After a long day of R&R with my friends, I pick Kazuki up from school and we stop at the ice cream parlor before going home. I had to because I knew how exhausted he was during the exams. And after one look at his face, I had a feeling he needed something to take his mind off any lingering trauma from his toughest challenge yet.

"So how are you feeling, Kaz?"

He sighs as he takes a bite of his chocolate wafer from his chocolate chip parfait.

"Awful... I can't believe I had to sit there and do calculus without a calculator," he groaned. "Do I have to keep doing this until I'm 18 or older?!"

"If you want to get into a good college, then yes," I answered. "Don't worry. After we get our report cards, we don't have to worry about school until the end of the winter break."

Hearing this, Kazuki sighs again, this time with relief as he gives a small smile at it.

"I guess you're right. I just have to keep my head up and hope for the best."

I pat his head and return a smile to him.

"Besides, I can't let you get distracted for later. I know I never thought I say this, but I'm going to need your help back in [Isekai]."

As expected, Kazuki's eyes widen and his face flashes a big grin.

"Really?! What is it?"

I explain everything that I need for today as well as my plans regarding my equipment.

----

Later, after returning home, we have had our usual family dinner with our parents. There, I convince my Mom to let Kazuki play the game with me tonight. Thankfully, it goes off without a hitch since she also thinks that he studied hard for the week and deserves some kind of break. It didn't take long for him to react with excitement and relief, for the first time in a long time. But that's not all. I contact Star for our usual equipment checkups and agree for us to meet up with them once we're logged in. The problem is...

"What do you mean we can't meet up with Zac and Damon?"

I sigh upon hearing this. I still like them as friends, but there's something about their earlier behavior earlier that has me suspicious.

"It's not that we argued, but they seemed to be very keen on letting me out of the game for a while. Not to mention that whenever I’ve noticed several people glaring at me at the Guild, they often evade my questions to the point of eagerly trying to convince to log out without stopping by the or the marketplace," I explain as I prepared my [VeilCon]. "I know it sounds dangerous, but I'm not letting their nonsensical paranoia stop us from getting back to [Isekai]."

"O-Oh... That's nice to hear."

I let out a slight chuckle as I lay down on my bed wearing my VR console.

"Don't worry. If anything happens, I'll be there to protect you like your [Guardian Player] as usual."

Kazuki smiles as he wears the same VR console on his head.

“So, together again?"

I let out a smile back as I close my eyes and said, "Together again."

Yep, together back into .

"[Dive In]!"

My consciousness begins to fade as a flash of light clouds my entire vision, allowing it to re-enter the game.

As I open my eyes, I turn around and see Kazu lying down on his bed next to mine. It's a bit of a relief since the last time I entered the game, I was alone when I woke up in our room. Taking a deep breath, I stand up and stretch my arms and legs as Kazu does the same.

"So where are we going first?" he asks as he gets up and grabs his robe to wear.

"Probably to meet up with Star and Annie. It's been a while since we had our repairs and since you had to go offline, we should try asking them for repairs."

"Oh, yeah. That kind of slipped my mind because of our exams."

I chuckle as I pack up everything.

"Same. Come on. They're waiting at the usual spot."

We leave our room and as he gets down and pays our usual fees, I notice that several people are staring at us. It doesn't bother me at first since I had this similar problem yesterday. But this time, they became more chatty and evasive as usual. Is it because I'm with a minor player this time?

"Wind, come on!"

Before I can react to his voice, I suddenly feel my wrist being pulled away. Turning around, I realize that Kazu is pulling me towards outside the inn.

"Hey, no rushing!" I screamed as I find myself running towards the exit.

As we walk through the streets of , I begin scanning around my surroundings out of worry. As expected, the more I look around, the more attention we get from other players from chatting or just outright watching us like a documentary movie. At this point, I begin to lose my patience.

"Hey, Kaz. Maybe we should change our plans and go back to the inn."

"Say what?!" he exclaimed as he stops walking and turns to me with a frown. "No fair! I thought we're meeting up with Star and Annie at the town plaza!"

"I know, but there's something about these players that making me a bit uncomfortable. Don't worry, I'll just call Star and tell them to meet up in our room later."

I don't want to go back on my word. But with these players not giving us privacy, I have a feeling that they won't let us go so easily. We start to turn back and head to the inn without any trouble. That is until several players blocked our path with a grinning man in leather armor and iron helmet leading them shouts, "Stop right there, you two!"

We stop, not because of his sudden order, but the fact that they were blocking our path back to the inn.

"It's about time you show your cheating faces!"

I raise my eyebrow. What the hell is he talking about? I would say that out loud if it isn’t for Kazu’s presence.

“Excuse me? Do I even know you?”

"Doesn't even matter. I know from some players here that a green hunter, Wind, and that [Insignis] kid, Kazu wander around this town a lot, correct?"

I quickly back away from the man as I instinctively shield my brother.

