Ice lowered his eyes and wordlessly pursed his lips. He handed the book to a surprised Spiderlily as he stood up. When he walked towards the door, Bloody quickly caught up, grabbing him by the fingers.
The beastman didn’t say anything, merely catching Ice’s eye. When the mage did not reject him, Bloody motioned towards the others.
“We’ll check the other books”, Blackstone offered.
Bloody gave her a lopsided smile, hurrying after Ice.
Upstairs, Alexa And Cassandra raised their heads when they heard steps. Ice bowed towards them, not speaking, and Alexa turned her head away. Cassandra sighed audibly at the uncomfortable mood hovering around the ice mage.
With quick, large steps, the elf made his way out. Out of the house, following down the street, all the way to the end of the cave. Moss was growing in place of grass, a natural source of oxygen, forming a green ring at the edge.
Ice only felt better when he was far into the mossy area, far from other players or NPCs. Haven was being too loud for his own thoughts right now, and yet he didn’t even consider logging off.
The moss sunk in under his shoes, a nice scent wafting up. He knew he was being followed by Bloody, but the beastman did not talk for a long time.
Bloodless Sunset walked next to the Ice Emperor, leisurely looking around. At one step, he leaned over, bumping lightly against Ice’s shoulder and shooting him a surprisingly soft smile. “I know you might not want to talk, but if you want to, I’ll listen.”
“It’s stupid”, Ice blurted out.
“That’s okay. Stupid things can also trouble us. But talking about them helps, sometimes.”
Ice stopped. He lowered his head into his hands, dragging them over it. Bloody stopped walking as well, waiting for Ice to speak.
In a way, Ice wanted someone to listen, so he awkwardly considered what to say.
“I don’t know.” Finally, Ice decided to speak. “I just have this ridiculous thought on where this is all going, but it’s just… so nonsensical. I don’t know anymore. Ever since we’ve run into Tiamat, I don’t know what’s going on. I’m not sure if I can still separate reality from fiction. Maybe I’m really too deep into all of this?”
“Hmm.” Bloody rubbed his neck. “You did say something about the AIs before, didn’t you? You know, I don’t think you were completely wrong. It’s hard to say where a person starts and ends. And, I mean, in a way, Haven is these AIs’ world, right? Their own reality. That’s why Haven is so popular.”
“I simply have a hunch, that’s all. There’s not even a logical explanation for my thoughts. It’s like half an idea.”
“But it’s possible, right? Whatever it is.” Bloody stretched his arms, not looking at Ice to avoid him feeling watched at this moment. “It’s fine. People have always loved making up theories about games. Finding clues, stringing them together. Some theories are for fun, some are serious. Some might be completely out there, or actually hit the mark. You’re playing Haven for fun, right? Then theorize as much as you want. We will find out whether it’s the truth or not.”
“…I’m worried”, Ice whispered after a long pause. “I’m scared I’m losing myself in delusions.”
He had a history with mental illness, after all. What if it had developed into a new direction? Away from social anxiety, and into the belief that a fictional world was real?
Bloody didn’t respond right away. His eyebrows scrunched in thought, taking Ice’s words seriously. “Let’s finish this quest first. We will see how it ends, and how you deal with it. If you feel you’re still having issues afterwards, maybe you can contact a professional?”
Well, there was Professor Han, who was basically waiting for him to talk about Haven. In the one session they had had up until now, Ice had decisively avoided the topic. However, it wasn’t wrong that if he thought he should talk, there was a professional waiting for him.
“Also, I’m always around to listen. I probably can’t help, but I’m around!” Bloody laughed sheepishly. “Do you want to tell me your theory?”
Ice shook his head. “Not yet. But… it’s about Tiamat, I guess. Her identity.”
“Isn’t she a dragon?”
Ice pursed his lips. “Yes. At least, that should be one part. One part of four, if I’m right.”
Bloody whistled. “Four? What are the other three? …I guess, her being the god here could be one?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Pmf cbvvfv.
That was the second identity he had a feeling she had. The creator who had left behind her people and went into hiding, like the dragon deep inside the abyss. A miserable being that wanted the perfect Foreigner Ice to stay with her, or a fixed castle owner.
“P’w cba ublcu ab qgs, yea mjc sbe ulnf wf j tlca bc atf batfg akb lvfcalalfr?”
