End Online: Volume 4 (12 page)

We make a beeline for the
city, weaving in and out of the players. The eastern sky begins to lighten by
the time we finally manage to reach the city gate.

The frame of the gate
catches my eye, it is the early 16th century type of construction where there
is no mortar in between the stones. The entire arch is sustained by a single
keystone at the apex. Of course, this doesn’t mean the wall will be easily
penetrated, as there are more stones built on top to finish the wall and
prevent the keystone from being displaced during an invasion.

Dawn approaches as we
enter the city, the sun gradually shedding light on the dusty brown brick and
sandstone buildings and vivid red shade cloths stretching between buildings.
Clearly it must get considerably hot here during the day, so the shade cloths
are used as a respite from the sun.

The streets are lined with
players sitting along the walls of the building, covered in rags and wearing
forlorn expressions. They hold out their hand and beg for a just a single piece
of gold. Some of the better off players passing through will flick a coin or
two at them. And by flick a coin at them, I mean they ‘discard’ it from their
possession so anybody can pick it up. This results in four or five hands
clammering to get the gold at once.

“How disgusting.” Prince
Charming looks down on them in scorn.

“What is wrong with them!?
They are just trying to eat!” Verde raises her voice in displeasure at him.

“No, they are putting on
appearances to scam players for money to enjoy the game.”

“How can you say that?!”

“It’s true,” Mason
interjects with a sigh, “Why would players possibly be willing to play a game
where they are forced to grovel and beg? I have heard about this in Swordbreak
before. There is such a large number of players in Dalbe that there is no room
for players in the better hunting grounds. As such, there are some players who
sport dirty clothes and become beggars for gold. It is something of a game of
amusement for them.”

“No… that can’t be…”

“Nearly everyone already
knows it, and the players who actually throw gold at the beggars do so to watch
them for sport. And the beggars only move for gold. Try flicking a silver coin,
they won’t even pay attention to it.”

Following his words, Verde
pulled out a silver coin and flicked it toward a group of beggars. The sound of
the coin bouncing on the pavement reverberates through the street, followed by
a deathly silence as the beggars don’t even make a single move toward it. They
only stare at Verde, unsure whether to hate or to fawn.

From that moment on, Verde
doesn’t mention anything about the beggars anymore. Even I am surprised by how
the players play the game in Dalbe. We head deeper into the city and I notice a
large amount of players heading toward the large battle colosseum that
Swordbreak is famous for.

“Two silver coins,” Mason
says, following my line of sight. “With that, you can get a day pass into the
colosseum to watch any fights that take place for the whole day. Of course,
some of our fellow players are going to do the fighting.”

I bob my head in
understanding. The colosseum is this city’s most famous attraction so naturally
there are a lot of players coming and going.

“Anyway,” Mason continues,
“Matrix and I will be going to sell all the loot we picked up on our way here.
Our inventories are completely full from the ‘Lords’ Cathedral’. Shall we meet
back at in 24 hours, as usual? There probably won’t be any available inns
nearby so just meet at the gate.”

Everyone agrees to the
proposal, and we split into the usual three sub groups. Mason and Matrix head
off in one direction, while Verde leaves to go sightseeing in another with Sir
Laurence close behind her. Only Fen and I are left standing in our original
position.

“Come on Fen, I have a
fair bit of loot to sell as well,” I beckon to the wolf girl and we make our
way off in the same direction as the brothers.

I don’t know where Matrix
and his brother went because I don’t spot them again, but I find a decent
market place by midday. Off to my right, I can see over the tops of the houses
and beyond Swordbreak thanks to the natural shape of the city. On my other side
are NPC shops lining the road; not a single one with less than ten players
bartering for goods inside.

Considering how to sell
such a large amount of items without increasing my infamy, I have Fen enter a
general goods store and purchase a large bag. When she returns, I fill it with
enough items that it looks like it could burst open at any moment. To my
surprise, I manage to fit all the items in the bag. Oddly, the bag doesn’t
appear to swell a great deal, but the weight increases accordingly.

‘Well, this IS a
game.’

I then have Fen return to
the store to sell all my general goods and monster products; like ‘Wraith
Cloth’, ‘Devil’s Ear’, ‘Clump of Old Hair’ and other various items. I watch
from a distance as she waits her turn to see the salesperson, a middle aged housewife
with a tired expression. When Fen reaches the front of the line, there are far
too many items to place on the counter so they are shown as a list of goods to
sell.

The shopkeeper studies the
window for about ten seconds before saying something back to Fen. The wolf
girls nods her head and the sack deflates as if it is full of air. She then
returns to me and hands over a gold coin with a small number next to it.

“Fen… are you sure you
sold everything?” I frown as I look down at the gold coin with the number
seventy next to it in my hands.

“Yes… I did…”

“Surely there must be some
mistake. All that loot must be worth at least five times this.”

I know the NPCs will
always offer a fair price, only influenced by a person’s bartering skill. This
is why I can’t understand why it is so little.

“No matter, let’s go to
the weapon store next. I have a few tridents, thin rapiers, and black steel
armour to sell.”

