6 Rewrite - Chapter 3 - Esteemed Gues (1/2)

*growl*

Connor's stomach had growled once again.

'Urgh… How the hell am I supposed to find my way… They could've at least given the players a minimap.'

Connor continued walking towards the village.

'I don't understand why these people keep looking at me like this though.' he thought. It has barely been 5 minutes since he started walking yet he felt like they were staring into the depths of his soul.

Another thing that Connor had noticed, every time a villager got close to him or he had to walk closer to them due to passing horses and carriages, which was interesting for Connor once again, everyone would suddenly drop their heads as if they were sorry to be in his way.

After about 15 minutes of walking, Connor had reached the end of the road. The gates of the village, from a short distance, Connor noticed two guards standing and doing checks on various villagers coming in and out of the village especially stopping the villagers with carriages and asking for some sort of a bronze plate. One of the guards was receiving a bronze plate from the merchants, or that was what Connor had assumed, while the other guard was checking the villagers. The interesting part for Connor was that the guards were wearing somewhat shabby medieval clothing and holding some sort of a polearm that looked like a halberd.

'Woah.' Connor thought.

'What's with the super medieval look, with the wooden walls, halberds, horses and carriages and villagers with shabby clothes?'

Connor was mused. He looked to his left and right before moving his hands to touch his cheek.

'No one questioned my attire, yet kept looking at me.'

'No one approached to speak with me, the only girl who did was swiftly taken away by, I assume, her mother.'

'Warzone was supposed to take place in an alternate reality that's for sure but it should be sometime between 21st and 22nd century. Not 12th.'

'A glitch?'

It was a feasible answer, considering all the weird texts he had seen before he was sent to this place. This could be a faraway land, a developer test zone or a zone that have not had their technology upgrades yet.

'Hmm.'

Connor tried logging out again.

Logout is not available.

'It should've been at least twenty- no half an hour since I tried logging out. How come it takes the developers this long to fix it?'

'Help page?'

Help page is not available.

'Okay, none of these still work.'

'What to do…'

'What to do…'

Reflexively, Connor started tapping his right foot.

While he was thinking, he realized that one of the guards who were standing at the gate started rushing his way. The armour he was wearing, even if it was not heavy, was still resounding clacking noises as he ran.

The guard ran until he was right in front of Connor.

The guard suddenly raised his right hand to his left chest before slightly bowing his head.

”My lord, what brings you to our village?” the guard asked timidly.

Connor was brought out of his stupor and looked at the guard.

”Huh, yes?” Connor replied.

The guard was surprised, accidentally losing his manners for a second.

”Wha- Oh, sorry for disturbing you, my lord. I saw you standing still outside the village gates, you were tapping your foot so I thought you were summoning one of us to help you out.”

It was now Connor's turn to be surprised.

”Ah, uh… Yeah… no… I was just thinking about a few things, sorry for alerting you.” Connor managed to let out.

The guard's face changed. He saluted Connor once again.

”I understand, my lord. I will now head back to my spot. Please do notify us if you need anything.” the guard said before turning back like a soldier and marching towards the village gate.

”What the heck just happened?” Connor said audibly.

The guards' attitude towards Connor had attracted some attention from the villagers around them. Some people followed the guard with their eyes while some looked at Connor. Several villagers had surprised looks on their faces, just as the guard had.

As if reacting to what Connor said, some villagers flinched and quickly resumed their duties, afraid that the blonde-haired, blue-eyed young man was angry.

Connor noticed the movement in the villagers.

'Okay, this is quite weird.'

*growl*

'I really gotta find something to eat.'

Connor started moving towards the village gates, there were at least a dozen villagers, some with horses and carriages, some on foot queueing in front of the guards before giving them their bronze plates to check.

'The bronze plates seem to be some sort of an identification paper. Well, plate. Not paper.'

'Can I just shuffle my way through I wonder?'

Connor thought while he walked as if he was taking a casual stroll. Seeing the young man approaching the line some of the villagers moved their bodies to let the young man through while the guard who had spoken to him just a few minutes prior started yelling towards the villagers.

”Make way! Make way!”

Hearing the guard, villagers quickly started shuffling in the line.

'Okay, have to admit. This feels really good.' Connor thought, he hated lines. Mag-bus while going to school, waiting in line for the cafeteria bots to provide them with their daily lunch at school, waiting in line in basically anywhere, Connor hated it.

Connor had a minuscule smile forming on his lips. This did not go unnoticed by the guard who was approaching him once again.