Forbidden Link

18. NPC

"Hey! I know what strange creatures will do after this!”

After shouting so many “Hey” to Alex in order to get attention but in the end being ignored, Bianca finally has gotten attention from Alex because she gave hints about kinda useful information. Arms with akimbo, Bianca looked at Alex with a big, confident smile. The girl was sure that the information she was about to give was useful information.

"What's that?" asked Alex with flat intonation.

"But we have to make a deal."

"You don't seem to know anything. What are we making a deal for?”

"I know! I had walked to the end of the corridor and found a door. Inside the door we will be surrounded by strange creatures and… wait… why did I tell you all about it. Huh! You cheated by getting me to say it.”

Alex noticed Bianca's expression changed from being so confident to being annoyed all of a sudden. The girl in front of him did not look like a person who had a cunning strategy to deceive people he just met. Instead Bianca looks too innocent and shows an expression according to her mood.

Despite Bianca's childish nature, Alex hasn't found anything to lose if Bianca joins him. The system tendency of an RPG game will direct the game towards the community. And Alex imagined that if he had to find a lot of people in a quest, then Bianca's presence would make it easier for him to complete the quest mission.

Alex noticed Marvin's behavior trying to talk to Bianca like coaxing a child. Marvin and Bianca were two people who easily follow the direction of the person who leads a group. Two people like them both don't have a high risk of complicating decision making.

"So, Marvin. Would you agree if Bian came with us?”

“Actually I have a daughter who looks like Bianca. So I'm happy when she comes with us."

Bianca smiled widely at Marvin then looked at Alex expectantly. Giving sign to people who appear to be indirectly assigned the role of final decision maker.

“You can come with us. That's the deal you wanted, wasn't it?”

Bianca nodded excitedly when she heard Alex's offer. Like a toddler who just got a toy, Bianca gave Marvin a happy face after being accepted by Alex.

"Yeah. I will be with Uncle too. So do you have a daughter the same age as me?"

“Ah, no… my daughter is still in elementary school.”

"Pfft."

Even though Alex was trying to hold back his laughter, Bianca could still hear him. Bianca's expression, which quickly turned into annoyance, made Alex even more convinced that the behavior of the girl in front of him was very suitable when compared to the behavior of elementary school children.

“I am already fifteen years old! Next year I will enter senior high school.”

"Yes, I believe. But it's better if we continue our journey instead of staying standing like this," said Alex, trying to cut off an unimportant conversation that might be long if it continued.

“Hmm… shouldn't we strategize?”

Alex was silent and immediately remembered Bianca's words earlier. Bianca said that she knew something about the NPCs passing by on the right and left right now. So far, Alex had only estimated that the NPC would only provide clues to the quest. And in accordance with Alex's life motto, namely learning by doing, Alex didn't mind if he had to deal directly with a problem without prior planning. Alex also felt that Bianca was quite spontaneous like her. Hearing the word strategy from Bianca made Alex quite curious.

As Alex looked at one of the NPCs who had just crossed the three of them, Bianca pointed to one of the closest classes to give a signal to set strategies in the classroom. With a questioning mind, Alex followed the footsteps of Bianca who seemed to be jumping around like a rabbit. The girl even showed a happy expression on her footsteps because her words had been responded well by Alex. And for the third time Alex entered the classroom from the exact same Kaira, although located in different places.

"Actually I had a chance to enter the room at the end of the corridor," said Bianca, who immediately took a seat in the front row.

"Wow. So you know the clues in that room?”

Bianca nodded while pushing her lower lip. The mood suddenly became less cheerful just because Bianca was pensive for a moment with a frightened look on her face. Seeing Bianca's change in expression, Marvin sat across from Bianca's seat and looked at the girl closely. Meanwhile Alex was still standing between Marvin and Bianca's seats. Waiting for the next sentence that Bianca will say.

"What is it? You seem scared…” said Marvin with a worried tone.

“Actually I'm afraid to go to that place again. If I didn't find you two, I might still be in the class alone. I dare not enter that place alone. Well.. if I come with both of you guys probably I can.”

“Will that NPC do anything when we get there?”

A nod from Bianca proved that Bianca understood the language of the NPCs mentioned by Alex. The girl looked around and waited for a creature called an NPC to spawn from one of the seats in the class. And when she saw a girl in uniform like her, Bianca grimaced as if she had seen something terrible.

“Their faces look so flat when they are here. But in that room, they were very scary.”

"What are they doing, Bian?"

"There are so many of them. They will surround and shout at you constantly. Actually…before this I also joined another group. But they left me there."

"Then what happened? Where did your friends go?”

“They are not my friends! Huh… they're so mean. I don't know what happened to them. When those creatures shouted, I could only run to the corner of the room. More and more people surrounded me so I couldn't see or hear anything. I closed my eyes and suddenly I was back in class."

"So if you can't finish the quest, you'll go back to where you started."

"Huh? Do you like playing games? You've been saying terms that usually exist in a game."

Bianca's question was ignored by Alex. Actually Alex just uttered a sentence as one of the processes of his thinking activities. His mind was no longer with Marvin and Bianca so he didn't listen to what Bianca had to say next.

In his mind, Alex was mapping all the information he got from the beginning into the forbidden link world. The voice that asks the question "What do you want?". A spawn that was within Kaira's class while still at grade tent. The presence of someone other than herself in the forbidden link world.

Another piece of information that Alex had just received was that after failing to complete the mission, the players would return to the starting point, which was in the classroom. But the information said by Bianca cannot describe the general condition. There were still many questions that were questioned by Alex's brain such as “Did Bianca's friends return to the starting place or did they manage to miss the quest? Are there any other clues to be able to complete the quest? Will I meet Kaira after completing this quest?”

Alex looked around and immediately got up from where he was standing towards one of the chairs that had a bag on it. While Alex was busy alone taking out the contents of the bag, Marvin and Bianca looked confused for watching Alex's movements. Alex's serious face made even Bianca not want to disturb Alex and just wait for the results of Alex's actions.

"Nothing. Just an ordinary notebook. And stationery in a pencil tin.”

After unpacking all the contents of the bag, Alex slowly arranged the contents of the pencil case into place. Then put the books and pencil cases back into the bag. And Alex was a little surprised when he saw Bianca's face right next to him as he closed his sling bag.

"What are you actually doing? Come on, tell us," asked Bianca after couldn't wait anymore.

"He really likes to think alone. I also can only wait for him while he is thinking.”

Marvin's answer didn't please Bianca. Bianca kept watching Alex's face continuously as if asking for an explanation of what Alex was doing.

“I'm looking for clues to escape the NPC's attack. The clues might be right here."

Bianca pursed her lips into an O shape. But she was only satisfied with Alex's answer for a few seconds. After realizing something, Bianca asked again, “So you've found the clue huh? How do you deal with people surrounding you and yelling at you?”

"Not yet. You guys can help me find the clues in the other bags.”

A command line from Alex made Marvin and Bianca nod excitedly. In the minds of the two people, they finally got to do something and didn't just sit around.

About ten bags were collected by Alex, Marvin and Bianca. The three of them took out all the contents of the bag and arranged it on two tables which were combined into one. There was no difference at all from the contents of the ten bags that Alex had collected. After arriving at the conclusion that there were no items that could be used directly to complete the quest that Bianca had told him, Alex ordered the two people beside him to tidy up all the bags. Meanwhile he ran outside the classroom and checked the information that might be obtained from other classes..