After saying those words, Isla cut off the line without hesitation. She didn’t want to hear anything else that person was about to spout as it was only the same stuff she had heard again and again for years now.
Looking at her device’s screen slowly darkening and then turning off, she bit her lower lip till it drew blood. The frustration she was feeling at that moment was simply unimaginable.
“You’re never getting what you want… Never…” She muttered to herself as she threw the device on the bed and turned around. “Even if it meant I have to throw my life away for it… I will drag you to hell with me.”
As much as this development wrecked her head, Isla didn’t lose sight of what she needed to do. No matter what happens in the future, she wasn’t going to compromise for anyone or anything. She must reach that goal or everything will simply collapse on her head quickly.
This was her life’s purpose and her task… No place for failure.
***
Arthur arrived at the hotel and quickly walked into the room, looking around him to make sure nobody was watching him. Since his last trip to the Divine Tower, his senses had expanded quite a lot which made him capable of covering bigger areas with far more precision.
He knew that he was still far from detecting every single individual but he was already becoming quite the tough target to ambush as he was able to sense far smaller details with a higher success rate.
‘Nobody seems to be close by. At least not close enough to be dangerous.’ He thought to himself as he walked into the room.
“Arthur!”
“There he is!”
“We have been waiting, man!”
Inside, Arthur found the two dwarves, Sora, Herculia, Emmy, and Danny waiting with sour looks on their faces.
“Sorry, I came as soon as I saw the news,” Arthur said as he patted the two kids. “Where is Isla?”
“She didn’t arrive yet,” Emmy replied. “We have been waiting for a while.
Arthur nodded his head and didn’t ask any further. He assumed that Isla was simply getting prepared to log in. Instead, he looked at Finlay and Serko.
“You two. Prepare yourselves, we are going to leave the hotel.” He said calmly.
“What? Now?” Serko asked.
“Yeah, this place isn’t safe anymore. We will move to the new place where the headquarters is going to be built. It should be safer since the piece of land is far away from unwanted eyes.”
“… Understood.”
The two dwarves didn’t waste time as they quickly walked into the room to prepare. Sora followed them inside to also get ready.
“Man, to think it took almost a week for these players to arrive. We have really done something impossible.” Herculia said. “They cannot compare to us.”
“I wouldn’t say that’s really enough to say they are way weaker than us. They could’ve simply taken their sweet time finding the best path to the capital. Don’t forget that we basically went in blindly but with some luck and a lot of good decisions, we were able to make it out intact.” Danny replied. “I don’t think these new players are simple and we will see that soon.”
At that moment, they all heard the door to the hotel open as Isla walked in.
“…”
For some reason, just a single look at her face made everyone go silent at the same time. After all, they could see it as clear as day… A look of a very sour mood. Even Isla’s usually calm aura was now far more perturbed than before.
“I’m sorry for making you wait. I had something to deal with,” Isla said as she approached the sofa and sat down.
“… Is everything ok, Isla?” Emmy asked worriedly. She had rarely seen Isla in such a state before.
“I’m fine. It’s just… a very annoying problem has happened.” She said. “Lamenter had arrived at the city.”
“… What?! That guy?” Danny frowned.
The entire atmosphere shifted when they heard that name from Isla. Lamenter, the name of a demon everyone feared. They knew how much of a disaster he was whenever he showed up out of nowhere.
“Lamenter? This guy again?” Arthur rolled his eyes. “He is a very creepy person, I tell you. He has been after me this entire time and now he’s at the capital… Great.”
“That bastard! I have been itching to punch him for so many years now.” Herculia clenched his fists. “He is definitely planning something.”
“…” Isla slowly closed her eyes as she thought for a few moments. Her mind went through countless possibilities before she opened them again, feeling a little clearer.
“It is fine. Even if he is now far closer than I anticipated. He still has no influence on the capital yet. He will have to establish connections and build his presence. We will use that to our advantage. We have taken huge steps ahead of everyone else and we can’t lose that. The headquarters need to be built as soon as possible.”
Even if that was her intention from the start, Isla understood the importance of their new guild more than ever. If they can quickly create this new entity in the capital, Lamenter and the others will find a hard time rivaling them.
This was a single opportunity with a very limited time span. But, Isla was going to make sure it worked.
‘We might need to sacrifice some things. But, we must finish before Lamenter can do anything palpable.’
“We are ready!”
At that moment, the three children came out of the room with bags on their shoulders filled with all their belongings.
“Good. There is no time to waste. Let’s go. The construction material should’ve arrived today.” Isla said. “Here, put these hoods on your heads to cover your faces. We can’t let anyone see you.”
After putting on the coats and hoods, Isla made sure the kids were completely hidden with no chance of their hoods being pulled by the wind.
After that, she looked at her group. “Me and Danny will take Sora with us. Arthur will take Finlay, and Herculia and Emmy will take Serko and we will move there from separate directions so as not to catch anyone’s attention.”
“Understood.”
After that, Isla pinpointed the location on the map for everyone so they didn’t get lost. Because the group were friends in the game, they had the same features as the Bluelink and could easily send each other locations through the messaging feature.
With that, one by one, the group walked out of the room and vanished somewhere. The last ones were Arthur and Finlay who made sure to stay for as long as possible to not make it suspicious.
“Are you ready, Finlay?”
“Mmm!”
“Haha, good boy!” Tapping his friend on the head, Arthur took a look outside and made sure everything was clear before he let Finlay walk out.
The two quickly left the hotel and found themselves in the busy streets. Finlay naturally got closer to Arthur as he felt the presence of so many humans around him. The natural fear he had from these creatures came back to him.
“Don’t worry, I’m here. Nobody will know who you are.” Arthur said.
“…” The boy looked at Arthur through the hood before he nodded his head.
“Now, let’s go.”
Crossing the street, the two headed into the city center. The location of their piece of land was on the other side of the of the region so it was a rather long trip on foot.
‘Nobody seems to be looking at us so far… Good.’ Arthur thought to himself.
“Let’s hurry a little, Finlay,” Arthur said.
***
Meanwhile, at the same time, a little farther away, Isla and Danny took a sharp left turn and moved to a different section of the city. Sora walked right in between them, making sure her head was low and she was completely silent.
She tried to keep her composure under the fear of being surrounded by so many people.
“We will move up till the end of this street and then take a sharp right,” Isla said. “The others should arrive around the same time as us.”
“Got it,” Danny replied as he kept an eye on one side of the street while Isla kept an eye on the other side.
The situation seemed calm so far. No one was chasing them and certainly no one was staring at them.
However, as they were walking, the trio passed close to a certain person. The moment they walked past him, he suddenly halted as if he froze. He stood like that for a few seconds before his head slowly turned around and looked at the trio with wide eyes. Then, his eyes shifted to something under his shirt.
“… It can’t be…” He muttered as he tapped his chest. “Is it?”
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3