The small group of present and future companions sat in front of the arena, talking for several more minutes. They chatted about the different experiences in the coliseum, the enormous sums of gold sunk into the adventure, and their hopes for the island adventure.
Everyone hoped they would leave the island with an edge, especially after a few days of taking it easy to prepare for Turmoil Arena and Mercura Island. Finally, Sarah excused herself and Jay so they could have a conversation alone. Once they were away from the others, Sarah spoke up passionately.
“So what’s the deal with the guild leader? He was looking at you super weird. I wasn’t sure if I should slap him or what.”
It was a very Sarah thing to say.
Jay noticed that her character information now sported text listing her as a Red Player’s Society member.
“When did you join the guild?” he asked quizzically. It made perfect sense if Sarah was on the island expedition, but he was still a little apprehensive about that fact. After all, even though Sarah could take care of herself, neither of them really knew most of the guild members. The danger was minimal inside a video game. Still, lingering doubts about what would happen in the event of her permanent character death whispered in his ears.
“That Lurian guy invited me before the arena,” Sarah replied, frowning. “Why are you dodging my question? What’s up with that guy?”
Jay considered addressing the question in a way that wouldn’t set off alarm bells with Sarah. He also needed to balance not saying too much while Tumult Corp. was watching. There was something off about the company and its purported technology issues. That strangeness was clearly related to the pending lawsuit over the game’s quest engine. He couldn’t strictly come right out and say that.
“It’s complicated. There’s obviously a lot of weird stuff going on with my Monster Hunter class. People are starting to figure out that I’m the only one in the game. It seems pretty powerful so far, so he’s definitely motivated to keep me on his side. But there also seems to be some unique elements that specifically stem from the class. It’s changing the game in ways big and small.”
“Like the strange quests and unique dungeon runs?” Sarah asked.
Jay raised his eyebrows slightly. “Yes, actually. I assumed Casey would tell you about the quest. There’s no way she didn’t immediately start gushing the whole story of finding Zenya. How’d you find out about the unique dungeon?”
“Taylor Lynn and I talk,” Sarah said. When Jay met her with a suspicious glance, she added, “It’s very natural; I’ve known her since high school. I used to get advice from her about boys. Then I realized she kinda sucks at it. Just like you.”
“I super don’t want to talk about this,” Jay said, physically swatting the topic away with a hand swiping through the air. “Anyway, the looks were because of the difference between our third rounds. He figured out, or assumed, that the disparity was because of my class. It definitely was; I recognize the skeleton soldiers from lore Taylor Lynn told me about.”
“That does make sense,” Sarah agreed. “They are paying you a lot of money to figure out what’s going on. I’m pretty sure that Bestiary thing is just an excuse to keep you on the payroll and working for them. Really, they just want you bankrolled to hit level one hundred. I just don’t know why.”
She was always very perceptive. More perceptive than Jay was himself, so it wasn’t a complete shock to him that she could surmise many pieces of the agreement. He sighed, wishing he could say more.
“You know I can’t talk about it directly.”
“Yeah, I know,” Sarah said slyly. “So what happened with that Claire girl? You had a date, right?”
Jay stopped in his tracks, and Sarah paused beside him. She turned her head at him in silent question. “How would you know about that? Did I tell you we were going on a date?”
“You know, I hear things here or there.”
“No, seriously.”
“Well, basically, I mirrored your phone’s sim card one night after you forgot it at the hospital. So all of your texts come to my computer. It’s how I remember when to remind you to check on mom. And it’s really juicy for all the Taylor Lynn drama. It’s like watching a soap opera.”
Jay shot Sarah a dour look, but she completely blew it off.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Of course not,” she said, looking appalled at his lack of trust. “That would be a serious invasion of privacy. One of the Tumult employees messaged me. You know, asking someone out at work is really unprofessional.”
“That’s not exactly how it happened,” Jay said defensively. He decided to swerve the topic. “What happened in your version of the Turmoil Arena?”
Sarah launched into her story about the coliseum as they restarted their walk through Ilra. Their first round wasn’t composed of the weird volcano elementals. Instead, they ended up with plain wind elementals. Unfortunately, Lurian and Ken didn’t have any abilities or weapons to hurt them. Casey’s magic would work, but Zenya couldn’t attack them, either. The fight turned into a drawn-out battle.
