Extension

by Vladislav Kamenskiy

  “I’m a healing magician, I cannot fight.” He yelled. “I give up.”

  I looked at Gunther and he shook his head in disagreement. I took the sword and beheaded him.

  “Let’s go and see how Cyrus feels.” Gunther bent over the body and tore away the bag.

  Cyrus was laying on the bottom of the gulley not far from the burning bushes and was groaning quietly. “How do you get it?” He asked when he saw us. “You’ve saved that maid and haven’t said anything to me.”

  “You wasn’t honest with me, my friend.” Gunther said calmly. “So I decided to teach you a lesson.”

  “It won’t happen again.” Cyrus gasped.

  “I hope so,” Gunther came closer to him and took out a bottle with red liquid for Cyrus. "Now we will search for other groups. Where can we meet them?"

  "The forest is big,” Cyrus shrugged his shoulders.

  “I don't like this answer” Gunther said coldly.

  “Well, there is a chance of meeting them near Grink,” Cyrus thought for some seconds. "And maybe near the creek, there is always someone near the water."

  “Let's go to the creek.” Gunther decided. He walked up to a man tied to a tree, and pulled the gag out of his mouth.

  “I am a free assistant,” he began quickly. "Let me go, I can come back to the public house and wait for the tenant."

  "Isn't he a leader of third group?" Gunther looked at Cyrus and he nodded yes.

  “I cannno...” the sound came out.

  “Nice try,” Gunther put the gag back in the mouth. "Turk, deal with him."

  After we had had a short rest, Cyrus led us to a creek, and we went upstream. The journey took about an hour, we were going along the stream and unexpectedly found a group's place.

  “Over there,” Lera, who was walking first, pointed at the people sitting by the fire. Two guys wore leather shirts and held short swords. Two girls dressed in shabby green trenches sat near them.

  “They have started a fire and don't even put a guard near." Cyrus said. “I made a mistake only once and was almost killed!" He shook his head confusedly. "How are they still alive?"

  “They are Level Six, no higher.” Lera said appraising.

  “Let's go,” Gunther waved his hand. "Turk, you go first, just get out of the forest and don't attack. I will talk."

  I took my sword and walked out of the bushes, then Kyle went, a small fire burned in the air above his hand, which was ready to become a big fireball. Then Cyrus, Gunther and Lera came.

  "We just want to talk" Gunther shouted.

  The warriors grabbed their swords and stood upright. The girls, who were likely to be healing magicians, stood behind them.

  "Will we firstly talk and then fight?" One of the swordsman asked.

  "See how it feels." Cyrus smiled.

  “We don’t know much about what to talk about,” the second swordsman explained. "We are good at fighting."

  “They're quite stupid." Cyrus whispered to Gunther. "They see that we are stronger and don't run away. They are talking nonsense."

  “You're right, my friend,” Gunther laughed. "Congratulations!"

  "What do you mean?" he was confused.

  “We’ve been ambushed a second time a day,” Gunther explained. "And you haven't noticed it again."

  “What?” Cyrus haven't understood yet. "We noticed them first."

  “And weren't you embarrassed that there is no tenant among them?" Gunther explained. "Come on, we don't want to fight! We just want to talk."

  "Who are you shouting to?" Lera asked.

  "Should we hide?" Cyrus suggested, he had finally understood everything.

  “If they haven't attacked yet, those who lie in ambush are at low levels and aren't well-equipped,” Gunter continued to explain. "They are probably thinking whether to run away or not. Turk, hide the sword. Kyle, put out the fireball. And Cyrus, hide the ax."

  “Where should I hide it?" Cyrus asked sarcastically.

  “Well, then at least step back,” Gunther suggested and came forward. "Come here, let's talk."

  Bushes behind the assassins began to move. Two archers and one magician went out of the forest.

  “We agree to speak,” A tall, fit man said. He had thick black hair, a big crooked nose and brown eyes. He held a short bow.

