Vampire Princess Guide in Progress - Volume 1 Chapter 70

Chapter 70: An Invitation from the Freedom Wings Alliance

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Ice Snow City, Traveler’s Tavern (Lv.0)

Tilia had always felt that compared to the closed beta period, there was one aspect of the public test content that didn’t measure up to that time.

Whenever she entered a town tavern, she always felt like something was missing, and today she finally realized what the problem was, it turned out that the background music (BGM) was gone.

During the closed beta period, whenever you walked into a tavern, you could hear melodies that varied according to the style of different regions, either melodious or lively.

But now in this game, the only built-in music she could still hear was the battle orchestral music that gave players a “passionate” buff when challenging floor BOSSes in the BOSS areas.

However, today this regret was officially remedied.

Because in this Traveler’s Tavern she had stepped into, there was a bard playing an instrument similar to a violin, apparently well-paid by the tavern owner, and the storyteller-like poet was particularly dedicated and passionate in his performance.

“Long time no see, Kilo, Karl.”

Tilia pulled out a chair at a round table exuding a woody fragrance and sat down. A tavern maid immediately brought a glass of water to the new customer and placed a yellowed papyrus menu on the table.

Sitting across from Tilia were the two players she had just addressed.

One was a tall, muscular warrior with a robust physique. He carried a battle axe on his back, had a square face with a distinct jawline, and steadfast eyes that made him appear particularly steady — this was Kilo, whom she had met in Morning Dew Town and who had shown great enthusiasm for game strategies.

The other had a relatively slimmer build in comparison, a one-handed swordsman with a long sword at his waist. His downturned eyes gave him a somewhat melancholic appearance, but his gaze also mixed with determination, as if he had some unshakable reason.

And that reason was the two close friends who had died on the first day of the game.

He was Karl, who had once wept with his head in his hands in front of everyone.

“Long time no see, Miss Tilia, you’re as beautiful as ever.”

“Hahaha… I told you not to use such formal language, didn’t I?” Tilia smiled, her black stockinged legs crossed beneath the table. After examining the two for a moment, she said, “You’ve both changed so much.”

After Nolan disappeared, Tilia had appeared by Cross’s side as a new teammate.

In the days before heading to the third floor, they had also collaborated with Kilo and Karl’s team. It was then that Tilia got to know them, and due to the noble aura she unconsciously exuded, they firmly believed that Tilia must be a young lady from a wealthy family in real life.

So when facing Tilia, the two always tried to greet her with humble and polite words.

“Yes, I didn’t expect to run into Miss Tilia on the street, but thinking about it, it makes sense. Players with strong abilities wouldn’t miss out on exploring the third floor. After that, Karl and I joined a guild and are currently participating in collective conquest sessions.”

“I see, so that’s why I see you wearing those green cloaks with white wings printed on them.”

“We’ve joined the 【Freedom Wings Alliance】. As public test players, the two previous closed beta guilds didn’t seem to welcome us newcomers much, so we had no choice but to join the Freedom Wings Alliance. But now, with everyone’s efforts, the guild has grown stronger.”

Indeed, a guild that was virtually unknown on the second floor had risen to prominence in less than half a month, which could be considered quite impressive.

Now both men wore the same guild uniform, symbolizing their membership in the Freedom Wings Alliance. Their abilities must have also improved significantly; once novices with beginner equipment in Morning Dew Town, they now looked like proper frontline players.

“How is Miss Cross recently? Are you still teaming up?” Kilo asked.

“Yes. We had a bit of an incident recently.” Tilia picked up her glass and took a sip of malt wine. “When we were crossing the snow plains, we were attacked by red name players at a temporary camp. Cross was seriously injured… but she’s full of energy again now.”

“Red name players? We’ve encountered them too.” Hearing this, Karl leaned forward slightly.

“You too?” Tilia frowned slightly.

Kilo and Karl exchanged glances and nodded slowly, saying, “To be precise, when our guild was moving collectively, we saw players being attacked by red names and went to help, driving those bastards away. Damn… those parasites.”

“On the second floor in the forest, players had also experienced attacks, but they would usually be discovered by other nearby players. But on the snow plains, players are very scattered and not closely connected to each other, so those bastards wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to plunder valuable items from frontline players, like leeches attaching themselves to players.”

“And frontline players are basically PVE-oriented. Except for some closed beta players with PVP experience, many people have no experience in ‘fighting against people’, let alone in a death game, where there’s an instinctive aversion to killing. This allowed them to succeed repeatedly.”

All the major guilds had already placed bounties on known red name players; anyone with a red name could no longer survive within the player community.

