Season 4: Chapter 188. The Great Legacy (3)
Life for the people of Paprika was brutal. Every time they logged in, the Knights dragged them straight to the mines. They dug iron, received a pitiful wage, and lined up for rationed meals. It was endless darkness underground and the same food every day. This eventually broke something inside them.
[Tired]
[Depressed]
“Uuugh...”
Little by little, they lost what made them human. However, they couldn’t stop mining because it was the only stable source of food and income. Survival won over dignity.
Then, someone said something insane.
“You’re saying... you can make Fertile Soil?”
It was Zelu, inheritor of Zelo’s great legacy.
“Yes, it’s easier than you think. You grab a monster, roast it, and the ground becomes fertile.”
“R-Roast?”
“You burn it to death.”
Shrimp and the other Paprika leaders went pale, but the shock didn’t end there.
“The problem is... mine is only B-grade.”
“That’s true...”
“I burned monsters, but I think the Knights...”
All of them froze. The same horrible conclusion stabbed all their minds at once.
“D-Don’t tell me...”
“They... wouldn’t...”
Zelu said what no one dared, “I think they burned people.”
A chill spread across the table.
“Then what? Should we do that too? We’d get flagged and turn red. How do we even...”
Directly killing a player meant incurring permanent penalties and receiving no forgiveness. This dilemma confused even Zelu.
“Fire doesn’t care who it kills. If someone burns, they burn.”
Indirect death was a loophole. More importantly...
“Honestly, compared to killing their own villagers, they killed you all way more.”
“Kh-hmm.”
True, Team Rocket had been valuable, almost... premium livestock.
“You delivered Obsidian, then Adamantium... Then, you all died and fertilized the land. Nothing ever went to waste.”
— LMAOOOOO premium livestock
— Almond might actually be a genius
— the perfect renewable resource is Team Rocket
“We... we didn’t do it on purpose,” Shrimp muttered.
Someone interrupted them. “HEY! YOU LOT!”
He sounded nasally smug and unmistakably obnoxious.
[Onion]
Onion Worker was the new enforcer of the Knights.
“How long does it take to eat one damn meal, huh? Plotting rebellion or what?” Onion said it jokingly, but the table turned to ice.
He stepped closer and sneered as he recognized a face. “Huh? Aren’t you that fatherless Zelu?”
— NOOOO not the fatherless line again
— the fatherless buff hits like a truck
— Onion Worker, you absolute demon
“I, I have a father!” Zelu shot to his feet furiously.
“Really? Where is he?”
“My father is right here. Inside me. Always with me!!”
“Ooohhhh...”
Team Rocket murmured in impressed amusement.
Onion Worker refused to yield. He raised one finger toward the sky. “Inside you? Hell no. He’s up there. In heaven.”
— JESUS CHRIST
— Onion Worker is too powerful
— Zelu got one-tapped emotionally
Zelu flinched, stunned into silence.
Choco Shroom stepped up and shielded him. “He’s just a kid! How could you say that!?”
“Kid my ass! He knows everything. Anyway...” With sharp eyes, Onion Worker lowered his voice. “Try to rebel again and I’ll snap you like a twig. Got it?”
Thud.
He kicked their table over for emphasis and walked away.
— peak third-rate villain energy
— send him to acting school, he’d main ‘thug #2’ permanently
— perfect casting
***
Meanwhile, in Cheese Village, Acorn Jelly waited for nightfall. Finally, darkness came. With a hammering heart, he lured the monsters toward the outskirts.
“Hah... hah...”
He wanted two or three, but got ten.
— bro pulled the whole server
— this is not a sample size, this is a raid
— RIP Acorn Jelly
Still, he tried to hype himself up.
“I’ll have you know, I’m a Kingdom Age veteran!”
With his shield up and sword forward, this primitive combat felt familiar.
“HAA!”
Slash!
He actually held his own.
“Ahwoo!”
Crunch.
Until a wolf sank its teeth into his arm.
“GAH!?”
— Kingdom Age doesn’t save you here, buddy
— definitely not a combat main
— send him back to farming
He bashed it away as his breathing grew ragged.
“Screw it!”
Fwhoom.
Acorn Jelly lit his torch. He had prepared wax and tinder across the ground. When he dropped the flame...
WHOOOSH.
“Kyeng! Kyang!”
The fire spread, and the monsters burned. Some ran, but Acorn Jelly easily cut them down as they fled.
“So, this is how the Knights farmed mobs! Easy!”
Then... the blaze grew and kept growing. It merged with runaway flames and turned into a wildfire.
‘Wait...’
He didn’t know that monsters killed by fire would spread the fire even further.
“M-My god.”
— he discovered arson by accident
— FIRE JELLY RISES
— he’s gonna burn down the whole village
Acorn Jelly panicked and yanked a single water block out of his inventory.
“UP YOU GO!”
Ssssshhh!
Steam rose, and a few embers died. It wasn’t enough.
“C-Come on, come on!!”
He kept splashing water desperately.
[Burning]
[On Fire]
FWOOM.
His clothes ignited. Acorn Jelly staggered, engulfed in flames.
— he just self-tested the method
— worst scientist of the century
— the experiment succeeded AND failed simultaneously
“Wh-What!?” Acorn Jelly panicked.
With him distracted, the monsters rushed him all at once.
