Soul Art Online

Disclaimer: I own nothing. All characters in the story are consenting adults over
18 years of age.

Chapter 40: Reunion- 2

______________________________________________________________________

- Arthas -

I raised my sword and defended against the slash of my opponent, taking the brief
moment of the clash to strike back with a quick kick.

The guy in front of me had however anticipated this and dodged to the side, blocking
the attack with his own sword. Unfortunately, he had underestimated the force behind
my kick and his body was flung to the side although he quickly regained his balance.

When he raised his head however, he found my sword right in front of his eyes.

In a fight between two high tier fighters, even a moment of lapse can result in a loss.

This game however gave us a buffer of stats which allowed people to experience this in
a slower and more… safer way. Today however was not a real fight but a spar.

I looked at Arthur Pendragon in front of me.

He was a seriously good swordsman, one of the best I had fought in this game.

“You are really good. Even with our similar levels, you have defeated me. I don’t know
many people my age who can do such a thing.” He said, sheathing his sword.

“No. In terms of skill, you’re still above my level. As for being the same level, while that
may be true, I have some unique skills which grant me passive stats. My stats are still
almost double that of yours. But even then you kept up with me, that is seriously
impressive.” I replied honestly.

He was really that good.

“Don’t underestimate yourself. I have been learning swordsmanship since I could hold a
sword and was taught by some of the best teachers in the world. Even then, I have
been praised as a once in a century genius at swordsmanship. You could keep up with
me and your movements were far better than many trained swordsmasters that I have
known. It’s hard to believe that you don’t have any formal training and have only learned
what you have in this game.” He said.

“Actually, my swordsmanship was quite shoddy at first too. I was quite fortunate to meet
Arnold Straight, the City Lord of Llyne who often sparred with me. That guy… he is a
real monster. Whatever I have learned is from surviving against him in spars.” I replied
with a smile.

Yes.

Arnold was as much of a monster as his reputation in this game in terms of skill. I have
seen many fighters in Greenfrost and even some in the Capital but Arnold was still in a
league of his own.

If this were the real world, he would obviously be a named character.

“Oh! He seems like a good swordsman. I would love to spar against him someday.”​

“Knowing him, he would obviously welcome such a challenge.” I chuckled as I equipped

my T5 and T6 Classes.”

This morning after my daily runs, I saw Arthur practicing swordsmanship in the training
grounds.

I knew from my memories and the words of Elaine that Arthur was a prodigy in
swordsmanship and wanted to measure my progress in a spar against him.

For this, I unequipped my T5 and T6 Classes and fought him with just T4 Peak level
and the results were surprising.

Even without the higher Tier Classes and my buff skills like Touki, Battle Aura and
Armament Haki, I still had the extra stats from the Man of Culture Achievement,
Shinmei-ryū style and Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū which firmly put me above most others of the
same level… and yet, Arthur Pendragon kept up with me for almost thirty minutes.
I am sure he could have kicked my ass all the way to Sunday had we really been at the
same level.

He was a pure swordsman.

We talked for a bit and saw that some others like Naotsugu and Star were also up and
watching the fight.

They had arrived when we were sparring and we hadn’t noticed.

We got cleaned up and went for breakfast.

“So, what are the plans for today?” Star asked, taking a bite of his bread.

“We have to take a look at the properties for the Guild and finish the purchases today. If
possible, even start arrangements for the Guild Dorms and other Guild facilities. Veena
and the rest of the group will be arriving here in a few days. We need to get things done
by then.” Shiroe said.

“Hmm. The City Lord’s Manor is big but a part of it was destroyed in the last World
Quest and it still needs repairing.” Whistler said.

He had to share a room with two others yesterday and apparently Natotsugu was a
snorer. The poor guy looked like he hadn’t slept well.

Yesterday, most kids had to sleep in two rooms and the maids of the City Lord’s Manor
had to make simple beds for them as there weren’t enough in the manor.

Then again, this place was actually made for the City Lord and his family and the staff
who served them, not something which was suitable for a large group like ours.

The only reason they stayed here was because this place was the safest right now.

“We will also need to rent a place for the Orphanage.” Marielle said.

I looked at her on this topic. “Actually, we can just get another property for them. They
are also a part of the Guild now and it is our responsibility to take care of them. As for
the maintenance of the property, that can be taken care of using the items they make.”
All the kids were Production Class users and actually quite good at what they did. That
passive skill which allowed them to learn skills faster until a certain age was quite good.

We were also planning to have them get Classes which required the players to master
certain Skills to a high level like the Lord Knight which required a max Sword and Shield
Skill Level in the Knight Class to advance.

That would keep them much safer in this dangerous world in the future.

