The Long Needed Vacation

It was the month of Margie in the fifteenth year of the game. I had avoided guilds and groupings till now but now I was an official member of the Golden Knights guild and as promised I was a senior member. It was not that I had volunteered to join, I was forced to join the guild by the means of a duel that even I don't know how I lost.

"Wh-what's up with this outfit?" I gazed in the mirror. "Seems pretty self-explanatory to me. Now stand up!" Liza had forced me into a new set of clothes. It was the same shape as my comfy, tattered old coat, but this one was pure, eye-watering golden. There were two small silver clovers on both sides of the collar to go with the large one on the back. It was my new Golden Knights uniform, as if that needed any explanation. "I thought I asked for something a little less…striking."

"Trust me, that's one of our plainest designs. It looks good on you!" I sank into the rocking chair, defeated. We were at my home as Liza had to hunt me down after I didn't show up at the guild for a few days. As I groaned in the rocking chair, Liza sat upon her familiar perch, the armrest. She rocked the chair back and forth, smiling at my stupid new outfit. After a few moments, she clasped her hands together as if remembering something. "Oh, I guess I never gave you my official greeting. Welcome to our guild, senior Naperjet."

She gave me a nod, and I straightened up in a hurry. "Nice to 'meet' you, I guess. The only problem is…I'm just recruited, and you're the vice commander. So I won't be able to do that anymore." "Hyack!" She leaped up with a shriek, smacked her new recruit on the head, and then sat in the chair on the other side of the room, her cheeks puffed out. It was early afternoon in a rainy day. A calm silence fell upon the lazy sunlight.

Two weeks had passed since my defeat at Heathway's hands. Just as he had demanded, I was now a senior member of the Golden Knights. It wasn't to my liking to raise a fuss at this point. They gave me a week to prepare, and the next day I was supposed report to guild HQ and begin my duty clearing the 703rd Stage dungeon. 'A guild…' Liza detected my brief sigh and glanced at me. "Looks like you're stuck with us…"

"It was good timing for me. Maybe I was getting bored going solo all the time." "Well, it's good of you to say so…Hey, Naperjet." Her blue eyes looked straight into mine. "Tell me, why do you avoid guilds…and people in general? It's not just because you were a hated hoarder or that you have a GM level Skill. You're too nice to do this." I looked away and rocked the chair slowly.

"…Once, a long while back—about ten years ago, I think—I was actually in another guild…" It surprised me how easily the words came. I had a feeling that Liza's kind gaze would heal the pain that surfaced every time I let that memory rise to the surface. "A group of amateurs were assigned to me, at first I thought that they were just a headache. I never told them my real level but did show them good farming spots. One day, while farming at some of the specialized spots we were ensnared by some C-players and I had them rescued." She giggled.

"After that, I had got an invitation from their guild named: The Aragonites. It was a small guild, had only eleven members including me. Their leader was a craftsman named Anakin. They were all great friends in the real life as well. To be honest their levels were far-less than mine. However, I consider it to be a reflection of how obsessively I was grinding up levels. I feared that if I'd told them my actual level, Anakin would likely have revoked his offer. But at the time I'd been growing weary of solo dungeon-delving, and the comfortable atmosphere of the Aragonites was welcoming.

They were all friends in real life, and I couldn't help but be drawn in by the way they interacted without any of the distance that was often endemic to net games. 'When I chose to ignore everyone else and focus on improving my own level, I lost the right to seek the warmth of companionship', whispered the little voice in my ear. I had to suppress that dark voice and accept their offer, hiding my level and my experience.

I was particularly put in charge of Alice, a gentle girl with blonde hair falling to her shoulders. When we first met in the guild, she laughed shyly and said that she'd been playing online games for a while but had a hard time making friends. Most days that the guild wasn't doing activities together, I was giving her one-on-one sword lessons. Alice and I were alike in many ways. Despite our reticence, we both craved the presence of others.

One day before the SM battle, out of the blue, she spilled her innermost secrets to me. She was afraid to die. She was terrified of the game. She didn't want to venture out into the wilderness at all. All I could do was tell her that she wouldn't die. I'd been hiding my true level from her the entire time—I didn't have the right to say anything more. But when Alice heard those words, she cried, and then smiled.

Then the day of the SM battle came, the whole guild knew Alice's problem and it was discussed beforehand to the frontline leaders that Alice would need help to restart her life. I took responsibility of their security but I made a rash decision to attack the SM. It was a fatal decision as the SM regenerated its two HP bars; my guild-mates rushed into help me. We all were stuck in its Life Drain attack and couldn't do anything but watch as our HP diminished. The attack ended with a few ticks of HP remaining but then he jumped upon us and this resulted in the death of all nine of them. When I activated the transport gate of the next Stage, I found Anakin to appear just a second after its activation.

I explained everything that happened and he listened patiently. Then asked me, 'How did you survive then?' I had to tell him the truth; that I was at a much higher level than them and knew everything about the beta. Anakin gave me the emotionless look that one gives something alien and said just one thing. 'You're a rogue player. You didn't have the right to get involved with us.' Those words cut me deeper than any steely sword."

