Hyper Luck

When I woke up in the golden cabin, which my eyes were fully adapted to, I noticed that Khea’s flowery scent was starting to fill every corner of the ship.

I got up from the bed and pulled out Attoria’s Greatsword in a hurry.

It had been a long time since I had adapted to the feeling of the bonus stat points attached to the greatsword being applied to my body

Leaving the room, passing through the long hallway with several masterpiece paintings, and entering the hall, Khea with her eyebrows raised was leaning against one wall and looking into the crystal ball with her arms crossed.

"Khea?”

I arrived in a hall wide enough for her scent to fade, but just by looking at her from far away, I somehow managed to remember the scent of flowers in my head and felt it right under my nose.

She didn't give me a glance as I was walking behind her and said,

"You’re here.”

She finally smiled when I got close enough to her. Then she quickly turned to focus on the crystal ball, and I too quickly walked next to her to take a peek at what she was looking at.

As I moved towards her, I noticed that her long, black hair hanging down from time to time gleamed like tiny jewels.

"The situation is getting direr.”

"How so?”

Khea continued speaking naturally as if she already knew that I was approaching her. In response to her calm voice, I quietly shifted my gaze to the crystal ball she was looking at.

Soon, a light was emitted from the crystal ball, and a series of screens appeared, and the videos started playing with an effect like a streaming river.

"I requested a friend that happened to be an Elementalist so I’ve been getting videos in real-time.”

"An Elementalist friend?”

She slightly nodded at my question.

"And this is the vision of ‘Kaiser’ which she controls.”

"Kaiser?”

Khea, who looked at my puzzled face, raised a moist corner of her lips and frowned one eyebrow. And in the end, it changed to her characteristic smile.

"Right, it’s only natural for you to not know. Kaiser is the name of a raptorial called Ravermed. In the eastern skies, it is often called the ‘Crown hawk’ too. I believe just one side of its wing is over about 3 meters.”

"Have you known your friend for a long time?”

At my question, she looked intently at me, then suddenly turned into a playful face.

"What if I told you that it’s a very special relationship?”

Khea raised her chin and showed off her sharp nose as she gave a cold smile. The subtle and exquisite combination of her green eyes and tanned skin that seemed to be gradually whitening had made me almost get sucked into her eyes again.

But at the same time, I was annoyed at her playful attitude, and I got jealous without realizing it, so I didn't avoid her eyes. To be precise, I really wanted to hear her answer.

Then she suddenly burst into laughter shaking her shoulders, and her fluttering hair burst with the scent of a flower in full bloom.

"This friend is a player, Mose. I met this person on my first mission, just when you got yours too. We’ve helped each other and become friends.”

Then she shook her head slightly and gave a playful expression.

"And ‘thankfully’, this friend of mine is a very beautiful lady.”

She said with a teasing smile. She made a satisfied expression after she noticed how red my ears became. Then she just looked at me.

This heavy blow from Khea really hit my chest in a way I was unfamiliar with.

"Anyways, could you keep your eyes on the crystal ball?”

She spoke calmly with a cold, concentrating face, to the extent that the joke she had just had was overshadowed, and I, too, looked at the screen. Countless corpses were scattered all around on a giant open field.

"This is all…”

"Players. And some of the people from this world too. This scene is worse than the human slaughterhouse in Rovas.”

I glanced at her with a puzzled face after I heard something very terrible. She looked back at me and shook her head.

"It was something I had come across during a mission from a very long time ago.”

Khea tried to finish the topic as quickly as possible and crossed her arms.

"Mose, before you came the players’ raid parties were divided into five battalions and clashed against Lidornn. The result was a crushing defeat for the players.

The later organized raids also had a mix of mercenaries from our world, and it seems that Lidornn’s cavalry took some damage as well.”

"The corpses look as if they were stomped, no?”

"Correct. The formidable penetrating power of the Lidornn cavalry overwhelms the defense power of the player raid parties. In addition to the tactics of Lidornn the ‘Unusual Genius’, the Black Griffin cavalry he leads is very powerful, worthy of its reputation that trembles the continent.”

She corrected her posture as she continued to speak.

"However, I believe it will be like that for only a while.”

"What do you mean?”

"It’s almost impossible to count the number of players that are trying to stop Lidornn. While the player raids are thoroughly crushed by Lidornn’s cavalry, other raid parties appear from the rear, side, front, and all directions and continue to attack.”

Then she shrugged with both of her hands open.

"And though it was minor, they took some damage from a raid party that included mercenaries who were experts in melee warfare. Do you know what that means? Lidornn’s cavalry must have accumulated tremendous fatigue. And in contrast, there are still countless amounts of player raid parties ready to attack him.”

She crossed her arms again and continued with a bitter expression.

"I think Lidornn already knew that he can’t kill every single one of the players from the very beginning.”

As I watched her speak, I stopped the video by covering the crystal ball with my hand, letting the emotions and conflicts of the characters in this game that I had experienced so far flow through my head.

"In any case, we have to be of help somehow.”

As soon as I finished speaking, I heard a voice coming from right behind me.