Getting the Lord Knight Class was very hard. It was evident from the knights I had seen
in Greenfrost. Among a hundred Sword and Shield Knights, there was just one Lord
Knight.

Even if they didn’t go further, just as Lord Knights, they would be far above most other
classes. It was even more so when we could provide them with teachers like Arthur
Pendragon and other experienced Knights to teach them.

If everything went well, we could have them reach such a level in a year at most if we
applied the plan we had used to prepare Llyne against the World Quest.

“That’s a good plan. There is a suitable property for this too. Coincidentally, it was near
the place we had chosen for our shop.” Shiroe added.

“Good then. Proceed with the purchase.” I nodded.

“B-but, what about the million gold coins you gave us for the kids that you won from
Cardo and his goons?” Marielle asked.

“Use that to buy equipment for the kids, information about Classes, Skill Books and hire
teachers to train them. This world is dangerous and they will need all the help they can
to get through this.”

“Oh! Are you talking about the Mentor System that was added at the end of this World
Quest?” Shiroe asked.

I nodded.

The mechanics of this Game will change a lot after the introduction of the Mentor
System. We could hire NPCs to teach other players or even hire other players as
mentors to teach their maxed out skills to others.
We can use the money to put up quests to hire good players as well as high level NPCs
to teach good skills to the kids.

This will not only provide us with new skills but also be good for the economy of the city.

I briefly explained my ideas to them.

“Yes. That’s a great plan. There are many classes which need teachers for others to
progress better. Even I had to take classes from Veena, Bina and Rose to prepare for
the Sorcerer Class Advancement’s Theory Examinations and I am afraid that things will
only get harder the higher the level. That said I doubt many high level players will be
willing to set aside time from their busy schedules to teach others. Offering quests will
provide them with an initiative to do this.” Shiroe nodded too.

I nodded. “I was reading about the main economic avenues of Alverton. As it turns out,
they mostly work around in the mines in the nearby mountains. There are several coal
mines in these mountains. Apart from that, woodcutting and making wooden goods is
also done by many. The problem is that they only stay in the outer areas as the deeper
areas have many high level monsters. The armies here aren't that strong so they
couldn’t explore further, especially as the deeper areas are filled with miasma.”

“And the kingdom has done nothing to get those resources?” Star asked.

“No. They are stretched quite thin already. Moreover, there are other areas which can
provide coal without such hassle. They don’t really have any reason to take the
initiative.” I shrugged.

“So all that resource is going to waste?” Star said. “Man, I can’t imagine such a thing in
our world. People would war to occupy such places.”

“Eh, it’s not like they haven’t done anything. The kingdom has put up an offer.”

“What offer?” he asked.

“Normally any mines in the kingdom belong to the kingdom itself. There are very rare
exceptions in cases of high ranking nobles but even then the Kingdom has a large
share in the mines and the total produce. What they offer is a similar offer. If anyone or
any organisation could occupy the unexplored mines, they can keep it to themselves as
long as they offer a part of the produce to the kingdom as taxes.”
“Oh! That’s… quite generous.”

“Hmm.”

“Anyways, I don’t think we are ready for them right now. Even the mobs near the border
of the currently occupied lands are at T5. To go further, we would need a good team of
T6 players and a way to remove miasma. Although, we can start preparing.”

I nodded.

Next to speak were Marielle’s group.

They were going to take their Class Advancement Quests.

When they successfully advance, our Guild will have a decent standing even among the
Guilds in the country. Obviously not the strong ones but definitely in the middle stages.

Normal Guilds in this kingdom had one T6 Guild Master and at least three T5 members.

Fairy Tail currently had two T6 members if we included Damon and almost a dozen T5
members including NPCs.

To reach the level of a top guild, we had to have someone at T7. There were only three
such private Guilds. The Order of the Black Hand, the Silver Sparrows and the Morning
Mist Guild.

We already had an encounter with the Order of the Black Hand. That Blackburne guy
was a battle maniac and from what I have seen, he is definitely a traitor. His guild is also
a combat based guild that deals with assassinations and similar requests.

The Silver Sparrows is a female only Guild formed by a T7 Adventurer. They mainly
dealt with protection based quests. It was better to call them a security firm that
provided security to anyone who paid without discrimination as long as they weren’t a
wanted criminal. At least in this aspect, they were better than the Order of the Black
Hand which was formed solely to spite the Order of the Silver Hand.

The last one, the Morning Mist Guild… well, they were the most mysterious. They dealt
in information.
You could buy information from them for a price.

