A couple of days after the meeting, things were back to normal with a slow-paced life that mostly consisted of building, fishing, and training.

That meant life was normal for Mister Smiles, too.

And a normal life for Mister Smiles consisted of going to her little hideout where she could send information back to her superiors via a certain own companion of hers. Of course, it wasn’t like she had much information to send back. All there was to report was that Nell was officially taking up the role of queen for the united villages, and something like that wasn’t exactly important to Mister Smiles’ superiors.

“Ah really ain’t cut out for this spy stuff,” Mister Smiles said as she walked through the forest toward her usual hideout, frequently checking behind her to make sure that she wasn’t being followed. “Ain’t doin’ a good job spyin’… ain’t gettin’ any closer to Fenrir… ah… this sucks.” She ended up stopping by one of the trees to bang her masked head against it a few times. “Seriously… what am ah even doin’?”

Unable to answer her own question, Mister Smiles continued toward her destination. It was far enough to away from where players occasionally traveled, so she had to go quite the distance to reach it all so that she could send no worthwhile information back to her superiors.

Being far away from the settlement also meant that this particular region of the forest was more abundant with life.

Or rather, it was supposed to be more abundant.

“It’s so quiet today,” Mister Smiles said and looked around. There were no critters nor beasts in sight. She couldn’t even hear the chirping of birds nor insects. The only living being around making any noise was her. Realizing that, a sinking sensation filled her gut. “Somethin’s wrong.”

With her fists readied to retaliate at any moment, she continued onward with far more care than previously exercised.

That feeling in her gut grew even worse when she made it around a tree and saw what looked like the aftermath of a bloody battle. There was blood all over the dirt, splashed onto the nearby bushes and tree trunks, and patches of fur as well as the occasional tooth scattered across the ground. It looked like there must have been a ferocious battle between predators, yet there was no corpse.

There was, however, a trail of blood leading in the direction she needed to go. Whatever won the fight must have dragged the corpse away.

The blood was still fresh, too.

Mister Smiles took a deep breath and began moving from tree to tree, always making sure to have cover that she could check out the ahead area from.

Bo would normally fly up ta me by now. Where is he? Mister Smiles thought, looking up above her for any signs of her companion.

There was nothing.

Or rather, there was nothing until she heard an unknown voice come from up ahead.

“I wonder what kind of reward she’ll give me if I do a good job here,” the voice, clearly identified as male, said. “All she said was that she’d give me a ‘special treat.’ Hehe… that makes the mind wonder. I bet she was purposely vague since the others were around. She probably didn’t want to make them jealous of me, I bet.”

I already don’t like him, Mister Smiles thought. She might have been able to hear the man’s voice now, but she still wasn’t able to see him.

But she did see something else.

Walking in a patrol heading her way were three beasts. Two wolves and a bear. More importantly, they weren’t just simple animals. They all looked like they went through vicious battles that left them with injuries that should have killed them, yet they moved without any difficulty.

Closer inspection revealed why.

A light, green mist seeped from their maws and eyes. While not all forms of raising the dead were the same or even had that feature, Mister Smiles recognized it as one of the known methods of necromancy.

A method developed by none other than the End Bringers.

This ain’t good, Mister Smiles thought before jumping up into the tree she was hiding behind. While she might have looked like an incredibly muscular man who should not have been all that agile, the truth was that the suit she wore did nothing to stop her agility.

Fortunately, the trees in the area were tall and close enough together that she could easily move from tree to tree without making much noise.

Unfortunately, getting closer to the source of the voice made her regret ever finding it.

One of the worst possible people moved into the little hideout that she had. There was little more than a sleeping bag and some dried food stored in pots there, but it was still her little home away from the settlement that was now defiled by a member of the End Bringers.

He couldn’t look more stereotypically evil if he wanted to, Mister Smiles thought.

The man in question wore an oversized, black and red robe that had its hood down to show off his head. All hair was shaved from his head, leaving him with a bald scalp that was covered in tattoos that looked like he was trying to be as edgy as possible. There are many skulls involved in the tattoos.

But that man was only part of the problem. He was also most likely the source of the problem, but the problem itself was far larger than just him now.

There were dozens upon dozens of undead beasts all around him. He had his own little private army of risen corpses created from all of nearby animals. That wasn’t good for two reasons.

One, if such a large, undead presence stayed in the area for too long without being dealt with, then it would change the forest itself. Well, it would change that specific part of the forest, but that change could potentially spread throughout the forest. Mister Smiles knew that if the undead infestation wasn’t dealt with, it wouldn’t be long before the trees started dying out before becoming the homes of massive spiders and giant, fanged worms.

