Author's Note:

A new beginning! And we're out of the city once again! By the way don't ask me who those conspirators are. I was thinking of a beginning for a new chapter (before they got combined) and thought this up but Hawk and Monthu were whispering there. After a bit of thinking I decided it was a bit strange for them to meet in a place like this and created two random characters who showed up to be quite malicious. That left me with a conspiracy underway without even knowing who created it and aimed at who. So good luck trying to figure that one out :D I have an invisible but very tasty cookie for the one who actually matches what is going to happen. Right now it's very up to debate (between my mind and Ace. He usually finds a way to foil my great plans like in chapter seven where he was supposed to win by his magic instead of the random fake of weak rogue kid...)

Btw thanks xion930 for pr :)

****

The city was in an uproar. Victims of Silver Wing were mobilizing and creating their own faction! That was unheard of. How could those beggars have enough money and what did they believe to achieve without having a copper?

It was stupid beyond belief but more and more players joined their ranks. Almost a fifth of the city’s population had met the infamous monster and now wanted revenge at all costs, poverty to them meant nothing. But even a bigger surprise was the support gained from the Npcs. All the nobles who heard about the new guild came to express their joy and promised to help in any way they could.

That led to all the best quests becoming available only to the guild members without any means of oppression. No other faction or alliance could come and destroy the quickly growing Draugar of Silver as that would make them the public enemy, and no Npc would ever give them a quest higher than level E which were the worst fetch quests.

Romeo was very busy being in the middle of everything. He had to take care of all the eager to join players, provide help for the recently killed, get money somehow and visit the nobles to gain their support.

To ease the workload he had made some of those he had gotten close to his officers. That helped but he probably should get a few more to be able to get a minute of sleep.

He had divided the guild into five divisions. The fifth was called Living as it consisted of players that were afraid of Silver Wing without even actually meeting him. The rest of the guild looked down on them but they brought in money and couldn't be refused.

The fourth, Spirits, were all those that had met the murderer. All of them and those above wore a necklace with a Silver Wing as their sign.

The third group was named Runners because of the thing they did. No, they weren't messengers. They were officers and had so much work that a simple walk was never enough.

And then was he - the leader, and supposedly, the owner. He had talked with Ace later and convinced him to pretend to be a normal member to save the guild's face. Of course that was said in prettier words so the kid couldn’t understand and just agreed.

It was a gift from heavens that the child was so trusting and easy to manipulate. 'Let's hope those friends of his don't corrupt him' Romeo prayed accepting another low risk, high reward quest from the goldmine as he called this guild.

Romeo had nothing to fear as Ace was the one doing the corrupting.

"Hey! It's going to be fun! Par tell him that!"

"No means no" Monthu said, his eye twitching.

"But how can we miss such an event? It's happening only once half a year! And I'm not even asking to participate!" Ace said pouting, his best puppy dog eye look on.

"Please brother! We've never been to any tournament!" Par said, his eyes pleading.

"You guys..." Monthu said his eyes searching for help but his childhood friends were pretending not to see anything leaving him to deal with the two children.

"We won't go anywhere without you!" Ace promised.

"I'll spend time learning math at home!" Par said trying to persuade his brother.

"What's so good about it anyway?"

The kids sensing a chance started to explain together at the same time.

"Best fighters..."

"And mages..."

"...go against monsters…"

"...use amazing skills..."

"Epic battles! They have..."

"I heard they'll have a phoenix! And a...!

"Fireworks!"

"Yeah and musicians!"

"Enough! Enough!" Monthu said holding onto his head. "I get it. Fine we'll go but neither of you can take a step away from me!"

The kids nodded and high-fived each other. They did it!

Hawk and Aurora were looking wide eyed. 'When did Monthu allowed Par anywhere? There was something wrong with it.'

"Do you think he's okay?" Aurora asked quietly.

"I don't remember him going down on his word no matter how much Par pleaded..." Hawk said whispering.

