Chapter 72: Dig Up His Background
A new morning arrived.
Angry Fatty's live broadcast started early. Many viewers already knew that he and Changli Jiuge would follow a Legendary NPC out on a mission. Naturally, they were all gossip-ready. They wanted to know how the two of them managed to get in the graces of such a high-level Boss.
Though the comments were full of nonsense...
"PY, it was definitely PY. Did they sell themselves for this?"
"Go away! Even if they tried to sell themselves, our handsome city lord is not that kind of person!"
"That's right. He's not a person. He's half elf~ heh heh."
"I know that Changli Jiuge can increase the affinity of NPCs. Was this his doing?"
"Choo choo! The train is traveling. Choo choo! Jiuge is shouting. Choo choo, ouch ouch, don't... "
The broadcast was full of cheers and laughter. Changli Jiuge secretly glanced at the live broadcast, and his expression became very dark. He did not dare to confirm if Fatty had shared this information.
But it was true that he had bootlicked many NPCs...
He had no choice!
In the era of computer games, players had to send NPCs many gifts!
For example, you could give a beggar a steamed bun... maybe 100, or even 1000...
You could give a waiter money...
You definitely had to give the daughter of a rich and powerful family flowers, as well as various tools that could enhance her beauty...
In a half-fictional setting, as long as players could determine the language that the NPCs spoke in, they would bootlick as much as possible.
But in the fictional setting, as games were continuously renewed, NPCs had thought processes that were different from ordinary people. In this type of games, bootlicking still existed, but the methods were different. The efforts players put to fawn over NPCs had reached their peak.
Changli Jiuge was such a player. He had slowly played two fictional games in a row and gained a skill. These types of players could fawn on people and successfully obtain a couple of hidden occupations and skills. And the skills gained were god-like...
Thus, he could only endure as his past flaws were uncovered.
What else could he do, but ignore it?
After all, he would never expose his bootlicking skills for others to secretly learn, never ever in this lifetime.
The two of them arrived at the city gate early. After a half-hour wait, they saw the city lord approaching them. William was clad in a suit of golden armor. It seemed as if there were small bolts of lightning flashing on his armor. With the longsword on his back and the short sword at his waist, he looked very heroic.
The morning sunlight surrounded him. This handsome sight caused the two of them to squint. They did not dare to look directly at him...
But the two guards beside William had caused the live-broadcast to burst into excitement!
Who were they?
Their identities were Executive Lautner, and the assistant city lord, Odom Heavyhammer!
"What the hell! He is not human. The two on the sides of the city lord are epic bosses. Why does it suddenly feel like they are very common?"
"This will beef up the live-broadcast. The mysterious powers of the City of Dawn have been revealed. Only one epic NPC has been discovered in other live-broadcasts up till now, just one. They are nothing compared to here."
"The city lord is so handsome! The team leader is so handsome! William is so handsome! Come! Let us form up and walk!"
"The city lord is so handsome..."
Observers had started gathering. It was very obvious that they were determined to join the Dawn Mercenary Team.
Or...
Following a trend was human nature...
But they had no choice. William was the high-level NPC who had stood out the most. And on top of that, there were far too many bosses in the City of Dawn. They were too densely concentrated. They were making expectant players focus on this live-broadcast.
But William wanted to say, "My deepest apologies". It was not that other places did not have Legendary Bosses, but they were nothing like him. Five Legendary NPCs resided in the two human nations.
The live broadcast on the second day made Angry Fatty furious.
The title he had put up, in particular, was 'Tag Along on an Adventure with a Legendary Boss!'
"Tag along. Tsk tsk." William secretly took a look. He felt that this Fatty was not trying to be rude. In the past, when he was a player, he had not realized this. Now that he had become an NPC and formed the objective, he realized that these live-broadcasts were not simply noise...
There was no need for William to speak any nonsense with these two players. He nodded towards them and led them into the mountain.
In the past, if they wanted to enter a mountain forest—no matter what route they took—for ordinary players, the journey would be full of difficulty.
But now, three straight and sturdy roads led into the forest. William did not plan to bring them into the mines. Instead, he headed to the Rainbow Lake. He had no other intention other than to walk around. He just wanted to put on an act...