  “I offer to join together." Gunther suggested.

  "Why do you need us?" Archer asked distrustfully. "You are obviously at high level and well-equipped. You even have weapons from the village." He pointed at Cyrus' ax.

  “I want to force Grink,” Gunther said. "Nobody will fight again. Everyone will freely buy equipment and complete quests."

  “It sounds good,” the magician standing next to the archer said. “But...” he was trying to choose words. “What if you deceive me?” he finally said.

  "Aren't you tired of hiding here?" Gunther asked. "We won't even get higher level if we kill you. You probably have nothing valuable either."

  “We agree,” the black-haired archer said at last. He had been whispering with magician for a long time before.

  “Fine, let's get acquainted then. My name is Gunther. I offer to put the weapon down. And if you know where people are, then lead us." Gunther asked.

  "We will definitely help you to force the village, but we are not particularly helpful in finding other groups. We don't know where they are hiding. My name is Sick." The black-haired man thought for a second and added. "Well, we barely know."

  "Barely?" Gunther asked.

  “If we go further upstream, there is the foothills.” Sick began to explain. "The creek there is smaller and faster, and it flows through low cliffs. There is Nina's group."

  “She’s a little insane,” Cyrus said.

  “She’s absolutely insane,” Sick smiled. "She is unlikely to negotiate with you."

  “Lead us to Nina,” Gunther decided. "If she doesn't agree, we force Grink without them."

  We were going for about an hour and walked up to the foothills. There weren't lots of trees, some low cliffs appeared, the creek flowed from them.

  "Nina, come here!" Sick shouted. "We want to talk."

  "Fuck off!" The voice sounded. "We don't have anything to talk about."

  “Listen, we want to have a team to attack Grink,” Sick shouted again.

  “This is my answer to you,” a shaggy girl, who wore an old shirt and leather trousers, climbed onto the rock. She had a round face with inward slant of the eyes. She raised a big bow and shot an arrow. The arrow didn't hit Sick and fell in front of him.

  “I warned you,” Sick made a helpless gesture.

  “We can join together and stop fighting,” Gunther shouted.

  “You're probably even more stupid than Sick,” Nina laughed. “However, I thought that there he is the greatest idiot here.”

  "When was the last time you slept in a normal bed or bought new clothes?" Lera asked suddenly. "You assistants don't care about it, but I think that you care.“

  "I'm fine with it,” Nina mumbled unconfidently.

  "Do you also like these tasty and hot meals which you have here?" Lera asked.

  "Don't shoot at me, I'm coming to you." Nina yelled.

  "I see you're not bad, man." Cyrus reached Gunther and tapped him on the shoulder. "It seems that you were a soldier. Is it true?“

  "I was an Untersturmfuhrer and ran a special subdivision of SS,” Gunther said unwillingly.

  “And I was a fisherman in the southern Italy,” Cyrus admitted. “You came here last of all. Tell me whether the war is over and who has won."

  "The war is over, but nobody has won,” Gunther answered.

  “But it's impossible,” Cyrus disagreed. "There is always a winner.”

  “The only winners during the war are banks and corporations that make huge profits at the expense of government orders,” Gunther explained.

  “You're a soldier. Why do you want everyone to live in peace?” Cyrus was surprised.

  “I'm fed up with
it,” Gunter said gloomily. "I fought because I wanted peace, although it sounds strange and stupid. That's why I want to do everything to have peace here."

  “I'm all for it,” Sick nodded.

  “Yes, everyone is tired of war,” Lera agreed.

  “I see that you don't have a good leader. I can be your commander,” Nina came closer. "I still have a battle magician and an archer."

  “No,” Gunter answered shortly and looked coldly at Nina.

  “It was just a joke,” Nina flinched when she saw his blue eyes. "Should we now go and capture Grink?" She asked hesitantly and everyone looked at Gunther.

