C2 - Prison Time

"Huh, what's going on?" Hiro has yet to go far, but he can't help but come to a stop when he encountered a crowd gathering on the street.

Jack arrived beside him a moment later, gasping. Then he saw the massive figure of Hiro. The helmet must have scanned the player body and applied them to the avatar. Otherwise Hiro won't have his avatar looked exactly like his real body. Annoyingly realistic feature.

Jack had no interest in the crowd, but when he heard the crowd mention of Hestia Familia and some kind of expedition, he can't help but took an interest. He never managed to met with the cast of DanMachi, so it made him curious. What they looked like in real flesh? well, not reality real, but virtual real?

Jack took a moment to breath and told Hiro he want to join on the fun.

"What about our quest?!" Hiro exclaimed.

"Don't worry, it will only take a minute." Jack consoled Hiro.

"Hey, wait for me!"

Sure enough, amidst the crowd was group of high level adventurers marching toward the Babel Tower. Their aura exude great confidence, and the vibe of veteran was practically oozing from their flesh. The citizen and adventurers of Orario totally awed by them while the players were envious and salivating over the equipments the NPCs wore.

"Hestia Familia is going on expedition again this year. They're so active lately."

"Indeed, and to think the Little Rookie is not Rookie anymore. Time sure fly fast."

"Right, now he's already level six, and able to stand side by side with the likes of Sword Princess and that guy."

While the meteoric raise Bell level was not that shocking to Jack, Bell appearance is on another level. The cute white rabbit was no longer could be seen. With height taller than him, Bell looked mature enough to graduate from "boy" title. It's as though a few years had passed from the Canon. The same could be said with Welf, though Lili and Hestia is the same as before. As for the rest of them... Jack had no idea who they are. Probably new members.

"Looks like not only Loki who has changed, Hestia also managed to make it big." Jack murmured.

"You're right, Jack. They're big. Look at them bouncing!" Hiro screamed excitedly.

"This guy!" startled, Jack was taken aback by Hiro lack of tack. No good, this pervert is going to drag him down to the bottom of hell.

Hearing Hiro shout, most of Hestia familia frowned, they saw two youth, one holding the other mouth, but it was too late for that. The goddess of the familia, Hestia and most of the main cast were taken aback, but not offended, It's as though it has been a long time since anyone dared to say it out loud. Welf even let out a snort of amusement. Though a glare from Lili made him stopped his laughter. He shrugged and looked away. but the other adventurers from Hestia familia were different. It looked like they're truly offended. Their glare were ominous and intimidating.

The crowd took a step away from Jack and Hiro as though they're afraid to be implicated.

The ending was tragic. Jack didn't saw it coming. A man whose name he didn't know flashed to his side and gave him and Hiro a beating. A dull pain could be felt before everything went black.

Is he dying, just like that? Jack was speechless. Are they really npc? why are they more sensitive than a teenager in love.

Well, no matter.

The fact Jack didn't come back to white space to create another avatar means he's still alive. The game made you lose consciousness if your health drop beyond 80%. But the fact there's no interface made this feature quite hard to confirm whether it's true or not. Though so far it was just a speculation, some streamers on the net has been experimenting on this feature. Jumping from building, high impact to the head, and other silly and gory scenes. But the game was new, so they haven't figured the whole thing out. But it's a fact that losing consciousness is a thing in this game. 

Some players even tried to do 'that' while the other party was unconscious, but they immediately find themselves logged out from the game without even a warning.

There seems to be a commotion over that feature, but Jack was not that interested in such topic so he skipped the whole thing. Now that he find himself woke up in a dim and damp place after a black out. Without a doubt it was a prison. Great, they're in a good start, on the way to hell. 

Jack really want to curse the game developer, that is if they're even exist in the first place.

On the surface, the company member that the citizen could reach were never divulged how the game works. Their response were vague when reporters and media tried to dig deeper into the breakthroughs of VR technology. They just said enough without touching the surface of the problem, not to mention the core problem. Hence, this has made quite big news some time ago. Conspiracy theory started to pop out one after another. Some said that the Government and Military might have been experimenting on VR for a long time. There is even more outlandish theory saying this technology was coming from the Alien. There was no end to them.

Conspiracy theory aside, it's clear that trying to reach the truth through the Company Staff was useless as they also had no idea who they're working for. That's right...

"It's as though they're mere puppets." Jack mumbled. In real world, the game company made him uneasy. But the same could said with the game world.

The oversensitive npc made his mood worsen, and his heart to quicken in strange anxiety.