"Neither do I. You sure it's him and not some evil twin?"

Hawk laughed. "Can't say for sure, but I hope so. Maybe he can't deal with a pair of kids almost going on their knees before him?"

"I really hope so" Aurora said pretending to be looking to the other side. "This way we could actually see something more beside monsters and get to sleep in a bed."

"Have you noticed how long we've stayed here already? Before we never passed a one night visit."

"Now that you mention it... I think I should thank all the gods for Ace. He's our saviour!"

"Pff... It's not like he's doing it for us" Hawk said annoyed and changed the topic. They had had enough arguments whether Ace was a spawn of the devil or not.

~Five hours later~

"The final match is about to take place! So return to your seats and prepare yourselves for an amazing battle where two masters will test their skills against the other! It is the beast master Zeleo with his mountain lion Amanda against the axeman Kalin! Both of them had seen countless battles and now will compete for the prize of ten thousand gold and the city lord’s favour! That's not a prize to look down on folks! And here they are coming in! Prepare yourselves!" the spokesman hollered.

"I'm so tired of his voice!" Aurora said pretending to cover her ears but none paid any attention to her.

Ace and Par were looking at the ring with fixated eyes. Nothing else existed for them. Monthu was smiling, noting his brother's happiness while Hawk was debating with a person to his right who was going to win. Although it was hardly a debate as they both said the beast master was going to destroy his opponent.

Gong sounded signalling the start of the match and both competitors jumped at each other.

The dwarf axeman Kalin blocked both attacks of lioness and her master with ease. He'd entered the tournament for a single reason to win the favour and lead the punitive force quest. It was scheduled to be announced today and the connection could be made even by an idiot. Money was always a good thing but to him a level 230 ten thousand gold weren't the world. In the amount of time required to participate here he could have gained a lot much favour and gold. A whole month in this bard city...

A piercing scream of agony left the lioness lips as the axe embedded into her front leg. Blood splashed on Kalin's beard but he was used to it. He blocked the claymore from the beast master and counter-attacked with a dagger hidden in his belt. Cheap trick but it surprised his opponent long enough for Kalin to hit him with his giant axe and finish him off.

"And here it is! The finishing blow! Kalin the axeman! Our victor!" the spokesperson shouted while the crowd applauded.

The tradition required for the winner to come over to the lord's seat to receive his prize and a trophy.

On the other side of the stadium Par and Ace were bashing down the fight.

"He was cheating!"

"I can't believe he's been so high level all this time!"

"Such a liar!"

The battle was quick and boring leading to the children's disappointment. They expected to see an epic fight but got a thirty seconds long clash with an obvious difference in skills.

"That was so unfair of him to join"

"Yeah..." Par said agreeing. "Let’s go out of here. I don't want to see him again."

The whole party accepted his suggestion as the competition was already over and was about to stand up when a loud yell interrupted them.

"Whaaaaat? What do you mean it's been chosen? Who's the bastard that stole my quest? Tell me!" Kalin screamed at the top of his lungs, his face beat red.

"Calm down, sir" the city’s lord said in a soft but commanding voice. "The general was chosen by a very respectable noble and it wouldn't be in your best interests to make a scene here in front of everyone. Calvin!"

"Yes, my lord?" a middle aged man answered, appearing beside the seat.

"Call out for our chosen one. It's as good time as any to call him and announce his mission."

"Of course, my lord." The servants back straightened and he took out a rolled piece of paper from which he started to read out.

"From the beginning of our kingdom Castle Vascas belonged to us humans but not too long ago a horde of goblins invaded it, killing all inhabitants and taking it for themselves. That is unacceptable! The city’s lord has declared that the castle will be reclaimed and a best suited person must be chosen for that job. The nobility has already selected an adventurer. It is Sctyheman Monthu! Although he's not widely known his abilities to lead are unpaired. May the person show himself if he's present!"

