"Why?!" Shouted a hooded figure with eerie, feathered tentacles.
"How did the players get caught?" The figure spoke.
"System, answer me!" The figure shouted louder to a screen floating in front of him.
-
Error!
-
Error!
-
An unknown variable has been detected...
-
Analyzing probability for future success...
-
67%
"Damn useless A.I. chatbot!" The figure was enraged.
"I've spent a lot to sponsor those players, yet they died just like that." The figure calmed itself down.
"Show me the replay." The figure spoke to the floating screen.
- Playing replay... death cam...
The floating screen showed 6 different screens, each displaying how they drew their last breath, ending with a 'You Died' text on them.
All of them were killed in such a quick and merciless manner.
"Wrath! You bastard!" The figure was enraged again as it saw a refined old man wearing a suit and a monocle.
"All this time he never realized the existence of my players, but suddenly... all of a sudden... he knew!" The figure tried to find the cause of it all.
"Show me all the livestreams a day before they got caught." The figure spoke to the screen, and different scenes started playing.
Then the scene where Deed suddenly wanted to train and Erica delayed the trip started playing.
"This is?!" The figure smiled very eerily, its multiple mouths under its hood revealing sharp and rotten teeth.
"This boy!" It was as if a predator had seen its target. "I want him dead!" The figure shouted to the floating screen.
- How many players would you like to give this quest to?
The floating screen asked.
"He's definitely the one that detected my players... perhaps an awakening or a lucky encounter?!" The figure tried to figure out the cause of the failure.
"It doesn't matter! Kill him and take his place! Players that succeed in this mission shall be rewarded handsomely." The figure said with an eerie smile.
-
That'll be 200 gold coins.
- Accept?
- Refuse?
"Heh, so cheap. Most quests like this normally charge more than 1000 gold. It seems like that brat is just unawakened dog food." The figure ridiculed Null. "However! Even the weakest bacteria can kill!"
The figure clicked the floating screen and accepted it.
- Would you be kind enough to tip as well, my good sir :)
The floating screen said.
"F*ck you, greedy system!" The figure got enraged. "I paid a lot for the previous quest to be done, yet it failed and you won't even refund me!"
- That's different sir, this time we'll do our best! :D
The system said as choices for tipping showed up.
- 15%
- 50%
- 100%
- No tip :(
"F*ck no!" The figure chose the no tip option.
-
Thank you for choosing us.
-
Quest shall be created and distributed to players.
When will all this talking end... I couldn't help but complain.
So far, looking very serious, the Duke was going to put Erica under strict protection. He even suggested for all knights around Solisvance to protect her at all costs, but Erica said that was just too much.
The conclusion was that all missions were to be cancelled immediately, and the most powerful knights would be here in the manor guarding Erica.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Leon and his vassals also decided to take part in guarding her.
They speculated that there was a traitor in the kingdom collaborating with OUTSIDERs to kidnap or even kill Erica.
Being a self-sufficient, neutral dukedom, the FlameBloods didn't really need help from the royal factions nor the aristocrats. Pressuring them also had little to no effect.
However, both sides wanted support from the FlameBloods. The moment the FlameBloods decided to join either of those two factions, they would end up dominating the power struggle.
One of the best ways to gain support from the FlameBloods is through marriage...
But that topic was so sensitive for Erica. All courtship letters that were sent to engage her or even wed her were all burned into flames.
"I'm still young! Burn all of those letters to ashes!" Erica was often enraged by it.
Even princes were trying to court her, yet to no avail. She got disgusted. Mind you, she's just 15 years old right now and I'm 16... yet for this world, as long as both sides had matured and were able to give consent, then it was all good for them.
Even I, from a modern world, naturally got disgusted.
'Just say you like milfs better, Null.' Zeronoz couldn't help but comment.
'Wha?!' I was caught off guard by Zeronoz's comment.
'Why don't you try that onee-chan right there.' Zeronoz pointed toward Sylas CalmRiver. I couldn't help but look at her attractive figure. Eyes like jewels, with her green, soft, long hair fluttering, and her massive chest giving her an unbalanced hourglass figure.
'Hey, stop acting like I'm the one who described that.' I struck back.
'Come on, you stole Leon's fate, why don't you steal his girl too.' Zeronoz said as if it wasn't a big deal. 'Save her from her demise, and all she sees in her eyes is you.'