Arnold once said that almost a quarter of the Black Markets in the kingdom had the
hand of the Morning Mist Guild behind them in one way or the other. Most of their forces
were hidden. That’s why, despite them only having a few members out in the open, no
one dared to challenge them. A noble, an Earl to be precise, had once seen the profits
in the Black Market in their territory and had tried to forcibly take over the whole scene.

What came of it afterward became an example for everyone else to never mess with the
Morning Mist Guild.

They didn’t fight against the noble directly.

Instead, they moved out of the city.

The Black Market of that city also fell soon after.

But that wasn’t the scary part.

The scary part came next.

Every single bit of dirt about that noble family became public the next month. From
minor incidents of bullying to downright treason, every single bit of information about
their house became common news throughout the whole kingdom.

Before anyone could realise anything and take any measures, the news had already
spread throughout the kingdom and there was a massive public outrage.

Even the king was forced to take action and the house that the noble belonged to was
demoted, being reduced to that of a normal Baronette.

Many of their surviving members were forced to go to dangerous areas on the front
lines to clear their names but they started suffering accidents one after another.

The information about their movements got leaked one way or the other. This lasted
until all adult members of the house were killed.

Obviously such an incident caused massive uproar but no one could do anything to the
Morning Mist Guild.
First, the kingdom didn’t find any direct relationship connecting them to the incidents so
they couldn’t accuse such a strong guild without any reasons. After all, they had not
exactly fought with that Earl when they were driven away. And the other reason was that
no one actually dared to make the first move.

Every noble had skeletons hidden in their closets and no one wanted them to be
unearthed so even if there was a chance that the Morning Mist didn’t know what they
were, no one was willing to take the risk.

We discussed some plans after which all of us left to do our own work.

__________________________________x___________________________________

I stood in front of the Knights of Alverton.

Alverton was relatively safe so there were a lower number of knights here compared to
even Llyne. The last fight had caused the deaths of many knights and had left the city
severely shorthanded.

The number was almost a third of what they originally had.

Even doing patrols around the town was difficult nowadays.

Thankfully, the city was surrounded by mountains so we didn’t have to worry about
attacks from the outside or I would be going mad right now.

There were a total of eighty two knights.

Yes, just eighty two people for an entire city.

Most of them were just T3 or T4. There were only four T5 Knights left.

Apart from them, there were five mages and two clerics.

What was supposed to be an army under me was reduced to a mere rag tag group
before I even took control.

“This is such a scam.” I whispered lightly under my breath.

Star seemed to have heard me and replied. “Well, it could have been worse. Imagine if
you didn’t have the Fairy Tail Guild backing you up. Now, that would have been a pain.”

My eyes twitched when I imagined the scenario.

Unfortunately, as disappointed as I was, I couldn’t show it on my face.

“Well, as the saying goes, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Since I have
Alverton now, I am going to make it a city that can rival even the likes of Greenfrost,
whether it be in terms of wealth or power.”

“That’s the spirit.”

I looked at Theodore and asked. “Is this everyone?”

“Yes Sir.” He replied awkwardly. Even he was a bit embarrassed by the situation.

I let out a slight sigh but continued.

“Make a list. I want a list of every person, their levels, their skills, their talents and the
classes they are aiming for in the future.” I said after a thought.

“Should we put a notice for recruitment from the Knight’s Academy, Sir?” He asked.

“No. Not yet.” I shook my head. “The city has recently gone through an attack from
spies. There is a great chance that some spies might still be in the city. If we recruit
people willy-nilly right now, there is a chance that our ranks might get infiltrated again.
Don’t worry about the support. What we are going to focus on now will be increasing the
level of the current members. We are going to train a small group of elites rather than a
large crowd of low leveled mobs using our resources.”

“Sir?” Theo was taken aback and looked at me surprised.

“Yes. You seem to have some doubts. Go on, speak.”

“My apologies Sir but such a small group might not be able to maintain peace in the
City. While a T5 can fight off a group of ten T4, they still won’t be able to do the work of
ten T4 Knights. We need numbers to maintain the daily needs of the city.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. Reinforcements are arriving. They will reach the
city in a few days.”

“Reinforcements? Has Greenfrost agreed to send reinforcements? I had heard Sir Kyle
saying that the forces of the kingdom are stretched thin and we might not get any
reinforcements in the near future.”

“No. That situation hasn’t changed yet. Our reinforcements are the members of my
Guild, Fairy Tail. Over two hundred members of the Guild will be arriving here. They are
all mid T3 at the minimum and are all loyal to me. They can pick up the slack in
numbers. I have already made a formal contract with the Guild to provide us with
support for the next year. In that time, they will cooperate with the Knight’s Academy
during training exercises, sparring, hunting and even patrolling the city.”

“Will such a thing work?” Lance, the Sword Knight who had received me when I had first
come to Alverton asked.

