“Umm excuse me?” I called out to the axe wielding player in front of me. Her quick and steady pace continued with no acknowledgment to my presence. “Umm… hello there?” I called out again to no avail.

Fifteen minutes prior this player had offered to buy me dinner as thanks for my coming to her aid against a massive boss creature known as the Briar Nightmare. This proposal had caught me off guard, however not wanting to appear rude, I accepted her offer. I had expected to be led back to the Town of Beginnings to a restaurant similar to where Sterra and Stern had taken me, but instead she had led me deeper into the woods. Could this be a trap? But we were already alone in the woods and she definitely outleveled me… so what would be the point of leading me somewhere else? It was possible she was trying to avoid becoming a red player with a monster player kill, but then again, would a girl who ran to her certain death on rumor of children being in danger really be a PKer? It didn’t line up!

“Madam First Floor Titaness!” I called out flatly. To this she whipped around quickly, a fire burning in her eyes.

“I HAVE A NAME YOU KNOW!” she shouted furiously.

“I… Don’t know your name…” I explained sheepishly, unsure what nerve I had naively just stepped on.

The girl glared at me as thoughts raced through her mind. I flinched afraid she was about to yell again but with a deep breath her anger subsided.

“Kara…” she muttered as she turned around to continue walking. “My name is Kara. Don’t call me the First Floor Titaness. That’s just a name those idiots in town came up with to insult me.”

“Ah…” I stammered. “Umm… I’m Makku, nice to meet you.”

Kara gave a stiff nod before continuing her walk. “So, what is it you wanted to ask Makku?”

Kara gave no sign of slowing down, but at least she seemed open to conversing now.

“Umm… I was just curious where you were leading me?” I asked attempting to match my pace with hers. “We seem to be heading away from any towns… at least the ones that I know of.”

“We’re going to a place that I know.” Kara explained. “It’s a little out of the way, but don’t worry, I promise it’s good!” For a brief second I thought I saw a smile on her face. If there had been it didn’t last for long.

Kara led me deeper into the woods until we reached a small cabin in a clearing. Smoke rose from the chimney but other than that, the area appeared to be devoid of life.

Kara opened the door without slowing down and I followed in after her. Inside was a quaint cabin with sparse furnishings and stairs leading up to a second level. In the corner, an elderly lady NPC sat in a rocking chair by the fireplace. She looked up as we entered the cabin, but like all NPC’s I had seen in Aincrad, her face lacked any truly human emotion.

“Can I help you traveler?” the NPC asked reading off her default line of text. Kara fiddled with her menu before bringing out a small silver locket from her inventory.

“I found this locket along on my travels.” Kara explained. “I was wondering if it might belong to you?”

The elderly NPC’s emotionless face suddenly lit up with a surprisingly authentic expression of bittersweet appreciation.

“Oh my!” she gasped resting her hand against her cheek. “I was afraid I had lost that forever. It has such precious memories tied to it. Please! It is not much but would you allow me to feed you before you head on your way. A home cooked meal may be a small reward, but I wish to repay you for your kindness!”

The elderly NPC led us to a small table in the corner of the room before leaving through a rustic door. In an unrealistically quick amount of time, she emerged carrying a large roast bird and pitcher of water. She then left us to head back through the same door until she again returned with another series of side dishes. This process was repeated until the small table we were sitting at was filled with a feast fit for a king. My mouth began to water as I stared at the wide spread before me.

“Please! Take your time and enjoy yourselves young travelers!” the elderly lady exclaimed as she fit the last set of side dishes expertly onto the last clear spot left on the table. “I’ll just be in the next room if you need me.”

With a slight bow, the elderly lady exited through the door one last time. This time however; she didn’t return.

“I’ve never heard of this place before!” I exclaimed looking at the feast before us. “I don’t think it was in any of the guides!”

Kara wasted no time in filling her glass with tea and her plate with her favourite morsels.

“It is a very hard quest to find.” Kara explained. “I think it was meant for large groups to find once they reached end game. The pathway to the cabin will only open for players who have found the locket, and the locket only respawns once a month, in a different location each time.”

Kara gave a satisfied smile as she sipped her tea.

“When word of this quest goes public, you can be sure there will be fierce competition over who has rights to eat here given how rarely you can come. You may consider it selfish of me, but I decided to take advantage of this quest as many times as I could before anyone else found out about it.”

No matter how much food I piled on my plate I couldn’t make a dent in the feast before me. My eyes wandered along the table until I noticed the window to our right. The sun had set and the stars had come out. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue, but we were in the middle of the forest which became increasingly more dangerous and difficult to navigate after nightfall. I couldn’t help but wonder how we were expected to get back to town.

“When we’re done eating, we’ll be given an option to teleport directly back to the Town of Beginnings.” Kara explained as if she could read my mind. “I chose this place for dinner specifically for you. The food is good, there is a lot of it, and most importantly… we won’t be interrupted.”

I felt some food catch in my throat as Kara listed off the final point. I realized this meal wasn’t just to thank me for helping her.

“Now then, on to the main point.” Kara continued leaning forward with hands folded like this were a business interview. I felt a chill go down my spine as her eyes seemed to burrow through me.

“What happened?” she asked bluntly.

My worries turned to confusion as I cocked my head to one side. “Happened?” I asked for clarification. Kara simply shook her head in disbelief.

“Just a few months ago you were cowering in fear from ‘that’ Cartan while you were still in town’s safe zone… Today you took on an unknown boss monster by yourself just to help someone you don’t even know. I want to know what inspired this change, and why it took you so long to start taking this game seriously!”

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. Her suspicions were fair. If I had joined in on the game at the same time as anyone else, my rate of improvement could be considered normal of someone trying their best to survive and clear the game, but as I had joined the game a year after everyone else, it would obviously look like something in my mind had snapped.

“Geez,” Kara huffed folding her arms. “Those guys were right to be interested in you. If you had been this ambitious from day one you could have been part of the front line with the rest of the clearers!”

“It’s… a little complicated…” I hesitated testing the waters. Kara shot me her signature sidelong glare which seemed to state I wasn’t going to talk my way out of explaining things. I let out a sigh of defeat. I had promised Argo I wouldn’t tell anyone about me starting a year late… but maybe if I told her just enough of the truth I could satisfy her curiosity before being forced to spill everything.

“I… have a sister…” I started. Kara’s arms dropped as her face went pale. Her reaction seemed more invested than I was expecting, but she didn’t interject so I continued.

“I don’t know where she is right now… but I recently found out she’s been here since launch day. I’ve been getting stronger so I can find her and so we can survive this death game together.”

Kara pressed her lips together. Her mind seemed to be running wild with questions but she also seemed unsure how to broach the subject.

“Can’t you just message her?” she asked. I shook my head in response.

“I don’t know her in game name.” I responded. “And to make matters worse, she doesn’t know that I am here. I’ve read over every name on the monolith in Black Iron Palace so many times looking for anything that sounded like something she would use, but so far it’s led to nothing.”

Kara shifted again in her seat as my words seemed to weigh heavy on her.

“How did you find out she was here?” she inquired.

“It’s… complicated…” I replied unsure how I could dance around that question.

“’It’s complicated. It’s complicated.’ Everything is complicated with you isn’t it! And I thought high school girls were complicated…” Kara mumbled. She was clearly dissatisfied with my answer but she didn’t press further.

“So everything you’ve done so far has been for the sake of your sister…” she asked more to herself than me.