Chapter 41

"Let's go." Max said as he finished preparing the graves for the family of werewolves.

The duo got on their horses and continued on their way towards the Imperial City in silence.

Grid had millions of questions in both his mind and the chat but he couldn't voice them out in fear of annoying Archer who might just leave him out of the quest because of it, so he also travelled in silence while looking at the chat.

But after a while, the silence became too much for him. The people in the chat were going crazy, many people started to leave because nothing was going on, so he had no other choice but to start a conversation.

"Hey, Archer?"

"Hmm?" Max hummed with a tilt of his head.

"Your name, Archer, is that your real name?" He asked hesitantly.

Max was silent for a while as if he was remembering a painful memory which unnerved Grid. But instead Max was thinking how to answer.

'Fucking finally! He has finally grown some balls to ask the question. Now… how do I want to answer? Keep the mysterious act or go down the tragic hero path? Hmm, so many choices.' He thought and finally chose to do both. 'Let's just give them something to nibble on while keeping most of it as mystery.'

"What kind of parents would name their kids after an occupation?" He answered finally, much to the relief of Grid.

'Phew' Grid heaved a sigh of relief and asked once more. "Umm why aren't you using your real name then?"

Max was silent once more. "…Because it brings out so many bad memories." He said and picked up the pace as if to signal that the conversation was over.

——————

-My drama senses are tingling!

-I can feel me some delicious tragedy!

-Why is this guy so secretive man?!

-*Gar vibes intensify*

-Come on! Don't leave us hanging like that bastard! I wanna know!

——————

Of course Max couldn't see the chat room, but what he was trying to do was accomplished perfectly.

***

The duo was on the road for almost a month now.

"We should make camp." Max said as he gazed at the moon that was high up on the night sky.

They continued a little bit more to find a suitable place to make camp when they saw some sort of light from the woods.

*Ba-dump*

Max's heart beat slowly started increasing, his anxiety grew, he didn't want to approach the source of the light, but he couldn't stop himself from going forward.

It was as if some sort of power was pushing both him and the horse he was on towards the light.

He tried to stop but he couldn't, and in no time at all, he finally saw where the light was coming from.

It was a child with white long hair that was swept back, with a suit that was half purple and half orange as if he wanted to act like he was older but also couldn't bring himself to wear boring old people colors like black and white.

And he was currently holding a fork with cheese at the tip on a bonfire as if he was trying to imitate the act of holding marshmallows over fire on camps but he couldn't find any and thus had to use cheese.

After hearing the sound the child turned to look at the duo and Max was finally able to see his face.

The child had glowing eyes with slits in them.

"Ah! Visitors! I'm so happy, I could just tear out your intestines and strangle you with them! Come on take a seat don't be shy." He gestured to the log that was right across him.

'No way. No fucking way! The Paragon who-' Max was freaking out in his mind. He wanted to get the hell away from this place but he couldn't. That's why he started chanting the honorable name of the Paragon but he was interrupted by the child.

"Oh come on now. If I wanted to hurt you, you would have tasted the forky already." The child said as he pointed at Max with the fork with cheese at the tip. Then he looked at the fork, thought for a bit, and ate the cheese. "Not the *munch* *munch* cheese though. *munch* cheese is mine *munch*. I get the *munch* cheese *gulp*. You get the forky. Anyway you got the message. Now take a seat!" The child said with a bright smile on his face.

With no other choice, Max slowly took a seat on the log with Grid following behind him, unaware of what's going on.

"Now where was I… gah! It is such a calm night! So peaceful! Would be a shame if a blood moon appeared right?" The child yelled frustratedly and then, instead of the white light that was shining on them from the moon, the light turned blood red.

*Roar!*

*Awoo!*

*Harr!*

Instantly the creatures went crazy.

"Ahh much better. Now, where was I?" The child put a finger on his chin and thought for a bit, "Ah yes. Where are my manners. It is such a pleasure to meet you. You can call me Sh-" the child was saying before he suddenly stopped and mumbled to himself. *no wait I'm supposed to be hiding my identity right now* "Ahem! You can call me…Tim! Yes Tim! My name is Tim!"

——————

-What the fuck is wrong with this kid?

-Hahaha I like him he is funny!

-Why thank you! For being such a good sport, I will make a painting from your entrails for you!

-What?

-What the fuck?

-Why doesn't this guy have a nickname?

-That was creepy even by our standards dude.

——————

"As I said, my name is Tim and I'm not a creepy dude. Let's skip the nonsense where you introduce yourselves and get to the reason why I am here." Tim, whose name was obviously a lie and we all probably know what it is by now, said as he stabbed another piece of cheese with the fork and held it over the fire.

His face then became especially serious. "The dark side wants to bring me to their side as well." He said as he looked at Max. "I know we have an agreement and all that but…" He said as he looked at the cheese once more with a grave expression on his face. "THEY HAVE COOKIES!" Then yelled furiously.

*ROAR!!*

*MEOW!!*

*QUACK!!*

Following his shout, the creatures went on another bout of frenzy.

"They offered me cookies! And what's more, cheese cookies dammit! And do you wanna know what I did?! I. Refused. I REFUSED CHEESE COOKIES!! All for the sake of some bullshit agreement! Gah! I should kill you and be done with this shitty book!" He shouted furiously before he stopped and took a moment to think, "But then again I kinda want it to continue… but I also don't want to miss out on the cheese cookie… what to do, what to do." He stroked his chin as he thought.

Meanwhile Max was sweating bullets from where he sat. His back was drenched, his throat dry, but strangely his heartbeat wasn't erratic.

*Ba-dump*

*Ba-dump*

It started beating faster ever since he noticed the light coming from the campfire but it didn't increase anymore. It stayed constant in its rhythm.

"You know what? I quite like you. I don't know whether it is good for you or not but I am a man of many faces and they are all very fond of you. Rejoice." Tim? said as he grabbed the piece of cheese and popped it in his mouth.

"Well, I'll go find a mortal to make a new instrument out of. Sheo out!" Then he disappeared.

"Haaah" Max who finally could control his body functions heaved a sigh of relief, but it didn't last long as Tim? appeared once again.

"Did I say Sheo? I meant Tim. Tim out!" Then he disappeared once again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fear not for I am here! I didn't drop, just couldn't access my account. But I have bad news for you guys.

1. The players will disappear after a short while. Before you ask, no it wasn't a Spontane decision. I've been planning to do that the first time I added them into the book. I've just hastened the process.

2. Since my workload increased a lot, I won't be able to find much time to write but I'll at least try to write a chapter weekly. But it's not for certain tho because a sudden spark of inspiration can help me write more, so make sure to comment your ideas. They help a lot.

Also, let me know your thoughts regarding the chapter please. I've dropped so many hints in this chapter, which I've been doing quite often in the previous chapters too, let me see if anyone has discovered something about the plot~

Just so you know, I won't say who, but in one of the previous chapters, someone accidentally hit the nail on the head without any hints lmao.

And as always, drop some stones, reviews and comments if you enjoy the story ✌️