Virtual World: Close Combat Mage
chapter-199

Chapter 199 - Gu Fei’s Meet and Greet: The Prelude

Royal God Call was the only member of Young Master’s Elite that still had to participate in the guild versus guild tournament after the mercenary PvP tournament.

With Gu Fei’s departure, Brother Assist started making preparations at Ray’s Bar. Royal God Call was afraid to be left out, so he repeatedly told the others to wait for his return before beginning the event.

“Don’t worry! We will wait for you!” Brother Assist thumped his chest. Only after he said this did Royal God Call feel assured enough to take his leave and participate in the guild versus guild tournament.

Brother Assist had long made plans for this business venture and had even roped in the bar owner, Ray. At Ray’s arrangement, the left side of the bar was assigned to the tavern patrons, whereas the right was assigned to the clients coming over tonight. Brother Assist tasked War Without Wounds with arranging the benches and tables and tidying up the space until it resembled a press conference venue.

The present patrons in the bar naturally became curious of all these activities and inquired about the matter, but Brother Assist merely smiled mysteriously at them.

War Without Wounds, who had been doing all the hard work of rearranging the furniture to create the desired scene, asked, “Must we make it into such a big deal?”

“This is a marketing strategy,” Brother Assist replied, “Only when you put value to your product that you’ll be able to create a desire in others to buy it.”

Young Master Han poked his head out of their room while holding a glass of liquor and said, “Marketing? More like you’re playing a trick! Making it so grand… Are you trying to tease Miles to death or get him to kill us all?!”

“That’s right!” War Without Wounds agreed, “You should’ve just arranged for them to meet Miles individually. Gathering so many people together, let alone Miles, even the clients will feel displeased!”

“Everyone will definitely like it more if they can meet Miles singly, but how are we gonna fool Miles into doing that? I think it’s only possible to trick Miles this one time, so we might as well reveal his identity as 27149 to others in one go,” Brother Assist reasoned.

“You better be careful, then. You’re currently playing with fire by negotiating with almost all the major forces here in Yunduan City. All it takes is for a handful of them to feel dissatisfied by your actions and your peaceful days in this city are as good as over,” Young Master Han cautioned.

“Don’t worry.” Brother Assist smiled craftily, “I’ve already spoken to them. In a way, making a grand gathering like this is to let the others understand that it isn’t easy to meet this mysterious Mage of ours, so they’ll be more than happy to part with their money once they realize that it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

“How much are you charging them?” Young Master Han asked.

“Just 100 gold coins per person. It’s pretty cheap, eh?” Brother Assist replied.

“Indeed, 100 gold coins is just loose change to these influential players,” Young Master Han nodded his head.

“So how much can we earn from this whole thing?” This was actually what War Without Wounds was most concerned about.

“Ha ha!” Brother Assist laughed heartily, “One hundred twenty-two guilds and twenty-seven mercenary groups have expressed their interest in this. How much do you think that gives us?”

“14900 gold coins!” War Without Wounds exclaimed.

“You’ve attracted that many people this soon? Your efficiency is pretty high!” Young Master Han commended.

“It’s all thanks to Carouse and Cloud Herder causing so much ruckus in these past two days. Their flyers littering the streets really helped us by quite a lot,” Brother Assist chuckled softly.

“Then, why today? Wouldn’t we earn more if we waited for a few more days?” Young Master Han asked.

“Now is the time. Carouse’s and Cloud Herder’s advertisement has successfully piqued everyone’s curiosity. When this moment of interest passes, I’m certain many people will just look on in this. This kind of business is a one-time thing. How much we can earn out of this is all that matters. Let’s not fuss over how much more we can earn by biding our time; otherwise, we risk losing the entire pot,” Brother Assist answered.

As Young Master Han and Brother Assist continued to debate over the matter, War Without Wounds counted how much they could earn with his fingers.

So how much will I get from that 14900 gold coins? War Without Wounds calculated it in his mind as he threw a sidelong glance at Sword Demon, “This is a windfall gifted by the heavens! Are you sure you’re not gonna join us?”

Sword Demon chuckled, “Count me out of this! I’m leaving now.”

“I won’t be sending you off, then!” War Without Wounds absolutely did not plan to persuade him otherwise. One less person involved meant one less portion to share the pot with. Meaning, he could take more for himself. This was the simple thought he had. Hearing such a large sum involved, he even wished that everyone had no part in this and that he had organized the matter alone.

Thinking of this, he could not help but feel grateful that Brother Assist had actually involved them in this big venture. Accomplishing this task evidently did not require fighting, so Brother Assist only needed himself to do this. To have involved us in this, what a brother he is! War Without Wounds was in awe of how generous Brother Assist was. He then decided to send Royal God Call this message: “Oi. Are you still coming? We’re about to begin; we ain’t got the time to wait for you!”

“What, what, what?! It’s only been five minutes and you guys are already starting? You’re all doing this intentionally!” Royal God Call felt alarmed as he was still fighting in the guild match.

