The gentle spring breeze brushed against my face and hair. The lively town of Iohro was a buzz with pedestrians moving about in the streets below.

I enjoyed the calm atmosphere as I bit down into a now familiar fruit, the Anio fruit. It had a texture similar to a pear, but a flavor a tad bit more sweet—though it deviated the most from a pear in its appearance, bearing a pink skin, and a round shape that seemed to bulge out at the equator.

With each bite, I blissfully swing my legs over the side of the tall tower, carelessly enjoying the view of the busy town, and high buildings that seemed to remind me of my old home.

"Excuse me," a voice called out to me from behind. My left ear twitched, as I took a large bite into the Anio fruit, and turned my gaze towards my visitor.

A new client? I wonder to myself as I munch, not giving the tall man a response. He was a burly fellow, who was the sort that one wouldn't want to run into in a dark alley. I didn't mind the appearance though—I've grown use to the eccentricities of some people, so a large buff man won't really scare me.

Judging from how his feline ears twitched, I surmised that the man was a bit annoyed by my lack of response.

"I'm told there's an elf-shorty that can help me with a little something. That you?"

Again, I didn't answer immediately, and instead continued to munch on my food slowly. When finally, I felt satisfied, I gulped down the bit of Anio fruit in my mouth, and fully turned my body around towards the tall man. "So, which of my services do you need?"

"There's someone I'm looking for," he said, calming himself down.

"Of course there is. Hmm, let me just finish this though."

My routine has changed dramatically since moving to the big city.

Iohro, capital of the Tiger-kin nation, had become something like a home since I arrived two years ago, along with Sophinna.

I became 12 recently, and thus it has been about 7 years since mother vanished.

In that time, life was extremely hectic.

I became something like a lone assassin in a shitty part of a shitty town, killing those who I couldn't forgive—or perhaps I did all that to relieve my pent up stress at the time? I eventually met a peculiar girl—the tiger beast-kin, who claimed to be an oracle, and had me help her escape.

We spent the next two years running away from human pursuers, until we made it into the Southern Federation. It still took another 3 years before we made it down here to Iohro, and then the capital by the same name.

When we finally arrived in Iohro, the two of us ended up separating, though it wasn't permanent. I still pass by and talk with her about her situation, but we're no longer in permanent contact like in the years it took to arrive.

She has yet to find a way to free herself from her entrapment.

Sophi's secret is that she's a human from Earth. An employee of a company called Icarus Tech, which are the creators of my current world. She was sent into this world to act as one of many oracles who will foretell the coming of "Players".

In other words, this world I've lived in for 12 years has been nothing but a game. A life-like virtual simulation created for the entertainment of humans.

—And me, being one of the life-forms inhabiting that simulation, recognized as little more than a program.

It's weird when I think about all the "progressives" in my old life, and how they tried to give rights to all humans, regardless of their background or lifestyle—and then somehow many years later, a person who has hopes, aspirations, a family and the will to live, is considered nothing more than a toy, for the simple matter that he was born as a program within a computer.

I asked Sophi about it—and while it seems egalitarians exist that try to bring rights to AI, it's all ultimately been downplayed.

Money makes right, it seems.

Giving rights to a computer becomes problematic to a business, after all. It ruins the point of having a computer at all.

Ah damn, I've gone off on a tangent.

Well, now a days I take up a number of odd jobs by Sophi's suggestion. It seems she doesn't want to have to deal with another incident involving me being nearly captured by suspicious people. Apparently I have a knack for attracting trouble. I want to call her a worry wort, but she has pretty damning evidence.

So, about those odd jobs from before.

Searching for people seems to be a pretty common task these days. I've been busy locating people based entirely on appearance or a name—often times only a name. Complete nobodies without a personal history or background to speak of. People who simply popped into existence.

I'm talking about Players of course.

The populace learned about the arrival of players a year ago, and they began to transmigrate into this world just a few months ago. It's been a hectic period of time, with many riots and political strife, trying to understand what the gods want from everyone.

Well, that has little to do with me directly. According to Sophi, with the arrival of the players it should have meant that the "Time Coefficient" should have been lowered to a manageable time—meaning that for the last 12 years of my life, it has only been about a few weeks in the real world, at most. And now, as of a few months ago, time in this world should only be about 4 times faster than the real world.

The problem there is that Sophinna is still here. She doesn't know why she hasn't been released, but it seems that the company decided to roll with it, and start the game even with her trapped. She's not in any real danger, as long as she is properly fed, but it's weird they haven't released her manually.

Well, at least she's living comfortably.

Meanwhile, I'm looking around the city for strangers—new players and some who've played for a while. It seems that someone can't just create a character and expect to meet up together by a spawn point. Iohra is the main city for Players creating as Tiger-kin, however new players may pop up in quite a few populated areas of the city. It would be bad if thousands of people just materialized in a tiny town square, after all. So Players ended up separated from their friends in this massive town. At the start of the Game, I ended up helping a few people find their friends, and I can only assume that people started posting about me on the internet. Well, it's not like I hate it, but I do miss how much free time I had before.

