472 These People Are Crazy! (1/2)
Dragonborn wasn't sure what conspiracy Tomato was talking about.
It must be a Strange Encounter Mission. If he followed the Plot Mission, he would trigger more Plot developments and rewards.
Tomato wasn't interested in the Fairies' conspiracy. Whatever the Fairies intended to do had nothing to do with him. He only wanted to leave the Fairies' territory. Tomato was unable to return to his previous hideout and had to find a new place for his base. He was still a fugitive, so he couldn't go back to the Empire.
After a good rest, Tomato and Dragonborn left the wooden house and went into the forest.
Dragonborn thought he might not be able to go offline to sleep for a few days. They were both fleeing. If he went offline to sleep, he might get Tomato into trouble and cause the Strange Encounter Mission to fail.
Dragonborn thought that the game was really tough for his physical body.
…
The gamers of Victoria City came out from the Teleport Portal at the York Territory and started building their Stronghold.
In the Castle of the Duke of York.
A team of Garrison Guards was patrolling the surrounding territory and discovered something unusual. In the sparse woods, there were creatures who had green symbols above their heads. They used crude tools to log the trees and dig up soil. The Garrison Guards knew that it was abnormal and went to ask the creatures what they were doing.
The creatures saw the Garrison Guards come over, but they didn't flee or speak. The creatures merely looked on curiously and with anticipation.
The Garrison Guards became wary. If they were residents from the nearby villages, they would greet them and tell them what they were doing when they saw the patrol team from the Duke of York.
Though it wasn't illegal to log trees, this was the private land of the Duke of York. It wasn't appropriate to cut the trees there. If the loggers were caught, they would be sent to prison.
\”What are you doing?\” one of the Garrison Guards shouted at the creatures, but they didn't respond. They were chatting among themselves before electing a representative. The Garrison Guard found them to be very excited and heard something about \”Strange Encounters coming\”, \”Let me try to talk to them, I'm more immersive in my role\”, and \”I'm a good performer\”.
The representative walked to the Garrison Guard and said earnestly, \”We're cutting down the trees to build our Stronghold. Are you affiliated with the Duke of York?\”
The Garrison Guard was taken aback. Building a Stronghold? What Stronghold?
The Garrison Guard grasped the hilt of his sword and became fierce. He looked at the gamers and asked authoritatively, \”What Stronghold are you building? This is the private land of the Duke of York. If you don't have any business here, leave immediately. If other guards find you, you'll be killed. I'm in a good mood, so I won't fight with you. If you don't leave, I'll turn nasty.\”
The gamers chatted for a while. Then, the representative said to the Garrison Guard, \”You look like a good person. You shouldn't be working for the evil Duke of York. Why don't you defect to Victoria City? Don't worry, no matter what problems you have, we'll help you!\”
The Garrison guard was befuddled.
He unsheathed his weapon and said, \”Capture them! They are from Victoria City. Bring them back for interrogation.\”
The Garrison Guards were taken aback as they unsheathed their weapons and got ready for a fight. The gamers smiled. They were even a little excited as they threw their tree logging tools to the ground.
An impatient gamer tied himself up and shouted to the guards, \”Quick, I'm tied. Bring me back!\”
The Garrison Guards thought the creatures were crazy and tied them up before bringing them back to the Castle of the Duke of York.
The Duke of York was bewildered when he heard about it. He had just gotten out of bed, and a guard reported to him that the Victorians had arrived at his territory.
\”Wait, how did they arrive? There were no warnings,\” the Duke of York asked his assistant.
The assistant responded calmly, \”They must have disguised themselves as merchants. Recently, there were many Merchant Bands passing through. Don't worry, Great Duke, the spies in Goldshire Town have replied to us. There were many Victorians in Goldshire Town yesterday. They can't reach us that soon. The Victorians that appeared must be a handful of scouts to gather intelligence. Don't worry, Great Duke.\”
The Duke of York nodded. Since there were many Victorians at Goldshire Town, they wouldn't arrive at his Castle that fast. Unless they could fly, of course.
The Duke of York was relieved.
He went to the prison to question those captured Victorians.
The excited Victorians were tied to a wooden beam, and their bodies were full of whiplashes and burn marks. They weren't afraid or in pain. The prison wardens were unable to figure it out.
The Duke was happy. Like the Slave Merchant said, the Victorians were like Hoodlum. They didn't know fear or pain and were natural slave warriors.
If he could defeat the Victorians and conscript them to be his slave warriors, he would be able to create a huge slave army. Then he could defeat all other Dukes and even the King.
He could envision a loyal slave army marching and cheering in front of him. His enemies and the King would fall into his hands in the future.
The slaves would fight for his dreams and goals. Without fear, they would defeat all of his enemies.
He would ascend the throne and get married to the Princess of the neighboring country. They would have a pair of cute babies—a boy and a girl. The boy would become his successor, while his daughter would help him gain a diplomatic alliance with a neighboring country.
When he had two strong allies, they would attack other countries and occupy more lands. If he was strong enough, he would collude with one of his allies to attack the other ally.
When the world was left with only his country and the other ally, he could take his time to conquer the ally. At this moment, he had imagined his grand world conquest.
\”Great Duke, Great Duke.\”
The assistant reminded him softly, and the Duke regained awareness. He nodded as he looked at the prisoners.
The prisoners had green symbols above their heads. The Duke couldn't recognize the symbols, but he knew they were from Victoria City like Hoodlum.
\”Are you from Victoria City?\” the Duke asked even though he knew the answer.
The prisoner nodded and said, \”That's correct, we're from Victoria City, and you're an evil Duke.\”
Though he was covered in injuries, the Duke ordered the prison wardens to whip him as a punishment for speaking against him.
But the Duke didn't see any hatred, anger, or pain on his face. All of his previous prisoners would react strongly to his torture, which was the Duke's favorite past time.
This was just the beginning. The Duke believed he could make the slaves yield even though he didn't manage to make Hoodlum yield.
\”I think you're mistaken, I'm not a cruel Duke. In fact, I'm generous. I took good care of your comrade, Hoodlum, before. He had good food and drinks and gained fame. I could have provided him with tens of women and made him happy if he had requested.\”
\”Gosh, are you mad? You wanted to provide him with tens of women just to make him happy. I wouldn't do that!\” another prisoner shouted and looked at the Duke as though he was a fool.
The Duke was furious. He obtained a metal club and bashed it on the prisoner's leg, which was immediately fractured. The prisoner looked at his fractured leg and the metal club in the Duke's hand. Nobody knew what the prisoner was thinking.
\”Gosh, you're quite violent. Is it alright for the game to have such a violent NPC? Won't the game be shut down by the Censorship Department?\”
Another nearby gamer shook his body and reminded his companion, \”Remember to be immersed in your role. Otherwise, our Strange Encounter Mission will fail. Do you want to be the second Hoodlum?\”
The gamer with the fractured leg nodded and wailed in pain. Halfway through, he felt that his voice wasn't professional and reduced his volume.
Was he a nutcase? Even if he was, it was alright. The Duke of York had encountered many crazy people.
He said to the prisoners, \”Good, I won't say much, I'll just tell you to be obedient. I can provide what you require if I can gain your trust. Let's build a friendly collaboration. Don't you agree?\”
The Duke of York showed his pleasant smile, and the gamers thought that his smile was sinister. However, they didn't tell him. As long as he provided them with Strange Encounter Missions, the gamers were good. This was a game, unlike in reality, where people were righteous. Some gamers preferred to join the evil faction.
If given the choice, the gamers didn't mind joining the Duke's faction.