Pride Online

Chapter 43: Magic Warrior Office Part III

“You keep an eye on the road, Ae. no need to sleep.”

“What on earth?!” the other yelled, making a smile appear on the little brat’s face.

“Well, we’re really not familiar with this area, so who knows how tough the local monsters will be. If we don’t have someone to guard the carriage and get attacked, what’d you do then?”

Sure, she got the point, but he was still getting pissed somehow.

“But why does it have to be me? I’m the one who’s been watching the carriage the whole time!”

“Because I’m exhausted from running in the city today. I deserve some rest.”

Maysa raised her eyebrows as she was answering with a straight face. Then she made herself comfortable on the carriage floor, using her buddy’s belly as a pillow in the most annoying way to look at.

Manoch’s feet were itching again.

“Damn, that doesn’t answer why it has to be me.”

“I can take care of the carriage. I haven’t done much today anyway.”

Wisana said and smiled as he was about to get up, but Maysa stopped him by pressing him down with more of her weight.

“No, Wisana. You’re the one who needs to rest the most. You have to take an exam, remember? Just let some merchant here do something useful for us. We’re partners anyway, right? This is considered a very cheap contract signing fee, babe.”

Listening to that, Manoch groaned in his throat, sounding like ‘Ugh!’ he was thinking about yelling at this little brat, too. But Wisana was looking at him with such a high expectation in the eyes.

Damn it! If his bro was not around, this girl would probably get thrown out of the carriage by now. He would get back at this cat brat later. Just you wait!

“Fine! I’ll be guarding!”

He said, sounding very displeased before turning away. The tall figure got back to his duties as a security guard again unwillingly. And that caused Maysa a lot of satisfaction.

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Finally, the long journey had ended.

The day time changed to the night so fast like turning a book page.

The carriage stopped. The trio was standing, looking around Aeneas town excitedly.

It was exactly like what everyone was expecting of a desert town. The area was sparsely surrounded by box-shaped buildings. Only few shops and stalls were open. In the middle of the town’s square was a huge statue of a man, loftily standing like it was a symbol of the town. Most players were just the passing travelers who stopped here for accommodations or to refill supplies and items to go to the next town.

The only light source in the city was the burning ancient lamps on every corner of the building blocks. On a night like this, some people needed to carry their own lamps to increase their visibility.

In conclusion, the condition of this town was...

“So barren.” The boys spoke at the same time.

“It is. It’s not different from how I was expecting it to be, though.” Maysa said so deadpan that the guys looked at each other, blinking.

“Is the class you chose for me still active, May? Look, there are no other players in the town.”

Wisana asked, feeling very doubtful about his friend’s decision somehow. The town was located in such a backcountry like this, and where on earth did a nice class office would choose to be in a place like this? Except, it was an inferior class that could not compete with the others for a good spot!

“Just trust me. I can assure you this time,” Maysa said with a smile before she brought out a hologram screen. “Al, can you download Aeneas map for me?”

“Of course, please wait a moment.” The robotic voice of Albert said in a monotone.

Seeing their leader do that, the two obedient followers brought out their personal screens to download the map too.

Since the town was very small, the map download could be completed in just the blink of an eye.

“Alright, I got the map now. Let’s take Wisana to his class quest!”

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A large building was built entirely from stone, reminding them of some ancient Egyptian construction somehow. It looked like a huge box with rough walls, one of which was dug into a small square shape to serve as the door and was covered with a dull-colored thin fabric. Above the door, there was a shabby sign, saying,

Magic Warrior Class office

There was no one around. The streets were quiet, almost making it look like a ghost town. Well, it was true that the building was in a suburb, but there was literally no one here. The same question popped in the trio’s minds before they started looking at each other awkwardly. Especially Wisana, who was gulping.

“Are you sure we’re in the right place?” He asked anxiously.

“The big sign already said that we are. Let’s go. Get inside and hand in your quest letter, so you can start your exam quickly,” Maysa ended the conversation before grabbing his hand and walking into the office with Manoch tailing in the back.

