Melon-chan thought deeply while following one of the NPCs that provided the profession of a berserker in this server. She entered the back part of the city hall, which was the private area of the metropolis lord. She suddenly asked, "Who is Mina?"
A three-dimensional image of Mina was shining brightly in the condo room. She was looking at her master. The sensors around the bedroom have already checked the preliminary condition of her master and concluded that it indeed was jet lag.
Phakin was extremely weary. He was lying in bed, but he couldn't fall asleep. If this were an anime, now you would see a white spirit-like wisp coming out from his mouth.
"Uh... uh..." A soft groaning sound occurred.
After thoroughly considering Phakin's current condition, Mina said, "Master should have some breakfast first so that your body can gradually adjust."
" Uh... uh..." he replied with a groan, then slowly crept out of bed.
After having beef stew and hot steamed rice, Phakin regained some energy. Seeing this, Mina seized the opportunity to ask, "Master, there is a player who told me that she was involved in a quest you played yesterday. She came to ask for your help, saying that you had promised her."
Phakin got jet lag, not amnesia, remembered well, "Miss Melon, is it? If it's not over my power, Mina can help her out instead. I can't go help her right now."
After reminiscing, Phakin started to feel dizzy again.
Before his spirit was about to depart, he hurriedly concluded and told Mina, "No matter what the problem is, give it your best effort to ensure that Miss Melon can play the game as usual." He thought no more of it, believing that good people who extend their hand to help others must receive a good reward.
"Errrrrrrrrrrrr....." Then, the spirit anime slipped out from Phakin's mouth once again.
Mina clasped her hands at her waist, bowed in acknowledgment, and then ordered the robot to carry master back to the bedroom. She was an AI, an assistant who has been serving her master for years, never knowing limits, since her master never cared to check how much effort was expended during work, but only looked at the results. Since her master wanted Melon to be able to play the game normally, she would comply with the order.
When she returned, Phakin was still spirited. It had been half a day and he was still suffering from jet lag, likely several more days until recovery.
On a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long dining table
Melon-chan was getting dizzy looking at the menu
The maid asked her if she would like some coffee while waiting, to which she politely agreed. But the maid did not ask whether she wanted it hot, cold, strong, or with sugar. Instead, the maid presented her with a coffee menu from over ten famous brands that exist in the real world, telling her to choose as she pleased.
These brand stores in the city of Chandra agreed to provide beverages for the guests at the city hall.
You know that eating in games tricks the brain into tasting flavors, right? Girls flocked to the game to drink bubble tea so they wouldn't get diabetes in real life, which led almost every food and drink brand to place their products inside the game. However, you don't necessarily have to choose them.
At that moment, a blonde woman wearing a white priestess robe with gold trim and a perfect face as if from a painting, approached you, bowed, and asked, "May I verify your name and ID to see if you are the actual person who cleared the quest with the master?"
master...
Melon-chan put down her menu immediately. This AI has been continuously appearing on camera, conducting interviews in place of the city's lord, Sagittarius. She watched TV just like everyone else, how could she not recognize her? Only now did she realize that the beautiful blonde woman in front of her, named Meena, was the AI assistant of that legendary person.
After the city of Chandra was upgraded to a metropolis, MGC Online announced the nationality of Sagittarius, the city's lord, to the public. Like other metropolis lords, it was quite predictable from the unique characteristics of the city of Chandra. Once confirmed again by the company that Sagittarius was Thai, it caused a stir across the country. At that time, Melon was in her final year at university, rushing to graduate. She followed the social trends, stepping away from her projects and coursework to join in the excitement. But as time went by, Thai gamers playing this game could not find the gamer who owned the ID. On social media and various news channels, this beautiful blonde lady was giving interviews instead.
Melon-chan, raising her hand in greeting, "Hello, Miss Mina." Since the MGC game system reserved the right to privacy and did not display names above characters' heads like other games, if one wished to know names, permission had to be sought, or one had to be part of the same party, or quest. "You want to check the ID name, right? I am happy to allow it," Melon-chan permitted the AI to check her ID.
Mina clasped her hands at her waist and bowed to Melon, saying, "The check is complete. Master calls you Miss Melon. I too will call you Miss Melon, if you may."
Melon-chan hurriedly waved her hand with embarrassment. "That won't be necessary," she said. After all, once the quest was completed, she had both a rare career and skill in her possession. It was fair to say that both parties had received their due rewards from the quest without any obligations remaining. Although she didn't know if the other party's offer of help was just a formality or sincere, since she had come forward to ask for a promised favor, she had to remain humble for the time being.
Mina gestured for Melon-chan to take a seat, then inquired about what had happened since she had met with master. "What have you encountered, Miss Melon?"
Without hesitation, Melon-chan spilled everything she had encountered since yesterday to AI assistant, holding nothing back.
"Ugh...now I have a job and even obtained a rare profession. I don't want to run away and start playing all over again," she sighed.
Naf listened to the entire story and smiled, then asked further, "The guild you belong to is the berserker Guild, right? And where do you work? May I know which company you work for? Is it in the real world or the virtual world?"
"Oh, I graduated in accounting inspection and I work at the accounting inspection office of xxxxxxxxx in the Southeast Asia branch. This office is a multinational company with branches all around the world, but it's not too big and doesn't employ many people, so we use game space as our workplace. The Southeast Asia branch is located in Seven Lakes City, next to the Chandra City territory."
Even though we use computers to keep accounts and also have AI to double-check everything, "people" are the ones who make purchases, sales, leases, asset creations, etc., which can result in the data not being 100 percent accurate. Therefore, it is necessary for humans to verify the accuracy in the final step. As for the accounting inspection company, there is no need for any mechanical equipment that might be used in the real world, like other hardware companies. Therefore, it is situated in the virtual world, which also saves on utility bills, there's no need to rent real-world spaces that require paying various taxes.
