2 Travelling to Dwaram

"Can you tell me some things about your brother? What does he look like? What's his personality like?"

Arun rattled off a few questions towards Jinman.

Arun knew a lot about Jinman. He knew that Jinman had 8 brothers, 2 cute sons and a wife. Jinman ran a small business where he sold seeds for a variety of crops. All this information was obtained by taking an interest in Jinman's life.

One of the main goals of Arun's Research Project at his University was to try and break the game of Fusion Fantasy.

Fusion Corp., the creators of the game had a comprehensive bug reporting system in place. Many people made a living by just finding bugs in the game. They almost always recieved hefty paychecks. But the job of 'Bug Hunter' was not lucrative these days as the AI developed by Fusion Corp. had been tweaked to perfection in the 3 years since the launch of the game.

If a Bug Hunter did still exist, they would be behaving in very similar way to how Arun was.

"Henman left Dori at a young age. He liked Math just like you seem to do. But he also liked wars. He joined the Daharan military and was stationed at the Polvinian border in the north. He was injured in an unlucky skirmish and had to be discharged from duty. He went to live in the south saying he didn't like the bustle of Dori and the cold in the North. His Dojo is quite big for only a single person living in it. Arun? Hello?" Jinman shook Arun's shoulder.

"Huh? What? Sorry I dozed off a little there. I didn't ask for his whole life story, Jinman! Us professors aren't good at listening to boring monologues, you know. We are only good at delivering them." Arun chuckled slightly.

"Professors? What are you talking about?" Jinman asked with a puzzled expression.

"Oops. Sorry. Never mind. You were saying?"

"Look, you want to know what my brother is like? Go and meet him. I am losing business wasting my time taking to you. I haven't even opened my shop yet and it's already noon!" Jinman huffed and walked towards the central commercial area.

"Well that's that.." Arun mumbled and headed towards the city gates.

The area near the city gates was usually teeming with players travelling to and from Dori. There were two modes of transportation. The first one was the quick and costly Kingdom operated portal and the second was the scenic and slow carriage transport.

Arun saw a huge commotion near the portal and was surprised to spot a celebrity player. It was the 15th ranked Isabella waving her hand demurely to the players who were foaming at the mouth to meet her. Isabella was a famous blacksmith in the game with a die-hard fan following. Arun felt a little jealous of her popularity and the resulting riches she had gained because of it. Compared to her, he was paid pittance by the University.

If Arun had been willing to be a little corrupt in his dealings like his fellow professors at the University then he might have been a little better off financially speaking. Taking a cut from government funds provided for research projects was a fairly common practice.

Arun was standing a little ways from the portal and could not see Isabella clearly yet he recognized her instantly. It was because he could vividly see the hulking figure of her boyfriend standing behind her with a mean looking face. He wore a black armor, a grey cloak and carried his trademark broadsword, which had been crafted by Isabella herself, on his back. The boyfriend, Thomas, was also a famous player albeit a little less famous than Isabella. The swordsman was ranked 53 in the latest Top 100 rankings released by Fusion Corp.

Thomas and Isabella were the celeb couple of Fusion Fantasy. Their love story was famous. Thomas had commissioned multiple swords from Isabella and they had fallen in love. Fusion Corp. had shamelessly promoted them so as to entice young men to find love in the game. There were even rumors that Fusion Corp. had gifted several items that helped the couple with their rankings. But alas there was no evidence of this.

Arun knew all publicly available information about the Top 100 players. He had studied the game thoroughly before beginning to play. He walked towards them as he noticed that a few other players were surrounding the star couple acting as their entourage. They kept the throngs of players at bay by forming a sort of security perimeter.

"What are they doing in Dori?" Arun tapped the shoulder of one overly enthusiastic player who was jumping up and down beside him. He wondered if something was going on in the small beginner kingdom of Dahara that he didn't know of. Information was always useful.

