Before today, I would never guess shopping might be fun, but Katherine proved me otherwise. Her expertise in finding what she wanted was almost as good as her warrior skills. Almost. Soon, we were dragging at least ten bags full of clothes and only my dwindling account stopped us getting more. Specifically, I stopped her.

On the top floor, near the mall’s corner, we found a small coffee shop, ‘cute af’ as she said. It had cozy green chairs, small brown tables, but what set it apart were enormous windows with a view of the street. “Look at ‘tat!” Catherine ran to it and glared at the people on the street, after we settled near the window and lay down all our bags.

What? Her energy surprised me so much, it took me a while to answer, “Yeah, it’s beautiful.” Next, I was admiring the view of her, when a waiter nimbly walked towards us and stared at me expectedly. Blinking a few times at him, I panicked. “C-can you do Irish Coffee?” The man frowned and wrote it on his tablet without a word. Hey, it’s not my fault it’s the only whiskey you have! Of course I hadn’t said that out loud and only nervously grinned at him.

Katherine browsed their menu, quickly turning pages, but then she shrugged, leaned back in her chair, and said, “Dunno, somethin’ black and sugary for ma.” He only nodded and went back to his lair. “What a charming fellow!” She grinned at his back, and then asked, “Hey Charlie, did ya see ma stream? Rimelion’s cool, right?”

Damn, I welcomed back a cold sweat. Should I lie and say I did? I gripped an armrest of my chair and looked out of the window. No, honesty is the best, so I said, “Sorry, I was playing it.” Who didn’t? Every player worth their salt was playing it. Right? I allowed myself to peek at her at the corner of my eyes and caught her grinning.

“Aww, don’t be sad! It’s fine!” she laughed and hugged me for no reason. She did that a lot. Or touched my shoulders. Or pat my head. At first I thought it was only her stream-persona, but she was… Truly expressive person. “What’s ya char?”

“I’m a Priest.”

Katherine closed her eyes and let out her signature hearty laugh. “Hah, ‘corse ya are! What’s yar name?” Instead of answering her, I felt my cheeks getting rosery from all the blood, and grabbed a drink before she urged me to spit out my name. I was only gazing into the glass, avoiding her stare. “Charlie?” She gently pulled my chin up and looked straight into my eyes, her expression calm with a smile.

“Princess,” I whispered and gulped down at least half of the drink. Charlie couldn’t pick a better name. Katherine didn’t mind that though, only laughed again, and almost spilled her coffee on me.

“That… ‘corse you picked that!” she said and sipped, then she swung her legs up on down, while still sitting. Is that a conscious thing? I checked mine - I was sitting like a man normally would. Damn! While I was wondering about how could I change my body language, she said, “Wanna play sometime? ‘corse ya need to find me first, haha!”

“Gladly! I’m near the Village Number Four, you?” I tried to cross my legs and relax my right leg on top of the other, but it wasn’t much comfortable. The empress was always sitting like that, so maybe it was a cultural thing?

She bounced up from her seat, put her hands on my shoulders and almost screamed, “No way! I’m close! Elf too!” Ladies at the next table frowned at us and I shifted in my chair uncomfortably, but she didn’t care about them. “It’s fate!” Katherine returned to her seat and sipped again.

Yeah, fate. Maybe, but there wasn’t that much of villages in Elven starting area and I picked near Katherine’s favorite because… “I don’t know,” I said finally, and fidgeted with my fingers again.

In the end, she called me a taxi and insisted that the driver will help me carry all ten bags. It was like a dream, and I functioned on an auto-pilot. Why? Well, because I met Katherine, and she was as amazing as I always imagined! That was why the pain in my chest only increased, because that meant I won’t be with her as a boyfriend. Not unless I got my body back.

My memory was hazy about how I ended up at home, or why was I sitting on my sofa with my tears going down. Well, that wasn’t a secret. Anyone could guess that by now - how could I change anything? People will still only play the game, all the shops I visited today will close and machines will replace us. Yeah, and Katherine will get that bald boyfriend of hers, again. But that wasn’t the reason. I swear. I think. Well, I hope.

Although my mind still wasn’t in the mood for gaming, I undressed nonetheless and slipped into the capsule. When I could focus my eyes, I realized I left my adversary here - a stupid rope. That stupid thing still blocked my path back, but when I tried to untie it again, a message’s sound interrupted me. Lisa.

[Lisa] finally! I need help. can you come?

[Princess] Hi Lisa. ^_^ Yes, what’s wrong?

I tried something new in my chat responses. As I was chatting with Katherine, I remembered how her friend Alice used to write in a cute way on her stream chat, so I tried to imitate it. Why? Because I felt like it.

