Versatile: Alternate World

As the Merfolk soldiers escorted me, the players around us are also getting curious about what is happening and why am I getting escorted by soldiers all of a sudden. Those who saw me just now might be thinking I commit a crime and got caught by soldiers while those players who saw since the very beginning are wondering why the soldiers are acting like what they did earlier to me. Even if it was either of the two, all of the players are interested as to what is my deal and how I managed to get escorted by soldiers the very first day the merfolk kingdom has been unlocked for players to explore.

Thankfully, I didn't use the Wolf Mask, or else the players would immediately recognize me. I read before on the community of players playing Alternate World that my Mask was hard to replicate and they don't know where I got the mask at all, making it a unique existence despite the fact that it can only be earned by killing a specific elite monster and pray for lady luck it will drop. I didn't expect they can't even find it.

Since we didn't stop at any point while I am being escorted, we arrived at the palace in just a few minutes, and behind us are players who are trying to find out what was happening. The moment I arrived at the palace, some of the soldiers that are escorting me stopped and blocked the pathway.

"Beyond here is the palace where the King of the Merfolk resides. If you don't have any business here, then please leave immediately."

I looked at the players trying their best to bypass the guards. Some decided to use the usual talk-no-jutsu bullcrap but failed as the guards are not easily persuaded especially if you don't have any sort of reputation in this land. Some tried to clip through the place by doing some parkour and climbing where the soldiers can't see them but obviously, that also fails as the soldiers don't tolerate trespassers.

"Bastard! You dare to trespass!" the soldier immediately throws a spell on the climbing players and freezes them.

Well, it sucks but trying to get out from that frozen form takes 5 hours before you can move again. It sucks but that's just how it goes, I also experienced that in the past timeline. It's a glorious experience, definitely worth trying once and never doing it again.

As the remaining soldiers escorted me, the guy who talked to me first earlier whom I still have no idea who talked to me.

"I heard all of your exploits from the Great One and I appreciate what you have done for our predecessors. If not for your intervention, this place might have never been able to get back up on its feet again."

"But I killed almost everyone here. And although they are already walking corpses when I arrived, I still killed them. Aren't you guys angry at me for annihilating a whole kingdom of people in a flash?"

"We will also kill them out if they become part of the walking dead and I don't think you are at fault there as you are not the one who instigated the whole thing since the Great One is the witness to all of your exploits.

"Wait, wait. Before we continue, can I ask something?"

"Sure. As long as it's within my bounds to answer, I will do my best to offer you the answer you needed."

"Okay, but who is this 'Great One" you keep speaking of? When I am here, I never heard of this term at all."

"Well, take a look over there. That is the statue of the Great One whole rebuilt this kingdom from below up to its prosperous time now."

As he points over to the little plaza center in front of the Castle, is a big statue of a mermaid. Since the craftmanship of statues originates from the hands of merfolks, the details of the statues are very intricate that even just a glance, I immediately knew who it was.

Yep, that's right. It's none other than Lifera, the guardian of the merfolk and the kingdom itself. So she is now called the Great One now huh? Whatever she did back then must have been a great deal for the merfolk to dub her as the Great One.

We continue onwards to the castle. The chief soldier greeted the guards guarding the big door before they opened it and let us in but this time, only the chief soldier and I were inside while the rest remained outside and dispersed. It seems their only job is to escort me over here. The chief soldier escorted me to another door. In my past life, this place shouldn't exist but since the design of the interior is now different, it seems Lifera changed many things which is why most of what I remembered in the past timeline is no longer the same as before.

"Please enter the room, Sir Bladeheart. However, I think you should consider changing your mask back to the original mask that is described to you. I heard you use it before the Wolf Mask."

"Huh? Why? This mask is fine," I touched the Plague doctor mask in me and I wondered why I need to change the mask. Doesn't the look of the Plague Doctor mask amazing? The design is very cool to me.

"Some of the guests might get freaked out of you as Plague doctors only appear whenever something like an outbreak of disease appears so having it as your mask at the moment will cause a slight panic to many. We would like to avoid that from happening at the moment."

Hearing the reason, I sighed and decided to change it back to my wolf mask. Indeed, this is much more comfortable than the Plague Doctor mask but the latter looks cool for a warrior with a plague doctor mask on. It was like you are about to "heal" everyone else with your "medical expertise" but since they wanted me to change, then change it is.

The moment I put it on, I don't know if I was just imagining it but the chief soldier seems to have his eyes sparkle the moment I put the mask on. Perhaps it does indeed but who cares, it might just be his reaction to my mask that seems to become part of a legend I am not aware of.

The chief soldier opened the door and let me inside.

"Please enjoy the banquet. We hope you will like it. The king will be there shortly and will meet you after."

...

...

[You have entered the Banquet Hall]

The moment I entered, the merfolk turned to look at me. I thought nothing crazy would happen but I was wrong because the mermaids who were all looking very pretty by human standards are immediately flocking towards me and starting to flirt with me.

"Master, I never knew you would be this popular to girls," Lucia is holding her laughter as I am overwhelmed by all the mermaids trying to tug me that I don't know what is going on anymore.

"This is torture! What are you talking about being popular with girls?! I would remain a loner than being a popular guy!"

Seeing the worst situation happening, I activated my [Stealth] and escaped loads of mermaids trying to choke me to the point I can't even see anything from my view except tails, boobs, and more bodies of the mermaids that would seem feel like heaven but honestly felt like more torture than ever. That was the most troublesome banquet thing I have experienced in my whole life ever. So this is what most celebrities felt most of the time huh? Now I can feel their pain and I must say it is indeed really bad but it's not the worst kind of feeling.

Anyways, I managed to escape the mermaids and hide away on the second floor. I was quick on my feet and with [Stealth] working to them. it was a good way to fully escape them. I managed to sigh in relief but then someone started talking beside me.

"Sorry for that, Bladeheart-sama. It's just how they usually like to do whenever they find a prospective husband they want to marry especially if it is heroic and has tons of achievements. That is very appealing to all female mermaids out there."

I turned to look and to my surprise, its a reunion from someone I didn't expect to be there.

"Sera. I thought you started traveling after all of the incidents that happened here?"

"I did. And I came back after. Even if this place was no longer the same kingdom I used to love, why not make it enjoyable again?"

Sera is one of the siblings I rescued before during the events in the Aquagius incident.

"Still, fancy meeting you here, as a toast to our reunion, why don't we enjoy the banquet at our own pace? Let's have small talk until the king arrives."

I smiled when I heard that. Even though we didn't bond too much during that time due to the sheer amount of chaos happening all over, I guess it wouldn't hurt to at least reunite and talk with her. Perhaps I might find some good info that might mark for our new adventure.