42 A Familiar Face in an Unfamiliar Land

A couple of hours after leaving Stobi, Astur and the others arrive in the Village of Pago. As expected of a small village like Pago, it has a very rustic feel to it, even more so than Stobi. Buildings are small and are all made solely of wood and straw without any signs of metal or concrete. Normally, a small rural village such as Pago would rely on agricultural industries such as farming for food, but the land here can barely support the few withering trees, let alone a farm. Aside from hunting expeditions on the nearby monsters for food, Pago mostly relies on monthly cargo trucks that deliver food meant to last the village a month.

Being an out of the way place that seldomly receives visitors, there isn't an inn or hotel for Astur's group to stay at. Shortly after a brief discussion with the Village Chief, it was agreed that Astur's group could camp out on the outskirts of the village without any problems, but they would be responsible for their own food. Of course, even without the agreement from the Village Chief, Astur would have gone ahead and set up a campsite regardless.

With the day coming to an end and having finished setting up their campsite, the three players decide it's a good time to log off, they do have their own obligations beyond playing the game after all. Seeing her player companions disappear, Astur goes off to explore on her own.

Although despite her intentions to explore the village, it really is too small as she finishes making two rounds over the entire village in a matter of hours, although the ease of doing so is why Astur even bothered to explore. For a moment Astur thought about looking for the Warband herself but quickly ignored these thoughts, being unwilling to go and search aimlessly without any clues, in her head, this can just be left to Blaze and the others once they get back. Putting these thoughts behind her, Astur makes her way to the only place of leisure and relaxation in the whole village, a tavern.

From what Astur has gathered, the villagers of Pago haven't really had any change in their lifestyle since the news of the arrival of the Warband in the province. They already live in a harsh environment and with a majority of the villagers being hunters, they aren't too afraid of anything happening to them. Contrary to the feelings of fear that had been permeating through Stobi, the people of Pago are simply enjoying their lives. And with the tavern being the only place of leisure in the village, it's naturally quite crowded.

In the tavern, there are a couple of pool tables set up as well as a couple of tables where people are gathered around playing cards. Of course, there are also many more tables where people are just enjoying some food and chatting while others enjoy a drink at the bar.

As Astur takes a seat at the bar but before she can order anything, a man takes the seat next to her and says, "Hey there beautiful, I haven't seen someone like you before. How about I buy you a drink?"

As Astur turns her head to tell off the man next to her, she sees a familiar visage. A slightly chubby body and unkempt facial hair with short black hair atop his head.

But as soon as the man sees Astur face, his own expression sours, "Fuck, is that you, Astur?"

"Fatty Lu?" Astur says before checking with her Scholar's Eye of Insight and seeing the person next to her is a player with the ID, Dahu Lu.

Real name, Shen Lu. Online ID, Dahu Lu, meaning big tiger Lu. A 38-year-old ex-reporter who lives a few streets over from the Internet Cafe run by Astur's sister. As a reporter had was laid off for his poor work ethics, although this was mostly just an excuse as the real reason for his dismissal was because news about his side job came to light. Now he has taken up his previous side job full time and is a relatively well-known name on the internet of Earth, though not in a good way. Shen Lu is a well-known internet troll and was given the title the Flame Emperor due to his ability to flame and infuriate other netizens. He originally began his trolling operation with his brothers from his school days because they enjoyed watching the world burn. But getting into fights with nearly anyone on the internet eventually made him an eyesore to some and a hacker leaked his identity out which caused his dismissal from his previous job as a reporter. Nowadays, when using his usual ID in games, it's not uncommon for him to get ganged up on by other players, and when walking through an alley and uncrowded areas in Atlantis he always needs to make sure to be aware of who else is around, lest he gets beat up by someone he pissed off before.

"Aren't you a bit old to be trying to pick up young and beautiful girls such as myself, Fatty Lu?"

"Fuck, it really is you! I haven't seen you online these days so I figured you were sleeping again," Shen Lu says as he raises his brow and questions, "Why don't you have the player icon next to your name and why's your name and status all question marks?"

"Because I'm not a player, I'm an NPC, at least as far as the System is concerned. I've been here since before the opening of the beta, along with a few other distant relatives. You're not stupid, I'm sure you of all people have realised this isn't really a game now that you've seen me," Astur says in a low voice.

"Yeah, I realised what was going on from the moment I saw your face. I am a psychic in the real world, I could be considered to be in the known when it comes to supernatural stuff, even if my knowledge is limited. Your gonna say it's better for me to not dig too deep into this, right?"

"This is something the old man was been working on for a while, so you probably shouldn't try. Although it was probably because he was bored, it's still better not to think too deeply about the matter. So, you and your band of brothers are here?" Astur asks.

"We are here searching for the Warband, I was thinking it would be cool to join them. They seem to be villains so I thought I might be able to get some protection from a strong faction that doesn't seem like it would have many other players. My brothers are out searching for clues right now. But what happened with you, last time I saw you, you were Human, at least in appearance?"

"To keep it simple, my Infinity Wolf bloodline got strengthened to 100% purity. But I also happen to be searching for the Warband, although my purpose is to recruit them to my faction."

"You have your own faction?" Shen Lu asks.

"You really are out of touch aren't you? Do you not watch Blaze's streams or read the official forums?"

"Why should I waste my time watch streamers when I can play myself when I was lucky enough to get a spot in the beta. It's a shame that only a handful of my brothers could get a spot. But I do go on the forums, but it's mostly to flame the people there, I don't usually read the content of the posts."

"You really live up to your title, Flame Emperor. Say, want to help me scam the players later, I can get you some good stuff."

"Like what?" Shen Lu asks.

"Just search up my Grand Evolution Elixir on the forums, I can wait," Astur says, calling over the bartender for a drink.

After half an hour, Shen Lu closes up the forums as he finishes the research he was doing regarding the elixir that Astur had previously brought up as well as the other things she has been up to.

"For someone as lazy as you, you've certainly been kept busy. But you've got me interested. What's your plan?"

"No need to rush, it will come into play later. We need to wait for the players to gather up their resources first. For now, let's focus on the Warband. I was initially going to wait a day for the players I was with to come back online before having them search for me, but since you and your brothers are already searching, just make sure to tell me when you've got a lead."