Chapter 2001: Chapter 2001. Rebuild
After the battle, Four Winds returned to Verremor. He easily reclaimed Verremor"s throne. Mistress lost her right to the throne after she died a wilderness death. None of the orcish natives took advantage during the vacuum of power. They instead helped Four Winds reclaim the throne when he returned.
As for the players, Cipher Flight members wiped out the remnant of the World Ruler members roaming the capital of Magna Masat. Considering most of the top players from that guild were summoned to help Master at Sky Haven, the remaining players were mostly second-rate players. They were powerless against the Cipher Flight, especially when fighting Four Winds and Purple Mist, who possessed the pinnacle cla.s.ses.
At Sangrod, Arlcard also led a rebellion to reclaim his throne once Jack sent him back. Motherboard was still alive and sitting on Sangrod"s throne, but she was never a top combatant. She was more like a secretary for Master.
Although the Sangrod natives seemed to submit to Master, it was just a façade. They were lying low, waiting for the time to strike. With Arlcard bringing the news of Master"s demise, Darius and Sangrod"s relic marshalls immediately rallied under his banner. Saint Edge also came to answer the call.
Together, they marched into the capital. With the demon and zombie forces gone, Motherboard only had her guild members and the low-ranked soldiers to rely on. Despite their struggle, they couldn"t match the combined might of natives and players. Arlcard himself was more than a match for them.
At Themisphere, the State of Galhana members fled the capital even before Jack returned. They were veteran mercenaries. They were more decisive than common players. Once they saw their leader drop to level 1 on their guild page. They immediately contacted their allies in the World Maker and World Ruler. Learning Master and Mistress suffered the same fate, they knew it was time to bolt before the executioner came.
The Themisphere throne never transferred hands. Jack remained the king. The native officers welcomed him when he returned. Linda was among them.
After settling the urgent matters at the palace, Jack issued a call to gather the players from all over the world. Jack led these players to the main underworld portal. Players could still teleport into the zone portal in Liguritudum settlements so long as the zone portal was not destroyed.
The player army marched to where the main underworld portal was. They expected a fierce fight. But contrary to expectation, only a handful of demons guarded the main underworld portal. After Master"s demise, most demons fled back to the underworld out of their own accord. They no longer had the will to remain here.
When the battle started, the remaining demons around the main underworld portal also fled into the portal. The battle ended in less than an hour.
Without opposition, the player army easily destroyed the main underworld portal. As the gigantic crimson portal crumbled, the corrupted mana started to thin. Within time, the mana in the upperworld would be purified.
They weren"t worried if some underworld demons still existed somewhere in the upperworld. Without the corrupted mana, those underworld demons would be forcefully sent back to the underworld. Or in rare cases, they turned into demon-type wilderness monsters.
A different and smaller portal appeared where the main underworld portal used to be. This was the gateway players could use to explore the underworld. Only players could use this portal, though. Natives couldn"t, so there was no danger the demons could invade the upperworld again.
Everyone dispersed after that. Some chose to enter the underworld gateway to check out the underworld.
*
One week pa.s.sed after the climactic battle at Sky Haven. Everyone focused on rebuilding. The ma.s.ses that Master commanded to gather to rebuild the destroyed countries ended up doing the same job. The difference was they were now doing it out of their own free will. Everyone worked together to rebuild. The reconstruction of the destroyed countries was led by the former sovereigns of said countries.
Queen Aldryth led the reconstruction at Hydrurond, supported by the ma.s.ses from Themisphere. President Thelgrun oversaw Palgrost with help from Sangrod. As for Aurebor, guild leader Nova was in charge. Four Winds sent help from Verremor to a.s.sist her.
Only Liguritudum was disregarded for now.
"A new sovereign in Liguritudum....?" Jack asked after hearing John"s report. He was in the throne room. Thaergood, Grace, Jeanny, Paytowin, and Linda were also there.
"You are going to be surprised when you hear who the sovereign was," John said.
"Who?" Jack asked.
"Ronald," John answered.
"The phantom gunslinger? I thought he had died earlier since I didn"t see him during that final battle with Master."
"It seems he purposefully hid himself after Master announced himself as G.o.d. I don"t know why. That dude is hard to read."
"Dritzuut is not destroyed during the demon invasion?" Paytowin asked.