"And what…happened to him…?" "He killed himself." Her body jolted still in the chair. "He threw himself off in a cliff. Probably cursed me to the very…end…" My voice caught. I'd tried to seal that memory away in a place where I could never revisit it again, but speaking it aloud brought the pain back as fresh as when it happened. I clenched my teeth. Liza reached out a hand. I wanted to seek her salvation, but a voice in my heart told me I didn't deserve it.

My hands balled into fists. "I was responsible for murdering all of them." I forced my eyes open and squeezed the words out through gritted teeth. Liza rose, came two steps forward, then took my face in her hands. She bore a gentle smile and leaned in very close. "I'm not going to die." It was like a whisper, but her voice was clear.

All the tension drained out of my body. "After all…I'm the one protecting you." And she held my head to her chest. I was enveloped in soft, warm darkness. I closed my eyelids and saw, beyond the black veil of memory, the members of the Aragonites looking at me, seated at the counter of the old bar, the room brimming with orange light. My day of forgiveness would never come. I could never repay what I had done.

But in my memory, their faces seemed to be smiling at me. The next morning, I slipped my arms through my fancy new golden coat and left for Granddame with Liza. Today was my first day of activity as a member of The Golden Knights. But while they normally worked in groups of five, Liza had pulled some strings as vice commander and gotten us the privilege of making our own two-man party, so it was really no different from what we'd been doing before.

But when we reached guild headquarters, the orders I got were not what I was expecting. "Training…?" "Correct. We will form a party of four, including me, and clear the remaining dungeon of this stage, finishing up in the town on the next." This was one of the four men I'd seen seated at the table during my last visit to this building. He was a large, curly-haired man who was apparently an ax warrior.

"But Naperjet's working with me…" Liza tried to butt in, but he simply raised an eyebrow and proceeded imperiously. "You might be the vice commander, but you cannot simply run over the regulations of the guild. If that's the party you desire when we are actually performing game-clearing duties, so be it. But as the leader of the forward line, I need to assess his ability. Just because he has a GM-level Skill does not necessarily mean he will be useful."

"W-well, Naperjet's strong enough that he wouldn't have any trouble dealing with you…" I spoke up before Liza could completely blow her cool. "If you want to see what I can do, that's fine with me. I just don't want to waste my time on such a low-level dungeon. I trust you don't mind if we blaze through it in no time?" The man named Geoffrey frowned with displeasure, told me to be at the west gate of the town in thirty minutes, then plodded off. "What was that all about?!"

Liza stormed, kicking a nearby pole. "I'm sorry, Naperjet…I knew we should have just run off on our own." "Yeah, but then your guild-mates would have cursed me to the ends of the earth. And I already have a lot of curses on me." I smiled and patted her on top of the head. "Aww…I thought we'd actually be together today. Maybe I should tag along…" "Don't worry, I'll be back in a jiffy. Just wait for me here."

"Okay. Be careful out there…" I waved to her as she looked on solemnly, then I left the building. But for as much as the day's activity caught me by surprise, nothing prepared me for what I saw at the west gate of Granddame. There, waiting right next to Geoffrey, was the last man in Arcadian I wanted to see—Cordele.

"…What's going on here?" I muttered to Geoffrey. "I'm well aware of what transpired between the two of you. But now you're guild-mates. So let's let bygones be bygones, eh?" He roared with laughter. Meanwhile, Cordele slunk forward. I tensed up, ready to act whatever came. We were inside the town zone, but there was no telling what he'd do. Instead, Cordele surprised me by bowing his head.

He spoke in a murmur that was barely audible through his long bangs. "I'm sorry…about what happened the other day…" Now I was truly shocked. My mouth fell open. "I won't treat you with such disrespect again…I beg your forgiveness." I couldn't see his face behind the greasy locks. "Uh…sure…" I brought myself to nod. What could have happened? Had he gotten brain surgery? "That settles it, then!" Geoffrey bellowed with laughter again.

I wasn't just being suspicious but there was clearly something going on here. But I couldn't read Cordele's expression with his head tilted down. BWS simulated emotional expressions, but it tended on the side of exaggeration, and subtle nuances didn't always show. I decided to accept his apology for politeness's sake but made a mental note to stay wary of him. After a few minutes, one more guild member showed up, and we were ready to leave for the dungeon.

I started to walk, but Geoffrey's heavy voice rang out behind me. "Not so fast. Today's training is meant to be as close a simulation of the real thing as possible. I want to see how you handle dangerous circumstances, so that means I'll need to confiscate all your crystals for the time being." "Even our transport crystals?" He nodded, as if this was obvious. I did not like this turn of events at all. Crystals—particularly transportation crystals—were the player's last line of defense in a game where the stakes were deadly. At no point in my fifteen years in Arcadian had I ever let my stock run out. I was going to protest, but then thought better of it, as I didn't want to make things worse for Liza.

When I saw Cordele and the other member obediently handing over their items, I reluctantly parted with my own. He meant business, too; I had to turn out my waist-pouch before he was satisfied. "Very good. Let's depart!" Geoffrey barked out the order, and the four of us began walking from the gates of Granddame to the dungeon far to the west. The stage was a dry wasteland nearly devoid of greenery. I just wanted to get this exercise over with and suggested that we run to the dungeon, but Geoffrey vetoed that with a swing of his arm.

