Chapter 91: The Second City

The construction of Hope City was a success, but at the same time, it was a failure.

They obtained the promise of the Star-Bearer, and even a trade route to the Star-Bearer's large NPC faction; it could be said they had a quite brilliant performance. But the problem was that their choice of location was somewhat too terrible.

Above Karak Ziflin, at the end of the bay behind the Plague Hero Pillar, with the Chaos Dwarf at their back, facing the Chaos Warband, and the Skaven to the side, only the flank was the Dwarf Karak Ziflin and the Kislev border, who were unwilling to join them. When everyone first lacked awareness, this land of four battles was thought to be a good place.

After all, from the feeling of it, there really wasn't any problem here. The mountains and rivers were beautiful, the people were quite nice, and everyone was very enthusiastic. Nothing went wrong during the process of building the city. There was even a large NPC faction that took the initiative to befriend them, and even gave them true blessings and power. From any angle, Hope City was a very perfect stronghold for building a city.

And then these players were trapped by this damn Hope City.

After experiencing the first Chaos Warband siege, they discovered in horror that the Star Fort bastion they had built, which they thought was indestructible, was of no use at all. Your Star Fort bastion looks very impressive, but can you hold off the enemy's artillery if it's a living thing?

They automatically track and bomb your windows, or they simply cast a spell, and your entire city wall has to soften into mud and collapse in large sections. Without the support of a god's faith and magic, matter in this world is unbelievably fragile. After finally filling the gaps with human lives, the players learned from their mistakes and decided to recruit mages to create magical walls.

Then the players' rotten reputation exerted its effect. The mages they found, upon hearing it was a players' city, immediately raised their prices tenfold without a second word; take it or leave it, see who else will do it for you.

Because the players' own reputation was very poor, they were even required to pay in advance.

Moreover, in the process, the players were tragically scammed and defrauded twice. The money was sent, but the magic didn't move at all. In the end, the players gritted their teeth and managed to scrape together the tribute for the Star-Bearer.

These warriors wrapped in golden light demanded the highest price of all. Not only was everything gained from trade basically lost, but they also had to agree to a whole bunch of unequal treaties. Then that Star-Bearer came over, stuck a rod in the ground, and left. He said this was an extension of the god's gaze, and that the city wall just needed to protect this.

You wouldn't believe it, but it actually worked.

At least after the players' city walls were besieged, although they sparked in various ways, they really did hold up. Under these preconditions, the players' requests to the Star-Bearer could be said to be granted as asked.

But this relationship was also limited. After the third Chaos Warband siege within two months, the Hope City project was basically declared a failure. In an environment of a small fight every three days, a big fight every five days, and a major sweep every twenty days, there was absolutely no possibility for the players to build a city in peace.

However, the investment had already been thrown in, the trade route had already started, and this place was considered trapped.

The players could only bite the bullet and maintain the sky-high cost of the route, then send back whatever they earned to the Star-Bearer, begging the Star-Bearer to add Runes to this land so it could withstand the attacks of the Chaos Warband.

This didn't even count the Underground Kingdom, which often snuck around stealing supplies on the side. How many times had transport convoys been looted by the Skaven, and when asked, they would just stiffen their necks and say no. The players couldn't even fall out with them, because if they did, it would be a pincer attack, and the players might as well just surrender.

It was only because the Chaos Dwarf really had no interest in the players and stayed inside the mountain pass the whole time; otherwise, the players would have been facing a state of triple-trial interrogation.

In reality, the entire Hope City project had become a chicken rib in the eyes of high-end players.

Tasteless to eat, but a pity to discard.

But relatively speaking, they began to pay attention to the changes in the world situation, and subsequently began to turn their gaze toward a brand-new region.

"The news from Hope City is that this Chaos Warband has also been defeated. But the cost of maintaining the Hope City trade route is too huge, and it has no value for existence. Our core is to trade with the Star-Bearer; if Hope City is gone, it can be rebuilt, but if the trade route is gone, it's gone."

"So? You aren't going to tell me something about how a player's honor cannot be tarnished, so we have to go find another place to build a city, right? Don't, I'd rather spend a lot of money to transfer to Northrend than stay in the Old World." "No, I'm talking about a new trade node."

"A trade node? Tilea? Or Hag Graef or Altdorf?"

"None of those. A brand-new trade node that doesn't discriminate against players. Although Hope City's performance isn't great, we can have a new blood transfusion point. When the time comes, one civil and one military, we can live a little more peacefully."

Watching the player's disbelieving look, the bartender took down the world map of the Old World and pointed to an island that looked very desolate above Bretonnia.

"News from the Star-Bearer: on Albion Island next to the Norsca Peninsula, they have already built a city. It is now open to the players' trade fleets. Players can complete the trade they want through the Golden Land and can establish a permanent stronghold. Their master will not discriminate against players."

"Will not discriminate against players...?"

Hearing this word, the player raised their eyebrows uncertainly.

"It's not going to be a trick to lure people over and then kill them like dogs, right? I've heard about how the Human Empire treated players like rags and threw them away; this wouldn't be the same, would it?"

"It shouldn't be. After all, the way that Witch King acts is actually quite good. Since the Sea Elf War, he hasn't created any other armies. Instead, he is single-mindedly developing trade with us. Now that the new trade city is built, you happen to have some spare money, why not go do some small business?"

Looking at the seemingly suspicious player, the bartender said unhurriedly:

"After all, you can see the trade zone of the Dark Elf and many other races there; even if you just go to see the world, it's not a loss. Bretonnia also has a dedicated route that goes straight there; you can't go wrong going there."

"... Are you lying to me? I always feel like you've been hyping up this place?"

"That's not it."

The bartender shook his head sincerely.

"But I got paid. The Star-Bearer told us they really need to make the trade node big and strong, and asked us to pull more players over. I would say this to whoever came."

"... How much did you get paid?"

"One silver coin per head, no cap."

"So much money, I'll do it. Where do I board the ship?"

Watching the bartender take out an exquisite silver coin, the player thought for a moment, then slapped their thigh and made up their mind.

Wait a moment, there are two more updates coming! Wait for me to type!

(End of this chapter)