Volume 2 Chapter 1: Aim To Be The Strongest

Landon had just woken up, but was unable to move. He sat there while
thinking of the adventure he had just undergone. While it may have
been a rough ride for him, it was undoubtedly the most exhilarating
time of his life. The only thing he wanted to do was dive right back
in and see the results of the quest! Seeing as how he died and has to
wait 24 hours how could he? Landon could only sit in the Box unit
refusing to leave the seat looking through his memories over and over
again, it was official he had a lot of fun. Now that he had started
[Second Saga] there was no way he could stop. Regardless of the
misfortune that happened, making new friends, the gear the escape from
the village, the stampede, everything was a moment of fun to him.
However even though he had fun he remembered his family, those he had
to take care of. So no matter how much of a ‘game’ it was to others,
that didn’t apply to Landon, it was now his life. It was time to start
leveling more seriously; he needed to find rare gear, not just gear
that pertained to his class, but other classes as well so he could
sell it off for money. The Old man was right, the faster he became a
Core gamer the easier it would be to sell off the gear. The reason for
this was because then he could choose the right time when the majority
of players reached that level, that way the price would only lead to a
bidding war. After being encouraged to try harder, Landon got up and
went to sleep.

The next morning Landon thankfully woke up on time. He got dressed in
his everyday no name clothing that begged people to call him poor.
This was something Landon was used too; people would stare at him like
he was a freak of nature, but it didn’t matter because that was the
life he lived and he was happy with it.

Ding ding.

“Good morning~”

An energetic voice welcomed Landon, but instead of being overly happy
about such a greeting he was instead staring at the owner of the
voice. It was a young girl, with her hair tied back into a ponytail
and bright blue eyes, energetically walking about serving customers.

“Brother what’s wrong?”

That’s right the owner of the voice was his sister, Azla; that’s not
all either as Lisa was also there in a server’s apron. Both of his
sister’s were working at the Old man’s restaurant and Landon, who was
shocked, stared at this situation due to the fact he did not know what
to make of it.

“Ah, you’re here squirt. Sit down and have some breakfast; you rushed
to work today and didn’t eat right?”

“Uh…Yeah… Old man why did you kidnap my sisters and force them
into child labour?”

“Hey, even as a joke that one hurts my pride. I would never do that to
a couple of pretty young girls.”

“Pervert.”

“What did you say Steve? Better yet why are you here this early in the
morning; you’re not welcome, leave.”

“Hey don’t you think that’s a bit rude, I’m a paying customer after all!”

“The hell you are, you haven’t paid for a single thing ever since you
started coming here.”

“Oh really?”

“Both of you are going to scare the customers off. If you continue,
you know what will happen right?”

“…Right”

The two old men just sulked and agreed with Sarah who came from
upstairs. She looked towards Landon and his sisters then she said.

“Actually they decided to work here for their older brother, aren’t
you lucky to be looked after like this?”

“Huh? That makes no sense I still have bills to pay after all?”

“Ah brother, don’t worry you’ll still be getting the money!”

Lisa responded to his confusion with a bashful smile.

“Why…?”

He was too confused, it was too sudden after all, but before he could
think clearly Azla continued.

“Because we want to help you after all, we know you’ve been working
hard for us for a long time; therefore we want to help you a little as
well. This will give you time to play [Second Saga] and help us more
right? So just think of it as a deposit~”

“Brat, here’s your food so quickly eat and get out of here. I don’t
want to hear any arguments; your foster parents already agreed, but
you still have to work Saturdays with Sarah.”

“Wait Sarah isn’t working either?”

“Nope! I’ve been working here since I was a kid after all, so I’m
taking my long overdue holiday indefinitely.”

“But sweetiee!”

Sarah only ignored her father and quickly went back upstairs. Her box
unit had just arrived, thus she was excited to try it out immediately.

“That’s how it is Brother, so eat and leave~”

Azla quickly shoved a plate filled with bacon, eggs, and toast into
Landon’s hands, while Liza pushed him down into a chair. Now that he
thought about it he did eat a light meal last night, it would be
better for him to take the offer and leave; after all his sisters
looked like they were enjoying themselves and it made him slightly
happy they wanted to help.

“But… We both decided that on Sundays you have to give us your
attention and can’t play your game alright!?”

Lisa quietly whispered so only he and Azla could hear. Landon only
nodded and wolfed down his food. It only took a few minutes to finish,
and naturally his sisters couldn’t stay and chat as they were still
working. It may not have been busy at the shop today, but they were
clearly new thus it took a bit longer to take orders. Even still the
customers didn’t seem to mind, instead they encouraged the girls if
they made a mistake; it was a heartwarming scene.

“Alright, well I won’t thank you as you’re getting your reward later.
Take care girls, and don’t let this Old man give you any candy!”

“”Ooookaaay~””

“Hey, what kind of person do you think I..”

Before the Old man could finish Landon had already left, while Steve
had stared at Michael before calling out to him.

“Didn’t you want to ask him about [Second Saga]?”

“…”

The Old man silently wept to himself depressed.

—————————–

As Landon was walking home he forget one piece of information, even if
he did have the day off, he still died in the game and couldn’t play!

‘Guess I’ll just go wander the supermarket and look for cheap deals’

Depressed, Landon walked home with a slow unmotivated pace.

———————————

“Haaah… It’s finally time. I made a big dinner, and I don’t need to
worry about working until Saturday; as that’s 4 days away I can dive
all day only stopping to eat and sleep. Okay Start!”

Landon, who was sitting in the Box unit, called out as his
consciousness was cut. He soon woke back up in the church for the 3rd
time. He wasn’t sure if this was the only place he would respawn, as
every time he played the game he had always died before logging out.

As he exited the church the loud chatter was even louder than normal,
when he tried to overhear the topics he was somewhat embarrassed.

“Hey did you know who that man was that brought the stampede?”
“No, but he was amazing what a hero! If it wasn’t’ for him this city
would have been destroyed!”
“I didn’t get to see his face…but do you remember the rumours about
that amazing swordsman yesterday called Shadow? Apparently people are
saying it was him!”
“Do they remember what he looked like?”
“That’s just the thing, everyone has forgotten! People are also saying
he used bewitching potions to make them forget so he could remain
anonymous!”
“Oooh…as expected of a hero like Shadow.”

‘No, like seriously who would even take the effort to make hundreds of
potions to make users forget my face’

Is what Hydra wanted to say, but clearly it didn’t matter much. People
now only knew him by nickname so he could roam freely, only he would
have to be careful about how he used his [Shadow Arm] as to not
attract too much attention to himself from now on.

“Maybe I should whisper Rina and them, starting the game with them
would be fun after all!”

As Hydra called out to Rina there was no response, thus he decided to
message Lila, and likewise he was ignored.

‘Strange it says they are online…are they in a boss fight or something?’

He tried one last time to Goliath, as he enjoyed getting attention
because he was usually ignored.

‘Hydra…’

‘Yes! He answered okay let’s see…’

But before he could get return a response Goliath messaged him first.

‘We have decided to venture out by ourselves. We are going to create
the strongest guild together. When we do, we will come find you; in
the meantime, you must become the strongest player in [Second Saga]
otherwise we will never fight together again!’

‘Huh? What’s this suppose to mean!’

Hydra was confused, for the second time today he was dumbfounded. He
had no idea how to respond, but when he thought to ask a return
message came saying he was blocked!

‘Urgh. I don’t get it, but I know you guys aren’t the type to do
anything without a reason. So all I have to do is become the strongest
right? Sounds good. Let’s do it!’