Soul Art Online

- Arthas -

We came out of the forest to the scene of the ocean greeting us after the three day long journey. Blue as far as eyes could see. How long has it been since I saw the ocean?

In the distance was the silhouette of a town which became clearer the more we walked towards the town.

Lannisport was a port town.

There were dozens of ships visible on the port and several going in and out of the port too. Overall, the scene looked straight out of some mediaeval fantasy….oh wait….

We were stopped at the gates of the town where the guards asked for entry fees before allowing us in.

This was easily bypassed by my Baron badge. Nobles didn't need to pay entry fees in their own country.

Lannisport was bigger than Llyne. I had asked Kenneth about this place before leaving and he was kind enough to give me some suggestions as well as write a recommendation letter to one of his friends staying here.

Richard was a former Knight in Llyne and one of Kenneth's friends. He had lost one of his arms in battle and retired from duty and became a merchant in Lannisport, the town where was born. He took over his father's business and with the help of the City Lord, his business had flourished.

He had eight ships of his own and ran trade with other countries as well.

Kenneth had suggested that I go and talk to him if I wanted to know more about the situation of other countries. He could also point me towards some rare goods.

I also got a quest from him to deliver some alcohol to him.

Soon enough, we found the Dolphin's Song Trading Agency, the place Richard owned. It was a nice three storied building with two guards at the front and several people going in and out.

Looks like the business was going well.

I asked the guard for Richard and was led directly to him after showing my badge.

….this noble thing might be more useful than I was expecting.

We were soon led to the office on the top floor where a dignified looking man greeted us.

He had blonde hair and blue eyes and I wouldn't be surprised if he was a noble himself. His mannerisms were immaculate as he offered us a seat in his office. "Welcome Baron Arthas. My name is Richard Clyde, the owner of the Dolphin's Song Trading Agency. I was informed that you have some business with me?"

I took out the letter and the bottle of alcohol and forwarded it to him. "I am Arthas, a Knight of Llyne. I was recently given the position of a Baron and had been planning to visit Lannisport and maybe Sabaody Archipelago. I was given this letter of introduction by Kenneth who pointed me in your direction."

His eyes lit up on hearing Kenneth's name. "Kenneth? How is Kenneth doing? That stubborn brother-in-law of mine finally remembered me?"

"Brother-in-law?" I asked, confused.

"Well obviously. That moron married my little sister. He had come to drop me off at Lannisport when I retired, tricked my sister and married her and now he doesn't even have time to visit us. It's been over a year since I have seen my sister and my niece." He complained but I could see a good natured smile on his face as he did that.

I smiled at his humour while he opened the letter and read. Few moments later, a serious look came on his face and he gripped the letter tightly before sighing and placing the letter down.

The guy then bowed towards me. "Thank you for saving my niece's life. I don't have any children of my own and have always treated her as my own daughter. Those damned Goblins!" He growled, banging the desk with one of his remaining arms, the noble demeanour fading away and the rough Knight look coming to surface for a moment. 

Amelia, Kenneth's daughter and his niece, was the girl we had rescued from that Goblin's cave.

"I did what anyone should have done. If anything, I am sorry for not being able to prevent such a thing from happening in the first place."

The man looked sad. "Kenneth praised you a lot. He rarely does that. He even wrote how you and your team fought against the Goblin horde and got the rank of Baron. If you ever need any help from me, don't hesitate to speak."

"Thank you. My friends and I were looking for places to buy something good here and in Sabaody. I was wondering if you could give us some advice and help us get a ship to Sabaody."

"Oh, looking for goods eh. Well, I'll be honest, if you are looking for unique things, you should go to Sabaody. Despite the environment there, there is no doubt that the place gets the most unique items. That place sells everything. You might get things from other continents. Many nobles of our kingdom and surrounding kingdoms go there for auctions."

"When is the next auction?"

"In five days. There are different types of auctions. Weekly, monthly, quarterly, semiannually and yearly. The quality of goods increases from weekly to yearly. Five days later are the monthly auctions, two months later, the quarterly and so on." 

He brought out a book from his drawers and passed it over to me.

The book contained the dates for the auctions.

"If you want to buy things, you could always get something from Lannisport later or just send me a message and I will have the things sent over. Auctions are not always easy to catch. The number of seats are limited."

"Limited?"

"Yes. You will have to go there two days earlier and book seats to participate. The price of each seat in the monthly auctions is 500 gold coins. I suggest you leave tomorrow to get there with time in hand."

I nodded. "We will. Thank you for your advice." I then asked him a few more questions and the man took us for a meal, introducing us to some places in the town and then ordered one of his servants to escort us to his house and arrange a place for us to stay there for the day. He was busy with work so I didn't disturb him either and left.

