It was about midnight.

Mod Aelis took a sip from her teacup and set it down on the table next to her. “So, I bet you have tons of questions for me.”

“Why are you dressed like a bunny girl?” Sako asked.

“There’s a limited-time event going on in town, so as a mod, I’m wearing it to promote the event. It’s not a requirement of my job though.”

“Event?” Kiyomi asked.

“Yes. Feel free to have a look. Check the Events Page if interested. It’s basically to celebrate the king’s birthday this week.”

Kiyomi pulled up her inventory on her holoscreen. Surprisingly, there was a scroll in it. She closed her interface and opened her hand to summon it. Then she unrolled it and read.

Greetings citizens of the Kingdom of Aria,

This week be a celebration of King Lancestor’s birthday. Hence, it is to be acknowledged as a special week of this year. He is to be turning 35, and so, His Majesty’s royal attendants will be hosting a festival at the royal capital. They will as well be hosting a banquet for all lords and ladies at His Majesty’s palace.

Additionally, the second princess, Princess Vanescka, has requested that the theme be rabbits (as she is quite fond of them and has thus sought an opportunity such as this to issue her request). As such, do your best to accommodate her request earnestly.

And so, good denizens, be merry and stand alongside us as we pray for our king’s health and longevity in the years to come.

Sincerely,

The Head of the Royal Secretariat of the Throne

Loyal. everlasting, distinguished subject

The Honorary A-Se-Dau Le Francia Q. Bailelline

Kiyomi looked up from the scroll with a raised eyebrow. “Is the secretariat always this pretentious and stiff?”

Mod Aelis chuckled. “Just Le Francia. ‘A-Se-Dau’ is an exclusive title, so I understand why she flexes it. She’s the only one in the entire kingdom with it. Always flexing.” She shrugged.

“That sounds like a nice title,” Sako commented.

“It is,” Mod Aelis replied.

“Anyway, we’re deviating,” Kiyomi cut in. “Why are we stuck in the game? How did we even get pulled in? How do we get out? What happens if we die?”

“Firstly, bear in mind that I’m also a victim trying to figure my way out of this. On top of that, I still have my job to do, which is making sure that things are in order as the admins requested, even if I’m stuck in the game. Lately though, I haven’t been able to contact them, so I don’t know what’s going on from their end. As for why you’re stuck, eh… call it a game bug, but technically, it’s much more than that. You see, HQ was tampering with simultaneous dimensions and portals and whatnot, lots of advanced sciencey stuff that our era isn’t ready for. I won’t bother getting into it. It’s long and complicated.” She leaned towards them and lowered her tone to a whisper. “And not exactly legal… And they might’ve stolen stuff from the Japanese government, but you didn’t hear it from me.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Uh… okay…” That didn’t sit right with Kiyomi. This woman didn’t have any screws loose, right?

“Why are you looking at me like I have some screws loose?” Mod Aelis sipped her tea.

“It’s hard to swallow,” Kiyomi replied.

“Well, that’s the story.” Another sip. “The admins are, I hope, trying to resolve this. I know them. They’re not stupid people.”

“Pressing X to doubt,” she mumbled.

“Honestly, I can’t think of a way to get out at the moment—not without the admins.”

Sako spoke up. “I got some intel from someone. There was a group actually that claimed they had defeated the Demon Lord. They went through a portal back into the real world.”

Mod Aelis seemed intrigued. “Oh? Why didn’t you follow?”

“They were going to the US. We live in Japan. Plus Kiyomi wasn’t with me at the time, and I wouldn’t ever dream of leaving her.”

“Don’t make it sound romantic and cheesy, jeez,” Kiyomi grumbled.

“Teehee, sorry!” Sako stuck her tongue out.

“Hmm… okay…” Mod Aelis paused to think carefully, looking up at the ceiling for an answer.

“Oh, also, they told me there’s a guy named Vell Noxford in the East, and that he might know something, but we have to be maxed levelled first to go in safely.”

“No, he can’t help.” Mod Aelis lowered her cup.

“What do you mean?” Kiyomi asked.

“I went there myself, multiple times. He just didn’t know. He’s not God.”

Everyone fell silent for a while.

Kiyomi broke the silence. “Is there any way to speed up the Demon Lord’s resurrection?”

“Oh, Queen Fraxxenus? She’s already here.”

“What?!” Kiyomi and Sako shouted in unison.

“The last party didn’t exactly vanquish her properly, so she ended up coming back much earlier. And she is pretty angry right now. Sako, that party must’ve been the one you saw.”

“…So… do we go and fight her?” Sako folded her feet on the bed.

“If you want to die, sure. Oh, by the way, if you die here, it’s safe, and you won’t die permanently, but there are different degrees of penalty for dying, the harshest being losing all your items in your inventory. It all depends on where you are and what you fight. Just be careful.”

Sako nodded.

“So, was she really that angry?” Kiyomi asked Mod Aelis.

“Yeah. I paid her a visit a few days ago to see if she was okay, and she wanted to take my head off.”

“You… wanted to see if she was okay…?” This puzzled Kiyomi.

“Yes, part of my job is to tune things. I adjust things if they need repairing, buffing, nerfing, et cetera at my discretion.”

“How about you nerf her so we could win?”

“Not a chance,” she instantly replied. “That’s against the game rules. And I’d like to keep my job. I love my job.”

“So, you rather get stuck in-game? What kind of logic is that?! Don’t you have a life to get back to?”

“Nope.”

“OH COME ON, REALLY?! You heartless…” After a pause, Kiyomi sighed in defeat. Pestering her or arguing wouldn’t do anything. It was worth a shot anyway. She really wasn’t all that concerned for herself but was doing this for Sako’s sake as she hated seeing her upset.

“That’s not a bad goal to shoot for though, but dangerous still. We’ll all be stuck in-game indefinitely, so you might as well put the time to good use. Increase your levels, learn stuff, go to the festival and meet new people, have fun, and when you’ve hit max level and gained powerful gear, you might stand a chance against her. There’s about a handful of people in the world right now who probably have a decent chance. Probably. She’s not a joke.”

Sako yawned.

Kiyomi was tired too.

“Looks like it’s time for bed.” Mod Aelis waved. “Get some sleep. I’ll be around once in a while.”

Kiyomi sluggishly nodded. Too tired to think anymore…