Chapter 152: Upheaval

Crockta got up.

“Let’s go.”

Tiyo and Anor were waiting for him.

Guiderid was a beautiful resort city, but they had to leave without getting a chance to enjoy the city.

They weren’t in the mood to take a vacation.

As soon as they got up after spending the night in Guiderid, they heard the news that the kingdom had attacked Alaste. The city was now in ruins.

The kingdom, led by mercenaries cursed by the stars, destroyed the city in a fit of rage after losing the duel. Alaste was now a part of the empire.

The knights of Alaste fought to the end, but all of them got slaughtered.

Galadin, Vigo...everyone was dead.

They had to leave Guiderid.

“We have to fight back!”

A man was passionately delivering a speech on top of a crate, surrounded by a large crowd.

Each time he shouted, people nodded their heads in agreement.

“We don’t have a king! No one can oppress us! Guiderid is the city of freedom. We elect our own leaders! We must stand against the kingdom, no, the empire!”

People clapped along with his words, but those who disagreed shook their heads.

“How will we fight against the empire?!” a spectator shouted.

The atmosphere sank, and people fell silent.

It was just as he said.

The empire’s military power greatly surpassed theirs. The moment they showed resistance, the empire would dispatch its forces to destroy them.

They had already crushed countless cities into ruins.

Alaste was a prime example. The empire didn’t even heed the treaties they had agreed to.

The man shouting on top of the crate gritted his teeth and declared, “We have to fight with all we got!”

His voice was so charged with emotion it sounded as if he was struggling to speak. With a reddened face, he shouted, “Freedom isn’t free! We must fight and earn it!”

“Fight by yourself!”

“The empire will conscript all of you for war...”

“Don’t mouth off about something that’s not even certain!”

The crowd began countering each and every one of his statements.

He gritted his teeth and continued to shout passionately, but people stopped paying attention to him. His words slowly faded into the background.

After Alaste was ruthlessly destroyed, they wanted Guiderid to be peacefully integrated into the empire. No one wanted to end up like Alaste.

The empire’s military prowess was on another level, and even if the cities joined forces, it would still be difficult to overcome the empire’s army with the Heaven and Earth Clan at the forefront.

The Heaven and Earth Clan was invincible because they swung their weapons without fear of death. They were like immortal monsters since they just came back to life even after they were killed.

Their leader, Rommel, was famously referred to as the Ghost of War.

It was a fight with no chance of victory.

Crockta, Tiyo, and Anor smiled bitterly as they observed the scene.

The people of Guiderid were aware of the empire’s ruthlessness, but they hadn’t yet experienced it firsthand. They didn’t know that the leaders of the empire were corrupt figures who paid no respect to gods and treated others as if they were disposable.

With bitter feelings, Crockta and his friends made their way out of Guiderid.

Due to Crockta’s fame, many recognized Crockta and whispered among themselves, but Crockta paid no attention to them.

Several players, curious about the NPC called Crockta, followed them. Crockta just let them be.

“Where are we heading?” asked Tiyo.

“Hmm...”

They didn’t have a particular destination in mind.

They knew they had to stop the empire, but they weren’t sure how to yet.

It was too risky to return to the empire’s territory because they were already an enemy of the empire. Nonetheless, they couldn’t let the empire continue its trajectory.

Crockta thought about it for a moment and said, “The Espada region seems like a good choice since the empire will be aiming for it.”

Espada was a vast plain composed of several cities, including Alaste. Those cities had formed their own unique civilization free from the reign of kings.

The people enjoyed their freedom and rejected the idea of an emperor, especially because the human race had conflicts with other species and suffered whenever an emperor was in place. Those who remembered the past maintained the view that the emperor was the enemy and passed down their beliefs.

“Espada...let’s go,” replied Tiyo.

Espada was not far from Guiderid.

The emperor’s messengers had probably already arrived in Guiderid by now and demanded absolute submission.

Guiderid would become a larger city under the empire, but its citizens would be conscripted and sent to the battlefield.

The laws of the emperors were no different from those of northern chieftains.

“Was the king always like that?” asked Crockta.

“I heard he was originally a wise young man...but people change,” replied Tiyo.

‘Had a divine entity like Chaos possessed him?’

wondered Crockta.

***

The southern region was in chaos because of the emperor.

Crockta’s party turned their horses in Espada’s direction. As they grew farther in the distance, those who had been following them glanced at each other.

“Crockta-nim left Guiderid.”

“What will happen next?”

“Let’s continue following them. First, upload his location online.”

They were Crockta’s fans, members of Praise the Orc, who had tracked down his location as soon as they heard that Crockta had appeared in the south.

Crockta was famous now, and they treated him like a celebrity and were curious about his whereabouts.

People wanted to know what adventures lay ahead of him.

There was a separate community forum in the fan club where people reported Crockta’s location. Members from all over the world posted information about him, but these players had gone as far as to track him down themselves.

“Wish someone could have filmed Crockta-nim’s one-on-one duel against the kingdom...”

“I wish I could have watched it.”

All the members of Praise the Orc were extremely disappointed that they missed Crockta’s one-on-one duel against the kingdom’s best knight as the representative of Alaste.

No one knew that Crockta was involved in the fight between Alaste and the kingdom because everyone was preoccupied with Yellow and the Heaven and Earth Clan as the central players involved in the conflict.

There were mentions that Crockta was spotted near Alaste, but no one had suspected that he was at the center of the situation.

“But his fights will continue, right?”

“Yes, let’s not miss any more of those.”

They knew Crockta was enraged because the empire had violated the treaty with Crockta and Alaste. After all, he was the orc of righteousness who carried out acts of justice around the continent. The orc who had even crossed into the north alone to kill the chieftain. And now, his blade was aimed toward the emperor of the south.

