Chapter 9: Clan talks

Hanzo had joined Touch Me's party and teleported away with him. This was a lot of trust that he usually would never have in other players, however, Hanzo felt that Touch Me and his companions would not go against their morals. Additionally, he was not too worried about fighting someone stronger as Touch Me could not currently harm him, whilst he remained in a party with him.

As his vision was restored, he noticed that he was currently in what seemed to be a small fort. The mossy stone walls were covered in a thin layer of frost.

"Niflheim?"

Touch Me responded to Hanzo with a joyful tone.

"Indeed! This is the outpost we use when hunting."

Hanzo thought for a moment, and then realised why that sounded so out of place. Usually, Guilds will use their Guild Base as a meeting place and not somewhere like an Outpost that was a neutral zone. However, the deeper he thought, the more it made sense. When taking his breaks, Hanzo browsed the forums and checked for news regarding the Guilds. As of yet, he had heard no mention of the Guild Ainz Ooal Gown.

"I see, I assume you're guildless?"

Touch Me scratched the back of his head as he explained, a slight awkwardness in his tone that did not fit Hanzos image of him.

"Ah, yeah. We are not officially a guild. Currently, there is 8 of us who meet up and raid together, but we have not made a guild as of yet"

Hanzo nodded at this hopeful piece of information. After all, Ainz Ooal Gown was one of the few high level guilds to close their guild at 41 members, thus Hanzo had a slight fear he would not be able to get in. Luckily, he had already found a chance, and not only was it a chance to join, it was a chance to create great impact on the way the guild works in the future.

'This is perfect, time to get friendly with Nines Own Goal'

Hanzo thought to himself, maintaining his friendly smile as he and Touch Me walked further into the fort.

As a guild did not control this area, they did not have to be too on guard against attacks since they will be able to easily escape should the situation turn dire.

After a while, they arrived in what seemed to be a mess hall. Sat at the table were 7 players, although they had different appearances and equipment, they shared one thing in common, they were all Heteromorphic Races.

"Ah you're finally back Touch Me!"

Hanzo nearly choked after hearing that sentence, however he managed to maintain a smiling face.

The heads of all 8 Heteromorphs turned to look at Hanzo and Touch Me in synchronisation. They all looked at Hanzo curiously, waiting for Touch Me.

"Oh right! This is Zelphyr! The World Champion of Helheim"

Gasps were heard from the 7 sitting players.

"Wait he's another World Champion, why is he here?"

A strange crab-like heteromorphic creature spoke.

"Yeah I am, I met Touch Me after the tournament and we got to know each other. I have some circumstances with my guild and was wondering how he managed to stay guildless yet be a World Champion. Well I got my answer."

Hanzo smiled as he looked around. Although he mainly said it to get on their good sides, it was true that he was in awe at how far the 8 of them had progressed without the safety of a guild. After all, as a solo player, challenging World Events is twice as hard since you need to actively find raids to participate in.

"As Touch Me said, my name is Zelphyr, I somehow won the World Championship in Helheim"

After he introduced himself, the 7 new players took their time to introduce themselves as well.

"My name is Amanomahitotsu, nice to meet you, Zelphyr"

The Crab-like Heteromorph spoke.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, My name is Warrior Takemikazuchi"

A Nephilim who radiated an aura of oppression spoke out in a formal fashion.

"Ahh, my turn? Nice to meet you Zelphyr, the names Nishikienrai"

A man covered in black ninja clothes spoke. Their entire body was covered, causing Hanzo to question what their Racial Class could be.

"You're Zelphyr? I'm Wish III"

His reply was sharp and almost seemed hostile, however Hanzo decided to ignore it for now. Wish III seemed to be a Demon of some kind. As there were a plethora of races within Yggdrasil and the additional unlimited potential of customisation, Hanzo was often unable to pinpoint some peoples Classes if they had chosen to disguise it.

"Now, now Wish III. Sorry about this fellow, my name is Ancient One."

Unlike the Demon Wish III, Ancient One radiated an aura of holiness and benevolence. From this, Hanzo assumed he was likely an Angel of some sort, however their armour currently concealed the truth.

"It's fine, I would be on edge is a random player suddenly dropped by what is essentially a private gathering"

Hanzo and Ancient One smiled, or at least he felt like Ancient One smiled back.

"You're okay, he's just a shy guy. Though I have to admit, it would've been better if Touch Me had met a cute girl haaaah. Oh yeah, I'm Flatfoot"

The man who was currently on the receiving end of a glare from Wish III, wore light armour that failed to hide the fur of his avatar. From Hanzos observations, he guessed that Flatfoot was likely a Lycanthrope or something along those lines.

Hanzo smiled wryly by the strange greeting. He remembered something along the line of Flatfoots preferences, but it was still quite a shock to see that as his introduction.

Finally, Hanzo turned his head to the final player sat at the table. This player had kept his eyes locked on Hanzo since he had come in, as though he was analysing him from the start.

Impatient with the silence, Hanzo decided to speak up first.

"And you?"

