Chapter 109: “The Destruction of the Kingdom of Hiers”

“Was this the first thread then? If so, I can assume Hiers was removed around then, right?”

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[Intended? Bug?] Report Strange Phenomena Here!

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563: Wayne

Do I report this here? I picked Hiers as my starting area but all my spawn points were destroyed so I got hit with a random respawn. Until this morning, I was always sent somewhere near a town in Hiers, but this time I was sent to an entirely different country.

Has anyone else experienced this?

564: Oceantea

>>563

wasnt hiers destroyed by that calamity thing? if the country is gone, doesnt that mean your starting choice got reset?

565: Wayne

>>564

Until this morning I was always sent somewhere near a Hiers town. The calamity destroyed the capital city last night, so if it had reset back then what you said would make sense. Has anyone else had this happen?

566: Andy

>>563

i was also in hiers, scraping by in a town called verde sud, but i died on the first night of the event and ive been on a random respawn bender ever since. the second time i died i kinda wished i had stayed at an inn, but its been surprisingly fun seeing where i end up next

actually, if there arent any spawn points now, im gonna die and see what happens

567: Heitarou

>>563

>>566

Looks like there’s actually a few of them. First time hearing about it.

568: overbuzz

>>567

no there arent lol, it’s only these 2, i aint never heard any1 go thru this either

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590: Andy

im back

had to walk pretty far, sorry it took so long

im not in hiers anymore. i also picked hiers to start, so i think there really arent any more spawn points in hiers

591: Oceantea

>>590

wb

so that means hiers is gone? meaning a destroyed country doesnt count as a country anymore in game?

592: Gi1gamesh

Sorry for jumping in. I just checked the official site, and the section in the lore about 6 major countries on the continent has been updated to only 5. Hiers is gone from the descriptions too.

593: MentaiList

so its totally gone then

wayne, you know exactly when the last time you rezzed in hiers was?

594: Wayne

>>593

Thanks for coming to this thread, you two

This morning maybe… no, just after noon? I skipped lunch so I’m not sure. Anyway, there was still a spawn point in Hiers around noon. That’s where they told me I was when I got to town at least

595: Heitarou

>>594

Wait, so why didn’t you set your spawn at the inn there?

596: Wayne

>>595

I wanted to meet up with friends. I was trying to get close to Welthe so I was playing the respawn gacha

597: overbuzz

u got served lmfao

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“No point in reading any further, I guess.”

Rare closed the forums and took a sip from her cup of tea, which had at some point been refilled.

“But wow, so Wayne’s involved again, huh. He’s sure down on his luck, isn’t he… Ah, wait, the random respawns are because of me. Sorry, I guess.”

It didn’t really matter who exactly discovered it first. The real problem was the fact that Hiers had still been recognized as a country as of around noon today. Then since this evening, the official site had erased all mention of its existence.

“I would have a hard time believing it’s just a bug. In which case, I’d be more inclined to believe that some specific condition disqualified Hiers’s status as a country, and that triggered an automatic update. The website is probably being managed by an AI, after all.”

So what was that condition? Rare could at least rule out it being a specific number of cities being destroyed. Right now, including the capital, six cities had been conquered but, from what she saw on the forums, only player-inhabited cities had been lost, no others. Another possibility, that Rare’s forces had taken over the capital, was hard to believe. Last night, she had confirmed that her troops completed their occupation of the royal castle, so if that were going to be the reason, then the country would have been gone then. But the fact that Wayne could respawn normally inside Hiers this morning contradicted that supposition. Which meant that something else supporting the country’s existence was lost. And there was in fact a likely culprit.

“The royal family’s abandonment of the kingdom… All the royals successfully gained asylum and abdicated their right of sovereignty…?”

It was possible. If, in order to gain refuge, the king was forced to give up his rulership, and his family was taken hostage to prevent him from reneging on such an agreement, such a scenario could indeed be interpreted as the literal end of the kingdom.

“But for that to happen in half a day… No, if they left around the time I first arrived here, it would be a full day. In that time period, could they have arrived at a foreign city? And not only that, could an NPC really have made such an important political decision from some remote town barely within the country’s borders?”

Logically, only another royal would be capable of forcing them to accept conditions like that. And it couldn’t be someone who was given a useless, decorative position for causing problems or someone under house arrest, they would have to still be influential in their country. Furthermore, they had to be in a country that profited from the dissolution of Hiers. If they weren’t, then there was no value in perpetrating the end of the country. However, according to the information available publicly on the official site, none of the countries of humanity on this continent should have been in conflict with any other.

