It all began the day after I won the national fencing tournament. My parents had gone out on a morning walk, allowing me to sleep in a little. The rest was very much welcome, as I had been exhausted from the tournament. I was still asleep when I was suddenly awoken by my mother’s voice.
“Madeline! Come down to the living room. Your father and I have a pleasant surprise for you!”
“Yes mother!” I quickly changed into more appropriate clothing and straightened my hair to look presentable.
I made my way down the large staircase and headed straight for the living room. If mother and father called me down, it must be something important.. When I entered the living room the first thing that caught my attention was a large white machine which sat in the middle of the room. This did not keep my attention for long though, as I greeted my parents.
“Good afternoon, father, mother. I hope you had a pleasant walk this morning.” I curtsied and and tried to look as professional as I could while holding back a yawn.
“Good morning dear.” Mother let out her warm smile, seeing that I had just woken up.
“Hm. This is a reward for you.” Father kept his stern face on as he pointed at the machine.
“A… reward? For winning the fencing tournament?”
Father nodded and then indicated a small pile of papers on the table. “The details on how to use the machine are there. Read it over carefully. Now, I have more important business to attend to.” Father then proceeded to leave the room, and I suppressed a tremble from my body as he passed by me.
Once father had left the room, I let out a sigh of relief as I faced my mother who was waiting for me. “Mother… what is this machine?”
She giggled at my question as she beckoned me closer. “This, my dear, is a game pod for the new virtual reality game, True World Online. Your father obtained it as a gift from the Dimen company for investing into its stock.”
“A game…” I had never played video games before, much less virtual reality games. “Is this fine with you two?” I asked worriedly.
“Haha, of course dear. Your father and I talked about it and decided that you should have it. It’s a perfect opportunity to play since you don’t have school at the moment.”
“I see… Well, I am incredibly grateful that you and father have given me this chance to play this game.” I bowed deeply to mother.
“Oh, you’re always so stiff.” Mother gathered me up in a hug and poked my cheek. “Now remember, just because it’s a game doesn’t mean that you can just do whatever you want. Remember, first and foremost, that you are a member of the Beaumont family. Carry yourself with pride and dignity at all times.” Mother gazed into my eyes with kindness and compassion in her expression.
I responded with a determined gaze of my own. “Of course mother. I will always carry your words with me.”
“That’s good. Well then, I shouldn’t keep you from playing. Have fun!” Mother broke away from our hug and left the room, leaving myself and the machine there.
After a moment of debate, I decided to give it a try. Since it is a reward from my parents, it would be rude to not try it at least once. I began to read the instruction manual and slowly understood how to operate the machine. I made sure to double check the instructions, and then proceeded to enter the pod.
A strange sensation swept through my body and I lost consciousness. By the time I woke up I found myself in a room of white. For a moment I wondered if I had done something wrong, when suddenly a message appeared in front of me saying that there would be someone to help me shortly. I waited patiently, and after a few minutes an angel appeared.
The angel introduced herself as Cim, and assisted me in creating what she called my ‘character’. This process was incredibly strange and foreign to me, but somehow I was able to get through it. Games are quite amazing… I thought. I asked Cim what was next, and she told me that I had to name my character.
“Is it not fine to use my own name?”
Cim shook her head. “While that is allowed, I do not recommend using your real life name. It is better if you chose a different name to use.”
“Hmm… Alright then. Is the name Brie taken?”
*****
When I had first appeared inside the town of Foria, I was absolutely shocked to see two groups of men completely surrounding me. All of them held hostility in their eyes, and were all holding weapons, seemingly ready to charge at me. My mind instantly blanked out, as I began to tremble all over. Their shouts only served to deepen my fear, and a few of them began to move towards me.
It was at this moment that I caught sight of her. A young girl with fiery red hair and fox ears was hiding behind a stall. As I stared at her, her curious golden eyes stared back. At that moment, I didn’t care who it was. I needed to get out of this place and fast! I immediately dashed over to where she was and hid behind her.
Guh… to hide behind a stranger is humiliating! I had no choice though, as the men approached the two of us. I didn’t pay attention to what was said, but soon enough I noticed that we were away from the group of men and were inside an empty alleyway. It was at this point that I noticed she was holding my hand, and at the same time I remembered my mother’s words.