Well, he probably dumped all of his points into strength rather than agility, so he can barely run anyway I thought, and gave up. We ran into a few monsters, but I was in no mood to follow Geoffrey's orders and dispatched them with a single blow each. Finally, once we'd crested the rocky hill, the gray stone entrance to the dungeon came into full view. "Let's take a break here!" Geoffrey barked out, and the party came to a halt. I wanted to keep going straight through the dungeon, but I figured they wouldn't heed my suggestion anyway, so I sat down on a nearby rock.

It was just passing noon. "I'll distribute rations," Geoffrey said, materializing four small leather parcels and handing them out. I caught mine one-handed and looked in, expecting to be disappointed. It contained a bottle of water and small toasted bread you could buy from any NPC shop. Inwardly, I cursed my foul luck. I should be eating Liza's homemade sandwiches right about now. I took a swig of the water. My eye just happened to catch Cordele sitting on a rock, slightly removed from the rest of us. He hadn't touched his bag. He was glaring at us from under his drooping bangs, an oddly dark look on his face.

What was he staring at…? Suddenly, a freezing shiver bolted through my body. He was waiting for something. Waiting…for… I threw the bottle away, trying to expel every last bit of the liquid from my mouth. But it was too late. I could feel the strength draining from my body, and I fell to the ground. My HP bar was in the right-hand corner of my vision, surrounded by a blinking green border. It was paralysis venom. Geoffrey and the other member of our group were rolling on the ground in agony as well. Instinctively, I forced my left hand, still mobile, down to my waist-pouch, but another chill ran down my back.

Geoffrey had my antidote and transportation crystals. I did have healing potions, but they wouldn't cure the venom. "Heh…heh-heh-heh…" I heard a high-pitched chuckle. Above the rock, Cordele was holding his sides with laughter, doubled over. Those sunken, beady eyes were glinting with a familiar look of madness. "Ka-ha! Hya-hya! Hya-ha-ha-ha-ha!" He burst into crazed, unhinged gales of laughter. Geoffrey simply looked on in stunned disbelief. "Wh…what's going on…? Did you do this…to our water, Cordele?"

"Geoffrey! Use the antidote crystals!" I called out, and Geoffrey finally began to search through his pack, achingly slow. "Hyaaa!" Cordele gave a triumphant screech, leaped off the rock, and kicked Geoffrey's hand away. A green crystal skittered over the dirt. Cordele picked it up, then riffled through Geoffrey's pack and pulled out several more, which he deposited into his own pouch. We were out of options. "What is the meaning of this, Cordele? Is this…some kind of trial…?"

Geoffrey was woefully slow on the uptake, and Cordele rewarded him with a kick in the mouth. "Gaah!!" Geoffrey's HP bar shrank just a bit, and Cordele's cursor changed representing a criminal player. But that would have no effect on our plight. This floor was already cleared. No one would be luckily wandering by this exact stretch of wilderness. "You know, Geoffrey, I always thought you were stupid…I just didn't know how much!"

His shrill voice echoed off the rocks. "I've got plenty of things I want to say to you, but there's no use stuffing yourself on these matters." Cordele drew the other member's sword. He tilted his thin body backward and took a huge swing, the thick blade glimmering in the sunlight. "W-wait, Cordele! Wh-what are you talking about…? Isn't this…part of the trial?"

"Shut up and die already," Cordele spat. He swung the sword down without further ado. I heard a dull thud, and a huge chunk disappeared from Geoffrey's HP bar. Geoffrey had finally realized the severity of the situation and began to scream. It was far too late. Twice, then thrice, the blade flashed mercilessly. The HP bar lost a chunk each time, and when it reached the red zone, Cordele finally stayed his hand. For an instant, I actually thought he was going to stop short of murder.

But Cordele only flipped the sword around to a backhand grip, and then sank it slowly into Geoffrey's body. His health trickled down. Cordele shifted his weight into it. Cordele's high-pitched squeal of delight practically matched Geoffrey's scream. The tip of the sword kept sinking farther, and the HP bar steadily shrank. As the other member and I watched helplessly, silently. The sword punctured through and hit the ground at the same moment that Geoffrey's HP reached zero.

I don't think Geoffrey ever fully realized what was happening, even up to the moment that he exploded into countless pieces. With that the cursor changed to declare a hostile element. Cordele slowly pulled the sword out of the ground, then swiveled his head at the neck to stare at us like some kind of grotesque automaton. "Eeeh! Eeeh!!" The other guild-mate uttered short shrieks and vainly attempted to escape.

Cordele hopped over to him with an odd gait. "I've got nothing against you…but in my story, I've got to be the only survivor," he muttered, swinging his sword again. "Eeeek!!" "Got that? Our doomed party…"

He struck, ignoring the other man's screams.

"…was set upon by vagabonds in the wilderness…"

Another blow.

"…and while the other three died valiantly…"

And another.

"…I alone succeeded in breaking the attackers' spirits to return to the guild alive!"