“Another possibility that comes to mind is… the Hiers royal family all died.”

This was a more believable conclusion. They were probably all traveling together, so if they were attacked, then that was that. Rare herself would have wanted to do that if she could.

“But if that was what happened, then who did the deed? They should have been escorted by the royal guard, so I imagine you’d need quite the force to wipe them out. Even as I am now, putting aside whether I could actually go or not, I would never go alone for a mission like that.”

Rare by herself should be strong enough for it, but considering the potential for traps or simply failing to kill everyone, it would be smarter not to try it solo.

“So did they die, or did they gain asylum? I wonder which is more likely?”

Right now, there wasn’t enough information, so it was hard to say. Rare had no direct knowledge about any countries or cities outside of Hiers, and she didn’t know how valuable a foreign royal was in the other countries on this continent. Above all, she couldn’t tell which situation would be worse for her. That might be the better question to ponder right now.

“So, let’s assume they gained asylum. To be honest, I don’t care about the royal family at all; they’re just another type of noble. I was curious how skilled the royal guard was, but they’re ultimately just another armed group; they would be outdone by a stronger foe. The issue is the artifacts they had with them. I’m forced to assume that whatever country they fled to now owns two countries’ worth of tactical weapons.”

She didn’t know whether they had more of those heart artifacts from before or if they had different ones altogether, but just one of them would be capable of causing her death. Despite the fact that they had heavy usage restrictions, if she wanted to invade then she would have to be on the highest alert. The fact that more than one of these artifacts existed was a huge problem.

However, this was based on the assumption that they successfully fled after hearing what the prime minister had to say. There was one other possibility that required analysis.

“The other possibility is that some other party completely wiped out their group… That would also pose some problems. This party would need to be quite strong to accomplish that. If the royal family left on carriages… or via some other method of transporting a large number of people, could someone out there organize a force powerful enough to find them after an entire day of travel in an unknown direction and also take out both them and the royal guard? If that someone does exist, then I need to be watch out for them.”

If that someone was close by, then the royal capital’s current defenses were insufficient. Maybe her army wouldn’t be routed, but she could at least imagine the castle being breached.

“On top of that, this third party would also have an artifact in their possession. Considering that one of the requirements to activate it is to be within a country’s capital, then I need to have our defenses doubled at the very least.”

That said, Rare wasn’t actually that worried about being attacked by an artifact. There weren’t many, they had a short range, and the effects were time-limited. Even though those effects were extremely powerful, she could counter them by simply throwing pure numbers at her foe. This castle was now their base, so they could suss out in advance the likely places the artifacts could be activated. It was hard to imagine someone trying to plot an extreme difficulty one-shot-only mission to protect and transport such a valuable artifact into an enemy castle.

“So in the end, is it better for the artifact to have fallen into a new owner’s hands not belonging to a country, or for the royal family to have successfully defected…? I wonder. If this third party isn’t part of any nation, then who could they be? Bandits? No, bandits couldn’t accomplish something of that magnitude. Other candidates would be… a monster force attacking different regions for the event seems most likely. Well, speaking of a group that has enough raw power, then a party of players—”

A shiver ran down Rare’s spine. What if some players now had the artifact?

“…Nah, there’s no way that happened. They wouldn’t have any reason to go after the fleeing royals. If they were players on the human side, then seeing a bunch of extravagant-looking knights would inspire them to join the escort, not attack them.”

However, if they weren’t human players, then it wasn’t impossible.

“A party of monster players, perhaps? If they did exist, then they should have just as many enemies as I do, so I doubt they would suddenly come and invade this city. In that case, maybe we could cooperate on a joint front or something. Or maybe that’s too optimistic. I need to be careful no matter what.”

Those were all the conclusions she could reach. All in all, the most annoying outcome would be for one country to have two countries’ worth of artifacts at their disposal. When a country had them, they could be used both offensively and defensively, while an unaffiliated force could only use them when they attacked her.

“No, both possibilities are equally obnoxious. In any case, it sucks not to know where the lost artifacts are. What that means specifically is that it’s hard to know how to proceed from here. Well, aside from the fact that we need to increase the defenses for the capital. That and I need to keep an eye on the info being shared online…”

Blanc should be about done taking out her city. Or maybe not quite yet. It had been some time since they spoke, but Rare didn’t want her to think she was being rushed.

“Oh, right. I could just watch through Kenzaki.”

“…If I may be so bold, would that not be considered stalking?”

The maid revenant who had been quietly listening to Rare talk to herself couldn’t help pointing this out.