*****

"Looking good, you two!" She exclaimed as the two yelped in surprise.

The two faced her, recomposing themselves from the sudden surprise.

"Woah! You surprised me! Mil… ya?" Akune turned before ending on a confused note because of Milya's new appearance. "Did you dye your hair? Wait, you're wearing contacts as well?"

Akune, one of Milya's two best friends. She and Nicole are both a year older than Milya. She has been Milya's friend since she started studying. In short., they're childhood friends.

Her short black hair was neatly braided on both sides of her face, and a headband kept her bangs in place, nicely accentuating the shape of her face. Her attire consisted of a white varsity jacket and underneath was a plain black t-shirt tucked into her black sweatshorts. On her feet was a pair of white sneakers. A literal black and white set of clothing.

"Well, we can put it that way?" Milya replied with a shrug and joined the two on the bench, sitting in the middle of the two.

"Is this what you were referring to when you said surprise?" Nicole asked, leaning forward to observe Milya more closely. "And here I thought you finally grew another inch."

Unlike her childhood friend, Milya and Akune only met Nicole last year when they entered their first year of junior high school. She just happened to be sitting between Milya and Akune. She immediately hit it off with the two and from there on they grew closer and closer until they could now call themselves best friends.

Nicole is adorned with a pink long-sleeve crop top paired with a baggy and long white sweatpants. Just like Milya and Akune, she wore a pair of white sneakers.

On their arms were shoulder bags for their wallets, phones, and other things.

"Oh shush it, I'll still grow," Milya replied with a slight scorn on her face.

"So you say, but you haven't grown a single centimeter since we graduated elementary," Akune teased, poking the small Milya on the cheeks.

Annoyed, Milya slaps her hand away and stands up. "Look, if you don't wanna hang out that much, I'm going home now." Milya crosses her arms and started walking away slowly.

"Wait wait, we'll stop teasing you now so don't go home yet, come on Milya," Akune said hurriedly, afraid their friend would actually go home. She knows Milya well, and if she's annoyed she will seriously do what she said she will.

"Y-yeah! You just got here, what's the rush?" Nicole quickly added.

Milya glanced at the two of them before smiling haughtily. "Well, if you like me that much, I guess I'll stay longer."

Akune lets out a sigh of relief and stands up, Nicole doing the same.

"Well? Where to?" Milya asked. "What's our plan?"

"Ah, Mom told me to buy myself some new clothes." Akune starts." She's getting tired of seeing me in the same pair of sweatshirt and shorts every day whenever I'm home, apparently."

"So we're going shopping first," Milya mumbles to herself, "How about you, Nic? Anything you need to do or buy?"

"Nah," Nicole responds with a shake of her head. "I'm just here because you said you wanted to hang out."

Milya smiles and nods. "We're the same then."

"Yup," Nicole replied. "Then, after we go shopping for Aku's clothes, how about we go eat and then play at an arcade?"

"I guess we've got a plan then, let's go!" Milya said excitably, leading their little parade to the mall near the park they met up in.

"Yeah, let's!" Nicole responds while Akune nods and chuckles at her friends' excitement.

---

"I'm home!" Milya shouts, having just returned from her fun little hang-out with her friends.

Milya quickly takes off her sneakers at the entrance and neatly places them on its shelf. On her hand, she's got a paper bag filled with an assortment of sweets that were meant for her siblings.

Milya entered the living room and was greeted by Aleb who greeted her welcome back.

"Mary, Lily! I've got sweets if you'd like some!" She shouted, her voice quickly pulling the attention of her youngest sister.

Not even a moment later, Lily rushed out of the kitchen and greeted Milya, their mother following behind her. "Welcome back, sis! Where's the sweets?"

"You're back earlier than you said you'd be home, it's only three PM." Her mother said.

Milya chuckles at her little sister's excitement and places the paper bag on the table in the living room, which the younger one quickly digs into and takes out a cupcake.

"Yeah, Nicole had to get home because she and her dad had plans. It isn't quite the same if we're not complete, so me and Akune decided to go home early too." Milya explained.

"I see," Her mother replied before she took out a cookie from the paper bag and started eating.

"Don't mind me," Aleb says and digs his hand into the paper bag, finding a chocolate donut.

Milya smiled and walked upstairs, where she ran into Mary.

"Oh, welcome back, sis. I'll help myself to some cupcakes, see you down there." She said before running downstairs and grabbing a cupcake from the bag.

Milya smiles and enters her room to get changed into her more comfortable homewear. Not that what she was wearing wasn't comfortable, but it was more suited for going to places like malls.

Once dressed, Milya went back downstairs and sat on the couch.

Lily and her Mother had returned to the kitchen by the time Milya had returned, doing whatever it was they were doing. Maybe her ma was teaching Lily how to cook.