On the fourth strike, the man's HP was empty. The sound sent involuntary chills throughout my body. To Cordele, it must have sounded like the voice of a goddess. He was trembling with ecstasy in the midst of the shattering fragments, his face a mask of pure bliss. This isn't his first time, I realized. True, before he began this assault, he didn't have the telltale orange criminal cursor, but there are plenty of trickier ways to cause death without tipping off the system.

At any rate, it was too late to realize this now. Cordele finally trained his gaze on me. There was unbridled glee in those eyes. He approached slowly, wincingly scraping the tip of his sword along the ground. "So, hey," he murmured, stooping down to hover over me. "Now I've killed two innocent men, all for the sake of one kid." "By my reckoning, you got quite a kick out of it." I talked to keep him busy, but my mind was racing, trying to find a way out of this desperate situation.

I could only move my mouth and left hand. Under this paralysis, I couldn't open my menu, couldn't send anyone a message. Knowing that it was probably pointless, I tried to move my hand to a position where Cordele couldn't see it, while I kept him occupied with dialogue. "Why did you join the guild, anyway? You'd do better in one of the criminal guilds." "Isn't that obvious? It was her," Cordele rasped, licking his lips with a pointed tongue.

When I realized he was talking about Liza, my entire body burned. "Oh, don't look at me that way. It's just a game, isn't it? Don't worry. I'll take good care of your beloved vice commander. I've got plenty of handy items just for that purpose." Cordele picked up the bottle of poison nearby and poured out the liquid inside. He gave me a sloppy wink and went on. "What you said was quite interesting, about my being suited for a criminal guild, though."

"…It's true, isn't it?" "I'm paying you a compliment, see? Very sharp of you." He giggled again, deep in his throat, then suddenly unequipped one of his gauntlets. He pulled back the golden sleeve of his robe and showed me the underside of his bare forearm. I gasped when I saw it.

A tattoo. A caricatured drawing of a grave and hammer. A leering pair of eyes and mouth were drawn on the shifted lid, and a bony arm was poking out from within the coffin. "That logo…Is that Grave-busters?" I rasped. Cordele nodded with an eager grin. 'Grave-busters' was once the largest PK guild in Arcadian. Led by their cruel and clever leader, they devised new and novel ways to kill their targets, and the body count eventually reached quadruple digits. Attempts were made to come to a peaceful resolution with them, but the man who volunteered to be the messenger only wound up dead.

It was impossible to fathom the motives of those who would kill their fellow players, when that could only diminish the possibility of beating the game. Talking it out was never going to work. Eventually, the clearers arranged a master-style raid party and wiped them out in a bloody assault. It wasn't that long ago. Liza and I had both taken part in the raid. Somehow, word of our plan had leaked out, and the murderers were ready for us.

I went half mad trying to protect the lives of my fellow players, and by the end of the battle, I'd personally killed five members of The Grave Busters. "Is this…vengeance? Are you one of the remnants of the guild?" I asked hoarsely, but Cordele laughed at the question. "Hah! Hardly. Like I'd be that pathetic. I was only recently inducted into that guild. But only mentally, that's when they taught me this handy paralysis trick…oopsy!" He rose to his feet with a mechanical smoothness and loudly re-gripped the sword. "Better wrap up the chitchat before your poison wears off. Time for the grand finish, I think. Every single night since our duel…I've dreamed of this moment…"

Fires of delusion burned in the full circles of his gaping eyes, and a long tongue snickered out of his wide-stretched mouth. Cordele stood on tiptoes to brandish the blade. Just before he could start bringing the sword down, I flicked the throwing pick I'd hidden in my left hand. I could only use the wrist, and although I was aiming for his face, the paralysis lowered my accuracy rating. The pick flew off-line, sinking into Cordele's left arm. The effect on his HP bar was hopelessly insignificant.

"That…hurt…" He wrinkled his nose and pulled back his lips. Cordele poked the tip of his sword into my arm. He twisted twice, then three times, as though screwing it in. "…!" I didn't feel any pain, but I felt the distinctly unpleasant sensation of numbed nerves being directly stimulated. As the sword dug farther into my arm, my HP slowly but surely trickled away. 'Isn't it done yet? Isn't the poison wearing off?' I gritted my teeth and waited for the moment I would be free.

Paralysis normally lasted about five minutes, though it could vary depending on the strength of the venom. Cordele pulled the sword back and jabbed it into my left foot this time. Again, the nerve-deadening sensation shot through me, and the damage numbers mercilessly piled up. "Well? What's it like? Knowing that you're just about to die…Tell me, why don't you?" he whispered, staring into my face. "Why don't you say something, boy? Why don't you cry and wail about how you don't want to die?"

My HP was under half now, the bar yellow. The paralysis would not dispel. I could feel a chill settling into my body. The specter of death snuck up my legs, clad in a robe of pure cold. I'd witnessed death firsthand multiple times in Blade Work Saga. Every single victim, in the moment that they'd burst into countless shards, held the same expression: 'Am I really going to die right now?' Somewhere within all of us, there was a lack of belief that the game's stated rules could actually be true—that death within the game was death.

