Now what should they do?
“If we ignore every enemy that attacks us and just run away, we should be able to reach Solum in maybe two days,” Fayte said at last. She glanced at her small friend standing right beside her. “However, if we did that, then Su…”
“How about this,” Adam proposed. “You three can log off now. Then I will escort Titania and Kureha to Solum. I don’t need much sleep, so I can travel through the night and arrive in Solum early tomorrow morning. Then tomorrow, I’ll log on earlier than everyone else and make my way back here. Sound good?”
It would be a hassle for him to do this, but he couldn’t think of any other way to avoid dealing with this issue. They couldn’t leave Kureha and Titania in such a dangerous area like they had been doing now that Titania had pointed out the dangers. The same went for Fayte, Lilith, and Susan. Lilith might have a new class, but she still wouldn’t be able to dominate a level 40 monster on her own.
“I will go with whatever you decide,” Lilith said quietly.
“It seems we will have to trouble you,” Fayte added.
“Um… I’m sorry for causing so much trouble.” Susan clasped her hands together and bowed to him.
Adam waved Susan’s apologies off, then watched as she, Fayte, and Lilith disappeared. He then proceeded to travel with Titania and Kureha to Solum. It would normally take four days—four hours of travel each day plus four hours of fighting monsters. Adam decided to ignore every monster and cut a path straight through the valley to cut down the time as much as possible, reducing the travel time from sixteen hours to just six.
However, while he was traveling with his fairy companion and the little fox yokai, Adam could not help but think about Susan and how she kept apologizing for everything even when she wasn’t at fault.
Levon Pleonexia sat behind a desk inside of a large office. Sitting before him were several screens filled with information, all of which pertained to Age of Gods.
As the Pleonexia Family heir, Levon was in charge of anything and everything pertaining to the virtual world, which had become politically, financially, and economically important to every major family in the world. Levon would even go so far as to say the virtual world had become more important than the real world. That was why it was imperative to remain on top of any new developments within the virtual world.
That was also why his current lack of information about certain key players in Age of Gods was so disturbing.
“I expected Lin Akamine and the Spear God to gain a hidden class eventually… but the other three players are completely unexpected.” Levon looked up from the three screens displaying the information on the five who had received a hidden class to stare at the man on the other side of the desk. “Have we really not discovered anything about the two called Adam and Lilith yet?”
“I’m afraid not.”
The man who stood on the other side of the desk maintained a relaxed stance that made it appear as if nothing could bother him. While his height was average, his appearance was extraordinary. His eyebrows were like swords and he had sharp but arrogant gaze. The smile that adorned his handsome face was lazy and seemed lackadaisical, but anyone who was familiar with this man would know that his smile was in no way a reflection of his true personality.
Connor Sword was not a man anybody would willingly cross without reason.
Levon frowned and leaned forward. “We really haven’t discovered anything about Adam or Lilith?”
“I just said we haven’t. Asking me twice isn’t going to change the facts.” Connor chuckled at the aggrieved expression on Levon’s face. “The problem is that no one has actually seen what these two look like. While Lilith isn’t a common name, there are still at least two thousand Liliths in the American Federation alone. We can’t find out any information just by going off her name. It might not even be her real name, and since no one has seen what she looks like…”
If no one knew what she looked like, then they couldn’t run a search on her based on appearance. As the Pleonexia Family heir, he had the clout to make the American Federation’s government give him any information he wanted about people living inside of the nation, but none of that mattered if he didn’t even know who he was searching for. Of course, he also had to consider the idea that the name Lilith was just an alias. Very few people used their real names in the virtual world.
“And Adam?” asked Levon.
Connor hesitated for a moment, which showed he was debating whether or not what he had to say was even worth saying, but then he shrugged and plunged on.
“Aside from what we already know about him through the international announcements, we do not know much. However, there were a few people who ranted about him in online forums and chat rooms about a day before the first announcement was made. Among them was Daniel Frost. According to his rant, Adam slaughtered an entire party of his adventures, and then slaughtered Daniel and his ambush party when they confronted him.”
“So aside from the fact that he is powerful, we don’t actually know anything,” Levon said with an almost imperceptible frown.
“Pretty much.” Connor shrugged.
Levon looked back at the information on the three screens. The first screen contained the class ranking chart, the second contained all the relevant information about Lin Akamine and the Spear God, and the third contained the nearly blank information about Adam and Lilith.
“Contact the Soul Reapers,” he said at last. “Tell them I will pay any price they propose in exchange for information on Adam and Lilith.”
“Will do—ah, but that will have to wait until later,” Connor admitted with a lecherous grin. “I have an appointment tonight that I can’t miss.”
