Chapter 360 - 260: City Lord, You Don’t Want to Be Defeated by the Devil, Right?

Chapter 360: Chapter 260: City Lord, You Don’t Want to Be Defeated by the Devil, Right?

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The City Lord of Twin Tower City swore this was the strangest petition he had ever seen in his life.

Several thousand citizens had signed a joint petition demanding the formation of the strongest possible "Red Alert" player team to stop the Devils here.

He knew Red Alert was a game, probably one about a great war between Humans and Devils.

However, he’d never been very interested in things like video games; he just couldn’t get the hang of them.

He couldn’t even get past a few levels in that game with the little man in red overalls who eats mushrooms, which was supposedly perfect for beginners.

So, when he first saw the petition, he thought it was some kind of prank.

But then the city’s Bishop came to his door, instructing him to treat the competition with the utmost importance.

The City Lord hadn’t even had a chance to figure out what the Church meant by "importance"—those Goddess-worshippers always loved to be cryptic.

Next, he received a handwritten decree from the King, ordering him to ensure a victory against the Devils in Twin Tower City.

This forced the City Lord to start cramming on the subject.

’Twin Tower City is actually the main venue for the Sutton Southern Region’s qualifying tournament.’

It wasn’t that the City Lord was out of touch with the world, but rather that after his daughter, Grace, started learning to handle administrative affairs, he had primarily left matters related to culture and entertainment to her.

Grace had matured very quickly, handling all her responsibilities exceptionally well.

He was very pleased with this and had gradually stopped inquiring about the city’s cultural and entertainment affairs in detail.

The City Lord had always lived by the principle of "the less trouble, the better."

He had no desire to get ahead.

Otherwise, with the power of his and his wife’s families, he wouldn’t be the City Lord of just one city.

’Right,’ the City Lord realized as his headache intensified. ’Grace should be the one mainly in charge of this.’

’Leave professional matters to the professionals.’

The City Lord stood up, walked out of his study, and went to find his daughter.

"Grace?" he asked, knocking on the door to his daughter’s office.

"Come in. What is it, Father?"

Inside the room, Grace sat behind her desk, which was piled high with all sorts of documents. She worked much harder than her "lazy" father.

Grace had cut her hair into a practical short style and no longer wore ornate, complex dresses. Instead, she wore a more androgynous suit, giving her a sharp and efficient look.

"How much do you know about the Red Alert competition?" the City Lord asked.

"The Red Alert competition? Why are you asking about this all of a sudden, Father?"

"Look." The City Lord took out the petition.

Grace gave it a quick look.

"Just as I thought. I’m already working on assembling a team," she replied calmly.

"Is this competition really that important?"

"Yes. Don’t you go online? The internet is buzzing with discussions about it—Devil experts from Hell, who can defend Feilin’s honor, and so on."

Grace gave her father a rough summary of the situation.

"In the Central Region—that’s the qualifiers held in the Royal City—the Human team lost to the Devil team. Nearly ten thousand people gathered outside the venue to protest. They believe the loss was because the team wasn’t properly assembled—it was just a spontaneously formed group of amateur enthusiasts—and they weren’t given good training conditions. They say it was a disgrace to Humankind."

Now the City Lord understood why the King had sent a personal decree.

’So his majesty’s side has already lost,’ he thought. ’Now the pressure is on Twin Tower City.’

"What kind of game is Red Alert?"

"I suggest you try it for yourself."

The best way to understand a game is to play it. It’s hard to draw any real conclusions just by watching.

"Try it? Where? It’s already nighttime, the game stores are closed. Are you suggesting we have the Zog Group deliver one?"

"No need. I bought one." Grace pointed to a sand table in the corner of the room.

"One must understand the things one manages. You taught me that."

Her room was like a small museum of Zog Group products, a perfect reflection of the state of culture and entertainment in Twin Tower City: it was basically all from Zog.

"Oh, alright. Very good, well done. So how does this thing work? It looks like a, uh, sand table."

"Yes, it is a sand table. The player takes on the role of a commander, directing battles on it," Grace replied, activating the sand table.

"Commanding Humans to fight Devils?"

