Little Pink Starfish

Although Eagle didn’t need to worry too much—since the Red Maple family’s top combat power probably wasn’t strong—he still didn’t intend to take any risks. He practically took all the high-level forces from Golden Rose Manor with him, leaving behind only a squad of guards, the priest Atwell, and Aiken with his knights to maintain stability in the Lanno Territory.

Logically speaking, Lanno wasn’t in much danger. Even if Viscount Frey had learned that all the agents he had sent were taken out by Eagle—with only Jekko and a later-joined lich escaping—it still wasn’t likely that he would launch a large-scale attack against Lanno. Especially since Eagle himself wasn’t even there; sending anyone now would be meaningless.

From the very beginning, Viscount Frey’s only target had been Eagle.

As for the surrounding noble territories, they generally weren’t interested in making a move on the poor and barren Lanno. What’s more, they all knew that the current lord of Lanno, Eagle Lanno, was the only son of a powerful Duke in the royal capital. No one would be foolish enough to take such a suicidal risk—it just wasn’t worth it.

So Eagle didn’t leave much defensive power behind.

The spacious carriage was very comfortable, though unlike usual, there were no male or female servants inside. This time, it was just Eagle and Pei Sen. Oh, and of course, a lazy black cat that occasionally looked tense—Peks.

Peks really hadn’t wanted to come. Why should a cat join such a dangerous trip? Staying at the manor would’ve been bliss!

But when the journey started, its master picked it up and tossed it into the carriage. The cat felt extremely wronged.

Pei Sen insisted on bringing Peks along, hoping maybe the cat could gain some experience.

Though Peks was a rather useless pet, it was still powerful. Maybe leveling it up would make it actually useful someday?

Outside the carriage rode the swordsmen and guards on horseback. The players, meanwhile, had no choice but to run on foot.

In the game, however, running long distances didn’t cause exhaustion, so players didn’t mind. They couldn’t afford horses anyway. Horses were sold in Golden Rose Manor and could be purchased with either money or contribution points. Some players had been saving up to buy one—but since the magic stones were introduced, most were so broke they couldn’t even afford pants, let alone horses.

Even when players grinded construction tasks all day long using the most efficient methods, they could only earn a maximum of 1,000 contribution points per day.

Unlike other games, Bix Magic Cube had no daily cap on contribution points. Construction tasks could be accepted an unlimited number of times. But players only had so many hours to play each day, so even grinding non-stop had its limits.

Currently, magic stones came in four price tiers: 50, 70, 80, and 100 contribution points. Players could buy up to 10 stones. Most weren’t reckless enough to bet all 10 on the 100-point “Half-Moon Slash,” but even if they did, they’d still need leftover points to keep up their “10-pull” habit each day. That meant saving was essential.

So, yeah. Players were broke. Very broke.

It took a full day to travel from Casey City to the Red Maple Castle in Frost Maple Territory. That worried Pei Sen most, since players had to log off eventually. Still, as long as they didn’t all go offline at once, they could keep up. With the forums and players sharing coordinates, even those who logged off temporarily wouldn’t get lost. Pei Sen still suggested spreading the trip over two days to prevent anyone from falling too far behind.

Eagle agreed. He thought the Bix tribe players, who had no mounts and were running the whole way, would need the rest. And he should look out for Pei Sen’s people, too.

Besides, once combat broke out, Pei Sen was most concerned about the lack of a resurrection point in Frost Maple Territory. If players died, it would take forever for them to return.

“By all logic, a major event like this should generate a dungeon,” Pei Sen muttered, based on his understanding of Bix Magic Cube. That was the usual pattern.

But he worried this version of the game might not yet be aware of that pattern.

“Should I remind it?”

He glanced at the excited players behind the carriage. “Judging by the scale of this event, it could easily be a level-30+ large dungeon. But at their current strength, most players wouldn’t be able to handle that. If the difficulty ends up around level 40+, would Bix Magic Cube even open it now?”

The resurrection point was key.

If this became a large dungeon like he expected, there had to be a nearby resurrection point.

