Curly black hair and helpful eyes.

Elizabeth Darwin took care of the food counter. She wore a turquoise blouse on a black skirt with a blue-gray apron. Everyone could get their food without her help if they wanted to. However, it wasn’t often that Elizabeth got to help strangers by sheer will. Of course, she made sure that most of the strangers were able to return the favor for the rest of them.

A notification came up in Elizabeth’s in-game interface. It rang like festive bells, almost like the sound of Father St. Nicholas in the snow. This was a peer-to-peer arrangement.

"Hey Notice-me-senpai! No, not you, cutie pie," Elizabeth said, to a woman, who looked at her with mute expression. Elizabeth leaned forward at the counter. "Alice, your romcom game has arrived. Go and pick it up!"

Alice obliged. She was replaced by a man with bushy eyebrows. Elizabeth smiled at him as he approached. "Good morning, David! You’ve come to pick up your food, right? You can find it in the microwave. Give credits to Alice as well."

David smiled in turn. "Got it, Elizabeth. Thanks." He walked away.

Elizabeth looked over her shoulder. "You look happy today. What happened?"

"Jill wouldn’t let go of me when I came back yesterday. It’s kind of tiring though."

"Oh yeah. Your new dog..." Elizabeth trailed off.

A man emerged out of the door at the other side of the room. Elizabeth observed he had frowning eyebrows. His eyes presently spelled danger. He smiled without showing his teeth. "I hate being a secondary character," she commented.

***

[Wing B, Room 5 – Kitchen/Breakout room]

I considered the title at the door and the distance I had walked to get there. I looked at the room I found myself in. It was quite big. ‘Why this far though?’ I thought. Present in the breakout room, there were Elizabeth Darwin, David, that binocular woman, and four more people. These were two men and two women.

Great. The room was balanced.

A woman looked at me, as she headed for the door. ‘Oh yeah,’ I remembered. ‘Alice.’ Alice was offended when I looked back at her. She was a cut close to Amanda’s stoic face, but with more searching eyes. I looked at her badge. It indeed was Covenant of the Wise Fool. "Hello," I said.

The person got past me. ‘Great.’ I shrugged. I was disaffected. I went to the counter. "Good morning, Miss Elizabeth. I would like some breakfast. How do I get it?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "It’s an open buffet. You can get anything you can see at the counter to the right. There are other items here. I can give you some curry and pizza if you want." Elizabeth pointed to some kind of green slice with cheese topping. "Today, the specialty is pizza with a Broccoli Kale crust and almond flour. (FlavCity with Bobby Parrish, 2019)

I noticed a robot whisk itself past me. It delivered a plate to a couple to the left side of the room. "I’ll have some pizza," I said.

"Got that," Elizabeth smiled. I smiled back at her. There were also drinks, the ingredients of which I did not know. Lattes and milkshakes of different kinds. I looked around. There was only one robot in the room. I got the order, and thanked Elizabeth.

With the pizza in hand, my eyes searched for a nice spot to avoid being disturbed. That said, I did not have any book in hand to read, other than the ‘Old Book’. I shrugged. I figured I just came for the breakfast.

I went to a table to the right; I made sure someone who was not much peppy sat there. I sat on one of the four chairs, opposite the binocular-woman. She looked at me with a mute expression. "Hello, I’m Ashen Spines," I said.

"I’m Eloise," she replied, looking sideways. "Nice to meet you," she met my eyes.

"Nice to meet you," I returned. I scratched my cheek with my left finger. The woman picked her drink – that was the only thing in front of her – and sipped at the pipe. It looked like a chocolate-and-milk drink.

She seemed to have a sweet tooth. Well, everyone had one.

I sat on the chair. I leaned my back against the chair’s spines. I rested my arms. I looked up. The ceiling was a light gray. I looked back down to see another person seated next to Eloise. Eloise smiled at him. "Hello Ashen Spines. I’m Raymond."

