Sayooshi was too busy laughing that he resorted to typing out his question into the text-chat: “Do you want to create a Player Government with me?”

Yet, almost instantaneously without hesitation: “Hell no, I just want to get the heck out of here.”

I mean, I didn’t have high expectations either…

RemixHorizon’s character’s body was still sunk below the shallow water of the hot spring pool, only the head remained partially above the water. The strong desire of leaving the hellhole that was Krafty’s domain remained etched in the real heart of RemixHorizon, but inside the Overworld their character only displayed a calm mood and stationary stance.

RemixHorizon’s voice continued in a dissatisfied tone because of the situation.

“Sayooshi, why’re you so silent all the sudden? You better be thinking of a plan to get out of here”

“The situation can’t get any worse, I’m bathing next to a roleplayer. It’s all over for me basically. I’m content with just looking up at the sky”

“Hmph. It is pretty cool looking. We can see a lot of colorful stars and multiple moons after all, but…”

“But what?”

“The night sky at my home is a super-lot prettier”

“In real life?”

“Yup”

“Do you also own a hot spring in real life?”

“Hell no. Do you think I’m rich?”

“No idea…”

“If I did, it wouldn’t have this annoying wooden walled fence blocking the rest of the view”

…

…

A snapping moment of realization hit the both of them.

“We could jump out!

“We could’ve jumped out…”

The Overworld is almost fully open to explore or transverse. While the outside courtyard of the hot spring inn cannot be destroyed or damaged, including the wooden high fenced walls which enclosed the hot spring, the possibility of climbing over the wall was very real.

Just as the two non-roleplayers attempted to quietly step out of the steamy pool, they slowly ambled towards the fence. But almost instantly, Krafty had already put his large paw-like hands on both the Player character’s shoulders.

God damn it!

“Ugh stop it already!” half-heartedly whined out RemixHorizon

The two felt frusturated and annoyed at Krafty, but it was a misunderstanding. From Krafty’s perspective, his situation was a lot different than the one that he was forced to present.

What Sayooshi and RemixHorizon didn't notice earlier on while talking with each other, was the change of Krafty's behavior when communicating. When they first met after entering the inn, Krafty actively spoke with them in the local area voice chat while roleplaying. But he instantly stopped once all three of them were sitting inside the hot pool. Instead, Krafty was typing out his roleplaying messages into the local area text chat. Sayooshi and RemixHorizon both noticed the messages but chose to ignore reading them since they all appeared like a mass of rubbish. Yet, soon after Sayooshi was forced into typing out his message to RemixHorizon into the local area text chat, because Sayooshi was too busy laughing out loud in real life to even try to speak normally into his microphone, Krafty stopped sending his spam of messages into text chat. And ever since then, Krafty was trying to get their attention by speaking out loud in the local area voice chat again, but this time he spoke like a normal person instead of a crazy one on the internet. He was crying for help...well, no, he was actually just crying for attention but it all sounded the same to Sayooshi.

“I want to create a Player Government with you!” Cried out the fellow chubby-round man, Krafty, a Sunmel magic archer.

“Umm, thanks for the enthusiasm, but…uh, but I’m not trying to create an organization for roleplayers…and I was actually just asking RemixHorizon”

“Why are you so picky? Stop discriminating against roleplayers weirdo. Anyways I don’t care.” interjected RemixHorizon.

Ouch that hurt. It’s a fair statement, but… I don’t think RemixHorizon is a lot less allergic to roleplayers than I am…

“Wait-wait, listen up. I’m not a roleplayer.” Said Krafty in a plain voice

“Yeah…I don’t believe you pal. After what I’ve seen you do and how you’ve been locking us up here, you are either a roleplayer or a legit crazy person. I can’t tell which is worse. Anyways, even if I did let in a roleplayer, you should understand that the formation of a government is no easy deal because there is a lot to consider and-“

“Hoooooold it! I’m super duper not a crazy person! And please believe me that I’m not really a roleplayer, I mean I do roleplay a bit occasionally but that’s because my friends do it, but that’s besides the point! I wasn’t locking you guys up here…”

Both Sayooshi and RemixHorizon gave a strong glare at their computer screen, it was so strong that it seethed into the consciousness of Krafty despite the lack of any sensory reason for him to assume that they were giving a skeptical response.

“Okay…maybe I guess it did look like I was, kind of, trapping you two here…”

“You purposefully set down an ice trap which made me constantly slip and fall, and stopped me from even being able to leave this hellhole!” RemixHorizon protested.

“OKAY ok ok ok! This definitely looks like my fault…and that I might seem like the bad guy.” Sayooshi and RemixHorizon nodded. “But-but-but, let me assure you I’m definitely 100% not the bad person here!”

“Then who is?”

“My friend, May. She is the one pulling the strings!”

In five minutes, Krafty explained his story. The reason why he was in Kurajur and why he was roleplaying in a hot spring inn.

