Little Pink Starfish

“Pei Sen, what’s wrong with you?” Eagle asked with concern.

Pei Sen really didn’t want to embarrass himself. Was he supposed to admit that he just threw up from watching a particularly gory battle between a player and a native?
Come on, the fights players had participated in before were far worse than today’s little skirmish between two people, and he hadn’t gotten sick then…

However, Pei Sen couldn’t just say it was because his censorship system and mosaic filters had vanished.

“It’s nothing, young master. Probably just didn’t rest well after we rushed out of the capital. Now that we’re finally safe, my body relaxed all at once and I’m feeling a little unwell,” Pei Sen lied with a perfectly straight face.

Eagle breathed a little easier. He even gave Pei Sen a once-over, then summoned a ball of bright light in his hand, enveloping Pei Sen within it.

The warmth and healing properties of the light element didn’t really do much for Pei Sen at the moment, but it still felt soothing and comfortable.

“I’m really fine, young master,” Pei Sen said helplessly, allowing the light to wash over him.
Eagle, seeing that the healing magic had no real effect, was finally somewhat reassured.

Meanwhile, the surrounding players who witnessed the healing light were stunned.

“What… was that?”
“Holy Light, I think. I remember during the first test, when players fought liches, there were a few priest-like characters who used similar Holy Light spells.”
“Doesn’t seem as impressive as what the young count just did.”
“No kidding. That Holy Light was beautiful.”
“Wait a minute—how can the young count be a priest?! Isn’t he a noble? Does that mean he follows some kind of Light faith?”
“Doubt it. Haven’t heard any other players say the young count had a religious belief.”
“Can you use Holy Light without faith?”

Pei Sen saw players discussing this on the forum and was already thinking about how to clarify that the young master indeed had no religious faith. If players started to think that they were now part of the same faction as the Light Church that hunted abyssal races, that would be a huge problem.

They stayed in the town of Ferdelice for about two days. Pei Sen didn’t want to wait any longer. If they did, the number of recruited players would only keep growing endlessly.

So, a carriage set out, carrying over ten thousand Bix tribe members.

Pei Sen and Eagle had a carriage, while the players had to walk—but they didn’t mind at all. Just being part of the mission was enough to make them happy.

A few male players glanced over at the female players gathered together from the Rose Gang.
“We’re only tagging along because we can’t stay there anymore. That Captain Lixue treated you all well—so why are you leaving with us?”
One of the female players snapped, “You think it’s easy clinging to a bigshot? Sure, Captain Lixue treated us okay, but she’s not like the young count who’s a faction leader, or like Pei Sen who’s a player-aligned guide NPC. You think she’s helping us out of the goodness of her heart? She definitely has her own agenda.”

These female players weren’t idiots. Captain Lixue was strong, and she treated the local players in Ferdelice reasonably well, but she clearly wasn’t helping the Bix tribe out of pure kindness.
The players had noticed she’d been calling them to attend strange events more and more often—whether to show off or bolster her image with a crowd of attractive and powerful female supernatural beings—it was obvious she had ulterior motives.

Another female player pointed toward a distance. “See our girl Xiang Wan over there? Just because she’s really pretty, Captain Lixue’s clearly been targeting her. If we don’t run now, who knows what’ll happen next. Could end up with her quitting the game entirely or even deleting her character…”

Most of the female players were into looking good. Many had maxed out their appearance stats.
But even among maxed-out characters, Xiang Wan’s beauty stood out—which meant she was likely a true beauty in real life as well.

Sometimes when you looked deeper into Bix Magic Cube, you’d find unsettlingly realistic and cold details.

Especially for players who weren’t born in the Lanno or Frost Maple territories—they’d noticed the complexity of the NPCs. You couldn’t call them purely good or evil. Often, human nature just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

The male players in Ferdelice were envious of the female players who were treated better by Captain Lixue. The female players, meanwhile, didn’t seem to have it so bad on the surface—but they were just as tense.
Being a player in this world often meant playing under pressure.

Thankfully, the young count and Butler Pei Sen had arrived. Not just the male players—many female players were also thrilled.

Chatting happily as they moved toward Frost Maple territory, the players who had finally escaped Ferdelice seemed in great spirits.

“Young Master!” someone shouted as five horses approached from the distance.

Before they could report, Pei Sen had already opened the carriage door. He recognized the riders—Atwell and Eagle—because they all knew that Eagle could no longer be used as a transfer medium. If they still wanted to go through with the original plan, they’d need a new method.

So yes, the royal capital…

A priest had rushed to catch up.

