“What…?” Arthur frowned. “What do you mean the lake has no monsters? I have encountered hundreds of them!” He said.
The boy was completely confused as to what he heard. Even if Arthur ignored the giant, he had also encountered dozens of Lake Spirits that almost killed him. Yet, this man was trying to say the lake was dead. That made no sense.
“What? Hundreds?!” Logus’ eyes widened. “Are you… Are you sure of what you’re saying, sir? This is serious.”
“Yes, I encountered a large giant underwater and hundreds of weird ice creatures that almost killed me twice! What the hell is wrong with that lake?”
“…” Logus blinked as he slowly adjusted his glasses. He was completely taken aback. “That can’t be… That lake had been dead for hundreds of years now. Due to the nature of its water, nothing could live there. Even more than that… You said you encountered a giant, right?” He asked.
“Yeah, it looked like a humanoid giant.”
“… Well, I don’t know if you’re aware of this but… Giants have gone extinct a long time ago after the age of the shard.” Logus explained. “They are only present in tales and legends, sir.”
“…” Arthur stared blankly at the chief, completely speechless. “Extinct? So, not a single one is left in the world?”
“Yes. Nobody even knows how those things look. So, Are you really sure you have encountered some kind of illusion? Illusion could happen on the first floor frequently.”
“… Illusions?” Arthur slowly sat down on the chair as he stared at the ground. He tried to think through what he heard. ‘An illusion? No, that can’t be… That feeling… That feeling is too real… That creature is real…’
Slowly putting his hand on his chest, Arthur recalled that dreadful horror he experienced. If it was truly an illusion, he would’ve never felt that level of dread seeing that giant face to face. Nothing could convince him that what he experienced wasn’t real.
For a second, Arthur closed his eyes as he sucked in a deep breath. Then, he slowly stood up and looked coldly at Logus who was curiously waiting for the boy’s response. The boy then smiled blandly and said.
“Yes, it must’ve been some kind of illusion then.” He said in a mysterious tone.
“Oh, then yeah. My apologies if you found yourself in a dangerous situation. As I said, this floor is no silly joke, it had killed too many people to even count and we rarely could retrieve any of their corpses. You have been lucky, sir.”
“I was very lucky indeed.”
“But, just in case, I will send some mercenaries to check the lake if you want. After all, if what you said is true, then this isn’t something we can ignore and could potentially be a huge threat to us.” The man said.
Meanwhile, Arthur walked to the door and opened it. “No, don’t let anyone go anywhere near the lake for now. It’s for your best interest.”
“My best interest?”
“Yes, if you don’t want to lose your job. Just don’t do that.” Arthur said coldly as if he was threatening the man before he finally walked out of the office. “See you later, Logus.”
Then, he closed the door before the man could even say anything. Slowly, Arthur’s smile vanished and turned into a serious look.
“… Extinct, huh? Interesting… Very interesting…” He muttered as he walked through the corridor. Whether that giant was truly one of the giants the man was talking about or not, Arthur believed this encounter wasn’t for nothing.
Even if he didn’t want to ever see that creature ever again in his life, he knew that this isn’t going to be feasible. Sooner or later, he will have to come back to that lake and see for himself what this is all about.
After all, if finding a member of a race that went extinct hundreds of years ago wasn’t a world-shaking event, then he didn’t know what it was.
“I will have to meet that thing again in the future… Sigh…” He clicked his tongue and then smiled. “Well, that will be a lot of fun for sure.”
***
After that, Arthur left the office and headed toward the heart of the settlement. He still didn’t intend to leave the game yet as he had to first go and check the rest of the place for future reference.
The snowstorm had already started getting violent and the vision was way worse than before. Also, the number of people moving around him has lessened considerably as they quickly hid from the extremely cold temperature.
Meanwhile, Arthur was also freezing and shaking. His clothes hadn’t dried yet after falling into the freezing water so his body temperature was really low, almost dangerously low.
‘Damn it, even in the game, feeling cold sucks!’ He shuddered as he continued walking through the street, exploring the settlement. There were many buildings, most of them had no signs on the front to indicate their purpose. However, Arthur figured that they were simply office buildings or some other facilities.
“I wonder where the plot of land should be… Hmm, preferably distant from all other building to avoid any annoying onlookers.” He muttered. “Somewhere like there for example.”
Arthur knew that this base they would build inside the tower would play a huge role in their future plans. Not only because it makes things convenient, but it also had a huge tactical advantage for the group. After all, they are literally based in the heart of the most important location in the empire, right under the Royal Palace.”
‘We may or may not create some trouble for the Royal Family so this base will be a huge help… Perhaps we can even expand from it and take over the entire first floor.’ He grinned.
“Oooh, this is going to be exciting.” He muttered.
“What are you looking for?”
At that moment, Arthur heard someone speaking behind him. The voice came out of nowhere, but Arthur had already felt someone approaching him for a few seconds now. Turning around, he saw a familiar face.
“Hm?” Arthur raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you that guy from earlier… Uh, what was your name again?”
“… Sergi.” The man replied as his face grew visibly darker.
“Oh right! Sergi, yeah! Sorry, I’m really not that good with names, you see.” Arthur smiled coldly.
“So, what are you doing out in such a strong storm?” He asked.
“I’m just, you know, roaming the settlement and getting familiar with it for the future.”
“Oh, so you’re intending to come back often?” The man asked in a weirdly mysterious tone.
“… I think that’s very obvious, Sergi. I’m not done with this place yet.”
“…”
‘What is wrong with him acting weirdly? Is he sick or something?’ Arthur asked himself. Even earlier, the man seemed to act quite odd and the boy noticed that.
But, what the man did next completely took Arthur aback. Slowly, he approached Arthur and stared directly into his eyes. The boy immediately noticed the blatant hostility in his glare. His eyes were wide open and completely filled with what Arthur could only describe as… Hatred.
“I suggest you leave the tower and never come back, Cursed One.”
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3