The group led by RedBand arrived at the loud inn. A scent of alcohol and freshly prepared food wafted across the room.
The villagers and adventurers that were passing by were talking loudly and laughing. Their conversation was mostly about women, about their next hunting trip, and about the latest gossip.
“I thought Amaterasu would lose their honorable status as one of the Three Main Cities after the crows attacked, but they somehow survived!” A drunken adventurer drank a mouthful of ale and slammed the cup down on the table.
“Meh, they were lucky!” Another drunken adventurer shouted. His face was beef-red, and he stammered over his words.
RedBand looked at the table of adventurers and then walked to the bar to rent a room. They only needed one room to use as a temporary spawn since they would log out for the night.
“Let’s try to find the location of the lair.” PamPam said.
Felixar, Andyy and Roza nodded in agreement. They went to different parts of the inn to ask about the Steel-Armed Gorilla.
Ambrose walked towards the adventurers table and said. “Excuse me.”
“Huh?” A drunken adventurer looked away from his pint of ale and looked at the youth. “What’cha want, kid!”
“Have you heard about the Steel-Armed Gorilla and about its whereabouts?” Ambrose asked.
The adventurers shared looks and then erupted in laughter.
“Haha, kid, you shouldn’t look for it! Steel-Armed Gorilla has steel arms, as the name suggests. It is not an easy creature to beat! It would crush you and eat you afterwards!”
“I just need to know if you know anything where it might be.” Ambrose said while trying to act patiently.
“No, if we knew, we would hunt it ourselves!” Another drunken adventurer shouted. “Now, piss off, your bedtime is nearing!”
The rest of the adventurers laughed and continued filling their stomachs with alcohol.
‘Useless drunkards.’ Ambrose walked away from them and decided to ask the drunken villagers instead. He soon found another table with two villagers, who looked like they had just returned from the fields.
“Excuse me.”
“Hmm?” A villager in a white shirt and brown pants was about to take a taste of his first drink for tonight but was interrupted by the black-haired young man. He frowned and asked. “What do you want?”
“I wondered if you gentlemen know where Steel-Armed Gorilla often hunts its prey.” Ambrose asked with a smile.
“Huh, why the hell do you want to know that?” The village asked.
Then, another villager dressed in brown overalls looked surprised. “Did Marcus perhaps hire you and a few others to exterminate the gorilla?”
“Yes, he did.” Ambrose nodded in affirmation.
“Huh, that kid?” The villager in a white shirt facepalmed. “Marcus, what the hell. You hired some kids; I knew we shouldn’t have trusted in him!”
“I-I am sorry about him.” The villager in brown overalls let out a strained chuckle. “This whole thing about Steel-Armed Gorilla has kept everyone on edge. We just want to get rid of it.”
“I understand.” Ambrose pulled a chair from underneath the table and sat down. “So, do you know where its Lair is?”
“Yes.” The villager said and sipped on the ale. “It has built its own community in the Northern Hills. Hah, the Steel-Armed Monkeys under its leadership have become its loyal army.
“I thought they were just mindless bloodthirsty creatures, but they are organized. They will be difficult to exterminate. I hope you brought enough help.”
“Thanks for the information.” Ambrose thanked him and bade farewell. He then found Roza and the rest, still asking for information.
“I know where it is.” He said to them, and they looked at him briefly before nodding. They joined RedBand and went straight to their rented inn room.
After closing the door, RedBand took a seat on the only bed in the room and asked. “Well, where is it?”
“Northern Hills. Steel-Armed Gorilla has built its own community there, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to find.” Ambrose said. “We need to be careful. Apparently they are very organized.”
“They are animals; how organized can they possibly be?” Andyy said with a chuckle.
“We shouldn’t underestimate them.” RedBand said and then checked the clock. “Alright. Remember to make this room the temporary spawn spot. I will be logging out. Everyone, come online at 8 a.m. sharp. If you aren’t here in time, we will leave without you, and you won’t receive any rewards.”
“Yes, boss.” Felixar, PamPam, Andyy, and Roze echoed. They made the room their temporary spawn spot, bade farewell to everyone, and then logged out.
[Your temporary spawn spot has been added!]
Ambrose looked at the message and then opened his interface to log out.
“See you tomorrow.” RedBand said and logged out.
Ambrose nodded and also logged out.
…
Jesse opened his eyes and removed the VR headset before placing it gently on the bedside table.
He sat up and rubbed his eyes.
‘8:00 a.m. I need to skip the walk with Alice. I need to send a message to her.’ Jesse took out his phone and went to the messaging app. His chat history was very minimal, and he had only shared a few messages with his parents.
Jesse pulled out the chat with Alice and started writing a message. He kept it short and then pressed send.
He then dropped the phone on the bed, rolled the wheelchair closer, and hopped on it. He then visited the bathroom, then the kitchen for a quick snack, and then returned to his room.
After returning to his dark room, he noticed that his phone’s screen was lit up, signaling that he had received a message. He left the wheelchair and sat back on the bed, then checked the message.
[Alice: Why?]
Jesse then replied that he was busy from 8 a.m. onward. He then put the phone to the side, expecting that to be the end of the conversation. However, the phone vibrated again almost instantly.
He grabbed the phone and checked the message.
[Alice: Let’s do it earlier, then. I will be there at 7 a.m. See you then!]
Jesse was surprised and replied with a simple “ok” and then closed his phone.
“She is indeed kind…” He sighed and laid back down on the bed. “Way out of my league, just like Holly said.
“In my current condition, I doubt I will ever even get girlfriend. After all, my life could end very shortly, at any day. I might die even tomorrow by accidentally falling down the stairs. 𝓋xt.𝐂𝑚
“Anything can happen…”
Jesse held his head and wanted to curse aloud. He gritted his teeth, grabbed his phone from the side, and rummaged through his cabinet. He soon found old white headphones, which he hadn’t used since middle school.
He put it on, connected the headphones to the phone, and then downloaded a music app.
After it had finished downloading, Jesse put on pirate metal and raised the volume to maximum. Music blasted into his ears.
Jesse then put the phone to the side and put his arms under his head. He closed his eyes and only listened to the powerful music of pirate metal.
All negative thoughts dispersed from his mind as he also started slowly singing the lyrics out loud.
“Yo ho ho…”