Chapter 3

Alice fell into a standing position with her legs holding her up. The teleportation circle had brought her to the front of a small bar called Santa Monteza. She had also put on the clothes she had chosen the first time.

"Where am I?"

Alice pressed her left arm and a virtual map appeared.

"El-Paso, Mexico?"

Alice was shocked! She didn't expect that she would teleport this far. As she looked around, she found nothing strange. Just people going about their normal activities just like in the real world.

Alice walked into the bar. She went to the order table.

"Hello, little ladies. What's your order?" said the big old man who was bartending.

"May I get a tequila?"

"Sure! Take a seat. I will make one for you."

Alice honestly had no money at all. She was at a loss as to how she was going to pay him. But even more confusing was what would happen to her next.

"Here you go, girl!" said the fat man as he handed her a glass of tequila.

"Thanks."

Alice drank the tequila in one gulp. It made her the center of attention of several people. Including one of the men dressed in cowboy style.

The man got up from his seat and walked towards Alice and sat right beside her. Alice who was surprised tried to shift her sitting position away from the man and looked at him with a strange look. The man didn't feel offended by Alice's attitude at all. Instead, he took out a cigarette and lit it, then smoked it with relish. White smoke escaped from his lips with a thin mustache.

"Ughuk... Ughuk...!" Alice waved her arm in front of her face to block out the smoke that made her cough.

The man completely ignored Alice who was annoyed. Instead, he looked around and noticed the people in the bar. After no one looked suspicious, the man pulled Alice's hand and whispered something.

"Come with me!"

Then he handed the bartender five silver coins and three gold coins.

"This is for me and her water. You keep the change!" he says.

The bartender nodded with a faint smile.

The man quickly walked out. Alice, who still felt confused by the man's words, decided to follow him. So that made her walk two meters behind the man.

"Hey! Who are you?"

The man remained silent and continued walking. This time he turned into an alley.

"You haven't answered my question. Who are you?"

He remained silent. Feeling ignored, Alice chose to stop and shouted.

"Hey! I asked you a question!"

He who knew that Alice had stopped following him immediately turned around and walked towards her. Now Alice felt a bit scared.

"Not here, baby girl!" the man said while looking at Alice.

He then turned around and continued walking. A dumbfounded Alice decided to just follow him. Even though she had no idea where they were going.

They walked up a rocky hill. There were a few trees in the vicinity, but they weren't very lush and not enough for shelter. Unlike the cool atmosphere of Yangdong Village, the weather in this place tended to be hot.

"Hey, do you have any water? I'm thirsty!"

Alice was sure that if she didn't drink water for the next few hours while walking, she would pass out!

The man continued walking up the hill as if he had no fatigue at all. Or perhaps he was used to it.

"We'll be there soon."

"How long?"

"Five minutes. Unless you keep complaining and stop every two steps!" shouted the man who was some distance ahead.

Alice could no longer stand the heat and thirst. But the man's promise of 'five minutes' made Alice force herself to keep walking.

They came to a building that was probably more worthy of being called a palace building than a 'house'. Alice was dumbfounded when she saw the entire inside of the building which was full of various ancient objects placed in each glass.

"Why are you taking me to a museum?"

"Because this is my home," the man said as he took off his hat.

"Your house is like a museum. You're doing great!" praised Alice, "You must be a rich man!"

"Me? No!"

Alice looked at him in confusion.

"I'm even just a poor man. But my life changed after this place was attacked by a group of Lycan."

"Lycan?"

"Yes. Very ferocious wild wolves!"

"They would come to this place every night. They would eat the people they caught. They are not creatures of mercy."

"But I saw the people in that place doing their usual activities."

"Alice, not everything you see is the same as what happened."

"Wait! How do you know my name?"

The man smiled, "Oh yeah, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Matias Lopez. That place down the hill is Montiana Village. It used to be a quiet and peaceful place. Until one day a Lycan King brought his army to attack the town. There were many casualties and they became their food. The rest..., they just died in vain. Both the old and the young. I don't want to tell you more about it, it's too painful for me."

