The sun hung low on the horizon, casting long shadows across the rugged landscape as a solemn procession made its way along the dusty road. Two wooden carts, laden with the lifeless bodies of the bastards who had raided the village, were pulled by a group of players. Unlike their usual jovial demeanor, the players’ faces were resolute, while their footsteps heavy with the weight of their burden.
At the forefront strode Victor with a commanding and authoritative presence. His eyes gleamed with a steely resolve as he led the way, his robe billowing in the gentle breeze. Other than him and the players, Eleanor tagged along, being once part of the village.
The villagers of Thornwood Village watched in silence as they approached, filled with an expression of fear and curiosity mixed together. Word had spread quickly of the retaliation led by Victor and his acolytes. The mysterious Magus who had freed their village from the clutches of evil — a being that they initially feared.
Victor had informed the village head when he reached the village, and after he agreed to let them in, he brought the players along with the grim cargo in tow. This was also the reason why the villagers were gathered along the way, watching the whole procession.
With careful precision, the players began to unload the corpses, laying them out in the village square. Stepping forward, Victor’s voice echoed with authority as he addressed the gathered villagers.
“People of Thornwood Village,” he began with a firm tone, “five days ago, these bandits raided your homes, bringing suffering and sorrow to your doorstep. But today, justice has been served. These bandits who have taken your loved ones, pillaged your possessions, and committed unspeakable acts have been vanquished. With their defeat, we bring you peace and safety.”
It mattered little to Victor what label he assigned to the mercenaries before the villagers. To them, these individuals were no different from the most vicious bandits, and justice demanded they be treated as such. Since the players on the official website forum knew them as “mercenaries-disguised-as-bandits,” it was only right to keep calling them so to the end.
The villagers listened intently with eyes that were filled with awe, gratitude, and righteous anger. Some cursed these dead mercenaries for their crimes, while others praised Victor and his players for their valor.
From the buzz of the village celebrating the revenge claimed, a hoarse but ferocious voice was heard louder than the others, “Serves them right for killing my son!” followed by a kick to one of the lifeless bodies; a nearby voice like a whisper in the wind, left a thank you to avenge her husband, the old woman was barely audible to Victor’s ears...
But after a while a powerful voice broke the cacophony of voices, he recognized it as that of the village head, shouting out a full-force chant “Praise Sir Magus and his pupils for saving our village!” soon followed by the entire village. They all dropped to their knees, bowing deeply with their heads nearly touching the earth.
The players standing behind Victor appeared to be completely perplexed by the villagers’ reactions. Some of them were holding themselves back from stopping the villagers, as Victor had strictly instructed them not to do anything that was interfering. Still, while he had achieved his goal of getting their total respect and reverence, Victor was not done yet.
As the golden light of the setting sun illuminated Victor’s figure, he announced, “People! The raid that befell you would not have occurred if you had sufficient protection. Your peace and your children could have been safeguarded if there were guards to protect you! Your wives and your belongings wouldn’t have been stolen if you had the strength to defend yourselves!”
The villagers looked up with eyes that reflected a realization, and ones that were filled with grim determination. What he said was the truth. They wouldn’t have suffered injustice if they were strong. Power did speak for itself.
Seeing their reactions, Victor smiled knowingly. “Did your so-called lord provide you with the protection you needed? Did he send reinforcements when your village was raided or even cut your taxes when you were suffering a bad harvest?” He paused, allowing his words to sink in before delivering his final blow. “No!! He did not! He let you suffer while filling his stomach with your sweat like a leech!”
Thornwood Village was a village in the boonies; it was normal for it to have no lord that governed it, and everything, including its defenses, was entrusted to its residents. Situated near a dangerous forest, it was already in a place where it was vulnerable to threats from both within and without. Though they had managed to evade attacks from magical beasts thus far, would this be the case for years, dozens of years, or even hundreds of years to come?
If that wasn’t terrible enough, the burdensome taxes imposed upon the villagers remained the same as in other places. Whether due to their inability to negotiate or the perceived insignificance of their village, they remained powerless to improve their circumstances. The absence of dissent among the villagers served as silent confirmation of this harsh reality.
Victor was aware that he wouldn’t have thought of this if he hadn’t regained his past life memory, but now that he did, there were many things that he could use to his advantage. Now’s the time for the meaty part — the last push.
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“People of Thornwood Village! I have a proposition for you!” Amplifying it with mana, Victor let out a thunderous voice. “I want you to entrust your village to me, Astralium…” he gestured at himself, then to the dozen or so players standing behind him, “and to the Magus academy that I am establishing with my acolytes here for I won’t abandon you. We won’t abandon you.”
As his words hung in the air, the villagers were understandably suspicious. No one would be willing to submit willy-nilly, especially when the targets of persuasion just endured great suffering. He had to become their bastion — their beacon of strength and hope in the midst of turmoil — only then would they willingly submit to him on their own accord.
One thing to note, Victor had told the players in his previous speech that Thornwood Village was their domain, but he never specified whether that was only figuratively or factually. This deliberate ambiguity would allow him to bullshit his way if one of these people were to ask the question.