It was almost a sense of hope, an expectation that once our HP hit zero and we disintegrated, we would simply wake up in the real world, safe and sound. There was no way to determine the truth outside of death. In that sense, dying might just be another means of escape from the game… "Come on, say something. You're going to die soon, hello?" Cordele pulled the sword out of my foot and stuck it against my belly. My HP sank faster now, reaching into the red danger zone, but even now it still felt like it was happening off in another world.

As the agony continued, my thoughts raced down a path without light. A heavy, thick layer of gauze enveloped my mind. But…suddenly, an unbearable fear seized my heart. 'Liza.' I was going to disappear and leave her behind. Liza would fall into Cordele's clutches, and she would suffer the way I had. This possibility burned with a white pain that shot me to my senses. My eyes opened wide, and with my left hand, I grabbed the sword Cordele was plunging into my stomach.

I summoned all my strength and slowly pulled it out. I had just under 10 percent of my health left. Cordele murmured, surprised. "Uh…huh? What's this? Afraid to die after all?" "That's right…I can't…die yet!" "Is that so? Well, that's more like it!!" Cordele cackled like some monstrous bird, and then put all of his weight into the sword. I tried to push back with my one hand. The system was weighing my strength stat and Cordele's, pitting complex calculations against one another.

The resulting outcome: The tip of the sword slowly but surely began to descend. I was plunged into fear and despair. Is this really it? Will I die? Am I leaving Liza behind in this twisted, insane world? I fought desperately against the twin perils of the approaching sword point and the fear gripping my heart. "Now die! Die…!!" Cordele shrieked. Inch by inch, my murder approached in the form of a dull gray point of metal.

The tip grazed my body…then sank just a bit… A burst of wind shot through the air. A wind colored golden and silver. "Wha—? Huh…?" The murderer looked up with a scream of surprise, and then went flying through the air with his sword. I stared silently at the figure that had descended in his place. "…I made it…I made it, God…I made it!" Her trembling voice was as beautiful as the wing beat of an angel. Liza nearly crumpled over me, her lips quivering, her eyes wide. "He's alive…You're alive, right, Naperjet?"

"Yeah…I'm alive…for now that is" I was surprised to hear how weak and faded my voice was. Liza gave a big nod, pulled a pink crystal out of her pocket, placed a hand on my chest, and said, "Heal!" The crystal crumbled and my HP immediately shot all the way to full. "Hang on a sec. I'll finish this up real quickly," she said after confirming that I was properly healed. She gracefully pulled her bow and began walking. Ahead, Cordele was finally getting to his feet. When he saw the figure approaching him, his eyes grew wide. "Ah! M-Miss Liza…why are you here…? I-I mean, this is just a trial, yes, a trial that went wrong—" He sprang to his feet and attempted to squeak out an excuse, but he never finished.

Liza's bow flashed, and the summoned arrow slashed Cordele's mouth. Because he was already labeled an H-player, Liza had free reign to attack him without being branded the same. He stumbled backward, a hand to his mouth. After a momentary pause, he rose again, a familiar loathing splotched across his face. "That's enough from you, girl…Hah! This is perfect. You'll be joining them soon enou—"

But this was cut short as well. Liza readied her weapon and struck again. "Hrrg…Aaagh!" He desperately tried to parry with the two-handed sword and never got time to switch the weapon, but it was woefully slow. Liza's arrow points slashed back and forth with countless streams of light, tearing across and through Cordele's body with frightful speed.

Even being several levels above Liza, I couldn't follow her attacks in the slightest. I was entranced by a vision of an angel, firing arrows like a machine gun. It was beautiful. The sight of Liza, her brown hair bouncing, silently devastating her foe while wreathed in righteous anger, was a thing of sheer beauty.

Fear had finally set in, and Cordele's wild swings weren't even coming close to landing. His HP bar dropped lower and lower, and when it was about to shift from yellow to red, he finally dropped the sword and raised his hands in surrender. "A-all right, all right! I'm sorry; it was all my fault!" He cowered on the ground. "I'll leave the guild! You'll never see me again, I swear! Just don't—"

Liza silently listened to his piteous wails. Slowly, she pulled the string, and then aimed towards him, moving closer. Her slender arm clenched and rose several inches, preparing to fire it directly into the small of Cordele's back as he hunched prostrate on the ground. The murderer emitted an even, high-pitched scream. "Eeeek! I don't wanna die!" Liza disengaged her bow and called off her arrow.

Her body was visibly trembling. Even from here, I could feel the internal battle of Liza's hesitation, rage, and fear. As far as I knew, she had never taken the life of another player. Killing a player in Blade Work Saga meant the death of that player in real life, too. PK was a familiar term to online gamers, but it obfuscated the truth—here, it was actual murder. 'That's right, Liza. Stop. You can't do this.' But at the same time, a part of me screamed the opposite. 'No, don't hesitate. He's hoping you'll stay your hand.'

An instant later, my fears came true. Cordele sprang up from his begging position, his sword flashing as he screamed. With a metallic clang, the bow flew out of Liza's hand. "Wha—?" Liza yelped and lost her balance. The sword glinted over her head. "Not very smart, Vice Commander! I was a swordsman before an archer." he screamed, unhinged. Cordele swung the sword downward without hesitation, trailing deep red light.

