Chapter 8: Part 2

- Arthas -

Unsurprisingly, I was dragged to the bedroom by Veena. This being the third day, I was more used to the situation and handled myself quite well.

As I lay there, in the bed with her, I recalled something and spoke up.

"Veena."

"Hmm."

"That thing you said about not trusting another person in the forest over a human. Does it apply to us as well?"

"Oh my! Has that been worrying you? Is that why you were feeling guilty and came out clean with your title and its effects?" She giggled.

"No….not really. I could just never….bring the subject up." I finished.

"Because we were not that close back then. I can understand your reason perfectly well. I can see people trying to kill you to remove you from the way so that they could gain the titles for themselves. Revealing something like that takes a certain amount of trust between people. As for my words….I meant the general behaviour of people. I won't lie and say that I trusted you from the first time I met you. I might be good at reading people but I don't give out my trust so easily."

"And has that changed now?" I asked.

She smiled at my question. "For our first month, I always kept enough poison with me to take down a dozen people for protection in case something….bad happened."

I suddenly felt a severe chill run down my spine and looked at her with wide open eyes.

First month….and that was when she was teasing me with views of her in a towel….

She looked at my expression and put a hand on my head. "And now you are sleeping with me in the same bed. Does that give you your answer?"

I tried to say anything but couldn't find words.

She spoke again, breaking the silence between us. "Since we are talking about secrets, let me tell you something else."

I looked at her and by now she knew my 'go on' look enough to continue.

"What do you know about our world, Arthas?"

"Our world?"

"Yes. Our world. And I do not mean the one inside this….game. Our own world." Seeing my confused look she continued. "Our world is….not as simple as you see."

"Hmm?"

"There is a huge world outside of what people….normal people know of." She continued and then turned on her back to look at the ceiling.

"You mean the Underworld, gangs and all that?" I asked.

"Underworld, yes. Gangs and….all that….no. The ones I mean is the Supernatural. Gods and Dragons, Angels and Devils, monsters from the myths….the stories you might have heard as a kid….are mostly true."

….

….

….

….

I narrowed my eyes.

I mean I am a reincarnator and the Game Master was almost one hundred percent another reincarnator but apart from that I hadn't noticed anything.

Sure, they can be hidden but the chances of that are too low.

Is this her new way to pull a prank on me? She always ups her game when I stop giving her reactions she expects.

I just rolled my eyes and smiled. "I see."

"You don't look like you believe me." She smiled looking at me.

I shrugged. "I mean, would you if you were in my place?"

"Hmm, point. And I don't have anything as evidence to show you either so it will be hard to make you believe. Anyways, just treat this as me opening up about my own secret. Then, where was I, ah yes. Supernatural is real and I am one of them. Can you guess what?"

I looked at her mischievous smile and decided to play her game. "Do I have any options?"

"Keep guessing then. When you guess what I am, I will tell you more about myself."

I smiled and shook my head. "Sure."

"Oh, are you not afraid that I could be something dangerous like a monster or a demon?"

I rolled my eyes. "You don't need to be a monster to be dangerous. You are plenty dangerous by yourself." I added with a laugh.

"Oh my, you have such a silver tongue."

"But then again, why even disclose something like that?"

"The same reason as you. A show of trust."

I got the rest of her unsaid words. 'So that if one day I find out about her from an outside source, we don't just break apart.'

"I see. Thank you."

"You are welcome. Now come here, I want my favourite pillow "

With that she pulled me to her and hugged me.

I too was tired from all the stuff that happened today and decided to sleep.

As for the Supernatural world….it might be true or it might be a prank. Anyways, it was outside this game and none of my concern for now.

I had enough on my plate to worry about. I didn't need more. I mean just imagine I tire myself out and 

- Venelana -

She watched as the boy slept peacefully.

Revealing information about herself was a risky move on her part, especially considering that inside this place, she didn't have her power or identity to cover up for her. It was one of the reasons she was far more careful than she would normally be.

Over the past few months, she had come to trust Arthas and Shiroe quite a bit but she had been alive for over a thousand years and had seen trusted people turn on one another at the turn of a hat. Right now, she was not in a position where she could take any chances.

The reason she only left him with this much information was because she was banking on him not knowing about the Supernatural and giving him time to think about things will help him make his own assumptions, something that he is comfortable with and probably acclimate to the idea of her being a non human.

During this time, she can see his reaction to other races and his thoughts about them and decide how to proceed from there. Although, she hoped he would be more understanding.

She had come to like the boy quite a bit in these months and would hate to see their relationship suffer due to her identity. It was why she took the initiative to tell him about it on her own lest he finds out about it later on from someone else in which case saving their relationship would be extremely hard.

