The Real RPG of Life Series: Memoirs of Friendship [FIN]

Chapter 6: Challenge (Natasha)

I ran away as fast as I could. I could feel my own heart racing so fast that it felt it was about to burst. Before I knew it, I was already at our doorstep, bursting our door open.

“N-Nat?!” My mom called me as she saw me enter the house.

I kept silent and rushed towards my room, slamming it shut. I locked the door and slowly, my legs gave away, making me sit on the floor lying behind the door.

“Nat? Hey, Nat! Are you okay?” my mom was knocking at my door.

“Just leave me alone mom!”

“H-hey Nat! What happened dear?”

“Just leave me alone! I don’t want to talk to anyone!” with that I stand up and lay down my bed. It’s as if my nightmares from before emerged from the darkest parts of my mind.

“W-why? Why did you have to come back, Sara?” I sob lightly as I think back of what had happened. I’d never thought I’d meet her at the school. To be honest, I’d never thought I’d meet her again.

But why was she clinging to Chris that much? How does she know him? We’re they acquaintances or perhaps… they were going out? I felt a clutching feeling inside me; it was hard to breathe and it only made me tear up harder.

I couldn’t find a way to vent out my frustration when I thought I’d play Grandiel Online. Somehow, I can still run there to hide myself from this pain.

[Log in to Grandiel Online?]

[Yes.]

[Logging in…]

[Log in successful.]

I wake up finding myself in Crain, as always. I haven’t left this town ever since I reached my current level. I walked aimlessly the town looking at player-operated shops to browse their goods. But this wasn’t helping me get my mind out of my problems.

And as such, I decided to go Ash Forest to take my mind off things; that’s the reason I logged in Grandiel after all. Going at the western gates, I enter Ash Forest. Upon entering, there was not a single enemy in sight. It must’ve been cleared by a party passing by I thought.

I ventured in deeper inside the forest and somehow I still couldn’t find a single enemy. It didn’t take long for me to arrive at Ashgrey since there was nothing blocking my way towards there. As I enter Ashgrey, once again, it was cleared out of monsters. What was going on?

I then thought of that party that was clearing the area. Was there one that was nearby? I opened the map and saw only a small group. Were they mob leveling every creep in the area then killing them simultaneously?

I decided to find this small group just out of my curiosity. I ventured towards each part of Ashgrey and soon, I found an iron golem slowly roaming around the map. It looks like they haven’t killed the mini boss of this area. But judging by what they’re doing, they want to summon the boss of this area.

Summon an area boss is difficult and as much as possible, it should be done with a large party around 15 members or more. The area boss for Ashgrey is Greyloom, an ash dragon who can only be summoned by killing every monster in Ash Forest and here in Ashgrey. Each area has specific requirements to summon the area boss. Greyloom is one of the hardest. Each area, when cleared of its monsters, respawns its monsters around 7 minutes.

Without noticing I found the iron golem being clashed by the said small party. I immediately rushed in for a closer look.

“Lure it here!” A girl wielding a unique sledgehammer said.

“O-Okay!” another girl said. Wait, her voice sounds familiar.

“Don’t just stand there Chris! Destroy the chest core!” Chris? I look at her and it was Claudette. Looking at the other girl, Sheska and finally, him, Einsworth.

“T-take it from here, Saja!” Sheska said out loud.

“Here I go!” the girl with the sledgehammer makes a leap upwards and spins midair with her hammer first hitting the golems’ chest. The iron golem stumbles to its knees and somehow a huge crack was found there.

“Do it now Chris, Claudie!” The two rushed in and tried destroying the core for good. But it was still too think for them to crack. Looking at the NET clock, it has been 5 minutes since they cleared Ashgrey and 6 minutes on Ash Forest. Only a minute was left for them to summon Greyloom.

I opened my inventory, looking for one particular item, the Grim’s Cloak. The Grim’s Cloak can only be obtained from Greyloom, which I got for joining a previous party who attempted to do so before. I wore up the hood of the cloak and readied myself to charge in.

Running at top speed, I rushed in amidst them, drawing my blade against the golem’s chest cracking it completely.

“Saja, do it now!”

“O-Okay!” once more Saja jumps in and slams the golem’s core into pieces. The mini boss stumbles down collapsing as it fades away.

“N-Nat!” Sheska takes notice of who I am despite my hooded cloak. Wait, did she just called me Nat? How would she know who I really was?

I looked at Sara and said, “You… told them?”

“I-I thought they knew who you were, Tasha! In any case, I’ve been looking for you.”

“W-why? Stay away from me Sara.” I draw my blade at her.

“N-Nat! What’re you doing?!” Chris jumps in front of her.

“S-stay away from this Chris! I… I don’t want you to get involved…” I looked at my two friends, “Please… Penn… Eri…”

“N-Nat…” Sheska stands down, putting down her spear as well as Claudette.

“You… broke your promise, Nat. I just… wanna know why.” Sara looks at me with teary eyes, “We’re all those things you said before… did you really mean them?”

“I did! B-but… you just left me alone! Why does it matter now?!”

“It does! It pains me that I did that!”

“Then why didn’t you call me?! A call or a mail should’ve sufficed!”

“I-I was—“

“Enough! I don’t want to hear more lies! I challenge you to a duel, Sara!”

“W-whoa! A duel?!” Claudette reacted.

“Hold on Natie! That won’t solve anything!”

“Shut up! I don’t care about your opinions! This is between me and her!” I point my sword towards them, “Stay out of it!”

“N-Nat…” Claudette looks shocked. I didn’t mean to point my blade at my friends. This is all because of her; she made me turn against my own friends.

“A week from now… I’ll be waiting.”

“Y-you can’t be serious Natie—“ I point my blade at Chris’ chin, “Just don’t Chris… not this time.” I glared at him and at the person behind him.

“Fine… I was thinking the same way, Tasha.”

“W-why are you agreeing with her, Sara?!” Chris growled, “Sorry Chris, but she’s right about one thing: it is between us.”

“Good.” I sheathed my blade away and pulled my hood back up, “You should get ready. The boss will be summoned soon.”

I walked away afterwards, leaving them to fend for themselves against Greyloom. It wasn’t that tough of a boss, with Saja joining them. If she’s still that skilled weapon smith I used to know, they’ll do fine. After one week, I’ll settle this with her.

I’ll break the bonds I have with her. I won’t be tied to you anymore Sara.