- Arthas -
- Akeno Himejima -
She sat sipping her drink in a private room of the most expensive Inn available in the city. And yet, even the cold juice didn't help decrease her nervousness as she faced the two people sitting before her.
Princess Jaina Proudmoore and… Prince Arthas Menethil, the prince of their kingdom.
"You don't need to be nervous about this. I was just interested in you all because of what Jaina told me. A group of people had taken it upon themselves to guard a group of orphaned children, even risking their lives for the purpose. It truly heartens me to know that there are such brave and kind hearted souls in my kingdom. We are truly blessed."
His praise made her feel a bit warm as she could tell that the man was actually meaning every word he said.
"We were only doing what we could to help, Your Highness." She replied with a slight bow. Beside her Arthur bowed politely as well.
"You are too humble. I have heard about the attackers and personally interrogated them. Don't worry. The culprits will not go free. I give you all my word on this."
"Thank you, Your Highness."
"Jaina told me that you all were headed for Stratholme."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Hmm, Stratholme… ah, yes. I remember. It's the town beside Alverton." He said brightening up. "That's great. Do you have any recommendations or places to stay there?" He asked.
"Yes, Your Highness. We were offered a letter of recommendation from our acquaintances in our town. Their relatives manage a business in Stratholme and could offer us a place to live. One of our colleagues has a home there too."
"Ah, in that case, you can continue. Anyways, if you ever need any help, you can contact Arthas, the new City Lord of Alverton. He is a very brave and just man." He brought out a parchment and pen and wrote a letter of recommendation, giving it to her. "He is going to start his term as the City Lord of Alverton in a month or two. You can give him this and he will help you if you need anything."
She took the letter and checked it carefully and then kept it in her inventory.
"Arthas? There is another Knight named Arthas?" Princess Jaina asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.
"Hahahaha yes. I met him at the Greenfrost Tournament. He won this year's Tournament. As for him, being a knight. Well, he is a part of the Knight's Academy. But after the tournament, the Knight's Academy, Magic Tower and the Church were all vying for him. You should have seen the respected Vice Presidents of the three organisations arguing with each other."
"Why would they argue with each other? Do they want him to change classes? That could be bad for him."
"Oh no. Nothing of that sort. Arthas is just using some other class for his T5 instead of a Knight based Class. Although, he does have a Mage Class as well so he is qualified for Magic Knight. He has learned several Holy Knight Skills and even a Paladin Skill through Skill Books and is very proficient in them and lastly… his combat power and fighting style is exactly like a Grand Knight's. But ultimately, he hasn't stepped foot in any of the three divisions yet and so… the three organisations are fighting over him."
"That… sounds like a very talented individual. Heh, sounds like you have competition for the future best knight of the kingdom. At least whoever wins, the best knight would still be Arthas." Princess Jaina laughed at the joke.
"Hahahaha, maybe. Even Lord Uther holds him in high regard, not just because of his talent but also due to his integrity. After all, I can hardly think of anyone who would reject Uther the Lightbringer's offer to be his apprentice just for a chance to correct an injustice." Prince Arthas said.
On seeing the Princess' confused look, he explained the whole incident to them. By the end of it all, they were all left speechless. Was there really such a man in Alverton?
"That… he sounds like a very just man."
"Exactly. And that's why I am so excited. According to Lord Uther, Arthas has the makings of a T7 and possibly even T8. Competing with him… would be an honour. And no matter who comes at the top, the winner will be our Kingdom."
They talked about a few more things. Mostly the Prince asking them about the problems they faced in the Kingdom and what they thought could be done to improve the lives of the people.
By the end of the whole conversation, she had a reasonably good impression of the man. He seemed like a man trying to do his best for his kingdom.
Finally, she and Arthur took their leave from the Prince and the Princess.
"Arthas and Uther… sounds like the Gamemaster has taken inspiration from your family too. How does it feel to meet your own game counterpart, Arthur?" She asked the guy walking beside her.
"He seemed like a good man." Arthur replied.
"Can't deny that."
"I can't tell anything about Uther as I haven't met him but he seemed quite respected too." He continued. "The strongest paladin of the Kingdom, a Peak T7, that's some serious power level. From what it seemed from Princess Jaina's words, he seemed almost as respected as the Archmage of the Magic Tower himself."
"True. Then… do you think we should meet this new City Lord of Alverton when we reach there?" She asked.
"We will see when we reach there. Either way, he is not taking the position for one or two months. We have enough time till then."
"Hmm. Still, this gives us a trump card in case we encounter any problems like in the previous town later on."
"True."