The eyes behind those glasses looked around at how declined the place was before he made a sour face.

After they got inside for a while, the lamps lightened the room for them to see the surroundings. Wisana could finally see five desks made of raw woods in a corner of the room. A fireplace with an active flame inside clearly indicated that there was definitely someone here. As he took a look further into the room, there was a reception counter, looking similar to the one at the class registration office in Tristan.

But the only difference was that...

Where did all the staff go?!

“There’s no one here.”

Maysa said. Her voice started to show some hint of worry. Her chubby legs walked to explore around the place, looking for a staff member that probably was busy at some corner of the office.

“Are you sure that the class is still open, May?” Manoch asked.

“Of course, it is! I just checked last night. And their page has so many followers,” she talked back immediately as she was peeking behind the counter.

“Yeah. I doubt where those followers go,” Manoch retorted as soon as he got the chance to be sarcastic. “I think you checked on some trash, May. I guess it’s an old, inactive page that hasn’t been deleted from the system yet. That explains why this place is so empty.”

“If I say it hasn’t closed, it hasn’t!” Maysa turned to snap at him. “I’m sure. Yesterday I talked to a friend on the web board, and he confirmed that the office was still active!”

“That doesn’t match what we’re seeing right here. There’s no one here. Why are you insisting that this place is not abandoned?”

The other one argued with a shrug, then caught Wisana’s eyes, asking for support.

“Ugh! Take a look at that fireplace. Can’t you see that there’s fire in it? If no one started it, then who did? A ghost?!”

The nerve-racker just raised his eyebrows, putting up a big smile.

“It could be a ghost or some players that sneak in and spend the night here to save some hotel cost. Who knows? I don’t either, but I still think that the office is already closed for sure.”

“Nooo, not a ghost ...neitherrr that we’rrrre closed.”

“Is that so?”

Suddenly there was a soft, lengthened voice coming from behind him, making the one who just unconsciously answered it, turn to look back. The image that appeared before his eyes was the face of a woman with long messy hair. Her eye rims were pitch black, the same color as the lipstick she was wearing. She was placing her pale, white hand on his shoulder from behind, making the one who was in a good mood scream out in no time.

“I... it’s haunted!!”

Manoch was screeching. He dodged forward to cling on to the taller man in a flash.

“Holy!” Wisana cursed, his face getting all pale. He drew a couple of steps back.

“...” The last one did not say anything. She was just standing still there with her tail pointing upward like when a cat got terrified!

Their reactions made the newcomer ghost girl tilt her head with curiosity. She bent down to look at the glasses man who was gasping and shaking on the floor. Then, she turned to focus on Wisana who was frozen in the act of a wry smile and was pointing at her, looking just as shocked as the other man. And Maysa did not make a move, looking like her soul had left her body now.

“I am ...not a ghost. My name.... is La...la, an NPC of this office...”

The girl with black eye rims spoke with the lengthening voice again before smiling to confirm her words. But the smile looked more like an unintentional creepy smirk, making the trio flinch.

“Y... you’re really not a ghost...?” Wisana, who was the first to regain senses, asked with a stutter.

“No..., I am not... I am... the NPC to assign... the quests... and to do... the class... registration...”

“F... for real?”

Manoch repeated just to make sure, even though his legs were too weak to stand up and run anyway.

“Yup. How could there be a .... ghost in this ...game?”

“T... that’s right.” Maysa was struggling to speak. They hardly sounded like a word, because her voice was shaking.

Hearing that, the ghost(?) girl named Lala was flashing her teeth to a smile again before she bowed to them politely.

“So, what can La...la do for you... today...?”

The question in her usual drawling voice made Maysa and Manoch quickly turn to Wisana.

“Just hurry and give her the letter, so we can go on the quest. Staying here is creeping me out.”

“Er... wait a sec. W... we’re here for the class quest.”

Wisana said with a shaking voice. He brought out his inventory window before he grabbed the quest letter.

“Here’s the letter... wait, where did she go?”