In the Starter Town
All the other players have gathered back where they began. It has been an hour since the event ended. When it ended, they all received a new message. It read:
Congratulations on surviving the First World Event! Return to the starter town's square. If you worked alone, you can speak to any NPC guard and they will bring you to meet with the mayor or someone associated with him. If you worked in a group, there will be a bulletin board that will show how many monsters your group killed. This board also shows the number of kills solo players had. If you are an adventurer, please look for a guild worker. From there, they will ask you for the number of monster's you killed and proof of the kill. They will then reward you for those kills as well as pay you extra since you brought great honor to the Adventurer's Guild. If you aren't an adventurer, there will be a booths around the town square that will accept your kills and give you the total gold you earned from them. Once you finish and leave the starter town, your rewards for participating in the event will be sent directly into your inventory!
When this was read, all the players swiftly returned, eager to get their hands on the easy gold.
As the players ran around, trying to find the booths and NPCs, a crowd had gathered in front of the board. The board showed the group and solo kills and also ranked them.
"Hell yeah! 21st place on the group rankings! That's not bad!"
"Argh. 107th… we have to get better guys."
"What about the solo rankings??"
The crowd shifted towards the solo rankings. Someone began to make a fuss.
"Holy crap! Look at first place, it says that he killed nearly half a million on his own!"
Everyone pushed and shoved, hoping to see who it was.
"Tell us damn it! I want to add him!"
"Yeah! Tell us!"
The crowd wanted the chance to become friends with a player that strong. If a solo player can kill that many by himself, imagine the possibilities if he was on a team.
"His name is… Blue? What kind of name is that?"
The crowd dispersed, some were trying to add this player while others were telling their friends about Blue. Others stayed behind and looked at the rest of the list.
"Second place has over 100,000 kills… who are these monsters?" The person looks at the name.
"Violet? Is that her real name or game name? Either ways, it has to be a girl right??"
Many of the players heard that it was a girl and they got a bit rowdy because of it. Even more people this time ran off, trying to add her and befriend her as well. Only they knew their true intentions.
The top two were mysterious people. The person in third place killed only 1,000 by themselves. It's a big number considering that fourth place barely cracks 100. It's just that numbers 1 and 2 stood out far more than 3 did. A few were still interested.
"Hmm? Third place's name sounds familiar? Where have I heard it before?"
The crowd let's out a collective hmmm, as they try to remember. It was then that someone remembered where they had heard the name before.
"AH! It's the guy from Golddit! The one that completed that first 'Forgotten' quest!! ROMEO!!"
"AH, that's right!!"
Roman had placed third. It would seem that the game had considered his time in the event as a single player instead of a group.
Two mysterious figures were in that crowd. When they heard Romeo, they gave each other a knowing look. They both then went their separate ways. It was as if with just one glance, the two knew exactly what the other one was thinking.
-
Mayor's home
"What the hell do you mean Red?! You're backing out of our agreement!! You said you would help me get Rose and help me take my father's place!"
In a empty room, in the mayor's home. Four people were standing around. Two of them were Ned and Beavis, the two nobles that left Roman behind. The other two wore realistic looking masks. One wore a red mask, he went by Red. The other one wore a blue mask. This one was Blue, the one who had fought the old man earlier.
Ned was yelling at Red. Red hasn't said anything up to this point. He just let Ned rant on and on. After a few minutes, he finally spoke.
"Is that enough now Ned? Alright then. Let me explain it to you so you're dumbass can understand."
Ned's face twisted in anger. Hearing someone call him a dumbass was something he couldn't excuse. Before he could do anything though, Blue cleared his throat. This caused Ned to tense up.
'That monster…'
Even Ned could feel the stength coming from Blue. Blue almost never spoke but just him being here was enough to deter any surprises.
"Haha! That look on your face! At least you know your place. Now, let me tell you why I am backing out," he paused for a second before pointing at Beavis. "Your little dog over here!"
"Not only did he not follow the plan, not only did he expose his demon magic, but he didn't even bring Romeo back!"
Red's teasing tone from earlier was gone. He was truly angry at Beavis.
