VRMMO: Am I The Strongest Yet?

This time, she was the one greeting him after their peaceful sleep. Just like it should be.

"Nope. It was terrible."

He was smirking as he looked at her pretty face the first thing in the morning… in the evening actually. The morning and afternoon had passed already.

"Oh? Was it now~?"

Just like him, she was smirking as well.

Both of them knew what the other one was thinking, and their eyes looking into each other\'s eyes spoke more than either of them had said.

"So, should we?" He asked first, even though he could tell she wanted to be the one to say it.

"Well… I wish we could."

But contrary to what he thought, she shook her head at his pretty invitation.

"It\'s time. We have to go down to the central plaza. The Mayor\'s speech, remember?"

"Ah…"

Last night was terrible.

He did not know how or when he fell asleep but now that he was awake and his head was clear once again, he remembered all that had happened yesterday.

All the blood shed. All the goar, blood, insides, deaths, those gruesome scenes… he remembered all of it out of the blue.

"...!"

And he instantly became nauseous as soon as that happened.

-Thum! Thum! Thum!

He ran straight to the bathroom and threw up involuntarily.

They did not have dinner yesterday and still, he could not help but throw up after all the things that he had seen yesterday.

"There there. Take it all out. Slowly. There\'s no need to rush."

"Ahem! Ahem!"

She was right beside him this time– she thought she would not be there when he would cry over all that had happened yesterday but he unexpectedly fell asleep with her.

Perhaps because of exhaustion or all the spells that he had cast.

She didn\'t know the reason, but he also fell asleep alongside her. And now that he was awake, and all the memories, emotions, and \'images\' were rushing back to him, this was a natural reaction for someone that saw the light of the world, instead of the shadows present everywhere.

"Haaa… haaa…"

He did not get to cry his heart out, so his mind compasented for all that mental burden through this small, simple, but effective process.

Few people knew it, but throwing up was a unique response that the human body had developed over many evolutionary phases that protected not only one\'s body but mind as well.

But then again, those were recent studies. It was common for people to not know about them.

"You alright now?"

She was familiar with those kinds of sights.

This game was not for children, or for the older people who did not want to see those kinds of scenes.

Not all humans could handle things like that… surely not a normal person like him who had lived a normal life in the bright areas of a city.

"Yes…"

But she knew his adaptability was unreal.

He had survived many brutal environments in his younger days and he had handled high pressure in his recent years.

She knew very well how he was before she met him. And she knew how much he had learned in these short twenty four years of his life.

"Good. Let\'s clean up and make you something good and warm."

He wasn\'t a kid so the fact that she got to treat him like one was a fun thing for her.

She liked this rare occasion. And she wanted to cherish it even more… but when they got down after an hour, the scene before them surprised them a little.

"Miu? Az? What are you two doing down here?"

The fact that they actually forgot about their two cute friends was shameful, but they knew they wouldn\'t have gone far away from there.

They were smart so they should at least not have gone out in the broad daylight. They knew that, so they expected them to find somewhere around here…

"Miu!"

"Muuuuu!"

But, well, they at least did not expect them to be with Misha… or on top of a passed out Misha to be more precise.

-Bling. Bling. Bling.

The slime jumped towards them happily and the lizard that was sitting on top of its friend with only its legs inside the mucus surface smiled widely at its friends.

"Miu~!"

"You were playing with her…?"

It most certainly did not look like they were playing since she seemed to be unconscious right now-.

"Hmm? Where did you two go?"

"Hun?"

"...?"

Or not. She was fine and seemed to simply be acting unconscious.

"Oh! Sister! Brother Elio!"

The young girl in her humble outfit ran up to them, picked up the little slime and carelessly hugged it.

She was hugging the gecko alongside it, but though shocking, it did not seem like she was affected by the dense Mana of the gecko.

"Sister! Brother Elio~. We were playing bang-bang! And even though I was not going easy on them, they defeated me twice!"

"Muuuuu~!"

"Miu~!"

The three of them seemed to be awfully close now even though it had only been a few hours since they last saw her.

"Muuuu~!"

"Mia!"

And from how excited the two little creatures seemed, they could tell the three of them had fun playing together.

"Seems like you three had fun, hun."

"No! They always win! It\'s not fair!"

She was usually quiet, but now that she was having fun with these little ones, she had become more chatty.

"Hmm? What\'s going on?"

And since she was loud as well, her mom- who had been working inside the kitchen- came out with her hands still covered in flour.

"Misha?"

"Mom! They won again!"

From how she was not surprised by her daughter\'s reaction to the creatures and from how she seemed to be familiar with what was going on, it seemed like she knew how the three of them had gotten closer.

But the two of their friends did not know that. So she informed them first.

"Oh, sorry about this… the two of those little ones seemed to be going out for a walk, so I brought them down to play with them.

The inn will remain closed for today so there\'s not many guests around either, so I thought playing with them would be fun."

"Oh?"

Elio understood the situation from this much. And he certainly didn\'t mind it.

"I see. It\'s fine. You can play with them when we aren\'t around… I\'d appreciate it if you can look after them in our absence, actually."

He was happy actually.

The two looked happy, and that was all that mattered to him.

"Miss Rin? Is the kitchen occupied?"

"Hmm? You want to make something, dear?"

Alex was… confused right now.

There were a few things going around in her head, but for now, she decided it was better to first make something for Elio so that he could at least feel a little better.

"Yes, so, you see… Elio wasn\'t feeling well after what happened yesterday."

She didn\'t expect her to understand much of what she was saying, but from the sudden sad look she had, it seemed madam Rin understood what she meant.

"Oh, I see. Come in, let me help you with it. Oh, and, Misha."

Misha was hugging Miss Rin ever since she came out even though her hands were covered in flour.

She knew it was inappropriate, but she did not mind it.

"It\'s fine if you lose. Just try harder next time, alright dear?"

She gave her a warm smile and though she wanted to pat her head, her hands were dirty.

"That\'s right. So, even if you lost twice, try a third time. And fourth. And then as many times as you can."

Try as many times as you can until you absolutely can not… she remembered the words of one of her acquaintances from her past.

And thought how strange of a man he was…

"So."

Misha somewhat understood what they meant, and so, she asked Elio if she could play with Az and Miu for a little longer.

And since Alex was making something for him, it was going to take some time.

"Sure. Go have fun."

He didn\'t mind them playing around. They were young children anyway.

They deserved to have fun…