The Lost Child

It was the thirteenth day of the month of Novella in the eighteenth year of the game. It has been ten months since the eighth GM was defeated and the game was progressing very slowly. As of that day, the progress was at 820th Stage. I and Liza have been living in the 331st Stage together for the last three years.

In the morning, I woke at 8 in the morning and found Liza looking at me curiously, "Good Morning Liza! What's up?" She looked at me childishly, "We have been married for three years but still there seems so much mystery about you." She caught me off-guard and I touched all my face, "What is so much mysterious about me?"

"You know I saw you asleep and despite all your cold nature and proficiency with weapons, you look like an innocent child. I seriously wonder how you became such a powerful player." I grumbled, "You could have asked about me straight-forwardly, there was no need of twisting the question so much."

"NO!!! IT'S NOT THAT!!!" She yelled, this caused me stand straight in attention. She giggled at the reflex and continued, "I didn't want to pry on that, it's just too strange. But after that salute of yours, I think I was wrong; maybe you were a volunteer soldier." I slumped back into bed, "That's the worst assumption someone made about me."

After the breakfast of eggs, black bread, salad, and coffee, it took only two seconds for the system to clear off the table. Liza clapped her hands together. "Okay! Where are we going to hang out today?" "Jeez." I frowned. "There's got to be a better way to say that but every day's so much fun!"

I wasn't lying in the least. Liza pouted "So you don't want to go out and have fun?" I grinned in response and pulled up my map. I set it to visible mode to show Liza. The map showed the series of forests and lakes that made up the stage. "This is the spot." I pointed to a stretch of woods slightly away from our home.

"That seemed a normal forest, what's new? There doesn't seem a new quest NPC." She was quite fast to notice, and I responded, "Nah! That's not a quest; actually it's a strange occurrence that would be of particular interest of you." I had a wicked smile and she didn't seem to decode it.

We packed our lunch boxes and prepared to leave for our trekking trip. "All right everything's done here, how's on your side, Liza?" I asked putting in all the emergency supplies into the storage. Liza took her time to come out but as she did, I was left jaw-dropped.

She wore a knee high trouser set, along with red jacket with a yellow top. "Come on! You don't want to be late, do you?" I recollected myself and we went out. Moving a little ahead, Liza turned to me, "Let's have a race to the tree up there." She pointed to a leafless tree about a hundred meters away, "If you lose, I would ride on your shoulder. If I lose, you will give me a ride on your shoulders."

"Hey! That's not fair; in any case I would be the one giving you a ride." I complaint but as she gave a leery smile, I hunched down, "Come on! Hop on fast." She slowly sat on my back and exclaimed, "Wow! I can easily see the lake, come on. Set course to the point." And gave a hoot. I sighed and began running.

After walking for about half an hour, we neared the intended point; we noticed there were quite tall trees. I asked Liza who was nearer to any tree branch overhead, "Want to climb these trees, Liza? Just grab those branches." "I'm not sure if they are climbable." She seemed quite apprehensive. "Well there are no limits on climbing up on trees. However…"

And she took right up my point. "You cannot climb down the edge of the stage. I wonder what happens when you try that." And I nodded, "I heard a rumor that someone in recent days tried to climb down the edge towards the invisible bridge. It was easy at first and the edge had all sorts of handholds and supports, but as the player reached half distance he was encountered by a system warning saying 'OFF-LIMIT ZONE ENCOUNTERED'. The player ignored it and continued down, about a hundred meters above the bridge, he encountered a monster, like a scorpion which took him in its pincers and threw him off."

I heard an 'OWW' from her but continued, "The player however used a transportation crystal just before the monster could throw him and crash landed in the safety of the city." Hearing the apparent good ending Liza laughed off, "There seemed to be a personal element in this story of yours. Anyways you shouldn't be cheating."

The forest was getting deeper as we chattered on. It seemed as though the birdsong was growing scattered, and even the light through the branches was weaker than before. Liza took another look at the surroundings and asked, "So…where's the place we're supposed to be heading?"

"Let's see," I replied, checking our location on the map. "Ah, we're almost there in just a few more minutes." "All right…So what exactly did the stories say?" Liza didn't really seem interested to find out, but it looked as if not knowing also made her uneasy. "Apparently, about a month ago, a wood-crafting player came around this area to collect some timber. The wood from this forest is supposed to be pretty nice, and he was so focused on his task that he lost track of time. When he turned around to go home, he saw something white flit into the shadows of a nearby tree."

This was already too much for Liza, but I didn't bother to stop. "He panicked, thinking it was a monster at first, but he was wrong. He said it looked like a human being, a small girl. Cloth armor and long black hair along with a dagger. She was just slowly walking away into the woods. So he focused on her, thinking she must be a player rather than a monster."