“You’re meeting your future bride for the first time, right?” asked Levon.
“That’s right. My cute little bride. I hear she turned sixteen this year. She’s not as gorgeous as your bride to be, but she’s still a looker. I’ve seen some pictures of her, and I can tell you, I cannot wait to taint that little body of hers.”
Connor’s expression in that moment had turned pretty hideous. Even Levon grimaced when he saw the blatant lust in the man’s eyes. Of course, Connor and Levon had the same thoughts in regards to women and their purpose in life, but he was a lot better at hiding it than his vice-commander.
“I still can’t believe she’s one of the people who got a hidden class,” Levon muttered.
“Me neither.” Connor paused. “Want me to ask her about your future wife?”
“No need,” Levon said in a cold tone. “I am well aware that Susan has been blocking my attempts to track Fayte. The last time I met Fayte was sheer coincidence. If someone hadn’t alerted me to her being spotted outside of the mall… anyway, Susan’s parents will be there, so you cannot afford to interrogate her. I hear that girl is quite shy and easily frightened, and her father is very protective. If he gets even a hint of your true nature…”
“Relax,” Connor said with a smile. “I would never let that man know what I’m really like.”
With those words, Connor bid Levon goodbye and left the room. The door shut behind him with a soft click. Now left alone, Levon turned back to stare at the blank screen.
“Seven Forms, huh,” he mumbled into the silence.
It was early in the morning when Adam finally logged off. He took a shower, got two hours of sleep, then entered the living room. He paused upon smelling the faint but rich scent of butter wafting through the air.
Fayte was cooking something in the kitchen. She wore an apron over her jeans and turtleneck shirt, and her hair had been tied into a ponytail high on her head, revealing her elegant neck. Both the apron and the turtleneck strained against her large chest.
“What are you making?” Adam asked as he walked further into the room.
Fayte looked up from where she stood behind the stove and smiled at him. “You’re in for a treat. These are my world famous beef sandwiches.”
“Are they really world fa
mous?”
“They would be if I ever decided to sell them.”
Adam walked over to the kitchen and saw that she was indeed making sandwiches, but she was cooking them in a frying pan. She lathered two pieces of bread with butter, placed some beef, tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions inside along with a slice of cheese and a thick dressing of some kind. Then she placed the sandwiches onto the frying pan. The loud sizzling as the butter cooked into the bread filled his ears.
“Lunch will be ready in just a minute,” Fayte said to him. “Why don’t you sit down on the couch?”
“All right.”
Adam acquiesced readily enough, but he didn’t go to the living room right away. He grabbed two cups, filled them with ice and water, and only then made his way to the couch.
It did not take long for Fayte to finish cooking. She came in about five minutes after he left, set two plates of food onto the coffee table in front of the couch, and then sat next to him. She tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and turned to him with a smile.
“Well? Why don’t we dig in?” she suggested.
Adam didn’t stand on ceremony. He grabbed the sandwich, which was warm and had a crispy golden brown texture on the outside. The scent was very appetizing. Now that it was right in front of his nose, he realized the smell was from the combination of onions, butter, and sauce. After taking his first bite, he paused at the loud crunching sound that filled his ears.
“This is… really good,” he said after swallowing. “It’s crunchy on the outside, but warm and soft on the inside. You probably could make a lot of money if you ever opened a shop and sold these.”
“Right?” Fayte looked quite proud of herself. “The sauce is homemade too. It’s my secret recipe.”
“Is it made with love?”
“Mayonnaise.”
“That’s disappointing.”
Adam couldn’t stop himself from chuckling when he saw the expression on her face. Fayte was always calm and polite, constantly wearing a refined and elegant smile—at least, she was like that when they first met. He assumed it was her politician face. When they were at home, she was a lot more relaxed, more willing to show her prideful side. Adam wondered if anyone besides him and Susan had ever seen this side of Fayte before.
Susan…
“Hey, Fayte? Do you mind if I ask you about Susan’s circumstances?” he asked.
“Are you curious?” Fayte’s expression changed. She was still smiling, but it was different from her normally relaxed or polite smiles. This one was strained. “I’m sorry, but while I really would like to tell you, Su’s situation is not something I can talk about. It’s her private affair. If you really want to know, you should ask her yourself.”
Adam nodded and changed the subject. He didn’t want to intrude on Susan’s private life since they were not very close. Even asking out of curiosity seemed rude to him, but he could not get the image of her despairing face when she logged off out of his mind. It really seemed like whatever was happening to her was causing a lot of stress.
