Meeting With Old Guildmates (2)

After leaving the building, Toki dragged me into the backseat of a black sedan. As soon as both of us were sitting comfortably at the back, two men entered right after us. She sat beside me, with two men in black suits entering and sitting in the driver's and passenger seats.

'They must be Toki's bodyguards,' I thought as I studied their expressions.

They were stern-looking and probably around 30 or something years old. They were definitely "veterans" in the field of guarding in the past, just from their aura.

Without waiting for Toki's order, they started driving soon after. The car moved silently, as if it were an electric car, gliding along the almost empty roads.

"You've been restless since earlier." Toki chuckled lightly beside me. "Are you that excited to see your buddies?"

"Of course I am! This is the first offline meeting of our guild, after all!"

We've all been playing Lost Age together for more than a year since the nanomachine fiasco started. That's a full year, you know? It wouldn't be hard to imagine how curious one would be about the other party's appearance.

"Rather, why did you not even share their pictures with me? You have them, right?"

"I did," Toki replied, shrugging her shoulders. "But, well, you didn't believe me anyway."

I furrowed my brows, tilting my head slightly. "What?"

Did she ever share a picture of those guys with me? Rather than them, there were a lot of pictures with boobs—I mean, booby traps—attached to them in my memory. Of course, I deleted those pictures of ten different girls already. Other than those, no matter how hard I tried to recall, I can't remember any pictures of guys from what Toki sent.

"You'll know when we get there." Toki sighed, leaning against the backrest of her seat. "For now, just prepare yourself for a surprise."

"..."

Toki had been taking the "They're all girls" joke a little too far, enough that it made me feel like the others within the guild were actually girls. No, there are some who I'm sure are 100% men, like Jougo, Three, and Morgen. For the rest, however, I'm not completely sure. This little inconsistency between my guess and what Toki was insinuating made my heart pound in anxiety.

While I was lost in thought, the car stopped before a tall building. I was expecting to stop at a family restaurant or a function hall of some sort, but a building? Why here?

When I and Toki got out of the car, she quickly dragged me inside. The guards didn't even bother to check her when she flashed a black card in her hand, probably a VIP card.

After passing through the revolving entrance, I was surprised by what spread before me. "Is this place a trading hub?"

All over the place, expensive-looking weapons and armor were displayed. On all corners, there were buyers and sellers alike, discussing things with serious expressions. This is not my kind of place, with all the people roaming around, but looking around at the displayed equipment wouldn't be bad.

"This is Nidavellir, one of our subsidiary companies that handles anything crafting-related, from materials to actual items," Toki said without much fanfare. "You aren't registered as a crafter yet, right? We should do it now before it's too late."

"Registration? You need to do that?" I was honestly clueless about that.

I thought as long as you can craft weapons and armor, you're good to go. It looks like the world really isn't that easy. Toki brought me before the receptionist at the front desk, letting me stand behind her as she handled all the communication.

Soon, they passed me a piece of paper to fill up. It was concise, with the name, crafting category, and signature as the only requirements. "Wait, the name is optional?"

"Yes. You can place it under a pseudonym if you want." The receptionist smiled as she replied to my question.

"Then Ruin... No, I can't dismiss the possibility of other Lost Age players realizing my name..." After a bit of pondering, and with the receptionist's help in double-checking if the name was already taken, I wrote "Prometheus" as my moniker.

I just ignored Toki, who was giggling beside me, laughing at my choice of name.

After I checked all the items under the "crafting category" and signed it, I then passed the form back to the receptionist. She only pressed it against a scanner, and all my information was immediately passed to the database for safekeeping.

After waiting for a few seconds, from a special printer set on top of the counter, a small silver, rectangular card appeared. On it, the name "Prometheus" was written.

Toki was tinkering with her phone when I turned to her, showing the card I received. "So it's finally done. Then let's go; everyone's already waiting."

She led the way, but not out of the building. Rather, she walked to an elevator that was cordoned off and guarded by two buff-looking guys. As she approached, flashing her black card once more, they immediately opened the cordon and let us pass.

As usual, the elevator only had a few buttons. Without hesitation, she pressed the one labeled "40", the highest floor among the choices. The door closed soon after, followed by the feeling of moving upward.

"The entire floor is reserved for our guild meeting, so everyone inside is a guild member, other than the staff," Toki explained with a serious expression, staring at my face with a glint in her eyes. "Remember, if you make any of them cry, I'll make you pay."

