Midsummer Feast

Merie let a displeased grout escape as she could see the woman who gave them the quest, now standing and talking with another group of players. “Do you think they’ll be allowed to finish the quest when we say we’re done?” If the quest wasn’t able to be done time after time, so would the group be sadly disappointed as the quest would get cancelled. “Should we join their conversation before they head out?” Lart’s steps increased speed with his words, Merie rapidly following and leaving the three others behind. “PARDON!” Had Lart’s voice always been this booming? Not that she could deny that he surely would gain their attention, the group did even make a small jump. The woman looked at them for a second before her eyes shut open, “YOU’RE BACK! HOW DID IT GO?!” Rapidly turning the others her back and heading toward Lart.

The group didn’t seem the slightest happy that Merie and the others had interrupted their conversation, but maybe they would appreciate it slightly more if they thought about the time they’d saved. “Were you able to exterminate the monsters?” The woman looked at Lart with hopeful eyes, “Is it safe for us to go and gather herbs again?” “It should be safe, but I would still suggest you’re careful, as the monsters might return.” Merie could feel herself cracking a smile as she answered. She was sure she didn’t have to give the advice, but it couldn’t hurt to give it. “But with that out of the way, so would I like to see what you’ve to offer us as a reward.” Couldn’t Opiom sound less greedy? Even though she did right to bring it up this rapidly so they could get going again, so could she still have tried to sound more gentle. Honestly, even the woman did shy away from her pushy question. “I tried to gather as much as I could for you, but I could only gather two potions each for you without putting too much pressure on the village.”

The reward turned out not to be worth the problem they went through. Two healing-potions each. Sure, they were of the best kind. But they’d saved the village’s ass, for potions they could easily could’ve gotten themselves. “Thank you, Miss. But with that done, so will we be on our way.” Anlie kind words didn’t match her tone, but it was probably none in the party satisfied with the reward.

Anlie took the lead toward the next town on their trip to Adu’s village. “If it wouldn’t be because of the EXP, so wouldn’t I’ve minded ransacking the village.” Lart’s idea was honestly sounding very tempting. “I would’ve asked you about that, if I only knew if it matter what kind of reputation we need to become a Guild. Or if it just has to be one.” Anlie had apparently been thinking about the same thing. “Are we sure it even is possible to turn a party into a Guild? Sure, the developers have spoken something about it. But there’s no proof of it, yet.” Opiom wasn’t wrong. There was no such information, and the developers hadn’t said anything more about it after the first time. Almost as if they’d forgotten about it. “Wouldn’t the best way, to find it out, be to ask the support team about it? They should be able to give a small glimpse into how you can achieve it, even if they don’t give you the whole answer?” “I think I’ll do that. I’ve tried it once before, but didn’t get an answer. But I’ll make it clear to them that I’m still trying.” Had Anlie only asked them once before? Shouldn’t she have tried to get an answer from them more? But it may have been because she’d asked them at the forum instead, right? “Sometimes so am I curious if you’re dumb, Anlie. Or if you just like to act like it.” “I don’t think she’s dumb, only very stubborn.” Merie couldn’t let Opiom’s comment pass without answering. Opiom shouldn’t have the wrong idea about what Anlie did, as she was trying hard to carry the party far longer than any other player had tried. “Sometimes so is those the same thing, Girl.” Shouldn’t Lart, as the oldest of them, be slightly smarter than he acted? And even though he maybe didn’t think highly of Anlie’s idea, so shouldn’t she shoot it down.

“You might be right that I’m not the smartest person. But sadly so do it speak a ton of you too, as you haven’t given up the party yet.” Anlie’s answer was of the worst kind. Merie could’ve accepted that Anlie could try to bring them all down with her, but not that she confessed to being stuid. Hadn’t it meant anything when Merie had tried to defend her? “By the way, guys. I think there are monsters coming for us.” Adu abruptly ended the conversation with some simple words. “I think they only are getting close, but I don’t think they’ll pose a threat.” Merie could also hear them, when she listened, but the monsters weren’t heading directly in their direction. “Do you think we’ll be able to reach Adu’s village today, Girls?” Why did Opiom wonder? “I don’t think so, but we’ll at least reach the next town before it’s too late.” Anlie opened her menu and nodded to herself as she checked the time. Probably meaning that they might’ve wasted too much with the quest. “Do you wish to say that we should cut the hike short after we’ve reached the town?” Lart had said he was free the whole weekend, so he might not see it as the best idea. Not that Merie could blame him as it felt like a too sudden change in the planning. “That sounds fine by me, Girls. I’ll meet some friends in the evening, and might want to prepare first.” Why had Opiom made other plans when they’d decided to spend the day inside the game? “No matter what we decide upon, so do I think we at least should take a break when we reach the town. As we’ve spent quite some time in the game already.” Merie didn’t think she would let the game be for the rest of the day. But of course, so could she change her mind if it turned out that Anlie had other plans. Still, the developers of the game might’ve given their advice, of how long someone would play the game, for a reason. “You might be right that we spent some time in the game already, and might need to take a break. But I’ll be back, if anyone would like to continue after the break.” “I’ll join you after the break, Sir. So you’ll at least not be alone.” Adu was quick to answer Lart, maybe she also had decided to spend the day gaming. “Sounds neat, but if the two of you go out on a date, so might I and Merie do the same. Maybe just not in the game.” Did Anlie really did have to call it a date? And why did she have to tease Adu the same way as she teased Merie? Not that neither Adu nor Lart seemed to care about it, and Opiom was just looking at them with bleming eyes.

