| Author: Starving Wind | Original Source: Joara | Word Count: 3946 characters |
| Translator: Anonymouss | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 2489 words |
| Editor(s): Silva | ||
Everyone that had gathered inside the Liverpool castle had stiff expressions on their faces. The only exception to this was the user Knuckle who was standing there dazedly.
He had already been half out of his mind since he had come in here, so even though I didn’t feel sorry at all, a deal was still a deal. Since I’ve got one of the three, it’s only a matter of time before I find the remaining two. Even if he doesn’t know who they are or isn’t willing to co-operate, finding the two remaining people through a secret investigation on him would allow me to find that information easily.
Now then, let’s begin. After breathing in and out lightly, I began the process which will leave a definite line in the history of Blue Sky.
“Unification settings.”
[Camelot is preparing to announce unification.][Please select your range.]
A holographic map of the England server in Blue Sky appeared in front of me, which only I could see. I selected the 5 great guilds that were not part of the Camelot alliance territory.
[Please select the criteria for victory and loss.]As I finished selecting the territories, this time a different sentence came up.
[Please select the victory conditions first.Choose from the following condition. (Can only choose 1.)
Every single enemy user dying 1 time. (Not logging into the game for 24 hours will automatically count as dying once.)
Acquiring every single enemy territory.
Acquiring key areas of the enemies. (Must select at least 5.)
Enemy forces surrendering.]
I chose number 2 on the list. It wasn’t enough just to conquer the key areas that the enemy guilds had control over. To prepare myself for episode 2, I had to make sure I took care of every single problem before moving on.
[Please select your loss condition. Choose from the following conditions. (Can only choose 1.)Every single allied user dying 1 time. (Not logging into the game for 24 hours will automatically count as dying once.)
Loss of every allied territory.
Loss of key areas of the allies. (Must select at least 5.)
Allied forces surrendering.]
I also chose number 2 this time. With this, it would lead us not to conquer just some areas but rather conquer every single territory.
[Detailed setting – Allow participation of mercenaries?]I selected no.
[Detailed setting – Allow alliance to form during the unification?]I also selected no on that part. It wasn’t good for us if the factors changed drastically mid-way.
[Detailed setting – How many days will you set for the procedure of unification?(Minimum 1 day, maximum 30 days)]
I selected 30 days. If the plan for unification passes this time, a draw will automatically be declared on both sides and the unification will be canceled.
So I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen.
[ SS tier quest (Platinum tier), Achieve Victory in the First Unification.Criteria for unlocking the quest:
•First declaration made by the first lord – Satisfied
•Ownership of at least 30% of the territory in the server – Satisfied
•Target of unification must be over half of the server territory – Satisfied
All requirement for completion of the quest is hidden until the quest is activated.]
The quest message which I haven’t seen for some time popped up. Of course I pressed accept on the quest without any hesitation. I didn’t care about the rewards for the completion. It will likely just be some kind of item, EXP or a title anyways.
[All settings have been confirmed. Will you announce the unification of the server?]Finally, the last message came up. I looked around at the others. It seemed like everyone was ready for it.
I stood from the seat and loudly announced.
“From this moment forth, I shall announce the effort in unifying the server.”
[Camelot has announced the unification of the server.]The last system message spread to everyone on the entire server.
Now it was truly a war without any doubt.
Everything from ambush, trap, arson and provocation was all possible. From this moment on, all instant teleportation magic circles between enemy territories turned into ‘unable to use’, so it became an open field war between the guilds.
The war which had been fought only through siege battles in specific castles had now become an all-out war in all territories, so the dynamic had changed completely. Now the war was taking place in a much wider area, and required tactics and strategy.
Though our frontlines could turn out to be spread too thin, thankfully the five guilds did not all join together to form an alliance. They had ended up being unable to come to a decision to join together due to the Zenon guild not participating in the talks. Following this, the Storm guild decided to join the alliance but the guild had already split in half.
“The enemy is unable to form an alliance and have a wide front line to block all of our attacks. If that’s the case, then we should choose this place as our number 1 priority to attack.”
Katalina pointed at one territory on the holographic map of the England server.
Edinburgh.
As the capital city of Scotland, it is regarded as the 2nd most populated city of the United Kingdom. But within the world of Blue Sky, its most notable point was that it was the capital city of the Chaos guild.
Attacking the Chaos guild first and making them surrender? That certainly would be an effective move. Currently, it was the Chaos guild that continued to wage war the longest. That meant that it was the guild that had suffered the most damages.
Once the process of unification had begun, what each of the enemy guilds feared the most was losing their main capital which was the base of their guild. But in Camelot’s case, it was quite different. Even though some of the smaller guilds may complain, the Camelot alliance maintained a high and low relation between each and every single guild under them.
And so if I were to give up on defending one area, though there may be some opposition, the order would continue regardless as we have the command.
However, what would happen in the enemy’s case?
The alliance is formed with equal relation between each guild. Could they really be able to give up defending their own city and direct all of their forces in defending their allies? Even if the guild leader decides to do so, the majority of the officers under him would surely go against that order. Not just against, but strongly against and would even disobey the guild leader.
If that’s the case, not only will the safety of the guild leader’s position be in danger, the whole structure of the guild could fall apart, so obviously they would only send a bare minimum amount of reinforcements for their allies.
If that’s the case, it was great for us to test this theory out by attacking the Chaos guild directly.
“And how were you planning to take care of the provocation from the Tempest and Majesty guilds?”
Though Katalina’s words definitely made sense, we had to make sure that we at least kept those two guilds in check.
Considering that we are aiming for unification, those two guilds were geographically stuck to each other and Liverpool City which was the base of our alliance was right in front of their noses.
