Zai headed toward the Trial Arena with excitement, wondering what his reward was going to be. If he would get a 100 gold coins or get some rare item worthy of the effort he put in the fight.
To his disappointment, no matter how hard his fight was, it was still considered as “Level 1 Arena” and thus, what he won was only 5 copper coins.
It was a scam, the game was scamming the players, it was obvious to him.
He went looking for someone to complain to. But no one answered his call.
Until finally, a woman appeared in front of him. It was very hard to tell between NPCs and real people because of how realistic the game was. for him, she was the first female NPC that he would get to speak with. She wore the Arena staff clothes that were stuck to her body.
He was glad he found someone he could discuss the issue with, perhaps get the staff to issue a bigger reward to him. Then the woman started by congratulating him on his wonderful battle and amazing skills. Then continued to flatter him, and she completely ignored what he had to say. It was of no use, the more she spoke, the more irritated he felt.
Finally, after she talked for five minutes nonstop, he decided to stop her and said “If you can’t help me! then leave me be!”
He felt annoyed by her - annoyed by having an NPC fangirl that did nothing to help him. "I wish she was real"
She looked at him with sparkling eyes and say “I was impressed by you, my name is Rose. Remember it”
Before he could reply, she was already gone.
He shrugged off the meeting to nothing of importance, and instead continued to search for someone to complain to about the meager sum he received.
As if to snap him back to reality, a window appeared before him
[MATH-TER... HELP ! I WATH SWORDNAPPED ]
Once Zai saw his pet’s cry for help. He checked his inventory and to his surprise, both the sword and his money have been stolen.
------------
Sudden realization dawned on him, he had only spoken with Rose.
She had stayed with him for long enough, in such a suspicious matter that he could not but rush to blame her.
He has not developed any feeling toward his pet, in fact, he only thought of him as creepy. But, he couldn't let the kidnapper enjoy the spoils, he wanted revenge, he needed it.
He started to wonder, in theory, the sword was weak now, but it would grow with time. it could become his tool to defeat the Conductor
He was still worried that in one way or the other, the conductor was the one who sent him the sword. It could be that he received it as to thwart his plans; after all, he received a notice that he is branded by the conductor, and he had ‘the worst luck’ even his sword was cursed.
Yet again, he received 2 swords - no matter how terrible he thought they were - he also managed to level up 11 times on his first day.
He suddenly felt hungry upon smelling the sweet aroma of freshly baked bread. But he had no choice other than droll on it, as he had no money.
Usually, players don't die from hunger on their first day, but Zai was different, he did not receive any food to sustain him for the first while, he only got a burned piece of bread and he was unsure if that was something to be eaten.
He was even scammed and received far less money than he should have received, and to top it all of, he only just realized that the meager sum was also stolen.
As he was working down an empty street to get away from the smell of food. A man holding a painting bumped into Zai. His painting fell down, but the man continued running away. Zai picked up the painting, wanting to give it back to its owner. When suddenly 2 guards appeared.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Put down the painting and come with us willingly and you will not have to suffer”
Zai was confused as to what was happening when the two guards stepped in front of him. He was still holding the painting.
He immediately noticed something was off and put the painting down. It seems as if the guards misunderstood Zai's intention and instead thought he was the thief.
"wait, I'm the good Samaritan, I stopped the thief and now I wish to gave you back the painting, why are you treating me like a criminal"
"Well thank you kind Sir, but how dumb do you think we are? There is no one else here and you are still wearing the same cloth" The thief he saw earlier was wearing beginner cloths, similar to his.
"But I truly am not one to blame, what would I want with a stupid painting anyway" Zai spoke desperately, cursing his luck.
He was left with no choice but to run, to escape from the situation. And he tried to do so, yet he was greeted with another guard who appeared from behind him.
Next thing he knew, he was in a prison cell.
