The audience chamber was massive, clear signs of wealth were arranged tastefully throughout as light shone through the stained glass windows, creating an almost picturesque scene as a majestically armoured female knight stood in front of one of her subjects, surrounded by a crowd all bearing the same crests as hers on their uniforms. However, the scene was deceiving as a tense air permeated the room.

Darius rubbed the stinging pain from his cheek as his Guild master clenched her sore hand as she berated him, "Why couldn’t you have wait for a decision from me before you accepted that quest? Huh?!"

The others who were watching could only cringe as their Guild Master was slowly working herself up into a fury. Her temper was infamous, however as one of the strongest knights in the Rosenheim kingdom, her influence amongst the nobles and players were nearly unparallel.

"Sanya, I-", before Darius could finish he was slapped once again, this time on the opposite cheek.

"You do realise what our guild is currently undertaking right now, don’t you?! You do realise, we are going to face off against the other two guilds soon, don’t you?!", her beautiful face contorting in rage.

"… yes, against the Sunfire and Blood Lotus guilds, I do realise we need to be strong-"

"Then.Why.Did.You.Think.It.Was.Wise.To.Accept.This.Quest", Sanya emphasis each word with a slap across his cheeks.

"…"

"Was I wrong to think that you had something in you? Was I wrong in believing that you could had been one of the vice leaders?!"

"…No, you were not wrong"

"Then why do I not see that now?!"

"…Sanya", Darius looked at her steadily, "This is not just a subjugation quest"

"And what else could it be", she replied sarcastically.

"…This is our chance… our chance to finally surpass the other guilds"

"…Explain", she said curtly.

"Do you know the quest limit for how many players can join in?"

"…"

"It is unlimited"

There was a collective gasps from the surroundings as the words finally filtered into their minds. Unlimited. It meant that you can raise an expedition force that could rival the standing armies of any kingdom.

"Go on…", as Sanya's interest was finally piqued.

"…We can use this event to advertise the strength of our Ica guild, showcasing our might as we conquer the east… and the thousands of players that join the quest… we can then recruit them easily into our guild once they are used to our commands as we fight to retake the region"

"hmmm…"

"We shall appeal to them, make ourselves seem righteous and caring, finishing this quest is like laying the foundation for our future growth…"

"And as we fight, won't we be weakened, won't our hunting grounds be taken over by the other guilds?"

"…We won't leave too soon to do the quest… we will keep recruiting and recruiting… even poaching players from the other two guilds. Sanya… not only will we grow stronger through this… this will also weaken the influence of the other two guilds if we were to succeed".

Sanya grabbed his chin in her hand as she looked into his eyes, "And do you think you can pull this off? After failing in Barran Village?"

"…This time I won't fail", he gazed back in resolve, "I will not disappoint myself again"

"…see that you don't disappoint me instead, Darius. See that you don’t", as she released him.

"I command you, Darius. Come back victorious… or not at all!"

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INTRO SONG: Trust Me

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As Gerhard's enlarged party drew closer to Basterni, they managed to discover one of the outlying patrols that were ranging far and wide trying to keep watch on most of the well known approaches to the village. As soon as the squad leader from the mounted patrol recognised Gerhard, he hastily dismounted and saluted before gawping in silence as he finally noticed the few Elven Warriors that choose to reveal themselves, bows semi drawn with eyes fixed upon him in wariness.

"What is the situation currently in Basterni, soldier?", Gerhard immediately questioned, information of any kind at the moment was vital so that he could plan as soon as possible.

"Centurion, Lord Rommer has recalled many of our garrisons stationed across the regions from their small outposts to the stronghold. The troops are currently being drilled for battle however currently several villages are now without protection… there have been reports of bandit raids"

"…Why weren’t the villagers evacuated to Basterni?", Gerhard began to silently raged. Even Prussia in its dying days evacuated everybody and as much as they could.

"Sire, it is due… to the harvest season", the soldier replied hurriedly as he felt the silent pressure.

Gerhard realised memories from 'that' time had seeped into his emotions and were influencing his thoughts to which he could only struggle to suppress them. 'That's right', he regained his clarity as he thought to himself, 'This world's technology is not the same as our own modern period… each household lives and dies by what they can grow'.

