Snow Crown

One night, Dmitry was accompanied by a young woman inside a cyber café that was almost empty. All the previously occupied tables were now only occupied by a small group of people in front of them, while a woman behind the counter discreetly watched Dmitry and Miriam. Miriam, who was playing with her blonde hair with an orangish hue, suddenly stopped her dreamy expression and began to speak.

"It's not anxiety, just a little problem of mine that's none of your business," Miriam said.

Dmitry heard the girl speak, changing her tone and look from one of a love-struck teenager to a sad one. Now, with only a faint glimmer of a once-strong shine, she simply asked, "Just tell me the flavor..."

"Seems like I'll have to beat you again," Dmitry said, running his hand over his head.

Miriam, who was taking out her wallet, looked at Dmitry in surprise. "Wait, what?"

"Beat you again, that's what I said," Dmitry replied with a smile, resting one arm on the table and leaning his head on it, looking at Miriam and pointing a finger at her.

"I'll defeat you again, and my prize will be satisfying my curiosity. But, of course, you'll have to be better than today because why am I a level 1? Something doesn't add up," Dmitry said, seeing the girl's expression change, her lips trembling as if she was about to laugh.

"Shut up. Even if I were at the highest level, I wouldn't beat you. I know you have things you didn't use, Schariac, the shadow that covers all assassins," Miriam said, looking into Dmitry's eyes.

Dmitry stood up from his chair, looking at the girl who seemed to be back or even better than before. He sighed and thought, 'What a strange girl.'

Then he spoke with a big smile, "What are you talking about? I'm just a novice trying to pass as a god."

"You know, narcissism can be really annoying. If you keep it up, girls might not like you," Miriam said in a mocking tone.

Dmitry shrugged, his hand on his chin, tilting his head to the side. "Who cares? And look, you don't seem to dislike it."

"There you go again, saying things that sound like something else," Miriam stood up from her chair, pulling out her card. The game automatically logged out of her account. Miriam squeezed the card between her hands, looking at Dmitry with a slight smile.

"For someone as obtuse as you, you say such things so easily that I can't understand you," Miriam said, almost laughing.

Dmitry looked at her a bit confused. "What did I say wrong?"

"Nothing, just forget it," Miriam responded.

'So he's just good with words. I never thought I'd end up meeting a guy so handsome and good at games, but unfortunately, he's denser than osmium,' Miriam thought.

"For some reason, I feel offended. Was it one of the people I faced before?" Dmitry said, rubbing his right ear and looking around the cyber café, searching for someone who might be talking about him.

Miriam looked away, realizing what Dmitry had said and thought. "That's just sharp senses..."

Miriam noticed that her account card was still connected to the computer. She quickly removed it, replacing it with a piece of paper, a three-dollar café receipt, placing it where the game card had been. "So, when are we scheduling our next match?"

Without saying a word, Miriam tapped her entry card into the empire game with a smile, moving to the side and ending up behind him. She spoke to Dmitry, holding her empire card.

"And of course, I promise to tell you everything, even my three measurements. But it won't be in the empire; our rematch will be in Altair. Look for the Snow Crown Queen," Miriam said, extending her hand with a smile.

"You better hurry because the snow melts easily," Miriam said, taking Dmitry's empire card with her.

"What a girl," Dmitry said, looking at her computer and seeing only a piece of paper where the empire card should have been. He sighed, taking the paper and realizing it was her phone number with a message:

"Good luck. Not that I was going to play empire again anytime soon, and her number is good that she left it. I forgot to ask, Snow Crown Queen, right?" Dmitry said, putting the paper in his left pocket and looking at Andreza, who was reading a fashion magazine behind the counter in her usual attire.

"So, Andreza, are you going to stop pretending to read now or after I leave?" Dmitry said, approaching Andreza.

Andreza got up, leaving the magazine on the counter, looking at Dmitry. "That's right, you got me. But what could I do? You were, I can say, a hundred times more excited playing with that girl. It reminded me of when you played in tournaments."

Dmitry sighed, looking at Andreza, shrugging, and putting his hand behind his head. "Well, if that's the case, there's nothing I can do for you. And you, the owner, kept the place open longer because of the two of us."

"Wait, how did you know?" Andreza asked, surprised, looking around and seeing the empty cyber café with just the two of them inside. She also saw Dmitry pointing to a sign on the counter indicating they were open from 8 AM to 9:30 PM.

"Well, it's already past ten," Dmitry responded.

"I understand..." Andreza said, sighing.

Dmitry and Andreza talked for a few minutes. After Dmitry paid for his time on the computer, he left for home and found his sister wrapped in a blanket, watching TV.

"If I take her to her room, she'll definitely wake up and bug me about where I was. So, goodnight, sister," Dmitry said, walking around the room, leaving everything as it was when he got home, heading straight to the machine where his other world, the world he was destined to dominate, was saved.

[Time progressed two months in your world]

"Okay, let's see what kind of creature is giving me experience this time," Dmitry said. After a few hours, he was sitting on a huge rock in the middle of nowhere, looking at a pure dirt path leading to the forest he was in before.

"Half-human wolves this time. I haven't faced their pack in a while, and their name is Gray, so they are low-level but should have good equipment. I'm weaponless because of that electric kitten," Dmitry said to himself, jumping off the rock. He picked up a much smaller stone than the one he had been sitting on and threw it into the midst of the half-wolves, who stopped hunting and began investigating the stone, thinking it was some small creature like a bird that could no longer fly and had fallen.