'Oh God Almighty, please protect me from this evil temptation.' I couldn't help but pray to God for my crazy other self's behavior.
Yet my eyes couldn't really look away from her... she was right in front of me... (the wall behind the seated Leon).
Oh shit, she noticed my gaze. Time to act like nothing happened. As she looked at me, I smiled and looked towards another place.
And that other place was Leon's right-hand man, Zayn EmberForge, who was staring daggers towards me from earlier.
'How pressuring...' I thought to myself and refocused myself on the meeting.
Gosh... when will this meeting end? Will I get overtime pay for standing this long? I couldn't help but complain.
All this noble stuff really makes my head hurt... not just my stomach, but my head as well... should I excuse myself and go to the toilet?
I slowly leaned toward Erica's ear, who was sitting in front of me. Erica, however, got caught off guard and turned somewhat reddish.
"Is it okay..." I slowly whispered in her ear. "...if I go to the toilet? I think I ate way too much dessert."
"E-e-uhh... sure, sure, you don't need to ask permission for that..." She also replied with her voice low.
With her permission, I was now free. Well, it's not like I had any function in this meeting anyway. Of course, I won't be entering this place again. Bye bye, nobles.
Slowly I walked out of the meeting room as to not interrupt their discussion... but I could feel their glares and gazes towards me. I bet they felt that I was very unpleasing to see here. Well, this is just the fact of what being a commoner in a world with a nobility system looks like.
With me out of the meeting room, I stretched my body, stretched my legs, and even popped my spine.
'How did they even hold a meeting for that long.' I couldn't help but complain.
'No idea.' Deed agreed with me and shrugged it off. 'Fighting is way more fun than all of that.'
'Huh, I thought you disliked fighting.' I asked him.
'Only in my early life.' Deed replied. 'Once you get into it, there's no turning back.'
'Sounds like a hassle.' I complained.
'I'm sure all of our other selves here would agree about it though.' Deed said, pointing towards all my other selves.
'Is that so?' I couldn't help but think. Maybe I will be a battle junkie like them too. But I could only remember how my heart was getting ripped out before I even had a chance to run...
How the heck do I even fight those monsters... would I even be able to enjoy it?
With my stomach still aching, I went directly towards the toilet to relieve myself.
'I wish I could have brought my phone here...' I complained. Pooping without having anything to scroll on is so boring.
'Why don't you tell us more of your story, Deed.' I said, hoping for some sort of entertainment to kill time while pooping.
Hmm... wait, I feel like I'm forgetting something...
Then I looked at my chest pocket.
There was the mini doll version of Aasiah looking at me like it was nothing...
Shit, I'm so embarrassed... can I just throw this doll away?
"I-it's fine honorable one, it's my duty to accompany you wherever you go." She realized I finally noticed her and was embarrassed. I wish you would say something before I even entered the toilet though.
"Can you just go..." I said politely.
"U-uh... sure." She said, and suddenly poofed away and disappeared. Who knows where she had gone to.
"Take your time honorable one, I'll be waiting outside." I could hear her voice directly in my head.
Why don't you just go back to your Library or something, don't you know basic decency... obviously that word won't come out of my mouth.
Should I borrow some books from her? Reading while pooping sounds like a good idea... actually never mind... I don't have any mood to read right now.
'Guys... do you think that those OUTSIDERs will hunt me down...' I couldn't help but become pessimistic, as I did tell the head butler that there were traitors in this manor.
'There's a possibility that they would.' ROH replied.
'I'm not even the one that detected them and found them...' I said. 'I'm also insanely weak right now... should I just go training after this...' This anxiety is killing me.
'That seems like a good idea.' Zeroze said. 'With the way your body is right now, possessing you won't even last that long. We'll just be cannon fodder if they target you.'
'This is just our second day... things have escalated quite a bit...' Deed said.
'Quite a bit? Yeah, Mr. Stole Other's Fate.' Zeronoz said sarcastically. 'Now even Null inherited that trait of yours.'
'How did you even steal another's fate?' I asked curiously.
'I was meant to tell you about it...' Deed said. 'But it's not the right time yet...'
I was actually still pooping... I can tell that this isn't the right time, definitely.