Well, now when people create a new character, it seems a few of them try looking for their friends, and if that fails, they try looking for the short elf that seems to hang out on rooftops—or in today's case, atop a watch tower. Sure, it's a lot of walking, but I'm not hard to spot with my bleach-white hair, and very abnormal ears.

"Your friend should have been around here."

"So should I start looking around?"

"No, there's a possibility that they are also looking for you," I stopped the man with an arm before he could get himself lost in the crowd. Even though I call Iohra a "town", it's quite densely populated, and the addition of players have made this an even bigger problem.

"Then what's the point of coming here?"

"To make a count of all the outsiders."

Lets see. I expanded the scope of my Aether Perception to as far as I could, and scanned the area. What good does that do me? Early on, I learned that Aether is pretty distinct from person to person. In a way, you could say they're like finger-prints. Of course different races have unique qualities to their natural aura, that one could pick out certain races among a crowd. So I myself am like a sore-thumb in this crowd of Tiger-kin.

However, Players are artificial creations as far as this world is concerned. In many ways, all Players are clones of each other. They come into this world with varying appearances, but their stats are pretty close together, and as long as they're from the same race, their Aura finger-print is mostly the same. There does seem to be small difference in flavor between Players, but the similarities are enough to pick them out of a crowd, assuming you can actually see their Aether.

Still, there are plenty of outsiders, and natives in the area. Stalls have been set up in the area, in the last few months, some player owned, and some not. The spawn points of players have basically become markets, hoping to attract business from either newcomers or those returning after having died.

"You said she probably has red hair, right?"

"That's right."—asking for any more detailed information would be useless. He might know the player's real-world face, but it's likely changed up their facial features to "beautify" themselves, and the only hints I usually get about appearance would be vague things like hair color, that the player is likely to choose.

But occasionally that information is also misleading.

—I turned my gaze towards a petite red-headed woman who appeared to be quite young—her appearance seemed to contrast with the giant behind me, but maybe that was intended?

Her unique Aether gave away that she was a player, but even without it, her simple cloth tunic showed she was a new player. However, the brown and unfashionable pants she should have started with were instead replaced by a long leather skirt with bronze plating, and I even spotted a bow on her shoulder. If she's a new player, she should have only had enough money for some food to encourage her to earn money for more equipment, so I wonder how she got a hold of what she already had. On top of that, she was currently bartering for a new top piece, so she had money to spare, apparently.

"Is that her?" I asked, turning my finger towards the woman.

Turning his eyes towards the east side of the square, the large Player scanned the area for who I was pointing towards. "I don't know who you mean," He complained.

Giving a sigh, I pulled the tiger along behind me, and once we came into range, I pointed at the girl, "Her," I repeated.

The man took a moment to look her over, and then walked over to her. He asked her name, and—nope, doesn't seem to be her.

"Wrong username, and she doesn't know mine," He said as he came back, shaking his head.

That explained how the girl got her equipment; she wasn't a complete newbie (though still fairly new), like the one we were looking for.

Still, there were 5 spawn areas in Iohro, and there was a pattern to which of these you would spawn at. It mostly depended on gender, time of day, and which type of spawn is it.

A female character, newly created an hour before my Client approached me, should have spawned at this square. That said, I'm going based on what information I was given.

After creating a new character, a new player will either look around to start a quest, look for their friends, or sit tight and wait for their friend to find them.

But these are just assumptions.

Players don't start with any weapons or equipment, so they can't go out of the city to fight monsters, unless they join a guild or the army, or they manage to somehow make enough money on their own.

"So where to now?"

"Are you sure your acquaintance has already materialized?" I figured throwing some more questions would be helpful. If she was expecting him to find her, she would have sit tight, right?

"She should have. We... descended into the world at the same time, you know?" Players seem to step over certain words and phrasing around NPCs—I'm not quite sure on the reasoning, but it might be as a form of roleplay, or perhaps there's a warning about letting NPCs know the nature of the world?

"And how did you two agree to meet?"

"I told her not to move from where she sp—... materialized, and that I would find her."

And from there, he tried going to a few of the spawn areas, but couldn't find her, so he came looking for me, who he maybe heard about from the forums—or so I assume. He should have spawned pretty close to the watch tower I was sitting at earlier, so I assume he went around looking for the girl.

But there's a vital piece of information missing—two, to be exact.

I shove my index finger towards him, and ask, "That body of yours—you outsiders have your gods craft it before coming to this world. So then, how long did that process take?"

He seemed a bit surprised by my tone, and maybe a bit flustered, but he regained his composure enough to answer, "I-it only took a few minutes. I used my old appearance as a base, with some minor changes," he said, now avoiding eye contact as he whispered the last part.

Minor changes huh?

And that girl he's looking for is most certainly not the type to just make a minor change. Most likely. There were plenty of female players in the area, but as I gazed around at them, neither had newbie equipment. Any newbies who spawned here over an hour ago had already cleared out.

I turned around on my heel as I approached a building's wall.

"Know any magic?"

"Eh? N-no, none," He said as he followed behind me.

