MoP: Ch. 176

---Third POV---

The smile on the refugee leader's face froze.

Viktor didn't look at the refugee who had spoken up and gave a simple explanation.

"Eaten raw or undercooked, they are toxic. Cooked properly, they're not."

The refugee leader bobbed his head up and down hastily.

"I believe you, of course I do!"

He immediately placed the chain tied to the wagon in front of the Stone-Bristle Boar.

"We're willing to trade."

Then he turned around and bellowed a command, and all the refugees instantly dropped whatever they were holding.

Viktor, keeping his promise, set down the five crates of potatoes he had taken from the warehouse. Fortunately, the players were going to war, not moving house. There was plenty of food stored.

A group of refugees rushed forward, hoisted up the food, and without wasting even a second, sprinted away at full speed.

"Wait!" he called after them.

The refugee leader stiffly turned his head back.

"There have been some new developments in Nary Town. You can come take a look tomorrow."

With how fast the Forest Tortoise was spreading, the main road was already blocked. If they didn't want to cross the river and feed the piranhas, staying put was their only option. These were valuable laborers. Gathering them in one place would make things easier to handle tomorrow. Whether they understood or not, the refugee leader nodded very decisively before leaving again.

Watching them flee in panic, Apple couldn't help applauding.

"Damn! A few bags of potatoes for a pile of magical materials. Infamy really pays!"

Thor nodded. "Good thing this world doesn't have streetlights."

Viktor shook his head.

"They're just refugees. Giving them valuable magical materials would only harm them."

Without magical talent, they couldn't use magical tools, and highly potent magical potions might over-nourish them, causing more harm than good. Keeping such things on them would only spell trouble. He didn't know how the logged-out players communicated with the refugees, but it definitely wasn't as simple as Apple imagined. For vagrant refugees who wandered from place to place, nothing mattered more than being fed and clothed. Whether his goodwill got through or not, Viktor had done everything he could.

"Gather everyone. We're heading back."

"On it!"

Apple rolled a reed leaf into a makeshift megaphone.

"Pack up! We're heading back!"

"So soon? I thought it'd take the whole day."

"Can we wait a bit? Some people went to dig out rabbit burrows nearby."

Apple rejected him mercilessly.

"Nope. I told you all, this isn't a camping trip. Why are you running off?"

"Pick up the mortars on the ground. We're going back to the city!"

The player let out a disappointed groan.

"Nooo..."

The lazy player patted the dust off his butt, stood up, and began looking for his belongings.

This gave Viktor a clear view of the five iron-tube weapons set up in the center, and he was surprised.

"Is that the newly upgraded mortar?"

It seemed that while he'd been in seclusion and out traveling, the players' smelting techniques had been steadily improving. No wonder they took on the desperate refugees with so few people. Their confidence came from here. With players like Apple and Thor backing them, Viktor didn't need to browse forum posts or check system logs one by one. He quickly understood the players' siege plan and results.

Setting aside the pros and cons of the plan, the outcome was unexpectedly good, almost perfect. All the mayors who had tried to flee, along with their trusted aides, the wealthy merchant-mages of unknown origin, all of them had been captured. Not a single person managed to escape.

All outgoing messages had been intercepted as well.

Even if Viktor hadn't rushed back, keeping things concealed for three to five days wouldn't have been a problem.

Apple pulled a large bag of oddly shaped magical devices out of his in-game backpack. It was so heavy he nearly lost his balance.

"These are the signal devices we intercepted. Not sure if they're still useful."

Viktor picked up an iron disc inside that resembled a CD and injected mana into it. A line of tiny text immediately floated into view. After flashing three times, the disc shattered.

"Most of these are probably single-use devices. We can only recycle the materials. The rest are useful if we can track down their owners."

Hearing that, Apple looked even more disappointed.

"Another pile of disposable trash?"

"They're very useful for expanding the encyclopedia," Viktor suggested.

Apple sighed and tossed the bag back into his inventory.

"Great, another victory for the encyclopedia nerds."

Writing encyclopedia entries was tedious work. Only those achievement hunters and collection maniacs cared about it. He definitely wasn't one of them.

Viktor simply laughed.

The players complained every time, but their ways of repurposing junk got more impressive each time. He didn't believe their whining for a second.

"With just jammers and a bunch of non-mage refugees, you managed to intercept fully equipped bodyguards. The experience alone is a big reward."

"My guess is, everyone leveled up at least three times?"

