RETURN OF THE SHADOW - Chapter 233

“You are quite the confident one,” continued Salket. “Well, I do belong to a guild, the Black Wolves guild.”

“I hope you are the one that Kiriti referred to meet here at the gate,” said Balthazar putting out his hand.

“Yep! I realized that as soon as I saw your name but didn’t expect that you would be riding on a horse and manage to come to the city within an hour. That makes it awful tempting for me to get a mount. It would speed up our exploring efficiency by a large amount,” said Salket.

“I just got lucky. Even Kiriti had no idea at that time that I would manage to get a mounting skill,” said Balthazar. “So, can you give me the details that I asked for?”

“Yes. Just wait here for a moment before I get someone to replace me here. It would take a couple of minutes and information about a mount would make the guild take my request on priority,” said Salket as he signalled to stay by a small shop just inside the gate.

As Balthazar went to the shop, he immediately requested for a map of the city from the NPC. Such items are mostly found at the centre of markets or near gates where newcomers would usually buy the required supplies. He quickly got the map from the NPC and continued to wait in the shop while looking at the prices of various consumables.

It was a habit he had learned from his past life to look at the different consumables and their prices in shops. He also asked a few questions to the NPC about availability of few other items. It would give a relative idea of the items that are in demand at a new place and glean some information about the market in that area. It was a tactic that could only be used in the game as no person in real-life would be patient enough to answer all his questions even if he bought a few items. There was still a limit on the amount of reality that the game designers could bring to the characters, and this was one of the flaws which players managing organization would use prevalently in the game.

Soon, Salket came to join him in the shop. “Got a lot of shopping to do, haven’t you?” he asked Balthazar.

“Just looking into the local special,” replied Balthazar in a cheeky tone.

“Ok. I have the details of the things you are looking into. Can I know about your quest, though?” asked Salket.

“I don’t know myself, but I am told it is going to be a hard one and that is the reason I am preparing for it. Have a quest item which I need to give to the priest of the temple. Need to have reputation to teleport. Would also probably have to upgrade my equipment before I contact the NPC in the temple of the twelve,” said Balthazar.

“That was quite candid. Aren’t you afraid at all that my guild would be interested in your quest and try to take your quest item?” asked Salket.

“The letter is in my name in the Murk water town. So, it wouldn’t do any good to you if you get it after killing me and you need a certain amount of the town reputation to request it. Even if you do, it was issue by the adventurers association and I doubt you want to meddle with my quest just to satisfy you curiosity,” answered Balthazar.

“Ya that would be of no use to anyone. Let me just give you a small tour while I explain the details of the place,” said Salket. “You don’t need to worry about it as almost all the players here have the information, just not properly organized and might miss to tell you a few details. I can just message it to you if you like.”

“No need. It is better if we have a chat in the bar. We can have a proper chat and the drinks are on me,” said Balthazar.

“Ya. The money that the game earns in the city is mainly based on the bars after the weapons and consumables of course. The number of merchant shops are very less almost the same as that of the Murk Water town,” said Salket walking into the city. “It is fine for a town, but for a city it is on the low side.”

“Wouldn’t that cause a problem as there would be a scarcity of potions and tools available?” asked Balthazar as he followed Salket. “Or are the shops of a higher tier than usual and have more stock?”

“No. The stocks in the market are usually the same. That is what makes it much hard to finish quests here, but most quest rewards are better than in other cities. I think it is the common arrangement of border forts or cities,” answered Salket.

Hearing that things made sense to Balthazar as he knew that some forts, towns and cities on borders of warring nations had this kind of a setup in his previous life. The places were meant for active wars and continuous fighting. It initially didn’t make sense to many as these consumables were used much faster by the players in the environment, but that was not its purpose.

The designers made it such a manner specifically for the kind of independent players who enjoyed the game only for the fights and wars. When anyone bought consumables in too large numbers, they were oppressed by these independent players as they would lack the required consumables. Even guilds found it hard to maintain their supplies continuously in such areas.

Apart from that, these areas sold equipment which increased the drop rate by a large amount and the quests in such areas also rewarded similar equipment. This made it much harder for guilds to develop easily and a haven for all the independent reckless players. This was particularly good for the kind of rich players who spent large amounts of money to enjoy the game and they also enjoyed bragging and partying about the same. So, a larger number of entertainment establishments was also common in such places.

