Season 4: Chapter 209. History of Ruin (1)
Deep within the underground tunnels of Paprika Village, the Knights found themselves face-to-face with Orange, who made them an offer.
“Would you all follow me? I just want to harvest some more Mandragora.”
They had to follow him if they wanted more Mandragora.
Radish Servant briefly hesitated before slowly nodding. “Fine. We’ll go, but I’ll kill you on the spot and take everything you have if you try anything funny.”
“Oh my, of course, Sir Radish Servant.” Orange grinned and walked ahead.
Maid Black Tea still didn’t trust him and kept her Black Flame Spear squarely aimed at the back of Orange’s head.
Several minutes of walking passed.
Fwoosh...
Orange raised a torch, revealing a huge chamber. “This is where you can harvest Mandragora.”
“Really?” Radish Servant immediately pointed. “Potato Servant, Lemon Servant, search the area.”
His eyes stayed locked onto Orange, and Maid Black Tea’s spear didn’t waver either.
“Sigh... At least trust me a little.”
In truth, Orange and Sweet Radish had once played together on the same pro team. Sweet Radish had no reason to distrust Orange this deeply. Orange couldn’t do anything here. Trusting him would’ve been easier.
‘Honestly... I want to trust him too.’
Tap. Tap.
Almond, slung over Radish Servant’s back, kept giving him signals. Whenever Orange spoke, Almond tapped Radish Servant’s shoulder and weakly shook his head. He was barely conscious and could hardly move his head, but it moved enough.
‘For some reason, the Lord really doesn’t trust Orange.’
Radish Servant couldn’t exactly say that aloud. Almond had been suspicious of Orange since the beginning. Why? Who knew? Maybe it was because of that wanted poster incident.
Meanwhile, Orange wasn’t happy to see Almond either.
‘Of all people... it had to be the Lord. Damn it.’
Orange had planned to use the hidden piece he discovered to steal the spotlight and become a main character.
‘With the Lord here, he’ll hog the spotlight again!’
The key to activating the blue crystal just happened to be the Lord. It felt like scripted manipulation.
‘At least... they don’t seem to see it.’
A thin blue current flowed from the sealed stone, connecting unmistakably to Almond. It faintly touched the others too, but Almond’s glow was overwhelmingly stronger. They had to see it, yet it seemed like only someone who had touched the stone could perceive it.
“Kyaaaaaaaaa!!”
Potato Servant yanked out a Mandragora. “Oh! Found one!”
“O-Oh!? H-how did you find that? Hngh... Why can’t I find any...” Lemon Servant still hadn’t found a single one.
‘Huh... I already pulled out every visible one.’
Orange felt shocked that Potato Servant had found any.
‘Did they respawn already?’
He just wanted to stall for time and hadn’t intended to lead them to the sealed stone. If the stone reacted with Almond nearby and the gauge simply rose by keeping Almond in the general vicinity... The liberation of the Saintess would be Orange’s achievement alone.
Yes, Orange wanted the Saintess event all to himself. It wasn’t an unreasonable desire.
‘I found it first! It’s only natural!’
Any gamer would want exclusive credit for a discovery.
“Why do you keep glancing around like that, huh?”
Maid Black Tea’s surveillance felt suffocating.
‘The Lord always said to watch Orange.’
Therefore, Maid Black Tea distrusted Orange solely because Almond also distrusted him.
‘Damn it. What is this...?’
Orange had no idea why they kept treating him like this. He felt unfairly targeted.
— Why are they so suspicious??
— I feel guilty and I didn’t even do anything lol
— How did Orange get this reputation?
— I mean he was on the rebel side originally
“B-But I even told you exactly where the Mandragora was... Isn’t this too much?”
“Ahem...” Radish Servant looked away in mild guilt. “Let’s start making the medicine. First... give us your Mandragora as well.”
— LMFAOOOOOO
— holy crap they’re shameless
— just rob him at this point
— Orange should RUN
Orange felt deeply wronged. If he knew Almond had been tapping Radish Servant’s shoulder and whispering to viewers, “Just kill him and loot everything,” he’d have collapsed on the spot.
“Just kill him. His whole inventory is right there.”
— this is so on-brand for the Lord
— pop him like a piñata
— this is how Almond plays the game lmao
— no mercy
Fortunately, the Knights decided not to kill and loot Orange. He surrendered all his Mandragora powder politely.
They began brewing the Mandragora decoction.
“According to this book...”
None of them were herbalists, so they followed the guide like diligent students.
Tak... tak...
They set a pot over the campfire.
“Add more.”
Potato Servant stirred with a ladle while Radish Servant sprinkled in the powder.
“More, sir? We’re running low. If we mess up, we won’t have extra...”
“I said more.”
Lemon Servant giggled. “Wow... this really feels like camping~!”
— facts
— yeah this is kinda cozy
— the Lord wanted camping so badly lol
— romantic somehow
Almond tapped Radish Servant’s shoulder again.
“This isn’t camping.”
To him, it was nothing like the camping he’d imagined.
“Sigh, just wait a little longer, Lord. We’ll finish soon.” Radish Servant assumed that Almond was just urging them to finish the medicine faster.
— LOL
— he wanted REAL camping
— not survival herbalist cave stew
— fishing would be worse bro
— the Lord’s expectations are too high
***
A short while passed.
[Mandragora Decoction]
The Knights finally finished brewing the medicine.