Ned remembered that Red wanted that but he didn't tell Beavis. He had assumed that Red wanted Romeo dead anyways, so he just did it for him. Now that he knows that Red truly wanted him alive, he couldn't look at him in the eye.
Ned looked away out of fear and shame. Red however, wasn't having it. He saw it as a sign of disrespect.
"Listen you little shit! Look at me!"
Red punched Ned and caused him to slump for a second. Ned was moments away from being unconscious but he fought with everything he had to stay awake. Beavis tried to intervene but was only met with Blue's aura. He froze up. He no longer had the courage to save Ned. Red waited for Ned to look back up at him. Ned was scared, worried about what would happen to him now that he realized he was the one that didn't complete his end of the deal. In the end, he somehow found the courage to look up at the man in the red mask.
Red caresses Ned's face. "Good, you finally looked at me.". He gently taps Ned's cheeks, "Remember to always look at me when I'm speaking to you, got that?".
Ned quickly nods.
"Good. Now let me tell you why you should have followed through with the plan and brought that man to me."
Red paused for a moment, almost as if he was remembering something. Ned stayed still, to scared to say anything.
"Those men I sent you, they were suppose to help you capture that girl Rose. That was what you were suppose to do with them. But instead you robbed people like a shitty bandit! AND you chose Romeo of all people!"
Ned shivered, remembering how decisive Roman was when it came to killing the other players. Red didn't miss his reaction either.
"Oh you saw it right? You know now right? That man is cruel and decisive. He will kill if he deems it necessary. He killed them even though they were only trying to rob him and leave. Now what do you think he will do to you two?"
Red pokes at Ned's forehead and also does the same to Beavis.
"You both left him to die after convincing his closes ally to turn his back on him. It would of been fine if he died but he didn't. He survived. I'd imagine that he would eventually come for you two as well."
Before Ned could completely process what he had just heard, Beavis already shouted out in both annoyance and in fear.
"Impossible!! There's no way he lived! There was at least 5,000 monsters in that stampede!"
Red turned towards Beavis, who was still on his knees due to Blue. Red just gives him a thumbs up.
"You're right, it shouldn't be. But it is! Blue here witnessed it himself! Blue has no reason to lie to me correct?"
Both Ned and Beavis looked at Blue in shock. They were both wondering how Red knew about everything so quickly. It turns out that they had someone following them the entire time.
But that wasn't even the most shocking part. To them, the thought of Roman surviving frightened them. Ned had told Beavis about what he saw the night they tried to rob Roman. Now they were both scared that he would come for their lives.
Ned immediately fell to his knees and dropped to the floor. It looked as if he was Red's servant.
"Lord Red!! Please!! Tell us what we must do!! You helped me, by making it easier for me to become the next mayor! You also made it easier for me get to Rose, I'm sure you have a plan to save us both from dying to that man!!"
Ned had done some horrible things. He's gotten all of his siblings assassinated. He had Red kill all the nobles that opposed his eventually rise. He also has his hands in organized crime as well that has brought him an unimaginable amount of wealth. He wasn't willing to lose all that and die now. Even if he had to lick someone else's boots, Ned would do it just to live another day longer. Beavis was also the same but on a much smaller scale.
The two men looked up hopefully at Red.
"Ah. I guess I could help you again but this time it's different. Not only do I want Romeo, I want half of all the money you have stolen over the years as payment."
Ned was furious but he held his tongue. Giving up half of his wealth was fine as long as Roman was killed.
"Alright you got yourself a deal. Please Lord Red, could you tell us your plan?"
"Of course, listen closely now. In the capital…"
-
Another hour goes by and the two young nobles leave first, leaving behind Red and Blue.
Red turns to Blue.
"Are you sure that Romeo is him?"
Blue just silently nods.
Red doesn't say anything and just turns around, walks towards the window and looks outside.
"Good thing I ran into you all those years ago, your Codex is really useful."
Red just smiles, happy that Fate was now smiling down on him.
"This time around, I will take it all away from you Roman!"
-
(A/N: doesn't this mean that Red and Blue are… pla… pla… players? Or am I just writing this to throw you off? Are they… actually NPC with a OP codex that broke the game? Or? Am I just trying to throw you off? Is only one of them an NPC? ohhhhh.)