Chapter 114 - Meeting Sultan (1/2)

”Yeah, whatever. The important part is that, there is a test for joining into it and you need to accept Boris Blade's challenge for that,” said Mob.

”So, I got a good reason to convince Rudra into accepting the challenge,” said Shadow looking at Slaine with a smile.

”Why? Was he asking you to not accept the challenge and avoid Boris?” asked Grenadier Mage.

”It is a reasonable request. Boris is a star player and though we know that Shadow is a real-life expert, he might not be able to take Boris down,” said Bitter Beast.

”That is the main reason. We don't want him to lose the fame and momentum he built up to go down suddenly,” said Slaine.

”Yeah, but the chance of joining into this group is very rare. You are going to get other chances in the game. Merlin says that once you refuse, it is going to be very hard to get another chance,” said Mob. ”You will get a lot more chances in this game, but that group persists across games. The guilds and the star players wouldn't change with the games.”

”It is true. This looks like it is a lot more valuable and this is a chance that one would rarely get,” said Shadow agreeing to Mob's words.

”Yes. You don't even need to win against him. If you just put up a decent fight, you might be considered for it. It is not Boris alone that evaluates you. Most of the Fight Club will be among the spectators. Especially after this issue, the administration wouldn't trust him completely to determine your qualification,” said Mob.

”That is good. It does provide one more confidence, if the administrators are that thoughtful,” said Shadow nodding his head.

” Yes. There is only one rumor about the group that is true. The administration doesn't fear anyone and are the oldest players in the gaming circle who have a sense of honor and don't allow even super guilds to bully their independent members or go against the new recruits,” said Mob.

”That is the most ridiculous of the rumors that I heard. How can that be true?” asked Slaine.

”You ever heard of the guild, Architects of Eden?” asked Merlin who had just teleported and was walking towards them.

”Never heard of it,” replied Slaine turning around to face Merlin.

”Yeah, it was about 15 years in the past and it was a guild that was definitely going to end up a super guild. We were kids at that time and the Fight Club had been in operation for about 10 years and the guild leader of it bullied someone for defeating him in the fight club and didn't stop even after being warned by one of the admins. All the admins had their guilds had their guilds concentrate on it and caused it to disband,” said Merlin

”Let us talk in a bar. Shall we,” said Merlin moving towards the town center. ”This is Sultan-e-Shehzad, a new addition to my team,” said Merlin pointing to a paladdin who was walking beside him.

”Hi guys. Glad to join you. I have already heard a lot about you from Merlin. You can ask me anything you want to about my previous guild or experience. I got nothing to hide, except my identity. I hope you trust Merlin with that and not try to know. It isn't a problem for me, but my family would like to keep it under wraps,” said Sultan.

”Ah! It isn't any issue at all. We already have a similar case here,” said Bitter Beast pointing at Shadow. ”We know about him as much as we know about you and I think that is the same for Merlin too.”

”Ya. But it kind of gives a feeling that we are with a pair of heroes, you know,” said Grenadier Mage looking up in the sky daydreaming in the game. ”The whole secret identity thing. Don't you?”

”Hahaha,” started Sultan laughing boisterously. ”You got an odd sense of humor,” he said pointing at Grenadier. ”I like it.”

Meanwhile, Balthazar was frightened. He was being considered a hero by the public after the incident at his base as his efforts managed to uncover that there were more types of the aliens and they have a hierarchy. Hearing Grenadier, his thoughts immediately got carried away thinking that Grenadier had somehow already known about him.

He felt that it might not actually be a thing that is really hard to find out. Merlin already knew that he was the new owner of Crimson Realm guild. One could easily find out that Blyth family were the new owner and might slowly relate to him with a bit of investigation.

His apprehension was clear on his face as he was thinking about it. Though the others were laughing with Sultan, Slaine and Merlin noticed Shadow.

”Keep your face straight. That was just a wild guess,” messaged Slaine to Shadow as he noticed both Shadow and Merlin.

”Thanks. I guess I got a bit carried away in my thoughts,” said Shadow. He immediately put a smile on his face and walked behind the others towards the tavern. Merlin who already had found out that the owner of Crimson Realm was a Blyth family member now had decided to reduce his suspect pool to people who were known for their valorous deeds. He personally couldn't investigate a family as powerful as Blyth but decided to put Sultan to it.

Merlin led them to a tavern called ”Travelers Draught” in the town. As with all the other features, drinking also caused a player to get inebriated and experience the original taste and smell of various food and beverages.

The taverns also provided various alcoholic drinks that were there in real life and also a wide assortment of drinks that were specially created for the game. This was one of the few things that everyone a lot of rich people who joined the game enjoyed. It would be one of the very large sources of income for many who would like to enjoy the feeling of getting wasted but didn't like the aftereffects that they would have in real-life and also the health issues that would come with frequent consumption. Later, this would end up being a method to slowly control alcoholic addictions.

The tavern was a modeled like a wooden cottage filled with wooden furniture like that of an ancient era where wood was commonly used for construction. It had two floors with the ground floor filled with a bunch of round tables surrounded by wooden chairs. The tables were small and had four chairs around it. The second floor was much smaller than ground floor and had half the areas, but it was reserved, and one had to pay to get there.