Silence filled the air.
“I’ll leave you here. Don’t cause any unnecessary trouble. I’ll be watching you.”
The sound of footsteps then quickly approached where Hiro was. The moment he heard those footsteps, Hiro immediately rushed down the stairs with his heart beating erratically, afraid that he would be caught eavesdropping on the conversation he didn’t understand.
Slam!
Hiro jumped to the side of the stairs and sat on an empty wooden seat near the wall. Several seconds later, a black-robed person walked down the stairs.
He seemed surprised when he saw Hiro sitting there.
Hiro didn’t bow his head. On the contrary, he directly returned the gaze from under the Venetian mask until finally, the robed man continued to walk while ignoring him. It seemed that he really didn’t want to cause trouble.
Still sitting on his chair, Hiro waited for the second person to leave.
“Who were they talking about? And Exalted… isn’t that Ace and Liberty’s guild?”
Hiro was muttering to himself when all of a sudden, he heard the sound of a door opening. This time, the door was opened so quietly that he almost didn’t hear it because of how loud the room was.
One… two… three…
A second person should’ve appeared from the stairs right about now, but Hiro didn’t see anyone come down. He heard no sound of footsteps either.
Out of curiosity, Hiro stood up from his seat and walked toward the stairs again. At the same time, he felt a gust of wind beside him.
Whoosh!
No wind was blowing from outside.
‘Damn it!’ Having felt something move past him, Hiro hurriedly turned around and used his demon-exclusive skill.
[Demon’s Eyes]
When the colors in the room dimmed in his eyes, he began to see black dust-like particles gathered to form the figure of a person.
The second black-robed man had blended into the crowd of people dancing with several bunny girl NPCs. Because the man was invisible to the naked eye, he ran into anyone who blocked his path and threw the crowd into disarray.
“What the hell? Who pushed me!?”
“You! What the f*ck? Are you challenging me?”
A commotion occurred. Two men began to throw punches without holding back, and when one of them accidentally fell on someone else, another person joined in on the commotion.
“That damn rogue.” Hiro tried to stop the second black-robed player who had hurriedly walked away. It seemed that he intentionally created a scene so his invisible presence could be ignored.
Hiro rushed forward to try to reach him, but he got trapped in the sea of people who had begun to break glasses and throw chairs and tables.
“You! Wait, stop!”
Hiro shouted toward the robed man, and it worked. Although he didn’t stop, the man looked back. The eyes under the Venetian mask widened when he saw that Hiro was indeed shouting at him.
However, the man immediately sped up his steps toward the exit and ignored Hiro, who once again felt that his face looked familiar.
“Damn it!”
“Hey, you! Stop or leave! Don’t cause a ruckus in this tavern!”
Out of nowhere, four bald men with the bodies of professional wrestlers taller than two meters appeared. and pulled the players causing a commotion with one hand, like separating elementary school children who were arguing in class.
Hiro quickly moved away. He didn’t want to be escorted out of the tavern since he didn’t participate in the commotion.
The security or bodyguards in the tavern had an intimidating appearance. Even though they were only humanoid NPCs, Hiro knew that each of them was at least twice as strong as the players causing a commotion.
Hiro returned to his seat and received a nagging from Jacob, who had drunk half a bottle of his whiskey.
“Where were you, Hiro?” He genuinely sounded mad.
Hiro leaned in to speak to his friend. It seemed that for this… he didn’t need to lie.
“Do you remember someone named Dimitri? I just saw him on the floor above,” Hiro whispered while making sure that only Jacob and himself could hear it.
“Dimitri? Wait… you went to the floor above!?” Jacob seemed more shocked when he heard where Hiro was just from.
Hiro nodded. Seeing his somewhat nonchalant reaction, Jacob told him a piece of information he didn’t know about prior.
While Hiro was gone, Jacob invited a bunny girl NPC to chat. According to the information she gave, the second floor of Moonlight Tavern was a VIP room that had been bought by people or organizations to gather for meetings with entertainment.
Hiro wasn’t surprised when he heard this. He already expected it.
“And Dimitri, do you have trouble remembering people’s names? How could you forget? Isn’t Dimitri the rogue who dueled against Immortal Knights’ ninja?”
Hiro felt slapped. How did he forget something so important?
Dimitri, a member of Ace’s party which included Liberty. They seemed close at that time.
He remembered now, but…
What was Dimitri doing with those terrorist player killers?
“I finally found you.”
Noah suddenly appeared and slammed the wooden table where Hiro hadn’t tasted his still-full drink.
“You came?” Jacob was stuck between believing and disbelieving. Even so, he still pulled an empty chair near the table for Noah.
“What would you guys do without me?”
Hiro smiled, not responding. His throat suddenly felt parched.
At least Noah came. One of the players he knew he could count on.
“You wanna order something?” Jacob asked while raising his right hand to call a bunny girl NPC.
“No alcohol. It killed me once.”
In the meantime, Hiro once again checked his HUD system. His eyes sparkled when he saw MyPhantom’s online status. Furthermore, before he contacted her, Cara had contacted him first through text.
[MyPhantom: Where are you? Am I late?]
The time in his HUD system showed that it was 8:30 PM. It was already time for Hiro to stand up as Cara would teleport to Moonspire City in five minutes.
“I’ll find a merchant.”
The three left the tavern after Hiro paid the bill. 1,500 LSC flew out of his wallet just like that.
It was quite expensive, but he felt that he had to be the one paying since he was the one who invited them.
Hiro walked toward a merchant in the city square, while Noah and Jacob stood by near NPC Willie following Hiro’s request to greet Cara’s arrival.
“Welcome, traveler. Please look around first.”
Hiro bought 999 Energy Potions, filling up an entire stack. This was the first time he prepared so many Energy Potions.
Meanwhile, his eyes wandered to a menu he had never seen before.
[New Items]
[Damage Attribute Converters]
Hiro raised his brow. That converter item, of course he wouldn’t miss it.
“Why did you only come now, old friends!?”