Proofread by: Daylius and Vikingstad
‘trrrng’
QUEST:AN ARCHITECT’S LESSON 2(Completed)
You have successfully rescued Norn and his son. In addition to that you have also vanquished a great evil.
Difficulty : +F
Requirements
Complete the training ground
Exceed Ames’s expectation
Rewards
+10 intimacy with the villagers
+10 intimacy with the blacksmiths
New skill unlocked: Weaponsmith
Shiv closed the tab and then looked at Norn and his son
“Norn? Are you alright now?” Shiv asked with concern.
“Thanks to you two I am”
“I am sorry about your son, we had no other choice but to kill him?”
“Son? That was no son of mine. What gave you the idea of him being my son? This boy right here is my one and only son, Vern”
“But Ames said that you had two sons”
“No I don’t. That idiot Ames must have been drunk then”
Shiv did not reply, his mind was already calculating various possible scenarios. The most possible one was that the beast had manipulated the villager’s memories. ‘But where did it come from? I do not think the village had harbored the beast in the past’
“Norn, if he is not your son then who is he? And why did you bring him along”
“I do not know who he is. He was with us in the goblin cave. For some reason we cannot remember anything about him before the goblin incident. A couple days before he introduced himself as one of the villager’s son and asked me to make him my apprentice. I agreed instantly, which I think was strange of me to do so. He volunteered to come with us to the mines and once we were inside he changed and attacked us. I do not want to remember the things that happened after”
“We understand Norn. Rest here for a while. We will take you back shortly” saying so Shiv then approached an angry Kate who had been throwing daggers with her eye for a while.
“So how was the fight with the satyr?” Shiv asked with a grin. Shiv swore that he heard something snap and the next moment a fist connected to his abdomen which sent him flying back.
“What the? Are you really a girl?” this time it was a kick to nether region. With that Shiv collapsed.
Kate looked down on him with fiery eyes, her fists clenched. “You liar” and a kick once again.
“Kate I will die if you kick me like this” Shiv tried to protest, covering his parts with his hands.
“You are better off dead. For more than two weeks made me think you were a useless NPC. Had I known you were a player, I would have kicked your ass every time you called me ‘rag woman’.”
“That was a joke. Besides what so wrong about ‘rag woman’. It suits you well”
With that Kate snapped again, She walked forward to hit him again, “Why are you smiling when you are being hit? Don’t tell me you have that sorts of perverted interests?”
“It’s just, this is the first time I have had this type of conversation with anybody. It kind of makes me happy”. For Shiv who
had always lived as a royal prince, such things as a fight or argument was a new experience. ‘May be she can be my friend’ was what he was thinking.
“You are creeping me out” Kate backed away a little. But she could understand that the smile Shiv had was a genuine smile. When she saw that smile it made her happy for some reason.
“Kate! Sit” Shiv patted the ground next to him.
“I am not your dog for you to order me around” Kate approached Shiv and hit his head with her fists then sat down next to him.
“I heard you say ‘baka’ a while ago? Why was that not translated?”
“Well I do not know the reason myself. I heard sometimes when your emotions run amok, the translator software fails to
translate a couple of words. I read that, this was intentional and can be used to identify a player. As for whether it is true or not, I do not know.”
“I see. I am half Japanese myself.”
“Half eh? It is pretty common to meet people from the same nation in this game”
“Kate! Will you be my friend?”
“You are my friend’s broth…! Hey, if you are a player how come you are Bella’s brother?”
“It took you a while to figure that out. That’s a long story” Shiv then explained to her everything including the thing about Oberon and Orrinshire. He told her about Draklake and disappearance, about how he came to the village, the goblin cave, about the previous chief. When he finished narrating his story Kate looked at him with widened eyes.
“Orrinshire? I have heard that name recently. Where was it?” Kate began thinking. She racked her brain and it struck her like thunder. Her eyes widened and she stared at Shiv.
“You say that you are the successor of Orrinshire”
“Yes. Sadly I am, sigh”
“So are you the evil overlord?”
“Overlord? Evil? Do I look evil?”
“You do. Have you not seen the interview with Allen Perez?”
“Who is that? What does that have anything to do with me?” Shiv asked indifferently.
“You do not know the CEO of Phoenix Enterprise”
“Is he someone I should be knowing?”
“What? Where on earth are you living?” Kate asked sarcastically.
“I get it. He is some big shot. So what?”
“A few days before there was an interview of Allen in LBC media. And there he talked about a strange occurrence”
“Occurrence?”
“Just like the ones we saw. NPC’s going rampage and he said it was because of Orrinshire’s successor which is you. But he did not tell anything about you being related to Oberon”
Shiv tensed up. He did not expect the Phoenix Enterprises to make such a move. Shiv more or less expected the company to send some hooligans to abduct him but not something like portraying him as a great evil. ‘This is going to make things hard for me’
“Sigh! He did not have to go that far just because I challenged his secretary”
“Challenge? What did you do?”