***
"THIS IS UNFAIR? WHERE IS JUSTICE? IS IT BLIND UNABLE TO SEE THE TRUTH EVEN IN THE GAME? "
He had nothing to do but sit in that prison cell waiting to hear what his punishment will be for a crime he did not commit.
Again, The word luck has proven itself to not be bad. As food was brought to the prisoners, and he was able to survive death from starvation.
The Food he received was a dry bread that tasted sour, the first bite he took caused him to choke on it and then to spit it out surprised by how disgusting it was.
"I thought people joined this game to escape the real world -why would they put something that would taste this bad?"
He then heard someone chuckling. It was followed by a girl’s voice that said
“You were right to spit it out, I personally think it's poison"
She was in the cell next to his, he was able to see her from the hole between their two cells. Her face was not clear to him, but her long red hair was.
“What a twisted world we live in, to worry about food even in games”
After she said her statement, a long silence followed. Until she broke it again.
"So what evil thing did you do to be put in here?"
"I stopped a thief and took what he stole and they think I was the one who did it"
"Wow, the same thing happened to me! do you think this is a conspiracy to make us eat this bread?” she answered sarcastically
“Ahh, why did I even bother telling you, even the guards didn’t believe me,”
She started to panic and quickly said: “I have nothing better to do than believe you, so tell me, what was it that was stolen?”
"It was a painting of a bird with a horn”
***
The girl suddenly got closer to the hole to directly look at Zai’s face and to ask him if he was serious. At that moment, Zai saw the face that made it to his revenge list.
The one he suspected as the thief that stole his stuff and the one he wished to get revenge on.
“Rose? “ he asked to verify
“Ehh, you know my name? “
“You stole stuff from me”
“Me? steal stuff? from you? I am an upright citizen, I would never stoop so low as to do such a terrible deed”
“Say’s the one who is sitting in a prison cell” Zai looking at the facts became more and more convinced that she was the one who stole from him.
“Don’t be quick to judge, you yourself said you are innocent” she smirked pretending to believe him, thinking that no innocent party would be caught in this game.
“Just give me back my pet, and we can consider it even”
“I don’t know what you are talking about- but if you want, I can help both of us out of this prison cell”
Zai becoming suspicious was now a habit of his. Rose was not an exception but having nothing to do, and not being hurt by hearing the plan he was willing to hear what she had to say next.
“Scream like mad, let the guards come to check on you, and while they are distracted I will escape my cell. After I do, I will make a commotion in the entire place, and when they go look for it, I will come and free you”
Zai raised an eyebrow at what he heard “and you think I would believe you will honor your word and help me? “
“You will not be harmed either way. If I was lying nothing will happen to you other than helping me out. Don’t worry, just trust me a little, and see how this will work out"
He had nothing to lose by trusting her, but he still didn't feel like doing so.
"Give me my sword back, and I will consider it"
"I said I don't have it" she puffed her cheeks upon saying so as if to clarify that she felt insulted. After considering it a little, she started again
"I'll get you something better... the commotion I plan to make, it will be by stealing various things from this place"
"YOU ARE A THIEF AFTER ALL" he suddenly cut her and screamed
But she ignored him and continued talking "I will split them in half! you'll get some, and I will get some as well"
"HEY, DON'T IGNORE MY STATEMENT- you want to steal from here? weren't you the one who said she wouldn't stoop so low as to steal?"
"I remember saying something similar to that, But I believe it was more along the lines of not stealing from people like you, as in newbie. Why would I go through the process of hard work, to steal 5 copper coins?"
"YOU EVEN KNOW HOW MUCH MONEY I HAD"
Zai punched the wall before him and repeated slowly " GIVE. ME. MY. SWORD. BACK!"
To his inconvenience, she replied "no. can. do" in the same slow pace he spoke previously.
Irritated by her, he started to call the guards, deciding that he could make a complaint against her and having the law and justice deal with her instead.
Once the guards entered his room to understand what was the commission about.
She found her chance and escaped