New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Once the meeting with Rodney was over, he let the man get some quick shuteye. Although he would only get two or three hours of sleep, at most, it would still stave off his current fatigue.

As a man who grew up in a militaristic upbringing and lived an adventurer's life, he was accustomed to this. It might not bring him back to a hundred percent, but he would be pretty darn close.

Astaroth left Rodney's office feeling a fire lighting in his chest. They were going to Themiscus to defend their actions, but he would not waste the opportunity to show their council he had earned his place in the alliance.

If the diplomat was showing a bit of reticence toward him, then he could guess the rulers of Themiscus might also feel this way.

This caused Astaroth to wonder who else in the alliance felt like he might not belong. If they allowed Stellar Woodlands to join because of Leon, there was no telling what they thought of him.

But he would deal with this at a later date.

For now, he needed to use a function of the guild interface he hadn't used yet. The quest function.

Opening up his interface, he pulled up the guild tab. Then he tapped on the guild quest button and started entering the conditions, description, and rewards.

He wasn't quite sure what rewards he should give, and he thought for a moment to wait and ask Phoenix. But then, he decided against it.

If he asked Phoenix to deal with every minor matter like this, he would never be the guild leader he needed to be.

Astaroth wrote down the quest as he walked toward the cell block and finished it as he reached the palace wing where it was.

*Ding!*

You have created a guild quest! Quest name: Protect The Royals.

**

Everyone in the guild received the quest automatically, with a choice to accept it or refuse it. Of course, the ones who didn't meet the basic requirements he set would have the 'accept' option grayed out.

Astaroth hoped this would give a bit of a motivational spark to those who hadn't reached his conditions. Maybe if they saw this, they would think they needed to get stronger, in case another quest popped up for them.

The Paragon's quest board was already full with a bunch of other quests, most of which were repeatable, and would give out contribution points, along with gold, and sometimes even an item of their choice in the guild treasury.

But seeing the quest appear, the amount of people who applied was through the roof.

Even though Paragon only had around two hundred players by now, and only half of them were in the requirements bracket, most of these hundred players applied almost instantly.

*Guild Quest: Protect The Royals*

Description: The Matriarch Council of Themiscus Kingdom has requested a meeting with the monarchs of Stellar Woodlands kingdom. A protection detail is needed for them, and the king has elected to take Players, instead of Natives. Will you answer the call of your king and guild leader?

Requirements:

1) Level fifty minimum.

2) Inner member

3) Be ready to follow orders

Quest Objectives:

1) Protect the Royals at any cost

2) Cause no diplomatic incident

3) Answer the call to arms if needed

4) Sub-objectives might apply

Quest Rewards:

1) 10,000 gold/player

2) Exp for a level-up

3) 1 item of Rare grade from the treasury

4) More rewards will be attributed accordingly to performance and sub-objectives completed

**

Astaroth looked satisfied with himself, as he closed the interface before entering the jail section of the third floor.

He had discovered an option where he could leave the objectives and reward options floating, so he could add more or subtract some at will. This had made his choices a lot easier.

As he entered the cell block, he saw Phoenix standing in front of a cell, with her face showing anger.

He could already guess who was in the cell. What he wondered was why she was suddenly angry.

There was no use in guessing, so he walked over to her. And as he did, he caught some words coming from inside the jail cell.

"You may be a queen, but you are nothing compared to our Matriarchs. They will get me out of here, and I will walk scot-free. Your kingdom means nothing to the great kingdom of Themisca!"

Hearing this, Astaroth understood why his girlfriend was mad.

The man had most likely been dragging their name into the mud for a while.

Astaroth could see the tip of Phoenix's hair flicker with flames, as her anger was getting worse by the second.

Reaching the cell, Astaroth banged on the bars.

"Shut up, will you? Unless you want me to fetch the woman whom you violated's husband, and let him have a bit of time alone with you in there? Or better yet, her mother-in-law. I doubt you would be as talkative to them as you are to the queen."

Phoenix clenched her fist.

"Don't bother threatening him. He seems to have lost his mind. Either that, or he doesn't realize his precious kingdom has already abandoned him."

Hearing her words, Gerald twitched.

"Hah! Themiscus would never abandon one of its own in the hands of another kingdom. Especially not one weaker than itself. You are stupid if you believe yourself in this!"

He spat at Phoenix's feet, causing her hair to flare up entirely.

"Alright. I've had enough. I'm getting Castien and Alena. They can deal with this piece of shit."

Astaroth's jaw dropped in surprise.

"Are you sure? Aren't you afraid this might make matters worse?" he asked her.

He didn't care, and he would rather kill the man right now. But they had to respect a certain protocol for diplomats.

Diplomatic immunity was not something they could just gloss over. Hurting another country's diplomat often led to war.

"I don't care anymore. He has been slinging insults at me for half an hour. I'm done taking his shit. We can deal with Themiscus when it comes to it."

She didn't let Astaroth say another word, storming out of the cell block.

"Well damn. You're in trouble now. I've rarely seen her this angry. I'm surprised she didn't incinerate you herself," Astaroth said with a chuckle.

He heard Gerald gulp inside his cell.

'The facade cracks. Let's see what it takes to break it.'