The moment Yuuta entered the game, a prompt suddenly appeared in front of him. Once again, although they were just plain text, Yuuta couldn't suppress his emotions since he could see again. He was aware that the time spent in the game was limited but that alone gave him the motivation to do the best he could in the game and make a full experience of it.
"Hold on," Yuuta said. He didn't want to move on to the next test yet.
The horizon parted once again as Yuuta's eyes were filled with colors to varying degrees. It had already been a few days since he started playing Lucid Dream Server but he still couldn't get used to the scene in front of him. "Yeah, I'm back."
"Sweet master~! " Kravia-san greeted him with great vigor as she excitedly waved her hand.
However, she didn't squeal in a loud voice compared to before. After listening for a few seconds, Yuuta realized that her heart was pounding a bit heavily as if she was saddened or grieved. That's when Yuuta also heard the 'heavy' hearts of the people around him.
"Is there something wro— "
"It's the young hero!"
"The young hero!"
Yuuta slowly walked towards the village as he saw that they were gathered in one of the plain fields. There was a tombstone in the middle of it and they were all bowing towards it. Everyone was wearing black and they were all holding some piece of black clothing with them, akin to a scarf. What they were doing was obvious, and so, Yuuta turned around and prepared himself.
"Inventory," Yuuta mumbled after hearing the notification and seeing the panel in front of him pop up.
"Am I in creative mode right now?" Yuuta asked.
"Then, I would like to change into a black attire," Yuuta said. Since he was driven by emotions when he made the decision, he forgot to specify what type of clothing to wear.
The moment Yuuta opened his eyes, his eyes widened in shock and disbelief as he saw that he wasn't wearing anything...
... except for the male thong in between his legs.
"No no, not this one! Change me into a black pair of suits!" Yuuta called out once more. Because of the incident, he did a mental note that he should always be specific in his requests when it comes to the creative mode of the game. "Also, I would also like to obtain that type of scarf as well, it looks like I need it for the ceremony."
[Item: Black Grsrzy Scarf
Description: It wards off evil spirits and is normally used in a funeral. Having this in your pockets makes you immune to evil spirits in Lucid]
'Oh, I didn't know it was that useful'
"Hero-san!"
"Hero!"
"Hero!"
Before Yuuta could turn around, three small figures hugged him from the back. He looked around and he realized that everyone was looking at him. Even Kravia-san, who was almost always so bashful when she stares at him, was continuously focusing her eyes on him with a bashful expression on her face.
"Thank you so much for finding peace for our grandpa."
"We're so sorry we doubted you, thank you so much for avenging our grandpa's death."
"Thank you, big brother."
Hearing their voices, Yuuta instantly knew that they were Mei, Fei, and Luxembourg, the three grandchildren who joined them for dinner yesterday.
Unbeknownst to Yuuta, Kravia-san explained everything to the children while he was out fighting with the Demon Lord. The children couldn't believe that they were living with an impostor of a grandfather all this time and furthermore... it was hard for them to take in that the Village Elder they knew too well and loved had been dead for an indeterminate amount of time.
"Come on, I have to pay respect for your grandfather," Yuuta said. "Even though I met a traitor, I know that your grandfather was a good Village Elder. Everyone wouldn't have come to his funeral if he wasn't." Yuuta continued.
Yuuta didn't waste any time joining everyone in line as he bowed down and held the Black Grsrzy Scarf in his hand. It was just a virtual funeral and it was just a virtual world in his lucid dreams, but the emotions he felt welling up from everyone was so real that Yuuta wondered if the Lucid world is real. A split second later, however, he shook his head and reminded himself that he was just in the game so well-crafted and intricately designed that the NPC's felt like living people.
After a few minutes of a very detailed procession in regards to the Village Elder, Yuuta finally got the chance to excuse himself as he returned to the tree where he first had his strategy meeting with Lav Kravia. The tree was far from the outskirts of the village and since Yuuta knew that the villagers don't actually venture too far from the village, he concluded that it was the best spot to do some thinking without any villagers disturbing him.
He can still play the game while strategizing, and to top it all off, he wouldn't be disturbed. It was a win-win situation.
"Hey, La— er I mean, Kravia-san." Yuuta stuttered, leaning his head on one of the huge chunks of roots that 'branched' off from the trunk of the tree.
"Yes, sweet master?" Kravia-san called out with a worried tone in her voice. She nervously sat down beside Yuuta. And although she was trying diligently not to lose her composure, she couldn't stop her hands from shaking from panic.
"Is this real?" Yuuta asked. He knew there was no definite answer to his question. In fact, he was already expecting an answer from Kravia-san— an automatically generated response from an NPC when a player asks a question that's not in their capabilities of answering.
"Well, master. You came from another world whereas we stayed here ever since we were created." Kravia-san started.
Yuuta wasn't expecting Kravia-san to start her answer with that statement. Instead of stopping her, he decided to listen more since he got a lot more curious about Kravia-san's opinion of Lucid.
"This world is something that we've had ever since we were created. That's why for us, it's real. However, since you have a real-world in another dimension, your world is the real one and this one is just another reality that has all the possibilities of not being real. Being real or not is just a matter of perspective, master." Kravia-san said as she lowered her head and touched Yuuta's hand with hers.
Yuuta flinched, his face reddening. He wondered why his heart skipped a beat when an NPC touched him and concluded that he was the one being weird here.
"See? You felt that, right? That means as long as you're here, everything else here is real, sweet master." Kravia-san continued.
"I g-guess if you put it that way." Yuuta continued. "Hey, I'm going to my second test soon. That means I might not see you in a few days."
Kravia-san stopped short before she darted her eyes around in confusion. It was obvious she didn't know how to react to the statement Yuuta just told her. Deep inside, she doesn't want him to go, but some sort of program didn't allow her to say that to Yuuta's face. It's as if the System was stopping her from saying something she so badly wanted and it made her feel a bit perplexed.
"Kravia-san, is something wrong?" Yuuta worriedly asked. "I've been with you long enough to know that you're getting a bit pale. Is something wrong?"
"No, it's just that... I can't say something that would disagree with your decisions, master." Kravia-san explained. "I mean, how do I explain it— Deciding to be your master, deciding to go with you in your missions, and deciding to form the Lavian Blood Pact with you were all my decisions. And I guess it didn't stop me from doing that because you won't disagree to it. However, when I tried to say something selfishly just now... I couldn't say it. Something in my mind is blocking it? Was it our creators? Probably."
"So, you don't want me to go to the second test? You want me to stay here and be with you until I get tired of the game?" Yuuta asked. However, before Kravia-san could answer, Yuuta reached out his hand towards her head and patted it, just like he usually does after teasing his younger sister. "Don't worry about it. I'll be back as soon as I can. Also, I'll try to find a way to summon you. Your fate is tied with me when you underwent the Blood Pact, right? I'll figure out a way to bring you with me in my adventures."
"But for now, you have to wait until I finish my other tests. It will only take a week at most." Yuuta reassured her. There was something in him that made him default to treating Kravia-san as his younger sister. Perhaps it was because of the blood pact, or perhaps it was his familial bond with his younger sister. Whichever the case it may be, it left Yuuta confused.
The prompt appeared in front of Yuuta once again.
But this time, Yuuta clicked yes without hesitation.