The first out was a stoic-looking man, clad in metal armor from head to toe, with even their face covered by it, who looked around and then stepped forward, allowing the others to follow. First was Lara, dressed in a mix of high-quality dress and light leather armor, adorned with silver and gold, her hair braided beautifully. Next came Lucy, dressed in what Sam would call severe librarian chic mixed with Renaissance fair. He didn't really get it, but it looked good on her, so he would tell her later that it looked good. Following them was Adam, dressed in a dress shirt that seemed to be on the verge of dissolving into threads over his giant muscles.

Sam could see several women in the crowd drooling…

Behind them came several more guards and assistants, all of them either looking around the stage or at the crowd. Tension was high, as the guild Chrysalis had made plenty of enemies on their own, even without Sam's help. Their competence, willingness to keep their word, and actually treating people decently made them the preferred guild in the area, which in turn caused the income of the other guilds to plummet. They didn't like that…

And if you added the enemies Sam made… Well, it explained the tension among the guards and the rest of the guild spread around the area.

As Lucy, Lara, and Adam took the center of the stage, Sam cast his attention and focus on the crowd.

Most of it was made up of NPCs that were brought along by the NPC nobles, or organically attracted by the opportunities presented by a new town going up. From what he knew, it also created a lot of quests for the guild and other players, as almost every NPC family or group that decided to move had to have a guard, or needed a guy to find the urn of their ancestor, or prevent thieves from leaving with valuable family mementos. All in all, from the reports he had read, most players had a ball with the new town's appearance.

Then there was a small raised platform, filled with said nobles, including the Silvercrest family, with Lucrecia as she proudly stood there and surveyed the crowd, with a few assorted additions and politicians that Lucy assured him were necessary to be present.

Said woman, slowly and with measured steps, approached the stand in the middle of the stage, looked around, making eye contact with as many people present as possible, before speaking up.

"Welcome, everybody!" she spoke in an even tone, yet her voice – transmitted by the artifacts made by Liz – echoed all around the square and beyond, ensuring that everybody heard her. "We are gathered here in the newly built Ferabor to celebrate the official opening of this new town and to witness the beginning of something great!"

The crowd settled down, the NPCs watching with shining eyes, as if it were the best speech they had ever heard, while the players looked on with well-practiced glassy eyes, honed on the courtyards of schools over the years.

'Do future schools even have courtyards anymore?' Sam wondered before shaking his head and refocusing as Lucy continued her speech.

"What a humbling moment it is to stand here in front of this huge crowd of people who helped construct our humble town to mark this special occasion. From the bottom of my heart, I humbly thank you for being here!"

The people let out a subdued cheer and clapping, but Lucy held up a hand, and they quieted down again.

"This is all made possible, in part, by your unwavering commitment to the betterment of the people of land, and to the…"

Sam didn't look at her as she continued; instead, he eyed the players in the crowd. Most of them belonged to their guild, or some of the sub-guilds, but he could see a lot of groups that belonged to guilds that were neutral or at odds with them.

Still, his focus was on the ones that stank of the odorous mana. They were fidgeting and glancing nervously to the side before refocusing on Lucy.

'There!'

He spotted several of them looking at the same man, standing around the middle of the biggest crowd in front of the platform with Lucy and others, only a few steps away from the line of armored guards.

'So… he is the signaler? Wonder, what's the signal…' he mused as he began to spool up his own magic.

As he was about to refocus on the very generic speech, his messages began to blow up.

Picking up the first call, he came face-to-face with Dan.

"Boss! We've an incursion in the south!" he reported as a muffled boom went off behind him.

"Can you control it?" Sam asked as he glanced at the crowd. Still relaxed.

Dan looked away, seemingly did a little math before nodding. "I think this is just a distraction…"

"Drag it out then. Make sure the battle lasts as long as possible," Sam told him, just as another call popped up.

"Maaan, you know I'm bad at acting!"

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Lara didn't kill you after you told her you liked that math lecture, so I know you can do it!" Sam replied with a grin before switching over to the other call. "Report!"

Katie saluted seriously before reporting. "Big battle! There are a lot of them! Can I kill them?"

"Sure, go nuts!"

"Yay!"

Switching to another call, a face he didn't really know well. A man around 24 years of age, who worked under Adam, showed up.

"Sir! There are multiple problem spots! Orders?" he asked, looking rather professional. Sam appreciated that, but it was hard to feel professional while playing with Katie.

"Keep them occupied. How are your acting skills?"

The man blinked, then blinked again. "Sir?"

Sam let out a sigh. "Just make sure to keep them there. Capture over killing. Okay?"

"Understood!"

And so it went, one after another, teams began to report either incursions from random dark guilds, mercenary groups, raving lunatics, religious fanatics, or from political dissidents, finding this the best time to strike at their targets, and so on. The area around Ironwood, and most importantly, Ferabor, was filled with fights of all sizes. From some team-sized fights to full-on battlefields with hundreds of people.

