Chapter 272 Spotless Autumn (Part 1)
It was an unfamiliar voice, but like any normal human being, Ye Ci reflexively turned her head towards the source of the voice. What she saw was a rather familiar silhouette surrounded by more than a dozen players. Who else could it be but Kiss Me Baby?
Ye Ci looked at her hood. She was well covered, and so were the players around her. What? Is her eyes that good? Did she really just identify me in the crowd that is hooded? She let out a sigh, Whatever. There’s no way they will attack me in the market anyways. Who would want to mess with the lvl200 soldiers? The most I’d get is some tongue lashing.
“It’s him! It’s him! He was the one who took my hoe!” Kiss Me Baby pointed at Ye Ci’s direction, and turned towards the Priest standing behind her, “You have to help me! I don’t care, I want my hoe back!”
The Priest patted Kiss Me Baby on her shoulder, signaling for her to remain calm. He then made his way through the crowd towards Ye Ci. A smile appeared under her hooded face. Such audacity. Doesn’t she know that an item dropped in combat belongs to whoever that picked it up?
As Ye Ci steeled herself for the confrontation, the Priest walked past her and stopped in front of another hooded player, “Is that him?” the Priest turned around and asked.
“Yes! That’s him!” Kiss Me Baby stomped her way towards the Priest and gritted her teeth as she stood in front of the player.
Ye Ci arched an eyebrow and glanced at the player, who had his back to the Priest and was still browsing for items by a stall.
We look nothing alike. His height and the build of his body is nowhere near mine! I don’t know what his class is, but there’s nothing similar between us other than the hood that he’s wearing. Ye Ci then shifted her gaze to Kiss me Baby, Is she okay? How can she mistake someone like that for me?
Of course, since Kiss Me Baby has misidentified the player, Ye Ci would never do something as daft as stepping out and say something like, “Don’t drag him into this, he’s innocent. I’m the one who took your hoe!” She blended in with the crowd and watched the spectacle before her unfold as she waited for Rogue Rabbit One’s return.
Hooded players were a common sight in a neutral map. With a crowd of onlookers now surrounding the players, Ye Ci found herself in the midst of hooded players just like her.
With the faint green grow around the player identifying him as a friendly, Ye Ci was certain that he was from the Southern or Eastern Continent, while Kiss Me Baby and her posse was from the Northern Continent. Combat was allowed anywhere and anytime in neutral maps, and the system might register an accidental gesture as an attack. This was why the Priest refrained from touching the hooded player.
He stood behind the player and spoke with a firm voice, “Greetings. I’m Thousand Mile Dream from the Northern Continent guild, Sangharama Shrine. May I have a moment of your time?
This evoked a collective gasp of surprise from the players around them. Even Ye Ci herself furrowed her eyebrows.
He’s a member of the guild Sangharama Shrine.
The guilds Sangharama Shrine, Heavenly Body, and Rain Of Blood were the three largest guilds of the Northern Continent. They were not as peaceful as the guilds in the Eastern Continent, nor were they openly hostile against one another like the Black Plum Family and Isle Of Heroes of the Southern Continent. These three guilds were locked in weird balanced coexistance.
They were allies, but frequently bickered among one another. Treaties were signed, but this did not quell the animosity that the guilds harbored against each other. Despite their desire to take over one another, neither of these three guilds had the strength to take on the other two. A peculiar sense of false peace was hence maintained on the surface while the three guilds awaited for the chance that would allow them to tear each other apart. The guilds would often work behind each other's back as they encouraged their members to harass members from the other guilds. Even without the intervention of players from another continent, the Northern Continent was already in turmoil.
Even when Ye Ci was expecting an encounter with players from the three major guilds, she did not expect to run into Sangharama Shrine members during her first hour in the continent. She was not afraid of trouble, but even she was wary of Sangharama’s Grace, who was the leader of Sangharama Shrine.
Based on her memories of her past life, Sangharama Shrine was the first guild to ally themselves with Golden Era and had greatly benefited from their arrangement. They were even able to emerge relatively unscathed when Fate was ruined by Golden Era and was able to rise as the top guild in Fate. This was all thanks to Sangharama’s Grace.
The man’s vision, intelligence, and courage allowed Sangharama Shrine to assert its dominance over the Northern Continent and become the top guild in Fate. Ye Ci did not have a chance to know Sangharama’s Grace, but it was something that she definitely wanted to do in her current life.
The hooded player was slow to react. It took him two full seconds to process Thousand Mile Dream’s words. He looked around him, then at Thousand Mile Dream, before finally pointing at himself, “You’re talking to me?”
Thousand Mile Dream was a good natured man. Even with Kiss Me Baby raging on behind him, the man maintained the smile on his face, “yes.”
“What is it?” any other player would definitely have panicked in such a situation. Even if they were able to remain calm on the surface, they would still be afraid deep down. The hooded player, however, was not fazed by the show of force. Ye Ci could not see his expression, but she could tell from his voice that the player was not affected at all by the display.
“Did you attack this Sorceress twice in the wilderness and took her hoe?” Thousand Mile Dream went straight to the point, “I know the rules. An item dropped by a player in PVP is the rightful property of the victor, but that hoe is very important to us. Can you perhaps return it to us? I’ll trade you any two pieces of Purple-quality equipment for it.”
This prompted a collective gasp of surprise from the onlookers.
