Chapter 111 – Cat Out of the Bag
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One does not simply become a king without a subject. Any player who wishes to become a castellan must obtain the citizens' absolute trust and faith before they can get this offer, which you happen to be the chosen one.
A Castellan is a protector and a governor of a stronghold or a shelter. They are like the king of the gathering group of mutants and humans, which all residents under a castellan rely on his/her protection.
The purpose of a castellan is straightforward, guiding their responsible base to a new height and ensuring their prosperity. At the same time, you are the guardian of the locals, which you must ensure their safety in this dystopian world.
A Castellan may adjust the community policies, such as economics, researches, productivities, agricultures, reclamation of wastelands, and many other systems of your creativities.
As a protector of many lives, more responsibilities and challenging adversaries await you. At the same time, greater rewards and benefits from your hard work will also be multiplied by many folds. This is a sub-class with a high-risk-high-reward.
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- Authorized to collect and adjust taxes in your stronghold.
- Authorized to manage the research trees, productivities, and economic system.
- Authorized to manage and command troops of your stronghold.
- Authorized to build facilities and reclaim the wastelands as your territories.
- Authorized to recruit players or NPCs as members of your stronghold.
- Automatically obtain 0.01% of all EXP that your civilians, soldiers, and players under your government have gained. All collected EXP will be given to a castellan at 6 AM in-game time, stackable up to 30 days.
- Automatically gain a set amount of EXP each month. The amount depends on your performance as a governor.
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- Your governance must have at least one stronghold under your jurisdiction. If you lost all strongholds under your protection, you would lose this sub-class.
- Maintaining the happiness of your people is mandatory. If the people's satisfaction with your rule falls under 50%, they may revolt and usurp your throne.
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- Maintaining a base consumes a large number of resources. This is an expensive class to play.
- NPCs have different opinions and expectation from your governance. Some might pursue a chaotic environment, while some seek for a peaceful utopia.
- Spies from hostile organizations and insurgents may appear in your territories in random.
- Civilians' expectation increases over time, depending on the technology level and your territory size.
- Very time-consuming. Think twice before you accept this sub-class.
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Misha stared at the system notification and the description of a new sub-class, dumbfounded.
"Sebastian, why me? I'm an otherworlder, you know? Why do you have to give away your position?"
Sebastian revealed a wry smile, "I don't have the authority and the people's trust anymore. If I continue to be their protector, all former scalesmen, I meant, the current new dragonewts will sooner or later revolt against me."
"…"
"For the sake of unity, I have to take my responsibility and step down."
"Crystal has been working under you for a longer time than me. Aren't she a better choice?"
Everyone looked at Crystal. A few of them and Thorn, who stood by the side, nodded. However, Dolphin and others had a complicated feeling as they gazed back and forth between Crystal and Misha.
Crystal shook her head as she was aware of her shortcoming.
"I understand why he did that, Misha. First, I'm a weak dragonewt. I can't roam the battlefield and smash everything like how you two did. Second, you resurrected our partners. And third, you can pretty much destroy any troublemaker in the base with ease. Just by having you being here as our protector can increase the morale of the troops and the people."
Sebastian nodded, "She's right. Misha, a castellan must have an absolute strength that can scare away all troublemakers. You fit the role more than Crystal and others."
Confused and hesitated, Misha glanced at Thorn, who seemed to be the second strongest in this base.
Crystal scoffed, "Don't look at him. A useless drug-addicted junkie can't be a governor."
Thorn turned into a stone. Then, he sulked alone in a corner.
"Will you take my position, Misha?"
"…"
Misha scratched her head. She wanted to quit the game as her hunch was telling her that this game was terrible news. Still, the hopeful expression on their face made her choice difficult.
Misha did not see them as NPCs but real people. Leaving them like this pained her.
On the other hand, if Misha stayed, she could guarantee that her future could be screwed 1,000 times over because of the secrets within this suspicious game.
Tama, who had been quieted up till now, read Misha's thought. Her eyes smiled as she extended her tentacle to touch the game menu.
[Yes]
Misha froze when Tama touched the game button.
*Mew* (We accept!)
