At Last, They Fought

Hill had eaten dinner and sat on the sofa waiting until late, but neither Falan nor Adrian came.

Did something happen? Hill was a little worried.

The moon hung over the treetops, and maple leaves danced beneath its light. Unable to sleep, Hill silently watched the red leaves filling the sky as he carefully communicated with the Nature Spirits around him.

Something had happened, but was it unrelated to him?

If something had happened to Falan, it would definitely affect him. That meant there must have been outsiders around, making it impossible for Falan to come, right?

Hill sat quietly on the windowsill and waited. For spellcasting classes with exceptionally high mental power, very little sleep was actually needed. Yet Hill always remembered his mother telling him to sleep well and eat properly. Those nagging reminders that he had once found annoying were now things he obeyed without fail.

People only learned to cherish something after losing it. Hill had once thought that saying was nothing but boring chicken soup, until he truly lost something himself.

He had never felt regret before only because what he had lost had not been precious to him.

Under the faint moonlight, Hill sank into his memories.

A deafening boom suddenly rang out, nearly shocking Hill senseless.

He swiftly flew onto the roof and looked around. Damn that no-fly order—something had happened, and he did not even know what it was.

Hill saw groups of players racing toward the inner city gate. The gate, which had never been opened after nightfall, had been blasted apart by tens of thousands of Mage players.

It seemed the trouble was in the outer city.

Hill pondered it for a moment. It was probably the gang problem finally exploding.

It seemed the players had endured for several days, only to make one enormous move.

The players had probably thought the gangsters' random harassment was part of a storyline quest, so they had tolerated it for the past few days. But had their retreat made the gangsters think they were easy to bully? The gangsters must have laid hands on the players themselves.

Well, that was that. It had become a Region Quest.

Hill thought that the conflict had probably begun long ago. The players living over there were likely either low-level independents or office workers looking for excitement.

They had probably started fighting after nightfall, though at least things had not escalated when Hill closed up. After all, Romantic Drunk on the Red Dust had still been in the mood to record things and watch the drama unfold.

The gangsters could never have imagined that attacking a few low-level professionals would cause such a huge uproar.

Mages all had teachers and lineages, so no one dared touch them. Low-level Swordsmen and Knights, however, had always been targets for gangsters. Men could be turned into thugs, while many nobles bought women.

Especially with so many delicate and gorgeous female Swordsmen among the players.

Hill had noticed their Swordsman outfits long ago: low-cut leather tops, tiny leather shorts, black-stockinged thighs, heeled leather boots, and black capes fluttering in the wind. They looked both dashing and seductive.

The players probably could not understand why the NPCs in their eyes were so provoked by such ordinary outfits that they would viciously strike out.

To them, this was just a sudden local-map quest.

And those people had actually dared block them from going out to do quests. What was one measly city gate?

Hill suddenly chuckled. The outer city was going to be cleared out today.

As long as someone dared attack a player, they would be marked with a Red Name. All those who had secretly stirred up trouble these past few days would probably be swept away by the players.

No one would dare go to William and cause trouble on behalf of idiots who dared attack God-Blessed Class holders. Anyone who dared mention the shattered city gate would be branded a pig.

Anyone who dared speak up at a time like this must have countless ties to the gangs—perhaps they were even the people behind them. In this world, no one cared about matters unrelated to their own interests, much less when it meant offending a God-Blessed Race with over a hundred thousand professionals.

Hill believed that no matter how cold and ruthless William had become in this world, he would still casually kill nobles so stupid that they could only survive through seduction, gambling, human trafficking, and exploiting women.

No one who had lived in modern society could witness that kind of miserable life for the first time without feeling disgust and pity. Even if they could only look away, remain silent, and do nothing, that sickening sense of shame would remain forever.

The players who saw this disgusting storyline had been cursing nonstop. Over the last two days, Hill had already heard several female players furiously berating the planners for being inhuman. Anyone who wrote such a dark storyline had to be mentally ill, misogynistic, and naturally perverted.

There had already been several incidents where Sky Knight players, while taking their younger brothers and sisters shopping, were stopped by leering nobles who wanted to buy their beautiful guards. They had nearly killed people over it.

William's attendant troops ran all over the streets, demanding that these nobles stay away from the God-Blessed Race, but there were always idiots who could not understand human speech.

Fortunately, the players only thought they were random storyline events, so they merely beat those people half to death before letting them go.

Hill's street had remained quiet for two reasons. First, Hill himself was an Archmage friendly with the Undead. Second, barons were a little more timid.

The nobles absolutely could not understand how the Undead could unite so completely against outsiders. There were over a hundred thousand of them! The nobles had probably thought over the past few days that they had won over quite a few players, after all, this was a race that could be hired with money.

Unfortunately, players never considered a paid transaction to mean that someone was trying to win them over. They would only say they had accepted a particularly lucrative quest.

William had never interfered when the great nobles tried to recruit the Undead. Had no one found that strange?

They had probably attributed everything to divine will.

But the fact that Red Names were monsters stood out especially clearly in an external war.

Even if the methods players used against each other were ruthless and vicious, they fought to the death. If an NPC wanted to stir up trouble, it had to kill the boss first before dividing the loot. If the division went badly, they would just fight again. Who was afraid of whom?