At this moment with Gerhard silently thinking with his head down, the soldier broke out in cold sweat as he stood still in attention. Gerhard snapped his head back up and immediately issued orders.

"Soldier, you are to alert the other patrolling squads to assist in the protection of the villages. Also if need be, help them to harvest their crops and begin transporting the villagers and the supplies to Basterni"

"Centurion?", the soldier hesitated before asking, "How are we to transport the harvests and villagers back to Basterni… also who will keep watch for the invasion?"

Gerhard smiled in appreciation at the soldier, "At least you can use your head. Don’t worry about transport, I shall organise it upon my return to the stronghold. And I have extra set of eyes here to help me out", as he indicated to the Elves.

With understanding, the soldier smartly saluted, "Then I shall hear and obey, Centurion", before returning back to his squad.

"…What is your name soldier?"

The young man paused before turning back around, "It is Aldrik, Centurion"

"Aldrik… I am giving you the temporary rank of Denarion. Make sure my orders are obeyed"

There was a gleam in Aldrik's eyes as he responded forcefully, "It shall be done, Centurion!"

As the figure of the young man and his squad rode off, Gerhard turned to Mist and said apologetically, "As you heard, we are extremely short staffed in the Rosenheim Army", he grinned wryly.

Mist just gave a small smile, "I understand Sainür. After all, we are here at your command"

"Again though… my apologies for putting your warriors straight to work"

To the side, Masumi was making a 'guts' pose as she realised that the Elves will be leaving their group, before assuming a modest expression as Gerhard turned to her.

"Masumi, I need you to lead one of the Elven groups to hunt down the bandits for me. We cannot allow them to keep striking us at will… Masumi?"

To which she hurriedly hid her despondent expression before replying, "Hai Gerhard-sama, I will DESTROY them all!"

"Uh Masumi, I only want you to impede them-"

"Don’t worry Gerhard-sama, I shall return to your side after I get rid of all the distractions… I mean the bandits!", her eyes seemed to blaze with determination… and also irritation. Hidden miles and miles away… the entire bandit camp felt a horrifying shuddering chill went up their spines.

"Masumi…", her sister said worriedly, "I will come along with you"

"Actually Mayumi", Gerhard interrupted, "I need a favour from you"

"??? What would that be, Gerhard-san?"

"The caves you went through… I need you to bring Max back to Serabourg for me. And then please escort his friends as fast as possible back to Basterni"

"…"

"OPIIIII! Why Mayumi?!!", Max's face paled as he quickly private messaged his grandfather in panic, "Wouldn’t Masumi be a better choice?!!"

Gerhard stealthily replied through private message, "Masumi takes responsibilities seriously that is why I choose her to command the Elves. Also Mayumi and you should take this opportunity to work things out"

"Opi, please don’t play cupid!"

"…I don’t know what you are talking about. Oh… please pick a good name for either a boy or girl"

" OPIIIII! WHY ARE YOU SKIPPING SEVERAL PROCESSES????!!!!!"

Mayumi looked at her feet for a moment, then turning to look at her sister before finally making her decision, "O-ok, so I just need to bring him back there and escort the gopher and his friends back?... Wait, what friends?", she eyed Max suspiciously as he suddenly stiffened like a rabbit caught in front of a car's headlights.

"Well", Gerhard explained, "they are his fellow engineering classmates, BROTHERS one and all who will be a great help to us in the coming days".

"Oh, why didn’t Max just say so", Mayumi smiled brightly as she grabbed the frozen arm of Max, "so they are just your Male friends huh, a-na-ta"

Max gulped as he pleaded with his eyes to Gerhard however his grandfather pretended to not notice.

"Oh! Oh!", Lydia pointed her hand up excitedly like it was class, "What about me?!"

"You…", Gerhard coughed, "Hold on to William until we get to Basterni. Do not let go of his hand, ok?"

"…"

William just looked up at Lydia as he patted his tiny hands over hers in comfort.

