After that, the Sumbar elder continued talking about the events that followed. All of it contradicted the story that the human elder told. In the Sumbars’ version, the humans started attacking Sumbar villages without provocation, while the humans had a different story. The human elder told him that the Sumbars were the ones attacking their settlements, claiming that they lost lives trying to defend their homes.

Both the humans and Sumbars claimed that despite their grievances toward each other, neither of them ever attacked first. Neither of them sent their soldiers to attack the other side. All they did was defend themselves.

“I see. Can I ask you something else?”

“Sure, feel free to.”

“Do you know about the human settlements being attacked by Sumbars?”

“I know you wouldn’t believe us after you were attacked by one of our soldiers, but we would not attack human settlements. Even if they attacked us, we will do our best to protect our homes, but we will not attack their side.”

“I understand,” Anton then stood up. The rest of the group looked up toward him, but his eyes stayed on the elder. Anton then bowed slightly.

“Thank you for your time. We will be making our way,” Anton said. Hearing that, the rest of the group hastily stood up.

“Very well. I hope my story can give enlightenment to all of you,” the elder said as she stood up.

They all bowed. Sumbar soldiers then escorted Anton and the group to the village’s gate. They went past it and followed the small dirt path that led away from it. Kayla walked forward and replaced him as the guide for their journey back to the village.

“I wish teleport points were a thing here,” Daisy complained.

“I know, right?” Lucy agreed to her. They didn’t actually feel tired, but without teleport points, the walk would take a while. Anton started considering buying a helicopter. It may be a challenge to park it, though.

Eventually, after the arduous walk across the forest, they arrived back at the human settlement. Anton checked the time and went to the LAV, ignoring the human elder that sat in his bamboo shack, looking at the group.

“So, what’s our plan?” Sophie asked after entering. Anton closed all the hatches to the vehicle, making sure no one could hear them. After he made sure that the vehicle was soundproof, he returned to the group sitting in the vehicle’s cabin.

“We eat dinner,” he said with a flat face. All seven girls stared at him, looking shocked. They then opened their virtual screens.

“Wait, you’re right!”

“Since when did it get this late!?”

“Damn, I’m hungry!”

“Mom’s going to be angry, oh dear…”

“What are you eating for tonight?”

Chatter from the girls filled the vehicle, but Anton noticed that Charlotte kept silent.

“We’ll meet back up in thirty minutes,” Anton said. The rest of the humans in the vehicle nodded, and they all logged out.

* ••

“So… what do we do?” Kayla asked toward the rest of the AI companions.

“Wait?” Sophie asked.

“I didn’t expect we all to be in the same time zone,” Lucy muttered

“Same? Which timezone do those three live in?”

“GMT +7.”

“Huh, Anton just so happened to live there. Interesting.”

“Do you do something when Anton’s offline?” Lea asked.

“Hmm? I do what he told me to do.”

Hearing Kayla’s answer, the rest of the girls looked at each other.

“Charlotte didn’t ask me to do anything.”

“Neither do Daisy.”

“Nor Michal.”

Seeing the three AI companions, Kayla brought something out of her inventory.

“How about we played some cards?”

* ••

“... Where’s Charlotte?” Anton asked upon returning. He had timed it so that he returned to the game exactly thirty minutes after they separated. Once he got back to his vehicle, he noticed that Charlotte wasn’t there. Everyone else had already gathered.

“She left the vehicle just now, said she wanted to do something, alone,” Daisy said. Anton looked toward the rear, realizing that the rear door had indeed been opened. He decided to stay put, especially since Charlotte said that she wanted to go alone. Not long after, she returned.

“Sorry I’m late,” she apologized.

“Wow, you’ve changed!” Kayla said. Sophie approached her and scanned her from top to bottom.

“You look really different like this,” Sophie commented, the rest of the group, including the AI companions, nodded.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Anton remained silent, observing her from the sidelines. She had removed her glasses, while her hair had been changed to short black hair. The rest of her face remained the same, however. Her light blue dress was replaced with a black long-sleeve shirt and black knee-level skirts. On top of that shirt was a silver chest plate.

“What’s up? Why change avatars?” the others started asking questions. Charlotte scratched her cheeks.

“Just… trying something new,” she said. The avatar itself wasn’t something fancy, the set available for even new players, but it did look different compared to her previous clothes.

“It looks great on you.”

“Yeah, yeah!”

Anton watched from the sidelines as the girls fawned over her. It suited her a lot more compared to the previous look.

“Ehem.” Anton brought their attention back toward him.

“Ah yeah, the mission, sorry,” Kayla apologized.

“So, what should we do?” Sophie asked. Anton checked his quest log. The objectives have changed once more.

“... Choose a side? Which side are we going with?” Daisy asked.

“The Sumbar? But they attacked us… Well, the humans are shady as well…” Michal muttered.

“Let’s not decide hastily,” Anton said. He then opened the rear hatch of the vehicle. Anton stepped outside and made his way back toward the village elder. The village elder saw them coming and stood up.

“Warriors, did you vanquish those Scumbars for us?” the NPC asked. Anton shook his head.