  "There are already a lot of us." He nodded. "I think we can easily cope with it."

  We walked up to the road and went toward the Grink, there was no need to hide. We met another group that wanted to join us. When we came to the village, our team included 18 people. Nobody opened the gate for us, so the magicians simply burned them with fireballs. We met Craig's group, there were three of them - the magician, the archer and the swordsman. They had no chance to fight us. Craig did not want to give up. To kill them we needed just a couple of seconds. All groups were able to buy new equipment, carry out quests...

  “That sounds good,” Alex interrupted. "Did Gunther served in the German army?"

  "I don't understand what you mean." Turk shrugged his shoulders.

  "Did he mean a conflict in the east, talking about the war?" Alex thought. "Germany probably takes part in such conflicts. But I don't think they have SS subdivisions now. Okay, let's continue,” Alex was a little confused. "You have described everything quite positive. What's wrong now?"

  "Firstly, everything was fine," Turk continued. "And then..."

  Chapter 8

  "And then it became even better.” Turk continued the story. "Everyone began to complete quests freely, to study the map. It turned out that to there is a large city in the north, protected by guards and high walls. Gunther gathered a team and we went to force the city. There were really a lot of us. We quickly captured the city, and I personally killed the chief of the guard. Then we completed an easy quest and Gunther became the King. Then Gunther and Lera announced the wedding and invited everyone. Gunther's palace was decorated with thousands of red roses. Almost all tenants came to the ceremony with their assistants. Lera was dressed in a white dress decorated with rubies..."

  “Let's skip the story about the wedding ceremony,” Alex interrupted. "When did the problems appeared?"

  “Not everyone liked Gunther’s rules,” Turk said. "There were separate divisions that didn't want to follow the new rules and continued to attack others. He announced hunting on them and gave a great reward for their heads. Gunther, as a King, commanded the city guards, there were about a hundred assistants at the Level Fifteen, but they didn't leave the city. He also had a lot of money, as it turned out, if there is a king, part of the income from the quests completed in the city goes directly to him. The same is with the game experience. But the biggest problems appeared when Gunther allowed to organize the tournament.

  "Tournament?" Alex asked.

  "Tournament?" Gunther was surprised and confused.

  "Yes, your grace. Tournament." Skull bowed.

  After the successful seizure of the city, coronation and wedding, we had to solve different conflicts. As it turned out, fighting was easier than making peace. Gunther was resolute in his intention to keep the peace. There weren't enough monsters for someone, someone wanted to buy a weapon and couldn’t agree on a price... Gunther persuaded, threatened, compensated money losses, he tried to save the peace at any price. He always consulted with Lera about difficult cases. But at that moment Lera was in the garden, she was cutting her favorite red roses. The agenda he got seemed unimportant. Gunther immediately became suspicious when he saw who entered the throne room. The hall was huge, two rows of white columns were along the whole room, and the tall windows provided the room with excellent lighting. Two thrones, made of pure gold, shaped like large chairs, were at the end of the hall. It was uncomfortable to sit on them, despite the fact that soft red pillows laid on them. At first glance, both thrones were identical, but Gunter knew that they weren't. On the back side of the first throne there was a five-pointed star. On the second one there was the same star, but inverted. Two thrones, a huge hall and a dozen of armed men at the Level Fifteen were supposed to frighten.

