“So what do we do from here?”

“Well first things first lets decide which part of the castle should we place the town in? The top? The middle?”

“Obviously the middle we want to protect it from attacks from as many sides as possible right?”

“But the middle is a very bad idea for a town. Castles in the middle of the town is like.. What the fuck a more accessible feature should be there.”

“And if the castle placement is at the top, the back wall of the castle is the only way in for a surprise attack so we can just place more traps and people on guard duty there.”

“Oh my god we haven't even started and this is already hard.”

“Well lets just vote to decide. The 4 of us have ownership of the castle, the 4 of us should build this town from scratch with just us.”

“What happens if there is a tie?”

“Well if there is a tie.. Why don't we let Jinx's vote be the deciding vote. He has taken on the role of leader for the party anyway and so far he hasn't made any bad decisions yet. Excluding sleeping beside Breadtalk.”

“HEY! Sleeping beside me is an honour.”

“*cough* snake on penis cough”

“Okay okay. So it's decided. We'll make it such that the 4 of us will be the decision makers for this town but in the event of a tie, Jinx's vote will win. So that means only if the three of us agree on something else than Jinx can the decision go through.”

“I'm fine with that.”

“Same here.”

“Alright that's decided. Hold on I have to do something first.” I said.

I went to see Valhalla who was still nearby while we were discussing what to do with the town.

“Valhalla aren't you going to go back to the village?”

“I was instructed by my Master Loki to do the things I have done until now. I think he would like me to help you on your quest. Also, I suggest that I move my blessing into the castle and have the villagers move in to your town when it is done. What do you say to that?”

I considered the offer. In my point of view, a successful city at its core requires 4 things. A strong infrastructure, a reliable economy, an efficient defence and last of all, something that gives the city a sense of identity. Needless to say, manpower is required for three of the four things less infrastructure. The decision was an easy one to make.

“Of course I would want the villagers to be part of the new city. They played a part in fighting for it so it is only logical that they be given citizenship for the town. Tell them to treat it as a form of payment and condolences for any loss of their loved ones during the fight against Renfir which was only a test... I cannot imagine how their families might feel. I need to make this city prosperous to make their sacrifices worthy.”

Valhalla nodded and proceeded on the path back towards the village.

“Take Xantos with you for the time being! She said she enjoys time spent with you retards but I think she just really enjoys the food you give her. Your light mana must be of a certain quality keep it up man!”

Great. I'm like free food to Xantos huh.. Well more help is never a bad thing.

“Alright guys. We need to start now. Before the architect arrives which I think will be some time soon, do you guys wanna discuss a floor plan?”

“Sure.” They said in unison.

After an hour of planning, discussion and several retarded and helpless comments by you know who, we decided on something like this.

West Spine

Castle

East Spine

Castle Wall / Entrance

Town Square

Residences

South Spine

City Wall / Entrance

So the idea was simple. We drew our inspiration from the shopping mall near our school which we found it to be well designed as well as our starting city, the city of Junad.

Basically the castle would be in the northern part of the town, so as to put it deepest into the city and taking into account possiblity of castle sieges. There were basically only two options. Through the back of the castle over the walls, or straight up front which requires them to charge into the city. Both were possible to defend without much difficulty. The town would be a square shaped. Best to think of it as a 3x3 square. The top middle of the town would be the castle.

The East spine would be for the intelligence classes and church. It would take up the right side top and middle boxes of the 3x3 square. This basically means Loki's church as well as all the mage related stuff would be placed here in the East spine. The West spine would be vice versa, taking up the left side top and middle boxes of the 3x3 square. This part would consist of all the strength and dexterity classes. The Town Square is the highlight of the town which was obviously the square right smack in the middle of the 3x3 box.

