Nyaru followed behind while Lockheart and Daemon were walking around the city on Level 4. Daemon was looking for a player with a sword to buy a second sword. He came to the bar again, opened the door, and entered. A lot of players were gathered inside, talking to each other. Some were sitting on chairs, others were whispering in secluded corners. Lockheart looked at the Daemon in confusion:

“Why is everyone whispering?”

“Before the guild system is opened, they are looking for members together. Most max-grind players are now Level 49 like me. That's why they're preparing."

Lockheart shook his head. As Nyaru and Lockheart prepared to enter, Daemon replied:

"You don't have to come in, I'll handle it myself."

Lockheart and Nyaru closed the bar door.

Daemon cleared his throat and shouted as everyone was whispering:

“I wonder if any of you have a sword for 14,500 Kud!”

Everyone turned to the Daemon, but no one answered. Everyone stared coldly at Daemon, one of them coughed. A few seconds later, Sakura shouted from behind:

“I have a Navy Blue sword I dropped from the Cave Dungeon, Daemon!”

“Dammit!”

Daemon came to Sakura, opened the Sakura inventory, and took out an orange-bladed sword with a black hilt and an orange stone in its mace. Daemon clicked on his menu, from there he sent a trade request to Sakura. Sakura pressed the "tick" symbol and the transfer was done.

[Daemon obtained Navy Blue Volchr Sword x1]

Daemon held down the item in the inventory:

[Item Name: Volchr (Light) Sword

Class: Blademaster

Equipment Type: Weapon

Tier: Navy Blue

Increases ATK by 37

Increases Poisonous DMG by 3

(Effect: Burning)]

Sakura continued:

“I dropped this with my girlfriends from the Fire Cave Dungeon. None of the Feminia Group had chosen the swordmaster class, so I decided to sell it.”

“Feminia?”

“ The name of the Guild that we will establish when we reach level 50. Only girls will be in it! And as I said"

Sakura raised her arm in the air and gave a victory sign:

“We will be the best!”

Daemon whispered to himself:

“No one will be able to stand against you in the Cooking Ranking, that's for sure!”

Sakura rolled her eyes.

“Daemon, that was very xenophobic.”

“Oh, sorry! Is my voice too loud?”

Sakura squinted her eyes and left the bar. Daemon yawned while noticing that other people were looking at him. Some chuckled at Daemon's joke, while a few women looked at Daemon with disappointment. Daemon also left the bar in a panic:

“Lockheart, Nyaru wait for me!”

——————————————————————————————

As Nyaru, Lockheart, and Daemon crossed the city bridge, Lockheart rolled her eyes:

"Cooking Ranking?"

Daemon looked nervously at Lockheart:

"Did you listen to us talk?"

Lockheart crossed her arms and continued:

"I thought you promised you wouldn't make sexist jokes anymore. That's what you told me."

"I promised you that, not others. You need to be able to understand that Sakura is the exception. Sakuras you know... Sakura. Seriously how many times in your life have you seen someone with pink short hair who isn't a karen?"

"I've had 0 friends in fiction, but a lot of friends with pink hair in real life, Daemon."

Daemon rolled his eyes:

"Yeah, sure."

Lockheart continued:

"Look Daemon."

Lockheart took a deep breath and continued:

"I see, you've never had any friends in real life. You probably saw things in anime and set your mindset based on this fiction. Or something like that... But in real life, there are people out there with very different stereotypes than you think."

Lockheart closed her eyes:

"Look, your trauma with Mitsuri may have hit you hard. Or whatever you went through while fighting the Siren... But it's seriously not too late not to generalize to people. So...don't give up on humanity, just yet okay, buddy? This world is huge. And there are people with tons of different personalities in it. I'm sure at least a few of them are like you."

Lockheart closed her eyes and continued:

"I'm sure you're not a bad person, Daemon. You just need to get to know people. You just need to find someone similar to you. And you will find it. Guilds will open eventually. Join one of them and chat with people. I'm sure you'll li-."

As Lockheart was about to continue speaking, she heard the Inventory closing and the slam of the sword:

"Ayoo, that's so sick!"

"Uhm, Daemon?"

Daemon was jumping and waving his sword in the air. Nyaru was watching him while staring at the sword impressed. Daemon's sword glowed dark orange as it moved through his hands. Daemon jumped again and plunged his sword into the ground. Light yellow particles started to splash from the ground.

"DAEMON, I WAS TALKING ABOUT-"

Daemon pressed his finger to Lockheart's lip:

"Shhh, forget the pep talk and look at this!"

Daemon jumped up and made a full turn with his sword. A dark orange ring appeared around the Daemon with the brilliance of the blade, which disappeared as Daemon landed.

Nyaru happily began to applaud Daemon:

"WOW BROTHER! YOUR BLADE IS AMAZING!"

Nyaru ran towards Daemon and spread her arms, getting ready to hug Daemon as her foot tripped on a rock. Nyaru lost her balance and fell to the ground.

Lockheart and Daemon shouted at the same time:

"NYARU! Are you okay?"

Nyaru stood up:

"I'm fine big sister and brother! It's just that my HP Bar is light yellow, that's all."

Lockheart wiped his sweat:

"Thank God you're fine. Sometimes I forget that this world is virtual."

Lockheart laughed to himself. Then he suddenly turned to the Daemon and continued:

"We'll talk about it! It's not over yet!"

"Talk about what?"

As Lockheart was getting ready to speak, a text message came from the game.

Daemon suddenly went into the menu and looked at the messages:

"[Floor 5: Soulscapes] Boss is unlocked… Join the fight ASAP

(People above level 40+ can join)"

Daemon changed the subject and looked at Lockheart and Nyaru.

"Nyaru, Lockheart! This time you both coming with me!",

Lockheart was slightly frustrated as she couldn't finish her sentence, while Nyaru jumped up in excitement:

"Okay, brother!"