Well. Looked like a clean win for team Sobato. I thought to myself happily. Or as happy as one could be surrounded by giant telepathic spiders and hung a good three stories in the air. That wouldn't last long, Last Fang had already summoned a few workers to cut me down. However! I can still complain about anything; that's how I know I'm still sane.
The workers didn't cut through the silk bindings like I'd thought. Instead, they spat some sort of acid which dissolved the silk like water to cotton candy. I was slightly very worried about how that acid would do on my skin, but turned out my fear had been for naught. In less than ten minutes, I had my feet firmly planted on the ground, arms free and stretching out my sore back.
Spectrum was right beside me, almost appearing from my own shadow. "There, there. Things are going to be okay now, good job being brave." She said, patting my head lightly. I raised an eyebrow at that. Is this the part where I get a lollipop, and vodka? No?
Seemed she'd learned from our Alpaca and made herself into a visual hallucination like the others. Least she had some class in keeping it human. No one disliked eye candy. No one sane at least.
She had a slight smile, which instantly put me on the defensive – I could see where this was going from a mile away. "Spectrum, honey, we're friends right?" I said lightly, like cornered prey. "And friends let other friends have their armor."
"Sorry S.B." She said, fan lofty to the side, "What you want and what you should do are two separate things." Ahhhh shit. I knew it was too good to be true.
"You're breaking my heart here."
"Look, everyone knows you're a rookie and your team has a decent idea of your skill-and unfortunately the last memory they have of you was you fumbling your spear and getting carted off." She answered back, ever the voice of reason. "There's no shame in that given how little you've fought but it also means you need to build your story with that in mind. If you come back with too much loot and a story of having killed a bunch of stuff, there's going to be some HARD questions asked. You don't want your party doubting you."
Don't worry, I'll just go for broke on a charisma check. I can do it! Believe in me!
But spectrum had a story in mind already. "So, you slipped your bonds right next to a corpse, which was already inert. You picked up its weapon and used that to fight off the spider, then looted it and booked it back to your party. That's at least within the realm of plausibility."
I sat and thought a bit. "What if I did that, but-"
Chaos interrupted me, "S.B There is no benefit for going all out to make yourself out as a hero, in fact it will only cause many problems." And then she went down a goddamn list of reasons why this was all a terrible idea. Even Ranta came into the discussion. Ranta!
Spectrum picked up the next bit, "Fighting off an undead while solo and right after fighting the spider? I like you S.B. but...not happening. Yet."
"Every time you say 'yet' it's right after shattering all my hopes and dreams. I could get traumatized you know!" I grumbled and moped. It didn't work.
Goddamn it. Armor. Motherfucking armor! That means no more stabby things getting under my skin! It's a good thing! Getting stabbed involves death, and death is bad – simple math. If there's one thing I learned to love from Richard is was good armor in the right places. He'd told me a proper fitted set of armor could cost a gold or even two.
The oldest voice reappeared to my other side, backing me up. "The armor is pretty damned important. Spin the tale of some monster pursuing the spiders maybe, but you NEED that armor at this level of skill. No matter how badass a weapon you have, it does nothing if you can't reliably put the pointy end into them"
And that's when a recognizably new voice entered the din.
"There's no point to making our team overawed and having this incident color EVERY interaction with them for months or surviving and brushing it off like a cool guy - you wanna be a cool guy S.B - is the way to go, it nets you inevitable fame, but it's manageable."
Why I! Uhhh… Damn. I hate it when they have a point.
It continued, making that point sharper. "People will hear about what happened, if you can't get your group to keep their mouths shut, but you might even be able to convince them to be quiet. Should you succeed at that, there will be incomplete information only available to those interested in how your group got such a great start. They'll know something unusual happened, everyone will want to hear the story, but you can keep mysterious about it."
Oh. Ho ho ho, clever. The voice seemed to smugly agree. "This gives you time to build up a reputation without immediately biting off more than you can chew. If you dress yourself up like war hero, someone is going to make you PROVE it, which you can't." It took a pause, before glancing to Spectrum. "Yet." It snickered. You little shit, I almost liked you for a moment there.
The din in my head quickly descended into lengthy sermons left and right about just what I could and couldn't get away with. I tuned them out and turned to my new best friend.
Last Fang tried to get me armor, as far as I'm concerned I completely forgive her for trying to murder me a few minutes ago. I'm a simple man, armor and gold is the most romantic sonnet to my innocent heart. The relay spider Elise on the other hand was a problem.
"Any suggestions on how to hide this spider? I can't really think of any story to cover this. Can't just say it followed me home you know." I asked, turning my attention to a certain red spider in the air.