Pmf aegcfv tlr fsfr jkjs, rajglcu lcab atf vlrajcmf. “…Gb sbe xcbk atf bglulc bo atf cjwf Kljwja?”
“Let? Prc’a la pera j ojcajrs cjwf?”
Pmf rtbbx tlr tfjv.
As he began to start walking again, Bloody noticed that the conversation was at the end. Quickly, he changed the topic. “By the way, Absinth and Woodcutter appear to be close to the castle by now. I’m curious how that will play out.”
“Probably as a catastrophe.”
“That guy is just insane. He always treated himself as the main character.” Bloody rolled his eyes, not noticing Ice’s eyebrows furrowing a tiny bit. “Haven is like the perfect playground for him.”
“Are you watching him often?”
“Me? I sure am. How else am I supposed to avoid him, if I don’t know what he’s doing? Know your friends well, but your enemies better.”
“You don’t miss him?”
The beastman coughed as if he had choked. “Seriously?! He treated me like shit! Hell nah! The next partner I find has to be someone kind, who respects me.”
Towards the end, the warrior’s voice grew more quiet. His ears flicked, causing his furry hair to move along with it.
“You deserve it”, Ice mumbled, prompting Bloody to give a very awkward chuckle.
“It’s always good to surround yourself with positive people”, Bloody said, taking a very general turn. “It’s like how most people in my guild are friends of friends. It makes the whole atmosphere better.”
“Your friends are a fun group.”
“They sure are.”
Bloody’s path was formed like a snake’s, going left and right in big sways. Ice naturally slowed down his pace to match Bloody, who wasn’t walking forward in a straight line.
“Uhmmm…” Bloody trailed next to Ice, licking his lips. Even the mage could tell that his friend was a bit nervous – the fidgety behaviour of the beastpeople was enhanced even more. “Soooo… Once the quest is over, you’ll probably go back to levelling?”
Ice didn’t know what the question was for, but he nodded. Considering the question further for a moment, he gave a more elaborate answer. “I want to fill in the map for the mountain and reach the maximum level again. After that, I’ll go back to gathering materials. If I can, I will work on my house.”
“That sounds like a great plan.” Bloody’s reply felt oddly perfunctory, as if he would have said it no matter what Ice’s plans were.
There was a short lull in their conversation.
Bloody fiddled with his fingers.
The main reason why the two of them had only spent this much time together since the beginning of the quest was not because they wouldn’t have wanted to do more things together. Bloody had always been the one to run right to Ice whenever he had a chance, and Ice rarely rejected him. Obviously, they liked playing together.
It was mainly because Bloodless Sunset had his guild – he had responsibility, and as fun as running around was, as much as people loved the Ice Emperor, they still wanted their leader to also focus on his own guild.
Once the quest was over, that responsibility would return.
“I was thinking… Maybe you could consider it again? Joining my guild, I mean. It’s because-”
“…Okay.”
“-then we could go to dungeons together, and you could play along in guild wars, and the guild events. It’s pretty fun, really.”
Ice felt kind of ignored.
“Of course I wouldn’t expect you to do the usual partying stuff. You’re a VIP! You could just join whenever you like and if you don’t, it’s fine. I just… think it would be nice? You said you’d consider it, so no drawbacks!”
Ice stopped walking. Bloody also stopped, though more awkwardly.
“No, I meant… Okay. I’ll join.”
There wasn’t a hint of awkwardness on Ice’s face, but Bloody could see it anyway. Maybe the mage would have preferred not explaining himself, but he still made an effort to correct the beastman’s misunderstanding.
“…Seriously?”
“…Mn.”
“You’ll seriously join my guild?!”
“…After the quest.”
Ice turned his eyes away, looking out into the city.
Bloody squeaked. It was a bit of an animalistic sound, a lot like a yip. Before Ice knew what was happening, the warrior had thrown his arms around the mage’s neck.
“Awesome! I’m so gonna- …Alright, no, I’m not gonna boast to anyone but I’m going to think it!”
Ah, what a shame. To have the Ice Emperor join his guild and not throw forum posts everywhere. As tempted as he was, there was no way he’d put Ice through that – the mage would hate it.