It was basically a method of griefing. Using magic to light a forest on fire and burn it all down was one method. Introducing the undead to corrupt the forest itself was another method. Both were entirely accomplishable by a single player, but easily countered if caught early.

And it looked like they barely had any time to spare if they wanted to counter it.

I’ll be torn apart if I go down there myself… but if I go tell Fen… no, I have to, Mister Smiles decided. It might mean giving away her identity, but she had to. She couldn’t let a threat like this go undealt with. Besides, she already told Serra about it. Chances were that Serra probably told Fenrir about it seeing as how they were dating.

“Hehe, I’m already getting this excited just thinking about how much fun we’ll have together once I’m back,” the man said as he pulled one of his arms back into his robe. “Ah… Lessy…”

Mister Smiles blinked a few times when she realized what the man was most likely doing underneath his robe. She really, really wanted to jump down and kill him, but she risked losing everything if she did that.

So, as much as it hurt her to pass up on the opportunity, she stuck to internally judging him as she made her way to safety.

If she managed to make it back to the settlement quickly enough to grab Fenrir, they might just be able to make it back in time while the necromancer was still online. Killing him while he was offline would have been easier and smarter, but she wanted him online when she killed him.

She rushed back to the settlement as quickly as she could once she was far enough away from the undead that she could make noise again.

Back at the growing settlement, Fenrir found himself alone. Cassandra, Serra, and Alice wanted to go out and enjoy the beautiful weather they had in real life considering how rare it was. However… a horrible case of allergies decided to punish Fenrir for existing that day. As much as it pained him, he decided to stay home, away from his girlfriends, so that he could immerse into virtual reality and “skip” having allergies.

Then he realized that it was early in the day, meaning that Azalabulia wasn’t online due to having class to teach, and Eva was still asleep after probably staying up too late studying some random thing in-game. Basically, everybody was busy and had something to do except for Saya. But before he could do that, he noticed that some of the players working on constructing new buildings needed help, so he ended up helping them while being mentally teased by Saya about how comfy she was lazing around in a newly-finished bed while he worked.

And when he finally did have an opportunity to go and join Saya in being lazy in a beautiful world where allergies didn’t exist, one of the few unrealistic things that nobody was ever going to complain about, he caught Mister Smiles running toward him out of the corner of his eye. He stopped and waited to see if Mister Smiles was actually coming for him or just running in his direction. As it would turn out, he was Mister Smiles’ target.

Fenrir had no idea what Mister Smiles could have wanted. Sparring was the only interaction they really had with each other on a somewhat regular basis, but Mister Smiles never approached him for a smile in such a frantic way. “What’s up?”

Mister Smiles pointed toward the forest and beckoned Fenrir to follow, but the instructions were lost on him. Or rather, Fenrir understood what Mister Smiles was trying to say. He just wasn’t going to listen to somebody who he knew was a spy trying to get him to leave the town on his own. There was still no proof that he could trust Mister Smiles, after all.

“Is something wrong over there?” Fenrir asked.

Mister Smiles nodded.

“Well, what is it?”

Mister Smiles grabbed onto Fenrir’s wrist to pull him along, but Fenrir refused to go.

“If it’s important then you can tell me what it is.” That was the nicest way that Fenrir could think of saying that he didn’t trust Mister Smiles.

Mister Smiles wasn’t so dense to have not noticed that, either. So, after a few moments of silence and standing there while internally debating over it, Mister Smiles finally spoke up and revealed the other secret that Fenrir still didn’t know about.

That she was a woman.

“There… there’s ah enemy,” Mister Smiles said, revealing her thick, Southern accent to go along with the reveal of being a woman. “A necromancer. Looked like he was tryin’ ta start trouble… need ta get rid of ‘im.”

As surprised as Fenrir might have been that Mister Smiles sounded more like a she than a he, he focused on the issue at hand. “Do you know if it was an NPC or player?”

“Player. Had an End Briger tattoo on his face. They ain’t exactly subtle… so ya can tell real easy when it’s them.”

“Wait, seriously? How close was he?”

“Not far. The longer we wait, the more corpses he’s goin’ ta raise. Looked like he only just got started and was already makin’ progress.”

Fenrir wasn’t sure what to think of the situation. He knew that the End Bringers were beginning to poke their heads in their direction, but how were they able to sneak up there and get so close? Wait… if it was only one of them, it wouldn’t be that hard to get up here, he thought. And I can’t even be sure Mister Smiles is telling the truth. He – she? Whatever she is, she might be trying to lure me into a trap still. If I’m going to go, I don’t want to be alone. Hey, Saya. You there?

