"Reginald Coulan."
"The mysterious man behind House Aurellion."
"He never seems to be out of control."
"And no one can predict what he will do."
"But his intelligence had never been questioned."
"It was just a matter of getting him off his lazy ass to do something productive!"
Carter Morris, Friend of Reginald Coulan and head of House Morrindia.
…..
The day passed quickly as there was nothing much for Railius to do but wait for the servers to open again. He spent some time catching up with university work and hanging out with Carter, his friend.
Click, tap, click, click!
Carter entered Reginald's room and looked around his lazy friend's room, who was busy playing a game on his computer to pass the time, briefly raising his hand behind him to acknowledge the arrival of his friend as his eyes remained glued on the laptop screen that stood on his desk. Carter sighed at the line of unopened bags that lay against the wall and the freshly cleaned clothes thrown haphazardly into a suitcase after the lazy student finally got around to cleaning them.
The walls and shelves of Reginald's room were bare, apart from a few things like pans, mugs, cutlery, and other kitchen-related items that he used regularly and a few of his board games that he put up there and took to the board game society another one of the young gamers hobbies there was no personalisation to his room at all. His desk was full of bottles of fizzy drinks, both full and empty, sweet wrappers and other general trash, but apart from that and a notebook, it was very empty with only his laptop and other computer accessories in sight.
When asked about why his room was like this, Reginald's reply was rather practical.
"Why would I unpack all my stuff just to pack it all up again in half a year?"
"Such a thing would just be a bother."
Just like this, Reginald lazily kept most of his stuff in bags, only taking things out when needed so he didn't have to pack up later and cause him bother.
Unlike many university students' rooms, there was no trace of alcohol to be seen. Carter once asked Railius why this was, and the young student replied that he did not like its taste and did not trust himself if he ever got drunk. As a result, Reginald drank very little, and even the little he did drink was after much persuasion from Carter and was not much.
Reginald was also rather introverted and was more than happy to spend much of his time alone. While he attended a few parties to meet people, the people that he could call his true friends could likely be counted on both his hands as he usually took a 2-litre battle of orange Rango to drink and left after a few hours unless he was playing a game of cards or was having a particularly interesting conversation with carter that had to do with philosophy and politics.
There were even times he found Reginald playing chess on his phone or watching videos when at these parties, though thanks these traits and his reluctance to explore led to his bank account heaving a sigh of relief as not once had he ever run out of money or gone onto overdraft and was rather good at managing money which was not uncommon amongst university students who spent a lot of money enjoying life.
Reginald did not come from a poor family but not a wealthy family either. His background was mediocre, with a loving family, but he had been taught to budget early on, so he was pretty good at managing his finances. Though despite all of this, many people summed him up in one word.
Eccentric and calm.
Reginald very rarely lost his calm, always seemingly in control of himself. In fact, it was this very fear of loss of control that he was so against drinking alongside his distaste for it, though if he found an alcoholic beverage that he liked, he was not against drinking it. This, alongside his knowledge of his family's issues with it in the past, led to the young man respecting everyone's preferences but deciding not to partake himself.
Carter looked at Reginald's laptop screen and noticed the battle was reaching its climax as his friend was once again playing State Conflict Three Kingdoms, a regular pastime of his when he was doing nothing of note.
But once again, Reginald flanked his enemy, winning yet another decisive victory, though this time, he had used catapults down the narrow streets of a town to kill many of his enemy elite troops who were stuck close together like penguins and who were crushed by the flaming rocks that crashed through them.
Of course, in a real town or city or even one in DO, such a thing would be rare or almost impossible to do due to the collateral damage done to people's homes and the city itself, so outside of strategy games like this where you could ignore such things his tactic could not be done because the moment you told people to bombard their own homes, they are likely to rebel and stab you in the heart instead.
This is because in wars, while the influential and powerful have much to lose, the commoners do not. The only difference to them would be that they have to pay taxes and be ruled by another noble or king, so unless they have a lot of popular support, the people are unlikely to resist as long as the enemies outside do not loot their homes or sack their cities.