Monthu stood up uncertainly looking around but everyone else was sitting. 'What is going on here? I never asked for it' Monthu wondered taking a few uncertain steps towards the stage.

"Come over here young man!" the lord said with a bright smile, forgetting all about Kalin who was boiling with rage. 'How could this shy guy steal something like this from under my noise? Wait, what if I beat him before the crowd? Maybe it's a test for my resolve?'

"You incompetent idiot! You can't lead the glorious army in Oradin's name while not even having the courage to fight in a tournament!" he said raising his axe for a clean kill but to his surprise the man blocked it and entered a defensive stance. His outlook changed too. 'He's feeling more at ease now aware of the difference in our levels than facing a lord? Just who is he?'

Kalin was drawing all the wrong conclusions there. Monthu was reluctant to come closer as that meant accepting a quest he didn't want but now that the winner attacked him he could fake weakness and lose the quest. But that didn't mean he was going down from the first hit. He had some pride on him too.

"Guards! Guards!" the lord shouted pointing to the axeman. "Lock him in a prison for a week or two. He has threatened your lord!"

"I didn't do anything of the like!" Kalin tried to defend himself but the guards weren't taking notice of his words. An order was an order.

"Swinging your sword before my head is pretty dangerous. You should be happy I'm so nice and only lock you up for a few weeks!" the lord said smiling and turned his attention back to Monthu. "Now that the interruptions are over I'd like to get to business. Will you create an army and retake the Vascas castle for the Oradin kingdom?" his voice was soft but full of authority and power. No surprise he was a city lord even at the age of twenty five.

Ting!

New Quest: Retaking Vascas Castle

Many monsters roam around the kingdom but before now none tried to steal it from humans. A few months back goblins with a surprising level of intelligence took over a castle, shocking all the kingdom. It was a big offence and cannot be tolerated.

Together with other adventurers go out and retake the castle for Oradin.

Quest level: C

Time limit: must be finished before the next king meeting half a year from now.

Quest cannot be refused

'But I don't want it!' Monthu wanted to refute but kept his cool. It wouldn't do any good to show his distaste for the quest.

"I'll do everything I can to regain it" he said calmly going down on his knee. 'It seems I'll have to do it anyway and bring Par along but how did I even end up here?'

"Lovely! Then take your group along and come to my castle, I'll explain more things in detail" the lord said clapping in joy and taking his leave in a graceful manner.

*You have accepted the quest Retaking Vascas Castle!*

Monthu followed the lord’s lead and left the dais to go back to his group who looked at him with stunned expressions.

"What did you do when we weren't looking?" Aurora asked. "Saved a princess? Stopped an assassination? What could you possibly have done to gain such a reputation in a single day?"

"Brother is amazing!" Par said with a proud smile.

"How did you manage it?" Hawk asked amazed just like the others.

The quests you get heavily rely on your fame and reputation in the right circles. The biggest problem was that you gained little fame for doing menial quests but you couldn't get anything good until you did a million of those. Only players looking for an emperor's crown pushed themselves that far and a few other who did it for reasons only known to them.

"This is such a great opportunity for us to gain fame too as we'll be among the leaders with you" Hawk added happily.

"Truthfully I have no idea what is going on" Monthu said with distaste. "Unlike you think, I haven't been doing anything and my fame is at the meagre 200 as it was before."

"What do you mean? This event was meant to find a champion for the punitive force! You'd have had to have at least a few thousand or more for it to be given to you without any competition!" Hawk said not believing.

"See it for yourself" Monthu said opening his status window for all to see.

Status WindowNameMonthuAlignmentChaotic GoodLevel74ProfessionScythemanTitleNoneFame200Health2982Mana193Strength173+50Agility170+50Wisdom10Intelligence17Stamina70Luck15Leadership25Attack142Defense50Magic Resistance0%

"Then how could you have been given the quest?" Hawk asked in disbelief. Monthu wasn't lying about his fame so what was going on here?

