Author Romeru
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Chapter 40: Oh...
🕑 Added 2024-10-30 16:40:09 +0000 UTC[It makes sense, Cyrus has dealt with hundreds of Players. You probably checked all the boxes.]
“Yes. He did say the weapons disappearing every time was what gave it away. Do you think Juliet knows too?”
[There’s a high chance she does, Julian.]
A few hours after Julian’s meeting with SwordJunkieNo.1Fan, he was back in their temporary lodging—the hotel near Clevesky. Initially, Julian and Ellie planned to stay somewhere cheaper, but with the sudden influx of money, they both shrugged and decided to enjoy the hotel for a while.
He and Cyrus had talked about how to proceed now that Julian had decided to trust Cyrus with the information, and the two of them agreed to keep the Unique Quest a secret for as long as possible. But of course, Cyrus wanted to slowly hint at it to the audience, just to build up hype.
Cyrus also mentioned the benefits of revealing it early, like gaining a larger audience, but he believed it wouldn’t go viral that way—the discovery had to feel organic for the audience.
“I’ve been meaning to ask, MEGAN…” Julian hummed thoughtfully.
[What is it?] MEGAN’s tone grew serious as she sensed the change in his mood.
“...What does ‘viral’ mean?”
[You—]
“What are you guys talking about?” Ellie interrupted as she stepped out of the bathroom.
“We were just talking about what to do next in Otherworld,” Julian said, relaxing in his chair.
“Oh? You’re playing later?” Ellie raised an eyebrow as she glanced at the LinkGear resting on the bed.
“How exactly does that work? Your real body is asleep while your mind is out there with your clone?”
“I’m not entirely sure how it works, but yes,” Julian confirmed with a nod. “That’s basically how it goes.”
“That’s… a really productive way to use your time,” Ellie said, blinking in awe. “If you use both times wisely, you could really improve in social cues and understanding people, Julian.”
“Hm?” Julian tilted his head. “How so?”
“Like realizing that you and MEGAN could’ve talked about whatever it was you’re talking about while the two of us showered together,” Ellie sighed, the rustle of her clothes whispering through Julian’s ears as she started getting dressed. “I was waiting for you to join me.”
“It is not time for me to take a bath yet.” Julian stood up from his seat, tilting his head to the side as he heard something, “Someone’s in front of the door.”
“Huh? What do you—”
“Cleveland Police Department.”
Ellie did not really have the chance to wonder at all as their sudden visitors introduced themselves from the other side of the door, knocking several times and one more as they stated their purpose, “We have questions to ask Elizabeth Summers, we were told she was in this room. We would truly appreciate it if you could help us with an ongoing investigation.”
“The… police?” Ellie gasped as she looked at Julian, “Do you think… this might have something to do with the loan sharks? What… what do I do, Julian? Are they… are they going to arrest me for doing business with them? I thought they were—”
“Ellie.” Julian quickly approached her, gently placing his large hands over her shoulders, “You’ll be fine, okay? I’m sure of it.”
“That…” Ellie stared at Julian’s lips for a moment, taking in a small gulp before nodding and walking to the door to meet the officers with a confident fire in her eyes, “I’m Elizabeth Summers.” she introduced herself before gesturing to the two officers to come in, “Please. Anything I can do to help.”
“We… won’t be long, Ms. Summers.” The two officers halted their steps as soon as they caught a glimpse of Julian standing behind Ellie; one of them almost pulling out his gun there and then since he did not expect to meet someone as imposing as Julian there.
It might just be a small minute feeling, but being trapped in a small hallway with Julian was not really something that gives a lot of… confidence. His large arms and hands alone felt like they could grab them at any moment and snap their necks.
It did not help at all that his eyes were glowing.
“We’re… sorry for disturbing you.” The officers gulped, “But we have a few questions we need to ask you—do you know this man?”
One of the officers unfolded her phone which projected a hologram of a person.
[Julian! It’s the boss of the loan sharks!] MEGAN quickly chimed in, [Don’t do anything! They don’t seem to be here for you.]
Julian made sure not to react at all, just stepping closer to Ellie and placing his hand over her shoulder.
“No…” Ellie narrowed her eyes as she looked at the person, “...I don’t think I’ve seen him before.”
“What about this one? Is he—”
“He…” Ellie gasped before the officer could even finish her words, her eyes trembling as she saw the hologram.
[...It’s the one with the cybernetic arm, Julian.] MEGAN’s voice turned deeper.
“Do you know him, Ma’am?” The officer asked again.
“Yes.” Ellie answered without any hesitation as she knew that these officers already knew the answer to their questions—lying here would only put her in an even tighter spot, “Why… is there something—”
“He’s dead, Ma’am.” A small smirk crawled on the officer’s face as she looked Ellie in the eyes, “And so are the rest of his friends and colleagues.”
