After winning that gamble in which his victory was assured, Angora had thought of agreeing with his father’s request to stay two more days in Tunaya.
After all, the Overlord System would probably judge that Tunaya was his new domain since he realized that his father had the thought of having him inherit his dukedom.
All he needed to do after that was put up a Lifestone in the Silver Eagle Castle to teleport back to the unnamed town, unlike having to spend days on the road like now.
For the players, the perfect completion of their last quest rewarded them generously along with substantial EXP. Although they should be holding wild parties as is tradition, Horan, Angora’s father had just lost a son—it wasn’t right to celebrate regardless of what transpired.
Moreover, Horan had decided to gather nearby nobles and spread news that his eldest son had succumbed to an illness while promoting Angora. As such, the Players could only hold back their festive mood and temporarily take over the security duties of the fallen guardsmen in that incident.
Angora was fine with that since he didn’t have to worry about not knowing what was happening in the unnamed town with their real-time communication forum.
Be that as it may, relearning nobility manners were rather troublesome for Angora after he had become too relaxed in the unnamed town. Moreover, he was never groomed as the duke’s successor, only learning basic conduct. As such, he had to go through many remedial lessons for utterly complicated norms, with the old duke even hiring an instructor which only made things worse for him. In fact, Angora began to think that those who set these complex ceremonies were basically bent on having their successors die.
Aside from all that, Angora also had another problem in Kinley’s… bugging.
It would a little incorrect to call it bugging, however. Kinley was certainly very interested in Angora, but she was even more interested in Angora’s domain, that is, the unnamed town that had developed those Players who were fearless even against death.
After witnessing firsthand how the Players had unleashed power that went beyond common sense, and worked in tandem to take down the Lemure Warchief and the four golems, she had become very curious about the existence of the Players.
As such, she had kept following Angora around after the crisis was over, voicing her hopes to visit that small town and live there for a while.
Nonetheless, once Angora remembered those crazy Players’ horrific tendencies for assimilation and what sort of problems a crazy version of Kinley would bring him, he determinedly refused.
Still, she continued being persistent, leaving him utterly exasperated.
“But you’re obviously always smiling at that,” Edward said, having observed all of Angora’s reactions as a bystander.
“Don’t even joke about it. It is clearly a look of anguish on my face,” Angora said with a straight face. “By the way, are you on patrol?”
“It’s a trifle that needs doing, and your father did pay us.” Edward shrugged. “And we’re just waiting until the Temple of Glory sends someone to take over.”
“Well, I did think about having the Players take over the castle defense as new daily quests, but we’re still too few, and diverting too many at once would affect the Church’s development.” Angora sighed regretfully.
It was fortunate that Horan had promised to help the God of Game’s Church develop in secret. Eventually, when Angora had made all arrangements and succeeded Horan as the new archduke, he would be able to formally have the Players take the place of the Temple of Glory as the strongest faction in Tunaya.
However, all of that must be built upon the smooth development of the Church, and the foundation of an explosive rise in Player population.
The two of them hence chatted away idly, with most of their conversation related to the Players and the System.
[Marni Wilf died in a tsunami. Revival in 71:59:59]
A System notification appeared into view then.
“Pfft. Uncle Marni’s dead… again…” Edward could not hold back a chuckle.
“Now that’s a record. I remember not seeing him die for almost three days.” Angora’s lips curled up in a grin too.
They couldn’t laugh, however, with what happened next.
[Ivan Narine died in a tsunami. Revival in 71:59:59]
[Boris died in a tsunami. Revival in 71:59:59]
[Zen Zidane died in a tsunami. Revival in 71:59:59]
[Kate died in a tsunami…]
They thought the same thing in that very moment.
Something happened at the Gray Fjord Port!
***
Minutes ago.
The Warty Tidal Flat at the Frogmen Village.
Many players were walking through the village after having received daily quests from the Frogman Elder, with some intending to explore the Grey Fjord. Some were carrying marine produce that they found from some unknown place and having the frogmen cook it for them, while others, who hadn’t given up on converting other frogmen as their own followers were still diligently attempting to do so—with both sides failing to understand each other.
“Boss, when are we going back to town?” Ivan, who was on guard duty asked Marni as he attempted a ‘frog’ stroke while swimming.
“Let’s explore another 1% and we’ll be done for the day. What do you think of my posture?”
“But I’m fed up with fish soup.” Ivan sighed. “I think I smell fish even when I drink water now…”
“Alright. How about this? We’ll go back today.” Marni was not the sort of employer who doesn’t listen—stepping out of the knee-deep water, he arched his back backwards, perhaps as way of warm-up as he continued to stare at Ivan in that bizarre position. “We’ll have smoked meat tonight!”
“Oh, that’s nice. The smoke meat of Iron Cauldron Tavern is first-rate… by the way, are you treating me, boss?”
“Ivan, you’re a grown man. You should shoulder your own responsibility!”
“Damn it, going cheap and yet making it sound so reasonable…Hmm?” Ivan was about retort when he suddenly could not help narrow his eyes at the distant surface of the ocean. “What’s that, a white wall?”
Marni straightened himself too and looked up into the distance.
“Why would there be a white hall on the ocean? Must be a mirage.” He simply replied.
Unbeknownst to anyone, a white wall had indeed appeared over the distant surface of the ocean.
The wall stretched towards both sides endlessly like the infinitely vast surface of the ocean, its edge unseen.
It would have been alright if that was all there is to it. The problem was that as time passed, the wall seemed to grow taller and larger…
After a moment, Marni’s face went pale when he finally understood what that was.
“What the f*ck! It’s not a wall; it’s a tsunami!”
