"Well, well, well. Welcome to Wenselm."
I heard a voice from the crowd and was surprised to see the person who had just appeared.
"Bowser?"
My idol to become a gunslinger, the best gunner of [Mayhem], and the person whom I admired from the bottom of my heart as an idol, was standing right in front of me.
"Ohho? You know me?"
He looked a bit surprised when he heard his name from my mouth.
'C'mon, stop giving me that every time. You guys are famous people. How am I supposed to not know you…'
"I know, right? He even knew me…"
Lynch went running to Bowser as he slowly said in his ears. He clearly wasn't trying to be subtle about it, as I could hear him clearly.
"Yeah, I know you, of course. I am a huge fan."
"What….?"
This time, not only did his eyebrows raise, but also his mouth opened slightly.
After trying to comprehend the situation a bit, the handsome white-haired guy chuckled slightly with his eyes narrowed.
"Well, that was unexpected. A pleasant surprise indeed."
After a bit of talking, I got to know that Lynch had sent a message to Bowser as soon as he learnt that I was going to Wenselm.
"I don't feel like standing here all day. Let's get moving."
I said, getting a bit annoyed. Although I was planning to get to know more people and make allies, meeting new people clearly wasn't my thing, as I was very uncomfortable trying to make acquaintances with Lynch or Bowser.
As we started moving, Bowser started pondering.
"I am sure the only reason someone as famous as you would travel from one empire to the other is due to a quest. And due to the circumstances, I have more than enough reasons to believe that you are here to give a try to Princess Era's quest. Leaving all that for now, I have a personal question, if you don't mind me asking."
He asked at the end as he looked at me from the corner of his eye.
Maybe because I idolised him, or maybe due to some other reason, I didn't feel as annoyed at Bowser asking me questions as Lynch.
"Go ahead."
"Well, the thing I wanted to ask is what you said earlier. Are you really a fan….? How come? The gunslinger class isn't as popular as swordsmen, magicians and archers and me being at the top of such a class isn't really a big deal."
'ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ No(v) e lBin ᴏɴʟʏ.',
Bowser asked. He seemed to be really curious about why I was his fan.
"Well, no matter what you say, you're still a high ranker. Not to mention that levelling up alone is a total hell in such a class. It's a difficult class where a player has to take care of the marksmen role of the team and always be aware of the enemies and yourselves. Running out of bullets was practically a death if you still haven't learnt the 'magic bullet' skill."
I seriously explained as I remembered the times when I was a gunslinger. The reason I idolised Bowser was simple. He was at the top, he was always calm in all videos, his all moves were calculated in every fight, and he was the type of guy for whom girls would fall left and right.
These types of guys always either have the envy or admiration of people. I had the latter just because I wanted to one day become as popular as him and have my character shaped into a cool dude who rarely talks.
'Guess not all the wishes are meant to be fulfilled, just because greater things are waiting for you instead of the things you asked for.'
"You seem to know quite well about a gunslinger's duty."
Bowser seemed genuinely pleased as his short smile kept stretching more. But, on the other hand, I could feel the temperature rising from Lynch's jealousy.
"Well, I was a gunslinger before I gained the legend class, so…."
"What….?!!"*
Everyone cried out loud hearing that.
"Are you kidding?"
"Why would I lie about something like this?"
"T-that…"
After a minute of awkward silence, we reached the guild house of Chrysanthemum. It was as big as a mansion and had a red theme to back up the name.
Entering the guild house, I couldn't help but nod. It wasn't too big, but it was decorated perfectly with a red theme following everything.
For some reason, even though Wenselm was just a Dukedom, its capital city was much better and more advanced than Crisedia. There were even magic cars and different types of vehicles going around when I was coming to the Chrysanthemum guild.
Sitting on the sofa with my tail swaying sideways, a few people I recognised and didn't recognise appeared near me.
Since I was already inside, I had taken off the mask, making my disguise wear off.
'Not like it'd work on people trying to find me.'
This mask was good for people who didn't want others to notice them. This didn't really disguise one's appearance. But that alone was a really good function.
"It's really him."
"Look at his body. That tail is just…whew."
One thing that I noticed was the people around me. There were about a dozen of them curiously looking at me, some were sitting at the bar counter a bit farther but were still looking, but the most important of it all was.
"Why do I only see guys right now?"
'The latest_epi_sodes are on_the Nov elB i n website.',
There was literally not a single inch of femininity around me. All I could see were different types of guys.
"Oh, that… this is a boys-only guild…..wait where are you going?"
I stood and was about to walk out when I heard Lynch's reply. He immediately grabbed my hands as if he wouldn't let me go.
"What do you mean where? Are you for real? Were the days of boys-only schools weren't enough for you that you guys are forming a boys-only guild too? Don't tell me all of you are gays."
"No, no, calm down first, dude. We all love girls as much as you do. This isn't a boys-only guild because we want it to be. It's just the company that is sponsoring us wanted all of us together since we were quite popular as idols. After that, before we realised, more and more guys joined, and then a few girls joined and left because of the overwhelming girl-to-boy ratio."
A big, bulky guy with a square face, chiselled muscles and dark skin colour explained. I remembered this guy too, he was called Fender, and with Lynch and Bowser, these people were called the Chrysanthemum's trio.
"Doesn't matter. Anyways, I gotta go now and buy some items for alchemy. I want to try saving the Princess Era or whoever is sick. Let's go, Gomchul. Follow us if you want to, Nameless."
"....."
Again, I tried to leave this cave of masculinity as soon as possible, but this time Bowser spoke.
"Well, what items are you going to buy? We have a lot of Alchemy items in our treasury due since the formation of the guild and have only sold some of them. Unfortunately, we don't have an alchemist yet, so you can get those items from us, of course, not for free."
I halted my footsteps, hearing that. Chrysanthemum was one of the old guilds, and it has already been more than four years of in-game time since the game's launch, so there were high chances they had a lot of good stuff from the loot and rewards of raids and such things.
"Okay, bring me the stuff, or show me the way."
"That was quick."
Bowser chuckled as he gestured for me to follow him. The crowd dispersed as Lynch told them to get back to their work.
"Our guild was lucky enough to raise itself to level two. The reward was the bar that you saw outside and the treasury in the basement."
A player's inventory was limited, and hence extra storage was always a welcome bonus for everyone. Moreover, there were facilities like town's united treasury in many major towns and cities, where players could buy extra space to put their stuff in and freely access them from any city with the said treasury.
Then there were guild treasuries which a guild got after reaching level two. Not to mention that these treasuries got upgraded every time a guild levelled up. Guild Leaders could unlock many such functions by increasing a guild's level.
Walking down the wooden stairs that led to the basement, Bowser entered the treasuries password, and the heavy metal door opened slowly. The inside was surprisingly spacious and was like that of a bank, where there were a lot of sections like in the inventory, just more arranged.
Each section had the names of items placed inside them and the player who placed them.
"This is where we put all our alchemy-related stuff, come check."
This time, Bowser entered the password again, and the section that was locked by a blurry glass opened up. There were many things placed around neatly, from various types of herbs and stones to different kinds of items.
My eyes instantly fell on the place where a lot of books were placed. Noticing my gaze, Bowser smiled and said.
"Those are recipes and alchemy circles books. I heard they're pretty sought after by many people. Here, you can have a look."
...
//DreamNote//
Don't forget to vote with your power stones and golden tickets !!