Devils didn't have a good reputation….and for a good reason. Although it was far better now than it was when she was younger, it still wasn't anything stellar.

Then again, when she saw him breathing peacefully like this, she could help but think that he would be more understanding than normal people.

Arthas has shown himself to be far more mature than regular people as well as very accommodating in his world views.

- Rias Gremory -

"And that's all our collection from the raid. Our members have all taken spots within the top ten which is beyond any of our expectations when this whole thing began." Henreitta said as she put her skill book on the table.

She looked around her, at the faces of her team members and recalled how far they had come since the starting of the game….or could they even call it a game anymore?….

She blamed herself everyday for dragging her peerage members into this mess and making them risk their lives.

The revelation of being trapped inside the game had devastated her, especially when she realised that their lives were in real danger.

Perhaps the only thing that drove her to action was the wish to find her Peerage members and try to make things right.

For this reason, she put her all into this game.

Working tirelessly, to gain just one more level and increase her strength to aid her in her search for her friends.

Maybe due to luck, she was able to reunite with Koneko in the nearby town but she didn't know about the others.

Akeno and Gasper….how must they be doing?

Were they okay?

Were they hurt in the raid?

Over time, she had found some other people who had been in a similar situation as her.

Some new while some extremely surprising and together they grouped up, trying to cover each other's back.

The blonde woman in front of her was Umeko Miyanozaka or as she is known in the game….Henrietta.

She was a twenty four years old accountant from Japan. She had entered the game with the rest of her friends from her guild in another game called the Elder Tales to build their guild here….and this happened.

In game, she is a bard. Apparently, she had experience playing this class in her previous game and she was actually really good at it.

Rias had to agree that their success in the raid was greatly due to her skills which boosted their stats and helped them get an edge in the battle.

The second member was another girl and an unexpected surprise at that.

Le Fay Pendragon or the Fairy Magician as she was called in game was an unexpected addition to their team.

Her name was something quite well known even among supernatural circles. The young princess of the Pendragon family as an up and coming Magician and a once in a century genius of Magic with talents rivalling her namesake.

She had heard that she and her brother had run away from their family due to some disagreement and there were more than a few houses who wanted to recruit them but no one was able to find any signs of them anywhere, not to mention the chance of starting a war with the Pendragon family and the Church if they did. For this reason, this news was only known to select few people at the heads of the houses.

The only reason she even knew about them was due to Mathers bringing up the news.

He was after all one of the founders of Golden Dawn and still kept in touch with the organisation so getting such news was easy for him. She had heard the news when he was reporting to her brother.

She had met the girl in the beginner's village and the two had been together since then and she wouldn't lie but she had grown quite fond of the girl too.

She had obviously asked her about why they ran away and what they were doing while hiding and the things she found….was beyond shocking….not just for her but also for Koneko.

Kuroka was innocent.

She hadn't gone mad.

The truth about what exactly happened back then had completely shaken her rook, and it had taken them lots of effort to bring her out of her shock. Koneko did eventually pull herself back together with the goal of finishing this game and go out to see her sister again to apologise to her.

Rias totally supported her in this decision of hers. In fact, she was going to ask her brother to have the case investigated once more and clear Kuroka's name.

Le Fay was a mage in the game and quite good at it too. Koneko on the other hand became a Brawler and then a Martial Artist just like her real life self. She was the main tank of the team.

The last member of their team was someone who stood out the most in their team.

Chief or Nyanta was someone whom Henrietta brought to the team. She recognised him from her previous game, although he supposedly looked very different in this one.

Chief was an old man in his forties who had a very calm presence and was a great chef. He was always calm and collected and was hardly surprised by anything. The man was truly a gentleman even when he was fighting.

He was an Apprentice Swordsman who was going to become a T4 Swordsman any day now. Not to mention the fact that he was the most experienced player in their team.

And lastly was her, a Mage and the leader of the team.

Their team was quite balanced and all they needed was a good healer and now, with their performance in the World Quest, perhaps she could get someone good to fill up the healer's position.

Yes.

One step at a time. They would become stronger and she would find her peerage members and bring them out of this game.

It's just that it would have helped a lot if she could communicate with them even for a bit.

The Game didn't even allow them to speak with each other if they weren't in a party or guild apparently….but from what she had found out, that was a long way off.

She had just reached the T4 Mage Class even after risking her life in the raid. As far as she knew, making a guild required a minimum of T5 which was months if not a year away. She doubted anyone else was going to be making any guilds anytime soon.

Suddenly, a message appeared in front of her eyes, making her eyes widen in surprise.

"The First Player Guild in the world of Arcana has been established."

"The Fairy Tail Guild has been established."

….