"And there was a cursor, not of any NPC but a player, however…" A tiny, involuntary shriek caught in her throat. "He noticed that there was no HP bar near the cursor." "'That can't be right,' he thought, foolishly approaching the girl. Then he called out to her. The girl stopped where she was…then slowly turned around to face him, and…"

"S-s-st-st-stop…" she shouted, I knew that she was in particular very afraid of ghosts. And the only stages where the conquest engine went silent were the horror-based ones. I remember her making excuses almost every day to avoid the dungeon. "That's when the woodcrafter realized, under the light of the moon…that he could see the tree through her cloth armor."

She trapped a silent scream and clenched my hair. "That's when he took off running, knowing it was all over if she completely turned around. Once he was close enough to see the lights of the town, he thought he was safe. And when he turned back to look…"

"There was nobody there. The end." "…You…stupid… jerk !!" Liza jumped off my shoulders and prepared to punch me solidly in the face. I raised both my hands, "Sorry! Sorry! I am sorry about the last part. That was fake! But seriously it is said that when he approached the girl she fled off like a gale of wind and this incident has been happening almost daily."

But suddenly, I saw her looking at something inside the forest on the left. I focused up there and my Searching ability kicked in. There appeared to be something colorful that was flowing in the breeze. It wasn't a plant. It wasn't a rock. It was cloth. In fact, it was a simple cloth armor engulfed in light. "A weapon art!!" I exclaimed and Liza seemed to agree with us.

I focused more closely and found that it wasn't a full-fledged warrior. It was a little girl. A young girl in cloth armor, just like the one in the story, using weapon arts on something or somebody. Liza's consciousness was in danger of slipping away. She opened her mouth and managed to croak out a few words, barely louder than a breath.

"Who is she?" I kept switching my views between Liza and the girl having no idea what's going on. "Y-you've gotta be kidding me…" The girl did not notice us. She was busy where she was, perhaps a hundred meters away, staring away. "If she turns a ghost, you'll have to carry me home again."

I took out my preferred weapon from emergency storage, that is my shield and cautiously moved towards her, Liza behind me. But as the girl noticed us, she began running towards the edge of the stage. "Confirmed! She's a player. Let's go" Liza said and commanded and we chased after her, despite Liza's agility-dominant build and my overall balanced build, it took us nearly ten minutes to overtake her.

"Hey kid, its bad manners to run away, seeing others." I joked panting; she must've incredible agility and must be of quite high levels judging on the distance she made us run. Liza stomped my feet lightly, "It's not the way to talk to a child, Naperjet. Would you like to tell us your name?" The girl looked at both of us with suspicion and said, "No!!!" and again fled.

"Looks like your way worked quite well in scaring her." I jeered at Liza who shot a sour look faster than her arrow. "What a strange child. But isn't it wrong? She didn't seem to be 14, then how could she enter the game." That was a question worth asking and unfortunately or rather fortunately, I had no answer. "Let's head back home; I guess we solved the mystery of the ghostly girl."

We turned back towards our home and walked almost out of the forest when something caught my attention, it was the sound of battle. I alerted Liza and we ran towards the source of sound. It was the same girl surrounded by five bear like monsters. They were called 'Brawling Bears' and normally didn't attack any player unless provoked to do so. "She must've attacked them first, we should help her." Liza said and before I could reply she manipulated her menu and brought out her new bow.

"I wanted to test this one." Liza summoned an arrow on the bow and let it go. The arrow flew beautifully and hit a bear dropping its HP to zero. It wasn't a thing to be marveled, Liza and I was top-notch clearers and was five times in terms of level compared to the monsters. She called the girl, "Hey you! Duck now or you'll be in trouble." And the kid ducked instinctively while Liza summoned the art Multi-Shot and sent them homing to the rest bears.

As the bears were vanquished, we moved in. "Kid are you all right?" I shouted but then noticed that the kid wasn't moving. We approached her and out of instinct tried to get a pulse. "D-do you think she's all right?" "I think…so," I mumbled, peering into the girl's face. "Then again, nobody actually breathes or has a heartbeat here…"

Most basic human biological processes are omitted from BWS's simulation. You can actively breathe in and feel the sensation of air down your windpipe, but player avatars themselves do not engage in automatic respiration. When in a state of tension or excitement, you can feel your heart pounding, but it's impossible to actually pick up the pulse of another body.

