Evening Game

Mason’s carriage sped through the dirt road connecting Adastra with Central City. As its name suggested, the city connected the four corners of this game’s world. Since Mason had rented his own carriage, as opposed to using the public one, he could go faster compared to them, cutting down on the travel time.

“Wasn’t expecting it to be this crowded.”

Mason commented. It was indeed that Mason. He looked entirely different from the real-life Mason, with a more built body and dense hair. He left his voice untouched, however. Everyone in the carriage knew each other in real life, with the exception of FireRock.

Ethan brought a messaging screen into his view and typed in a message to Chione, asking whether or not she was comfortable with discussing the matters with Mason. They sat right behind Mason, who drove the carriage in the front, so they avoided talking. Calista already knew, but per Chione’s request, she didn’t say a word about it.

Chione asked him to somehow keep her personal story out of the conversation. Ethan thought of a way to ask him about it without being too suspicious.

“By the way, Chione, ya not change ya name?”

Mason said rather abruptly, putting Ethan’s plans on halt. Ethan didn’t answer, FireRock wasn’t supposed to be involved this deep.

“I don’t have a reason to change it.”

“But people can find ya, ya know?”

Mason seemed a lot more chill when around the girls compared to when he was around him. Technically, he was also chill around Ethan, but that was because he acted as FireRock.

Hearing Mason’s question, Chione simply smiled.

“People don’t have a reason to search for me.”

“Well, if ya say so.”

Mason brought his attention back to the road. On their left side were several dense forests with villages along the way, while the beach passed on their right. It wouldn’t be long before they arrived in the sprawling city, the city’s skyscrapers visible in the distance. They would then take a flight from Central City to Technologia. He had doubts about Mason having a private jet, and he didn’t really want to interact with him after arriving, so he thought he should ask about it now.

“Thegreatmason-”

“Just Mason is fine.”

He would never call Mason great out of respect or admiration, but he purposely called his username to hide himself from Mason’s suspicion. As a stranger, FireRock had no way of knowing what to call him, even if Mason was the only part of his username that sounded like an actual name. He decided to play it safe and only called him his nickname after Mason outright told him to.

The line of thought reminded him of the first day of high school, when he saw him for the first time. Back then, Mason stood in his seat, and with a wide grin on his face, proudly declared his name to his class. He wished he had that level of confidence.

“I heard you fought in the tower.”

Mason didn’t immediately answer, the carriage rattling from the uneven roads. It felt like the carriage could break apart at any moment, although the possibility of that actually happening was very small.

“Where did’cha heard that?”

“A talk in the tavern.”

That was how FireRock heard about the information, a conversation in the tavern, told to him by another player.

“Why ya ask?”

Mason dodged the question again.

“Was it something you don’t want to answer?”

FireRock struck straight to the core. He didn’t beat around the bush, he acted like a lion pouncing on its prey.

“Urgh… Not my proudest moment.”

“What happened?”

Ethan pushed on the pressure. Chione and Calista remained silent.

“Ya know, da usual. We failed, everyone died, the group broke off, that kind of stuff.”

“When did it happen?”

“Around a month ago.”

“I see.”

“Why are ya asking anyway?”

“I’m planning on taking on that tower.”

“Ya better be prepared.”

Their group broke off? One month ago, no less?

The middle of August marked a change in Ethan’s life. That was around the time when his friends discovered his fondness for the color pink and started mocking him for it. Even from the start of high school, he didn’t have many people he could call friends, those in his class tend to ignore him, excluding the types like Chione who would occasionally greet him out of politeness. Now, while not everyone, a majority turned on him.

Some only did it for some laughs, not actually insulting him or taking it seriously, while others did laugh with a hint of scorn in their voices, although those ones tend to shut up pretty quickly anyway. Mason continuously mocks him for it, though. His words irritated him, but he didn’t exactly want to fight against him, especially since he had the stronger physique.

Thus he remained silent, locking himself away in a small cage. He would only give the key to anyone who addressed him properly. Those who called him by that mocking nickname would get to watch him suffer from the outside, Ethan himself not caring if he was trapped inside. He didn’t mind being trapped inside, there were simply things that he didn’t want to be touched, no matter how simple or insignificant.

The city’s gates came into sight. Mason went toward a small lot not far from the gate. He maneuvered the horses pulling the carriage into an empty space and stopped. The game had assists in place to help handling things like animals, so players wouldn’t need to spend time actually practicing horse riding to understand it. Well, assuming they didn’t want to get into competitive horse riding, at least.

Mason paid for the rent and guided the group into Central City. Both Chione and Calista gasped at the sight. It looked entirely different from the medieval Europe of Aevimedii. Central City had the look of American population centers like New York and Los Angeles. Skyscrapers rose high into the sky, the streets filled with a variety of vehicles. Central City rarely became a base for players, however. It acted only as a transit point between countries, and it lacked a players guild to get requests from. Most of the people they saw in the streets consisted of NPCs and tourists, those who came just for sightseeing.

Mason called a taxi. A yellow cab stopped not far from them. Mason sat in the front while the other three went for the back seats. They made their way through the bustling metropolis, heading for the airport on the east side of the city. The trip didn’t take long, and within half an hour they found themselves on a flight heading for their destination,

Technologia, the nation of technology.