“It will. We have already tried and tested it in Llyne. In just a month and a half, the
average level of the members of the Guild increased by a dozen. That’s exactly the kind
of thing we need right now. Remember that when the city is attacked, the Knight’s
Academy are not the only people who fight the enemy. The people of the city help too.”

“Yes Sir.”

“Get me the list by the end of the day.”

“Yes Sir.” Theo saluted.

“Lance. Get me a list of all the equipment and items under the Knights Academy. You
have two days for that.”

“It will be done, Sir.”

“Greg.”

“Yes Sir.”

“Send a message to the heads of the Magic Tower and the highest ranking Church
member in the city right now to come and meet me tonight.”
“Yes Sir.”

With everything said, I stepped forward to address the crowd.

“Good morning Knights of Alverton. As most of you already know, I am your new City
Lord, Arthas. I would have liked to get to know all of you better first and then slowly
change the Alverton Knight’s Academy over time to fit my style of work, giving all of you
plenty of time to adjust but unfortunately we don’t have that privilege due to the recent
attack on the city. We are going to be changing the way things work around here and we
will be starting tomorrow. And I assure you, the changes won’t be pleasant.” I said
grimly.

Some of the knights had a slightly worried look on their faces but they still maintained
their posture. As expected, soldiers, even new ones, were not that easy to scare.

I continued. “I will be putting all of you through training that will make you wish that you
were dead. You will be pushed through to your limits and then some more… every
single day, and I will hear no complaints.”

Some people were showing more unease now.

“Obviously, I am not unreasonable. If someone wishes to back out now, you can quit. If
you want, I can also write you a recommendation letter for other cities. After all, you all
did fight against an invasion. You are heroes so whatever decision you make in this
matter, I will not blame you.” I continued seriously.

A few people faltered slightly but then shook their heads and held on.

Satisfied, I continued. “What I can promise you however is that, as long as you continue
my training, I promise you that within a year or two, all of you will reach Tier 5.”

The words were like thunder to the ears of the soldiers.

A T5 Knight, that was a big deal to these people. After all, even in a City like Llyne,
there were only around a dozen of them. Even Kenneth, despite being in his late
thirties, was still a mid level Shield Knight when we had just met.

He did reach the 40s due to our last month and half of training.

But still, Kenneth was one of the best fighters of the city.
This face alone showed that it was not easy for most people to reach such high levels.
Especially not in smaller cities like Alverton.

Almost every T5 Knight, especially those from the lower backgrounds, had to go
through the front lines and that was incredibly dangerous and even they only reached
T5 by the time they were mid to late twenties.

People like Arnold were anomalies.

So now that a newly arrived City Lord was promising them the same thing and that too
in just a year, it was obvious that they would have their minds blown. But this wasn’t an
impossible goal.

We had only been in the game for around eight months now and some players had
already reached T5 even without advantages like mine. This showed that this can be
done. Players might have an easier time leveling up but NPCs could level up too.

The main reason for the slow speed was the lack of resources. Leveling up and hunting
was an expensive process. Items, equipment and even food needed money.

Balanced teams with a healer and magician in every team was rare among the Knight’s
Academy as they were just teams of knights. So the expenses were even greater
compared to others like the Church who had clerics and Templars who could use
Healing Magic which took care of most of their healing items.

The wear and tear of their equipment was also less compared to Knights who fought on
the frontlines, soaking in all the damage.

All these factors combined together and resulted in lower speed of leveling for Knights.

Provide them with enough money and the speed of their leveling is bound to increase.

“So, make your choice. Be warned though, I will not let you back down after this.” I
warned and waited quietly.

The soldiers were looking at me with utter focus. The slight hesitance in their gazes was
now gone and what had taken its place was anticipation. By the end of it all, no one left.
“Good, then get yourself ready. Starting tomorrow, your new training will start.” With my
piece said, I left the place.

__________________________________x___________________________________

By evening everyone had returned from their respective works.

Shiroe had purchased the properties we had our eyes on and even contracted some
people to fix and renovate the buildings. This would unfortunately take some time as the
people of the town were already busy repairing their own homes.
​
Alverton had a large number of woodworkers but even then, there was a lack of workers
due to the destruction caused during the World Quest.

Even though I wanted them to focus more on the Guild facilities, there were other
places which needed it more. The Church being the prime among them.

Their facilities were mostly destroyed and so any advancement quests couldn’t be taken
until they were fixed.

I had even kept the repair of the City Lord’s Manor on the second position compared to
that.

“So how did it go?” I asked.

Marielle’s group had gone for their Class advancement quest today.

“The first test was easy. All of us passed.” She replied with a smile.