"She hasn't disintegrated…which means she must be alive. May be she just fainted in exhaustion" I trailed off, uncertain of the basic question that how she came here. "May be she's an NPC with a wrong cursor?" Liza trained her gaze on the girl's body again. Any kind of living, moving object in BWS, whether player, monster, or even NPC, would always have its own cursor unique to the type, but this girl had a N-player cursor. She had never seen this phenomenon before, neither did I.

"Then maybe it's some kind of bug?" she guessed further. "That's my guess as well, assuming that some NPC's do move. In a normal game, I'd call a GM about this, but there's obviously no GM here…Plus, even we ignore the cursor. She's too young to be a player." The body cradled in my arms was too tiny. She couldn't have yet been eight. The Soul Box had a supposed age restriction, meaning that children under the age of thirteen could not use it independently.

I felt the girl's forehead. It was chilly and smooth. "But how did such a little girl get inside Blade Work Saga?" Liza asked, biting her lip in concern. "We can't just leave her here. I'm sure we'll find out more when she wakes up. Let's take her home with us." "Yeah, good call."

I stood up, still holding the girl. Liza took another look at their surroundings, but the only thing of note was a dried-out old stump, and nothing that would suggest a reason for the girl to run here. Even after we'd hurried out of the forest and back home, the girl did not wake. I placed her on Liza's bed and pulled up the covers and then we sat on my bed nearby and watched her. After a length of silence, I began in a soft voice. "Well, the fact that we were able to carry her into our home means she's not an NPC."

"Yeah…that's true." The system controlled NPCs, and players couldn't move them out of a certain fixed range of coordinates. If you tried to hold or grab them for more than a few seconds, you'd be buffeted away by an unpleasant shock. I continued the train of thought. "And it's not an event that kicks off a quest. If that were the case, it would have updated our quest logs the moment we touched her. Which means the most likely explanation is that she is indeed a player and just happened to be lost in those woods."

We cast another glance at the bed. "If she didn't have any crystals or know how to teleport, I think she would have stayed in the City Of Starting from the moment she logged in, rather than wandering out in the wilderness. I don't know why she'd have come all the way out here, but maybe someone in the City of Starting knows who she is? She will wake up, won't she?"

"Yeah. The fact that she hasn't disappeared yet means there are still signals going to and from her Soul Box. She must be closer to a state of sleep. So she'll wake up eventually…I believe." I nodded firmly, surprised by the optimism in my voice. Liza got off the bed and knelt next to the sleeping girl. She reached out and rubbed the tiny head.

She was a very beautiful girl. She almost looked more like a fairy than a human. Her skin was a pale and delicate white. Her long black hair shone in the light, and her clear, vaguely foreign face seemed as though it would be bewitching, once she opened her eyes and smiled.

I crouched down next to Liza and hesitantly reached out to brush the girl's hair. "I'm guessing…She's easily the youngest player I've ever seen in the game." "Definitely. I and Asri met a beast-tamer who was really young, but even she was at least fifteen or so." Liza abruptly spun around to face me, the information unfamiliar.

"I didn't realize you had such a cute young friend." "Yeah, sometimes we trade messages…b-but that's not my point! She is registered with Asri!" "I didn't know you met Koruko before. You're awfully dense." She turned away in a huff.

"Okay! Let's have lunch now." Liza glared at me, then grinned, deciding to let me off the hook for now. "C'mon, let's eat. I'll put on some tea." As the late fall afternoon lazily passed and the light vanished into darkness, the little girl kept sleeping soundly. Liza was closing the curtains and lighting the wall lamps when I returned from the village. I got no Intel on her and shook my head when Liza asked about her.

It was hard for us to enjoy a cheerful dinner given the situation, so we shared a brief meal of simple soup and bread, at which point I opened up the newspapers I'd bought earlier. The contents of the paper were just a wholesale copy of a player-run strategy site, complete with not just news but a simple manual, FAQ, lists of items and equipment, and so on. Among those lists was a wanted persons classified section, and that was what we were examining. Perhaps someone was searching for this girl. But…

"…Nothing…" "Nothing." After many minutes of searching, we gave up and slumped our shoulders. At this point, we had no choice but to wait for the girl to wake and tell us her story directly. Normally, we spent our night hours on idle entertainment—chatting, simple games, even going on a night-time stroll—but it was hard to get into the mood on this particular evening.

"Should we just go to bed?" "Yeah." I sighed. We turned out the living room lights and headed into the bedroom. The little girl was using one of the beds, so we'd have to snuggle together in the other one—which we ended up doing every night anyway, as a matter of fact. We changed quickly into our nightclothes. With the lamp extinguished, we slipped into bed. I had many odd skills, one of which was my ability to fall asleep instantly.