Once Mina heard the company's name, her database would retrieve the information about this company for a backup to calculate the plan.
Mina also asked, "Is it about guilds, the company, and also about friends, right? That you are worried about?"
Melon-chan clasped her chin and said, "I can deal with the friend issue since if I don't respond to that for a while, they will eventually stop asking. It's only the guild and the company issues, yes. Oh, I wonder if..." After waking up following a sleep, Melon was no longer as anxious as before. If Sagittarius just comes out to make a public statement saying that they don't know each other, and it was just a coincidence that they met, then everything would be over easily. There wouldn't be a need to talk about journalists coming to interview her anymore.
But before Melon could ask Sagittarius to come forward, Mina immediately replied, "Regarding the guild, you said you joined the guild because you wanted a secondary profession as a berserker. Now that you have acquired the 'war lord' profession, which is rarer, you don't need to stay in the guild anymore. Even though the guild system has a borrowing system for items in exchange for money or time spent helping other guild members in dungeons, no matter what items you have borrowed from the guild, you can return them and pay a fair amount to release yourself from this obligation and leave the guild. Then you won't have to worry about the guild leader pressuring you into doing something you dislike anymore."
"If I leave the guild just like that, they must really dislike me. There must be people in the guild saying that I became famous and left the group for sure. This guild is in the same town of Seven Lakes as the company I work for. They are also quite influential," Melon-chan felt dejected. With the game's security system, it will save various information, so even if the guild sends someone to cause trouble at the company, there will be no damage. But on the other hand, if the company doesn't want any trouble because the guild is causing a scene, they could fire her... And that job is hard to find.
So she came to ask Sagittarius, to speak up for her.
But before Melon could even speak, the AI assistant asked, "Do you know the bank of Chandara, Miss Melon?"
With the need to be respectful, as she had come to ask for Sagittarius's help, Melon bobbed her head vigorously in response to the question, waiting for the moment to insert her next request.
"This bank had branches all over the game and even extended to branches in the real world."
Mina responded, saying, "Regarding the company, I have two offers for you to choose from. First, our bank uses its service to audit the accounts of the company where you work, so we do have some say. I assure you that it will relieve your boss, Miss Melon, of any pressure. Or second, we have a bank; given that you have studied accounting, would you be interested in working with our bank?"
Melon was astounded. The Bank of Chandra City is considered the biggest bank in the game, with five global banks as shareholders and management. If you only count the gold coins that pass through the bank daily, once converted to real-world currency, this bank is indeed one of the top hundred companies with the most money circulation in the world!
Was AI really offering her a job at one of the top global banks?
She came because she was troubled by the Sagittarius's reputation and just wanted him to come out to make a statement to decline.
Is this too much?
Melon-chan got the chance to speak up, "The truth is, the reason I came to see you today is only because I want your boss, to go on camera and deny knowing me, that's all."
Melon-chan didn't realize that to make a public announcement as she planned, Mina's cunning mind had figured out as well. But it wouldn't allow Melon-chan to play the game normally anyway. That's because
even though they didn't know each other previously, now that they had played a quest together, it could be considered that they now knew each other. It was certain that whether it be the guild leader or even the owner of the auditing firm, they would force Melon-chan to make an effort to become close, undoubtedly. With a faint smile, Mina slowly explained until Melon-chan's confidence waned.
On another side in the real world, on a tiny island of the Solomon Islands (northeast of the Oceania continent), which still retains one hundred percent of its natural state with no technology whatsoever on this island, except for seven anchored ships not far away.
Seven masked men and women stepped up from the boat to be under the shade of the lone coconut tree on the island.
"Why have you called us to gather like this? Doing this might lead others to catch onto this conspiracy."
"You've heard the news too, haven't you? That Sagittarius is in Starting city."
"So what? It doesn't affect us in the slightest," a woman's voice sounded.
"We gathered together with the goal of launching an attack to seize a metropolis. When Sagittarius appeared outside the territory of Chandra city, it was uncertain if there would be a next time. If we could capture it and declare war between cities... Remember that Sagittarius is a solo player, and without anyone to command the armies, the city of Chandra would be directionless."
All six people fell silent. They all shared the same ideal of "seizing cities," not wasting time developing a city according to the system, but rather siphoning the resources of a city to augment their own forces. With this ideal, all seven had managed to control three medium-sized cities already, without starting from managing communities or villages. At this point, they all had greater ambitions, such as seven people attacking and seizing a metropolis to claim as their own.
Another man said, "We have the funds like Columbus 1492, the leader of the berserker guild with a major branch in the city of Seven Lakes, which is a strategic point for launching attacks. If we really capture Sagittarius, I will lend my support!"
Another woman hurriedly said, "We have a good relationship with the "S" insurance company that has branches in many cities, including the city of Chandra as well. We could have them monitor the movements of Sagittarius. If he is not in town, we can start searching!"
All six nodded their heads in agreement. "If we can take control of the metropolitan city, each of our agency will grow even larger."
That's right, the seven of them didn't start off playing as land lords. Recently, they found that players who were lords became more famous than guilds or clubs, so they joined together to form this secret group. They support each other, taking over the city of other players to build their reputation, call for money, attract sponsors, and generate income.
They met outside because they were afraid of not playing by the game's rules, banding together to attack and seize other people's cities, not following the proper course of the game, which allows lords who built their fortunes by themselves to fight; they feared being banned by the game.
As for the person who was targeted,
"Errrrrrrrr..." the spirit continued to drift on.