In the lively tavern, Alex took a sip of the yellow liquid in his wooden cup. Besides him sat Line with an unreadable stoic countenance.
In front of him was Luke, happily chatting with the woman beside him.
The woman he was chatting with wore a white and green striped maxi bodycon dress and had silky, curly black hair that fell all the way to her lower back.
Her bright crimson eyes, similar to Luke's, had a distinct glow to it. The kind that stems more from one's demeanor rather than objective appearance.
And her strangely charming smile—in a certain way, this woman—Veronica, had a sort of peculiarity to her.
Atleast, that was Alex's assessment of her based on the short introductory conversation he had with Veronica as well as her demeanor.
And also,
[You've used {Title Property}: {Analyze}]
[...]
[...]
[PLAYER PROFILE]
Name: Meyko-70
Class: Assassin
Level: 10
Title: The Entrepreneur
Title Property: Increases the income of the cast by 50%.
Curse: i) The cast is incapable of transferring more than 40% of her Balance to another player.
ii) The cast can only use 60% of the Cheng in their Balance for any transaction.
[...]
[...]
She was a Main cast.
The Entrepreneur was among the five Titles created by Alex which had not one but two curses.
It didn't take him much thought to figure out why she's President of the Freedom guild, and why they had so many players flocking towards them for a membership.
The in-game currency of Cheng was quite literally a pass to continue living after all and her Title happened to have an advantage in that aspect.
"Then shall we head out?" Veronica suggested.
Basically, after Luke agreed to help them out in their private investigation regarding Yuki, he also asked them if he could bring another experienced player along with him.
This player happened to be Alex who agreed to help out to satiate his curiosity and desire for adventure…but couldn't he have informed him if other players were gonna be involved?
[20:41]
"Fine by me, I'd like to get back to my inn by at least two in the morning."
Alex said while getting up from his seat. They had shared a short meal and had some time to converse with one another so at the very least, these two were no longer complete strangers to him.
***
Ding!
[Congratuations! You've reached Level 15]
As the Monster with the head of a deer and body of a spider dematerialised in front of him, Alex asked:
"I'm a bit curious, isn't the Freedom guild currently one of the eight guilds with the most members? Is it really okay for both the President and Vice-President to be out on an investigation by themselves?"
"Hmm? It's fine, we intended this to be a simple night-out after all."
Veronica replied with a gentle tone.
"So the investigation is just a good excuse?"
"Something like that, I guess?"
Veronica, aside from being a Main cast, was also among the fifty players who reached the 25th Floor in the beta-version and it showed.
Her combat ability was without a doubt impressive.
Though Alex had only seen her fight a few Monsters, her reaction speed as well as her efficiency in combat made it clear to him that she was indeed, an experienced player.
Line on the other hand was a complete newbie to Holyug Online.
As someone of the Marksmen class, he had higher chances of inflicting Minor or Major effects on his targets. However he wasn't very good at aiming and would very often miss his shots by a few inches.
And in close combat…even a Zombie would be a struggle for him.
That is why Veronica would stay close to him, handling close range battles while Line did his best to support from a distance.
And Luke was Luke.
"Ok we're here! Listen well, Line, stay close to Veronica and watch your back. Don't worry, you've got this."
Luke said to Line with a bright smile on his face.
"That's right, just stick close to me."
Veronica joined in.
The four of them were already ascending towards the peak of The Guardian's Hill, walking through the simple puzzle made out of the large boulders at its foothill.
"...Can I ask something?"
Line asked with a rather monotonous tone.
"What is it, you ignorant peasant?" Luke responded kindly.
"...Is it really okay to investigate at night? Veronica said something about Night Crawlers so why would you guys bother yourselves with the risk?"
After he finished asking his question, Luke scoffed, then sneered.
"Your intellect is too slow, you could've asked before at any moment. But not now."
"Exactly…Line! It's too late to bother asking 'em questions like that. Or perhaps, are you still mad that I turned our night-date into a group investigation?"
It appeared Veronica was taking Luke's side. Experiencing this odd pressure, Line simply fell quiet without even getting a proper answer.
Tonight, the bright moon was partially hidden behind messy, dark clouds.
The air was cold and sharp, with a small hint of moisture in it.
'It's going to rain soon.'
If possible, Alex wanted to get back to his inn as quickly as he could after checking out Yuki's location and the invisible bridge himself.
He was curious, but didn't want to be poured on by rain.
On cold, rainy nights, the best thing to do was to sleep comfortably in a warm bed.
'I might just ask Claire to teleport me to my inn after this.'
Luke, Line, and Veronica were busy having a conversation while Alex walked behind them.
Subconsciously, he had avoided a group setting again.
'If I can't figure it out after a while, I'll have to ask Claire for hints 'cause it'd be really lame if I was excited over a simple bug.'
The group was finally close to the foggy route, the last hurdle before their destination.
—That was also where, amidst the thick white fog, a tall silhouette became visible.
Ding!
[The Tyrant of Kentel: Dylan has awakened!]
Thus, the system message rang.