"So that's why you recruited us to your so-called ' Central Border Sandcastle No. 15 '?"
Valhalla, the Mortgage Tavern.
Today's bartender, [ Gill's Cuisine ], is communicating with [ Aluode ], who is thousands of miles away, during a break from mixing drinks.
The other side seems to be short-handed and is currently doing everything they can to recruit him, but [ Gill's Cuisine ] is somewhat resistant to this.
It's not that I don't trust [ Aluode ], nor that he's a bad person, it's just that...
Okay, after some self-reflection, [ Gill's Cuisine ] has finally come to a conclusion--
He genuinely distrusted [ Aluode ] and was also afraid that the other party wasn't a good person.
Just like those professional actors who specialize in playing villains in movies and TV shows, I don't know if it's just my imagination, Aluode Gill's Cuisine looks a bit different now.
So much so that now whenever he sees this person or their ID, he associates it with something bad.
Even though I know he's not like that in real life, I still have that feeling.
The other party's current attempts to win him over made him even more uneasy, so he could only try his best to extract as much information as possible from them.
"Yes, that's right. Even though we're both mercenaries, this fortress knight Colin is clearly easier to talk to than the others. Don't worry, brother, why would I harm you?"
[ Gill's Cuisine ] completely disregarded such guarantees, treating them as mere network fluctuations.
He thought for a moment and then typed another sentence in the dialog box:
"How many fortress knights have you seen so far? Let me compare prices from a few different ones."
Three.
Of the three, Colin is the best?
"That's right. One of the other two is our enemy, and the other... is already dead."
[ Aluode ] also felt the sample size was a bit small, but still argued confidently:
"Therefore, within a radius of at least fifty miles, Colin is the best boss."
He thought for a moment and then added:
However, there is another matter that needs attention.
"What?"
"You should know that coming here is like being on the front lines, right?"
"Know."
"Yes, if you think of the borders between kingdoms and empires as rivers, then the northern, central, and southern borders are like the upper, middle, and lower lanes. You should know about MOBA games, right?"
"Get to the point!"
"If you come here, do you know who you'll be facing off against?"
"Who?"
"[ Howling Pothos ]."
"Please excuse me, I shall take my leave!"
"Etc!"
"Is there anything else?"
"I made a deal with him."
"You made Pothos fix the match?"
"How dare you talk like that?"
"Um?"
"How can boosting your score be called match-fixing? That's called—exploiting game features."
"I see, they're fixing the match and exploiting a malicious bug."
"If it's not fixed, it's not a bug. Besides, who can resist farming with pro players?"
"Enough talk, send me the coordinates, I'm leaving right away."
"Okay."
Having finally convinced [ Gill's Cuisine ], [ Aluode ] hurriedly opened another player's chat window and began using the same rhetoric to deceive them.
In a daze, he felt like he was both a fraud mastermind in northern Myanmar and a recruiter for an emperor...
Meanwhile, on the other side, [ Gill's Cuisine ], who had just finished chatting with [ Aluode ], once again saw a red dot appear in his field of vision.
"[ Xiexie Huigu ]? What do you need, bro?"
Hey buddy!
[ Xiexie Huigu ] remains as straightforward as ever:
"Interested in cosplaying as a savage?"
"What savage?"
"You can think of them as the Rouran People, the kind of savages who endlessly respawn and come with their own cattle and sheep."
I don't quite understand.
"Here's the thing—Brother Pothos is doing a good job here, and the Imperial officer plans to recruit some more men from his fictitious hometown to fight, but that hometown is actually made up, so they can only have their 'fellow villagers' grow out of the ground."
"So, it's just another round of conscription, isn't it?"
"Again? It seems you've already received the message from the Alliance? Who sent it to you? [ Aluode ] or [ The Dark Archmage ]?"
"[ Aluode ]."
"Oh, then it's fine with you to go either way, since we're going to throw the games anyway."
"I still don't quite understand. Although there hasn't been a direct confrontation between large armies yet, border battles have been frequent. How exactly can a fixed match be staged?"
"It's very simple -- the Alliance has a building called Sandcastle. The Empire's capture of it counts as military merit, Alliance's recapture counts as military merit. So, as long as we repeat this process, we can accumulate merit, no, military merit, right?"
"But wouldn't repeating this cause problems? The commanders of the Empire and the Alliance aren't fools."
"That's right, so we plan to fight each sandcastle only two or three times, and destroy it once the required number is reached. After all, how can there be no losses in war?"
"That makes sense. I'm more familiar with [ Aluode ]. If both options are similar, I plan to go there."
"No problem, I hope to see you on the battlefield when we're grinding for battle points!"
Skeleton Alliance, Central Border Sandcastle No. 15.
The fortress knight, Colin, took a bone covered in inscriptions from an exquisitely carved stone box.
He reached out and touched the object, and a strange Psionic Energy instantly enveloped him, quickly occupying and sealing off the room.
Soon, a voice appeared out of nowhere:
"This is [ Hard Armor ], the fortress guard knight Colin of the Central Desert Fortress No. 15. What do you have to report?"
"[ Hard Armor ] Your Excellency."
Colin cleared his throat, and although he couldn't see the other person's face, he still knelt down in front of the bone:
"There is important military information in the vicinity of my jurisdiction. I dare not act on my own initiative, so I am using communications to inquire with you."
"Go ahead and speak."
" The Sandcastle Number Fourteen in the central region was breached by a small imperial force the night before. This time, the imperial elite was very strong, and all the fortress defenders, including the fortress knight Shalier, were killed in battle."
"Only two messengers managed to escape and went to Sandcastle Number Fifteen for reinforcements. The Soul Returner cavalry under my command rushed to their aid immediately upon learning of this, and successfully recaptured Sandcastle Number Fourteen before dawn, driving away the group of imperial elites. However, the messenger also died in this battle."
"Another messenger who went to Sandcastle Number Thirteen can corroborate this; he also successfully requested reinforcements, but arrived a little late."
After briefly recounting the events of the night, [ Hard Armor ] on the other side remained silent for a moment before speaking:
"Understood, please report it normally."
Is there anything else?
Colin knelt on the ground, his mostly crystallized bone hands clenched so tightly that they creaked incessantly.
He was nervous, excited, and full of anticipation.
Although they weren't face-to-face, the powerful aura of this high- High Tier still completely suppressed him.