And so the group separated, each with a different task, as Gerhard now raced along with only a small group of a dozen elves as escort. Before long, they sighted the humble village that surrounded the stronghold of Basterni, the wooden palisade that surrounded the abodes of the villagers were repaired and strengthened in many places while work was ongoing to dig a sizable ditch along its perimeter. But with Gerhard's well trained eyes, he noticed that not enough work was being done… they were desperately short of able hands.

With urgency building, Gerhard knew that all these preparations meant the threat of invasion must be definitely real enough for a person like Ernst to authorise such work. Approaching the stone fort in the centre of the village, as soon as the guards saw him, they opened the gates without ceremony to let him in.

Gerhard was quickly brought to Ernst Rommer, the old man looking up in delight from all the paperwork that was piled across his desk, as he feebly stood up to greet him, his adjutant standing behind trying to convince the old warrior to sit back down.

"My lord", Gerhard saluted smartly, "so it is true then?"

"…Yes", Ernst replied sadly, "It is true"

"What of the kingdom? Will they not send reinforcements?"

There was a long heavy silence before Ernst broke it, "Our enemy IS the kingdom"

"…I think an explanation is in order, Kommandant "

"Yes… I think you do deserve to know the truth… my heir"

*********************************************************************************************

Max trudged along silently behind Mayumi, from time to time words tried to spill from his lips only for him to open and shut his mouth like a goldfish. They were currently travelling under a gorgeous sky, blue in all directions while a gentle breeze caressed their skin as they caught sight of the forest for which they will need to enter once again to access the ancient Dwarven tunnels. For all intents and purposes, it was a perfect day.

And yet Max and Mayumi maintained a certain distance from one another, which caused Max to reminisce and miss those days when she almost relentlessly bullied. As he watched her secretly, Mayumi paused as though checking the direction, using her hand to nonchalantly flick aside a strand of hair back to behind her ear. Every now and then, with her being quiet and demure currently, Max would have thought that she was just a beautiful oriental girl… only when she is behaving though.

However, it made Max realised once again that although they had been travelling together already for an extended period of time… he barely knew anything about her. And Mayumi didn’t ever open up about herself other than playing around with Max or being affectionate towards her sister. All he could do right now was to keep up with the pace that she had set and occasionally steal looks at her as he tried to figure out how to break the awkward silence between them.

Mayumi on the other hand had noticed Max's furtive glances from time to time and pretended to not be aware, her face remaining impassive… however internally she was fretting. 'It is definitely about 'that' isn't it?', she thought to herself as she remembered the impassioned confession Max declared on that day. Travelling together from day to day, setting up camp and speaking only few words only in regards to chores and routine, for once in her life Mayumi cursed the accelerated time system of Royal Road because they had only been playing for a few hours real-time.

She didn’t know how to react around Max any longer, the feeling of confusion coupled by the fact that she was sure that he wanted a reply to his confession only made it more difficult for her to look him in the eye. To her, Max could be classified as a friend, well veering more towards a master servant relationship, however she couldn’t deny that his words caused her heart to accelerate at that moment. Her experience with men can be said to be only limited to her own family members and that of her former fiancé, and it is a fact that Max's public confession of love was a first for her.

But when Mayumi tried to gaze into her own heart… the memory of her ex-fiancé's betrayal surged forth and nearly made it difficult for her to breathe. And what her father tried to do his own daughters… if Mayumi didn’t had the power of becoming the Clan Head, who knew what unreasonableness her father would put them through again. So… who can she trust then? Which male can she ever trust again? Those words, those actions, those scars upon her heart, Mayumi knew that there is no road going forward with Max… and yet why can't she just reject his confession? Just what is she hoping for?

And thus we have this current situation, where neither of them had the courage to speak to one another, one thinking he had made Mayumi misunderstand, and one unsure of how she feels about Max. In other words… they were just clueless kids. And thus they finally entered the forest but at this rate, nothing is going to happen…sigh… therefore introducing divine providence!

"Gyaaaa!", Max squealed in pain as his leg was suddenly being gnawed viciously.

"Max!", Mayumi called out in worry as she fought against several Iron Wolves, distracted from coming to his aid as she was unable to penetrate the hide of the wolves that was as strong as steel.

