Las Nevadas: A New Offer

Chapter 6: Kingdom of Freedom

I watched Quackity carefully as he poured himself a drink. Probably some expensive whiskey but I didn't know my wine well enough so I stopped trying to guess. His office was filled with books and stacks of cards, some of the cards outlined in shiny gold. I wondered how often he spent his time gambling off at his casinos.

"So, Charlie, who's this kid you brought here?" Quackity asked. Unfortunately, I had to keep my mouth shut this time.

"Purpled, why don't you do the introduction?" Charlie asked me.

Charlie probably didn't know much about me to say anything, he did all the talking when we first met.

"I'm Purpled, moved here from the Hypixel Kingdom and I'm looking for a job," I said, making sure to keep in some information.

Quackity sat on the top of the desk and looked down at me, "Skills? Talents? Whatchu' got?"

"Look, I can hold a sword fine," I replied honestly. "But, I'm not looking to work with a sword anymore. I have other dreams I want to pursue and I was hoping you could help me."

Quackity glanced at Charlie before he looked back at me, "A swordsman, huh? Those from Hypixel always carry a sword with them. If you have a skill, why waste it? Everyone who comes from Hypixel, I know for a fact, spends their entire life training to hone theirs."

"I don't intend to swing a sword at everyone you command me to and I was hoping to never need to draw my sword at all," I was going to keep pressuring him until he could give me another job.

"What was the point of spending your life training then? A painful amount of learning how to swing a sword and training how to become the best you can be, only for you to throw it down the drain?" Quackity snickered. "What? You expected to find another job after admitting you have the skill set of someone who trained in Hypixel?"

To my dismay, those who travelled around the kingdoms from Hypixel had put up way too high of a standard.

"You expect me to accept an offer from you without you even considering what I want to do?" I replied and I was starting to lose my cool.

Charlie glanced at me, his eyes filled with fear that I might have been going too far. Or that I was starting to get on Quackity's nerves. I didn't care enough, though. I could always decline his offer and find somewhere else, he couldn't arrest me for being interested in other offers. Then again, this was Quackity's kingdom, it was his territory.

"Well then, what are you interested in? What do you want to do? Why did you move to Las Nevadas?" He asked me before taking a sip of his drink.

I huffed in a breathe and answered as honestly as I could, "I want to do photography, I want to take pictures and I was hoping to find a job here. The kingdom is stunning and the photos I could take are endless. I didn't come here to hold a sword. I left Hypixel to be free from that exact thing."

Quackity stopped sipping his drink and lowered it down. His eyes were filled with pity and sorrow... Did he understand me? Was he relating to me on a certain thing?

"I know the feeling of wanting to escape from something," He admitted.

"Quackity-" Charlie began.

"No, no, it's okay, Charlie," Quackity stopped him. "There were so many conflicts going around the world and I had to witness them all. I wanted to escape from somewhere I didn't feel like I belonged either. I didn't want to start conflicts between my friends so I needed somewhere to escape to."

I started to slowly nod at his story, Quackity was understanding me. Minus the whole starting wars part.

I never paid much attention during history class but the biggest main point was that there were so many wars between kingdoms. The L'Manberg war was one of the most important ones, it broke apart the larger DreamSMP into smaller kingdoms, each with its ways of ruling. Las Nevadas was new and was recently created by a former El Rapids leader. Quackity left his friends to start a kingdom where he could escape and start a new.

"Everywhere I went, it never worked out. My friends ditched me and created Kinoko Kingdom without me. I was left behind. They all forgot about me," Quackity poured more whiskey into his glass cup. "Las Nevadas is a kingdom of freedom, Purpled. All who need an escape are welcomed here."

"Quackity... I think you should stop drinking," Charlie grabbed the glass cup out of Quackity's hands. "I have to go check the status of the new casino being built. Hope you get the job you want, Purpled!"

Charlie suddenly turned all cheery again and he waved me a goodbye. I awkwardly waved back and watched him skip out of the office, leaving me and Quackity alone. It was odd to see how easily Charlie could switch between being super friendly to serious.

"How about this, kid," Quackity started after a few seconds of silence. "You become a guard for me with that iron sword of yours, but you can take all the photographs you want, whenever the hell you want. If they're good enough I could send them to newspapers and magazines to use."

"How much of a "guard" do I have to be?" I asked. I didn't want to spend my life being forced to protect some drunk while trying to make a living off of photos.

"Oh, you don't need to be a guard for me," Quackity answered. "Just hang around your future co-workers. Have you met Sam, Foolish and Fundy? I sent them to the train station to supervise the new location to the Grand Prison."

"Yes... I'm aware of them," I said, best not to mention how I ran away from them and almost made myself a wanted criminal. "You have a god working for you?"

"Foolish? That man is a fantastic builder, I am still so shocked he even agreed to help me build this kingdom."

"Ah, okay," I nodded.

"So, Purpled, what do you think about my offer? You can agree or decline," He offered his hand so I could shake it.

Quackity was a powerful man. I knew he was known for making deals that were perfect for everyone he met. Even though Sam and I got off on the wrong foot, I knew I could make it up to him and we'd end up becoming friends. If most of the others' jobs are overseeing projects, I would have a ton of time to take photos of Las Nevadas... And I would be able to see many parts of the city.

It wasn't every day you were offered a job by the ruler of the kingdom itself. I barely got noticed by King Simon back at Hypixel until I was top of my class in my last few years. If I was using a sword to defend my new friends, I'd be more than willing to draw it.

"Quackity," I spoke up and walked towards him. "You have a deal."