"Hahaha, you're quite good, girl. You'll be a good stepping-stone for the great me who'll be on the top soon."
"Such a narcissistic idiot. I can't imagine they compared me to him even they were joking."
"Let this gentleman know thy name before I end this with a bang for the audience outside to see."
"You're one annoying idiot aren't you…(wait, this is a good opportunity to get famous. I should probably introduce myself since this would be the climax of the battle and all camera is on us.)"
"What's wrong lady? Have you realized how strong I am and how foolish your guild is fighting us without your Guild Leader? I can't believe the chance to show the world how I will beat the No. 2 of Twilight City is gone."
"Ahem~ I'm LadyQueen Blade, No. 121 in Twilight City and No. 3749 of the World ranking. I might not be as beautiful as my friends Cherry Winter and Michi Mochi, but I'll try my best… I am available for any advertisement and I accept any sponsors, gifts, donation…"
In the midst of an intense battle, the leader of BraveHearts and one of the Officers in Gold Paradise were having their own world while their weapons clash with each other. Little did they know, the cameras for the livestream of this Territorial War is all now focused on the other members.
…
"Aria! Watch your back!"
I shouted as loudly as I could when the black-clad man did not target any of us but instead, went for the people who had a 1 v 1 duel far away from us. If he joins Filan Soja, Aria will lose the advantage she has.
Our side cannot help her immediately when the enemy charging at our part did not care about their lives and threw everything they can to keep us busy while their strongest member goes over there and help their Guild Leader.
It will be 4 v 2 in favour for us after this, but I am not confident we will be able to successfully steal the Territory Title with that assassin protecting Filan Soja. Other Gold Paradise members will be able to support us, but the Territorial War will be long over when they reach here.
With that being said, someone is going to die by the hands of a man we did not expect.
"Uh-?"
"My job is done…"
Another lifeless body fell to the ground, but it was not the person we expected it to be.
"Go on and take this Title. I have no purpose for it."
The black-clad man picked up the only droppable item upon death in a Territorial War and threw it on to the hand of Aria. She received it with a stupefied expression as the assassin left without saying another word.
The members of BraveHearts had the same expression as Aria—No, everyone on the scene has the same surprised face. Him betraying seems to be part of no one's plan as the enemy that was engaging us, lost their morale that leads to their quick and timely death. With their leader dead and the Title on our hands, the Territorial War is won…
"WTF just happened!"
"That man betrayed his Guild then left alone."
"Yes, I get that part. But why?"
Aria asked the question we want the answer for. I am as baffled as the rest on what just occurred. However, we can only hypothesize on the reason why because the three minute period where we should have the Title in our possession to win the War has now finished.
[The Territorial Town has concluded. Gold Paradise has successfully taken over as the new Lords of Aruna Town]
RiRi, the cute fairy, showed up once again flying above the centre of the town while shouting this announcement. A loud roar of celebration from the surviving Gold Paradise memebers echoed throughout the battlefield. The remaining BraveHearts who avoided death somehow, transformed into a white light then vanished into the horizon. This was the way of the game to eject the players back to the main city after losing.
I can see our members running towards our location when they heard that we achieved victory. Any traces of the battle also vanished along with the white light, so the roads looked clean just as it was before the fight. There was still a thousand of us remaining in which they fill these streets waiting for our proclamation of winning another territory.
This is Legionnaire's job. His appearance is perfect for showing off to our members and the cameras outside the charisma of our guild in spite of the result being questionable because of the black-clad assassin. Although they may think that we sent out a spy inside BraveHearts beforehand.
While Legionnaire is busy with the speech victory, I guided the remaining Officers to welcome the citizens of this Town. We need to cover up some distance before meeting them. The reason is due to the fact that the NPCs who reside in any territory are evacuated days before a Territory War begins. It is the norm from the first to the current Territorial Wars.
These NPCs are then camping out for a few days just within outside the territory boundaries with knights protecting them from roaming monsters. That is why no one was weirded out that there was no one besides players during all the chaos.
It was obvious this was a precaution of the game for the people of this world since none of them have the ability to respawn like us. They are also a part of the reason why owning territories are profitable, so no guild even dares to involve them in any way.
My only problem was how troublesome this procedure looks from an Astrean's perspective. A town or village may have multiple Territorial Wars in a month. Having this as a routine is nothing but a headache to look at considering ETHER has the ability to design how it works. Perhaps they wanted it to be as realistic as possible like they always wanted it to be.
It might strange for me, a player, to think about this but I have a reason why.
"Are you the new Lords we have?"
A middle-aged man wearing clothes for the middle class greeted us when we reached the place where the people of Aruna have camped. He should be their representative base on the dignified look he gave regardless of not having the best appearance.
"Yes. But I guess there is still bad blood between our guild since we just removed your previous Lord."
"That's not true. Actually, you did us a favour by throwing that self-centred Lord. No one really like him except for his fellow Travellers. One petty requirement of his was to greet him every time he visited our town. Not a single person is exempted or else our tax will be increase for that certain reason."
"Seems like he is more annoying than what I thought so."
"I'm just covering the tip of it. So if you worry about any sentiments we have for the previous Lord, best believe that no one here has any."
I should thank Filan Soja for making my job easier. Usually it takes a little bit of persuading to have the new rulers accepted. It will be very bad for the guild if the people of the territory do not cooperate fully.
There are a lot of problems that can rise because of it; the worst one is when your residents leave for the nearest territory. Of course, that is the worst and it only happened two times so far across all New World. Ensuring nothing like it happens, the Officers of Gold Paradise is also assigned to make sure the people of our territories are satisfied by their rulers.
With that being said, I was assigned specifically by our Guild Leader to be the spokesperson every time there is an NPC interactions involved. Actually, I volunteered myself for this responsibility.
One of the things that kept me in still enjoy New World despite playing it every single day for at least four hours daily, is due to this very reason. Knowing how fun having these people as company by the likes of Luna and Captain Emily, I cannot help but fall in love by the feeling of meeting the people of Astrea.
Each one has a unique character and story, just like how it is outside. If you ask me what is the most realistic part of New World, I will answer the NPCs without hesitation. I doubt I can even call them NPC anymore with how they act on this world of fantasy. This game's Artificial Intelligence was boasted non-stop even up to this date, but as I play more, the more I realized how amazing it is.
As I talk to some of Aruna's residents, I asked my teammates to help the children and elderly in preparation to leave.
"If you're okay with it, we will help you return to the Town."
"That's no problem. The knights are also tired from protecting us, so help is openly received—You guys are already doing better than our previous Lord."
"I'll take that as a compliment... And before I , I want to remind you this. Don't let the young girls get any close to the man named Legionnaire."
"Huh?"