Chapter 20 Part II

    "Young Miss" Has Appeared

    "Ah..."

    "Eh..."

    Möbius, stunned by the sudden embrace from the young girl who was only slightly taller than his chest, felt very different from the close proximity of the two mother-daughter foxes standing beside him. Naturally, both women were just as shocked to see another beautiful girl suddenly hugging Möbius.

    "Uh... who are you?"

    Möbius asked, bewildered. The young girl who was hugging him looked up into his eyes unwaveringly before speaking in a calm, even tone throughout the sentence,

    "This time I'll forgive you, but if it happens again, you're dead. My name is Leia, but you must call me..."

    Despite her flat tone, her expression was equally unemotional, except when she briefly smiled as she said, "you're dead." She seemed to be pondering something for a moment before continuing,

    "...Young Miss."

    “Young Miss... really?"

    Möbius, still confused, asked again to be sure, causing the petite girl to slightly frown.

    "It seems the amnesia might be real."

    Leia whispered softly, intended only for Möbius to hear, but the two foxes standing beside him heard it too.

    "Wait, you..."

    The young man exclaimed, stunned to finally meet someone who actually knew him. Now he might finally find out who he really is and what he was doing in this game world. It seemed that at last, the system's justice was on his side.

    "Let's talk over there."

    Leia suggested, pointing to a cake shop in the nearby building. The cakes displayed in the shop window looked very familiar to him.

    Seeing that it was the appropriate time, Red Bread bowed to Möbius and bid him farewell politely.

    "Then, we part ways here."

    "Thank you for today. Hope to see you again."

    Möbius bid farewell, bowing respectfully in return, just as Red Bread had. The rest of Teppan's group also bowed to Möbius before walking in the opposite direction toward the cake shop Leia had indicated.

    Although the sun had just set, the entire city was still brightly lit by vanished technologies. Inside a small cake shop adorned in a sweet vintage pink style, where only Möbius's group was present, he sat alone at a perfectly sized table while the ladies chose cakes and tea, complaining they hadn’t had the chance to order desserts earlier.

    “You haven’t changed at all, Möbius.”

    Leia, who chose her cake first, sat opposite him and looked at him with an unreadable expression.

    “Um, may I ask what happened? Why do I have to win the war?”

    Möbius, who had never told anyone about his amnesia, realized that if this young woman knew about it, she must truly know him, and what he most wanted to understand was why he was in his current situation.

    “That’s something you’ll have to find out for yourself, because it’s not about the game. If I tell you, the system might consider it cheating. But the part about everything getting better if you win the war... that’s true.”

    Leia answered vaguely. She wanted to tell Möbius that if he didn't win the war, he would be in grave danger, but she couldn't because it might shock him to the point of causing brainwave abnormalities if he knew he was about to die, so she had to respond that way.

    “Hey, you, what's your relationship with Möbius?”

    Gumiho, who had finished choosing her cake, came back to sit next to Möbius with Inari. Although they were a bit cramped, they managed to tolerate it.

    "At first, I wasn't sure, but now Möbius is my lover."

    Leia said in a flat tone. Gumiho, not understanding what a lover meant, turned to her mother for clarification.

    "A lover, huh... Well, it's kind of like a term of ownership. This person means that she owns Möbius."

    Inari explained the term of lover simply but with underlying intentions, reaching to show Möbius the pendant he had given her, signaling that he also owned her. At this moment, the mother fox didn't quite trust Leia, sensing that the petite woman before them must be hiding something.

    Gumiho tilted her head, pondering as she processed her mother's explanation, then concluded.

    "Then, Mom and I are Möbius's lovers too, right? Because he owns us both."

    "Möbius, and who are they to you?"

    Leia, equally curious as to why Möbius, who still appeared ordinary like his true self, had two beautiful women traveling with him. Although she was somewhat displeased, if she thought it made the young man safer, she could suppress her discontent.

    “They are important people to me.”

    Möbius responded without hesitation, making Inari smile sweetly at him after she had been sitting stoically since meeting Leia.

    “That’s right, you don’t remember me, do you? But no matter, from now on you will have to remember me on your own.”

    Leia, aware that Möbius was suffering from amnesia due to certain reasons, felt guilty and bound by a promise she had once made. She wanted to help restore Möbius's memory and ensure he could win the great war because she felt partly responsible for his current condition. Besides, the young man in front of her was the only one who truly saw her for who she was and cared about her in every way. For her, losing him was simply not an option.

