"Ah yes, before I forget..."

After the meeting was over, Cecilia came and held out what appears to be a card towards me. Immediately, I recognized the card in question. It was one of my many missing [contracts].

"Where did you find it?"

"It was with me from the beginning, must have gotten stuck to me back in that wormhole."

"Right, the wormhole. Sorry for letting go of your hand back then."

"It's fine, we were all falling and panicking at the time. The important thing is that we're all fine now."

"So you say, but you didn't seem to be panicking at all. In fact, you looked like you knew what you were doing."

"That's not true, I was crazy scared back then. I probably just don't look like I was to you."

"Maybe."

"I'm telling you that's exactly how it is. Don't 'maybe' me!"

"Right, sorry."

"Anyways, the operation starts tomorrow, so let's go have some fun while we can."

Cecilia turns towards the princess.

"Relia, you don't mind if I borrow him for the day, do you?"

"No, of course not, I'm sure you two have a great deal of catching up to do."

And so, with the princess' permission, I was dragged off to god knows where by Cecilia. I apparently did not have a say in the matter. Well, I'm sure if I just sit around in the camp, Merida will get me to train again, which I am not necessary opposed to, but I would like a break once in a while. On the other hand, whether or not hanging out with Cecilia constitute as a break remains to be seen.

***

Flowing through the village and into its fields, there is a canal, and where there's a canal, there's a water source, and that's where I had been taken. It would seem that Cecilia and I share a similar liking for flowing waters, though for me, I prefer just sitting around it, perhaps reading a book while I'm there while Cecilia prefers something more interactive. And so there we are, sitting by the river bank, each with a makeshift fishing rod in our hands.

"I didn't know you have a thing for fishing."

"Well, I do fish once in a while, and besides, it's not like there's much to do in this village in the first place."

"In that case, I wonder what the other two is up to."

"Last I heard, they said they'll be helping with the fortification. The [Demons] apparently did some damage."

"And yet we're here, fishing."

"I'm sure if they need our help, they'll ask."

"A little difficult to ask someone who's still asleep, isn't it?"

"Well, I mean they could have woken me up."

"I'm pretty sure that they're just trying to be nice."

"Then it's their lost."

"I don't know, I kind of feel bad."

"Are you really feeling bad, or are you afraid that they might think badly of you for slacking off?"

"Where the hell did that come from?"

"I'm just asking. You're going to miss out if you don't at least stay a little true to yourself you know."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Time passed with us just chatting away and not catching anything. Perhaps our chatter had scared away the fishes.

"So, what happened while we were separated, when you first arrived in this world?"

It took me awhile before I gathered up the courage to ask her. I thought that I probably should prepare myself, in case I'm about to hear something that might be difficult to handle.

"When I first arrived you ask. Well, at first I was confused. I just woke up in the middle of some fields after all. But I managed to pull myself back together after realizing that there are others with me there, three others, to be exact."

Three... and yet, I heard that only two were with her here. Where's the other one? They couldn't have gone their separate way, right? Not in this world which they knew nothing about. Don't tell me...

"Who were the three?"

"Well, there SixtyNine69, then there's Toto, and there's... Veldar, he didn't make it."

"Veldar did?"

I remember Veldar, he was an Archer/Assassin, a build that specializes in long range single target damage. Since he was always on the backlines, he often calls the shot in his party. I've been in his party before, and from what I could tell, he's a rather nice guy. I've never seen him angry, and when mistakes had been committed, instead of scolding, he gives encouragements to the members on his party.

"May I ask what happened?"

"We were ambushed. It was when we're still wondering around not knowing where to go. Since our opponents were [Demons] and we were out in the field, we first thought that it was just going to be like always, a fight against mob enemies, nothing special. But we were wrong, the [Demons] here aren't just dumb AIs that walks up to you in a straight line to be slaughtered. They're smarter than that, and we should have realized it sooner.

So there we were, just fighting as we usually would, not particularly caring since we were slaughtering them left and right. Their Levels were definitely much lower than ours too. But then, one had managed to sneak up behind us by hiding within some tall grass, and it leapt at Veldar while he's attention was elsewhere and drove a dagger into his neck. There was blood, but we thought nothing of it, we're so used to seeing such things in game after all, at most, we might have found it ridiculously gory. But then, the smell hit us, the disgustingly heavy metallic scent, after that was the drowned cries of Veldar choking on his own blood. To say that we're utterly shocked would be an understatement. Even now, I can still feel the chills that went down my spine.

We didn't have a healer with us, and we only carried what was equipped on us, everything else was gone and we did not even have a single potion on us. We just stood there and watched him die. His body didn't even disappear afterwards, it was just left there, unmoving. There were no resurrections no matter how long we waited. And so, in the end, we decided to at least bury him before we moved on. Do you know, even now, I still have his Hp bar in my vision, just that empty, grayed out Hp bar sitting in the corner of my sight."

"Cecilia..."

"Anyways, we kept walking, scavenging whatever that seems edible until we reached here. You have no idea how hungry we were after wiping out those [Demons] that were invading the village, bet they don't tell that part of the story. We ate like wild men and stopped only when we passed out. I'm sure it was embarrassing for everyone involved, I think one of us vomited a few times for eating too fast."

"Sounds like you've had it rough."

"Not as rough as you. I've heard you know, stories about you being sent to war and fighting the [Demons] head on."

"Yeah, well, at least I was well fed."

"It's not as if we were starving either you know, we're just... a little hungrier than we're used to, that's all."

