Gamers of the Underworld

George didn’t die in battle.

Some Knights were killed, while others escaped. His good friend John perished in battle. George knelt down hopelessly and dropped his weapon.

He looked at Hoodlum, who was stabbed to death many times but was able to reappear again and again before him.

Hoodlum wasn’t completely killed and was healed by a powerful pastor.

That was what George thought.

When he finished his action, he was waiting to be killed. But he found that the gamers suddenly stopped attacking.

Some other gamers wanted to attack him but were stopped by others.

“Gosh, stop hitting. If the BOSS dies, there will be no more Strange Encounter!”

“The BOSS has surrendered! Look, he has dropped his weapon!”

“No, he’s still wearing armor!”

“What, he’s still wearing it?”

George didn’t understand what they were saying. Were they asking him to surrender?

George stripped his armor upon seeing that his enemies had no intention to kill him. He thought that they were barbarians that couldn’t be understood, but he was wrong.

They had no intention to kill a surrendered Knight. Likely, they were capturing him.

To George, it was good news.

He thought he was going to die. Now that he had a chance to live, how could he not be happy?

George stripped his Breastplate, Plate Leggings, and Pauldrons and was only left with his clothing.

The gamers continued their discussion.

“No, I have to kill him. He’s still wearing his clothing. That’s quality clothing!”

“Gosh, it’s really nice. It’s a noble’s clothing!”

“Stop hitting him. The BOSS has surrendered!”

The group of gamers shouted at each other.

George was about to shed tears of humiliation, but he endured it and took off his clothing.

Then he was captured and brought back to Victoria City.

…

In a cold metal cage, George lowered his head dispiritedly and looked listlessly outside. It was much more dilapidated than the poorest village.

This was Victoria, Victoria Freedom City.

Though it was a Freedom City with many more Humans, the roads and houses were inferior to a common village.

Though George wasn’t knowledgeable, he knew that the construction materials used in Victoria City weren’t produced by professional machines. They were produced by amateurs. Even George thought that he could produce them.

The only appealing building was the Castle. Though it was made of plants, its magnificence and building style were appealing to the eyes. It didn’t have any traces of manufacturing.

Besides the buildings, their way of storing their items was strange. They didn’t have a dedicated warehouse officer. All of the equipment was stacked at the empty spot outside the Castle, together with the blood-stained equipment and food materials.

It was grotesque. Did they eat such stuff? Green, blue, and colorful stuff that looked like it was made of animal parts.

George was feeling fortunate that they weren’t Ogres.

He saw the Victorians stacking the dead Humans together. Then they burned the corpses without any emotion or rituals.

When they brought back the dead horses, they were sad and despondent.

It seemed like a horse was more precious than a Human.

George wasn’t a saint. Though he was a Knight and a Christian, he didn’t harbor any kind of compassion in battle.

It was already great compassion to gather all of the corpses for incineration. That would prevent the bodies from being eaten by wild beasts.

They were also worried about the possibility of a plague.

Who knew, and why would they be concerned?

George was letting his imagination run wild. He couldn’t understand how he was defeated by these ill-equipped barbarians.

Undeniably, these barbarians were handsome and beautiful.

There were also Fairies and Elves.

A fat Hamster appeared before the cage and gave him a fright.

“Is he the BOSS?” The Hamster gazed at George and spoke in an unknown evil language.

“Yes, it’s him. He’s got yellow hair…” Another Hamster came close.

“When do we have our meal?” That was the third Hamster.

“Oh! Lancelot is here. Speak in the Human language,” the first Hamster said nervously.

“Hi, Count Glamorgan. Are you here to see the BOSS?” The second Hamster straightened his body. He was speaking in a language that George understood.

While George was trying to figure out the intent of the three Hamsters, he saw a familiar face. It was Lancelot!

Since when did he become Count Glamorgan? Did he have a noble’s title?

Lancelot grasped his sword hilt and walked over. He looked at the caged George and the three Hamsters, then bowed to the Hamsters. Though he was Count Glamorgan, he didn’t take it to heart.

“Count Glamorgan, we intend to bring this golden-haired lad to see Queen Victoria. Do you have any matters?” Big Boss looked at Lancelot and asked.

“No, I heard the description of the prisoner and thought I may know him. So, I came to take a look.” Lancelot shook his head and looked at George while he squatted down.

“It has been a long time, George.”

“Laugh if you will, you unfaithful Lancelot,” George said as he looked in disdain at Lancelot.

George was in a hilarious situation. He didn’t have any clothes and looked like an animal in the metal cage.

“What’s up? What George? What unfaithful Lancelot? Were you two classmates? Did you give each other names in class?” Second Boss looked bewildered at George and Lancelot.

Big Boss said, “It’s their custom. They like to create titles. Like Hoodlum, he was called Slumbering Hoodlum because he was good at sleeping.”

Second Boss was enlightened.

The Hamsters talked to themselves, but Lancelot wasn’t bothered. He looked at George and said, “Queen Victoria is a capable Lady. What she asks you to do, I hope that you won’t decline. This is your last chance for survival.”

George laughed and didn’t speak.

Big Boss opened the metal cage, and Second Boss threw a set of clothes to him. He couldn’t be naked when he visited Lilo.

Fat Otaku was drooling when he saw the metal cage, but Big Boss dragged it away.

George followed the three Hamsters to the Castle. He thought he would be allowed to go inside to meet Queen Victoria, though he wasn’t sure why a poor Victoria village would have a Queen.

George thought too much.

The door on the second-floor wooden balcony opened, and a medium height young lass of about thirteen or fourteen years old came out. She wasn’t wearing any crown, but she was Queen Victoria—Lilo, her Highness!