A gentle melody flowed through my mind as I dozed in the white light of morning. It was my wake-up alarm, a soft ringing tune. I let myself drift through the familiar melody in the weightlessness of sleep. In time, light strings joined the song, clarinets echoed the primary melody, and a faint humming came in…

Humming? It wasn't my singing along. I opened my eyes; Liza was already awake and had noticed the humming. The black-haired girl in her arms, eyes still closed, was humming along to the sound of a wake-up alarm. She wasn't missing a beat. But that was impossible. We had set the alarm to be audible to no one but ourselves, so it shouldn't be possible for anyone to hear the song playing inside our head.

Except the low chance that she might have the same melody but there was something more important than that at the moment. Liza gently rocked the girl in her arms. "Wake up, sweetie…Open your eyes." The girl's lips stopped moving. Her long eyelashes fluttered, then her eyes slowly came to be fully open. Wet black pupils trained directly on Liza's at close range. After several blinks, the girl's pale lips began to open. I feared that she still might run away like yesterday, however nothing like that happened.

"Ah…uh…" Her voice was now fragile and pristine, unlike the one we heard yesterday. Liza helped her up to a sitting position. "Thank goodness you're awake! Do you know what happened to you?" The girl clammed up for several seconds, and then nodded.

"I see…What's your name? Can you say it?" I let Liza do all the talking. "Na…me…My…name…" She tilted her head and a lock of that shining black hair fell over her cheek. "Kim…Kimi. That's…my name." "Kimi! That's a nice name. I'm Liza, and this is Naperjet." Liza turned her head to indicate her partner, and Kimi's eyes followed her lead. She flipped back and forth between me and Liza.

The girl looked about eight years old, and based on the amount of time since she must have logged in, she would actually be closer to twenty five now. But the halting way she was speaking was more akin to a toddler learning how to talk.

We carried her over to one of the chairs at the table and handed her a warm cup of sweetened milk, which she took in both hands and started to sip. Liza pulled me off to the side to confer, checking on Kimi out of the corner of her eye. "What do you think we should do, Naperjet?" I bit my lip, glaring as I thought, then eventually hung my head. "I think we must ask The Cat about some info on her."

The Cat was at our home within an hour, "Hi Naperjet, Liza! What info do you want on?" We took her to our room where Kimi was sleeping; even The Cat was shocked at the avatar of hers though we all had the same avatar since the beginning. "She's so small, most probably eight or nine years at start. But how come she could log-in here?" "That's something you'll have to figure out."

The Cat jeered and left. "Maybe till the time she gets the results let's check out at the City of Starting." Liza nodded in agreement and both of us went in the bedroom and saw Kimi sleep peacefully. "I guess it would be better if we go after she wakes up." I whispered to Liza.

I had given out a classified in the newspaper about her and asked for info about her. Yet till afternoon, there was nothing on her. Kimi woke up later in the afternoon and the first thing we did was to have lunch. I specially prepared a light fruit sandwich for Kimi. She ate it without any complains, and I asked with the softest voice I could muster, "Kimi, would you like to go on a trip with us."

She chewed down the sandwich and replied with a smile, "All right! Let's Go." Liza pulled a hand in front of us, "Wait! First Kimi should wear something more suited for the winter other than the cloth armor she had." Saying this she called up her menu and manipulated it to materialize thick woolen clothing for Kimi.

Kimi took them and went to another room to change in the clothes. She came out with a soft white sweater, a pink full length tunic and a cute baby hat. We walked to the transportation gate and initiated transportation to The City of Starting. Liza asked Kimi, "Do you know this place?" and she replied in affirmative, "It is the place where everything started."

Her simplicity in talking about the incident shook us completely. Till now almost everyone has been hesitant about talking regarding the first day in the game, though I am sure no one could forget the day. We were standing in the main square of the city and it was big enough to accommodate nearly five million players in the tutorial.

However, "Something feels quite strange about here." I whispered and the duo looked towards me, their expression demanding an explanation, "I have been here quite some time and it's true that afternoons are quite lonely but there are no patrols from the Union's Police."

Liza took a look around and agreed. We decided to first go to Volintron Castle to have a look at the Available Player Log. As we entered the hall that contained all names of players who are alive, I asked Kimi, "Kimi, have a look around here if you find someone with a familiar name." She nodded and went to the boards looking at each of them carefully.

I was still worried about the missing HP bar and wondered about the bug, but I removed the idea as quickly as it came. In the eighteen years of the game we never had a simple lag leave aside a bug. At this moment someone put a hand on my shoulder, it was an unfamiliar one not of Liza and I turned around to find The Cat giggling.