“There are many out there who would threaten you! But I will be taking all of them on!” Victor declared, his voice booming. “So fight with me! Under my leadership, your fields will flourish, and your families will thrive. You'll pay no taxes in years of famine, and when threats arise under my leadership, I will stand as your shield.”
The murmurs among the crowd grew louder. The proposition laid before them was beyond their wildest dreams, better than anything that they could ever hope for. Furthermore, the one who proposed this was a powerful, mysterious Magus, an extraordinary being. Victor knew about this, and a hidden smile crept on his face. This was his victory. Building all those rapports with them didn’t come to waste.
But it was the sudden cry of a hunched elderly man that ignited the spark of realization within the villagers. “Sir Astralium!” he shouted, his words cutting through the din like a clarion call.
“Sir Astralium!”
“Sir Astralium!”
And then, like a wave crashing upon the shore, the cry spread throughout the crowd until it became a thunderous roar of affirmation. Even the old village head was no exception, thus sealing Thornwood Village’s fate as Victor’s domain.
***
After the headmaster’s impassioned speech, the players were not completely idle. While they waited for the headmaster to officially take over this village, they exchanged whispers among themselves, with voices barely audible over the rising tide of anticipation.
“Did you catch what the headmaster was saying?” William, aka Prominence, suddenly chimed. He and his party were among the dozen players who had followed the headmaster to the village on the afternoon of the auction day.
“Yeah, something about protecting the village and all that,” answered SuperNova. “But wasn’t the village ‘supposedly’ already under our jurisdiction?”
“Well,” Zero mused, putting up his input, “maybe it was more symbolic before. That might explain why we weren’t allowed to go to and fro the village, except for specific missions.”
“Does this mean the game’s transitioning from an RPG to a grand strategy game? Count me in for some kingdom building!” a player interjected excitedly from the sidelines.
“Mhm.” Storm nodded his head in agreement. “That aside, did you see how those villagers bowed at us? It gave me literal chills! Good thing I recorded it all; this footage is gonna make me millions, baby!”
“All you can think about is making video this and video that.” Mike sighed, shaking his head. “But I’m genuinely thrilled that the villagers are now under our protection. No more raids, no more fear. It’s a happy ending for everyone.”
“Mm-hmm!”
“I agree!”
Both Locktekei and MsMelody, who were also part of this mission, nodded their heads.
Looking satisfied with the reaction he got, Mike struck a heroic pose, unable to contain his excitement. “And who knows? Maybe those village girls will be head over heels now that a hero, me, has come to their rescue!”
“Goddammit, I was fooled! I thought you were finally turning a new leaf,” Locktekei cursed.
“Geez.” MsMelody shook her head as if looking at a lost cause.
Despite it being the typically interesting topic to discuss, William found himself lost in deep contemplation. There was something about their headmaster in this game that nagged at his subconscious that he noticed earlier, like a sense of familiarity that was difficult to explain. Since his head was incapable of figuring it out by itself, he decided to voice his thoughts to the others.
“Say, if you strip away Sir Astralium’s status as the headmaster and his rather strict personality, what do you get?” he queried.
“What’s got you thinking all philosophical? That’s so unlike you.” Zero asked, intrigued. “Well, you’d have a regular person who can use powerful magic, am I right?”
“Correct.” William nodded his head.
Storm was quick on the uptake, adding, “You mean, he’s not all that different from us players?”
“Exactly as Storm said.” William pointed a finger gun at Storm as if having anticipated that he would answer this. “Now, this may sound absurd. But hear me carefully, the headmaster, maybe he’s a player just like us.”
“Holy shit! Dude, your imagination does know no bounds.” SuperNova’s eyes widened in disbelief.
As a matter of fact, this theory had circulated on the official website forum since the game’s inception. However, it had garnered little support, dismissed as a far-fetched notion. After all, the promotional manager himself had clarified the headmaster and the other NPCs to be high-level AI. There was little to no reason to lie about this.
Storm laughed out heartily. “Who knows, maybe he’s Cyber Warlock all along. Fooling us like a clown dancing in his hand… Considering we can inhabit our in-game avatars just like our real bodies, it’s not impossible for him to do the same with NPCs.”
At that point, William’s mind veered into R18+ territory, but he quickly banished the thought upon noticing the presence of other female players nearby. It seemed Storm had a similar realization, as his eyes almost bulged out in realization. They exchanged a knowing glance before chuckling softly, or maybe creepily.
“Speaking of that guy, I haven’t heard from him in ages, except for those occasional update announcements,” Locktekei remarked. “Almost forgot he even existed. Although there’s that mysterious moderator on the official website forum, they never really say much compared to him.”
“Wait, let’s say that Prominence and Storm’s conjecture is true, does that mean our conversation of badmouthing him in front of the headmaster NPC could have been overheard?” one of the players piped up, breaking the flow of conversation.
The players around gasped, the gravity of the possibility sinking in.
“That can’t be…”
“Let’s hope not…”
The murmurs spread as they contemplated the chilling possibility. Such a scenario was indeed a frightening thought.