"How do you know our names?!" I know most players can see our nametags, but only because there's a system that does so after you formally introduce yourself. I know it's not much, but I'm surprised that the developers even took the time to implement this strange, but useful feature. But still, I have never told anyone except our closest friends our names. I was even careful when I was wandering around the town alone.

"Don't play dumb! Everyone on this server saw it! Not only have you guys trekked through one of the toughest areas near this town, but you stole our rewards and cost us the [Quests] we need to farm for rare items!"

Okay, now I'm completely confused. Not only that, I noticed that several more players are gathering around us not only chatting with a mix of intrigue and worry, but they also took out crystals from their inventories, which I guess is the game's version of a camera due to their blinking aura as they held them right in front of us.

"What the hell do mean? We didn't steal anything from anybody! Plus, we don't even know you!" I countered, which I slowly realized the foul language I accidentally let out in front of my brother, which I didn't retract due to the gravity of our current situation. "All we did is just play the game normally!"

"Oh, yeah? Then why don't you check your profiles and prove that you didn't steal anything from us? Better yet, why don't you show us right here, right now?! Show everyone here that you're nothing more than a pair of thieving [Quest] thugs in this game!"

I sigh at this. I wish I can get into his thick skull, but we're running on limited time here.

"Yeah, right. Come on, Kaz. Let's go the other way."

But before we can do so, several more players block our way. This time, I noticed a bit of familiarity with their punk-ish attire.

"Oh, you're not leaving us until you show us your profiles! Unless you don't want anything to happen with your partner."

As he says this, a hooded player suddenly grabs Kazu and places his dagger near his neck, something that I fail to notice until I hear him scream, "Hey, let me go!"

"Kazu!" I gasped which I quickly turn around and glare at the leader as I growl in anger. "Let him go! He's got nothing to do with this!"

"Not until you show us your profiles! And if you try anything funny, he will face an early EXP penalty!"

These damn thugs... I can't believe they would do this all by accusing us of something we had no clue about. I wish I can just take out my sword and stab one of them just to escape. But before I can do anything, several daggers fly past me and towards the leader of the rude players.

"W-What the hell?!"

He and his cronies quickly dodge and block them with their weapons. And just as I’m starting to process what just happened, a familiar woman walks past me and gives them a menacing glare.

"Okay, I was trying to keep myself as a spectator to avoid conflict, but this has gone far enough!"

"S-Star?!" Kazu screams. I’m thinking the same as I see her walking closer to the players.

"I can tolerate assholes like you making insults and harassing players with giving you a warning. But are you aware that turning a minor player into a hostage is a big no-no in the COSPA law?"

Asshole? Okay, that's Star all right. Though to my surprise, she is wielding some kind of rapier along with the small throwing daggers in her left hand. And of course, she has her usual menacing glare aiming at the players.

"Minor?! What the hell do you mean? These two are nothing but a couple of thieving thugs who stole what we deserved!"

"And all because of one [Quest]?! Man, no wonder why he doesn't want to deal with you, jerks. Look, unless you want to lose your accounts for violating COSPA laws and terms of service, I suggest you let that kid go and leave them alone! And trust me, the game's support is very fast today and I have my finger on the report button right now."

Damn, talk about savage. Yet, I admit that I'm impressed by her direct approach towards those rude players. Heck, it's enough for some of them to back out and release Kazu as he runs towards back to our side.

"I thought so. Now scram before I'll make you!"

The leader growls before he and his cronies turn and flee like rats.

"We'll remember this!"

Once they are gone, I sigh in relief before I turn to Star.

"Thanks for helping us out, Star. I almost lost my cool when they grabbed and threaten Kazu."

"No probs, Windy. You're lucky I saw you got yourselves in another mess. Again."

Lucky us. But...

"Still, I have no idea what that guy's deal anyway. More importantly, how did he know our names with just one look?"

But as I said this, Star suddenly sighs in response and said, "So you two have no idea after all."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

She then fiddles around in her invisible menus and suddenly, a pop-up window display appears right in front of us.

"Let's just say you two have been the talk of the town for weeks now."

Huh? I’m confused at what she said until I saw the words on the display, which turns out to be a news article of some sort.

[TWO UNKNOWNS BEAT FIRST UNKNOWN QUEST OF ISEKAI!]

[A [World Notice] has dropped in most servers of [Isekai Online] on November 15, announcing the completion of the "true" [Quest] of the , known for its difficulty despite being the first dungeon of the game. It was also announced that players are known as [Wind] and [Kazu] are responsible for completing this unknown [Quest], and will be gifted with an exclusive title.]

Wind's Masteries

[Archery] Level 18

[Woodcrafting] Level 7

[Swordsmanship] Level 16

[Cooking] Level 6

[Wind] Level 15

[Physical Enhancement] Level 15

[Hunting] Level 14

Kazu's Masteries

[Arcana] Level 19

[Thunder] Level 15

[Wind] Level 14

[Alchemy] Level 12

[Magecrafting] Level 10

[Magical Affinity] Level 17

[Scribe] Level 4