Vol 7 Chapter 1 (1/2)
Chapter 1: shi+roe in the North
1
The diht illuminated the luxurious room
Unlike the Bug Light coht up such a spacious roo shadows everywhere
The room which seemed to be empty had an occupant
A woman with black hair curled up in the dark with a sharapped around her
But the room didn't look desolate
This was a rooant furniture A beautiful cotton couch, walls adorned with damask, a bed with a canopy and a table e of the owner in these ite off a ers
Nureha who appeared to be hiding a away a sleepless night as usual
She could see papers pouring down like a waterfall from a small round table in her field of vision A document which seemed to be filled with some words was stained with a red mark like a flower On closer inspection, it appeared to be red wine
Nureha focused on the scenery in this dim room
It was impossible to read the small words written with dedication on the papers in such a dark roo her eyes to oppose these docu from the darkness
All sorts of things e blurry white huures
The figures with hazy outlines were conversing in tiny voices beyond the range of Nureha's hearing, stealing glances at Nureha The s her as they looked at her tauntingly
Nureha clenched her fist as she glared at them
Sometihteningly big arrabbed Nureha's hair, it would drag her towards the white figures
Nureha let out a feral growl, she learned that the shadoould dissipate if she did that
She covered her ears to block out the curse like sounds, ht
This guild house with 16 luxurious rooms was for Nureha's personal use Aside froht to access the guild building At this late hour, only the People of the Land ht visit
Nureha spent the seeht alone in the shadows
She didn't have the ue encompassed her Her blood that had turned cold circulated around her li as a city sunk underwater
This was normal She had always felt this way
The nights were lonely even with this Adventurer body
She lifted her slender hand before her eyes
Thin, white and tender, fingers that were like a delicate piece of art
Like a bewitching sculpture, her nails glittered with a pink glow
Her flawless skin extended down froertips Her arm seemed to lack warmth, but was soft to the touch
Joyous feelings she could not suppress weredarkness
Even though Nureha did not acknowledge the high value of her body, she understood why others fell heads over heels for her It was a rotten happiness Enchanting fingers which werethan her real life self see the darkness as they moved
With a sweet husky voice, fragrance of flowers and clothes that fit snugly over the curves of her body, these were things others craved for If she thought of it this way, an impure sense of joy welled up
The white figures that claimed the area around the fallen docuhter of conteroans, but the winds had turned Nureha was not enduring the pain like before
Nureha wore her blanket like a mantle as she cawed like a bird
She thought this was a sound that boded misfortune
She couldn't let out such a loud and irritating voice in front of anyone, be it the young head of the ruling clan, the chief Sentinal Roreiru, Zerudeyusu or Nakarunado Te honeyed voice was the norm for Nureha It had always been like this before, and would continue to be in the future
She thought she was boring
She thought she was silly
Even though she thought this way, the crowd craved after the boring and silly Nureha and continued to fight, sigh and belittle others in order to show their own superiority
Those who looked down on Nureha and accused her of endangering the world were noilling to give their whole fortune and even lives for Nureha's sweet husky voice This was the weapon and arht It allowed Nureha to forget the painover her drowned out the sorrow
The people orshi+ped the worthless Nureha like treasure seeranted Nureha war and sweetness
Just looking at the the bickering of the dull people around Nureha, she confirain that the world orthless just like she was
She couldn't help but siven by an Adventurer with a pallid face
'-- This world is not a gale for our survival'
Nureha are of the sinister s
What a foolish thing to say Meaningless What's the use of saying this now Nureha thought they were still half asleep The young Adventurer who said this was now ahis life for the guild Was joining a guild and beco about?
