Chương 176: Chapter 171 - Interlude 16.1

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"You look lovely, my dear!" Lucy gave a wan smile, ignoring how the noble's sunken eyes were entirely focused on the décolletage of her currently fashionable dress, and returned the greeting.

"Thank you, Lord Orgon," she said with as much fake enthusiasm as she could. The man smiled – a really ugly smile – hearing his own name spoken and continued to stare.

"I heard you have been having… troubles with your farms, Lord Orgon." Immediately, the corpulent noble's head snapped up, and he stared at Lucy as the party – something or other organized by one of the nobles trying to gather political support for their latest idiocy – continued around them without anybody paying any attention. Visibly. She knew of at least three silent and hidden observers thanks to her ravens, but she was pretty sure there were more.

This was a party organized by one of the local nobles, so naturally everybody would want to know what happened behind the closed door.

'Mostly a lot of inappropriate comments and behavior…' she grumbled to herself as she waited for the noble to answer. Lord Orgon owned a lot of farmland, some of whose produce the AFK company bought to use at their shops or the Heavenly Forest. However, recently some monsters were driven off from their natural hunting grounds by the numerous outposts being set up by the country around important fractures. And naturally, those homeless monsters decided to make a home in the lands of Lord Orgon.

He had his usual guards and recently started to hire adventurers to take care of the infestation. However, as expected, the noble was rather cheap and refused to hire some of the bigger guilds, instead trying to have solo (and cheap) players take care of the monsters. Who inevitably would miss a few and within a few days, the damn monsters would be back to raid the farmlands. Lucy suspected that the man was also worried that if the news of the infestation spread, then the price of his products would drop.

She had to hold back a scoff.

'As if it was a secret… Everybody who matters knew about it hours after he received the first report…' She was already almost done finalizing new contracts with a few smaller producers. Some of their products were of even higher quality than what Lord Orgon produced. Naturally, she couldn't really break the contract with the noble, as that wouldn't fly in this politically charged environment.

The man may have been a lecher and a bumbling fool, but he was a noble with vast amounts of money and 'friends' in all the high and low places. Damaging his reputation or God forgive, his feelings would also damage Lucy's and, in turn, her company's and guild's standing.

"Yes…yes…" the man finally answered after clearing his throat for an unnaturally long time.

"It seems some pests have been extremely courageous lately…" he told her, almost mumbling the last part, his eyes darting around anxiously. Lucy gave a fake sympathetic smile – though based on the man's reaction, he didn't notice – and spoke up with conviction in her voice.

"That is indeed… frustrating. But, Lord Orgon, are we not business partners?"

"Er, indeed we are, my dear! Why?" the man replied, a smidge confused. She suspected this was not the first time it had happened. Lucy tilted her head to the side, trying to convey innocence and a sense of naivety while 'accidentally' drawing the man's gaze to her assets.

"Well, it appears that this pest problem would need a rather concentrated effort to get rid of. And as a business that relies on Lord Orgon's produce, it behooves me to provide that effort." Now Lord Orgon's eyes were shining with excitement.

"Really?" The hint of free help seemingly reenergizing the man.

"Oh, yes, my lord. I'm not sure you have heard, but recently our company has begun supporting a new mercenary guild. They're really effective and I'm hoping, with your approval, to send them to the affected regions."

"Brilliant!" the lord exclaimed, and Lucy had the honor to watch as the man's three chins jiggled at the movement.

"May I cut in?" came a new voice from the side. Lucy looked over to see a tall man, thankfully without three chins, wearing a distinguishing suit in muted colors. Lord Orgon almost fell over himself trying to greet the man.

"Lord Magistrate! What an honor! I hope you're enjoying the party. Why, I was just discus–""Indeed," cut in the man, his voice instantly silencing the corpulent noble.

"May I borrow the lovely Lucia for a brief discourse?" While it was framed as a question, Lord Orgon understood the message.

"Yes, yes! I'm just going to go…over…there!" the man spoke fast, then hurried away, targeting some other hapless lady. Lucy turned to the gentleman, her smile still on her face. Before she could speak up, the man stepped forward and offered her his hands.

"May I have a dance, Miss Lucia?" She gave him a gentle nod and accepted his hands in hers. A few seconds later they were gliding over the dancefloor among the other noble couples.

"My… Lord Magistrate, that was downright cruel to Lord Orgon…" Lucy spoke up with a small smirk on her lips after a minute of dancing.

"One would think that the Lord Magistrate might not like the man…" The man returned her smile, and after another twirl, he answered.

