Chapter 31: A Bet, "You’re Mine."
"Good girls," William said, scooping up the blooms from the fairies. He picked exactly 50 from each category to sell off. Once he’d gathered the haul, he stored them in his inventory. He also had a few items to sell, like a cultivation booze and monster loot from the last trial.
As William pulled up the regional chat the tower system buzzed in with an announcement:
[Due to the number of lords dropping below 50,000, Region #19201 will be merged into Region #18696.]
"Damn, that went down fast. Two trials in, and half the lords are already dead." William stared at the announcement, letting it sink in. This wasn’t something one could just shrug off. Back on Earth, life was simple; the strangest things we knew were secret aliens in Area 51 or some crazy posting drones as UFO sightings. That’s it.
Now? Billions dead, and more on the way, all fighting for shit nobody even knew existed a week ago. Questions bubbled up in his brain: Why us? What the hell are we dying for? Is this some upgraded version of Valhalla?
He’d asked these questions before; everyone would have asked. Rollie’s answer was always the same: not enough authority to know. The tower system? That third-rate AI wouldn’t even bother to show up.
William sighed and closed the announcement. The option panel popped up, and above Private Chat, he spotted ’99+ messages.’ His eyes went wide. "Shit, I forgot about Aunt Julia. She’s probably losing her mind after those Tower Games notifications."
He hurriedly opened her chat and immediately got bombarded with texts.
’Hello, Will. How did your trial go?
...
’Will, meet me at the same restaurant.’
...
’Reply as soon as you read this, okay?’
...
’What the hell are you doing? It’s been 3 hours!’
...
’Will???’
...
’(˶ -᷅⤙ -᷄ ˶)’
...
’(˶ -᷅⤙ -᷄ ˶) (˶ -᷅⤙ -᷄ ˶) (˶ -᷅⤙ -᷄ ˶)’
After the first ten or so messages, it was just a flood of pouting emojis. Julia was never this clingy. Guess those Tower Games announcements scared the shit out of her.’
Sorry, Aunt, I was out cold. The trial exhaustion really caught up to me.’
She replied the instant his message went through.
’N-no need to apologize! I was being impatient. After those Tower Games announcements, I just wanted to talk to someone.’
’It’s okay, Aunt! Don’t worry, I’ll be there in a jiff.’
’Just wait outside the Otterly Restaurant, we’ll switch up our meeting spot. I don’t want those idiots from last time causing another scene.’
’Mmm! Okay, see you soon.’
William closed the private chat and dove straight into the regional market to post his items. At the top corner, he caught the new lord count, 95,129, in the merged region. No time to waste; he started listing.
He listed the Blooms at the usual 3TP each, then searched for monster loot for a price idea. Gnoblin junk was everywhere, claws going for 2TP, fangs for 5TP. Snobtrox loots were a bit better: fangs at 5TP, but pelts and tails went for 10TP each.
He set the same prices on his stuff, then scrolled through cultivation listings to get a price for his Leaf Zen Brew. It was spirit rank, equal to uncommon, according to Rollie.
There were a few talismans and pills listed, but all were common, going for 20 to 35TP. No real price comp for his brew, but at least it proved there were a few lords with Qi troops or QI energy.
He set a 100TP price tag on the brew; if it didn’t sell by the time he got back from the neutral zone, he’d cut the price. With that done, he closed the panel and called for Nyx. It was her turn to visit the zone. With that done, he called the portal.
The moment William landed in the neutral zone, he noticed the whole place had a weird, gloomy vibe. There were way fewer lords than usual, most of them clustered together in little gangs, eyes darting at every new lord coming to the zone.
Another thing he noticed was that everyone had their real names, troop names, and troop ranks floating over their heads in bold white text, like NPCs.
William headed for the restaurant and instantly felt eyes on him; nothing friendly about them. Almost nobody in these groups had E or F-rank troops. The few who did kept them around as slaves or as dick warmers for the group.
As he made his way through the crowd, he spotted fewer and fewer lords with low-rank troops. Made sense; they were probably terrified of getting tagged for a challenge. And why not each lord want to play it safe at the start by picking off the weaklings, for easy wins. This was expected after the games were announced.
William couldn’t care less about them. He just grinned. ’Kekeke... I won’t even have to gaslight these idiots; my troop ranks alone will bait them in. Let them come. They’ll get a dragon in sheep’s clothing.’
