The King's Mandate: Anomalous System

We are on our way home. Of course, we stopped by the café; I had to.

"I still can't believe those are from our school, and they are our seniors."

"I never got a chance to tell you."

"It's okay."

They are klutz in the real world too. If it were someone else who did that to me, I would have spilt two bowls of soup on them also.

"They apologised after that, so it's okay, right?"

It's not!

"What are their real names?"

"Robina's real name is Robena, and Biana's real name is Bianca."

"They removed a syllable from their name."

Still, better than mine!

"Most players use their real name or nickname."

"Yeah. That 'stupid dude' for example"

"I wonder what Ricky and Rikka's real names are?"

"Yeah, I wonder."

It's Riku and Rita.

"Your name is the only one that is lame."

"It's the name of your boyfriend."

"Who named you?"

"Mom did."

"It's an unusual name."

"Don't say that."

"But I don't hate it."

"Your name is weird too."

"It's not!"

"It is."

"My parents named me and Selena similar, so..."

"You are the older sister, right?"

"Yeah, by 7 minutes."

"They would have named you Selena."

"Do you like Selena more?"

"I don't. I am talking about the name"

"Do you like her name more?"

"Not exactly, but her name is better."

"Hmph"

"I answered, honestly. No need to get angry."

"Stupid Das"

"....."

"Hey Elena"

"I am angry."

"There is something I have to tell you."

"I am not listening."

"It's about the world 0 events."

"What about it?"

"Ricky and Rikka might not be able to participate, so that it will be just the two of us."

"Even if we go as a party, it will be counted individually."

"Yeah"

I should tell her about my skills too.

"You have to level up first, though"

"Yeah"

Calm down, Das. You can control yourself.

"What's wrong?"

"..."

I just remembered Lily. She was crying yesterday. Why does her crying face make me feel sad? It's not like I have never seen a girl cry. Lier also called that day. Elena has also cried in front of me many times; she cried for 30 minutes when I accepted her confession.

Why was Lily crying? Why was I holding her? I think I know why somehow I understand her feelings; it's like we are connected. Her crying face looked like she was scared of me, afraid of me, worried about me...it hurts. My chest hurts.

"Are you okay, Das? Your face looks like you are about to cry"

"Huh?"

Cry? And me? I have never shed a tear in my life. No matter how sad I was, I never cried. I wanted to cry, but tears just wouldn't come out.

"Das?"

"I am okay."

"We will play LWO at 4:00 PM, is that okay with you?"

"Yeah"

There is a raid today. We can participate in the evening raid today.

"Are we going to participate in the evening raid too?" I asked.

"No need."

"Why?"

"Ricky and Rikka will not be there. We can't do anything by ourselves"

"I see."

"We will just level up today."

"Okay"

There is no need to level up. I have decided I will score 1st in today's raid, all by myself.

"Hey Das"

"Hmm?"

"Can you kiss me?"

"Huh?"

"No, I mean, it's okay if you don't want to. I just wanted to...kiss you."

"If you want to kiss me, then there is no need to ask; you can kiss me anytime."

"I want...you to kiss me. In the morning, you kissed me so..."

"Okay"

She closed her eyes and leaned forward.

We are right outside her house. If her parents see us...

"Kiss me."

I kissed her. She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me back.

"Thanks"

.

.

.

.

.

After reaching home and eating lunch, I logged into the game and levelled up with Elena for 4 hours. Elena logged out. I am still in the game.

Lily wasn't there; she didn't come. She didn't greet me like she always does. She didn't sit on my head. She didn't pull my hair. She didn't annoy me. She just sent me a message saying, 'I am near you.'

"I scared her, didn't I? I am sure she hates me now."

[No]

"Lily?"

[I don't hate you]

"Lily"

[I was just...]

"I am sorry about yesterday. I don't know what I did, but I hurt you."

[No. It's not like that. If I stay with you then you will have trouble]

"I should be the one saying that"

If the developer catches anything weird, they will get rid of Lily. I will not allow that.

[Adas]

"Yes?"

[No need to worry about me. Even if something happens to me, I am happy that I got to meet you]

"Say that again, and I will hit you. Listen carefully; I shall not let anyone do anything to you; it's a promise of Das Edens."

[Thanks. I love you]

"..."

The evening raid is already over. There are still 2 hours until the night raid.

[Are you going to participate in the night raid?]

"Yes"

[Adas. About your stats]

"No need to worry about that."

[Okay]

"Hey Lily, you can access the database, right?"

[Yes]

"Is the information of World 0 added in the database now?"

[They added it in the morning]

"Is everything the same?"

[What do you mean?]

"There is no mention of Skill Faker, Skill Excalibur, or that overcoat, right?"

[Yeah]

"Is it possible that they removed it after we cleared the world 0?"

[If they did that, it should still be in the database. I can't find it anywhere]

"Thanks for the information."

[Can I ask you why did you suddenly go crazy yesterday?]

"It's because of Skill Faker"

[What's wrong with the skill?]

"We used to think that Skill Faker fakes stats, but we were mistaken"

[What does it do?]

"I will show you."

I opened my stats,

"Tell me a random 3-digit number."

[456]

My ATK is 320; I changed it to 456.

"This is what the skill does."

[It lets you change the stats however you want]

"Yeah"

[That means there is no need to level up]

"Even if I level up, the stats will not change."

[Should we report it to the developer?]

"No need. I will not use this skill. I will clear the raid without changing the current stats."

[Will you be able to fight by yourself?]

"My stats don't increase. My stats are indefinite; I am either the strongest or the weakest."

[Someone might report you]

"Yeah"

I need to hide it, but how? I can wear something, something like a mask.

"Hey, Lily. If I want a mask, then what should I do?"

[Give the material to someone who has Craft skill]

"I know that, but I don't have money."

[You can ask someone who has Craft skill]

"Someone who has...Rikka"

[Yes, she has that skill]

"But she is busy with her exam."

[There is one more person in your friend list who has that skill]

"Who is it?"

[Robna]

"...."