Dinner time at the hotel, everyone gathered in the restaurant, except for Sherrie.
“Where’s, master?” Garth asked.
“She went to a bar,” Otto said. Then shrugging his shoulders added, “Don’t ask. We don’t know.”
“Oh, she told us to give you this.” Sterling took it out of his pocket.
“Right,” Otto said. “She said the big one’s for the metal shop and the small one’s for… Victoria?”
“Virginia. She said the small one’s for Virginia.” Sterling said and gave Otto a gentle smile.
“Right, Virginia.” Otto nodded.
“Who’s Virginia?” Garth asked.
They looked at each other, and Otto said, “We thought you’d know.” Garth shook his head. “We don’t. I don’t know, do you?” He questioned Sterling.
“No. She never told me. I thought she told you.” He told Garth.
“I know about the metal shop, Roxy’s Metal Carriage Shop. Virginia? I never heard of her.” Garth shook his head.
“Hm.”
“You’ll have to ask her tomorrow. She probably forgot to tell you.” Otto said with a sigh.

“Where is she?” Nikola asked.
“At a bar.”
“Which bar?”
“She didn’t say. Said something about a boat, though.”
“Boat?”
“Yeah, neither one of us understood her. Don’t ask.” Otto shook his head.
“Alright, just talk to her tomorrow then,” Nikola told Garth.
“Okay.” He agreed.

***

“spicy grilled shrimp, my specialty.” The bartender said and put it in front of me. “The best shrimp dish you’ll find in Delaron.” She couldn’t stick around to watch me eat; she had to move to fill other orders.
It was 10 past 7, and the bar was finally starting to fill out. The rough and tough, the tired and moaning women were coming in by the droves, wanting drinks.
There were some men too. Men looking for a few free drinks. Men looking for… more… meaning or something. Maybe they felt more comfortable in a  den filled with miserable women.