“You know I’m always here, onii-wan,” Saya answered. “And before you ask, if you want me to come with you, you have to manually come get me. Telling me to come with you over thoughts would be cheating and Kadi wouldn’t like that. But… I can conveniently get my stuff ready.”

Got it. I’ll come over in a bit. Fenrir looked around to see if there was anybody else he could grab. At a time like that, having a friends list to check and see who was online would have been extremely useful. But, of course, no such thing existed in the game that was supposed to be incredibly realistic and basically a simulation rather than a more casual game. There was, however, one player who caught his attention. One player who he had a feeling that he could trust, anyways. The player in question was one of those who fought on the beach with him against the serpent’s forces. Fenrir might not have talked to the player much, but he could at least remember his name. Maybe it was because of the unique spelling that he made sure that Fenrir knew. “Hey, Pfar!” Fenrir shouted.

Pfar jumped at the sound of suddenly being called, almost dropping the logs that he was carrying with him. “Ye-yeah? What’s up?”

“I need someone with me to go check out a problem. You free?”

“I can be if you give me a minute. Just have to drop this off to the stockpile.”

“That’s fine. Meet me by the gates in a few.”

Pfar nodded and rushed off to finish his task.

“You too,” Fenrir said, looking at Mister Smiles. “I’ll meet you over there.”

Mister Smiles, back to being the silent type, nodded and left. That left Fenrir alone to go gather Saya as planned.

Fortunately, while his girlfriends might not have been able to be in multiple places at once while having lives that kept them from staying in-game all the time, Saya had no such problems. Saya also came around the corner at just the perfect time to find herself in Fenrir’s way. “Oh, onii-wan,” she said. “What are you doing?”

It was both a bit annoying and kind of endearing that Saya was forced to play dumb. Annoying because Fenrir wanted to take advantage of their ability to share thoughts and endearing because it was like really low-effort roleplay. Regardless, Fenrir smiled before explaining the situation. “I need somebody to come with me to go check out a potential threat. Can you come?”

Saya tilted her head to look him over before shrugging. “I guess. It’s not like I have anything better to do.”

“Thanks. Let’s go meet—”

Before Fenrir could finish his sentence, Rock jumped up from behind and almost knocked him over. Shogun wasn’t with her which was even more surprising than her sudden appearance.

“Sorry, I don’t have the time to play right now. I promise to play with you later, alright?” Fenrir said to Rock.

Rock ignored what he had to say to instead stand by his side facing the same way as him. That was what she usually did whenever accompanying him anywhere.

And now it was time to feel conflicted. Ever since Corwin and Saya became true AIs, Fenrir felt an even greater need to protect those who weren’t. If any other NPC died, it was for good. If Rock died, there would be no bringing her back. Even though she always fought by his side before, he found it harder than ever to take that risk when there was serious danger for her but not for him. But at the same time, she essentially came to life to protect him. She loved being by his side helping him whenever she could and he knew that. To refuse to ever bring her along to anything dangerous would be taking away a major part of who she was. Like never letting a working dog actually work and instead expecting it to stay content and happy indoors lounging around all the time.

Well... Mister Smiles did say that there was a necromancer. That probably means zombies. I doubt that zombies or anything like them are going to be able to hurt a dog made out of rock, Fenrir thought before decided to give in. “Alright, but I want you to be extra safe. Got it?”

Rock barked and licked his hand.

“Alright, let’s – wait, I just saw somebody else who can help us out.” Looking toward the budding town’s center, Fenrir saw a familiar face awkwardly standing around looking like she had no idea what to be doing.

“You sure, onii-wan?” Saya asked.

“She’s better now. Plus, even if she was like she was before, I’d still be able to trust her with my life.” Fenrir crouched down and pointed at his target for Rock. “Go fetch her for us.”

Rock barked and took off running! Her target was none other than the girl who found herself playing Fantasy Tales Online more and more lately, especially now that she had a new avatar. Well, it was technically a new avatar. The only difference between her old avatar and her new one was the reduced breast size. The cat ears and tail, as well as the rest of her features, remained.

Nyaiko paused and stared at Rock as she noticed the rocky hound charging straight for her.

Because Rock wasn’t exactly capable of communicating with words, she instead opted for gently biting Nyaiko’s wrist to pull her in the group’s direction.

“He-hey! Where – what do you want?” Nyaiko asked. “And… your daddy might not want you near me.”

“Who do you think sent her for you?” Fenrir spoke up, causing Nyaiko’s cheeks to turn red. “Also, calling me her daddy?”

Rock let go of Nyaiko’s wrist and returned to Fenrir’s side.

“O-oh… hey. And… you know, isn’t it normal to call pet owners the mommies and daddies of their pets?” Nyaiko asked, struggling to look directly at Fenrir.