“No, but we did have some questions for you,” Anton said. Anton then explained everything the Sumbar elder told him. The village elder’s face darkened as he heard Anton’s words. He frowned, but he didn’t say anything.

Eventually, Anton concluded the conversation.

“So, what do you think?”

“No… no, it’s… impossible! She’s lying! Yes, that must be it! I have never ordered my men to attack her! She’s lying to you, don’t believe her!” the elder said in a fury. Anton looked at his face, noticing his expression, a mix of shock and disbelief.

“Is that so?” Anton asked. He didn’t say anything else and went back to the LAV. The rest of the group followed him.

“Warriors, do not trust them!” the village elder yelled. Anton ignored him and went inside. The rest followed suit. He turned on the LAV and drove back to the village’s entrance. He parked the LAV within the village’s peace zone.

“So, what do you think?” Anton asked after turning off the Five-Seven. As the girls pondered the question, Anton turned toward Kayla.

“You remembered what happened?” he asked. Kayla thought about it, winced, and shook her head.

“It’s been so long that I've lost my memory about it,” Kayla answered.

“... So here’s the thing,” Anton said, bringing their attention back toward him. He started explaining what happened before. All the details from his previous quest. The group paid attention. Anton purposely left Kayla’s request out. As he finished his story, he glanced toward Kayla.

Did you really forget it, even that request?

Kayla looked back at him, not saying anything. Anton shook his head.

“I see…”

“So one of them is lying?” Sophie asked.

“That may be the case, but I have a feeling that it isn’t,” Anton said, much to the confusion of everyone there. They stared at him blankly, waiting for his explanation.

“What if they’re both correct?” he continued. The rest of them still didn’t understand.

“What made you conclude that?” Michal asked.

“The NPC. You noticed too, right?” Anton asked Kayla.

“... Don’t say it that way… But yeah, the village elder looked surprised when he heard Anton’s words.”

“Yes. That may be because he thought we got into his secret, or…,” Anton went to the turret seat. Kayla moved out of the way. The vehicle’s small interior didn’t help with the number of people they had. A price to pay for the protection they received, in a way. Anton took the control stick and turned the turret, pointing it toward an area outside the peace zone.

A tunnel.

He moved away from the screen, showing the display toward the rest of the vehicle’s occupants.

“If my feelings are correct, then this tunnel led to the Sumbar’s village.”

“... You mean…?” Charlotte asked, her voice only slightly stronger compared to before.

“Yes, the large tunnel we fell through. We managed to get from where we fell all the way to the village without anything blocking our way. So, there’s a chance that despite the fighting, both sides still have trust for each other and refused to block off the tunnel connecting them. Well… I haven’t actually tried entering through this one,” Anton explained.

“I see. Wouldn’t that be a risky thing, though?”

“Correct, but both sides claimed that they wouldn’t attack first. What if this claim is true? Technically, when they attacked us, we were already deep within the forest.”

“... But what about the one that attacked you and Charlotte? I mean, that one is already in the forest, but we weren’t that deep,” Sophie asked. Anton turned around, his eyes landing on Charlotte. Charlotte shook after receiving the attention of everyone in the vehicle, but she pushed her voice out.

“He was… surprised. Yeah… I think he was surprised as well. I was in front of him, but he didn’t attack me. Instead, he was looking around the tunnel…”

“Wait, so does that mean…” Kayla turned toward Anton.

“There’s a third party in this fight,” Anton said. After realizing that no one had any questions, Anton continued.

“This is a bit unfair because it’s information from before you all played the mission, but when we played it, the ending is different.”

Anton then described the soldiers that showed up to destroy the Sumbar’s village. Modern soldiers, wearing modern armor, carrying firearms and using modern weapons to destroy the village. It did not fit the setting at all. There were several times when quests would fuse what seemed to be a medieval setting with something more modern, but most of the time it had some explanation behind it.

These soldiers appeared out of nowhere, and they only showed themselves after Anton and Kayla went for the final mission, after they removed most of the Sumbar soldiers.

“So you’re saying there’s someone that is purposely trying to start a war?”

“Correct. Think about it. Both sides had their delegations attack, but no one returned, so no one can describe what the attackers were like, or how the battle went. Both of them were also attacked by the other, but neither side ever said that they sent a team to attack their enemy. In other words, the possibility of a third side purposely trying to start a war fits in, right?” Anton explained.

“It does make sense,” Sophie said.

“What now, though?” Kayla tilted her head.

“I have a plan.”

Hearing Anton, everyone leaned in closer, wanting to hear him.

“We get both of the elders to meet in the spot where we were attacked. Once there are signs of an attacker coming, we’ll push the elders into the tunnel and evacuate them. Since I, Charlotte, and our attacker all survived the fall, it shouldn’t kill them. I’ll be standing by in the tunnel itself and use wind magic to slow down their fall. This will bring the attackers into the tunnel, where we can fight them off on unfamiliar grounds.”

“But what if the elders refuse to believe us?” Daisy asked with concern.

“Then we’ll discuss it later,” Anton said casually. The group looked at each other and nodded.

“Let’s do this.”

“I’m in.”

“I hope this goes well.”

Anton returned to the driver’s seat and drove back to the village elder.