Sora collected the 135 gold with a smile, it had exceeded his expectations. He knew there would be a lot of people that came here for the EXP, what he didn’t calculate is the amount of people who came here simply because it was the first territory and belonged to a famous player. A lot of players had came to the outpost just to spend some time at the hot springs or restaurant, his outpost had became a social hub for players who were around Frost Peak Mountain. Sora could see the amount of money climbing up after he collected his money. It would probably start to calm down once people start moving on from this area, but for now the money was still flowing nicely.

Sora had mainly came here to collect his gold but decided to go ahead and look around for a bit, then maybe take a break from the game. He had been logged in almost non stop for nearly a month, his mind was beginning to become less sharp. He started off by going to the inn, with the restaurant on the bottom floor. As he walked in he heard some very vulgar words being yelled by a couple of guys who had just walked in and sat at the bar counter. Some of the people who were here earlier and saw the innkeeper decimate the group of players stayed quiet, they no longer had the courage to try and tease with her. These new guys didn’t see the massacre so they were more unrestrained.

“Hey, pretty lady. Do you provide any other services here?”

“My inn offers food, drinks, and rooms.”

“Oh, ok. How about we get a room together then? Hahaha!”

Sora could tell that these people were bothering a lot of the other customers, especially the females customers who had a look of disgust on their faces. Some of the men even looked at them with pity in their eyes. Sora sat down and watched them for a bit, he was wondering why the NPC hadn’t kicked them out yet. He suddenly remembered that he had forgot to set the hostile triggering point of NPCs, meaning they won’t attack unless attacked or touched first. He pulled up his guild management system and set the innkeeper NPC down to a point where she would issue a warning and then take action if necessary. He once again started to watch the innkeeper.

“Sirs, if you do not restrain yourselves from acting so barbaric then I will have to take action.”

“Hahaha, you hear that? A little innkeeper like her is going to take action. I have an action we can take together, hahaha!”

The innkeeper pulled up her knife and delivered an accurate strike to the man who had just spoken. The other man was just about to start backing up his friend when he saw how he was swiftly killed. His words were stuck in his throat as he backed out of the restaurant, bumping into a few tables on the way out. The rest of the customers had gave a small cheer as the two men were taken care of, letting the rest of the customers enjoy their meals and drinks in peace. Sora nodded as he saw that things were progressing smoothly here now. He put all of the NPCs at the same triggering point as the innkeeper, hoping that they could keep things calm until he can hire actual guards to work here.

Everything seemed to check out in the shopping area, the next place he was going to visit was the chasm and hot springs. He passed through the gate and started heading down the chasm. From his point of view he could see many players around the chasm, killing off nearly every corrupted creature in the chasm. The chasm was extremely large, so it wasn’t a problem for a couple hundred people to be able to grind some EXP as long as they each have their own areas. Right now there were people that fought over some of the enemies, meaning that there was more than a couple hundred. Sora needed to expand the chasm size so it can accommodate more players. The only problem was that Sora lacked the amount of money he needed to do so.

Sora walked through the area with no problem, heading towards the hot springs. He placed a sign above the cave that said ‘Frost Peak Springs/Fishing’ to help players find it easier, then proceeded into the cave. The fishing spot had a decent amount of players, most of them looked to just be killing time and not really wanting to fish. He entered the hot springs and saw that it was mainly men, with a few women here and there. The worst part was that most of them had decided to go full naked instead of just wearing their armor and enjoying the water. Sora cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

“I would like to do some quick renovations, could you all please give me a moment and step out of the water, or at least leave the middle of the water.”

It was too steamy to see the name tag of the person talking but some of the players were smart enough to figure out that it was Ethereal, since he had mentioned doing renovations. Those people moved out of the way without complaining. Some of the people who didn’t catch on refused to move and thought he was just someone trying to ruin their fun. Especially one couple who was currently clinging onto each other near the back. Sora began having less and less patience for these type of people. He added both of them onto the blacklist, making their names yellow. Their fun was interrupted by a message telling them they had been blacklisted, it was too late for them to try and defend themselves as a storm of spells hit them both, killing them off.

“Thank you for your assistance.”

Sora put up a wall in the middle of the hot springs, going all the way from the front to the back. He then made two separate doors and labeled them as ‘Male’ and ‘Female’, setting a gender restriction to each of them. He finished it up by forcefully separating everyone according to gender. This should make it more welcoming to some of the more shy players, meaning more money. Plus it would get a bad reputation if his hot springs turned into a brothel. Sora had now finished everything he needed to, he returned to the outpost before logging out.

…..