“Can’t be help! Customer is always right. Some things are just out of our control,” War Without Wounds continued to spout nonsense. His goal was really to get Royal God Call so flustered that the latter would yell out, “Fine! Do what you guys want, then! I’m out!”

Unfortunately for him, the runt Royal God Call was not that rash. He calmly pondered the pros and cons of the matter and finally decided to abandon the guild versus guild tournament. Using the excuse that he needed to visit the latrine due to a bout of diarrhea, he volunteered to be killed off. Once he was out of the PvP arena, he sprinted toward Ray’s Bar.

When Royal God Call entered the establishment, he immediately saw that the left side was filled with people while the right side was empty save for Brother Assist and Young Master Han who were drinking and chatting together. The two were very surprised to see him be back at the bar this fast.

Brother Assist looked at the time, “Done so soon? Has Traversing Four Seas gotten that strong? I recall that you guys are matched up against a level 4 guild today. Surely, it shouldn’t have been that quick?”

Royal God Call spotted War Without Wounds laughing uproariously in his peripheral view. Knowing that he had been had, Royal God Call furiously fired off arrows at War Without Wounds.

“I’m not healing either of you!” Young Master Han told the two firmly.

The two promptly did not go overboard with their attacks in fear of accidentally killing the other. Although they were hoping for the other to die, they did not want to be the killer themselves. They were merely hoping that the other would get surrounded by monsters and killed off, get ambushed to death by random players, or accidentally die from friendly fire.

Royal God Call shelved his anger for the moment as he looked around to see how the bar was arranged, asking just like the clueless players over by the left side. “Just what’s going on?”

“We’re gathering all of the clients for one meet and greet,” Brother Assist answered, turning to War Without Wounds after, “You have a very important job, and that is to keep an eye on Miles and make sure he doesn’t escape. Once he realizes that something is off and tries to leave, it’s your duty to hold him down even if he kills you. Now that we’re at this point, we will have to ignore his wishes on this matter!”

War Without Wounds’ expression darkened, “That’s a very dangerous task!”

Brother Assist nodded his head solemnly, “Don’t worry. You’ll properly be compensated for this, monetary-wise.”

“If I’m really killed, no amount of money will make up for it.”

“Whenever there’s an opportunity to earn a large sum, you guys must keep in mind that a certain amount risk is always involved,” Brother Assist said.

“Why do I feel that all the danger involved in this is placed on my shoulders?” War Without Wounds wailed.

“You’re the only one with Strength capable of holding Miles down! As a precaution, we’ve gathered some equipment with magic defense for you to wear. If that ever happens, I’ll grant you Blessing of Vitality, while Young Master will be ready to bestow Heal on you. Relax!” Brother Assist reassured.

With that said, the rest handed over their magic defense equipment to War Without Wounds. Temporarily taking off his heavy armor as well as his accessories, he put on the set of mismatched trinkets and gear. The equipment that everyone had provided him was surprisingly form-fitting, so it tightly hugged War Without Wounds’ brawny frame, giving birth to the most unique Warrior anyone could ever lay eyes on.

“This is a stain to my very existence!” War Without Wounds lowered his head in absolute shame. His feeling toward the Warrior job class was similar to Royal God Call’s love for the Mage job class. Such an oddly dressed Warrior was something that he could not accept. What was worse was the fact that the said Warrior was him.

“Just hang in there. Safety should be your first priority,” Brother Assist said solemnly, trying his best to stifle his laughter.

The four men then proceeded to go over the particulars of today’s operation, while Boss Ray maintained order in the pub.

When it was time for the operation to commence, Brother Assist mumbled to himself, “People should be arriving now.”

Just as he finished muttering this, someone kicked in the door of Ray’s Bar open, “M*th*rf*ck*r, I’ve finally found the place. I’m on the verge of dying just from searching for this place.”

Brother Assist and the lot turned their heads over and were stunned.

Three men entered the bar together. The one at the head was the present big boss of Yueye City and was rumored to be the head of the Ten Guild Alliance: Dusky Cloud.

Dusky Cloud also spotted the four men and he cheerfully approached them, “I knew that you guys are behind this. Pretty shrewd of you guys to think of such a method to earn money.” Placing his hand inside his pocket, he tossed a coin pouch on the table, “I heard it’s 100 gold coins? There you go! You can count the content for yourselves!” He wrung his hands as he said this, casually finding a seat over by a corner as he looked all around, “I’ve long wanted to get to know this eminent bro… So where is he? Is he coming soon?”

Brother Assist and the rest were still in a daze, not one of them moving to the coin pouch on the table. Royal God Call recovered himself first and looked over to Brother Assist, “D*mn! To think that this matter has even spread outside of the city!”

Brother Assist was evidently very surprised, “Those who are coming have contacted me first, yet this lot actually ran all the way over without saying a word to me.”

“This means that they may not be the only one like that,” Young Master Han proffered.

“Ah. Looks like we won’t just earn 14900 gold coins! No wait, it should be 15000 gold coins now,” War Without Wounds said as he stared at the coin pouch on the table with greed-filled eyes.