The nobles kept arriving, gathering in the courtyard, giving astonished looks at the enormous corpse of the dragon. As they met each other they talked excitedly and pointed upwards, to the balustrade against which the Golden Knight was leaning, surveying the whole scene. Beside him, Sarah (or Sajya as they knew her now) marvelled at how grateful those people were with Uberyn, and how oblivious they were to Maggot, whose small figure stood at the other side of the golden portent.

“He saved us,” they kept saying to each other. “He saved us all.”

Sarah received her share of praise too. It was undeserved, but it’s not like there had been many witnesses and the people who looked up and saw her was surely thinking that such an impressive warrior, with such a prodigious physique and no less than three weapons on her, surely had been instrumental on defeating the fiery beast.

Sarah was armed to her teeth indeed, since she not only had her own sword but also the bigger sword she had taken from the guard and the bow and arrows Uberyn had given to her in their hunting expedition. But she had decided she needed to buy a better weapon for her after giving back the ones that weren’t hers.

After a few minutes, everybody was cheering for the Golden Knight, and a bit for Sajya, too. They completely ignored Maggot but hey, they were cheering, and that couldn’t be bad, Sarah concluded.

And where did this dragon come from?

She invoked Scrutinize on Uberyn as discreetely as possible. His stats were sky high, just as before. Defeating the dragon had made little difference in his numbers since they were so high to start with. He had now 55,415 experience points, so if Sarah remembered correctly, he had acquired about 5000, either for killing the dragon alone or for other stuff he could have done before. She was not clear on how time worked when a wave came and messed with the realms.

“So,” she asked as nonchalantly as possible, “how long have you been playing the game? You are incredibly skilled.”

“For quite long, I’d say,” he replied, trying not to show how flattered he felt by her comment and failing miserably. “But I really don’t remember.”

“You don’t?”

Uberyn leaned toward her to talk in a lower voice. Maggot didn’t notice; he kept looking down at the gathered nobles cheering for the paladin. His sense of hearing was probably nerfed too, Sarah thought, and pitied him even more.

“Look, I have a theory about the game,” Uberyn said, looking her in the eye but letting his eyes wander down to her boobs once or twice, perhaps inadvertently, perhaps on purpose. “But I can’t tell you about it here. Let’s go to my chamber, shall we?”

He extended his hand, or more properly, his golden glove, since he was still fully armored except for the helmet. Sarah giggled and took it. She let herself be taken to a luxurious room where Uberyn resided. A banner hung upon the wall proclaimed that he was PROTECTOR OF THE CASTLE. Evidently, killing the dragon hadn’t been his first feat in this realm.

“Now we can talk freely,” Uberyn said. “Please take a seat.” He waved at the bed and sat on the only chair, resting his armored hand on the beautifully carved desk upon which several rolls of parchment lay scattered.

Sarah sat on the bed. It was fluffy and incredibly comfortable, or so it felt at that moment, maybe because she had never been exactly comfortable at any point since she had talked to the Sorceress in her house beside the lake in the woods.

“You say you don’t remember when you started playing?” Sarah said, to remind Uberyn of what he was about to reveal.

“Oh yes. Look, this is my theory,” the armored paladin said, leaning over and fixing his piercing blue eyes. “I can’t prove it, but I’m convinced I’m right.” The golden armor glistened under the light coming through the window as he leaned over a bit more as if he wanted to touch her. When he continued, he was whispering. “I think the game is set up so all players lose their memories when they log in. A temporary thing. To make it more realistic, you know? It’s like we’ve always lived here in the gameworld. When we log out, we remember everything, but while we are logged in, we only know our life inside the game.”

Sarah opened her mouth to object, but stopped herself in time. She wasn’t sure if she could trust Uberyn yet. Was it wise to reveal that she remembered exactly how long she’d been playing, and why, and where she was right before logging in?

This quest has a reward of Diplomacy. Obviously, I can’t be careless. I need to watch out what I say and what I don’t, she told herself. Staying completely silent won’t get me any information, but speaking too much could spell disaster.

She stared at the paladin’s blue eyes, which were still fixated on hers, as he waited for her to speak. He was incredibly handsome, and those eyes seemed to vouch for someone you could trust. But this was not a real face after all; it was a face that the player had constructed very carefully, so there was no point in wondering what it seemed to say. If she decided to trust him, it wouldn’t be because of how he looked.

Also, he could still be right. Maybe the “legitimate” players had been cleared of their memories in order to be fully immersed in the game, but she hadn’t because she had entered the game through Sumiko’s hacking, and not through any “official” channels. Which, seeing as to how unfinished the game felt, would be very narrow channels.

“When did you become the most important person in this realm?” Sarah asked, deliberately stressing the element of admiration in her voice. “It must have taken you quite a long time.”

“Oh, not that long,” the Golden Knight replied, visibly satisfied by her words. “When I arrived here, I had already amassed lots of Strength, Agility, and Endurance,” he explained. “So I took care of some bandits that were terrorizing the villagers, and after a while I came to the Castle and got rid of some nasty invaders. Now I’m their Protector, as you can see.” He waved at the banner with an air of casualness that felt incredibly forced.

“Oh, I see. That’s impressive,” Sarah said, as Uberyn sat up, got rid of the gauntlets and sleeves of his armor, and started manipulating his chestpiece to take it off. “Did they give you this golden armor as a thank you?”

