Part 5

“”Woah!””

“Woah, exclaims Misaka.”

The three gazed with awe as they view the splendid castle in close range.

They stood there like that for another five more minutes before gathering themselves.

“Let’s try asking where Alan is.”

They approached the castle gate but was soon stopped by two guards standing in front of the entrance.

“Halt! What is your business here?”

“We are looking for Alan who works for the brewery.”

The guards stared at us.

“We were sent by the brewer to find him so please don’t cast those suspicious gazes at us.”

Kamijou explained the details to the two guards.

Finally, the guards seemed to have understood as they nodded to each other.

“If you’re looking for Alan, he is probably outside the Serabourg now.”

“Eh? What!? How come?”

If that were true, then they wouldn’t be able to complete the quest. New players weren’t allowed to go outside the city for four weeks. The deadline for the pub quest was just one day.

(I knew it was suspicious! Why would such an easy task such as getting supplies and returning will have one day as time limit!)

The thought of the quest being geared towards players other than those new ones with restrictions entered his mind.

“We don’t know the details. But he was sent to get something southwest of Serabourg. He left just prior to you coming here.”

“We can come up to him then! Thanks!”

After thanking the guards, Kamijou’s party then made a dash towards the south gate of the city.

“Alan shouldn’t be running so if we continue with this pace, we can catch up to him!”

Kamijou could have just made the girls wait here and run after Alan alone, but he no longer thinks that way. It would’ve been better too if these two could feel the fun of chasing. It was a game after all.

People had been looking at them since ten minutes ago when they started running. Among the people finding their way around the city, only these three were running. Certain hurtful comments were also thrown here and there like ‘Are they idiots?’ and ‘Yes they’re truly idiots’ but Kamijou decided to ignore them or else he’ll cry.

Running in front, Misaka Imouto showed no sign of slowing down nor fatigue. Behind him was Alice, not as composed as Misaka Imouto, but still able to follow them. Few beads of sweat could be seen on her noble-like but childish face.

It was then that a question came to Kamijou’s mind.

(How does Alan look like exactly?)

Cold sweat began forming on Kamijou Touma’s body as he analyzed that question.

There were tens of thousands of people in this city. Even if you know the face of the person you’re looking for, it’ll be very hard to search for that particular person. More so if you do not know the face of the person you were looking for.

“That was a blind side! How could we figure out who Alan is among these many people!?”

Kamijou’s shout made the three of them stop in their tracks. Alice wore a difficult expression as if she was still puzzled.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“We can go to the gate before Alan and ask the guard if it was Alan who passed by, recommends Misaka as she pretends to be a genius.”

“That’s right! Nice, Misaka Imouto!”

When Kamijou gave a thumbs up and smiled at Misaka Imouto, she hurriedly turned around.

It was then that a ringing sound could be heard from within his head.

‘Touma! Touma! TOUMA!!! I am hungry! Get out of there and cook something or I’ll eat everything in the fridge!’

“Like hell I’d let you!”

Alice was shocked by his sudden shout but Kamijou didn’t have the time to explain it.

“Sorry, you two. Go ahead and finish the quest. I just have something to deal with. I’ll be going then!”

Kamijou immediately left as he said his farewell.

“What?”

Alice stood in disbelief while Misaka Imouto stared into the space where Kamijou was before.

“Stop Index!!! You don’t know how long we’ll starve if you eat all of those!”

Kamijou immediately went out of the capsule to stop the eating machine called Index. The two of them would really starve for days if that fearful thing would happen.

But as soon as he got out of the capsule, he was greeted by the figure of Index. Not in front of the fridge but in front of his capsule.

“Touma.”

Kamijou instinctively gulped. His senses heightened to the limits. The feeling of fear Dainslef gave couldn’t be compared to what he was feeling right now.

“Is Index really the last boss!?”

“Touma.”

When Index muttered his name, he immediately shut his mouth.

“You know, Touma, I am very excited to play the game.”

“Yes I know.”

“You know, Touma, I want to play the game with you.”

Goosebumps began appearing on every part of Kamijou Touma. He felt that what would be coming could not compare to anything he faced so far.

“You know, Touma, I’ve waited long but I did not see Touma.”

“You know, Touma, I’ve searched and searched but I did not see Touma.”

Many arguments came into Kamijou’s mind. He could try and reason out that they did not chose a place to start in, in the first place. He could also say lots of other things but they all left his mind as soon as he raised his face up and looked at Index.

At Index who had tears in her eyes.

Kamijou was instantly filled with rage. ‘Who did this to Index!?’, ‘Who made Index cry!?’, ‘I’ll beat that bastard to pulps!!!’, and many other thoughts instantly filled his mind.

(I am at fault. I made Index cry again. That’s right. Being thrown into a whole new world while the person who should be by your side isn’t there.)

“Kamijou-san is at fault! Please forgive this Kamijou-san!”

Without care to any pride or dignity, Kamijou instantly prostrated himself on the floor.

The one who was watching the scene with scrutinizing eyes was a fifteen centimeters tall ‘girl’.

“Should I really become used to seeing this?”

The tiny girl closed her eye as she shook her head slowly.

Crunching sounds could repeatedly be heard in a certain boys dormitory which continued for a while more.