| Author: Starving Wind | Original Source: Joara | Word Count: 4257 characters |
| Translator: Anonymouss | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 2801 words |
| Editor(s): Silva | ||
And so after cutting down Stella, we left behind the minimal number of troops for defence of the castle as we swept across the territories surrounding Cardiff, conquering all of them one by one.
Since the military headquarters in which Lucas was leading an attack had fallen, they had lost most of their main forces for defense which meant that it was practically impossible to put up any meaningful and organized retaliation. Though a number of allied troops were sacrificed in order to take down the enemies as quickly as possible, the number of losses we would suffer by making the war last even longer was basically the same anyways.
On top of that, they didn’t expect us to attack as if we wanted to finish everything off in a single night and were taken by surprise. Lucas informed me that we had practically conquered the enemy’s headquarters already and that the remaining forces had scattered to the territories in the surrounding area.
The misfortune that fell upon them didn’t end there. Due to the drug-related incident becoming public, it was being talked about not only in England but in the whole world as a high trending topic.
The incident, which revealed that the leaders of the Tempest guild, which was one of the most prestigious guilds representing Blue Sky in the England server, having used illegal drugs, was slightly edited when it was revealed to the public but nevertheless the viewers were shocked by the disgusting scene in the video. On top of that, the Blue Sky company helped out in full which was a rare occurrence. They took all the login history of users that logged into the game after they had taken drugs and sent the data over to the court.
The famous people of the political sphere which we had planted came out to declare that they will do full investigation for this matter, while the press dug deep into it as well.
This resulted in the leaders of Tempest and Majesty being booked, with Stella also being summoned on suspicion.
On top of that, it was also revealed that they had bribed, evaded tax, and also did various corrupt things which led to the citizens of the whole nation getting enraged at them. This then led to a situation where most of the enemy subordinates who were trying to put up a fight against us became disappointed at their leaders, giving up on the battle and the war and surrendering.
The few leaders who didn’t get charged for illegal activities that were left behind had barely set up a defense line and weren’t able to put up even a single fight as they all crumbled apart. As the winds suddenly changed around in England, numerous similar incidents began to pop up across the whole world inside each of their Blue Sky servers.
It could have just ended as an isolated incident in the England server of Blue Sky, but with the reveal of the drug use incident, numerous similar incidents were revealed in many nations which caused an uproar throughout the whole world.
With incidents across America, Russia, China, Japan, and the majority of the developed nations showing similar drug use logs, it led to the result where dozens of large-sized guilds collapsing all around the same time. The Blue Sky headquarters expressed their pity for the situation and stated that they will make sure that it becomes completely impossible to log into the game at all if the user had abused any illegal substances beforehand.
I then heard the news that because of this situation, numerous mafias and similar violent gangs across the world were now extremely angry towards me for what had happened. Since the damage they suffered through this was huge, I knew it was a natural reaction but I still couldn’t help but feel extremely nervous about that fact.
But each of the agencies that tackle drug use in each of those nations thanked me for shaking the very foundation of the illegal drug market, sending me a note saying they will send every resource and support they could so that my safety is completely assured, which made me feel a little more relaxed. Of course, as someone who already has a level of security that could rival the leader of a nation, I wouldn’t need to worry too much but I still nevertheless could die from any unlucky situation so I needed to be careful.
“Looks like you won’t be able to travel to Russia or China from now on, Ellie.1”
And yet even in this situation, Katalina giggled as she made fun of me lightly. Since it was for certain that Russian mafias and Chinese triads had suffered the most due to the incident, it was definitely way too dangerous for me to travel to either of those nations.
“There’s no real reason for me to go to such a cold place or such a smelly place.”
But I also had no plan at all in going to either of those countries. As I had traveled to both places at least once before, my opinion was doubly certain.
It was because I only have terrible memories in relation to traveling to both of those countries back when I used to go on a backpacking trip pretty often in university.
“Hmm… well if that’s how you think.”
Katalina stopped teasing me after she saw my reaction. Perhaps she noticed I was feeling very perturbed by the mention of those two countries.