Apple scratched his head sheepishly.

"I mean, yeah, true. But we didn't do it alone. Our new companions helped a lot."

"Companions?"

"The Ship-Carriage Guild, and a white-haired woman they say is unbelievably gorgeous, name's Claire! People on-site said that when she appeared, everyone was stunned by how beautiful she was. A siren even passed out..."

Viktor froze. "Claire?"

"It was just a projection. She showed up for a couple minutes and vanished."

Apple clicked his tongue regretfully.

"A shame..."

If they hadn't left so early, he wouldn't have stayed in the wasteland all morning, staring at refugees to farm EXP.

A breeze blew past. He turned his head and saw the carriage's passenger seat empty.

He blinked in confusion.

"Where'd Viktor go?"

---

In the mayor's manor, currently the liveliest place in Nary Town, players occupied every room.

NeverShowOff dragged an ornate chest out from a corner of the office area.

[Exile's Shortsword (Medium):
A relic of a noble in exile, carrying the aura of vengeance. Effect: Increases backstab damage by 15%, up to 30 HP removed in a single strike.]

[Blood-stained Cloak (Medium):
Once worn by an unnamed knight whose honor lives on. Effect: Increases damage resistance against enemies by 10%, blocking up to 20 attack points.]

He looked at the messy pile of equipment in the chest and took each piece out for encyclopedia scanning. Beside him, Garble walked over with a bundle wrapped in leather parchment.

"I found a 7-year-old ledger. More accurately, a kickback record book. We can barely use it to convict the officials we caught, but anything more recent is missing. No idea if the SAN system will accept it. How's your side going?"

NeverShowOff picked up a wooden staff decorated with golden feathers and said, "All mid-grade magical tools. The kind you'd put on a stall in the player second-hand market and still end up haggling. I was actually expecting something decent before I opened the chest. Rich people are so stingy, running away and still managing to take all the expensive stuff."

New information popped up in front of him:

[Gilded Feather Staff (High):
A staff used by ancient mages, imbued with powerful wind energy. Effects:

1. Increases spell-casting speed by 10%, up to a maximum of 5 seconds.

2. Each time a wind-type spell is cast, there is a chance to recover mana.]

His eyes lit up.

"This one's pretty good!"

The pre-cast delay of spells was the biggest hidden danger in combat. This extra five seconds of speed was definitely far more useful than a dozen or so points of damage or HP.

He tossed the staff over.

"Here, wind-type equipment. It suits you perfectly."

Garble glanced at the appraisal info that popped up and nodded.

"It is a rare, practical piece of equipment, but it's more suitable for a mage."

He drew the dagger at his waist and spun it around in his hand.

"I'm fine with this."

"Right, I almost forgot, the last person here who needs equipment is you."

After all, the days he spent in the Scarlet Casino had earned him plenty of good stuff, including an entire wind-type assassin set tailor-made for him.

Completely different from the transitional scraps the two of them were picking up now.

NeverShowOff wore a gossipy expression.

"By the way, your two girlfriends didn't get punished that badly. Just knocked out and detained for a while. You're really not going to check on them?"

Garble showed a sinister smile.

"If you had two dating-sim systems screaming nonstop in your head, shocking you now and then... I'm sure you wouldn't want to go looking for trouble yourself either."

Since morning, he'd had his pain-threshold setting maxed out, occasionally getting stunned with paralysis debuffs from sudden shocks.

Who knew what kind of punishment he'd unlock if he met the siren again?

He closed the ledger and urged him on.

"Hurry up and continue. Once the cleanup's done, I have to refresh my status at the respawn point."

NeverShowOff shrugged.

"Alright, we..."

Boom!

The floor suddenly exploded, wooden planks and sand flying everywhere, dust instantly filling the room.

"Wind Blade!"

"Fireball!"

Garble and NeverShowOff reacted quickly. Almost the moment the anomaly occurred, they attacked the source.

A few moves later, the three teenagers hiding beneath the floor were all restrained, unable to move. Even with their mouths gagged, they still glared at the two of them viciously, whimpering like wild beasts.

"Mmph! Mmmph!"

NeverShowOff patted the dust from his hands.

"I knew it. In a manor this big, there were bound to be stragglers."

Their inch-by-inch sweep hadn't been for nothing. Garble checked their stats one by one by touching them.

