{-Myr-}

The group beside them very obviously wanted to say something. They kept mumbling to each other but no one said anything louder or did anything to initiate a conversation. Myr hoped they’d come over, though. One of them blushed when she saw her…

No, now was not the time for that. Myr needed to concentrate. Reynneak was saying something important about what he thought they were going to do and what each of them should do to be prepared for it. But she still couldn’t quite stay focused on that part.

She gave a passing glance at the countdown, only to realize it must’ve added a few minutes since the last time she looked. Natharie soon came out to confirm it.

“If I may have everyone’s attention,” she called through the collective murmurs. “Due to some unforeseen consequences, there’s been a bit of a delay. It likely won’t take any more than a couple more minutes to fix. I do hope you understand.” And she left before anyone could say anything or ask any questions.

There were a few whispers about it, something about the scoreboard—they made it sound like that was a regular issue. But there was another whisper in there, too. Myr, from the corner of her eye, noticed that the party beside them all got up and walked to their table.

They’d seemed pretty resolved to walk up to them. But, when the five of them noticed the party, and one of them needed to come up to say something, they shoved who must’ve been their leader to the front.

“E-excuse me, I hope you’ve got the time, but I thought, since it’s delayed, we could…” She paused, glanced at her friends—they didn’t offer much reassurances—then took a deep breath. “We wanted to ask you something. Sorry, you probably get this a lot, but… a-are you the party everyone’s talking about? That’s Erin, so…”

Tinath took over before Zetai could say anything. “Yeah, that’s us. Do you need something?” She put on a fake smile and a kind of friendly tone she’d never used when it was just the five of them. Was that what it meant to keep up appearances?

The other party mumbled excitedly to each other, then started with their questions.

“What are you doing here?”

Tinath shrugged. “We got some spare time. We’ve all got to go soon but we figured this would be a fun event to close the day off on.”

“Who are these other four, anyway? Everyone’s talking about them but they’ve never been with you before, right?”

“It was originally just the four of us,” Zetai remarked. “Tinath’s new. Our goals were pretty similar so we let her join us.”

Then came a question that caught both Llewel and Myr off guard, when one of the other party members looked at them.

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“It’s so cute that the two of you have matching avatars! Are you two really related?”

They nodded in unison.

Another player joined in the slightly one-sided conversation. “Did you join at the same time? It seems so strange that you’d both end up with that glitch hiding your player ID.” He looked at his companion. “Hey, do you think the developers even know about them?”

“Of course they do,” she responded effortlessly. “I mean, even if they haven’t heard the same things we have, they’re the developers. They’re bound to know all sorts of stuff we don’t.”

Llewel and Myr both, the former a bit better than the latter, tried to smile to make what the other two didn’t know less obvious. They’d been mistaken for players before, but never long enough to be questioned about it, and much less needed to actually play the part…

The next question was directed towards all of them again. “Is what they’re saying really true? All the stuff you’ve been doing, like the quests and spending time with the story companions?”

“I don’t think we’d bother to talk to them if there wasn’t something true about it,” another mumbled in response.

Zetai gave a proper answer with a nod. “Yeah. We’ve been going through, completing most of the stuff we can. Can’t say it’s that weird. It just means we’re not spending hours farming a bunch of random enemies.”

“I like it better,” Myr remarked. “We help people instead of fighting the monsters that are just minding their own business.”

“That’s one way to put it,” a player said. “Still, it’s got to be hard, right? Oh—that reminds me! They also say that you’ve been helping the NPCs even if they don’t have quests. Is that right?”

“Of course we do,” Llewel muttered. “It doesn’t matter whether or not we get something out of it. They still need our help.” Myr had to wonder just how much he had to force himself to stay here at all. But making a scene here would probably just draw more attention so, no matter what he might’ve felt, she knew he’d stay.

“That must take you a while,” the player continued. “How long does it take you to complete an area, anyway?”

Zetai shrugged. “I dunno, none of us have kept track.”

“It’s a lot easier when you don’t have to spend the time thinking about it…” Reynneak mumbled in agreement.

“I guess that’s fair enough.” The player gestured towards where the course was. “So, is this your first time doing this? It’s actually our team’s third time. We’re trying to reach first place but we haven’t quite gotten there yet. We could probably give you a couple of tips, if you want them?”

“I think we’re good. It’ll be more entertaining when we don’t really know what we’re doing, you know?” Zetai gave them a smile, too, to show she at least appreciated the thought.

“Good luck out there,” Tinath said with a nod. “Third time’s a charm and all that.”

That brought a reaction out of all of them, most either nervous or flattered. Myr had to imagine it like getting a compliment from Duuzlo—it was someone they admired, even if a stranger might not realize how much it meant.

“Good luck to you, too!” Their leader waved. “Things are probably about to get going, so it’s time we go. Thanks for talking with us, it means a lot to be able to meet you.”

All of them followed the motions of their leader and went back to their own spot. It wasn’t much longer that Natharie came out again.

“Attention, everyone! Everything is now prepared and the event can begin shortly. Please take your places in an orderly fashion.”