Foolish
Just hours after the Catastrophe, Nureha swindled all the money, food, weapons and armor of the Adventurers around her It was too easy They believed all the ridiculous lies she told the into a panic
A couple of days later, Nureha obtained inforh the dedication of her devotees After giving up on thinking because of the shock of the Catastrophe, they followed Nureha without question With her gentle words soothing theanize them, and became the richest Adventurer in Minami
One ain control of the Guards in the south afterher 'Over level' skill
The coup was over without anyone knowing it With her overwhelotiated with the aristocrats and rulers of the People of the Land, a the cathedral was a piece of cake
That's right, it was that simple
This was the struggle for survival the young Adventurer warned her about as if it were souarded secret
This was beyond the realms of silliness
She even hated the youngso naive
This world was not a gahed from the bottom of her heart when she heard this Nureha was thankful for his naive words People beca when faced with disasters they had never seen before and then turned into cattle ready for slaughter
Looking at the serious and desperate face of the youth, she was tempted to vent her dark e sister She are that this was the mask he wanted the most
But the ih continued to fill Nureha's heart
She knew She had always known
Nureha had never played around
She only treated Elder Tales as a ga
For ame, but it was a battlefield without mercy for Nureha
If she stopped shedding blood and tears, she would be forgotten
If she were forgotten, she would disappear from this world
If a person were not sought after or cherished by so dead No, it would be worse than death
Being dead ht just be a vast e, without anyone caring about you, just treating you like dirt was unlike a peaceful death Being an uni hell
In order to gain the goodwill of others, in order to ht for her, Nureha dedicated herself to research with abandon
Nureha knew about hell, she knew the burning sensation of solitude
No matter the hardshi+p, it was a hundred tinored by others The fruits of her research allowed her every gesture and word to garner the favor of others, who Nureha discarded like trash onto the floor, and then she repeated the process with new victims
Nureha thought that they deserved it It was a ritual to prove 'your feelings for me are worthless' Only players whose eyes had been oodwill to the twisted Nureha
'-- We have to struggle for our survival'
A comedic line
It seeht for survival in their old world
Maybe that was true Maybe that was the case for that youth Maybe he was pa with his head When she thought of this, she felt the ih out loud, as the darkness and hatred inside her swelled
From what Nureha knew, every moment was a battle for survival Be it the old world or this one, that didn't change
analyze the system, find the weakness, make them careless, manipulate the from them These were the basic rules of the world To say it out loud to show your determination was beyond stupid
She are of the reason she gained control of Minami so easily
Nureha planned this fro Of the tens of thousands of Adventurers wandering this world, Nureha was the only one to see this as reality and not just a ga This was the norm for Nureha after all
Nureha garnered the goodwill of others just like when Elder Tales was just a ga the favor of others She had always been chasing after the advantage for herself That hy she was beloved by the people and became the center of Plant hwyaden The world chose Nureha and she obtained happiness She obtained everything!
She listened to the sound of her own breathing while glaring at the shadowsWhy was she, the chosen one, in such a pitiful state? Nureha shi+vered as she hugged her tail like a pillow
Why was she cowering like a wounded beast, struggling to ht aith bated breath?
Nureha ground her teeth and her fox ears fidgeted
She lifted her head and looked up, the door which shaped the light into a rectangle opened, with the figure of the maid in the middle
”Lady Nureha”
””
Nureha averted her eyes, blatantly ignoring her words The h she was Nureha's key advisor, Nureha was totally not interested in her On further thought, sheNureha like some sort of curse
”You are not sleeping on the bed again”
””
Nureha looked at the silhouette of Indicus standing against the light at the door
In place of her usual eh she only showed this s every time she saw it No matter how she tried to cleanse herself, no matter how she atteent s out for her from the darkness
”Are you thinking about shi+roe?”
””
Nureha kept on staring
But Indicus wouldn't back off or disappear froures
Indicus continued to wear her slided in and bent down to look at Nureha
Nureha bit her lips when she smelled cold steel as Indicus came near her It was the taste of clean blades that didn't match omen
”Is that it?”
”Don't talk about him”
Her furious words seemed to fall on deaf ears
It had always been this way Of all the de Indicus illing to give up everything for this one
”I told you so didn't I? Of course I did That man won't do It didn't work despite all your efforts That man has no worries to hold him back He has always been like this He is not a norround noise who has some minor accomplishments Hey, Nureha?”