This is because generals in the past have used the loot of the city and the prospect of sacking a city and doing what they liked as motivation to improve the morale of their soldiers, who would have a rare chance to enrich themselves. Hence, it was not rare for people to surrender if they had little hope as long as the city was not sacked and the citizens were inconvenienced.
The Mongols, when they had a large empire, used this sort of carrot-and-stick approach very effectively by destroying cities that refused to surrender but only demanding tribute from those that did, allowing them to conquer large areas quickly.
For most modern people, the prospect of destroying an entire city and slaughtering or enslaving its inhabitants was reprehensible, but in the cold and ruthless ancient and medieval world where only the power of the sword mattered most, it was unfortunately common, and players would find that the world of DO was no less brutal.
There was no United Nations in the game—no worldwide recognised human rights. Who had rights and who did not was usually determined in one way.
Who had a bigger sword and the people to wield them.
This was the unfortunate truth not only in the virtual world but also in the real world, for rules only work if people are willing to abide by them, which is why, in most cases, change and history are created by the rulebreakers.
Those who go against the established norms of society and have the power to back it up; otherwise, they will be suppressed, imprisoned and disappeared at will by those in power.
As if they had never existed in the first place.
But none of these thoughts were in either of the young people's minds who were still innocent to the corruption that could appear in the world, blinded by the modern comforts and morality that so many people had gotten used to, made many unaware of the daily struggle for survival that hundreds of millions of people around the world had to endure.
Seeing the words 'Decisive Victory' appear, Reginald finally took off his headset and spun his chair to face Carter as Carter knew that even if he talked to his friend while he was playing, the attention he was given would be minimal at best, it was much better to let Reginald finish his battle, and then he will give his friend his full attention.
This was just one of the quirks of this eccentric guy who just looked at him calmly, waiting for Carter to begin the conversation.
"Did you survive through the Dynasty History System?"
Carter asked, his voice turning serious, but there was some doubt in it as not even he was confident in escaping from the pursuit of an entire empire and a grandmaster.
"Yep."
Reginald replied simply as if it was not a big deal and was to be expected, but Carter was surprised, his blue eyes widening, especially in the calm way that Reginald responded as it seemed his friend didn't care how big of an achievement this was.
"Did they not send a grandmaster after you?"
"Yep, plus some master-level fighters, too. Leon killed three of them but was injured in the process and nearly died. Luckily, he was healed with magic in time."
Reginald said, recalling what happened during his second event when he was in the greatest danger and barely survived with 30 of his Pelican Guards until reinforcements led by Aldorus, the first commander of The Pelican Guards, arrived. Of course, while Reginald would tell his friend something, there was another that he wanted to keep hidden.
"Wait, who the hell is this Leon person? For him to kill 3 master-level fighters, then he must be…."
"A Grandmaster!" You have a grandmaster under command!"
Carter shouted, raising his voice subconsciously. He had spent so much effort trying to get even a master fighter to serve under him, yet his friend just nonchalantly said he had a grandmaster under his command and was hunted by one as if it were a cabbage you could buy in a shop anywhere in the world.
How the fuck could Reginald be so calm about it! If people knew of this, who knew how many waves it would make?
"Oi, quiet down. Do you want everyone to know? You know how much of a pain in the ass that would be for me, right? If there's one thing I hate, it's things that bring me to bother."
Reginald said lazily; once again, his priority was clear as day. He just wanted to live a lazy life and play games, which is why he was so invested in Dynasties Online, as it perfectly hit his goals. He even found the game very fun despite the pain it could give someone, which was a bonus. He only told Carter about some of his circumstances because he had a semblance of trust in the man. This was also a hidden little test that he set for his friend.
