Chapter 49 – The First Official Event

*This chapter is narrated from Hannes’ Point of View

“Finally…” I muttered as we prepared for the first official event of the game. I was pretty excited for it, even if a bit tense.

Kellin seemed to share my sentiments by replying with an ‘at last’.

Eleanor on the other hand seemed to be a bit worried as she said “Will we really be okay? We have two members on the top 5 within our party.” Ryne seemed to agree with her thoughts as he started nodding right after.

I had to say I was a bit surprised when I saw Cherry and Myra’s names on the top 5, but this shouldn’t be a big issue since we’re all on the same party anyways.

“I’m a bit worried that many players might end up targeting me…” Cherry said.

“It’s okay, we can just beat them up.” Myra replied.

Myra seemed to be surprisingly calmer than Cherry about this… But more importantly, in this event…

“That Rena person… I’ll definitely defeat her this time around!” I shouted!

“Seriously!? We’re gonna fight her again!?” Kellin replied.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea…” Ryne complemented.

I was a bit disheartened by their replies, but it’s hard to blame them when I remember the last time Kellin died to her…

“Don’t be like that, all the people that passed near us also made fun of me!” I replied.

“The discussion thread was also quite festive…” Eleanor complemented… The Genorers in particular were pretty bothersome.

“In any case, there surely are a lot of people in the square.” Kellin said.

“Well, of course, the event is about to start.” Myra replied.

And while we casually talked like this, I heard something that I couldn’t ignore.

“Genocider spotted!” One of the nearby players said.

“Really?” Another said.

“Wow, she’s really here!” A third one said.

“Why is she here of all places…?” A forth one commented.

Huh? She is coming here openly instead of sneaking around? In that case…

“Wait, Hannes, where are you going!?” One of my teammates said.

“Sorry, I gotta go!” I replied while running on her direction.

I didn’t wait for my comrades and instead rushed towards that devil in a straight line. As people saw me run, they naturally opened the path for me.

“It’s Hannes against Genocider!” One passerby said.

“Something must be about to start…” Another said eagerly.

“It’s World War III!” A third one said.

“That will be fun to watch.” A fourth one commented.

“This is getting interesting.” Was said by a fifth.

I ignored all the noise and arrived at that girl who was standing alone in the square.

…

…

…

“… Hey.” I called out to her. Even though I ran all the way here and stood right in front of her, she didn’t even bother with properly looking at me, that was frustrating.

“… Is something the matter?” She asked.

“… I need to tell you something.” I need to stay calm. I have practiced a lot with my friends and my level improved quite a bit. We have trained our in-game skills, cooperation, player skills and even had some meetings to reflect on our past encounters. I definitely… “I’ll definitely beat you this time! I won’t lose at this event!” I shouted.

“He said it!” One of the onlookers said.

“Hannes declared war on the Genocider!” Another exclaimed.

“It’s a festival!” A third one said.

I-I said it! How about it!? Did that scare you!? I don’t care for the onlooker’s reactions, but I really want to get something out of her!

“… This time?” She replied.

“Seriously!?” I exclaimed in disbelief.

“It’s Hannes… You really can’t remember him?” One of the onlookers asked.

“She must be joking…” A second one said.

“Hannes must look as remarkable as grass to her.” A third one said while giggling.

“She’s so cute.” Another said while laughing out loud.

“Could you all please shut up!?” I shouted.

The onlookers seemed to be surprised by my sudden outburst, but they showed no sign of dispersing… Seriously…

“I see, it’s a declaration of war then? I’ll remember it.” Rena finally replied.

“Oh… Well then… Alright.” I said… Wait, did she just say ‘remember’ now? She… She definitely did! “Yes!” I exclaimed. She finally remembered!

“… You’re a bit weird.” She said in response to my scream. But I didn’t care, we’re finally, finally making some progress here!

“That’s right! Remember it, for I’ll definitely beat you!” I shouted.

“Then, for the time being, you’ll be the one to ‘play’ with me? I understand.” She said.

It was a bit of a confusing statement, and I was about to ask her about it, but a game window appeared high up in the air, interrupting everyone’s conversation.

“Hey, players! It’s the management team here!” A bald man said from the screen.

“Boss, please be serious here.” One of the people near him replied… Is this development team alright?

“This is the first official game event! We were planning on making another event hosted by the lord of the Beginner’s City, but… That ended up having to scrapped, oopsie?” The bald man said.

And the person that caused it was without a doubt this Rena girl… Though she just replied with an ‘Oh my…’, as if that didn’t even concern her. Seriously, this girl… “In any case, the event will start in 10 minutes, and you’ll be instantly teleported to the event map then, so please be prepared!”

One of the other employees seemed to push the bald man out of the screen and continued, “Boss, this isn’t nearly enough of an explanation.

“Once the event starts, everyone will be teleported to the map in random positions, though parties will be kept together. Please note that enemies might be teleported directly to your side due to the random nature of the process.

“Also, the map is pretty large, so you might not necessarily meet all the participating players throughout the event.

“That said, every 30 minutes, the location of all players will be displayed in your minimap for a short time.” Wait, so the event might end without me meeting Rena!? This can’t be serious! “Also, the higher you are in the karma ranks of your faction, the more often will your position be displayed in the minimap, so top players should expect to be constantly attacked.” I see, then I should find Rena easily due to how ridiculously low her Karma is. “That will be all. Please enjoy our first official event.”

“You closed it up so nicely! I’m glad I have such a great secretary!” The bald man appeared on the screen again to say that while hugging said secretary… And he was punched in the stomach right after. “Ugh… Good luck to everyone.” And with this, the transmission closed… That boss seems kinda…

No, more importantly than that, “I’ll definitely find you, so prepare your neck because you won’t escape!” I declared to the genocider.

“Is that so? I’ll be waiting then.” She said with a smile that felt like the grim reaper… D-don’t smile like that! It’s bad for my heart!

I was about to complain about this, but my sight was dyed white and the teleportation started.