Ambrose walked to the top of the hill. From there, he could see a farm with one two-story house with a chimney poking through the roof, a wooden barn, and a small orchard.
The farm was surrounded by trees and fields of corn and wheat.
“I should ask them for directions.” He concluded and ran down the hill, then began walking across a dirt road towards the farmhouse. As he walked, he noticed that the sun was beginning to set in the west.
‘It’s getting late.’ Ambrose wasn’t surprised, as they spent the whole day in the underground facility.
He passed the fields of corn and wheat, only a dozen meters away from the two-story house. A calm lantern light was shining through a window. Then, several shadows moved inside the house.
Ambrose was now certain that the farm’s owner was inside the house. He was about to step forward until he remembered something. He lowered his gaze to the scabbards on his waist.
‘I don’t want to look like a threat.’ He thought to himself and stored the scabbards with swords inside them in his inventory.
There was also another reason why he didn’t really want to keep carrying the scabbards around his waist. If any Zahhak or Silver Heart members saw them, all hell would break loose.
‘I will just have one scabbard hanging from my waist from now on. It could also trick others into thinking that I am only a one-sword style user when I am actually two-sword style, which can act as my trump card.’
Ambrose smiled and approached the farmhouse’s door. He knocked on the door and waited for a few seconds before he heard footsteps approaching.
Creak—the door slowly opened, and an elderly man with thinning gray hair peered out of the doorway. He wore his usual farmer’s getup—denim overalls and long pants with wide-brimmed sunhat.
“Hello, young man. Need something?” The farmer asked while being very cautious. There seemed to be more people inside the house, but they didn’t show themselves as if they were facing a great threat.
‘He is very cautious, why?’ Ambrose slightly lowered his gaze but then moved his gaze back to the elderly man’s eyes. ‘He is holding a weapon. Yeah, there is something odd about this.’
“Excuse me, but I am looking for Tonshen Village.” He said while opening his interface by silently whispering. No one else could see the interface.
“Tonshen…” The farmer firmly shook his head. “It doesn’t exist anymore…” 𝒪𝗏𝓛xt.𝗇t
“Huh, what?” Ambrose’s calm facade crumbled to pieces. “What do you mean?”
“Players… such as yourself, killed everyone there and took it for themselves.” The farmer said with a weak tone. “I don’t want any trouble with y’all. I am simply a farmer.”
“I understand; thank you. Can you point me in the direction of Tonshen?”
“T-there.” The farmer walked half-way outside and pointed in one specific direction. “Follow the dirt road in that direction, and you should reach it within an hour.”
“Thanks; I’m sorry for bothering you.” Ambrose thanked the farmer and walked away from the farmhouse while taking his scabbard and Black Sword from the inventory. He wrapped it around his waist and then entered the dirt road that would lead to the former Tonshen.
‘Players killed everyone there…’ He was honestly in shock, as he didn’t expect some players to kill NPCs and then take one of the villages for themselves. ‘I suppose there are players who don’t treat NPCs as real people but just creatures of code.
‘It might not be different for them to kill NPCs than it is for me to kill some wild animals in the forest. I just didn’t expect someone to actually do that, but it also won’t be the last time.’
Ambrose didn’t plan to interact with those players, as they would most likely attack him as well. He just wanted to go check on the state of Tonshen and then move on.
He still had to put his temporary spawn. His current spawn is within Zahhak’s dojo. Therefore, he didn’t want to forget to put in his new spawn, so that when he logged back in, he wouldn’t be back in the enemy’s lair. It would be a tragic way to die.
Ambrose quickly checked the download bar again. It was slowly moving, but he was slowly getting there.
[49%…]
‘Almost halfway to go.’ He thought and picked up his pace. It was getting late, so he wanted to check on Tonshen quickly and find a place to put the spawn. He also had to meet someone with Madam Matilda tomorrow, so he wanted to get good rest before that.
As the clouds drifted across the sky and the sun finally set, darkness arrived, with a glow of crimson coming from the brilliant moon.
When he walked down the dirt road, the surroundings weren’t as dark as he imagined them to be. The crimson glow added enough light to the surroundings.
After nearly an hour of his departure from the farmhouse, Ambrose came to a stop at the small hilltop. He could see Tonshen from there.
Tonshen Village was a small village surrounded by a wooden fence. Now, there were several pillars of smoke rising to the crimson sky, and it was obvious that something had happened in the village.
There were several buildings razed to the ground and burned to pieces. The smoke was very much still present, even after several days. The brightest building was the former Village Chief’s house.
It was occupied by the players, who killed the Tonshen villagers. A loud laughter echoed from there, along with a pillar of smoke. There was a gigantic bonfire in front of the house with broken furniture that was used to fuel the fire.
Ambrose looked silently at the sight of the former Tonshen Village. He remembered there being hundreds of hardworking people living in this village, but now they were just ashes and ruins.
The villagers had to work hard because of the increase in taxes. They became hunters to put food on the table for their families, all because of the greedy village chief, Lemberd.
Yet their doom didn’t come in the hands of the village chief, but of players.
‘One-Leg Marcus must have also perished. I thought he was a good person.’ Ambrose silently prayed for them to have a nice afterlife.
If anyone saw what he was doing, they would laugh at him. They were just pieces of code—not real—Non-Player Characters. Thus, to players, it sounded silly to be actually sad about their deaths.
However, to Ambrose, this game was more real than reality itself. In this game, players reveal their true nature while, in reality, they have to live behind a facade of innocence.
‘That farmer seemed scared of them. He also has family he loves. That’s why I don’t understand this thing about them not being real. They look like us, act like us, have their own lives like us, and work like us. To me, they are more real than those fakers in reality.’
Ambrose sighed and slowly sat on the grass. He was feeling heavy as he was trying to pull a truck behind him.
“I suppose it is better for them to wreak havoc here than in reality.” Ambrose thought aloud while looking at the star-filled sky. “They are still an eyesore, mm.”
[77%…]
After seeing the download bar, Ambrose slowly stood up. He patted the dust off his pants and walked in the opposite direction from Tonshen Village. There were only a few things he needed to do today.
Find a temporary spawn, wait for the download to complete, and check out his newly upgraded class.