Chapter 8

— Five Years Until The End of Yggdrasil —

I walked through the streets wearing a face mask, weaving through the crowds of people living their day-to-day lives.

Today was the day—the first IRL meet-up of our guild, Hell's Paradise.

It had been a little under four years since I had maxed out gram, and in that time, our guild went from one of the top guilds in the game to the second strongest guild. Among our ranks were 50 influential players, the max a guild could have in Yggdrasil, and among them, we had six World Champions and four World Disasters.

With Seraphim growing, we knew we had to make a move, a desperate act to allow our guild to grow stronger…So we hunted down the World Champions/Disasters that weren't a part of Asgard's forces and took their titles. The six World Champions in our guild are Touch Me, Joni, Vampira, Nishikienrai, Warrior Takemikazuchi, and myself.

The four World Disasters are Ulbert, Tabula Smardgina, Peroronchino, and Momonga.

Honestly, hunting down the various Champions/Disasters was the most fun and challenging task I've participated in since I started playing Yggdrasil. Killing both YurNotThatGuy and IamThatGuy to get their World Champion titles for Nishi and Takemikazuchi, and once that was done, it was relatively easy to find and kill three World Disasters.

Upon killing the World Champions, a week would go by before the next tournament was held. We would outfit the competitors with the best gear we could get our hands on and send them on their way.

And it worked.

Of the 18 World Threats/Champions in Yggdrasil, our guild possessed 10 of them.

Considering Seraphim/Asgard possessed the other 8, it didn't give us an incredible advantage over them. However, with the way our guild was set up as a massive fortress, it was unlikely we would ever suffer actual defeat from an outstanding attack.

With the guild in such a strong position, Touch Me requested that we all meet up. He and Ulbert already do so regularly, and he wanted to "put names to faces…"

Everybody had primarily been on board except some of the…darker players. The ones who rejected humanity a great deal during the game didn't want to put their faces out there, but we weren't a group of people that would judge them for hating the mistakes of humanity-

We were right there with them.

*BUMP*

I stopped, looking down at the person who had just bumped into me. I frowned to see it was a girl who had fallen from the collision. I offered her my hand.

"Sorry about that; I should have been paying better attention."

"No, no!" She quickly waved off, accepting my hand, and I pulled her up. "I was on my phone; I wasn't paying attention."

This girl…she sounds familiar. I took a closer look, inspecting her features. Messy's brown hair was tied into a ponytail, two red clips holding the left side of her hair up while the right side fell freely. To top it all off, she looked at me with tired brown eyes with slight bags underneath them.

Overall, she looked like your average salarywoman, but beyond that, she was quite pleasant on the eyes.

"You seem lost, not from around these parts?" I asked with an inviting smile. I wasn't either, but I had been here before. This was close to where Touch Me lived, and we had met once, just him, Ulbert, and me.

"No, I'm not; I'm supposed to be somewhere. Do you know where Takemichi's Barbeque is?"

I paused at that, finally putting two and two together.

Takemichi's Barbeque was where the guild was meeting up, and the fact that she sounded familiar meant she was a part of the guild!

And considering each girl in our guild sounds pretty fucking unique, there was only one person she could be. Momonga.

"Yeah, I'll take you there." I smiled, and she quickly bowed at a ninety-degree angle.

"Thank you, thank you so much!"

I damn near laughed but held it in because that would be rude. "No need for that, let's go."

"R-Right!"

What a little cutie she is.

— Momonga (Megumi Suzuki) —

She gave the guy she was walking with a quick look. She was incredibly thankful that he had decided to lead her to the guild meet-up. She had spent the last hour looking around, and the place wasn't even GPS-trackable, at least for her old and useless phone. What kind of bullshit was that?!

She took another breath, not so discreetly stealing a longing look at the man. It wasn't very rare to see men like him around. Tan skin, black hair, eyes, a defined body, and a nice jawline.

