....

NPC Name: Ribbit

Occupation: Merchant

Potential: 87

Loyalty: 93

Intelligence: 97

Strength: 20

Agility: 20

Vitality: 20

Wisdom: 97

Dexterity: 25

Skills:

1. Economy Management: Very High

2. Merchandizing: Very High

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NPC Name: Jude

Occupation: Blacksmith

Potential: 85

Loyalty: 90

Intelligence: 20

Strength: 80

Agility: 40

Vitality: 80

Wisdom: 20

Dexterity: 75

Skills:

1. Blacksmithing: Intermediate High

2. Forge Mastery: Very High

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NPC Name: Felix

Occupation: Knight

Potential: 90

Loyalty: 40

Intelligence: 50

Strength: 90

Agility: 70

Vitality: 80

Wisdom: 50

Dexterity: 70

Skills:

1. Fighting: Very High

2. War Strategy: Average

------------

Shin can't take his eyes at the details of the three NPCs sitting around the roundtable. And when those NPCs saw Shin entered the room, they immediately stood up and greeted him. "We are waiting for you Village Chief."

Shin come back to his senses and nodded at them before joining the three on the roundtable. "Sorry for troubling you when I'm not around the Village. But may I know what are you positions on this Village before I took over the position of Village Chief."

The three NPCs look at each other with confused expression before introducing themselves one by one.

The first one is Ribbit. "Village Chief, you might not remember me, but I am the one that you saved from a pack of Shadow Wolves on the forest. If not for you I should be dead for now. I pledge my loyalty to you for the rest of my life as a gratitude."

Next is Jude. "Village Chief, you saved my only son from the group of Dark Swamp Crocodiles. And I'm willing to work under you because of that reason."

Shin was startled at first and muttered to himself. 'Ohh... So these two are from the quests that I had cleared in this Village when I first arrived in here. This can be considered as accumulates good karma, I guess.'

Then he shifts his attention to the third NPC who is the one that he is most curious about. And as if understanding Shin's gaze, Felix introduces himself. "I'm not from this Village originally. I'm from the fallen Seventh Outpost that is not far from here. You can consider me as a refugee that is seeking for some shelter."

"Then why don't you seek help on the Holy City instead? Your a Knight, I'm sure that you can get some position in there." said Shin as he try to test the Knight's reaction.

And sure enough, Felix trembled uncontrollably after hearing what Shin had said. "T-That is not possible, Sir."

'So this guy know something I guess.' Shin look at Felix coldly, before questioning him further. "Then, How about you tell me the reason on coming here? If you don't give me a satisfying answer I'll report you to the Royal Court."

Felix was frozen in place and become speechless because of Shin's questioning. He tried to look at the two NCPs, to seek some help. But from the expressions on their faces, he can tell that they are also becoming suspicious of him.

Felix want to lie at Shin, but from some unknown reason, he can't bring himself to do that. He felt that this guy in front of him is someone that can see through all kind of lies, so he state his real purpose instead. "It is because I heard what that the Chief of this Village is the Young Envoy of the Church of the Sun and the Moon, who is also the one that killed the Overlord that destroyed our Outpost."

After knowing that Felix is not laying, Shin post another question. "So what do you want from me then?"

Felix brace himself and said. "I want you to help me and my comrades to avenge our families against the real culprit behind the massacre of the Seventh Outpost."

Shin knitted his brows because he is waiting for a quest window to pop-up, but unfortunately it didn't appear, so he just said to Felix. "How can I help you if you don't trust me fully? And what can I get if I help you with your vengeance?"

Felix hesitated for a moment, before finally telling the truth that he know. "It is the 'King'! The 'King' of the Holy City is the one that sent those Corrupted Monsters at the Seventh Outpost! If you help us, I'll pledge my loyalty to you, some goes for my subordinates."

The face of Jude and Ribbit change drastically after hearing that, while Shin on the other hand is still frowning his brows. 'Still no Quest? Then I guess it is a part of my Hidden Quest.'

Then Shin tried to probe Felix more. "That was a huge accusation. Do you have some evidence supporting that?"

Felix nodded his head slightly and said. "We have. We gotten our hands on the secret letters that the 'King' were sending on his subordinates at the Outpost. We gotten those letters when we ambushed a group of Corrupted Cult members before. And that is also the reason why the 'King' ordered the massacre over there."

"Show me the letters." demand Shin as he stretch his right arm forward. And when he saw the hesitation at Felix eyes, he added. "I'm still an Envoy of a Church. If what you had said is true, then I can't just sit here and do nothing. I'll make sure to bring justice to you people."

Felix eyes turned bright after hearing that. And Shin also saw that Felix's Loyalty increase from 40 to 70 in one go. Shin is smiling from ear to ear under the [Nephilim's Mask] as he take the letters from Felix hands.

After confirming that they are really evidences, Shin put it in his inventory space while saying at the three. "I'll be taking these letters and deliver them to the Church. But I'm warning you three, don't let this leak outside, or else we will suffer the same fate as the Seventh Outpost."

Then an idea suddenly flash at Shin's mind. He look at Felix and said. "Do you want to follow me from this day on? I promise you that you will get the vengeance that you want, and I will give you a place that you can call home."