"Let's go. Mari would be excited to hear this news. Actually, we could even take some treats for the kids on the way back. They are still a bit scared after that incident. Something nice to eat would help them out."
"Hmm."
And with this, they left for their own jobs.
- Rias Gremory -
"Hoho, looks like you all have been working extra hard these past few days. This is the second time you have come for maintenance of your armour in a week. Even the regular hunting groups take two weeks to get them to this condition." The Blacksmith said as he looked at her armour. "Just what kind of training have you been doing?"
"Just the usual bit." She replied with a smile.
Woodstock W, was an acquaintance of Chief Nyanta from a previous game. He had gathered some of the production Class players in the town and made a small trader group of sorts there.
From what she had heard, he was doing quite well too.
He was friendly and easy to get along with.
She had actually invited him to join their group too but he had denied saying that he preferred his current team more.
"Hmph, maybe she's just getting thrashed around in fights and losing her armour's durability. Going from a Mage to a Knight… what a stupid decision." Suddenly another voice came from behind her, making her frown. She didn't even turn around as she already knew the identity of the stupid fool behind her.
Black Sword Issac, the leader of the Black Sword Knights, their biggest rival group in the town.
He was an arrogant, elitist battle maniac, a type of person who looked down on others because they were of lower levels. In fact, his team didn't take in any players below a certain level and without a certain level of equipment.
To be honest, this man reminded her of an annoying fried chicken in the Underworld and thus he only annoyed her even more.
In the previous raid, while all members of the group had secured a position in the Top 10 list, the top place was taken by Issac himself. Apart from that, two other positions were taken by his team members.
Since then he saw her and her team as their biggest rivals and was a bit salty that her group had better players overall.
He had been extremely vocal about her changing her fighting style from a Mage to a Knight, often taunting her for dragging her team down due to her willfulness. And even though she ignored the comments, it still got on her nerves.
"Should I kick his face, Buchou? He is annoying." Koneko said as she clenched her fists and was about to take a step forward but she placed a hand on her shoulder stopping her from escalating the matter.
"Eh, looks like even a kid has more spirit than you. Seriously, you should quit that team. You don't deserve them anyways." He provoked again.
"Issac! If you are here to cause trouble, then get out. We have no place for you." Woodstock said, narrowing his eyes.
The man just raised his hands in response. "Hey, not my fault. You know how I am. I see stupid, I say stupid. That's just who I am. Anyways, you are right. I don't have to waste my time on fools. I am here for business." he placed a piece of parchment on the table. "We need this in a week. We have a raid to prepare for. Think you can make it by then?" He asked.
"Hmm, arrows, traps, healing mixes, paralysing powder, poison powder, antidotes and large shields custom made. Two weeks is a bit too low for that. Also, we don't have Large Shield Blueprints so we can't provide them. You can check it from the shop behind the Adventurer's Guild. They might have what you are looking for. The rest can be done. Usual rates."
"Oh come on. This is a huge order. You could at least give me a discount." He argued.
"You want the order in two weeks. Even the NPC shops would take at least a month for this. And don't you tell me they won't. I know you must have been to those stores before coming here. I guess you must have been stuck at the end of the queue to leave them and come here."
Issac's face blanched at this.
Yeah, he totally did it.
"I know your way of doing things, Issac."
"Hahahaha, and isn't that why I have asked you several times to join my team. Oh come on, you were a part of the Black Sword Knights too."
"And I left them for a good reason."
"Wasn't that because you were too soft to continue?"
"No. It was because I don't like your way of doing things. Anyways, this is the minimum I can do to get the order done in two weeks. Anything more than this will cost you more."
"Hah! Alright. But I want all the orders to be sharp in two weeks. We can't be any later. We want to get the first kill reward for that boss."
"Got it."
"Alright then. I'll be off." he turned around and looked at her. "Tch, what a waste."
Rias clenched her fists at the provocation but didn't say anything as she knew giving out any information would only serve to profit them.
Obviously, she knew that these bastards weren't harassing her for something as stupid as 'losing his rival' or getting angry at her for 'dragging her team down'. If anything they were happy because they thought their biggest competition in the town was lagging behind them now.
Their actual reason for doing this was to get more information.
Even though they taunted her calling her stupid, everyone knew that she was doing all this for some reason. After all, the conditions of unlocking different classes were different. If she was doing what she was, it could only mean that she had discovered some different Class Evolution route.
It's just that no one in her group had disclosed the information about the potential clue about the Paladin Class anywhere.
And instead, they were using this incident to soil their reputation in the town so that other good players didn't join their team.
It was childish. It was stupid and yet… It was extremely annoying.