His tone was welcoming, as he addressed the final member of 'Nines Own Goal'.

"Oh errr sorry, I was just thinking about that final match, My name's Momonga, that was a brilliant fight"

Hanzo nodded with a smile. It seemed he was write about Momonga telling Touch Me about him.

Touch Me decided to start a new conversation now that the introductions were over.

"Now that you've met the members of 'Nines Own Goal', how about we all party up and go do something?"

"What sort of activity would you like to do?"

Hanzo questioned, however as Touch Me was about to respond, Momonga spoke up.

"Touch Me, hold on. You haven't checked your rewards yet right?"

Realisation dawned on the two as they remembered they needed to check for their unique equipment.

Hanzo immediately opened up his inventory and found a gift labelled 'Helheim World Champion'. Accepting the confirmation to open the gift, the present icon glowed in a bright golden colour. This glow lasted for half a second before the image of a present was replaced by a sword. As he went to inspect the sword, a notice appeared in front of his vision.

'As recognition of becoming the Helheim Champion, your unique gift has been awarded to you. This gift can only be used by those possessing the 'World Champion' Class or those who meet certain conditions. Please remember, your Class will forever be yours, as long as you have the power to defend it'

After he read and closed the notice, the sword appeared enlarged before Hanzos eyes.

'Harbinger of Corruption

Unique Tier

A Unique weapon awarded to the World Champion of Helheim.

Abilities:

-Spontaneous Casting: Ability to enchant spells into attacks without the need to 'Style Change'

-Severance of Fate: Activation drains Magic Power at a high rate, however the blade becomes able to sever fate itself

-Festering Corruption: All attacks are infused with negative energy, should the users Karma be too positive, the corruption will devour the user. '

Hanzos soul left his body.

Despite not being a World Level Item, it was as close as it could be. Not only that, it was truly unique to him as one of its abilities were directly linked to his own.

Similar to Hanzo, Touch Me seemed to be overwhelmed by his own gift.

After carefully reading the abilities, Hanzo looked around and nodded. Deeming it was safe to show the members of 'Nines Own Goal', he equipped the blade.

Immediately after equipping it, a medium sized Katana with a black blade appeared in his hand. The hilt of the sword was a dark grey, however what was truly striking was the ominous green mist that swirled around the hilt.

"Is that your reward Zelphyr?"

Momonga questioned Hanzo as he saw the Dragonoid inspecting a weapon he had not seen during the tournament matches.

"Yeah, it is quite ominous. Its name is 'Harbinger of Corruption'"

The members of 'Nines Own Goal' all expressed their curiosity as they gasped at the rather evil sounding name.

"Hey Touch Me, where's yours? Whip it out"

Flatfoot spoke to the pensive looking Touch Me.

Nodding his head slightly, the chestplate of his suddenly changed into a more illustrious looking design. It had a sapphire blue gem at the center.

"Wow that's showy, it definitely suits your avatar though"

Hanzo remarked as he inspected Touch Mes armour in person.

"It seems to be called 'Compliance with Law', it's abilities are quite amazing"

Momonga nodded on the side and spoke out with deep appreciation.

"It seems to be very powerful, and it certainly suits your personality Touch Me"

"Now that we've opened them up, let's go test them out"

For the next few months, Hanzo left his guild and started to hang out with the members of 'Nines Own Goal' more frequently. Originally, there was a lot of drama and backlash that erupted from the guild when they heard of his intent to leave, however after declaring that they would have to kill him to change his mind, the majority backed down, afraid to lose their levels and items.

Currently, 'Nines Own Goal' were hunting for healing wands. This was due to Hanzo and Momonga not having any stable way to heal themselves as their classes prevent them from healing using Magic or abilities naturally. Over the past few months, Hanzo had become acquainted with many more players, that had come to join the clan known as 'Nines Own Goal'. However, today, Hanzo was only with the original 8 he had met on the day of the tournament.

"Alright, shall we take a break guys?"

Hanzo questioned the group.

His suggestion was accepted easily by the group, thus they left the combat zone and teleported out to a neutral zone. As they sat down to rest, Hanzo asked a question that had been plaguing his mind since he first met them.

"I have to ask, why is this group called 'Nines Own Goal'? I mean from what I hear from the rest of the members, you were the founding fathers of the group so shouldn't there be 9 of you?"

His question was met with sour expressions from all of the group as they seemed to recall an event.

He sat patiently, waiting for someone to speak. Although he felt the urge to pretend he never said anything, his curiosity was stopping him. After all, it could seriously affect his position in the guild.

A sigh escaped from the Ancient Ones helmet before he answered.

"There was another member, a couple of days before the tournament, we found out he had been selling the information we found and swore to keep among us, to the top guilds. We couldn't trust him so we asked him to leave, of course he didn't take too kindly to that and argued after saying 'I'll be back' in a slightly robotic voice"

Hanzo was shocked by this revelation, he had always assumed all 9 of the members joined the guild. It seems he had thought wrong.

"I see, sorry to bring that up. That must have been a hard decision. I suppose this is the advantage of a guild"

Momonga tilted his head slightly in confusion.