Instead of doing it like Junad where you would be extremely isolated to your spine depending on your class, we decided to make the town square where majority of the fun happens. Every single trade will happen in the town square. Even if you need armour from NPC, the NPC stalls will be set up in the town square. If you need swords or heavy armour, the left side of the town square nearer to the west spine would have the items. If you need spell books or robes, the right side of the town square nearer to the east spine would have that. If you need player sold items, makeshift stalls would be set up for players and merchants to market their goods. In the middle of the town square, there would be a huge landmark which was still undecided to signify the pride of the city. It was also here where players would spawn from and gather in order to search for parties before embarking on quests.

It was a simple lay out based on simplicity. For quests and job related stuffs you would have no problem navigating through the town and everyone will tend to gather at the middle of the town square where events would also be held in order to bring the life into this city. We were the BOTs. We weren't going to let this city be JUST another city. It would be THE city.

That led us to discussion of what should be in the south spine which would be directly underneath the town square. The middle square of the bottom row in a 3x3 box. There were many ideas which were all quite good but of course a ridiculous idea had to come from Breadtalk.

“Guys why not we build something in the south spine which all of us specialise in? Something that combines all of us together. For Soup it would be a gladiator, for Beathoven it should be something like a concert hall which involves arts like singing dancing and maybe even acting. For Jinx I can't think of anything the possibilities are endless he can make anything happen. For me I would like A BALLOON CASTLE PLEASE. A BALLOON CASTLE IN THE SOUTH SPINE WILL BE SO FUN! Imagine taking off your shoes and jumping around! Then we can maybe put a piano there for Beathoven and a mini coliseum for Soup and maybe a forest for Jinx to play in!”

“I think he's officially nuts.”

“Wait a moment.” I said. The utter jibberish that came out of Breadtalk gave me an image in my mind. Before we played RR, we used to play several computer games and what Breadtalk described to me gave me an idea which I could implement into an ex computer game in a very different way...

“Guys think about this. What if we take the South spine and turn it into something like a coliseum. Imagine two balloon castles which albeit looks ridiculous, would appeal to any young person. Come on its a freaking balloon castle. Wait I'm not crazy. Not yet. Lets find some way to make it invulnerable to hits, maybe ask Loki as a blessing for this town. Imagine two balloon castles each facing the other. In between is a 100 meter stretch of land which divides into three lanes. One lane could be filled with rocky mountains and terrain, stones jutting out everywhere. Another one could be a lake 5 meters deep with a huge platform in the middle. The last one could be a mudflat with explosives hidden inside it. Just some suggestions. It will look like some sort of Carnival event right? Why not we play capture the flag in that scenario. A flag would be hidden somewhere in both castles. Add two teams playing on both ends which should capture the flag and bring it to their own castle for victory. It could be like a 20v20 thing. Spectators can watch from the outside with huge screens showing what is happening inside the castle for both specators and teammates alike. My inspiration for this was when Breadtalk said Carnival. Remember when we were young, carnivals were such fun. The nice loud music, the games, the ferris wheel. We can do just that!” I said excitedly

“We can make a grandstand surrounding the playing field so it becomes something exactly like a coliseum. Soup could be in charge of that. Entertainment is a must for the spectators so food and music as well as events in between matches could be ongoing and Beathoven could be in charge of that. As for me i will be the judge and umpire as well as the terrain creator because of my skills right? Then Breadtalk was the one who pioneered the idea in the first place so we can make him the event organiser. Just imagine! It would be something completely fun and unique to our city and it represents us completely. Carnival Wars if you might call it. Exclusively in our city. This would be our way of making our town unique and especially fun.” I suggested

“Jesus... I know he doesn't exist in RR but still... JESUS!”

“HOLY SHIT NOBEL FUN PRIZE PLEASE.”

“And a moment ago you were calling me crazy.”

“You are. Just a nice type of crazy.”

“I might even go as far as to name this city we're going to build Carnival. I think its an ingenious name if we really make the South spine a permanent place to have this event to have fun. It is also a good way to level don't you think. Like a real coliseum, just real fun with actual strategy and teams revolving around this. We might even get many visitors cause of this!”

