Smith to the Front Lines
-Chapter 2 -
Everyone's true self was revealed. Men turned out to be scrawnier or fatter than they initially appeared, several people shrank, and even a few of the girls turned out to be boys themselves. Every screamed for one reason or another but I was still screaming over the images I had just witnessed. "Poor Gregor," I mumbled through the sobbing. I threw my head back, "What have I done!" I noticed the players in my peripheral had backed away from me and I started to look around. A few of them seemed to be unfamiliar, who had simply been surprised by my screaming, while I recognized a few from the scene at the market. Tears welled up in my eyes as I saw the realization that I had come to appear in their faces as well. I could feel their revulsion at me twice as powerful.
"You're the one who murdered that dude in the market!" yelled one, "Everyone! This guy killed someone, he's a monster!" He even tried to swing at me, but a hexagonal prompt blocked him. 'No fighting in safe zones!' it read. It didn't stop him. He wailed on it, trying to break through and actually hit me. I looked up into his eyes, nothing but hate and rage. He finally stopped and, as he glared at me, opened up his window: sending me a request for a total loss duel. Part of me wanted to whimper and reject it, keep on living. But how could I after what I had done.
I reached for the accept button and just before I did I was stopped by a hand. Soft and delicate she held firm as I resisted her, oddly strong for how small she was. I looked up into her purple eyes and she stared back at me. They were fierce and strong, she never let them falter from mine even as she shook her head no. Her thick, long silver hair blocked the view of the man behind her still requesting the duel who berated her with insults as well. "How are you going to let this bastard live? He's a cold blooded killer!"
"Well what would that make you exactly!?" she yelled as she whipped her head at him, "You can't be so hypocritical and awful that you think killing him would make anything better! That player is gone! I'm sure he didn't know that by winning the fight he would have actually taken that guys life, look at how he's crying now! Each life left in this game is precious and we can't just throw them away!"
He stood there motionless, regretting what he had said and done, if only just a little bit. I could see he still hated me and thought I deserved it, but wasn't the type to actually kill someone.
I stood up with her assistance. "Thanks for stopping me back there," I almost whispered, "I don't know why you would –
"You wanna be a blacksmith right? I saw you looking at hammers before the duel, that's why you did it huh?" She asked.
Flabbergasted, "Ye..Yeah, I can't smith anything besides trinkets with this one," I said, turning and tilting the hammer I still hadn't replaced, "with that one I could start working on basic weapons and tools to increase my blacksmith level. Why do you ask?"
"You seem to know a bit about this game coming in, and you were passionate enough that you wanted to start as soon as possible. If we are going to beat this game we need to have someone to rely on when it comes to repairs and some serious weapons. Don't give up yet, we're going to need each one of us to topple this place."
I nodded my head and asked, "Who are you?"
"My name is Alexandria," she said with a smile, "a katana wielder, who will be in need of a good blacksmith. We should be friends and party up so we can keep in touch!" She was incredibly excited now, which given what just happened moments ago seemed more relaxing and even brought a smile to my face.
"Sure!" I said as I sent the requests. She giddily accepted them and her name appeared in front of me as a member of my party.