I looked at his effervescent manner. Raymond stretched his hand across the table for a handshake. He looked at my face dryly. "Well, this is abrupt, Raymond," I said.

I stretched my hand and shook his. We released hands. Raymond was quick up to follow up. "So, what do you think of the food at the Covenant?"

"Sounds like a convent, when you say it like that. You know? That place with nuns and priests."

"That’s absurd thinking, Ashen," Raymond crossed his arms. I crossed my arms as well. "You are a newbie. We, the Covenant of the Wise Fool, are only helping you because you are a member. We have already acquired the means that happens to be able to help you."

I spread my arms on the table. I leaned forward, and looked down. "That’s absurd news to me. Who are you, bro?" I looked at Raymond.

"I wish you well." Raymond leaned forward with his hands on the table. He lifted himself. "We are not family here. Good to know you, Ashen." Raymond extended his hand.

I stood and extended my hand. "You too."

I released my hold. Raymond did likewise. "Well, I hope you enjoy your meal, Ashen."

"Thank you. Been nice knowing you," I said.

Eloise had her arms crossed throughout our exchange. Eloise dropped her hands. She rubbed her left arm with her right hand. She smiled at me. "Sounds like a dumb exchange just went down."

"I don’t know about that," I smiled. I took a slice of pizza and ate it. "Couldn’t figure what’s special about another newbie and this awesome pizza slice for the life of me," I commented.

"Maybe you’ve attracted his attention because of something good," Eloise said. "Why would he waste his time if that were not the case?"

"Not sure. He probably just broadened his opportunities, you know?" I chuckled.

Eloise stretched her arms forward. "You know, Ashen. Speaking of opportunities, I completed a rank A quest yesterday. My friends tell me I’m like fish in water. And you know what more?" Eloise scratched her cheek. "I’m getting promoted to be the honorary member of the Covenant of the Hero. They said I can access their library."

I removed my thumb from under my jaw. I reflected that was helpful flak. No death, so far. I touched the wooden table. "I see, that’s awesome. You have made a good impression on your friends. You have even completed a rank A quest." I paused. "I don’t know about being a honorary member of a Covenant though. Can you tour me through that?"

"I don’t like talking about myself this much," Eloise blushed, looking down. "If it does not bother you, just be honest with your praises," Eloise looked up.

I wondered if she was from the Covenant of the Holy Mother. The badge of the warrior with the sword, and the shrouded figure with the sickle were still on the right side of her torso.

"I did enough," I said.

"No way!" Eloise exclaimed. "You ain’t much good, just like Nina said." Completing her introspection, Eloise offered her drink to me. "You want some?" Eloise looked at me with pride and optimism. I wasn’t sure if she was looking down on me, or just had good will. Both would make her feel better, anyway. No different from me.

"Nah, I’m good," I said. "By the way, which sect are you?"

"Sect of the Dragons. Elizabeth is Sect of the Dragon-Hunters. David is also Sect of the Dragon-hunters. That other woman, over there, is-"

"That’s fine, that’s fine. I’ll consider learning that as we go on," I said.

"I understand," Eloise said. "I just thought you were similar to Roger. You know him, right?"

"Not really. Tell me about it," I said.

"Okay, never mind. I’ll have a conversation with you later," Eloise said. She retracted her drink. Eloise looked away and finished her drink.

System Notification

You have been rejected. Please restore your trust level to ‘socially functional’.

#: After restoring trust level, your memories won’t disappear. Unless you forget them.

[-] Turn off future notifications for individual trust levels?

Yes

No

Restore trust level

Continue without restoring trust level

I turned off the notification and chose [Continue without restoring trust level].

I shrugged. Eloise was Eloise. First impressions were first impressions. Raymond knew how to hurt me, because he could hurt himself. This was not my battle, as far as I could tell.

"Okay, sounds cool," I said.

I heard a neighbor chuckle. I inhaled and looked at Eloise. She was intent on finishing her drink. I exhaled. I ate my pizza.