“I like the name.”

“No complaints.”

“I AM THE BEST WOOHOO.”

“Hmm it was a great idea. Guess we could admit this just once.”

“Alright so do we have a vision for our Carnival?”

“Eat, Sleep, Play?”

“Hmm doesn't really sound right...”

“Welcome to Carnival. Enjoy!”

“Hey that's pretty good!”

“Carnival. Ask not what fun does for you. Ask rather what you do for fun.”

“WE HAVE A WINNER.”

“Jinx can't you just let us have a chance once in awhile.”

“Sorry bro. THIS TOWN IS GOING TO BE LEGENDARY.”

“Alright so we decided. The south spine is going to be exclusively for a carnival centre. Good food and music, a grandstand with huge screens, filled with spectators cheering for their favourite team, watching impressive plays from both teams in a 20v20 skirmish of capture the flag?”

“Hell yeahhhhhhh~”

And thus we decided on the whole floor plan. Residences were residences obviously. We had two boxes left for residences, the bottom left and bottom right most boxes in the 3x3 layout. It was adequate. The majority of the army would be staying in the castle anyway which had alot of space for soldiers. After we are done with the city we just need one entrance preferably from the South Spine where the fun immediately starts to welcome the tourists and townsfolk.

“Alright guys lets split the workload. The west spine supervision should go to Soup because he is the only class here who fits the bill. Beathoven should be in charge of the South Spine because it is going to be an area for fun so it should be left to the most artsy person right? So I will take care of the town square since it is the most economically important aspect of the town. Breadtalk... Please don't fuck up the East spine?” I begged.

“I'll try my best.” Said Breadtalk with his boyish smile.

Ohhhh boy..... Oh well. How bad could it be?

I've learnt this lesson many times but you know with Breadtalk it just had to be this way. It could go bad. VERY bad.

Okay so the workload was split up. Back to the present, we found ourselves at the entrance of the castle. It meant just one thing. First we had to make space for what we had envisioned. The forbidden forest had to be cleared. There were no monsters already but there were still trees everywhere.

“Guys. Lets split up and clear the trees. I think Soup can cleave through them no problem. I can also manage with my katana mastery. Breadtalk still has the rocket launcher right? Just please try not to accidentally shoot yourself and die. It is one hell of a weapon. Beathoven you'll just give us regen?” I asked.

“Actually no. Hel taught me something that I wanna try. It looks like songs are more complicated than I thought. There are all sorts of songs out there and Hel just taught me one. I think I'll be able to help with the clearing of trees.”

“Alright then. Let's see what you got. The elite guards, Renfir, King Cobra, Xantos and the two mages. Can you all help?”

They all nodded.

“Well we are going to need names so lets just give you all some. Guys, can you all take charge of the guard you're in charge of and come up with a name for them?”

“Renfir needs a name change. I know its an anagram for Fenrir because Fenrir made it that way but no. It just doesn't fit. I will call him Fuzzy Wuzzy from now on.” Soup said.

Ren- Fuzzy Wuzzy gave Soup an incredulous look. The badass looking FuzzyWuzzy giving Soup an incredulous look was just an image I would pay any amount of gold to retain. It was the epitome of funniness.

LOL. It's kinda nice.

“Alright for my king cobra.. I'm gonna call him... Slick.”

“There you have it. Another Jinx level name. Sleek.”

“And there you have it. Another Breadtalk level pun. Sick.”

“Well, I got nothing. Ick.” Slick added.

“HAHAHAHAHA HOLY SHIT THE SNAKE HAS A SICK SENSE OF HUMOUR. SLICK INDEED.”

“The level of retard in this convo is too fucking high guys.” I could barely stutter out as I was busy enjoying myself laughing my ass off. Breadtalk was struggling to maintain a straight face and Soup was already bawling his eyes out at the level of puns being thrown out.

“MY TURN. I'm gonna name the skull mages... M1 and M2.”

