Mysterious Minstrel

Chapter 9

The first floor opens up into a sitting room, which holds a bookshelf full of novels and a couch big enough to fit more than ten. The passageways lead to a dressing room, full of armor sets and weapons that must belong to the various members of Mysteriously. The second and third floor have twenty-five rooms in total, and Mags leads us to our empty rooms at the end of the third.

"You guys are so lucky Nathan took notice of you." Mags sighs. "It took me a whole year of playing until I was invited into this guild. And another few months for me to fight for the third-in-command position."

The fourth floor is the most impressive. One big open room with a table long enough to fit twenty-five. Paintings of various monsters decorate the columns between the glass. A map of Starlia hangs on one wall, fabric with lines drawn by hand. I admire just how big this game world is. Besides Star Town, there are more than ten towns on the first continent. Across the open seas which are traversed through airships, there are three more continents with just as many if not more towns. I have yet to explore one percent of the world of Starlia.

"This is the meeting room," Mags says. "We hold monthly meetings here, which we require our members to attend. If you miss one, we'll kick you out immediately."

Aileen's eyes grow wide. "Really?"

Mags giggles, winking once at my friend. "No, not really. Just kidding!"

I'm beginning to see the drastic difference between Olivia and Mags already.

*

"Play." I run my hands across my replaced wooden harp. Nathan was nice enough to buy it for me.

The slime bounces backwards before disintegrating into thin air. 10 Exp Gained. Level 5 reached! I'm back in the slimes plains next to Star Town, claiming a section in the middle of the field to train. I'm surrounded by other beginner players. After defeating the first few slimes, I've become less embarrassed about announcing my skills and fighting as a minstrel.

Nathan cheers from behind me. "Good job!" He claps me against my back, and I lurch forward and almost fall. "Oops. Sorry, I just got excited."

"It's okay." I don't know whether to be happy to be spending time with my guild leader or upset that Aileen isn't with me. Mags accompanied Aileen to find a good spot to train for her level. Nathan volunteered to be stuck with me.

"You'll be my level in no time," Nathan says. "Well... it might take a while longer since you're a minstrel." He raises his staff, pointing the jewel to the sky. "Thunderstorm."

The skies darken above Nathan's head. After a few seconds of the clouds swirling, multiple bolts fly straight toward the ground. All around us, slimes are disintegrated. Just as quickly as the clouds formed, they disappear.

10 exp gained from your ally!

Nathan beams at me. "Soon enough, you'll be getting stronger skills like that one. Then you can fight the big bosses with us."

With us. It didn't take long for me to find a home in this game. When Aileen first invited me, I expected to be facing the world alone with her for a while. Now, I have twenty-something allies who I can count on. And if one of the strongest mages in the game wants to roll with me... why would I ever stop him?

I train for an hour. With Nathan helping me out, gaining experience is a breeze. I learn to ignore the attention of random strangers. There's plenty of eyes following someone like Nathan. It feels much like I'm following the popular kid in school around. I have to admit, I get used to the feeling of my fingers running across the harp's strings. A few more days of this and I might get around to calling myself a harpist.