"Zelphyr, what do you mean by that? How do guilds have that advantage?"

Hanzo crossed his arms as he thought back to his time in his former guild.

"When in a guild, he forms a sense of bonding with the guild and it's members. All in all, you're less likely to sell out your guild because if you have the right guild members, they can become friends for life."

All of the members of 'Nines Own Goal' looked down with pensive expressions, it was clear that Hanzos poorly worded explanation had gotten it's meaning through.

"Then, should we disband 'Nines Own Goal'?"

Touch Me asked with a serious tone in his voice. Everyone except Hanzo looked at Touch Me in astonishment.

"Wait, I didn't mean it like that! I mean't should we disband 'Nines Own Goal' and form a guild instead"

Once again, everyone except for Hanzos eyes widened at Touch Mes words.

"If I may say something, even though I am new to this group, I feel starting a guild would be for the best. It will allow us to take full advantage of this brilliant game, as well as that, I feel all of the other members of the clan are waiting for it to happen. Should we bring this up at the clan meeting tonight?"

After a brief period of contemplation, everyone nodded to Hanzos suggestion.

The time passed as they continued hunting.

It was now evening and Hanzo was sat inside the neutral zone fort he had grown accustomed to.

As he looked around the room, he saw approximately 27 other players all talking and laughing with one another. A small smile encroached Hanzos face as he thought about the surprise they had prepared for today.

After a few minutes of greetings, the hall settled down. Touch Me came to the front of the room and spoke. As he was the person who had formed the original 'Nines Own Goal', he often started the meetings unless someone explicitly stated they would like to ahead of time.

"Welcome back everyone, today is a bit different. We have pretty big news today, news that I would like Zelphyr to share"

Hanzos smile froze as he heard Touch Mes words. His head mechanically turned to look at the 7 other members who knew the secret, their faces all sported teasing grins. As he was about to complain, he noticed that everyone in the hall had already turned towards him and were waiting for the news. Thus he wiped his imaginary sweat and spoke out.

"Today, it was decided that the clan 'Nines Own Goal' will disband"

Unrest took the room by storm as the players started to panic and throw out innumerable amounts of questions.

"I would like to finish"

Hanzo spoke with his eyes closed, his containing a hint of annoyance. While he was annoyed slightly at the noise, he was mainly annoyed at the 7 people sat at the back of the hall laughing as they watched him speak out.

The room quickly quietened as they did not wish to anger Hanzo.

"Thank you. Yes, 'Nines Own Goal' is ending. However, today is the birth of a new guild."

His words were blunt, however it sent waves of shock through the room. Gasps were heard all around. Moments passed of silence, until eventually the room erupted with cheers.

Hanzo looked over at the 'table of elders' and playfully cracked his knuckles.

Despite the playful expression of Hanzo, the previous chuckling group were now quiet and praying they did not anger him.

After a couple of minutes of cheering, Touch Me once more stood up at the front of the room and addressed his fellow members.

"This decision was made whilst thinking about the future safety of all of us here. As such, we have not decided upon a name just yet. Additionally, we would like to know who would like to stay as part of the guild. Currently, we have two rules for membership. The first being, all players must be working members of society, as for the second, you must be a heteromorphic race."

After approximately 30 minutes of debating and voting, it was decided that everyone would join the guild known as 'Ainz Ooal Gown'.

Finally, it was the last vote of the meeting. the vote for who should be the Guild Master.

Suddenly, a grotesque looking monster spoke up. Bizarrely, this monster had a voice similar to that of a young girls. This persons name was Bukubukuchagama, a notorious member of the guild for always remaining in character until someone earned her wrath.

"I propose this vote be a secret ballot"

Hanzo agree'd with her.

"I agree, I believe this decision should be made when taking into account who is the most fitting for the role, rather than who has the most friends. After all, this role is a lot of pressure."

Hearing his words, everyone nodded in agreement. Some even started whispering to others telling them not to vote for them. It seems the reality of the job had finally dawned on everyone.

"Good, we will use these parchments to write our votes. Once written, turn your parchments over and place them into this bag. I also would like everyone to remain silent from this point on, to maintain the legitimacy of this vote"

A serious atmosphere encased the room as Hanzo started to speak out the procedure.

After everyone had handed in their votes, Touch Me took the bag and started to count the votes infront of everyone.However, he kept the names a secret until the end, much to the annoyance of Hanzo. He wished to know the state of the vote, however he knew it was not his place right now.

Eventually, Touch Me placed the final vote down and released a sigh. It seemed the monotonous task of counting votes was a job no-one liked, no matter the occasion.

"I have triple counted the votes and you all have permission to re-clarify. However, there is a clear winner from what I counted. I would like everyone to give a round of applause for our new Guild Master"

Hanzo looked to Momonga, he was eager to see the face of the skeleton when he finds out hes the guild leader. He found it fascinating how full of expressions Momonga was despite having a skeletal face.

"Our New Guild Master Zelphyr"

"Eh?"