Mary was sat on the floor by the table, still eating cupcakes while playing on her phone. While Aleb was still on his laptop, scrolling through what Milya guessed to be RCO's wiki. He's always like that when he plays a game, he always makes sure he knows every available information from the net before taking tackling the game more seriously. He's probably even more focused now because of the future that Milya spoke about.

Although she said she wouldn't play today, Milya couldn't hold herself back. After her hanging out with her friends was cut short, Milya hasn't had enough fun yet and is left unsatisfied.

"Maybe I could bring brother with me when I come to talk with those guys who were searching for me…" Milya ponders as she stares at her brother.

Aleb notices his sister's gaze looks up from his laptop and asks. "What is it?"

"Might as well, I guess. He knows the game better than I do anyway."

"Say, I plan to contact the people searching for me tonight, can you join me when I meet with them?" She asks.

"Hmm…" Aleb hums and puts a finger on his chin. "I suppose going together would be better than going alone. Sure, I'll join you."

Milya smiles and nods. "Thanks."

After their little exchange, Aleb returns to reading through the wiki, while Milya takes out a donut from the paper bag to munch on while she reads on her phone.

After around an hour of silence and occasional short conversations, Lily and their mother return from the kitchen.

"Sis, bro, I made a cake with ma!" Lily says excitedly. "Give it a taste, give it a taste!"

"I'll pass, I'm full after eating the cupcakes Milya brought home," Mary says dismissively.

"Okay!" Lily replies. "Then, Mimi and bro! Come come!"

Lily starts pulling on the hands of her two siblings. The two put down their devices and went along with her, giving each other a wry smile as they followed their excitable sister.

Their mother chuckles and follows them from behind.

On the kitchen counter were several utensils neatly piled on the furthest side and in the middle was a nicely decorated chocolate cake.

Lily lets go of their hands and stands in front of the cake. "I did the decorating with Ma's help! Didn't I do good?"

"Ooh, you did good, you sure did, Lily," Milya praised, approaching the counter and giving the cake a closer look, Aleb doing the same.

"Right? All I did was do the measurements and tell her what to do." Her mother adds, patting the smirking Lily on the head. "Lily might have a talent for baking."

"Heeeh," Milya smirks and takes two small plates, forks, and a knife from the drawers. Milya hands the knife and the other plate along with the fork to Aleb for him to cut a slice of the cake for them. "Let's give it a taste then."

"Yeah! I promise you'll like it." Lily nods excitedly and smiles at them.

Aleb and Milya smiled in response and served themselves a slice of the cake each. Together, Aleb and Milya ate a piece of their slices as Lily looks at them expectantly.

"It's nice and fluffy," Aleb says with a smile.

"Yup, it's perfectly moist too. You did good, Lily!" Milya adds.

Lily's face quickly brightens and she throws her arms up as she celebrates. "Yay! They liked it Ma! They said it was nice!"

"They did, didn't they?" Their mother chuckles as she pats Lily on the head once more.

"I'll have one more slice," Milya says and serves herself another slice.

"Me too," Aleb follows.

"Nn, enjoy!" Lily nods, happy that her siblings are enjoying the cake that she baked with the help of her mother.

The two finish eating and we're left with half of the cake remaining, much to Lily's pleasure.

"That's all I can eat, else I wouldn't be able to eat dinner like Mary," Milya says and sets down her plate on the sink, Aleb nodding and doing the same.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it!" Lily says happily with the two reprocating her smile.

"Help me do the dishes too, Lily," their mother asks of Lily who nods immediately, still high on her success.

Done with that, Milya and Aleb return to the now-empty living room. Mary must have returned to her room while they were busy eating in the kitchen.

Having nothing to do in the living room, the two return to their rooms.

Time passes and their mother calls the three of them downstairs to eat their dinner, which they quickly finish. Milya helped Aleb with washing the dishes before promptly returning to their rooms.

Milya checks the time, which was 7:48 PM, and decides to log in now.

---

Back in the middle Olfor Mountains, Vermouth cautiously looked around to check for anyone who might be searching for her. Upon finding no one, Vermouth heaves a sigh of relief.

"Right, first I'll send bro a friend request…" Vermouth mumbled and brought up her main interface, scrolled through it, and promptly opened the Friends interface. In the search bar on the top, she typed in Aleb's in-game name "Bela" and sent him a friend request.

Done with that, she goes through the other section of the friend interface, the friend requests sent to her. On the empty list was a single request, GuyAnner's friend request.

"He will be able to tell where I am after I accept this, won't he?" Vermouth's finger hovered over the accept button as she stared at the interface anxiously.

Vermouth heaved a deep sigh as she pulled her finger away from the interface. "I'll just wait for bro to log in and accept my friend request. Then, I'll ask him for advice."