"That's what I've been telling you. There's something fishy about all this"

"Well, it’s not like you can refuse it" Ace said, shrugging. "You have already accepted it and we'll gain nothing by contemplating the mystery, only annoy the lord who's waiting for you if I heard right.”

"Shoot! That's right! We must go and hear what the lord has to say."

"We're meeting a city lord? That’s great!" Aurora said with her eyes alight. In rich houses there were a lot of religious symbols like statues, paintings and clerics’ faith rose from it allowing for stronger healing and offensive spells.

"Let's go!" Par said and was about to march off when Ace shook his head.

"I'm not going. There's no reason for all of us to be there and in that time I can collect a lot of useful information. I'm sure we'll have to gather the players and leave soon enough so every bit of information would work in our favour"

"Why are you so concerned about my quest?" Monthu asked with suspicion.

"It's our quest. I'm part of this group and you're not leaving Par behind so we're all going there. And I don't want to die which makes me go visit a library and find something useful while you go and chat with a lordling" Ace said. That of course was not the main reason, but the group had no need to know it.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Fine then. Let's go" Monthu said and with Par beside him marched off towards the castle, Aurora and Hawk following. Ace was left alone for the moment.

Two pair of eyes followed the group of four who entered the lord's private room.

One of them belonged to sir Elimas. He feared what he was going to see, but the first impression wasn't that bad.

The guy wielding a scythe was surprisingly normal looking with well-made and taken care of chain armour. His face was calm and collected without any trace of smugness. Was he an innocent party here?

His group consisted of an impossibly white female cleric, hawk like archer and a little kid in a mage's robe. How could a man be a monster with a child following him?

"Welcome to my study. This here is my trusted advisor who helped in choosing you for this mission. Will you introduce us to the lady?" the lord spoke up in a charming voice, his eyes locked on Aurora whose cheeks warmed up.

"This is my friend Aurora, beside her is Hawk and my little brother Paradox. Also we have another member Ace who's busy at the moment."

"Is he now?" the lord asked with a slight smile, redirecting his attention to Monthu who didn't even blink meeting it. "You sent by the god’s are so untrustworthy... Always disappearing at the wrong time" he said shaking his head lightly as if in sorrow.

"Ace is trustworthy!" Par said with anger in his voice.

"So how do you explain his absence now?" the lord asked in an amused voice which made Par become even angrier.

"He's smart! He knew that there's no need for all of us to be here and he could spend his time researching! That would be more of use!" Par said defending his friend.

"So there's no point in seeing me although I made a very specific request? That's a first" the lord said amused. "Just as well. We'll have a meeting if you manage to successfully retake the castle."

He took out a parchment and handed it to Monthu. "It contains all information about the goblins we managed to gather up till now. There's not much but should get you through the beginning. You must leave at the end of the week as the travel requires a few weeks and the castle must be brought back to our rule as fast as possible. If you can't do it till the next king meeting Oradin will lose a lot of reputation and at best you will be thrown out of the kingdom. Everything's clear?" the lord asked in a sweet voice.

Monthu rolled his eyes at the threat. "Yes"

"Great! You're free now! Come back with good news. Oh and you can hire five hundred adventurers to your help!" with that the lord motioned his hand and his advisor opened the study's door leading them out.

On the way out Monthu asked him a question. "Why was I chosen although I have nowhere near sufficient amount of fame?"

Sir Elimas nodded in understanding. It was just as he had expected, this guy was randomly chosen and was an innocent party. That could only mean the scarf wearing guy wanted to prevent Kalin from gaining the quest. What could possibly be so scary about that axeman? Or was it personal revenge?

"You as a candidate were presented by one of the counsel members and then chosen worthy by your characteristics. We have faith in your abilities so don't disappoint us" he said without any real hope of him succeeding. He might be a true warrior and not some fake but his level was way too low to make an army of good quality to listen to him while army of beginners would never take back the castle.