If there wasn’t, it’d be a disaster.

Just then, a notification popped up in the game with a ding.

“You are about to enter the large-scale event: ‘The Fate of Frost Maple Territory.’ Players participating in the event will gain experience, faction experience, money, and event treasure chests based on contribution.”

“You may log off during the event. Entering Frost Maple Territory counts as joining. Returning to Casey City means forfeiting the event quest.”

“Resurrection available: 5/5.”

“Special rewards will be granted.”

All players got the same notification. The normal rewards weren’t much of a surprise, but what was that “special reward”?

“Special reward?”

“Damn, I need to go wake my buddy up!”

“Don’t we know what the special reward is?”

“Will everyone get different ones?”

“Maybe skills or something… I have the worst luck, probably won’t get Half-Moon Slash in this lifetime.”

“Haha, could be.”

Players chatted excitedly. Pei Sen stared at the words “special reward” and suddenly remembered things like “Eagle’s Praise,” “Pei Sen’s Admiration,” or the system’s half-hearted “just something.”

“Is it possible Bix Magic Cube doesn’t even know what the special reward is?”

Given how immature the game system was at this stage, that wouldn’t be surprising.

Still, players were easy to please. Unlike Pei Sen, they didn’t know how the system worked, so they believed the “special reward” was carefully designed.

Since Eagle had left early, not every player made it in time, but because of the promise of “special rewards,” more and more began to log in and catch up.

“Five revives should be enough, right?” Pei Sen figured this was just a temporary fix. Once the dungeon opened, there would likely be a stable resurrection point inside.

Just then, Aken suddenly appeared outside the carriage and clink—blocked an assassin with his dagger!

Clearly, the Red Maple family wasn’t going to let Eagle reach Red Maple Castle so easily.

“They really sent someone to assassinate the young earl!” the players shouted, spotting a group of knights charging toward them.

Assassins like Aken and Jekko, who could hide in the shadows like Peks, weren’t very common. The Red Maple family didn’t seem to have many of these. Combat among supernaturals in this world mostly involved swordsmen; even mages rarely got involved in such events.

So this attack group was mostly swordsmen—about thirty of them. They were well-trained and fiercely loyal, having protected the Red Maple family for years.

Following them were some ragtag mercenaries. In the world of Arly, mercenaries were common. Their strength varied—some were powerful fighters, but most were just scraping by with raw strength.

A fairly strong mercenary group had been active in Frost Maple Territory—and had a bit of “history” with Eagle. They were the ones Kesso hired previously. Two had escaped and never returned, likely injured or dead. The rest were either dead or still locked in the Golden Rose Manor dungeon. It was a reunion with old enemies.

Eagle, calm and composed inside the carriage, remarked, “As expected, the Red Maple family really isn’t smart. No wonder they were dominated by the Red Maple Lady for so many years.”

“They don’t have much choice,” Pei Sen said rationally. “Even if we’re delayed a bit, we’ll still reach Red Maple Castle by tomorrow. They probably know what Swig intends to do by now.”

Otherwise, they wouldn’t be acting so desperate.

Eagle shook his head. “If I were them, I would’ve done everything to intercept Linxing as soon as possible. Even if they didn’t know what message he was carrying, they should’ve guessed it wasn’t good—he was headed to Lanno, after all. A level-three swordsman reaching Casey City unscathed? That’s the dumbest move the Red Maple family ever made.”

Pei Sen silently thought: Young master, you seem to have misunderstood the phrase “unscathed.” If not for the players’ help, Linxing would’ve been dead.

In the original timeline, the message never even made it. This time, it had only worked due to a lucky chain of events.

But now that the Red Maple family was trying to block Eagle, it was too late. Swig in Red Maple Castle probably already knew what Eagle’s move meant. If the message hadn’t been delivered, Eagle wouldn’t have left. Swig might’ve just given up.

Pei Sen vaguely sensed that Swig still had some hesitation. That’s probably why he sent only a level-three swordsman—knowing full well Linxing might not reach Casey City.

In a way, Linxing felt like a sacrificial pawn.