***

A young boy, who somewhat stammered, presented his story in front of a small crowd.

The group wowed and applauded the boy. They looked incredibly amused. It felt genuine. Perhaps, it was genuine. The boy adjusted his glasses and smiled.

"I told you I always knew you could do it!" one man said. "Thanks for taking the boredom out of our reality and making us feel good." He smoked his cigarette. Embarrassed, the young boy nodded. "However, for having no one but us as your friends, you sure had to write books not featuring us. You feel superior, huh?" He looked at the boy with anger.

"N-No. I just thought I would write about something good that happened last year. I will definitely write about you in my second book," the boy smiled.

The guy slapped him. "You ain’t worth shit." The boy looked at the man and sobbed. "Now, my mood is ruined. Let’s get back to constructing our building blueprints, guys!

***

I turned my barebone bike to the right. I noticed some folks walking past.

The Royal Lucretius presented its entrance to me. I looked at the space the institute occupied. It was nothing to sneeze at. To go by a personal notion, autonomous strength was either proportional to conformity or free creation. This institute represented just that, whether with the environment or with the way in which it stood out.

I considered.

It was an institute; it was not along the same lines as CERN or RIKEN, both research facilities. It looked like a basic university, nothing complex. That aside, the ground was steep. It felt like I was climbing a mountain.

I had my enthusiasm to thank for the experience. ‘Nice pilgrimage,’ I thought to myself. My interest was of a niche kind though. I noticed a young boy. He looked like an adolescent, all things considered. He was crying.

I saw no one about. I stopped for the boy. "Hey, what’s wrong?"

The boy looked at me. "I got bullied," he said.

"What’s your name?" I asked. I rolled my bike onto the pavement. The pavement was made of monochrome stone bricks.

"It’s Eddie," he replied.

"Okay, stone heart here." I inhaled. "You need a hug, Eddie?"

"Yes," Eddie replied. I gave Eddie a hug. I trembled. "You are not brave," Eddie told me.

"Eddie is a cool name," I said. "What did you do that caused an issue with them?"

"I wrote a book." Eddie replied.

"Okay, cool. Listen. There’s this guy called Eddie. I haven’t measured the impact of Eddie, and I don’t know what exactly he means. Maybe it is niceties, maybe it is vileness, or interesting or uninteresting things. Eddie himself can answer that to me. The story might get lost though."

"You sound like you are reciting a lullaby," Eddie said.

"Well, okay. Who are you, Eddie? Tell me your story."

"I don’t want to. It will take a long time. You don’t look like you will listen," Eddie said.

"Okay then. Here’s what we’ll do." We exchanged our contact details. Eddie went away. My eyes lingered on him.

For the most part, I had enjoyed Sword Art Online – a light novel and an anime. I wondered what it would be like to be a character in Sword Art Online, just in-game though. I had a feeling Eddie might write something similar, if but on a different scale.

That was what the human relationship was about.

I entered the institute. I entered the art section of the institute. There was a room dedicated to absurd claims, such as ‘the star is made of fairy dust’, or that ‘the world is governed by cats’.

Amid all the absurdities rife in the room, there was an inscription.

Museum Inscription

"This, then, is the ultimate paradox of thought: to want to discover something that thought itself cannot think." (Soren Kirkegaard)

‘What a weird inscription in the middle of the room," I thought.

There was an old map, which reminded me of a campaign trail in Age of Empires II about the Vinland Saga story. In another room, there were superheroes and gods. There were precise models of the superheroes, some more detailed than others. Notably, there was a child, watching a superhero in a movie.

I wondered why they looked so intricate. One particular hero who could use fire was made of paper. Given that Life of no legacy was a game, some of the claims were almost believable. One of the heroes was called Arvald, the Fourth.

I had visited a postal museum and an animal museum, for the most part, outside of Life of no legacy.

I peeped at the next room. This one had historical artifacts. This was an interesting tour.