[STATISTICS]
[AUTHORITY LEVEL: Commoners (480/1500 XP)]
[STRENGTH: D (205/1500 XP)]
[COUNTRY: Small Village (Money: 100/10,000, Villagers: 9/25)]
[SUPPORT: (Public: 95/100(%), Politics: 0/100(%))]
Darren felt the journey had been incredibly long. He had spent three days crossing the Oron Mountains before finally arriving at a magnificent palace.
It wasn't like what he had imagined before. In a fantasy-themed game world, he expected the developers to design this palace like a castle. But what he found was a structure built of concrete and solid stone. This palace reminded Darren of Buckingham Palace in England.
The palace's exterior made Darren gape in awe at its grandeur, standing amid small houses surrounding it, most just one or two stories tall. The palace was twice as high as those homes.
Upon entering the palace, Darren was even more stunned by the beautiful paintings adorning it—he couldn't believe his eyes. The same awe continued when he reached his room, which was filled with expensive items.
"Should we sell all of this, Evan?" Darren asked the man standing behind him. Evan walked closer until he stood right next to Darren. Evan's eyes were drawn to a large painting hanging above the bed. The painting measured 76 cm x 102 cm and depicted the Oron Mountains as seen from the palace. "How much is that painting worth, Evan?"
"We'll be in trouble if we get caught selling palace items," Evan said, suggesting Darren reconsider his plan to sell everything in the room.
"We need capital to survive," Darren replied, not particularly caring about the consequences of his actions. "Tell me the price so I can calculate how much money we can take back to the camp."
"That painting might be worth around four hundred and fifty gold coins," said Evan, following Darren's every move as he calculated the value of all the items in his room.
"What about all the paintings here? How much can I get just from selling the paintings?" Darren asked, now taking turns with Evan to assess the value.
"From the six paintings here, you could probably get at least three thousand gold coins, Your Highness." The amount Darren needed was still far greater than three thousand gold coins. He still needed another seven thousand. He had to secure ten thousand gold coins to level up.
"We need ten thousand gold coins. Is there anything else we can sell—" Darren hadn't even finished speaking when Evan cut him off.
"Ten thousand gold coins?! Why that much?!" Darren stepped toward the wardrobe. These clothes were made of fine materials. Darren touched one of the silk shirts.
"What about this one? How much is it worth?" Darren asked again.
"Not nearly as much as the paintings, Your Highness. My advice—let's just use the money we have for now. I'm sure we'll earn more once we leave the palace." Evan's words confused Darren. Did the game developers deliberately prevent him from taking even a little of the money that was technically his?
"Alright, three thousand gold coins are enough to continue our journey. As for the money and getting the paintings out, I'll leave that to you. My task now is to prepare for the annual meeting with the kings and queens of Georgia Island," he said before walking out of the room, leaving Evan with a new task.
Darren wanted him to sell all those paintings without anyone finding out.
****
Evan walked uneasily inside Darren's room—his boss, who was currently meeting with the Emperor along with his older brother, Prince Harry. It wasn't that Evan didn't want to agree to his boss's request. He just didn't know how to get six paintings out of there without drawing too much attention.
A soft knock startled Evan slightly. He didn't know how to cover all the paintings that lay on the walls. If Evan opened the door, whoever stood in front of it would surely notice and wonder why all the paintings in the room had been taken down just like that.
Another knock came. Evan only had one way to open the door without the person outside knowing what was inside. He would open the door as slightly as possible, just enough for his face to show, so there was little chance Darren's idea would be found out.
"What are you doing in there?" Max—it was him, arriving with a trolley carrying something wide and square. The item on the trolley wasn't very tall; there might have been around ten paintings stacked from largest to smallest. Evan couldn't predict how many there were because the paintings were covered with a few burlap sacks. "I'm here to collect Prince Darren's order that's still in there."
"Oh!" He wasn't the only one assigned to sell all the paintings—Max, Prince Harry's aide, had been given the same task. With that, Evan opened the room door fully. He allowed Max to come inside and prepared a reasonable excuse to bring out all the paintings. "Did he ask you to sell all the paintings, too?"
"Yes, this was Prince Harry's idea—he asked me to drop by Prince Darren's room. I know a good place to sell all these paintings," he said before turning and firmly closing the door.
Max and Evan worked together to pull off the burlap sacks covering the paintings. They rearranged the paintings from the largest to the smallest. Both were busy stacking the sacks and doing their best to keep the paintings hidden.
"What's next? How are we going to carry all of this? Won't it look suspicious if both of us are seen carrying something this big?" Evan asked before they left Prince Darren's room.
"I've prepared a wagon downstairs. Along with a driver who'll steer the horses to a painting collector's place. But how to get this to the first floor is still a mystery to me." Evan thought Max would have figured out how to get everything out safely. But it turned out he was just as clueless. Neither of them knew how to bring all of it from the third floor to the first.
"In that case, wouldn't it be better to ask someone else to do it?" Evan asked, slightly annoyed but also confused at the same time.
A knock from outside made both of them turn their heads. Evan was confused, but Max seemed to understand the situation. Without hesitation, he walked toward the door to see who it was. Standing outside were two men Max was familiar with. Even though both wore royal guard uniforms dominated by black, Max recognized them.
"We're here to collect Prince Harry's order." Max smiled in satisfaction. He let them in and allowed them to take over the trolley to be taken out.
"Who are they?" Evan asked in confusion, his brow furrowed—he didn't know there would be others coming to carry the paintings.
"Prince Harry's shadows," Max said before leaving the room.