BXBX NOVEL Chapter 110: Political Games
Chapter 110: Political Games
The building lights flickered on, casting a warm glow onto the streets below, where a few pedestrians were still returning from their work or heading out for a night of revelry.
Currently, in the silent residence of Crimson Hounds, few guards did their rounds around the perimeter.
At the sleeping quarters, Adam was sitting on his bed, one knee up and the other dangling off the edge.
He was looking at the items scattered on the floor and contemplating the meeting that happened a few hours ago.
After the meeting, he and Digby visited the Crimson Hound\'s vault, and from there, Adam grabbed a few items for himself for the duration of the Gathering.
It included the familiar crimson armor, a protective amulet, and a strange whistle. They were all protective items that the Crimson Hounds had acquired during their years in the dungeon.
Digby didn\'t give him a single offensive skill, as he didn\'t want him to fight anyone, as that would only bring him immature death.
\'The protective amulet.\' Adam took it for himself and thought, \'An artifact that can protect me from one lethal hit.\'
He then looked at the whistle.
\'A whistle that can only be heard by a specific group of people. In this case, every Crimson Hound member would be able to hear it, and if I used it, they would know I was in danger.
\'Digby, with his Kiryoku, would be able to find my location with ease.\'
He took the items into his inventory.
Adam then noticed that he still had some worthless items in his inventory, which was weighing him down.
\'Right, I should sell those...\'
He laid down on the bed, deciding to do it tomorrow before the departure towards Driftwood. As he was about to close his eyes to catch some sleep, he heard a faint noise coming from the hallway.
His eyes twitched open, and then the footsteps stopped right in front of his door.
A second later, a knock sounded.
Adam slowly stood up and walked over to the door. He hesitatingly opened the door to find a group of three familiar faces standing there.
"Hello." Knoxx, Hana, and Alan stood outside in their casual attire, as they had already hung their armor for the night.
"What\'s up?" Adam asked and looked around the outside, only to see no one else but them. "May we enter?" Knoxx asked and annoyingly looked towards the night sky. "While the winter winds have gone by, nights are still quite cold here outside."
"I was just about to go to sleep." Adam said and scratched the back of his head. "Is this important?"
"We were curious about your meeting with the guild master." Hana said. "Apparently the core members of the guild were there as well, is that right?"
"Is this about the Gathering?" Alan asked. "It is supposed to happen soon, right?"
"Uh, come in, I guess." Adam motioned them inside and sat down on his bed with his back against the wall.
He then took his pillow and placed it between his back and the wall for some cushion. Knoxx closed the door while Hana and Alan entered first.
They looked around the humble-looking room and saw that Adam hadn\'t done a single decoration of his own.
They, on the other hand, had already made their quarters look like theirs with personal touches and vibrant colors.
Knoxx took a chair and sat down the wrong way with the backrest facing him instead.
"Well, can you tell us about the meeting?" Alan curiously asked.
"It was about the Gathering." Adam said. "We are leaving tomorrow."
"We?" Hana asked with a puzzled expression. "What do you mean by that?"
"I am going with the rest of the core." Adam said.
Alan and Hana looked surprised and somewhat worried. That wasn\'t just some ordinary
camping trip. It was dangerous trip to the land of darkness.
"Is it because you are an S-ranker?" Knoxx asked with a frown. "However, this is very reckless from Digby. Is he wanting you to get experience?"
"It wasn\'t Digby\'s choice..." Adam said with a sigh. "I was ordered to go there."
"Ordered?" Hana asked in confusion.
"Hmm..." Knoxx frowned. "Unfortunately, it looks like you can\'t escape the political games of the Imperium folk."
"Oh, you seem to know something." Adam looked at him with a chuckle.
"The tension has been high in the Imperium City lately." Knoxx said. "It\'s like a war is about to burst out at any moment..."
\'Back in my previous life, I did my tutorial three years later than now, and I heard a great deal about the unrest during this period. However, there weren\'t any big wars.
\'However, that tension slowly built up over the years and finally exploded in 2155, when the Great Guild War finally began between the Seven Ancient Guilds.
\'Seven factions fighting for supremacy. Every guild had to choose their side in the war, leading to a year of war and chaos.
\'Three of the Seven Ancient Guilds got destroyed in the war, and everyone on their side was also promptly eliminated.
\'I was only a two-year-old mercenary when the war began. I was just a foot soldier for the Dying Star Faction, and it was the most dangerous time of my life.
\'When the Second Guild War started between Star Faction and Death Faction, I was already
strong enough to become general.\'
"Who ordered you to go there?" Hana quickly asked.
Before Adam could respond, Knoxx interjected and said, "It doesn\'t matter. We don\'t have to know. It\'s an order that cannot be refused, I assume."
"But..." Hana pouted. "I wanna know."
"Digby\'s father is Samuel Chaucer, an elder in the Imperium Palace." Knoxx said. "Digby definitely went to him to nullify the order, but if even he can\'t do it, no one else can."
"The order must come from very high up, then..." Alan said and his eyes slowly widened as if he had realized something.
"Alan, keep it to yourself." Knoxx stood up and said, "Adam, have a good rest. The trip will be
long."
"Alan, what is it?" Hana begged for him to say something, but Alan kept his mouth shut with
a wry smile.
After bidding farewell, they dragged Hana away while she continued to pester them.
"The political games..." Adam shook his head. "The Seven Ancient Guilds fought against each other to begin with to have a shot to reach the top.
"The winner of the war would\'ve taken control of the rest of the guilds, and with such power in the winner\'s hand, they would\'ve been able to contest King Moriarty for the seat of the
king.
"However, King Moriarty and his guild, the Imperial Order, joined the war and ended it in a single day. Since the winner of the war was never decided, no one had a chance to challenge
him for the throne.
"In the war, S-rankers were the tip of the spear of their respected factions, and I guess that\'s why King Moriarty wants me to go to the Gathering-to have a chance to talk to me so I don\'t
join any factions.
"A single S-ranker can shift the balance of factions drastically because of their immense
talent.
"Currently, Mauricio and Calamity are on Nightshade Faction, led by Ambrose Hawthorne. "Sapphira and Arkham are on the Dying Star Faction, led by Orion.
"The remaining five factions don\'t have any S-rankers on their ranks, but they are incredibly strong, with hundreds of A-rankers.
"If I join the Dying Star Faction, like I did in my previous life, their strength and influence would reach the top of the factions. It would put them in a very strong position.
"King Moriarty most likely doesn\'t want that... Perhaps he had already seen the future of my joining the Dying Star Faction. I cannot underestimate his power and cunningness."
Adam cracked his knuckles, deep in thought.
\'King Moriarty... It\'s hard to know what he\'s thinking...\'