Maybe Swig thought everything he had was granted by the Red Maple Lady. Even though he’d decided to follow her in death, he was still uncertain about Frost Maple’s future.

The Red Maple Lady had strongly disliked the rest of the Red Maple family—even though they were technically her late husband’s kin.

But give the land to Eagle? Swig and Burke Angre didn’t get along, and even Eagle suspected his uncle disliked him.

Aside from blood, there was no emotional tie between Swig and Eagle.

So Swig was clearly conflicted. Pei Sen couldn’t figure him out at all.

He could willingly die for love, coldly sacrifice Linxing, not want the hated family to inherit the land, but also not want to give it to his disliked nephew.

This guy was completely unfit to be a leader—and he hadn’t prepared to act like one either.

Just as Pei Sen was pondering this, the battle outside had already begun.

The manor’s guards accompanying Eagle were eager to prove themselves. This was their first real battle under Eagle, and they wanted to show their loyalty.

But things didn’t go according to plan.

As the Red Maple knights and mercenaries approached, a wave of excited Bix players rushed forward first.

“Quick, earn contribution!”

“They’re not even that strong… Damn, dude, chill! You’re gonna kill me just to beat me to the kill?”

“This is only the first wave, right?” one player hoped. “My friend’s still asleep.”

“Who knew the event would start so fast?”

“Stop chatting! You’ll miss all the contribution points!”

The players were in a total frenzy. Although the Red Maple family had a sizable force—knights and mercenaries numbering nearly two hundred—most were mercenaries. The elite knights weren’t that many, though all of them were at least level four or five swordsmen. This was a considerable force by most standards.

In the world of Arly, wars were still typically fought by regular soldiers—young men drafted from the territories of various lords. After a brief period of training, they’d be sent to the battlefield. Only a handful of wealthy lords could afford to maintain a full-time army. The Red Maple family wasn’t even technically a ruling noble family, and the strength they still possessed was a leftover from the days of the Red Maple Marquis. Preserving such a well-trained group of knights had already been quite the feat.

However, they were vastly outnumbered by the players. Even if the two hundred knights and mercenaries could take down two thousand players, they were now facing ten thousand. Though not all players had made it, the overwhelming majority joined this major event with great enthusiasm, forming a truly intimidating crowd behind the caravan.

At first, the Red Maple knights hadn’t taken these people seriously, assuming they were merely soldiers Eagle had brought along. They were only slightly surprised that these “soldiers” were so well-equipped—many wore full armor, and even those who didn’t had at least a piece or two of protection. In fact, Golden Rose Manor hadn’t had this much gear originally. Most of the better gear players wore had been crafted later by blacksmiths under Eagle’s orders.

Ordinary peasants serving as soldiers usually couldn’t afford any armor at all—they might get handed a simple weapon and be pushed onto the battlefield in rags. Very few territories could afford to equip their entire force with weapons and armor.

“This time, the Lord of Lanno has gone all in,” said a young man from the Red Maple family, standing on a nearby hillside. Using a magical eye, he watched Eagle’s luxurious carriage. “The land of Frost Maple must not fall into the hands of outsiders.”

“Uncle never should’ve married that woman,” he muttered bitterly. “All these years, our family’s fortunes have gone downhill.”

If anyone bore a grudge, it was the Red Maple family. Their hatred toward the Red Maple Lady far exceeded what they felt for Swig. After all, Swig had originally been a mere mercenary. The Red Maple family’s decline, in their eyes, was entirely her doing. That woman had taken her husband’s title, seized complete control of Frost Maple Territory, and crushed the once-glorious Red Maple lineage under her heel, causing it to slowly wither.

“Thank goodness she died early,” muttered the tall red-haired woman beside him, her tone filled with resentment. Though also a woman, she both admired and feared the Red Maple Lady. This woman’s fierce dominance had left a deep impression. Judging by her red hair, she was clearly a member of the Red Maple family too.

These two were among the new generation elites of the Red Maple family, sent to monitor the battle’s progress.

Their iconic red hair was a hereditary trait. The old Red Maple Marquis had also been a redhead.