  Three men entered the hall - Brug, Salazar and Skull. Brug was a real warrior. Tall man with thick black hair and a long braided beard, a large hammer and black heavy armor just made his look completed. Brug always divided earned money in half, he wasted the first part on the alcohol in the public house and the second part was spent on the equipment. Salazar was an archer, he had dark brown eyes, blond hair, neat beard. He was popular among women and could easily seduce them, but his biggest passions were chasing extremists and dicing. The first passion brought him money, and the second was actively taking them away. The third man appeared relatively recently in their world, and Gunter saw him for the first time, but he immediately understood who was in front of him. Skull was completely bald and clean-shaven, had a hooknose and huge green eyes. He was wearing a red trench and holding mahogany staff with large yellow stone. He was a battle magician. Gunther had been a King for ten years already and during that time he managed to get sixteenth level. Skull came to this world a year ago, but this year was enough to catch up with the oldest players' level and equipment. Skull had two secrets of such fast upgrading. Firstly, he had only one assistant, so they got a lot of experience for the quests and Skull's level upgraded very quickly. Others preferred hiring more assistants, although some of the big teams couldn't complete even the simplest quests. Skull hired only one assistant, who was an alchemist, and then they managed to complete first missions. When he came to Grink, he was already almost at the Level Seven. Everyone thought that he just lost part of his group and he doesn't have money to hire a new one. Other newcomers offered him to join their groups. They tried to explain him that he wouldn't complete missions with only one alchemist. Skull refused, spent all the money on a magic staff and started completing quests with just one assistant. Everyone was shocked and decided that they would never see this strange newcomer again. But they were wrong... Skull returned to Grink on the next day, took new quest and went away again. Everybody thought again that he was just lucky this time... In a day Skull came back again, received an award for the task he had passed and took new one, even more difficult. And, of course, he completed it too. When there were no new quests or monsters, Skull went to the Coach to upgrade his level there. He didn't have friends, avoided drinking alcohol in the public house, even if somebody wanted to pay for him. He didn't attend any entertaining places, because he spent all the money either on ammunition or on the coach.

  “Well, we came to talk with you,” Brug first began. “I want to arrange a big event for all tenants.”

  “I have probably missed the moment of your Coronation,” Gunther said sarcastically. "If you make such decisions yourself, probably you will sit on the throne instead of me?" The next phrase was uttered with a threat in his voice. Turk pulled out his sword, and the guards took a couple of steps towards the guests.

  “Your grace, you misunderstood us,” Skull apologised, taking a step forward. "Now there are more and more conflicts between us. We need an event that will help to throw away all the negative energy and join people. We offer to arrange a tournament."

  "Tournament?" Gunther asked, he was surprised and confused.

  “Yes, your grace,” Skull repeated politely and bowed.

  “Well,” Gunter looked thoughtfully at the empty throne on the left. Unfortunately, Lera wasn't here now and he had to make a decision himself. “There should be a reward for a winner,” Gunther said. "The heart of the queen is already taken and I don’t want to give out money for this event."

  “This is not a problem,” Skull answered quickly. "I will give fifty thousand coins to the one who will win th
e team battle and one hundred thousand to the one who will win the single battle."

  "Don't you mind losing money?" Gunther asked.

  “I can lose fifty thousand, it's not a problem,” Skull waved his hand.

  "Why fifty?" Gunther smiled. "Do you have problems with Math?"

  “I'm going to win the tournament and have some money back,” Skull explained.

  "What do you want from me?" Gunther asked, he was still confused.

  "As far as I know, there are about five groups of extremists.” Skull glanced at Salazar.

  “Six,” he quickly said the exact number.

  “I offer to amnesty them, if they participate in the tournament,” Skull suggested. "Thus, we will solve this problem at once."

  “Then they won't be punished, and this is wrong,” Gunther disagreed.

  “Then you can just promise them to amnesty, and when they come to the palace, we can kill everyone,” Skull suggested.

  "This is too cruel and treacherous,” Gunter shook his head.

  “Then, I suggest you returning to the first option,” Skull said calmly. "A tournament is basically a punishment, not everyone understands this."

  “Explain,” Gunther demanded.

  "There will be only two winners who will receive a money reward. All the rest will just get a good whipping and leave." Skull smiled.

  "Aren't you afraid of not being a winner?" Gunther asked mockingly.

  “We'll see,” Skull shrugged his shoulders.

  “Okay, I agree to organize the tournament,” Gunther said. "But there are a couple of moments that I want to speak about with you."