“Dead…?” Ellie stammered, her eyes widening in shock, “What do you mean…?”
“The higher-ups think it might be gang-to-gang violence.” The other officer joined the conversation.
“They are a pretty notorious gang around here, and they target women like… you.” The man glanced at Julian, “Desperate and in need of help—we found you from the list we salvaged from their hideout. You’re actually the 9th person we’ve visited tonight, and you won’t be the last.”
“So… they’re dead?” Ellie stammered, “Do… you know who did it?”
“We were hoping you would.” The officers let out a sigh at the same time, already knowing the answer, “But we know you have no idea about anything. This is all just a formality. And truthfully, us ground unit don’t think this was done by another gang.”
“Then…”
“Daemons.” The officers once again sighed, “With the state of the corpses, we believe daemons did it… no human could have done something like that. And there’s been a lot of them on The Below lately.”
“Daemon attack, again…?” Ellie covered her mouth as she looked at Julian, “There’s… no chance you’re returning to your apartment, Julian.”
“Well, we won’t keep you.” The officers then smiled and nodded as they shook Ellie’s hand. The male officer was about to shake Julian’s hand, but he was left completely hanging.
“Stupid,” the female officer muttered, lightly hitting him on the back of the head as they left the room.
“Wait, is there anything I need to do?” Ellie called out before closing the door.
“Don’t deal with shady people anymore,” the female officer advised, pointing at her.
“Oh… uh… right,” Ellie chuckled awkwardly. “I’ll take that advice to heart. Thank you.”
And as soon as Ellie closed the door, she quickly turned around and leaped into Julian’s arms.
“What… what the hell was that…?” Ellie’s breaths turned heavy, “I thought… I thought I was going to be in trouble. I thought we were… spending too much time in Cloud 9 and now they were going to take it away but… they’re dead? Those people are dead?”
“Hm…” Julian gently brushed his fingers across Ellie’s damp hair. She must never know—she must never know that it was him who massacred the loan sharks and left them down the Below like trash, “I suppose the problem solved itself, Ellie. I told you…
…you’ll be fine from now on.”
Ellie spent an hour in Julian’s arms, and then another hour with him inside her. And finally, as she just fainted right there and then from exhaustion, it was time for Julian to return to Artemia.
“Ugh… you guys are like animals in heat.”
In the Between, MEGAN was rolling her eyes at the invisible Julian, “Remember when I still had to explain to you everything that was happening while you and Ellie were having sex, Julian?”
“Yes.” Julian answered without any hesitation, “Why are you not doing that anymore?”
“Stop being such a weirdo. Yuck. Ew.” MEGAN rubbed her arms dramatically, shivering at his words. “You’re an adult now, Julian. And according to surveys, 14.12% of the human population prefers having sex with the lights off. So… just consider yourself part of that percentage. Pft. Sorry, that was a tasteless joke.”
“How would you know, MEGAN?”
“Hm?”
“How would you know it’s tasteless when you don’t have a tongue?” Julian bantered.
“Ha!” MEGAN pointed at him, grinning. “Touché, my boy. Touché! You—Oh.”
MEGAN wanted to talk to Julian more inside the Between, but his consciousness was already fully transferred to his clone, leaving her alone inside the empty void.
“Taste, huh…” MEGAN very gently traced her fingers on her lips, “I… do wonder what it tastes like.”
And soon, those words faded into the darkness, taking MEGAN along with her—the longing, however, will perhaps forever remain in the void.
***
“Hm…” Julian wasted no time stretching his clone’s limbs, also making sure to relieve himself before he left his room. Since the owner of this inn was a player, toilets were practically mandatory—and surprisingly enough, they were clean and worked properly. Of course, they felt quite different from what Julian was used to, but it didn’t really matter at all.
“We’re not going to stream today, MEGAN.”
<PrettyOneechan: Yes>
“I wonder if Juliet’s back at her forge.”
And with his meal done, Julian finally finished his ritual and stepped out of the inn—well, at least that was what he expected to happen. Before he could even get up from his table, he suddenly found himself surrounded by several people, some of them even sitting with him at his table.
“Is you, right? Is you?”
“Is me… what?” Julian leaned back as one of the men started pointing at him.
“Oooh, is you!” The man stood up and started spinning around, while his companions also started wheezing and breathing in harmony as they stared at Julian with amused expressions on their faces, “My brother, dab it up. Dab it up.”
“Dab it up?” Julian could really only stare at the man’s hand as it reached toward him before finally shaking it a few moments later.
“Ei, ei yo, man! The Sword Junkie’s holding my hand!” The man then quickly pulled away and started high-fiving his friends, “Youse famous, man. Shit! I ain’t gonna wash this hand for weeks!”