They still looked relaxed. After all, their knights and mercenaries were all supernaturals. Ordinary peasant soldiers couldn’t pose a real threat. Their focus remained on the guards from the manor.

The young man frowned slightly. “That Lord of Lanno… his guards are stronger than expected.”

“Higher-level than we assumed,” the red-haired woman agreed grimly. “We might need to call in the mage.”

The Red Maple family employed a high-level mage, but hiring his services came at a steep cost. He was notorious for his greed.

Just then, they saw a shocking scene.

That group of supposed “peasant soldiers” suddenly charged forward—without hesitation, without fear of death!

The sight stunned them both.

Normally, commoners had weak fighting spirit, especially when fighting on foreign land. At most, they’d show a bit of resolve when defending their homes. But here, they weren’t even on their own land. Peasant soldiers usually performed terribly under these conditions.

This was why the two Red Maple family members hadn’t taken the group of runners seriously. After all, they’d followed behind the mounted guards all this way, surely exhausted. The guards were on horseback—they had to run the entire way.

And Eagle had arrived quicker than expected, meaning the runners had moved fast. Normally, soldiers would’ve burned through their stamina just keeping up.

So their attention had always been on the manor guards.

But the ones charging first… were those “soldiers.”

They bore every hallmark of typical peasant fighters—disorganized, chaotic, totally undisciplined.

They had no tactics. All they did was rush forward.

In short, they looked like a mob.

But in moments, the expressions on the two observers changed. Their faces went pale.

“They’re… not peasants. They’re all swordsmen!”

By this time, the players weren’t the same as they were at launch. Even third-test players had gained some combat prowess. They weren’t low-level noobs anymore.

They’d spent weeks grinding, exchanged their rewards for mismatched weapons and armor, and some even gambled on magic stones to get skills. They no longer wore gray rags or wielded wooden swords.

They were all swordsmen.

In this world, no lord had ever commanded such a massive army of swordsmen. Some powerful mercenary groups had all-swordsman rosters, but their numbers never exceeded a thousand.

What made supernatural beings “supernatural” was precisely their rarity. Becoming a swordsman wasn’t easy. Among peasants, very few could cross that threshold.

How could you learn swordsmanship when you couldn’t even afford to eat?

Those few who rose from poverty by becoming swordsmen were exceptions.

To the two Red Maple elites, this group hardly looked like soldiers. They weren’t disciplined like the Red Maple knights. From a military standpoint, these people were completely unqualified. Clearly untrained.

But there were too many of them.

Far too many—enough to instill fear.

A sea of swordsmen, surging forward like a tidal wave—such a sight they had never seen in their lives.

“How… how can there be so many swordsmen?” the red-haired youth said hoarsely. “Isn’t Lanno just some poor backwater with a small population?”

Though this world had magic, it wasn’t exactly advanced. Real-time communication existed only through magical means—and it was expensive. A single communication array cost enough to make most nobles flinch.

So despite magic, this was still fundamentally a cold-weapons era where information traveled slowly.

Everyone in Lanno Territory already knew about the Bix tribe, and what kind of people they were. But Frost Maple, Lanno’s neighbor, knew nothing.

It wasn’t just a matter of slow news. This era simply lacked the habit of sharing information—especially between Lanno and Frost Maple, which were in two different nations. Outside of a few smugglers, they had almost zero contact.

And since Eagle had wiped out both Casey City and Arzi Town, even the smugglers had gone silent. All unofficial channels were cut off.

So the proud youths of the Red Maple family, confident they could stop a young noble from Lanno, were now shaken to their core.

Words couldn’t describe the terror they felt. A handful of low-level swordsmen could be ignored—but a thousand? Ten thousand?

This wasn’t a battle they could comprehend. A force of that many supernaturals could change everything.

They watched helplessly as the Red Maple knights and mercenaries were swallowed up by the wave of players—without even causing a splash.

And at the center of it all, Eagle’s luxurious carriage stood tall and unmoving.

This battle…

Before they could even react—

They had already lost.

Lost completely.