“Carry yourself with pride and dignity at all times.”
As if those words gave me power, I defiantly said, “Unhand me!” Apparently she didn’t understand what I said, so I shouted louder this time, “I said, unhand me!” I pulled away my hand from the rude girl who thought it was fine to touch the hand of a noble. I put on a stern face and said, “Who gave you permission to casually touch me like that?”
“Well, no one but… would you have rather stayed in the square?” She replied cooly. For a moment I imagined what would happen if I had stayed in the square, and shivered. I strongly insisted that I would have been perfectly fine without her, and she simply shrugged it off. The girl then asked me for my name. How rude. I thought. To ask a noble’s name before introducing yourself is incredibly impolite. Does this girl not know common etiquette?
Yet I decided to answer her question as thanks for bringing me away from the square,. “My name? I am Madel-” It was at this point which I remembered that I had a new name, and quickly corrected myself. “er, I mean, I am Brie.” Apparently the girl found my slip up amusing as she let out a wry smile.
Before I could say anything about her expression, she introduced herself as Q. Though I found her name strange, I decided that she could probably help me in this new world. After all, I did not have any of my usual servants to assist me with my condition. It was at this moment that I thought this girl must have been a detective, because as soon as I began to talk about my condition she instantly figured it out!
She made a few rude comments about my condition, but since I am a magnanimous person I decided to let them slide. Since she already knew the details about my condition, I decided to ask her for a bit of assistance. But the very moment I decided to lower my head a bit and have a commoner like her escort me, she refused! This enraged me to no end as I immediately demanded that she obey my orders.
This girl was far more willful than I believed though, and refused yet again! Even then, her words did have a sliver of truth to them. This world is different from real life. It had its own rules, and no one had any advantage over another (at least, until they allow conversion of real life currency to the currency in game). It took a while, but I eventually conceded and asked her ‘politely’. Truly, this was a low point in my life to have to request something from a commoner.
Strangely enough, once I had asked politely she became far more amicable and asked to be my friend! I did not have many friends in real life as most people were afraid of approaching the single daughter of the Beaumont family. The only ones that did approach me only wanted to use my status to elevate themselves in society. This girl could be considered to be my first true friend in this new world. I accepted her request, and she dragged me back to the square…
*****
This girl is strange… was my first thought about Q. She seemed to be easy and laid back one moment, then suddenly became lofty and compelling as she addressed a large crowd. She was also rude to me as she made threats, but when she met a random girl on the street she became incredibly kind. I silently observed my new friend as I tried to get a grasp on her personality.
Eventually we made our way into a small house with a hideout of girls inside. After learning that we could join them rather than the two groups of men, I immediately suggested to Q that we should join this group. She must have really wanted to join this group as well, as she agreed without much convincing.
(A/N: Oh Brie, that house is only small because you’re comparing it to your house…)
Q’s eccentric personality began to show itself as she immediately began looking for things to do. I could not understand her logic at all. Why should we go through the effort of making things when someone else is already making them for us? In the end she did convince me to try out sewing at least, though pricking myself with a needle was not ‘fun’ at all.
Q then showed more of her detective skills as she accurately deduced my situation at home. How she did this, I will never know, though according to her my expression is easy to read. She then insulted me by calling me a troubled noble girl with no friends! Of course, I could not deny such a claim, but my pride would not allow me to take such a blatant insult. Unfortunately Q was incredibly fast and managed to escape my clutches.
After a few minutes we had accepted a request from a cook to gather ingredients from outside the town. As we made our way to the grassy fields in front of the town, we were met with a harrowing sight. ‘Players’ (as Q called them) were completely eradicating the wildlife there. Do they not know how to maintain the balance of the environment?
We quickly left the place and Q asked about how I fight. She put on an amazed face when she heard that I do fencing, which I thought was fitting. It’s about time that I elicited an appropriate reaction from her. After exchanging a few more details, Q warned me about the terrors of online games. Apparently people can find out many things about your personal life if they happen to get a hold of your real name. I was not that worried about them learning the location of my house (because the security there is top notch), but the idea of someone peeking into my private life scared me.
