The Imperial Guard Has Arrived!

The three of them first returned to Night Town. After eating their fill at the inn, they went straight to find the old man.

There weren't many Undead monsters daring to come out during the day. Their attack power was cut in half in daylight, so it didn't take long for the three of them to reach the old man's little wooden hut.

They hadn't known his name before, so they'd asked around in Night Town. It turned out that the old man was quite a big shot—a Hermit named Apoclonby.

"Hey, old man, we're back!"

The Tauren Heavy Fist found the old man unpleasant to look at no matter what, so he showed not a hint of respect for his elders when he spoke.

The old man didn't seem particularly happy to see the three of them. Looking at Sun Busong, he said, "I'm going to hang Ghost Hair on my doors and windows to keep those damned spirits out. Did you bring me the hair?"

Sun Busong took out the Ghost Hair and handed it to the old man.

"Wonderful! This is just what I needed." The old man's attitude changed the moment he took the Ghost Hair. He was very courteous to Sun Busong. After checking the hair, he smiled and said, "Please take this as a reward for your kind help."

Sun Busong took it and had a look. It was an Alchemy Blueprint. What the hell was he supposed to do with this? His dad was a Zen Master!

Still, just to be sure, he checked it with his profession skill. What else was there to say? He'd take it back and give it to someone else.

After watching the old man hang the bundle of hair on the doors and windows with trembling hands, Sun Busong and the others prepared to leave and return to Night Town. But unexpectedly, the old man stopped him.

"Could you help me with one more thing?"

"Hm?!"

Had this old man gotten addicted to ordering people around?

He could probably tell that the three of them didn't want to help him, so the old man began muttering to himself.

"I guard this graveyard all by myself. The nights have been bitterly cold lately, and I need some Zombie Wine to get my blood pumping again. But the only place that has any is the Blood Raven Inn in Night Town. The owner, Smits, has a little in stock."

The old man looked at Sun Busong pleadingly. "Could you help me once more?"

"No! We don't want to. The round trip alone would take hours. We're not errand runners."

The Tauren was unhappy.

"That's right, Uncle. We have things of our own to do. We also have to help the people of Night Town clear out the monsters around here. We need the townspeople to recognize us."

Usop explained their reasons to the old man.

"Then you have even more reason to help me. Hehehe. My standing in town is much higher than the mayor's. If you help me, everyone in town will treat you like family!"

"Really?" The Tauren didn't believe him.

The old man smiled and nodded gently. "I stake my reputation as a Hermit on it!"

"Let's go buy the old man some wine! Don't care if it's Zombie Wine—even if it's made from Abominations, we'll get it for you!"

Sun Busong loved hearing that. If they wanted to accomplish something big, they needed the support of the people. The Brotherhood didn't have a very good reputation in this area, so they had to work hard to restore it.

With mounts, errands like this were much easier.

The old man hadn't been lying. When they reached town and mentioned the Hermit Apoclonby, the villagers all looked at them with reverence. This was promising!

When the innkeeper, Smits, heard that the Hermit needed the wine, he welcomed them warmly and immediately sent someone to gather the ingredients and start brewing it.

"You've worked hard. How has the Hermit been lately? Ah, this is all our fault. We've had so much to deal with in town lately that it's been a long time since we brought him any wine. I hope he doesn't blame us."

Usop stepped forward to chat with the innkeeper. "Does that Hermit have a lot of standing here?"

"Of course. The Hermit has made great sacrifices for the people of this town. Ask the Night Watch about it and they'll tell you. As it happens, there's a Night Watchman at the inn today. You can go talk to them."

Usop glanced back at Sun Busong, who nodded.

The Zombie Wine would take some time to prepare. After telling the innkeeper, Sun Busong set off with the other two to speak with the Night Watch.

"Didn't I ask you to get in touch with the Night Watch yesterday? How did it go?"

"I got in touch with them, but they wouldn't give me the time of day. They didn't want to talk to me!" Usop looked dejected.

"Come on, let's go see them again. This time, we'll say the old Hermit sent us. Hehehe, I didn't expect that helping some old man would pay off so well."

"Hehehehe."

After asking around, the three of them soon found the leader of the Night Watch, Commander Altaia.

"You say the Hermit sent you?"