    “Eh? Young Miss, you mean…”

    Möbius, trying to interpret Leia’s cryptic message, thought having the mother and daughter foxes on his journey was already chaotic enough, and adding another might only multiply the complications.

    “Yes, I will follow you until we win that war, and if you refuse… you’re dead.”

    Leia said with a flat expression but flashed a cold smile when she uttered the words, ‘you're dead.’

    “Uh, Miho, Inari, what do you think?”

    Möbius, feeling that the young woman in front of him might be the most dangerous of the three beauties at the table, turned to ask the opinion of the mother-daughter foxes sitting next to him.

    “The more, the merrier. I agree, Möbius.”

    Gumiho replied cheerfully, which immediately stressed Möbius.

    “Leia is an... interesting person. I have no objections.”

    Inari, prioritizing her own amusement, always supported anything that could tease Möbius.

    “Alright then, it’s settled, Möbius.”

    Leia concluded the discussion without really needing Möbius’s input, as it was three against one. The three women then continued to enjoy their cakes that the owner had brought them along with hot tea, leaving Möbius to sit stunned into silence.

    “I’m Inari, nice to meet you.”

    Inari reintroduced herself now that it was clear the young, stoic woman would be joining Möbius’s group.

    “I’m Gumiho, nice to meet you too~~”

    Seeing her mother introduce herself, Gumiho did the same in her lively manner.

    “Call me Leia. I’ll be counting on you.”

    Leia introduced herself with her usual flat voice, feeling she should be respectful to the two fox girls who had been looking after Möbius before her.

    It seemed that Leia’s taste in desserts matched the fox girls', but fortunately, she was a slow eater who savored her cake bite by bite until it was gone, unlike Gumiho, who consumed half a piece at once, and Inari, who would divide her cake into sections before devouring them with equal speed.

    With the incredible speed, normally, a secret mission that involved sampling desserts across Paradiso City would take at least three days, but with Leia’s expertise in sweets and the two foxes with four-dimensional stomachs, by the time 10 pm rolled around and the shops began to close, Möbius only had three spots left on his mission card. Leia mentioned these were the spots where people often had to queue up, so they planned to tackle them later.

    But all the while, as the four of them made their nocturnal rounds, Möbius pondered a solution to what was already a big problem, which only seemed to grow more complex with Leia's addition. No matter how he thought about it, every solution seemed impossible... That was, until bedtime.

    "Why Möbius, why do we need to sleep in separate rooms?"

    Gumiho asked Möbius, confused when she found out that he was renting three rooms today. She had come to enjoy the feeling of sleeping together as a group over the past few days.

    "Exactly, or are you tired of us two? Usually, we sleep together every night."

    Inari's comment made the hotel staff and other players around them all look at Möbius in unison, including Leia whose eyebrows furrowed slightly. Combined with the fox mother's mock sad expression, a profuse amount of sweat began to pour from the young man despite the cool weather.

    "In that case, I will sleep with Möbius too."

    Leia stated in her usual flat tone, which only added to Möbius's distress.

    "Uh, then please give us the largest room available."

    The young man, feeling sorry for himself while those around him seemed to think he was extremely lucky, told the hotel staff with a dejected expression that the solution he had contemplated might no longer be feasible.

    Inside the special room,

    Möbius brought out his own bed which he initially thought was quite large. However, realizing that four people would need to sleep on it, he couldn't help but blame Purple Spider for not making it bigger. Exhausted from a day spent mostly wandering and eating with the three ladies, he was the first to throw himself down in the middle of the bed.

    Thud!!!

    It was Leia who quickly joined him, laying down to his right with a speed that even the fox mother couldn't catch, making him wonder what exactly this petite girl's class in the game was.

    Then, Gumiho darted to lie on his left before her mother, Inari, who seemed to have intentionally abstained from the Möbius tussle from the start. Among the three women, Möbius felt that Inari was the one who always managed to spin his head the most, always scheming to tease him, and this time was no exception.

    "Oh no… I’ve been ousted from my spot, but it’s fine. Möbius, you choose whether I sleep on top of you, or if you want to lie on top of me."

    The sly fox mother posed a heavy-hearted suggestion, while Möbius could only blink bewilderedly, unsure of how to respond as both options seemed perilous to his heart.