"Mayumiiiiii!", Max struggled desperately as he was being dragged away along the forest floor, trying to grab a hand hold of anything to arrest his movement.

"Hold on pashiri! I will save you soon!"

For the first time in his life, Max's frustration and anger finally peaked as he cursed vehemently in Austrian, German and a smattering of French as he reached into his backpack and pulled out a quill. Suddenly performing a sit up, he rammed the quill into the wolf's eye as Max shouted, "The pen IS mightier than the sword! BITCH!"

Howling, the wolf unclamped its jaw from Max's leg and swung its head from side to side trying to dislodge the implement, to which Max found a large rock and proceeded to perform a splatter movie scene as he bashed the wolf's head in repeatedly. Only the twitching body was all that remained and the head needed a censored mosaic for all our young audience out there. Breathing raggedly Max turned to help Mayumi… only to be entranced by her sword dance.

She moved like a leaf drifting in the wind and for the first time, Max saw her fighting seriously, a sheath in one hand and her katana in the other. Noticing how effective the blunt attack used by Max was, Mayumi proceeded to strike the skulls of the wolves in succession causing the creatures to have the stun debuff momentarily. But that single moment is more than enough for Mayumi as she either stabbed the wolves through their eyes or as a single wolf was about to painfully experience as it opened its maw aiming for her throat.

She thrust the point of her sword through its opened jaws and directly pierced its brain when she quickly back pedalled before twirling around to dislodge her sword and striking another wolf in the head with her sheath. By the end of it, Mayumi had dealt with twelve wolves, tapping the hilt of her sword to remove the blood prior to sheathing her katana as she turned to look at Max. They both stare at one another before Mayumi's cheeks suddenly puffed up…

"PU…PUHAHAHAHAHA!!!", Mayumi burst out laughing as she pointed to Max, "What was that?! T-the pen is mightier than the sword?! Are you a Chuunibyou!?"

Max could only sheepishly grinned as he realised what he had said, "It just came out! I am always full of cool lines!!", before starting to chuckle along with her… in the end both of them were laughing surrounded by the eerie scene of dead wolf corpses everywhere.

Smiling to one another once they had calmed down somewhat, they quickly treated Max's injury and walked off… side by side.

*********************************************************************************************

Eric wandered the streets of Serabourg in curiosity, truly the first time that he felt that he wanted to understand the inhabitants and the culture of this world. Currently, the red player killer status over his head had long since disappeared, due to a combination of it fading over time and him completing quests designed to do so. Also he had met several people along the way whom he vaguely recognised and apologised to their complete bafflement.

Well it is fair to say they didn’t even realised that it was the former Eric the Red himself, his demeanour having changed so much… also including the fact that he had traded his armour and gear to change his appearance. After all, if sorry could fix everything, there wouldn’t be a need for police and Eric realised if people did recognised him, he would just be forced to kill them again which would defeat his original purpose.

However there was another reason why Eric was in Serabourg today… as he finally arrived at the spawn point for beginners, next to a giant fountain. Nervously, he checked the time that was flashing from the corner of his eye, wondering if he was late before Eric at last caught sight of a familiar beautiful face that was looking about in excitement. Seeing her long wonderful blonde hair twirl and her green eyes that were usually twinkling in mischief was now searching anxiously, Eric felt his heart quickened as he walked stiffly, almost in parade ground fashion till he stood behind her and whispered.

"Elsa… Meine geliebte"

The woman froze before turning abruptly, and became stunned at the sight of her husband standing… actually standing there on his own two feet, with tears coming unbidden from her eyes as she smiled, "Eric…"

Before she could say anything else, Elsa was quickly embraced in a bear hug, shocked into silence as she felt the loving arms of her husband after so long…for so many years she missed this. Slowly, afraid that it was a dream, she felt the strong arms of her husband with her hands tentatively, shocked at the realism that this game provided as she could even vaguely feel the warmth transmitted to her fingertips. Without a care, she clung back in embrace as Elsa began to sob uncontrollably, feeling her back being stroke awkwardly by her husband's clumsy hands which caused her to laugh childishly.

