《The Toys of the Fool》Vol.1 Prologue - Invitation to the New World

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On a particular day, a certain vehicle parked in 6 particular places and carried 6 particular people to a particular place that all 6 of them didn't expect to be in. It was the mansion of a certain famous shareholder that literally made Billions off the success of Royal Road. Covering more land then even an airport these 6 ordinary people were sent here for no particular reason. One by one, they got off the vehicle to see this new place that they would or rather could call home for the rest of their lives.

Guided by a butler they stood side by side in line in front a certain man who looked quite young compared to his true age. He held a cane in one hand supporting his thin body and had only some grey hair despite being over 70 now.

This man observed each and every one of them with interest as if he had gotten new toys to play with. However such thoughts were dismissed as he needed them for much more important things.

“You 6 have been chosen for one reason and only one reason. Do you know why?” the man asked the 6.

However the 6 did not answer as they did not know the reason. The man understood this and answered for them.

“The reason is that you are to find my granddaughter in Royal Road.”

Some of the 6 stiffened while some relaxed but all of them knew that there was some sort of catch to this.

“The 6 of you do not know each other let alone saw each other before. Each of you have a common point that may or may not improve your cooperation. You are all Orphans and each of you house a certain Talent one way or another.”

The man once more looked at each and every one of them. He then noticed that the seemingly average boy had a certain look in his eyes as if he knew what was going on. The timid short girl had a strong resolve despite her shivering, the gentle looking one had no expression at all while the other boy almost had not presence. Then there was the average looking girl that had a fiery look on her face while the other one had the look of intelligence. The man understood that each and every one of them would be someday great people in their own rights whether its in this world or the other world they were to enter.

“My Granddaughter is currently lost to us on this side and we do not know her location. Unicorn the company responsible for Royal Road refuses the give me her location because of security reasons” the man had a sad pitiful look on his face for a second and continued, “and the Dark Gamers told me that this task was too big and time consuming for them to be considered profitable. So I have to send in a group of people who have one and only one job. Find my granddaughter. She has the same appearance as in real life. My Butler Simon will tell you the rest of the details.”

Ending his speech the man walked away using cane while the Butler Simon guided the 6 to the place they would be spending a long time at. It was a large room with 6 capsules along with beds and other necessaries including showers and a open area to do things in.

“This room is called the Operation Room and will be your homes until you either succeed in your task or ultimately fail. First of all do you have any question that does not relate you this room” Simon asked the 6.

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The average looking boy asked, “What happens if we succeed or fail? And how much time do we have?”

Simon smiled.

'This boy is certainly going to be the centre of the group'

“It is simple. You succeed, the Master will adopt all of you or let you stay here for however long you want if you prefer. If you fail however, you will be sent back into the Orphanage and we know that some of you don't get alone with other”

The butler eyed the gentle looking expressionless boy, the boy with no presence, the girl with a intelligence look and the timid girl.

The average looking boy somehow realised this immediately and asked one more time, “You still haven't told us how much time we get.”

Simon smiled again.

“The time limit is when the Master dies. That will be in approximately 5 years in real life or 20 years in Royal Road. Any more questions?”

No one else answered and the Butler proceeded to explain all of the equipment and what they can do here.

“Besides what you see here, you can request certain information from us to help you. Naturally if we help you, you will be better able to find the Young Mistress. The chefs will provide you will food if you wish and they can cook almost anything you desire and I suspect that many of you will request of this near the beginning. Finally while you are all sleeping in the same room, you are all minors and any kind of inappropriate actions against each other will result in you being removed and replaced immediately. We do not wish this to happen since it will push back the task you have. Also there are other rooms you may visit including the Bathroom and Lounge Room where you may discuss, say who you are to the others.”

Then Simon left the room that was bigger than they would ever expect. The 6 gathered around in the lounge area in a circle and started introducing themselves to the others.

The girl with a fiery started first with a bang.

“I'm Maria! I'm 16 years old!”

Next was the timid looking girl who was forced by Maria to speak next.

“I'm Grace....age 13”

The intelligence looking one with a sigh was next.

“Hina, age 16”

Then it was the expressionless gentle looking boy with little care.

“Mark, 15.”

The boy with the lack of presence spoke before the last boy which shocked the Grace a bit.

