CHAPTER 21: [BEFORE IT ALL STARTS]

Location: Namas Cafe.

I gazed at the young boy, no more than 17 years old, observing me with an amazed look on his face. Thousand thoughts on his mind, many of those reflected in his flickering in his eyes as he gazed at me, at the coffee in my hand, and then back at me.

Wearing a purple shower over his white robe, he was sitting quietly, reading the book with a bright smile on his face, amazed at some parts, distraught at others. His tall white hat was now placed beside the table, tugged at one of the window handles, while a wooden staff stood against the staff, neatly placed there while he was waiting for his coffee.

[TruthSeeker Lvl 11]

It’s the same name, huh? I thought as I looked at the name.

He was the last player to get trapped by the doctor before the developers decided to erase this town, about 13 more and a few kingdoms to erase the Doctor completely.

Though, it didn’t bring back the dead players, or those who had lost their consciousness forever. This wasn’t taken well by the community of players, effectively killing the game as only a few remained in the end.

"Ummm..." TruthSeeker looked at me, his eyes waiting for me to speak something. Though I couldn’t.

As I looked at this player, it reminded me of the stream that I had seen in my last few returns. Looking at the bluish eye colour and the white hair, I confirmed once again that he was the same player that had streamed about the doctor.

His screams as he begged for death, yet was not given for a full 3 days, echoed in my mind. How the doctor laughed every time he was shivering, begging and kneeling, made me feel disgusted. It was a familiar emotion that I hadn’t felt for a while.

I pitied Laplace despite his trying to destroy the world. Laughed with the demons even though I knew they would kill everyone if left to their own devices. Even with the dark mages, I didn’t feel the need to kill them unless they really came at me.

But somehow... I wanted to kill the Doctor.

Somehow, I couldn’t bother to look into his backstory, or try to understand his reasoning for being cruel. Somehow... I wanted to destroy him thoroughly.

I wonder what they want. I questioned as I recalled the destruction of the kingdoms, and the events that unfolded afterward. By them, I meant the developers, who I was pretty sure were either the Primordials, or perhaps, of someone about their level.

Turning back to the confused boy, I gave out a slight sigh. Putting down the coffee that he had ordered, I observed his expression once again.

Pretty sure he is thinking that it’s a quest of some sort. Well, not that I can blame him. I would have reached the same conclusion, I thought, as I looked at the book in his hand.

It was a very familiar, cliche scenario. You get a book. It has unique triggers, and boom! You are on a unique quest. It happens more often than not, and many players kind of look forward to it as well. Ironically, this whole thing too would be qualified as a ’Unique’ quest in many ways.

Before I greeted him back, I looked at the surroundings first. Everything that I could observe, I observed.

There doesn’t seem to be any mana-altering devices attached to it. This place doesn’t seem to be the route of the problem. Hmmm... the waiters and the cooks. Perhaps I should look into them as well. In this run? Perhaps in the next few runs. I analyzed the situation for a few brief seconds. There were many, many things that I needed to look into.

"Adam? Ummm... Sir Adam?" Impatient, he looked at me, called me out. The silence was making him antsy. I could see him tiptoeing more with each passing moment.

"What do you think about this place?" I asked, a bit curious.

"Ah! This... is a good place?" He answered, confusedly. His tiptoeing slowed a bit before he added,

"I have just arrived here, so I don’t know much. But this place is warm, providing a good environment against the chilly winds. I... haven’t tasted the food here, though."

His eyes looked at the half cup of coffee in the last sentence. Then, slowly returned to me as he waited for me to speak.

"I guess so. I am also here for the first time. Sorry about the coffee, though. I wanted to test something first," I said, gathering his attention.

"It’s... all right. Was there something wrong with my coffee?" He spoke, making me smile a bit. If I were really an NPC and a unique one, this sentence would have netted him some deep lore.

He is quite good at playing the game, huh? I was impressed.

"I don’t know," I answered, turning a bit serious," I am trying to investigate the cause of the player’s disappearance from here. Since you are the only one left, you are pretty much my last chance at it, though."

His eyes widened as he looked at me, the gears of his mind churning at a rapid speed.

"I am not an NPC. Sorry about that," I smiled as he looked at me, his eyes widened. Though rather than getting confused, he seemed to have reached a conclusion of his own.

"Are you a developer? Or the GM?" He asked, turning more serious than before.

I didn’t answer, waiting for him to reach his own conclusion. His eyes gazed deeper into mine before he slowly sighed. Then, as if pondering something, he asked,

"So what have the developers planned to do?"

"Bombarding the city, and a few more to kill the doctor," I answered.

"That’s stupid," his eyes widened. I could see the displeasure on his face before he thought of something and asked,

"So, why are you here? And why did you approach me?"

This question amused me. It made me chuckle, and then I laughed a bit before getting serious again as I looked at his face.

I had dozens of ways to answer this question. But in the end, perhaps because I had wanted to do it for a while, and perhaps even to check a few things, I answered in a direction that was the least appropriate to the situation. In a direction that would be the most interesting one.

"Encerid Mair. Would you believe me if I were to say that I was a player once and now I am trapped in the game?"