Her intensity made me back away a bit while nodding my head repeatedly. Gosh, why would I be making them cry anyway?

*Ping!*

Soon, we reached the designated floor. The elevator's door opened and revealed a long passage leading straight to an open space. Toki walked ahead of me, this time not dragging me by the hand. Excitement and expectation were making my heart beat wildly, so I took several deep breaths before stepping out of the elevator. By then, Toki was already ten paces ahead of me.

At first, only my and Toki's steps reverberated along the passage. However, soon, soft whispers started reaching my ears.

"...?"

It was faint and almost unrecognizable, but definitely the sound of people talking in hushed voices. Toki was the first to emerge from the pathway, turning to the right with a bright smile on her face.

"Toki!" A loud shout echoed, followed by a small girl jumping into her embrace.

The girl looked like she was somewhere between ten and twelve, her height probably reaching a little above my chest. She was wearing a cute dress of a light yellow hue, matching her head of braided golden hair.

Just from seeing that, I already had a bad premonition.

"Lily, it's been a while," Toki said with a smile, patting Lily's head.

The small girl swatted Toki's hand away, pouting cutely. "Hey! I'm older than you, so stop patting my head like a child!"

"Then don't jump into my embrace like a child next time." Toki chuckled, pushing her slightly away. "Hailey and Mina too; you've been silent in the group chat for a while. I thought something happened to the both of you."

"...!"

Hearing the two names, I quickened my steps. The small girl beside Toki, Lily, apparently, turned to glance in my direction. Her eyes opened wide as her lips parted lightly, as if about to say something, but no words came out.

Anyway, before they spoke, I managed to reach the end of the passage and turn to the right. About three meters away, a round table was set with two figures sitting comfortably.

One of them had flowing red hair, gently hanging over her shoulder and to her chest. Her crimson eyes stared at me, who popped out of the corner with surprise. The other one had black hair cut short at the back, with the sides a little longer than the rest and reaching her shoulders.

Both of them looked to be around the same age as me, but...

"... Girls..."

I felt a little disappointed, but when I recalled Lilith's words before, I quickly tried to maintain a neutral smile, not letting my true thoughts reflect on my face.

Silence spread around the entire room for a while until Toki coughed lightly, bringing everyone back to their senses. "For now, let's take a seat."

Lily jumped lightly after Toki tapped her back before she answered a little hesitantly, "Y-Yeah..."

The round table had five seats prepared. When Toki and Lily sat down, only the seat between her and the black-haired girl was left vacant. I hesitated for a moment before deciding to just let things be. Sitting down and leaning forward, my elbow was placed against the table as I supported my chin.

The two girls, other than Toki and the black-haired one, were acting shy, with their cheeks covered in a faint blush. Lily, who looked energetic before, was now all quiet like a borrowed cat.

"Right, introductions should go first, right? Let's go with the guild name followed by real names. I'll go first." Toki tried to break the ice, creating a situation where everyone would need to speak. "I'm Toki; my real name is Todoroki Katarina. I'm a girl, of course, and also a level 8 Mage."

As soon as she finished, she touched Lily's back, urging her to speak. "I-I'm Lily! My game character is the same name as me, but my last name is Braveward! I'm currently studying at City B's Public University as a sophomore! Currently a level 4 Healer!"

Continuing on in a clockwise manner, the red-haired girl was up next.

"I'm Hailey or Henrietta Stanley IRL. I'm studying under City B's Eclipse Academy," she said while combing her hair lightly. "Right now, I'm a level 9 Lancer!"

"You actually overtook my level in a short while!" Toki gasped in surprise.

Smiling proudly, she explained, "Well, it's related to why I and Mina weren't able to chat lately, so..."

"Right, Mina..."

I turned to the last girl, the black-haired one who was staring at me from the start. Her eyes never once left my figure after I appeared, making me feel a bit of apprehension.

"Mina. Real Name: Minadzuki Karen. Level 2 Sharpshooter."

Her words were short, only giving the required details. Her gaze was telling me to hurry up and introduce myself, as it was my turn.

"Uhh, I guess everyone knows it from Toki anyway. I'm Ruin or Giza Mahiro. I'm currently studying in City B's Public High School Division. Right now, I'm a Level 6 World Breaker."

As I finished my introduction, the entire room went quiet once more.