“Hehe, come on Ellie, you should lighten up now. It will be all over once we take over that final city.”
I nodded my head as I looked towards the city that Katalina was pointing at. As opposed to the Tempest and Majesty guilds which have practically collapsed already, the Zenon guild kept up a sizable resistance with no relation to the drug incident at all.
Even so, they kept suffering defeat one after another due to our overwhelming forces and aggressive tactics, which led to the result where only their headquarters, the city of Belfast was left.
In terms of the numbers of allied troops that joined us, we had already reached over 150,000. We also had 50,000 ready in reserve as well, so to take over Belfast with only 5,000 troops stationed there was way too easy of a task.
But there was no need for the main forces to step in for this battle. Since the newly joined guild members that had vowed to be part of our alliance had extremely high morale, eager to attack the enemy forces. It seemed like since they had changed their association, they were feeling insecure about their position in the alliance and asked to stand in the frontline for this battle, reaching over 20,000 in number.
I granted their request. There was no more need for the main forces to be harmed anymore, and I needed to test out the ability of the newly joined guild members as well.
Therefore I began the final battle together with the newly joined guild members. Though it wasn’t that much different than previous battles since Katalina insisted heavily that I still brought along the mage corps and healer corps to support me. But in any case, the outer and inner castle walls were captured in a quick siege battle, leading to a battle within the interior of the inner castle.
Worried that the battles within the castle hallways would take too long, I stepped in to take care of it myself and soon faced off with the guild leader of Zenon, ‘Nonsense’, as well as their high-ranked officers.
But their combined forces were no match for me at all since none of them were in the top 10 of the highest-ranked users in the server, ending up as just simple kill points for me with the battle lasting no longer than just three minutes.
Finally, all the forces that were in opposition against me had been massacred. I used the left side exit stairs in the hallway and went up to the upper layer of the inner castle.
In the meantime, Katalina changed the flag that was waving at the Belfast city to one that had the symbol of Camelot alliance on it instead. Glancing at Katalina who gave me a wink, I returned her a smile.
It was the moment that I had been waiting so long for. Though it didn’t actually take that long in terms of time, there were many hardships in between. We had gained new people and cut down many as well.
With this, there should be people who profited from my victory, as well as people who resent me. But for me, I had completely swept aside all guilt and responsibility. This was something that was going to be accomplished by someone in the future anyway, and the simple fact is that it was me that accomplished it. As I had become the final victor in this war, it was proof that my method was the correct one to take.
After coming to that conclusion in my mind, the figurative shackles that had bound me seemed to somewhat fall off a bit.
[The guild members are all waiting for you. Are you going to keep them waiting, you dummy lord?]I heard Katalina’s whisper in my ear, and I smirked in reply. Then I took a strong, powerful stride forward.
Soon, a clear blue sky came into my view, with tens of thousands of guild members crowded inside a large city as well. All these people had been waiting just for me. On top of that, they all seemed to be waiting for my words as the huge crowd all became silent. If it wasn’t for the sounds of birds coming from afar, it wouldn’t have been weird to say that time stopped the moment I came into their view.
“Phew.”
I took a quick deep breath. Even though I was now getting used to giving out orders and speeches, standing in a place like this still felt overbearing to me.
“What do you all feel right now?”
Before I started my speech, I gave out a quick topic for them to answer.
“We’re delighted!”
“We’re happy that the war is now over!”
The ones that liked to be pushy and brave stepped forward and shouted their answers to me. Of course, the majority of the people in the crowd seemed to feel the same way as they all looked to have very bright smiles on their faces.
“Unfortunately, I feel sad.”
Everyone fell silent from my sudden statement. They probably are curious as to what my intentions are. But before that, everyone has doubts about what I’ve just said so I needed to resolve this situation quickly.
“It is because I remember all of the numerous sacrifices from the Camelot alliance as well as the enemy forces, even if they are the opposition. Right now, we have gained the honor to unite the entire server, though the honor is now drenched in blood. Should we really be happy about this?”