"Alright, I am going to drop dead on my bed. Haven't been able to get a chance to sleep properly in the last three days." Star said as he stretched his body, yawning.

"He's not wrong. I am exhausted too." Shiroe agreed and left for his room.

Elaine did the same.

Finally, it was just Veena and I left.

We looked at each other and entered her room which was in the corner.

As soon as the door closed, she pulled me in for a hungry kiss.

It seems that three days of sleeping in different tents was not easy for her too.

During our journey, she and Elaine shared a tent while I shared one with the guys.

We didn't get any action in the last three days and the stress was building up for me but now it seems that it was the same for her too.

– Kuroka –

"Three thousand Gold Coins for the assassination and two thousand Gold Coins for the information. Glad to work with you." The dealer offered her money and she checked it once before keeping it in her inventory.

When she got the Tier 2 Job of Thief, she hadn't thought much of it and accepted it as it was the class with best stat gain available for her at that point of time.

She hadn't expected the gains to be so good.

The black market had places which had jobs for these kinds of classes and the quests paid far better than normal quests. The only catch was the danger of being caught which had severe punishments but it wasn't a big deal for Kuroka.

As long as it was just NPCs she didn't care about the assassination target and the results were visible too.

She had become a T3 Rogue very quickly but she didn't slack off. She was still too far behind. After the world quest when the First Guild announcement had appeared before everyone. It would take her several more weeks to understand the meaning of the announcement.

There were people in the Game who were T5 already and the gap between them was increasing even now as Guilds would have Perks for all its participants.

She hadn't even heard of a T4 player in the town till last week. Just how in the world was someone a T5 already?

What kind of a monster was the Guild Master of the Fairy Tail Guild?

She was however not deterred. If anything, she was excited even more. If he had reached such a high level, it only meant there was a way and she could get there too. All this knowledge only pushed her to level up faster.

She sneaked away through the shadows till she reached the place she was staying at and knocked at the door.

"W-w-who is there?"

"It's me. Open up, Gaspy."

The door opened to reveal the cute little blondie on the other side. "Welcome."

She rubbed his head and entered the door, closing it behind her.

Throwing the cloak she was wearing to the side, she slumped on the couch.

"How was your day, Gaspy? Got any orders?"

"Y-y-yes. I got four orders today and even my Heavy Armour Crafting Skill became Level 5. The people you send all ordered custom weapons too." He answered, excitedly.

She smiled at the kid.

To think he had come so far along the way from the kid who had downright fainted after hearing her name.

Although convincing him was not easy, she was glad that she had kept visiting him and finally persuaded him (threatened him) to come with her. After entering the game, she had realised how difficult it would be to find Shirone alone and even if she did, there was a high chance that she might not want to come with her so she decided to bring the blondie with her.

The fact that he was a Blacksmith only helped more.

Not to say that she was the only one profiting from all this. The Blondie was able to get more customers and was climbing up the levels quickly.

He was already higher levelled than her, even with just crafting and now he was level 22 without having stepped out to hunt for a single day.

The equipment he crafted is well liked by the people of the town as they gave better stats than the ones crafted by other Blacksmiths.

Apparently, he got an achievement in the first village.

Super Rookie Blacksmith.

Obtained by crafting 100 Equipment as an Apprentice Blacksmith without leaving the Starter Village.

If someone left the Starter Village even once, they would not get the Achievement.

The Achievement gave him increased experience gain for each piece of equipment he crafted.

Even the equipment he made had higher stats than others had a very small chance of gaining a passive skill depending on the level of the equipment.

Did this game reward people for being a Hikkikomori?

But whatever may be the case, his presence had helped her keep her spirits up and not go crazy.

In this way, she was benefiting more from his presence than she had thought and now the cutie felt like a little brother to her. She looked at him and smiled.

"Really? That's great. How about I take you out for a treat?"

"O-o-out! No way!" He ran away and hid in a box he had made for himself. "I don't wannaaaa go out!"

Her smile twitched.

Yes, he was still a Hikkikomori.

She will have to slowly break him out of his shell in the future.

But she had time.

She was planning to leave this town when both of them became decently strong T4 and go to the next town.

Greenfrost was a large city ruled by Marquis Conrad Black of the House of Black.

She had seen several assignments related to the city which paid really well. Too bad most of them were targets in T5, currently outside her strength to take on.

Maybe in a few months or so, she could go there and check out the city.

Till then all they could do was grind till they levelled up.

"Alright alright, we won't go out. I will get you an apple pie instead."

