Alliance City's Situation

Hill could only marvel at the baldhead's thick skin. As expected, anyone who could become the leader of a major player guild had a dirty heart.

Adrian stood and asked Falan, "We're almost there. Should we invite Knight Spencer and the others aboard?"

Falan looked at the Undead and hesitated.

Xiao Liuliu quickly caught on. "We'll chat among ourselves."

After thinking it over, Falan still said to Adrian, "Invite them aboard. They should want to see what's happening below."

The baldhead asked, "Are we there? Can we go up on deck?"

Falan nodded. "Go ahead, but be careful of attacks."

The baldhead waved it off. "It's fine. Once we're here, we're not afraid of dying."

Xiao Liuliu smacked him on the head. "If you revive now, you definitely won't revive inside Alliance City!"

Dream Awake, Don't See You raised her tablet. "A hundred li farther back, Asking Sword, Young Wanderer Under Heaven's Priests temporarily built an altar. We can revive there."

"What about Qingcheng?"

"Lu Huayu just logged in to apologize. He said his fiancée had acted on a momentary impulse. She's crying and saying she'll delete her account to apologize. He went to comfort her, and later he'll apologize to everyone together with his fiancée." Qian Yuyu held her tablet as she spoke. "He also said he hoped everyone wouldn't blame the people in his guild. They knew nothing. His beloved fiancée hadn't even told him; it was her own decision. But he'll take responsibility as well.

"He hopes his family members can forgive him for leading the family to this ending. If they still can't forgive him, he understands and wishes those who leave well.

"He'll be back soon to lead the family members who still follow him in atoning for their sins."

"Ah! That familiar, sarcastic eunuch writing style! What a smooth way to shirk responsibility." Perfect Baldhead sighed. "I always feel so out of place because I'm different from people like them. I really am such a good person!"

Hill was not surprised at all that every Black Rose member was calling him shameless. Even the baldhead's beloved wife was doing the same. Xiao Liuliu had almost lost control and hidden herself off to the side.

"Young Master found that military inspector!" Rainfall on the Mortal Realm, who was also looking at a tablet, shouted.

"Where?" Knight Spencer strode over.

"He was slightly injured. Asking Sword, Young Wanderer Under Heaven's guild leader brought him to the temporary camp," Rainfall on the Mortal Realm promptly replied.

Knight Spencer turned to Falan. "Master Falan, could you take us to the camp?"

"Of course, no problem." Falan said, "Would you like to take a look at Alliance City first?"

Spencer nodded. "Sorry to trouble you, Master Falan. I'd like to see the city's current state."

Perfect Baldhead hesitated before asking, "Knight Spencer, what will happen to the guilds that defended the city?"

"They won't receive merit for defending the city, though their previous merits will remain." Spencer said expressionlessly, "But according to Salar's rules, nobles whose cities are breached have no right to reclaim their territories."

The Black Rose players began discussing it among themselves.

"Does this count as losing the woman and the kingdom?"

"A beauty trap where both sides got hurt?"

"Asking Sword is really miserable! Qingcheng deserved it, though."

"The other three guilds are the truly miserable ones, okay? At least Asking Sword still has a name. They're about to go down in history!"

Hill looked at Old School Striking King, who had said Asking Sword would go down in history, and felt deep respect for the woman.

"I need to ask Young Master whether he plans to change the name." The baldhead took out his tablet, intending to deliver the final blow.

Watching the Undead head outside to enjoy the view from the deck, Adrian tugged at Hill. "If I didn't hear wrong earlier, they said they had a pretty good relationship with Asking Sword?"

Spencer and Falan both looked at Hill.

Hill nodded. "Friendly guilds. Just a tiny bit short of being allies."

Judging by their expressions, they both thought this was the prelude to becoming hostile guilds.

Hill carefully chose his words. "If they were enemies, they'd mock him in their public channel. Even strangers would laugh at him. Private teasing like this means they have a good relationship."

"Even between two city lords?" Spencer asked hesitantly. "Among the king's former guards, only Vander remained. He has to contact the Undead over in Keslote. Though he told me not to care about what the Undead say.

"But if we're arranging a counterattack, we have to deal with them!"

"Their relationships are relatively equal. They're all children of the gods!" Hill said. "A city lord merely has a little more glory. So they speak very casually. It's completely different from the relationships among us nobles."

Hill hesitantly thought that this explanation should be fine, right?

Knight Spencer looked troubled. "Then how should I treat the defeated guilds?"

"Just handle things impartially." Hill could only answer that way.

Spencer sighed. "No wonder the king sent me to handle it. Those who treat the defeated as trash and scold them will probably cause trouble, right?"

The Spencer Family was famous for handling matters impartially. They could not be bothered with interpersonal relationships, nor did they like cursing or hitting people.

No matter how badly the Undead had messed up, they were still William's people. Even without Hill's words, Knight Spencer would have handled things politely.

"My god, did they fight this badly?"

"This city is completely ruined!"

"The people from the Noble Temple are still living in tents!"

Hearing the Undead's loud discussions outside, Falan and Knight Spencer went out together. Hill followed behind Spencer's attendants and was the last to leave.

Through the gaps between the rolling white clouds beneath the floating ship, they could see the ruined and desolate Alliance City.