In the second match, they fought the same beetlers Jay’s team had. The beetle swarms had caused them problems, too. It took them a while to figure out that there were key beetles in each swarm needed to be destroyed. Killing the special beetles dispersed the whole storm. Jay’s party had sidestepped the whole issue using game mechanics. At least, Monster Hunter mechanics.
Finally, she repeated the details of their third match against the anthropomorphic seal fighters in more detail. The fight had been a struggle.
“The most disappointing thing of all,” she said dramatically at the end of her story, “is that I didn’t beat you. We both lost to the third boss, and I really wanted to rub it in your face that we made it further. But then we didn’t.”
“There are truly no other sisters like you,” Jay said, dripping with sarcasm and playfully rolling his eyes.
Sarah decided she wouldn’t let a little thing like that bother her. “Thanks. I know I’m a highly actualized and unique individual. I’m also brilliant, and I have a good memory. So what happened with that Claire girl?”
Initially, Jay had been willing to ask her advice about it. She wasn’t making it easy on him. She was acting like a total little sister about it. But that didn’t have to stop him. The scales weighed within him between possible usefulness of her advice and the risks of suffering colossal grief over it. Ultimtaely, he jumped in the deep end.
“Well, the truth is, I don’t know what’s happening. I haven’t texted Claire in the past couple days. We left things a little up in the air.”
Sarah muttered something that he swore sounded like, “I should have known better than to take Jenny’s advice to give you a few days.”
Returning to a normal volume, she added, “Okay, that’s not great. But don’t worry. It’s totally something we can manage and salvage. Just tell me what happened.”
Jay steppec out of the way of a particularly broad Elf that sidled past him. The other elf nearly checked his shoulder. He was glad to know Tumultua Online had bullies.
He cleared his throat to explain.
“Well, Claire let me pick her up, and we really bonded in the car. I took her on a nice date to an Italian restaurant, which we both really enjoyed. The waiters were staring at us because we couldn’t stop laughing. Everything was fun. It was easy, and she didn’t talk to me about work.”
Jay couldn’t explain that he was relieved Claire hadn’t tried to mine him on behalf of Tumult. Talking to his sister with so many barriers was annoying, but he was careful now that he knew how closely Tumult Corp. was watching. It was creepy; he couldn’t imagine what they might try to use against him.
“I’m sensing a really big but,” Sarah said.
“But at the end of the night, when we hugged goodbye, she tried to kiss me. I froze in place and didn’t reciprocate. So she probably thinks I’m either not interested or not capable.”
“And there it is,” Sarah said. Her face softened when she saw Jay’s reaction. His face tightened up, and he rubbed his temples, trying to massage away a building headache. Her voice was gentler when she spoke again.
“Sorry. It’s just—this is why you and Taylor Lynn would never work. Neither one of you knows how to communicate worth your salt. It’s just so weird since you’re supposed to be a bartender, and she’s supposed to work in hospitality.”
She shook her head, pushing away her building annoyance. Trying to remain helpful, she added, “Listen, you need to call this girl. Just say it like it is. If she doesn’t hear you, move on. But if she cares enough to listen, she’ll hear. You just have to—you know—say words.”
Jay swallowed hard, dreading the corner he was sure Sarah was about to back him into. “I have to go shopping to restock for the expedition. I don’t have time.”
“Don’t worry about that!” Sarah said excitedly. “Jenny, Ken, and I will totally handle that boring stuff—man, it’s going to be so fun. What do you need other than bolts and potions? Give me all your money. I spend all day in this stupid game, anyway.”
“Mostly just those things,” Jay said, begrudgingly handing over his money. It was easier this way and would save him twenty minutes of arguing. Also, having Sarah deal with all of his shopping sounded nice. He just absolutely had to text Claire. If he didn’t, he’d never hear the end of it.
She took the money. “You better call this girl, or so help me, Jay, I will end you.”
***
Sarah’s threat was empty, but ultimately, Jay knew she was right.
After their conversation, Jay logged out of the game. Picking up his cell phone led to staring daggers at it. On the screen was a contact card for Claire. The small call button was judging him—at least, it felt like that.
His apartment, by this time, was clean. He couldn’t find an excuse to clean unless it involved pushing more stuff around without rhyme or reason. Now that he had money, he needed to go grocery shopping at some point, but he was too excited about the island. The apprehension about the call to Claire wouldn’t let him focus on much else.
Besides, grocery shopping absolutely sucked.
Taking a deep breath, Jay closed his eyes. Without looking at his phone, he clicked the call button. The line started to ring; it only rang twice.
The phone connected.