Among them only Akeno didn’t take a Class Advancement quest and instead changed
to the Cleric Class to prepare for the Heretic Mage Class in the future. The Church
couldn’t conduct official tests for advancement but changing Class to Cleric was not that
difficult so they were still conducting the procedure for that from a temporary office.

“Any ideas what the future quests might be? We don’t know the surroundings of
Alverton well so we might need to scout in advance for any hunts.” Star asked.

“I have already found some information about the hunting areas by asking around the
city.” Shiroe replied.
“Hunting a T5 Field Boss.” Arthur replied. “I think I can do it.” He added after a moment
of thought.

“It’s better to get some backup. We don’t want to risk anything.” Shiroe added and got a
nod from the guy.

Others had similar quests too.

Marielle had to lead a group of maximum five T4 players to win against a field boss with
her healing.

Naotsugu was going to wait till he maxed out his Sword Skills so that he could go for the
Lord Knight Class.

As for Akatsuki, she was a rare case.

She was an Assassin, a very rare class.

I remember Kuroka telling me about this one.

She had a choice and she had chosen to go with Rogue instead of an Assassin as they
would be more focused on monsters instead of humanoid creatures. She said that it
was to level up more easily but the slight change in her tone said otherwise.
​
Akatsuki on the other hand was a different case altogether.

She had played Assassin as her main character in the previous game and was quite
good at it too. So she decided to continue with it.

Unlike Kuroka, she didn’t have any deep thoughts and just took the class she was the
most comfortable with.

It was the quest she had received that was surprising.

“A bounty?”

“Hmm. I need to hunt someone with a T5 bounty.”

A T5 bounty didn’t necessarily mean they had to have T5 strength but rather that the
difficulty to hunt them was of T5 Class.
For example, a peak T4 bandit with a group of other bandits as support can be
considered as a T5 Bounty.

In fact, not only humans, even monsters had bounties on them sometimes.

“Can they be monsters?” I asked.

“No. Humanoid.” She shook her head.

As expected.

“I will ask the knights for the list of criminals with bounties on their heads. The number of
bandit groups are bound to rise after the chaos in the kingdom. The Knights will not
have any time to pursue them due to being shorthanded. It’s better that we take action
and finish them off near Alverton before they gain any power.”

“Thank you.”

“Alright then. Complete the second part of your quests as soon as you can so that we
can go out on hunts.”

I haven’t gained any levels in a week. It almost feels uncomfortable.

__________________________________x___________________________________

Three days passed by with everyone working full time.

The Church’s repairs were finally completed and they shifted to the City Lord’s mansion
for repairs. In earnest

I wanted the reparations to be completed before Veena and the rest of the group arrived
at Alverton.

The building we had bought from Cardo’s group was more or less already furnished and
in a good condition so we directly changed it into the Guild Dorms.

Another building was bought for the kids to move to.

It was just beside the Guild Dorms and behind the place we had chosen for the Guild
Shop and main Guild Building.

This section of the town was relatively unharmed due to Cardo’s group’s protection.

We would do more renovations later but for now, the kids were shifted into the kid’s
dorms of the Guild when the repairs of the City Lord’s Mansion started.

In the meantime, Marielle, Arthur and Akatsuki had also completed the second part of
their advancement quest and only needed to do the last part to become T5.

Star, Suikazura-san and Shiroe had scouted the areas and collected the information
about the bosses.

Turns out that there were five bosses near the city of Alverton that had been discovered
by the players. Two among these had been hunted already but Cardo’s group lost five
members during their second boss hunt and had been wary of hunting them again until
more of their members were at a higher level.

This meant that we could still take down three bosses for the First Hunt Bonus.

There could also be more bosses in the unexplored regions of the mountains and
forests near Alverton.

On a side note, I had started putting the knights of Alverton through a grinder.

Their day started with an hour of exercise.

Apparently, NPCs could get stronger with exercising too.

This made their slow leveling rate more understandable and balanced.

Since that was the case, I had them going through the exercise routine set by Arthur. He
had been taught by some of the best in the world so he would know what to do and
what not to do.

Once they were done with their exercise, they had to spar with me.

I fought twenty against one against them until my HP went to red. Then I healed and
repeated the process until everyone got a chance.
It turned out to be a good exercise for me.

The Knights might be of lower level but they knew how to work together which made
them harder to deal with.

These spars prepared them for situations where they had to deal with someone much
stronger than them like what had happened during the last World Quest.

Until now, every World Quest has had bosses of some kind. It would be better if they
knew how to deal with them.

Unfortunately it seems that it's still too early for them.

