New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

But finding an ally whose goals and mentality aligned was not a simple task, which made everyone wonder how two prominent guilds like Paragons and Knights of the Sun had achieved the synergy. No one knew that the situation differed from their thoughts.

But amongst the top guilds, which had now gone from ten to nine, the guild leaders kept to themselves largely. Of course, that didn't preclude them from having internal meetings to discuss the situation.

One such meeting was currently happening in the dark offices of Kurai Ran, the guild led by Blue Peacock. The Kurai Ran, or Dark Orchids, for anyone reading the name with the translator on, were a guild that Blue Peacock had set at the disposal of anyone with the means to pay.

Blue Peacock made sure they filled the guild with skilled thieves, assassins, spies, and whatever dark job she could think of. Her connections in the underground of the world on Earth made her the perfect suitor to lead this bunch of outlaws.

And she was already spreading her roots on this side, as well, getting ready to integrate the underbelly of one of the major cities in New Eden.

But the meeting she convened was to discuss something something that brought her away from this goal, and closer to another, that she had initially made for later.

"Guild leader. I'm not sure going with this idea of yours is advisable. There is no guarantee they will accept to play along, should we bring the idea to them. We are enemies, after all."

The one who spoke was the vice leader, Takeo, her manservant, both inside and outside of New Eden. He was sporting an uncertain look, in the face of the words his leader had just uttered to all the officers in the guild.

"Takeo, although I respect your input, on this matter, I have already made my mind. We can only bring the proposal to them and hope they see that the pros far outweigh the cons.

"You know as much as I do that their guild will eventually herald the charts in every aspect. We can only think of tying ourselves to them now before another entity like ours beats us to it."

Takeo looked down, his face a mask of pondering. He knew his lady was right, but he also thought it was a bad idea to tie themselves to them.

They should go with their original plan and get into the underbelly of a well-established kingdom. Not this newborn one, who could still die at any moment, if a larger kingdom decided they didn't want them to expand anymore.

No one knew yet that Bastion City had become the sixth major city in New Eden since there was no announcement done for this, at least after they came back. This was because the decision had happened just before the players came back.

But Blue Peacock was a stubborn woman. When her mind was made up, it wouldn't change.

He could only nod his head and go along with her will.

Seeing him give up his rebuttal, Blue nodded her head, scanning the other officers one by one with her eyes. No other player objected to her plans, so it was time to put it into motion.

***

In another guild hall, on the dark continent, Dark Panda was lazing about on his enormous sofa, slowly reading reports on his guild's progress, when the notification resounded.

He read it, his eyes showing no interest. But his words said something else.

"Urgh! Why do people keep trying to get over me? Now I will have to work even harder to bring Sins of Sloth to the top. My dad is going to tear me a new one… Damn you, Paragons…"

He turned around on his sofa, whining a bit longer, before sending his assistant to fetch the officers. He had to convene a meeting to push up their plans a bit.

The thought of getting more work to do made the kid annoyed and slightly depressed. But he still had to do it, regardless.

His father would cut him off from everything if he didn't bring in results.

***

Back in Bastion City, the general meeting had just ended, and they had asked only a few people to stay, to flesh out the specifics. Killi, his two officers, Nalafein, Grit, Elwin, Astaroth, and Phoenix, all went from the throne room to a side meeting hall, where they would be more comfortable.

As they all took a seat, Killi couldn't wait to hear what they had promised, as well as maybe give his input into it, and gain more help right off the bat for the little prince. Looking at the Ash Elf prince, Killi gauged the young man couldn't be in his twenties yet.

Of course, this was a treacherous slope, since Elves, of all sorts, stopped aging at a certain point until they reached a few hundred years. But that was his estimate.

The meeting started with economic promises, as Grit Herman had many duties to go back to, and he was more pressed for time. As soon as he started talking about trade routes, goods, and financial aid, Killi was already hounding him to get more out of the deal.

Prince Nalafein wanted to lead this discussion, at first, but when Killi started pressing for more stuff, Gelum'vire put his hand on the young prince's shoulder, shaking his head slightly.

It was easy to see that Killi would be a better negotiator than Nalafein, and the old mage decided it was better advised to let him talk. Grit was slightly stunned when Killi negotiated him almost to a standstill.

The Half-Orc didn't know that Killi came from a long line of rich merchants himself, and had trained all his life for this kind of negotiating. It put both men to the test, as they entered a haggling war, with a numerical battlefield most others in the room got lost in.

But after an hour of back and forth, both parties seemed satisfied. The next steps, though, would be much more complicated.