Tavern reopening

After the three major guilds divided the spoils and left, Leo's small tavern finally returned to its usual calm. 　　

"Well, let me see. After paying the rent of 300,000 for the house and a deposit of 100,000, I should still have a full 5 million here. Now that the people from these three guilds have given me another 400,000, that means there should be 5.4 million left in my account..." 　　

Leo leaned on the bar counter, calculating his finances and considering when he could save enough money to buy a mansion like the one he was living in now. 　　It probably wouldn't be affordable in the short term, so he needed to deceive...no, earn more money. 　　

Just then, a flash of gold light passed through the tavern, and Lily appeared in front of Leo. 　　

Seeing the time, Leo realized it was already 10 am. 　　

"Logged in?" Leo said to Lily. 　　

Lily nodded, "I have to level up today!" 　　

Leo glanced at Lily and then exclaimed in surprise, "You're already level 29?!" 　　"Yeah, I want to reach level 30 today!" Lily clenched her little fists, looking determined not to give up until she reached her goal. 　　

After hearing this, Leo shook his head. Lily's leveling speed was terrifying. Currently, only Emperor in the entire novice village had reached level 30. If Lily reached level 30 today, wouldn't she become the second-highest level in the entire novice village? 　　

Speaking of which, it seemed that those who wanted to assassinate her had calmed down recently. The members of the Black Blade Guild seemed to be busy with something else and showed no intention of taking action against her. 　　However, such a guild that would do anything for profit would not give up on an assassination mission once they had accepted it, right? 　　

"Lily, I think you can slow down a bit," Leo said, "The first ten players in the entire novice village to reach level 30 will be announced server-wide. Once you reach level 30, everyone will know you're level 30... At that time, those who want to assassinate you will definitely not let you go. I'm not afraid of those people, but there's no need to invite trouble, right?" 　　

After listening to Leo's words, Lily shook her head, "Broski, you don't understand. I have to level up as soon as possible." 　　

"Why?" Leo asked. 　　

"Well... I'll let you know when the opportunity arises," Lily said. 　　

"Alright, I'll take you to the Forbidden Forest." In fact, Leo wasn't afraid of assassinations at all; he just found it troublesome - why would he want to run around when he could easily earn 500,000 by lying down? 　　

However, players at their current level wouldn't be able to enter the inner part of the Forbidden Forest anyway. It was perfectly fine for Lily to go there and level up. As long as she didn't run around, there would be no monsters that would attack her in the area Leo was taking her to. 　　

After taking Lily to the Forbidden Forest, Leo told her to be careful and watch out for herself before returning to the tavern. His tavern had been closed for several days, and it was time to open for business.

After Leo's tavern opened, various players started visiting it, as it was located right at the western entrance of the newbie village. With such a great location, the business was bound to be good. Leo, who hadn't been busy for a while, began bustling about.

Although the income from the tavern wasn't much, Leo had spent a lot of money on it, and he didn't want to waste it.

"Bartender, give us two more glasses of oat beer!" Leo heard someone from a distant table shouting with an empty glass in hand. He acknowledged and brought them the beers.

"Enough of that... Hey, have you heard?" The player who asked for the beer said to his friend.

"Heard what?" His friend shook his head.

"The Spirit Fox Guild, didn't they go to raid the Sandfall City? Haven't you heard?"

"Oh right, everyone was talking about the scene of a group of beautiful women leaving the newbie village that day. What did you hear? Any gossip?"

"I'll tell you, after the members of their guild entered Sandfall City, none of them have come out," the player who started the conversation said, taking the beer from Leo. "According to players passing by the Sandfall City, there are occasional angry roars coming from inside the city, and no one knows what's going on. If they had successfully raided the city, there would be some news by now; if they had failed and were respawning, no one has seen any members of the Spirit Fox Guild coming out..."

As Leo put the two glasses of beer on the table, he didn't leave right away. Instead, he pulled up a chair and asked, "Are you two talking about the Spirit Fox Guild raiding Sandfall City?"

"Yeah, why?" The player who brought up the topic, "Old Tree," said, "Are you interested in the Spirit Fox Guild too?"

"Sure, if you know something, feel free to tell me. I'm quite interested," Leo replied.

Old Tree nodded, "I don't know much either, but because the Spirit Fox Guild is full of beautiful women, I got curious and asked around. I heard that the guild leader provoked a powerful monster in the Sandfall City, which cursed them. All members of the Spirit Fox Guild in the city are now trapped inside, and even after dying, they can only respawn in the same place without being teleported to the usual respawn point..."

"So, the Spirit Fox Guild is trapped? Can they log off?" Leo asked.

Old Tree nodded, "Of course they can log off, but as soon as they log back in, they'll appear in the Sandfall City and can't get out. It seems that many members of the Spirit Fox Guild have lost several levels already. The price the guild has paid this time is huge... I guess by the time they get out, the Spirit Fox Guild's strength will have dropped out of the top ten guilds."

"I see," Leo nodded, "Thanks for the info. These two beers are on me."

"Great!" Old Tree happily smiled, "Thanks a lot."

...

By evening, Leo closed the tavern, even though there were still many players online at night. He didn't feel like keeping it open.

He opened his friend list and looked at the names of Goldman and the Spirit Fox Guild leader, who were still online. Leo let out a sigh and sent a message to Goldman:

"How come? After all these days, your level hasn't increased but decreased instead? Do you need my help?"