23. Directly From “a Wide Range” The reason why HereticKing and I_Am_A_Poor_Man were at the portal zone so early on was for the last preparations at Prole-4. As the mighty Guild Leader, of course he"d have a private plane. This was also why HereticKing only appeared once in the Zhang Village during the last battle. They"d planned early on to focus on conquering Prole-4 first, so I_Am_A_Poor_Man"s saved Teleport locations were just Prole-4"s entrances. Thus, HereticKing only arrived at the guild"s public airport when he decided to have a look around elsewhere.
While Bai XiaoYu didn"t know why HereticKing would want to add a puny portal opener like him as a friend, he still accepted it. Then, he watched as the two heads of Heretic Demons disappeared into a portal"s glow.
He sat down and continued eating.
The tiny cat hung its head in dejection. The uncle didn"t give it any gold coins to play with this time. Paw, dirt. Dirt, paw.
XiaoYu was speechless at the mercenary ways of this little cat. He dug out a grilled fish skewer from his inventory and teased the tiny cat with it. And so, the uncle with the gold coin was thrown back into the back of the kitten"s mind.
Meanwhile, HereticKing and I_Am_A_Poor_Man were resting in the Crystal Room after a check over Prole-4"s defences. Once they made sure every defence station had NPC soldiers (The city"s lord could hire a certain number of NPC soldiers to help defend the city, according to the city"s development.), they were prepared for the upcoming three hours of intense battle.
This time was usually meant for I_Am_A_Poor_Man"s and Below_The_Moon"s bantering and lively fights. Unfortunately, Below_The_Moon was rushing a batch of special traps and setting them up today, which were not done yet. That"s because there"re only three Level 100 archers in the entire guild, including Below_The_Moon, who can make this special large AoE trap. The workload was unimaginably huge.
"Chief, how do you know LuckyCat?" I_Am_A_Poor_Man is curious. He"s just so curious. At least he"s in the same cla.s.s as LuckyCat. Even then, they barely interacted. The chief and LuckyCat were really miles apart from each other. He couldn"t think of a way they"d be able to know each other at all.
At the thought of the past two meetings where the big and small cats were mimicking each other, especially the first time they met, HereticKing"s eyes crinkled with laughter.
I_Am_A_Poor_Man"s curiosity was seriously hooked. Chief actually smiled when he thought of LuckyCat. It seemed like they made a good first impression. Was their first meeting so interesting? However, LuckyCat"s reaction to seeing Chief didn"t seem like they met.
Thus, I_Am_A_Poor_Man"s brain started imagining a play about a hero saving the damsel in distress-no. A hero saving the cat in distress. At the time, LuckyCat had been tormented to the point of collapsing on the floor. He"s panting. His vision"s going blurry. TinyLuckyCat was going to falling into the hands of a villain when the hero finally arrives. He saved the little cat and gently returned it back to its owner"s side. Then, he"d walk off into the sky of colourful clouds. The breeze blew dust up, further blurring LuckyCat"s vision. All he saw in the end was the shadow of a back walking away. Smaller and smaller and smaller until it disappeared…At last, LuckyCat"s vision blacken and he faints.
Ah, look at how talented I am at creating scenarios. If Chief doesn"t want me in the future, perhaps I can earn a living through script-writing. As I_Am_A_Poor_Man drowned himself in his thoughts, he suddenly realised Chief never bothered replying to him.
"Chief? Chief~ Chief~" Chief was in a good mood, so I_Am_A_Poor_Man bravely started bothering HereticKing. He was the ideal ever-curious baby.
"Ahem. Nothing. That tiny cat just s.n.a.t.c.hed a gold coin from me."
"…orz" Reality was cruel indeed. I_Am_A_Poor_Man"s wonderful fantasies were all popped.
However, since the little cat"s race was a lucky cat, perhaps it really loves money. I_Am_A_Poor_Man would try using a gold coin next time. He"d given that tiny cat so many fish skewers but he"d never seen it act so affectionate to him before.
"How do you know LuckyCat?"
"!!" It"s was so rare for Chief to start a conversation. I_Am_A_Poor_Man"s mind perked up and he started blabbing nonstop. It"s still quite early.
"Chief, you don"t know how pitiful and miserable LuckyCat was when I first met him. He was being attacked by a swordsman to the point where his body was covered with wounds. There were at least dozens of cuts on him. All because LuckyCat didn"t want to sell the kitten to that swordsman blah blah blah…"
I_Am_A_Poor_Man never noticed HereticKing"s slight frown.
"…While LuckyCat is a little tactless, he"s an honest, serious and a good child. He even helped me collect Zombie Fluids and Rotten Bandages without pay…Ah." All of a sudden, I_Am_A_Poor_Man realised what he said and covered his mouth with his hands.
"Hm-hm. So you weren"t the one collecting them, and for free too." HereticKing"s lips curved into an evil smirk.
"Hehe…That…" Chief really went around in circles just to set a trap for I_Am_A_Poor_Man. He must"ve suspected I_Am_A_Poor_Man"s and LuckyCat"s meeting was most likely related to the Zombie Cave. That"s why, to him, HereticKing"s evil. "I did thank him. I sent him a lot of fish skewers and cake. I even recommended LuckyCat to come earn some pocket money through opening portals!"
"Really…" He knew it. No one was really willing to head into that cave. I_Am_A_Poor_Man loved money so much, he"d never put up a high asking price for those materials. It"s absolutely suspicious that he could actually collect so many materials in such a short time.
"I"m sorry. I shouldn"t enslave kids. Once the battle"s over, I"ll personally go collect some. T-T" I_Am_A_Poor_Man was getting gooseb.u.mps from HereticKing"s stare. He took the initiative to raise his right hand and admit he was wrong. But in his heart, he wept. Why did he let it slip? It"s all Chief"s fault, and Below_The_Moon"s (he"s the most innocent).
HereticKing caressed the patterns on the city"s Protection Crystal with a blank face. Sometimes, it"s not a good thing to have outstanding subordinates. He didn"t say anything at all. He never even thought of punishing I_Am_A_Poor_Man. He just wanted to tease I_Am_A_Poor_Man after watching him try and be smart by covering his mouth up. As expected, after b.u.mping into the two lucky cats, his mood would be especially good.
"Thank you."
Bai XiaoYu who was playing with the little cat to pa.s.s time away suddenly heard HereticKing"s voice. He looked up and around but didn"t see the other at all. Ah, it was a private call.
"Huh?" If it was just about helping out with the Guild Wars, did he need to thank XiaoYu so many times?
"You helped me collect fluids and bandages."
"It"s nothing much. I happened to be grinding." So it was about that. It must"ve been I_Am_A_Poor_Man who told HereticKing.
"Do you have a mount?" Name cards exchanged to befriend other players would record the player"s current level then. HereticKing remember glancing at it. The other should be over Level 30. He can have his own mount.
"No." NPC stores do sell horses, but those can only be ridden after the Second Job Change. Other mounts require him to catch them himself.
"Do you have time tomorrow?"
"Yes." He has time every day.
"I"ll go catch a mount with you."
"…Okay. Thanks."
"Thank me once we capture one."
"Mn."
The call ended, and the Guild Wars was about to begin. After a last check through their inventory, every member of the Heretic Demons guild started to put on their serious faces. I_Am_A_Poor_Man didn"t know it yet, but his boss was already prepared to secretly give himself a day off tomorrow. That meant more work would be bearing down on him. By the time I_Am_A_Poor_Man knew about it and started scratching at the walls, it was already too late.