From some reason, Felix is seeing Shin from a different light. It is as if he is looking into a real and honorable King of a country. He then bow his head instinctively and said. "Yes my Liege! I'll follow you and my subordinates for the rest of our lives."

Shin was taken aback at the sudden change of development. He even saw that Felix's Loyalty suddenly shot up from 70 to 100. Then a system notification followed after that.

*DING!*

System: Congratulations! You successfully taken Felix as your faithful subordinate. You can spend some of your Reputation Points to promote yourself into a Noble Figure, so that you can assign him as your personal Knight.

After a careful thinking, Shin decided to spend 15,000 Reputation Points to directly promoting himself into a Baron. The area around the Village suddenly become his area of jurisdiction after promoting himself.

Then he appointed Felix as his first personal Knight. And together with that, Calderock Village suddenly received additional 3000 Level 90 NPC Soldier Guards. They are Felix subordinates from the Seventh Outpost. And they are going to become Shin's personal army too.

And since that was the case, Shin don't need to pay them at the same rate as the hired Elite Guards from the City.

Shin assigned Ribbit for the Village Management, since he have high intelligence and Wisdom. He assigned Felix as the Head of Security on the Village. While Jude will be overseeing the weapons created by the blacksmith shops for the soldiers needs.

Shin met all the other requirements for the promotion of the Advance Village into a Basic Town. The only problem now is facilities, he need to upgrade at least one of each of the Shops, Inns and Restaurants into Intermediate Ranks so that he can proceed promoting the Village now.

But he is lacking the blueprints that are needed for the upgrade of facilities. He also need to hire Architects and Engineers for those. What's more, he also need to provide all the resources. All in all, he thinks that he needs to spend at least a Million of gold coins to cover the entire cost.

Money is not the main problem for now, since the Village currently have enough money for that. The problem is where he should get the blueprints and the manpower for that. If he contact some powerful Guilds, then those guys might take advantage of the current situation to take the Village for themselves.

"Hmm... Should I contact Brother Lawless then? Nah, that guy might have some connections, but I guess that shouldn't be enough to get what I needed for the short amount of time." muttered Shin to himself as he think for a solution on his current situation.

And while he is locked on a dilemma, Shin suddenly received a call from an unknown caller. And when he saw the combination of numbers, and realized that it was quite familiar, Shin suddenly felt that his entire body trembled violently.

Shin can't received any kind of calls or messages that came from strangers, since he already blocked that opinion before. So only his friends inside the game call him now, that is unless his caller is registered on his Advance Watch. "Ohh... That is right! I'm using a Gaming Pod now, so it can read all the registered numbers in my Advance Watch."

Shin connect his Advance Watch to his Gaming Pod through the System. Then the unknown caller suddenly become known. And when Shin saw the identity of the caller, he is even tempted to not to answer it at all. But if he do that, he is going the suffer a fate that is worst that anything else.

Shin took a deep breath to gather up some courage to answer the call, but before doing that he suddenly felt that he need to swap his equipments first for some unknown reason. After unequipping all of his equipments, and swapping it with ordinary items, Shin finally answered the call.

When the virtual screen appeared in front of him, Shiella who is currently covering the lower half of her face with a golden colored veil appeared with it. Shiella looked at Shin coldly before saying. "What took you so long to answered the call?"

"Sorry about Big Sis. I was in a quest earlier." Shin smiled stiffly as replying at that. Then he suddenly received a friend request from Shiella.

After accepting it, and when he saw that the IGN that had been registered on his friend list is 'Snow White', Shin suddenly felt that it is quite familiar. 'Hmmm.... Where did I heard it before? I'm pretty sure that I heard it somewhere.'

While Shin is in deep thought, Shiella suddenly interrupt what's in Shin's mind by asking. "Alright, let us go to the business. You are in Saint Heaven Kingdom, right? What City are you on? The one that you had chose as your main City?"

Shin give Shiella a confused look before replying. "Holy City. I'm base in Holy City."

Shiella's eyes suddenly turned bright while saying. "Good! I'll give you a job ..."

But before Shiella manage to finish what she wants to say, Shin interrupted her. "Sis, we are not in Real World. And I still need do finish up some of my quest, so I have no time with that."

Shiella expected that reply and said to Shin calmly. "You owe me money, remember? And that was just recently."

The corner of Shin's mouth twitch after hearing that. Then he suddenly remembered something and rebutted. "So are you going to less it to my debt then? And how much is it?"

'This guy suddenly got some guts inside the game.' Shiella squinted her eyes and said. "OK, I less it then. One percent of the total."

Shin knitted his brows and said. "Come on. You are not being sincere here, Big Sis."

"You don't even know what job I'm offering to you." said Shiella as she is getting irritated.

Shin nodded his head and replied calmly. "That is why I'm saying that you are not being sincere."

'Looks like this rascal really picked up some courage inside this game. Should I teach him some lesson?' thought Shiella in her mind before saying. "I need you to investigate who is the Village Chief of a certain Village not far from Holy City."

At this point, Shin suddenly become interested as some ideas started to run in his head.

...