Chapter 44

~ His Whereabouts ~

SW/SW/SW

Where are you…?

Elvaria stared sadly at her friend list window. Her eyes were glued to the very first entry of the friend list, which was AceKivras.

It had been four days since the last day she saw the summoner. QueeN said that GeaOnline developer sent their apology in the e-mail, saying that AceKivras’ log was somehow quite buggy.

Messages had been sent to Ace, but none arrived. He had indeed blocked her account from his private message. Fear doused her like a waterfall and unknown guilt burdened her delicate heart.

Why…? Why did you do this to me…?

What have I done…?

…what exactly is going on?

Elvaria was confused. They were sharing happy memories together, but why…? She did not understand what a boy his age was thinking about.

Wait.

Speaking about what boys were thinking about, there was something off with him on Sunday, the last day they saw each other. She remembered him reaching out to her, but a second later he stopped. Hatred flashed in his eyes before it disappeared.

Was he reaching out to touch her face? Or was it something else?

Elvaria had a bad feeling. One just didn’t disappear in the same day when a kidnapping took place. Something must’ve happened to Ace, or worse his real world self.

Aside of that, Dragonis was unusually merrier than before. The Dragon Portal was packed with players of many races. Their equipment varies, the complexity of the designs were the only thing to tell what level they were.

Elvaria saw a girl, hair tied in a ponytail, running away happily from their friends, who were chasing her. Their simple clothes were telling her that they were NPCs. She cocked an eyebrow at that.

Was it a new event?

“This is awesome! I just talked with the shopkeeper and he gave me discount!” a female archer exclaimed with a grin to her friend.

“For real?! That announcement isn’t lying?!” the friend shouted his question, “then we could really talk to the NPCs?!”

The female archer nodded vigorously, “I told you! I just talked to him and he answered back! He… he wasn’t repeating words! C’mon, I’ll take you there!”

Elvaria watched the two with an incredulous expression.

Talk to NPCs? ‘Talk’, like what AceKivras had done with his Summon Beast? It was certainly odd to see him talking to NPC prior to the recent update. Was it due to viruses?

In any case, if this new development was true, then searching for Ace’s whereabouts would be easier. Assumed that he was missing two days ago, the NPCs would surely recall seeing him somewhere. All she could do was to trace his whereabouts and voila!

But wait.

Did the NPCs were capable of memorizing? Did memories even stored in their minds? They were just artificial intelligences, not real people.

Elvaria sighed. For now, she’d ask Travonka members first…

0000

The strategic meeting to defeat Muhehehe took one hour and it ended by DPS reminded the members to come to the Viewing Dome to watch the upcoming event, the Dark Lord’s Crimson Nocturne. He said that it was the first time for the fight to be fully aired, with the NPCs (including bosses) getting a makeover and all. It was such a shame to miss such an important event.

Elvaria was quite interested. After all, completing the story of GeaOnline was considered sacred to her. She would not feel satisfied until she had everything discovered and finished. However, there was a pressing matter at hand that could not be ignored.

She approached DPS. It came as a surprise to see him alone without Maria by his side.

“Where’s Maria?”

“Neighborhood event.”

Oh, she went out to a neighborhood event. Elvaria then asked him whether he knew Ace in real world or not.

“Ace? No,” Lord DPS answered with his usual cool demeanor.

“I thought you did, because you two seemed close,” Elvaria said.

“Not that close. Acquaintances.”

Elvaria just wished that this guy would talk more…

She sighed, “With this, no one’s seen him these four days…”

Hearing such an interesting murmur, DPS’ brows knitted together, “What happened? He’s offline?”

“It’s the other way around. He’s been online for four days without stopping, but we haven’t seen him at all! With Saturday being our very first Guild War, coming to the guild room for strategic meetings is the most logical thing, right? Unless he has the reason not to…”

He nodded.

“But that’s not the only thing that’s off! The day when Ace disappeared was the day when one of my schoolmates disappeared, too!”

“Have you e-mailed the helpdesk?”

“Queen have, but they told her that Ace’s log was quite buggy that they needed time to fix it.”

The guildmaster let out a snort, “Buggy it is. Why being so paranoid?”

“Don’t you think it’s weird? Two people have disappeared on the same day?”

“Elvaria, Ace’s log is full of bug. Why isn’t he here? Simple. He’s busy of work. We have two lives, in this game and in the real world. Never forget that. ”

DPS might be right, but Elvaria felt that there was something more than Ace’s disappearance…

0000

Even though Hathor showed no sign of emotions, her insides were literally blazing with infernal rage and jealousy. For her, his decision to take that Anal-something woman as his concubine was maddening.

“Don’t,” she spat icily, shrugging his hand away. “I knew it. I knew everything. From the night you looked at your status, I knew that you’d need stupid, brainless meat shields. Do you not trust me?”

“I do, Hathor. I do.”

Lies.

“Then why?” she demanded. “I am your shield and your sword! Why do you need another when you have me?”

“Hathor, you have misunderstood me. It’s not like I don’t trust you. Have you heard of ‘strength lies in numbers’? I need capable hands so that I can increase my chance of survival. You couldn’t possibly protect me while you are busy fighting those adventurers.”

She sighed and sat on the sofa, looking dejected and miserable. Taking her pride seriously, she would not surrender her position as his protector to anyone else, especially to a petty, human woman like her.

Although she hated to admit it, Azariel’s logic did sound.

He squatted before her and grasped her hands, “Listen, Hathor. Adventurers… they are wicked creatures and I’m sure they have several tricks under their sleeves. This is why I recruit her. I need her Alchemy skill. Do you understand what I’m trying to say?”

She did. No matter how high one’s Alchemy skill was, without recipes it was basically near to useless. Once he had gotten all recipes she’d known, the probability of him discarding her was quite high.

From the corner of her eyes, Hathor saw him reaching out to cup her cheeks. At the gentle gesture, she smiled.

“Hathor, you are the only one for me. This woman, whoever its name is, is nothing more than a dispensable toy. The brainless thing is not worth thinking about.”

Hathor laughed, surprising him a little. Well, he should be. After all, she was angry. Despite the confusion she felt surrounding her husband, she smiled and closed her eyes.

What she was so afraid of? It wasn’t like Azariel would cheat on her and leave her alone. He was her only husband, with whom she had bonded, and she knew that he’d honor the sacred vow of marriage.

After exhaling slowly, Hathor opened her eyes.

He was still there, squatting in front of her. He might have hidden his face from everyone, but he could not fool her. He was worried, confused, and speechless.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured, “I was being... childish. I believed that I alone was enough to protect you, but I realized my mistake. You are no weak being and obviously can protect yourself. Now that I think about it, I was being overprotective, too.”

To her surprise, he patted her head, like he was doing it to a confused child.

She should’ve been angry at the insolent gesture, but she could not find the reason to. Instead, she was smiling, savoring the way he moved his hand through her red locks and his warmth within her body.

Hathor took his hand in her own smaller one and placed it on her left cheek, “While I’m getting ready for tomorrow’s battle, why don’t you go visit your other shield? You may have some recollections about her.”

“…who?”

She gave him a devilish smirk, “Etherios.”