Ice felt a soft, furry ear nuzzle against his cheek. It wasn’t odd for the perfect roleplay of Haven to result in people getting too caught up in their species and job, but… Well, that didn’t make it less embarrassing to have Bloody rub their faces together.
Not that he was going to comment on it.
When Bloody pulled back, his tail was wagging. The beastman noticed it himself, laughing and pointing at it. “If we play another game sometime, you gotta be a beastman. It’s evil if only I have ears and a tail.”
Ice touched his head.
“It’d look weird.”
“It wouldn’t! Promise me you’ll consider a beastman, kay?”
Ice gave in. “I will.”
Bloody beamed. The bright smile was a bit blinding, enough for the mage to turn away.
They had to focus on the quest.
Together, they walked back to the Machinas’ house.
Blackstone, Little Droplet, Dead Rabbit and Spiderlily had just left the basement. Alexa was locking up behind them.
“Your expressions tell me everything”, Alexa mumbled to herself. “I want nothing to do with it.”
“We’ll keep our oath. Thanks for letting us check, it was very helpful.” Blackstone gave a formal dwarven bow that Alexa returned.
“If there’s something else, you can always come by. Dragons are good beings, so if one has decided to ask you for help, you must be good people as well”, Cassandra offered. “It’s not easy to find nice and honest people nowadays.”
“I couldn’t agree more”, Blackstone burst out. She pat Ice’s leg, winking at him. Ice was oddly reminded of her true looks and felt a bit embarrassed. “That’s why this guy here is the one who got the quest. You won’t find another sweetheart like him anywhere.”
Cassandra giggled. “I’ll fight that with my wife!”
“Fair enough!”
While Blackstone was laughing, Bloody pouted. Ice raised an eyebrow at him, but the beastman acted like he didn’t see it. Behind the two, Dead Rabbit was baring his teeth unhappily.
Their farewells went surprisingly well. Blackstone hit it off with Cassandra, who insisted that the other visit once in a while.
Outside, Dead Rabbit clapped his hands together. “So? What’s the next step?”
“Let’s go to my guild. We can sit together and discuss our plans over a good meal and a better map. I also need to take care of a quick thing or two…” Bloody was whining, annoyed at being interrupted during their quest.
“Sounds like a good idea.”
No one complained.
Ultimately, they decided to leave in the morning. For the night, they were all going to log off.
***
Jian Lin and Xi Yang were both taking their break and eating when it happened. Everyone in their group had Woodcutter’s stream running whenever they were offline, watching the man’s movements.
On the screen, Woodcutter stood proudly – well-built, handsome. The scales on his neck and arms were shining in the sunlight like natural armor. Frankly speaking, he looked like a protagonist, even more so with his determined and confident grin.
“It’s the last bit”, Woodcutter explained for the viewers. Due to the rest of the group intervening, it had taken him much longer to reach the castle than expected – also because Absinth hadn’t taken notes of the path as well as she could have.
The last flakes of snow from the blizzard fluttered around Woodcutter, dramatically creating a scene. White Light was nowhere to be seen, having been killed by Woodcutter already.
“Now, the last path opens up when-”
Woodcutter’s face halted. The warrior’s eyes widened in surprise, turned somewhere further away. The intelligent camera lowered to hover behind him, taking a cinematic shot of what the ranker was seeing.
Author’s Note
At this point, you can give yourself a spoiler by googling the meaning of Tiamat. Or you just wait patiently for another short while!
THANK YOU FOR THE CHAPTER
so glad i woke up earlier lmao
not gonna spoil myself with Tiamats name bc too lazy to search it up lol
Bloody tryna convince Ice to join the guild is so cute wjsjds
ICE WITH EARS AND TAILLL i wanna draw ittttt
Floofy Ice. It’s an upgrade
VIOLENT COUGHS
ik i already drew fluffy ice a few hours ago but
quick fluffy kitten ice ueeee
All floofy Ice is good Ice. xD
Beastman Ice…..I’m thinking a cold white fox with three or more tails 🥺👉👈
I’ll wait patiently! XD
I just know that Tiamat is i.a. a monster in Final Fantasy or a band xD For others, can’t remember and so will wait for it x3
Aww~ fluffy Ice, would be nice :3 (That rhymes lol)
Thx for the ch ٩( >ヮ<)۶
Bloody is so dang cute!
thanks for the chapter <3
Thank you for the chapter 💜