Is what happened a while ago just his hallucination? Erl thought.
Aside from her appearance, the whole dark place was now surrounded by white, stretching as far as his eyes could see.
"Uhm, spirit realm?" He repeated her words. He didn't hear it when he was playing the game even though his level in the game was high.
"It's a special space for a spirit like me to reside. It is a place where I can stay and exist."
"So this is the spirit realm… Wait. Does that mean I am a spirit as well?" He asked with wide eyes.
Did he die against the demonic bull? He had no recollection of dying against it. He was sure the battle between him and the demonic bull ended in his victory.
"You're alive and safe. Your real body is sleeping right now," the ghost girl said in an annoyed tone. She held a grudge against him for killing her. However, at this point, she needed to put aside her anger first.
"Really?"
"Yes."
Erl was relieved. Although there was no proof that she was telling the truth, he could not feel any lies in her words.
She walked, then, *Click!* With another flick of her fingers, a silver chair appeared and she sat there while crossing her beautiful legs. Looking at his surprised face, "I can do everything in this place," she voluntarily said.
"That's awesome."
Something caught his eye. He noticed she was wearing a familiar school uniform. The female school uniform in his school was also the same. Looking at her right now, surprisingly, this girl, for some reason, also looked familiar to him.
'Isn't she someone from our school?' While he was thinking that, he heard her say, "You can sit there. It's hard to talk when you're standing there while I am sitting," she pointed to the ground.
"Uhm, can't you make another chair for me?" He pointed to himself.
"I don't want to waste my energy. I need to use my spirit energy to create stuff here, you know? Don't worry, the ground isn't dirty."
How heartless, he complained inwardly. He followed her and sat on his legs. He wanted to end this conversation as soon as possible and get out of this space.
"Uhm, you said my real body was sleeping right now, so if I am not a ghost as well, how come I am here?" Erl asked curiously.
"Only your consciousness that is here right now. I forcibly dragged your consciousness into this place while you were dreaming because I have important matters I want to talk about with you."
"I see, so that's what happened. Wait. I am sleeping right now?" He looked surprised when the meaning of her words sunk in.
"That's right," she nodded. "But isn't that a late reaction?!" She shouted.
"Ehh!" Erl exclaimed.
She said she dragged his consciousness here while he was sleeping, isn't that a scary ability? If he had no resistance against that then that would be a very bothersome trump card she has against him. The best he could do in this situation was to hear what she would say regarding the important matters she mentioned.
"So about the deal, what do you mean by it?" He tried to sound calm.
"Yeah," she closed her eyes and sighed before she opened them again. Once she opened her eyes again, she said with a serious expression on her face, "I want you to help me investigate the unusual phenomena of this world," she said in a serious tone.
Erl gawked. He was about to think that she went crazy but then he realized they were inside a game.
'Is this the continuation of her quest as a player? So even as a ghost, her quest continued? Awesome.'
He raised his hand slightly. "Uhm, why would you need my help about that?"
Moreover, what kind of quest is that? Unusual phenomena she said? He never heard of that kind of quest when he was playing the game.
The girl's eyebrows were twitching when she heard his reply.
"I mean I am just an ordinary person," Erl quickly added to not aggravate her.
A mindless person who followed his script, that was his role as an NPC, so it was unthinkable for a player to ask for help with an NPC after what he did.
To his surprise, she looked calm. He noticed her staring at him, then brought a cup of what seemed like a hot drink toward her mouth.
Wait. When did she produce it?!
After sipping a bit of the tea, she gently placed the cup back on the flatboard of her armchair. Then she explained calmly, "The people in this world had their guidance bestowed on them at birth. It was like their divine instruction or script, they needed to follow. Based on my knowledge about this world, any human inhabitant in this world had no resistance against that guidance. If the guidance states you have to die on that day, then you will die on that day. It's absolute…"
He agreed with her, but why did she sound it as though it was the rule of the world? Isn't it just because we are mindless NPCs?
She continued saying, "…if you go against your script, you will suffer a punishment. I don't know what kind of punishment it was, either severe pain or much worse than that…" She paused and looked at him with her eyes suddenly turning sharp. "So, why did someone like you who is fated to die in that place on that time survive?"
He could feel his back sweating when he heard it. She knew that he was the NPC whose fate was to die in that place!
"You went against your guidance, didn't you?" She pointed at him.
He could tell that lying in this situation was useless.
"O-of course not," he said stutteringly. He lied anyway.
She glared at him for a couple of seconds. There was no ounce of expression on her face that stated she believed what he said. He was busted. Of course, she would know because she's a player.
She suddenly stood up and flipped her hair to the back. "You're an anomaly. I see. You don't even have a choice. Sooner or later, the Sky Council Association will come to arrest you."
"Sky Council Association?"
He heard about it when he was playing the game. According to his knowledge of the game, it was a group of high-level mages. Although he heard about them, he had never once met even one member of them.
Meanwhile, Gwenner and the others arrived in the Erste Village.
They were in the village square, questioning the village chief and the villagers.
"Do you recognize this basket?" Gwenner showed the basket with a few herbs inside.