The Mystery of the Urban Legend III

---Chapter 7: The Mystery of the Urban Legend III

One evening, in the bustling commercial district of the capital city, Rokugo swiftly made his way towards a certain destination, weaving back and forth between the other players as he went. It seems he had arranged a meeting with a certain player, and was on his way to meet up with them now. After entering an alleyway, he made his way down a flight of stairs into a small pub in the basement of one of the buildings.

Inside was the bartender NPC, as well as one player seated at a table in the back. Because this location was pretty small and out of the way, many players didn’t really know about it, while those who’d played the game for a while knew of it as a good spot for quick meetups you may not want others to see. Although he didn’t specifically require privacy, Rokugo erred on the side of caution and chose this location anyway.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.” he spoke, taking a seat at the same table as the other player.

“No prob, man. But wow, I haven’t heard from you in months, Data.” replied the man, who had a rather large build and wore a stylish vest. The sword on his hip implied he was a Knight-class player.

“Please, on this server my name is #65.” Rokugo corrected the man, feeling somewhat nostalgic hearing his old nickname for the first time in a while. “Anyway, it’s good to see you again, Bondo.”

“Haha, right, right.” laughed Bondo. “Anyway, what’s this about, anyway? I doubt you’d call me to a place like this for nothin’.”

“It’s about the Mermaid’s Tear.” Rokugo revealed.

“Wait, seriously? That old rumor?” Bond blinked. “What do you wanna know?”

“Back on Server 1, you’d gathered a large treasure hunting party to search for it and other rumored items, correct?” Rokugo inquired. “I do recall hearing about how that group eventually dissolved, but I’d like to know what you all ultimately determined about that item before things ended.”

“I see…” Bondo sighed and crossed his arms. “We worked hard on that one. We had people eavesdropping all over the place, trying to track down clues and find the origin of any rumors about it. There were just so many rumors, and all as a result of hearsay and people spreadin’ misinfo. If there were any proposed methods to get the item that we couldn’t find a source for, we tried it ourselves, but would always come up empty-handed.”

“Yes.” Rokugo nodded. “Of all the groups who actively dedicated time to looking into those rumors, I remember your group was the most thorough.”

“We sure were.” Bondo grimaced. “Which is exactly why it was so frustratin’…”

“Frustrating? What, exactly?” Rokugo asked.

“The way it all ended up…” Bondo sighed. “Listen, you didn’t hear this from me, okay? Back then, we had to dissolve the treasure hunters at the request of the admins and mods.”

“Seriously?” Rokugo was somewhat taken aback by this information. “Why on earth would they get involved? That group of yours was clearly in-line with the concept of players being free to explore the game as they wished. You all weren’t breaking any rules.”

“Right? We all resisted their request at first, but at that point we were already starting to get into strange territory…” Bondo glanced toward the pub’s doorway, to make sure no one was nearby.

“… What exactly do you mean?” Rokugo whispered.

“Well… we’d tracked down the origin of some of the earliest Mermaid’s Tear rumors. But what we found was quite troubling…” Bondo confessed.

“In what way?” Rokugo was beginning to grow concerned.

“This info is a bit iffy, and I can’t back it up, so take it with a grain of salt, ‘kay?” Bondo whispered. “Apparently, the first players to bring up the Mermaid’s Tear were those who imported their characters from the closed beta of the game 4 years ago.”

“Players from the beta version, huh…? It’s rather rare to find any, especially these days.” Rokugo contemplated.

“It’s because most have been banned…” Bondo muttered quietly.

“Banned…? What for?” Rokugo questioned.

“Apparently, it all occurred when they started talking about the Mermaid’s Tear.” Bondo sighed. “This was all in the really early days of the game, before our time for sure. A few months later, rumors started circulating again, this time from a moderator.”

“Moderators are all employees of Cyber Moon Enterprises, the makers of this game, correct?” Rokugo asked to confirm. “Why would they begin to spread the rumors as well?”

“That, I don’t know…” Bondo shook his head. “I heard that particular moderator was fired not long after.”

“Unbelievable…” Rokugo was at a loss.

“Like I said, I don’t know how true any of this is.” Bondo reassured. “It was just a story I pieced together after talking to some veteran players back then.”

“Right, thank you very much.” Rokugo bowed. “I believe that was all quite helpful.”

“If you say so…” Bondo chuckled. “I dunno why you’re lookin’ into a thing like that now, though. You hardly ever hear people gossipin’ about it anymore.”

“Well, I have my reasons.” Rokugo grinned.

After a bit of small talk, the two soon said their goodbyes and left the pub, returning to the crowded main street nearby.

It seems this may be an even more complicated situation than I thought…

Rokugo began to worry for his friends Quartz and Yui. Particularly Yui, who was locked into a quest for an item that may just be something taboo, as far as the game’s creators are concerned…

---

“Kyaa! Not again!” Yui squeaked.

Quartz and Yui were currently facing off against the Chimera Squid in the Beachside Ruins. Yui had just been snatched up by some of the creature’s tentacles.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you!” Quartz declared, pulling out a scroll. “This should do it… Thunder!”

With that shout, a bolt of lightning shot down from above, zapping the slimy squid. It actually had zapped Yui as well, but the lightning defense buff item she and Quartz had both used on themselves minimized such damage. Anyway, the damage from the bolt of lightning caused the squid’s grip to loosen enough for Yui to squeeze her way out.

“I gotcha now!” Yui shouted, pulling out a scroll of her own. “Pinpoint Zap!”

After Yui activated her on scroll, a beam of light pierced the squid, causing more bolts to surge through it from within. This time, the creature fell and dissipated away, leaving behind only loot.

“Phew, we pulled it off.” Quartz muttered, finally getting a moment to relax.

“Hah!” Yui gracefully landed on the ground, before standing up and approaching the fallen loot, skimming its contents. “Hmm… Nope, not here either.”

“At this point I’m not surprised…” Quartz sighed. “I guess we can cross ‘Defeat a water-themed boss using only items’ off the list…”

“Guess so…” Yui glanced his way with an expression of worry. “There aren’t many methods left to try, are there?”

“Yeah…” Quartz walked over and sat on the edge of the ruins, gazing out into the ocean. “We’ve been at this for over a week, and we’ve basically run out of options…”

“Sorry for dragging you all over the place because of this…” Yui apologized, sitting down next to Quartz.

“No, it’s fine… I wanted to help you.” Quartz looked down, blushing.

“But still…” Yui fidgeted in place. “Th-thank you. I mean it…”

“Yui…” Quartz turned to look at her.

At the same time, however, Yui had turned to look at him as well. As the sun was setting on the horizon of the ocean, both Quartz and Yui looked at one another, their faces turning red. Immediately, they both looked away.

“H-haha, your face was pretty red just now. Must’ve been the light from the sunset, huh?” Quartz chuckled nervously.

“Y-yeah, the sun, that’s it, haha.” Yui spoke, gladly taking the excuse offered to her.

“Don’t worry…” Quartz whispered. “One way or another, we’ll find it.”

“Right… thank you.” Yui smiled.

The two continued to watch the rather quick sunset together, as the in-game time transitioned from day to night. Even in a game, it was quite a beautiful sight.

[To be continued…]