The weapons are uncommon
drops from the monsters back in the cathedral. They take up at least half of my
inventory and, if I have learned anything from past games, are worth more than
the standard loot.

The weapon store is
located two buildings over, next door to the armor store. At least, that’s what
the signs hanging above the doors say.

Following the same
process, I fill the bag with all the items I want to sell at each and have Fen
enter the shops. I can’t see inside these two due to there being a door
blocking the way, but the wolf girl spends about ten minutes in each before
returning to me.

She hand over two gold
coin this time, one with the number 100 next to it and the other with 13.

“No, this definitely can’t
be right. Again, I expected at least three times this amount. Fen, you aren’t
keeping some of the money are you?”

Of course I don’t mind if
she wanted some money as she helped me collect it all, but two-thirds is a bit
much.

“No… that is… all of it.”
She says while seemingly confused at my question.

I doubt she is lying, she
is simply not the type. She also has no interest in gold. Scratching my head, I
can’t seem to understand why everything is worth so little.

Setting my concerns aside,
I decide to visit the player’s market. Walking around in the sweltering heat, I
don’t find it until late in the afternoon. I find a large square full of
players’ stalls two tiers higher into Swordbreak. A hundred standard red shade
cloths are propped up over the stalls, each cloth supported by three and a half
meter tall timber posts on each corner.

I selectively look for
weapon stalls. One of my short swords is too weak for my level, and if it
wasn’t for my speed neglecting near the entirety of an opponent’s defense,
would be as useful as a toy sword.

I find a decent stall
selling swords of all shapes and sizes. My eyes are drawn to a particular sword
made of some kind of deep blue metal. The most desirable thing to me is that it
is another scramasax of similar size to my current one. I take a closer
inspection and reveal its item information.

It is only slightly better
than my other scramasax, but it will without a doubt raise my attack to a whole
new level.

“Excuse me, how much for
this?” I ask while pointing at the short sword.

“That is 7,800 gold.” The
middle aged man responds.

I take a moment to
comprehend his words. I feel my heart stop momentarily the moment I understand
how much gold that is. This is my second time being at a player stall to
upgrade my equipment, and I refuse to let myself be swindled again by a high
price on an item that I can’t buy elsewhere.

“That’s ridiculous! I can
buy another short sword just as good anywhere else for a tenth of that price!”

My current gold is 923,
nearly at the point where I need to deposit it or purchase a second money sack
from the bank.

“The price is the price.
No discounts.” The man shrugs indifferently.

“How much is that sword
then?” I point to a standard steel sword for players level 40 and up.

“3,200 gold.”

“Forget it.”

I walk away, my anger
boiling. There is no way anyone would agree to such exorbitant prices, let
alone myself.

Almost like a wave of cold
ice water washing over me, I see an incredibly familiar person. With black hair
swept back, a steel plate breastplate over a tawny brown shirt.

“Mouse!” I shout in
surprise as if seeing a ghost.

“Oh, Lost! What a surprise
to see you here!” He replies with the usual smile that doesn’t reflect itself
in his eyes.

“I can say the same thing!
Are you stalking me or something?!”

We both laugh at my joke,
but he shortly replies in a serious tone.

“Come now, I’m quite sure
I was here first. I think I should be the one questioning if I am the one being
stalked.”

“Yes, yes. So we both just
happen to be here then. Anyway, weren’t you running your business in Grenton?”

“I was, but I have already
moved on. Speaking of which, you are quite the wanted man over there. A bounty
of several thousand gold is on your head for wanton arson. It was quite the
surprise when I heard.”

“Oh god, it wasn’t on
purpose! I swear it wasn’t!”

“Hah, don’t worry about
me. A friend of mine isn’t someone I would turn in.”

“I’m glad to hear.
Speaking of which, you wouldn’t happen to have any short swords hiding away for
sale would you?”

“Apologies. As a seller of
both weapons and armour, I only have a few of each item type. Short swords, I
am currently out of.”

“Such a shame, someone
tried to rip me off 7,800 gold for a decent one.”

“Oh, for you to say it is
decent must mean it is quite good! Which stall was it? I may go over and buy it
myself.”

“What?! How can you
possibly consider buying something for that price?”

“That is actually a pretty
good price for this market. Have you never been to Swordbreak before?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Don’t worry, information
is free. The markets throughout Dalbe are all the same. The massive amount of
players beyond what was planned are the cause between the market prices. There
is a massive influx of items from the fields, resulting in every merchant, NPCs
included, only paying rock-bottom prices for them. At the same time, item sales
are exponentially higher due to the demand. The players will buy all the
weapons at standard price faster than they can be made. NPCs will sell the stock
standard items at their usual price though.”

“That sounds quite
complicated…”

“Well, the population is
simply too large and has skewed the economy.”

Like tumblers of a lock
falling into place, I suddenly understand why everything I sold was only for
about a third of what it should have. I inwardly curse at every player around
me, it is their fault I only got scraps for my items.

“Well, it looks like I
won’t be able to buy a new weapon here after all.”

I start to walk away from
Mouse and his stall dejectedly, when he calls out from behind me.