“Well his secretary called me and asked me for an appointment, which I refused. She then threatened me, which I ignored. So now they are using media to make me surrender”
“Why are they after you? What is in it for them?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because of the blessing. So troublesome”
“Troublesome you say. If it were me I would have ran behind them. Maybe they want to make a deal of some sort. You will get a load of money”
“Money?” Shiv then laughed. He laughed till his eyes began to shed tears.
“Why are you laughing? Its money you idiot. May be thousands of dollars”
“Tell me Kate. If you were the richest person in the world and if someone offers you money in exchange of something you hold dear, what would you do?”
“I would refuse. If I am the richest, why should I need money? Are you an idiot?” Kate was annoyed with the question.
“That is what I did, I refused” Shiv said with a smile that made the girl blush for some reason.
“Kate, will you be my friend?”
The sudden question startled her, she looked at Shiv intently. The boy’s face had lost the warmth it had moments ago. Those eyes were crying, even though no tears came out.
“We already are friends” She said looking away from Shiv to hide her red face. Had she turned back and looked at the boy’s face she could have seen the face of a boy who made his first friend.
---***---
“Kate there is somewhere I have to go. Can you come with me?”
“Where are you taking me this time?” Kate asked, she was tired with all the action she had.
“To a cave. I believe that place is the source of that beast. So I am going to destroy the cave.”
“Speaking of the beast, care to tell me why you suddenly ran off a while go, leaving me with Vern”
“Oh that! Simple, because I knew he was an enemy”
Hearing that Kate froze. “How did you know that?”
“He called us strangers, did he not?”
“Yeah he did. So what? You expect everybody in the village to know us?”
“Yes I do. The day before you came, Bella had gathered every one of the villagers. That day she had announced that I would be the next chief in front of them with me standing with her. That means every villager should know me.”
“Maybe he was busy with something and so he could not have joined”
“I did think of that too. During the journey you had called my name many times. And yet, right before I left you and ran, he again called me ‘stranger’. You know how rumors spread among the NPC. So at some point he should have heard my name at least once. But the problem is not that. The problem is when did he get into the village and how long has he been there. From what Norn said, the guy was with them since they were in the village. If that was the case, then the man was once a villager.”
Kate nodded her head. She could understand what Shiv was saying, she felt like she was doing an investigation. Shiv continued,
“I assume that, the man’s relatives were all beheaded and he was the only survivor. The death of his relatives might have created a darkness in the man, which then attracted some evil being or soul. So that means he was there when I was being nominated. Then why was it that he did not remember me. Did the darkness delete his memories? I do not understand, but for now we have to destroy the cave so that nobody enters it again .And Kate, the black stone that the satyr left make sure you keep it away from others. Once my job here is finished we will do something about it”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Kaye nodded once again. She had a black stone, which was covered in clothes in her hand. She could feel the darkness even with all those layers of clothes. Shiv had promised her to take her to the capital himself so that he could take the stone to someone in the church of Oberon.
Once they reached the cave, Kate then used a water and earth spell to collapse the cave and thereby closing it off to the outside world.
---***---
“Bella! They are back” Ames shouted. Hearing those words, Bella dropped the food tray she had in her hands and ran outside of her house. She was worried, for Shiv was her only family now and Kate her best friend. Far off, she could see the silhouettes of people. She ran and ran barefooted, not minding the stony path.
“Brother” She called out, with tears, like a child.
“Why are you crying lady?”
“I missed you” and she hugged the boy not minding the people around. When realization struck she jumped back blushing.
“First you hug me and now you push me away? Brother is hurt” Shiv mocked the girl. Then patting her head gently he said, “I am back little sister”.
---***---
“Ames! Get everybody here. We have a problem”
“Right away Shiv.” Ames could sense the tension in the boy’s voice so he did not mind being ordered. Shiv was now in the village square with Bella and Kate. The two blacksmiths were now being treated by the herbalist just to make sure they had not suffered any internal damages. Shiv had then called forth all the villagers to speak with them about what had happened. When the villagers gathered, Shiv told them about the satyr and about how the beast was living in the village along with the others camouflaged as a human. The villagers were shocked and began to panic.
“Do not panic” Shiv roared, activating the dragon’s roar skill which he had not used like forever. ‘This is pretty useful. I should use this skill more often’. “We do not have time to panic. We must act fast. The beast was in the shape of a man like us and I believe he came from the goblin cave. That means there is a chance that there might be another one among us. And to clarify that, Kate is going to cast a purifying spell. Please co-operate”
The last part of the speech caused an uproar which was silenced by a white light. Kate had once again casted a light fall, which was aimed at the villagers. When the light disappeared everyone present remained unharmed.