"As you saw earlier, everything seemed fine. However, that only happens during the day, Alice. The Lycan will hide somewhere. They will emerge at night to come back to hunt and kill us. That's why, all the residents will go into the underground room and spray fragrance all over the room. The Lycan had a keen sense of smell, but the fragrance was able to disorient and eliminate human traces. So they'll have a hard time tracking us."

"The residents and I have tried to fight them. But that only increased the number of people who died. We didn't even manage to kill a single Lycan. We are forced to hide in dark underground passages every night. It was quiet and miserable."

Alice approached Matias who was looking at a small picture on the wall where he and a woman and two twins were sitting smiling.

"They're your family?"

"Yes. And they're probably happy in heaven. Although I'm not sure if heaven exists."

"I am so sorry, Tias."

"No... It's okay. I am good," he said as he wiped away a single tear that fell from the corner of his left eye.

"Alice, I'm so glad you came. You're like the sun that illuminates the darkness in our village."

"Me?"

"Yes! You." Matias said proudly, "You're going to kill that Lycan King and make our village peaceful again!"

"B-but... I've never fought before. And killing a Lycan King is impossible for me."

"Alice, you were sent here to complete this mission. I'll give you 30 points and 500 gold coins," Matias said with a smile, "Do you agree?"

Alice was silent, she wanted to refuse. But she also wanted to finish the game, so she could return to the real world. She felt very confused. Until Alice looked at Matias and made a decision.

"I agree!"

"You're more than my expectations Alice. You are a very brave girl."

Alice smiled at the compliment.

"Put on my hat! Come on, I'll take you to someone's house," Matias said as he handed her a sombrero hat.

"To where?"

"You'll find out later."

"Does this hat fall under the category of disguise?" asked Alice curiously.

Matias looked at Alice in surprise, then laughed loudly.

"Hahahaha! Of course not. It's very hot outside. I don't want you to burn out and get sick. Especially considering your role is very important here."

Alice felt that the man in front of her was a bit silly.

"Oh yeah, you might be curious about what I did at the bar earlier. To be honest, everyone already knew about your arrival. Our priest Father Santiago told us, but unfortunately, Father didn't tell us about you in detail because he died from a Lycan attack before telling us much about you. Anyway, I don't want you to be the center of attention. That would be very bad for your mission. You know what I mean."

"Okay," Alice replied briefly.

After leaving Matias's house, they walked to the path behind the house. Descended into the valley and walked straight. The scenery along the way was almost the same as Montiana Village. The houses and trees were not lush, and there were some big rocks in places. What made this place different was... there was not a single person besides the two of them.

"Why aren't there any people here? Is this a dead village?" asked Alice.

"Shh! Be careful what you say. They're all inside. They haven't come out of their houses and underground passages since the Lycans came here. Unlike my villagers who still have courage. They choose to hide in the ground."

"Then how do they find food?"

"They have a passage that leads to Lotus Hill. There are many plants that you can make food from there. You can also help the fairies there to earn coins, albeit at a low wage."

"Wait! You said they never come out."

"I said they never come out from inside this village, but not anywhere else. Hey, you think they just hide and eat dirt?"

"I don't think so!"

Alice started to feel annoyed with the man she was currently with.

After walking for thirty minutes, they came to a simple house made of wood. There seemed to be no activity whatsoever, either inside the house or around the house.

Matias pulled the doorbell, but there was no response. Nor did anyone come out of the house to greet them.

"I thought the doorbell was broken," Alice quipped.

Matias gave Alice a glance and pulled again, " Stupid! This bell can only be heard from the basement."

Alice gave Matias a sharp look. For her, no one could call her stupid except her mother. Just as she was about to reply to Matias, the door suddenly opened. An old man with a large and graying body greeted them with a lazy and sullen face. In contrast to Matias, who was smiling broadly like a giraffe.

"What do you want?"

"I want a silver sword!"