HC: Pacifist | Ch. 282 - Jack of Diamonds (Patreon)

“Haha! You do remember me!”

Roth was stunned, speechless. “I-I…”

“Without the drool running down your mouth or your crazy eyes, I could hardly recognize you. Ha! Hey, Godsfried. This guy and I had an epic cat-and-mouse chase back in New Earth! He used to be a raging bull! Crazy!”

“I have heard some of the stories,” Godsfried admitted, sparing an embarrassed look at Roth.

“But look at him now. Who could have imagined it? The Slayer! Acting proper. Ha! I can’t wait to tell Amari about this.”

Hearing another familiar name, Roth felt his ears burn. He was just too embarrassed to meet someone he had treated so poorly in the past. “I’m sorry, Gala… Jack…”

“What are you talking about? It’s all good.” Jack approached and stretched out his hand. “More than anyone, I believe in second chances.”

Roth shook hands with his former adversary.

“Thanks, Galatheel.”

“We’re good. You can just call me Jack. Galatheel is the tag my fans gave me in AstroTerra.”

Roth was stunned, speechless. What he had put this guy through was no joke. He had IronIre chase him down until the end of New Earth and had tried killing him many times. His buddies even reset their accounts at least once to escape his wrath. How could he forgive him so easily after everything he had put him through?

“So. Why am I here?” Jack asked, turning toward the two. He spoke as if the previous matter had been closed and would never be brought up again.

Roth was speechless. He was just going through an emotional rollercoaster right now. Too many memories. Too many bad memories. Godsfried touched Roth gently with his elbow. “Please tell him, Roth.”

The touch awoke Roth from his stupor. “Okay. Well, where to start? I had a quest that involved clearing the names of the dwarf exiles living in the villages of the Green Woods. They claimed that someone had framed them, resulting in their banishment.” 

“As for me,” Godsfried complemented, “I had a quest that involved investigating whether there was a dwarf who betrayed the clans.”

“Impossible,” Jack said immediately. “Dwarves can’t betray others,” he spoke matter-of-factly. 

Roth would not have understood what he meant if it hadn’t been for Godsfried explaining the Dwarven race's racial features to him.

Human {Dwarf} (Hidden Race)

Race description: After the rain of fire, all humans could perform outstanding feats. Dwarves, however, were affected slightly differently.

Racial Skills:

Inner Workings (Racial)

Skill description: You can see through to the essence of things, and understand how all pieces connect.

Skill effects: 

+10% crafting success rate;

It’s easier to create masterpieces.

Mineral Nosiness (Racial)

Skill description: The part of your brain that processes smell has melded with the one that perceives shape, allowing you to do things that shouldn’t be possible.

Skill effects:

1% chance of gaining a recipe from studying an item;

You can see all the hidden information of an item.

Stubborn Loyalty (Racial)

Skill description: You are completely loyal to your own.

Effects:

Mind control skills don’t work on you;

You can not do anything that harms factions you’re loyal to.

The last skill was quite special. Even if a player wanted to do anything against a faction they had a good standing with, they couldn’t. There was an upside, though. Their reputation with factions was locked. It could never go down, only up. That’s why Jack was so sure that there couldn’t be a dwarf traitor.

Godsfried nodded knowingly. “It was a dwarf with a cybernetic prosthetic. The slavers brainwashed him and used this dwarf to turn the dwarf clans against each other. One of this mole’s operations led to the exile of the dwarves,” he said, gesturing toward Roth. “When Roth presented his open quest to the guild, I got the piece of the puzzle I’d been missing.”

“During this quest, we discovered that the cities in Rock Canyon were originally built by the dwarves. They welcomed others into their cities. Eventually, some of their guests,” Godsfried said between air quotes, “came up with this series of schemes that eventually led to expelling the original owners of the city.”

“I knew it!” Jack said triumphantly. “I always suspected that these cities were made by the dwarves. The craftsmanship is too hmph you know?”

Roth understood what he meant. The first time he visited Sapphira, he was impressed with its architecture. It was just too otherworldly. This city could have only been built within the game by humans enhanced by the mutations caused by the Rain of Fire.

Roth got to the part where things got complicated. “Anyway, when we finished the quest, we triggered a chain quest, and one of my other quests morphed into our current one. We'll share the details with you.”

Roth operated the menu and shared the details with Jack.

The Freed City of Sapphira (Legendary)

Sapphira was originally built by dwarves and was a peaceful city where all races and peoples congregated. When slavers arrived, they usurped the dwarves, expelled them, and turned the city into what it is today.

You’ve met some of the smugglers. They are impressed by your desire to uproot the whole system and free the city from slavery.

Quest objectives:

Find a way to abolish slavery in Sapphira;

Help the dwarves regain control of the city.

Jack whistled. “Oh, wow, a legendary quest.” 

The relaxed way he said it gave Roth the impression that he’d seen other such quests before. 

“Which leads us to why you’re here,” Godsfried declared. “You and I are the only dwarves in the guild. This quest can be very good for us. Additionally, as you know, Roth is now in the top 50s and wants to climb even higher. I'm sure you've been briefed on his delicate situation.”

“What they did to him is not right. No one deserves to be treated like that,” Jack said. Something about Jack’s tone of voice moved Roth. Maybe it was his indignation or the spontaneity and sincerity with which he said it. It sounded as if he genuinely cared for him as a human being. Maybe that’s why he’d forgiven the Slayer so easily. He knew about his situation and had taken it upon himself to help. Did he have that big of a heart?