"They came to meet Ronald Dahara, the king of Dahara. Apparently he wanted a high grade sword made and the quest was given to my lovely Isabella! She is so awesome! Just look at her. She looks so hot in those baggy pants!" , The short guy excitedly replied without even turning his head towards Arun as if fearing the couple would disappear if he looked away.

"Her boyfriend is standing right behind her, you know?" Arun scoffed.

"Shoo! Shoo! Go away! Don't spoil my mood." the deranged fan motioned.

"Whatever...like I care" Arun mumbled, turned away from the couple, walked towards the carriages which stood in a neat row. He didn't give the celebs a second glance. They had nothing to do with him or his purpose.

The carriage drivers' faces brightened up as they saw a customer arriving. It seemed like they had been waiting for one for a long time. The carriages were pulled by two horses each and were enchanted with spells so as to make the ride as quick and smooth as possible. There stood four separate carriages, each one leading to routes in four different directions from Dori. Dori was at the center of the of Dahara making it the travel hub of the entire kingdom.

All four carriages would travel through all the villages and cities in their routes right upto the Kingdom borders. Arun approached the Southern bound carriage.

"I would like to go to Dwaram. When does the carriage depart?" He asked the driver.

"Hello sir. My name is Nom and I hope you have a pleasant ride. There is only one seat left in the carriage so you will be the last passenger to board the carriage. Hence we will be departing immediately." Nom smiled.

"Lucky! Thanks Nom. What's the price for the ticket?" Arun smiled and entered the carriage as Nom stood with the door open.

"That would be 110 Novos, sir, taking into account the distance to Dwaram" Nom gently closed the door.

"There go my savings again" Arun mumbled to himself as the price was automatically deducted from his account as soon as Nom closed the door. But he was still grateful that the option of carriages existed, since portal travel would have costed him at least a 1000 Novos. A Carriage trip was more scenic anyway compared to the experiences he had read about portal travel on the internet.

The carriage had red sofa like seats facing each other and was moderately spacious. There were two passengers already seated inside. Arun first noticed the fat man who was wearing a three-piece suit. He had a thin black mustache and a glass of wine in his right hand. His black hair were perfectly parted and shined with whatever fluid he had doused them in. The fat man was an NPC as was recognizable from the non existent ID which usually floated above a player's head.

The fat man lazily gurgled out a warning to Arun.

"I have paid for two seats so this whole side is mine. Sit on the other side."

Arun laughed to himself joking inside his own head that the fatty did require two seats worth of space. He obliged nevertheless and sat down beside the other passenger who turned out to be a player. He could only see the shape of a woman and not her face as she was looking out the window on the other side and had her head covered by a dark green hoodie. There was enough space between Arun and the woman so that they weren't touching each other.

The carriage started moving, slowly gathering speed. Arun saw through his window that a new carriage replaced it in the carriage stand and was now waiting for new pasengers. The three passengers travelled in silence. The woman's ID read 'Alphaelf' and she seemed to be the silent type to Arun as she hadn't spoken anything since the journey started. The fatty on the other hand was quiet because he was busy sipping his wine.

Arun thought he should end the awkward silence and looked at fatty's face.

"So, where are you headed to?"

"To the border. And you?" fatty replied. He looked like a rich merchant travelling for business purposes. Though Arun wondered why the fatty didn't just use portal travel.

"Dwaram" Arun answered honestly.

Alphaelf turned away from the window and looked at him as soon as he mentioned his destination. Arun stopped breathing causing him to cough and turn away from her. Alphaelf had pointy ears, a button nose and red lips. She was an elf and she was extremely pretty.

'Arun. You are a married man. You love your wife. She is more beautiful. Saloni is a real beauty whose looks are not modified by a computer. Think about her instead. See beyond the good looks. Beyond the looks. Come on! You can do it.' Arun thought to himself as he turned back to look at her.

"Oh! So it is Alpha Elf and not Alphaelf!" Arun laughed nervously.

This ride was going to be torturous.

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CHAPTER 1 END

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