"My master, the captain of the old tree, Mose. There seems to be a guest on the ship.”

Surprised by the sudden sound of Elsha's voice, I turned around and raised my chin to face her, who was taller than me.

"The guests introduced themselves as Sharan, Guile and Swordsman.”

***

I talked to her with a stiff attitude. It was always awkward for me to treat her in the form of a hazy smoke rather than in her proper form.

I guess it was only a natural reaction, since a supernatural phenomenon, aside from different races or monsters, was talking and acting like a human being.

"Let them in. They’re my friends.”

"Understood.”

The 13th party members rushed in right after Elsha disappeared as she scattered like smoke once again.

"We’re not too late, are we?”

"It’s honestly scary for me to log in to the game nowadays.”

"So Mose, what are your thoughts on the quest happening right now?”

Sharan showed a confident smile that was full of her characteristic confidence.

Guile seemed pretty down, and Swordsman was calmly asking about the current situation.

There was a moment of silence after Swordsman's question, and I carefully asked them back.

"I want to hear your thoughts."

Swordsman thought expressionlessly for a moment, then opened his mouth with both hands on his waist.

"Well, I kinda just want to hear your opinion on it. That’s all.”

Everyone looked at me after Swordsman's words. I didn't expect such a reaction, so I stepped back a little and met their gazes one after the other.

"Mose. No matter how many times I mention it, it is my greatest fortune to ever meet you. We learned a lot from you, and you have helped us grow.”

Swordsman looked at Sharan and Guile with a gratifying expression. And they too nodded their heads with their eyes of firm agreement.

Then Swordsman turned to look at me again.

"We are way too weak compared to you Mose. But I believe we are ready to follow any decision you make.”

"He’s right. We gotta have a leader too, y’know? And when that moment comes, when we have to decide on who should be the leader, it should be you, Mose.”

Sharan too looked at me with a gleaming gaze. Guile who seemed pretty down looked like he was confident enough to agree with her statement.

"Us, 13th party won’t shine unless you are standing in the front to lead, Mose.”

I fell into thoughts at the last encouragement from Swordsman. Then, having reached the conclusion, I looked at them and slowly opened my mouth.  have no intention of doing anything stupid from here. If this is the way these people look at me, I have no choice but to act upon it. If they have certain expectations of me, I have to live up to the minimum expectation.

"I’m not really a person at a place to command you around.”

I looked for Khea’s reaction for a moment.

"And we came to this world expecting something entertaining from it.”

Khea gave me a slight nod looking at me. Thank you, Khea.

"But even in this world, many conflicts trouble us and delay us. However!”

I stood straight with my shoulders back. Flaming confidence I had never had in real life enveloped my entire body. 

"If you were looking for someone who would be the first to take the lead in dealing with the conflicts and troubles that block us, you came to find the right person. I am determined to do that.”

I swallowed a dry gulp in order to calm my shaky throat down.

"Can you trust and follow me with such determination?”

That marked the end of my question.

"Any time.”

Swordsman chuckled, dropping his head down.

"Mose, my brother! If you’re the captain then I’d follow you even after death!”

And Guile too.

"I am afraid of nothing as long as we have you at our lead, Mose.”

Sharan also smiled cheerfully, clenched her fists, and posed a fierce stance.

Finally, everyone's attention was fixed on Khea. Khea naturally stood in front of me.

"I, Khea the Sworder of Aspargan, shall only ask none other than yourself about the whereabouts of the hilt.”

Then she bowed her head low, and at the end showed a playful yet serious expression on her cryptic expression.

Everyone burst out in small laughter as Guile playfully tried to copy Khea’s posture. 

When our chirping laughter ended, Swordsman opened his mouth.

"Alright. Your command, captain?”

"Cap’n. I am waiting for your order!”

Swordsman and Guile asked with a gallant expression.

"Khea, where is Lidornn heading towards?”

I asked Khea instead of answering their questions, and Khea answered me with her arms crossed.

"‘Unusual Genius’ and his subordinates are heading towards the Sirine temple located in the south of Mejis.”

"Elsha.”

I softly called for the fairy of this shop, and Elsha appeared in front of me with her head bowed as if responding immediately.

"We will be heading to Sirine right away.”

"Yes, Master.”

As soon as Elsha heard my words and disappeared as smoke again, a low and heavy vibration resounded from the depths of the ship.

After a while, the ship slowly rose and at some point soared towards the sky at a formidable speed.

Just before we were about to encounter the enemy awaiting ahead of us, or even beings that cannot simply be described as enemies, I had the chance to think about it briefly.

Are the beings that are hostile towards players the only enemies of the players? Or,

Are the players that led those beings to become hostile towards other players the true enemies of the players?

This is a very important topic to think about in a virtual reality game that even a single NPC isn’t much different from a real human being in real life.

Flaming, trolling, and griefing, these words which are commonly used in general games, could all lead to heavy consequences as of now in <Circuit>, a virtual reality game.

As the thought ripened in my head, I could easily guess that this dilemma was a challenge I would have to deal with the entire time I played this game.