Chương 42: CHAPTER 42
Wow: Where was I going to find those 2-4 other players?
Although, wait a second, I could ask some clan-mates, of course.
"Master Hugo, of course, I will come. And I have an offer for you."
"Let's hear it."
"From what I can tell, we're up against a strong opponent, and all we have from your order are you and Gunther."
"And Brother Tsimiskhy."
"Well, yes, though he doesn't look like he'll do that well in battle. At least, that was my first impression."
"That is correct. He's a good writer, but put a sword in his hands..."
"I can talk to some of my friends. I think they'd be happy to help your order."
"Sure, but that will take too long. By the time they all get here, the witcher will be gone. And I'll be back to square one trying to find him."
"My friends are in the same clan as I am. They have some pretty powerful mages who can send them here very quickly. It isn't cheap, but—"
"The order will reimburse them." Von Shlippenshtain broke in. "This is a matter of honor. How fast can your friends get here?"
"Give me five or ten minutes, and I'll tell you."
I pulled up my list of friends. Logged into the game at the moment were Rodriguez, Flosi, Reineke Lis, and Krolina. Perfect. The first two, with my apologies to them, would have been nothing more than cannon fodder. But the last two…..
I wrote Reineke: Hi! Happen to be interested in killing a Witcher?
His answer was instantaneous. A witcher? I've seen my share of witches, but a witcher... How strong is it?
Judging by the description, much higher than Level 27-30.
Much higher? Probably 65-75. Piece of cake. Who else is coming?
Me, the master of the Tearful Goddess Order, and one of their knights. They're Level 55 and Level 30 or something like that.
Kro's logged in, invite her, too. She likes this kind of thing.
One more tank wouldn't hurt either.
Oh, come on. There's the two of us as well as you three.
I'm serious. Better safe than sorry.
Fine. Where?
Fladridge, the order's mission. By the way, they're paying for the travel scrolls.
Nice. We'll be there in ten.
I turned back to von Shlippenshtain. "Master, three of my friends will be here in ten minutes."
"Great!" The knight clapped his hands loudly. "I'll go put on my armor. Von Richter!"
"Here I am, Master!" Gunther flew into the room, as he'd apparently been standing behind the door afraid to walk in.
"Help me put my armor on."
The knights left, leaving me to my thoughts. Why had no one killed the witcher yet? The quest obviously wasn't hidden, or it would have said that in the description. A little more thinking brought me to the conclusion that quests were all linked. Players who went directly to the mayor were given a quest that had them bring the witch's glasses back as proof of her death. The book wouldn't have even come up since nobody was looking for the Witcher, and the mayor was just the mayor. And nobody would be looking for the witcher since the master only gave the quest to friends of the order. Only players who took the ability were named friends of the order, and it had been forever since someone had preferred the ability to money or items. So the quest had never been activated. It was all a big, complex puzzle.
Three minutes later, the front door banged open, and I heard Krolina's voice.
"Hi, baldy. Where's Leyton?"
"Laird Leyton is in Master Hugo von Shlippensh-tain's office. Would you like me to let him know you're here?" Brother Tsimiskhy's voice was obviously annoyed. I could tell why, what with all the people barging in and traipsing around. For all he knew, he might even have to feed them later.
"You sit there, I'll go find him myself."
The door creaked, and in flew Krolina.
"Hey! You're already a laird? Nice!"
She turned back toward the door and shouted through it.
"Hey, baldy, there are two more of us coming, so send them right in when they get here."
"Yes, fair lady?" Tsimiskhy's voice grated obediently.
Krolina's shoes tapped their way around the room.
"It's so cool in here. A fireplace! Wow, what an enormous bear. Oh, nice blade!" She pulled the katzbalger[12], off the rack, weighed it in her hands, and tried a couple parries. "This is a fun toy. I want one!"
Master Hugo walked down the stairs, armor clanging.
He saw Kro and bowed his head.
"Good day, fair lady. Let me introduce myself, Hugo von Shlippenshtain. Forgive me for not knowing your name, and for being unable to greet you on one knee as I should. It's the armor, as you can see."
Kro curtsied and responded.
"Ah, who cares? I'm Krolina, a friend of this little guy. Nice to meet you! We have another two friends coming. Speaking of which.." Kro raised her index finger.