[??? (Lv.9)]: HP (41/100), MP (33/90)

[??? (Lv.8)]: HP (39/100), MP (24/80)

[??? (Lv.9)]: HP (42/100), MP (19/90)

"All of them are magic apprentices?" Garble was baffled. "What were they hiding underground for?"

NeverShowOff looked at their hands.

"They look like they're only eleven or twelve. Their palms are calloused, old wounds layered over new ones... They were probably assassins or death-servants raised by the mayor. But when he fled in a hurry, they weren't valuable enough to bring along, so he left them here to buy time."

Garble glanced at the treasure chest nearby.

"I think he just didn't want anyone getting his junk. Better to throw lives at the problem than let us profit."

Before he gagged them, he'd clearly heard them chanting Explosive Burst, a spell only beginner mages could learn. For a novice to cast it recklessly was basically draining all their mana and committing suicide.

NeverShowOff scratched his hair.

"Regardless, let's take them out and isolate them. Maybe they can still be saved?"

Though he had no idea how to fix the brainwashing. He synced the information to the forum. There might be half-trained assassins hiding in other rooms as well, so other players needed to be warned.

Once he checked the forum, he realized, "Viktor is back? And even came to Nary Town?"

They couldn't reach him with the Shadow Contract Stone this morning, and now he appeared on his own? Didn't he say he wouldn't leave the starter village?

"That's right."

He snapped his head up, nearly suffering a heart attack at the undead who had appeared silently out of nowhere.

"Did you learn teleportation?"

"No. I used the front door."

Viktor looked at the three hostages tied up on the ground.

"I went for a walk and found out The Watchers launched a battle that every faction leader except me knew about, so I came to check."

Hearing the hint in his tone, Garble coughed into his hand.

"I'll take these three outside first."

Then he grabbed one in each hand, tucked another under his arm, and slipped away at top speed.

NeverShowOff stared wide-eyed.

"Wait..."

Facing Viktor's faint, unreadable gaze, he rubbed his face, lifted his head again, and said, "It was all Edgar's idea! Lord Viktor, I'll take you to him right now!"

Viktor shook his head.

"No need. I heard someone from the Ship-Carriage Guild arrived. I want to find him, and take a look at the rescued siren."

"Well isn't that convenient? He and Edgar are both in the church, and the rescued siren is placed there too..."

Seeing that Viktor wasn't here to call them to account, NeverShowOff immediately perked up and led the way.

---

The streets were still lively in the afternoon, vendors shouting about the goods they hadn't yet sold. Aside from the patrol soldiers being replaced by players maintaining order, everything looked mostly the same as before.

To avoid causing a stir, Viktor cast an invisibility spell on himself and NeverShowOff before they walked toward the church.

On the way, NeverShowOff explained, "The biggest mercenary tavern in town, The Angel's Kiss, has been under our control for a long time. By choking off the flow of information, and coordinating with players mixed among the NPCs, the commoners barely felt the effects of the coup. Other than the cleanup work being a bit troublesome and time-consuming, there were basically no drawbacks. The town guards had an extremely high desire to surrender. Before we even fought 20% of their forces, they surrendered en masse, so casualties were very low..."

Viktor listened carefully, nodding from time to time. The player casualty data he saw in the system confirmed it.

Of the 47 players who died today, 20 died in the wasteland, likely against the mayor's fleeing armed forces. 3 were casualties in Honeyvale Town. In the actual siege, only 24 players died. Might as well call it a steamroll.

Judging from the reports, once the first defensive line fell, all the conscripted soldiers in the town surrendered in unison.

Combining Apple's intel from the wasteland with NeverShowOff's information from inside the city, he finally understood how the players managed to circumvent the SAN-value system and launch a siege on their own initiative.

As long as the mayor was black-hearted enough, the soldiers surrendered fast enough, and the civilians were properly appeased, the SAN penalty wouldn't trigger at all. When it came to exploiting loopholes, players were professionals.

He couldn't help but praise them. "You all did well."

NeverShowOff let out a long breath. As long as it didn't trigger the faction-leader penalties from the player handbook, he was fine.

NPC authority was really troublesome. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and rubbed his hands restlessly.

"Since we did well, is there a reward? For example, we rescued the siren from the main quest..."

In the end, it always circled back to quest rewards.

Viktor shook his head.

"I'll examine the siren's condition first, and naturally give you your compensation afterward."

NeverShowOff brightened. "Understood!"

Finally, they knew what was blocking the main quest. He quickly stepped aside and pointed at the church doors.

"The siren is inside. I won't disturb you."