Many red name players were actually bullies who preyed on the weak and feared the strong, generally attacking in groups against the few, but when they encountered real tough opponents, they feared death more than anyone else. The trouble was, there were also a very small number of red name players who demonstrated extremely strong PVP skills.

Even under the siege and elimination by guilds, there was a man wearing a broken clown mask who killed more than a dozen people and left with an evil laugh.

The maid bringing the dishes temporarily interrupted the conversation between the three.

After all the dishes were served, Kilo got straight to the point:

“Miss Tilia, so today we would like to invite you, as well as Cross, to join our Freedom Wings Alliance. The guild’s symbol will provide a certain degree of protection, and we are also recruiting more combat strength.”

“When Miss Tilia teamed up with us before, you demonstrated combat skills far beyond ordinary people. And the guild is in great need of players like mages, and needs combat power like yours and Miss Cross’s to complete the team.”

Hearing Kilo’s sincere invitation, Tilia pursed her lips and then let out a deep breath.

She had been considering guild matters, but once she joined a guild, it meant she would have to follow other people’s orders, and even to better serve the collective organization, large guilds had strict discipline and requirements.

Just like those early online games that tried to maintain player online rates by filling various time slots with guild activities.

At that time, the guildmaster would require everyone to be online at a specific time to contribute to the guild, even if they had been exhausted from studying or working all day, they must be online at that time, otherwise they would face the risk of being kicked out.

After careful consideration, Tilia replied, “I’m sorry, I know your good intentions. But we’re not planning to join a frontline guild right now.”

“Not planning to join… a frontline guild?” Kilo and Karl were somewhat surprised.

“Yes. For the past while, I’ve already temporarily withdrawn from the frontline and chosen a more peaceful lifestyle. Basically, after completing the activity that earns 【Ice Snow Reputation】 each day, Cross and I return to the city.”

“At night, we stroll together through the city streets, occasionally chat by the fountain in front of the church, and learn prayers and converse with the nuns. When interested, we learn some life skills, study craftsmanship together in front of the forge at the blacksmith shop, or follow hunters to learn rabbit trapping techniques on the snow, take on some simple and interesting side quests, and get to know the residents of this town…”

Tilia crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in her chair.

She described the daily routines she and Cross had been enjoying in the town over the past few days.

And from her description, it was clear that their in-game activities had hardly any connection to the frontline progression anymore. They had retreated to the second line to recuperate and hadn’t gone far to explore or raid in dangerous places for a long time.

She thought that a large guild like the Freedom Wings Alliance probably wouldn’t accept idle people like them.

“I understand your thoughts,” Kilo nodded, not insisting on anything, but said, “Not being able to have two ladies with such outstanding abilities join our guild is indeed a great loss for us. But in this world, everyone has their own way of living.”

“Back in Morning Dew Town, everyone was sighing in despair, and certainly couldn’t have imagined that there would be so many guilds and players raiding the third floor together now. But at that darkest time, it was Nolan who stepped up and gave everyone hope.”

Nolan… Tilia’s lips pursed slightly.

Kilo and Karl obviously both greatly admired that player called Nolan, because not only did he encourage others during the darkest moment on the first day, but he even challenged the BOSS alone, completely turning the situation around.

“I think many frontline players today have been inspired by Nolan, convinced that there’s always a hero-like Dark Night Swordsman carrying the hope of everyone, battling monsters in blood and sweat on the unknown frontlines. Therefore, we must also keep pace, not letting him bear everything alone. We should also utilize our abilities to conquer this game together.”

“It can be said that the Iris Knights have revived and resumed their activities precisely because of this, unwilling to decline. The Sacred Realm Expedition Corps has countless players who deeply admire Nolan’s qualities, and the Freedom Wings Alliance was established after that.”

And Karl still felt very honored for having given up the blue-quality Swift Wind Sword to Nolan back then.

Although there was a sense of disparity seeing a friend suddenly become a widely admired, world-renowned hero overnight, even then Nolan had already demonstrated extraordinary abilities, almost identical to Tilia in this respect.

After expressing what he wanted to say, Kilo immediately changed the atmosphere with a hearty laugh.

“This meal is on me, please enjoy! Hahaha!”

Kilo announced loudly, accompanied by the string music of the bard nearby, creating quite an atmosphere of a tavern in another world. “Please excuse us for having to leave soon, our guild has summoned us tonight, it should be about that matter.”

“That matter? Is there news about the BOSS raiding?” Tilia asked.

“Yes. It should be confirmed now, the large-scale raiding for the third floor is imminent.”