Even with a twenty against one fight, they didn’t last ten minutes against me. It was
much better than Cardo’s group who had lost much earlier but then again these people
were professional knights and each group had a T5 Knight.

At the end of the spar, the looks on their faces were worth watching.

All I need now is to wait for the rest of the Guild members to arrive so that we can divide
the groups and lead them to hunt and level up. Until then, all they did for eight hours
everyday was fight.

They fought continuously.

Once they got injured or tired, they were taken aside to heal and recover and then they
returned for a fight.

We did talk with Veena. She and the rest were going to arrive the day after tomorrow.

They are in a big caravan of over two hundred members so their speed was much
slower than ours when we came here.

After finishing off another fight, I gained a level in Observation Haki and returned.

The fight was decent but even then, the Observation Haki Skill was pushed to the limit
in a one versus multiple fight. Even my Armament Haki, Touki and Battle Aura Skills
gained experience. At this rate, I might have decent gains even without gaining levels.
I wanted to master at least one of these skills first so that I could teach it to others using
the Skill Tutor System.
​
For now, I was already planning to teach my core team the Shingen-ryū Skill which I
had already mastered.

I took a towel from Akeno who was watching the fight from the side. Rose was busy with
work and Akeno, who was free, was watching the fight today.

She had just gained the Cleric Class and was helping out healing the injured.

Clerics could also gain some experience from healing others just like Blacksmiths but
the rate is far slower than directly leveling up.

“Ara ara, wasn’t that quite brutal?” She asked, with a smile on her face.

“It’s better to be brutal now than being unprepared and dying later.” I replied coolly.

“So cold fufufufu.” She giggled.

She had been behaving just like this since she found out about us knowing about the
supernatural world.

And I have got to say it, she was quite similar to Kurumi as in… she tries too hard.

Apparently she had taken my retort that day as a challenge and was coming down on
me heavily.

Some of her comments even made Rose go red. At least she was good to Rose and
was becoming a good friend to her and Rose seemed much happier.

I expertly ignored her teasing.

She was used to this and directly used her healing skill on me.

“Did you find any skill books for yourself from the collection?” I asked.

“No. The Skill Books for Clerics are with Elaine. I will get them when they arrive.”

“That’s good.”
I felt my HP recovering again and then suddenly I felt a touch behind my neck sending a
light shiver down my spine.

I looked at her with a light raise of my eyebrow.

“I was just checking where you were hurt.” She replied with a smile.

My mouth opened at her blatant lie.

Having received the exact reaction she wanted, she giggled and stepped back.

Dammit.

It was like Veena all over again.

“Be careful before touching suddenly or you might be the one getting hurt instead.” I
warned lightly.

“Ara ara, are you tempting me?” She replied.

My eyes twitched at the weird reply before I recalled that this girl was a switch.

Just you wait.

I want to see what look you will have on your face when Veena arrives.

While I was thinking of this, she chuckled lightly and walked towards the rest of the
injured soldiers with an extra sway in her hips.

After healing everyone I went on for another round of spar, the last one for today.

When we left the training grounds, most of the knights were on their knees or collapsed
on the ground.

Healing Magic might heal their wounds but stamina was not recovered unless a potion
was used.

It was when we were about to reach the City Lord’s Manor that we got a message.
Veena had arrived.

__________________________________x___________________________________

“I thought you guys were going to arrive the day after tomorrow.” I asked.

“Oh my, do you not like my surprise? Or could it be that you didn’t miss me?” She asked
with a mischievous smile on her face.

I shook my head. “No. This is a wonderful surprise.” I looked back at Bina and the rest
of the over two hundred members of the Guild. “Seriously, all of you were in on this?”

They just chuckled or laughed at our expression.

“You are always so calm and composed so they wanted to see your surprised face.”
Kurumi said from the side.

Seriously?

Just what kind of impression did they have of me?

“Come on. The Guild Building is more or less prepared. The building for the Dorms has
also been bought and will be renovated soon. Please adjust for a week or two.” I told
the crowd.

The Guild Members agreed and followed me.

Our procession attracted the eyes of many people from Alverton.

It was understandable.

Over two hundred people and over dozens of carriages.

Just the movement cost had piled up to several tens of thousands.

While the people of Alverton were looking at the Fairy Tail members, they were also
looking around the place.

“Why does this place look so… damaged? Was the attack more dangerous on this
side?” I heard Kurumi speak.
“No. The attacks were similar. They were just caught unprepared. Their city was divided
into many factions and couldn’t respond well to the attacks.” Shiroe explained.

“Were the damages more extensive?”

“They lost the Church and one more building. We have reconstructed them already.”

“Damn.”

Some of the Guild Members heard this and murmurs went down the rest of the group.