He sighed and wondered what was happening to him. Since when did he care about other people?
After lunch, Adam cleaned the dishes, then played video games with Fayte for about an hour. Then he went into the room with Aris’s cryobed. He was pleased to see that around 85-90% of Aris’ Mortems Disease appeared to be cured, according to the monitor near the foot of the bed. Give it another week, and he was certain she would ready to wake up.
Later that night, Adam lay in bed, debating whether or not he should head into the game. He wanted to do some grinding on his own, but if he did, Titania and Kureha would be with him, which meant he couldn’t just log off. He would have to go to a town or city and get an inn. There was a strong chance they could be attacked by enemies or players if he didn’t find a place where they would be safe after he logged off.
“I’m only now realizing how much danger I put them in when I logged off all those times before,” he sighed. “I wonder why Titania never told me until now?”
Maybe she had expected him to figure it out on his own after she mentioned how she and Kureha remain where they were after he logged off. It was obvious they were in danger whenever he logged off in a dangerous location, now that he was thinking about it, but his thoughts were still about how this was a video game and therefore not real. He needed to change that mindset from now on. Think about the game as if it was real life.
As he was lying there, a very light breeze brushed his face and bare chest. It only lasted for a second. Then it disappeared.
Adam opened his eyes. He glanced at the window, which was closed, the curtains rustling just a little. Turning his eyes away from the window, he looked at the figure kneeling by his bed.
A figure that had not been there seconds before.
This figure had skin so pale it looked like she never went outside. Her gorgeous body was covered in black clothing. Black boots. Skin tight black pants. The black shirt she wore was backless, revealing an expanse of beautiful white skin. Her long dark hair was tied into a braid that descended to the floor. Several bangs framed her beautiful face, which reminded Adam of the moon, mysterious and ephemeral. Her dark eyes were cold but contained an intense passion as she stared at him.
“Lilith,” Adam said, sitting up in bed and staring at the woman kneeling with furrowed brows. “What are you doing here? If Fayte sees you here, she will know about our relationship.”
“She will never see me unless I want her to,” Lilith said, and the tone in her voice made him stop talking. “Master… this servant would like to re-pledge herself to you.”
Adam clutched the bedsheets and closed his eyes. “You don’t need to do that. I already said I don’t need your loyalty. You are free to do whatever you want.”
Lilith didn’t speak for the longest time, but how could Adam not see the way her shoulders were trembling, the way she her lips became a line behind the thin fabric of her mask? He already knew the moment he finished speaking that he had said something he shouldn’t.
“Sorry,” he whispered.
“This servant… is perfectly aware of what you told her. She knows you are just looking out for her well-being and want her to make her own choices.” The subservient manner of speaking that Lilith displayed made Adam uncomfortable, but he didn’t stop her from speaking. No, he couldn’t, because at that moment, she had looked up and held him in place with her impassioned eyes. “But Master, did it never occur to you that this might be something I want for myself? Maybe you do not need this servant’s loyalty, but did you ever think that perhaps this servant wishes to pledge herself to you regardless?” Lilith paused, then lowered herself to the floor, pressing her forehead against the carpet. “Master, please let this lowly servant once more pledge herself to you. Everything that I am, everything that I ever will be, and everything that I was, I will give all of it to you. My body, my heart, and my soul are yours to do with as you please.”
Adam closed his eyes and struggled with an internal battle. What should he say? How should he respond? Lilith was earnestly pledging herself to him. He didn’t delude himself into thinking this was something she had done on a whim. She did it years before. Back then, he had accepted her, but then he left her to find Lexi, and after despairing over Lexi’s death and subsequently being saved by Aris, he had further distanced himself from this woman to whom he owed so much.
He had told her that she should find her own path. At the time, he told himself that he was doing this for her sake, that she shouldn’t force herself to serve someone who wasn’t going to appreciate her, but that had been a lie. It was mere self-justification to drop her in favor of Aris.
Could he do that again? Could he leave her wanting once more? After everything she had given him?
The answer was very simple.
Of course not.
“I accept your loyalty.” Adam opened his eyes and gazed at the woman. “But you should know… there are some things I cannot give you
.”
“I know.” Lilith lifted her body once more, looked at him, and smiled. It was a smile that stole his breath and made his heart tremble. “So long as you accept me and use me how you see fit, I will be happy.”
Lilith did not remain after saying this. She stood up and, much like the wind, disappeared as though she had never been there. Adam stared at the window as it slid shut without a sound, feeling the weight of Lilith’s life, which he held in the palm of his hands.
It was, indeed, a very heavy weight.
~To Be Continued…
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