The players from Ferdelice didn’t know Atwell, but they easily identified the church affiliation from the clothing.

The players whispered among themselves. Pei Sen coldly addressed Atwell, “Why did you come after us? After what happened, do you really think the young master will still take you back?”

Pei Sen still remembered seeing Atwell in that hall with other church officials. Clearly, these people had always been loyal to the church.

Atwell surprisingly showed a guilty expression. “Young master, I’m sorry. But back then I was just a low-ranking priest. I had no say in anything.”

Pei Sen looked at him with disdain. For someone who claimed to be an honest church priest, this guy was a pretty convincing actor—his guilt looked so real that even Pei Sen almost believed it.

Eagle’s voice came from inside the carriage. “Atwell, didn’t you already know that the Lanno family are supposed descendants of the Light?”

“Yes, young master,” Atwell admitted readily. “I was the one who requested to follow you in the first place.”

Eagle sneered, “Save it. You’ve been with me for so long and never once told me that.”

“I thought Lord Burke Angre would eventually inform you.” Atwell sighed, offering no further excuses. “It was my mistake not to tell you sooner.”

“Pei Sen’s right. You can go. I don’t need you by my side anymore.” Eagle’s voice was icy.

The players looked on as the priests who had rushed over were now being driven away.
Some who had just been speculating about the young count’s lack of faith smugly said, “See? Told you he’s not affiliated with the church.”
“Well, maybe it’s just internal church politics…”
“Wait—Lanno family as Light’s descendants? That definitely sounds church-related.”

Just then, Atwell blurted out, “Young master, we’re truly here to follow you now. You don’t have to pay any church commission—we’ll follow you for free!”

Players: ??? What commission? Is the church in this world always this shady?

Eagle didn’t even bother showing his face. “No need.”

Atwell added, “Young master, now that you’ve awakened the Seed of Light, you’re the true Son of Light. Please let us follow you!”

Players: ??? Seed of Light? Son of Light?! Whoa, that sounds serious!

Pei Sen looked at Atwell. “So that’s why you were so desperate to catch up—you found out he awakened some Seed of Light.”

“You guys at the church don’t even have a method to awaken the Seed, do you?” Eagle wasn’t about to be fooled. “Tell me, did the church send you to figure out how I did it, maybe even kidnap me for study?”

Pei Sen instantly became alert. He was already considering whether to issue a new player quest.

Atwell sighed. “Young master, you’re a noble of the Kingdom of Esmia, and possess the Light’s bloodline. The church wouldn’t harm you. Even if you dislike us and are particularly friendly with the abyssal races, we won’t act against you. The Light Church would never try to take you back forcibly…”

Pei Sen raised an eyebrow. “Abyssal races? Heh. Who said the Bix tribe comes from the abyss? You Light Church people really like making stuff up.”

Only now did the players realize: wait a second—this priest guy doesn’t sound like a good person. Why’s he calling everyone abyssal?

A crowd of players began to gather, and the overwhelming presence of ten thousand Bix tribe members made Atwell feel immense pressure.

Still, Atwell didn’t back down. “You Bix tribe are undead. The abyss is the only place undead come from.”

Pei Sen said with scorn, “Just goes to show how ignorant your church is. Who says only the abyss has undead? You lack knowledge, so you slander us. You think we’re abyssal? Then try using your purification magic on us—will it work? No! Because we’re not from the abyss!”

Atwell frowned. He had no counterargument. It was true—purification spells had no effect on the Bix tribe. True abyssal creatures always carried a trace of abyssal energy, which purification would react to immediately.

At that moment, a white-haired, black-robed church official named Anan opened his eyes and said excitedly, “Such pure Light energy. Let’s go, we must capture him!”

“But sir, he’s still a noble of Esmia. Doing this might offend our noble allies…”

The church was currently weak and couldn’t afford to anger the nobility.

The official snorted. “So what if we offend them? Nothing is more important than the secret of the Seed of Light.” His eyes burned with greed. “If we don’t catch him now while he’s only guarded by that clueless abyssal race butler, we won’t have another chance once he returns to Frost Maple!”

A church official and a squad of paladins quickly advanced toward Eagle.

But before he could arrogantly give the order to capture him, they were met with hostile stares from the players.

Uh—wait. Wasn’t it supposed to be just Eagle Lanno and his alien butler?

How, in just two days…

Did it become this many people?

So many tightly packed Bix tribe members staring at them!

Were these guys cockroaches or something? Why were there so many everywhere?

“Sir, are we still going to arrest him?”

The official glared fiercely at him.

Arrest? With this many people protecting him—how the hell are we supposed to arrest anyone?!