[Lisa] Dmitry! HE KILLED my crew and is in dung

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

[Princess] Sorry, can’t. <3 I’m stranded on an Island.

[Lisa] how long?

[Princess] I can’t untie a boat >_<

[Lisa] …

[Lisa] i need you

[Princess] It’s true! I swear!

[Lisa] have you tried your INT?

What was with that stupid question? How could I… No way! I shot up instantly to that rock and glared at the rope. System, help!

[Using your INT to solve a problem.]

[Succes!]

My body moved on its own and untied it, using my mana instead of strength. How could I be so stupid? This was the start; the game wasn’t even RP enforced yet.

Wait, perhaps? Holding my hand in front of me, I thought, use Ice Dance. Yet again I lost a control over my body, and my hands moved according to all symbols of Ice Dance, casting it without fail, albeit with only average rating. Should I curse now, or later? I clenched my fists and resisted an urge to turn Briggitte into splinters.

[Princess] Sorry, I’m stupid >_< I need a few hours though

[Lisa] good. I need sleep, then we ambush him, bye!

With that out of the way, I dragged Briggitte to the sea and sighed at sight of paddles. “Sure…”

With little thought, I got to work and rowed just as Don did first time, and stared blankly at my hands. You are some exploiter, John, you even exploited yourself. While my body was working, my mind drifted into past. Future, ugh. The question was if I should use the system to cast spells. Yes, it could help me and even maybe save my skin, but what after the patch? Eventually they will remove it from Rimelion - and what to do then? Maybe…

When I rowed back to the ship, someone threw me a rope ladder down. I glanced up and examined it; the thing dwindled like crazy, and at some point the rope thinned so much it looked like it could break if I gently slapped it with a whiskey bottle. For climbing up I didn’t need system’s help, thanks very much. Never do that again, John. Ever. Stranded on an island? Really?

I had to shake my head to purge the uncomfortable thoughts away, and a Captain, no less, offered me a hand, which I accepted, and he pulled me up. “There ya go!” As he did that, a thought flashed in my mind - a few girls at our department used to complain about unwanted help like this, and Clara yelled at me who do I thought I was when I held a door for her. Was that how should I behave now, or it was only because she hated I found more bugs than her?

The stinky man grinned and asked, “All good?”

His comment woke me up from my thoughts. “Why?” I blinked a few times and checked the ship. Other than a few patched or somehow repaired parts of the deck, it was exactly how I left it.

“You seem different.” He checked the now vacated Briggitte with raised an eyebrow. “Where’s your knight?”

“He’s gone.” I couldn’t hide bitterness in my voice and leaned over a damaged railing. Suddenly I was very conscious of my hands. What people did with them while talking? “I would rather… Not talk about it.” The railing wasn’t as stable as I thought, because I slipped and stumbled a little. “Dammit!”

The Captain ignored my blunder and focused on a fog on a horizon instead. “Yes. I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Can I see Duke?” I asked, because I wasn’t in a mood to explain why he shouldn’t say these words. Captain nodded and turned towards the deck, where a few sailors pretended to repair already repaired yard, but they stiffened when they sensed his attention. Don’t tell me-

Taking a lot of air into his lungs, he yelled, “You heard the lady! Move! You lazy-” I covered my ears in time and ran to a familiar bench. My plan was clear - I had to help Lisa now, she was my customer, right? And a friend if I played my hand right. That meant I had to recruit more people, but who? There wasn’t anyone else to ask… except Lucas and Katherine. With a grin, I added her as a friend. Thank heavens they hadn’t removed messaging yet.

[Katherine] Ya weren’t joking! Princess!

[Princess] Yes! ^_^ do you have time?

[Katherine] For ya? Anytime hun!

[Katherine] Princess?

She had to message me again, because I grinned foolishly and kept staring at her last message. Yes, I knew she meant it somehow else, but… She wrote ‘anytime hun’! Then why was I crying again? Oh, yeah… Dammit!

[Princess] Sowy, can you meet me near the Scorching dung?

[Katherine] Wanna go? Have team?

[Princess] Do you know Lisa? ^_^ She needs help, Dmitry killed her team.

[Katherine] Lisa? Dmitry? She’ll LOVE to meet me hahaha!

[Princess] I’m with Duke’s expedition, I’ll let you know when I can come.

[Katherine] k, k, I’m in fields so can’t right now. See ya there.

After that I was wondering if I should contact Lucas or not, but the Captain interrupted my thoughts and pointed at the flagship. “Duke’s waiting.”