When Gala came in laughing with her drinking friends, the bartender pointed her out. “There’s Gala.” I turned and saw a red-haired woman wearing a dirty sailor’s jacket. “If you want a captain, you got one there. I don’t know what’s happened to her recently, but she used to work for  Minoru Bello.” The bartender said.
Gala? Gala? And Minoru Bello? Gala, I remember there was a quest attached to her too. But what was it? Something to do with a son… Right! Her son ran away from home 5 years ago… No, it was 5 years ago in the  game, so it should be a year or so ago from right now. It’s coming back  to me now. It’s part of the evil storyline. Her son ran away with a woman. Her quest was to kill the woman and bring back her son. Carrying  out the quest would lead me to become friendly with the church. I forget the details of how the church plays into it since I wasn’t a fan of  that route and didn’t play it too often. Essentially, the church  alignment route was added for people who enjoy rough BDSM and Gore, which I wasn’t that into, so I only played it a few times. I didn’t mind  dipping my toes in it, but I wouldn’t swim in it. But who was Minoru Bello? Minoru Bello? “I’ve heard the name before, Minoru Bello, but where did I hear it?” I said it out loud because I had heard the name not just in the game but in this world too.
“You don’t know who Minoru Bello is? Minoru Bello!?” The bartender screamed at me.
I shook my head. “Should I?”
“Yes! Don’t you read the news?” She asked.
“Sometimes.” I shrugged.
“Well, you should read it more. She’s been in the newspaper a lot recently. She announced she’s going into the Unknown Region next year.” Unknown Region, right. I remember now. “She’s gathering magicians and warriors of all kinds. Everyone brave will answer her call. They say the church will send out one of their Saints with her.” Minoru Bello was a name that many NPCs mentioned back in the game as casual gossip. She’d gone into the unknown regions beyond the continent 3 years before the game started. That was all there was to it in the game, though there was a lot of speculation. No one knew what existed beyond the continent. The developers never answered any of the players' questions. And, it was never expanded upon, so it remained a background story with no relevance to the players. Now I was 4 years in the past, and she’d still not set off.
“Hmm.” It might be worth meeting her, but at the same time, none of this matters to me since it has nothing to do with the demon queen. “Okay.”
“Okay, that’s it. Do you know what we’re talking about here? A trip like this hasn’t been attempted in a century.” She blabbered.
“I know. I know. It doesn’t really matter. Just tell me when Tatiana shows up.” She said.
“What do you mean it doesn’t matter? Just imagine what could be out there?” Yeah, just keep imagining because you’ll still be imagining in 4 years. “No one has ever returned after crossing the black line. Don’t you want to know what’s beyond this continent?” She asked.
“Yeah, maybe later.”
She sighed in disbelief. “You call yourself an adventurer?”
There was no threat from outside the continent as far as I know. There was already plenty of things for me to worry about. And, I don’t have time to worry about things I don’t know. “Just tell me when Tatiana shows up,” I said and put a fork full of shrimp in my mouth.
“Tatiana? Do you know Tatiana? Why don’t you want to talk to Gala?” She asked.
And I started choking on my food. Was I too direct in asking for her? I coughed, cleared my throat, and said, “No.” I shook my head. “I don’t know her. I just thought…” Wait, what did I think? What did I think!?
“Oh, there she is.” The bartender said.
“Wha?” I was surprised again and coughed even more.
A beautiful caramel-skinned woman in her late 30s sat down on the stool beside me. Her dark blue hair was messy, combed by the winds of the river. “Give me a tall one, Val.”
“Rough day?” Val, the bartender, asked as she poured her one.
“Ah? Same old, same old.” She shrugged. “There was an elf in my group today. Couldn’t understand a word she said, and she kept asking me questions.”
“Why?” The bartender asked. I listened to them and ate my shrimp.
“Far West.” She emphasized the word ‘far’ and took a swig of the beer. “The accent was too thick.”
The continent had one main language, but the accents can be so thick that sometimes it can sound like a different language. Other languages existed within little tribes and so forth, but they never played a significant role in the main storyline.
I got lost in thought and forgot to buy her a drink. So I quickly and clumsily said with shrimp in my mouth, “Oh, bartender, Val? I’ll foot the bill for her.” Dammit, I was screwing up the script.
Tatiana, of course, looked at me strangely and asked, “And who are you?”
“Let me introduce you to Sherrie.” The bartender said. “She’s an adventurer. She’s looking for a captain. She wants to go to Brynhildmar, so I mentioned you.”
“Oh, I guess a gig like that would be nice.” She said.
“I thought you might like it.” Val, the bartender, smiled.
“How much do you pay?” Tatiana asked.
Before I could swallow the food and answer, the bartender said, “You  know I also mentioned Gala, but she insisted on talking to you.” And the  food went down the wrong way. Don’t mention that! I couldn’t scream as I choked and fell over on the ground. She’s trying to kill me! Assassin!
Tatiana quickly came over, picked me up, and gave me the Heimlich. “Uom. Uom.” I said before spitting out a shrimp.
She put me back down on the stool and said, “Get her some water.” I wheezed as I tried to calm down.
The bartender handed me a glass of water. I took a sip, calmed down, and said, “I thought you didn’t have water?”
“I don’t sell water. I never said I don’t have any.” She smirked.
I tried to push forward and said, “I need you to go, not just to  Brynhildmar. We’re going first to…” I proceeded to explain the whole  route we’d be taking. While we talked, she sat back down on her chair, and I bought her another drink. Thankfully, me almost dying seemed to  have made them forget about Gala.
“That sounds like it’ll take a month, maybe more.” She said.
I nodded. “Yeah. Probably more.”
“Let me think about it. I do need a break from the tourists, but I like being able to sleep on solid ground.” I noticed that her cup was running low and pointed to it to make the bartender fill it again.
“Solid ground is overrated.” I didn’t know what to say. I was only trying to bide my time till she got drunk enough to open up about her sister. She smiled and took a swig of the beer. Yes, drink! Drink!  Drink!
“Currently, I give rides to about 15 people per day, and I charge 1 copper per person. So if you can pay me the same amount, 15 copper per day. Then sure, I’ll take you up the river.” She said.
I smiled and said, “Sure.” And pointed to her glass, so the bartender would fill it up again. That much money wasn’t much to me, but there are cheaper boats and captains out there. But I still had faith in the quest. If I complete the quest, I’ll be able to secure free rides and  her loyalty.
“Hm. You’re going to Gwawleon?” She asked.
“Yeah,” I said.
“That’s a black core dungeon, right?” She asked.
“I nodded. Yeah.”
“You have a curse magician in your group?”
“No.” I shook my head.
“You going to hire one?” She asked seriously while taking another swig  of the beer. “You do know black core monsters are notorious for curses.”
“Yeah, I know that.” I nodded. I touched my shirt and felt the [Shield of Andromeda] underneath. It’ll protect me, but I need to figure out something for Terrie and Nikola.
“So, what are you going to do about it?” She asked.
“I’ll think of something.” I pointed at her glass again.
But she waved her hand to stop the bartender. “I had enough.”
“No, you should drink more,” I suggested.
“No, no, I’m already drunk. I can feel it.”
She didn’t look drunk. “Then maybe some wine.” I need to get her drunker. This wasn’t going like it did in the game. Goddammit, there were options in the game. Did I choose the wrong option? What went wrong!?
“No, no.” She shook her messy head. “Get me something to eat, Val. I’m hungry.”
“I’ll foot the bill,” I announced. I just wanted to stay on her good side and get her to open up about her sister.
She shrugged and accepted. “So, why are you going to Brynhildmar for?”
“Ah, just to hunt.” I stuck to my lie. Talk about your sister! I wanted to scream.
“She said she’d catch me a red deer!” The bartender yelled from the magic stove.
“Oh, I haven’t had venison in a long time. I could go for some right now. Val, you should add that to the menu here.” She joked.
“Ha,” the bartender laughed, “yeah, and I’ll turn this place into a 5-star restaurant like my husband always wanted.”
“Is he still nagging you about that?” Tatiana asked her.
“Ah, not as much as he used to. I’m only joking.” She said.
This wasn’t going like I wanted at all. The conversation was going in a completely different direction from what I wanted.