"You got the answers, I guess." The cat nodded in affirmative and we moved to a corner so that she could easily tell us the info. She began, "Kimi, she is an under-age player logged in under parent-protected account. This was a type of secured account that had many privileges that ours don't have. First, NPC monsters of any scale would not attack her unless provoked. Second, she has got upto ten revives. Third, her cursor won't appear in normal Search radius unless there is visual confirmation and lastly, she has all sort of buffs activated all the time. The downside is she can only log-in with her parents and not alone. There is something else that comes along; I don't know where to put it. Children having these accounts can't commit suicide"

I was quite amazed at the revelation, "I didn't know that children like her can log in." Liza asked, "That's fine but where are her parents?" By the time she finished the question, Kimi came back and on asking whether she found any familiar names she replied in negative. We turned towards the cat and she began explaining, "She had logged-in with both her parents, however they have perished in battle and now she is alone. Am I wrong, kid?"

Kimi's expression however didn't change at all, "Yes she's right. My parents were mid-levelers and were very cautious in proceeding towards higher stages. But one day as we were scavenging a cleared dungeon we came across treasure loot chest that wasn't opened yet. We were so happy and we went straight in and collected all the treasures but as we came out we were greeted by nearly two dozen of monsters."

I knew a similar story, it was a simple trap and most of the mid-level players fell for it. Kimi's eyes had tears in them, "Since that day, I have been fighting everyday trying go where my parents are but no! This thing won't let me die." Liza came forward and patted her to console her, "Dying won't solve anything. If you're going to die, then what will your parents think that they sacrificed their life for nothing."

I asked The Cat for payment while Liza took Kimi for a little stroll. "No fee for the info. However do me a favor if possible." This was strange, since the beginning her motto was 'ANYTHING CAN BE SOLD FOR THE CORRECT PRICE'. I never expected her to put such a demand. "All right! Go ahead." She looked here and there, her face almost red, "Adopt that little kid, she has suffered a lot and I think it won't be wise to let her live alone."

I nodded but even I was unsure of what to be done. As The Cat left, I came out of the Volintron Palace and found the two waiting for me. "Sorry took me long. So where do we go next? Kimi do you have any friends here?" Kimi must have stopped crying a little while ago and I feared that it might make her cry again but instead she looked at the ground, "I have some friends with whom I used to stay here. They live in an NPC home in the 47th block of the western residential area."

We were surprised at the detail of the address given by her, unable to believe that she's the same person who told her name after a long self-deliberation. Maybe she has started to open up a bit. We went through the bridges to the western residential section and ventured through the numerous alleys and paths to find the 47th block. "All right Kimi, this is the block. Where are they supposed to be?"

Kimi looked around for some time and pointed to a house a little away from the street. The house was small in comparison to the scale of our home. It was three floors and had only one tower. Liza pushed open one of the large double doors with a free hand. It was a public facility, so it wasn't locked. The interior of the house was dim, with only the light of the candles at the altar ahead weakly glimmering off the stone floor. At first glance, there was no one else inside.

Liza leaned over the entryway and called out: "Is anyone here?" Her voice echoed and trailed away, but no one answered. "I guess it's empty…" But I disagreed, keeping my voice low. "No, there are people here. Three in the right room, four in the left. A couple upstairs, too."

"How high do you have to get your Searching ability before it can detect the number of people behind walls?" She asked me. "Once you reach about ninety eight percent. It's useful; you should get there." "No way—it's so boring to raise, I'd go crazy…Anyways, why do you suppose they're hiding?"

We cautiously stepped into the house. The building was dead quiet, but we felt like she could hear people holding their breath. "Um, excuse me! We're searching for someone!" Liza called out, louder this time. The door on the right opened a crack, and a frail female voice emerged. "You aren't…from the Police?"

"No, We're not. We came from a higher stage." We didn't even have their swords on, much less any battle armor. Police members wore their uniform of heavy armor at all times, so a simple glance would prove to these people that we were unrelated. Eventually, the door opened all the way, and a single female player reluctantly appeared.

She had short, dark brown hair, and the pinkish eyes behind her large black-framed glasses were wide with fear. She wore a simple navy dress and she clutched a tiny dagger in her hand, still sheathed. "You're really…not the Union's tax collectors…?"

Liza smiled and nodded to reassure the woman. "That's right. We just came here today, because we're looking for someone. We have nothing to do with the Union or its Police." The door swung wide and several people came rushing out. The door to the left of the altar opened, and more figures emerged.

We silently watched, taken aback, as the group of young players, no more than boys and girls, rushed to line up on either side of the bespectacled woman. They appeared to be between the ages of twelve and fourteen and were clearly fascinated by the sight of the new visitors. "What did I tell you? Stay hidden in the back rooms!" cried the woman. She tried to push the kids away, but not a single one of them paid any heed to her command.

