New Game Plus: I crave challenges

Silva took out the contracts, lining them on top of the table, clear for Edward to see.

Brayan showed no change in expression, waiting for his cousin to finish.

Suddenly he sighed.

"To think you would go that far…"

"Hmm?"

Silva was still feeling relieved when her throat suddenly dried. Brayan grabbed a stack of documents, showing ten contracts, similar to the ones presented by Silva.

"You…"

The young woman couldn't believe her cousin would be this shameless. Shouldn't he be clear about the consequences of lying to the family head.

"Silva! How dare you fake these contracts?! The audacity!"

"Yeah, girl, what did you think?"

"How can you…"

Led by her vicious uncle, the other adults began admonishing Silva, drowning the poor girl in words.

Bang!

Suddenly everyone was startled as Malik smashed the table with his hand. Even his brother was surprised, as the man usually held himself in the background.

"Who asked for your opinions?! Isn't the family head judging right now?!"

The faint pressure of an accomplished martial artist surrounded the angry father. For a moment, the other adults present didn't dare to talk.

Silva's mother looked kindly at her husband as she subtly laid her hand on Silva's shoulder.

The young woman felt an immense warmth in her heart. At this moment she was confident that she could make it through anything.

Luckily, Edward Colville's stern voice sounded at this moment:

"No one talks without being asked from now on!

Silva, who are the people you contracted?"

Subsequently the family head asked a bunch of questions. Silva answered everything in as much detail as possible, while Brayan mostly talked himself out by stating that he only hired the team.

"This discussion ends here. The family will investigate.

I hope you are clear about what this means. Media delay, no conclusive statement.

Each second delayed is costing us money and prestige. Whoever dared to lie to me today will be punished severely!

Dismissed!"

The screen turned black abruptly, leaving the family members trembling. Although the old man didn't show a change in expression until the end, those present knew that he was suppressing his fury.

Silva glanced hatefully at Brayan while she packed up her contracts. She never hated her cousin this much before.

This was her moment to shine, and Brayan destroyed it, even daring to lie blatantly.

Silva couldn't understand what was going on in her cousin's brain, but she knew that retribution would come. In the face of the family's investigation none of those present could protect him.

"Come, we will leave."

"Yes."

Silva's voice was weak as her parents led her outside.

The room slowly emptied out, until only Brayan and his father Owen remained, their faces frowning.

Owen spoke first, his voice containing suppressed anger:

"Didn't you say you investigated the company?! That this team has nothing to do with us?"

"Dad, I did. I was sure everything is perfect! That b*tch must have hidden the contracts! If she brought them to the company, I would've known."

"F*ck! Who would've thought the daughter of this worthless brother of mine could be so cunning?!"

"What should we do now?"

"We need to find evidence, overwhelming evidence! Find people who vouch for you! Those names on your contract must be airtight as well!"

"I… I will do my best, father!"

"Right. Also, go and sway public opinion. Even the family's investigation is done by humans. Your chances are higher if they favor you."

"Yes, yes."

While the father-son duo was frantically making plans, the mood at Silva's home was largely positive.

Only Felix was angrily clamoring about beating Brayan up after Silva told him what happened.

But their parents stared at their daughter with proud eyes, never once doubting her, which she was incredibly grateful for.

They only questioned her why she never showed them the contracts. Unfortunately, Silva was just too busy with the game.

Thus, a tumultuous night passed.

The next day Liam went to training early, learning from Master Baker, until Silva appeared.

Liam was surprised when he greeted the young woman:

"I thought you would look more enthusiastic today. Did you go out to party yesterday?"

Silva smiled wryly.

"No it's… didn't quite go as planned."

"What? Wanna talk about it?"

"Brayan claimed that he hired the team, fake evidence and everything."

"What?!"

Liam stared at Silva in shock.

"And your family believed him?!"

"No. They are starting an investigation."

"Phew, so he's done."

