End Online: Volume 4 (2 page)

Without hesitation, the
shady character quickly rushes off into the forest behind us.

“Let’s hurry up and see
what the situation in Grenton is,” Mason speaks for the party as we start
walking in the direction of the city, sticking close to Eldenweiss Forest.

We come within range of
the city and there are a few people eyeing our party off to the side. I can
also see some form of checkpoint at the city gates; the guards are checking
every player who enters and exits the city.

“… You should stay here.
Just in case,” Mason murmurs to me.

“… Agreed,” I say while
Fen automatically moves closer to me, indicating she will stay as well.
Quietly, I head off into the outskirts of Eldenweiss Forest.

***************************************************
***************************************************

-Mason-

I am extremely nervous
about entering Grenton. If anyone recognizes me as one of Lost’s group-members,
rumors of me being an accomplice to the forest fire could start.

Matrix and I eventually
arrive at Grenton’s gates, where a small crowd of players is waiting to be
screened by the guards before entering.

I glance over towards
where Lost and Fen are hiding in the forest, hoping that they remain hidden for
the time being at least.

“Next!” An NPC guard calls
out.

Realizing Matrix and I are
up next, we hurry over to the man.

“You, have you seen a man
wearing a white fur cloak with his face hidden? There have been reports of him being
sighted in the nearby hills.” He says while looming over the two of us in an
intimidating way.

“S-sorry,” I stammer out.
“I haven’t seen anyone who looks like that.”

“Are you sure? Don’t lie
to me now!”

“Y-yes, I am sure. Sorry I
couldn’t be of more help to you.”

“Fine,” the guard sighs,
dropping his overbearing demeanor. “If you do see or hear something, make sure
you notify the nearest patrol in the city. This man is our prime suspect for
causing the fire in the neighboring forest and also starting a smaller fire in
the city which claimed six entire buildings.”

With a wave of his hand,
the guard passes us through and we enter Grenton without any more issues.

With the city gates behind
us, we head straight for the nearest general store. I don’t pay much attention
to which store I lead my brother to beyond making sure it isn’t one I have
visited previously.

“Excuse me, I would like
these items,” I say to an enormous man that may be half bear. I lay an
assortment of health and mana potions on the counter in front of me, and
prepare to pay for the items.

The bear-man doesn’t say a
word, but grunts once before a trade window opens in front of me to confirm the
exchange.

“Thank you,” I say before
quickly disappearing from the shop.

***************************************************
***************************************************

-Lost-

While Mason is gone, I sit
in the forest brooding over not being able to enter the city. I know that
somewhere along the wall there is the small hidden tunnel that Verde followed
the innkeeper’s daughter through. The problem is that the wall is immensely
long and Verde isn’t here.

The worst part about being
unable to enter the city is that I am extremely anxious to sell my legendary
bow, but I don’t know how to get it to the auction house. I need to sell the
bow while it is still a top-tier weapon. As time goes on, there will be better
equipment available, so I won’t be able to sell the bow at a premium.

Two hours pass before
Mason and Matrix reappear at the outskirts of the forest. I spent a lot of time
avoiding the few players that entered the forest near me, but now that the
brothers are here, I reveal myself to them.

“Did you get what you
need?” I ask Mason while restraining my inner turmoil.

“Yes, we have stocked up
on potions and other consumables.”

“…”

“You know,” he continues
after listening to my silence, “I know of a good dungeon off to the west. There
are actually a lot of players who travel there to train, but they only stay on
the first three levels as it gets far too dangerous afterwards. Maybe we can
dare it.”

“That is a good idea.
Afterwards we will head for Swordbreak.” A new plan forms in my mind; I will
sell my goods in the capital of Dalbe.

“Let’s go, then.”

Fen and I follow the two
brothers deeper into the forest while I check my friends list to contact Prince
Charming one last time before leaving.

My eyes widen in surprise
when I notice that everyone in my short list of friends is online, including
Verde. Without a moment’s hesitation, I send a private message to her.

“Verde! What
happened? You haven’t been online for so long!”
 I almost shout through the private line to her. In truth,
it has only been about two weeks. But when you are used to seeing someone
practically every day, two weeks can be a long time.

“Oh, Lost. How are
you. Has it really been that long?”
 She
replies monotonously after a short break.

“Not really. Only a
couple of weeks. But it feels longer for some reason.”

“Have you been well?”

“Of course. And
yourself?”

“Same as always. Hey,
why are you messaging me?”

“Huh? What do you
mean?”

“Well, why are you
messaging me out of nowhere? No particular reason, I am just curious.”

“Is everything okay?
We have travelled together for so long. What is strange about me messaging
you?”

An awkward silence follows
as I think in confusion about her questions. Something isn’t quite right, but I
can’t quite put my finger on the cause of this strange feeling.

“Of course! Sorry,
I’m just feeling a little lightheaded lately. Did you want me to come back to
your party?”

“Since when were you
not a part of my party? We have all been working together for so long.”

“Yes, I just mean…
uhh… do you want me to come meet you somewhere? I am currently in Grenton.”

“Do you want to meet
us at the forest on the eastern side of the city?”

“Yep! I will see you
there!”

An hour passes idly by
while we wait for Verde to arrive.

“I’m here!” A nostalgic
voice calls out through the trees as Verde’s form reveals itself.