She nursed her last glass of beer till it was close to midnight. She wouldn’t drink anything stronger like whisky or gin like I suggested.
But it seemed she wasn’t lying about the drunk part? When she got up to leave for the day, she said to me, “Girl, why don’t you help me to my house. I’m having trouble standing.”
“Oh, sure.” Still wanting to get on her good side, I put her arm around my shoulder and helped her out.

***

“Over there, 745, that’s mine.” She pointed out her door to me. She lived in a townhouse near the port. I took her to her door, she opened it, and  said, “Come in.” She didn’t really let me have a say as she pushed me in. It didn’t look like she needed my help to stand anymore.
I was inside her house. And I knew the box was somewhere here. I stood there trying to think of some way to bring up her sister without giving  anything away while she closed the door. She was moving around fine now, so I assumed she’d sobered up. Are there any portraits of her sister  here? I looked around at her walls and saw two paintings. One of a  forest and another of a boat out in the ocean.
“What are you looking for?” She asked.
“Ah, nothing.” I turned around and faced her. “Just thought you had nice paintings.”
“Oh, thanks.” Then suddenly, she cupped my chin and kissed me. I was shocked. Was this an option in the game? That didn’t matter anymore. I felt her tongue on my lips. I opened my mouth and let her in. She fed me her tongue, and I sucked. Her hands went down to my ass. She groped my cheeks and made me moan into her mouth.
And she broke the kiss to tell me, “I’ve wanted to kiss you ever since I saw you.”
“Ah.” I didn’t know what to say, and before I could say anything, her tongue was in my mouth again. She touched my pussy, and my knees started  to shake. I broke the kiss to stare at her with my mouth open.
“You like that, huh?” She breathed and patted my pussy.
“Oh.” I moaned. Blue-haired, caramel-colored, aggressive, and beautiful… My legs shook like a newborn fawn. “Oawrww.” I groaned as my pussy begged for her.
“I’m going to fuck a magician today?” She stated unequivocally. I could only stare into her big eyes like a lost cat. She smiled and unbuckled  my belt. After it was unbuckled, she kissed my lips again. I was putty in her hands now. Our tongues entangled. She wrapped her hands around my cheeks and lifted me up. I wrapped my arms and legs around her as she  carried me to the bedroom.

