It was quiet, the moonlight shone through an open window and reflected on the water in the bath. A relieved sigh escaped from Arthur’s lips as he relaxed in the warm water, his mind occupied by thoughts of what he should do next.

He was desperate to find his little brother, but he had no clue where he could be.

Arthur stared up at the ceiling and sighed.

He climbed out of the bath and dried himself off before heading out of the bathroom, “You can use it now Alex, I'm heading out.”

After a towel was thrown in his face, Alex nodded. He was concerned for Arthur but it was understandable what he felt.

Arthur exited their room and walked down the corridor, it was still quiet but he saw people sitting near a table and drinking. Sitting down next to them, Arthur ordered a cup of water. He refrained from drinking since he didn’t want to be a bad example for his little brother…

“Why’s it so quiet?” Arthur asked.

“Many of us are still shaken from the invasions last night,” One of them said as he gulped down his ale.

Invasions?

“There was more than one?” Arthur asked as it caught his attention.

“You didn’t know? There was an invasion at every starter village. I’d say the guys past the forest had the worst one yet, I heard they got a minotaur thrown at them haha!” The guy laughed before he read the title below Arthur’s name and his eyes widened.

“Holy shit you have a title already! Are you the one everyone spoke about? The guy that killed the minotaur alone?” The man’s questions came one after another.

“...I am.”

“How’d ya do it?” Another man next to the questioning one asked.

Arthur told the story of how he enraged the minotaur and used the burning buildings to stun it and in the end, killed it after blinding it by scorching the minotaur’s face with an oiled cloth.

“That’s so dope!”

“Yeah but couldn’t you just have fought it with the sword?” Everyone stared at the one who asked that.

“Are you stupid? No one here is strong enough to kill something that might as well be a boss for level 1 players.”

Arthur found it funny, that the last person who tried fighting the minotaur in close combat had a meaningless death. Well, besides leaving the sword behind for Arthur to use, that he was thankful for.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“So what were the invasions in the other villages like?” Arthur asked as he looked at the other three seated at the table.

The man on the left began first, “Mine had bugs, there were centipedes and large bees.”

That’s pretty odd for a fantasy game, Arthur thought

The one in the middle went next, “Our town had wolves and goblins riding them.”

Another goblin invasion but they rode on wolves? Interesting

The last guy with an empty mug of ale went last, “Mine had bandits.”

“How was it like, killing them?” The first man asked.

Everyone knew by now that the NPCs were very much like humans, a thought that came to Arthur’s mind when he realised that was, Are the bandits the same?

“Horrible, it felt like I was killing a real person. The screams they made, the way they spoke…” The man drank from his mug only to find out there was no alcohol inside and cursed afterwards.

Arthur thought for a moment before he asked, “Did you guys see any hooded figures during the invasion, did they take any people from your village?”

They stared at Arthur for a bit while remembering back,

“Yeah… there was this super shady dude, I couldn’t see their face but they took a young lad from our village.”

The other two gave similar responses.

This is a great lead, Arthur thought

It really was, it meant that the goblins didn’t take the children for a reason. And now that Arthur thought about it, the goblins weren’t the ones that took Sorin. It was the person in the cloak.

But where? Arthur pondered but no answers came to mind. He had far too little information about this game, it was only up until this town that his knowledge of the game would be handy.

The others noticed Arthur was deep in thought and they realised what was going on.

Before any of them could utter a single word Arthur stood up and headed outside, the night was cold and the moon cast a serene light on the village.

From the corner of his eyes, Arthur noticed an NPC was outside. This was peculiar since NPCs feared the night and the monsters that came out during the period of darkness. They held a lamp and asked for help from the players passing by but they ignored the NPC.

Arthur walked up to them, it was a frail old woman hunched over.

“What's wrong?” He asked.

The woman’s eyes lit up as Arthur approached her, “M-My granddaughter was taken!”

This might be it

“Where was she taken?”

The old woman shakily held onto Arthur’s hand, “T-There is a swamp i-in the middle of the forest, t-the witch took her!*

“A witch?” Arthur asked.

The woman coughed, “Y-Yes! S-She takes our children, there w-was also a b-blonde boy that she took!”

It’s Sorin!

[Witch of the bogs]

Rescue the children the witch has taken and slay her.

[The Bog Witch slayed 0/1]

[Reward:1500 Exp, Rare item]

[Accept/Deny]

Arthur accepted the quest and ran toward the dark forest, grabbing a torch from one of the guards as he dashed towards the trees at full speed.

I need to rescue Sorin!

The old woman smiled.