Sun Busong nodded and sized up the Night Watch commander. She was a level 45 Night Watchwoman, dressed in fine leather armor. She looked to be under thirty, with black hair and black eyes. She was probably a 7.8 out of 10—not bad to look at.

Usop was left to handle the negotiations. His profession gave him a real advantage when it came to talking people around.

"That's right. We know the Hermit well. He ran out of Zombie Wine, so he asked our commander to fetch him some."

"Oh, I see. You're impressive, earning the Hermit's favor. That proves your abilities and character are beyond question! As it happens, I have a few jobs for you. If you do them well, you'll earn the goodwill of everyone in Night Town!"

Yeah!!!

"We'd be honored to help the town. Just tell us what you need, and we'll take care of it!"

Usop was so happy his eyebrows shot up several times.

He was a Paladin, and deep down, he longed to be respected by the people. He wanted to help the needy and uphold justice, but the Brotherhood's reputation had been ruined by a bunch of scumbags. Now things were different. After joining the Imperial Guard with his commander, his heart had brightened again and his blood was boiling once more. He would become a great Paladin like his grandmaster. (His master was the Ebony Paladin, and Ebony was the youngest disciple of Uther the Lightbringer!)

Even Sun Busong hadn't expected the Night Watch to give them four quests at once. Completing each one would increase their reputation with humanity by 200 points, as well as that of the Imperial Guard organization.

(Reputation came in six levels. Neutral: People looked at you like a stranger. They didn't like you, and certainly wouldn't go out of their way to talk to you.

Friendly: People would greet you of their own accord. If you needed help, they would help you.

Honored: At this level, people would come to your aid, welcome you warmly when they saw you, and do everything they could to support you whenever you needed help.

Then there was Exalted!!! You were the guiding light of the people. They agreed with everything you said and would risk their lives to protect you, charging into battle for your sake without fear of death!

Reputation also had negative levels. Unfriendly: People didn't like the sight of you or your companions. They wouldn't use anything you had touched, and would do their best to avoid you.

Hated! Nothing more to say. You were their sworn enemy, the one who stole their wives and killed their fathers! If they saw you, they'd try to kill you!

Raising reputation was slow. Each new level took several times, even ten times, as much effort as the last. But the benefits were substantial: free meals, free shopping, sleeping with women for free—no, not that one!)

The quests they received from the Night Watch commander were as follows.

1. Investigate Raven Hill: Something strange was going on at Raven Hill. Karol said that someone—or something—had been seen in one of the houses there. On two nights, he'd spotted a figure moving around. On the third night, a light had even shone from one of the windows.

If you really care about the safety of Duskwood, go investigate and find out what kind of monster is lurking at Raven Hill.

Find the vague figure. Your clues: He isn't from Night Town. He's nervous and sensitive. He left Night Town heading west.

2. The Night Watch: As the commander of the Night Watch, I swore to protect the people of Night Town. Stormwind has withdrawn its troops stationed here, and now we can only rely on ourselves.

If you think you're up to the task, please help us! Go to the Tranquil Gardens south of Night Town and kill eight Skeleton Warriors and six Skeleton Mages. We must do everything we can to ease the pressure brought on by the Undead!

3. The Werewolves in the Woods: You may have noticed some large werewolves wandering around the woods alongside the Night Shadow Weaver Werewolves. As far as we know, most werewolves belong to the Night Dark Werewolf type.

I've also noticed that they're now everywhere in the Rotten Orchard southwest of town. These werewolves are tougher than the ones you've encountered before.

Be careful.

4. The Spider Menace: Have you seen the spiders lurking to the west? There are so many of those eight-legged things that we can't keep up with them, and I don't have any extra people to send from Night Town to clear them out.

I'm really embarrassed to ask, but... you look like you can handle them. I can't promise you any valuable treasures, but if you help us get rid of those filthy vermin, I'll definitely reward you.

Oh, and a word of advice: Try not to get hit by their venom.

Sun Busong did the math. Just these four quests would earn them 1,000 reputation points. If they kept at it and completed a few more, they could definitely reach Honored with Night Town!

After taking their leave of Commander Altaia, the three of them went to the inn. As soon as they reached the entrance, they saw several injured people lying inside. Sun Busong immediately went over and took potions and bandages from his backpack.