Pain and horror seeped into Nureha's view
”That rasp He is just a traitor with a little street smarts Or rather, he has an obsession with cleanliness And you stink like the sewers”
She kneas co and had braced herself, but Indicus' re like salt on a wound The countless memories she had suppressed in the darkness squirmed in Nureha's chest like restless spirits
That hat the white figures had been whispering about
It was the past Nureha had already left behind in the old world
”Who do you expect to approach and caress you? A filthy, broken hobo like you? Aren't you nothing but a stoay on a train? Even the specks of dust on you are lies The truth is that your past s your disgusting sly over to our side, a lowlife like you?”
The intense terror that held a stranglehold over Nureha awoke
The plastic plates Soup with pieces of trashto evade detection Her belongings were hidden fro to walk barefooted on the road Me her family to find her The memories of all her failures
”Please face the truth Don't ever hope that someone like you can connect socially with anyone That's right, a dirty woman like you will only be able to make a contract with someone like me”
She grit her teeth to hold back the feeling of nausea
It worked this time
Lucky
To hide her weakness, Nureha had to keep her eyes wide open Indicus told the truth But she could not bring herself to say it out loud Nureha knew better than anyone else how filthy and disgusting she was
But knowing it yourself and so it up were two different matters
”Because you are a princess that looks nice from afar but is far from nice”
Indicus pulled Nureha up by her ears, threatening to tear the fox ears off of the glaring Nureha
”That's why I told you it is troubling for you to run off to Akiba, Nureha Please use sos are different from your time in the saloon You have a castle filled withto secure the Yamato server properly this time Isn't that our deal, Nureha?”
Nureha's hope and dreams
A dreao back to that place
She was literally willing to do whatever it took to not go back That's why she teamed up with Indicus This was Nureha's castle, the city that never slept with its bright lights and wonderful reputation
”You want to make a home of your own?”
Nureha nodded defiantly in order to hide her weak side from Indicus
”Is that so The Conference of the Ten is about to begin”
Indicus seemed to have lost interest in the current Nureha It was is too, she had no interest in the actual operation of the guild
”Because you are our honorable princess Allow e on your behalf Because you are our precious guild master, Nureha”
Indicus' footsteps grew distant as she left after leaving soift
Nureha was losing herself in her cursed past and self loathing, curling evenher tail close
Her extremities felt painful and cold The blanket wrapped around her body felt heavy and didn't bring her any warmth
Her heartbeat grew erratic, her vision turned dark like an anemic attack
Terrible experiences and sha to pull Nureha back to the old world Indicus' reht the puppet-like figures alone
But a hint of a srew on Nureha's lips
' That's right, a dirty woman like you will only be able to make a contract with someone like me'
That's not true
Things are different now
Such a contract was just a verbal agree yourself to voice out It was even less binding than reers who happened to meet on the streets Aside from her contract with Indicus, Nureha made another promise with someone else
' it is better to be your enemy, your ould more likely be fulfilled this way'
The youngwords for Nureha, offering soer support for her
The dull rings of the bell from somewhere far away told her it was 9pm
The hands on the face of the clock seeht seemed endless The bodies of Adventurers were able to move effortlessly even when they felt sleepy This physical advantage becahtfall She alternated endlessly between dozing off and waking up startled
Nureha waged her battle tonight in her room as usual ”One day, I will definitely” Nureha uttered this prayers as she fell into shallow slumber
2
A group of athered in the weird room
Orna on the walls Floere displayed frons, the tables and chairs were plated with gold But they paled in coation
The 8 members with colorful personalities and their posse
”Where did Indicus go?”
A lasses asked
”She went to visit our princess It shouldn't take long Don't worry, Zerudeyusu”
The woman in military attire replied
”It has been a while since the appointed tiht?”