–

Just as they’d decided, so did the group split up after they’d reached the town. All of them logged out after deciding when each pair would meet again. Opiom, who was going her own way, left with the wish of them all having nice dates. Merie had just thought that she and Anlie just should leave the game to get something to eat, but back in the real world so had Anlie made her an alcoholic drink. Tasting far better than Merie expected, but it’d also hit far more intense than she expected and left her more intoxicated than after the party.

After filling themselves up so did they join the game again, without a thought of how safe and sound it was to play drunk. “Do you just want to go out on a date, or do you want to go out for some action, Dear?” Anlie sounded far more joy-filled than earlier. “I think I would like to go out for some action. Maybe try out the paws I got from Adu.” It was the first thing Merie could think of, but if Anlie had any idea of anything else they could do together, so was Merie more than willing. Just as long as they had a good time together.

Noticing her own thought, she sighed inwards. If Anlie would have heard that so was Merie sure that Anlie would have read it in a sexual manner. And even though Merie liked her, so wasn’t she feeling that she could go that far with Anlie. “Do you think we should try them at the wolf-men?” For whatever reason so did Anlie suggest one of the faster kind of enemies. Not to mention that they were fairly strong, and Merie wasn’t sure she would be able to handle them herself. “We can kill those if you do your best to protect me. And I’ll do the same, Anlie.” But if they worked together, so might they be able to handle them, “Is there any reason why you want to hunt them?” If Anlie wanted something special, so would Merie give the hunt her all to help her get the loot. Not that she would be slacking off even if there wasn’t any reason behind it. “I simply feel like killing something male-like, but without it being too human. And you might be feeling the same, considering how long ago it was we went out for a hunt.” Anlie wasn’t wrong that Merie would mind killing something humanoid, but it wasn’t as she cared the slightest about which gender it seemed to have. Cat-women or wolf-men, as long she got some action, so could it be either. “Honestly, so do I think I would like to go on a hunt instead of finding substitutes. But the wolf-men will do it for now.” Wonder how much longer it would take before the panic died down so they could continue their hunts in peace? Or how long it would take before people started to understand that PKing in a game wasn’t the same as murder in the real world. “I would also love that, but I think it’ll take a while before that’s possible, Dear.” Anlie started to walk toward the teleports as she spoke.

“We deeply apologise, but we’ll need to shut down the game for now. Two terrorists have been caught after an attack in the middle of the city, and they’re also suspected in connection with the Rocking World slaughters. We’re praying for the best, and that our dear police finally apprehend the guilty party for the meaningless slayings. In connection with this, so will we, the developers, also regroup and discuss what we can do about the damage, if they turn out to be undeserving parts of our lovely community.”

Merie couldn’t help but to frown upon the statement. Sure, she was glad they might’ve caught the guilty party. But did they really need to close down the game because of that? “It seems like we’ll need to do something back in the real world instead, Dear.” Anlie’s tone was bitter, but she was right that they had to do something else instead. “It seems to be like that.” It wasn’t as if they’d much other choice than to do what the developers said, especially since they needed the game to be able to play it. “But do you think it’s the right people they’ve caught, Dear? And how much information do you think we can find about it?” “I don’t think we’ll find much information today, but we might find out one or two things tomorrow. And I really hope that the police have caught the right people.” No matter how fast the media worked, so did she suspect they needed a couple of hours to dig up any interesting information. And the police probably needed even more time to make a good decision themselves. But either way, so had they caught suspects, which they didn’t even have before. “How do you think it’ll end if it turns out that those people are players in the game, Anlie?” Merie could only think about how intense the media would haul and blame Rocking World because of it. “I don’t think the result will be great, but I hope it’ll be like when an artist is connected to similar things. It’ll suffer, but survive.”