The two stopped a couple of streets away at a small park. Though small, it was open, and any attack would easily be seen from a distance, making it a good place to talk.
Always keeping a safe distance between them, Drakon paid his part of the deal first.
"The people who attacked were Guild Players. I don't know which Guild they belonged to, but it has to be a big Guild. You may not know this as an independent player, but this is one of the benefits of joining a guild: information."
Drakon gestured to a group of guards marching some distance away, "There are hundreds, if not thousands, of mission worlds, but there are even more Players, and so, some mission worlds end up being repeated."
Eden did not react to this information, not feeling too surprised. He had already known about repeating worlds, as Lady Phoenix had recognized him as a newbie, partly because of his equipment. Since other Players had managed to get Jason's Hockey Mask and his machete, they had to have gone through the same tutorial.
Although Eden thought this would only be the case for tutorials, it was not too outlandish for it to be the case for regular mission worlds, too.
And with that information in mind, it became obvious what one of the benefits of being part of a Guild Lady Phoenix had said he would be missing was.
"Large guilds always recruit as much as possible, and the older they are, the more mission worlds their members have experienced. So, with each iteration of a mission world, the guilds learn more about that mission world. That's why, the larger the guild, the more information they will have."
Although most of this was news for Eden, he said, "This is common knowledge. Surely this was not the information you were selling, right?"
Eden was sure it was not, but if he appeared content with just this, Drakon might just stop here.
Fortunately, Drakon continued, "Of course not. Having joined Barbossa, who is so important to this universe, he seems to be the best choice there is, doesn't he? The only one that could trump him would probably be Jack Sparrow, who's nowhere near this part of the sea."
Eden nodded; that had indeed been his reasoning behind accepting Barbossa's offer so readily.
"On the surface, he is indeed the hardest faction to join. Even with the information I have, joining his crew would be a hassle for me, hence my presence here. And for a good reason, since without the intervention of players, Barbossa's side would end up becoming the winning side. But stories where protagonists face no difficulties are boring, and so, like in many other worlds, though Barbossa ends up surviving, he does so by the skin of his teeth."
Eden did not need to be handheld through the explanation to understand where Drakon was getting at. Still, there was a point he was not getting, so he asked, "How does slaughtering civilians help them in killing Barbossa? The Navy will certainly not accept them after what they did, and even the pirates will probably avoid them like the plague."
Drakon smiled, as if comforted in the fact that he knew more than Eden, as he corrected in a tone that annoyed Eden, "You should not trust the system's directions so much. Although there appears to be only two sides, there are actually three. But to know about this, you need to know more about the context."
Though annoyed by the guy's tone, Eden kept quiet as he continued his explanation, "In this era, there exists a mysterious pirate group known as the Rogue Pirates. They openly defy the Pirate Code, never leaving any survivors on the ships they attack, making them everyone's enemy as they threaten the balance between pirates and the European powers.
"Concerning our mission, following the correct course of events, the Pirate faction of the island will attack the French Navy tomorrow. Sometimes the pirates get the upper hand, sometimes it's the navy, but whichever side it is, the Rogue Pirates will swoop in and kill nearly everyone. Going by the original timeline, Barbossa is one of the only pirates who survives the attack."
Eden frowned and asked, "Let me guess, that's where the players come in?"
Drakon acquiesced and gestured at the nearby slaughter, "There is a secret way to join the faction of the Rogue Pirates, which is to cause a large amount of chaos. The official guild strategy is to join the Rogue Pirates and use the attack to kill off Barbossa. This is relatively safe because of the overwhelming advantage the Rogue Pirates will have, and an easy way to kill Barbossa. And even if they do not kill him personally, simply participating in the assault that led to the death of such an important character will result in great rewards."
Eden narrowed his eyes at Drakon, saying, "You know so much about these tactics, yet here you are, trying to join Barbossa. Do you have some kind of bounty on your head, too?"
Drakon scoffed, "I'm not a maniac like you, going around provoking big guilds."