"Who could have suggested me? I've just recently come to this city and haven't done a single quest yet" Monthu said. He just couldn't understand what was going and it was eating him from the inside.

"Maybe you impressed someone else then, some important adventurer or a high noble in another city?" Sir Elimas asked, fishing for answers.

"I haven't done anything of the like" Monthu said with a thoughtful expression. Then he had an idea. Only one person always did whatever he wanted and seemed to make him do it too. There was no other explanation. 'But isn't this a bit too high even for him? How could he possibly manage to persuade a whole committee of nobles to choose me?'

"You seem quiet. Have you figured it out?"

"No, but I think I'd be better off not knowing. I have a bad feeling I wouldn't like it at all" Monthu said cryptically and left the castle with his friends in tow.

/Where are you?/ Aurora messaged Ace.

/Library and I found a lot of useful information here/ Ace wrote back reading another book. /How much time were we given?/

/One week from today we must leave. Do you have any suggestions?/

/Well, you can start looking for players now or tomorrow after I've finished my research and would know what we'll face/

/Isn't it goblins?/ Aurora asked not finding it needing more information.

/We're not going to just fight them. They'll be barricaded in a castle which has from one to five defensive walls, which might be on a hill, surrounded by water or against a mountain. And each of these scenarios requires a different army set up for the highest chance of success. In the end it all depends on Monthu, how he wants to go at it - trusting luck or information/ Ace answered baffling Aurora. She expected it to be just another battle with people and goblins bashing at each others heads but Ace was telling her it was going to be far from that.

"Ace says he's collecting information about the castle and advises to start recruiting tomorrow when he has found enough to help in choosing the finer points of our army" she said to the guys.

"That's a good idea" Monthu said at the same time as Hawk. They nodded at each other in acknowledgement while Par looked at them uncomprehending.

"But it would be well for us to advertise it. What do you think?" Hawk asked. "If we do it today, they could have time to think it over and decide whenever they're going to follow you or not."

"It's better than doing nothing" Monthu said agreeing and they went to a scribe. In a few hours their poster was put on a notice board at the city's centre.

Some interested players went to check it out.

A group of goblins with their faces twisted in obnoxious smiles were drawn. They looked even worse than in reality and were just asking for a beating.

~Do you want them to rule your kingdom?~ was a single line written at the top of the paper.

It wasn't asking players to fight for their land, their leader or greater good. The reason given was to be able to tell where you're from without being looked down on. The shame of defeat wouldn't rest only on the leader's shoulders but the whole kingdom would suffer the consequences and it was up to all the present players to decide what was more important to them. Pride? Or their future?

***

The new day was welcomed by a sight of two players conversing secretly in an alley.

"Are you sure he'll be there?" one of them asked.

"Yes, he's among the leading party. You'll have no problem getting to him" the other answered with a vengeful smile.

"Is it really worth all the trouble?" the first one asked doubtfully.

"Yes, you'll understand once you see him. This world hasn't seen anything like that and he must be suppressed as fast as possible" the second answered with eyes full of hatred.

The man nodded and left with a dark cloak over his face, the other stayed a bit longer and then left too.

***

Monthu, Hawk and Ace met as the sun rose in a small inn that had no travellers to listen in on their conversation.

"So what did you manage to learn?"

Ace blinked a few times to gather his thoughts. To stay up all day and night long reading all of the most boring books ever was quite tiresome.

"The castle was built against the mountain and is only accessible from the front. It is protected by two walls and has an internal water system so they'll never run out of it or food which was stored there by humans. It is said that the storage was always kept full and can hold enough food to feed its inhabitants for more than a year. That leaves only brute force. There were a few secret tunnels made so hiring some rogues might be good idea. Also one of the few survivors in his report mentioned that the goblins were acting mightily suspiciously months till the attack yet the nobles didn't do a thing. But the most surprising thing was that goblins were using basic fighting strategies. That baffled all the commanders and the castle fell”

"Is that all?" Monthu asked to make sure.

