“…” Isla blinked slightly. “They arrived at the capital? Already?”
Isla would be lying if she said that she wasn’t taken aback by what she heard. She was aware the players were bound to arrive soon, but it happened so suddenly that it took her a moment to take the news in.
“Yeah… Many newspapers are picking this news up. ‘The second group of players had made history. Five new players have joined the first batch in the Capital Of Glory a week after the historical moment.'”
“Wow! This is huge news!” Elise exclaimed. “I have been wondering why nobody reached the capital yet after the first few did.”
“I heard that it’s incredibly hard so that’s why,” Arthur replied calmly as he scrolled through the article silently. His mind was working quickly, piecing things together.
“Are there names known?” Isla asked.
“No, I can’t find any names here. They just said new players have arrived at the capital. But, if I have to guess, they’re probably a part of the top 10 or 20 players in the world. There is no other way they could pull that off unless they’re that strong.”
Arthur knew the sheer difficulty of tackling such a journey so unless the players were la creme de la creme in terms of power. He could not see it being anyone else. Isla seemed to reach the same conclusion too.
“It seems things are about to get really exciting, really quickly.” Arthur licked his lips. ‘I have been waiting for the players to finally arrive. Took their sweet time.’
Arthur knew that the moment players reached the capital was the moment things would take a turn to chaos. Everything he learned so far made it even clearer that a huge clash between different sides was bound to happen and the results won’t be nice.
‘I need to be ready for that moment more than ever now.’ He thought to himself.
At that moment, Isla stood up. “I’m sorry, Elise. But, we have to leave now. There are some things we need to do urgently.” She said calmly.
“Oh? O-Of course, please go ahead. We can plan our dinner for another time.” She smiled awkwardly.
“Thank you for understanding. Arthur, let’s go.” Pulling Arthur’s arm, she basically dragged him out of the restaurant.
“I will send you a message later, Elise. Have a nice day.”
Bidding her farewell, he got on his Sonic Board with Isla. He didn’t even need to ask why Isla had suddenly decided they must leave. After all, this situation wasn’t as simple as one would think.
“We need to get into the game now. Things are moving faster than I expected.” Isla said coldly.
“Yeah, we have to accelerate things a little. Players are going to quickly take over now.” Arthur replied as they moved through the street.
‘All it takes is a small flick and the fire will ignite. Players had found a route to reach the capital.’
“What are you going to do now, Isla?”
“I’m going to move the two dwarves and that little girl to the new place and help them build a wall around it to cover it from unwanted attention. Then, I will try to learn who these new players are. I have a bad hunch about their identity.” She said.
Deep down, something told Isla that she might not like who these newcomers are and her hunch was the fact that their names weren’t revealed yet. After all, apart from Arthur, most of the top players had their names known to the world so the newspapers should’ve already been aware of who these players are.
The fact they didn’t mention it meant that all these players had their identities hidden inside the game or… Someone had stopped the newspapers from revealing their name to the world.
If it was the second option, then Isla almost knew who might’ve done that. So, all she could do was hope that she was wrong.
“Then, I will see you later…” Arthur said as he noticed the urgent look on Isla’s face.
With that, the two separated and went on their way. Arthur quickly reached his apartment and walked inside.
“I don’t have time to eat so I need to take a shower and quickly get into the game.” He muttered as he started undressing quickly and got into the shower.
A few minutes later, he jumped into the capsule with his hair still wet as he didn’t bother drying it. Closing his eyes, Arthur logged in and found himself in the city.
It was still a little earlier than when he usually logs in so the night didn’t fall yet. Looking around him, things looked quite normal.
‘… I wonder where those players are. It’s going to be extremely hard to find them.’
Then, without waiting, he started walking through the street, heading to the apartement. He was a little worried about the kids so he wanted to make sure they were fine.
***
At the same time, outside the game. Isla walked into her apartement in a hurry. She quickly put her stuff on the table and walked into the bathroom to wash her face. However, at that moment, her device suddenly started ringing.
“Hm?” Turning around slowly, she looked at the ringing phone with a blank expression.
Then, she walked back and picked it up, checking if Arthur had called her. However, upon seeing the name on the screen, her expression froze for a moment. The entire room went completely quiet and the atmosphere around Isla dropped a few degrees in temperature.
Anyone who walked into that room would’ve felt as if a demon was inside. Yet, as if the device was mocking her, it kept ringing rhythmically.
Eventually, Isla tapped the answer button and slowly lifted the device to her ear.
“How did you access my device?” She asked immediately without any hesitation. She knew very well who that person was and she didn’t want to even speak to them.
“I always have my ways, Isla. It’s never too hard for me to find you.” The voice replied calmly.
“…” Isla’s face grew even darker. “It’s you, isn’t it? You’re the one who made it to the capital…”
“…”
The caller didn’t reply for a good few seconds before they said. “I told you before, didn’t I? If you are truly looking to achieve your goal. You have no one else but me to help you. You’re prolonging the inevitable, Isla.”
“…”
“You can keep trying again and again, and in the end, you know deep down things will only progress when you take my hand. It’s all a matter of time before you end up having to choose between what you want and what you think.”
The caller’s tone was filled with certainty and a strong hint of sarcasm. It was as if they were simply stating the obvious.
“This same confidence you have will be your downfall.” Isla took a deep breath and said. “That ego you fueled will only end up sending you to hell and if that doesn’t do it… I will send you to hell myself.”
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3