She dropped me on the bed and stripped me. She took turns removing our clothes. My pants were gone, and her jacket and shirt were gone. My blazer and shirt were gone, and her pants were gone. Then my underwear  was gone, and all that was left was my socks. She kept her underwear on  for the moment.
She laid herself on top of me and fed me her tongue. I felt her fingers on my ear. “Aw.” I moaned. Her hand caressed my legs before it grabbed  my breast. She squeezed my breast and pulled on my nipple. “Aw.” I moaned again. She broke the kiss to plant kisses on my face. I caught my breath while she moved down to my neck. I could feel her teeth… She  left a lover’s mark on my flesh. “Aw.” Her tongue moved down to my nipples. She sucked on a puffy nipple like a babe. I had nothing but love, so I patted her head, but it backfired. She used [iron grip]. Her strong hand clasped around my neck and chin and pushed me down. Choked.  Head held down on the pillow, I couldn’t look at her as she suckled my  breast. “Erm.” She was only level 13, but she was a martial, and I was not. The difference in strength was clear. Her other hand caressed my  pussy. I was wet and in desperate need of penetration. Heald down and  legs wide open, I shook my hips restlessly. Finally, she showed me  kindness and penetrated me. “Ermm.” I eked out of my choked throat. She knew how to caress my wet flesh… and touch my g-spot. She moved her fingers faster and faster. My hands clenched the bedsheets.
She let go of my nipple with a “tup” sound and looked down at my  groaning and moaning face. One hand around my neck and the other in my pussy… She fingered me harder till…
Then her hand suddenly stopped. I was so close. “No.” I moaned and frantically thrust my hips at her hand. “No. No. No.” I moaned.
She watched my frantic hips and said mockingly, “Look at you go.”
“No.” I was so close… I wanted to cry. “Erm.” I grasped her arm around my neck and tried to get it off, but that only made the grip tighter, so  I gave up on that and tried to masturbate. But it was too late. She  took her fingers out. She smeared the slimy fingers on my face and  stopped choking me. “Why did you stop?” I asked her, frustrated.
She put the wet fingers covered in my juices on my lips and poked. I opened my mouth, and she made me suck on my own wetness. Then she took off her bra and panties. She had beautiful dark nipples and a bush between her legs. She turned around, showed me her ass, and got on top of my face. She put her wet and hairy pussy lips on my mouth. She rubbed  her pussy on my lips and said, “Eat up, girl.” I stopped fingering myself and grabbed her ass. I stretched my neck and tongue to please  her. And she slowly humped my face as I tongued her.
She leaned over and put her head between my legs. Her finger went in again and found my g-spot again. Her lips formed a tight seal around my clit.
We were 69ing with her on top.
She sucked on my clit and “Eeep!” I yelped. I heard her chuckle before resuming to tongue fuck my clit.
I sucked her the same as she did to me and, “Hmm.” She moaned. Then I tongue fucked her clitoral hood. But I had to keep stopping to catch my  breath… Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and came on her face.
“Ooew.” I moaned. I stopped tonguing her. I curled my feet and let my body spasm. She sat back up, put more weight on my face, and gyrated her hips. Needless to say, it was hard to catch my breath. I tapped out. I slapped her thigh and tried to wiggle out. She let me out and watched me catch my breath. Watched my body beg for air after what she’d done to me.
She sat down right near my head with her legs open and waited… As soon as she thought I’d had enough air, she grabbed my hair and pulled my head to her pussy. I put my tongue on her pussy, and she thrust her hips. I thrust my face and tongue in rhythm with her hips till she said,  “Emm.” And her legs shook a bit as she cummed on my face.
I thought we were done, but I was wrong. She pulled my head up and brought me to my knees. She got on her knees too. We were both on our  knees on top of the bed, kissing. Her fingers went between my legs  again. She rubbed my wet and used pussy. Her fingers went inside me again, and she started finger fucking me again. “Awwam.” I moaned into  her mouth. I wanted to collapse, but she kept me up by the hair. “Eww.” Then I felt a third finger go up. “Oon no.” I groaned. She smiled.  Finally, I felt a fourth finger squeeze into my wet pussy… My spine shook as my eyes rolled back. That’s when I knew a martial would be  conquering me today.

