At ten, ARF finally met at the dining room.

“Canary, I’m going with Dove to recruit someone for our Party. You’re free do what you want until one.” said Hawk.

“Can’t I come along?”

“Sorry, the place we’re going to isn’t really suited for kids.”

“Okay.”

While disappointed, Canary listened to Hawk’s reasons. Canary always asked for an explanation to everything. At first, I thought she got it from Hawk, but it stemmed deeper back to the days with her sister.

“Before I made ARF with you, I actually wanted to make a Party with another person.”

“This is the person we are going to now?”

“Yes. Though I doubt she’ll accept.”

“So why bother?”

“There are very few good Players without Parties left; she’s probably the best of the ones remaining.”

“She caught your attention. Does she have some talent like Canary?”

“I wouldn’t call it a talent, but she’s weird. You’ll realize it immediately when you meet. By the way, keep your Elven Cape hood up and stay close to me.”

We walked towards an area in Naut City I had never gone to before near the marketplace. We arrived at a gate into a dormitory-like building. The building itself only covered the outer rim of the building, and the gate itself led to the empty space between them. The building was composed of three floors connected by staircases at each corner. The building was filled with various doors that led to small rooms.

A handful of couples filled the empty space. On the way to the rooms, the couples kissed intimately and deeply with their hands groping one another. While I’ve never been to one before, this place was similar to the love hotel districts frequently seen in television shows.

“What is this place?”

“It’s a place where you can rent rooms. Unlike inns, you can enter the rooms with other people. Many Players, both active and inactive, turned this place into a motel of sorts.”

Uncharacteristic of him, Hawk explained in a vague manner. Except for two girls, Hawk naturally did not talk about sexual stuff with most girls his age. I was not one of those exceptions.

“So the person you’re recruiting is one of the customers here?”

“No. There’s no way I would invite a frequent customer of this place no matter how good they are. The person we’re meeting lives in this place alone.”

“What does she do?”

“She works as a freelance healer for hire for middle-tier Parties. She’s pretty good. She doesn’t compare to the healers of the top Parties let alone Zoe, but good enough.”

I followed Hawk to the further room of thesq third floor. The building seemed to be the same quality as the average Inns. It was similar to the dormitory I stayed at in real life. Hawk knocked at the door.

“Crow, the Freelance Healer, at your service.” a voice came from the room. The voice was clearly female and lacked any sort of energy. It was like those reluctant tellers in fast foods forced to work on a busy day.

“It’s Hawk.”

The door opened us to the pitch black darkness of the room. Not a single light was lit as we entered. Of course, I kept my guard up due to the uncomfortable feeling I had.

After a few seconds, my eyes got used to darkness and I could make out the things around me. The room was only as small as the standard bathrooms in Reality. There was a study table by the door, a small bed, and a door that led to the bathroom. On the bed, a Player’s icon appeared above a black mass of a person covered in blankets.

“You want to hire me? How long?” Crow wasted no time in inquiring Hawk’s goal here with the same unenergetic voice. Her speech felt so weird because I could not point out the direction of its source. While I knew the person was on the bed, the voice seemed to have come from all directions.

“I want you to join my Party.”

“So you made one. I already refused to make one back then with you.”

“Would you reconsider?”

“No. My reasons have not changed since then.”

Crow was standing in front of me. It was not as if I didn’t notice, but more of I didn’t pay attention to her moving in front of me. Due to the darkness, I could not make out her facial feature, but she was of average height and body.

“You’re Hawk’s Party Member? So, what part of you is weird?” asked Crow. Even as she spoke in front of me, the voice still came from different directions.

“I don’t think I’m weird, so why do you ask?”

“The only people Hawk show interest in being Party Members with are weird people.”

Was I weird? I had no idea. It would be weird if I went around asking people, “Am I weird?”

Hawk and I left the room and exited the area.

“Crow… lacks notability, right?” I asked.

“Yes. Her unenergetic voice with a tone that one cannot pinpoint the direction of combined with her unremarkable movements make people pay no attention to her. Especially since her hair is pinned to cover her face when outside.”

Crow did not lack presence like the main character of a certain basketball anime. On the contrary, her presence was definite; however, you would never pay attention to her presence. She would be on your mind, but never be the focus of it.

“You want her that badly?”

“Well. According to the calculations I made after I played with her, Crow is a good healer, even though I never felt her impact during the battle itself. Aside from that, I’m greatly interested in how she actually keeps up her unnotability despite her well-known freelance job.”

“Hmm. She was right. You only invite weirdoes into your Party.”

“Doesn’t that make you weird as well?”

“Am I? Now that you mention it, you said I was an interesting Player, but never pinpointed what interested you. I don’t think I have anything special like Canary’s multitasking or Crow’s unnotability.”

Hawk blushed a bit and said, “The way you fight is beautiful. I have no idea why though. Zoe mentioned something about a smooth flow, which is a concept I don’t understand.”

While Hawks words did flatter me, I had no idea what Zoe meant smooth flow as well. I completely rely on my instinct when fighting, so I myself did not understand where this ‘smooth flow’ came from.