That was very common nowadays, especially for someone who works in construction. Her father even shared many of the man's characteristics; her father was much older now, and the man she was walking with was a bit taller.

"So, you live here?" She asked, hoping to make some small talk.

"Nah, got a buddy that lives here, though. Just visiting." He admitted, pulling off his mechanical mask and giving her a cocky grin before putting it back on. She couldn't help but blush at the sheer cockiness in that grin of his. He seemed like the kind of guy who cared little for what others thought and did what he wanted whenever he wanted, within the confines of the law.

That…was one of the most attractive things to her and one of the reasons why she fell for Kakuei.

"So, why Takemichi's?" He asked with unhidden amusement.

"Oh, uh…" She trailed off, not really sure herself. "My friend says the barbeque there is the best in Japan."

"Your friend has good taste. Takemichi gets the perfect meat. Grows it himself. None of those chemicals or processed trash."

"Fresh meat?" Megumi asked with surprise. "That's…expensive! I can't afford that!"

"He invited you out, didn't he?" I asked, and she nodded. "Then he'll pay, most likely."

"I see…" She smiled, likely thinking about trying meat for what had to be the first time in her life.

The food in this shitty world is ass. I mean fucking paste levels of ass. Any organic food is explicitly reservedfor the wealthy.

"A hundred years ago, people bragged about how technology was the future. What they should have been saying is agriculture is the future. No matter what generation humanity falls in, good, clean, natural food is always a must."

"Mhm." She could agree with that. Humanity had focused on technological advancements all while using a massive amount of fossil fuels, and look where it led the planet.

To its grave.

"We're here." He said suddenly. She looked at the fancy-looking barbeque before looking back at the man and bowing. "Thank you, Mr., for guiding me."

"No problem; what do you say we grab a seat now, Momonga?"

Her heart froze as she slowly looked at the man to see him still grinning.

"What, thought I wouldn't recognize your voice?"

This guy…was he a guild member?!

"U-Um…who are you?" She asked. She didn't recognize his voice at all.

"Meh, you'll hear in a second if that bastard Touch Me is as loud as he always is." The man chuckled, walking into the restaurant.

She quietly and very cautiously followed after him. Upon entering, she looked upon the interior, and the first thought that came to her mind was 'small.' Not a lot of places served meat, and they typically never had much meat in storage at any time, which forced restaurants like this to limit business.

There were eight tables with four seats at each, and only two of the tables were taken up; it looked like those two tables were being used by people who were with one another.

Is that…the guild?!

"Oh, there he is!" A brownish-grey bearded man stood up and pointed at the black-haired man beside her. "Kakuei, get your ass over here and drink with us!"

"Kakuei?!" Megumi shouted in surprise, looking back to the man beside her to see him grinning.

"You didn't recognize my voice, Momonga? My heart weeps~"

"Y-You don't s-sound anything like you do on Yggdrasil!" She stuttered, her cheeks tinted red.

"I have a cold." He shrugged, pulling off his mechanical facemask and walking over to the table. She did the same and followed after him.

"How the hell have you been, Kakuei?" The same older man asked, reaching his hand out and clasping it with Kakuei's.

"Eh, same old same old, how are you, Ryou?" Kakuei asked, patting the man on the shoulder.

"Don't call me that." The older man shook his head. "Let the overwhelming, unyielding justice shine on you, Touch Me, and reach the innocence of the Heavens!"

That's Touch Me?!

Megumi's mind spun, and her eyes widened as she looked at the middle-aged man. She hadn't expected Touch Me to be so…mature.

"Ryou, don't do that shit here!" Another man got up, a bit younger with brown hair and…a mustache.

"Stop hating, Ulbert. Touch Me is right. Why use our real names when this is supposed to be a guild meeting." Kakuei grinned, reaching out for a handshake with Ulbert, and the brown-haired man with a well-groomed mustache took it firmly.

Ulbert…his mustache, it was-

Majestic.

She had heard him go on and on about his mustache whenever Touch Me would make fun of it, but she had never thought it would actually look so…cartoony.