I could even hear some of their discussions.

“They look so low levelled.”

“Yes, I think I saw a T2 Player.”

“Their equipment isn't so good either.”

“Will we get good hunting grounds here?”

“Man, I was going to take the Advancement Test for T4 Class. Will there be any
problems?”

“Can we get enough supplies for making pills and potions here? I don’t want my
Herbalist Progress to slow down. I have an assessment to attend.”

Similar discussions went throughout the entire group as we reached the Guild Building.

The building was mostly empty inside.

We were still in the process of renovating.

Veena wanted to buy some furniture from Llyne but we found out that things are better
and cheaper in Alverton so we decided to wait a few days instead.

When buying so many items, the cost could go up to millions and even a small margin
per product could result in a difference of tens of thousands.
Despite getting a funding of twenty million from the King, I was coming to realise that
the city was like a black hole for money.

No matter how much we paid, there was always more.

We went to the first floor and I addressed the Guild Members.

“Welcome to Alverton, everyone. I cannot express how happy I am that you have
decided to put your trust in me and follow me here despite having already settled in
Llyne. For this, I am and will always be thankful to you all.” I started.

The crowd had smiles on their faces while some of the younger ones looked a bit
embarrassed too.

“We are the members of Fairy Tail, Guild Master.” One of them shouted eliciting cheers
from everyone.
​
The scene made me smile.

I hadn’t realised that we had gotten so close in just a period of two months of training
together.

Our plan of training together was very well done.

“Thank you.” I gave them all a small bow and continued.

“As you have noticed, things are… a bit slow in Alverton right now. At least compared to
Llyne. The attack has hit this place quite heavily and people are still recovering. So
things might take a few weeks to go back to normal. That said, things are not all bad.
The town’s knights are all under my control. They will follow the same leveling routine
which we did in Llyne. This time around, the Fairy Tail Guild will be much more involved
with Alverton.”

Now Shiroe took over. “We have obtained a contract for three million gold coins to
supply consumables for the city so the production class members don’t have to worry
about not getting paid either.”

This news brought a look of happiness among many Herbalists in the group.
“The city also has a very good place to hunt nearby. The reason you all didn’t see high
level players here was because the biggest group of players in the town were bullying
other players and our Guild Master Arthas… kicked them all out of town.” Shiroe said.

“Oh and he didn’t just kick them out with authority. He challenged them to a fight and
kicked them quite literally… in a one vs fifty five match.” Star added with a smirk.

“Wha…!”

“Seriously?”

“Good riddance.”

“Yeah fuck’em.”

“Sasuga Arthas-sama!”

Who was that last one?

Oi!

Who was that last one?

I shook my head and continued.

“They were using numbers to pressure other players. That’s something I will never
stand for in my city… not even by the members of my own Guild.” I added after a short
pause. “You are all the members of Fairy Tail. Your conduct will define the face of the
Guild. Never do anything that will reflect badly on the reputation of the Guild or it will
affect everyone in the guild.”

My words caused some to quieten down from their excitement while some nodded their
heads seriously.

At this point Shiroe stepped forward and took control once more. “Our Guild will be
under a constant watch by the people of the city due to Arthas being our Guild Master.
While he can bring us advantages, it also puts him at risk of being called biased. We
have to make sure that such a thing doesn’t happen.”
This statement brought about a round of agreements from the crowd.

“Now for the more important parts.” Shiroe continued as he stepped forward and hung a
curtain sized map from the balcony of the first floor. This was something he had
prepared after looking at the map in the City Lord’s Manor. It was a map of Alverton and
its surrounding areas.

“Alverton is surrounded by mountains and forests. The immediate areas around us have
already been explored and contain T3 to T5 monsters. But this changes as we go
further in. There have been news of T6 monsters further inside these forests too.
Further beyond, there is an area covered with Miasma. We are not going to enter that
area unless every single member of the team is in the middle level of T5 and fully
prepared. Remember this well. Miasma areas mean certain death for lower level
players. Don’t risk it. You will be given a map of areas suitable for hunting soon. Stay
within that area.”

Everyone looked with utmost seriousness at the map.

Shiroe went on to describe the entire situation of Alverton.

Originally, I was planning to throw them a party on their arrival but they pulled that
surprise and we only found out about them when they arrived at the City Gates.

So the plans for the party had to be postponed till tomorrow.

Everyone was tired from the journey and wanted to go to the dorms and rest but before
they did that, we had to do something else.

The entire Guild went outside the Guild Building and Naotsugu and Star climbed to the
roof of the building and hung the Fairy Tail’s Guild Logo on the building.

Meanwhile, Rose and the rest put up several tables in front of the Guild Building and
waited for the next part.

