Departure

Jax found it surprising that the Hobgoblin wasn't the boss. Did he and Succie fight a hidden boss?

Normally hidden bosses were treated as an extra, more difficult boss, in other MMO games.

'Do they replace the main boss in this game?' Although Jax didn't know everything about his father's game, he didn't hear about these things.

He still hated AX for stealing his father's game, but he was glad they were at least sensible enough to add their own stuff. Although he wouldn't have enough evidence to fight back in court with them, that didn't mean he had no evidence.

His father had left behind a few notebooks about his game that Jax took the liberty of reading over several times before joining Sentinel's Rising.

Jax sent a reply to Francis apologizing and explaining he and Succie might've encountered a hidden boss instead or even Vice versa since they had only encountered the boss once.

The two quickly decided to meet up to talk about it since Father Francis would now be stuck in the beginning town for a bit longer after losing a level.

They didn't bother with a private space since this kind of information would soon be widespread so they met up in the town square.

There was a simple fountain in the middle with benches off to the side of the gravel road.

Jax waited at one of the benches since Francis had to come from the graveyard. Although it was closer than the dungeon, it was still a good ten minute walk to get into town.

It made it quite easy to spawn camp but Jax wasn't sure if there was a protection on players before then.

Now that he thought about it, he hadn't done very much PKing, his normal style of gameplay. He had been lucky since most people came to him, but he missed a bit of the old days where he could sneak around and kill unsuspecting players.

Francis called out to Jax when he was in earshot. Jax could see he wasn't alone as a tall muscular man was walking behind him. He could see the head of a mace peaking from behind the new guy's back.

'Is he from the city?' He didn't remember seeing that kind of weapon in Timold's shop so it made the most sense.

Jax got up and shook Francis' hand as well as the new guy's. The two sized each other up but Father Francis put a stop to it.

"Kenny, this is my son Joshua, Josh this is Kenny, he helped me when that wolf attacked a bunch of people."

Jax was shocked, "Hold up, he's your son? You look like you're in your 20s. Is he adopted?"

A vein popped out on Josh's forehead, "Hey jackass watch your mouth! I'm my dad's own flesh and blood, even if I was adopted, what does it matter to you if my father adopts at a young age? He's the best father I cou—"

"Yes yes, you love your father now shut up! Also, watch your mouth! Who taught you to curse like a sailor? It certainly wasn't me!"

Francis covered his almost head taller son's mouth with his hand and Josh blushed from his father's words.

"I'm sorry for my son's words he's just overprotective of his father." Francis added and even bowed slightly.

"Don't worry about it and I apologize as well. I was rude to both of you, but I can see now how much he admires you. If it's alright, could you tell me your age? Your son makes me believe you aren't 20 something."

Jax also gave a slight bow. He didn't know if it was a cultural thing for them, but he didn't want to be rude. He could tell they were both good people. He's probably spent too much time with Succie and now he feels annoyed by everything.

"I guess it's time for introductions then," Francis smiled. "My name is Frank Francis and this is my son Joshua Francis. Despite my current looks, I am actually 44 years old and a youth pastor for our local church.

"The kids at our church roped me into playing this game with them, but since I haven't played any games in almost 20 years since finding my faith, I needed some help haha."

The old man in a young boys body chuckled as they all sat down at the bench.

"The kids told me to make myself look younger so they could see what I looked like in my prime. My daughter should be with most of the kids right now since you can choose your starter town, but I miss clicked haha!"

Francis chuckled at himself and rubbed the back of his head. Jax didn't know you could choose your location, probably because he sped through the character creation so he missed out on some things.

It didn't matter much to him, as all the villagers would be roughly the same. The only difference was which kingdoms they connected to, but even with his vast theoretical knowledge, he still didn't have any information on the specific kingdoms.

When he was young he often got bored when his dad talked about the politics within each kingdom so he would go watch TV instead.

Josh decided to chime in as well, "I came here to help my father since he told me he wanted to be a priest in the game, so I became a tank to protect him."

Josh looked proud of himself and Jax smiled inwardly. Although he was a bit of a brat, Josh reminded him of himself since he cared so much about Anna and his mother. He felt they could get along in time.

The atmosphere changed a bit as Josh clenched his fists.

"I ended up getting scouted by someone from the Heavenly Strikers Guild but they wouldn't let my father join, even though he has more faith than me and my sister combined."

It seemed like some sort of issue between religions but Jax couldn't be sure.

"They only awkwardly laughed when I asked if my father could join as well. If my father didn't have such a big heart and let me go, he wouldn't have died in the dungeon."

Apparently Frank had stayed behind to die even though he could've ran if the party looked like it would be wiped. Jax thought it was a bit foolish, but the old man also didn't know much about playing games.

"I immediately left the guild and came over here once I heard. That guild probably won't be very happy since they lost a Paladin, I wouldn't be surprised if they made up some excuse to harass my father or others of our church."

Josh was really mad but his father only sighed.

"Sorry about that, I'm not sure if you are a part of a church or not but we shouldn't be spewing our troubles at you."

Father Francis was sincere and bumped his son. The latter broke out of his angry stupor and bowed his head.

"No worries, a guild that uses their religion as their driving force for political matters just reminds me of the problems the church faced in the Lutheran Era."

Jax didn't know a lot about religion, but he knew basic stuff from high school and college history courses.

"None taken." Frank replied.

"They said they were welcoming to all religions no matter how small and that they would help 'guide the player base to a better future.' It was a lot of mumbo jumbo they were pulling out of their asses with that speech in the city."

Josh's 'curse' earned him a smack on the back of his head while Jax had to agree. Several religions might see each other as enemies so there are definitely internal problems with them.

'I'll have to be wary of them since religion is a huge part of this world and the real world. I'd hate to get in trouble with the Pope or something.'

They talked some more and decided to help level up Father Francis to level 10 real quick before leaving together for the north city.

Jax had a feeling this father and son pair would become valuable allies. His only worry was when Succie caught up to them… would they be able to work with a demon?