The spiders are durable enough.She answered, reeling down five feet from the ground. Or rather, having her bodyguard do that for her. Either she was a lazy broodmother, or she was incapable of producing silk. I hadn't seen her do anything other than laze on a pre-made web, or creep around me. Just like that, the relay spider skittered around and burrowed itself under one of my armor plates. I could see it, like a black thing pressed as far back as it could into the recesses. Kind of like a crab under a riptide rock. It was almost cute. Almost.
"I might squish it by accident sometime. And I don't mean intentionally. Heat of combat and all that."
I assumed. Should it die, I will have another meet you in town on your return.
"I guess that's the best we can do."
Over in the background, the voices were still debating among one another on what the hell to do with all this. A new voice had joined in with the rest. I tuned back into it.
"S.B. making a hero's - slash - solo-survivor's return can lead Mary to feel a bit less remorse for not having been able to protect S.B. when he was first carried off, which otherwise must be the emotion she must be feeling right now."
Oh right. Spectrum told me Mary had history. I just don't know exactly what. "Like the above, depending on what happens later, it can set off a chain of events that leads her to go from"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you then. I will try to protect you more from now on"to"now I'm suspicious of who slash what you are". It might not be a good start for those who plan to ship S.B. x Mary in the future." ... And I'm tuning off now.
I found myself a nice rock and sat down while I waited for the circus to die down in my head. Last Fang was motionless, but I had the feeling her own head wasn't quiet either. All around the spiders were bustling, wrapping up scattered prey and bringing it together. It's like we were in the center of the storm. I thought about my group again. The past few hours I'd been so focused on staying alive, I regret to say I completely had them out of my mind.
"If you think about it this is good learning experience for your group to know one of them could die." Arbit said to my side. Looks like he had stayed out of the loot discussion for the most part. He'd also chosen to look like a tiny spider with a water droplet as a hat. Thankfully, it actually looked cute instead of nasty. "Especially one of the two who leads them, though that not an excuse to not apologies. Especially to Manato and Mogzo, who think of you as a brother ...albeit it was our fault."
You're goddamn right! Still, we got some good stuff out of it. Now we just need a plan to haul it back home.
"Mmm. Don't get greedy. There's a saying; "Never consume any energy field bigger than your head." Beta, or actually known as Khiruki among his peers, hoofed it over to me.
"I'm sure that's a valid saying for trans-dimensional information based beings."
If you can, you should find out more about what exactly they are. They are certainly not anything I've seen before.Last Fang advised me.
"Shoo! I'm having a polite discussion with the voices in my head!"
As you will.
"….Hold up, I'm just joking with you - I don't mean to be hostile."
I see. I am relieved then.Good thing I cleared that up, I have a feeling the spider had a very hard time understanding emotions and humor, considering she didn't need either to run her colony.
The alpaca munched on more grass before it spat its wisdom at me. "In this case, don't go for fame or reputation you can't actually back up. You didn't solo an undead, you looted a corpse."
Lex had drifted over to our corner in the meantime. He'd been in the middle of the debate, last I'd heard he was discussing possible armor upgrades for the mage and company in great detail. "Do we even know if thereareweapons to take? We know there is armor, we know there is some amount of money. Sure, going back with 30 gold is probably a very bad idea, but suggesting taking "some" of the money will backfire if it is only a few dozen silvers."
The alpaca snorted, "So he'll just take the armor. S.B. is his own person with his own judgement. The main point is to not be greedy."
"Damn right I am." I answered. "Besides, I see a pretty simple solution to this honestly."
I might not have a master's degree in bullshitting my way out of things, but I still had some common sense at least. "Last Fang," I asked the spider, while Lex and Khiruki continued their discussion.
Yes human?
"Think you can hold onto that stuff for a bit? Maybe set it down somewhere tomorrow, where we'll run into it? Or spread it over time? Maybe just destroy the undead's head and lay it near a stream or something where the group will stumble over it. Prest0- free armor for the taking. Voices don't want me to make too much of a ruckus returning to civilization."
I felt Chaos in the background quip. Looks like he'd also suggested the same plan.
I can arrange that yes. I would advise your return within the next few days since I am leaving Altana within the week. Otherwise, I will secret it away someplace other adventurers won't find it.
"Right, because I'm too old to hide it all under my bed. Besides, that's where Ranta sleeps and the little prick will definitely steal all of it." I sighed. Surviving all this felt like succeeding in some level thirty quest, while level one. And I wasn't even going to keep my loot at this pace! Curse you trans-dimensional beings and your responsible agenda!
"One last thing, is there a weapon I can use?"