Almost immediately, one of the first children to appear—a boy with short, spiky hair—voiced his disappointment with the visitors. "What the heck? You don't even have any swords. Did you really come from above? Don't you have a sword?" He directed the end of his challenge at me. "W-well, yes, I do, but…" I answered hesitantly, and the children's faces lit up again. "Show us, show us," they demanded.

"Hey! Don't be rude to people you've never met before—I'm sorry, they're not used to visitors like this…" The woman bowed so apologetically that Liza had to rush to reassure her. "No, it's all right. You've got a few weapons stashed in your inventory, right, Naperjet? Why don't you show them?"

It almost felt that I must open the Pandora's Box of my inventory but as the kids saw Kimi, they literally jumped on her, "Hey Kimi! it has been a long while since we saw you. Where are your parents and who are they?" Their questions rained down on the poor girl who couldn't answer any of them. The lady however, understood the dilemma, "Kids why don't you all play in the backyard with your friend, while I attend the guests?"

"Wait…um… here's something for you" I opened my window, with fingers flashing. About twenty different weapons materialized in turn, piling up on the pew next to us. These were weapons that I'd looted from monsters recently and simply hadn't taken the time to sell for cash yet. I produced all the extra items in our inventory that weren't pieces of equipment already in use, then allowed the excited children to come closer and see. They picked up swords, spears and maces, exclaiming over the weight and cool factor of each. It was a sight to make any protective parent faint, but in the safe zone of the town, they couldn't hurt themselves with the blades.

"I'm really sorry about this," the woman said with clear concern, but the delight of the children brought a smile to her face. "Please, come this way. I'll prepare some tea…" She led us into the small room on the right side of the hall and served us each a hot, relaxing cup of tea.

"Now, you said you were searching for someone?" the bespectacled woman inquired, seated in the chair across from us. "Ah, yes. Um…first of all, I'm Liza, and this is Naperjet." "Oh! I'm so sorry; I didn't introduce myself. My name is Shasta." We greeted each other. "And that is Kimi," Liza continued. "We found her lost on the 331st Stage. She seems to be…in a trauma as she saw her parents die in front of her."

"Oh dear." Shasta's pinkish eyes went wide behind her glasses. "She had light cloth armor and a dagger as the equipment and carried no spares with her. No healing items either. We came here to let her find anyone she knew in the Available Player Log and later she told us that she used to visit here."

"Ah, I see…" Shasta's glance dropped to the table, her hands cradling her teacup. "There are around twenty children living in this church, from elementary-to middle-school age. I think it's basically all of the children in this town at the moment. When the game started…" Her voice was thin, but she spoke firmly.

"Nearly all of the children their age panicked and suffered real mental trauma from the experience. Some of them did venture out of the town to tackle the game, but I think they were an exception to the rule." I had been in my first year of high school when it happened, so I know the panic I faced internally but managed to suppress it.

"It's only natural. They're still at an age where they want to rely on their parents' protection, but then they're told they can't get out and might never return to the real world. These children fell into a state of despondency. Some of them even…severed their connections." Shasta's mouth twisted sharply.

"For the first few years after the game started, I was out in the world, leveling up to help beat the game…but one day, I spotted one of these kids on a street corner in town. I just couldn't leave him to fend for himself, so I brought him to live in my rented inn room with me. Once I'd started that, I couldn't stop thinking about other children in his situation, so I went around the city trying to round up all the kids I could find. Next thing I knew, I was doing this right here. Seeing people like you, who are fighting for all of us up above…I feel ashamed that I dropped out of our quest."

"No…no!" I shook my head, desperately searching for the right words, but they caught in my throat. Luckily, Liza finished the thought for me. "That's not true at all. You're fighting in your own way, Shasta…and much more bravely than we are." "Thank you. But I'm not doing it out of a feeling of duty. It's quite fun to live with the children." Shasta grinned, and then looked at the playing Kimi with concern.

"I see," Liza murmured, and then squeezed her hand. She pulled herself together to look into Shasta's face. "Um, I don't mean to pry, but how are you making enough money to survive each day?" "Ah. Well, I'm not the only one. There are some older kids who are working to protect this place, and they're at a high-enough level to be absolutely safe in the fields outside of town. They make sure that we have enough money to eat. It's just not a very extravagant amount."

