The next day CallanRok was conversing with Muffin,the slim girl that ran after Elise when she left the meeting room. They were sitting on a couch in a living room facing the back porch of the garden. Muffin was a soft spoken lady who many took pity on for looking so fragile. CallanRok wanted to know if Elise said anything else to her after the meeting. Muffin said, "The only thing Elise kept talking about were those memories. She kept going back and forth on whether to stay on her path or change." "What do you mean change?" asked CallanRok. "Like to be more of a boss hunter than a fighter. Just how EXC has it set up, some are only boss hunters and others are fighters," answered Muffin. She then inhaled quickly as she suddenly remembered something. "I heard from Blowzabella that Eden was badly injured and everyone else went to go see her," Muffin whispered to CallanRok. "Who did she fight with?" asked CallanRok. "Don't know, just that she was knocked unconscious and they were mad at Expat for not being there. But you didn't hear it from me. I was told Eden didn't want anyone to find out. Probably because she's too proud," answered Muffin as she ate a grape from the tray in front of them. "Ask around what really happened to Eden, I'm sure she isn't going to tell me the whole story if I ask directly" ordered CallanRok. "You got it boss man," answered Muffin. "Good girl," replied CallanRok and Muffin smiled.
Eden went to the training grounds to find her generals waiting for her already. She had them lined up and announced, "each of you will receive a gold star medal for your efforts." She passed them out and as the medal landed on the hands of the general, it disappeared and reappeared engraved in their armor. When Eden arrived at Arthur, She handed him two stars. Before she was able to drop them in his hand, Arthur interrupted, "Chief Commander, you are giving me one too many." Eden looked at him curiously and said, "I am giving you the second one because you are the main general and my support on the battlefield. It is what you deserve. I give credit where credit is due." "Yes, Commander, I accept with gratitude you have acknowledged me," answered Arthur as he bowed his head and placed his fist on his chest. Eden paused for a moment wondering if she should keep talking to Arthur. Lately she has had this feeling that she couldn't shake off. Usually, Arthur and the rest of her generals would just accept the orders and execute them. There was no conversation with them. Once in a while Eden would forget they were NPC's and praise their work and commitment. However, since her encounter with Odin and Erza's sudden change, Eden has been more observant. A message pop up in Eden's chat that pulled her from her thoughts. It was from Expat asking "Do you have time to talk in private?" Eden was actually going to head out to do more tests with Erza on a boss raid, so she figured she could make a detour. She replied, "I can swing by your castle before I head out to a boss raid." "Great, I'll join" responded Expat.
Eden decided to take Arthur, Gabriel, Sir Lancelot, Gwaine and Sir Tristan, her main front line generals with her to Expat's castle. She hired a new General, Maximilian, to be in charge of the Castle defense. Upon arriving, Eden decided that it was best to wait for her to be greeted than to walk right in. She was tending to her horse as they waited in the court opening when out of the corner or her eye she noticed something that caught her eye. A peasant man that nearly tripped over a bucket and lowered his head. His build and features looked familiar to Eden. She made her way to him and called to him, "you there, stop." The man froze in the middle of his attempted escape. He was facing towards an alley he tried to run to before Eden stopped him. Eden walked closer to him. "Where are you going?" asked Eden as she reached him and was now right behind him. "Can I help you, my liege? I am but a servant in this castle," and the mad lowered his head. "Do you have a name?" Eden asked as she examined the man and tried to lean in to get a better look at his face. "My name? my name is, my name is, my name is, my name is" the man kept repeating as he placed his hands on head. He looked like he was trying to force his head to give him an answer. "Commander, he seems to be ill. The host of the castle is approaching," said Arthur. Eden's eyes widened as she finally recognized the face and voice of the man. "Menky?" Eden in disbelief. The man then spiraled into an irrational behavior. He began to say loudly with a manic chuckle, "My name is Menky ha ha ha! My name is Menky ha ha ha! My name ha ha ha, my name ha ha ha." Then he quickly moved towards Eden. She raised her arms to cover her face, but nothing made an impact. Arthur, Gabriel and Sir Tristan were the closest to Eden and had detained Menky. He kept laughing maniacally and repeating, "My name is Menky."
Expat arrived and asked "what's going on here?" as he stood next to Gabriel and Sir Lancelot. Eden corrected her posture and said," I was going to ask you the same question." Why is Menky here and in this condition?" Expat looked over at Menky and then back at Eden who was expecting an explanation. " You're calling that NPC Menky? I don't name my NPCs in my castle like you. Eden looked at Arthur and told him, "turn his face to him so he get a better look." Even after seeing the man's face, Expat didn't remember who Menky was. Eden then said, "Menky was the leader of DRK, my alliance before I was placed as leader. Do you not remember him?" "No," replied Expat with a straight face. Expat called for a guard and ordered, "dispose of him, he is glitching." As soon as the guard moved, Eden stood in front of him. The guard began to pull out his sword and Sir Tristan had his out already. Expat ordered, "Stop." Then asked Eden, "Why do you stand in the way? This is how you reset the NPC." Eden glared at Expat, "You've been killing your NPCs?" Expat was confused why Eden was over reacting to an NPC she thinks is Menky. Then he let out a breath of air before saying," alright, what would you have me do then? So we can move on and talk. It doesn't matter to me whether this NPC lives or works as a glitch as long as the castle functions the same. "Take him to the hospital," said Eden. "But that is only for the injured," said Expat. "Arthur," called Eden. Without Eden looking back or saying anything else, Arthur took out a dagger and pierced Menky on the thumb to draw a few drops of blood. Then released him from the grip of Gabriel and Sir Tristen. Expat commanded his guide to teleport him to the hospital. Then Expat gestured to walk in the direction of the castle entrance.
Eden was still thinking of what happened to Menky and if she would be able to talk to him when Expat finally spoke. "Callan wants to know what happened to you in the server war. I only said what you requested to say, but he claims he has information that you were defeated." "I know he is asking around about my fight, but it's just rumors that can't be verified without evidence" answered as she drank from the glass of water that was brought in for them. "Why do you wish to keep it a secret if it happened?" asked Expat. "Is there a reason I should share what happens to me with Callan?" replied Eden mildly annoyed. "If the opponent was strong, then we can learn from it." said Expat. Then Eden added "there is nothing to learn from it without a report. Besides, he hasn't shared any of his reports with us." Expat showed Eden a report that Callan sent. It was his battle with the Reaper. Eden looked at it and noticed that the power level didn't show like in Jericho's. "Is this a bribe to get me to talk about the details of my attacker?" Eden asked as she kept looking at the report. "No, he sent this before asking anything. He wanted me to see for myself." Eden then looked at Expat in the eyes and asked, "what is your relationship with Callan?" Expat frowned and said, "He is just a friend. We don't talk about alliance things. I am not his spy." "I didn't say you were, but I am wondering why you wanted to talk to me about releasing information I explicitly told everyone not to spread," said Eden as she leaned against the seat and crossed her legs. Expat replied softly, "I only brought it up because I promised I would. He said it would help him understand the enemy." Eden thought , "which enemy? Everyone outside FOX or the server." but decided to stay quiet on her opinion. She then took a sip of water and said, "there's nothing he would be able to learn from a story a report can't confirm. Plus, he is stronger than we are and he won't be able to measure how he would have done. Tell him to let the rumor go. Maybe it was a Boss that took me out and I was disoriented from my previous battle. Expat, It's not that I don't want to help out the server, but I want to understand what happened before I openly talk about it." Expat nodded and then asked, "why were you so interested in that NPC?" Eden looked at her cup before raising her eyes to meet his, "I want to talk to him. I want to know more too."