The silence in the crowds continued as I had planned.
“We should be modest about it instead. We shouldn’t be arrogant about this achievement, and remember how difficult it was for the path leading up to the unification. I wish for no more internal conflict from now on. I shall make sure that the efforts that everyone has put into this victory shall be fairly rewarded, and that the allied troops that had died from the battles also be rewarded as well. I will also grant complete autonomy to all the neutral guilds and lords that had joined our cause for the war. I swear by my name.”
“Yes, my lord!”
A unified roar of reply rang out throughout the city. They could be simply giving a predetermined answer as they should, but it may also be indicating just how much they will etch my words deep into their heart. Wishing it to be the latter, I opened my mouth again. I needed to give closure to this long war that we fought.
“Everyone, thank you for all the help you’ve given and I shall now announce that from today forth, the quest for the unification of the server has been completed!”
[Congratulations. The Camelot guild has achieved victory in unifying the server.][A bonus of 50% experience points will be rewarded to every single guild member.]
[A bonus of 5 stat points will be rewarded to every single guild member.]
“Whoa!!”
Finding out the huge reward they received via system message, shouts of excitement rang across the city. With my personal quest log becoming renewed, I also received numerous messages of rewards that I’ve received through the completion of the quests. Even I couldn’t tell just how many rewards I could have received in total when counting all of the individual quests related to the war that had come to a completion.
Numerous shafts of light from the sky came down to many individuals on the ground indicating that they’ve all leveled up from the rewards they have received. Of course, I was also one of such people that had leveled up as well, basking in the warm glow of light as it shined down on me.
[The Camelot Alliance Guild has been promoted to the Camelot Kingdom.]Another system message that reached every user rang out.
[‘Artoria’ has received the title of Queen2 for the first time in the entire server. Accordingly, every single guild member will receive additional 100% experience points3 as well as 10 bonus stat points.]“Whoooaa!!”
Yet another roar of excitement rang across the grounds. With it, yet another bright shaft of light shined down on everyone. As opposed to the previous one where only some guild members received the shaft of light, this time it was given to everyone at once which was a grandiose sight to witness.
[With the acquisition of the ‘Queen’ title, ‘Artoria’ has been given the approval to rule over the neutral city of ‘London’.][Will you appoint ‘London’ as the capital of the kingdom?]
Without even needing to think twice, I clicked the ‘Yes’ button. I guess I’ll now say goodbye to the lord title which I had borrowed from Katalina.
Just as I thought, there was a reason why the city of London wasn’t able to be fully conquered, which had revealed itself here. I’ve assumed this ahead of time somewhat but now that I was suddenly given the ownership, I couldn’t be happier. I wasn’t just someone with the title of lordship, I had now become a true owner of a city. Of course, I could have easily gained the title of ownership of a land if I wanted to, but it felt a little pitiful for me as the lord to ask for a piece of land, and for me who had reassured myself by reminding that I had a castle in the sky to myself already, getting to own the entire London city was a huge jackpot for me.
“I have new information that I need to tell you all.”
It was because I felt that I really can’t just stop here at this point. Since it is known by most already, I judged that it would be better to just reveal it to everyone here and now.
The crowd began to calm down from my call and looked up at me again. Once I felt that everyone was properly looking up, I continued my statement.
“Just then, as a reward, the neutral city of London has been given over to me. I wish to share this great news with you all.”
Everyone cheered loudly for a moment hearing that I now own the city of London, but then soon quietened down to look up at me with anticipation in their eyes. Looking at them all, the slight amount of hesitation that I had in my mind disappeared. I had already taken the steps towards the direction that I wanted, and I felt that it was already amazing that I had come this far. I honestly wasn’t aiming for any particular profit, and in any case, I had a huge amount of wealth stored already. It meant that there wasn’t any particular need for me to relate ownership of London with my need for money. But considering that I was hesitant even just a little bit at the last second meant that as a human, I still have some greed left in my heart. Even so, I was not willing to lose to that greed.
“I declare that from now on, the city of London shall be ‘Tax-Free’.4”
