Seeing that he had praised her enough, You Che began to move on to the topic he was interested in.

"As far as I know, the Oak Merchant Guild's trade routes don't connect to the various border towns, yet you've come here specifically for some local specialties, right?"

The special products that You Che mentioned refer to are materials from magical beasts like the Three-Eyed Hyena, which have been exposed to the radiation of dark power because their habitats are too close to the Dark Realm.

In the original game, merchants came to the border town mainly for these local specialties, but Roland in this world did not issue any hunting commissions, causing Yu Che to make a blunder.

Those are minor issues. The main problem is that this is the first time, and the important side quests in this world are different from the game knowledge you've learned in the past.

Yuche's biggest advantage right now is his understanding of games, so he's naturally interested in these differences and the reasons behind them.

He hates unknown plot developments.

Roland didn't think much of it and nodded in reply, "That's right, that's one of the reasons. But I came at a bad time; I just arrived here and found myself under martial law. The mayor said it's because the dark races are making unusual moves."

"Although I don't think the dark races will attack, the strange movements in the dark realm will make those magical beasts even more ferocious."

"In a border town like this, hunters and adventurers are both important forces. To avoid any accidents that might happen to them while hunting and affect the town, I haven't issued any hunting commissions."

You Che was stunned.

"...It's because of this?"

He had thought that Roland hadn't issued the commission because of some kind of butterfly effect he had caused, but it turned out to be like this.

You Che couldn't help but glance at Roland again, but the young man simply smiled:

"Don't look at me like that. Our Wood family is not like those old noble families in the kingdom, who look down on commoners like they do."

"Besides, although we didn't manage to collect any border specialties, it's not a big problem. That's not my focus."

He looked at You Che: "Like I said, what's most valuable to me right now are the specialty products from the East. You know the culture there very well, so I'll have to ask you for help."

However, despite saying that, Roland didn't actually expect to find anything of great value in such a small town.

He wanted to assess whether You Che had real talent, since You Che had only talked about it so far.

You Che saw through his intention, and after a moment's thought, replied, "Actually, you can find some interesting specialties from the East in this town."

Roland was taken aback: "Oh?"

You Che smiled and said, "I know someone in town who, although you can't tell from his appearance, has a mother who is a craftswoman from the East and has mastered the traditional skills of the East."

"He himself has also inherited this craft, and the handicrafts they make should meet your requirements."

Needless to say, this NPC also exists in the game, and is one of the side NPCs in the prologue.

However, his side quests are actually unrelated to local specialties or anything like that; these are just background information about the characters that you can encounter during missions.

In addition, he is actually a template character. The other three countries' starting villages also have an NPC with a similar identity setting, whose role is to tell you the basic information of other countries and expand the background.

But putting that aside, it's certain that his family possesses high-value specialties from the East.

Although Roland remained somewhat skeptical, his interest was piqued: "Then let's go see him."

You Che nodded: "Come with me... um?"

He originally planned to lead Roland to find the NPC with the background of the Eastern Kingdom, but after talking and turning at the intersection ahead, he saw an unfamiliar stall.

In front of this stall, which wasn't there when he came two days ago, the magician girl was attracting customers, and behind the stall, the little girl from before could still be seen busy at work.

"What are you doing here?" You Che was stunned.

Shouldn't the little girl's side story have ended a long time ago?

Why is there new plot development??