"I simply wished to discuss things with you, Miss Lucia. I hope I didn't interrupt your conversation with the venerable Lord Orgon?" Lucy tittered a little but ignored the question.

"What would the Lord Magistrate wish to talk with me about?" While the Lord Magistrate was a distinguished gentleman, Lucy knew from her participation in the local political games, that the pleasant demeanor only hid a ravenous monster, always hunting for more power.

'Let's see what he wants… Then use him for all he is worth!' she thought, hiding her sinister thoughts behind a toothy smile. The Lord Magistrate inclined his head in respect, then as they continued to elegantly dance between the crowd of fancily dressed nobles, he began to talk while Lucy intently listened (and recorded everything for later analysis). The dance of politics had just begun. There was something liberating about playing the game without any expectations from his father.

David rather enjoyed himself as he tried to avoid the places that had him blacklisted thanks to his father, but with Katie's boss owning several supermarkets, it was pretty easy.

'Which no doubt infuriates father…' he mused as he continued to browse the selection in the shop he was currently in. In the end, he took up a smart-looking shield, made sure it set securely and stably in his hand, did a few movements, and after he was satisfied with it, he took it to the counter to have it sized for his arms. It cost extra, but in his experience, it made fighting with a shield much more comfortable.

As David paid the smiling sales girl for the new shield, he couldn't help but frown looking at his wallet. While he was 'leading' the Steel Lions, most of his needs were met by the crafters the guild employed and his gold was always enough, as any competent guild, they employed gold farmers. But now, without support, he had to make every last gold coin count. If David was honest with himself, it felt pretty great. It added a thrill to the game that he missed before.

'Still… not having money is a problem…' he mused. He tried to farm fractures, but as soon as his father's spies saw him with a new group, they either threatened or bought them off when the first one didn't work. Thus, he had to look for a new group after every few runs… It was extremely annoying, but it also made David a better player. Forced to always play with different players, he didn't have the luxury to get used to his teammates, so he had to always be on his toes. And naturally, his skills reflected that.

He even got a new skill thanks to the spies. [Vigilance: Level 14/100 (14%) (Passive) It is not paranoia if people are really out to get you. Thanks to keeping a constant eye on your surroundings, your awareness has expanded. You cannot be backstabbed thanks to this. Increases armor effectiveness by 1% per skill level. This is doubled when observed by an enemy.] And thanks to his father's people always hanging around, the skill was constantly growing and providing him with a doubled buff.

'Heh… even when you're trying to make life hell, you're still helping me father…' he mused mirthfully as he left the supermarket. Half an hour later, he made his decision about what his next step should be and headed for the building that was occupied by Chrysalis. He would be starting from the bottom, but David was strangely looking forward to it.

Joining the line snaking around the building, he stood there with a small smile on his face as he imagined Katie's face when he achieved a higher title in the guild than her. No doubt, she had friends who liked her, but David was also sure that no sane person would give his sister a leadership position after talking to her for at least five minutes. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Granted, that Sam guy didn't seem to be fully there…

"You shouldn't have done that!" Adam turned around, holding his grocery basket in one hand, and reaching into his pocket with the other upon hearing the oh-so-familiar voice of his 'friend'. He looked rather disheveled. Clothing hung upon him, looking like it was at least a size too big. He gave him a grunt but otherwise didn't react. His grandmother's advice still percolated around his head.

'Don't initiate if you meet him. Stay where cameras can see you. And for all that is holy and unholy, record everything he says.' Despite his ex-friend following him, he continued his shopping, even slower than before. He only needed a few items, but he needed to stay in the shop to have the cameras record everything.

"I can't believe you would throw away our friendship just like that! Do you know what that means? Do you?" Marcus ranted, his voice low, but full of suppressed rage. Adam usually didn't realize things like that, but now that he was hyper-focused on the man, it was rather obvious. Another grunt as he took a can of peas off the shelves, then pretended to read the label on it. Hopefully, Marcus didn't know he hated peas.

"You are nothing without me! I was there, doing everything that made you great!" continued the rant. Adam really wanted to shove the can of peas into his face, but after wrestling with his emotions, he simply placed the can back in it's place, the label facing correctly outwards, just as the shop assistant had placed it there. He slowly walked away, knowing that Marcus would be following him.

"Come on, maaan! You can't keep silent. You owe me! I made you! I did everything that you were too weak to do! And look! We made bank!" Adam checked out a cereal, the colorful pictures promising boundless fun in the morning. Turning around the box, they probably relied on the maximum allowed added sugar for the boundless fun. It seemed this action had infuriated Marcus even further.