No matter how gentle and adorable Hill seemed, no matter how spring-flower beautiful, handsome, and elegant he was, if he dared attack and become an enemy of the players, he would at most become another corpse people took photos with.

This was a battle whose outcome held no doubt. Hill guessed that Falan and the others had merely gone to keep watch. As long as the fighting did not reach the inner city, they would let them do as they pleased.

Unexpectedly, the inner-city players had been the first to charge out.

Hill opened a bottle of wine and raised a distant toast to the moon. He drained the cup in one gulp, then went downstairs to sleep.

When Hill got up in the morning, he saw that there were not many people in line, but every one of them wore a solemn expression and watched the competitors beside them with sharp eyes.

Hill understood. These were guilds coming to restock. It seemed last night's battle had emptied all their supplies. The fighting was probably still ongoing, otherwise there would always have been night owls who bought things before logging off to sleep.

Hill hurriedly checked the medicine cabinet and replaced all the less popular potions with healing medicines and mana potions.

Hill also put the low-level medicines he had on hand up for sale. These low-level medicines aimed at Mage- and Knight-level users were expensive and rarely bought, but the players would probably need them now.

Hill waved open the door, sat down, and waited for the outcome.

The guilds' professional buyers were indeed formidable. In the blink of an eye, they had filled the medicine cabinet.

Seeing the potions rapidly dwindling, Hill ignored his declaration from yesterday that he absolutely would not restock. He had the puppets hurry to replenish the goods from the warehouse.

Hill felt that once this battle ended, the players should be nearly out of supplies. He hoped the gains from destroying the gangs would cover their losses.

After that group left, no one else came in.

Hill was almost tempted to go see just how intense the fighting was. Every game had plenty of casual players, yet not one had come to buy anything.

At noon, Adrian finally arrived.

When he saw Hill eating lunch by the window, he said directly, "Get me a serving too."

Hill smiled and took out a steak set meal. "Did you run out of food supplies?"

Adrian rolled his eyes at him. "Not many people are like you, keeping a separate ring just for meals."

He began eating quickly, looking as though he had missed several meals.

After Hill finished eating, he put away his tableware, poured himself a glass of fruit juice, and sipped it leisurely.

The autumn sunlight shone warmly over him, and he was in an excellent mood.

After Adrian finished eating, he made his tableware disappear. "Where's mine?"

Hill laughed and handed him a glass. "What upset you?"

"So many people are terrifying!" Adrian sighed. "Pall Street was completely leveled. They even dug out all three underground floors. Now they're about to dig up the two neighboring streets too."

Hill said with a smile, "Wasn't Grandfather always wondering how many Mages the Undead had? Now he knows, doesn't he?"

Adrian sneered. "Let the teacher hear that gloating tone of yours! Let's see if he still calls you obedient!"

Hill laughed loudly. "When did they start fighting? Why are they still not done?"

"The Undead are truly vindictive! They have some means of marking enemies, and now they plan to let none of them go!

William even sent out the Royal Guard. At the inner city gate, people can leave but cannot enter. I only got in by following William's attendants."

He suddenly laughed. "Some Undead who did not go out last night are searching the entire inner city too! They have not even spared the area around the temple! Many people who fled in after midnight were dragged out and beaten to death."

"Dragged out of noble estates?"

"That's right. Mostly earls' estates, with a few marquises' estates scattered among them."

"No one stopped them?"

"A Sky Knight from the Nofa Family tried to stop them and was immediately burned to death by a sky-filling barrage of Big Fireballs.

Several hundred Archmages! And they all studied Fire-Element Law. It was terrifying. No one dared step forward again!"

The Fire Worship Cult would always thrive, Hill thought to himself.

He told Adrian, "Go fill up the medicine cabinet first. It probably sold out this morning."

Adrian stood up in surprise to look. "Are they fighting while chewing potions? No wonder they fought for so long without resting."

He quickly replenished the medicine cabinet. "I don't have much stock left now either. The teacher probably has some, but Magus-level medicines are so expensive. Can these Undead really afford them?"

Hill pointed at the miscellaneous goods cabinet. "Grandfather's Alchemy Hut has sold eight already. I was even thinking of getting a few more from him! No matter how expensive the medicines are, someone will buy them!"

Hill guessed that potions increasing constitution and mana limits would add attribute points for players. Few natives would be willing to buy such expensive potions that only increased a small amount of strength.

But players would definitely be willing to spend money to gain one or two attribute points.

Adrian said, "The teacher's potions can only be bought with crystals."

"In their eyes, crystals are just coins with a higher value."

Adrian sighed. "Fine! Fine! It seems the elemental power in the Undead's plane is higher! I wonder what energy source they use."

Hill did not want to discuss a subject that could easily make him slip up, so he changed the subject directly. "Hurry and restock the warehouse. More people will definitely come this afternoon. Then tell me how the fighting started yesterday. I've been waiting for you to explain it!"

Adrian irritably smacked Hill on the head, then went upstairs to restock.

Hill smiled and leaned back against the sofa as he waited. It was sure to be a wonderful story.