Thankfully, Adam was fully prepared for this. The players in the guild were evenly distributed across all the dangerous points, while the strongest players were stationed at the choke points. With the strongest – that is, Sam – at the ceremony.

As he listened to the reports coming in, he noticed an oddity. None of them were by blood mages or anybody with similar magic.

'What a coincidence…' he chuckled to himself while shooting off a message to the bodyguard team to prepare for a blood magic attack.

Returning his attention to the speech, he watched as Lara stepped away from the stand finishing her own section, and Lucy took her place again as the square echoed with applause. He would have to watch the speech later in case Lara asked any questions, just in case.

Lucy looked around with slightly narrowed eyes, no doubt having seen the flurry of messages that described the situation, but appearing at ease and quite happy with the situation.

"Now that we have finished with the speech, I would like to give the audience a chance to ask some questions!" Instantly, an excited murmur filled the space. "If you have a question, please raise your hand and I shall call upon you. Please, refrain from…unsightly word choices…" She looked around at the forest of arms that shot up in the air and pointed at one. "You there!"

"Thank you!" came the excited call from a female voice. "Victoria from Game Guzzlers Magazine! Any truth to the fact that any non-affiliated guild must pay double the taxes?"

"Start with the hard one, why don't you…" Lucy chuckled. "While it is true that affiliated guilds enjoy some benefits, the truth is that all guilds must pay the same amount of taxes; affiliated guilds just have to pay less." After answering, she pointed to another person. "You there! What's your question?"

"Fred from the Freedom Gaming News! When will the free plots in the town becoming available for purchase to the public?"

Lucy theatrically looked at her watch – another Liz creation – and smiled. "As of now."

Sam watched as the crowd began to panic, call and message their people, and settled back in his perch. If the blood mages would strike, he had no doubt they would do so at the last moment…

Lucy, looking a little more bedraggled after an intense question-and-answer session, looked around, swallowed, and spoke up.

"Alright, ladies, gentlemen, and those in-between, the last question." She looked around for a moment and pointed exactly at the man Sam had pointed out to her in a message. Might as well give fate a little help… "You there, sir! What is your question?"

The man seemed to shake a little in surprise, as if not expecting to be called on, before looking around weirdly, before finally looking at Lucy on the stage.

Sam, leaning against the parapet, raised his hand and pointed at the crowd, while magic, slowly and carefully, began to gather around in discreet balls, ready to be launched at all the suspicious guys.

Then he made a little adjustment.

'Oh, that guy is just a pervert… Mhm, on second thought, he gets the laser too!' he decided as he watched the guy discreetly line up shots of players and NPCs in revealing clothing without their knowing. The game's sexual harassment protections were good, but if anybody, it was perverts who could figure out the limits of the system.

The guy dressed in a non-descript black robe – definitely not suspicious – took a deep breath and spoke up.

"You said that the town is protected from all attacks," he began, and the crowd slowly quieted down and began to glance in his direction as if sensing something was going to happen. As he spoke, his hesitant voice slowly turned louder and louder, going from calm to fanatic. "But are you ready to protECT IT FROM US? BROTHERS! IT IS TIME!"

He threw off his robe, showcasing the many bottles of presumably blood fastened to his body, while several others in the crowd followed suit.

In the next second, a lot of things happened in rapid succession. The people nearest to the attacker let out short screams and began to push away – the forums made clear what happened when one of those bottles was detonated – while the other pushed against them, wanting to see what was happening. The guards protecting the stage began to raise their shields while activating defensive skills. Several guards threw themselves forward, protecting Lucy, Lara, and Adam as they surprisingly stayed there and watched the events dispassionately.

The comrades of the speaker also threw off their robes, revealing more and more bottles of tainted blood, while causing even more panic. Seemingly as one, they reached for something in the middle of their chest and, with a brief pulse of mana, activated it. Instantly, deep, dark red mist began to seep from the bottles, causing the mana in the air that came in contact with it to turn also a turbid red.

"BEHOLD THE POWER OF BLOOD! SUFFER THE PAIN OF DESTRUCTION!" yelled one of them.

Another was rather less…dramatic. "GET PWNED SUCKERS!"

The next moment, the mist was already a few inches away from their bodies when Sam decided to act. There was enough material for PR, there was no need for needless deaths.

The panicking onlookers, trying to get away from the deadly magic, had another moment to feel the slimy touch of magic, trying to consume everything in its way, before several flashes of black light flashed out, striking precisely where the wannabe terrorists stood.

Lucy stepped forward, over a guard lying on the ground who thought it was a good idea to throw himself forward in a flying leap, knocked on the stand, causing a slight feedback sound (added by Liz for authenticity), and cleared her throat.

"As you can see, we are ready. Thank you, everyone, for showing up, and I hope you enjoy your stay in our beautiful city!"

She cast a dismissive glance at the black stains on the ground and the blinking crowd, waved, and turned around. Adam and Lara followed her while their guards scrambled behind them.

As Sam began to leave his spot on the top of the building, he heard an audience member speak up.

"What the hell just happened?"

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