"Jack issued a ma.s.s evacuation after Master opened the main underworld portal," John answered. "Without a force to fight them, I guess the demons didn"t cause much destruction in Liguritudum. Most of the settlements were still intact, including the palace in Dritzuut. I guess Ronald was hiding there all this time. When he received the news that Master was defeated, he probably decided it was time to play sovereign."
"There is no one in Liguritudum. What"s the point of him claiming the throne there?" Grace asked.
"After the report of Ronald claiming the throne, a portion of the Liguritudum army left the reconstruction team and marched back to Liguritudum. Ronald must have issued a call using the monarch system, but most of the soldiers who left were low ranks. The high-ranked soldiers ignored the call. I bet they didn"t consider that opportunist their real sovereign." "He can"t seriously think he can keep the throne for long now, can he?" Paytowin said. "I am preparing our guild soldiers. We can go and strike him once we are ready," Jeanny announced. "David and his guild members had already moved toward Liguritudum once they got the news. He and Serpent Boss had a vendetta with Ronald, after all. They will scout the place before our force arrives."
Jeanny turned to Jack and asked, "When can you mobilize the Themisphere army?"
"I won"t be mobilizing the army, but probably one of you will," Jack answered, which confused everyone.
Jack didn"t explain further. Instead, he looked between Jeanny and John. This made the two
felt weird.
After a while, Jack"s eyes finally stopped at John. He asked, "How do you like the t.i.tle, King
John?"
His question made everyone there, except Grace, display a surprised expression.
"Your-Your majesty, what do you mean?" Thaergood asked panicky.
"This is no joking matter, Jack," Jeanny said.
"Yeah, I can imagine this country becoming a dictatorship with him on the throne. We might
have another battle for freedom if that happens," Paytowin said.
"Hehe, as enticing as that sounds, I"m afraid I have to decline," John chuckled. "I have a
personal quest I need to take care of. As a matter of fact, I plan to submit my resignation as the royal advisor today. I won"t be around for some time."
"Oh...," It was Jack who was surprised this time.
"What"s the matter, Jack? You don"t like being king anymore?" Jeanny asked, returning to the
topic.
"I never want to be king. You know that, right?" Jack said.
"But, Your Majesty, you are doing the job very well. All the officials think so," Thaergood
said. "Our country will be in jeopardy without you leading us."
"Don"t worry, Jeanny is a more capable leader than I am," Jack said.
"Oh. If it"s her, it"s okay then," Thaergood said.
John turned to Thaergood and said, "Screw you, man."
"I haven"t agreed to it," Jeanny said.
"I must pa.s.s it to someone. I don"t want to keep having to return here to settle political matters. It"s too troublesome," Jack said. "You know me. I want to go adventuring in this new world. I think I earned that after defeating Master. There are still some minor menaces like Ronald in Liguritudum, but I"m sure you can deal with him without me. You all here are the ones I feel safe enough to entrust this kingdom to, except you, ma"am, no offense."
"None taken," Linda replied.
Jack returned his attention to Jeanny. "I did not doubt you will be a good queen unless you think Paytowin can do a better job than you?"
"Man, that hurts, but I don"t disagree with you," Paytowin said. "Plus, I will be too busy
helping Mihos rebuilding the Council of Virtus."
"Grace can be a good leader as well," Jeanny pointed at Grace.
"I will follow Jack in his adventure," Grace said.
Jeanny turned to the last person in the room aside from Linda. Thaergood said, "No. I am an
advisor. I prefer to stay that way."
Jeanny sighed. "Very well then," she said.
"Perfect!" Jack exclaimed. "Thaergood, prepare the coronation ceremony tomorrow. I will transfer my sovereign status to her during the ceremony."
"As you wish, Your Majesty. Before I lose the chance, I want to say I will miss you,"
Thaergood said.
"I will miss you too, good Thaergood," Jack returned. "I will try to come visit when I can." Thaergood nodded. He left to take care of the ceremony for tomorrow.
"By the way, what is this quest of yours?" Jack asked John. "Why do you need to resign? Can"t
you use the kingdom"s resources to help you complete it?"
"It"s not a quest as in the game system"s quest. It"s a personal mission which I suspect will
take me away from this world."
"Huh...?" Everyone showed a puzzled expression.
"Well, it is a suspicion. One I want to clear up today. I"m heading to Chris" place to talk to him
about this. Do you people want to join?"
"After making us curious like that? You bet your a.s.s we do!" Jack said.
"All right. I"m sending the request for Chris to teleport us all," John said.
A light covered them soon after. When the light vanished, they were no longer in the throne
room.