“It sounds alright. But if you ask me I would rather rob people than become a soldier”

“Huh? Why? That sounds way backwards. Anyone would choose to serve the kings”

“Cause, a soldier is not an individual. He is selling his body, will and soul to someone’s command. And trust me, none of these kings and bishops are worth serving for. They are all idiots who have divided the people of this world into sects and created animosity just so they could be in power. And they’re still being assholes to one another despite the recent announcement of the waves. If all 1 billion people were to be wiped out in this game the kings and politicians will be the ones responsible”

“R-really? You think so? I mean, how is robbing someone better than serving those people?”.

“Cause. It’s better to become a robber who has free will than to become a soldier with no will. At least I can choose who to rob and what to do. A soldier means giving away your humanity and becoming a robot”.   

Bold did not dare to retort. He never thought of things that way. But still, the way Mikhail confidently said those words. This man was pretty radical. Bold decided that he should be cautious about what he says from now on.        

“But what about the dungeon?” asked Bold curiously. 

“Well, in dungeons you have to find a treasure chest that contains various items. Such as gold and other stuff worthy of selling or just useful in general. I know a team which found 7000 gold worth of crystals from the dungeon”.

Hearing this, sparks glittered in Bold’s eyes as he yelled “That’s cool” with a wide smile on his face.

“It’s not as good as it sounds. They entered the dungeon with six members but only three of them came out of there alive. Lucky for the ones who survived but not so much for the ones who died”.

Bold quickly bit his lips.

“That hardly seems to be worth it. What about the Doom arenas? Did you hear about anyone trying to take it out?”

“Yeah, I heard about some of the people who took it on” said Mikhail.

“What happened to them?”

“All of them...died”

Mikhail said those words with a straight face. But Bold...his face became grey" 

“Really? You serious?”

“Would I joke about something so tragic?”

Mikhail gave him a serious look and in return, Bold could do nothing but look at the ground miserably.

“Goddamn. If only there were an easier way to earn gold”

“If you’re looking for something easy you’re never gonna find a way. If there was a route like that then what was the point of all those people sacrificing their life like that?”

Bold was dazzled by the response. But he had to admit. He was telling the truth.  

The gentleman before them suddenly poofed into dust and the cargos fell on the floor.

“Oh geez. The time limit is over. Guess I’ll summon them again” 

The four gentlemen appeared again and carried the cargos. Unlike the day before Bold had Mikhail to help. And this support was massive. Who knows how much will he be sweating and sulking if it weren’t for his summoned units to help them.      

“So, Bold. Did you figure out anything?”

“Any what?”

“Anything really. Some interesting things you found?”.

The assassination quest. Should I tell him? Okay, that's it. I can't hide it from him any longer.  

“Actually, I got this” said Bold as he pulled out the black book from his bag. He gave it to Mikhail and said:

“A mysterious man with a mask gave this to me in the forest. It’s an assassination target list. He said that if I bring the heads of these people to him, he’ll reward me according to the target’s value”.

Mikhail scrolled through the book but soon his eyes narrowed and the sides of his lips dropped into bitterness.

“Ho, so there are ruthless groups who ask others to do something like this, huh?”

“That’s not all. Turn to page 48”

Listening to his words Mikhail flipped through the pages and arrived at his own image. His eyes widened and his hands shook for a moment.

“T-this is me. What the-“

“I don’t know why, but you are in there. The masked man did not tell me why I needed to assassinate any of these people. Seeing you, I doubt you’re listed here cause you’re a bad guy”

“Of course I’m not a bad guy. And good guys won’t do something cheap and dirty as pinning people’s pictures and promising others money for taking lives” declared Mikhail with confidence.  

“You’re right”

He gave the book back to Bold and stretched his arms wide to rid of its numbness.

“Mikhail, did you piss someone off? Otherwise, why would your name be in this?”

“Yeah, maybe. But now that I remember, it’s probably the church. Kinda gave them a hard time”.          

Bold waited for him to elaborate on his story but Mikhail only quietly walked forward. After a total of 50 or so minutes and a total summoning the men 5 times Mikhail had to suggest Bold to get the cargo back on their backs again. From observation, Bold realized that every ten minutes the summoned men would disappear and Mikhail had to summon them again.

It was most likely that all summoned units only lasted for 10 minutes. The road they had been walking on had curved to the left meaning that the trees would now block the view if they were to look back on where they came from.

“Wow, it’s just only the two of us in this wide area, huh?” said Bold.

“Yeah, that’s what you get for being an early bird. And I have to admit. It is suspiciously silent here”.

“It’s cause of the heat”

“Yeah, probably”.     

And as they were going along the path, the ground they were walking on suddenly turned into a swamp. Their foot got stuck into it. The sand and the mud in the swamp started to rotate clockwise and it slowly pulled their legs into its depth.

“Wha-What the hell?!” yelled Bold

“Damn, what’s going on?” said Mikhail.

Bold tried to remove his leg from the mud by pulling it out with his hands but it was impossible as his legs were glued to the swamp tight. And as far as he could tell Mikhail was in a similar position. Bold looked around to realize that the swamp was only formed in a circular area beneath them. Outside of this area, the land remained solid as before.     

“Help! Somebody? Anybody?” screamed Bold in panic but no one was there to respond.

“Kid! What are you doing? Help us!”

Surprised by what he said Bold followed Mikhail's gaze and noticed the figure he was talking to.  A teenage boy with a dark skin was sitting on a tree branch above them. He was looking at them with eyes that showed distaste.