Having made a decision, Vermouth looked up and around.

"First of all, I need to get out of here, maybe I'll go to some other town…" Vermouth spoke to herself as she opened the map and looked for the nearest town. Luckily for her, the most explored parts of the map are revealed to every player, which helps the newer players find where they are on the map unlike the day 1 players.

The map showed her position on the outskirts of the Olfor Mountains. She thought she was deeper in, but the chase last night must have brought her to this place.

"Works for me, I guess," Vermouth murmured to herself as she started walking toward the nearest road path leading to the town just next to the city of Lorden.

As she skipped through the forest, Vermouth's mind couldn't help but trudge back into her previous trouble. What should she do once she's in front of the people leading the players searching for her? She couldn't help but worry that they might coerce her into letting them into the quest. Or if they won't and they would try to negotiate their way into it, what would they ask for? What would Vermouth ask for? What would they offer? What would she offer? Granted, she's the one who has the quest, and that should give her an advantage, but she still couldn't help but worry.

That's why she has decided to ask her brother to help, she knew he would know his way around this more than she do. She was just a thief, he was a senior member of a huge gang. Well, in the future, at least. Still, he should have an affinity for it. 

Not much longer, Vermouth reached the path she was headed for and started following toward the town's direction.

On her way toward the town, a small carriage coached by a merchant that was being guided and guarded by some players trod past her. Vermouth didn't give them much attention as she silently made her way toward the town. She could have hitched a ride, but she was reluctant to do so. She simply didn't want to bother the merchant and the players.

Not long after that carriage was a pair of players riding a horse joyfully as they made their way to the town. Again, Vermouth didn't pay them much attention.

In the distance, Vermouth started being able to see the walls of the town she was headed for. Upon seeing her goal, Vermouth hurried her steps as she trod for the town with energy on each of her steps. Visiting another city or town has been on her mind since ran out of spells to buy from the shop in the city of Lorden, so she was quite thrilled.

Vermouth joined the NPCs and players lined up in front of the gate and waited patiently. It seems that the town guards were inspecting those who had huge baggage with them. Of course, most players didn't have any since they all had their inventory, so it didn't take much longer for her turn to come.

"What's your business here in Karhon town?" The guard gave her one look and asked.

"Just touring," Vermouth replied without hesitation.

The guard nodded and thumped his spear on the paved ground and spoke. "Understood, you may come in."

"Quite lax," Vermouth judged as she stepped into the town. The ground was paved much like Lorden City, but it was obviously not done with as much precision as the city. Bumps and raised bricks stuck out of the ground here and there, and there was still some dirt and hints of vegetation in between the bricks.

Immediately, Vermouth opened her map and looked for the spell scroll's shop. It was situated near the plaza in the middle of town east of the fountain. The skills shop was just beside it, quite conveniently placed door to door.

"Wait, I haven't visited the skills shop back in Lorden yet, have I?" Vermouth realized quite later than she should have. Totally not because the author forgor.

"Ah, doesn't matter. I'll just go when I'm back there again," Vermouth muttered in slight annoyance as she made her way toward the spell scrolls shop. "Now, what spells are there in this town?"

Once inside, Vermouth couldn't help but notice the difference between the two shops she had visited. Lorden's was wide and spacious, and the scrolls were neatly placed on wooden shelves and labeled according to their classes and names. But this shop was much more cramped, not only were there no labels, but most of the scrolls were placed inside baskets. There were shelves too, but they were almost empty. On the side of the door was the counter where she would pay for the scrolls, except there was no one there.

Whoever ran this place either didn't care or was just lazy. Could be neither, could be both. Not that Vermouth cared. She just wanted her scrolls.

With a small sigh, Vermouth picked up a scroll from one of the baskets and opened it. Immediately, a small interface hovered over it and gave Vermouth the description of the scroll. Of course, just as she had expected, it was a dud. It was a spell for the warrior class. Vermouth promptly rolled up the scroll and threw it back into the basket.

Vermouth was just about to pick up another scroll from the same basket when a voice called out to her from behind the counter.

"Hey, you shouldn't be looking at those," the voice was hoarse and wisened with age. Vermouth turned around and the old man continued. His red eyes were glowing ominously. "A mage of your level shouldn't be looking at those trashes over there. Let me show you scrolls worthy of your strength."

The man waved for her to come closer as he took out a small chest from under the counter.

Eager for some powerful spells, Vermouth came close without much thought, leaning over the counter to look at the chest that the old man had placed on the counter.

"I'll give you two of 'em for free if you can meet the requirements," the old man grinned, exposing to her his jagged teeth.

Vermouth returned that grin and nodded without hesitation. "You got it, old man."

*****