A few months ago, he and his close friends in Divine Mortality formed a small yet prosperous guild called Afatenity. Krafty proudly said that he was the one who came up with the name, but it was only chosen because another guildmate really liked it, so much so they managed to outweigh everyone else who thought it was a ridiculous combination of “Affinity Fate”. The guild is still operating perfectly fine. Little to no serious drama has ever occurred between the guildmates because the guild was formed by and for the bondness of likeminded individuals. Basically their friendship, who also happen to be individuals who care very little about the preservation of the actual guild. Rather, they instead care more about the preservation of their enjoyment in Divine Mortality as guild, despite their differences. They've already been on numerous adventures together, basically ever since the release of the game, but now they are in a cooling down period. Krafty was clearly very fond about his experience with his friends, which gave way to him smiling a lot like a happy idiot. However, Sayooshi and RemixHorizon demanded him to cut the chase since they were only interested about his excuse, about how his 'friend' May is the one "puling the strings". As far as they were concerned, a crazy person who was blocking their way out is now trying to put the blame on someone else when it was very clearly their fault. But they also agreed to listen to his explanation about his side of the story.

Almost unwilling to skip telling his experience of gameplay in the past few months because he thought others would also be interested in it, Krafty reluctantly finally started to directly explain to them about how he was not a legitimate roleplayer. Instead, Krafty was forced to roleplay like a crazy person by his friend, May. The same May who like to treat Krafty as if he was her younger brother and she is his overseer, which includes all the "benefits" of doing the chores and forced labor for her. So, it was not surprising that when Krafty lost a big bet to May recently, he was also forced to obey ridiculous commands as per agreement to the bet. Simply put, May is allowed to tell Krafty to act like an idiot in Divine Mortality for a whole week. And so, poor Sayooshi and RemixHorizon were caught in the middle of it accidentally, as May has been currently trying to tell Krafty what to do in a separate voice call. Safe to say, the bet was very serious.

“So, you are forced to play the game as a roleplayer? I actually feel very sad for you, it’s a fate worse than death…” Sayooshi mourned.

“Unlike Sayooshi I don’t care about roleplayers and what they do, I just don’t want to be bothered by losers acting out like weirdos online who are getting in the way of other Players. There are already enough sh***y people in this game.”

“Jeez, you’re meaner than May” Krafty said quietly

“Hmph, whatever…I wouldn’t be so mean if I wasn’t so unexpectedly harassed by some loser who lost a bet with a chick and is now bothering people around them”

“Oh right! Sorry…” Krafty replied even softer

“Don’t worry Krafty, if I can forgive you for acting out as a roleplayer then you’re alright, since I really hate roleplayers. And Remix is always like that, so it’s not a big deal.”

“Like what!?” growled RemixHorizon but was quickly ignored

“Well, Sayooshi, I don’t really understand why you hate roleplayers so much but thank you for forgiving me. I bet you wouldn’t want to meet some of my friends because you’d really hate them since they enjoy roleplaying more than I do.”

“So, does that mean you’re done acting like an insane person?”

“I don’t know if I can…but- wait, actually we’re off topic!”

“You want to help me create a Player Government?”

“Yeah!”

“Why? You don’t seem like the type of person who’d want to do that or is even capable for the task ahead! No offense.”

“A little bit was taken. But it’s true that I don’t really care about politics, both in the real world or in a video game. Yet, there is something I need, a lot of it.”

“What is it?”

“Money.”

“Ah, I don’t have that right now…”

“Oh, maybe later?”

“I don’t think that’s how it works; you’d need to work for it…”

“So, if I help you create a Player Government, I’ll then be able to get a lot of money from it later on?”

“I mean, I guess so. Why do you even need so much money? Isn’t it easier and faster to grind enemy mobs or do minigames? Instead of hoping to profit from a Player organization…”

“I do play minigames often, but I’m not good at half of them. And I mean, REALLY not good. I like the target shooting and the fishing activities, however, I suck at stuff like boar catching or mountain sliding. And on the other side, earning money from loot drops or grinding for enemy items is something everyone does in multiplayer games like this at some point, right? Well, I’ve done some of those already multiple times, but it’s boring. Plus, the richer enemies are super scary. I sometimes think the AI might come to life and start hurting me in real life…so I’d rather not see them…”

“You’re a lot softer than I thought, I almost feel bad for even swearing at you kid” said RemixHorizon.

Both Sayooshi and Krafty exclaimed some sort of audible “Huh?”

“Aren’t you a kid?” Asked Sayooshi

“That depends on whose perspective we’re seeing from. Isn’t Krafty a kid? Then how old are you fatso? 50?”

“I’m not that old, somewhere around the midtwenties…”

“Pff, so you’re like a loser like me, wasting your youth playing video games too much”

“So, aren’t you also wasting your time? We’re both losers then”

“Nope, I’m less of a loser because I doubt, you’re in college like I am. That means I’m also doing something productive on the side.”

“Then shouldn’t you be busy doing your “college” homework kid?”

“I’m not a kid!”

“I am almost certain that you are not a college student, your high-pitched voice gives it away with all that shrieking. Are you like a manchild or something?”

“Whatever, I don’t need to prove it to you. But, just for your information, I’m doing very well with my college work!”

“Alright, I’ll believe you slightly… Then how about you Krafty?”

A nervous, nasally, and higher pitched (than usual) voice appears: “Umm, let’s just say, I’m between my midtwenties and somewhere below 40 years old…”

Both Sayooshi and RemixHorizon’s player models look at each other and then look back at Krafty standing there now awkwardly between the two

“We’re sorry!”