"You can also command the Devils. In fact, more players prefer using the Devils nowadays. After all, they look cool, and they’re very strong."

Grace skillfully navigated to the single-player campaign, selected a skirmish match, chose a map, and then picked the easiest-difficulty enemy.

"Go on and try, Father."

"What should I do? This looks like a building you’d see at the Church," the City Lord said, pointing at the Church-themed base vehicle.

"Yes, that’s because you’re controlling the Human Alliance Army. Now, select it and deploy it."

With his daughter’s step-by-step guidance, the City Lord completed the most basic operations.

"And then?"

"You need to build a Mage Tower to generate Magic Power, then build a Mine to collect Magic Energy Stones. All buildings and unit production require Magic Energy Stones."

Under Grace’s command, the City Lord fumbled with the controls.

"You should create a few dogs to clear the fog of war—that is, these black areas on the sand table—and find the enemy’s base."

"The enemy’s troops have appeared! Quick, defend! Bunkers, they’re in that tab! Activate the repair function, the wrench in the top right! Repair your Barracks, it’s about to explode!"

"Spread them out, Father! Spread out your troops! It’s the button on the second row on the left."

"Never mind, Father, you can’t handle the micro. Just focus on producing High Level units. Build up enough High Tier Paladins, then concentrate all your forces to destroy the enemy base, and you’ll win."

"Too bad. You were so close, but your actions were too slow."

As Grace said this, a notification box popped up on the sand table.

"You have failed."

"That’s it?" the City Lord retorted.

"That’s it. But for a complete beginner, you did pretty well. At least you lasted for a while," Grace praised, though she didn’t mean it.

A mature daughter knows how to protect her middle-aged father’s pride.

"How is that even possible to win?"

the City Lord asked loudly.

He hadn’t found any fun in the game. He was incredibly busy from start to finish, and when it was over, he just felt tired.

He had tried so hard to produce High Tier units, but the enemy Devil forces had swallowed him like a tidal wave.

"Besides, this game is unreasonable! My men are the highest-tier Holy Knights, each one a match for a hundred enemies, the elite of the elite! Back in the day, they could fight their way into Hell itself. How can they not even handle a few Devils now?"

The City Lord blamed his defeat on the game.

"Father, don’t look for realism in a work of fiction. This is just for game balance."

"I don’t see what’s balanced about Church Holy Knights being defeated by Devils. The city Bishop told me to pay attention to this game; he must also feel that it insults the Church."

"Don’t be so sensitive," Grace said, taking out a Magic Crystal Stone. "Actually, the Bishop is a high-ranking player on the ladder, and he mainly uses the Devils."

"What’s that?" the City Lord asked, referring to the Magic Crystal Stone in Grace’s hand.

"This is a first-person recording of the Devils who won in the Royal City. They defeated the best local players with incredible ease. Their skill level is probably close to that of the opponents we’ll be facing."

As she spoke, Grace played the footage from the Magic Crystal Stone.

The City Lord watched for only a few minutes before covering his eyes in agony.

"Turn it off, Grace. I can’t watch this."

The screen-switching in the recording was so frequent that his eyes couldn’t keep up, making the City Lord feel nauseous.

It was practically flickering, and with each flicker, a unit would be moved or a new building constructed.

He couldn’t even button-mash that fast, let alone perform effective actions.

"Are they really playing the same game I just was?" the City Lord asked doubtfully.

"Yes. I’m quite certain."

"Can that level of skill really be beaten?"

"As things stand now, we can’t win," Grace gave an answer the City Lord didn’t want to hear.

’Looks like I’d better start thinking of an excuse, then.’

"But that doesn’t mean we can’t win in the future," Grace said.

"What do you mean?"

"According to my investigation, all the Devil players devote all of their time to this game. If they lose, they are punished in Hell, and if they win, they are rewarded by the Devil Duke. They are professional gamers."

"So..."

"We don’t lack talented players here, but they don’t have an equivalent amount of practice time. Therefore, Twin Tower City also needs professional players who can devote themselves completely to the competition."

The City Lord thought for a moment, then nodded. "What do you need?"

"Funding, Father. Funding."