When he got to the restaurant, Aunt Julia was already waiting, next to her was a seven-foot knight in golden armor. Not the flashy, full-body one. Just a helmet, sleeveless breastplate, kneecaps, and boots. The rest of its body was covered with white padded cloth.
William eyed the knight; there was no way to tell if it was human or something else under all that gear. He couldn’t even see its eyes. Julia gave him a quick wave. He walked up, expecting a hug, but nope. She just greeted him from a safe distance this time.
William’s mood went shit internally. He’d been hoping to feel her softness. He kept a smile on his face, greeted her back, and then they started walking towards the benches opposite the shops.
They found a spot with fewer lords nearby. Julia told her knight to stand at some distance so they could talk without him hovering next to them all the time.
Once they’d sat down, William asked, "So, how’d your trial go?"
"Not good, Will. Not good at all." Julia’s eyes stayed glued to the table. "This time I got five intermediates and a high climber. Half my troops are dead. We only survived by ganging up on the high-rank with the attack buff from the Blooms you gave." William could see the fear in her eyes.
She took a shaky breath. "Now we’ve got these Tower Games, messing everything up. It’s not just monsters anymore; we have to fight other lords to survive. M-my brain can’t handle this alone, Will. It’s just too much." Her voice trembled as she spoke.
She looked at William, eyes shining with tears. "P-please be my constellation, Will. I’m not asking you to fight or do anything dangerous, I just need your support. Just guide me, nothing more. You can command my troops yourself. I’ll do whatever you say just... be my constellation."
William just stared, seeing how close to breaking she really was. He’d wanted her to be his constellation, but here she was, begging him to be hers. He opened his mouth to answer, but she barreled on.
"I don’t want someone random as my constellation, nor do I want to become some stranger’s constellation just because his troops are stronger. While I was waiting for you, a couple of lords tried to recruit me into their groups, offering me a chance to be a constellation in the future. But I know what they really want is my body, not my skills, not my troops, they just want me to become a whore to satisfy their needs."
Tears she’d been holding finally broke loose, streaking down her face. William stood up and hugged her. He let it last for some time, then sat beside her. "Yeah, it’s shit. For you, for me, for everyone. Doesn’t mean we give up. Giving up is suicide here. You’re not weak, Aunt. You’re not one of those baka bitches banging their asses on some lord’s cock just to survive."
After a moment of silence, he realized late what he said at the end, rubbing the back of his neck, feeling embarrassed. "Eh... Sorry for my lang..." But Aunt Julia cut him off, voice steadier now. "Thank you, Will. Seriously. You don’t know how much your words help. They keep me sane. And stop the Aunt, call me by my name."
"No need for thanks, Aun—ah, Julia." He paused, correcting himself. "You’re family, so it’s nothing." Julia smiled at him and went straight for the main topic: "So will you be my constellation?"
William wanted to reject her almost-marriage-like proposal. But he stopped himself. Words wouldn’t cut it; he needed to show her what he could actually do, to make her his constellation instead.
After a few sparks, a fire lit up in his mind. "About that, I can’t be your constellation." Julia froze, blindsided. She’d expected him to jump at the full authority she was handing, not hand her a blunt rejection. Her voice cracked. "B-but why? I’m..."
Before she could finish, William cut in. "It’s not that I don’t want to be with you. It’s more like, I want you to be my constellation." Julia’s mouth opened, but he continued. "Yeah, I know, I’ve got F-rank troops. I know you think they’re weak. But you know what?" He looked at Nyx perched on his shoulder and gave her a quick pat. "Because of these little cuties, we just wrecked twelve intermediates and three highs without losing a single one."
Julia’s eyes went wide, hearing him. The numbers alone were absurd, but the idea he’d pulled it off with a bunch of fairies? Even with higher-ranked troops that was straight-up impossible in her books.
William saw disbelief painted all over her face; he grinned. "I know I sound like a scammer, but it’s true. So let’s make it interesting; how about a bet to decide who would be the constellation?"
Julia, still in a haze from everything, managed only two words: "A bet?"
William’s grin widened. "Yeah, a bet. The day before the next trial, we will have a siege battle, no killings, just a friendly fight. You come to my tower, I won’t use any floors, and I’ll even handicap myself. I will fight with only three of my troops against your whole crew. If I lose, I’ll surrender and become your constellation. But if you lose... you’re min-ahm... My constellation. So, what do you think?"
