Elias sat up from his machine and stretched as a loud pop came to his ears.
'Well, time to get lunch and rejoin the game before something pops up—Veronika can only go for lunch after I log back in.'
Elias swiftly dressed and made his way to the dining hall for lunch.
"Oh my, someone is so busy that they cannot even recognise their mother."
Elias's eyes brightened upon hearing his mother's voice. He turned, responding, "Mom, when did you get here?"
"Just now, but it is sad to see my own son did not notice me."
With an embarrassed smile, Elias spoke, "Sorry, mother, I was in a hurry."
Just then, Elias's father chimed in with a jovial tone, "Oh, and why are you in a hurry?"
"Well, Veronika is still inside the game, and after I get back, it will be her turn for lunch."
"Why didn't you leave together?"
"Dad, we are undertaking an escort quest, and when we tried to leave, the game warned us that we would forfeit and fail the quest if none of the party members was present."
"I see, and if I am not wrong, it is almost time for lunch, and I am famished."
With a bright smile, Elias joined his parents for lunch, and his grandparents arrived soon after.
The luncheon was set in the west dining hall, where pale light filtered through tall arched windows, spilling softly across the long table.
The table itself was immaculate, with ivory linen stretched its length, perfectly pressed, with fine porcelain and polished silver arranged with precise symmetry. Crystal glasses caught the light in faint glimmers, while the Kassler crest, etched in gold, marked each setting with quiet authority.
Friedrich beamed from the head of the table, flanked by Alexander on his right and Elias on his left. Across from him, Olivier smiled at her reunited family, while Helena sat next to her husband, Alexander, their voices filling the room with stories of their recent venture.
"Elias, I just saw some images of the starter village, and they look dazzling. How is your starter village? I hope it is to your liking."
Elias's thoughts came to a grinding halt at Olivier's question.
'What starter village is Grandma talking about? The bandit hideout, no, I doubt she is speaking about that.'
While Olivier mistook Elias's silence for amazement at the fact that Olivier was researching the game in such detail, she was further from the truth, and before Elias could speak, the first course arrived without interruption.
A chilled potage of wild garlic and sorrel, smooth and vibrant, was set before them, accompanied by slices of toasted rye and marrow butter. The aroma was fresh, almost deceptively light.
"Actually, Grandma, I do not know about others, but Veronika and I were spawned in a snow-covered jungle with rags on our backs."
"What?!" Olivier exclaimed in shock, "You are telling me, both of you appeared nowhere."
Elias gave a curt nod as he elegantly and swiftly emptied his plate."Yes, at first we were at a loss on how to proceed, but then two Bandit thugs appeared, whom we ambushed and relieved them of their clothes."
The trout followed soon after, delicately poached, its pale blue sheen resting beneath a glossy beurre blanc, bright with lemon and chives. Steam rose faintly from the dish, carrying a subtle richness.
"Son, you said that you are doing an escort mission. Who and where did you get that mission?"
Elias carefully chewed his food before answering his father, "Veronika and I came across a bandit hideout, which we infiltrated, and after a good fight, we captured it and then discovered many captives, and a steam-driven land train. The leader of the captives ordered us to escort them to the nearest frontier town, which is two hundred kilometres away."
The main course commanded the table, Venison Wellington, wrapped in golden pastry and layered with mushroom duxelles, was carved with precision. A deep red wine reduction glistened against the meat, while glazed root vegetables and smooth potato purée completed the plate.
It was a meal meant to be savoured, and Elias decided to do it justice.
"So that is why you are in a hurry," Friedrich spoke.
"Yes, as we both could not leave the train together, not to mention the quest reward depends on how many survivors I could escort safely, so I believe there is a chance of a hidden danger."
"I see, but the most important question remains: are you enjoying the game?"
Elias beamed at Friedrich's words as he spoke, "Enjoying, I am loving it. It feels as if I am in a different world, it is so nice, except for the weapons, the lack of hygiene and the horrendous food."
A frown formed on Elias's face as he spoke, "I hope the entire journey will be smoother."
Unknown to Elias, a danger was indeed brewing, sometime just after the land crawler left.
A group of people on horseback raced towards the hideout upon spotting the black smoke rising in the sky.
