Chapter 64 - Elven Forest Battle (1)

Chris hadn’t understood what Ray said because he didn’t speak the Aldora Kingdom’s native language. Since Ray was an NPC, the system didn’t have auto-translate running like it did between players.

In other words, Ray had to speak directly in the Rashk Kingdom’s language for Chris to understand.

So the fear Chris felt came purely from the look on Ray’s face and the aura pouring off his body, not from what he actually said.

Arthur then explained everything that happened, and how Chris was more than willing to help the kingdom of Aldora if there were rewards for his service. In the end, he also wanted to become an official citizen of the kingdom of Aldora.

Ray listened closely to everything and seemed pretty excited about the idea.

"Three spies would be simply perfect right now," Ray murmured, "not to mention you guys come back to life when you die, so I don’t even need to worry about that."

The best part of it all was that Ray knew the Rashk Kingdom’s language, probably because they were neighboring kingdoms. He talked to Chris directly, explaining how things would work and what rewards he could expect.

Arthur listened to everything, since he could understand it. Ray was willing to hand out plenty of rewards, which the system itself would turn into quests for Chris.

Most importantly, Chris and his 2 friends could now come to the kingdom of Aldora without any problems.

"I’ll talk to the guards so you have protection if you need it, but please wear more suitable clothes, and expect to get weird looks from the citizens."

Ray wasn’t going to tell everyone, since the goal was to keep it a secret. It made no sense to reveal information about Chris to too many people. In fact, Arthur didn’t like the idea of sharing that with just anyone.

"And are you sure all your guards can be trusted and there are no spies? Honestly, I’d avoid sharing this information. Chris is going to spend most of his time in the Rashk Kingdom anyway, so he doesn’t need that protection for now," Arthur said.

Ray trusted Arthur and his word, so he took that advice to heart.

"You actually make a good point. Better to keep all of this a secret. This doesn’t leave this room," Ray decided.

Even though he couldn’t set foot in the Aldora Kingdom yet, Chris was excited because he had already received a quest from Ray to gather intel inside the Rashk Kingdom and send it to him through a magic artifact.

"This journal is special. Write down whatever message you want to send me, rip out the page, and burn it. That will teleport the page straight to me."

Chris took the journal, holding it carefully and putting it inside his inventory. It was a special quest item, which meant he needed to take the best care of it.

"So are all those Chosen Ones you called to the main square the small army to defend the elves?" Ray changed the subject to something more urgent. "I still can’t believe the Rashk Kingdom would do something so extreme. The elves never took part in these disputes..."

The elves in that forest weren’t the only elves on the continent. They were scattered across every corner, and attacking an elven settlement like that usually meant starting a war with everyone.

And since the elves had never been violent or started a war, no one ever tried anything against them. The fact that the Rashk Kingdom was doing this was pretty shocking.

Arthur couldn’t tell them any of this, but with his knowledge of the game, he knew that in his past life, that attack hadn’t happened. Something had changed.

It could just be the fact that he went back in time, of course, but what if there was more to it? What if someone or something else was changing events? It sounded impossible, but Arthur didn’t rule it out.

"Assemble the army first, and let me cast a mass teleport," Ray suggested. "It’s going to cost some resources, but it’s the only way to avoid this whole mess. You won’t make it in time on foot or horseback, and I only have 1 Pegasus."

"Got it. I’ll go talk to them and let you know right away."

Arthur and Point Blank went to meet the players in the square. Chris stayed behind to talk with Ray, surely discussing the next steps for the spy quests he was about to take on.

As soon as Arthur reached the square, all the players waiting for him went wild. They started shouting, which caught the attention of the town’s residents. The locals had gotten a little used to the Chosen Ones, but it was still weird to them.

Arthur stood in front of about 150 players with both hands behind his back, looking like a general.

There were players who didn’t meet the requirements to join the fight, but they still came to the square because they wanted to watch the action unfold.

The craziest part was that the second he raised his hand, all the players stopped shouting and talking among themselves. They went completely silent, waiting for Arthur to make his speech.

Several city guards stood around the square to make sure no trouble broke out, and when they saw how much influence Arthur had over the other players, they were surprised.

"It makes sense why Lord Ray is so friendly with him. This Cinder guy is definitely not simple..." one of the guards whispered.

Arthur scanned the crowd, spotting a few familiar faces. Shadow Cloak, Tower, and Suzy were there. He also saw the leader of the assassin guild who had messaged him earlier, wanting to talk about something.

"Listen up, everyone," Arthur said, raising his voice so they could all hear him, "in tough times, we need to unite and face our common enemy."

"You might not know this, but the neighboring Rashk Kingdom is trying to attack our elven friends."

Whispers broke out among the players the second he said that. They had no idea there were elves inside the kingdom of Aldora, let alone that they were allies of the kingdom. That was the kind of information very few people knew at this stage of the game.

"The elves are good friends of ours who live near the border, and attacking them means attacking us too!" Arthur roared. "We’re part of this kingdom now, so tell me, are you going to let someone invade our home?"

"WE WON’T LET THEM!" the players shouted together, stomping their feet so hard the ground shook.

Ray was up in his tower, peering out the window, surprised by what he saw.

"And that’s why I’m gathering our forces. We’re going to show them that anyone who tries to hurt our home will suffer the consequences. Anyone who invades our home... WILL DIE!"

Arthur felt great doing that. It was the first time he had ever commanded this many players. Everyone seemed thrilled to fight by his side, definitely because of the great rewards he had promised.

His speech ended right there. He had run out of motivational words anyway, and dragging a speech out too long usually made things worse.

Everyone there just wanted to go complete the quest, not stand around making small talk.

"Line up, please, based on the requirements I mentioned. Let’s see if we come up short or not. Keep in mind the limit is 100 people," Arthur said.

The players lined up in order of level. First everyone at level 15, then level 14, and so on.

And naturally, the first person in line was Shadow Cloak... The only maniac who was already level 16.

Arthur stopped in front of her and looked at the daggers she was using.

"Serving you well?" he asked.

"For sure. Didn’t you see I’m at the top?" she chuckled.

Arthur shared the quest with her. It was possible to share it with 100 people, and all he had to do was click through a few settings in his system. On top of that, he invited her to the party.

Shadow Cloak stepped out of line, making way for the person behind her. And that was how Arthur went down the line, inviting players, sharing the quest, and adding them to the party.

In the end, he managed to fill all 100 slots with players from level 15, 14, and 13, which was great. Level 12 players would be too weak to take part in the fight.

Tower and Suzy came over to talk with Arthur and Point Blank.

"You two lovebirds are leveling up fast, huh? You’re already the same level as us," Suzy said with a sly smile, nudging Point Blank. "Were you two all alone in that elf forest? Two young people alone in the woods, what could’ve possibly happened?"

Point Blank’s cheeks flushed hearing that, completely embarrassed. Arthur didn’t pay much attention to the nonsense they were spouting. He was focused on the fight ahead.

Ray descended from his tower, floating down slowly and drawing the attention of all the players. Nobody had managed to talk to him yet besides Arthur and his friends. To them, the current ruler of Snow Pine City was basically a legend.

"I’m going to teleport all of you over there," Ray said. "Win this battle. If you lose, don’t even dare set foot in my city again."