Reginald wouldn't have told them anything like this if it were anyone else, as it would put a target on his back. He already had two people watching him in the game who had significant power, and the last thing he needed was more enemies. If Reginald were seen on the street or recognised in real life, he would even shamelessly say they had got the wrong person and left, carrying on with his day as if nothing had happened.
Reginald is a suspicious man by nature, so suspicious that he does not even trust himself, and while Carter seems trustworthy, some people are sincere yet terrible at keeping secrets, and so as a result, what you tell a trusted friend that can keep things to himself and what you tell a trusted friend who can't keep things to himself are entirely different.
One, you would tell sensitive information too with no worries, while the other would be used to leak information that you wanted leaked. While both were your friends, how you talked to them and what you revealed would be different.
As Reginald's real-life friend, Carter was far more trustworthy than most other players he could meet in the game, but it still did not mean that he would tell Carter everything, as no magician reveals all of his tricks but if this game really becomes so influential that businesses invest in it then he could not disregard the possibility of a powerful corporation getting to his friends one way or another.
In this way, NPCs like Leon and Melwin were far more trustworthy as there was no easy way for corporations to influence them because if even the wise emperor of Chavaria, Cassius Crestier, cannot get them to abandon House Aurellion and Reginald's character Railius then what chance did a corporation or faction with no nation have of swaying the two to their side?
None! There was no chance at all, and this was why Railius had so much trust in his current NPCs. Because they did not join him because of his title or power but because of their loyalty and belief in him. Even Melwin joined once he saw Railius' potential tying himself securely to House Aurellion's war chariot when he could have gone elsewhere.
A player, even a friend, could be bought with money or blackmailed in the real world, but an NPC could not, which is why Reginald was so adamant about having a cadre of NPCs that he could call upon and use to balance the power that players hold in his faction especially useful was House Mantelon as they were fanatically loyal to House Aurellion with almost no chance of betrayal unless they are treated terribly and so he could use them to help maintain control of his faction from rebellions staged by other players.
"Sorry, sorry."
Carter apologised, his voice becoming quiet once again as it was evident that Reginald didn't want this to become public knowledge.
"So what about you? Where is your dynasty based at the moment."
"Oh, the Kingdom of Picea on the west coast of the continent. I'm based in its royal capital, and it should probably be called the Sultanate of Picea due to its position and customs, as its leader is not a king but a sultan. Then again, they are basically the same thing, so the difference is minimal."
"Nice! What title did you get?"
"Just lord, all landless nobles are known as lord this or that, though the title is empty and had no power behind it. Heck, even a knight with a single village gets more from their title than we do practically, but it is the first step for commoner dynasties into the world of the upper classes. This is why landed nobles are instead named by their landed titles or called my lord Baron to show they are of higher status and power than the countless landless nobles in the world. Of course, this is only in official settings."
"At least my dynasty has a mansion; thanks to our great wealth, I even managed to set up a caravan and a few profitable businesses. Even with the system's 20% tax, I should be able to make a decent chunk of cash if I convert the in-game money to real-life money. What about you, Reginald? Where are you based, and what empire did you offend?"
"Kingdom of Nathia Duchy of Deternor, the empire I escaped from and helped form, was the Chavarian one. The empire is on Nathia's northern border, and they frequently have wars as Nathia is the gateway for Chavaria to enter the southern part of the continent, so I should be relatively safe there."
Reginald said this time, Carter was not surprised as he was unfamiliar with the history of that part of the world of DO and just nodded, not realising that House Aurellion was well known by the surrounding countries around the Chavarian empire.
"We should meet up in-game and probably get some sleep now so we can play tomorrow."
Carter said, yawning as he looked at his phone and checked the time. It was 11 PM, and the next day, they would need to get up at 8 am so they could start playing the moment the servers opened.
While for regular people, 8 am was a normal time to be up so they could get to their jobs on time, for university students, asking them to get up at 8 am was a challenge in of itself, or why else would the 9 am university lectures would not have so many absentees at times.
Like this, a new day dawned.
The day the Dynasty Online servers officially opened.