“Wow! Finally!”
Clap!
The Servants cheered and exchanged high-fives.
“We finished it, Lord!” Radish Servant carefully fed the decoction to Almond.
Gulp. Gulp.
Almond swallowed the bitter brew.
“Oh...” Almond fully regained consciousness.
“Lord, p-please say something!”
Everyone leaned in to hear his first words.
Almond immediately reached into his inventory, pulled out his bow, and aimed straight at Orange.
Girik.
— ??
— LOLOL
— zero hesitation
— someone stop the Almond Justice machine
“W-Wait, Lord!? Wh-Why!? I, I’m your savior, remember!?”
Almond’s eyes remained ice cold.
Orange trembled as he pleaded. “N-No, Lord! I wasn’t trying to hide it! I only wanted to bring attention to the ruins I found first! I just wanted some recognition! I was planning to show you everything eventual...”
He blurted out a full confession.
PAAANG!
An arrow flew.
Swish!
The arrow skimmed Orange’s ear, and he shuddered.
‘Almond... missed?’
Almond never missed, which meant he had spared Orange?
‘The Lord’s... mercy?’
No, Almond hadn’t aimed for Orange, but behind him.
Kang!
Someone deflected the arrow with a blade and stepped out of the shadows.
[Treeana]
“A rude greeting for a first meeting.”
“You’re... not a monster.” Almond blinked.
He had misunderstood.
“I am the Saintess.”
It was the sealed Saintess.
Almond’s confusion deepened, and the Knights felt equally bewildered. The idea of a Saintess existing at all was strange enough.
“What is... happening?”
“Did the devs actually script all this?”
“The Cheese Village arc is crazy in scale.”
Everyone stared at Orange in shock and confusion.
Orange reacted very differently. “H-How did she get out!?”
“Do you know her?”
“Ah...”
Clearly, Orange already knew something about her.
“Come to think of it,” Almond added sharply, “you muttered something suspicious when I aimed at you earlier.”
Orange froze under the weight of their stares. “Ugh...”
Crushed by the pressure, he eventually confessed everything.
***
“Y-Yes... th-that’s how it happened. I just... wanted... a little bit of chakra... so I tried to gather information...”
In summary, Orange had wanted to monopolize the Saintess storyline. He tried to hide her existence, but brought them near because he needed Almond to advance the puzzle.
The Knights blankly stared at him.
“For someone trying to monopolize it, you sure didn’t know much.”
“Yeah, you basically just stumbled upon it.”
“Hey, does getting chakra look that easy to you?”
— LMFAOOO
— poor Orange just wanted his little Saintess...
— he wasn’t even hiding good info
— bro missed the revolution arc to dig alone underground
— he’s literally a hermit researcher
“Ahem.” The Saintess loudly cleared her throat.
She wanted their attention back on her.
“Why did you shoot me? Depending on your answer, I will decide on your punishment. This is an insult to the sacred.” She pointed directly at Almond.
— lol she’s salty
— I mean getting hit with a hello arrow is upsetting
— RIP, Almond used to kill NPCs for less
— Saintess is lucky Almond is weak rn
Almond scratched his head. “Your proportions look so different that I didn’t think you were a person. I thought a monster was approaching.”
The Saintess considered his answer and turned her head away with a huff. “I shall overlook it this once.”
The Knights exchanged whispers.
“She’s totally a real person, right?”
“No way that’s the game’s AI.”
“Is she acting? That would be hilarious.”
“She’s kinda stiff...”
The Saintess’s expression soured as if she heard every word. “My figure may confuse you. I am tall and elegant unlike you beings cursed to be short and malformed. If anything is abnormal, it is all of you.”
— WOW
— personal attack speedrun
— she T-bagged the Knights lmao
— bullying players is wild
The Knights all froze at the unexpected insults. They had no idea how to respond to the Saintess’s sudden appearance.
‘What’s with her reaction...?’
‘How do we roleplay this...?’
Their roleplay days as the Knights had basically ended. Now, they felt like soldiers suddenly discharged from the army and had no idea how to operate in civilian life.
Almond muttered in shock, “I can’t believe it. Gum bro was cursed all along...”
The Knights all stared.
‘He’s... accepting this?’
‘Wait, is he serious?’
‘Is this acting or...’
— LMAOOO
— Bubblegum: ???
— Almond is impossible to read
— he just rolls with anything lol
— the true king of deadpan comedy
Almond quickly asked the Saintess, “What curse is it? How do we lift it?”
“To dispel a curse, one must know its name and its caster.”
“How do we find that out?”
“There is no need to find out. I already know both.”
— Huh??
— so she can lift the curse??
— OP NPC
“But...”
Of course, it wouldn’t be so easy.
“You are not my disciples. Thus, I cannot reveal it.”
“Disciples?”
“Prove you are disciples of Treeana, the Saintess.”
DUN!
A system message appeared before their eyes.
[Main Scenario Entry Quest]
[Somewhere within the ancient ruins lies the Temple of Treeana. Within it is the method to become a Disciple of Treeana. Become her disciple, and you may approach the truth of this world.]
[Once this quest is completed, the entire server will enter the Main Scenario.]
Everyone froze.
‘The truth of this world.’
— holy crap
— this is the Final Arc??
— the devs really did it...
— main scenario unlocked LET’S GO
— this is peak MMO energy
Then, a few days passed.