”The princess has always been like this”
”Those two should just marry each other”
The young voices filled with arrogance joined in with interest,with one another
This room was shaped like a stairwell, with the steps about 4 cm apartInstead of steps, it was closer to a series of platfor roo with it an unique flavor
There were leather couches and chairs on most platforms, some had tables and bookshelves There were ten platfores of the roohts for each platform The positions of the doors also reflected the status of the owner of each platform The unorthodox structure of the rooroup
Kazu hugged his sword and sat on his chair, surveying the roo that decided the policies of the south, the roup
The attendees of the Conference of the Ten were known as the ten seats or seat generals
There were only two absentees The guild et her
Indicus should be showing up soon But it was hard to say whether Nureha would show up She hiuild, anization, the decision of the founder and leader Nureha was unnecessary for everyday operations The rown used to the absence of Nureha
This was a periodical Conference of the Ten Kazu was not aware of any special issues to be discussed
But that didn't uard down
The relationshi+ps between the seat generals were co all the Adventurers in the west of Yauild formed by friends or people with sianisationthe Adventurers survive in this alternate world It had been with this goal inAlthough there were individuals that called for equality siuilds, the fact remained that they were divided into various cliques People with a normal level of street smarts were able to understand this
And there was more
To found such a gigantic guild, Nureha had pulled the Guards fro The Guards from the south were under the jurisdiction of the Itsuki clan It was an order that worked for the People of the Land from the very start
As the guild master, Nureha obtained the status and power that matched her position, the 'Councillor of the West'
The senate that ruled alongside the Itsuki clan had also displayed great interest in the rise of Nureha and wanted to get on her good side
Mina the Adventurers, the Itsuki clan and the senate of the People of the Land
Kazu represented one of these factions
The security organisation 'Wolves of Mibu' kept Mina bribery and fraud at bay
But in actual fact, it was Kazu's private army
'Wolves of Mibu' was set up by Kazu and his allies, determined to stop the corruption in the south Their influence was lied to obtain a seat within the Conference of the Ten as an official departuild
Behind Kazu were two bodyguards dressed in black Few seat generals attended uards
Bringing guards was less for this conference It was just a superficial front
Kazu squinted his eyes and looked towards the seat on the top platform
The top seat was a delicately crafted throne for a queen that seemed to be from a fairy tale
This euild master of Plant hwyaden, Nureha
One step doas the tea server and silver cart A round seat that appeared unused There was no one there, but it actually belonged to the no 2 seat of the council It was the seat of the maid Indicus
Both of them were still absent
The in when Indicus showed up
The 3rd platform was spacious, with a chair that looked practical flanked by large file cabinets Ain numbers and instructions on a form He had a mean and squeamish feel about him He raised his head and blurted out tacky comments from time to time The 3rd seat known as the spy tower, Jack
The e of finance and development, the iron blooded minister
Further dooman in military dress relaxed on her seat, ine bottles littered on the floor The fourth seat Mistal Torti, general of the east The strongest general from the senate and the couard
”Another idle day without any scent of blood I a for the et to battle”
She e of thirty Instead of the rigidness of a er of a cold cri in the middle of a 2 person couch, she rested her arms over the back of the couch in a relaxed manner
”Didn't you corade wine, Lander?”
An Adventurer of immense proportions teased while seated in his leather chair The fifth seat The general of the south, Nakarurano His armor that was comparable to construction machines showed everyone clearly that he was a Guardian
Mistal did not take any offence at his words, replying ”That's right” without ht
”That's smooth” Nakarurano replied with a bitter face and raised the elass in his hand A maid with a presence as faint as dirt on the wall appeared like a spirit and poured wine into the glass
These two generals were in charge of offensive warfare
They led the People of the land army and the Adventurer army respectively
Mistal was ranked higher a the ten seats because the Adventurers in the council wanted to appease the elders in the senate In terht, Nakarurano's army was actually several times more powerful than Mistal's aruild ' His do the factions in Plant hwyaden
”Getting sleepy here Really, why are we having the conference at night”
The 6th seat 'Prophet Quon' complained as he stretched his back
”You are always sleepy, even in the day”
Zerude colance, he looked like a noruy in shi+rt and jeans you could find in any corner on the streets The only fantasy the is the cloak on his shoulder to ward off the cold
”I a by for the 'GM call'”
The other participants laughed bitterly upon hearing this
The youngone of the seat generals But when Elder Tales was just a gaaate any reported game errors andstaff in the game world In simpler terms, they were customer service officers
As an eaa in from the special mainframe from the company, but was online from his home computer; that's why he was affected by the Catastrophe as well Although ame master had been sealed, there was still a chance that he could contribute with his deep understanding of the gaenerals
'GM call' was one of the ga hi within the Yaes from FOE as well, but he had not been contacted since the Catastrophe The event notification had been liered events
”Are you telling us that the connection with the upper world is fading?”