Our group had already gathered the attention of the players of Alverton and they had
gathered around the building, watching from a distance.

This action of ours was viewed by everyone and their reactions were exactly what I
wanted.
Finally, I stepped forward and shouted. “The Fairy Tail Guild is open for registration.
Applicants can line up. We have a hundred and fifty slots open. Registration requires
five hundred gold coins. If you cannot get seats today, you can also book seats in
advance for later. You will get priority when the Guild has more seats.”

After that I didn’t say anything and left.

As for their reactions, that was on them.

Those who take the chance now will get early entry and those who hesitate will have to
wait. As they say, fortune favours the bold.

It was for this reason that I didn’t tell them about the Guild Perks.

My Guild members noticed this too and smirked or shook their heads but didn’t open
their mouths.

___________________________________x__________________________________

We watched in amusement as Akeno hugged Gasper who was still undecided if he was
more happy at meeting her again or more terrified of all the people gathered in the
room.

On another corner of the room were Arthur and Elaine.

Their meeting had been more… subtle although Elaine looked far more cheerful now
that she was beside him.

I did notice that Kurumi was still maintaining a distance from them to not give us any
indication that she knew them.

Her eyes were more focused on Gasper watching the kid in amusement.

Veena sat beside me and watched the whole scene with a smile too.

She didn’t show it often but I could only imagine how worried she was all this time.

Now all we needed to do was find Rias and Koneko and she could rest easy.
“Are these our new members?” Veena asked, looking at Marielle and her group.

“Hello. My name is Marielle and there are Naotsugu and Akatsuki-chan.”

“Hello dear. Thank you for taking care of Akeno.”

“No no. She is our teammate too.” Naotsugu replied, slightly flustered.

Everyone got familiar with the new group and then Shiroe brought out his plans for the
future.

With Veena, Bina and Elaine here, the load on me will be reduced a lot. They were very
good at territory management.

I could focus on leveling and exploring the surroundings again.

And that’s exactly what Shiroe was planning.

Veena also discussed her plans for Alverton and how she wanted to work towards
making it a business town.

These plans would take up all our time for the next few months.

Our plans to go to Loguetown had to be kept aside for now.

I was disappointed but when I remembered the name of our neighbouring town, all that
disappointment vanished.

Who knows when the plaque will start and this whole place will be drowned by the
swarms of undead?

That was not the kind of death I wanted for myself.

By the time we finished our discussions, it was time for dinner.

We ate together and then everyone went their separate ways.

Shiroe and Star went to the Guild Dorms with other guys while Marielle, Akatsuki and
even Suikazura-san went to the kid’s dorms.
Suikazura-san had gotten quite close to the kids these past few days.

Kuroka seemed interested and went to check out the place with Gasper too.

The ones left in the City Lord Manor were Akeno, Bina, Veena, Rose and me.

“That was quite tiring. You all have been working very hard this past week.” She said
looking at Rose and me.

Rose blushed lightly at the compliment and I just nodded.

“Yes. Too many problems left after the attack.”

“Don’t worry, dear. We will take care of everything together. But right now, I want nothing
more than a hot bath and a good night’s sleep.”

“The City Lord’s Manor has a very big bath and I have already told the maids to prepare
a hot bath.” I replied with a smile.

One of the advantages of the manor was that it was around a dozen times bigger than
the house we were staying in Llyne.

I noticed that Bina had raised an eyebrow at the maid part so I replied to her unasked
question. “There are five maids and five guards in the City Lord’s Manor. They live in the
servant’s quarters along the walls of the manor. I will introduce you to them tomorrow.”

Satisfied by my explanation, she nodded.

“Let’s leave all of that for tomorrow. Now come on, join me for a bath. You look quite
stressed too. Let’s relax.” Veena said with a smile as she walked up to me and put her
arms around my neck and pulled me in for a kiss.

I wrapped my hands around her waist and responded in kind.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Akeno freezing in shock at the scene.

One more win for Arthas.

___________________________________x__________________________________
___________________________________x__________________________________
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Beta Note: The advance chapters are in order of what is updated, a first Tier will
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Author’s Note:

I am back with another chapter of ‘Soul Art Online’.

This chapter took some time to write as I had to plan a bit for the future chapters.

Akeno took Arthas’ attitude as a challenge and was teasing Arthas. The poor girl
didn’t know that he had been grinding the final boss all this time. His numbers
were bigger than hers.

We got to see some of the challenges Arthas and group are going to face in
Alverton and the plans they are making to overcome them.

I will start a new arc in the next chapter.

There will be a timeskip in the next chapter.

Finally, I might write about what’s going on in the outside world after this.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.