"Yeah. The family will definitely find out the truth."

"No need to wait so long. Fortune's video will surely release today or tomorrow."

Suddenly Silva froze in place. Her eyes began shining, her whole face lighting up.

"Of course! Fortune's video! How could I forget about it! Liam, you're a genius!"

"Well, I wouldn't say…"

Liam's words got stuck in his throat as he suddenly found two strong but soft arms embracing his neck.

The young man didn't anticipate it. Before he could react, Silva had already drawn back, her face filled with happiness.

"I should hire you as an adviser or something."

"Ehm… yeah."

Subsequently Silva talked joyfully about how much she looks forward to seeing Brayan's shocked face when their video came out.

Meanwhile, Liam gradually recovered, commenting from time to time.

Only when the topic changed towards the game was Liam back in his element, advising Silva about which class to take and where to go from this point on.

Time passed quickly during the joyous conversation and soon it was 10am. Before the two finally decided to enter the game, Silva remembered the reason she came today, paying Liam a full 60.000 credits, calling it a 'tip'.

Liam refused sternly but he lost as Silva didn't give up. Eventually the young woman remembered Liam's mention of a sister, using her to shut him up.

Silva wore a smug smile as she entered her training room to start the game.

When Silver Blade and Bleary Mirage entered the game, they found themselves back at Reylar's Temple.

After the news of yesterday, the nephilim player's enthusiasm exploded, thinking that Reylar's Curse might be an easy dungeon.

But so far, no second team even got close to clearing it. However, as more was found out about the game, the players everywhere began to form strategies and patterns.

"Searching two more mages for Reylar's Curse! Must be at least level 6!"

"Party of eight looks for two more friendly players. Interested in long term play!"

"Buying heal skill book at a high price!"

With a quick look it could be seen that heal was in absurdly high demand. Obviously, some lucky players got the book from treasure chests or monsters, spreading the information around.

As Liam enjoyed the atmosphere, Silver Blade asked him a question:

"What do plan on doing today?"

"I guess I'll make some money now that so much attention is on the dungeon."

"Are you planning on selling the Tacaria?"

"Yeah."

"But… isn't this wasting your time? Now that we have an advantage…"

"It's alright.", said Liam with a shrug. He didn't mind others catching up.

"But…"

Silver Blade looked at Mirage with a puzzled expression, not understanding his lack of urgency.

Could there really be a pro player who didn't care about his number one spot being taken away? Could one become a pro without this ambition?

"Don't worry too much. Even if I play around for a day, I'm still the best player in this game."

Silver Blade was perplexed. Bleary Mirage spoke with such disarming leisure as if his words were the most natural truth in the world. He somehow didn't even sound arrogant.

Shaking her head she didn't know what to think. Silver Blade didn't want Mirage to waste his time. It didn't sit well with her own ambition if her teammates fell behind others.

But from Bleary Mirage's attitude it was obvious that he would never consider himself as falling behind even if others had higher levels.

Silver Blade pondered for a second before trying another angle:

"But don't you think playing as a merchant for a whole day sounds quite boring?"

"Well, it does…", admitted Liam.

"Right? Why don't I hire some people to do it, and you can go for more exciting tasks?"

"Can we trust others with this?"

"Of course. My family sent many of our workers to the game to farm all kinds of resources. I pick a few trustworthy ones to sell the Tacaria."

"Hmm, I trust you know what you're doing."

"Of course. You give me the herb. For the first 500 stalks the money will be yours, afterwards we split it 50/50."

"You're quite generous."

"We're teammates."

"We will still sign a contract."

Silver Blade rolled her eyes at Liam. But with a precedent in place, she didn't hesitate. Soon a contract was signed under C's watchful gaze.

With everything in place, Liam didn't care any longer about the business side of things, trusting that Silver Blade would set everything up.

He returned to the novice village, setting his eyes on the teleporter which would finally grant him access to a wider world.