“This? Oh, no,” the paladin replied. “I also had amassed enough currency that I was able to buy it directly. It cost me several thousand coin. More than a dozen thousand, in fact. It’s partly made of literal gold. But most of it is bronze, of course.” He finally got rid of the chestpiece and let it fall to the floor as if it was a worthless rag. He took off his gambleson as well, revealing a linen shirt that his own sweat had adhered to his body, tracing every line of his fantastic muscles. Sarah couldn’t help giving him an admirative glance. “But they gave me other stuff, of course. Like this room, which is where live when I am in this realm, and also my office. In the next crossphase it might look a bit different.”

Sarah was about to ask about the waves and the jumping between realms, so she jumped mentally at the mention of crossphasing.

“Have you found out how to control the jumps somehow?” she asked eagerly. Uberyn took off his shirt too, dropping it on the floor, and got closer. His body was scandalously ripped, and his blue eyes were fixated on her once more. “I mean can you decide to come here anytime you choose, or do you just fall here randomly just like I did?”

“Oh, it’s random,” he replied. “But after a while you realize it’s kind of interesting. You learn to perform well in all realms, and when you switch from one to the other, it feels refreshing. I’m doing well in most realms I’ve visited, though I suspect there are many more I still haven’t set foot on.”

He was so close now that Sarah could smell his breath. It smelled good, kind of minty, but drenched in a manly scent of sweat and adrenaline.

“Listen,” he said. “I need to keep this place protected at all times, so I’m creating a guard. The Golden Guard. How do you like it?”

“It... it sounds good,” Sarah replied, feeling a bit nervous at the closeness.

“Only good? Come on, you can show some enthusiasm,” Uberyn said. “Sajya, it’s evident that you’re a warrior. You still haven’t leveled up much but you have an incredible potential. I’m offering you to be part of this Golden Guard. I will train you, and soon you will be the one killing dragons. What do you say?”

Think fast. Think fast, Sarah thought. The description of the task she was performing anticipated that she could be offered a place in the Guard, and she had been mulling it over, wondering if it would be worth it to gain experience and skills and level up in exchange for the time she would have to invest in it instead of looking for Mike. Finally she had decided to accept the offer when she met the Golden Knight... only she didn’t know the Golden Knight would be Uberyn. Now she was unsure.

“Let... let me think about it,” she replied.

“Sarah,” Uberyn said, grabbing her arms gently and looking her in the eyes intently, “we can do this together. I know you’ll be perfect as a member of the Guard, and we’ll have countless adventures. Please accept this.”

Sarah was about to say something when she found herself unable to speak. Uberyn was already kissing her.

What the fuck!

Is everybody aching to kiss me?

She struggled to get Uberyn’s mouth out of hers. He yielded when he felt her resistance, and looked at her with disappointment and maybe a bit of embarrassment.

“What are you doing? I—”

Once more, she stopped herself in time. She had been about to reveal that she had a boyfriend, but she didn’t want to explain it to Uberyn, because that would mean she remembered her life outside the game, and she wanted to keep it a secret until she knew she could trust him fully.

On that respect, she felt torn. Since Uberyn didn’t know she had a boyfriend, he hadn’t really crossed such a clear line... but on the other hand, he could have asked. Oh, he was so cocky and sure of himself. That was certain. But the kiss itself could be forgiven.

On the other hand, she knew now that she just couldn’t accept his offer. For Mike, she couldn’t allow Uberyn to stay close to her all the time; but also for Mike, it would have been nice to be able to train and level up so she could rescue him when the time came. That bastard had just close the door on himself, forcing her to say no even when she had previously decided to say yes. She felt enraged at the thought.

But there was also something else. The situation reminded her of what had happened at Digidream, when Victor Anderen tried to kiss her, prompting her to kick him and flee. The whole situation rushed back to her mind, making her feel sick. She remembered now how bad the situation was in the real world, and how little time she really had before something outside her control happened, like the police finding her at Sumiko’s home and maybe arresting them both.

“You— you what? You didn’t like it?” Uberyn asked this question as if the mere thought was completely unreasonable.

“It’s... it’s not that,” Sarah replied, pushing him away, unwilling to explain. “I have goals of my own, and tasks I need to accomplish. I can’t be part of your Golden Guard.”

Uberyn looked utterly shocked. He certainly tried to hide it, but he was as bad at hiding his shock as he was at hiding his pride or anything else. Maybe it was his face: he had customized it so heavily that it was too expressive, mirroring his every thought and feeling just like in a real person. Or more.

“But...”

“You really can’t believe it, eh?” Sarah said scornfully. “Not used to being rejected? Too bad, I guess. I’ll be in the armory. You don’t need to follow me.”

As she walked away without looking back, she felt the familiar buzz of a system notification.

Task complete: Meet the Golden Knight at the Castle

+300 XP

+30 Charisma

+30 Intelligence

- Skill acquired: Diplomacy (50)

- chance to join the Golden Guard: rejected

And after a few moments:

You have reached Level 3!

The level-up notifications were slightly different from the others, in that they felt more intense and pleasurable, as if a warm breeze were embracing her. She even felt slightly aroused.

“Hey, Maggot!” she called out loud. “Come with me. We’re buying you a nice weapon.”