A little hungrier, I'll bet that's an understatement. Something she said just so I don't feel bad. Even though she's the one who had been through worst, she's still watching out for me.

Wordlessly, I reach my hand around her shoulder and pull her closer to me, till both our shoulders are touching. It's somewhat embarrassing and I'm not even sure if I should be doing this, but the princess tends wrap her arms around me in one form or another anytime I feel down or worn out, and upon feeling her warmth, it always made me feel batter.

"Pardon me."

Probably, I should have said it before I started reaching my arm around, but it should be fine. It's not like the princess ever asked me before doing it herself and you don't see me complaining, nope, none at all.

Fortunately, Cecilia has no complaints either, and she merely sit beside me silently, her head resting on mine, since my avatar's a head shorter than hers.

***

We returned by the time the sun begins to set, and upon our return, we did so with a bucket of nothing, not a single fish had been caught.

As we enter the camp, two individuals come up to greet us, and the moment I note their figures, names immediately pop up on top of their heads. On the right is the man with the fiery red hair and a fashionable goatee, the name displayed on the top of his head is [SixtyNine69]. On the left is the small girl with a witch's hat, long white hair, and a pair drowsy looking eyes, the name displayed on the top of her head is [Toto].

"Aurelius!"

"Six!"

The man with the indecent name waves his hand as he greets me with a big silly grin on his face, and I start running towards him the moment I spot him. I leap into the air with my hand held high while he brings his own hand towards mine slamming into one another and creating a single resounding clap.

"Good to see you, buddy."

"Good to see you too, Six."

SixtyNine69 and I go way back. We started around the same time and met in the beginner's area. On a whim, we partied up, going here and there to complete a few quests and had a few conversations. As it seemed like we somewhat get along with one another, we added each other to our respective friend's list. Since then, we partied together here and there, and even when we're not in the same party, we still chat when we don't feel like questing or grinding. In a way, it could be said that he's my closest friend in Elysium Online.

"Welcome back, Aurelius, GodSlayer."

"Yeah, I'm back, and I told you to call me Cecilia!"

As for Toto, she mainly keeps to herself, and while she'd help out in quests or item farming sometimes if we asked her to, she hardly ever asked for help from anyone. Basically, she's a mostly solo player. I can't say that I know much about her since we rarely play together, but she's polite when talked to and is never unpleasant, so I suppose she's pretty nice. Cecilia seems to know her in real life though, so maybe she's an old man too.

"So, anything happened while we're gone?"

To Cecilia's question, Six shrugged.

"Nothing, no attacks, no sightings. It's completely calm."

"I guess they must still be recovering from their last failed attempt."

"That was a rather massive attack after all, and it was pushed back by us just like that. I'd be shocked if they have the numbers to mount another attack anytime soon."

Cecilia turns towards me, on her face is a big grin.

"Looks like you were right, Aurelius, tomorrow might just be the perfect opportunity to attack."

"Whoa, what's this about an attack!?"

From what he said, it looks like Six hasn't heard about our plan. Taking this opportunity, to the confounded Six, Cecilia puffed out her chest and crossed her arms, striking an imposing stance.

"Listen up, SlayerZ! A stratagem has been devised, and tomorrow, this garrison will move to strike down the enemy, and we shall be the vanguard!"

"Wait what, seriously! I thought there's nothing we could do about the forest!"

"Ha! Six, thou of little faith, Aurelius here had already seen the path to victory, the forest shall be culled!"

Oh god, why does she have to put it like that!? Somebody, stop her before she goes overboard and cause some kind of misunderstanding!

My gaze turns towards Toto, who seem to understand my plea.

"GodSlayer, please stop, you're embarrassing Aurelius."

"Oh, what's there to be embarrassed about? It's good for raising troop moral right? Or are you trying to say that your plan is going to fail? That we're going to all die?"

When she puts it like that, I can't say anything back to her. I mean, who would want to execute a plan that would fail?

"I- I mean, at least wait till you have the commander's permission before you start shouting about it. You have to remember that you're not the one in charge right now."

Then, from behind me, a soothing voice cuts into the conversation.

"Oh, that's quite fine, the details for the plan had already started to spread around the camp, the official briefing would come after dinner, but most of everyone already knows. If they hadn't heard about it, they'll hear it soon."

"P-princess!"

I can't help but feel nervous, nervous about having her around my guildmates, after all, while Cecilia had accepted working with her, the others have not. And having heard the story about Veldar, I understand now how difficult it must have been to simply just say "Okay, I'll work with you." Seeing how gloomy Cecilia was when she told me about Veldar, how well will the others take it, knowing that the person who caused this is right in front of them, and is telling them to fight for her.

"Aurelius, did you enjoy your time?"

As if ignorant of my worries, the princess greets me with a smile.

"Yes, I had fun. Anyways, shall we go over there for a bit?"

I'm going to have to get the princess away from the others while I let Cecilia sort this out with SixtyNine69 and Toto. Hopefully it goes well. Tomorrow's plan would be difficult to execute without then.

"You have something you want to talk about, Aurelius?"

"Yes, kind of..."

"Can it wait? I have some other business to attend to at the moment."

Oh, so she has some business does she? Good, whatever gets her away from here.

"Very well, then I'll wait. There's no problem."

"Thank you, Aurelius."

Again, she gives me a smile as she walks pass me... straight towards the others.

"I am the Princess of the Beastkins. Sir Sixty-Nine Sixty-Nine and Lady Toto, it was I who had summoned you to this world. I beg of you, please save our world."

And there she goes.

***

End of Chapter 19