“Now we can live with ease. The next thing to do is shut off that cave. Which I have already done with the help of Kate”. Shiv knew that if there were beasts inside such a measure would not be enough but he had made Kate do it to ease the villagers.
“The next thing we have to do is complete the rebuilding process. And then begin training of new soldiers to defend and protect us. We need a chief to manage the village in case of an attack so I ask of you to appoint someone of your choice soon.”
The villagers were now murmuring between them. Ames knew what Shiv was aiming for and so willing gave a push to the people. “I Ames agree to Shiv being the new Chief” Ames declared, which was then seconded by the mason group, the blacksmith group and the mining group. Some of the villagers agreed too as Shiv had helped them build a wall and houses. Now Shiv had the support of 64 out of the 78 villagers. Seeing them agreeing to Shiv being the next chief, the remaining 12 too reluctantly agreed thus making Shiv the next head.
‘trrrng’
QUEST: THE NEW VILLAGE CHIEF(Completed)You have been named as the next head of the hidden village. You have now control of the finance and military of the village
Difficulty : E
Requirements: Bella’s support
Rewards
New village chief
Maximum intimacy with villagers
2000 contribution points
Would you like to provide a name to the village
“Draklake” Shiv did not even have to think.
Once he was made the chief, Shiv then prioritized in the manufacturing of weapons for the training hall. The blacksmiths under Norn began to work on the weapons. Shiv wanted to improve his blacksmith skills so he volunteered himself to work under Norn. Initially Norn refused, making the chief of the village work under him was not something he wanted. But Shiv insisted and so Norn reluctantly agreed. The new skill, weapon smith made things easier for Shiv.
“Open weaponsmith info” New skill unlocked: Weaponsmith (Passive) Beginner Level 1 (0%)You have unlocked a hidden class weapon smith. Weapon smith allows you to forge swords of superior quality.+1 STR, STA and PER
You can now forge weapons
As your skill proficiency increases, special weapons will be unlocked[/table] New sub skill unlocked: Repair (Passive) Beginner Level 1 (0%)Your efforts have born fruit. You are now able to repair weapons. The quality of the weapon depends on your skill proficiency.Repairing restores 5 durability
As your skill proficiency increases, durability restores increases[/table]
‘Finally I got the repair skill. But I am not skilled enough to repair my dagger’ Shiv thought while he began his work in the forge where he had to hammer the hot metal till it took the shape of the weapon he was told to make. The job was arduous, lasting three weeks. Every day he would spend his time in the forge with Norn, honing his skills. The first day, he was not allowed to do anything but repairing some broken weapons. This continued for another two days, by then his repair skills was beginner level 4. On the fourth day, he was made to heat the metal using the forge. Shiv had to stay in front of the forge and heat the metal, the heat from the forge often burning him. It took more than a week for Shiv to start hitting the metal with a hammer. All the weapons he made were poor quality and so were recycled. Another two days passed till Shiv could make weapons of decent quality. From then on, Shiv’s weapon quality increased considerably.
Once the weapons were forged, they were then shifted to the armory and arranged properly. The training hall was now complete. A completely exhausted Shiv fell on to the ground and slept soundly without a care.
---***---
The very next day, work began on the school. Shiv had informed Ames that the school must be spacious and should have at least 10 classes. Ames had asked Shiv why there was a need for so many. Shiv said when the village grows, the school would need more rooms. Ames did not ask any further questions and began work on the school. The classes were big enough for 40 students, it had a small forge, a garden, a tailoring unit, farming tools and mining tools. Shiv had set up the school because he knew that once word spread about the existence of a school where skills are being taught, the players from all over the continent would come to the village. Shiv had planned the tuition fees to be 1 gold for now.
The school would attract players and so to take advantage of that, Shiv asked Ames to set up stores where the players could buy. The players could not sell things as the village severely lacked revenue. Shiv knew that but there was no way around it unless he uses real money to get gold. Shiv was not keen on the idea and so decided to wait till the village started producing revenue.
More than a month passed and the reconstruction was on the verge on finishing. Shiv had asked the villagers to travel to the nearby village to spread the news. Now there was a school, a training hall, shops, chief’s office, more than 30 houses of which only half were occupied, farms, and a big sturdy stone wall with a gate too. The once hidden village was converted to the village of Draklake.
---***---
Shiv was at the village square which had a new fountain. The villagers had all gathered there.
“Friends! I know declare the village of Draklake officially complete” Shiv roared.
There were applauses all over.
---***---
(the chapter is not much. well next chapter Ryu is going to meet Allen! what do you think is going to happen. will Ryu bow? or will Allen get his ass kicked?