War Online

Athledon City;

The streets are decorated with flowers and lights. People are busy roaming here and there. New citizens from other islands migrating to the capital as if it's normal.

Unlike the time where people of Llyne city lined up to welcome their new Queen, this time, it's as if there are no changes.

As soon as the kingdom is formed, the system didn't even go offline while Wil found everything around him changed.

He wondered whether if it was prewritten program that gets activated on a certain condition.

The more he thought about it, the more it seemed that might be the case, Wil was indeed happy that he made the right choice of asking the Ormshire.

He asked for the island but got an entire state that's under Ormshire name in return.

The more confusing part is that no one knows how Wil became the ruler of Ormshire state. These NPCs believe he was always their ruler. The same goes for the natives of other islands.

The only exceptions were the King himself and the old man. Hugo treated him as the savior while the old man is still his master.

But, then again, it is a game after all. There's bound to be some illogical things that can only be accepted. He also didn't care about it. As long as the result is good, it's fine.

***

Wil and Hugo are walking down on the streets like old friends except that the latter is in disguise.

"So, how's the financial state of the kingdom, your majesty?" Wil asked Hugo while discussing the affairs of the kingdom.

Since Wil is the disciple of Owler and also a crown prince of some kingdom, he was also appointed as an advisor for the King to run the kingdom smoothly.

"Well, the nobles donated quite an amount sufficient enough for the next six months," Hugo replied.

"You sure, you don't want my assistance?" Wil asked him.

Hugo shook his head, "You have already done enough by reviving this kingdom. I can't trouble you, anymore."

Hugo respectfully declined the offer once again. It wasn't the first time Wil offered financial assistance.

The first time he offered money, he was declined as the nobles who were ruling the islands donated a part of their wealth.

This time too, Hugo turned him down again with the same excuse.

But Wil didn't back down. No matter what, he intends to invest in the kingdom to make sure Athledon will stand behind him when he needed them to be. 

"I have a surplus amount of funds, Your Majesty. You don't need to worry about burdening me." Wil tried to reason with him but seeing the look on his face, he employed plan B, "How about this, your majesty. I'll inaugurate a private bank with my personal funds. I want its branch permitted to be built in this city.

You won't need to raise taxes if the kingdom ever needs funds. The palace will have the bank's backing and the bank will have the palace's. It's a win-win situation for both of us."

Upon hearing Wil's proposal, Hugo went silent for a while, trying to weigh the pros and cons.

Wil quickly received the hint about the success of his proposal.

*Ding! Your familiarity with Hugolinus Athledon increases by 20.

Hugo stopped walking and looked at him, "two conditions. The bank's headquarters should be located in the capital city and not in Ormshire state. Two, the bank should always stand by the palace."

"Of course, Your Majesty." Wil nodded with a smile, "I'm the disciple of Seer Owler. I will always stand with the throne."

*Ding! Your familiarity with Hugolinus Athledon increases by 5.

"Very well…" Hugo gave his word. "I, Hugolinus Athledon, hereby, grant you a 500 square meter of land to develop the bank. You can choose any place in the city."

*Ding! You received an empty land deed.

Soon, they parted their ways.

Wil took out a blank land deed with a seal from the inventory and inspected it.

Athledon's Blank Land Deed

Description: You can buy any land of your choice as long as it's on the premises of the Athledon kingdom and isn't private property. Size: 500 square meters. 

After receiving the deed, Wil didn't wait long to implement his plan. He quickly chose a prime spot nearby the Adventure association and spent another 100 gold coins to the city administration department for construction.

Except for diamonds, rubies, and emeralds, Wil invested the remaining 2313 gold bars and 500 thousand gold coins in the bank while the remaining 250 thousand were thrown into Scarlet town's development.

***

Nexus Entertainment, Ares City;

A vehicle stopped in the parking lot.

Seven girls stepped down from the vehicle and entered a 65-story skyscraper. Their manager followed them into the building. 

As they entered the lift, the manager kept on reminding them.