“Yeah, you’re right. I guess it’s just weird to think of myself as Rock’s owner. I feel more like her friend than her – wait. Never mind that for now. I’m trying to grab people who I can trust to help out with a situation we have.” Fenrir looked down at her waist and saw her daggers still there strapped to her sides. “Are you free?” He didn’t expect her to look so surprised when he implied trusting her.

“Are… are you sure?”

Fenrir stuck a hand out to flick Nyaiko’s forehead. “You think I’d ever stop trusting my childhood friend?”

“Heh. It makes me really happy to hear that. Thanks.”

“No problem. Now let’s go. The sooner we deal with this, the better.” With that, Fenrir turned around to head toward the gates.

On the way there, Nyaiko spoke up to ask, “Hey… you’re Saya, right?”

“Hmm? Yeah,” Saya answered. “We haven’t met, so how do you know me?”

“O-oh, I swear it’s not anything crazy. I promise. Serra told me about you. That’s all. Um, I’m Nyaiko. It’s nice to meet you.”

Technically, Saya knew Nyaiko every bit as well as Fenrir did, but Nyaiko didn’t need to know that. “Nice to meet you too,” Saya answered, keeping it short and simple.

Fenrir felt a bit awkward listening to them talk, but he couldn’t waste any time. If the situation was as serious as Mister Smiles made it seem, they needed to go and deal with it. Just the fact that Mister Smiles actually talked in order to explain the situation made him think that it must have been serious.

Though, when he thought about how her voice sounded…

Have I been missing it this entire time? I… I suddenly recall her sounding kind of girly a couple of times before, Fenrir thought.

“I always heard her sound feminine,” Saya answered. “I wasn’t allowed to say anything, but even as somebody connected to your brain… I was shocked that you didn’t figure it out.”

I just… I didn’t expect it. I saw her hyper masculine body and thought that she’s got to be a guy.

“Maybe she has a muscle fetish.”

Wait… on the topic of sex – I… was pinning her down and biting her neck that one time. In front of all my girlfriends.

“Yep. But is that really worse now that you think she’s a girl? How is that any worse than if she was a guy? Come on, onii-wan. Gender equality. It was equally lewd regardless of gender.”

I can’t really deny that. Pinning somebody down and biting their neck is going to be lewd no matter what genders are involved.

“Who even fights somebody like that? Can you imagine something like that happening offline? A couple of guys on the street beating each other up and then one of them pins down the other to bite his neck? You’re weird, onii-wan.”

It feels way more embarrassing than I could have expected when you put it that way. Please spare me.

“Maybe you’re just so horny that you’re constantly looking for necks to bite. Either that or you’re a wannabe vampire. A wannabe vampire who’s a wannabe dog.”

Before Fenrir could think anything back to Saya’s teasing, they reached the gate where Mister Smiles and Pfar were waiting. “Alright, we’re ready,” Fenrir said. “Got us some more help.”

“Pfar?” Nyaiko asked.

“Oh, hey, Nyaiko,” Pfar replied. “You know Fen?”

“I – I guess you could put it that way.”

Fenrir raised an eyebrow as he watched them talk. Not only was Nyaiko apparently on at least somewhat good terms with another man, when previously she struggled to be around any other male, but she was actually blushing a little. She reminded him of how his own girlfriends used to act around him before they started dating. Then there was Pfar who suddenly looked way more energetic now that Nyaiko was there.

Saya… have I been missing out on even more things? What else has been happening under my nose that I’ve had no idea about? Fenrir thought.

“I don’t think you can be blamed for this one. She’s been trying to make friends with people who specifically aren’t related to you, so it makes sense that neither of us knew about this,” Saya answered.

“Anyways,” Fenrir said, “let’s get going. If there’s somebody posing a risk to us out there, even if it’s just a single guy, we need to go deal with him.”

The group nodded and Fenrir let Mister Smiles take the lead.

Fenrir knew all too well how much damage a single person could do. Even in games that were more balanced and focused on group play, sometimes a single griefer was all that it took to cause complete chaos and trigger a downward spiral of events. Now, in the world of Fantasy Tales Online, there existed players like Azalabulia. If somebody like Azalabulia was determined to cause trouble all on her own – well, the damage would be catastrophic if she was left alone. Somebody on Azalabulia’s level would be able to practically wipe out all progress that they managed to make with their settlement.

There was one more thing.

After having to deal with what was basically a massive, undead serpent with a legion of undead fish monsters… Fenrir was pissed off that he had to deal with even more undead.

Unfortunately, it would have been preferrable if that was all he had to deal with.