"Of course now," I said, as I simultaneously applied a wind spell to the two of us. As soon as it was activated, the two of us were flung into the air—my Client may or may not have let out an undignified scream—and then safely landed on the rooftop.

Iohro is a city of tall buildings, not unlike the cities I remember. I feel quite at home, when compared to anything else in this world. It doesn't quite mimic the feeling of a city—for instance, there are no highways, or large roads, but it's close enough.

"Warn me next time!"

I ignored the voice behind me as I made my way towards the "next" spawn area.

Usually if the players people are looking for aren't in the Spawn areas, I usually start doing a more exhaustive search, where I leave behind my "client" all-together, and apply various search spells. A collection of my wind spells can determine certain smells, and especially the lack thereof—like that I can determine where all the newbies are. But that sort of spell takes a large amount of Aether, and leaves me vulnerable.

It's an altogether stressful job, but it doesn't pay too badly. Players spawn with enough money to buy at least a couple meals, so if they're willing to part with some of their starting money, having me find their friends is an ok deal.

Of course, sometimes I'm given less innocent jobs.

No assassinations though. Sophi was kinda strict on that.

Finding the target on the other hand...

—My hunch was ultimately right. The red-headed friend spent quite a while designing her avatar down to the smallest details or her face and hair. She was altogether beautiful, and made me wonder what her original self looked like. That seems to be the case for quite a few Players.

Still, I ignored her appearance, and after receiving my payment, I returned to my tower. I took a detour to purchase some Anio fruit on the way, and once there, I took up my spot, and waited for the next job.

"You don't normally come out to visit me like this," I commented, as I looked back at the 12 year-old girl with long braided hair, and sharp feline ears.

"Well, I finally managed to get some time away from the temple."

"You snuck out?"

"—Why yes I did. And you? Where's your home?"

I guess the temple has been a pain to her?

"Don't worry about it. What's on your mind?" I didn't bother telling her that I couldn't afford the price to live here anymore—inns and apartments have increased their prices exponentially as the influx of Outsiders brought up demand for the limited housing. I would have to volunteer some time to the army, if I wanted to be able to afford housing. But even though Beastkin don't necessarily hate Half-Elves, I would still be treated as a potential spy.

Besides, I have no interest in clearing out the low-level monsters in the area.

Still, she looked at me suspiciously, as if seeing right through my ruse. Even so, she didn't voice a complaint about it—"Let's go somewhere private."

"It doesn't get much more private than this," I said, spreading my arms to emphasize how no one was around.

She didn't seem convinced by my words, but she let out a sigh, as if admitting that what she had to say wasn't that secret.

"Well, I came into contact with a colleague the other day. I only found a chance to leave today."

"Oh? What did you tell them?"

"I explained my situation, and told them about how I temporarily became a slave, and that you helped me run away back here."

"Is that it?" I asked, as I tossed a slice of a citrus-like fruit called a Gorren.

"—I didn't mention how you were a you-know-what," She assured me. "But they told me that there's a bug on their side."

"What kind of bug?" I asked, tossing her a slice, which she easily caught.

"Right," She nodded, as the slice of Gorren vanished into her mouth. "Or at least, that's what I was told. Looks like they can't forcibly eject me from the machine. Not without causing some major damage anyways. So they decided to just keep me well fed, while they track down what's keeping my bound here."

"So it wasn't some colleague of yours?" I asked, remembering how she made that kind of claim a few years ago.

"Who knows? Maybe," She shrugged, as she looked towards the sunset. "Even if that jerk didn't trap me here, someone had to have screwed with the Story process for me to have been derailed that much."

"And if it was all a glitch? I mean, in the end, you still ended up back here in time, and gave your prophecy on time," I pointed out, as I brought a slice to my mouth and bit—Ow! Ah. I'm all out.

"Maybe. But, why go through all that trouble? And I'm still trapped, so someone had to have tampered with something, right?"

Thinking about it. something strange came to mind. No, it couldn't be.

"What if it wasn't sabotage?" I asked, as I turned my body around to face Sophi, with my legs crossed, and my hand stoking my chin, as I considered a bizarre possibility.

"—What if your 'derailment' was to get me here?"

She looked at me for a moment, processing the possibility.

"Then why am I trapped?"

"Maybe... to keep you from killing me," I said.

"—after all, the Sophinna Alenastra of this world, is nothing like the you back home. Right?"

Author Notes:

Well that was a long wait. Maybe I should explain myself? I actually rewrote this chapter about 6 or so times, and wasn't satisfied with either version (and effectively had writer's block). This version is probably the version I was simply least dissatisfied with.

I wasn't going to do a timeskip at first, but changed my mind after the 3rd rewrite or so. Feels like I probably could have done a whole "Volume" worth of Adventure from Renant, to Ocen, all the way down to the Beastkin-controlled Southern Federation, and finally Iohro. But in the end I got lazy. Decided to leave a lot of reveals for later. Actually, I may have already made a big reveal this chapter.

Honestly, I need an editor or someone to keep me in line. If anyone's up for that, let's see how it goes.

As always, suggestions and feedback of all kind are welcome and encouraged

Next chapter Eventually™