[AcornJelly has died by fire.]
—HAHAHAHAHAHA
— “Kingdom Age veteran” my ass
— self-roasted into fertilizer
— the man literally became his own experiment
Like they always said, criminals returned to the scene. The moment he respawned, Acorn Jelly sprinted back to the burn site.
“Hah... hah... No one saw, right? No way anyone saw that...”
It had been a remote edge of the village where hardly anyone traveled to. The fire had already gone out. No one saw it.
‘Perfect.’
“Huff... huff... nobody. Nobody is here.”
Everyone was busy guarding their own homes.
“There it is...”
[Fertile Soil]
— oh shit
— HE DID IT
— ACTUAL PROOF
Where the monsters had burned to ashes, fertile blocks dotted the dirt. And where he died...
Acorn Jelly froze.
“A-Rank.”
A perfect A-rank Fertile Soil block sat where he had died.
“Everyone... the Knights generate A-rank. Normal villagers get B-rank...”
— red pill swallowed
— it’s all real
— A-tier fertilizer comes from people
He collapsed to his knees.
“I, I know too much. Way too much.”
A shadow fell over him. “What secret?”
Acorn Jelly jolted upright like a spring as a large silhouette loomed over him.
“B-Bro!?”
[Bubblegum]
It was Bubblegum, the Order’s so-called external director.
“I thought you left with the expedition?!”
“I only pretended to go. Perks of being an external executive is that we can log in, wave, and stroll home.”
— remote working lmao
— off-site attendance buff
— this man does fake deployments
“So, what’s this secret you know?”
Acorn Jelly trembled and only talked through the stream chat. “Guys... wouldn’t an external director KNOW the Fertile Soil secret?”
— maybe
— possibly
— but this could also mean instant execution
Then, Bubblegum spotted it. “Huh? Fertile Soil? How’s that here? You found All Black already? You changed class into an adventurer or something, right?”
Everyone in Cheese Village knew Acorn Jelly had switched into some weird exploration class.
“N-No... bro... D-Did you really not know...?” Acorn Jelly’s heart pounded.
‘No way. He’s testing me. He HAS to know.’
Bubblegum drew closer out of curiosity, but it felt like a horror scene to Acorn Jelly. That giant head and those giant eyes... Acorn Jelly could feel the oppressive aura of a high-ranking officer.
“Your class... what does it do? How did you find Fertile Soil?” Bubblegum playfully asked out of curiosity.
To Acorn Jelly, it felt like an interrogation.
He snapped. “Bro! I’ll never tell anyone! I swear!”
Thud.
He dropped into a deep bow.
“Huh?” Bubblegum blinked.
“Why not tell anyone? I wanna know.”
Bubblegum’s smile and tone... To Acorn Jelly, it sounded like he was saying, “Speak. Confess. Let’s see if you dare.”
“I-I really mean it! I’ll keep it secret that Fertile Soil is made by b-burning people!!”
“What...?” Bubblegum staggered back. “W-Wait... WHAT did you just say!?”
“You didn’t know...?”
“You’re telling me that’s real!?”
“You’re an external director though...”
Bubblegum threw his hands up. “That title is just ceremonial! You think they tell ME the recipes?! Only the Servants know that stuff!”
So, Bubblegum hadn’t known at all.
Acorn Jelly exhaled in exhausted relief. “Haah... Thank god. Then, forget it, bro. Let’s both just live quietly. I’ll just make my own soil and stay out of politics.”
“You, you already gave up?!”
— LMFAO
— Bubblegum shocked at the speedrun corruption
— Man gave up democracy in 0.3 seconds
“I’ve thought a lot about it. I even erased the library information...”
“Library...?”
Acorn Jelly explained everything. If Bubblegum hadn’t known, then he was the closest person that could be trusted. After all, they were former comrades who had searched for All Black together.
“You found all that... Wow, so the Knights really... burned people into Fertile Soil...” Bubblegum paced back and forth in disbelief. “Damn... Almond was burning players... and turning them into soil...”
He shook his head, stunned.
Step... step...
A village NPC walked by, dangerously close.
“Bro!! He heard you!!”
“Huh?” Bubblegum blinked and turned sharply.
“Who heard?”
“That NPC! What if he heard you?!”
Bubblegum’s face hardened. “If that leaks, the whole kingdom flips.”
“Exactly!!”
Bubblegum stepped forward with the executive mask settling over him. “Wait. NPC, listen to me. Hey! Villager! You!”
Tap-tap-tap.
The villager turned around with a friendly smile. “Oh! Bubblegum, the great storyteller! How may I help you?”
“You heard nothing. Understand? Forget everything. This is top Knight-level information. The entire nation collapses if everyone learns that we made Fertile Soil by burning people alive.”
The villager nodded brightly. “A secret of the Knights... Burning people into Fertile Soil... So this is an exclusive story!!”
“What?”
— no
— nope
— NPC brain has one neuron and it’s gossip
— it’s over
NPCs couldn’t hide information. They only spread it as truth.
“Extra! Extra! Breaking news!!”
He sprinted away toward the town.
Bubblegum and Acorn Jelly froze while the viewers exploded.
— CHEESE CIVIL WAR INCOMING
— Bubblegum just soft-launched the revolution
— “The external executive spread the truth first”
— This is how nations fall
— Let the Fertilization begin