He had to spend a decent amount of moneyjust maintaining it!

And money wasn't a commodity Ulbert had much of.

"Who's the lady friend?" Another man asked, with brown hair and glasses.

"Baka, it can only be one person!" A similar-looking brown-haired girl asked, shooting out of her seat and wrapping Megumi in a tight hug. "It's so good to meet you, Megumi-chan finally!"

"...Buku?"

The girl pulled back, flashing Megumi a peace sign.

"The one and only!"

"Then…you must be, Pero?" She asked, looking at the brown-haired man with glasses.

"Didn't know you looked like this, Momonga." Another guy said-

"Enough, stop overwhelming the poor girl." Kakuei frowned, and once again, her heart skipped a beat. "Everyone sit, and let's get to grillin'!"

"Yes, guild leader~" Buku sing songed, pulling Megumi along and sitting down. Megumi reluctantly sat beside her, but not before sparing a longing glance at Kakuei. She wanted to sit beside him, but if her best friend wanted to sit at this table instead of theirs…she would have to go along with it.

— Kakuei —

"So, how are your two girls, Touch Me?" I asked, taking a bite of the freshly cooked pork.

"Eh, they're alright. The Mrs. has been really uppity lately about work and playing Yggdrasil. We have enough money, don't we? Also, with how the world is, policing just isn't…as necessary anymore. Yggdrasil needs do-gooders to bring benevolent justice!" Touch Me grinned, throwing his hands up, and all of us threw our hands in the air as well, mimicking his jovial attitude.

"Amen." I nodded, taking a long sip of my beer.

"The hardships of being a wealthy old man." Ulbert scoffed while cooking his meat.

"You say that now, but in 5 years, you'll be my age, then who will be laughing?"

"...Still me. You'll still be five years older." Ulbert blinked, and Touch Me paused before shrugging.

"Smartasses and their smart-ass ways!"

The guild erupted in laughter as we continued to eat, drink, and be merry. Not everyone had come, and only 12 of us had by the end of the night. Those twelve were the original members of Nine's Own Goal, Buku, Pero, and Vlad, but it was still a great deal of fun!

I had been looking so far ahead to the future, to my place as a god in the new world, that I had forgotten to take a moment to look back on the friends and memories I had been making along the way.

Eventually, the night came to an end, and everyone had started to leave. We were all staying in hotels because there was no way we would meet up and head back home the next day; that's just a waste of money.

So, everyone started going their separate ways. Touch Me, and Ulbert returned to the former's house for the night. Touch Me had also offered me a place, but I had already gotten the hotel room, and I didn't plan on not sleeping in the place I had paid for.

Now, it was just myself, Buku, Pero, and Momonga.

"So…is Kakuei your real name?" Buku asked with unhidden interest.

"Yeah." I shrugged. I had been made fun of several times for using my real name in games, but I couldn't give any less of a fuck about what they thought.

"Oooh, I told you, Nii!"

"I thought I had told you this before?" I questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"You have; he just doesn't listen." Buku stuck her tongue out before grabbing her brother's hand. "Come on, baka, let's give Momonga and Kakuei some much-needed alone time~"

With those parting words, they sped up, heading to our shared hotel with gusto.

"I can never get a read on that girl." I frowned, staring at Buku as she ran away. I won't lie; my eyes drifted down to her heart-shaped ass in those tight pants she was wearing. I didn't expect her to be such a good-looking woman, but I guess that's my fault.

"U-Um, Kakuei?" The girl beside me asked. She was looking away from me, but the red blush she sported was very clear to my eyes.

"What's got you all embarrassed, Momonga~" I grinned, enjoying how her face grew even redder. "Don't take everything I say seriously, and that goes doubly so for Buku."

The girl gave a short nod, and we walked silently until suddenly Momonga stopped walking.

I turned around, giving the girl a raised eyebrow. "Momonga?"

"...C-Can we talk?"