He had read this kind of novel before, plenty of them. What if those npc is not just a mere program, the gathering of data in human skin but a real human flesh instead. And this VR connecting the world of DanMachi to the game?

Jack immediately shook his head, "I have read too many novel. How could that be possible."

Even though he said that, Jack anxiety didn't abate even a single bit. Though there's a method to reduce his anxiety. As precaution, he must not kill any NPC just because they're unpleasant to the eyes. Unless they had done something truly unforgivable, he must not murder the hell out of them.

"Right, let's just roleplay as adventurer with Righteous Lawful alignments. No wait. Righteous would be boring, what about chaos lawful? It's not like chaos is rotten apple. They just love freedom."

Jack musing was stopped by the whine of Hiro as he continue to bang the prison's cell while cursing the guard outside.

Jack leaned back on the wall and said, "Hiro, what're you doing?"

"Oh! Jack you're up. This is great, help me bust the cell door and then we can start our grand escape!"

"Yeah, right." Jack rolled his eyes, "Don't you see that shiny toy the guards had on them? We won't last a second."

Hiro whined, and fallen to his knees, "Then, what should we do? Don't tell me we had to wait for our sentence to end?! I played the game to have fun and obtain a great glory! Not to be a prisoner!" At the end of his sentence Hiro started to bawl, "Sorry, mom, dad, your unfillial son has become a criminal."

"C'mon, there's no need to worry. I am sure there's a way out of this prison."

Hiro widened his eyes, "A way out?"

"Indeed, this is not the first time we are imprisoned inside a prison. What're you so worried about?"

"It's not?" Hiro titled his head, confused.

"Yeah, we are inside a game remember?"

"Ah, game! That's right, we're inside a game. It's too real I forgot about that." Hiro clapped his hands, "Now that I think about it. There are plenty of time when my character was imprisoned in a forced plot."

"See, and one way to escape the prison might be exist in this prison as well."

Jack and Hiro eyes met and said at the same time, "Secret passage!"

"Usually there should be a secret passage or two inside a prison or dungeon that lead to secret room or outside the prison."

"And by finding the passage, we will be free!"

"Right, let's start right away. I will search this place, Hiro you can start with the bed, and toilet."

"Right away! Wait, I had to check the toilet?"

"Of course, the unlikely place have higher chance to contain a button or two. So don't leave a single spot left untouched. Polish that throne." Jack told him seriously. 

Left with no other choice, Hiro could only grit his teeth and started carresing the dirty and smelly throne. His hell has only just begin.

Time passed, and while examining the wall, Jack turned to Hiro, "Now that I think about it, what's the big quest you're talking about earlier? share it with me."

Hiro mood worsen as he was reminded about the quest, with them being in the prison, other players might already have complete the quest, "No can do, there's no interface whatsoever here so how could I share it with you?"

"Don't tell me the quest is just a verbal request from the npc..."

"Yep, It's one of DD feature alright."

"So no mental image, this could implied a lot of things. But we have no time or leisure to investigate this." said Jack, looking thoughtful, before urged Hiro to continue.

"This npc was resting on the shade of massive tree behind a mansion, looking distressed, sometimes he took a glance toward the window as though searching for something. I knew a quest when I saw one!"

"Let me guess, that man want us to retrieve something from the mansion?"

Hiro widened his eyes, "How did you know?!"

Jack rolled his eyes, "That man sounds suspicious as hell. Even if we managed to trigger the quest, we might end up here all the same."

Hiro sighed mournfully for various reason. It has been 20 minutes, he had become as smelly as the throne and he had yet to find some kind of switch or button anywhere.

"Is there even a passage here?"

"Sure there is. In fact, I have already found one."

"Huh? You must be joking..." Hiro then turned around to see Jack resting against the wall and fanning himself with a white folded fan just like some kind of young master.

"Jack, suddenly I had the urge to slap some young master right now." Hiro said sullenly while flexing his muscle.

Jack seemingly unconcerned, throw out something to Hiro.

"Wha, hey that's dangerous!" Hiro was planning to strangle this young master and bask Jack with his smell. But he forget everything the moment he caught the object Jack thrown at him.

"This can't be..."

It was a two handed sword in a scabbard. It was poorly maintained and looked old, But Hiro can't seem to take his eyes away from it. At this point in time, most players is no different from beggar without a coin to his name. So this kind of weapon is also considered a windfall.

"Heaven truly have eyes..." Hiro wiped his eyes. He can't suppress his happiness anymore! In the end, Jack also drenched in the throne's heavenly smell.