"Raaagh!" This time the roar was mine. The paralysis finally undone, I leaped up, crossing several yards in an instant, pushing Liza out of the way, and taking Cordele's sword full on my left arm. "Chunk!", it rang unpleasantly. My left forearm flew off, severed at the elbow. Below my HP bar, a limb-damage icon flashed. Crimson particles meant to resemble blood spurted out of the cut, but I straightened the fingers of my right hand… And thrust it straight into the gap in his heavy armor. My arm flashed yellow and sank wetly into Cordele's stomach.

I'd hit him with Vital Shot, a point-blank Martial Arts ability. It took every last bit of Cordele's remaining HP. The skinny body shook violently, then slumped over, powerless. I heard the sword clatter to the ground, then a hoarse whisper in my ear. "Why…you…murderer" and a chuckle. And Cordele's entire existence turned to glass shards. With a cold burst, the fragments exploded outward, knocking me to the ground. For a while, my consciousness numb, the only sound was the wind blowing across the field.

Eventually, I heard uneven footsteps over the gravel. I looked up and saw a frail figure stumbling toward me, her face empty. Liza plodded several steps closer, face downward, then slumped to her knees like a puppet whose strings had been cut. She extended her hand toward me, then shrank back just before it touched. "…I'm sorry…It's my fault…This is all my fault…" The look on her face was heartbreaking. Tears filled her large eyes, sparkling like jewels, then fell.

Finally, I managed to rasp one word out of my parched throat. "Liza…I'm sorry. I…I don't have the right…to even…see you anym…" I desperately raised myself from the ground, finally in control of my body again. The damage I'd suffered still left an unpleasant numbness, and slowly turned away from her. As I began moving, I felt Liza holding me "No, you don't deserve to be left alone. You saved my life. I owe my life to you."

I turned my face towards her and murmured, "No! My life belongs to you, Liza… …I'm all yours. We'll be together until the final moment." My left arm was still in a severed state and wouldn't return unless I return to the town, but I held it around her. Liza let out a trembling breath and then whispered back to me. "I promise…I promise I'll protect you, too. I'll be here for you forever. Just don't leave me…" She didn't need to say any more. I hugged Liza tightly, listening to her breathing. Bit by bit, the warmth of her body thawed the ice within me.

We went back to Granddame, en-route Liza told me how she followed us using a map and maintained a safe distance as not to trigger someone Search radius. She resorted for a full sprint when she saw Geoffrey's marker disappear. No doubt despite her agility based built; it must be quite taxing on her as she was still panting.

As I entered the city, I saw my arm regenerate to its full length as if small particles joined together to form it. We returned to guild headquarters, reported what had happened to Heathway, and applied for temporary leave. Liza cited her lack of trust in the guild, and after a momentary silence, Heathway accepted her request. But at the end, he gave that strange smile again and added cryptically, "You'll be back on the battlefield soon enough."

Once outside the HQ, I asked her, "Hey Liza! Want to come over my place for dinner?" I caught her off guard and her and her face blushed red, "No, Instead lets head off to my place for dinner. I don't think your equipment could handle any fine cooking." We walked to the transport gate holding hands. Neither of us spoke a word.

We transported to Salzburg, where Liza stayed in a great little mansion. It was still to be dark, so we decided to wait for dinner. I removed my armor and weapons, "I think I'm better off with the dark one. This is still too much." Liza just giggled and then turned serious, "I was wondering from where did Cordele's hate and envy came from?" It wasn't that rare for players to commit wicked deeds in BWS. It was said that there were several hundred criminals in the game, from thieves and bandits to those like Cordele and Grave Busters, who brutally slaughtered their victims.

At this point, they were considered a natural feature of the game, much like monsters. "But the more I think about it, the stranger it seems. It is obvious that anyone who intentionally caused harm to other players was working to the detriment of our shared quest to beat the game. Their actions suggest that they don't want to leave. But when I think about Cordele, he didn't seem to fit that definition. His thoughts had nothing to do with escaping the game or preventing others from doing so. He represented an absence of thought—a man who had stopped pondering the past or future, allowed his own desires to rule him, and fostered the will of evil." I replied.

She nodded and I called my menu to materialize a food ingredient and handed it over to Liza, who headed out to the kitchen to cook it. I wondered 'I honestly don't know what my entire purpose within the game was to defeat it or not. If anything, I was exploring dungeons and gaining levels out of simple inertia, nothing else. The only reason I fought was to know the pleasure of being better than others, did I truly wish for the game to be over?'

She came back about a couple of minutes later, with our dinner in a platter. "It's not something like the Dribbling Dear that we had the last time." I cut her short "No, it's not the ingredient but the cooking of your hand that makes it great. I remember this should do the work." I scrammed through my inventory and found the item I was looking for. I materialized a pair of small bottles, the ones that we used in the dungeon of 700th Stage. Liza's eyes shone in surprise "My seasonings. I thought that I left them in the safe zone of 700th Stage."

"Well after I left your guild HQ the other day, I went straight into the dungeon and fetched them. They were labeled as abandoned items and lost a lot of durability." I grinned. We had the lavish dinner and later spread out on the couch. Liza took the newspaper–like pamphlet on the table and began reading them, "Nothing's new!" and put it back on the table.