"Radomir, Miomir, and Vitomir quickly search the area and find out what happened to our hideout."
"Yes, Boss."
With a chorus, the trio immediately obeyed the orders as they dismounted from the horses, and tried to move near the hideout as roaring fire blazed out of control.
"Boss, I think we need to pull away from here. I can smell the drugs burning, and the last thing we want is to get high before we capture the attackers, and with how intense the fire is burning, it will take a miracle to douse the flames."
One of his subordinates helpfully pointed out.
Their leader gritted his teeth in anger as he commanded the trio back.
"You three come back to your horses, we are moving away from this place, the wind is shifting towards our direction."
The trio quickly returned, but from the slight redness in their eyes, the leader deduced that the trio had inhaled a bit of the gas.
"But, we have to find out what happened here, after all, we lost a large amount of goods." Radomir protested immediately.
While the leader rolled his eyes, clearly understanding the fact that Radomir just wanted to inhale more of the smoke.
"Enough, just apply your brain and think, where is the crawler?"
The trio were dumbfounded at their question, while the leader spoke with a snarl, "Someone dared to steal the crawler, and they must be in a good number."
"There are tracks on the ground, and the crawler is slow. We can catch up with it and retrieve our 'Iron Horse', along with capturing those daredevils who dared to show their fangs against us."
"Now let's go, and no one messes with the Snow Wolves."
"AWOOO-HA!"
The group chorused together before they began their chase.
Meanwhile, the lunch back in the real world was coming to an end, with the dessert arriving as a final note.
A delicate apricot and almond soufflé, light and perfectly risen, paired with chilled sabayon and small sugared confections.
Elias savoured it as he spoke, "Aunt Muriel is an amazing chef."
Helena smiled in agreement as she spoke, "That she is."
"Well, then, please excuse me. I will have to go and relieve Viktoria and maybe get a chance to drive the crawler again."
Elias, with the permission of his elders, swiftly left, returned to the pod and quickly logged back into the game.
Adrien opened his eyes as he stood up from his leaning position and approached Vera.
"I am back, and it is your time to return. Did anything happen during my absence?"
"Nope, just had a cup of steaming herbal tea."
"Oh, and how was it?"
"It was exquisite."
The expression on Vera's face told Adrien all he needed to know.
Vera went and sat back on Adrien's previous leaning position as she spoke, "I will be back soon."
"Don't worry, I will hold the fortress until you return."
Vera closed her eyes, and her avatar fell into deep sleep, while her real body woke up in her home.
Adrien, meanwhile, took a seat inside the rear wagon, which was the guard wagon and decided to conduct an inspection of his weapons.
━━━━━━━━━━━[ ITEM IDENTIFIED ]━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Sawback Machete
Type: Heavy Utility Blade
Rarity: Uncommon
Level Requirement:4
--
Attributes:
* Damage: 52
* Range: Short (melee)
--
Special: "Serrated Spine" – Can be used to saw through environmental obstacles or inflict bleed damage.
Durability:180/180
--
'Well, at least my newest melee weapon is a good one, and my newest guns are not pushovers.'
'A level four, uncommon Lever-Action Carbine, with a damage output of forty-eight, a capacity of six rounds and an extra round in the chamber.'
'My sidearm is a level four single-action revolver, and it kind of reminds me of the Frontier six-shooter, with a damage of forty-five, and the best part is that they both use similar kinds of ammunition, .44-40.'
'Although my rifle can use other varieties such as .45-70 along with various variations of .44-40, my sidearm is strictly limited to .44-40 and its variants.'
Adrien suddenly failed something amiss, as the forest suddenly felt not only too quiet, but he felt as if someone was watching him from the dark.
As such, Adrien quickly called one of the men working on the stove nearby and spoke, "Brother, I have a bad feeling, quickly go and tell the fighters to be alert."
The man did not hesitate, as he quickly moved to alert his companions, only to nearly topple over as the crawler came to an abrupt and emergency stop.
Adrien quickly stared out through the small window and barely spotted someone or something moving swiftly towards the crawler.
"AMBUSH!!!!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, as he took his rifle and fired at the dark silhouette.
Bang