***

I guess this is another reason you never let a martial close the distance, I half-jokingly thought as we cuddled. She was resting her head innocently on my chest after having fucked me harder than any man ever had. It was also the best fuck I ever had. I probably shouldn’t tell Otto or Sterling that… I came 5 times. Even with both of them working  together… I shouldn’t compare. It’s like apples and oranges. Plus, the boys are less scary. This woman is… This never happened in the game…
“You know you’re cute.” The scary woman said, looking up at me from my chest. She had decided to use my chest as her pillow, and I wasn’t going to be the one to tell her ‘no.’ “You remind me of my sister.” My eyes opened wide at the mention of her sister, the reason I was here in the  first place. I think she mistook my surprise for something else because she said, “What? No! I didn’t mean anything like that! Don’t get the wrong idea! I wouldn’t do stuff like this with my sister, obviously. I didn’t mean it like that. Stop looking at me like that!”
“Oh, okay. Sorry.” So scary women can get flustered too. She sighed and looked at me while pouting. She caressed my face. “Ah?”
“She was an adventurer like you.” I guess this was one way to get to the quest. “And so driven… Like you. I only ever leveled up to make a decent living.” She looked around at her tiny room and smiled wryly, “Well, maybe I should’ve leveled up a little more. But I don’t know, I never really liked it.” She sighed. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“Nothing’s wrong with you,” I said.
“Yeah, I guess I’m just not that ambitious.” She said.
“Oh, ah, I guess.”
“But my sister was ambitious. She wanted to become a top ranker.”
“What happened to her?”
“Well… I don’t know. It’s been too long since I’ve heard from her.” She said, looking out the window. I thought I saw tears in the corner of her eyes, but she closed her eyes and opened them again, and her face became emotionless. She stared into my eyes. “Being an adventurer is  dangerous.” Her tone was one of warning.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Hm.” She frowned. “I guess you, ambitious folks, just don’t like listening to us unambitious folks.”
“I guess.” There was silence for a few seconds, so I pushed the topic forward. “Did she have teammates?”
“Yeah, I think so. I didn’t know much about her friends. She rarely mentioned them in her letters.” She shrugged. “Now that I think about  it, I think she usually bad-mouthed them. One of them apparently had the habit of always picking her nose.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, she said a lot of stupid things in her letters.” She laughed. “God, I miss her stupidity.” She wiped her eyes. I hugged her. “What are  you doing?” She asked.
“I’m trying to comfort you,” I said.
“It’s fine. I’m fine. Let go of me.” She pushed me off.
“Oh, okay.” I was kind of offended. I don’t usually comfort people… How dare she refuse it…
“You know, it’s funny,” she said, “I can’t even open the last thing she sent me.” She got off the bed and went towards the closet. “She said they’d figured out something big before sending it to me. But she never told me how to open it.” From the closet, she took out the puzzle box. “I don’t even know what’s in it. She was so vague in her letter. She told me she’d tell me after, but…” She left the sentence unended and brought the box to the bed. I took it from her and looked at it. The box  was pretty big, around 12 by 12 by 7 inches. “Do you know what it is?”
“Yeah, it’s a puzz- a safe,” I said and pointed at the top of the box. “See these white and black dots. You have to arrange them in the right order to make it open. The tiles the dots are on are slidable.” It was 8  by 8 tiles in size, but an empty tile space was used to move the other tiles around.
“I know that.” She said and slid one of the tiles. “What I don’t know is the right combination.”
I didn’t remember either, but there was an easy way to find out. “You  said she sent you letters, right? Can I take a look at them?”
“Ah, sure, but Why?” She went back to the closet.
“Maybe she gave you clues in the letters,” I said.
“Really?” She brought out a tin box. “It didn’t feel like there were any hidden messages when I read it.” She put the tin box on the bed and opened it up. “Let’s see.” She picked out the first letter and said, “This is the letter that came with the box.” Then she took out the  second letter. “And this one’s from-”
“Give me that.” I took the letter that came with the box. The clue wasn’t some riddle or code within the letter’s words. The clue was  magical, like the box. The combination of white and black dots was hidden on the paper using magic. And it becomes plain as day when you  use appraiser spells or spells like [look-a-look]. I looked at the hidden code and slid the dots to the right place.
“Wait, did you figure it out?” She asked as she watched me slide the dots.
As soon as the dots were in place, a click sound echoed from the box, and the top snapped open.