The man that reigned over this realm was dead. And I killed him.

I hardly believed it, but the same Cirrus I blasted off the face of the world was the mastermind behind the Bounty Hall. Mr. Atlas asked me if I was mistaken.

"I don't think I am," I replied with a shrug.

That changed everything.

Forget about siding with the Liberation's Call Syndicate. I might be able to bring the Bounty Hall down myself, if I wanted to. If they couldn't even protect their leader from me, I doubted the rest of them stood much of a chance.

"You reckon they'll let me become the new leader, since I killed the previous one?" I asked Mr. Atlas, half-jokingly.

"Honestly?" He stroked his stubbled chin. "I think you're not far off."

I laughed. "...You're kidding, right?"

"No, no. I'm quite serious. Though I'm not sure. Here's what. One of the Bounty Hunters is a regular here, comes by every week. Next time, I'll check with her."

"Wait," I said. "So there's a chance I'm the new Bounty Hall boss right now?"

"Doubt it's that simple. I'll be sure to let you know when the regular comes."

And so I waited. Over the next few days, I helped with Mr. Atlas' shop. Customers seldom came, but when they did, they'd often buy things in bulk. Overall business was slow, and I had much time to spare with Atlas. We played cards to pass the hours, and we'd take turns going on strolls near the neighborhood. Mr. Atlas' store sold Magic: The Gathering cards for some reason. I used to play with Hei back in the real world, and I had spent at least a hundred dollars building my own deck. Here, Mr. Atlas let me open as many packs as I could find, since he never managed to sell any of them anyways. I showed Mr. Atlas how to play, and we battled against each other for a couple matches. But he didn't seem fond of the game, and we soon went back to playing Poker. And once we got bored of that, Atlas got me into chess.

I'd hide my hat and wear a face mask, in case any came looking for me in particular. I was Sophia, the girl that took down a crime boss. I doubted the Bounty Hall would forget about that, for better or worse.

But thankfully, far as I could tell, they had stopped their manhunt for me. At least for now.

One day, as I was in the store's backroom, reading Atlas's chess manual in bed, he shouted for me.

"Sophia!" came his voice from the storefront. "Come meet the regular!"

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Geez! Don't say my name out loud! The Bounty Hunters were after me, this customer was one of them. Did Atlas want to get me killed?

Keeping my nerves in check, I donned my Magus Battlehat and hoisted my gun. I kicked open the door to the storefront, a Frost Missile loaded into my barrel.

Indeed, there was a customer. The alleged regular from the Bounty Hall.

"...Reens?!" I exclaimed in disbelief.

She returned a surprised stare, then smiled and gave me a shy wave.

No way.

Reens, our ally from back in Bronze. She was the kind-hearted girl who helped us run our makeshift hospital in the cabin. And we really needed her help, considering she was the only healer we had. I had tried to invite her to our team. The only reason she didn't join was because our team was already full with five people. In hindsight, we really ought to have ditched Jack for her.

I knew she had survived all the way to Silver. We found her with the Seekflower back there, but with everything that went on, I never had a chance to find her in Silvercreek. I had no idea she'd made it all the way to Gold.

"H-hi," I said to Reens, still incredulous. "Um. Hi, it's been a while."

"Sophiaaa," she greeted, with the gentlest voice. "I miss you."

Mr. Atlas led us both to the backroom and sat us down. He caught me up on the details: Reens had been coming for a couple months now, to pick up snacks for herself and her friends at the Bounty Hall. They apparently managed to recruit her right after she spawned in her house in Gold, which by pure happenstance was right next to the Bounty Hall building.

"I heard they were hunting you," Reens explained, "so I volunteered to take your bounty. I'm technically supposed to kill you. But here's the secret, I'm not actually going to do that." She gave the most mischievous smile she'd ever shown me. Which wasn't very mischievous at all, but still.

"You sussy bounty hunter," I teased. "Sounds like you saved my life. But won't you get into trouble? I bet the Bounty Hall wants me dead."

"Mm, not that much actually! A lot of higher-ups don't like Cirrus. He's been hogging the leader position for a really long time, and his rivals were getting impatient."

"I have a question for you, Reens," Mr. Atlas chimed in. "What's the process of ousting a leader of the Bounty Hall? I know there's some sort of way to challenge them in combat. Can someone become the new leader if they defeat the current?"

Reens explained the rules, which were a bit more complicated than that. Years back, internal strife plagued the Bounty Hall. Higher-ups assassinated one another left and right as they vied for power. In a desperate act of self-preservation, they banned assassinations within the guild, and placated rivals with an alternative: a member may take the place of a current leader by winning a PvP Challenge against them. To provide some semblance of stability, at least 6 months must pass after a successful challenge, before a challenge for the same position can be issued again.

It just so happened that no one had dared to challenge Cirrus for the past 11 months.

"So…let me know if I'm right," I asked Reens. "Someone replaced Cirrus as the new boss. And if I defeat the new boss, I can become the new-new boss?"

"Mm," Reens mused. "I suppose you'll need to be a member of the Bounty Hall first."

"And how do I do that?"

"Do you want to be a Bounty Hall member?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"Congratulations," Reens said with a smile. "You are now a member."