MTL - An Unyielding Wind - v14 Chapter 21 Scramble for the second quarter

I am the sword.

Killing a man amidst a thousand miles, no one dares take ten steps.
Killing a man amidst a thousand miles, no one can take ten steps.
Killing a man amidst a thousand miles, ten steps? Not possible!

I am the sword, the sword is me,
On the path towards heaven, each shall wield their own.

- Description from Novelupdates

"Locke transmigrated into an era where everyone had Battle Beasts. Daemons were rampant and humans were forced to build walls around their dwellings while depending on Beastmasters to keep those monsters at bay.

Madeline Celeste d'Aumont is the first daughter of Duke Aumont and Duchess Louise-Marie d'Aumont who has been engaged to the Second Prince of Pays Des Abrutis since she was a child. The Second Prince decided to marry a woman closer to his own age and broke off the engagement to Madeline who was left with a broken heart and a reputation as being an unwanted woman even before she was an adult. The Duke decided to help his daughter regain her confidence and reputation by sending her to the Academy de L'échec.

Ito Aoi was the son of a Kendo master who ran a dojo in downtown Tokyo. One day while crossing the street to get some Yakitori, Aoi was hit by a delivery truck and woke up as the trash first son of Duke Montfort, Guy de Montfort. Duke Montfort also sent his son to Academy de L'échec only Aoi instantly recognized that he was now living in the world of an Otome Game that his sister loved to play and talk about all the time. Aoi recognizes that Madeline is the villain from the game. Aoi also recalled his sister saying that Madeline was terrible in the game, but is she really?

I am currently re-writing the first chapters of this story. They are quite rough and bounce around a lot and I can do better. At some point, I will replace these with the better chapters.Sometime in 2024 Aethon Books will publish the first volume of this story on Amazon, KU, and audible. This will mean the story will be stubbed. I will notify people far in advance of that.In the dystopian world of the future, life is rough when you live at the bottom. Jobs are non-existent. Far too many people live in poverty, crammed into huge buildings called Habitats. With no jobs in the real world, many people can only find work online in VR worlds as servants to the very rich. And it's getting worse. The old internet is unusable and hacked to pieces. The new system needs AI to run things, but all but one of them were destroyed. The last sentient AI is ordered to create a new game world so the rich can have a playground, and the corporations that rule the world can have a new global market place. Everyone wants a piece of the new game. The guilds are competing to be the first to find the dungeons and kill the biggest monster. The corporations are claiming land and putting in their online market places. Ozzy and his friends just want a paycheck.Four friends sign five year contracts as virtual serfs in a small village, and can't go adventuring at all to gain money. They don't have many choices. They can work as a blacksmith, barmaid and shepherd for all those years....or they can cheat and find ways to take advantage of the system and carve out a section of the game world for themselves, and earn a fortune in the real world.When they give you a mop and not a sword, you have to find the loopholes and change the rules.