I wondered about it and took the pamphlet. It had only one news 'THIRD GM-LEVEL SKILL USER UNCOVERED, JOINS THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS AFTER A CRUSHING DEFEAT BY THE UNDEFEATED COMMANDER.' It had a picture of mine right at the moment he defeated me. Liza giggled while she saw my expression and remarked, "Your face is steaming like freshly baked buns."

I threw the paper and spoke up "I have an idea. While we have a good leave then lets enjoy it on 436th Stage, I have heard it has some pretty awesome beaches and…" Liza gave me a strange look "And…hmm. What's it? Don't you dare lie to me." I thought for some evasive topic but a glare from her made me abandon all efforts, "And there is a special event Master being summoned in the Stage tomorrow, Margie 14 at twelve noon. It has a super rare drop item."

Liza sighed, "That's so much of you. But that's a too low level stage, don't you think it would be better that we leave the Master to them." I looked out of the adjacent window towards the moon, "I don't know. I mean before today, I used to go on these special event quests and found those Masters difficult to defeat." Liza got up, her hand on the chin, "How many people used to be in the assault team?" Without even thinking I replied, "One! That's me."

"Whaaa…" Liza shouted and leapt towards me. The pounce was so fast that it didn't give me time to react and triggered the Safe-Zone Code. A red barrier came up between us and it sent golden sparks along with a deafening hooting sound. I fell out of the couch, my hands in my ears "Aah, I am really sorry about that. I must have invited you earlier." As the sound subsided, Liza pulled me up by my collar and yelled "It's not about that you idiot! You got what, a death wish? Challenging a high-level Master even at such a low stage alone is suicidal and moreover a nuisance."

I discarded any hopes of counteracting her statements. "I promise not to reckless." She looked at me in surprise and I continued smiling, "I need to ensure that you get back safely at any costs." She looked as if she was going to yell again, but suddenly changed her expression, "No, it's me in-charge here so I have decided to take you back with me." I glanced at her and smiled. She added, "If you want then you can stay here for the night." I was totally shocked but accepted her offer.

A single tiny candle placed on the table was the only thing that lit Liza as she lay in my arms. I traced the pale skin of her back with a finger. Just that warm, smooth sensation coming through my fingertips was pure affection. Liza's eyes opened slightly, batted several times, and she smiled at me. I asked "Sorry, did I wake you?"

"Mm…I was dreaming. Of the old world…It's weird." She rested her face against my chest, still smiling. "In my dream, I got so worried. I was afraid that everything about Arcadian, and the fact that I met you here, was a dream of its own. I'm glad it didn't turn out to be that way." "That's weird. Don't you want to leave?" On my question she hurried, "I do, I do. But I don't want to lose the time I've spent here. We've come a really long way…but these fifteen years are very important to me. I realize that now."

She looked serious for a moment, then took my hand off her shoulder and held it to her chest. "I'm sorry, Naperjet…It should have been me who finished that fight." I sucked in a quick breath, then let it out slowly. "No…Cordele went after me, and I was the one who drove him to do what he did. That was my battle." I stared into Liza's eyes and gave a slow nod.

Her blue eyes were faintly brimming with tears. She raised my hand to her lips. I could feel their gentle touch. "I'll be there to help bear what you bear. We'll carry it together. I promise. No matter what happens, I'll be there to protect you." Those were the words, the words that I'd never been able to utter up to this point. And now, my lips trembling, the words came tumbling out of my throat—out of my soul.

"…And I…" The faint sounds barely pushed the air. "…will be there to protect you." It was so tiny, so doubtful, so unconvincing. I couldn't help but grimace, and then I squeezed her hand back. "You're strong, Liza. Much stronger than me…" She blinked at this, then smiled. "That's not true. In the other world, I was always the type to hide behind someone else. I didn't even buy this game for myself."

She giggled, remembering something. "My father bought it to try it for his company work and had to go on a trip abroad, so I got to try it out on the very first day. It was so hard for him to leave without it, and now I've been hogging it for fifteen years. I bet he's so angry." It seemed to me like she'd gotten the worse side of that deal, but I nodded in agreement. "I don't think he would mind that much. Still, you need to get back and say you're sorry."

"Yeah…I've got my work cut out for me." But those brave words came mumbled, and she looked away nervously. Liza squeezed her entire body against me. "Hey…Naperjet. I realize this contradicts what I just said, but…do you think maybe we should leave the front lines for a bit?" I wondered for a while, I didn't know how I would stay away from the frontlines.

"I guess we should discuss that later. It's already two in the morning. We must sleep otherwise we would be late." Liza nodded and showed me the guest room, it was almost as big as hers, "All right here's your room. Good night." I replied with a Good night and she went off. I was worried that I would get nightmares for killing Cordele in close-quarters but strange enough I slept peacefully.

The nice beeping sound of my menu alarm woke me up at 8 in the morning. As planned yesterday, we were going to the 436th Stage to enjoy our holiday and then have a quest. I went into the living room and found Liza packing our meals. "So you're ready for the vacation." I asked and Liza spun around, "Good morning, you're awake at last. Yup I got everything ready but do you think we should carry our weapons with us."

