Chapter 7

Waking up while stretching, Lia pushed herself to her feet. Opening her menu, she equipped her armor and weapon before leaving her room. Walking down to the room Michael had rented, she knocked three times.

"Mikey, you up?" Lia called. "C'mon, we gotta get going."

After waiting around two minutes, she assumed he was still asleep. Opening her menu, Lia sent him a message saying she'll be hunting monsters in the fields.

A few minutes later

Killing monster after monster, Lia decided to take a break. Sitting down next to a tree, she opened her menu to see the items she got from her hunt. Figuring they'd make a bit of profit, she got up and began heading back to town.

As she made her way back, she felt as though she was being watched, thanks to her high detection skill. Looking around, she saw a figure quickly dart behind a tree.

Not wanting to stick around to see what'd happen next, Lia pulled out a teleport crystal. "Teleport: Lindas." she whispered so her stalker wouldn't hear.

With a flash of blue light, Lia was transported to the 48th floor. Blinking a few times, she began to explore the village. Opening her menu as she walked, she was about to send Michael a message when she came across a blacksmith shop that had a familiar name.

"Lisbeth..." Lia said softly.

With Michael telling Lia he was helping Lis, this was the most likely spot he was. Approaching the building, she entered the shop, the bell above the door ringing as it opened.

After a few seconds, Lis appeared behind the counter. "Welcome to Lisbeth's Blacksmith Shop!" Lis said proudly. "How may I-" upon seeing who the customer was, Lis abruptly stopped. "Oh. Hey, Lia!"

"Hey." Lia greeted back. "Do you know where my brother is?"

"Oh yeah, he's-"

"Lia?" Michael said as he appeared from the door beside Lis. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Where have you been?!" Lia practically shouted. "It can't take a full day to set up a shop!"

Michael rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, we did set up the shop rather quickly but Lis needed help with something else. She needed me to stick around a bit longer."

Lis' face immediately turned to a dark shade of red as she looked away.

Lia looked from Michael to Lis, a look of confusion on her face.

"Anyway, what's wrong?" Michael asked, changing the subject.

"Some weirdo was stalking me while I was out hunting!" Lia replied. "I teleported here as soon as I noticed the creep."

Michael's eyes widened. "You're okay though, right?"

"Well, yeah." Lia crossed her arms. "There was also some guy that asked me about you yesterday, too."

"What'd he look like?"

"I couldn't see his face but he wore a long black robe." Lia replied, remembering the man's appearance. "He was pretty creepy."

"Do you think it might'a been the same person?" Michael asked.

Lia shrugged her shoulders. "Probably."

Michael rubbed his chin in thought. "Might be best to avoid anyone with that description. Might be part of the Laughing Coffin."

"Laughing Coffin?" Lis repeated. "The murder guild?"

Michael glanced at Lis. "Yeah. They usually kill for money, but they also kill just because." Michael ran a hand through his hair. "Damnit..."

"What should we do?" Lia asked.

Michael crossed his arms and closed his eyes as he thought about it. "If we're truly targets, I can't risk us getting caught alone."

"What're you planning?" Lia asked.

"Maybe if we..." Michael began to nod to himself. "Yeah... That'd be perfect. Or... Maybe... Aergh... We're already on the frontlines... And we'd also have plenty of protection if the Laughing Coffin tried to attack... Yeah. Yeah, okay."

"What?!" Lia asked, getting impatient.

"We need to talk to a friend." Michael said before turning to Lis. "We gotta go. Give me a call if you're ever in a jam, yeah?"

"Yeah." Lis nodded. "Thanks again for last night." she added as Michael pulled out a teleport crystal, prompting Lia to do the same.

"Remember what you said." Michael told her. "No strings attached."

With that, and a two finger wave, Michael looked at Lia before raising his crystal. "Teleport: Granzam."

In a flash of light, Michael and Lia were transported to Granzam on the fifty-fifth floor.

"What're we doing here?" Lia asked.

"I need to have a chat with Heathcliff." Michael replied. "But I want to make sure we get an audience with him." opening his menu, Michael scrolled through his friends list until he came to a familiar name. "I'm gonna call in a favor from Asuna."

End of chapter 7