Harem Online: My Party Is Full of Beautiful Celebrities-Chapter 68: Headquarters

Once again, Martin found himself in an area with fewer players than usual. This time, however, it was because he had stepped into a world of high-level NPCs that hardly anyone could access yet. Only someone as daring as Cassandra Selfmore could walk into a place like this and make bold demands.

Towering trees rose on every side, so massive that Martin felt as though he had stepped beneath the pillars of some ancient cathedral grown from the earth instead of built by human hands.

Some housed NPCs within their enormous trunks, with warm light glowing through carved windows and narrow balconies wrapped around the bark. Others had been left untouched, their branches stretching freely, as though even the academy knew better than to command every part of the forest.

What drew Martin’s eye most, however, was the cluster of trees rising high above the rest.

Their trunks stood so close together that they looked less like separate trees and more like the pillars of a single living fortress. Roots as thick as house walls had been torn from the ground and shaped into supports, arches, and sweeping stairways.

Lanterns hung between them in soft amber rows. Their glow caught on drifting pollen, strips of moss, and pale veins of sap that shimmered faintly like liquid moonlight.

At the front, the largest roots had been carved into broad staircases leading upward into the heart of the structure.

Buildings rested among the branches overhead, fitted so seamlessly into the living wood that Martin could not always tell where the architecture ended and the forest began. Walkways curved from trunk to trunk, banners stirred high above, and now and then he caught the glint of crystal embedded in the bark like stars trapped in wood.

Together, it formed the headquarters of the Forest Hidden Monster Hunter Academy, a place that looked less like an institution and more like the forest itself had chosen to crown something worthy.

Martin could not picture himself barging into a place that grand, yet the woman ahead of him had done exactly that with nothing but her name and a newly founded guild.

Damn, she was amazing.

Naturally, the headquarters was guarded by experienced hunters. Even so, every one of them recognized Cassandra’s nickname, and her presence alone was enough to settle the matter. Their expressions turned respectful at once.

"You must be the one who barged into the elders’ meeting and succeeded. The only one who managed it. The other guild leaders tried to follow your example, but every one of them failed," said the guard, who knew Cassandra only by reputation and was seeing her in person for the first time. His sharp gaze stayed fixed on the beautiful woman standing before him. "It’s exciting to finally meet you."

That much was plain in the guard’s face. He had never seen Cassandra before, yet the moment he matched her presence to the stories, his posture changed. Other guild leaders might have tried to follow in her footsteps, but none of them had left behind the kind of impression that made even strangers speak to her like they were standing before a name already carved into this place.

"You flatter me. I am here to meet with the elders regarding the potential expansion of my guild," Cassandra said in her usual even tone, but her words still stunned the guards.

Even Martin felt goosebumps rise on his skin.

"Right. Please wait here," the second guard said before spinning around and sprinting up toward the headquarters.

Martin was still trying to catch up with what had just happened when Cassandra was already moving again. The guards’ shock had barely settled before he found himself climbing the massive root stairs at her side, lantern light spilling across the carved wood beneath his boots. Keeping up with Cassandra’s pace was harder than fighting the Dark Blue Goblin Boss.

The moment they stepped into the headquarters’ reception hall, Martin understood at once that this was no ordinary welcome chamber.

The hall was vast, but nothing in it felt wasted. Fur carpets from slain beasts covered the floor in thick layers, while polished claws, curved horns, and monster fangs had been turned into wall ornaments, lamp frames, and intricate carvings along the beams.

A chandelier of interlocked antlers hung high above. Its amber lights glowed softly over display stands lined with preserved scales, crystallized monster cores, and blades fashioned from the remains of creatures Martin had never even heard of.

The place smelled of resin, polished wood, old leather, and something sharper beneath it all, as though the memory of the hunt had been built into the room itself. Even the trophies did not feel decorative. They felt like proof.

One of the elders called out to them.

He had arrived before the others.

He was a middle-aged man with short black hair streaked with white, a stubby beard, and a sharp face marked by old scars. Even dressed in the sort of rugged leather gear one would expect from a veteran hunter, he did not come off as ordinary.

There was nothing flashy about him, yet he carried the kind of presence that made the room feel tighter around him. His glare made it clear he was not there to praise Cassandra.

"You vixen..." he said, his face twisting with displeasure. "We covered up the last incident and made sure no word of your visit got out. So how did it spread? It was you, was it not?"

The corners of Cassandra’s lips lifted ever so slightly. "Yes. I leaked it to the other players and encouraged them to ’visit’ you as well."

The elder’s face darkened.

Martin did not need the elder to spell it out. Cassandra had not only forced her way into their world once, but had turned the aftermath into another triumph.

The other guild leaders had rushed to copy her move, only to prove that they understood nothing about why it had worked for her in the first place. Judging by the fury tightening the elder’s face, that difference had burned itself deep into the academy’s memory.

The elder gave a sharp harrumph. "Hmph. Come in. Everyone is already seated at the Forest Table."

"I really missed the Forest Table," Cassandra said.

Martin had no idea what the Forest Table actually was, but the way the elder’s jaw locked told him it was not some ceremonial name meant to impress outsiders. Whatever waited beyond it, Cassandra had already walked into that place once and left something behind sharp enough to still cut.

The elder clenched his hands so tightly that the sound carried through the hall.

Martin could only think one thing.

Damn, she was so fucking amazing.