NOVEL NEXT Chapter 76: Expanding
The room soon turned quiet after the old man voiced out his opinion.
Adrian sighed in defeat and had Yula continue with her report.
"How was she able to jump to a new world then?"
"She was able to acquire the Vampire Duke, Ash, as an NPC companion, and through him, she was able to open a portal to the Vampire Duke's original world, Vanhal," Yula reported.
"How was the Duke even awakened?"
"From the logs, we were able to find out that player 'Maria' gave her 'blood' to the vampire and awakened him."
Adrian was rather fond of the supernatural so ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and other fantasy-esque subjects within the game intrigued him. As a staff member of UT, he wasn't allowed to play the game with the other players, but he and everyone else in the company had their company-dedicated server which allowed them free rein to play whatever storyline or quest they decided to play.
Vanhal, the world of the vampires, incubi, succubi, nightstalkers, and werewolves was something Adrian frequented during his free time. He knew a bit about Vampire Duke Ash. The Vampire was the trigger to the Dark Faction player's leap towards Vanhal.
Adrian thought for a moment about the NPC before he remembered something crucial and asking, "Once awakened, wouldn't the Vampire Duke attack the player who awakened him and thoroughly suck out their blood, or rather, their HP? How did she even—"
"Well, it says here that she defeated him so..."
"..."
"Hahahahaha!" The old man named Lindow, the main developer, owner, and creator of Unitale and the AI that managed it, Zeus, laughed uproariously in amusement when he heard Yula finish her report.
"Not only is she lucky, but she's also skillful! Hahaha!"
"...Continue monitoring her... We can't directly interfere with her gaming, but the least we can do is make sure that there are no bugs that she's unknowingly or knowingly making use of," Adrian said before dismissing the team.
"I hardly doubt she's exploiting any bug. All of such things were corrected and fixed during the beta," Old Man Lindow said before getting up and walking out of the room.
Adrian leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath before releasing it in a huff.
"Ugh... so exhausting..."
*****
Back on the starting planet, Eur, Gerald, Maria's sister, was currently showing around a level 1 player to his guild.
"Hehe, what do you think, Father? Pretty neat, right? Everything's so realistic!"
"Mhm," The middle-aged man nodded slightly in agreement.
The man was Corinthos Heltania, Gerald and Maria's father. He had decided to dive into the game to see what all the hype was about. He was an investor of the game but he hadn't once tried playing it like the other investors.
This was his first time diving into the world of Unitale and he was quite impressed by it. Corinthos could now understand why his daughter was immersed in the game. She had abandoned all of her old and somewhat worrisome habits in real and had begun investing her time into the game.
From what his son Gerald had been saying, his daughter was a really proactive player that was always performing some pretty incredible feats in the game. Her multiple first clears with the Fallen Angels Guild and the promotion video about her then there were the two recent World Announcements.
Corinthos couldn't help but feel a little proud of his daughter and he also felt grateful that she was finally being proactive in something that didn't require her to do things alone. Corinthos knew that playing a game as vast as this required 'team play' and interactions with other human players.
He was glad that his daughter was not being so introverted anymore. Of course, he didn't yet know that Maria had actually been doing things alone most of the time and is now doing things by her lonesome because she was the only player present on her current planet.
If you discounted the number of NPCs that were always interacting with her, then she was mostly playing alone. Anyway, ignorance was bliss and Corinthos now didn't mind that his daughter was spending most of her time in the game.
"I'll invest in your Guild, Gerald," Corinthos suddenly said after taking a look around the guild headquarters.
"Alright!"
"I'll also be investing in your sister's guild. What was it called again..."
"The Fallen Angels!"
"Yeah, that one," Corinthos said with a nod.
"Well, it's a good investment as well. They're the current leading guild in the Dark Faction," Gerald said.
"Then you should hurry up and do something about your guild! Don't you pride yourself as being someone well-versed in games and yet, your sister is beating you!"
"U-ugh..."
"Anyway, you better watch out for your sister. I know that you two are in opposing factions, but that doesn't matter."
"Don't worry, father. I'll make sure to keep an eye out for Maria."
"Good. I'll be logging off now. I have things to prepare for the company. I'll see you later at dinner."
"Yes, father."
******
Back on Vanhal, at the Dire's faction headquarters in the Lord's Manor, Maria, who was just satisfied after taking a look around the place, was now sitting on a make-shift stool with a discontent look on her pretty face.