“I think I’ll have to leave it to the Sapphire and Empire guild to take care of our defenses for that area. Our front lines will be built to line up with Liverpool, Birmingham, and Bath. This will be achieved in 3 days. For 3 days, you must defend Liverpool from all provocation and attack from those two guilds.”
“I shall do my absolute best.”
“Please leave it to me.”
Eva and Terror stood up after hearing Katalina’s words, and bowed their heads towards me.
“I’ll put my trust in you two then.”
I answered with a small nod of my head.
“Now then, Miss Merlin. I assume that it would be the Volcano guild and Shining guild that would be attacking the Chaos guild?”
Since there would be only two guilds left, as I asked Katalina, I assumed this to be the case.
“No, it won’t be. The only guild that would be on the offensive shall be the Volcano guild.”
“Hmm…”
I sighed in deep thought as I realized that my line of thinking was different from Katalina’s, and the officers also whispered amongst themselves. Of course, it’s not like the size and the forces of the Volcano guild weren’t enough to completely win over the Chaos guild. But to achieve that within the 3-day duration was highly unlikely.
“The Shining guild must be on standby as the Zenon guild and Storm guild may launch an attack. Of course, the other smaller guilds have to help out the Shining guild as well.”
She was right, seeing as while the enemy forces have not created an alliance, they were still against us and though our territory wasn’t right against theirs, there was still the possibility of them taking a detour and attacking us in a roundabout way. It seemed like we did need safety in case of that.
“Though I do see your point, Miss Merlin, if that’s the case, shouldn’t we extend the
length of time in conquering Edinburgh?”
“That’s not possible. With our current saved finances, we must conquer Edinburgh and make the Chaos guild surrender to us within 3 days to earn the maximum amount of profit from the battle. You all know very well that the prosperity gained from every territory resets in 3 days, do you not?”
“I see.”
“You are correct, Miss Merlin.”
She was right, since I had only been thinking about winning the battle and not anything else. This battle was something that we definitely had a very high chance of winning. Though we can’t let that get into our heads too much, we cannot easily give up on the potential profit that is right in front of us. I was definitely sure that if we do not conquer Edinburgh within 3 days, the enemies will reset the prosperity of all the territories.
Then things will get very serious. Once that happened, there would be way too many things that we would need to invest in rather than taking the taxations from every territory. Though Camelot was quite prosperous, it was dangerous to be hit suddenly with so many expenses. The rest of the guilds under our name may not be able to afford all of it.
On top of that, the impression of the Chaos guild to the public had already fallen rock bottom, so it would have been weird if we didn’t take this tactic. If we fail this, not only will our reputation fall heavily, but guild expenses we receive will fall heavily as well, meaning that it would be completely useless.
“And therefore in the battle against the Chaos guild, the lord and I shall personally join the fray. My lord?”
As I was already planning to participate anyways, I nodded and agreed to her plans.
“Oooh…!”
“There should be no problem then.”
“Sounds reassuring.”
As I did so, numerous officers showed their sign of agreement. Now, everyone had decided. The only thing left was to advance towards Edinburgh as soon as the preparations were complete.
“Now then, let us all carry out each of our missions.”
“Yes, my lord.”
All of the officers yelled out in unison and bowed their heads.
As everyone left the place, I found Knuckle standing there feeling extremely out of place. Heh, considering the situation he found himself in, it was the right reaction to have.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Knuckle.”
As I walked towards him, Knuckle, who didn’t know how to react, stood there nervously until I stretched out my hand towards him, to which he bowed his body as if it was an honor and shook my hand.
“I’m glad to meet you as well… Miss Artoria.”
“And who is this person?”
Katalina, who came to me at that moment, asked me with a sparkle in her eyes.
“Ah, he’s the person who said he will be standing at the forefront of this battle.”
“Uhh, well…”
[If you say you don’t want to do it, you’ll find it difficult to play Blue Sky forever.]
“Yes, of course I do.”
“I see! That’s amazing, since being at the forefront would mean you’d be in a very dangerous territory…”
That’s right. It wasn’t just some siege battle, but he was going to be at the forefront of a massive scale battle. Being at the forefront of the battle may sound impressive, but it’s no different than 100% guaranteeing your death at the beginning of the battle which is why Katalina looked at Knuckle amazedly.
Just by taking a glance at him, she could tell he wasn’t that low leveled and knowing very well just how much high leveled players hate dying, she was supportive of his decision.
“But why is it that you are willing to stand at the forefront for the battle?”
“Well, the truth is…”
[I shall reward you 1 million gold, so please say that you are volunteering to go.]
“I… I’m actually volunteering to be at the forefront!”
“Wow! You are really brave.”
“Th… that’s right. That is why I decided to stand at the forefront of the battle wearing nothing but underwear to indicate just how pathetic the enemy army is. Of course, I will be doing this together with my two companions.”
It seemed like the million gold was just the right trick, since Knuckle who seemed to want to back out of this suddenly looked raring to go and made up all the excuses.
On top of that, he’s willing to bring his two companions for it. Everyone’s just greedy for money, aren’t they…
[If you bring those two companions as well, then I shall take 10% off their reward each and give them to you.]“Now then… I’m a bit busy at the moment. I shall see you next time.”
Soon, Knuckle begged for forgiveness for leaving early and disappeared from our sight as he went off to get the two sacrifices from somewhere.
“That’s all your doing, right?”
Katalina’s moved and amazed expression quickly changed to one that said ‘I know everything you’re doing’ at me, asking for an answer.
“Yeah, I guess I could say it’s the result of a trivial bet.”
“But are you really going to make them stand in the forefront in underwear?”
“It should make the enemy quite angry, don’t you think?”
“I guess so… Hehe.”
Katalina couldn’t help but giggle as she imagined what that would look like.