"You can't hide forever! I will have my revenge! You signed the contract! I OWN you!" came the vitriol from a person he once called friend. Adam allowed himself a small frown and flex of his muscles. Marcus wasn't stupid. He knew he stood no chance against Adam in a physical fight. That, however, didn't put a lock on his mouth.

"Fine! Fine! Be that way you big pussy! See who is laughing after I'm done whipping your ass in the game with a whip!" with that ludicrous exclamation Marcus turned around and stormed away, leaving a very confused shop assistant looking after him with a queer look on her face. Adam let out a sigh, already lamenting the fact that he would need to move if he wanted to avoid the repeat of this event, put a smile on his face, and approached the sales assistant.

"Excuse me, miss. Could I talk to the store manager?"

"How are you, granddaughter?"

"I'm well, grandfather."

"How is the game, granddaughter?"

"Exciting, grandfather."

"Trouble with your cousins, granddaughter?"

"We're not even in the same country, grandfather."

"Still, a grandfather worries. Especially after you refused to join the guild that the family endorses."

"I simply wanted to do my own thing, grandfather…" Lara replied, taking a slurp of her drink. The first time she did that was when she was small, her parents were scandalized, but her grandfather found it funny, so whenever she was with him, she did it a few times for old times' sake. Seeing her grandfather's smile was worth looking like a slob. Especially after her grandmother died. Precious little managed to get that smile on her grandfather's weathered face since then…

"Anything interesting, granddaughter?" her grandfather asked, just after taking an equally loud slurp of his tea from a cup that was probably worth more than some highrise apartments.

"Still, refusing to introduce your boyfriend to me?" Lara chuckled at her grandfather's behavior before shaking her head.

"He is not ready yet… I tried to explain, but…" Her grandfather raised a hand placatingly.

"Understood, granddaughter. I shan't push it further. You can introduce him when you deem him ready. Preferably before I join your grandmother, please."

"Grandfather! Don't say that!"

"Just kidding!" he spoke with a smile on his face.

"You know how we old people are…" Lara glared at him, knowing full well that her grandfather was far from senility. There was a reason he was still the head of the family. There was a brief silence as both of them loudly slurped their drinks before the older man spoke up again.

"What's your opinion about your new…company?" he asked idly. Lara just narrowed her eyes, knowing that it was far from an innocent question.

"Sam is… interesting," Her grandfather said nothing, so she continued.

"Dan told me some about him, but he is hilariously tightlipped about secrets. From what I learned, he plays the game completely differently than anyone else. Just the notes on mana control that I got access to when I joined are worth enough money to kit out the family."

"Hmm… any chance of sharing them, granddaughter?"

"And have them treat me as a traitor, grandfather?"

"Ah… life is indeed pain, when one wants to be an upstanding citizen…" her grandfather lamented dramatically.

"And what about your super-duper-extremely-secret project that I know nothing about?"

"Going well, grandfather. The local noble that Sam has in his pocket has lent us a lot of men. We are currently excavating the location. Defenses are currently manned by the noble's guards, but we're planning to have the new guild do the guard duty after the basic fortifications are done."

"What about industry, granddaughter? You can't have a city without industry."

"There are some mines that look promising…"

"Then why was the city originally abandoned?"

"According to the old records, it was a combination of war, monster horde, and insufficient technology," she answered vaguely. She trusted her grandfather with her life, but ever since she was a small girl, she tried to withhold information, and in turn, her grandfather would try to find out what she was hiding. It only dawned on her in university, that while she had her fun, her grandfather fully trained her up in cybersecurity and other related topics.

Unfortunately, this also meant she spotted every lie from a mile away, which made making friends and having boyfriends rather hard. Thankfully, when Dan didn't want to tell her something, he just awkwardly told her that he didn't want to tell her, and tried to redirect the conversation. It was honestly super adorable… Not so much Dan's friend, and now her new nominal boss… She could practically smell the secrets and lies dripping from the unassuming man. He was simply too aware compared to his background.

He knew too much about how families like her's worked. And the things he knew about a game that revolutionized the industry and had systems that nobody had seen before. It was simply mindboggling. And she wanted to know everything! The fact that the morsels of information that Sam had dropped had propelled her way ahead of any of her relatives was just icing on the cake.

"What the hell do we do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Look around!" He looked around, then took another look at the waitress' shapely rear and turned back to his friend.

"I see the tavern. Foggy and dark, as always."

"Not the tavern, you idiot! The city!"

"The city?"

"Yes, the city!"

"What about the city?" His friend, covered by this hood let out a soundless roar, then continued.

"The AFK company, you imbecile. They're taking over everything!"

"Really?"

