When Zach was eating breakfast with Aurora and Aria, Zach got a message from Kayden.
[Come to the guildhall! It’s an emergency!]
After reading that, Zach immediately got up and said, “Something came up! You guys eat and come to the guildhall later. I will meet you there!”
Zach dashed out of the house and rushed to the guildhall.
Meanwhile, in the house, Aurora and Aira were alone.
Aria and Aurora glanced at each other, and their eyes met by accident.
Aria averted her gaze, but Aurora kept staring at her. She squinted her eyes at Aria and said, “Listen, I will get directly to the point.”
“Hmm?”
“Is something going between you and Zach?” Aria asked with a straight face.
“W-Why would you think that?” Aria asked, acting meekly.
“I saw Zach leaving your room in the middle of the night,” Aurora stated.
‘What was that idiot doing?!’ Aria thought to herself.
“Well… he…” Aria stuttered for a while and replied, “He mistakenly entered my room thinking it was his room.”
“Oh…” Aurora nodded to herself and thought, ‘It was his room at our previous house. So I guess she is telling the truth. I mean, what was I thinking? Zach would never do something like that behind my back.’
Aria had the option, to tell the truth or maybe even lie about something else that could break Aurora and Zach’s relationship, but Aria chose to save Zach.
“Umm… can I ask something?” Aria was acting like Ameria.
“Sure, why not?”
“Do you… maybe… like Zach?” Aria asked.
Aurora’s face flushed after hearing Aria’s question. She quietly nodded and said, “Don’t tell him. But yes, I love him.”
“Why don’t you make moves on him then?” Aria asked with a curious look on his face.
“What if… he doesn’t like me back?” Aurora asked hesitantly.
“If you are worried about him not liking you or hating you for making moves on him; it’s just like admitting defeat before fighting the battle,” Aria asserted. “If you truly love him, then fight with all you have and win this battle.”
“…”
Aurora didn’t say anything and sat there in silence.
Aria furrowed her brows and said with a smirk on her face: “Or who knows, someone else might fight the battle and win.”
“Huh? Are you saying that…” Aurora couldn’t finish her sentence
“You are smart enough to understand what I mean. If you get cold feet, someone else might warm up Zach’s body.”
—
–
.
After running for 10 minutes, Zach reached the guildhall. He was still a little away from the guildhall, but he could see it in his sight.
Zach noticed that the guildhall was packed, and players were gathered inside and outside the guildhall.
“This looks serious…” Zach muttered.
Zach walked to the guildhall and glanced around to search for Kayden and Shay.
“Where are you… I hope everything is alright…”
After glancing around, Zach caught sight of Kayden.
“Hey, Kayden!” Zach called out to Kayden in a loud voice and waved his hand at him.
Kayden turned around and waved back at Zach.
“What’s wrong?” Zach asked as soon as he reached Kayden. “Is everything alright? Did Shay do something stupid again?”
“No. It’s—”
“Zach~”
Suddenly, a girl appeared from behind Kayden and hugged Zach.
Zach, of course, pushed the girl back and looked at her face.
“What are you— wait a minute!” Zach furrowed his brows and said, “Is that you, Misha?!”
“Yay! You recognized me!” Misha jumped in joy.
It was Misha, Kayden’s step-sister, and also his fiance.
Zach turned to Kayden with a confused look on his face and asked, “What’s going on? Why is Misha here?”
Kayden nudged <isha and said, “Tell him.”
“Well… you all bodies were delivered to your houses. When I saw it on the news about the VR incidents, I immediately patched myself with a VR set and a random game. And… I ended up in the game.”
Zach face-palmed himself and rubbed his hand on his face in frustration.
“Why am I surrounded by stupid people?”
“When were our bodies delivered?” Zach asked Misha.
“10 days ago in the real world, so… around 20 days here,” Misha answered.
‘So mother knows about this?’ Zach wondered. ‘Maybe she can do something? But… she lost her powers…’
“What did you do after getting into this game?” Zach asked.
“I tried to find you guys, but I couldn’t. But then I met my friends and joined their party. Then, we all joined a guild of my friends. After that, we played and played and ascended to the first realm two weeks ago,” Misha asserted.
‘That’s way too fast!’