The current Rainbow Lake had been developed beautifully. A pier had been built. Over 20 fishing boats now cast their nets out to catch fish. It had also improved the quality of life in the City of Dawn.
Of course, as the supply of fish had reduced, very few civilians bought them. Typically, only soldiers with relatively high incomes or officials would buy fish.
The Lord system and the aristocrat system were different.
The essence was that if the Lord died, so would the territory!
The entire territory depended on the influence of the Lord alone. He controlled the entire situation. This was why when the mayor of the small town by the border disappeared, the entire territory was in a mess. Furthermore, many people had run away...
A world where individual combat power was high, a system of Lords was the natural result.
He was like the upper management in a company, that entrusted some people with official positions. The authority of these subordinates was based on trust from their Lord. It could be taken away with just one sentence.
On the other hand, the aristocrat system was like the system in ancient China where the title of king was bestowed on a subject.
Aristocrats had their own territory and their own followers.
The aristocrats were the followers of the king. But the important thing to note was that the followers of the aristocrats were loyal to their aristocrats, not their king.
A powerful king could cause the entire nation to operate quickly, but a weak king could only collect little taxes.
Furthermore, nations were not eliminated as easily. After all, murdering the king did not sound good. As long as the prince was able to manage the followers and gain powers that the king once possessed, it was not too difficult to control the nation once again.
But,
Once the Lord was gone, it was not easy for their children to continue...
What was the main reason?
In a Lord system, the strong were on top.
Back then, William was unable to obtain the small towns along the boundary when he had not obtained 500 loyal Elfin guards on his strength.
Luckily, William had not given any thought to inheritance. As long as his strength was impressive enough, it was good.
"How are the transactions with Blue Moon Town recently? That unruly princess isn't causing any trouble, right?" William asked the assistant city lord, Odom, as he walked.
Odom shook his head. "Recently, the production of mithril has greatly increased. The volume of transactions is also not bad. There is no trouble on the Princess' side either."
"That's good. Though, I don't know what she is up to." William sighed and shook his head.
"Royal highness... hm. City Lord, why don't you go and take a look?" It seemed as if Odom had said something wrong. He quickly changed his tone. It suggested that he was hiding something in his words.
Changli Jiuge and Angry Fatty looked at each other. Their eyes were full of excitement. They had never expected to gain such new information here.!
Princess?
Royal highness?
Legendary Status?
Many epic subordinates?
The guards of the boss team?
"The protagonist of the story has been decided, right?"
"A secret of the City of Dawn has been revealed. City lord William might be a royal prince?"
"And he might have some relations with a princess?"
"My God! If I don't enter the City of Dawn, I will cut off this live stream!"
Angry Fatty looked at the comments. He silently sighed. Just as he had expected, the Legendary Boss in front of them might be the protagonist of the Beta.
After all, it was a game.
A Beta, there had to be a storyline, and hence the story's protagonist. Of course, there could also be multiple. Others might be found soon. But even then, it did not stop people from trying to bootlick William.
Someone had already opened a discussion thread for William.
It was titled 'What position will city lord William occupy in the future?'
Someone had even directly dug up information about William.
First reply: "William Blackleaf: Lord of the City of Dawn, team leader of the Dawn Mercenary Guild. Has four known epic subordinates, three magical beasts as pets.
Estimated military strength: 2000+."
Hidden status: Royal highness???
Hidden connection: Princess???
'His other Statuses, connections, and abilities are unknown!'
Race: Half-Elfin"
"I cannot go backwards in the story. After all, players cannot do so through the leaked information from the government web."
"But it is highly likely that William is the prince of an elf tribe or a nation."
"Furthermore, it is certain that a legendary NPC would have a strong connection with a future mission in the storyline."
"The conclusion: Bootlick him!"
Second reply: "I'm telling all of you, don't you fawn on him. You will die a terrible death if you do!"
Third reply: "How terrible! I have remembered your ID. If you dare to visit the City of Dawn in the future, I will kill you!"
Fourth reply: "Don't fight, don't fight. Guys, don't fight..."
Fifth: "..."