Just like the other main city, the City Lord’s mansion of Harbor City was in the middle of the city. The moment they entered the gate of the mansion, an old man greeted them with a wide smile, “City Lord, you’re back!”
“F*ck!”
This NPC arrived so abruptly that it gave everyone a scare. The old man had a head full of white hair whose smile was even more wretched than the Hermit. Wang Yu almost punched him right in the face as though he was a pirate.
After sensing that this old fella had no malicious intentions, Wang Yu checked him out.
The outcome made Wang Yu rub his eyes.
Damn it! This old man was actually all question marks…
Wang Yun was currently Level 60 so for him to see all question marks meant that this old man was over Level 100. Who would have thought that an old man like that was an expert?
“Mister, you are?”
After being played by Hermit in so many ways, Wang Yu was slightly fearful of old NPCs. Even though Wang Yu did not have a good impression of this old man, being polite to the elderly was a basic human courtesy.
Seeing how polite Wang Yu was, the old man stroked his beard satisfyingly, “I am the City Lord…”
“???”
Everyone was shocked when they heard this.
According to past examples, one had to defeat the present City Lord to become the City Lord. Could this old man be the final BOSS?
Seeing how worried everyone was, the old man smiled as he continued, “…’s Butler.”
Following which, the old man had a name shined above his head, ‘City Lord’s Butler’.
What a simple and crude name.
“F*ck!”
Once everyone found out this old man’s identity, they furrowed their brows because they could tell that he was not a decent NPC from the way he spoke.
Of course, they had seen much worse NPCs so it seemed ridiculous for them to be mad at an AI.
Disregarding the antics of the old man, Wang Yu reached out his hand and said, “I am the new City Lord and I am here to take over the control of Harbor City.”
“En! I know!” The butler nodded but did not continue saying anything.
“???”
When Wang Yu saw that the butler did not continue, he asked, “What’s next?”
The butler replied unenthusiastically, “What’s next? You will become the City Lord.”
“That’s all?” Wang Yu questioned, “Where is my City Lord’s Seal?”
Assuming control over a main city was not as simple as becoming a president of a club. It wasn’t as simple as gathering people and coming up with a good name.
To authenticate a government official like the City Lord, there had to be a City Lord Seal. Without the City Lord, there was no point having the City Lord’s title.
Not only would all the taxes not belong to him, but he also wouldn’t even be able to order any NPC around. Therefore, Wang Yu’s current priority would be to get his hands on the City Lord Seal. The fact that this old man refused to give him the seal made it clear that he was up to something.
“Seal?” The old man shook his hand and said, “We don’t have that since a long time ago!”
“Eh?” Wang Yu was surprised, “Don’t have that? What?”
“Indeed…” The old man sighed, “This place has been dominated by the pirates for so many years so there was practically no use for the City Lord Seal. Hence, it went missing long ago…”
“I…”
Hearing the old man’s words, Wang Yu spat out a mouthful of blood.
This system was getting increasingly despicable as time passed. It had clearly stated the rewards of the quest but without the Harbor City’s Seal, this Maritime Road only belonged to Wang Yu on the surface. The game designers must have an incredibly wicked heart to even discount on the rewards that were already in Wang Yu’s hands.
One must know that there were no free lunches in the world. It was indeed ridiculous for them to believe that they could earn that much money from completing a Grade A quest.
Wang Yu thought about it before asking the old man, “So can I give up on the title of being a City Lord?”
Without the seal, it would be a virtual job and he even had to fork out money himself… Perhaps only a wealthy man like Feng Yun Realm who treasured pride more than wealth would enjoy having a title like that.
As for Wang Yu… even though Wang Yu was not as concerned about self-benefits as the rest of the Quan Zhen Sect, he was still a pragmatic person who was naturally not going to spend money on such ridiculous titles. Moreover, he couldn’t be bothered with a City Lord title.
“Yes, you can!” the butler nodded, “As long as you set up the giving up of the city or transferring of ownership with me, you can do that.”
“Really?” Wang Yu was pleasantly surprised, “Then make it quick! I don’t want this city anymore!”
“I’m sorry, but you don’t have the authority to order me around yet…” The butler shook his head to reject Wang Yu.
“Why not?” Wang Yu asked once more.
The butler replied faintly, “According to customs, I only listen to the person with the Harbor City’s Seal regardless of who he is.”
“What the…” Wang Yu was completely speechless.
Why would anyone with the seal want to give up on the city? Once Wang Yu realised that he was trapped in an impassable loop, he knew that the system was out to get him.
“Can you make this an exception?” Wang Yu handed a pouch of gold towards the old man’s hand.
This butler’s AI was evidently not low and in <<REBIRTH>>, the higher the AI of the NPC, the better it was to negotiate with them. As long as one provided enough incentives, the NPC would be able to provide an alternative solution to the player without breaking any rules.
Speaking of incentives, the most direct and straightforward one would be gold. This trick had worked for Wang Yu ever since he started out in Beginner’s Village.
The butler weighed the bag of gold that Wang Yu handed him as he kept it in his pocket before shaking his head, “No!”
“F*ck you! Hurry up and return the money to me!” Wang Yu raged at how shameless the NPC turned out. How could he accept the money without the promise to do something for him?
“I’m sorry, but you don’t have the authority to order me around!”
After saying that, the old man smiled wickedly, “Do you really think I’m a fool? As long as you take up the title, you will have to fork out all the expenses of the city. Because of this sum of money, you want to avoid the responsibility?”
Damn it! Wang Yu finally saw through the entire scheme and how he was trapped by this matter. As long as he did not give up on this title, Twilight City would be responsible for all the future expenses of Harbor City while the taxes and income of Harbor City would go back to the system.
A shameless trap like that was clearly not something a small sum of money could dismiss.
“Tell me. How much money do you want?” Wang Yu popped the question directly.
Instead of dragging this on, Wang Yu was a straightforward person who would rather not beat around the bush.
“Hehe!” The old man smiled wretchedly, “At the very least, you have to clear off the debts of the previous City Lord, right?”
“Oh? How much did he owe you?” Wang Yu asked out of curiosity.
The old man took out an abacus before replying, “I have to calculate this carefully. It isn’t easy to clear the debts that he owed for over hundreds of years…”
Wang Yu heard what he said and his face turned black as he asked, “Can I beat you up?”
Over a hundred years of debts… Wouldn’t that clear his entire fortune? The fact that he wasn’t paid to give up on being the City Lord of such a huge city was already remarkable yet he had to fork out money to give it up? The system was truly shameless beyond our wildest imaginations!
