534 A Brave Warrior Should Pillage

Old John was a village chief at the border of the Empire. His life was as common and uneventful as his name. Even the chief post was inherited from his father.

According to his age, he should be living an uneventful life. A young man scrambled back to the village and informed the villagers that there was a group of strange Humans and monsters outside the village.

The Humans looked as though they were captured by the monsters. The kind Old John wouldn’t allow his kind to be captured by monsters. Who knew if the Humans were from his village or nearby villages?

Old John gathered all the young lads in the village and armed them with farming tools and fire torches. Most of the wild beasts and monsters were afraid of fire. That was Old John’s experience.

During normal times, Old John would teach the young lads how to swing their weapons and defend themselves with fire torches. His efforts were now paying off.

Old John brought the armed lads to Dragonborn and Arthur’s location. Old John thought that it was just some wandering beasts. When he saw the Orcs was.h.i.+ng their hands in the distant stream, he panicked.

“By the grace of the Sacred Light, what kind of monsters are they? I have never seen such monsters before.”

Old John shook his head as he muttered to himself. Those Orcs looked terrifying.

He had only encountered the distant relatives of Dire Wolves and huge black bears. The Dire Wolves were much larger than normal wolves.

The more terrifying monsters would only appear deep in the mountains or the woods. However, Orcs were more terrifying than wild beasts. The Orcs were huge in size, and their appearance looked strange due to their green skin.

The facial features of an Orc looked similar to Humans. They looked like Humans, but they didn’t behave like Humans, and that was terrifying.

Though they looked scary, Old John wasn’t frightened. He drummed up his courage and rallied the young lads.

Old John brought the villagers and surrounded the gamers.

When Old John got near the Humans, he discovered that they weren’t prisoners of the monsters. They were more like companions.

Old John didn’t let down his guard.

A few Humans who had green symbols above their heads walked out of the group. They wore armor that was covered in bloodstains and looked as though they had gone through a battle. Their steps were weary, but their gazes were full of vigor.

The few Humans came before Old John and the villagers. Then, a scary and deformed man walked out and said to the villagers, “Who is your leader? We mean no harm. I’m Hoodlum from Victoria City. I don’t know if you have heard of the city. We fought against Underworld creatures recently and are heroes of the world. The Underworld creatures are standing behind me. Don’t be afraid. They aren’t bad creatures, and they are with us!”

Hoodlum pointed at Arthur and his companions.

Hoodlum spoke in the Surface World common language, so Arthur didn’t understand.

This didn’t stop the other gamers of Victoria City from translating. Sylvanas asked TakeASpearHit, “What did Hoodlum say?”

“He’s telling them our intentions and explaining that you’re not bad creatures and that we’re on the same side.”

BurningChestHair immediately spoke in the Underworld language, saying, “Why are we on the same side as them? Didn’t we obtain the Strange Encounter Mission? Will the rewards be taken by them?”

“Yes, I feel like these NPCs. n.o.body will believe the Strange Encounter Mission and the rewards belong to them,” Peasant said worriedly. The gamers of Eternal Kingdom spoke in the Underworld language that the Victorians couldn’t understand.

Seeing that the gamers of Eternal Kingdom were chatting in their own language, the Victorians chatted using the Victorian language.

If they were unable to understand each other, they would start to doubt each other. Moreover, the gamers of Victoria City and Eternal Kingdom were already at loggerheads. Someone asked the opposing side why they weren’t speaking in Mandarin, and the opposing side returned the question.

The villagers of the Empire didn’t have to attack, and the gamers of the two factions were already at each other’s throats.

Fortunately, Dragonborn and Arthur came forward to diffuse the situation.

To Old John and the villagers, the Humans and the monsters looked like they were quarreling using different languages. Occasionally, they would use the same language.

There were two Fairies by their side. Though Old John hadn’t seen Fairies before, he had seen the pictures and heard about Fairies from other people. Fairies were the steadfast allies of Humans. They appeared in many legends and stories.

Old John and the villagers weren’t so guarded against the gamers.

What made Old John let down his guard totally was a meaningful object that Hoodlum took out from his pocket.

It was a highly refined gold piece.

“Ah, distant guests, apologies for not welcoming you sooner. Don’t worry, I’ll find the most beautiful ladies in the village. Er… I mean the largest house and most delicious food…” Old John said enthusiastically.

The villagers immediately reminded him and said, “Chief, put away the money. Put away the money.”

Old John reacted to the reminder. He quickly put away the gold piece discreetly and shouted to the villagers behind him, “Give way, give way. They are our friends, not our enemies.”

The villagers behind Old John quickly made way for the guests.