    Leia then conceded slightly, shifting down until her face was just above Möbius's navel, a position made possible by the length of the bed and her petite stature.

    “Bottom half for me, top half for you. From here on, we take turns regularly."

    Leia proposed before calmly closing her eyes to sleep, turning towards Möbius. Soon after, the mother fox snuggled next to Möbius where Leia had left space, gave the young man a smile, and stroked Leia’s purple hair a few times.

    “Leia's a good girl, Möbius. Good night."

    Inari sensed Leia’s genuine feelings. Even though the young petite girl knew Möbius before, she acknowledged that his memory was failing and both fox girls had arrived before her, so she did not attempt to monopolize him.

    "Umm, good night, everyone."

    Möbius finally felt relieved that an agreement had been reached amicably, and fell asleep contentedly surrounded by the girls like that.

    In the morning,

    Leia took Möbius and the two foxes for dim sum to collect another restaurant stamp. Möbius felt that the city had a great market strategy, requiring them to travel around half the city eating to earn a trip to the giant flying saucer, an experience he too was eager to try. It seemed that the matter of food was what quickly endeared Leia to the two foxes.

    "Have you been playing this game for a long time, Young Miss?"

    Möbius asked Leia as they waited for their breakfast at the table.

    "Yes, it’s been almost a year in the real world."

    Leia replied. Before she met Möbius, she had roamed continuously, looking for exotic foods that were either inaccessible or prohibitively expensive in the real world, which made her particularly skilled in this area. After that, Möbius tried to ask her several more questions about himself, but she didn't answer any.

    "Leia, what is the real Möbius like?"

    Inari, aware of her own status, asked since she didn’t really know the real Möbius.

    "Not handsome, not rich. From the outside, he looks like an uninteresting rock."

    Leia responded blankly, then looked down slightly before continuing,

    "But he takes very good care of what's important to him, even if no one else sees his value."

    It was the first time Leia’s voice sounded noticeably sad.

    "Don't worry, Leia. We who have been with him all this time know it well. He takes good care of what's important to him now, including you."

    Gumiho hugged Leia gently from behind, feeling that for Leia, Möbius was just as important.

    After that, Möbius hardly asked about his true self again, as it saddened Leia every time. But one thing he knew was that at least Leia wasn’t as much trouble as the mother-daughter foxes, due to her calm demeanor.

    Once everyone had finished their breakfast, Leia led them to eat crepes from a food truck parked by the roadside, where about seven or eight people were queued, to collect the remaining stamps they needed.

    "Can I have four strawberry crepes, please?"

    Leia said to the crepe vendor after waiting in line for a while.

    “Hey, you, Get me 30 chocolate crepes, quick.”

    An auntie brazenly cut in front of Leia. Despite the vendor telling her to join the back of the line, the woman, heavily adorned with gold and plump enough to block Leia from view, refused to move.

    "Just make it, these kids can wait, right? Young people should respect their elders."

    That auntie said dismissively, handing a large stack of money to the vendor, who reluctantly didn't want to argue with her. But then, suddenly:

    Stab!

    5000 (Critical hit from an attack by an unaware target)

    The line-cutting woman instantly vanished in a burst of light, leaving the vendor startled and holding the money she had just given.

    "Four strawberry crepes, please."

    Leia repeated with a cool smile as if nothing had happened. The vendor quickly started preparing the crepes the young girl ordered.

    "Uh..."

    Inari, who had witnessed everything while sitting on a nearby bench waiting for Leia, was speechless. What she saw was a long blade, about 1.5 feet long, extending from the sleeve that ran down to Leia's wrist. Leia then thrusted it into the back of that auntie, piercing her heart, and swiftly retracted the blade. Möbius, sitting beside her, only saw a flash of light from Leia's hand before the woman turned into light and disappeared.

    "Well, Leia, be careful what you do, dear."

    Inari got up to wipe a small red spot off Leia's face with her tissue, which Möbius thought must be strawberry from the crepe.

    "Thank you, Inari,"

    Leia understood the underlying meaning behind Inari's words well, as the tissue that Inari used to wipe her face had a faint metallic smell. Initially, Leia had wondered if it was because she had exerted a bit too much force, causing the woman's blood to splatter onto her face. However, someone who cuts in line like that deserved the justice system, indeed.