“Ian, I am aged 17.”

Finally it was the turn of the average looking one. All 5 of them looked at him with interest since he was the only one who spoke for the rest.

“My name is Peter aged 17 as well. Nice to meet you all.”

With all of them introduced one way or another they then decided to discuss what class and role they would like to be on with the suggestion of Hina.

“As we are now a group now, we should first of all find out what kind of role we each would be later on to save some time and prevent accidents where we don't have a particular role in the group that may harm us in the future. First of all we need a 'Healer' of some kind. Something to increase health is the most important thing for any party. Next we need a 'Tank' who can absorb damage and lure other monsters away from everyone else. A 'Scout' would be nice since they have many functions such as locating and disarming traps and seeing hidden things. Those are the three most important things we will need. Also it is best that we all have races that are appropriate with the role we have and not attract too much attention.” Hina explained with restraint as if she had much more to say to the rest of them.

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“Then what of the other 3 that will have no definite role?” asked Peter interested in her answer first.

“Yeah! Are we useless then?!” demanded Maria with determination to attack Hina if this was the case.

With the sudden outburst from Maria, Grace moved away from her and towards Ian who she didn't really noticed until she got close enough.

Hina waited a bit to observe the reaction of the rest of the group to determine which role they were most suited to. Mark still had no expression which was a concern while Ian simply felt like he wasn't there. Hina made up in her mind to make Mark the tank and Ian the Scout since they suited such roles.

“The other 3 can have any other role they want. You can be say a 'Damage Dealer' which has high attack whether in magic or otherwise or even become a 'Support' which can do things that can help the party. From what I saw in each of you I can say what kind of role you all will be suited to.”

The others stiffened a bit seeing that Hina held the flow of the conversation. However Peter allowed her so since she was the one who started the conversation to begin with and did not want to be considered rude.

“Grace will be the Healer for starters.” she said and paused indicating that the others would discuss her choice.

“I can't....be a Healer....I'll be a burden...” Grace managed to say with great difficulty.

A silences loomed over them as they did not want to either discuss or maybe reject that idea of Grace could be considered useless.

'This cannot go on any longer. They need a leader to look to and if I have to then I will be that leader' though Peter getting the determination he needed from Grace's frightened face.

“I think its a good idea.” said Peter. The other looked at him seeing what he would say next.

“Grace is the type of person who would be best suited to be a Healer type character. Can you imagine Grace using a weapon or magic to attack let alone kill another creature?”

The others nodded confirming that he was right.

Hina smiled knowing her plan worked.

'This person is certainly the leader type. Though he has little ambition, he's the type to cares for those he leads and that means he will never betray the rest of us'

“Next is the Tank who will be Mark. I don't believe you have any objections right?”

“Correct.”

Mark simply responded and stayed silent.

Peter and Hina knew immediately that something went wrong in his upbringing since he was so obedience to others. 'Most likely due to extreme bullying that was overlooked which resulted in his lack of emotions on his face' was what the two thought.

Hina continued with the next one.

“Ian will be the Scout who is the thief type character. They say that your real life skills will affect your in game experience. Your lack of presence is most suited to this role.”

Ian simply nodded and all three main roles were taken now.

“Judging by how this works, I'll be the Damage dealer right?” asked Maria in excitement.

“Correct.” Hina responded leaving only two people left for their roles. Herself and Peter. One of them had to be placed in the leader role while the other had to be in the support role. However Hina had no intention to be the leader since her opinion would not be the opinion of the group and besides, the conflict in the group would be her responsibility if she did accept the leader role.

“Peter you will be the Tactician and Leader of the group who will order this group around.” Hina bluntly said.

“What?”

The person who said this was not Peter but Maria who was in a rage now.

“Why him?”

Hina looked at her with little emotion.

“Because that's the only role he's suited to.” she answered.

“Why the leader role? Most Leaders of the a group are the ones who deals the most damage!”

“Namely you? Give me a reason why you should be the leader. From what I saw, there were only two people who could be the leader. Me and Peter and Peter is more suited to that role than me.”

“...”

A more awkward silence came over the group as the argument between Maria and Hina started and will most likely continue for a long time. Grace was getting closer and closer to Ian without thinking by being next to Maria while Ian and Mark did not really care at all. Hina and Maria were staring at each other like a predator finding that another predator has its prey in its slight.

