After delivering a message to Anakin, Barto headed north with ease. Crossing the national border, he entered the territory of Shiva.
As planned, the Player guild "Amazon" had just arrived in Blue Moss Village in Shiva. The guild had sent two hundred elite members, who had just completed their stationing.
Blue Moss Village was very close to Gravel Town, less than a two-hour walk away. If it weren't for the large number of Amazons requiring time to mobilize, there would be no need to entrust the Alva Merchant Group to relay messages—it's widely known that the Alva Merchant Group's message delivery was the fastest in the Tahe Continent.
Barto dismounted from his horse and walked happily towards the Amazon camp, his gaze constantly scanning the streets. Along the way, Amazon Players were everywhere, all uniquely styled beautiful girls, with a few "male Players" occasionally mixed in, mostly like him, playing on an opposite sex character—Amazon was extremely strict in determining the gender of its members.
'What a pain in the ass,' Barto thought disdainfully.
These women would rather accept fake gender accounts than real females. If it weren't for his falling out with Amazon, he wouldn't have ended up so miserably.
But now things were different. He had joined the Alva Merchant Group as a Player representative, holding real power in his hands with no need to frequently interact with male Players. Facing the natives of this world, he, as a Player, was overwhelmingly strong, with nothing to fear.
Unfortunately, in the fixed area, the Alva Merchant Group only wanted to select one Player representative to "show friendliness". Kicking out Bly was inevitable—one could never truly know someone's intentions.
Clearing his throat, Barto walked towards Dorothy's tent holding up her Player stats window as an ID. The tent was plain, lacking the ribbons, flowers, or incense he imagined. It looked clean and simple, much like the tents of the Saints Guild. 'How boring,' he complained internally.
"I am Barto," he announced at the entrance with a pompous tone. "I've relayed the message to Anakin. I'm here for my reward."
"Come in." A female voice came from inside the tent.
Inside, the leader of Amazon, a Berserker recently class-changed to "Barbarian Queen", Dorothy, was sitting at a table frowning at a report, not even glancing at Barto.
Dorothy was dressed in practical beastskin armor. Her head was adorned with a lion skull mask, the bones gilded, and topped with a crown made of beast horns. Her sturdy brown skin was covered in blood-red tattoos, which seemed alive, occasionally sliding across her arms.
"Thank you for your hard work. Your reward will come from my personal warehouse." She waved indifferently. "Wolf blood essential oil, Thunder Dragon skin boots. I got these from my class-change quest. They should satisfy the Alva Merchant Group."
"A bit of courtesy wouldn't hurt." Barto was slightly annoyed. "The last representative from the Alva Merchant Group didn't receive such treatment."
"This is a transaction. I'm your client." Dorothy finally turned, her mask's eye holes revealing a pair of brown-yellow beast pupils. "I thought we were all modern people who don't need messy formalities."
Barto rolled his eyes, thinking Dorothy didn't know how to be a female executive. He opened the system interface, preparing to trade with Dorothy.
"Since you mentioned the Alva Merchant Group," Dorothy's sharp gaze pierced through, "out of kinship, I'll give you a piece of advice—they're playing on their homefield. You'd better be more cautious."
"What do you mean?"
"The young man who was with you last time, Bly, right? He's far stronger than you in both social skills and combat ability. But the Alva Merchant Group chose you as the representative. Think about it."
Barto twitched his mouth, not hiding the disdain on his face. "You're my client, not my dad. In the past, it wasn't clear who had the stronger fist between us. It's not your place to lecture me."
Dorothy didn't get angry. She just shook her head helplessly and completed the trade.
"You can go now," she said bluntly.
"What are you planning to do, just waiting outside like this?" Barto stood at the entrance, motionless. "I'm also a member of the Saints Guild. The Saints Guild has sought your help. I have the right to know your response—what, are you planning to keep cowering?"
"No. We'll head to Brick Shadow in a few days," Dorothy stated coldly. "Can you leave now?"
Barto snorted coldly and turned to leave. Dorothy lowered her eyes, and the air around her twisted as a slender girl dressed in an assassin's outfit appeared.
"Why did you lie to him, sister?" the assassin asked curiously.
Not long ago, all members of Amazon had received clear instructions—
Anakin, a formidable healer nominally under the "Saints Guild", was to proceed with Solo from "Hermitage" for a rescue mission. This brother-sister duo, skilled in reconnaissance and rescue, was most suitable for investigative tasks.
Until they received definite feedback, Amazon wouldn't send its elite members into Brick Shadow.
"Barto… Haa." Dorothy sighed. "As a lower member of the Saints Guild, he has no right to discuss arrangements with me. Even if he wanted to know, he should have used his own eyes to see, rather than foolishly asking me, the person in charge."