"So why are you here?" Eden, not really offended at being called a maniac. Besides, Drakon was not much better.
His whole demeanour went through a sudden shift at his question, a grin threatening to split his face as he said, "While killing Barbossa with the Rogue Pirates' help does give some good rewards, it is only the path with the best danger-to-reward ratio. It is what Players call the Golden Path. One has been devised for pretty much every Tier 0 mission world, and the majority of Tier 1 mission worlds as well."
Eden had heard about these Tiers for the first time from the mysterious system operative who had talked to him at the end of his tutorial. He had asked around about it back at the Nightmare Realm, but information was rarely free, and Eden did not want to pay for something he would probably learn by himself.
After all, while he did not get any answers, it seemed pretty obvious to him that it was a way to rank players.
Figuring he would get a similar answer to what he had gotten so far, Eden did not bother asking Drakon about it and decided to simply comment, "So, the cowardly way."
Drakon, still grinning, pointed at the two of them, not refuting what Eden said as he added, "What we are following would be the Nightmare Path. Highest risk, for the highest reward. The Rogue Pirates' attack tomorrow is actually only the beginning of a long set of missions that lead to great rewards, if led to completion. But to get there, we need to get Barbossa to survive the attack."
Drakon stopped there, not revealing anything about this set of missions. After all, it was not part of their deal, and revealing it to Eden would only mean an additional competitor. Besides, what Eden had learned so far was already enough for him to honour his promise and put in a word to Barbossa.
If what Drakon had told him was to be believed, then it was no longer just a matter of keeping his promise, but getting any additional help towards helping Barbossa should be welcomed.
Of course, there was also the possibility that Drakon wanted to join the crew only to get closer to him and better backstab him at the opportune time, but everything Drakon had said so far made sense.
Besides, even if Drakon ended up backstabbing them and killing Barbossa, it would not be such a loss for Eden. Barbossa sounded like he would have half the Players in this world gunning for him, if not more, so while Eden would save him if he could, he knew that the odds were not in their favour, and he would certainly not sacrifice himself for him.
Since Drakon had already completed his end of the deal, Eden said, "Alright, let's get back to the Garland then, I have things to do. But before that, I do have one last question. You've been talking about this mission as if I were the only one who came in blind, and everyone else knew what world they would be sent to. Am I missing something?"
Drakon smiled, "You are not the only one. It's just that this is a privilege of large guilds."
Drakon did not give any more details, and Eden did not push since Drakon had already confirmed his earlier guess.
Heading for the Garland, with Drakon following behind, Eden changed the subject and asked, "If we are going to fight together, we might as well learn a bit more about one another. What are you good at?"
Drakon replied neutrally, "I'm a good tank. I can handle myself with a sword, too. You?"
Eden decided to keep it simple too, "I'm a bit of an all-rounder. I can handle myself in most situations. I mostly use my machete."
He did not say anything about his magic. The Necronomicon, copy or not, was still a cursed object, and learning from it would be quite hard without a Talent like Soul Overlord, especially for a newbie, so Eden did not think people would expect him to have learned anything from it. As for [Strengthened Fireball], Eden doubted Lady Phoenix had blabbered about it.
Besides, even if she had, hardly anyone would think he could learn it or even had enough MP to use it already.
The conversation stopped there as they quickly reached the Garland, since Eden had never gotten far from it. Barbossa was still in the same spot, so Eden approached him and asked, "Do you have any kind of requirements for your sailors?"
Barbossa seemed surprised to see him back so soon, but his gaze quickly turned to Drakon. He did not answer and instead asked, "What's your friend's name?"
Drakon stepped forward and introduced himself, "I am Drakon. I also happen to have intel on a precious cargo that could make us all rich."
That last word seemed to trigger something in Barbossa, who grinned and pushed Pintel off his seat, offering it to Drakon as he said, "I'm all ears."
