”They asked to check our equipment, but we only had the default ones. And… we also told them that we were 13 and 14 years old…”
’So they robbed them even after knowing their age?’ Zach thought, ‘The attack on them earlier also might be one of them.’
”We purposely skipped meals sometimes and slept outside to save the coins to buy a good weapon…”
Zach patted Noah and said, “It’s late. Let’s go inside the church. I will arrange a place for you to sleep.”
Zach took Noah inside the church where the girls were waiting for him.
As soon as they both entered the church, Zach made eye contact with Ninia and asked her in a gesture, to which Ninia responded with a nod and a smile on her face.
’I can’t imagine how a 14-year-old would feel after getting stabbed and then running to escape the attack. That’s straight-up thriller shit.’
”How is Elina?! Is she okay?!” Noah asked with a concerned look on his face.
”Yes, she is okay, but it seems she hasn’t slept for days, so she is sleeping right now,” Ninia replied calmly.
”You should sleep too,” Zach said to Noah.
”I won’t sleep until Elina wakes up…” Noah muttered.
Zach sat beside Victoria, and Noah sat beside Zach.
’Didn’t Victoria say she was feeling sleepy? And yet, she is still awake because the others are too.’
Victoria leaned and placed her hand on Zach’s shoulder. She rubbed her head on Zach’s shoulder and slipped onto Zach’s lap. She looked at Zach and smiled at her before yawning and closing her eyes.
Zach stroked Victoria’s hair and glanced at Aria, only to see her staring back and forth at him and Victoria.
’She wants to sleep on my lap too?’ Zach wondered.
Aria puffed her cheeks and leaned her back on the bench before folding her arms and closing her eyes.
’I was planning to visit the magic shop tonight, but I guess I will do that tomorrow.’
Eventually, everyone fell asleep except Zach since he had been in a slumber for three days straight.
He glanced at Noah, who was also fast asleep and smiled at him.
’Great. Now I am missing Zoe…’
”Umm…” Victoria moaned faintly as she turned to the side.
’Back when we were dating in the real world, we never spent such moments together. And we were embarrassed too. And here we are, casually giving a lap pillow to her.’
A few hours passed, and the first one to wake up was Ninia, even though she was the last one to fall asleep. Following her, Aria woke up, and Victoria afterward.
Victoria felt bad because she was sleeping on Zach’s lap and didn’t give him a chance to sleep, but Zach reassured her after telling her that he wasn’t feeling sleepy at all.
”I don’t think they will be waking up any time soon,” Ninia uttered after looking at Noah and Elina.
”Yeah. Let them sleep until they wake up. I will visit the magic shop in the meantime.”
Victoria pulled Zach’s sleeve and asked, “Do you want to eat breakfast?”
”Well… I ate a lot last night, so I don’t feel hungry. But I do want you girls to prepare breakfast for yourself,” Zach replied with a grin.
After that, Zach went to his chamber and opened the portal to the Magic shop dimension using the token Xie Lua had given him.
Zach casually passed through the portal and glanced around.
’No matter how many times I come here, the scenery always gets me. I honestly wouldn’t mind staring at the sky and enjoying the scene for hours. Maybe that’s why Xie Lua never gets bored?’
Zach walked to the booth, but much to his surprise, it was empty.
”Where did she go?”
Zach looked around the area, but Xie Lua was nowhere to be seen.
SIGH!
”She had to be absent just when I needed her. Wow ~” Zach groaned out loud with a soft sigh.
Zach wasn’t angry or upset, as it was totally understandable for Xie Lua to be absent. She couldn’t possibly stay at the booth at all times. While in truth, no player could summon the magic shop dimension when Xie Lua was absent. But Zach had special access through the token.
”Should I come later?” Zach asked himself. “But I am not sure if I will get time again. I am planning to hunt down that party who scammed Noah. Who knows how many innocents they robbed so far.”
”But it’s not the robbery that made me angry, it’s the attempt to kill them. How could they rob or even try to kill kids? That’s just inhumane. I am not trying to be a hero of justice or anything, but there has to be a limit to how low one can fall.”
’Fortunately, I have many followers now, so I can get any information easily. I will ask about the party members’ appearance from Noah when he wakes up. But I think I may already know about them.’
When Zach was fighting the ten battles in the garden, he had noticed a party of seven members that looked shady.
”I also recall seeing them in the restaurant, although they left before us.”
While Zach was lost in his thoughts, Xie Lua approached him from behind and tapped on his shoulder.
”I see, you also have a habit of talking to yourself,” she remarked with a grin.
”And you have a weird habit of suddenly popping out of nowhere,” Zach scoffed softly.
Xie Lua walked to her booth, and Zach followed her.
”So, What brings you here?” she asked.
”I have a lot to talk about, but first, I want to know something.” Zach pointed his finger at his chest and uttered, “When you revealed to me that you are the Phoenix who blessed me, you poked my chest.”
”…”
”Was it your checking whether the mark had activated or not?” he asked with a judging look on his face.
***
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