Q assured me that I had nothing to worry about, but I decided to keep my guard up against her anyway. Even if she is my friend, we’ve only known each other for a few hours after all.
As we entered the forest, something strange happened. We encountered a small white rabbit in the forest, and just as I was about to ask if it was the rabbit we needed to complete the quest, Q instantly disappeared from my sight. The next instant she was hugging the rabbit in an almost frenzied fashion, and showed no signs of stopping. It seemed that Q had hugged the rabbit too tightly as it began biting her, but she didn’t seem to mind it at all as she continued to caress the rabbit. At this moment Q looked incredibly adorable as her dazzling smile and her wagging tail seemed to beam happiness.
I reminded her of our purpose here, and I saw an incredible fluctuation of emotions on Q’s face as she was conflicted on how to handle the rabbit. In the end she decided to let me finish off the rabbit, and turned away with a depressed aura. Seeing her ears and tail droop down made me inadvertently want to hug her, but I killed the rabbit first before returning to her.
We continued to travel through the forest afterwards, and Q asked me to kill the rabbits while she harvested the other ingredients. A burning question popped into my head at the time. If she dislikes killing rabbits, why did she take the quest in the first place? I did not get the chance to ask though, as suddenly a boar appeared and charged towards us! We both managed to dodge it, but were then suddenly pulled by a girl with violet hair who abruptly demanded we help her kill that boar.
Q had yet again surprised me by showing off her combat prowess. Her powerful attacks and quick reflexes were not inferior to mine, and I daresay even I might not have been able to dodge the boar’s charge like she did. I was slightly annoyed at being given orders, but since I was going to do After we dispatched the boar, the violet girl introduced herself and we quickly became friends. This game truly is amazing, to allow people to become friends at the touch of a button.
The three of us talked for a moment, and realized that we were all in the same faction. On our way back Q gave Kukis a nickname, and called her Cookie. It strangely fit for some reason, but seeing that Kukis became dejected, I decided to cheer her up. I am a kind person after all. Soon after though, she immediately went to hug me! Are all commoners normally this physical in showing their affection?
After somehow managing to pry myself from her arms, Kukis and I met up with Q and proceeded to cook food. To be honest, the act of cooking did slightly interest me, though I had no prior knowledge on the manner. When I held the knife that Kukis passed me, I stood stock still for a moment as I had no idea of what to do. Of course, as a member of the Beaumont family I could not possibly show any ineptitude in such an activity so I headed into the kitchen holding the knife with confidence. As I prepared to ‘chop’ the ingredients I could faintly hear cries from Q and Kukis saying that I was holding the knife wrong.
I ignored their cries though, as I proceeded to cut the ingredients into tiny pieces. Hmph, simply cutting ingredients is not difficult at all! Suddenly the knife slipped out of my hand and cut my finger! I had been injured before while training, but for some reason this small cut caused me extreme pain. Kukis laughed at my misfortune while Q looked at me with concern. She offered to teach me how to use the knife properly, but I refused as I was confident that I would be able to do it properly this time.
I gripped the knife as tightly as I could and brought it down on the ingredients! ...and then cut myself again. I begrudgingly accepted Q’s offer to teach me while I clutched my finger in pain. At first Q performed the actions in front of me to show how it was done properly, but I was unable to follow her actions as they were incredibly deft and quick. Q let out a sigh as she then stood behind me and held onto my hands, moving them slowly to show me how it's done properly.
At first I protested, but Q let out a scary face and warned me that cooking is dangerous if I do not know how to do it properly. Her face was incredibly serious, so I decided to let her temporarily control my actions. In the end we were able to make a decent meal and began to talk about Q’s adventures in her tutorial.
(A/N: Q’s ‘delicious’ is Brie’s ‘decent’)
Her story was quite interesting as she described her encounters with the wolf and piles of rocks. As she continued to describe her experience, it only drove in further that this was a completely different world from Earth, one that was wild and untamed, and just ready to explore. When Q began to describe the giant guardian, I looked over at Kukis and found her face incredibly amusing. Her mouth was wide open and she stared at Q with starry eyes while leaning her body forward, making her seem like a child who had been overdosed with sugar.
