Mythical Artifacts

Chapter 14: The Mystery

"Honestly, it surprised me to find out that the rumor was true," said PixelPig2004, chuckling. "When Supreme_moo told me about it, I thought it was a joke. But I still spread the word like he said."

"Supreme_moo?" asked Kiqy.

"I'll explain inside," he said. "Come in, come in!"

Kiqy and I looked at each other, then slowly followed PixelPig into his home. It was awfully plain, with the default look of things: from the carpet to the tables, it was evident that he had not put in the effort to personalize his home whatsoever. Nonetheless, the house felt dull and empty, as it had seemed like nobody lived in that part of the neighborhood.

The three of us made our way to the living room and sat down, PixelPig opposite of us. "Would you like anything to drink . . . or eat?" asked PixelPig. Only then did I realize how hungry I had become, having been walking all day through housing, so I said yes; Kiqy also said yes, either to follow my lead or because she was also hungry. He then left to go get something.

I turned to Kiqy. "This is weird," I said quietly. "He says that he started it, but . . . he heard it from somebody else?"

"It sounds like he isn't the guy we're looking for," she replied.

Before we could say anything more, PixelPig returned with a few pieces of steak and some milk. "All good?" he asked.

"Um . . . yeah," I said.

"You don't sound sure," he said, frowning. "I'm going to be honest: I don't get many guests. I'm kind of a nobody and all. But everyone has some manners and all. Y'know? Right?"

I forced myself to nod, and after an awkward silence, I said, "So can you explain to us what you mean exactly? You said that you started the rumors, but you heard it from—"

"—from Supreme_moo, yes! He told me about that sword thing, and gave me orders to spread the rumor about it. I did what I was told, wanting to help a poor guy out, and to my surprise . . . well, it was all real!"

I stared at him. "W-what?!"

"Start from the beginning," said Kiqy for me.

"Sure, sure, of course," he said, smiling. "Okay, so I'm in my house, yeah? And I'm doing whatever, when somebody knocks on my door! It was surprising, you realize, because I don't get many visitors, as I told you earlier. Like, I really don't get many visitors at all, especially because I don't have many friends and I—"

"And who was at the door?" I asked.

"Well, so when I heard the knock, I went over to the door and opened it. There was this guy: Supreme_moo — the guy I mentioned earlier, y'know? The thing is, he had a VIP rank, so I could immediately tell that he wasn't any neighbor of mine.

"Anyway, it got even weirder: he motioned me to be quiet, and then handed me a book. I began reading it, and you know what it said? Well, first, it told me that he couldn't speak, and hated hearing other people's voices — which was weird, because I never knew that some people couldn't speak."

"I didn't know that either," I said. "Do you still have the book?"

"No, he took it back before he left," he said. "Sorry."

"It's fine. Just carry on with the story."

"Right, right. So I continued reading, right? Basically, Supreme_moo has this friend who had found this very powerful sword — The Sword, y'know? But here's what's crazy: this friend of his had to hide The Sword, and when he went to retrieve it . . . he couldn't find it again! Needless to say, Moo was really distraught for his friend."