((I think this girl's obsession with me has reached an unhealthy point… But she has been left completely alone in this underground place, isolated from the world, for all those years. I guess this is all she could do to keep going on…))
Cecilia cast a loving look onto Mina and gently patted her head.
"It's okay, Mina. I've been absent for far too long. I understand. But now I'm back, and you won't ever be alone again. So please, take them down later?"
Mina was frozen in place, with her cheeks as pink as it was possible to be.
"You promise, Master?"
"Yes, I promise."
Mina looked up at Cecilia with her eyes shining with joy.
"Okay! I want to be with you forever! I'll take them right now!"
Cecilia went back to the main hall of the base to check the available equipment. It was all as good as new, even perishable things that should've spoiled ages ago.
((Maid's techniques are really powerful… Well, now all that's left is to set up the rune and head back to Drakenhof.))
At that moment, a notification pinged up in the corner of her vision, along with a ring sound inside her head.
[Cecilia! So you really came as well.]
((Huh? Oh, it's Martin.))
She opened the chat screen.
[Martin! I didn't expect to find you in this world.]
[Well, I did have a hunch. You were the first of us to die, after all.]
[Oh? So I really did die…]
[Yes… all of us did, so I think that soon everyone will be here.]
Even though there wasn't a voice or face of any kind, Cecilia was still able to sense the sadness in his words.
[So, am I correct to guess that you were the last one?]
[Somewhat, yes.]
['Somewhat'?]
[In any case, you were the first person ever to die while connected to the game. The media made a big deal out of it, but it was later revealed that it was just an electric blackout in your hospital, that the owners were trying to hide by shifting the blame.]
[Oh… What a lame way to die. Then, is it safe to assume that every player that has returned has had the same fate? Did everyone just die while connected?]
[Well, I can't affirm with full certainty that it's the truth for everyone, but everyone I met were players who died while in the game. So, it's safe to assume, but there might be some outliers I don't know about, yet.]
[Do you know about every person who died while connected?]
[Well, I AM the leader of the Dead Nerds Society. Of course I did my research before dying myself. Obviously, I don't know all of them from the top of my head, but luckily I wrote it all down in an in-game book that was in my inventory…]
[That's our leader for you. So, do you have any leads on what might have caused this?]
[Nope. Not a clue.]
[Yeah, I expected that. Anyway, do you know something about the Closing of the Servers that people talk about?]
Cecilia's hands were sweating as she thought of what information she had amassed until now. Suddenly, something soft touched her hand, startling her.
"I'm sorry, Master. I saw you were sweating, so I'm wiping the sweat. Are you chatting with someone?"
Mina obviously couldn't see the UI of the game that was opened in front of Cecilia's eyes, but she was used to her master spacing out like that. It was a common sight when players were using the chat or checking anything on the several screens in the game.
"Yes, I'm talking to Martin."
"Oh, that perv is back again as well?"
"Perv?"
((As if you could say anything about that, Mina.)) Cecilia thought, remembering her own pics in the catgirl's room.
"Yeah. He's a man, yet all his followers are women."
"I don't think that alone makes anyone a pervert, though… Did he say something weird to you?"
"No, never."
"Then stop calling him a perv."
"As you wish, Master."
Cecilia sighed and turned her attention back to the chat, where Martin had already sent three messages.
[Yes, I was there when it was announced. We never knew what prompted the devs to close the game, and the official excuse was 'technical issues,' which always sounded like bullshit.]
[The media was doing a nasty campaign against neural reality tech, and every time someone would die while connected, they would do a huge commotion about it, even when it had nothing to do with the technology.]
[For example, there was this French guy, a healthy teenager, who was playing in his house when some thugs broke in. They shot him, thinking that he was mocking them when he didn't answer their questions about money in the house.]
((A French guy, healthy teenager… Wait, isn't it…?))
[Wait, Martin. Was that French guy called Jules Petit?]
[Yeah, that's the one. Do you know him?]
[He's living in Drakenhof. Caused a bit of commotion there, but he's a nice guy.]
[Hmm… That's good to know. I mean, that he is well and safe. The media did a huge campaign about it. I remember that a priest went to the Senate and gave a five-hour speech about the souls of people who died while connected not being able to return to God or some bullshit like that.]
Cecilia's mind was still processing the information when another message came.
[I think that that was the last straw. Exactly one month after that speech, the company announced that they would be closing the servers exactly one month after that. They even refunded all purchases made in the last four months.]
[Wait. One month? So you died in that one month? How?]
[Yes. I died one week before the servers closed. Carol and I were the only ones still alive at that point, and we had lost the will to keep on fighting our RL condition. Losing Hyperborea was like being disabled a second time.]
[I see…]
She understood the hidden meaning behind those words but didn't press the issue. Instead, she sent another message, in a more positive tone.
[Well, we didn't lose Hyperborea in the end. We're here. And this is our real life now.]