The Goodbye

As Cordelia's body turned into light particles and disappeared, the group turned toward the gate and began trudging back inside the town.

'Ah, crap!' Manco darted inside an alley and hauled himself up a roof. He lied flat and peeked his head out to observe the group as they walked by.

A level 21 Barbarian strode in front, accompanied by a level 20 Witch clinging to his arm. Flanking them was a level 20 female Forest Shaman and a level 21 male Cleric, followed by a level 15 Ranger. The final member, trailing a few steps behind, was a level 22 Rogue. He was the one who killed Cordelia earlier. He carefully scanned the alley Manco just ran in, before shrugging and turning away.

"That was unnecessary!" Manco heard a male voice faintly drifting from the group. It appeared to be from the cleric.

"Shut up, Reg! That bitch had it coming!" The witch stopped walking and turned to face the cleric.

"What's your problem? You don't even like her! Now that she says she doesn't want to hang out with us, why does that make you angry?" Undeterred by her glare, the cleric continued.

As their backs were turned, Manco silently made his way back to the ground and began following the group.

They walked along the main road and talked noisily without bothering to lower their voices.

"You… Mind your own fucking business!" Unable to retaliate, the witch stormed off with a huff.

The rest of the group watched her walking away.

"What's the deal between the two of them anyway?" the rogue asked.

"Playground squabble," the cleric answered with a sigh.

"Doesn't look that way to me!" the barbarian chimed in, "I've asked her plenty of time but she never gave me an answer."

"She never said anything to me either!" the shaman said, parroting the witch's words, "but I bet that bitch has it coming!"

"Can it, B.!" the cleric glared at her, "She doesn't hear you anymore. You can stop kissing her ass now!"

"Oooh! Is. That. So, Mr. knight in shining armor!" the shaman girl leered at him, enunciating every word, "Your childhood sweetheart isn't here either, so shouldn't you drop that nice guy act as well? We all know you're just trying to get into her…"

"Okay, okay! Let's not get ourselves riled up," the barbarian raised his voice and stood between the two of them, "As for me, I don't care. I'm just along for the ride. And Regina's a pretty good rider, too," he chuckled, but stopped when he saw the cleric's displeased look, he hastily added, "Oops, my bad! Sorry, bro!"

The cleric said nothing and just shook his head.

"I'll take off here. You guys still here tomorrow?" The rogue asked.

"Yeah, me too. Gotta get my beauty sleep!"

"I've got school in the morning. I'd ditch it, but my old man will kill me!"

"Or lock up your rig!"

"Exactly! That's how he kills me!"

"Morning's off, then. How 'bout afternoon, say, 2 p.m.?"

"Deal!"

"Anyone has a problem with 2 p.m.? No? That's it then!"

"We'd better get this over with tomorrow. I'm sick of this place!"

"Me too. We'd wipe the floor with this boss, but our resident Typhoid Mary is obsessed with its spells," the shaman said, shivering.

"Yeah, she'd better be here tomorrow. Hey, Boner, make sure she'll show up, okay?"

"Sure, sure! I'll help her cool off in a minute," the barbarian replied with a laugh.

As the party disappeared inside an inn on the main road, Manco turned the other direction and began sorting out what he had seen.

He didn't care for their little drama with Cordelia. What piqued his interest was their levels. Except for the ranger, who was clearly a new addition, the rest was from level 20 to 22. The way they carried themselves and the balanced class composition heavily suggested they were Beta Testers. If that was the case when…

The chat icon flashed at the bottom of his screen. He opened it to find Cordelia's voice call. She was still in his party.

[Hey, you still there?]

[I am. Where are you? What happened?]

[One of them attacked me. That, well, that was about as well as I expected] she chuckled humorlessly.

[Where are you now?]

[I'm in the inn. I'm logging out now. Just calling to say goodbye.]

[Will you be on tomorrow?]

[Probably not. I… have a few things to sort out.] Close friends or not, cutting ties in such a way was probably not easy for her.

[I see. I'll still see you around, though?]

[Yeah, I guess…]

[By the way, are your friends in the same time zone as you?]

[No, they're about 3 hours behind. Why do you ask?]

[No reason. I'm just curious.]

[You…] The other side was silent. He could practically hear the gears turning in her head. [I see. That's why you helped me, right? To get to them?]

[That's… one of the reasons.] There's no point denying it. Might as well tell her the truth.

[Haha. I guess I'm just dumb!] she said with a sigh [Ah well, it's none of my business! I helped you and you helped me. So we're even now?]

[Cordelia, listen. I…]

[It's okay, I get it!] she cut him off. [I'm logging out now. Good luck with… whatever it is you're trying to do!]

Then she ended the call.

〔 Cordelia has left your party. 〕

〔 Your party has been disbanded. 〕

Staring at the call transcript, Manco sighed. Then he dismissed the screen and entered the Sleepy Hollow Inn. At one of the table, several waitresses and porters were eating the meal that Cordelia and he had ordered but didn't eat. Acknowledging their grateful nods, he headed upstairs to his room, locked the door, and logged out.