The assassin girl hesitated, revealing her confusion. "I'm still a student. I don't quite understand these things…"
"It's just a bit of personal curiosity." Dorothy's gaze softened. "As long as Barto behaves like a predictable fool under someone's watch, I can accept it. But if he's foolish enough to blab Player intelligence and let the wrong people hear it, we all need to be cautious. If the information really gets leaked, I'd be very interested to see the Alva Merchant Group's reaction."
Scratching her head, the assassin girl changed the subject. "So, we're just going to wait like this? Is that really okay? If even Hot Ash has fallen, adding two more people might not be enough."
"Anakin is assisting Paradise in a quest. Now that her 'own people' are in trouble, Paradise won't ignore it—after all, it's part of the 'main storyline'. For now, Paradise seems to be watertight in this regard. When they retreat from Brick Shadow, Amazon's well-coordinated response outside can also earn some goodwill." Dorothy's voice contained a hint of a smile. "Besides, I'm quite interested in Paradise's standards."
"Is this what the world of businesspeople is like?" The assassin girl muttered. "I guess I still prefer gymnastics…"
"What?"
"Nothing. It's all good, sister."
...
In Brick Shadow, at the Saints Guild's camp.
Anakin inserted her wand, embedded with the "Festival of New Green" into the ground and surrounded it with a circle of magical tools, barely creating a purified area. Eugene and Hot Ash, with their robust physiques, quickly regained consciousness after the corruption was removed.
Eugene was the first to get up.
He rose so abruptly that he almost knocked the spoon out of Painter's hand. Seeing the familiar face in front of him, Eugene showed a rare expression of confusion. But as a knight with extraordinary willpower, he just stared at Painter, clenching his fists tightly, not even touching his sword.
"See," Painter said with a dry laugh. "I told you this kid knows his limits."
"Lady Tilia ordered you to come here for atonement… Mmph!" Eugene was about to speak when Painter stuffed his mouth with a spoonful of something.
What Mr. Painter fed wasn't delicious food but a bitter and sticky purifying ointment. Usually, this was taken with other materials due to its unpleasant taste. Given the limited conditions, they couldn't afford such luxuries now—Eugene's face crinkled in bitterness, unable to speak for a while.
After administering the medicine, Painter stood up, leisurely dusting off his hands. Nol watched Painter's expression out of the corner of his eye.
With the three Players busy taking care of Hot Ash, Nol and Painter had to take care of Eugene. They couldn't let the Mad Monk and the Eternal High Priest take care of Eugene, right?
Nol didn't distrust Eugene's judgment, but he really… Well, didn't trust the other two's character. Those two evil guys wouldn't harm Eugene, but they were likely to cause trouble.
Mr. Eugene wasn't exactly popular either.
"Are you okay, Sir Eugene?" Now that Eugene was awake, Nol instantly adopted "Drake's" indifferent demeanor.
"Drake?" Eugene finally swallowed the ointment, his gaze shifting between Nol and Painter. "Why are you here?"
"For the same reason as Mr. Painter." Nol put his hood back on. "Just a mercenary."
Painter followed suit. "I don't want to get involved with the Saints Guild either, but who can ignore a matter involving the Demon King?" He subtly misdirected the "employer" towards Anakin and then smiled at Nol.
"Those two…" Eugene looked towards Teest and Fischer, whose faces were hidden in the shadows.
"People from Paradise. They say they're here voluntarily to help," Nol said calmly.
Eugene narrowed his eyes at the two for a while and then weakly lay back down, looking up at the sky. Around this small purified land, the otherworldly Players continued their playful antics, consciously avoiding this area as if the purification magic was some new kind of obstacle.
Nonsensical chatter mixed with laughter floated around the windless land, like randomly generated background noise, discordant and rough.
Over there, Hot Ash had conveyed critical information and then passed out. Eugene, however, kept his eyes open. After a while, his moss-green eyes turned towards Nol.
"Are you here to rescue or to continue the investigation?" he asked hoarsely.
"Both for now." Nol crossed his arms, his golden eyes visible beneath the cloak. "The future, maybe not."
"The Demon King is crossing the Endless Sea and is about to land. I believe Mr. Hot Ash has already informed you. As for my personal judgment… the situation is critical, and this investigation must be completed," Eugene said calmly, still looking at the sky, offering a decision completely opposite to Hot Ash's.
There was no fear on his face, nor the joy of having survived a catastrophe. Knight Eugene firmly believed he would survive. Was this the confidence of a Chosen One?
"Drake" wasn't known for being polite or gentle. Nol bluntly asked, "With you here, how did the camp end up like this?"
