Pride Online

35 Caused by Fame Part III

“Well, the thing is...”

“What can I get you?”

He was interrupted by a coffee shop waitress. She was a cute-looking girl dressed in a laced black maid costume that made the guys smile broadly for her.

“I’ll have a latte, please,” Manoch said.

“Then, I'll have a cappuccino, please,” Wisana ordered randomly. The waitress smiled in acknowledgement before she turned around to get their order, leaving Wisana stunned there. It was not because he was charmed by her, but because she had cat ears and a tail that could move way too realistically!

“The thing is, brother Wisana.” The younger one tried to get back to the topic, but the other seemed to not be in the mood to listen anymore. The pair of amber eyes did not even blink when they were still on the cat tail that was moving left and right joyfully.

“Bro? Brother? Dude, hey, Wisana!!!”

“Huh? Uh, what’d you say again?” After he could function again, Wisana put up a smiley face like nothing happened. The pair of eyes behind the glasses narrowed as they stared at him, looking so fed up.

“Oh, you haven’t told me who you are, yet, and why did you drag me here?” Wisana changed the subject so quickly that the other one let out a huge sigh.

“You’re so easily distracted by girls...”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“Nothing, sir.” The younger one waved it off.

“I’m friends with Maysa. My name is Manoch.” The kid on the other side of the table introduced himself as Wisana nodded in acknowledgement and held out his hand to shake.

“My name’s Wisana. Nice to meet you.”

“I know, and the other name is Vincent, right?” The following sentence made Wisana flinch, his eyes bulging a little. He did not expect that this kid would know this much.

“Did Maysa tell you about this?”

“No, she didn’t.” Manoch smiled. “So, you don’t really remember me, huh. We met yesterday. You were a customer at my stall.”

Wisana narrowed his eyes at the kid as he was trying to think before he started to recognize the long-shaped face of this guy.

“Oh!” He shouted. “You’re the merchant that sold me clothes and gave me the butterfly effect as a free gift.”

“Yup, that’s me.” Manoch smiled delightfully when the other one could finally recognize him.

“That’s right. I completely forgot to contact you about the scarf.” Wisana said in such a good mood. He was reminded to thank him for selling those useful items at such a cheap price. Without the pair of sneakers and the scarf, Wisana would not have been able to survive long enough to defeat Lord Inferno.

“You sold me such good stuff. I thought about contacting you to thank you for these, too.”

“Of course, that’s a sure thing.” The positive feedback from his customer made him smile even wider. “I craft the items by myself, so I can assure you the satisfaction. Many of my customers like my items. And every piece is made from the top-grade materials.” When there was a chance, the merchant would never miss theopportunity to shoot out the advertainments on his products that got Wisana amused.

“What a small world. Who would have thought that you know Maysa, too.”

“I think so.” Manoch shrugged. “Well, actually, I want to talk to you about the butterfly effect as well. I heard about Maysa joining your party yesterday, so I asked her to help me contact you. She was so shocked though after she found out that the items were mine.”

“Is that so? Where is she now?”

“Well, somewhere in Tristan. She’s dealing with some... troubles.”

“What troubles?” The other’s stuttering answer made him raise his eyebrows and ask.

The younger looked a bit worn out before he brought out his information window. Wisana noticed that his screen was green with a screwdriver icon on the background. Manoch grabbed something out and placed it on the table while the waitress came back with their coffee. She smiled at them before she turned, waving her tail as she was walking away.

“What’s this?” Wisana asked.

“Today’s newspaper.”

After his words, Wisana looked down at the newspaper before he gave the other one a glance as if asking for permission to read it. Then he spread out the roll of paper in front of him immediately after the owner nodding in allowance.

He was running through the letters on there for a few moments, then he whistled.

