Chapter 6: Part 2

- Arthas -

There were no rewards and the objective was numbered so that means it was going to be a long quest and we will get our next objective when we reach there.

I looked at Shiroe who was done reading too and just looked at me and nodded.

"Let's go."

We soon reached the town square and found Veena already there.

Many players were gathering slowly so we took a place in an empty corner to observe things quietly.

I took the chance to see everyone and their levels as well as classes and told Shiroe who noted everything hiding behind me. We even made note of some ungrouped players who we could recruit.

Around an hour later the City Lord, a man in full plate armour with a red cloak came to the stage. He was followed by two other Knights. One seemed to be a Sword Knight while the other seemed to be a Shield Knight or at least they looked like one from what I had seen of the description in the Knight Academy books. As for the City Lord, the man was a Lord Knight. I knew about it already. It was mentioned in the same book.

"Dear citizens. Today I have called you all here to inform you of a grave danger approaching us. The scouts have found that the goblins in the settlements around the town have started moving. They have suddenly merged into one. This indicates the birth of a Goblin General. It is a being who has the power to reign in those vile cowardly beasts into a force to be reckoned with." The man continued and everyone looked at him for information.

"Do not underestimate them as the usual pests you fight. Under a Goblin General's Command Aura, their power and teamwork is boosted. They will be a far greater challenge than the ones you have found before. Not only that, expect to encounter many higher types of Goblins too. Goblin Shamans, Hobgoblin Warriors, Goblin Riders. It will be a full on war."

Murmurs ran throughout the crowd.

"I have sent requests for assistance but by the time they arrive, it might already be too late. So, my citizens, I request you all to join hands with the guards and help protect the city and the commoners. Rest assured that you will be rewarded handsomely according to the contribution you make. Your first task will be to help fortify the town walls and help the guards arrange everything. After an hour, contact any of the twelve guards in front of the Stage. Each one is responsible for guarding one of the twelve gates of the town. Remember, the number of people at each gate is reserved."

As soon as his words ended, a message appeared in front of me and I assume in front of all other players in this place too.

Objective Completed

World Quest - 1 Updated

I opened the Quest and the second objective was updated

 World Quest - 1

The Beginning of the End

A great danger is opening its eyes as chaos has started to spread all over the continent.

Brace up and fight against the approaching darkness for a chance to survive.

Objective: 1. Attend the City Lord's Summons.(Completed)

Objective: 2. Choose a Gate to protect.

"Let's go." I said and was about to walk but Shiroe put a hand on my shoulder and stopped me.

"Hmm?"

"We need to think about the gate we want to guard. The difficulty will obviously be different at each gate or we wouldn't have been given this choice and just appointed at a random gate.." He said analysing the situation.

"Let's move to a different place first." I said and we moved to a room in the nearby inn. Our house was a bit further and we didn't have time.

Shiroe spread out the map of the entire town in front of us.

"See, these are the twelve gates. The gates one to five are facing the eastern forest and gates nine and twelve are facing the forests from other directions, probably the main places the Goblins will attack. Chasing them in forests will be suicidal. Gates six and ten have an open ground in front of them, making ambushes impossible but it just leaves an empty ground for larger monsters to attack. Gate number seven faces the river and eight faces the mountains from which the river comes down and finally gate eleven faces the farmlands. Seven and Eight will be the safest but we might not get enough contribution points. So, which one should we choose?"

"The farmlands." Veena said.

"Hmm?" Shiroe looked at her and I understood.

"You just said that the farmland had settlements which means there must be people there too."

"Yes, but they will be given refuge within the town walls. The farmlands will most likely be abandoned.

"But the livestock will remain. I don't think they will be allowed to bring everything in. The goblins will not miss the opportunity. They will absolutely focus on that."

"Hmm, that sounds plausible. So, are we going to use that?"

"The goblins are moving in large groups so they will need supplies to support such a huge army too. Normally that would be the victims of the war but no one will leave livestock in such a situation. Not to mention the crops growing there."

"Are we going to save the crops? Because I don't think that would be possible in such a fight." Shiroe said.

"No. We don't protect anything." Veena interjected. "Instead, we use the crops to stop the goblins."

"Eh? Wait, you don't mean…."

"Yes Shiroe-kun. We burn the crops when the goblins enter the zone, trapping and killing them all." Veena finished.