When the working of such places in the game was first exposed in the forms, many players admired the ingenuity of the designers. But soon, it was revealed that such a technique was a common affair in the past before the advent of fire arms and many a king and administrators used such techniques to keep the citizens from being discouraged by the effects of the war.

The only difference was that those kings used such a plan to protect their power and lands, the game uses it make much more money in the sales of consumables by promotion of PvP battles while keeping the larger player organizations from using politics to maintain peace and grow steadily. It was of no use to the game if players focused mostly on killing the beasts and NPCs as open PvP was one of the most profitable sources of income for the game. Still, the game maintained moderation, by making only a small percentage of the forts and townsh.i.p.s in this manner as it would reduce the participation of guilds in the game, if they found it to detrimental for their development in the game.

“Hmm,” said Balthazar as he understood the state of affairs of the city. “I believe this place is made for rich kids who want to party,” he commented. “Based on the number of pubs that are in the city.”

“Ya. The only thing that those big spenders love more than spending their money to kill others is to brag about their adventures,” said Salket nodding in agreement.

“I think it is good for the guilds too, right?” said Balthazar. “You will have much easier time to get some money in the game by providing security services to the big spenders. Wait a minute are you doing that right now with me?”

“Lol,” said Salket snickering. “You are not one of those, even though you are treating me for drinks. That kind don’t prefer such secretive movement and come on recommendation of others. Hardly anyone would recommend someone like that to players not in their guilds. Why would someone gift such fertile land to others? Kiriti is no fool and he would surely not be that stupid.”

“Can’t argue with that,” nodded Balthazar as they came in front of an establishment named ‘Temptations’. As they were about to go in, Balthazar glanced at the name plaque and pointing at it he asked, “Is the food that good?”

“It is not just bars, there are other kinds of entertainments too if the players had a higher reputation. Quite a few places available for doing the cyber-nasty, if you know what I mean,” said Salket winking at him. “This is similar to a strip club though. Some pretty lady NPCs dancing around. Only watch no touching else you will be kicked out by the establishment.”

“There are such kind of places too in a city in the game? Aren’t there any restrictions by the gaming commission?” asked Balthazar even though he knew that as long as it was the NPCs who were doing it, it wasn’t an issue.

“Ya, it is players with NPCs. Not an issue even if a player forces himself on an NPC. For situation, that occur between players, the individual can choose to complain or accuse other and even legal action in real-life is possible at any time if one of the parties feels uncomfortable,” said Salket stopping at the door. “Though most girls tend to get overly agitated if they find someone they know, enter this kind of places even if it all see, and no touch. So, it is your call if you want to get in.”

“Like I know anyone here or even had plans to stay here for long,” said Balthazar walking in ahead of him. Salket shrugged his shoulders and walked behind him. As they walked in, they found themselves in a large circular hall with an elevated dancing floor in the centre. There were blinking lights flashing all around while there were a couple of dancers holding long silver white feathers. It was quite a mesmerizing scene as they moved around in a fast pace. It was quite eye catching even though they were about 100 feet away from them.

There were a number of small round tables place all around hall and a bunch of ring-shaped table and seats around the central dias. There were a number of players and even NPCs seated around in the hall. Even Balthazar found it quite attractive and his eyes got stuck on them for a couple seconds.

“Nice view, huh?!” asked Salket as he led them to a round table away from the dancing floor. “If you like them that much, you can dance with them later on request.”

“Hahaha,” replied Balthazar looking away from the dancers. “I am not interested in them that much so as to pay in the game for a dance.”

“A couple of glasses of fae wine,” said Salket to a waiter as they sat down.

“Shall we start?” asked Balthazar.

“There two guilds other than Wolves that you have to look out in the city. The Neo Centurions and Murder of Angels are both quite large and have a significant network in the city. Avoid all three,” said Salket as a couple of glasses of deep blue coloured drinks were brought to them.

“OK.”

“Not that important if you just want to complete the quest, but quite a few independent and reckless players are there that attack first and talk later. The fae will attack you on sight as they would get battle points on killing you. The same is in case of you killing fae. In this region, battle points are most valuable, and you could exchange them for a number of things at the barracks,” said Salket.

“I guessed. What else?” asked Balthazar getting bored at the things that he was being told.