I turned away from Kukis and continued to listen to Q’s tale, feeling my own face to make sure I was not making such a childish expression. Eventually Q finished talking and promptly decided to leave. I was temporarily shocked at her decision, as she was supposed to follow me around in this world! In the end she left, leaving Kukis here to teach me about the intricacies of video games…
*****
A few hours later, Kukis was teaching me common sense in video games when suddenly we heard a scream from inside the hideout! The two of us quickly rushed over to find that Q was in a demolished room talking to the girl named Lily. I made sure that Q was okay before looking over the state of the room. It would be quite unpleasant if my friend had been harmed in any way.
Afterwards we learned that Lily had a problem with interacting with other people. I was rather moved to know that there was someone else who shared my problems. I began to talk with Lily, and we excitedly discussed our personal problems…
It wasn’t until Q poked my shoulder that I realized I was talking with Lily for hours. I simply could not believe I was talking for that long! Then again, it was very enjoyable as I had finally found someone to relate to. Thereafter we all headed out to the front gate of the town and waited for people to come by.
A few minutes passed, and a party of players approached the gates. I gave Lily an encouraging look as she greeted the players. In the end she was able to greet them just fine, and she came back with a smile on her face! Lily and I celebrated for a moment before she went back out to greet more people. It seemed like she would have no trouble greeting the next party, but trouble began to develop as another group came by and confronted them.
Lily seemed at a loss on what to do, so I decided to stand by her and give her moral support… This quickly turned out to be a mistake though, as I went to hide behind Lily’s back once the men began to yell at each other. Luckily Q arrived to break up the conflict, though the problem was solved in a very unexpected fashion. The girls from the first party began to… ‘caress’ her, and completely ignored the large group of men. The second group were bewildered at such a situation, and then left after saying something that no one heard.
Meanwhile, Q was being caressed against her will, and judging by the look on her face it seemed that she was not enjoying it. I sighed as I approached the girls. It seems that Q requires my assistance. Very well then! A Beaumont would never leave their friends behind! I stood in front of the girls and demanded that they release Q, but before I could even finish a sentence I was quickly grabbed and subjected to what Q would later call ‘cuddle hell’…
*****
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Never in my life, have I been humiliated to this extent…
It was only after half an hour that Q and I were able to escape from the clutches of those girls. Just as I had finished recovering from such an ordeal, Q began to admonish Kukis for not assisting us. Yes, that is true… She calls herself our ‘friend’ and does not come to help us in our time of need… It appears that she also needs some scolding! Then, Q and I began to scold Kukis for not helping us, while she tried to justify herself. We might have argued for a long time if not for a window which interrupted our conversation.
Apparently the entire time we were talking and being ‘cuddled’, Lily had already completed the task set for her. As expected from someone who I have acknowledged, she was able to overcome her shortcomings even without our assistance. We each received a knitted item from her as thanks, and saw her off as she went back home. It was at this point that the members from the party began to greet us.
Both sides began to introduce themselves, until eventually it got to me. Kukis pushed me forward without my consent, and for a moment I wavered. The thought of talking to strangers scared me a little, but then I remembered the incredible courage that Lily had showed when she was greeting others, and felt that I could not possibly show any weakness now! I quickly introduced myself and then retreated to Q’s back.
As I enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment from finally overcoming this mental hurdle, Q introduced herself as well. As soon as the ‘Crios Blades’ heard her name, they were all completely shocked and yelled out in unison. Is Q really this famous? I wondered. Kukis did mention that defeating an enemy many levels above you is an amazing feat... Is Q actually an incredible person for defeating an enemy 15 levels above her? While I was still wondering about the strength of the enemies in this game, Q had apparently accepted a request to temporarily join their party.
At first I was slightly reluctant, but then realized that this could be a chance to get used to men. Not only that but one of them almost looks like a woman, so if I tried hard enough I could imagine him to be a female. Just as I was about to give my consent, Q told me that if I was not up to the challenge, that I could just give up. Just who do you think you are talking to? I am a proud member of the Beaumont family! We do not shy from challenges!
“Of course I can handle it!” I said with vigour, “Who do you think I am? I will face any challenge head on!”
Q smiled in response as she said, “Nice to hear,” and went back to dealing with the Crios Blades. In this fashion it was agreed that we would temporarily join the Crios Blades, and assist them with their quest. I feel quite irritated that we have to follow the orders of someone else though… Well, not that I would follow any stupid orders of course.
