Garden
The Twins and Daemon teleported to a huge rectangular area whose edges are covered with bushes. This place was resembling a mansion with enormous iron gates, surrounded by pruned bushes, flowers, and fountains with crescent and star motifs. The buildings were located inside the garden of this mansion.
This area was surrounded by walls, above which were hung banners with a picture of the sun.
This was the logo that Daemon chose for Zenith.
Then he looked around. In the garden, Lockheart was planting seeds into the dirt. She opened inventory and clicked on the "Fertilizer" item then spam-clicked "Use". while Nyaru was crouching and watching all flowers like dandelions, roses and daisies grew instantly. Plants exploded into particles of their own flower color and piled up in Lockheart's inventory.
[Guild: Zenith obtained Guild Badges x5]
[Guild: Zenith obtained Guild Badges x11]
[Guild: Zenith obtained Guild Badges x38]
[Guild: Zenith obtained Guild Badges x24]
[Guild: Zenith obtained Guild Badges x3]
Meanwhile, a few more people were walking around, examining their weapons.
One player called out:
"Hey, leader! Can you get me a dagger?"
"Coming right away!"
Haruto emerged from what appeared to be a cellar from the far side of the garden, reached the player out of breath, and handed him the daggers. After the player got the daggers, they opened their inventory and looked at the green frames of the weapons:
"Hey, Leader! This is the green tier one! I asked for blue."
"I've got nothing else left. If you get me some ore from the mines on Level 3, I can find a blacksmith and have it done for you. But it'll be expensive."
"You're going to charge us? You're our leader!"
"I wouldn't do it if it was in Equipment Storage. But I have to go to my shop to do what you want."
"Tsh! That's not why I came to your stupid Guild!"
The man bowed his head and watched the workers in the garden. Nyaru looked at the man and turned to Lockheart, frightened by the red glint in the man's eyes. Haruto tried to stay calm as the man grit his teeth and clenched his fists.
"Hey, you're scaring my members!"
"You know, I could just kill you and get the items I want. But I'm being nice, so why don't you-"
Haruto quickly opened his menu and clicked the "Guild" button, clicked on the members from there, selected KuudereStan_01, and clicked the "Kick" button.
The man suddenly turned into blue particles and disappeared as he shouted and ran towards Haruto.
Haruto yawned and turned to Daemon:
"Oh hey, you're back."
Daemon blinked for a few seconds, looked at Haruto, and then began to shout:
"Are you kidding me? We almost died! If you were so strategic and you knew Dungeon was tough, why didn't you take a healer like Nyaru with me?"
"But there were the twins. Didn't they protect you with their AoE attack?"
"I PROTECTED THEM! They didn't replenish their MP before Dungeon, so I threw myself in front of them until their MP was full! The only good thing about the war was that I yeeted Ren to Brazil."
"C-come again?"
"I mean, Ren got paralyzed, and I threw her to Rem. It was satisfying because Ren also accused me of taking Lockheart away from her."
Haruto rolled his eyes and rubbed his head:
"She did, didn't she? Ah, I thought they'd get over it. Speaking of twins, where are they?"
As they spoke, a teleport voice sounded behind them, and Rem and Ren appeared.
Rem was carrying Ren on her back and Ren had fallen asleep. Rem looked wearily at Daemon, then turned his head to Haruto:
"Haruto! Let's not do this for a long time, please."
Haruto smiled.
"But thanks to you all, more people have joined my Guild! Check it out!"
Haruto opened his menu and clicked on Guild again:
[Guild Zenith:
Members: 38/50
Level: 1 (Guild Badges: 2548/10,000)]
"See, my tactic worked. Zenith is almost full."
Daemon and Ren stopped talking when they saw the proud expression on Haruto's face. Daemon folded his arms:
"So what now? Our items and stuff..."
"They will stay in the Storage. All of you have weapons and a few types of equipment, anyway..."
"That's not how it works, though. You are supposed to give members their items, you know..."
"All team-event rewards will be here and I don't want to give them away unless it's an important situation. I'm trying to keep people alive here. A basic weapon and a few pieces of equipment will be enough for each member. The balance of power is also important."
Daemon yawned, then continued:
"Usually, in MMO's one guy gets the best items and solos, everyone, you know?"
By this time Lockheart had finished planting seeds in the ground, smiling, and joined into the conversation:
"Do you expect us to make you an overpowered MC?"
"Well, I mean... Why not?"
"Why do you have such expectations of us?"
"Because... uhhh... Forget it."
Haruto tried to calm the atmosphere by laughing:
"Okay, okay! Now let's talk and stop wasting time. Everybody gets back to work! I and Ren are going back to my shop on Floor 4."
Ren looked up:
"Huh, why me?"
Haruto replied:
"We're going to talk about something..."
At the Merchant shop, Ren and Haruto were sitting at the table. Ren had one hand on her cheek, tapping the table with the other. Haruto went to the counter and opened his menu. He clicked on the inventory, placed a few leaves and a glass of water on the table, and clicked the "Craft" button. He called out to Ren:
"Do you want tea?"
"No, thanks. Just tell me what you called me here for!"
Haruto took a deep breath, picked up the tea he had made, and looked at his reflection:
"Look Ren, you're going way over Takashi."
"I... I was just..."
"You promised me you'd give Lockheart some space. What happened? Were all the promises suddenly broken when we were all trapped in this world?"
Ren lowered his head, Haruto smiled:
"Look, he is not that bad really. I met that guy before."
"Seriously? Why didn't you tell before?"
"I mean... let's say we were at the same school before I moved to next to Lockheart. And there was a little tension when we first met, and I feel a little guilty about it. Not gonna lie, I used to be a real idiot. That's why I'm nice to Takashi."
Ren yawned and slid her feet across the carpet on the floor. Haruto continued:
"In the past, Lockheart's experience with other people may not have been very good, but she changed a lot. You won't interfere with her friendships, promise?"
Ren tapped the ground with her foot and pouted:
"Ugh, fine! I can try..."