“So, what have you worked out so far?” Jack prompted.

Godsfried and Roth exchanged a glance and smirked. “We kind of bought out the 82nd floor,” Roth said proudly. 

“You bought the entire floor? Oh man, that’s incredible. Where did he get that much money?”

“Well, part of it was lent by the guild,” Roth admitted. “The rest came from a… variety of businesses I own.”

“Very good. So we have a foothold in the city—a place for all the dwarves to start flocking into.” Jack said, scratching his chin. “That's important. It will be the first step in letting the dwarves regain city control. How did you convince the slavers to sell this much property to you?” Jack asked.

“The Lindstors have just received a massive power boost after O’Shaughnessy was elected. The other slavers aren’t happy about it. They thought that having one extra faction fighting the Lindstors could bring them down the notch.” 

“They also needed the money to build up their strength to resist being absorbed by the Lindstors,” Godsfried explained.

“I see. And what’s the next step?” 

Roth started, “I have devised a way to turn the slavers against each other. I'm starting a civil war between them,” Roth said, hesitating. It had taken a few days to come to terms with it. He still didn’t feel good about it, but Mel had told him several times that despite Roth’s efforts, slavers would always hurt others. His actions wouldn’t get more people hurt but just make slavers target each other instead of innocent people. 

Roth wasn’t entirely at peace with the plan. However, he wasn’t alone. Godsfried was helping him, and the Leafies were doing most of the dirty work for him despite all his protests. If Lin’s mission succeeded, Roth could shatter the fragile balance between slavers and make them go out in a full-fledged war.

“And once you do get them fighting each other…” Jack continued.

“Once we’ve weakened them enough, we’re going to buy the entire city,” Roth declared confidently.

Jack blinked a couple of times. “You want to buy out all the 100 floors of the city?” 

“Not all 100,” Roth reassured Jack. “The bottom floors belong to the smugglers already. They are not on the slavers’ side, and that's good enough for us. We’ve also bought one floor already, so there are only 96 floors left.”

Jack burst out laughing. “Oh, Slayer. You’re hysterical! This is great! Fantastic! I love it! I love this plan.” Roth had expected the guild representative to shoot them down and criticize them for their ridiculous plan. He had never expected to be met with such enthusiasm.

Jack paced back and forth. “Millions of gold. Maybe billions of gold.”

“I've already checked with Bluefire. He’s willing to dispense half a million gold for the plan, depending on whether you believe it’s worth the investment,” Godsfried said hopefully.

“Bah. Don’t bother BlueFire with this,” Jack barked. “It won't be fun if we don't do it alone. This is going to be epic. Oh man, I can imagine the headlines in the video. Former enemies join forces to abolish slavery. Good triumphs over evil. My fans are going to love this,” Jack said giddily.

Roth felt dizzy. Wait a minute, is this why he was so magnanimous and cool? Because he's on camera?! He had been genuinely impressed by Jack’s optimism and positivity. Was it all just for show? For a moment, Roth was thrown off, but on the other hand, he’d interacted with Jack before in New Earth. As far as he could tell, he was being himself. Was he a good person? Or was he not? He just couldn’t say.

“Anyway, I think we have everything we need to make this work.”

“How come?” Roth asked curiously.

“Roth, I happen to know that you have a unique profession, am I right?” It was Jack's first time not addressing him as ‘Slayer.’ He wasn't sure if it was an intentional change or if it had just been an accident. 

Roth nodded. 

“You can make these. Correct?” Jack said, grabbing a random piece of equipment with a light trap. This was one of the things that Roth offered the Ogres in exchange for not having to disclose everything about his character. The deal included a quota of a number of pieces of Ogre-owned equipment he would add light traps to. Also, he had to request permission from management before he took orders from other factions.

“Here's the plan, gentlemen. I happen to be one of the best blacksmiths in the game. And you, my good Godsfried, one of the best jewelers. We also have something that no other craftsman team has: a light trapper. Something unique in AstroTerra. Therefore, here's what we're going to do. We're going to band with all these dwarf NPCs and turn this floor into the biggest production line in the history of AstroTerra. We will make so much money that we’ll afford to buy the whole Rock Canyon.”

“But Jack, I signed something with the Ogres. I can't make light traps unless management approves.” 

“Approved,” Jack said immediately, gesturing as if he had dropped a mic. “I have authority over all crafting-related decisions in the Ogres. Consider it approved. We can do it, friends.” 

Roth watched Jack with widened eyes. He only found confidence in his confident smile. He really believed this could work. He spoke as if the plan was as good as done. He was so overbearing. No, that wasn’t the word. He was crazy. And could he approve such a thing on his own? Did BlueFire trust him that much? 

“And how will we get the dwarves to cooperate with us?” Godsfried interjected.

“We dwarves can be a stubborn bunch, eh?” Jack chuckled. “Good thing I have these.”

Jack grabbed a horn. It looked like a bull's horn but was almost transparent as if it were made of crystal. Jack also took out a seemingly unassuming rusty anvil and hammer. 

“What are those?” 

Jack threw the items at them as if they were pieces of junk. Godsfried caught the rusty anvil and hammer, while Roth caught the horn. He inspected it.

Ch. 281 - Old Acquaintances

INDEX