Zach raised his brows and asked, “What guild did you join?”
“It’s called ‘Risen warriors’. And it’s the top 3rd guild of this game,” Misha stated.
‘I did read in the journal that joining a guild is the fastest way to level up and increase physique points,’ Zach uttered inwardly.
“Still…” Zach sighed and smacked Misha on the forehead.
“Ow!”
“You shouldn’t have done this stupid thing. What if something had happened to you?”
“But… I can’t leave without Kay…” Misha uttered in a low voice.
“Well, as long as you are done. It’s okay.”
“Oh!” Misha exclaimed and said, “One more thing!”
“What?”
“My guild is about to ascend to the upper realm in a week. And my guild is full of my friend circle. How about you, Kay, and Shay join us?” Misha offered.
“Well…”
“Hey Zach,” Aurora greeted Zach.
“Aurora! Nice timing!” Zach placed his hand on Aurora’s shoulder and introduced her to Misha: “Misha, this is Aurora. And Aurora, this is Misha.”
Aurora immediately frowned her face and asked, “And what is your relationship?”
‘She turned on her jealousy mode!’ Zach uttered inwardly.
“She is Kayden’s sister,” Zach stated. “And he is dating her.”
“What?!” Aurora exclaimed and looked at Kayden with a disgusted look on her face.
“Step! She is my step-sister,” Kayden corrected Zach and glared at him.
“Heh!” Zach snickered and said, “Yes, they are step-siblings.”
“Yo, guys!” Shay finally appeared from the group and said, “Hey Zach. Did you meet our classmates? There are a lot of them.”
“No, I haven’t. But Misha did say lots of our… I mean, your friends are here.”
Zach wasn’t friends with anyone in the school except Kayden, Shay, and Misha. However, it wasn’t as though he was on bad terms with others. He simply wasn’t friendly with them.
“Nice! Everyone is here!” Misha clapped her hands and said, “So, let’s have you all join the guild!”
“Uhh…” Zach wasn’t sure whether he should join the guild or not.
“Everyone together! It will be so much fun!” Misha rejoiced.
“I… don’t…” Zach glanced at Aurora to see her reaction, but she shrugged her shoulders in response.
‘What should I do? The guild is in the top three, so they might have strong players.’ Zach thought. ‘I don’t really want to join, but if I am surrounded by strong players, I can rest assured about Aurora. She won’t be in danger.
‘But… there will be rules and regulations in the guild. And I don’t think I will be able to hide my secret if I join the guild.’
“Hey, Misha~” A female voice called Misha from the other side of the crowd.
“Oh, great! The vice-captain is here!” Misha glanced at Zach and said, “Now he will definitely join.”
“…” Zach raised his brows and pondered, ‘What does she…’
Kayden, Misha, and Shay walked to the other side of the ground and went to the empty place. While Zach, Aurora, and Aria were following them behind but they got stuck in the crowd.
After waiting for a while, the vice-captain approached the group.
She had dark-blonde hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a red and yellow-colored guild uniform similar to Misha, but her top was slightly different because she was the vice-captain.
She looked at Misha and said, “Where did you run off to…”
However, she stopped when she looked at Kayden and Shay.
“What are you guys…”
Even Kayden and Shay were surprised after seeing the girl.
“How can you guys leave me behind!” Zach yelled as he finally caught up with the rest of the group. “This is why I hate crowded… places…”
Zach’s jaw almost dropped after seeing the vice-captain. He blinked a couple of times before confirming he wasn’t seeing things.
His face showed varied expressions, and the girl was making a similar face as Zach. Both of them couldn’t believe their eyes.
“Why… are you here…” they both uttered in unison.
“…Zach…” the girl uttered.
“Victoria…” Zach uttered.
Both Zach and victoria were surprised, but there was someone else who was as surprised— if not more, than them.
It was Aurora.
“Who is she?” Aurora asked in a low voice.
“She is his girlfriend,” Misha replied.
****
Total players in the game 410219.
0 new players logged in.
31 players died.
===
One extra chapter on every 100 golden tickets.
====
Author’s Note- Here comes the girlfriend.
I received too many suggestions for the name, but most of them were either already selected or used in my other novels. And it feels weird for two characters to have the same name. I will use the other names for other characters in the series.