Twenty cristalline guards stood in a line, not marching at all. Weapons drawn, they stood at attention, all heads uniformly turned towards the two players. Absinth sucked in an audible breath as the clouds broke open, causing the crystal guards to shimmer like the surface of the ocean.

“Didn’t you say they’re patrolling?”, Woodcutter inquired, voice dangerously calm.

“They did!” Absinth took a large step back. “I don’t know why they’re behaving like this!”

The first guard took a step forward.

At this point, Jian Lin had stopped eating. He watched, through Woodcutter’s perspective, how the guards came closer and closer and closer, one step after another, feet dragging over the ground like in a horror movie.

The oppression that followed each of their steps was no joke, transmitting even to the viewers, whose comments on the screen had turned silent.

The foremost guard’s cristalline lips opened up. A single, ear-piercing word came out of its mouth: “Discourteous!”

And that was about all it needed to understand.

The stream broke off abruptly when Woodcutter must have quickly cancelled it. Complaints ran over the screen.

[The AIs can tell people’s intentions, just like humans, right? Was this about storming the castle?]

[The delegation is coming up with presents and all… Do you think they’d be rejected too?]

[Is Woodcutter dead????]

[Wtf happened I just came]

[Okay, but does anyone else think that that guard was kinda hot?]

The discussion went on and on. Jian Lin continued blankly staring at the screen, until his phone rang. He picked it up without looking, already aware who it was.

“Holy fuck. If he didn’t teleport away in time, he’s dead.”

“I didn’t expect them to be able to talk.”

“It seems they have some intelligence? Kinda hard to tell.” Xi Yang snorted. “Serves him right. The prince is doing his best to approach the situation diplomatically and carefully, and there he goes, running forward with weapons drawn.”

“It’s good, though.”

“Yes. It gives us a bit more time.”

The duration of the quest might say “Unknown”, but given that its previous duration was until the delegation reached the castle, he thought it was better to be done by then.

The moment they logged back in, they went over to Bloody’s guild. Sitting in the conference room, the beastman sent a message to White Light.

Everyone listened to the exchange through Bloody reading out White Light’s answers.

“We watched a stream of Woodcutter dying. How is it? Any news on your side?”

“Our group doesn’t know anything about it. Or well, we do as players, but not the NPCs. They got nervous when they saw Woodcutter running up ahead, so they’re picking up the pace. We’ll have reached the castle by tomorrow morning.”

“Already?”

“Yes. They’re going to abandon some of the finer details in favor of reaching it quicker. I’m trying to get us as much time as possible, but Knightrider is suspicious why I’m doing that. I can’t continue.”

Bloody acted out the apologetic tone that White Light’s chibi was displaying.

Ice rubbed his face. “I see…”

“The official duration isn’t shown, right? I guess there’s no use hurrying now. You can’t finish this quest in one day.” Blackstone’s disappointment was audible. “We’ll have to wait for them to be gone.”

“A break actually suits me just fine”, Little Droplet laughed unexpectedly. “I won’t have time to play the next weeks. In fact, I guess I might have to stop accompanying you guys.”

“Did something happen?” Bloody’s ear flicked. He remembered Little Droplet talking about family issues.

“Yep.” Little Droplet didn’t sound too sad, more exhausted. “It’s a bit of a large mess. I’ll need to get that in order before I can continue playing.”

“I’ve got shoots for an ad coming up too”, Blackstone added. “Which means I won’t be able to follow a lot…”

“The unknown duration is dangerous. It’s better to continue anyway.” Spiderlily opened her shining eyes, glancing at Ice. “I’ll still come along, if you don’t mind.”

“We’d be happy if you did!” Bloody smiled, answering in Ice’s stead when he realized the mage was absentmindedly staring at his own hands. “I’ll ask White Light not to worry about pushing back the time anymore. We’ll continue the quest tomorrow, how does that sound?”

“Sounds good.”

Everyone echoed Blackstone’s words.

“Then I’ll officially invite you to stay over today, if you want to. There are some nice dungeons for materials nearby and you can rest in the rooms here for a buff. Tomorrow, Spiderlily, I and Ice will be back on continuing the quest.”

Some more words were exchanged.

Ice left the conference room, not snapped out of his daze yet. He was greeted everywhere, more or less enthusiastically - much more once Bloody hinted at Ice considering to join the guild, after which everyone turned into the nicest person alive.

Ice allowed himself a lavish meal with Bloody. Things were getting a bit more quiet everywhere with people logging off for lunch.

Quietly, without anyone noticing, Ice took his staff out of his room and placed it into his inventory. He walked down the hallway and down the stairs, away from the personal rooms. Wearing one of the cash shop cloaks, he almost didn’t stand out at all as he approached the front door.

“Where are you planning on going?”

Just as Ice was about to go outside, Bloody appeared next to him. Tugging at his sleeve, the beastman’s face showed a curious expression. His tail was wagging a bit, as if ready to immediately follow and go for a walk.

Ice hesitated. He bit his lip before talking. “To the ice castle. I… There’s something I want to check.”

“Huh? Didn’t we say we’d continue tomorrow? Is this really the right time?”

“It is.”

“Well, if you say so. Let’s get going then.” Bloody reached past Ice for the doorknob.

“Bloody… Can I go alone?”

It was surprisingly hard to say the simple sentence. The beastman didn’t look offended or disappointed, but he did look surprised. “You want to go on your own?”

“Yes.”

A short pause followed. Visibly thinking, Bloody went over the reasons why Ice might be sneaking out like this, without informing anyone or planning.

“Alright… I guess you have your reasons. It’s about your theory, isn’t it? You still don’t want to share it?”

The fluffy ears lowered, betraying his emotions. Ice curled up his fingers to keep himself from touching them - he was doing this way too much lately. Even if this was a game, even if it was fake, it felt a bit too intimate.

“Sorry. I’ll tell you once I’ve made sure.”

“Okay. I’ll be waiting here.” Like a lost puppy, Bloody forced a little smile. It made Ice hesitate.