Zach was sitting under the gazebo, and Aria and Victoria were sitting in front of him.
”…”
”…”
”How long are you two going to stare at me? It has been 10 hours!” Zach said to Aria and Victoria.
”It hasn’t even been ten minutes, Zach. And it’s only past 9 PM right now,” Victoria retorted. She squinted her eyes and said, “I got to know a few things about you from Misha that I wasn’t even aware of.”
”Oh? Did she maybe tell you I am a good chef?” Zach asked with a knowing look on his face, very well aware that he is a bad cook.
”No, but she told me how close you were to her.”
”What… do you mean close? Our houses are in the same area, if that’s what you meant. Other than that, nope.” Zach shook his head and said, “And honestly, I don’t even know if she really said this, or you are making this up.”
SIGH!
”I was making this up,” Victoria sighed.
Zach turned to Aria and said, “Come on. What’s up with you? If you want to stare at me, then stare in the restaurant. I am hungry.”
Aria raised her brows with an amused look on her face and said, “How many times have you been at the restaurant today after we descended here?”
”Umm… five?”
”And you are still hungry?” she asked with a judging look on her face.
”Don’t underestimate the hunger of a teenager who is currently being bullied by two scary yet gorgeous girls,” Zach responded with a grin on his face.
Victoria glanced at Aria with a confused look on her face and stared at her without saying anything.
Aria nodded at Victoria as though she understood what she wanted to say.
”Yup. He acts like this sometimes…”
”Argh!” Zach let out a loud groan and walked out of the gazebo.
”Hey! Where are you going?!” Victoria asked.
”I am hungry~”
Aria and Victoria watched Zach leave the garden, and they followed him. On their way, Aria nudged Victoria and asked, “Don’t you think he is acting strange?”
”Huh? When does he not act strange?” Victoria asked with a confused yet curious look on her face.
”Well, you are not wrong. But he is acting extra strange today for some reason.”
”You do know that I can hear you two, right?” Zach asked without looking back at them.
Victoria tried to divert the topic, so she asked, “Are we not going to ascend? You came here to pick me up, and I am with you. So we can ascend now, right?”
After a brief silence, Zach uttered, “It’s late night. We will leave tomorrow after I meet Ninia and my followers.”
”So we are going to stay at the inn for tonight?” Victoria wondered.
Zach finally turned around and looked at Aria and Victoria before saying, “Well, to be honest, we can simply ascend now and descend again tomorrow, but that would be useless.”
”Why…?”
Zach shrugged his shoulders and said, “Aria and I live in the inn.”
”What happened to Aurora’s house? If I remember reading it correctly, players can exchange their houses in any realm, and pay a little extra if they want a bigger one,” Victoria stated.
”Yeah, but without Aurora, I can’t exchange a house in the high realm. And there is no point in me buying a new one since Aurora would be healed soon anyway.”
”I am talking about her house in this realm…”
”Oh!” Zach exclaimed. He facepalmed himself and muttered, “Right. I totally forgot about that.”
The houses in the capital of all the realms were expensive and always bought by the rich players. Some owners even rent the house to the other players to make passive money.
Aurora had promised to sell her house to Kayden and Misha, but they got married and got a house of their own. So now, Aurora’s house was vacant with no one living in it, but it was still owned by Aurora.
”You know, I would cook for you, but I doubt there are any ingredients left in the house. And currently, it’s a little too late to go shopping,” Victoria uttered while fidgeting.
”The house was destroyed in the demon invasion, and it was automatically rebuilt 24 hours later like the rest of the capital and… everything…” Zach uttered with a dejected look on his face. “But I would like to eat your cooking.”
”…!” Victoria’s face flushed a little after hearing.
Zach grinned at Victoria and said, “I have eaten Aurora’s cooking a lot of times. I have also eaten Aria’s cooking. But not yours.”
Aria thought it was the best time to say something, so without wasting a single second, Aria commented, “And she was your girlfriend.”
Victoria immediately glared at Aria and said, “I thought you were on my side!”
”Hah?! What gave you that idea?” Aria scoffed out loud and said with a smug look on her face: “The first rule in the harem is…. Don’t trust anyone.”
Zach smacked Aria on the head and said, “Stop it.”
”Heh!” Victoria smirked after seeing Aria getting scolded.
SMACK!
Zach smacked Victoria too and said, “No fighting.”
Of course, it was a light smack, and it felt like a poke to them. But that was enough for Aria and Victoria to understand that he didn’t want them to do stupid things to get his attention.
After walking for a while, Zach, Aria, and Victoria reached the restaurant.
”Welcome, my lord~” the owner and the waitresses greeted Zach with wide smiles on their faces.
”Welcome, umm…” the waitresses struggled to greet Aria and Victoria as they didn’t know how to refer to them.
Unlike in the higher realm, where Zach and Aria stayed in the inn and did everything outside, they still didn’t have to worry about the NPCs as Zach’s religion was only spread in the first realm.
After eating dinner, they made their way to Aurora’s house.
”How are we going to open it? Do you have a key?” Victoria asked with a curious look on her face.
”Umh… about that…”
***
Total players in the game- 1,482,936
0 new players logged in.
3 players died.
====
Author’s Note- One forgets the house keys, but Zach forgot the house itself.
Question- Why is Zach acting strange?