Seeing that Drakon seemed to be handling himself pretty well, Eden figured he was not needed anymore. He had already done what he had promised anyway. He may have only said one sentence, but it had shown Barbossa that he and Drakon had a connection, without
which Barbossa may not have bothered listening to Drakon's intel.
It seemed that Eden would never be able to quietly explore the city; however, as the moment he exited the Garland, a squad of soldiers surrounded him. Eden would have blasted them with a Strengthened Fireball if he had not noticed they were not threatening.
Their weapons were quietly resting in their arms, pointed at the sky. Still, even if they did not show any threatening behaviour, they looked intimidating, surrounding Eden. Their leader stepped in front of Eden and announced, "Our Lord has requested your presence, Sir Ozymandias."
Eden looked at the man, or rather, his status.
[Name: Alex Button]
[Title: Lieutenant of Munro Island's Guard]
[HP: ?/?]
[MP: 0/0]
[Strength: ?]
[Agility: ?]
[Physique: ?]
[Intelligence: Locked]
[Wisdom: Locked]
A lot was hidden away from Eden's sight, meaning this Lieutenant Alex Button had to be quite stronger than Eden, physically at least. It made him once again reconsider his initial judgment of the strength of this world's inhabitants.
The general guards had not been very strong, and Barbossa was a named character from the movies, but what about this random lieutenant from a random island?
Eden thought about the request for a moment, as he had to admit, he was quite curious about the Lord of this island, too. He wondered what kind of man could manage to get both piracy and the navy to thrive on the same island, without either party taking him down. So, he nodded at Alex and said, "Lead the way."
Alex nodded firmly, and the soldiers started moving as one as they escorted Eden through the city to the Lord's Mansion.
As they did, Eden felt a few tingling sensations, all coming from players trying to use Analysis on him. Eden had been making himself pretty discreet before this, and one would need to get a closer look to recognize him. Now that he was escorted by a platoon of guards, though, he drew attention wherever he went.
After all, it wasn't just Shadow that had gotten a contract, as it was an open bounty, meaning any player could claim the reward if they killed him.
Still, despite seeing him, none of them dared to attack Eden while he was escorted by the guards, which allowed him to reach the Lord's Mansion without any accidents.
Reaching it, Eden was surprised by what he saw. It was not lavish, as he had expected it to be, but instead looked unexpectedly modern. Maybe not to the point of Eden's time on Earth, but it definitely was ahead of its time.
There were no longer any traces of the navy, either, and only the local militia. They dressed in dark colours, though they were distinctly different from the group of players who attacked the civilians.
They were highly trained as well, with their physical attributes hovering between 8 and 12, with a few having one attribute or more that Eden could not see.
Finally, Eden arrived in front of a closed door, with two statues guarding it. They were exquisitely crafted and depicted knights, although they were a little bigger than any real knight could be, standing at about three meters tall.
The guards stopped, including the leader, Alex, who said, "The Lord is waiting for you in his study."
Eden said nothing and entered the study.
It was a large room, the walls littered with bookcases. At a glance, there had to be hundreds of books, and probably in the upper hundreds, as there were also rows of bookcases, making the room look like a small library rather than a study. Even if he did not have the local militia, this kind of collection was the sign of a powerful man.
Not far away from the entrance was a large table split into two parts. One looked like a large and complex Roman abacus, while the other half was more like a normal table. A man was sitting in that second half, with several books open around him.
This man looked dignified, yet at the same time, Eden could tell there was something amiss with him. If he had to put it into words, the man felt like a fake noble. He dressed like a noble, had the posture of one, and even managed to look elegant while reading.
And at the same time, there was something about him that did not add up. It made his whole attitude feel like an act, one created to hide away the man's true nature. It was not something that could be seen, but something Eden could somehow feel.
A certain darkness.
[Name: ?]
[Title: Lord of Munro Island]
[HP: ?/?]
[MP: ?/?]
[Strength: ?]
[Agility: ?]
[Physique: ?]
[Intelligence: ?]
[Wisdom: ?]