"Yeah… they are schmoozing with the politicos, have those super popular supermarkets, not to mention the Heavenly Forest, and now they've even created a guild too."

"It's just a new guild, pretty late in the game. I doubt we have to worry too much," he replied with a shrug. His friend, however, shook his head despondently.

"I know the guy who they got as a guild leader. Super competent."

"Better than us?"

"Better than ninety percent of the current guild masters."

"Bugger…" His friend hung even lower.

"Indeed. I talked to the boffins and according to their projections, our revenue is going to decrease soon. There are already rumors about Chrysalis taking over some big contracts."

"Dude! You know Anna hates it when you call her a boffin!"

"Ugh, but it's such a fun word…"

"Well… if you like sleeping on the couch, then power to you, my friend. Power to you…" he said, raising his cup in salute. There was some grumbling as his friend contemplated his odds before he posed another question.

"Do you have a plan?" His friend let out a sigh.

"It's clear that AFK is planning to become the top guild in the kingdom. We can fight against them with the other guilds, or simply leave."

"I vote for leaving," he reacted without hesitation.

"Those guilds will ally with us, then instantly backstab us as soon as AFK is gone. Not worth taking a chance on it."

"My thoughts exactly." He was happy to hear that his friend wasn't a moron. Just dramatic and dorky as hell…

"What's the destination? Are we going north or south?"

"South. I hate the cold. And with the fire mages we have, those undead fractures are going to be child's play…"

"Well, if you're sure, boss!"

"The boffins told me it is a solid plan!"

"I'm telling Anna you called her boffin twice!"

"Please, no…." Isabella was having fun. If one discounted the chaos gremlin hanging around, but over the years, she had developed techniques to deal with the annoying pest. Joining Katie and her band of weirdos was definitely the right decision. Her family didn't like it, but she threw a few bits of information at them – courtesy of Sam – and they were content in letting her 'play around until she returned to her senses' as phrased by one of her cousins.

In retaliation, she leaked that the cousin had a boyfriend to their parents. Playing with the team was simply exciting. There was none of the usual jockeying that she got used to in Eternal Light. Nobody wanted to prove that they had the biggest balls, wallets, or some combination of the two. In her new team, everyone had a place and nobody wanted to leave that place. Clarissa, while always grumbling and complaining, was pretty happy to heal them until the kingdom came.

And the fact that the young woman was so far able to outheal anything that they met just proved that the healers back at Eternal Light didn't know what they were doing. Granted, it helped that Sam was some kind of Mana Control prodigy, and basically showered them with information about the topic. With his express permission, she took one piece of the information and discreetly checked its worth on the web. The number she received made even her think twice about selling it.

The magic system in Magic Unbound was so new and different, that what scant information players had managed to discover was hidden behind layers of security, providing the discoverers a boost in their power. Even the NPCs refused to share much information, especially after the player population began to grow exponentially. They just mumbled about vague feelings and mysticism, leaving whoever was talking to them confused.

The internet was also full of people peddling vague advice on mana control for incredible prices, saying a lot of things, with little or no substance. She knew that several people in her family were paying good money to some of these 'gurus', just to eke out some kind of advantage. It was pretty funny seeing them strutting around, their noses in the air, bragging about acquiring Basic Mana Control after months of effort. It took her a session with Sam and an afternoon. Katie was Katie, enough said.

Dan was pretty solid and dependable. Sadly, he already had a girlfriend, and Isabella was no home-wrecker. Even worse, they looked pretty solid and cute together so she couldn't even wait for them to break up. There was always Sam, but for some reason, while she looked at him - was handsome and well-kept - she always felt that she was talking to her father or one of the elders in the family. Which was massive yuck! Then there were the pets! So many cool pets!

Lucky was adorable, fluffy, and a murder machine at the same time! Melody was a stabby birb, and Hawky was just an all-around sweety. Puffball belonged to Katie (or did Katie belong to Puffball?) so she didn't like the cat. She couldn't wait until she could get her own stabby-and-or-cute pet. Who cared if her cousin tamed a bear? She would have an ultra-mega-laser-death.... shark! All in all, as they descended into the Valley of Distortion, she couldn't help but feel satisfied about her current situation.

However, she still tried to trip Katie into one of the space anomalies. To her bad luck, the mindboggling distortion in the air simply giggled, caught the stumbling Katie with arms that looked like glass twisted into pretzels while hot lava flowed through it, stabilized the gremlin, patted Katie's head then blew a raspberry at Isabella that smelled surprisingly like raspberry and went inert. Well, as inert as a constantly moving and changing distortion in space could be.

Isabella vowed that she would try harder next time!