*****
I wonder… since when was it that I was able to trust Q so much? I thought as I took her outstretched hand.
While we were traversing the dark cave, it was decided that Q would lead the group as we made our way through the cave. As soon as that decision was made, Q held her hand out to me and asked for my hand. For a moment I stared at it, slightly reluctant to grab on, but in the end I did take her hand. This is quite strange. Just a few days ago we were complete strangers, and now we are holding hands together… I suppose this is what friendship is?
I contemplated the mysteries of friendship as we went down into the tunnel. Q’s actions surprised me quite a bit this time, as she was able to see so much with but a single flash of light. We continued to go down into the cave, and eventually reached a large open area. The darkness was quite intimidating, and nothing compared to the cave at the beginning. It was at this point that Fortis created a ball of light and illuminated the room. The first thing that caught my eyes were the gemstones which dotted all around the area, and made me inadvertently think of my mother's jewelry collection.
I had never truly understood the reason why she collected so much jewelry, but looking at the glittering gems which lined the walls, I could somewhat understand. For a moment I considered reaching out and grabbing one from the wall, but then saw Kukis try to no avail. Vern began to give out orders (which still slightly annoyed me) and we all began to follow his commands. For a while, everything was fine and silent when Vern suddenly yelled out “Heads up! Enemies!”
All of our gazes turned towards Vern, to find that he, Melun and Q were being attacked by a giant monster! It appears that we will be in for a tough fight this time…
*****
We had fought for a total of 3 days inside the ‘dungeon’, and gained quite a few rewards. While I was preparing myself for the event coming up, a window appeared in front of me.
[Message] - Madeline, you’ve been inside the game for 24 hours now! Please come out soon.
I was very surprised once I read the message. According to Kukis, the game pod had a function where people on the outside can send a message to the person inside the game. It appears I have made my mother worry quite a bit. I bid farewell to my friends and logged out of the game.
I climbed out of the pod to find my mother looking at me with a worried face. “Why were you in there for so long?” She asked as she helped me out of the pod. “I heard from the servants that you left at least once or twice to take a break, but I didn’t think that you would just play the game for so long.”
“My sincerest apologies mother. I was… absorbed in the game, so to speak.”
“Hehe, I still find it strange that you were playing it for so long. You never expressed any interest in video games before you know? Was it because the game was so fun, or was there something keeping you there?” She asked with a curious expression.
“I… yes. I have made a friend. Quite a few, actually.” I smiled, remembering the people I had met in the game.
“My oh my. Why don’t you tell me what you’ve been up to in the game then?” She brought me into the living room and called a servant to get us some tea.
I began to explain what had happened since I started playing the game, ranging from the strange creatures I faced in the tutorial, to my meeting with Q. Mother was particularly interested in Q, as she asked many questions about her. Unfortunately I was unable to answer most of her questions, as I realized I did not know much about Q. Now that I think about it, the small fox-kin was quite the enigma, and despite interacting with her for a few days I still have yet to understand her personality.
Noticing my perplexed expression, mother decided to switch the conversation topic. “Well, seeing that you like the game so much, I think I’ll order another game pod.”
“Mother? Are you going to join the game and play as well?” I asked with surprise.
“Haha, heavens no! Even if I wanted to play, I’m far too busy with work to join you for any extended period of time. No, I’m thinking of getting a pod for Steph, so you have someone to take care of menial tasks for you in the game.”
“Steph? Well… yes, I suppose that things would be easier if I had Steph with me. Many of my new ‘friends’ are not very accommodating to my orders.”
“That’s how people usually are,” Mother explained. “When interacting with others, you can’t just order them around within minutes of meeting them.”
“Hm? But you and father do it all the time.”
“Er… That’s different dear.” Mother wore a cramped smile. “That’s when your father and I are talking to business associates and are being professional. If you want to ask a friend to do something for you, you must be polite and gain their trust first.”
“That sounds remarkably similar to what Q said when I first met her.”
“It seems she has a good head on her shoulders. Now,” Mother’s voice suddenly became serious. “Let’s talk about how long you were playing the game.”