Sora felt a little stiff as he exited the game. He was wishing that the new VR systems would come out already so he could have a much more pleasant experience. The new systems would be much more comfortable since it was designed as a bed of sorts that would compress all of your limbs, moving them very slowly every now and then to help against stiffness. It would also have a much smaller toll on the amount of stress it puts on your mind when playing.

He stretched his legs and arms as he sat up, making them pop slightly. The entire house was quiet, not even the sound of the air conditioner could be heard since it was fall and the weather was nice. His room was very plainly designed, nearly empty except for the computer desk and his bed. Sora let out a sigh while looking at the house. He had sold this house in his past life, since it brought up some unwanted memories every time he saw it. Even now he could see the faint image of a woman reading a story to a child as the child fell asleep.

He walked out of the room, entering a hallway that had a few extra doors. The one closest to him was just a bathroom, which he still used. He took a quick shower to freshen up and clear his head. The other two doors had remained shut for a long time now, since Sora didn’t have the courage to open them. He walked into the kitchen after his shower and once again saw the faint image of a woman cooking near the stove and a man sitting at the table, drinking a cup of coffee. The living room was connected to the kitchen but Sora walked straight through before the visions started to appear. As Sora left, the dark house had become even more eerily quiet.

Sora needed some fresh air after having memories brought up. He had been living alone ever since his parents died, it had happened in the same house he lived in now. He was able to live off of the inheritance that was left for him, plus the insurance from his parents death. That was the only thing that was given to him, everything else he had to learn on his own. Sora had been walking down the street with no particular destination, maybe he would stop to get something to eat. There was a restaurant near here that he remembered enjoying in his previous life.

Sora walked into a small building that looked like a diner, with booths set up all around. Sora picked a booth and sat down, next to another booth with a man that was dressed in a suit and tie. The man had black hair that was cleanly cut yet still long and looked a little feminine. He wondered why someone like him would be eating at a place like this. A waitress that looked annoyed came up to Sora’s table.

“What do you want to drink?”

“Water is fine.”

“Know what you want yet?”

“No, I’ll need a moment.”

The waitress just rolled her eyes as she walked away. Sora was a bit irritated by the way she was acting, but managed to keep himself calm. Dealing with all of the conceited people in the game for the last month had limited his patience, so he was even more on edge than usual. The waitress took a long time before she came back, even forgetting to bring his water.

“Are you ready yet?”

“I haven’t even gotten my water yet.”

“I’ll bring it after you order, my shift is almost over so can we hurry this up a little?”

The man in the suit seemed to choke on his food a little. Sora came here to relax a little and now he had to deal with this kind of person instead. He was just about to say something when the man in the suit came up next to the waitress. He took the notepad that she wrote orders on away from her before turning to Sora. The waitress was a little surprised at the sudden snatching of her notepad and seemed to get angry, slapping the man in the suit.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?! You just assaulted me, I’m filing a police report!”

The owner of the diner came out after hearing all of the commotion, at first he was going to try and help his employee but when he saw the red cheek of the man she had hit his face paled. The owner quickly put himself between the two people, as he started to stutter on his words.

“S-s-sir this i-isn’t what we t-t-taught our staff.”

“If this isn’t what you taught them then why is she still part of your staff?”

“Y-you’re absolutely r-right s-sir. We will fire her immediately!”

The waitress was shocked at what was happening, how could somebody so easily get her fired? She had thought the owner would back her up since she had been seeing him outside of work, they had somewhat of a relationship. She had always been able to act unruly because the owner would always back her up. The owner had turned towards her with a face full of anger, there was a hint of unwillingness but he quickly pushed that away.

“Due to your lack of proper behavior, you are terminated and WILL NOT be allowed to work at this company ever again.”

“Wh-what the fuck?! You better send this guy away and take back what you said or don’t even think about sleeping with me again!”

The man in the suit had his interest piqued at the sudden accusation. The owner paled as the words left the waitresses mouth. Sora was sitting there confused, he wanted to leave quietly but the three people had blocked him in.

“So, you have that kind of relationship going on? Looks like I’ll have to talk to my father about our company policy. I feel like there was a part in there that mentioned the repercussions of illicit company relationships.”

Everyone within the diner had been focusing on what was happening, some of the families had to leave due to the language being used around their kids. Some pulled out their phones and started to record it. All the blood in the owner's face had drained, he wanted to say something but couldn’t bring himself to do so. He might be able to get out of this if he is obedient. The owner walked to the back of the diner with his head hung low. The woman had thought her threats would work but when they didn’t she started to storm out of the diner, throwing chairs down and making a huge scene. Some of the other employees seemed to be celebrating at the sight of the woman finally leaving them. The man in the suit finally turned back towards Sora, notebook in hand.

“Sorry for all of the commotion, my father is the CEO of this company so I couldn’t sit back while our staff treated you so poorly. So what can I get you to drink?”