Matthew appeared on the empty parking lot. There was nobody around. He left the portal on alert just in case, but everything around him was the same as it was when he came.
He made his way home and showered.
‘A proper shower after a week. I missed this!’ he thought, enjoying the hot water pouring onto him.
He stocked up on warm water in the empty buckets from his inventory. After he was done showering, the first thing he did was check the news online, to see if anything turned up about two people missing.
To his surprise, there was not a single article or report on the subject. He tried every news source he could think of but did not come across anything that could be related to the incident.
"If everyone is going to pretend that it never happened, I'll just do the same." he decided.
He got dressed and went out. He would first buy some supplies to replenish his drained inventory and then go scout the level 3 Perma portal he chose when planning.
'Should I maybe try to find a team? I didn't want to at first because many new players vanished shortly after announcing themselves to the public. There was never news about it but new players rarely made following public announcements.' he considered, remembering the weird observation he made during his research.
'I'll just go scout the difficulty first. If the jump is too high for me, like it almost was for the level 2, then I'll actively look for a party. If not, I'll keep going by myself for a bit.' he concluded.
There was a level 3 Perma portal not too far from his place. It was located on a construction field. The construction had been abandoned after the portal appeared and became permanent.
When he arrived at the spot mentioned by the database, there were already a few cars around and he was met with what looked like a team getting ready in front of the portal gate.
"Hi! Are you here for the Blue Ghost training expedition?" a young blond girl came to him asking.
"Blue Ghost? Erm, no, I came by myself." he answered, not expecting people to be there, and much less to interact with him.
"Oh? If so, you can join us! We were waiting for a late comer but it looks like he's not coming. My name's Sophie Wells. Come with me, I'll introduce you to the rest!" she said with a beaming smile, and started walking to the group.
Confused, Matthew diligently followed after her.
"Thomas! I found another player! He wasn't the one we were waiting for but he's alone, he can join right?" she asked right as she joined up.
"Hm? Who is he and what's his role?" the man asked back, sizing Matthew up and down.
"Oh! Right! Mister? I forgot to ask haha. What's your name and what role do you have?" she turned back to Matthew but looked to the side, slightly embarrassed.
"I'm Matthew. But, errr, my role?" he answered, uncertain.
"Yeah! What do you do? It can't be your first time since you came to a level 3 portal, so what's your role?" she continued instantly.
"Oh! Uh yeah, I fight with swords!" he replied, confident.
"Really? Did you forget your equipment? I thought you might be a mage but where is your sword?" she asked, confused by the unexpected answer.
"I have it right here." Matthew said, and the shortsword appeared in his hand from his inventory.
Once he did that, the whole group that was listening gasped and took a step back, while raising their own weapons. Sophie also jumped back with a panicked expression.
"Wh- what's wrong?" Matthew asked after taking a step back himself unknowingly, seeing everyone on guard in front of him.
"You! Who are you! What do you want!" the man, Thomas, asked aggressively.
"I just said I'm Matthew, I just came for the portal, what's going on?" Matthew answered, grasping his sword tightly in fear of reliving the same kind of incident he just managed to get over.
"Wait, Thomas! He looks really scared!" Sophie interrupted.
"Matthew? How long have you been a player?" she asked right away.
"Me? Not too long. Two- two weeks? Maybe? I- I'm not sure. Will you tell me what's going on?" Matthew answered. He was too agitated by the situation to provide a more accurate answer.
"Did you buy the inventory skill just to store your sword?" Thomas finally asked. His face looked slightly more relaxed, but his voice did not change.
'Why is he mentioning the inventory right now?' Matthew thought, confused. 'Let's try and just go with that.'
"Erm. Yes? Because it's more practical than to carry the sword around?" he answered, hesitant.
Once he answered, the sound of people breathing out could be heard from the tense looking group.
"See? He just didn't know." Sophie said, slowly coming back toward Matthew from behind Thomas where she had hidden.
"Didn't know what?" Matthew quickly asked, still confused.
"Nobody buys that skill at our level. It's way too expensive for its use. Only rogues do get it." Sophie explained.
"Rogues?" Matthew asked, his face betraying how lost he was.
"Bastards that kill other players." Thomas spat and finally relaxed after he confirmed the confusion on Matthew's face.
"Since you just became a player, you might not have heard it yet. It's not really made public, but there are players that kill other players. That's what the rogues are. They usually target weaker players and use the inventory to conceal their equipment and the equipment they steal from other players." Sophie continued.
"I had no idea! Why are they even doing that? Aren't we all working together against the monsters?" Matthew asked, shocked.
"Who knows… Maybe they want to steal items? Or maybe they are after the skills that sometimes are left after players die? It's all expensive so they may think of it as an easy way to get stuff?" Sophie answered.
'Is that all they wanted from me back then? Somehow, the guilt I still felt became much lighter.' he thought.
"I'll let you come with us but I'll still keep an eye on you." Thomas said, staring at Matthew.
‘I never even said I wanted to join, though?’ Matthew thought.
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