She then raised her tear stained eyes as she scolded him, "What do you think you are doing to a married woman in broad daylight hmmm Mr Elsker?"

With his own eyes red, he responded, "Why just doing what every husband should to his wife, Mrs Elsker"

The surrounding crowds were watching with mouths agape, beginners, long term players and NPCs alike, although the older generations amongst them were just grinning as they all thought the same thing, 'ahhh, young love'.

"Ouch", she complained, "Is that armour you're wearing?"

"Yes, sorry dear", as Eric hastily released her, "its chain mail. It would chafe bare skin if you don’t wear appropriate padding"

"…and why do you need armour?"

"It is that kind of game, Elsa", Eric grinned sheepishly, "If you leave the confines of the city and travel, armour can be said as almost a necessity"

"Well before you go gallivanting in search of adventure, shouldn’t you treat your wife to a date after all these years?"

"With pleasure, my love", as he held her hands with his own, enjoying the feeling that came… before suddenly pulling her close and kissing her deeply.

"Eric!", she finally gasped when their lips parted, "since when were you so brazen?!"

He just grinned as he replied, "Since you came into my life once again"

Elsa didn’t reply as she finally noticed that they were making a scene, trying to avoid the watching eyes of the crowd as she felt her face heating up in embarrassment.

"So… where are our boys now?"

"…they are with your mother, Eric", as she gathered herself together.

"And how was the installation? There wasn't much problems with the setup was there?"

"No, it was just weird as I hadn’t played any games in a long time, let alone this new VRMMORPG thing"

Both of them leisurely strolled together hand in hand, talking about everything and nothing, just enjoying the comfort from being in the presence of one another. Eric took her to a famous restaurant in Serabourg for lunch and as they finished and walked out of the building, he noticed a strange commotion going on.

"Eric, what could possibly be happening?", his wife asked curiously.

"I don’t know…", as he gazed curiously at a table being setup and a line of dozens being formed before it.

Eric stopped a passerby that seemed to want to join the queue as he asked politely, "I don’t suppose you can tell me what sort of event is going on?"

Although the guy seemed to be in a hurry, he still responded civilly, "Didn’t you hear? There has been an outbreak of a rebellion in the east!"

"…In the East?"

Patiently the man responded, "That's right. It seemed that the former head of the Army, Ernst Rommer has rebelled and intends to secede the entire east from the kingdom! It has been major news for the last few days!", pointing back at the queue, "There is currently a call to arms quest for players to join in the expedition to retake the region. You should join in too, they say there is no upper limit for the amount of players to join!"

"…Thank you for the information"

"No worries, maybe see ya around sometimes, big fella!", as the man left the couple and ran to the end of the line to sign up.

"…What is wrong dear?", as Elsa noticed the strange expression on her husband's face.

"Can you give me a moment, darling? I need to check up on a friend"

"Sure… wait, you made a friend?", she asked in shock.

Squeezing her hand to tell her that he was communicating, Eric sent out a private message to Gerhard, "Sir? Are you still in Basterni?"

"…Eric? It has been awhile. And yes, I am still in the region"

"…By that… are you still working for Ernst Rommer?"

"To answer your question… yes I am. Is there something you needed, Eric?"

"Sir… in Serabourg, they are treating the forces in the east like they have rebelled"

"Oh… actually no we haven’t rebelled… we are however been one-sidedly labelled as traitors though"

"Sir, the situation here is actually spiralling out of control. There will soon be thousands of players descending upon the east!"

"Eric… are you in Serabourg?"

"Yes, I am…"

"…I have need of your service, Eric… no… I mean I need your aid"

Looking at his wife helplessly, Eric could only mouthed, "I am sorry", to her to which she could only glanced at him in puzzlement as he said, "What do you need me to do Herr Kommandant?"

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Ending Song: Kore wa Koi

Hi Guys, Shrimp here.

*cough*

I am a bit busy nowadays as my son is back and I have to spend time to look after him while I also need to look for work. Currently I have a few days of work this week on a construction site so please forgive the delays. I am sure you guys can almost feel the climax of this story approaching... it will be amazing... i hope... >___>

Anyway, I am off:

ShrimpSamurai signing off!