Ash, who had just finished amending and upgrading the Blood Fountain within the manor, quickly walked over to her side and noticed his Lady's discontent expression.
"My Lady, is there something you're dissatisfied about?" Ash worriedly asked from the side.
"Hnnn..."
"My Lady, please voice any discontents that you may have. I'll make sure to rectify it!"
"...There's nothing here..."
"Hm?"
Ash looked a little bit confused and Maria waved her arms around grandly and loudly said, "I'm saying, that there's nothing here!"
"What do you—"
"Are you stupid, Ash?" Maria exclaimed in exasperation at how slow her vampire was.
"Uh..."
"The manor's been rebuilt and repaired, that's good and all, but the inside is empty!"
"..."
"We don't have a sofa, a bed, a TV, or anything!!!"
Ash quickly got the message. There was no furniture or decorations in their vast mansion. It was just an empty shell at the moment. Seeing as his Lady needed a few things in the house like a chair to sit on and a bed to sleep on, he quickly thought of something and immediately asked Maria, "Shall I get you some furniture, my Lady?"
"Yes! And I want them now!"
"I'll get them right away, my Lady! Lilah, go call those 5 idiots and extract their former lord's base!" Ash said in an imposing tone.
Lilah, who was suddenly caught by surprise by Ash's imposing attitude, immediately replied, "A-alright!"
She dashed straight out of the mansion and went to find the 5 vampires who were probably out searching for a hospitable house in the town.
'W-wait...why do I need to go find them? Ah, that stupid vampire, how dare he command me!?' Lilah inwardly roared in fury. She then clicked her tongue and mumbled, "Whatever, I'll let it slide this time because Master was upset..."
Back inside the mansion, Ash quickly bowed toward Maria and said, "My Lady, I will immediately get to work. Please wait here."
After finishing his words, Ash was just about to walk out of the mansion but Maria quickly stood up and blocked his way before saying, "I don't think so, I'll be coming!"
Maria stretched her hand out and her Calamity which was resting on the wall of the manor immediately flew into her hand. She flourished it and glared up at Ash.
Being pressured by her gaze, Ash gave into his Lady's demands.
"Of course, my Lady, it will be my honor to have you accompany me. Although, it would be much better if you just waited here and let us do the dirty work..." Ash respectfully said with a slight bow.
"Hmmm, well, I'm bored right now so I wanna come. How about this, I'll just follow and let you guys do your thing~"
"Okay, my Lady. You just sit back and watch the show."
"Huhuhu~ I'm glad we're on the same page for once, Ash!" Maria said with a cheerful smile.
Ash smiled and bowed to her once again.
Lilah immediately rushed into the mansion and asked, "Master, what page are you talking about?"
She had quickly found the 5 underlings idling about just outside the estate's gates so she quickly brought them over. Just before she could enter, Lilah had overheard Maria and Ash's conversation so she couldn't help but ask in suspicion.
"Well, Lilah, since my mansion is empty, I obviously want to fill it up. What better way to do so than by going to the city or town these 5 stooges are from and rob—I mean, buy—some of the furniture available over there?" Maria said in a cutesy way.
Lilah had an odd expression on her face when she heard her Master's words. She couldn't help but cast a glare at Ash who was following along with her bad intentions.
"...Ash..."
"I'm just following my Lady's orders..."
"..."
Seeing as there was now an opportunity to lick their master's ass, Markus Pelio, one of the vampires who was subdued and forced to join the Dire Faction by Maria, immediately spoke up, "My Mistress, w-we can quickly lead you to our former lord's town! F-follow us! The night is about to fall so we'll be able to pilla—"
Maria quickly cast a glare at Markus Pelio, and the vampire immediately corrected himself, "I-I mean, buy, some of the furniture on sale there! Yes, we'll buy them! I know plenty of stores! There��s even a very famous one right at the heart of the town where you can get many high-quality furniture from!"
Maria's eyes immediately brightened when she heard Markus's words, but Lilah felt like there was some sort of double meaning behind his words.
"Anyway, Lilah, let's get going! I wanna go meet people too!" Maria cheered before quickly dashing out through the door.
"W-wait, Master!"
"Come on, come on~ before it gets too late~"
Like this, Maria and her 'crew' began trekking through the forest and making their way over to the 5 stooges' previous lord, Vampire Baron Russo Glemen's barony.