"Yahoo~ How are you, Hunter?"
Schnee appeared from behind the tree, head first, and waved her hand excitedly as Hunter just finished tying the unconscious Mage.
Upon seeing Scarlet, Schnee approached and looked at her while leaning forward.
"You didn't kill her?" She turned to Hunter, "Why?"
"She said something interesting about business, so I let her live." Hunter answered honestly and heaved a sigh. "If what she said was true, then we are probably dealing with a group of people who are willing to get dirty just to gather money in this new world."
"Business, huh?" Schnee peered at the Mage again and shrugged, standing straight. "Well, let's just let her wake up later and interrogate her. I'm sure she can't stay quiet when the big guilds put pressure on her. We will use her as a scapegoat if needed."
"Sounds good."
They waited until the low-level Mages Schnee saved to arrive with reinforcement. It was only 30 minutes later that a group of 10 players from Silver Wolf appeared.
The two parties looked at each other in silence for a moment. A bowman with silver hair stepped forward, his eyes narrowed. His eyes went to the unconscious Mage before to his unconscious friends, the two Warriors.
A relieved sigh escaped his lips, and he gave a slight nod to Schnee and Hunter.
"You must be the ones who saved our guildmates. Thank you for that. I am the Leader of Silver Wolf, Rune. Nice to meet you."
"You're welcome. We didn't really do much, though. It was him." Schnee pointed at Hunter.
"I didn't do anything. It was her." He shrugged, pointing at Schnee.
Rune stared at the two for a moment before smiling wryly. They didn't look like they were lying, and his friends had no visible injuries.
"Anyway, we appreciate it." He said. "We will repay you if we have a chance. What can we do for you?"
Schnee grinned and glanced at Hunter. He nodded and spoke to Rune, as she disliked dealing with them.
"Can you take this Mage to the Guild Hall for interrogation? And do keep our involvement a secret, especially about her killing Jason's murderer. There is no law yet in Granary City, and it can be... troublesome."
"That's not a problem." Rune replied, nodding his head. He gestured for the other guild members to bring the Mage. "We will do that and handle the aftermath. Don't worry about it."
"Nice." Schnee commented, looking satisfied. "Also, can you give me information you gained from the interrogation through the Silent Steps? Appreciate it! Bye-bye."
With that, Schnee and Hunter turned around and walked away, leaving the other party confused.
"Silent Steps? And leader, why do you let them go free? Aren't they suspicious?" One of the Silver Wolf's members asked, frowning.
"It's fine. We are indebted to them, and there's no need to be wary of them. The guy is Hunter, he's pretty famous for helping newbies back in the past. I was even helped once. And the girl... Better not get on her bad side."
"Really? Why?"
"Her name is Schnee, and she's a solo player. She's well-known for being brutal and merciless to enemies, and her level is also high. No one is better at PvP than her."
"That sounds scary."
"Yeah, so let's not mess with her. Anyway, let's move. We need to help those two."
As they were walking, Rune looked at his friends who were carrying the Mage. He frowned, his thoughts racing.
'This won't be pretty. As that guy had said, there is no law yet in Granary City. I closed my eyes when Schnee killed the killer, but that doesn't mean we can allow the same thing to happen again. Especially if we want to keep our old values.'
Before entering the game's world, everyone was a law-abiding citizen. There were no murderers or criminals back then, and they lived peacefully.
'But now, we need to establish a new rule and a system, or else it would be chaos.'
"Leader, what are you thinking about?"
One of his members asked, and he snapped out of his thoughts.
"Once we return to Granary City, please call the five big guild leaders for an emergency meeting. We need to discuss this."
"Yes, Leader. I understand."
They nodded and walked faster, the Mage in tow. Rune didn't know how he could make it, but he knew he needed to do something.
***
The next morning, Hunter woke up feeling a bit stiff. He looked at the sky through the window, squinting his eyes. He immediately closed it and changed his clothes to a comfortable one, not his combat one, and went downstairs.
He was met with the sight of Schnee eating bread, her plate almost empty. She smiled at him as he sat down.
"Morning, Hunter. You didn't have breakfast?"
Hunter smiled wryly. He didn't believe that this girl just killed another player last night, and he wondered whether she was sane or not.
'Obviously not. She's Schnee. That's the name of madness.'
"I don't really have an appetite."
"Ah, I see. Did you stay up all night to check your level?"
"Nope. Our level won't go up unless we go hunt higher level monsters. We don't even get experience from killing Level 60 monsters."
"Then, did you have a nightmare about your dead family?"
"Not that either."
"Oh, did you finally fall in love with someone? You've been single for years."
"It's not that either."
"You must be having an existential crisis. Oh, sorry. I should've known. Do you want me to lend you ears? Let this big sister hear your story. Come on, tell me."
Hunter sighed and shook his head. He grabbed a bread left on Schnee's plate and chewed on it, his thoughts racing.
"It's just that, I think everything will be different from now on. The way we used to live, the way we see other people, and the way we handle our problems. It's not the same as before. This is a new world, and we need to adjust to it."
Schnee listened quietly and nodded her head.
"That's true. This world is a new world, and we need to adapt and grow." She agreed. "And, we are not bound by the rules of the previous world. We are free, and we can do whatever we want."
She smiled, and it was a beautiful smile. Hunter could tell that she wasn't lying or trying to fool him.
"That's what I mean, but... Did Rune say anything?"
"About the interrogation or about us? Nope, not a single thing yet, but... I heard something interesting through listening to people this morning. It seems the big guilds are talking about establishing a new law in Granary City. They are calling it 'Granary's Rule' or something like that."
"Interesting."
The world would keep changing, starting from the most fundamental thing.
Hunter sipped Schnee's tea, making her frown in displeasure.
"That's an indirect kiss, you know. Are you that desperate for a kiss? You could just ask me."
"I have no intention of doing that."
"What a shame. Then, how about we go out and try our stronger skill? Lake located West of this city is the perfect place for us to test our skills. It has a lot of low-level monsters as sandbags."
Schnee suggested, and Hunter agreed.
They went to try themselves against this world again.