"What happened? We were only gone for a little while!" Sun Busong asked, looking up at the anxious, regretful innkeeper as he bandaged one of the injured.

When the innkeeper noticed Sun Busong looking at him, something suddenly occurred to him. He hurried over, excitement written all over his face. "Are you really strong? The Hermit wouldn't have asked you to fetch his wine if you weren't, would he?"

"You bet! Just look at these muscles!" Heavy Fist loved hearing that. He clenched his fist and raised his arm, showing off a bulging mound of muscle!

"That's great!"

The innkeeper looked as if he'd found a lifeline.

"They were injured while gathering ingredients for the Zombie Wine for me. One of the ingredients is called a Rotten Flower."

"If you can bring me some Rotten Flowers, I'll be able to brew plenty of Zombie Wine.

They're hard to find. They only grow in Raven Hill Graveyard and the Tranquil Gardens, where there are plenty of Skeleton Warriors like Terror Skeletons and Skeleton Demons. You can kill them while you search for the flowers. The people of Night Town will be grateful to you."

Another quest! Sun Busong happily wiggled his hips.

"These monsters must die for the safety of the villagers! Don't worry, we'll take care of it. The Imperial Guard will never allow monsters to threaten the villagers. We're leaving now!"

High-minded ideals didn't count for much here. These people needed to know who had done the work and gotten hurt for them. Only then would they be grateful and trust Sun Busong. The Imperial Guard's reputation would start spreading from here!

"Go call everyone else over and have them all change into their Imperial Guard uniforms. We'll split into three groups to do the quests. Once we're done, don't turn them in yet. Wait until we've regrouped, and I'll turn them in myself. Got it?"

"Don't worry, Commander. We understand how this works!"

"Mm. This time, we have to make the Imperial Guard's name known. Do a good job. You two are responsible for everyone's safety. Don't let anyone get seriously hurt. Don't hold back on potions, and we can't afford to lose anyone in battle."

"Yes!"

Soon, the other eight had all arrived.

"I won't waste words. Get it done, and you'll be rewarded. Mess it up, and you can get lost! I don't need useless people working for me!"

"Yes, Commander!"

Sun Busong and the other two each took a group of teammates and set out. Fortunately, the quest locations weren't far away. Sun Busong soon reached the area where his werewolf targets were.

He had three teammates with him: one Fidia Pirate and two Defias Necromancers.

All three teammates were women. Sun Busong had seen what they looked like without their masks. Heh, they were all very pretty, at least seven out of ten.

The two Necromancers wore sexy cloth robes Sun Busong had made for them. They had graceful figures and light steps. Sometimes Sun Busong wondered how those idiots in Stormwind could bring themselves to kill the Fidia organization's members when nearly half of them were women!

The Pirate girl was dressed even more provocatively: a little leather skirt, a cropped leather vest that showed her waist, and sexy long boots! Sun Busong had put a lot of thought into those outfits.

"Commander, we're going in!"

"Go, go, go! I'll cover you from behind. These monsters aren't very strong during the day. I'll protect your backs!"

Ever since Sun Busong met Luffy, he'd made up his mind! He would protect these girls from now on!

As the girls walked toward the monsters, Sun Busong quietly took out a piece of equipment!

Mary's Glasses!

(If you don't know what this means, read the previous chapter!)

I have to admit, the friends in the group were right!

The signing rules on Qidian really are complicated. They explicitly say that an editor won't look at your work or decide whether to sign it until it reaches 100,000 words. I even asked customer service about internal submissions and signing rules, and they told me Qidian doesn't have anything called internal submission! Editors only look at works once they've reached 100,000 words! Fine! I told customer service: "You guys must not belong to the same party or the same system!"

If they won't sign it, then they won't sign it. It's enough that some friends are reading. Gah! All my brothers are welcome to comment and point out any problems. Let's work together to make this book better. My goal is to first take over the areas around Stormwind, because the humans who are oppressed in those surrounding regions hate Stormwind's nobles so much they'd love to kill them! Then I'll bring the three dwarf clans together, along with the Thorium Brotherhood and a few blacksmithing organizations. The protagonist can show off and beat people down, then recruit them as underlings. After that, he'll visit the beautiful Elf city and find a heroine! Then he'll start recruiting Horde underlings!

Gah, gah!