Chapter 146: A game (8)

"Kid… don't point your hands at me with the intention of attacking… unless you want to lose your hands," Shalia said. "I won't go easy on you, despite your size."

"Haha, what are you going to do?" Danielle asked after laughing. "You can't do anything to me. I defeated monsters way stronger than you."

"Calm down, Shalia… she is just a kid," Luke said. "Forgive her insolence since she is young and is getting carried away with her powers."

"I am not a kid… you stupid-looking idiot! Old fart! Baldy!" Danielle said.

Luke was starting to get annoyed as well... while he wasn't that old, he didn't know how to handle brats like that. He wasn't that mature either, so he thought that the perfect answer would be to smack her in the head. That probably wouldn't help and it would make him lose future arguments if he rely solely on violence

"That is quite the redundant insult…" Luke frowned. "Anyway, you should come with us, kid. Those who survived probably escaped the city already, we didn't find any presence for several hours."

"... Everyone will come back once I complete this stage, so it is fine," Danielle said. "I can do it, I don't need your help."

"... What?" Luke frowned. "Complete the stage? This isn't… a game. You think this is a game?"

It wouldn't be weird for someone to think that all was a dream, but eventually, everyone would have to accept the truth. It seemed like Danielle didn't do that and while looking at Sylah, it seemed that he was also troubled over that. Still, after thinking for a while, Luke realized that someone that young would need that kind of escapist idea to keep going... Luke wondered how he would feel in her position... while he probably wouldn't follow the same path and reach the same answer, he probably would be pretty harsh with his own answer. Knowing himself as much as he knew, his goals would be revenge-based, probably...

"Oh my… This is unexpected," Rina said. 

"Sylah… what kind of retard are you to let that kid believe in such a thing?" Shalia asked.

"Sorry… I tried to convince her, but she thinks that I am just something out of a screen," Sylah said. "She doesn't listen to me at all."

Danielle was probably thinking that Sylah was just an NPC, and since she probably received some quests, she concluded that she can win the game and return to the real world once she defeats all the monsters. Maybe she woke up late on the day the zombies arrived or she stayed hidden and didn't see many people die… in a way, that was fortunate and unfortunate. A kid of that age shouldn't see people dying, much less those close to her. Still, that was troublesome because once she reaches that goal, she will have to deal with the painful truth…

"Luke, just destroy the crystals and then decimate the remaining monsters, that should be more than enough," Shalia said. "That much help is something that they don't even deserve."

"You are lucky, Luke," Rina said. "I am the queen of the elves of my world and she is queen of ice. She doesn't even blink in the idea of leaving two kids here behind."

"Sorry, Shalia… but I can't do that," Luke said. "That would be too much even for me."

Although he said that convincing Danielle would be difficult, she probably thinks that he is an NPC as well… that was why she didn't hesitate in threatening Shalia. There are some games where players had the freedom to kill NPCs… but going that far was beyond Luke. Perhaps stressed kids liked to play the villain like that to blow the steam… living in a city alone where she couldn't meet her relatives and friends, it was no wonder Danielle would feel like that.

"You may find this hard to believe, but I am a player too, Danielle," Luke said.

"... How do you know my name?" Danielle frowned.

"I can also access the shop and from it I obtained a skill that Grants me the power to access information of others," Luke said. "There are other people like us, and we need to work together to solve this mess. Just defeating the enemies of this city won't solve everything."

Danielle began to ponder about that… if Luke knew the existence of the shop and he also had a dark elf with him, then it was evident that he was the same as her. Still, for a kid, she was unbelievably suspicious of him. Maybe it was due to the situation, or it was due to the fact that she read too many comics and movies regarding apocalyptic events.

"Luke… lying isn't the answer," Rina whispered.

"What do you want me to do? Force her to believe that this is real and that she will never see her family and friends again?" Luke asked.

Rina didn't have a better solution for that problem, so she couldn't reply to that question. In any case, Danielle still didn't look much convinced by Luke's words, so perhaps he would have to show her instead of telling that just defeating the enemies of the city won't change anything… In fact, defeating the enemies of the entire world will only make things peaceful again… it won't bring back those who had fallen. Still, that was something that she will have to realize on her own.

"Well, it seems that you don't believe me…" Luke said. "It is fine, though. I will return in a few hours after defeating the enemies and making the smoke dissipate, then you will see that I am indeed telling the truth."

While Luke wanted to help the kid and bring her to his camp, probably to make Amanda or his mother look out for her, Luke wasn't selfless enough to divide the experience and the gold coins with her. So, he decided to go and deal with the city's problems alone.