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Part 3

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When I reached the place; a small isolated park outskirt of the Royal Capital, I saw both Sophia and Alviss seated together by a bench under a tree. As soon as they both saw me, Alviss came running towards me while Sophia turned away her face as fast as I could.

“G-Ghost! Y-You came!”

“Piss off, pretty boy! Don’t need you to stand in front of my face.” My displeasure was all for him to see. He immediately ceased his advance and immediately went to Miranda’s side. Whispering amongst themselves, I proceeded towards the lone girl seated like a newly broken-hearted girl under a tree; her face to her knee. And to others, it was not wrong to assume so anyway. But I knew better now.

Miranda had explained to me what happened to Sophia on our way here. The day I left them, the three went their separate ways for a while. During the time, Sophia had been bullied by other players. Both in the city and the field, she had been taken advantage of because of her own weaknesses; naïve and kind-hearted. And because of that, she was PK-ed twice in three days. She was teabagged, insulted and had her dignity stripped. And all of her items were stolen and unfortunately, that included the two items she gained from our last quest. For a girl like her, that was way too much for her to handle.

“Ughh…” She whimpered as I came nearer to her.

I looked towards the rest. “All of you, leave us alone.” The three left quietly, taking their spot at the next area. Privacy was paramount. But, what should I do now?

Should I give her one of my pep talks? But Sophia was not one of my army boys. Perhaps motivational talk might do it? Looking at her conditions right now, I shook my head a few more times.

Maybe I could inspire her? But to do what, actually? What about heart-warming? The moment I mentioned that wretched word, I felt goosebumps all over me. Hell, I really had no idea what should I say to a girl in this sort of situation. This was way over my head. Killing monsters were way easier. Pissing off people was fun too. And I was doing neither of them.

“Sophia, I’m here.” I just stood in front of her thinking what I should say next.

She did not turn to me, just hiding her head between her knee. Ohh man, this was going nowhere. Guess I better just spout whatever that came to my mind.

“Look, I’m not here for you to behave like this. Your two friends said that you have some troubles. Despite that they know really well how I would treat them, they still insisted that I’m supposed to meet and talk to you. But, if you are like this…”

“I-I…” I could barely catch her words under the soft tone. Sigh… I guessed I have to take the bulls by the horns now.

“Why do you play this game?” I quickly changed the topic. And it took Sophia a few good seconds before she answered me.

“For fun, I guess?”

“What is fun?” I asked her, without a pause. Direct to the point which obviously made Sophia woke up from her own miserable state of moping.

“Umm… playing with friends, I guess.” She answered meekly as she lifted up her face and looked at me. I was pointing to myself, indicating to her if I was among the ‘friends’ she mentioned. She shyly nodded at the notion.

“And are you having fun, now?”

She shook her head. I knelt in front of her as she continued to hide her face. “Look, young lady. I’m not really good with words. But listen well.” Pausing for a while, looking for any eavesdroppers that might interrupt my words, I began once I was satisfied that there were only just two of us.

“I heard from Miranda that you said I was the nicest guy you have ever met.” Without waiting for her confirmation, I continued. “I’m actually happy when I heard Miranda told me about it. But Sophia… this is where you are wrong.”

Sophia’s eyes went big and moist. Looked like I had got into her now.

“To tell you the truth, I’m the worst kind of guy there is. Perhaps in the whole world. People had called me a tyrannical, egotistical, maniacal and self-absorbed jerk. Even trigger happy. And you know what? They are bloody right.”

“B-But…” I silenced Sophia with a bitter smile.

“I’m really not nice at all. Unlike you, though you might be a little naïve like someone I know. And I’m far from being the perfect friend. But…”

And my smiling face turned into a serious one. I looked at her directly into her eyes and said, “If someone ever hurt my friends, I’ll hunt them to the end of the world. Sophia, you are my friend, I’ll have you know that. So, those guys who PK-ed you, who bullied you, who humiliated and steal from you, will see no hell hath fury like me. But before that happened, I can’t see you like this.”

I put my finger on her chin and lifted her face up. Surprisingly, she did not put much resistance. “Keep your chin up, young lady.”

“B-But… I-I lost the items… y-you gave me.” Her tears flowed freely. Was she worried about the items I gave to her? Was she afraid that I might scold her? Man, I really did not understand what went through her mind. Despite having to live through many battles and wars, I was still socially awkward, especially around women. But at least I should quell her fears for now. “Items could be farmed, Sophia.”

“B-But…”

I silenced her with my fingers on her lips.

“Do you remember them? Know their names?”

She nodded.

“Well, that settles it. But before we could get to that, stop worrying your friends.” I reckoned that this would settle it now.

“Are you not angry that I lost the item?” Sophia meekly asked, yet again to know my own stand on things. I answered her with a smile and shook my head.

“A-and about the other day…” I silenced her one more time. “No need to talk about that for now. Go and see your friends. The two of them are worried about you, alright. You have been a naughty girl making us worried like this.”

“I-I’m sorry…”

I stood up and extended my hand towards her. She grabbed it tenderly as I pulled her up. As we walked towards the who waited for us nearby, I could feel that Sophia really needed help. She was a nice girl, but being nice had nothing to do with playing the games.

Players often wore a different mask here compared to the real world. So, it was not surprising to see people behaved like an arsehole in the game. In fact, most players were an arsehole in one way or another. I never saw a player like Sophia before. I never partied with many players but I did know one thing for sure. Those three cared for each other despite how they looked like and behaved at times.

“Ghost, where are you going?” Miranda asked me as soon as those three got together once more.

“Somewhere. Why?” I looked at her with the same cold stare. And as usual, she was not going to back down just by my look alone.

“C-Can… we… invite you to o-our g-guild house?”

I shook my head. The three of them looked disappointed, especially Sophia. Not wanting to destroy my earlier ‘work’, I answered straight away, “Next time, perhaps. I have something to do for now.”

I said my farewell as I left the trio. Hopefully, they could get along better now. I did not need the extra drama in my game. It was quite tiring to actually did what I did to Sophia earlier. Prepping the boys for war was way easier than that.

*****

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Part 4

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“Did you see that girl?”

“Yeah. I could recognize her even though she hid under that robe.”

“Hmm… I never thought that we would see her here. After all that happened, she still returns here.”

“We better report this to the King immediately. He had been looking for her all these while.”

“What about that guy beside her?”

“Not important. If he interferes, we will stuff him in the jail. Or better still, kill him.”

*****