“WHAT THE FUCK BRO. BOOOOOOO.”

“That's not how you follow up two awesome moments man.. Omg what a killjoy.”

“WHAT?! Bananas in pyjamas dude. That was the best show involving twins wasn't it? Like “Are you thinking what I'm thinking B1?”. “I think I am B2.” REMEMBER THAT SHIT GUYS.”

“You had twins. There was so many possible good puns you could put to use and you used fucking bananas. There were epic names like... R2D2 and C3PO. Or maybe Fred and George. I don't know maybe you could be abit original and chose something like Machu and Mikachu, BUT NO YOU WENT WITH M1 AND FUCKING M2!”

“THEY ARE NOT BAD NAMES!”

“Are you thinking what I'm thinking M1?”

“I think I am M2.”

“These names suck.”

“Totally.”

That was the last punchline i needed. Everyone was literally rolling around the floor laughing. Even Slick and FuzzyWuzzy. Looks like elite guards with affinity to Loki had his sense of humour as well. This was great. Carnival looks like a great place already even though nothing had been started.

“Okay guys. Let's start clearing the trees. To keep things fun and interesting let's make this a competition! Last one to cut finish 100 trees will have to wash the dishes after dinner tonight!”

“Deal.” All of them said.

I immediately used swift steps to rush out and coat my katana with fire mana, bringing it down with gravity crush perpendicularly. It cut through the tree trunk like scissors gliding through paper.

Alright I'm not gonna be last no matter what.

All of a sudden, I heard a familiar lute playing but the song was.. Queer. It was a stacato, jumpy and irregular. Suddenly there was a small rumbling sound and skeletal warriors started pouring out from the castle where we slain them.

“WHAT? THE QUEST WASN'T OVER?” All of us shouted.

“RELAX GUYS! THEY'RE WITH ME!” Beathoven shouted.

Holy shit that looks like 1000 skeletal soldiers. Beathoven is going to come in first?!

I quickly got to work with my trees. Each gravity crush cost 100 mana. However my total mana pool was around 6000 now and mana regen was 1% of your total mana so it was 60/second. When I reached 80 trees, i started slowing down as I had to wait for my mana to regen.

Oh my god faster fasterrrrrrr.

Looks like the chaotic melody buff was something I really needed. My ouroboros seal had no mana within it for now anyway.

After I finished my 100 trees, I ran back into the lobby of the castle and saw.. Everyone there.

“HAHAHAHA JINX. HAHAHAHAHAHA”

“WHAT THE HELL. ANYONE CHEATED?”

“Nope. I can vouch for Beathoven. Everyone can. He came in first unexpectedly. Soup just needed one slash per tree. Breadtalk... He was clearing trees 5 at one go with his rocket launcher. Fuzzy needed one slash per tree as well and he was fast. Super fast. Xantos use his light spell to knock down trees in a straight line like some hyper beam. Slick just wrapped himself around several trees at once and crushed the trunks. M1 and M2 used fire magic of a high level to clear about 20 trees at once per spell. Looks like you're it Jinx.”

Cooking dinner was trouble enough. Dishes as well? ARGHHHHHH.

All of a sudden, a man came to us dressed in black robes with gold hemmings.

“Good Afternoon, my name is Hermes. Loki sent me here in request to build... A city?”

“You came at a good time my friend. I am Jinx. These people are Soup, Breadtalk, Beathoven, Xantos, FuzzyWuzzy, Slick, M1 and M2. They're identical twins so it doesn't matter which one is which. Even we can't differentiate them yet. We need you so badly Hermes. We have a Carnival to build.”

End of Chapter 16

Authors Note: Hey guys! I know i said the next update would be in September but it looks like I had surprisingly little to do at work today and I came across some inspiration to continue the story. This is a surprise treat for the supporters of the story thus far. I really think this is the funniest and most interesting chapter to date so I hope you all can continue the support! I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I hope you all enjoy reading this as well!