As they entered, a small group of adventurers began to gather around a round table by the corner on the tavern side of the guild hall. Shin approached the counter while Nightingale and Fuyumi stood by the central stone support pillar near the crowd.
Nightingale traded looks of curiosity with Fuyumi before nodding in agreement to move closer to the crowd.
"I'm telling you that shit isn't real man!"
"Seriously, you really think something as ridiculous as that would actually happen from something that simple?"
"I've been trying to tell people this since the day after the update happened but nobody listens!"
As arguments within the crowd began to heat up, adventurers began to split into two groups. They grouped behind what seemed to be the leaders of each side of the disagreement. On the right side was a strong warrior character with an enormous broadsword strapped to his waistband. To the left was a ranger adventurer with a shortbow carried across the back of his tunic.
"I'll even do it now just to prove to you that it's a bunch of bullshit." Said the warrior who pointed to the back of his head.
"Can't you just trust what I have to say?"
The ranger threw his hands out in a plea.
"If it's so simple, why not put it to the test?!"
The warrior slammed his chest with pride as he spoke. The archer sighed, his shoulders slumped down in the process. He pinched his nose in frustration.
Nightingale stuck his arm out to make space, weaving his way through to get to the front of the crowd. Fuyum's smaller frame followed shortly behind him like a jet ski riding behind in the wake of a boat.
"Look, if it's so simple and unimportant, don't you think I would have just let you take it off by now?! Just trust me, why are you so morbidly curious about something you don't need to find out for yourself?!"
"Blah blah blah, you're always the one to blabber on and on about the safety of our party, Aureo. I'm sick of it! We've been doing just fine without all your nagging!"
"I do it because I care about us! The nine of us wouldn't have made it out of the tenth floor without my guidance!"
"I'll make this quick."
The warrior began pointing a short distance away from him, navigating to the messaging window of Mythos Online.
"And… it's done."
He put both of his arms on his waist with utmost conviction.
"This will prove it to you."
"Wait, what did you do?!"
Aureo ran up to him and shook his shoulders. However, he stood still, unmoving. The warrior let out a prideful laugh. The group behind him began pointing and laughing at Aureo's panic. Meanwhile, the group behind Aureo held their hands over their mouths and gossiped amongst themselves.
Suddenly, the warrior's eyes closed and he collapsed as though all of the muscles in his body gave away. He was slowly lowered to the ground by Aureo and the crowd behind him.
"Jinra?"
They began to crowd around his body as if it was a museum exhibit.
Nightingale looked at Fuyumi who had one eyebrow raised.
"What do you think?"
"I'm not sure. Seems like he just got his Zero VR device taken off or he just logged off suddenly."
Shin made occasional looks back to the rowdy group behind him but continued talking to the NPC behind the counter who seemed unbothered by the crowd.
"Yes, I'll be selling all of it."
Shin placed a small pouch on the counter. The NPC grabbed it with both hands and dragged it to her side before placing the pouch inside of a basket underneath the counter.
"Thank you for your generous donation."
The two horned oni-like NPC bowed in gratitude. Shin exchanged a bow of his own instinctually.
"According to our market prices, the total price that the guild is willing to buy back these monster materials for is… 200 gold."
Shin scratched the back of head, scrruffing up his hair.
"Stingy huh… these rates are far lower than Freila's."
"Would you like to cancel the transaction?"
"No, it's fine. I'll sell it all."
She removed the pouch from under the counter and placed the empty sack on the table.
"Here you are sir, is there anything else I can help you with?"
"No."
"Thank you for using the service desk at the Dragonfall guild hall."
She bowed once more.
"Alright let's see what this is about…"
Shin put one hand on the hilt of his sword as he made his way toward the crowd of adventures which began to grow even larger in size.
In the midst of it all were Fuyumi and Nightingale who were lightly shoved around as people got closer to get a better look at Jinra, who was still unconscious on the floor.
Between the gaps in the crowd, Nightingale spotted Shin and waved for him to come closer. However, Shin declined and stayed near the outskirts of the crowd.
"Come on Fuyumi, let's go!"
Nightingale had to yell over the crowd of rowdy adventurers.
They broke through the crowd and met up with Shin who was now sitting at the bar counter.
"What was that all about?" Shin asked first.
"Some kind of argument that ended in that guy logging off or taking off his VR device or something like that." Nightingale replied, pointing at the man on the ground.
"I guess let's see what comes from this. We're still waiting on Diane anyway, right?"
+++++++++++++++++++
[12:02 | May 12, 2035]
They sat on the counter, drinking glasses of water. The bartender gave them weird looks, wondering why they asked for water when people usually only order ale and beers.
The crowd around the collapsed Jinra slowly thinned out as people lost interest and left. About twenty minutes had passed since Jinra collapsed.
Heads jerked and people gasped as a voice groaned loudly. Shin, Fuyumi, and Nightingale turned towards the source of the voice. Jinra grabbed the back of his head as he got up from the ground. The party of three got up from the barstools and walked over to them.
Aureo put his hand on Jinras shoulder.
"Are you alright? I told you not to try that…"
"I'm doing great. What's going on guys?!"
Aureo furrowed his brows, puzzled.
"How… what? Are you sure you're doing fine?! What's my name, what's my relation to you?!"
Aureo shook Jinra.
"You're Aureo, you're my…"
He paused, looking around before continuing.
"You're my party leader and friend."
"Huh?"
Nightingale knelt down beside them.
"What were you warning him against?"
Aureo grabbed his left shoulder.
"I… I've been trying to tell him and some of the other people in our party to make sure nobody takes off their Zero VR device while they're still logged in."
"They didn't trust you?" Shin asked as he knelt down beside Nightingale.
"There's been a rift in our party for the past couple days now…" Aureo looked to the small group of concerned adventurers to his side who nodded in agreement.
"Some of them want to split the party up and have Jinra as their leader."
"No, you're the leader."
Jinra's response made everyone turn their heads toward him. One of the adventures behind Jinra spoke up.
"This isn't like him… not at all…"
"Excuse us for a moment."
Shin gestured for Fuyumi and Nightingale to follow him back to the barstools.
"This has to be the same thing as what happened to Scottie right?"
"Hmm I wouldn't doubt it." Nightingale said, scratching his chin.
Fuyumi remained silent.
"How about you Fuyumi? Have any ideas?"
"Hold me for a second."
"Whoah!"
Fuyumi's eyes closed and she collapsed. Shin and Nightingale grabbed her and slowly lowered her into a chair.
"Fuyumi?!"