Kapitel 44: Chapter 11: Part 4
- Arthas -
- Venelana -
She packed the new batch of Greater Healing Pills into a pouch and stored it in her inventory and then brought out the next batch of raw materials to work on.
All the while the memories of this morning's conversation went through her mind.
The whole thing had gone better than she had expected. In fact, it had gone too well.
She hadn't expected Arthas to take the information about her being a devil so well and not hold prejudice against her.
She chuckled thinking that the whole time the boy was worried about what her husband and children would think about them sleeping together.
Honestly, it was adorable to see this side of him.
She had thought she was losing her edge when she couldn't make him flustered even after walking out in that towel. He has begun to adapt to her tactics and thus she has raised her game. But in the end, what got him was not that but the knowledge that she was married with two children.
It did make her verify the choice she had made in trusting him once more.
Such people were very hard to find in this day and age.
Not to mention, she was starting to enjoy their time together more with each passing day. Even just the time when she told him stories about the Supernatural world or talked about random topics had become quite special to her.
She had also noted that he has grown a lot more mature in the past few months.
War really made people grow fast.
That said, the conversations of this morning also brought some thoughts she had been suppressing all this time.
Rias.
She wondered if her daughter and her peerage members were really inside the game and if so, were they doing well.
Apart from them Grayfia….
It was Venelana who had called his son's queen to accompany her to try this game and she was pretty sure that she was trapped somewhere in this vast world.
But then again, knowing Grayfia, she would survive. She was someone who had contended for the position of one of the four Great Satans against Serafall.
Her experience would allow her to survive this world.
Still, Venelana felt guilty for dragging her inside and wished to find them as soon as she could. It was for this reason she was so insistent on expanding the guild.
After all, a hundred eyes can see more than two.
When their guild grows, it would be easier to search throughout the world for their traces than just travelling randomly and expecting someone to just appear in front of them.
That kind of luck was hard to come by.
She was already lucky to encounter Arthas so early in the game and then find Shiroe and Star as new members.
She didn't want to keep relying on this luck.
The start was a bit shaky but she could see the potential in the guild, especially with the head start they had over the other players.
Venelana was sure that in just a year, she could push the guild to become a big name in the whole country and in three to five years, throughout the whole continent.
It was not that different from running a territory in the Underworld. She had experience with such things but unlike before this time she would be playing for life and death.
On the matter of territory, she remembered that Arthas was also given the title of Baron and a territory in Greenfrost.
Could he manage the territory and collect taxes from it?
She will have to ask around and find out. Still, if that were the case, then it would open so many paths for them.
Perhaps her teammates didn't understand but she was keenly aware of what such a title meant.
Being a noble, even the second lowest rank like a baron, would give them a leverage over other players and a position to negotiate with the NPCs from.
And if a Baron Rank could be rewarded then so could the higher ranks.
But the first thing they needed to do anything was….funds.
And so, Venelana again concentrated on the batch of raw materials and started processing them into new pills.
It was almost after an hour or so that there was a knock on the door of her workshop.
"May I come in?" The voice of Elaine came from outside.
Velenala kept aside her mortar and pestle and replied. "Come in."
The door was opened and the black hair girl entered and bowed professionally.
Venelana had observed the girl and knew that she was trained in etiquette, as a maid perhaps, something which was rarely done in mundane families nowadays.
"Take a seat, Elaine. I assume you are here with the list of tasks completed by the members of the guild yesterday?"
"Yes Ma'am. We have been able to complete the order of eighty batches of healing salves for the Knight Academy, five batches of Greater Healing Pills for the City Lord's Mansion and…."
The girl went on to list the items and Veena noted that the production orders they had received this week were all completed….with three days remaining. Then again, it was to be expected.
Their guild was mostly consisting of Production Class Players.
Most of the players who had left back then had been explorers and although all of them did return, they were not able to get any slots in the guild.
That was not to say they didn't have any explorers. They had the other independent top players from the raid join their guild too apart from Gareth's team.
It was just that the number of production class players was far more than them. The ratio was almost seventy five to twenty five and that was after recruiting Gareth's team and Elaine, which was also one of the major reasons for recruiting them.
She opened the Guild Menu and checked the current status of the Guild.
20% progress in one week.
At this rate, they might get a level two guild in a month and half at most.
Elaine soon completed her report and presented the file to her.
She verified the list of quests from the Guild Menu and found that the data matched and nodded towards the girl and praised. "Good work."
"Thank you."
"Did we get any more orders?" She asked.
"We did get orders of poisons and antidotes from the Hunter's Guild and several healing items from the Adventurer's Guild as well. Although I doubt there would be much demand in the long run if we started flooding the items in the market." She added.
"Hmm, true. It seems we will need to change our strategy for long term benefits. Perhaps opening a shop for the goods sold by the Fairy Tail Guild….I will have to plan something. We will see what we can do after returning from our trip." She then looked towards the girl in front of her. "That's all for today. You are doing an incredible job. Keep it up."
"You praise me too much Ma'am." The girl replied politely.
"So, which country are you from, Elaine?" She asked. "Do you mind if we talk for a bit? This work gets quite monotonous after a while." She said looking at her crafting equipment in front of her. "And I don't get many chances to talk with other ladies around here." She asked with a smile.
The girl looked surprised but nodded nonetheless with a slight smile on her face.
"I am from England." She replied and they began to talk.
"By the way, is Elaine your real name?"
The girl nodded. "Yes. My name is Elaine Westcott."
