Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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Inside the Guild, aside from Misgurd who just pulled him in, Dale saw Testros and the Village head Edimund waiting for him sitting around the central Guild counter with serious expressions.

But he was surprised, given the scale of the problem, he had expected the other members of the council to be there...

However, Dale quickly thought that they may be outside just like old lady Tina.

"You're finally here." Edimund said as he turned around, one arm resting in the counter

He had a frown, thinking deeply about something.

"... Why are you apologizing, Dale?"

"Aren't you upset?..."

'I did cause quite the fireworks show when I used that Skill...'

'It was dangerous, it could've hurt someone else... The players are not accounted for, of course.'

Edimund smiled slightly, but his smile quickly disappeared as he shook his head.

"Yes I am, but not because of what you did..."

"In any case, let's start this small meeting."

"The others are currently outside making sure no outsider has sneaked their way somewhere they shouldn't be."

"And to make sure nothing like that happens again..."

As he spoke, Edimund noticed the sword and David on Dale's waist.

"I see you've brought them with you. Good thinking, I was actually thinking about going back to secure them but I see you did it for me."

"That saves up some time. So with this out of the way, let's start."

"First, I already have a certain idea of what happened and your work in all of this, as such, Dale, thank you for being there and eliminating the trespassers."

He was a bit embarrassed, but Dale nodded, he felt it wasn't something he should've been thanked for, but it felt nice nonetheless.

"I would like to give you a reward for this, but this isn't the time for that. We'll do that with the others later."

"Instead, we should deal with the aftermath of this event."

"First, due to your... Attack... Resko has suffered minor infrastructural damage..."

Dale smiled awkwardly and said apologetically:

"I'm really sorry for that..."

Misgurd tapped his shoulder and said:

"No need to be sorry, it's nothing major."

"The streets now have a few holes and a few houses too but it's nothing that can't be fixed with a little bit of time and effort."

"Overall, I would say you did great as you took care of the problem in one swift move, potentially preventing more disastrous loses."

Edimund nodded and said:

"He's right Dale, don't think too much about it, a few broken wooden boards and stone blocks are incomparable with the value of the Sword and the Holy Icon..."

"I could even go as far as to say it does well for our dignity."

"So let's go to the Second matter... We need to think about what to do with the outsiders."

However, once he finished saying that, all 3 of them, Misgurd, Testros, and Edimund, suddenly looked at Dale at the same time.

"What do you think we should do with them?" Edimund asked in a deep tone as he tapped on the counter with his right hand's fingers

[DING!]

[An Event has been triggered]

[You've been given a choice]

"Hm?!"

Dale felt as if the world had become slower, he then noticed that Misgurd was blinking, but at an extremely slow speed...

He realized that time had slowed down...

It was different from last time... But why?

Unfortunately, he had no time to think...

[Due to your current reputation with the village of Resko and your contribution towards its most recent crisis, you've been given the authority from the Village Head as to how to deal with this matter]

[The following will affect all players, not only those currently within Resko, but those that will come in the future as well]

[Due to your recent actions, available options have been divided into 3 possible scenarios:]

[Unbiased Welcome, Apprehensive Welcome, Cold Welcome]

[Unbiased Welcome-> The villagers of Resko won't hold grudges against the players who did not participate in the trespassing.

All players will receive an initial +1 increase to their current Reputation.

All players will be able to interact with the Villagers and receive Quests from them.

All players will be able to enter the Mercenary Guild as Trainees or higher if they are capable enough.

All players will have access to the outside area after a 3-day lockdown.

The entire Village of Resko, apart from the restricted areas, will become a Green safety zone, with a few Yellow zones in between.

All basic shops will be open for the players as long as they have a positive Reputation score with Resko.

A Special Quest, Dig the Suburbs from the sand, will be issued and as a reward, the Guild center will be opened, allowing Player Guilds to be officially established.

All players will be allowed to buy plots of lands as long as all requirements are met.

...

]

There was a lot more to read, but most of it seemed to be minor or very specific information, such as new contracts and Quests being created to cope with the future influx of players.

And since Dale didn't seem to have infinite time, he only focused on the major points as he went on with his speed reading:

[Apprehensive Welcome-> The villagers of Resko will hold grudges against the players who did not participate in the trespassing.

They'll become apprehensive of their presence and at the start, some of the more stubborn Villagers may refuse to interact with the players.

All players will receive an initial -5 decrease to their current Reputation.

Some of the Villagers will refuse to interact with the players and give Quests to them.

Those that do will give reduced rewards based on the player's current Reputation Level.

All players will be forced to enter the Mercenary Guild as Trainees, and they'll be locked in that rank for a week before being allowed to take the Promotion test.

The outside will only be open to those who have a positive +10 Reputation score with Resko.

Reputation gain will be halved until they go past +10 Reputation.

Only certain sections of Resko will become Green safety zones, while most will become Yellow zones together with a few Red zones in-between.

Players will be restricted from walking into certain sections, including access to the Church, until their Reputation goes past +10.

All of the basic shops will be open for the players, but with limited supply, to unlock their full inventory, the players will be required to go past +5 Reputation with Resko.

A Special Quest, Dig the Suburbs from the sand, will be issued and as the sole reward, the Guild center will be opened, allowing Player Guilds to be established.

All players will be allowed to buy plots of land as long as all requirements are met.

The requirements to buy a plot of land have greatly increased.

...

]

And finally...

[Cold Welcome-> The villagers of Resko will hold an immense grudge against all players.