“Me too, brother! Share some love here!”
And soon, the entire group was reaching all their hands toward him. Julian had no idea what all of this meant, but this group was funny so he just let them continue whatever it was they were doing. Soon, however, their excitement finally calmed down as some of them started dissipating away and returning to their tables—all except for the first one who approached him.
“You going to the Streamer Awards, Sword Junkie?” The man asked.
“...I’m afraid I don’t know what that is.” Julian hummed.
“Brother, but youse a streamer.” The man narrowed his eyes in suspicion, his head weaving from left to right, “But then again, youse with Cyrus, right? He should be telling you this stuff. They hold it every year and you definitely be baggin’ that Rising Star award, brother.”
“I… probaby won’t be attending it.” Julian hummed, finally getting the chance to stand up.
“Like hell you ain’t, bro…” The man pointed at Julian again, “...me and the gang finna vote for you.”
“Oh, uh… Okay.” Julian shook the man’s hand again as he reached out, “Thank you.”
“Be seeing you out there, Sword Junkie. Be careful of them Order of Artemia bitches. Them pigs been on high alert ever since they found the bodies you left behind on the way here.”
“Oh…” Julian hadn’t really thought about that—in fact, he had almost completely forgotten that he had already killed people in Artemia. It all seemed so… trivial now. Their deaths, just a passing thought in his mind, and not even. As long as he could keep himself and the people he cared about safe…
…he would kill more if he needed to.
***
“Ah, Julian! Where on Artemia have you been!? I thought you and that sissy boy died in that dungeon—I was getting ready to follow you.”
“Juliet.”
After Julian’s somewhat eventful encounter with the random group back at the inn, he went straight to Juliet’s outdoor forge, quickening his pace to avoid being recognized by any more players. If Cyrus were here, he probably wouldn’t be having this problem. But alas, Cyrus was going to have to take a backseat for now, as what Julian was about to do wasn’t something that should be seen by the chat just yet.
“You… haven’t crafted anything?” Julian’s eyes quickly landed on the mountain of ingots they’d gotten from Juliet’s old employer, and it looked almost exactly the same as he had left it.
“No, pft.” Juliet lowered the large axe she was holding and glanced at Julian. “These are ours, so I can’t just use them whenever and wherever I want to.”
“Hm…” Julian approached the mountain of ingots, tracing his fingers along their cold surface. After a few seconds, he let out a small breath, turning his shoulder toward Juliet and looking at her. “...I have something to tell you—and it’s really important that you don’t tell anyone else.”
“...Sounds serious.” Juliet’s eyes narrowed as she sat down on the anvil. “I’m your apprentice now, I’d literally be going against the guild’s code if I disobey you.”
“Hm.” Julian actively heightened his senses to check if there was anyone nearby who might be listening to them, and as soon as he confirmed that there wasn’t, he carefully stepped closer to Juliet and whispered,
“I have—”
“You’re an Evil Spirit, aren’t you?”
“Huh?”
“...Huh?”
Juliet and Julian practically stared at each other’s eyes due to the quick and slightly quirky exchange—well, the staring was more Juliet, since Julian was not really used to staring anyone in the eyes yet.
“No.” Julian’s words were slow as he slightly backed away from Juliet, “I was going to tell you that I have a Unique Class quest.”
“Oh… pft.” Juliet rolled her lips as she looked away, “Isn’t that obvious? I realized it when Bran came running out and screaming that someone stole the khopesh we made—I was watching their smithy the entire time, Julian… no one entered or left even once. That means the blade just vanished into thin air, which could really only mean that it was a prerequisite for someone’s quest. Yours.”
“Oh.” Julian hummed.
“...So, you’re not an Evil Spirit?” Juliet’s eyes narrowed again.
“...No.” Julian answered.
“You sure…? It’s alright if you are, I hate the Order. But wow, you guys are actually real?”
“I’m not an Evil Spirit.”
“You’re not…?”
“Hm.”
“...Huh.”
[LAST CHAPTER] <-----> [NEXT CHAPTER]
AUTHOR NOTES
lol, that ending though. So casual. By the way, I have a favor to ask to you, my patrons T_T. We are currently at the 11th Rank of the Rising Stars on Royal Road, and Rising Stars is basically a push for new books or something... I want to at least reach at least the Top 10-7.
And also, I have a feeling that I am about to be bombarded by .5 Reviews soon. Just a feeling deep in my soul.
And I do believe that an advanced review would add to that. So, if you have time, please do give me a positive advanced review! What you like about it, etc. T_T
I know I can't reach the top 1, but I think we can reach Top 7 if we work together! It will really help push the book out there, and we can multiply. Muehehehe.
Comments
Manpapper
Thanks for the chapter