One step below Kazu, the old hter
”Shut up The continued supervision of systeht?”
The old hed as he watched Quon's bashful attitude There was a hint of cloudy cruelty behind his laughing eyes The 8th seat, the Sage of Mirror Lake, Jerad Gan The leading authority on People of the Land ic powers, he pushed the frontier of developether with Zerude
”Our princess will probably be absent tonight too”
The ninth seat Roreiru Dawn, the chief Sentinal, mumbled to himself when the talented beauty dressed in a maid outfit, Indicus, entered the hall Her footsteps akin to striking the floor resonated like a bell announcing the beginning of the show
”Let's start the Conference of the Ten Let's begin with the report on the social welfare facility in the city”
Indicus forewent the opening address and started the conference abruptly And this topic had been on the top of the agenda recently Kazu held his breath like a sub his heart cool and collected
Minami was a peaceful and prosperous city
But this was built on the exploitation of the People of the Land There were 10,000 Adventurers living in Minami; the nuh the People of the Land operatedrentals, most of them did this as serfs
Serfs were People of the Land who provided services for the Adventurers It was popular as it relieved Adventurers fro the People of the Land with relatively high remuneration But this in turn led to the development of troublesome issues The prosperity of Minami was constructed with the cover up of this filth and corruption in mind
The conference carried on as Kazu's mind drifted away
The biggest policy the governing body of Mina for was the administration of Guildpass
The People of the Land residing in Minami and affiliated with Plant hwyaden could collect their pass at the state run office The Guildpass was divided intothe holder to enjoy free services at corresponding restaurants and hotels befitting their status This would eli out The Guildpass was issued free of charge and could be renewed every 3 months, which would contribute to the economical development of Minami in the future
Kazu renewed his resolve as he listened to the glamorous report
Things were definitely going to get ugly
He understood the benefits of Guildpass It would guarantee the hting ful policies for Plant hwyaden, such as purchasing ement But this came at the expense of the People of the Land Wolves of Mibu existed to uphold justice in the city Thisof the People of the Land ere being ignored by the Adventurers, Kazu's group fought on
The conference breezed through the survey report of Nakasu and the raiding grounds, and moved on to the situation in Akiba
”Seen army towards the northeast”
”That appears to be so”
Nakarunado replied to Indicus' query
”It consists of 5 legions led by the 'Berserker' Krusty Agent One reports that members fro part”
Both Akiba and Minami were troubled by the affairs with the People of the Land in different ways
Just like Minaether with the leaders of clan Itsuki, Akiba was collaborating with the People of the Land in the League of Freedo factor was the speed difference in political change between Akiba and Minami
Minami was able to secure a stable social environy before Akiba, and had outstanding achievements in every facet of life For the Adventurers trapped in this alternate world, Minahly valued by the players That was the happiness of Adventurers living in Minami
”Black Heart Glasses istoo”
The tenth seat pulled up his sleep mask and chipped in
The 'Transfor on his beach chair made from canvas and a wooden frame His brief words see everyone down
”Black Heart Glasses istoo,” the tenth seat repeated as the rooely silent ”I an to the northeast, but he is definitely covering his tracks”
His s a cloak with tattered edges, the skinny Summoner was a member of the Debauchery Tea party, KR
KR smiled mischievously as he looked up at the others from the lowest platform
”What should we do, Indicus? The noise refusing to stick to your plans is running off again”
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