My body tensed as I sat up straight and folded my arms in front of me while I waited for her next words. Mother is always smiling and rarely becomes serious, but the few times she has… well, even my father would not dare go against her.
“You do understand that staying in that pod for such a long time is not good for your body, correct?”
“Yes mother.” I meekly nodded. Indeed, after getting out of the pod the few times I logged out my body was incredibly sluggish and it took me a few minutes to recover.
“Do you realize how worried I was when I heard you were in there for so long?”
“I…”
“I understand that because your father and I are busy with work we don’t have a lot of time to spend with you, but even then we both expect you to take care of yourself. Playing that game for 24 hours... ”
“I sincerely apologize for the trouble I have caused!” I interrupted her and bowed my head. Just the thought of worrying my kind mother caused tears to form at the corner of my eyes. “I know that I have worried you, and I regret doing so. I cannot possibly make any excuses, but-”
“Shh.” Mother put a finger on my mouth as she hugged me. “You’re always so stiff.” She said with a smile. “I’m not angry you know? There’s no need to cry.”
“But… I caused you to worry. I could not possibly tolerate causing you trouble.”
“Haaa~” Mother let out a long sigh. “That’s okay darling. I’m sorry for yelling at you.” She said while patting my head.
But you were not yelling… I idly thought in my mind. Mother continued, “It’s great that you’ve found new friends to play with, but I do expect you to remember to spend time in real life. From now on, you can only play for a maximum of 8 hours every day. Understand?”
“Yes mother.” I replied as I hugged her tightly.
*****
Once I had logged back into the game, I met up with Kukis who showed me a bit of the ‘chat’ feature which let me send messages to my friends. This was a very convenient feature as I could talk to my friends from a long distance, though it seems that this feature was unavailable in the midst of battle. While I talked with Kukis who had a slightly pale face for some reason, Q appeared and we exchanged greetings.
I explained my circumstances, and how I would only be able to play for a limited time. Q and Kukis were not very concerned, as it seemed this was a natural thing that occurred in most online games.
Suddenly, Q passed me a thin sword, saying that I could use it. For a moment I was stunned, as I had no idea how to react to this gift. I had received gifts before, but besides the ones my parents gave me, they were all from boxes with fancy letters attached. Quite often, these presents were from people I barely knew, hoping to obtain my favor and perhaps get a connection with my parents. Though I personally did not care much for the gifts, my parents (or at least my mother) were very satisfied with the apparent goodwill that came with the presents.
For perhaps the first time in my life, I had received a gift from a friend who I could talk face to face. I was not sure about how to go about expressing my gratitude, but in the end I decided to thank her as I admired the new sword she gave me. It was almost as light as my personal rapier, but was nearly twice as sturdy. I probably would not be able to utilize the ‘flick’ technique, but that did not matter much as I specialized in thrusts. While examining my new sword, Q brought up the idea of sparring in order to train ourselves for the upcoming battle.
I was slightly concerned at first, as I was unsure as to whether we would fight to the death, but in the end it turned out that the duels would not be fatal in any way (according to Q, at least). I accepted the duel, and a window appeared above our heads, telling the surrounding people to leave the vicinity. I took up my usual stance, with my right arm lightly holding the sword in front of me, while I put my left arm behind my back. As the clock counted down, I prepared myself to attack, while Q did the same.
When the battle began, I immediately moved forward to attack Q and probe her defenses. Surprisingly, she was able to react quickly to my attack as she deflected my blade with minimal force. As soon as I saw her move her dagger, I expected that she would move in to attack me, so I leaped back just in time to dodge one of her slices.
Judging from the way she had fought up until now she definitely had some sort of background in some sort of martial arts. Yet even though her moves had obviously been well practiced, they lacked the sharp refinement that years of training and sparring would provide. I decided to take advantage of these rough moves as I began to cautiously attack her. I was still unsure of what Q’s full capabilities were, as she had constantly displayed surprising feats of speed and dexterity.
I continued to dodge her attacks, and once her movements showed an opening I managed to hit her arm. I backed off in order to let Q regain her breath and composure as I prepared myself for the second round. Remarkably, Q’s face had almost no signs of exhaustion on it, but instead was filled with confusion.