Sebastian sighed relief and patted Misha's shoulder, "Don't worry. I'll be your adjutant and your personal butler for the time being. Once you get better at handling the internal affair, we can talk about the job distribution later."
Misha stuttered, "Err, I-I haven't said …"
Two hands closed Misha's mouth out of nowhere. They were from Crystal and Shurka.
"Accept it, Misha. We need you here! If you leave, this base will fall apart!"
"Mia, let's accept this. We're both mutants, and we don't have a home city. I don't think we can return to a human town like this, and I don't want to roam the wasteland. If you accept it, we can turn this base into our save point."
Misha held her forehead and sighed, "Okay. But I need to log out and rest. I have a severe headache at the moment."
Crystal, Dolphin, and others had been suspicious about otherworlders' origin for a while now. Hearing the keywords, save point and log out, they had a theory in their mind.
Mustering her courage, Crystal decided to be frank, "Misha, Shurka, you said something about save point and log out. Can you tell us what this is about?"
"Can we save this for another time? I wish to settle about the castellan thingy first."
"We have plenty of times to deal with that. For now, can you tell us about otherworld and all otherworlders? What is this game jargon about?"
"Are you sure you wanna know? It might break your world perception."
"Just tell us honestly. Are you talking about a game?"
"..."
Misha hesitated.
All murmurs stopped as everyone gazed at Misha.
Still, she did not speak.
One minute later,
Five minutes later,
She could not muster her courage to speak.
After five minutes of awkward silence, Shurka hugged Misha's arm, "I'm here. It's okay. Let's tell them."
Misha gulped. She faced Crystal's piercing stare again, and she nodded, "Yes. We talked about a game."
"Is this game related to our world?"
Misha and Shurka glanced at each other. Shurka was surprised that NPCs were so realistic to the point that they questioned about speeches of the players.
Upon observing Crystal's past reactions and the current situation, Shurka had a scare.
Shurka might be naive on a certain aspect, but she was not stupid. As an elite student of the first class, who toppled most of the enrolled students, she had expanded her knowledge field further than Mia.
'Is it possible that this world is not a game but another alternate world?'
'Uncle Fluke and father said they can bring items from VRMMO games into reality. I thought it was illogical to bring digitalized items into the real world. But if both sides were real, then item transfer should be possible.'
'Still, why did the government allow civilians to play these games? They can monopolize those resources, right?'
'Right! There is this soul transferring and immortality through VRMMO games! Are MWG exploiting this fact!?'
Shurka's eyes flared in red light as she was curious about the theory behind the item transportation between reality and the game. Right now, she was confident that this game was a real world. However, there were more problems etching in her mind.
'Wait, if this is a real-world, how did players resurrect?'
'Will my mutation affect my body in my world?'
'Hold on! Yesterday, Mia transferred school all of a sudden.'
'Did it connect to this?'
'Did he evolve before he logged out yesterday?'
'Hold it! Holy shit! Does the mutation affect our original appearance? Is that why Mia has to move away?'
'My father works for the MWG, and they are covering up something! Is this the reason!?'
While Shurka's train of thought ran wild, Misha also mustered her courage and confessed.
"Yes. To us, players, or otherworlders to you. All of us learned about this world as a game."
"Huh? A game?"
"Yes, we are players. The guys that you hate are also players. They told us that this world is a game."
It was a shocking revelation to the locals. All dragonewts, Dolphin, Thorn, Crystal, and even Sebastian were flabbergasted. Their widened eyes stared at Misha and Shurka in disbelief.
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On a grassland, the assumed Goddess NPC, who had once appeared before all players when they created their avatar, watched the live steam from her iPad.
On her screen, Misha, Shurka, and others were discussing this world, which Misha revealed about the otherworld's secret.
Lilith was laying on prone and holding her chin with her palm, lazing around.
"Oh dear, the cat is out of the bag?"
She sat up and cracked her fingers, getting ready to exercise.
"About the time I harvest the crops. I wonder how those families are doing in that dimension."
She looked at Shurka and Misha with smiling eyes.
"I've given them enough time to enjoy the free-trial period. It's time for a subscription system."