‘A quest from another quest?’ It was a first for John. A chain quest was the bread and butter of a role-playing game. Comparing it to a stand-alone quest, a chain quest had the potential to gift the person with a higher tier reward.

‘Yes, I accept,’ John took the challenge head-on.

He turned to the people who were kneeling to him. No matter how he looked at them, the thing of the heart was a difficult problem to solve.

“Over here, boys!” Hanz called, slamming the surface of his precious counter. “Let’s show that fatty Mayor how a feast should really be.”

John retreated to his room while the guys were having a blast downstairs. They insisted he joined, but John had other matters to attend to. Unlocking his door, John entered his room. The room was the same like he left it before, bed messy as hell and a patch of dark stain close to the window. It irked him how he couldn’t salvage the wooden floor and with that bloodstain, it was going to take a hell of an effort to clean it up.

‘I should probably ask Hanz to change my room after this,’ he took off the tunic and the pants as the fabric would never be to his liking. It was way too itchy for him. ‘Now this is high-quality stuff,’ his hands felt the soft cotton made by Fellelone. The difference was like heaven and earth. Yet he didn't wear it immediately last night blood, sweat, and tears were still sticking on his skin. “Yup, I better hit the—”

The phone rang and his eyes scattered over the bed. He scrambled, turning over the blanket searching for his phone. “Found it,” John snatched it from the comfort of the pillow as if it had been in sleep mode all this time.

“Hello?” John answered. A sigh tickled his ear. Whoever this woman was, she was genuinely worried about him. But it was a pity. John’s heart had been stolen in mere two days and it was even by a tree no less.

“Thank goodness you’re still alive, I thought I lost you there,” she said with the gentlest tone. “But why the fuck did you hung up on me!” and then came the scream John hated.

“You know how—” she wanted to rant for all those numerous missed calls she made but John had a big concern.

“Do you know why you can call me through this phone?” John popped the question. “Because if you ask me, it doesn’t make sense for a phone to work here. No cell towers, no satellites orbiting the earth, and not a single damn bar. Care for an explanation, Miss whose-name-I-don’t-know-yet?”

“It’s—”

“If you’re trying to say it’s just simply magic, I’m calling it bullshit. Even if it’s the truth, you need to explain to me how it works to the smallest detail…Because I’m telling you this, I need to know all of this, no matter what, you get me?” John gave a subtle warning.

He waited for a reply. Taking his time not wanting to rush the only person who could give him an answer. The silence went on and on as if it would continue for an eternity. John didn’t know waiting would be this painful. He was a man of patience, but when it involved something related to Fellelone, his patience was quick to run thin.

“Hey, you–”

“I can’t tell you,” she said.

It was the worst thing he could hear. His cheek muscles twitched as he couldn’t believe what he just heard. A frown carved on his beige forehead as he could feel his rage rising from the depth of his stomach. He restrained himself, clenching tight over the blanket underneath him. ‘Calm down, John. Don’t let your anger consume you.’ John breathed in and breathed out, calming down his excited pulse.

“Please tell me, miss,” John pleaded, “I need to know why…I need to know why the Forbidden Lilium ran away after seeing my phone.”

He concealed the reason why he needed to know. Who knew what would happen if someone knew that he had an intimate relationship with a hidden boss.

“If it’s only about that, I wouldn’t mind answering it,” she said. Her voice was like the glimmer of hope.

The frown on John turned upside down as he smiled. This was good news. “Thank you!” he shouted much to his surprise. “I mean…I’m really grateful for this, I really am,” John said.

“Just take this as a present for still being alive for me,” she said. “So, what do you want to know?”

“Why does someone powerful like her would fear something as small as this phone of mine?” he asked.

“It’s the energy,” she said.

It took John some time to process it. Yet it was too short. The answer he sought couldn’t be just that. “Is that it?” he asked.

“That’s the only thing I could tell,” she replied curtly.

His hand ruffled his dark brown hair as his hibernating anger was starting to wake up again. One word wasn’t enough to solve a problem as big as bringing Fellelone to another realm.

‘No, John…Let’s see this from a different perspective…It might be only one word but think of it as the first step. The first step to the next one and another. At least now I have a lead,’ John thought.

“Thank you,” he said. John didn’t know what kind of circumstances this woman was in since it could be bad considering she couldn’t divulge everything. Nonetheless, that little aid she gave was a sign she was his ally.

“Since I answered to your needs, now it’s my turn,” the woman said.

“Before that, can you at least tell me a name that I can call you with?” John said. “It just feels awkward not knowing who am I talking to…I mean, I know you can’t tell me your real name but at least give me something to work here. Like a nickname or even a fake name seems fine with me.”

John thought he would wait through another period of silence, or he might get an earful of ear-shattering screams. But much to his surprise, she did the unexpected.

“Liv. You can call me Liv,” she said.

“Liv,” John nodded. “That’s a good name.”

“It’s not my real name, okay?” Liv clarified.

“Whatever you say, Liv,” John smirked.

“Why do I feel that tone of yours is insulting me?” if John could see her, she was probably crossing her arms over her chest and frowning.

“Did I?” he smirked.