“Are you George?” Lilo stood on the balcony and gazed down at George.

George nodded. He didn’t look good. He suspected that Queen Victoria might be humiliating him.

Even the King couldn’t stand on the balcony and speak to him in a condescending manner.

“Good, where’s the Duke of York? Does he have a female successor? Where is she?” Lilo asked a few questions in succession, but George looked astonished. He didn’t reply.

Lilo frowned. She was running out of patience.

A pale Human stood out. He was the person shot by Softie!

Lancelot watched the person walk out and felt as if his heart was being hammered. It was a feeling of love, and the target was a lad…

“Your Highness Queen Victoria! Let me say a few words!” the person shouted with great effort.

Though there were many gamers watching, Lilo didn’t wish to hear their chatting, so she exerted her dominance to control them. The gamers weren’t bothered as they were in Plot Animation Mode.

Queen Victoria looked at the person and nodded, allowing him to speak.

The person was agitated, so his body trembled. He shouted to Queen Victoria, who was on the balcony, “Your Highness! I know the location of the Castle of the Duke of York! I also know about his successor. I’m one of his successors!”

The person shouted, and at the same time, George screamed loudly, “Traitor! Are you letting your uncle down?”

As he shouted, he was restrained by three unruly Hamsters.

Lilo didn’t ponder as she said, “Good, you shall be the wife of Count Lancelot. We’ll kill the Duke of York, and you shall succeed him. The York Territory will be part of my fief! It’s decided.”

Lilo turned to leave, but she recalled something. She pointed to George, who was restrained by the three Hamsters, saying, “Release him. Let him return to inform the Duke of York to prepare his warriors and equipment. Victoria City is exacting our revenge.”

Lilo returned to her Castle after speaking.

George, Lancelot, and the unknown successor to York Territory were gaping in astonishment.

“Ooo, ooo, ooo!”

George was being pulled away by the three Hamsters.

Lancelot shouted, “Wait, wait for a moment! He’s a lad!”

Lilo had no intention to show herself. The cute boy was taken aback, but he ran to Lancelot and bowed to him before shouting with his eyes closed, “From today onwards, I’m your wife! Help me defeat the Duke of York! Help me get back the York Territory!”

“Ah?” Lancelot was unable to understand what was going on.

The gamers who were out of the Plot Animation Mode left happily.

They obtained equipment and horses. In the near future, they would have a chance to attack the York Territory. How could they not be happy?

They were complaining of the thin Plot. Now, they wished for less, but they couldn’t resist the desire to attack the York Territory!

…

At Winterfell.

Arthur, NotWearingPants, Sylvanas, Peasant, BurningChestHair, and twenty other Pioneer Alliance members were looking for possible leads.

Recently, the gamers of Eternal Kingdom combed the streets to find leads for the Strange Encounter Mission.

The other game maps weren’t large, only the Winterfell map was huge.

For the past few days, the gamers of Eternal Kingdom searched Winterfell.

Especially the large Guilds. Due to the animosity amongst the Guilds, they didn’t wish their competitors to find the leads of the Strange Encounter Mission. However, they were unable to attack and kill each other in Winterfell. So, they made full use of their time and the most efficient methods to find possible leads.

That was what Arthur’s Guild was doing.

“Where can we find the Heavy Tangerine and the cat in a box? Is there an orange cat in this world?” Peasant walked for a long time, and his eyes were getting blurry, but he didn’t spot any cats.

Lord Sherlock had a black cat. Though it wasn’t an orange cat, he was harassed by the gamers. As long as there was a close relation to cats, the gamers would investigate to see if they could find any leads.

From the posts on the discussion forum, the gamers didn’t have any breakthroughs.

It was late at night, and the gamers were tired after a day of searching. Many gamers got offline. They would continue the search tomorrow.

Arthur wouldn’t force his Guild members to stay overtime to search for clues. After all, they were playing computer gamers and not working. Arthur didn’t pay his members any salary, unlike the other rich Guilds.

Finally, there was only Arthur and his five-member team.

Raintea would go offline punctually every night.

“What shall we do? Shall we go offline too? It’s three in the morning. There aren’t many gamers left. Even the night market is closed,” BurningChestHair said as he pointed to a shop that was packing up for the night.

There was a night market in Winterfell. The gamers knew about it. Arthur and his members had been searching until late at night before going offline.

Arthur looked at the time and intended to go offline. NotWearingPants suddenly shouted, “Gosh! Is that Heavy Tangerine?”

He pointed to a shop that was packing and closing. They saw a shopkeeper who was wearing clothing with an orange cat imprinted on the chest. The orange cat wasn’t overweight, but the shopkeeper was obese.

Heavy Tangerine!

The five of them eyed each other before running over. The shopkeeper noticed them and stopped closing. He shouted at them, “Are you from Eternal Kingdom? Apologies, I have some matters to deal with today. Normally, I’d treat you to a bowl of food.”

“No, shopkeeper, we’re not here to eat! We’d like to ask you questions.” Sylvanas took out a photograph that showed a skull and asked, “Do you know him?”

The shopkeeper looked at the photograph and examined it carefully.

Peasant also took out a photograph that showed another Skeleton and said, “This is the disciple of his missing mentor. Did you see his mentor before?”

The shopkeeper looked at the two photographs. After comparing and switching the photographs, he looked at the five gamers and then lowered his head to examine the photographs before saying, “Are you trying to fool me?”

…

They didn’t obtain any information. The shopkeeper was angry due to some strange reason and shouted, “I haven’t seen the Skeleton. Now scram!”

Seeing their lead coming to a dead-end, Peasant asked casually, “Boss, where did you buy the shirt?”