Dragonborn and the Victorians were exhausted. They had to find a place to get offline.

For the past few days, they had been online for a far longer time than usual. Because of this special mission, most of the gamers weren’t able to go offline as they wished

They had found a village where they would be safe. Perhaps they could even trigger other Strange Encounter Missions in the village. Most importantly, they could figure out their location.

…

Old John was initially happy.

He thought that monsters were going to attack the village, so he gathered the villagers to defend their homeland. However, the visitors actually paid Old John a piece of highly refined gold. Old John butchered an old sow and treated them to a pork buffet. He even killed the old hen that was laying eggs to make chicken soup to nourish the guests who didn’t have a meal yesterday. The gamers of Victoria City ate their meal happily. As for the gamers of Eternal Kingdom, they went to the farm and grabbed some clay before cooking it. They didn’t even take a look at the sumptuous feast prepared by Old John.

It was nothing strange. After all, the world was huge. There were bound to be strange creatures with strange tastes.

However, that wasn’t what was most problematic. The incident that happened 24 days later made Old John feel a splitting headache.

The gamers who were treated as guests in the village were initially friendly and normal. However, their behavior turned for the worst. Old John would hear loud noises outside when he was sleeping at home.

It sounded as if someone was prying open his door and walking without restraint in the hall. Old John climbed out of bed while his wife looked on in terror. Old John took a wooden stick and gestured for his wife to keep quiet. Then he pointed at the room by the side to let his wife hide inside.

Old John crept out stealthily. When he arrived at the doorway, he saw the lamp in his living room light up. Were thieves so bold nowadays? Old John didn’t think that they were his relatives. In this village, he didn’t have any relatives who would walk into his house like that.

When he walked out of his bedroom, he looked in surprise at two Orcs and two Humans who were ransacking his property.

They had green symbols above their heads. If Old John could read Chinese, he would see the Chinese words:

Peasant, BurningChestHair, TakeASpearHit, and SealHeadLingChong.

When the four of them saw Old John, they weren’t surprised. TakeASpearHit came forward and said politely to Old John, “Greetings, Village Chief, we’re not here to steal your things. As warriors who saved the world, we came here to see if there are things of use. Our experiences are full of hazards, and we often get injured. If there are bandages or weapons, it would be good for us.”

“What, what are you saying?”

Old John appeared not to understand. Actually, he heard every word, but the words didn’t make any sense. Would a normal person say such a thing? Would a normal person run to another person’s house to find useful items? Besides farm tools, seeds, and other miscellaneous items, what things could Old John have?

Peasant was going to speak, but he was pushed aside by SealHeadLingChong. SealHeadLingChong complained in a low voice to Peasant, “What are you talking about? After such a long time, don’t you know how to immerse yourself in your role? Let me speak.”

SealHeadLingChong looked at Old John and said politely, “Apologies, Village Chief, we don’t mean to intrude into your house. We saw that your door wasn’t locked and was slightly ajar. So, we thought we could be your guests and admire the ornaments in your house. They look pretty neat. Yes, are you selling the items over there?”

SealHeadLingChong pointed to a large backpack at the corner of the house. That was what Old John used when he went out. Sometimes, Old John had to journey with the young villagers to the nearby city to look for adventurers who could help them hunt for wild beasts and monsters. It was to prevent the wild beasts and monsters from attacking the villagers. The journey was long. Even if they traveled on a horse cart, it would take a few days. He had to bring his belongings and dry rations, so a huge backpack was necessary.

To the gamers, besides clothing and equipment, a backpack with a large capacity was very tempting. Though the gamers could buy such a backpack in the city, it was a rare and expensive item. If the gamers asked the villagers directly, it might come at a lower price.

BurningChestHair spoke in Mandarin to SealHeadLingChong, “Wah, don’t say such things. We could have obtained the backpack for free. Now we have to pay for it.”

“We can’t ransack other people’s property in this game. We shouldn’t have entered without permission. I told you outside, but you weren’t listening,” SealHeadLingChong replied to BurningChestHair in Mandarin.

“As brave warriors, why can’t we ransack other people’s property? This isn’t in line with our rules. I’ll go to the discussion forum to file a complaint,” Peasant said while he smiled. He would like to make a comedic expression because he had no intention to complain. He was just joking.

Old John didn’t understand them, but looking at their smiles, he felt they were up to no good. Old John became nervous, and he didn’t want to antagonize them. If they were rich and wanted the backpack, he would sell it to them. He gestured with a finger.

“I’ll sell it for 10 bronze coins.”

TakeASpearHit and SealHeadLingChong were taken aback. Then they shouted, “D*mn, the backpack merchant in the York Territory was a dishonest merchant!”