Chapter 48

Zach and Aurora came out of the portal in the middle of the town of the first realm.

The moment they stepped out and glanced around, Aurora let out a deep sigh.

Zach glanced at Aurora with a confused look on his face and asked, "What's with that sigh?"

"I am just glad that the portal opened up in the middle of the town, not in some forest or somewhere far away from a town," Aurora groaned.

"Right…"

Zach was still holding Aurora's hand, and he was aware of it. He wanted to let go of her hand, but Aurora was gripping it tightly, and she had forgotten that she was holding Zach's hand.

Zach wanted to let her know, but he knew Aurora would get embarrassed, and it would take 5 minutes for her to calm down.

'Let's save her from the embarrassment and keep acting like everything is normal,' Zach thought. 'She would realize it sooner or later,'

Zach took a deep breath and opened his mouth to say something, but Aurora spoke before him.

"Now that we are here, let's go eat something."

"..."

Aurora looked at Zach and said." What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"We just ate an hour ago, you know?"

"So?"

Zach shrugged his shoulders and said, "Nothing. Let's go and eat something."

Zach and Aurora made their way to the nearby restaurant, but unfortunately, it was on the other side of the town, so it was going to be a long walk.

On their way, Aurora made fun of Zach many times and said she was still angry at him for his decision to leave her behind.

"If you think I have forgiven you for leaving me behind without informing me, then you are mistaken. I will make you pay for that," Aurora asserted.

Zach raised his brows in amusement and thought, 'She is getting a little cheeky. Time to mess with her."

Zach and Aurora were still holding hands. Zach didn't want to make a scene by making Aurora embarrassed, so he didn't mention it to Aurora. But now, he wanted to mess with her.

Zach simply rubbed his thumb on Aurora's hand and kept walking.

Aurora stopped walking while Zah walked forward, but he had to stop because Aurora stopped. When he looked back, he snorted after seeing Aurora's flushed face. She immediately pulled her hands back and hid her face behind her hands.

"What's wrong?" Zach asked with a grin on his face. "Have you had enough sugar yet?"

After that, Aurora never spoke a word until they reached the restaurant.

Aurora ordered normal food because she couldn't eat a crepe, but Zach, however, ordered crepe and ate it in front of Aurora to teach her a lesson.

That night, Aurora decided that she wouldn't mess with Zach anytime soon.

Once they finished eating, Zach and Aurora strolled through the town to find the exact replacement for Aurora's house in the beginner's realm.

They stood before a house, and Aurora checked whether it was eligible for the free replacement or not.

"Yup. This will work," Aurora nodded and looked at Zach.

"So… this house is yours now?" Zach asked.

"Yeah."

Aurora walked back to Zach and said, "Now, let's go and look for a room in the inn for you."

Zach raised his brows and looked at Aurora from the corner of his eyes. Then, he grinned a little and asserted, "I thought we were going to stay together in your house."

Aurora froze for a second before her face turned red. She was feeling many emotions at once.

"Are.. are you sure?" Aurora stammered. "You can't back down now."

"Well…" Zach shrugged his shoulders and said, "Since we are going to do everything together, we might as well live together to save ourselves some time."

Aurora's face flushed even more when she heard, 'We are going to do everything together.'

'What does he mean by together?" Aurora wondered. 'Does he mean we will do that?'

Aurora was losing her dignity as a princess.

"So… are you going to invite me, or shall I go find myself a room in the inn?" Zach asked with a knowing look on his face.

"No, let's go!" Aurora exclaimed. She unlocked the door and went inside. Zach slowly followed her while glancing around and taking notes on the surroundings.

Aurora turned on the lights in all the rooms and made her way to the living room. It was a decent size house with three bedrooms, one bathroom, one kitchen, and some empty area for the decorations.

"So, how does this… replacement work?" Zach asked curiously. He noticed that the house already had the furniture and the decorations. He already assumed that the stuff belonged to Aurora's house in the beginner's realm, which was transported in this house.

"It's simple," Aurora answered. "When I buy the house, it shows me my properties in this game."

"..."

Aurora glanced at Zach, and his face clearly showed he didn't understand anything.

"Uhh… it's like… right! Do you know you get an 'exchange' option when you buy electronics from e-commerce sites?"

"I have never bought anything online," Zach answered nonchalantly.

"You are kidding, right?! We live in an era where everything works digitally. You would have at least bought games and stuff, right?"

"I have never played games in my life," Zach replied with the same expression on his face.

"... so sad…" Aurora uttered with her face full of pity.

Zach's face twitched after hearing that, but he let it slide because Aurora was letting him stay at her house.

"So, what's my rent?" Zach asked Aurora.

Aurora shook her head and answered, "There is no need to pay anything."

"You know I don't spend money on useless things, right? So you should realize that if I am asking for rent, it means I want to pay it," Zach asserted with a serious look on his face. "Now tell me the rent, or I will go live in the inn."

"Fine~" Aurora groaned and said. "You are going to pay me with your body?"

"Huh?" Zach was surprised after hearing that. He never expected a direct approach from Aurora.

"That's…"

"Wait!" Aurora realized what she said and rephrased herself. "I mean, you are my knight, so you have to protect me... with your body."

'I don't know if I should be happy or not…' Zach thought to himself with mixed feelings.

After that, Aurora showed around the house and told Zach to take whichever room he wanted. Zach took the room nearest to the door, and Aurora took the one beside it.

They both wished each other good night and went into their room.

Aurora was too delighted to sleep, but she fell asleep anyway. However, when she opened her eyes in the middle of the night, she saw Zach standing next to her bed, looking at her with a rather alluring gaze in his eyes.

"Zach… what are you doing here….?"

***

Total players in the game 507535

0 new players logged in.

234 players died.

=====

[Weekly Quest.]

«200 power stones or 50 Golden tickets - 1 chapter.» (Very close to completing the quest.)

«500 power stones or 100 Golden tickets - 3 chapters.» (Need a few more to get 100 golden tickets!)

====

Author's Note - I have caught a fever, and when I woke up today, it was raining for some reason.

Also, I don't have a proofreader, and I proofread my chapters. But as I am the author and I know what word should be in the sentence, I miss typos and some minor errors. Some of my major typos are not adding the (n't) in the word.

Like sometimes, when I meant to write, "Zach shouldn't mess with Aurora too much." I end up writing, "Zach should mess with Aurora too much."

It changes the meaning drastically, and spell-check or other software can't help me. So if you spot any typos, let me know. I will fix them as soon as I see them.

Thanks, MKWAME, for the gift!