Chapter 316 Cofounder“s Descendant?
After taking out chairs and starting a fire, Jack, Tralon, Argyle, and Bowzer allowed themselves to relax and roast some meat rations to pass the time.
'Hey Tralon, would you mind using God's Eye again.'
'Why's that, Jack?'
'I've already seen the four councilmen with God's Eye but I can't recognize anyone other than Quallace.'
Tralon nodded. 'Oh, so you want me to reveal which council member dared to enter your dungeon and help you plan accordingly. Give me a moment.'
While Jack and Argyle smiled in wait, Tralon's eyes had a white cloudiness glaze over them. 'They're not on this floor yet… Ah, there they are. They're on the second floor but it seems they've fallen for your false circle multiple times already.'
'If they fell for that so easily, then I'm excited for them to try the later levels,' laughed Jack.
'Or to see them against the mimics,' Argyle chuckled.
'There's Quallace and Bikkem like we had guessed. Seems like they fell for our bait. The young EXP crazed Kims is with them. And there's also… Vixus?'
Mid laugh, Jack paused and slowly turned back to Tralon. 'Who else is with them?'
'Oh, right… There is a council member named after your fellow cofounder. Also, he's a genuine descendant of said cofounder,' mentioned Tralon.
'What?! Explain!'
'Jack, not long after the Godly War, well after ancient heroes had disappeared from Kartonia, the Leisure Guild used a lot of treasure to be one of the first to summon an ancient hero,' Tralon explained. 'We had nowhere near enough to summon someone of your level, considering the drastic increase in cost for every five levels, but we did manage to summon a lv. 75 hero successfully. It was Vixus Senpai, but he soon removed senpai from his name.'
A flood of unexpected thoughts washed over Jack's brain. 'That… But…'
'I know that Vixus Senpai left the guild before we attained our grand reputation and I had no intention of summoning him, but he was the one we had summoned in the end,' stated Tralon.
Jack's mind was forced into neutral, unable to get past his past memories of Vixus_Senpai and the initial struggles of the Leisure Guild.
Together they had started the Leisure Guild and had started the Trodan Council, each holding a seat to help govern the state. At the time, the level cap was lv. 70, hence the dungeon only going as high as lv. 65. Jack remembered the many times when the guild had been raided or the moments when the guild nearly collapsed internally.
Vixus_Senpai was the first person that Jack_J. Had considered a friend, the first person to continually party with Jack.
That friendship and partnership continued for two more years. The level cap had been increased to lv. 75 and the Leisure Guild was on the rise, already being recognized as one of the greatest guilds. The initial hurdles of the guild were long gone and they could now enjoy the fruits of their labor, yet something changed.
Gradually, Vixus_Senpai was on less often and he was eventually unable to commit to the long grinds for guild raids or leveling.
Eventually, the day came when Vixus_Senpai told Jack that he was quitting "A Hero's Tale." Jack didn't listen very well at the time, but he remembered Vixus_Senpai mentioning something about his wife, his soon-to-be-born child, and his promotion at work. Jack didn't want to hear it, but Vixus_Senpai was decently successful in life outside of "A Hero's Tale" and there was no longer time nor energy left for a silly game that would never amount to anything of worth in real life, according to Vixus_Senpai.
'Jack… Jack!'
'Huh? Oh… sorry about that.' Jack scratched his head and nodded. 'So, you somehow summoned the old guild leader. What happened next?'
'Did you not hear anything I just said?' asked Tralon.
'I… No. I didn't,' Jack answered honestly. 'Please, tell me again now that I'm paying attention.'
'Right… So, after we summoned Vixus Senpai, or Vixus as he liked to be called, I tried to pass him the reigns of the guild and allow him to again lead us. But he refused,' Tralon explained. 'It may have been due to the difference in our levels, but he didn't like the idea of taking control of the guild anymore. Also…'
'Most of the items designated for the guild leader were all upgraded to lv. 85, so all of the old gear that he had given up was now unusable to him,' Jack finished Tralon's thought.
With a sad smile, TRalon nodded, 'Right. In the end, he felt it was best to not be associated with the guild, not wanting to take back any of his former equipment or items. Instead, he headed the council and started a few businesses in town, he even started a family.
'In all honesty, he chose to live a very uneventful life in my opinion,' Tralon added.
Jack sighed, 'Yeah, but that's the life that he chose for himself, even back then… Then how did he die?'
'Well… He was actually done in by a rare poison, one you're very familiar with, Jack.'
Wide-eyed, Jack looked Tralon in the eye. At the same time, Argyle looked to Jack, startled to hear that Jack would be familiar with a poison that strong.
With a nod, Tralon continued, 'Since you discovered the walking death toxin well after Vixus had left the guild, he was clueless as to what he could do to stop it. And since I never had access to the cure, Vixus Senpai didn't live long enough to see his grandchildren. A sad end for the short life of a former hero.'
'That's… Do you have any idea how he was infected?' asked Jack.
'No, but it was around the same time that the Chaos Syndicate started to appear in Kartonia. And since many people had been killed by that same poison in the syndicate's hands, I assumed that the syndicate was also the cause of Vixus Senpai's death."
"Okay… So… So this councilman with the same name, I'm guessing he's a distant descendant of the cofounder?'
'Correct,' replied Tralon. 'It's been over four hundred years since then, so there've been many of his descendants that have held a council seat. Also, they all tend to be very interested in the guild but always refuse to join it.'
Argyle chimed in, 'How exactly were they interested in the guild? Did they try to take something from you?'
'They usually claimed that they had a birthright to half of our treasures since their ancestor was the cofounder, though he deserted before we achieved out unmatched fame. Hence why Jack was regarded as the Legend of Trodar and Vixus was forgotten by history for the most part,' explained Tralon. 'I believe that was the second major reason why Vixus Senpai refused to rejoin the guild.
'And to his descendants, I've always mentioned how their ancestor refused to take anything from the guild when he left. Since Vixus_Senpai personally refused to take anything, I too refused to offer any sort of monetary stimulus to his ancestors.'
'What did this Vixus want?' Jack asked, still straight-faced and swallowing down his emotions.
'He has become arguably the most powerful of his descendants, showing potential to surpass Vixus Senpai,' stated Tralon. 'Due to their centuries-old businesses, the family is the wealthiest in Trodar. Rather than argue about what belonged to them, Vixus made me some generous offers to purchase guild properties and assets. And if worst came to worst, he's the man I would most likely be willing to negotiate with.'
'Yet that Vixus is now down here, helping the others raid the storehouse?'
'Jack, the storehouse is the property that Vixus is most interested in.'
'Oh? This old place? Probably after the treasure in the vault."
Tralon shook his head. 'Actually, he offered to help me with the storehouse if I wanted to empty the vaults before I sold it to him. He only asked that he had the chance to select a single treasure before I took the rest.'
'A single treasure… Which treasure is he after?' Jack mumbled to himself, trying his best to think back on the many items tucked away in the vault.