“Both of you, calm down. I can accept the Tactician role but not the leader role. From the beginning you were the one who were controlling the flow of the conversation Hina so you should be leader.” Peter expressed in deep discomfort with the current atmosphere.

When Peter said those exact words Maria also turned on him.

“Why should she be leader then?!”

Peter scratched his nose trying to think of a way to explain it.

'She doesn't realise that Hina just baited her in perfectly and is using that against her yet?'

Certainly what Hina was doing was evil but the more evil one was Peter who just watched all of this happen and didn't care at all.

“Explain!”

With every word the others considered Maria to be the last person to take charge and then set their sights on Hina or Peter to be the leader. With this, Hina laughed for the first time in front of the group.

“Why are you laughing?!” demanded Maria.

“Now then everyone. Raise your hand if you want Maria to be leader.” she ordered.

No one raised their hand. Not even with Maria here. The presence of two potentially better leaders and both not wanting the role was much better than one that thought themselves too highly of.

“Now who wants Peter to be leader.” she ordered again.

Grace, Ian and Mark all raised their hand.

'If Hina doesn't want it then she will never take the role to begin with.' they all though at the same time though they only known her for a short time.

Now knowing that she was outwitted, Maria resigned herself and hoped that she wasn't permanently exiled form the group. At the same time Peter sighed that his fate was already sealed while Hina smiled knowing that Peter was to take the role.

“Why me then. Why did you guys choose me?” asked Peter one last time to check if he was to suffer in this role for the next couple of years.

Surprisingly Grace was the first to speak this time. “You...spoke...for me.”

The other two guys nodded their heads to this. An act of kindness was an act of kindness. Both of them knew this from the bottom of their hearts and decided that Peter was the best person to entrust everything to.

“You three....” Peter did not have a look of gratitude but one of scorn. He looked at the main perpetrator Hina and the victim in this case Maria as well. Maria looked a bit depressed knowing that Peter was to be the leader while Hina simply smiled now not saying anything else.

'I need some way to stop Hina before she controls me in the shadows'

“Then what kind of role will you take?” Peter asked.

'So he wants to stop me from controlling him, though I have no intentions in doing so. Might as well make my stand clear'

“I'll play the support role and will help everyone in battle.” she answered happily. However everyone else was not happy at all.

'This is really bad if she decides not to help me' everyone else thought at the same time.

Trying to fit into the role a leader now Peter decided to lead the group now and that means a lot of difficulty on his part since everyone was.....unique.

“What city do we start in and what name do we use? And where will we meet up.” asked Peter.

To everyone's further surprise Mark was the one who spoke up this time.

“Somewhere will less people.”

“Okay then, I'll talk to Simon later about that.” assured Peter.

Soon enough Simon came in and answered the question easily. The place they were to start off in had to fill several conditions. First was that it would have enough facilities that everyone could choose a class they were most suited to, the second was that there were to be less people there and the third was that it was a good place to start their search.

“The only place would match the requirements is in section 53.”

“Section 53?” asked Peter. The others were confused as well. When did Royal Road have such a thing as sections.

“A while back the Emperor, tired of remembering every last details assigned the entire continent sections where a person's rule was made clear. In total there are 256 sections in total which do not include the outer 10 dangerous sections which each have their own code:names. Not many use this method though and only the higher ups in the Empire use them frequently. Anyway the place you all will start in is called Witchhelm whose characteristics are a large number of facilities for your needs and the home of not many due to housing only one Independent Guild. There is a large fountain near the where you all should start, so gather there. If you have any more questions please alert me immediately. Do know that you cannot communicate with me directly in game unless you find me and friend me. My user name is Inferna if you ever want to find me.”

Simon left the room and the 6 decided to start. They all agreed that their heights and appearances should be similar since it would help them adapt to the game better and having similar appearances will help them know who each other are and being average keeps away certain people.

“Is everyone ready?” Peter asked one last time to confirm that no one was to be left out, even Maria. The 6 went in their capsule and started the game up and was all greeted the same message.

Connect to Royal Road

Yes | No

Onwards?PreviousExitNext

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Author's Notes:

- Last Prologue.....so far. Will probably post some of the volume tomorrow or something like that.

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