Most of the time, the publication here came in the form of digital text on the screen, but he guessed that some people still preferred reading on the paper anyway. He guessed that the game supported those people, too. Wisana thought before he saw the big fat headline on there, saying,

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The mystery man ‘Vincent’ and his party ‘Maysa’ become the buddies thatmore than five million people across Pride World want to know the most - Read more on page 3

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“The hell is this news?” The hoarse voice shouted. Just the headline already got him weak in his knees. Maybe he should just let himself fall and knock his head on the floor, too, since there were many images of the masked guy Vincent carrying Warunya to fight with Lord Inferno, and Maysa pictures when she was continuously firing at the minions, too!

“...Turn to read on page three,” Manoch said, sounding worrisome.

“Page three...” He repeated as his hand turned the page to where he was told. He started reading.

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As it’s so well-known now that Pride World just has brand-new heroes. Starts with the mystery man with the name ‘Vincent’ who defeats Lord Inferno in just 18 minutes. Not only that, but he also hits the new damage record with more than 125 million points. Moreover, the amazing red blazing wings appear in Pride’s community for the first time.

For the party member, ‘Maysa,’ the gunner that comes with agility and beauty to her fight. According to a reliable source, she is just a level 28 player, but her strong mind and smart brain make her another female player that most guys look up to now.

‘Warunya,’ the girl who gets involved as a temporary party member says,

“Vincent and Maysa were such incredible players. They were very strong as a team and really trusted each other. Maysa was the one who planned everything and was very well managed with the items, and Vincent would act so decisively to make the plan work. They were amazing buddies. I still can’t believe that the three of us would defeat a monster with more than 15 million HP, but we actually did.”

For this reason, the number of times that these names are searched is so excessive that it almost breaks the server. Also, the association of explorers has confirmed that there are more than twenty thousand players per hour that walk in to ask for the two players’ information.

To conclude, both player ‘Vincent and Maysa’ have become the most significant ones that every player on the server keeps an eye on. In Maysa's case, the association of explorers has already publicized her information. However, in Vincent's case, there is no information about him or his class.

As a result, many players demand that the new heroes reveal themselves to the public officially.

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Wisana was struggling to gulp his sticky saliva down. After he finished reading, the pair of amber eyes looked up to catch Manoch who was forcing a wry smile at him to show the older some sympathy.

“It means that right now, Maysa is...” Wisana guessed softly.

“Yes. She's hiding from her crazy fans, so she asked me to look after you.”

“Look after me?”

“Yes.” Manoch nodded. “I believe it now that you’re such a troublemaker like Maysa said. Why were you wandering around the city, dressing up like that?”

The question prompted the listener's brows to furrow.

“What’s wrong with how I’m dressed?”

“There’s nothing wrong with how you’re dressed, except that you’re dressed the same way as you did yesterday. So, people would definitely recognize you as Vincent. Don’t forget that Vincent’s famous now, so you have got to be more careful. I heard from May that you didn’t want to reveal yourself, right? You don’t want your true self to be revealed, to be more specific.”

“You’re right…”

Wisana replied with a sour expression as he took a sip of his coffee. He understood now why those people were staring at him weirdly like that!

“What should I do now?” the hoarse voice asked, sounding worn out.

“You should change your clothes. I've brought the new one for you. Then you can meet up with May at the location she sent you. She just texted me a while ago that she was safe from the reporters and the fans now.”

“Really?” Wisana said joyfully, also feeling relieved that Maysa was okay now. Seeing the other like that, Manoch smiled before he brought a black long sleeve shirt out from his inventory.

“Change into this shirt, then you go meet May,” Manoch said with a smile as he was checking something on his hologram screen quietly. Wisana grabbed the shirt and could not help but smile as well.

This guy seemed a lot nicer than Wisana thought. He was a merchant, but not only was he being so frank with his customers, but he was also very generous. Even though Manoch might be helping him just for Maysa’s sake, he was still cool to have a conversation with anyway. So, Wisana felt that he could trust him, too. Maysa also bragged about how good she was at perceiving people. So, if she trusted this merchant enough to ask him for help, then he would trust him, too.

“Oh, hey, I have to give you something.”

“Yes?”