They will become hostile to their presence and at the start, some of the more stubborn Villagers may outright attack the players.

All players will receive an initial -15 decrease in their Reputation.

All Villagers will refuse to interact with the players and to give Quests to them until their Reputation rises beyond +15.

All players will be forced to enter the Mercenary Guild as Trainees, and they'll be locked in that rank for a month before being allowed to take the Promotion test.

During this month, all rewards from contracts will be halved.

The outside will only be open to those who have a positive +20 Reputation with Resko and have completed the quest, A test of Trust.

They'll also be forced to work in the fields for 2 weeks before being given freedom.

Reputation gain will be reduced to 1/3 until they go past +20 Reputation.

Players won't be able to become an Honored Guest, with Reputation Capping at +49 unless some conditions are met.

Only certain buildings will become a Green safety zone, such as the Inn where they can book a room, while some will become Yellow zones, and the rest will become Red zones.

Players will be restricted from walking around, until their Reputation goes past +10.

All of the basic shops will be closed for the players; to unlock them, the players will be required to go past +10 Reputation with Resko and complete the Merchants' exclusive Quest.

The Special Quest, Dig the Suburbs from the sand, will be issued.

Once that is done, the players will need to rebuild the Guild Center from scratch without help.

Players with a negative Reputation Score will not be allowed to participate in the Quest, and those with less than +5 won't receive rewards from it.

Players won't be allowed to buy plots of land under any circumstances.

...

]

Once Dale finished reading his options, he immediately knew what to choose.

'The first option is too light, while the third option is too extreme, it's like turning them into slaves.' He thought with a frown

'They'll all start losing 15 points of Reputation, some may even be thrown beneath -20...'

'Reputation loss will be reduced to a third until they go past +20, this means that, in that situation, the player with a -20 score may be forced to farm 120 Reputation points just to be able to move around in the same way other players from other Villagers can...'

'Like a normal person.'

'Worse, contract rewards would be reduced to half for the first month, so this 120 Reputation requirements can be raised to 240 if they do try to grind their way out of misery...'

'And together with everything else, it would be little if the players just logged out and scrapped their accounts, they may as well just rebel, and things could go bad in that scenario.'

'The Village is only so big and the players are bloodthirsty immortal creatures that may not even feel pain and whose bodies cannot get crippling injuries.'

'We already have to deal with the Crops and the outside, giving us another thing to look out for is just wiring up and ticking time bomb.'

'And while the first option has some downsides, it's mostly as if nothing happened at all, instead, they even gain some benefits things.'

'It's too punishing, the option turns us into pushovers.'

'I don't want that.'

"..."

'The first one is too soft while the last one makes me think the players may choose to brave the outside and try their luck instead of remaining in this place...'

'Even if the Villagers tried to stop them, it would be impossible to prevent all of them from leaving.'

'We would be like slave owners trying to stop them from scaping...'

'And although I don't like competition, Resko does need their work... I need the players to make Resko rise again, so I can't throw our Reputation into the gutter and obstruct our ability to grow in the future.'

'Otherwise, who is going to dig the sand and repair the buildings? Me? My time is too precious for that.'

'The Village is already short on hand with most of the capable adults and teenagers working in the fields, so someone has to go outside, collect wood, materials, hunt, and more.'

'Resko has the funds to support the players, and that is gold. The money inherited from their ancestors and carried on until today...'

'That should be enough to set things in motion and allow an initial flow of materials and items.'

'So I can't choose the last option, I might be making things simpler for me, but I'll be shooting myself in the foot by compromising the future.'

'While other places will grow their economy due to the player's presence, Resko will slowly die out alone...'

'That is why, the middle option is the best one.'

'It's already good enough as it holds the player back quite a bit, giving me enough time to rise to a point where they can't even contest against me.'

'For example, my Reputation is already on its way to 200, while everyone will start at a -5.'

'And for them to even be pardoned slightly, they'll have to have at least +10 Reputation.'

'But since Reputation gain will be halved, that is a total of 30 points they'll have to grind out.'

'There are also other things that'll slow down their growth rate such as reduced Quest rewards based on Reputation Level, some of the Villagers refusing to give out Quests, all players being locked at the Trainee Rank, and so on...'

'This is also a good option because it gives the player a palpable sense of hope, since as long as they grind just as bit, they'll be free from this cursed status and become normal people again.'

'And from there, they would be able to enjoy this place... Though... What is there to enjoy... That'll be my job to create, to give them something to hold onto.'

'I'm presenting them this product, and I don't need all of them to bite into it, only some of the big sharks that'll put in the effort.'

'I could go on and on about this, but what I think the reason for this option being the best is simply because it's Moderate...'

'Push everyone too far, and even if you are in the right, they'll blame you...'

'But push them just a bit, and they'll blame someone else, because you had the right to do so.'

'And I just happened to have a Quest associated with uprooting 3 Guilds... Demoralizing their members and decreasing their Reputation would do just right.'

'I could also use this opportunity to increase Rodi's Guild's prestige and solidify their position...'

'Though, speaking of this quest... I have no idea of how I'm going to complete it...'

'What am I even supposed to do? Uproot the 3 Guilds? Like how? Make them close doors in the real world?'

'How do I do that?... How will the system understand when that's done? What are the criteria?'

Dale shook his head, raising his head to the 3 Elders in front of him.

His head started to hurt, most likely because he spent too much time in this slowed down mode, but he had already decided on what he needed to do.

"I think I know what we should do..." Dale said with a serious expression

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Notes

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