This made her raise an eyebrow. "Westcott? That's quite a famous name. William Wynn Westcott. He was one of the founders of the Hermetic Order of Golden Dawn, wasn't he? Are you perhaps related to him?" She asked.
This made the girl stiffen a bit.
"Oh. Did I guess it right?" She asked.
The girl hesitantly nodded.
"I see. So you must be a magician of Golden Dawn too. That explains your skills as a magician." She looked at the stiff expression of the girl and smiled. "Don't worry, dear. Although indirectly, I have been associated with the Golden Dawn Magician Organisation for a long time."
"Eh?!"
"Still, I didn't think I would meet others here. It's honestly quite a relief to be able to talk about it with someone else after such a long time."
"Are the Guild Master and others also…."
"Magicians? No. They don't know about it. Well, I did tell Arthas recently so he does now but the other two don't. So take care."
The girl nodded.
They began talking while she worked on the side. When she was done, they left the guild halls for a break.
It was evening.
Arthas was out to hunt with Shiroe and Star again, and she was already done with all the materials for the Greater Healing Pill so she was free for today.
After this morning's conversations and worrying about her family for the major part of today, Venelana wanted something to soothe her nerves so she invited Elaine to have some girls talk.
On the way to their home, she picked up some mead. Wine was not available in this place but right now even mead sounded great.
Inside the two of them had some drinks.
The girl seemed to be under quite a lot of stress too and she agreed to drinking after some persuasion.
Although Venelana found out that she, just like Grayfia, was a very light drinker.
"So, are you alone inside the game or do you have any friends from the organisation? If so then we could totally use some new skilled members."
"Ah….I left the Golden Dawn organisation due to some personal problems."
"Eh….that's a surprise. So, what do you do nowadays?"
"I work as a….worked as a maid in the Pendragon House." She said, the last part with a hint of resentment.
This made Venelana raise her eyebrow. "The Pendragon House? Arthur Pendragon's house?"
"Hmm." Elaine nodded.
"What happened dear? You don't seem to be happy. Are they perhaps treating you badly? Although the Pendragon family is strong, the Golden Dawn is nothing to sneeze at. The Pendragon family mostly rests on the laurels of their ancestors while the Golden Dawn is made by the contribution of several geniuses who work hard day and night to upgrade their knowledge and become better. After all this time, even if it's the current Arthur Pendragon, he would have to answer for treating you badly." She spoke in a dangerous voice.
In fact Venelana had met William herself. He was a polite gentleman. After all, her son's bishop Mcgreggor Mathers was also one of the founder's of the Hermetic Order of Golden Dawn and while he had retired from the position after becoming her son's bishop, he still maintained a very good relationship with the organisation. And if she knew the eccentric magician well, he would never take the mistreatment of his friend's descendant sitting down even if the other side was the original king of Camelot let alone some no named descendant.
William himself was offered a position of Bishop by her but he had denied.
After Mathers became a devil to pursue magic and Woodman passed away, he wanted someone to be there for Golden Dawn and stayed there till his last days.
That said, he did accept the offer of becoming her contract magician. It's why Venelana was surprised when she heard Elaine's full name.
"No no. Arthur is not a bad guy." She hurriedly interrupted, breaking her composure for the first time to such an extent.
The girl calmed down and continued. "He treats me very well. Even Le Fay treats me like her own sister." The more she spoke the lower her voice became and Venelana sensed something else.
"Oh my….don't tell me….do you have a crush on this Arthur Pendragon?" She smirked, suddenly having found a new target for her teasing.
And as expected, the girl blushed.
"I-it's not like that. We….we are in a relationship."
"Eh…."
"It's just that Uther Pendragon, Arthur's father, doesn't approve of our relationship as I was just a maid in his house and so…."
"So? Is he treating you badly?"
The girl nodded her head. "So Arthur left home with his sister to protect me from his wrath."
"Heh! This generation's Arthur Pendragon seems like someone quite courageous."
"Obviously." The girl replied proudly. "Arthur is a once in a century genius, a natural born Holy Swordsman strong enough to wield and completely master the strongest Holy Sword Caliburn. His talent is compared to his ancestry."
"Hoh!" Venelana was actually surprised.
She hadn't known about this.
She did know about the strongest holy sword and while not as talked about as the other swords used, it was far actually even stronger than the famed Excalibur blades.
The girl continued. "Even Le Fay is a genius comparable to her namesake. Even at a very young age, she is capable of doing magic which many High Class Magicians would have problems with. I am sure that in a few years, I won't have anything else to teach her. It's just that…."
"What dear?"
"It's just that….she is now trapped in this game….and I have no idea where she is….or what she is doing….or if she is even….no no. She must be alive. She is definitely alive. We entered this game to find her and we will do exactly that. Arthur would never give up and neither will I…." The girl continued blabbering in her intoxicated state.
But there was something Venelana heard that completely broke her out of her drunken haze.
"You two….entered the game to go after her?"
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Author's Note:
I am back with another chapter of 'Soul Art Online'.
I know that most of you were waiting for the visit to Sabaody but I had some change of plans.
The visit will come soon but I wanted to clear some things out and develop the relationships between the characters a bit at first.
So, Arthas finally found out which world he is in….or is almost certain.
We got to know more about Venelana's side of the story too.
Elaine is a bad drunk but in her drunken state, she revealed something which will completely shake the lives of our protagonists.
How will they take this revelation?
We will see in the next chapter.
Enjoy the new chapter.
Good Day, Peace Out.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
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Rangliste 
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Stein