The King's Mandate: Anomalous System

As I was waiting for Elena at the fountain, I couldn't help but sigh that I dropped my title--

"Hey, you new?" Someone called out to me. 

It was a man, and there was a woman with him too. The man looked slightly bulky, like he had worked out in the gym moderately, and had the aura of a leader radiating from him.

The woman, on the other hand, had orange hair, with scarlet-colored eyes.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Then do you want to form a party with us?"

"Huh?"

Party? Do they want me to join them and play this game with them?

"Umm, I am sorry, but I am waiting for my girlfriend."

"Oh! I see. No worries."

"Ricky," The woman pulled the man's ear and said, "You can't go inviting people out of nowhere."

"No, he just looked like he was about to cry, so I called out to him."

'Excuse me?!'

I wasn't about to cry; I was just a little sad.

"So you are waiting for your girlfriend?" The woman asked.

"Yeah, she told me to wait near the fountain."

"I see," she said as she inspected me with her eyes.

"Ah!" I exclaimed and said, "Could it be that there is another fountain around?"

"No, there is only one fountain on floor one."

"I see, thanks."

"How about you search for her location? You can see where she is if she is on your friend list." the woman suggested.

"Oh, I am new. This is my first time, and...I just logged in."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah."

"Wait! You said you just said this is your first time, right?" The man quipped.

"Yeah...?"

"Then how are you level 3 already?"

Aw shit!

"I got some beginner's things."

I would have been at around level 40 if that hadn't happened.

The man suddenly grabbed my collar and said, "Are you sure?"

What the hell?! Does he want to die?

"Hey, stop doing that." The woman pulled him back by his ears.

"I apologize for my husband's behavior."

"Husband?!"

"Yeah." They opened their menu and showed the relationship between them was husband and wife, "See?"

"...."

How is that possible?! They look 4-5 years older than me, how can they be married?

"This is our in-game relationship."

Oh! I see, in-game relationship. 

Yup, there is just no way that they are married in real life.

"We are married in real life too."

"How? How old are you guys?"

"We are 22." Both of them said in unison.

"22? How can you marry at 22?"

"A person can marry once they are 18.."

"I know that!"

I know that, but really? They married at 22?!

"You guys married at 22?"

"No, we got married right after we graduated from high school."

"..."

This couple is crazy!

"I see." I turned around, saying, "Goodbye."

"Wait a minute!" Both of them grabbed each of my shoulders.

"I don't want to! Let me go!"

"Wait, listen to us. We will help you find your girlfriend."

I frowned my eyebrows as I turned back and said, "Why?"

"For the trouble this idiot caused you." said the woman.

What should I do?

I don't want to interact with humans, but I don't know anything about this game. And Lily is not here either.

"Okay then, I will be in your care."

"Nice." They stood beside me and said, "So, what's your girlfriend's name?"

"It's Reina."

As soon as I said that, both of them looked at each other and shook their heads, saying, "Impossible."

"What happened?"

"No, nothing. We just happened to know someone by that name."

"For real?"

"Yeah. So," They both looked at each other and then looked at me, saying, "Is your girlfriend extremely rude, a jerk, and is selfish?"

Hmm, she is rude, but not selfish and a jerk.

"Nope. She is cute and clumsy."

"Oh, we got the wrong person then. There is just no way a girl like her with an ignorant personality can get a boyfriend."

I don't get it, but that's not Elena.

"So how about we look around? We may find her nearby." the woman said.

"Okay."

They seem to be a lovely couple.

I see deep love between them. 

"But it's hard to believe that someone who just logged in is level 3 already." remarked the man.

"Is it hard to level up?"

"Extremely hard," they both said in unison.

"You have to kill around 500 monsters to level up once."

What?

"And the requirements keep increasing as you keep leveling up."

What!

"And item drop and skill drops are too rare here."

What?!

"We have been playing this game since its release...I mean for a year, and we are still," they opened their menu and showed me their stats.

The woman's name is Rikka, and she is level 25. And the man's name is Ricky, and he is level 27. Both of them have two skills.

I am level 15 and have five skills. I found two items. 

Was it because it was hard?

Welp, I got rewards that a level 40+ player might have gained, and as a low player, it's too much for me.

Now I understand why he was acting like that.

"So you want to form a party so you can level up?" I asked.

"Not exactly, but we were in a party before. And we got kicked out, so we are looking for a new party."

"Kicked out?"

"Yeah, it was the same as kicking out."

They have it hard.

"Then again, there were only three members, so--"

"Party of 3 members?" I quipped.

"Yeah, me, Ricky and Reina."

I see, so this Reina person kicked them out.

She is a selfish and rude girl with an arrogant personality, unlike Elena. But somehow I have a bad feeling about this.

"Why did she kick you out?"

"When we were clearing the dungeon, we found an item-drop. It was me who found it, but she wanted to keep it. She was the leader, so we let her keep it. Just because she was level 43, she kept making us do all the work and taking what we get after defeating the monsters."

"We talked to her about this, and she said, 'Stay if you want or get out of here.'" Ricky added.

"..."

I hope she is not Elena.

"I hope you can join another party soon."

"Yeah, thanks, man. We hope you find your girlfriend--"

"That voice...is that you, Rikka?"

As we were walking, someone called out to Rikka.

We turned back to see who called her.

It was a girl with white hair and white skin: a slender body and a beautiful face. 

She was magnificent.

"Reina!" Both of them shouted in unison.

Hmm, So this girl is Reina? 

She doesn't look like Elena. I am glad she wasn't Elena after all.

I had a doubt, but it's all clear now.

"What are you doing here and... " She looked at me as she frowned her eyebrow and said, "Is that you, Das?"

"Huh!" Ricky was the first one to exclaim.