"Yes, that's pretty much all I managed to gather" Ace answered yawning and shook his head to stay awake. "I'm done for now, my only suggestion is getting a few rogues or assassins. I should be back before we have to head out."

"Why do you play so against yourself? Staying up for days and then sleeping like a dead?"

"Because that leaves no time to be with myself" Ace said in a tired voice and with another yawn logged out leaving the two to do the rest of the work.

"That's so nice of him to leave everything to us" Hawk muttered under his breath.

"Would you have preferred his night in the library?" Monthu asked, already knowing the answer.

Hawk shook his head laughing a little. Everything was better than having to do paperwork in a game.

Together the two of them walked to the main square where they planned to look for recruits.

Monthu walked to the platform where the day's bard was performing and waited for him to finish his song, then he jumped up and loudly announced

"All those that want to join the army sent for Vascas castle come to me to sign up."

That took up players' attention and they started to fire questions.

"What are the level limits?"

"Why should I follow you?"

"Aren't you a low level yourself?"

"How did you manage to get this quest?"

"Do you accept only three types or are bards also welcome?"

Monthu rose his voice to shout over the noise. "We'll be hiring all kinds of classes and levels doesn't matter too much unless there will be too much people. Reward is fame and familiarity with kingdom as always. No experience is given but you'll get it by killing large amounts of goblins. It's up to you to choose if it is better keep up to your pride or work under my command and gain huge amounts of otherwise hard to raise statuses."

That said he walked down leaving the stage to a stunned bard and sat down on a fountain with Hawk beside him.

"You always manage to make everyone who doesn't join you look bad"

Monthu smiled slightly. He learnt to get people on his side from an early age and it was a useful trick. It never had disappointed him.

Soon enough a group of players came up to them.

"Are you the one leading the army?" a female in a heavy armour asked.

"Yes, would you like to join?"

"Yes, we'd like to aid in your quest. Our party consists of level 70 fighter" she said pointing to herself and then continued with other members. "Level 57 rogue, 69 swordsman, 50 healer, 67 and 68 mages. And we're not leaving our rogue behind. We're going all or none" she said finishing in a defensive note.

"That is fine. We've been planning on getting some rogues anyways. Do you wish to help reclaim the castle?" Monthu asked sharing the quest and each of them accepted. "We'll be heading out on the morning of the sixth day whenever we get enough people or not. Be prepared to leave at once. If you need any additional information contact Hawk beside me."

"What? Why me?" the aforementioned guy asked surprised.

"Aurora is babysitting Par, Ace collected all the info, I'm hiring the army and will have to create a battle plan. Don't you think you should do something too?"

"Pff... Fine" Hawk said agreeing. Explaining things was a gruesome work but at least better than any other suggested. He exchanged contacts with all six players and they all left promising to be back on time.

After them a few more groups came and joined their cause. In the evening they had around fifty players. It was quite poor compared to how many they needed and the first day usually brought the most applicants. Their future looked grim to say the least.

"We need to do something!" Aurora said loudly over her meal. "There's no way we can win with even lower forces than was allowed."

The two guys nodded but didn't have any ideas how to win over more players.

"Have you put it online?" Par asked suddenly.

"On the forums?" Hawk said.

"Yeah! I remember Ace saying he always looked through it to make sure he was still allowed to go everywhere he wanted" Par said explaining his thought process.

"That's a great idea!" Aurora said agreeing. "Some might even come from nearby cities! I'll do it right now!"

Monthu nodded and they all logged out for a time being.

- Five days later -

"So do we have everything we need?" Ace asked just logging back.

"Look who decided to show up" Hawk said with disdain in his voice.

"What's eating you?" Ace asked with a raised eyebrow. He had taken a long rest without any interruptions and it showed in his good mood.

"You should have to try explaining everything to five hundred people! And each of them wants to get all the details by themselves! Can you imagine it?"

Ace shrugged smiling a little and walked away leaving the tired archer alone. There were lots of people crowded near the gates chatting and laughing. It would have been impossible to find anyone unless you were looking for leaders. Monthu, Aurora and Par were standing surrounded by dozens of players asking them all kinds of questions concerning the travel.

"Hey!" Ace shouted and ran to Par who smiled at that.

"Ace! Have you heard the news?" the little mage asked excitedly.

"Which ones?" Ace asked puzzled. There hadn't been any major events happening, had there?

"You've been made the rogue captain! You have twelve thieves and assassins under your command!"

"Really?" Ace asked redirecting his gaze towards Monthu who just nodded. "Do they know they'll have to follow me?"

"Your problem" Monthu said with a slight smile, turning away.

'He'll get it one day...'Ace thought laughing. He knew it was revenge for throwing this quest on his head, but that didn't mean Ace would let it slide past without retaliation.

"Is everyone already here?" he asked turning his eyes back to Par and Aurora.

"I believe we were waiting only for you. We should head out soon." Aurora said looking around.

"Yeah" Par said agreeing and chatted on relaying all the news. "Monthu is taking care of all the melee classes, Hawk archers while Aurora has clerics and mages under her wing. We have two hundred fighters; around a hundred healers and the rest are either mages or archers. Oh and your rogues and some bards, dancers. Also the lord sent a scribe to record the battle and fifty warriors to defend him that Monthu can order around! There is..."

Ace listened to him with one ear while catching bits and pieces of others' conversations. They all seemed happy and excited for an upcoming adventure. To Ace's relief none showed any signs of anger or disgust so his try at seeing a castle siege will probably work out. 'Great!'

That only left explaining to a bunch of rogues they will have to follow the orders of a kid. Of course he could use force and show off his skills but that went against all things an assassin should do in his mind. 'What fun...?’ Ech he had some time to figure it out till they got to the battleground.

Not wasting any more time the army marched off in high spirits. They took plenty of time to rest and hunt for food so it took them two full weeks to reach the castle and establish a base preventing goblins from taking a step out of their home.

The surrounding forests were very green and full of small game. A nearby river made it a perfect place to launch an extended assault from. The next morning after settling in, it was time for Ace to meet his group. Rogues had been restless all the time asking who their assigned leader is so there was no longer any way of dodging the responsibility for Ace. The battle was about to begin. In more ways than one too.

Ace told Hawk to tell all the rogues to come to a secluded clearing in a forest saying they'll meet their leader there. All twelve of them were surprised but went along with it and showed up at the designed place much to Ace's dismay. 'It would have been so much easier if they were simply okay without having anyone to account to.'

Ace revealed himself while standing on a low branch. It was always better to have a way to look down on your subordinates as it gave you a sense of control and power even if it was fake.

"Hello there! I heard you were looking for someone to order you around?" he asked in a taunting voice.

Now he could take a better look at his unfortunate subordinates. Unlike him they were wearing leather armour, the colour of dust to blend in among the dungeon walls, only a few had dark brown or greenish colours that went well outside. And there was only a single female.

"Scram off kid. I've seen you tagging along the general but we have no time to play with you" one of them said, cutting Ace’s train of thought. 'This is going to take a while...'

"There's a problem with that, I've been assigned to show you around."

"You? A kid? Don't talk nonsense!"

"Are you even a rogue?" they asked, annoyance clear in their voices.

"For your information yes I am and a quite successful one at that if I'm here" Ace said with a sneer. It transformed his light childish face into one of a spoiled brat’s, looking well placed with his richly made everyday clothes that had absolutely no defensive capabilities.

"And you expect us to believe it? Your loaded daddy put you here, didn't he?"

*Deception successful +12%*

"And what's that to you? My father could buy you all out and not even notice" Ace said, his sneer still present, infuriating all the rogues even more.

*Deception +12%*

Sometimes blatant lies worked wonders too.

Ace's body moved to catch the dagger before he could even react to it being thrown. It meant two things - the angry rogue was much higher level than Ace but his [Evasion] was superior.

"Is that your answer?" Ace asked twirling the dagger in his hand. He threw it up and caught again with another hand. "Do you really think you'd just kill me and walk away unscathed?"

"I don't care! I'm not following a brat playing rogue just because he has money. This is a game and only skills matter!" the daggers owner said in a deadpan voice that should bring no arguments.

That of course didn't apply to Ace.

"Is that so?" he asked tauntingly once again. "You think money has no value here? Don't make me laugh! There's not a thing you can't buy! Skills too" Ace said throwing the dagger back at its owner and jumped down right before him. "Come at me! Test me with your oh so great self learnt skills."

"I'm not going to kill a kid even if he's as infuriating as you!" the man said, not taking out his weapon and going against what he did just a minute ago.

'I really wish I could throw that skill deep down into the abyss! Now it's even destroying my work!' Ace though with hatred. The ability [Childish Innocence] not only kept monsters away from him but made him look younger and more vulnerable in the players' eyes.

"Are you scared you'll make fun of yourself unable to defeat a kid? That would be something you couldn't live down, wouldn't it? That's just sad. Is there anyone a bit braver here then? Or is this a bunch of chickens scared to even raise their weapons? Maybe I should tell Monthu to fire you all as useless... That seems like a good idea" Ace said twirling the end of his scarf and turned around as if leaving.

*Deception successful + 5%*

*Deception failure -7%*

But that snapped one of the players' nerves and he attacked from the back. Ace evaded it with ease and without taking out his own weapon danced around his opponent. His small frame allowed for many quick movements and it was literary child's game to remain unscathed.

After some time the rogue got frustrated and started to fight seriously using all kinds of skills. It was a dangerous game but Ace liked to play with fire. It brought excitement to a boring life so he continued to dodge the attacks without taking out his own dagger.

A few close calls made his heart go racing but beside pink cheeks and his hair getting even more dishevelled nothing happened. The others were quite amazed even if they pretended not to be. Neither of them would dare to do anything as stupid as this. A hit wouldn't be deadly but it'd hurt enough not to try it again.

"What are you trying to prove kid?" the previous man asked.

"Me?" Ace asked laughing while rolling away to dodge two daggers thrown where he had been standing just a second ago. "I'm just playing around because that's all I know" he said twisting his body to avoid getting his waist sliced.

"This changes nothing. The fact that you're quick on your feet doesn't make me want to follow you at all"

"That is of no importance" Ace said with a bitter smile. "My father will buy me a whole army next time if I just feel like it" There was a strange note in his voice that could only be attributed to a much older person. It was a deep hatred for humanity and life itself, prevalent only in people who have seen the worst of the world. Corners of Ace's eyes started to shine but he brushed it off with a back of his sleeve offhandedly. It hadn't slipped through anyone's eyes.

Now none knew what to do. The attacker stopped his fruitless work and stood quiet among others, silently brewing with shame.

"Why do you want to lead us anyway?" the high level player asked finally.

"And why not? Would you die from shame if I told you to go and scout a few times?" Ace asked with anger colouring his voice. He was trying to regain his tough act but it didn't fool anyone.

*Deception +12%*

Ace smiled inwardly, it was already won.

They asked him a few more alike questions and he kept his high act which resulted in them agreeing to follow him. He had to get his every order approved by Monthu and so on but now he was a fully accepted leader. The fact that it was out of pity for a lonely broken child was of no importance.

'People are just so naive when they're dealing with a child. It's amazing what nonsense they can believe' Ace laughed to himself that evening sitting down to play his flute. 'Tomorrow should bring great things if this continues' he thought and started a new melody that reminded him of the raging sea ready to swallow a man alive.