He was like a character straight out of a movie. If this world was reality, then Crockta would be a hero.

They couldn’t help but fall for Crockta.

They predicted that based on Crockta’s departure to Espada, he was planning to officially take a stance against the emperor.

It was thrilling just to imagine how Crockta would fight against the empire.

“I don’t like the Heaven and Earth Clan either. I hope Crockta will administer justice to them.”

“I know, right? The clan is running wild, blatantly doing whatever they want.”

The Heaven and Earth Clan had violated their contract with the Alaste Love community players.

The contract was just a piece of paper with their promise written on it, so it didn’t carry much weight, but it was a display of trust between players.

It was expected that players, as people, would demonstrate a certain level of confidence in one another, but the Heaven and Earth Clan had completely betrayed them.

They claimed that they had no choice because the emperor had ordered them to attack Alaste. Conversely, the empire said that those cursed by the stars attacked on their own accord.

They passed the blame back and forth and laughed at Alaste’s predicament.

Everyone knew that they were accomplices that abetted one another.

At the moment, the Heaven and Earth Clan was the emperor’s hunting dog.

It was an extraordinary accomplishment for players to achieve such a position, but they were aiming their blades toward fellow players.

“If you have any complaints, feel free to address them with us. You can even come at us if you want. We are the Heaven and Earth Clan. We can take on anyone,” they declared.

They had already defeated a huge American clan called Metatron. The Heaven and Earth Clan executed the concrete method on the leaders of Metatron. As a result, they lost all the skills and achievements they had accumulated in Elder Lord and ended up quitting the game.

The Heaven and Earth Clan was dominating the strong and extinguishing the weak.

“Let’s just keep an eye on things for now.”

“Yes, we have to trust Crockta.”

They were about to follow Crockta’s path when someone suddenly appeared.

“Did Crockta go this way?”

They turned around.

There was a woman in tight-fitting attire. She seemed very familiar, they surely had seen her somewhere before. The members of Praise the Orc searched their memories as they scrutinized her face.

“I heard what you said. You are members of Praise the Orc, right?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“I’m also a member.”

“Are you famous? I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before...”

She grinned. “I became famous thanks to Crockta.”

She was Youvidser Laney.

She became famous for filming and uploading Crockta’s fight against a group of player killers during his beginner days.

The viewers were shocked by the orc’s rough fighting style and enthused by the sight of an NPC killing player killers and preaching honor.

She set a new record for the highest views on Youvids with her video of Crockta desperately fighting against the clans in Chesswood.

The members of Praise the Orc greeted her warmly upon realizing who she was.

Laney was a famous club member who made Crockta famous to the public.

“Don’t miss it this time. It seems Crockta is about to fight against the emperor...”

“It would have been such a hit if you had filmed his victory against the empire’s knight. Too bad.”

Laney puffed her chest proudly.

“...!” The members’ eyes widened in shock. “Did you...?”

“Yes.”

Laney thumped her chest and said, “I have the duel scene.”

“Wow!”

“I’ve been following Crockta ever since he returned from the north. I knew Crockta would do something amazing.”

Photographers followed their subjects and waited all day to take a memorable shot, but Laney didn’t need to wait. Great events always accompanied Crockta. His existence was a sensation.

“Show us!”

“Don’t be impatient. Just wait a bit.”

As she looked at the path Crockta had passed by, she said, “It’s going to be like a movie.”

***

As Crockta’s party departed from Guiderid, they met travelers and southern residents along the way. All of them were worried about the emperor’s invasion.

Some were gathering groups to leave the South together. They were glad to run into Crockta, the famous orc who had fought against the emperor’s knight and aired out their woes to him.

“We don’t need an emperor. We will never follow the emperor’s orders,” said a middle-aged man. “I assume the same goes for you, Crockta.”

“Yes, orcs don’t have kings or emperors.”

“We had an emperor in the past, but the position disappeared after the war ended. Everyone knows that if an emperor appears again, we will lose our freedom and spill blood once more. But somehow, an emperor did appear again. We haven’t learned anything from the past.”

They were leaving the South and moving to where elves lived because countless regions in the South had become the empire’s colonies and were suffering under their oppressive rule.

If they had departed a bit later, they wouldn’t have been able to leave as their city would have already been integrated into the empire.

“We aren’t sure how this situation will end. We just hope our family will be safe.”

Behind him were his wife and children. He had convinced his friends and relatives to head to the north of the continent.

Tiyo played with the children as Crockta spoke with the middle-aged man. The children had bright smiles on their faces because they didn’t understand what was going on.

“Crockta, will you be returning to your hometown? Or will you be fighting against the emperor?”

“I will fight. Although I’m not exactly sure what to do yet.”

“Great. I hope there are more warriors like you instead of those fakes who wag their tails in front of the emperor. Although I’m embarrassed to say this when I’m leaving, please protect the South...”

“Everyone has their own path,” replied Crockta.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of hoofbeats approaching them, and a group of knights appeared and blocked their path.

The citizens grew restless. The knights had the empire’s symbol.

“Where is everyone going?”

The middle-aged man who had been talking to Crockta came forward. “We are leaving.”

“Leaving...huh?”

The eyes of the knight in the lead widened in shock when he recognized Crockta standing next to the middle-aged man.

“Crockta?”

The orc’s appearance matched Crockta’s description. The knight turned around and exchanged some words with the other knights. Then, he approached Crockta.

“We don’t want to fight. The emperor wants to meet you.”

‘After turning Alaste into ruins, now they want to see me?’

Crockta’s face darkened. “I don’t want to. Anyways, why did you block these people?”

“Because...”

The knight warily eyed Crockta.

If Crockta wanted to fight, there was no way they could stop him.

“...the emperor has issued a decree that the residents of the South cannot leave without permission.”