"Eun-Jin-ssi, you are the leader of the group. I'll let you do all the talking. The remaining will stay silent unless you are asked a question directly.

If the terms are unfavorable, don't forget to reject him politely no matter how angry you get.

This representative's backing isn't something not even our Chairman can offend. So, you should be careful of your behavior. 

We don't need to curry favor with him but make sure that we won't offend him or else, the Chairman might even disband your group overnight. Understood?"

The twenty-year-old girl nodded, "Yes. I got it."

Reaching the 12th floor, they went to the meeting place.

There, they saw two people in suits were sitting with the Chairman.

The girls immediately became tensed, looking at their influential Chairman is now addressing politely.

"Mr. Colten, this is the group, you have asked for." The Chairman pointed to the girls who stood nervously.

He looked at them and introduced the person, "This is Aster Colten, a representative of Scarlet Securities. He flew all the way from Leafway city to meet you."

Everyone was immediately taken aback. Since it's a privately owned company with only one shareholder, its revenue might not be that great compared to big corporations but their influence is in the same level of government, especially in Ares City.

They keep the city safe. If it weren't because of them, the girls would have been afraid to walk in the streets after midnight.

They wondered why a person of such background wants to meet them, a newbie in the idol industry.

Do they have the same intentions as those businessmen? Do they need to owe se*ual favors like their senior actresses in exchange for sponsorship?

But, they are idols, not the actresses… They hardly have 5-10 years of work life. Is it worth degrading to such a level?

Not to mention, even with huge funding, if the song isn't good, there's no use. There's no guarantee of their success. It isn't like the movies… In their music video and album, they are the main characters as well as the supporting characters.

A lot of things started going through their minds and the six of them became stiff as a result. The only one who was calm was their leader. She nudged the others.

"Thank you." All of them bowed in response, getting back to reality.

"Please, sit down," Aster told them to take their seats and he sat down.

"So, who is the face of the group?" Aster asked, looking at the girls.

Eun-Jin raised her hand, "It's me."

"And the leader?"

She once again raised the hand, "it's me."

"And you must be the manager, right?" Aster asked the lady who looks a lot older than them and wore a formal suit.

She nodded in response, "yes, I am."

"Good," Aster then said, "let me go straight to the business. Honestly, today, I'm not representing Scarlet Securities but Scarlet gaming Corp. Have you heard of it?"

"I'm sorry." The Chairman apologized as he shook his head, "I've never heard of it."

Aster explained, "It's a subsidiary company of ours that focuses only on gaming."

'Gaming? What does that have anything to do with us?' All the girls had the same thought, upon hearing his words.

Seeing the look of confusion on everyone's face, Aster asked, "Ever heard of the game, War Online?"

"Yes, the one developed by Summersoft." The manager answered instead of Chairman, who doesn't have a clue about it. The girls also nodded, implying that they knew of it.

Aster continued, "Our company is starting an Entertainment agency in the game and we are looking for a group. We found your group fits our requirements."

'Entertainment agency in a game,' everyone was surprised about it.

"Our Scarlet Gaming Corp. wishes to collaborate with Nexus Entertainment. We will provide all the funds required for the group to receive the best treatment in the real world from accommodations to the best producer.

In return, Clover will join the game and be the virtual idols, representing our company. So, what do you think…"

At that moment, Wil didn't know that he didn't just create the world's first virtual idol group but also an entirely brand new kind of entertainment industry that will eventually give birth to several kinds of virtual industries.

***

Scarlet Apartments, Leafway city;

Wil was sleeping soundly on his comfy bed. All of a sudden, his phone rang.

"Hello?" He answered it in a sleepy tone without seeing the number.

"Young Master, sorry for disturbing your sleep but it's urgent." Aster's tone was heard from the other side.

"What is it?" *Yawn* Wil's tone was still sounded sleepy.

"I just got a call from Red Dragon. Please check out the forums. The second major update is here…"

"Eh?" Wil's eyes opened wide in surprise.