Opening the black/gray door, Aisha and Matagi exited their room and walked in the corridor until they reached the initial bifurcation that would either lead into the enlisted players/NPCs’ quarters under the deck or to the forecastle, where the crew resided. Pushing open another door after going up some stairs, the two girls reached the deck. The sun was almost at its zenith and the majority of the crew members sat lazily near the metal rails, looking to the sea or playing with cards together, waiting for further orders from the captain. As the sea wind blew, Aisha and Matagi’s hair passively let themselves be carried by it.

The enlisted explorers took turns staying on the deck, in case there was ever a need, and by the seemingly happy look the current group gave Aisha and Matagi, it clearly meant their turn was over and the two were the first of their group to arrive. The previous group calmly started walking back, toward the door to their quarters, so they could rest themselves. Aisha ignored them while Matagi slightly bowed her head with a smile to acknowledge their greetings, as the two walked up on the bow and positioned themselves side by side behind the bowsprit, their elbows on the rail and their eyes to the horizon. It was like this that two weeks had passed.

“In the end, she wasn’t that bad right?”

Matagi said, resting her on her right hand and turning her head sideways toward Aisha. Her body was in a provocative way, bent at ninety degrees with her slender butt sticking up and her long legs seductively uncovered up until a bit over her knees. Aisha instead stood ramrod straight, her hands to her sides, she continued to look ahead. While giving Matagi a quick glance, she answered “Yes, she was not.” in a monotone voice before going back to her duty. Matagi sighed inwardly, she expected such a response, she knew her sweetheart didn’t actually feel anything about it.

She knew, she knew that Lia didn’t actually love her. It just so happened that Abigail was able to dispel the feeling of never-ending boringness. Even if Lia didn’t feel emotions easily, no, exactly because she had that problem, the unchanging days that completely failed to give her any kind of emotion, actually caused Lia to feel bored, so much bored she entertained thoughts of killing herself, or so she had confessed to Abigail. The only thing that had stopped Lia was her mother, because, if she concentrated hard enough, and recalled many of her memories with Elizabeth, she could feel a sliver of what she hoped was love.

Matagi straightened up and walked behind Aisha, she let her hands slip in-between Aisha’s arms and waist, embracing her from behind Matagi also let her chin rest on Aisha’s shoulder and gently leaned her head against Aisha’s.

‘I will stay by your side, I will support you, I will fill your life with all kinds emotions, I will always.. love you.’

Matagi’s hug tightened as she ended her thoughts, closing her eyes. A salty breeze passed by, it was the only sound in the silent world the two had made for themselves.

It was unclear when, but at some point the main page of Hyria’s official website changed. On it, a notice was put, its contents were extremely simple: “Soon will be Hyria’s one year anniversary. On that day, Crathos Inc. will be more than pleased to make two grand announcements!”

In all America, players grew frantic. Would they start a contest? Would they reward some random player chosen by lottery? Would a near race be unlocked? The guesses were many, but only a few came close.

This made Aeshan feel giddy, even if he was already past his prime. He slovenly turned his computer off and took a cigar, one of the good ones he kept for special occasions, and then stood up. He walked toward the windows/walls, looking at the city before him with half-closed eyes from up high. The more he looked, the more he stared, the more he felt a surge of emotions come out from the deepest parts of his heart.

He let himself be overwhelmed by them, knowing from experience that suppressing them was never a good idea, as he lit the cigar and began smoking.

The silence was broken by a whistle followed with a “That’s some nice atmosphere you got goin’.”

Aisha recognized the voice, so she didn’t bother looking behind, but Matagi wanted to glare at the uncouth man who had just ruined the said “nice atmosphere.” Matagi’s eyes rested on the figure of a rough-looking two meters tall man, he had a broad chiseled chest that he didn’t miss to always show off to others, his arms and legs trained and robust, his blonde hair short and spiky, his arrogant and lusty eyes the color of chocolate, all completed by a hint of beard. The man was a player at level 175 that had taken a fancy to the two girls, even while he already had an entourage of female players always behind him. As bold as he was, he never even tried to hide the fact that some of the women were actually paid to stay with him.

The man, supposedly in his thirties, had chosen the ambitious name of Conqueror and, living up to his name, had admittedly participated at all the expeditions departing from the western part of Hyria, not only to search for the “perfect location (a town/city with as many women as possible and as few men as possible)” for the HQ of his own guild, ”Harem,” but also to increase the fame and membership of said guild, in which only females were allowed to join. That said, this little wandering guild’s members had an average level of 100 and were all capable in their own field.

“As a man of a certain calibre, of course all the women surrounding me have to be exceptional as well!”

Was Conqueror’s reasoning/motto. It was also what led him to regularly attack Aisha and Matagi, trying to make them join his guild by showing his prowess. How many times he won and lost aside, Aisha simply didn’t care while Matagi continued to show obvious hostility. Still, neither side killed the other, not because it wasn’t possible, but because it would cause attrition and various problems to arise in regard to their relationships with the other occupants of the vessel; another thing that irked Matagi.

Looking at the hateful gaze of the young black haired woman caused Conqueror to laugh heartily, not improving the situation. Once again, they would fight for certain. Aisha continued to look ahead as Matagi and the man slowly took out their weapons while studying each other’s movements. Whether Conqueror practiced a style or he was self-taught, Matagi didn’t know, but she knew from her previous fight how underestimating his ability with a broadsword would lead to a loss, so she concentrated on captivating every single movement, no matter how small, of his muscles, while leaving the control of her own body up to her instincts.

By the time all this happened, the few females that were following him were either gone or had distanced themselves from Conqueror a few meters. Clearly, they hadn’t expected Conqueror’s disruption of Matagi and Aisha’s free time to end well. A low “Come” was uttered before Matagi sprinted toward Conqueror, for she knew the this man never made the first move in a swordfight, his style centered on countering.

Matagi arrived in front of Conqueror in a heartbeat, slashing horizontally from left to right at the same time. Conqueror maintained his composure and waited till the perfect moment to step back, hack downward at the incoming katana and then step forward with enough momentum to ram his left shoulder onto Matagi’s head. But Matagi was one step ahead, having already experienced this move, her body automatically moved to her left, following the descending momentum of her parried weapon, successfully sidestepping Conqueror’s big shoulder. Both were in an unbalanced position at this point, able only to awkwardly attack and defend, Matagi forced her katana in an upward slash and the man hurriedly repelled it with the blade of the broadsword, Conqueror’s bigger constitution actually payed off here as he managed (barely) to remain standing while Matagi fell on her butt.

Such an ending to a swordfight to Matagi, who had trained since she was little, was somewhat embarrassing, but the thought of having lost to Conqueror filled her brain with annoyance and some anger, making her forget that detail. When she stood up, Conqueror had already put his weapon away and was showcasing a brilliant grin. A vein seemed to pop up on Matagi as she ground her teeth in seething irritation and, with a loud “Hmph!”, she turned around and walked back to Aisha’s side.