"Hi, there!" Reineke Lis' voice rang out. "I'm looking for a friend of mine named Leyton."
"Lis, in here!" Kro called to him. "We're all here!"
Reineke walked into the room, and behind him marched another warrior named Romuil.
"Hi, everyone" Reineke nodded to the group.
Romuil waved.
"Master." Reineke gave Shlippenshtain a personal bow.
The latter responded in kind.
"So what's going on?" Lis jumped right in.
"There's a witcher who's pretending to be the mayor." I started my report. "We have to kill him. He's quite a bad guy!"
"Are you sure he's a witcher?" asked Romuil.
"There'll be hell to pay if we kill an NPC!"
"I have a quest to look for the witcher," I said, "so I'd say there's a 90 percent chance it's him."
"If you have a quest, it's definitely him." Krolina nodded her head grandly.
"By the way, Master Hugo, my friends haven't gotten their quests yet."
"Of course," said the knight. "Ladies and gentlemen, would you help us kill the villain?"
Everyone responded in the affirmative.
"Then let's go kill him." Hugo finished the report.
"Hold on a second," said Lis. "If he's the mayor, he's where? In city hall? There are tons of NPCs there, and we might kill someone by accident. Plus, there's no room to maneuver. No, we need a plan."
"Exactly!" Gunther chimed in from the corner where he was sitting meekly. "People could get hurt!"
He earned himself two simultaneous responses.
"Von Richter, who gave you permission to speak?" That was the master.
"Oh, he's adorable!" That was Krolina, who just then saw the young knight.
"Stop!" And that was Reineke. "Here's what I propose. We all go outside the city walls. By the gate, there's a small field in front of the forest, and we can wait there. Once we're in position, someone, even that doorman, the one sitting at that table writing—"
"Brother Tsimiskhy," said von Shlippenshtain.
"Yes, then Brother Tsimiskhy can go tell the mayor you're leaving the city and ask him to see you off. You're an important guy, so he'll have to say yes. And there"
"Wait a second," I interrupted. "How are we actually going to attack him? He's still the mayor, after all. He might see us all, realise that we're about to knock him silly, kiss Master Hugo goodbye, wave a handkerchief and scurry back to city hall. Then he can get away once it gets dark."
"That's true." Reineke was taken aback.
"We won't have a problem." The master chimed in. "Our order has a powder prepared by the Old Gods. Just a handful of it is enough to reveal the true identity of evil spirits and the undead."
"Perfect." Reineke perked up. "Then let's make our way to the gate in pairs, and you tell Tsimiskhy to go see the mayor."
Krolina had a question. "Why don't we all just go together? The more, the merrier!"
"That's our strategy, Kro. Pairing off"
Our friendly group found itself outside the Fladridge gate discussing the upcoming battle, though I had the feeling nobody was listening to anyone.
"We'll go straight for him, with Kro doing her thing behind us," said Reineke, and Romuil nodded his head in agreement.
"I'll be doing the fighting!" Von Shlippenshtain was insistent, and he tapped his weapon, an enormous flame-bladed sword, with his finger.
"Is that your horse? Will you take me for a ride?" Kro asked Gunther, who turned crimson from embarrassment. He nodded, dropped his glance, and, I imagine, regretted bringing Duke with him.
I stayed silent and kept my eyes fixed on the gate.
The entire picture was enough to attract a number of people in the vicinity, from beginner players to the high-level players, of whom there were still plenty in Fladridge. It wasn't every day that you saw a group like ours: three serious players, one noob, two NPC knights, and a horse. Ah, my apologies—a stallion. And everyone was explaining something to everyone else, with the stallion occasionally snorting in the background.
One dwarf from the Hew Ores, My Axe clan had an idea. "Looks like a flash mob!"
"In the game?" An elf from the Forest Children clan was less than convinced.
"Maybe the quest is to see who can out-argue everyone else?" A tiny elf girl from the Lake Fairies clan squeaked out her alternative.
More and more people showed up, and everyone had their own idea.
Suddenly I saw the chubby mayor striding through the gate.
"Oh, wow, look how many people are here to see off our hero, valiant knight, and Master of the Tearful Goddess Order Hugo von Shlippenshtain! The entire city is here, and even some of its guests. Well, my friend, have a safe journey."
~ ~ ~
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