-Oooooooooong.

They came back to the virtual world.

And before them was a pretty scene quite different from the ones they had opened their eyes to after logging back into the game.

“It’s… pretty.”

The first thing that greeted them was the soft, salty breeze that drifted in through the open balcony doors.

-Swiiiiiiiish…

The air was cool and crisp, carrying with it the unmistakable freshness of the sea. Stepping forward, they could see the entire coastal city unfold beneath them from this high floor of their inn, the rooftops of buildings clustered below like scattered tiles.

Beyond, the vast ocean stretched endlessly toward the horizon, a shimmering blue that seemed to merge with the sky in the distance. The evening sunlight danced across the surface of the water, casting glimmering silver patterns as gentle waves rolled toward the distant shore.

“It can be much prettier, you know? You’ll find it unbelievable when you wake up to the eastern birds of paradise, hehe.”

Seagulls swooping in the distance, their cries lost in the soothing sound of the ocean breeze.

The air smelled of brine and seaweed, with just a hint of the city’s distant markets, but it was dominated by the clean, invigorating freshness of the water.

Far out at sea, a few ships were tiny specks against the horizon, their sails catching the wind as they drifted along peacefully, some unique ones strangely standing out, even against the grand horizon…

“I don’t know how that’d feel but it must be quite something as well, huh? Well… this is still pretty.”

The whole scene exuded a sense of calm and vastness, as if the world beyond the inn was waiting to be explored, yet offered a tranquil escape from the noise and bustle below.

“I’d definitely pay to live in a place like this.”

This was a famous inn, one of the most famous in this entire place, however, they did not pay to get this special room, and they also did not pay anything for the other room that they got for Miss Rin and Misha.

The workers of the place recognised Alex at a glance and called the manager who escorted them to these rooms personally.

When Elio asked for how much their stay was going to cost, the manager laughed and said he valued his life more than any kind of money that he can ask from

Her.

He wasn’t necessarily afraid of Alex, but simply the force that was she followed her in this place…

“Let’s go down.”

“Yeah. They must be waiting-.”

“I mean let’s go Down.” Alex was being playful, so Elio looked at her with a stunned look for a moment and just shook his head before walking out of the room.

“Hey~.”

She once took down one of the most notorious pirate groups’ captains and made him submit to her.

This particular pirate group was one of the strongest who had a great control over this city, and the captain of the pirates was a grandmaster, one of the few in the entire continent.

And yet she defeated him… how? No one knows.

But every member of the crew of those pirates was Farid of her, and their fear of hers wasn’t something simple either. They simply could not help but be respectful to her, something anyone mentioning even her name before them could observe.

No one really knew why they treated her like that, but they knew there was something special about her…

Perhaps, that was the reason the captain of these pirates, one of the most notorious individuals of this city, the captain of the Black Hawk Brigade, was waiting for her and her companions downstairs.

“Lady Roxanna, greetings.”

“Oh! Oh! Mommy! Look! A big beard!”

“Miu!”

“Muuuuu!”

The pirate was a striking, compact figure, standing only around 5 feet tall but with an imposing presence.

His wild, thick beard stretched almost to the ground, tangled with bits of gold threads and trinkets, giving him an eccentric yet intimidating look.

His hair, cut short and disheveled, peeked out from under a weathered tricorn hat that sported a faded purple cross.

His dark, deep-set eyes gleamed with respect and awe as he stood before them, framed by a face lined with the scars of countless challenging battles.

On his back, he carried a massive, weather-beaten hammer, the head of which was adorned with ancient engravings of sea serpents and storms, hinting at some long-lost archaic truth.

His attire was a mix of patchwork leathers and cloths, with a belt lined with small pouches and a few rusted daggers, most of which were either a very special item, or a special item bound to him.

“Howdy, GM~?”

Though small in stature, the pirate exuded strength and confidence, his mere presence in this inn’s lobby attracting unquestioned attention…

He was strong, it was so obvious that not even the famous adventurers that were staying in this costly place even dared to go before him.

He was also not alone in this place, right outside of this inn stood half of his crew, people that could single handedly take on mythical monsters of the sea that one could only ever hear the stories of.

Bards in various parts of the continent even sang of their certain tales, with their victory over a (Silver Fish) known even in the other continents.

“You should have told us if you were coming, we would have made preparations.”

He was someone that could very well go against even the high rankers, and yet as he stood before him, there was not even a hint of arrogance on him.

He could tell she wasn’t as strong as she was when she defeated him a few years ago, but that did not matter.

“There’s no need for all that. You people do too much anyway. We can just have a beer together. That’s more than enough party for me.”

She knew if this person was standing before him, there was always a chance that she could defeat him just the way she had defeated him all those years ago.

But fighting wasn’t the only thing she was good at… he had learned some of the biggest lessons of his life from her.

“Haha, you’re still the same.”

She was a respectful individual even without her fighting skills, even without her powers, even without her abilities.

Just her presence was something the people around her, those who knew her for her character looked up to…

There weren’t many Truth chasers in this world as tenacious, smart, and stubborn as her.

She had saved his life more than once, she had saved the life of his people, his family, his crew… all that was more than enough to earn his eternal respect.

“Anyway, I heard you people met a certain dark knight with a unique horse? What’re you doing with Odin?”

“Hmmm?”

Just a minute ago, Misha told them that she saw the person who had been with them when they were at Eve’s house.

The dark knight uncle that had a pretty horse, she said. And then she told her how she saw some people with purple hats chasing after him…

It was strange since both Alex and Elio guessed who she might be talking about, but then again, only she knew about these purple hat people.

“You know that bastard, Lady Roxanna?”

“I know him? Well of course I know him. What did he do though? Why did the Hat platoon go after him?” Read exclusive adventures at My Virtual Library Empire

It had been a while since they last saw Odin.

Elio had actually never seen him after That day. He had certainly received many messages from him IRL, but not in the game. Not even after he came back recently.

Elio was wondering whether he even knew about him or not. But now that they were hearing about his presence in this faraway place, it seems like he was having his own troubles.

“If it weren’t for you telling us that, I swear I would have gone to find him myself. That bastard sunk Qlipot! A few back, he came out of nowhere on his horse that was running on water and even though it seemed like he had control over his horse, he crashed right into our ship!”

For a pirate, their ship was one of the most important things. It was not only their house, it was a partner with whom they spent a significant part of their lives.

Some found friends and formed families on these ships, and the one that this person was talking about was more than a hundred years old. A ship on which his nephews and nieces were born.

It had not sunk in the hundred years that he had sailed in it. Not even the strongest monsters and the wildest storms of the sea had broken that piece of dragonwood.

But a horse sank it?

“He did what…?”

Just until a while ago, Odin was a simple dark knight that had just recently obtained his familiar.

They did not see him after he left Alex and the capital because of some quest of his own, but he surely should not be strong enough to make an enemy out of a fleet as big as theirs.

“Can you tell me a little more…” Alex did not know what kind of trouble he had caused but that ship was more important to this person than his own life.

And if Odin did something as crazy as sinking it, that bastard was definitely in trouble.

She did not know if he did it on purpose or not, but it did not matter at this point.

He will have to pay for what he had done, even if there was a deep reason behind his actions.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep