The familiar scene filled my eyes as I logged back in. This time, I beat the pink-haired thing. I sat at the spot we logged out at for a few minutes before she finally logged in. “Sorry, my father called and asked me about you.”

“Oh? I bet you told him I am some weirdo who can’t speak all that well.” I mean, I was. So she wouldn’t be lying.

“Nope! I told him you are the cutest girl to ever exist, and I am very glad to be friends with you. He told me to tell you thanks for being my friend.” The pink-haired thing’s proud expression said it all. Her father really did say such a thing. Well, a weird daughter comes from a weird father. He probably has pink hair, too.

“Well, let’s forget about that and talk about our next destination. Rain Stone Village is where we will be heading next in order to get you some unique quests. If we are lucky, it will also allow you to catch up to me in level,” I explained.

“How far from here is it?” 

“Mmm…  I say a few hours journey. There are a few guard posts along the way, but they are not all that important to us. They do not give much of anything. It might be good for other players but not us.” These posts were nothing more than some random NPCs just standing there talking. You can engage in a conversation with them to get a quest if you are lucky. By lucky, I mean it would need to be your turn to take the quest. Multiple people could not take the quest at the same time. 

While Mortal Online was indeed a grindy type game it was due to this fact that allowed people to hone their skills for the real world. It was also how I learned to use a sword in my dreams. 

“Wait a few hours in game or real world time?” Hearing the pink-haired thing’s question made me realize I was not being very clear. 

“Real world time. It will take a bit of time, but it will be well worth it. We can kill anything that attacks us on the way, but they won’t be worth much experience. The path we need to take will be through the forest. The outposts are also on the way. But if you wish to continue through the night, we can do that as well. Or we can stop to rest. I will let you decide.” I did not think I should be the one making all the decisions here. The pink-haired thing was my partner in crime, so I wanted her to feel like her thoughts mattered since they did.

“Let’s push forward for two days and a night, then rest the next night?” 

“Sounds good.” I nodded in agreement. This would knock off a lot of our time. We might even arrive at the village at night. “Since we got our plans set, let’s get moving. I won’t want to sit around and waste time.”

“Then let’s go!” The pink-haired thing grabbed my hand and pulled me along. She sure is clingy.

“Before we leave, I want to say goodbye to someone.” I did promise to see her again. NPC or not, I would still feel bad since Mary was just a young girl.

The pink-haired thing did not mind as we walked down the street to a familiar house. When we arrived, Mary was actually out in her front yard. “Mary!”

“You came back!” The young girl came running over to me, jumped up, and hugged me. She seemed to ignore the pink-haired thing, which I found amusing. 

“I am leaving town, so I probably won’t see you for a long while.” I began to explain. “So you need to make sure you do not go into the back alleys anymore, okay?”

“You really leaving?” Mary’s expression turned sad, but there was nothing I could do. 

    “Yes. But I promise to come back when I can and say high, okay?” I would come back to this town, so it was not a lie. After all, I would need to speak with Cliene again once I make some progress in my mirage sword skill. At that time, I could come by and see her again.

“Then I will see you then!”

I sent off Mary with a smile and walked down the street, heading towards the entrance of town while the pink-haired thing was looking at me with a strange smile on her face. “What?”

“Nothing! I just felt you were very cute back there.” Seeing her strange smile made me want to kick her, but I decided against it since I knew I would never hear the end of it. So, I put her on my ignore list in my brain.

We walked for almost half a day before we reached the first outpost. It was a small camp where three men were sitting around a campfire that they had going with meat roasting over it. There were a few players running about, which made me nervous since we needed them not to make it to the next town just yet. I did not want the pink-haired thing to miss out on these three unique quests.

“If we meet anyone in the next town and can not get one of the quests, I will keep killing that person until they fail the quest and you pick it up.” I typed out in my message. This I knew I could do. I just needed them to fail it!

“Hehe, someone is worried about me! Ouch! Why did you pinch me!?” 

“You are over thinking things….”