I thought for a while and answered, "Hmm…The stage is islanded beach based. The only place outside the safe zones is the sea. So I don't think it would be wise to take our weapons equipped. Better put them in the inventory and use them later when required." We walked to the transportation gate of Salzburg and issued transfer command for Transom the main beach of 436th Stage. The beach was filled with couples from all over the game. I found out a perfect spot where sun was calm and environment was peaceful.

We were there at 8:30 and spent next three hours playing in the water, making sand castles and sunbathing. It was 11:45 when Liza pointed out the time, we were having breakfast. "Naperjet what's the Intel you have about the Event Master?" I thought for a while, "Hmm…The event's called Pirate Ship Adventure. The quest is to rescue an NPC from a ship. This is to be done by defeating all the pirates in the ship and the Event Master is a giant pirate who has cannon as his weapon."

Liza pointed out "I had a question, how do you know about this event? They are supposed to be random occurrence." I grinned and looked up, "Well yes, they are supposed to be random so I use a few tricks to find out the contents. One, some events repeat after a particular time period; like one that occurs on Christmas. Two, I usually spend some time in these explored stages and look for any new quest giving NPC's and last, I compare the data of any new quest from the ones I had already completed from my quest log."

She gave a confusing look and I continued, "For today's quest, I found a strange quest giving NPC about a week ago when I slipped out of my home to avoid the guild messengers and came here for peace. The NPC gave me a limited time event quest with the name and little details. About the master, the last time I had a similar quest there was a pirate with a cannon. So I assumed it to be same. Oh it has begun, come on lets go."

We put on our gear and rushed towards the portal that appeared right in front of us. The quest portal could only be accessed by me or my group and no one else. On the other side of the portal, we were on a ship; the quest had begun. The objective was simple; we needed to find a prisoner aboard the ship and take her out of the ship. We went through the endless wooden corridors massacring countless pirates and finally found her.

"Okay now we must get out of this ship." I gave a high five to Liza and we proceeded to get out of the ship. We would have followed the way in, but couldn't remember the way. Liza asked, "With our maps dysfunctional, how we can get out of this ship." But the NPC instead responded, "If you can take over the bridge then we can go to my kingdom. Or if you got another ship…" We blinked hard in unison, I don't even remember how many times this system has exceeded my expectations.

"All right!" We cheered up and checked our weapons and gears. The NPC girl took the lead and another character joined our group, she was named 'Wendy' and was leveled 400. I and Liza were far over-leveled than her, me being at level 754 while Liza was 750. We reached the bridge by easily dispatching the incoming pirates. Inside there was giant pirate with a hook in place of an arm, he was named "Captain Hook, The Pirate Lord". He roared and the cursor became hostile.

The pirate charged upon us bare-handed. He had three HP bars; Liza took her bow and aimed a shot in the head. As the shot hit him we saw his HP go down, but strangely it wasn't too much damage. At our levels, we expected the battle to be a piece of cake. "He is quite high leveled, at least 700." I whispered to Liza. She nodded and I pulled out my shield, ready to use my GM skill.

The battle began and continued ferociously. I used my GM skill for surprise attacks, while slashes from my and Wendy's swords took his attention. Liza focused on long ranged nuke-attacks. Every time one of his HP bar ran zero, he changed his weapons; from hook to sword and then a portable cannon. The battle lasted a couple of hours but still we won without taking considerable damage ourselves. As we had claimed the bridge, Wendy took the wheel and navigated the ship through a dangerous stretch of rocky sea towards an island.

Anchoring the ship at the coast, we went out of the ship and found a boy in green and a little fairy waiting. The boy approached us, "Thank You for saving Wendy from the pirates. We shall arrange for your return." I knew the quest was ending but something inside me wished for it to continue. I was afraid of something but before I could do anything, Wendy smiled, "You two get along well together." And we were back.

It was almost evening time and we could see the sun setting in the sea. We enjoyed the epic scenery and as it ended we turned to go towards the transportation gate. "Hey Liza! I was thinking about leaving the front-lines for some time." Liza nodded but didn't stop "Yeah! So what." I stopped walking and asked, "I…um…" searching for the right words but she stopped me, "Don't over think! Listen, I'm also scared…We've finally attached in this powerful way, and I can't help but feel like going back into battle will lead to some terrible thing happening…Maybe I'm just tired of this."

There were pearl-like tears in her eyes and I was surprised to find myself agreeing with her. "Good point…I think I'm tired, too." You didn't need dwindling stat numbers to notice that day after day of stressful combat took its toll. I could feel the impulse that drove me to battle, something that felt a bit like peril, drifting further away. All I wanted to do right now was be with this girl, to grow closer together.

"Liza…There's a place in the 331st Stage called Abode Paradise. It's in the north-west part of the stage, lots of greenery, no monster and has an environment of peace. Let's move down there." I suggested and she agreed. "…And…" I had to use almost all of my will-power to continue, "Would you mind being my better half?" I didn't open my eyes for a couple of minutes, fearing what might come next.

However, Liza walked over to me and whispered in my ear, "Okay! Let's get registered as a couple." I opened my eyes in shock and saw her beautiful face with the cutest smile ever.