Even though places like this were free but expenses other than accommodation, like food etc. were to be managed on their own. "But that just means they've singled us out now…" Shasta's look changed to a worrisome one. "Who has?" Sasha's gentle eyes turned steely hard. She was about to explain when—

"Miss! Miss Shasta! Come quick!" The door to the room slammed open, and several children piled inside. "Hey! Show our guests some respect!" "This is more important than that!" the feisty red-haired boy from before shouted, tears in his eyes. "Ginny and the others have been rounded up by the Police!"

"Where?!" Sasha bolted to her feet, instantly taking charge. "In the park behind the item shop in sector 55. About twenty soldiers have the alley way blocked off. Only Charlotte managed to get away." "All right, I'm coming. I'm sorry about this," Shasta apologized, turning to us, "but I've got to help save the children. We'll continue this later, if that's all right…"

"We're going with you, Miss Shasta!" the redhead cried, the other children soon joining in. He raced over to me to plead his case. "Hey mister, let us use your weapons! If we show up with those, the Police will run away!" "Absolutely not!" Shasta barked. "You will wait right here!"

I had been watching the scene unfold in silence, but now raised my hand to calm the children. The children quieted down. "I'm sorry to disappoint you," I began, "but those weapons are too powerful for you to equip them. We'll help rescue your friends." I shot a quick glance to Liza, who nodded in assent. She stood up and turned to Shasta. "Please let us help you with this. The more people, the better."

"Thank you. That's very generous of you." Shasta bowed deeply, and then pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose. "We'd better get running, then!" Shasta burst out of the doors and took off at a sprint, her dagger swaying at her waist. Liza looked back to see that a gaggle of children was pursuing in the rear, but it didn't seem like Sasha would waste any energy keeping them in the house.

We wove through the trees into the residential sector and then down an alley. Shasta was taking them on a shortcut that would offer the most direct route. We raced past NPC shops and through backyards, until a group of figures blocking a narrow alley came into sight. There were at least twenty of them, all wearing equipment colored gray-green and black—the uniform of the Police.

Shasta plunged into the alley before finally skidding to a halt. The Police players noticed her approach and turned around, wicked leers upon their faces. "Well, well, here comes the nanny." "Give me back the children," she commanded; her voice steely. "You make it sound like we've kidnapped them. Don't worry, you'll have them back—after we've taught them a lesson about how society works."

"That's right. Netizens have a duty to pay their taxes." The men laughed; their voices cruelly high-pitched. Shasta's clenched fists began to tremble. "Ginny! Cain! Mina! Are you there?!" she called out over the men, and a frightened girl's voice came back immediately. "Help! Please, help us!"

"Forget about the money! Give it all to them right now!" "But…we can't," wailed a boy this time. "Kee-hee!" One of the men blocking the alleyway giggled involuntarily. "You've been lagging on your tax payments, I'm afraid…This is going to cost more than just money." Another laughed out, "That's right. We'll need an equipment tribute. Drop your armor and weapons…everything you've got."

As the men cackled gleefully, we understood what was happening behind them in the alley. These armed "tax collectors" were demanding that the trapped children remove everything they owned. I could sense a bloodthirsty rage swelling inside me. "I would manage another few weeks of being a C-player. I just want to slash his HP to zero." I murmured to myself, however Liza managed to get what I said and shot a menacing glare.

Shasta had arrived at the same conclusion, and she tore into the men as though she might start throwing fists. "Move it…Get out of the way! Or else I'll…" "Or else you'll what, Nanny? You gonna pay the tax for 'em?" The gloating men showed no signs of moving. With the Safe-Zone Code in effect, it was impossible for players to hurt each other. This meant that it was equally impossible to force a person out of the way.

The result was that certain tactics existed for player harassment—there was the "block" formation being employed here, which trapped players in a tight space, or the "box," in which the victims were completely surrounded on all sides. But this only applied to movement on the ground. Liza turned towards me, "Ready?" "Yeah."

We nodded to each other and easily leaped into the air. Our agility and strength stats fed directly into the jump height, sending us soaring well over the astonished faces of Shasta and the soldiers and into the blocked-off empty lot. "Wha—?!" Several of the men leaped backward in shock.

Trapped in a corner of the alley were two boys and one girl in their early teens, huddled together. They'd already removed their equipment and were dressed only in simple clothes. Liza bit her lip, then approached the children and gave them a reassuring smile. "It's all right now. Put your equipment back on." The wide-eyed kids nodded and rushed to pick up their armor, fiddling with their menus.

"Hey…no, no, no!" bellowed one of the soldiers, who had finally returned to his senses. "Who do you think you are? You're interfering with the Union's business!" "I'll handle this," said a man in heavier-looking armor as he strode forward. He appeared to be their leader. "I don't recognize you people. Do you understand what it means to defy the Union? We can continue this conversation at our headquarters, if you like."

