Natives and Visitors (1)

"Hi! Hi, brother Avia!" The one that awaits them inside the store was a golden-haired elf that was looking at armor presented in the store. He was wearing a white and blue colored robe. The robe was not full from shoulder to toe. It was what was defined as the modern way of Mystic nowadays by the natives.

The difference from what this elf wore to Arceede might be only about how loose the clothes and magic concentration on it.

"Oh, are you interested in the armor? You can still equip it, though. Armored mage seems quite dope. Hi Ilya." Arceede entered while also greeted Ilya that was on the 'cashier'.

Avia followed the greeting with a bow.

"Geez, mage is outdated. It's called Mystic here." Roivicc the elf answered his brother's roasting with a pout.

With a giggle, Arceede continued to open the conversation.

"Have you guys introduced each other?"

"I did, right? I was bowing deeply the first time I came."

"That's not proper, you ruined everyone's dawn." Arceede interrupted his brother with a flick in his forehead.

"Ouch, okay okay. I am Roivicc, call me Vi. A Mystic that will become a Spirit Summoner in the future."

After that, Avia and Ilya have followed suit.

"Hoo, I will call you brother Av, then. Since Ia will overlap with Ilya's name."

Avia has introduced himself and also mentioned how they could address him. He mentioned that they could call him freely between Av or Ia.

"Ooh, you are a civilian? Really?" Ilya was surprised by the introduction.

"Did I not introduced him as a civilian, Ilya?" Arceede asked her. Tilted his head.

"No, if I recalled correctly, you weren't."

"Geez, you have not introduced him properly too." Roivicc took the chance to counter-attack his brother with a smirk.

Arceede just responded with a shrug. He admitted the tied score situation nonchalantly.

"Is that why you told him to stay in the backline?" Ilya asked with a curious expression. Her canine teeth popped out even without her smiling.

With the topic popped out once again, Avia perked his ears while Arceede felt tired once again.

"What do you have in mind for that matters, Ilya? You are aware of how skillful this guy is, but this topic really annoyed me. Am I really wrong?"

Vi could only watch the debate. Based on the information he got from the recent conversations, it looked like his brother had a contrast opinion with the two other people.

And based on his opinion whose also knew that Avia was a civilian from the beginning, he also agreed with what his brother's decision was. Although, the result was that they were all wiped out and lose in that clash.

Yes, they put up a good fight against the Demonic Apes, but they couldn't last long. Furthermore, another party ruined the fun by jumping into the clash. The one that was expected as the 'fans' of Arceede.

"If you let him run wild on the battlefield and took command from the frontline. It might be turning into a good situation for us." It was the opinion coming from Ilya, the NPC that joined his party.

He could not hide his surprise from the answer. It was unexpected for him to got constructive feedback from an NPC, especially about how often he met a high-level AI in this early stage of the game. He has used to the NPC from the previous game who only follow certain 'scenario' given to them. Well, it was his first time to had an NPC in his party actually.

"How about him being a civilian? It's a new fact for you."

"Umm, but you were not telling me that at first. And it distracted me at that clash since I only know the fact that he has good ability but he didn't join the fight head-on."

Ilya answered with a light smile and without a burden at all. And it applied cold water to the burned area.

He never had that much experience regarding social management and how to properly manage a party in the game. And now, as he had a plan to made a guild, this was a challenge he had to overcome.

He was no longer annoyed with the debate and instead, accepted the answer with a cool head.

There were a few seconds of silence before a person came out from a staff door to broke the silence.

"I've heard a glimpse of the conversation and it looks like my sister gave you trouble. I apologize for that, she isn't doing it intentionally."

It was coming from another black-haired elf. She entered the room while bowing for an apology that continued with a light hit to her sister which was also followed by an 'aw' reaction. With her pointy ears and calm expression, she joined with an impactful impression.

At least, her beauty has captivated two of the young man in the room. The golden-haired elf named Roivicc, and a human in a formal cloth named Avia were staring at her blankly for a few good seconds.

It couldn't be helped since a good virtual character was one of the best selling points in the current era. It was proven by the previous games and also what the community had in DICE.

Even Arceede was captivated with the elf beauty the first time he visited the store. She might be a candidate for the top visual beauty of the game. A top gaming community idol like 'Lightning Empress' whose known for her visual and top tier ability might get some competitor along the way.

"Ah, sorry for the sudden interruption. I haven't introduced myself to you either, right? My name is Selean Lithienne. My sisters usually call me Lea. A merchant and owner of this armory store."

With a smile on her eyes, Roivicc and Avia could only respond with an awkward nod. They shared their nickname to Lea to lessen the distance.

"Oh okay, so I will call you Ar, Vi, and Av," Lea called the 3 guys' nickname while pointing each of them.

"Sure, and continue with the conversation earlier, I don't think she gave me trouble. She gave me good advice, honestly. So it's a no need for apologize." Ar continued with the talk. He was the most calm out of the 3 after all.

Hearing the line, Ilya puffed up her chest while giving a 'hum hum' from her mouth. She looked proud although it wasn't for long. Her sister gave her another light hit at her head that followed with another 'aw' and a pout.

"She has good ability but she tends to centralized around herself. So, her answer might be a bit biased based on her condition."

"I see." Ar got a nice grasp of the personality now. Since he was not annoyed anymore and could think of the matter thoroughly, he got the answer to why Ilya mentioned about 'distract her' earlier. She might not want to be blamed out of her fault for the parties' wiped out as she was a frontline that had some responsibility for the party's survivability. Although in his eyes, Ilya had done it amazingly in the earlier clash.

"Well, it's not that important anymore. Let the past be a good experience for the next."

He decided to move on since their reason here was for another topic.

"Anyway, can you give us an explanation about the true reason why Ilya joined us? There's no way she just joined us simply out of curiosity."

Earlier at the Wasteland, the answer Ilya gave to them was that she was curious about their party, especially Ar which had an 'unidentified' path.

In their perspective, it was not a disadvantage at all to get a high-level member to join the party. On top of that, it was a new experience for them to had an NPC in it.

And compared to that, it looked like Ilya had no benefit at all aside from to pleased her curiosity, an illogical reason for them. And after some push, Ilya told them to ask her sister while a scared expression pictured on her face from being interrogated with the two humans.

After a second of thought, Lea gestured them to the staff room.

"Let's talk inside."

"Hm? Is there to reason to discuss it inside? We have talked a lot here after all." Ar had his doubt. He had a thought that the topic might lead to a hidden quest or some sort. He had a grin inside his head while still maintained his facial expression.

"Ah, I will temporarily close the store so, we can have a more thorough discussion without disturbed by customers."

"But, we haven't met any customer since earlier. Isn't that, right? Vi?" Ar asked his brother, the earliest that came to the store which answered with a nod.

"Ah, we can discuss it too. It's not because the store isn't popular you, know." Lea answered with a pout and went inside followed by her sister.

Ar exchanged a glance with his brother and followed suit with a shrug. Leaving Av as the last to enter while mumbled silently a single word, "cute."