“See! You’re using that tone again,” Liv said.

“I’m sorry, Liv, but my eyes can’t see the tone of a voice unlike yours,” John said as he didn’t think he would have fun teasing her.

“Wait…you’re making fun of me!” Liv finally noticed. By then her scream kept blaring through the phone as John had anticipated her action.

He put the phone at a safe distance until the screams finally died down.

“Are you done?” John said in a cheeky tone.

“Humph. Just to let you know, this isn’t over,” said Liv. “Now pay attention, what’s the date for today?”

“It’s the eleventh of June,” John took a brief glance at the clock on his phone.

“Not that date, I want to know the date of where you are right now,” Liv said.

“Where I am? You mean Satbury has a different date from other places? I guess that makes sense since some part of the world is a bit earlier than the rest. But does that kind of thing the same in here? What if this world wasn’t a sphere like earth? Perhaps this world had a flat surface?” John strayed off from the main point, while Liv heard something peculiar.

“Wait! You’re in Satbury?” Liv said.

“Yea, why? I think I’ve told you before,” John tilted his head, not sure of his vague memories from yesterday.

“No, you did not. In the first place, why are you in Satbury?” she genuinely curious how he got there.

“Well it’s a long story but the short story is, I ran out of the forest and the first thing I saw was Satbury, that’s it,” John simply said.

“Then you need to get out of there, now!” Liv sounded urgent.

“And why would I do that?” John still had matters that needed to be settled here. He couldn’t just leave the town without finishing them all, especially the part where he needed to complete the three musketeers' quest.

“This going to sound crazy, but I need you to listen to me,” Liv articulated her words well. “I don’t know when precisely, but a goblin horde is coming over to that town. So, find the best horse in town, steal it, and ride away as fast as you can. You got that?”

“Liv, I can’t believe you,” John shook his head. “I never thought you would ask me to steal. It’s outright wrong, Liv, and you do know that stealing is a crime, right?”

“I’m talking about your life here, John! You don’t know how terrible a horde is…they will kill you the moment they see you,” Liv said.

“Yea, I know…it’s pretty damn scary, and it was even more scarier if you face it alone,” John replied.

“What?” Liv confused.

“What what?” even John was confused.

“Why did you talk like you’ve seen it?” Liv had a hunch.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you about that part…actually the horde had already come. So…the whole town kinda survived the whole ordeal, and right now I don’t think it would be an issue anymore,” John explained.

“Wait, but how?” judging from that tone of hers, Liv was shocked. “There’s no one there that could possibly defend the whole town against a horde of goblins, not to mention there’s even a gobtroll among them.”

“Wait, how did you know that? Is a gobtroll that common in a goblin horde? Or at your place, the goblins there are more adventurous in their sexcapade?” it made John wondered how Liv knew the detail of a horde.

“That isn’t the point here, John,” Liv said. “I just need you to tell me, who was the one who defeated the horde?”

“Well, I’m not the type to show off, but since you’re asking, I might as well said it…” John paused for dramatic effect. “Cue the drum roll–”

“Just tell me!” Liv couldn’t take it anymore as she screamed.

“It’s me, okay, it’s me…I’m the one who defeated the whole horde,” John said. For some reason, his chest puffed up a bit more than usual.

Silence reigned for a while, but then he heard her again.

“You’re lying,” Liv was skeptical.

“Up to you, Liv, I just spoke the truth…and nothing but the truth,” John said.

“But how? That isn’t possible, not with your current state,” then a gasp could be heard from Liv. “Don’t tell me…did you become a warlock, John?”

“Well, technically speaking…I am, but at the same time, I’m not. You see, the job I got isn’t the actual warlock job since you might as well call it the watered-down version of it,” John explained.

“Oh my God, you really did go to the dark side,” Liv sounded helpless.

“You don’t have to worry about that, Liv,” John tried to console her. In a way, she was just looking for his best interest. “Unlike normal warlocks, I didn’t take the thing that cause them to turn into total nutcases.”

“Explain,” Liv simply said.

John told her about the normal heart cores and how different it was to the one used by the warlocks.

“Are you sure you’re feeling fine?” she asked.

“I’m totally fine,” John said. “Healthy like a horse beside the…I mean, nothing, I guess.” He almost said something he shouldn’t say. But he clutched himself.

“For now, let’s put yourself under observation first. If there’s the slightest change in your behavior and your thought process, please report it to me as quickly as possible,” her words comforted him. Thinking back, she was the only one who supported him from the ground up. Unlike a certain somebody who had the idea of killing him through sex.

‘No, John. Stay your head in the game, and don’t get any funny feeling about someone else,’ John reminded himself of who he loved.

“Sure. I’ll keep it in mind,” John said.

“Even though that’s over, I still need to know the current date,” Liv was adamant in wanting to know today’s date.

“Sure, I’ll ask Hanz. But can you at least tell me why you need to know?” the curiosity in John was growing.

“If I’m not wrong, then you need to pay a visit to Luton City,” Liv said.

“Why?” he had to ask.

Then Liv answered his curiosity.

“A dungeon will appear near there and I need you to go conquer it.”