There was nothing but rubble before them. Most of the houses had collapsed, and massive debris formed heaps of ruins. The Great Wall facing south, along with the Mage Towers above it, had become broken remnants.

Patches of white tents dotted the central plaza. The Noble Coalition that had attacked the city had already moved in.

The city wall facing inland Salar was tall, but it had no defensive magic arrays carved into it.

The original city had not been large. The city wall facing Salar had long been wrecked during the players' battles for the city. After the five-guild Alliance formed, they had expanded greatly inward.

They had only completed the basic construction, intending to properly build the city after defeating the Noble Coalition.

This was good too. Hill looked at the three Legendary figures guarding the city wall. He wondered how long they could hold out. Dionysio probably would not place his hopes on them.

He searched around and spotted a deep-purple tent in the city center. It seemed that Holy Maiden would be staying here as well.

Spencer paced back and forth across the ship, occasionally stopping to observe.

Hill heard the Black Rose members whispering in a corner.

"What is Spencer doing?"

"Looking for the time and place to launch a counterattack!"

"Wait, is an NPC leading this counterattack?" Demon Sword suddenly shouted.

"Shut up! They can tell when you're talking about them! Whenever you mention NPCs, no matter what you're saying, your tone has to be calm. Got it?" Old School Striking King scolded him.

"Then would it be pointless for Young Master to fight back? Why is he still so active?" Fang Tianhua was somewhat confused.

"His skin isn't as thick as Eunuch Lu's!" Rainfall on the Mortal Realm said. "He was originally Alliance City's boss. Now that the city has fallen, he bears the greatest responsibility himself.

"Eunuch Lu directly shoved the blame onto a woman. Young Master can't do that.

"If he still wants to keep playing this game, he can only accept his bad luck! Let's see whether he still dares chase girls in the future!"

"So many people still haven't left Asking Sword! He has to earn more merit for their sake." Perfect Baldhead added. "This city will probably belong to the Spencer Family again in the future."

"William really knows how to seize an opportunity." Nie Xingchen sighed.

"William may have been waiting for you to make a mistake all along," Hill thought to himself. "The Spencer Family has Sky Knights serving as guards. William isn't that extravagant. Those are Sky Knights who fought Magical Beasts into submission. They're formidable."

Looking at this location, Hill even suspected William had deliberately placed this five-guild Alliance in this southeastern corner.

This had once been a small city. The players had fought over it for more than a month until it was wrecked. Once things stabilized, they rebuilt it into a large city with a seaside dock.

Now, although everything aboveground had been shattered, the underground Water Law circulation system remained intact.

Even the Spencer Family could not build such a complete water supply and drainage system.

Unless they issued a quest to the players, but that would cost a fortune.

Hill felt that William had not intended to set the players up, but if they messed things up on their own, he would be happy to reap the benefits.

Spencer finally straightened up and nodded in satisfaction.

He turned and loudly thanked Falan, who had been waiting to one side. "Thank you very much for your help, Master Falan!"

Falan nodded. "You're welcome. It is my honor to do something for Salar. Shall we go to the temporary camp now?"

"Yes," Spencer said. "I'm truly glad to hear that Rad is still alive. At least we're no longer completely in the dark."

Falan quickly moved the ship. "Something has been discovered below. They may fly up to investigate."

Through the floating ship's protective barrier, Hill saw a red-haired figure fly up from below.

"A red-haired Legendary Knight," Hill murmured.

Adrian heard him and told him, "That's one of Navarro's people. Their country lies far to the south of us. The nobles there all have red hair."

Salar was golden-haired, while Hephasaldo had golden and brown hair. Did the color fade all the way north?

Whenever Hill was in a daze, he felt this was a game with very rough settings. But no matter how realistic a game was, it would not have a cycle from birth to death.

He hoped that one day, he could see the truth of this world.

After the airship reached the temporary camp, it slowly descended. The Black Rose players hurried over to say goodbye, then jumped down before the ship had even stopped.

Leaning against the ship's rail, Hill heard Perfect Baldhead laughing loudly. "Young Master! Where are you? We're here to help you!"

No one below answered him for a long while.

"Young Master! Come out and receive guests! I brought lots of beautiful women with me!" Perfect Baldhead continued to tease.

"Perfect Baldhead, you fake loli! Have you gone crazy from playing a female character for too long?" A furious curse finally came from below. "Just hand over Liuliu, then you can get lost!"

"Baldhead, shut up already!" Xiao Liuliu finally could not endure it any longer. "Young Master, the people William sent are here. They're on the ship. Come out quickly! Ignore the baldhead."

Watching the boy hurry out, Hill could not help laughing. Did he think he could chase girls while playing a young boy character?

No wonder they were called Asking Sword, Young Wanderer Under Heaven. All the ones who had followed Young Master out were lolis and young boys.

Perhaps because they were not very old in real life either, their faces were full of adolescent chuunibyou spirit. When they raised their heads to look over, they appeared brimming with confidence.

Spencer stepped forward, looked at them, and took a deep breath. "Vander told me that their appearances do not reflect their actual ages or genders. But these ones really are young, right?"

He turned to glance at Hill, looking somewhat despairing. "They're not even older than Bolanio, are they?"

The ship fell silent. No one wanted to answer his question.