"Hmm?!" The second was me.

"What?!" The third was Rikka.

'How does she know my name? My name in the game is Adas,' so...could it be that she is, "Elena?"

"Wait, so she was your girlfriend after all?!" Ricky shouted.

"No, no, no. There is just no way she is my girlfriend. My Elena is not this beautiful, and she is not this tall either!"

She is currently the same height as me, but her size is only on my shoulder in the real world.

I inspected her from head to toe as I said, "And she is not this slender. She is kind of fat...no, I mean, not this slender, and her hair is not white, but I guess you can change your appearance in the game? But my Elena doesn't care about her hair at all. And her chest is certainly not this big...oh! I am not saying it's small, but...in other words, this person is not my girlfriend. My girlfriend is cute--so cute that I want to hug her but...okay! Then I will look for her myself; you guys enjoy your--"

As I was about to leave, that girl grabbed my shoulder. 

This grip...she is unquestionably Elena.

I looked back to see her face once again.

When I saw her face, it was kind of hard to describe it. 

I don't know if she is angry, sad, or happy; there are tears in her eyes, but her face looks a little flushed, and she is gritting her teeth, and her blue eyes are...glaring at me.

"I'm sorry."

I don't know, but I think apologizing is the best thing I can do now.

"I will deal with you later. "

Guess my apology didn't work.

Elena hugged me as she said, "What are you doing with my boyfriend?" 

She was just crushing me in her arms.

"Well, excuse us, we didn't know he was your boyfriend, and hey Adas," Rikka looked at me and said, "Are you sure she isn't forcing you to date her? We can help you; please tell the truth."

No, I am dating her because I love her, yes Das says that.

"No, I am dating her because I...I...because she told me to."

I still can't say that I love her.

"I knew it! Ricky, let's report her!"

"No! I am dating her because I want to."

"Really?" Rikka confirmed. 

"Yeah."

"Reina," She then looked at Elena and said, "What are you doing here? Your boyfriend was looking for you, you know?"

"I was...cleaning the forest."

"Why at this hour?"

"Shut up!"

"Well, Adas, you found your girlfriend," They turned around and said, "Okay,. This then see you around."

,

"Hmph!" Elena let go of me as soon as they left. 

I glanced at her; she sure looks beautiful.

I can't take my eyes off her.

,

"What's with the lame name?"

"Huh?"

"I told you to choose the name carefully, and yet you chose another lame name."

"Then why didn't you suggest me a name when we were on a video call?"

"I..."

"What?"

"I wanted you to choose by yourself."

So she was considerate.

"And yet another lame name." she added.

What happened to be considerate?

"Well then..."

She grabbed my hand, saying, "Come with me."

"Where are we going?"

"Just follow me.."

After walking for a while, we reached the forest.

"Why are we here?" I asked, glancing around.

"I want to show you something, come here."

She covered my eyes with her hand and told me to walk.

"Stop here. Lie down, and don't open your eyes until I say so."

She took her hand off my eyes as we both lay down on the ground.

"You can open your eyes now."

I slowly opened my eyes.

The first word that came out of my mouth after opening my eyes was, "Amazing."

The sky was pitch black, and the stars were shining so bright. The moon...there are two moons. 

;They are illuminating the trees around us this is really "Beautiful."

"Right? I wanted you to see this; that's why I was cleaning the forest by defeating the monsters. But then the maintenance break started, so I got logged out, and when the maintenance break ended, I was still in the forest. I ran as fast as I could to the fountain, but you weren't there, then I went looking for you and found you with those two.

"Guess we missed each other."

"I wanted to be the first one you meet when you log in, but..."

She wanted to be the first one to meet me but...I am sorry, Elena! Because I already met the developer and Lily before I met Rikka and Ricky.

"And then you called me short and flat."

"No, I didn't mean it that way," I grabbed her hand and added, "I mean, you are short, but not that short; it's the average height for a high school girl. "

"And what about fat?"

"You are not fat; it's just that your face is little..."

"Fat?"

I tried to find a suitable word, but all that came to my mind was, "Little cute."

"I see, I see," she said as she tightened her grip on my hand. 

She looks happy.

"You also called my chest small," she added.

"...."

"Just so you know, it will grow, okay?"

"...."

"And I do care about my body and take care of my body."

She took it the wrong way, Dammit.

I didn't mean it that way.

What I wanted to say was, "I will love you no matter how you look or how you are."

"Huh?"

"What?"

What is she so surprised about?

"You just said..."

Why is her face red---! Soon after, I realized, and my eyes widened in shock as I remembered what I just said. I just told her that I love her for the first time.

"This." she wiped her tears and said, "This is the first time you told me that you love me."

She started crying.

"Elena..."

"You know, we have been going out for six months, but you never told me that you love me. I started to think that I am just forcing you to go out with me...but...I am glad...I am happy that...that." She stuttered as she cried.

Her tears won't stop; without holding myself back, I hugged her. 

This might be the first time I took the initiative.

"I am sorry for not telling you till now."

"I won't forgive you unless you say it one more time."

"What--!"

"Say it."

"I love you."

"One more time."

"I love you."

"One more."

"I love you."

"One more."

"I love you."

"Hehehe."

"What?"

"Nothing. I am just happy."

"I am glad too."

She was still in my arms. I could feel her body. Even though this is a game, I can still...

"Das, you idiot."

"Hmm?"

What happened to that beautiful romantic atmosphere?

"You should have told me in the real world. We can't kiss here, you know?"

"We can't?"

Well, of course, this is a game. Something like that shouldn't be possible.

"Married couples can kiss in games, but we can't."

What's wrong with VR games?!

"Well then, we should log out. It's 0:45 now; the game will close at 1:00."