Eugene stared at the sky and began to describe the camp's eerie experiences.
From the moment they entered the Brick Mountain Range, the Saints Guild had been constantly attacked by various corrupted monsters. Hot Ash was extra cautious, advancing slowly.
However, one day, their scout returned completely corrupted. Hot Ash immediately isolated him and gathered everyone to purify the corruption.
It sounded reasonable, Nol thought. Even if he had been there, he wouldn't have done better than Hot Ash.
"The priests extracted a shadow from him," Eugene continued. "It dissipated under the purification magic… Everyone thought it had disappeared."
"But it just hid in the ground. It appeared when the Saints were off guard, embraced them, and turned them into twisted forms. The camp became like this in just one night."
"Oh—" Painter leaned in with interest. "So, the shadow might still be around!"
Eugene pretended not to hear. "Only by continuously casting high-level purification magic nearby can it be kept at bay. Unfortunately, too few can do this, and we realized it too late."
Painter slumped his shoulders. "Young people are really narrow-minded."
"I understand," Nol said. "After questioning Mr. Hot Ash, we will make a decision."
He turned and cruelly left Painter with Eugene.
Hot Ash seemed to need a few more hours to recover. As the sky grew darker, the group had to camp for the night.
Nol, in coordination with Anakin, filled the small base of less than twenty square meters with purifying tools, ensuring that the "corrupted shadow" Eugene mentioned couldn't approach. After all this, he tugged at Teest's robe, volunteering to patrol the surroundings—
Just because the camp's Players had gone mad didn't mean the surrounding monsters would spare them. If a Player was captured in such a delirious state, the outcome was predictable.
"Not a bad pre-sleep walk," Teest said happily as Nol dragged him away from the purification base. "Or do you have something private to tell me?"
"Are you in bad shape?" Nol sighed, kicking away a corrupted monster that tried to pounce on them.
"..."
Under his hood, Teest paused for two seconds, and then, with a dance of golden threads, another monster was cut into four pieces. "What's wrong? Why did you suddenly say that?"
The monster's foul blood moistened the ground. Beside the pool of blood, Nol lowered Teest's hood. "Before this, you've never missed 'evening prayer'."
"Ah, neglecting God is indeed not good," Teest lamented like a newly ordained priest from some church.
"Answer my question."
"You really do know everything." Teest pressed his palm against his chest and abdomen. "It's just a bit of pain. It won't hinder my actions. But you—your pain seems severe. Is it really okay? Your breathing and heartbeat are much faster than before, and your expression is always tense."
The two stared at each other for a while.
"Alright." Nol turned around, swatting away a mutated bat, and massaged his temples. "Let's not hide things from each other anymore… How are you feeling? How much does it hurt?"
Teest took Nol's hand and bit lightly on his knuckles. It didn't break the skin but left a deep red mark.
"Just this much—not more, not less," he said. "If I'm too far from you, the pain worsens. Please make sure not to leave your poor knight behind."
Teest's pain might not be as severe as Nol's, but it certainly wasn't light. Perhaps because he grew up in the Eternal Church, Teest showed no outward signs of distress, despite the pain. Nol looked at the fresh bite mark on his skin and finally made a decision.
"I was thinking, when we go for the investigation, we could split up… I brought you out to discuss this."
"Oh?"
"With this situation, we can't leave the camp unattended. Let's have Abandon, Eugene, Solo, and Hot Ash stay behind," Nol suggested. "You and I, along with Painter, the siren, and Anakin, will go to the front line to investigate the Demon King."
"Your arrangement is perfect. What do you want to ask me?" Teest tilted his head.
"You're not in a good state. If you don't want to continue the investigation, I'll consider 'rescue first'—regardless of what Eugene says, a day or two won't make a difference." Nol's tone was very serious. "Teest, do you want to continue?"
The night breeze flowed through the foul-smelling woods. Teest smiled.
"I am willing." He lifted Nol's hand again, kissing the bite mark. "You've asked before, why ask again?"
"I'm asking my knight," Nol said. "The situation is dire, involving too many people. No matter the circumstances, I want to try to save everyone, and you might not accept that—you entrust your life to me, but I have no right to squander it."
Teest fell silent.
The two stood facing each other, and after a few seconds, Nol leaned in and kissed Teest's nose.
"This is tonight's evening prayer," he whispered softly. "This is not an order. You don't have to answer me right away."
Not far away, behind a twisted tree, a pure black shadow peeked out. The edge of the figure emitted chaotic, mist-like fluctuations. Its head was sometimes round, sometimes flat—its form indistinct. It was obviously not a living person.
It leaned against the tree trunk, quietly watching the two people not far away.