"Hmm, we could also add some oil and other inflammable substances in the farmland to make the fire spread faster, maybe some chilli powder to make the smoke burn their eyes." I added a few more points.

"But the fire will spread. It could reach the forests and it would result in a massive forest fire, endangering the city too." Shiroe quickly interrupted.

"No it won't. See, here, at this point." Veena pointed at a spot on the map. "The river has a dam in this place. It was made to stop the water from flooding the farmlands."

"....that….can work. But that would mean we would need to divide into two teams. One will be responsible for taking charge of the farmlands while the other will be responsible for the dam. We need to time it perfectly too or the whole plan will be a dud." Shiroe concluded.

"Will destroying the farmlands get us in trouble with the city?" I asked.

"I don't think so. They wouldn't be able to save the farmlands either way. We just need to confirm the plan with the Knights. I think your Knight Class will come in handy at this time, Arthas."

"Me?"

"Yes. You are technically a part of the Knights of the City. You may be able to talk to them and arrange for this."

"I….see. I will try."

And that's exactly what I did.

Talking with the Knights helped. One of them, Kenneth, was related to the hostages we had saved and that earned us a lot of advantage.

For one, the Knights were short handed in this fight and they didn't have enough soldiers to station at Gate Eleven so he was quite receptive to my plan.

He took me to the City Lord to discuss the plan.

I bowed after entering the room where the man was sitting.

"Rise. What's the matter, Kenneth?"

"Milord, this is Arthas, a newly knighted individual and a new member of our Knight Academy. He was also the one who freed the hostages from the north western goblin cave during his test."

"Ah, him. Yes, I intended to meet him after this danger was taken care of. After all, it was due to the information from the hostages that I had sent the scouts and discovered the danger to our town. Thank you for your hard work, Arthas. Now, how may I help you both?"

"Sir, I just found out that we plan to spread our soldiers across all the gates."

"It is more of a necessity. Apart from the eighth gate, all other gates can and will be attacked by the goblins. The number of enemies is over ten times ours and once they break through the gates, it's over. They will without a doubt surround us and force us to spread our numbers and unfortunately we have no other choice but to dance to their tune." The man really looked tired and if I didn't know better, I would have thought he was real.

"Sir….if I am allowed to speak, I might have a solution to free some soldiers from gates seven, eight and eleven. Not only that, I can take down most of their numbers on gate eleven with only a tenth of the soldiers."

The man looked at me and narrowed his eyes and spoke. "If you plan to demonstrate your sense of humour, I would like to point out that it is not the correct time."

"I wouldn't dare joke about such a thing at such dangerous times, Sir."

He stared at me for a moment before nodding. "Speak. I will be the judge of whether you jest or not."

"May I have the permission to call my teammates in, Sir? Our Strategist would explain things better."

"You may."

Fifteen minutes later, both Shiroe and Veena were inside the room and we explained the plan to the man.

"The plan is indeed plausible. Do you have confidence that you can do it with only a dozen people?"

"Yes, Sir. As long as they are able to follow the plan to the letter, I can assure you that these three gates will be out of the goblin's reach."

He looked at Kenneth. "Kenneth, you will be responsible for assisting him in the plan. Choose eight of your best Knights and accompany him and his team members. Bring the rest as you see fit. If the three gates can be freed in this way, the soldiers will be a major help to the other gates. Anything else?"

"Sir, we will need the help of some people and some raw materials to set everything up before the actual fight." Shiroe quickly asked and went on to explain several ideas.

"Very well, you can ask Kenneth and he will be responsible for arranging everything. Since this is your plan, you three will be appointed as the guardians of those gates."

"Thank you, my Lord." We bowed before we were escorted out of the room.

Kenneth led us to meet the guardians of gates seven and eight. He himself was the guardian of gate eleven.

Finally, one of us was assigned to the seventh gate, eighth gate and eleventh gate each…as guardians. No other player was permitted to join the gates.

At the same time our quest was updated.

 World Quest - 1

The Beginning of the End

A great danger is opening its eyes as chaos has started to spread all over the continent.

Brace up and fight against the approaching darkness for a chance to survive.

Objective: 1. Attend the City Lord's Summons.(Completed)

Objective: 2. Choose a Gate to protect.(Completed)

Hidden Objective: 1. Talk to the City Lord and become the guardian of a Gate.(Completed)

Objective: 3. Defend the gates after the start of the war.