The two brothers snickered when Merx said their names. Then Marco explained why.

"My real nickname is Mark, while my brother's is Ron. As for why Merx made that 'joke' is beyond me. Anyway, nice to meet you."

Mark, Ron, Yvonne and Matagi shook hands in turn before Merx began talking again.

"If you two girls are already prepared, then we can depart as soon as my companion arrives, otherwise I'll give you one hour for preparations."

"We are ready to go anytime"

Yvonne answered him coolly. About half an hour later, a woman dwarf arrived. Her name was Lily and she was a level 24 merchant. Her, Merx, Yvonne and Matagi sat on the caravan, with Merx on the front guiding it, while Mark, Ron and the NPCs followed on horse, positioning themselves to encircle the caravan.

'I wonder how it is to not feel any emotion. Well, I guess to Yvonne herself it wouldn't "feel" like anything. I don't think it's something to be sad about, since it seems she will never feel like she's missing a part of herself, but it's nothing to be happy about either. I mean, wouldn't be pain and pleasure the only things she can feel since they are not an emotion? No, maybe not pleasure, i'm not sure it isn't an emotion or isn't related to it. I'll google it later.'

Matagi lost herself in her thought as the other three people chatted. At the beginning they talked about where they were going, Tarse, the kingdom situated to the west of Magiron, apparently a prominent mercantile nation, and from there Lily and Merx began talking about stock values, some negotiation with players and NPCs, both mortifying and profitable ones, taxes in places they visited, etc. etc.

For the first few days, Matagi could easily manage on her own when fighting the mobs that attacked the carriage, but then their levels increased and Yvonne had to help her. As your avatar would not move from the spot you last logged out of, at night the carriage would stop to let everyone take a break. During that time, Yvonne and Abigail went to the bathroom, ate and trained lightly. Elisabeth used her capsule during that time, as Abigail was staying over until the quest was taken care of. After that, she'd probably buy her own capsule or headset.

After almost two weeks, they finally reached the pass that cut through the Dragon's Throes. Everyone but Yvonne and Matagi tensed up, as they knew what was coming. Attacks from drakes, wyverns and, sometimes, dragons, were the norm here. Drakes were one meter plus in height and two meter plus in length and wingspan; they liked to hunt in flocks of 10~15 drakes, and the only magical attack they used was fire breath. Wyverns moved in groups of five and were only slightly bigger than the drakes, but not only they had a more wide variety of fire magic, they sometimes also tried to crush the travelers with boulders. Dragons hunted alone. The young ones were just as big as two drakes, but the adult dragons could reach up to 42 meters in height, 56 meters in length and 34 in wingspan.

'I wonder how they got such precise measures.'

Was Matagi's first thought after Merx explained why everyone was so tense. But in the end they encountered "only" 2 drakes and one wyvern. The meeting with the wyvern cost them 2 NPCs guards, but Yvonne readily stunned it when it charged toward Matagi (in reality, it charged toward the caravan). Everyone was a bit surprised, but since it wasn't something that special, it was shrugged off and then everyone attacked the wyvern, killing it.

As they approached the border of Magiron Kingdom, Merx began explaining something

"In Magiron, every NPC thinks players are 'invaders.' It's not like going there and staying is impossible, it's just a big hassle. You can't check your stats, skills or inventory in public otherwise you'll be recognized and hunted down, they recognize the phrases like 'open status window', etc. etc. Talking with your friends through the private message function will blow your cover too. Lastly, don't die in public."

Matagi and Yvonne's destination was Magiron's capital, Crassie, located near the center of the kingdom. To reach there, they'd have to travel through one village and then two towns, but they would have to do it with other people, because Merx, Lily, Mark and Ron left them on the road to Ville, the aforementioned village.

Before parting they all registered as friends, who knows if it'll be useful in the future.

As the two walked towards Ville, Matagi immersed herself in her thoughts.

'Yvonne leveled up only 5 times, while I am now level 19. It's true that I leveled up more, but I also had a much lower level than the mobs'. It's really unsettling when I think about how I, at such a low level, got such a difficult quest. Well, the difficult part is just reaching Crassie's Swordsmen's Atelier.'

As the sun began to set they reached the outskirts of the village. It was similar to Thyw, but the houses were more sparse with orbs of light, sustained by steel poles, illuminating Ville.

Asking around, the girls found the only inn in the village. It was a crude-looking two-story house which first floor served as a bar too. The room was pretty ugly, but cost not even one silver.

The next morning Matagi and Yvonne went around the village, watching the NPCs come and go. They bought a map of the kingdom and searched for any traveling merchant, but there was none, so they bought various necessities to camp out on the way to Crassie.

When Lia was at the Lord's mansion in Thyw

Johan was not happy. He always got the women he wanted. Not even his father, the Lord, stopped him. But for the first time, he was not able to have what he wanted. The first time, she said no. The second time, she got herself purposely killed.

'That wench..!'

But then, she reappeared, and Johan understood. She was one of those immortals sent by the Gods. This meant two things, she wouldn't die no matter what he did to her, and she was impossible to imprison for a long period of time.

This was not something he could tackle alone.

That is why he asked the help of the other immortals some days later.