Purple-quality equipment was still rare in the current stage of the game. A solo player was lucky to have a few pieces of Blue-quality equipment, not to mention a Purple one. Even major guilds were only able to equip their elites with Purple equipment while their normal members could already stand proud even if they owned only a single piece. Thousand Mile Dream was willing to offer two pieces of such equipment in exchange for the hoe. One could only speculate what sort of stats the hoe possessed.
Even Ye Ci herself began rubbing her chin in contemplation. Did I misjudge the worth of that hoe? She turned around to look for the player who sold her the packs, and realised that he was no longer there. Well, it seems that I’ve grossly underestimated that hoe.
Kiss Me Baby anger flared when she heard his words, “Brother Mile! He’s the one at fault here! He killed me and took my stuff! Just get him to return it! Why must we trade for the hoe with Purple equipment?” she pointed at the hooded player as she shook Thousand Mile Dream.
Another female player pampered by her guildmates. Ye Ci chuckled. Even with the rising population of female players, the pretty ones and the cute ones would still be treated like goddesses by the male players. As time went on, they tended to grow bossy and unreasonable. I should’ve camped her spawn point. I’m sure she has lots of valuable items on her. What a shame. Thought Ye Ci as she stared at Kiss Me Baby.
“Quiet.” Thousand Mile Dream furrowed his eyebrows. It was apparent that he was annoyed by the behavior of Kiss Me Baby. If the hoe was not that important to him and possibly the guild, he might not have mobilized so many members of his guild.
Kiss Me Baby was actually afraid of Thousand Mile Dream. She immediately forced her mouth shut at his warning.
What was truly weird, however, was the reaction of the hooded player. He remained silent throughout the entire ordeal and stared at Thousand Mile Dream and Kiss me Baby.
“Is my proposal satisfactory to you?” Thousand Mile Dream finally turned back to the player once he managed to quiet Kiss Me Baby down.
The player was juggling an exquisite looking bottle of potion in his hand. “Two Purple items for one? Sounds like a good deal to me.” he shrugged a response.
Ye Ci was perplexed by the player’s response. Why is he not denying their accusation? Doesn’t it mean that he’s admitting to be one who killed Kiss Me Baby? And the one who took the hoe? Doesn’t he know that Sangharama Shrine is a major power in the Northern Continent? He’s messing with the wrong people...
Ye Ci was suddenly interested in the player. Just what is he thinking?
Thousand Mile Dream beamed at the player, thinking that his proposal was accepted, “So what is your class? What sort of Purple equipment do you need? My people will get it for you immediately.”
The hooded player instead chuckled, “Well it will be a good deal if I do have the hoe. Too bad…” the player drew out the sentence as long as possible before shaking his head, “I’ve never seen that Sorceress before, nor have I fought her.”
“But it’s you! You’re the one! Don’t deny it! I remember it’s you! Give me back my stuff! Give it back!” the anger that Kiss Me Baby worked hard to suppress surged upon hearing those words. She charged at the player, and would have swung a punch if she was not stopped by Thousand Mile Dream. If her blow had connected, it was guaranteed that she would meet her death at the hands of the patrolling soldiers.
Thousand Mile Dream pushed Kiss Me Baby towards a Warrior and said, “Watch her. Don’t let her cause any more trouble for me.”
The Warrior nodded, and gripped on tightly to Kiss Me Baby. Despite her best effort to struggle out of the Warrior’s grip, a Sorceress was way outclassed in terms of Strength by a Warrior. But even with her movement limited, Kiss Me Baby was still able to speak, “How can you be so shameless? Why don’t you just admit that you hit a woman? Will it cost it your life? Will you get pregnant? We’ve promised you two pieces of Purple equipment! Just return the hoe!”
The hooded player immediately laughed at her words.
Thousand Mile Dream creased his eyebrows and lowered his voice, “It’s okay if you killed her. This is a neutral map. It’s survival of the fittest. She lost to you because you’re a better player. As long as you’re willing to give me that hoe, I’ll add in another Purple equipment into the deal.”
“Pfft… I didn’t know that Sangharama Shrine can be so generous.” the man laughed and pulled down his hood, revealing his short black hair and his handsome Asian face, “But there’s really nothing that i can do. This is my first time seeing that lady.”
I feel like I’ve seen him before. Thought Ye Ci the moment the man pulled down his hood.
Thousand Mile Dream stared at the man, and noticed his sincere expression, “Are you sure it’s him?” He turned back to face Kiss Me Baby.
Kiss Me Baby herself could not remember the appearance of her killer clearly. Due to her panicked state, she had forgotten to check the combat log before reviving after her second death. She did not know who was the one who killed her, but she noticed that her hoe was missing. That was why she immediately went to Thousand Mile Dream and headed straight to the market.
Many of the players in the market, however, were cloaked, and could only remember the outline of her killer vaguely as the player was mounted and was fast. Her accusation was based solely on the instinct of her gut.
Kiss Me Baby started to lose her composure at the question. Even she herself was not sure if she had identified the right person, “Y-yes. I’m sure it’s him.”
Thousand Mile Dream turned around to face the man again, his expression darkening, “I’m very sincere in resolving this problem, and I thought that I could earn your sincerity as well. It seems that we do not have a deal. If you’re willing to return it to us today, the offer still stands. But if you don’t…”
The man was amused, “If I don’t?” a mischievous grin appeared on his face.
“If you don’t, we of the Sangharama Shrine will make your stay in the Northern Continent a living hell.” Thousand Mile Dream’s politeness was instantly replaced with bloodlust, “I’m sure that our guild is capable of something like that.”
And the man chuckled, “Will you be satisfied if I say ‘Oh, I’m so scared!’?”