By the time he finished the sentence, I took up the two boys while Liza took the girl and leapt again on the other side. The kids exclaimed, "That was so epic, I felt like I was flying." The leader's narrow eyes flashed dangerously. He drew a large broadsword from his waist, then approached angrily, slapping the flat of the blade against his palm. "I had enough of you. Who do you think you are, interfering with the Union's business?"

The face of the sword caught the light of the low west sun; his armor shone dully, with the unique glow of metal that had never been damaged or repaired. I looked at Liza and she took the children with Shasta to a safer distance. "I don't know who you are? Lets finish it here and now." I fiddled my menu and brought out me full set of battle equipment.

"Uh…uh…?" The man's face was a blank mask of incomprehension, his mouth half agape. "What do you want?, A duel?" He laughed nervously. "I am quite sure that I can handle the whole twenty of you without breaking a sweat." I was in no mood for a trifle. I pulled out a dagger and threw it at the leader using a simple Throwing Knives art, Slingshot.

Red lights and an explosive shock wave came up. The man's ugly face jerked backward, and he fell onto his rear end, eyes wide with shock. "Choose your next step very carefully. Or else…" That was a warning attack, within the bounds of the Safe Zone Code; an invisible wall protected every player from weapon attacks and other damage.

There was a form of training called "zoned battle" that took advantage of this rule. But as the attacker's stats and abilities increased, the color and sound of the code's nullifying effect intensified, until weapon arts could knock back the target and make him fall. To those unfamiliar with it, the shock was hard to ignore, even if it carried no HP damage.

The man gritted his teeth and ordered, "Everyone circle around him, I will make you pay heavily for this." The twenty men circled around me boxing me like the children. "Huh… Looks like it would be you paying the price." I dropped the shield and grabbed my trusted sword. Running to the nearest enemy, I slashed him hard with my heavy Caladbolg. A second later, all his battle equipment the shield, the lance and the armor split into countless fragments and disappeared leaving him in a simple set of clothes.

"Wha-?" Exclaimed the leader seeing the equipment of his men shatter with a single simple slash inside the Safe Zone. "I told you to choose the next step carefully, didn't I? You placed the bet on the Safe Zone Code, that it won't let you lose HP and the wall will protect you against damage. What you didn't know that the code protects you not your equipment. Don't worry; even if I attack him again he won't take any damage but that means that this can continue as long as I want."

I let my rage drive the next part and by the time I regained control I saw everyone in simple clothing. Most probably, I destroyed everyone's equipment. "Leave before I decide to continue this outside the city." The soldiers' eyes swelled and the leader ordered retreat.

I took my shield and dagger, dematerialized my weapons into the storage and went on to the house with Shasta and others. We watched as the kids quarreled over the food in the garden party, "It's so much lively with children here, isn't it?" I nodded to Liza's question and then looked at Kimi, who was enjoying the food with children of her age. "Yeah and she seems so happy. I guess…"

Shasta interrupted, "Sorry but I wanted to ask about the girl. Do you want me to keep her here? It would be a pleasure." Liza was about to answer when I pulled her aside "What are you doing?" I hushed her and replied, "I just wanted to know your views about this… How about we…um…adopt Kimi?"

I didn't expect Liza to be mad at me. Both of us had lengthy discussions regarding her and this idea had popped up a few times but was never taken seriously. But now knowing her totally, I felt to raise it; partially due to Chi. "Are you sure? This decision is quite big." Liza asked me and I nodded in agreement.

We went back to Shasta, "Sorry for that. But actually we want to adopt Kimi." Shasta had an extraordinary look on her face, "Wow! I've never heard about someone adopting a child here. It would be great; after all she has opened up quite a lot with you. But…I think you should ask her as well." We nodded in unison "All right!"

We approached Kimi, "Hi Kimi! Enjoying the lunch?" She smiled a little and nodded. I was already nervous to the toes and whispered to Liza, "Why do I have to do it?" The reply came, "You were the one to suggest it. Now stop complaining and go on."

I grumped and gathered all the courage I had. "Kimi, I um… I mean we…" The kid gave an amused look and I turned to Liza, "This is far more difficult than proposing you Liza." I closed my eyes tightly and forced the words out of my mouth, "We would like to adopt you, Liza." The three ladies surrounding me exclaimed, "LIZA!!!" I realized the mistake and hurriedly corrected myself, "Sorry, I…I mean Kimi."

Kimi looked to the floor, thinking hard and then smiled, "All right. Mommy and Daddy." We heard the words for ourselves the first time, but it filled us with a certain joy. I even saw tears of joy in Liza's eyes.