"Really!"

"Yup, really. Have I ever lied to you?"

The boy's mood brightened up instantly as he came out of the box, excited for his treat.

She chuckled at his antics.

- Game Master -

"Luci's mom has got it going on~"

He chuckled as he heard Red sing and shook his head.

Truly, he hadn't expected that his junior would snag the milf so quickly.

His Isekai Protagonist Aura was on fire.

Now if he could snag the maid and the Princess too.

All three generations….wouldn't that be an achievement of its own?

Achievement: Balls of Orichalcum.

Maybe he should send two Nerve Gears to the two Gremory Ladies outside. Five generations of the Lucifer's family, now wouldn't that be grand?….

Achievement: Balls of Adamantium.

"You look quite happy?" Tia said as she leaned on to his side. He wrapped his arm around her and caressed her arm.

It was very rare that Tia initiated these moments of physical contacts. Her past experiences had left her detached from such emotional relationships. She was down for sex as it rarely meant anything for beings of her age but he didn't want that. No, that would be an insult to both of them. He actually wanted to take her as his lover. It had taken him over three centuries to get her to agree for a romantic relationship.

Her story was far more complicated than Red or Ophis who had rarely had any contact with others. They had joined him quite easily.

Tia however was different. She had been betrayed by her own children and had lost her lovers twice already.

One her husband, who was killed by her own children and the second one being her child, whom she had created to battle against his siblings. She had become his lover, trying to fill the void left in her life by her husband and yet, he was killed soon after.

This made her consider herself unlucky and undeserving of love. The whole thing made no sense but trauma rarely made sense after all.

It was only after he had reached a level of strength where he could take on all three of them, Red, Ophis and her in a single combat and win, did she get assured of his safety and agree to open her heart to him.

"Yes. Looking at him growing up makes me happy. Despite having a considerable lead on others, he hasn't slacked off and is still racing forward. It has even increased more since he discovered the world he is in. This spirit reminds me of myself when I had just started off. Unfortunately, I didn't have things go as easily for me."

"Is that why you are making things difficult for him too?" She asked and he smiled.

"So you noticed?"

"Obviously. That Rhino was nearly a T6 monster. No monsters in that level of area were supposed to be that strong. Is it some kind of test that you are putting him through?"

"Test? No, not really. It's more of a reminder. If he has everything going as he planned, he would grow lax. The enemies he is going to encounter in the future won't give him any chances. In the wise words of the Joker, 'Nobody panics when things go according to plan'. No heroes are born walking simple paths. Every one of them have lived through great obstacles and only then did they get to carve their names on the annals of history. I am merely giving him a tutorial of such a life. What, any questions? After all, you have been personally observing him all this time, you should know better?" He asked.

She apparently saw his relationship with Junior as what she had with her own children before their betrayal. She and her husband had raised them, trained them and protected them and when they grew up, they turned on their own parents. She feared that Junior would do the same when he grew up.

"He….seemed like a decent person till now. The anger he had against those goblins as well as the bandits who had captured the girls or even against the fool who had insulted the devil….it was not fake. He seemed to deeply care about them, despite knowing that the ones captured by Goblins were fake….it still pained him, haunted his dreams for days. Moreover, even when he was tempted by the Devil, he controlled himself and thought about her family first, about how they would feel and if they would be hurt. Such people….are hard to find." She finished reluctantly.

"Wait, he didn't jump her?" He asked surprised.

He hadn't checked on anyone's private moments. He had no interest in voyeurism after all. Only the girls did that, especially Red.

Then again, she had been doing so since the beginning of time through everyone's dreams. It was just another day for her.

Tia rolled her eyes

"Still, such high praise. If I didn't know better, I would think you were impressed by him."

"I am only saying that his performance has been acceptable until now." She huffed.

Such a tsundere.

"Well, I guess that works." He left the matter.

He held her tighter and closed his eyes, relaxing.

Junior might be living his adventure but he had already become the Hidden Boss. He has earned his well-deserved rest.

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Beta Note: The advance chapters are in order of what is updated, a first Tier will not get 2 advanced chapters for every story, only the next two to be released.

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Author's Note:

Phew.

This chapter took a bit longer than expected.

I got stuck in some work of my own.

So, a few things happened. They found out just who the Game Master was and what they were up against.

We got to see a Veena Pov about her thoughts. Mama Gremory is not playing around anymore.

Arthas is finally near Sabaody. Let's see what he encounters next.

On the bright side, Kuroka and Gasper have been getting along well.

We also got to see how the Game Master was doing and the thoughts of the people running the Game.

Next chapter will be the Sabaody Archipelago.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.