“Brie… are you treating this like a fencing match?” She asked with a slightly surprised tone.
“Yes, is this not what this is? A duel?” I replied with a question of my own. Q explained with an exasperated face that this duel was different to fencing. Well, that is odd. I thought as I prepared to meet Q’s next attack.
Suddenly, an abrupt change appeared in Q’s expression. Her calm and carefree attitude disappeared, only to be replaced by a sharp gaze. I felt a slight shiver go down my spine, and recognized the feeling. This was something that I constantly felt while sparring against my master, a feeling that made all of my senses scream out ‘danger’!
Seeing that Q had become serious, I decided to become serious in exchange as well. I began to display the special moves I had come up with on my own. These were unexpected attacks that were made with the idea of suddenly catching the opponent off guard. I was able to fend off one of Q’s attacks this way, and the two of us continued to attack each other with fierce strikes.
At one point I found an opportunity to utilize one of my favorite moves, ‘Humming Steps’ as I locked Q down with my quick thrusts. This move was based off of a hummingbird I happened to see as a child, as I was intrigued with their quick movements that let them dart all over the place. In this fashion I was slowly but surely chipping away Q’s health, when she suddenly used a magic spell!
This spell caught me off guard, and I was slightly displeased. A duel should be an honorable fight using weapons, not magic! Q did not seem to care too much about the honor of a duel though, as she continued to use more spells against me. The fight became far more arduous once she brought out her spells, as they were fast and unpredictable, not to mention that I was already having a bit of trouble keeping up with her speed from earlier. The fight quickly began turning in her favor, and I rapidly thought of what to do.
Since Q began using spells, I decided to try using some of the skills that I had obtained. Every time I used them, it gave a strange feeling as my body would automatically move by itself in order to perform the action. I did notice that I was able to slightly change the small things in my movement, but for the most part I would follow a predefined action. Using my skills, I was able to get a bit more of an edge against Q, but in the end it was for naught as she threw her dagger at me and followed it up with her most used spell, [Spark].
For a moment I thought that I could withstand the attack and then punish Q, but my body suddenly became paralyzed, allowing Q to hit me and finish off the rest of my health. I was definitely not happy about this result, as I felt that I would have won if Q did not utilize her spells. In the end, she was still the victor though, as this was not a fencing match, but rather a serious fight. In the end I could only swallow my feelings of frustration and defeat as Q offered her hand.
The crowd around us (which I had not noticed until this point) exploded into cheer as they began discussing our duel. Of course, it is only natural for commoners to be captivated by my flawless moves. While Kukis approached us and asked how we got so strong, Q seemed to have noticed something from my expression as she asked if I wanted to go for another round. I accepted, and the three of us left the area.
When I had first started playing this game, I was unsure of what it would provide me, but in the end I am glad that I began playing this game. I have met so many new people and learned many new things. All of this could possibly be attributed to Q, to which I was thankful to her for. A faint smile made its way onto my face as I followed my friends, awaiting our next adventure...
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A/N: Did you know... Brie/Madeline is French. She speaks and thinks in French, but it's been automatically translated for your pleasure.
So this chapter was... a bit strange for me. Namely that it was in first person. Honestly, first person is the best point of view to get someone's inner thoughts, but since this is the first time I've written in first person I wasn't sure how it went. Hopefully it was good, and allowed everyone to get a better look at Brie's character. Oh right, this was originally going to be a huge 6000+ word chapter but I decided to split it into two. It's also a side-story so maybe if I feel generous I might release the second half at some random time (maybe).
Oh yeah, I finally got around to watching Onepunch Man and it's confirmed my first thought about the anime when it was first announced: "This is going to be the next Attack on Titan". Well, minus the teenagers and angst and whatnot. There isn't that much plot, but it's not really needed. It's a super powerful dude punching incredible things. Seriously though, the animation was great. I tried incredibly hard not to blink during the last battle scene (which was hard because my retinas were being seared with awesomeness).
Hm? Did I just review an anime? Strange. Anyway, thanks for reading everyone!
Also, if you have any questions feel free to ask, and next chapter there will be a big announcement! Like, so big that I might have to use bold and full capital letters. BIG.
Fun-fact: Some octopuses may eat their arms when bored.