Pride Online

Chapter 356: Front Liner Part I

“Welcome to Pride Online, Master.”

“Um.”

A simple answer came from a tall man who had just appeared in the Pride world. His lavender purple eyes were looking around him, before realizing where he was sent to after he went offline while he was in the party on the GMs’ airship to Tristan.

So, when he logged in again, he should be in the capital of the game as it was planned.

However, the area around him was a wide grass field with a camp that looked exactly like a military camp. There were two guards by the entrance, and there were many item couriers that were busily carrying some important items inside the camp.

Seeing those, the black-haired man frowned his eyebrows...

“Where?”

He spoke to himself quietly as he opened the map window to check. So, he knew that he was standing in the forest around Albasta town, not further than 2 kilometers from Albasta dungeon.

“Albasta?” He spoke up again. “But why am I here? I actually should be in...”

Suddenly, the man stopped his words for a moment. His warm breath was let out like he was tired as his brain processed fast that, ...

“It was Rak. Huh.”

He concluded quickly, before closing the map window down.

“So, what’s this camp?”

“It’s our temporary base.”

Suddenly, there was a voice of another man interrupting. Those lavender eyes turned to the sound and saw a tall man with a long face and glasses. His hair was cut short. He was dressed in a Nemesis guild’s uniform, which was a black suit jacket and necktie over a white shirt. There was a golden Nemesis pin on the left side of his chest. A clipboard the size of a notebook was in one of his hands and a pen in the other, looking like he was using them to check the packages that were being carried inside the camp.

“Manoch?” The black-haired man raised his eyebrows.

“That’s me.” The man with glasses smiled widely. “We just haven’t met for a while, and you already forgot my face? You were completely gone, Shin. Luckily, we’re on the same side, or else, I don’t want to think about what will happen.”

Manoch placed a hand on Shindanai’s shoulder softly, before tilting his head to imply his guest to follow him. The one who was invited in did not mind. He was glad to see Manoch in a place like this.

“What’s Rak ...Valentine doing here?” Shin asked.

“What? You don’t know?” Manoch turned to ask. And after he saw Shin shaking his head, he curled up an amused smile. “Your sister decided to settle at our camp temporarily. It isn’t just your guild though. There’re also William Star and Crystal Bell as well.”

Hearing that, Shindanai paused a little before stopping short when he was in front of the camp, the spot where a dinosaur courier just walked past him.

“They’re all ones of the top ten ace guilds.”

He spoke, before glancing at Manch.

“So, it means that they are...”

“Having the last strategy meeting before the war starts.” Manoch shrugged.

“I see.”

Shindanai said, pushing Manoch’s back to continue walking after the path was clear.

“Anyway, why are you so late to be online? Your sister’s gotten in the game a long time ago.” Manoch asked.

“We’re not stuck to each other, you know.”

Shindanai was being sarcastic with a deadpan face, making the listener chuckle right away. If this was someone else who nagged him like this, he would have insulted them back so hard by now. But those words came out of Shindanai’s mouth, so that did not happen.

Even though they had just started hanging out with each other not for very long when they went to a tutor school around Siam,

Manoch knew that Shindanai was the type that was not good with words. That was why he did not take that as offense at all.

“Why Rak ...Valentine chose this place as the temporary base though?”

Shin asked because it was almost midnight already when he logged into the game, and that meant a half day had passed in game time.

“Because this place is the nearest to the battleground.”

Manoch answered smilingly, before moving the one beside him out of one of the item couriers’ ways again.

“The battleground?” Shin raised his eyebrows.

“As you know,” Manoch tossed the clipboard in his inventory window. “Both armies got almost the same amount of land to rule, but there’s one area that hasn’t yet belonged to any side, the area around Tristan. And of course, right after the bell of war rings, people will be turning the place into a mess of fighting surely.”

Manoch said, tapping on Shindanai’s chest softly and winking at him.

“So, that’s why they’re using this area as a temporary base?”

“Yeah, here’s close to Tristan and it has Albasta as the fortress as well. If something goes wrong, there’re many retreat routes for us. We can even escape through the sea that isn’t far away from here, too.”

Listening to that, Shin held his hand up and placed it under his lips, while he was thinking. A short while after that, the two started walking again, going past the stalls that seemed to be crowded with those huge birds in steel armor, rhinoceroses, and Raptor dinosaurs.

“Then why don’t we just set the base in Albasta?” Shindanai asked.

“That’s not going to work.” Manoch shook his head. “The cannon turrets and bunkers haven’t been installed in the town. And there’s the rule to not do that to any place before the war starts. So, we’ve decided to have our base in a camp like this to make it easier to move.”

“That’s right.”

Shin nodded in agreement. About building the base, he had to trust Manoch to handle it. As for himself, he was better at destroying things than doing stuff like this.

“Anyway, they’re still in the meeting?” Shin continued asking.

“Yes. They’ve been in the meeting room for hours already. But they’ll come out soon.”

Manoch said. Pointing at the largest tent that Shindanai knew at first glance was the head office of the Nemesis guild.

"And why are you not inside with them, Manoch?”

Shin got the good question because he just realized that Manoch was the chief of finance of the guild, and this guy should have been dealing with the budget in the meeting.

“I was there and left right away.” After speaking, the glasses man held his hand up to scratch his cheek.

“What?”

“Well, the meeting’s atmosphere was too awkward for me. It’s driving May crazy right now.”

Hearing that, Shindanai’s eyebrows were knitting together.

“Why?” He asked.

“Well, ...you should have heard about William guy from the William Star guild before, right?”

Those lavender-colored eyes looked stiff, before staring at the other one as he recalled an annoying face with purple hair tied in a ponytail...

Oh, that corny guy who dared ask Waree for a dance earlier.

Thinking about that, he unintentionally clenched his fists tightly.

“...Yeah, I’ve heard some about him.”

Shin’s voice deepened as he spoke. Manoch narrowed his eyes, before pretending like he did not notice anything.

“Yeah, honestly, that William guy is the type that will do anything to be the center of attention. It’s already obvious by the name of his guild, right? William Star, it means that he is the star.”

Shindanai let out a long sigh, before turning his face away.

“That’s dumb.”

“What?”

“Nothing.” Shindanai shook his head. “What’s Maysa frustrated about though? What did the guy do to make a calm person like her go crazy?”