My breath escapes me as I
once again witness her alluring beauty. From the curve of her hips to the way
her brown hair sways in the wind; I find myself entranced by every aspect of
her. The most shocking part of her appearance is that her hood is down,
revealing her flawless ivory skin, boundless brown eyes, and perfectly balanced
eyebrows.

“Verde, it is good to see
you again. Has all been well?” Mason speaks politely after noticing I am at a
loss for words.

“Yes, I have been well.
Just a little busy with real life lately.”

“…Verde! It is good to see
you again!” The moment I open my mouth to say the words, my stomach clenches up
and the result is short, abrupt sentences.

“Yeah, you too!” She
replies with  a blank smile on her face.

“Ahem!” Mason clears his
throat to get our attention. “Now that we are all together, shouldn’t we be
heading off? I assume Sir Laurence won’t be joining us. If I recall correctly,
he decided to leave the party.”

‘He has a fair
point,’ 
I think to myself
silently. 
‘But Prince Charming only left because Verde wasn’t here. Now
that she’s back…’

“I will be coming.” Almost
as if my thoughts took physical form, a man in shining armour appears from
behind one of the nearby trees.

“Sir Laurence, a pleasure
for you to join us.” Mason speaks in a tone that can’t be taken as anything
other than insincere.

“Save it,” he grunts,
barely looking over at the older of the brothers. “My lady, I am humbled to be
in front of you again.”

He goes to one knee in
front of Verde, who shows the utmost shock and disgust.

“W-w-who are you?!” She
cries out abruptly, causing us all to feel surprised.

“Did she not
recognize him? Or refusing to do so?” 
I
speak over party chat to the others. Nobody replies, seemingly at as much of a
loss for words as I am right now.

The prince looks up at
her, surprise and confusion battling in his clear blue eyes.

“I am but your humble
servant. A knight to act as your shield.” He says, returning to his usual
gallant tone of voice.

“I-I see. My apologies, it
has been a while and I was just a little surprised.” Verde coughs gently into a
closed fist while looking for a way out of the situation.

I immediately send invites
to the two newcomers, bringing everyone’s attention away from the awkward
moment that just happened.

As soon as the two accept
the invitation, I am greatly shocked upon seeing Prince Charming’s level. It is
well above the rest of us at a massive 178. A hint of pride shows in his face
as he sees my surprise at his high level. I almost ask him how he leveled so
fast before deciding it is best to not feed his enormous ego.

“Well, we are all reunited
once again. Let us be off.” Turning away I start to walk north before slowly
angling myself to travel around the circumnavigating wall of Grenton.

We finally reach the
western side of Grenton after two hours. There are no entrances to the capital
of Forste on the west wall, only on the south and east sides of the city.
Eldenweiss Forest starts at the north east side of the city, wrapping around
counter clockwise to end just before the southern entrance. Any plans to build
a north or west gate are blocked by semi-dense forest.

“Mason, I will leave it to
you to lead the way.” I laugh slightly, rolling my arm out in a gesture of
inviting him to walk out front. The brother also has a slight chuckle as he
steps out in front and starts walking westward.

Fen, Mason, Matrix and I
all have our ‘Necklace of the Elves’ equipped, so even if there are any traces
of the elven misdirection magic remaining in the forest, we should be able to
easily pass through. Mason told me earlier that apparently people normally travel
to this dungeon by leaving from Grenton’s south gate and travelling around the
outskirts of the forest.

The angle of the rays of
light entering through the gaps of the canopy slowly extends as the day presses
on, eventually fading away as night descends upon us.

“We are nearly out of the
forest,” Mason stops abruptly and says. “Let’s set up camp for now and rest for
the night.”

“Sorry, I couldn’t go into
Grenton so I couldn’t buy sleeping bags for Fen and myself. We will log off and
meet you here again in three hours.” I say to him, thinking I should have asked
him to purchase two for us when he went into town.

“Hah, funny you should say
that.” He operates his inventory menu and withdraws a dark blue sleeping bag
with a laugh. “I remember that you were short a sleeping bag from last time. I
brought you a present.”

He throws the sleeping bag
directly at me as if it is an arrow, leaving me no choice other than to either
let it hit me or catch it. I choose the latter, raising my hands at the last
second to take a firm grasp of it.

“Thank you, Mason,” I say
sincerely.

We all unroll our
blankets, getting ready to rest for the night.

“Lost,” Prince Charming
calls out right as I am about to climb into bed. “I think you should stand
guard tonight, don’t you?”

“What!? Why?” I ask,
astonished.

“You were just given a new
sleeping bag for free. It is only natural that you should stay up tonight to
stand guard so everyone else can rest.”

I notice a strange glint
in everyone’s eyes as soon as the prince speaks those words. Almost as if the
same idea occurs to them all in the same instant, they jump into their sleeping
bags. I stand as stiff as a statue, dumbfounded. Only Fen, loftily standing
next to me, has yet to get into a sleeping bag.

“I’m… still here.” she
speaks, her voice like a sharp crystal ringing in the night.

“Go to bed, Fen.” I sigh
at the girl.

There is no point in both
of us staying up to guard the others. Then two people would be feeling
exhausted the next day. We also never have Fen take guard duty anymore either,
considering that she simply climbs into my bed the moment all of us are asleep.

Fen crawls into my
original sleeping bag, refusing to use the new one for some reason. With
nothing left to do, I drift to the outskirts of the camp. Everyone should be
well and truly asleep now with the system’s assistance. No matter how much
noise I make, they will not wake up unless I intentionally try to wake them or
this area becomes a combat zone.