The undead warrior has a broken short sword and rotted shield. You use a spear and dagger yes? While the sword is... usable, it is not a long term investment.
I clapped my hands loudly. Seemed I got the attention of the voices now. The spiders on the other hand continued without notice. "We need a story. I get you guys all don't want me walking back with angels singing behind, so let's figure out exactly what trumpet they'll use instead."
"I mean, for a basic story, just saying S.B. escaped and ran off, then happened upon a corpse which he then looted... but really, the main thing I don't want is some claim of beating any difficult enemies." The alpaca shrugged. Seemed good enough.
Lex quirked, "That's pretty much it, though? That's what she is offering. What I'm pointing out here is that being humble here - "Take just the best weapon and a tiny bit of coin" - isn't likely to accomplish anything other than simply less loot. He came upon a couple corpses, or barely held together undead he could bash with a rock, and luckly they were also carrying some coin. Perfect cover."
"Don't forget they might have artifacts!" Arbit added, "Or spellbooks for Shiharou or Manato!"
The alpaca snorted, then he spoke in my voice,"So I was traipsing through the forest after escaping those meanie spiders, and I found a bunch of dead bodies! Oh my! Well, you know me, I just love desecrating the dead, so I just looted the shit out of that body and got this sweet armor! Oh, but that wasn't enough, so I jacked these magic books too! Man, I just love fucking around with dead bodies! Sorry, I would've come back earlier, but I saw something shiny! Tee hee~"
Do I sound like that? I don't sound like that right? I'm clearly much more confident about looting the dead. Khiruki raised an eyebrow but just carried on back with his own voice, "There is a point where stories will break suspension of disbelief."
Lex answered back calmly, "Who's to say what some corpse deep in the forest had on himself? S.B. was lucky, just found the bodies of a warrior and a mage slash hunter slash whatever. They did find those gems and a magic ring on the undead, so not unreasonable." He took a pause for a moment, "Do you think the half dead, completely exhausted party will bother to suspect his luck and walk another three hours in the jungle to verify his claims? Or just be happy he is actually alive, and on top of all found some loot. That's what I'm saying." He ended with his hands raised for peace. "Loot is Serious Business. Take everything not nailed down, and then bring out the power tools, that's the Adventurer Way. The group leader needs a dramatic origin story, and should be the first to get new gear."
I remember back in the alleyway when Lex first appeared, his advice back then was to take charge of the group.
But the Alpaca clearly disagreed with that plan. "I'll state this now: I wholly reject the notion that S.B. should be party leader. I wouldn't trust anyone here to run a goddamned taco cart."
He took a critical glare around him. "Everyone together? The goddamned taco cart will end up giving mass food poisoning. Manato is a good leader because he is charismatic and well liked by everyone in the party. You were right about one thing though, colder decisions will be necessary at times. Those should not be done by the leader, and should be done by a lieutenant or captain to allow for people to keep their morale. This party is not a goddamned military under a dictatorship. They are free to leave whenever if they do not like their party leader. Making goddamned HARD MAN decisions does not make you liked, and will chase off party members."
Technically, they were free to leave anytime they wanted to of course. The alternative is to starve in an allyway or survive like Kate. It's not much of a choice. But... our group was seven, which means we're almost big enough to form two groups. By definition, we're less of a party and more of a nameless clan. Looks like I'm officially the bad cop and Manato was the good cop anyhow. Fine, I could play the role of the guy people hate. Ranta does it perfectly and he's still in the group.
Spectrum waved her fan threateningly, quieting down people. "The story needs to not only hold up when he meets the party now, it needs to hold up when he's going to have give more details back in the tavern, and it needs to hold up when -other people- are listening in at the tavern. They're veterans with good eyes, they know what rookie adventurers are capable of and solo killing undead, much less multiple undead, right after supposedly fighting off a kidnapping spider is not within that capability." She glanced at me before I could even open my mouth, "Don't go full LN protagonist. You never go full LN protagonist." As far as I knew, LN protagonists had plot armor right? And actual armor too sometimes. I think the benefits were pretty goo-shutting up now.
Story wise, we didn't get very far as a group. Lot of people were split in every direction. Mr. Heng suggested calling ourselves a necromancer and swinging the story around that. Everyone else was a mix between grabbing some stuff. Lord Bleeding Heart, Great defender of the downtrodden but coldblooded little girls except totally not and just a greedy manipulative bastard had a grand plan. I suppose I could call him by his real name, but it slipped my mind. Honest. His idea was that a mass of undead were attracted by my passing and attacked the spider hive. In the fighting, I managed to escape with just my wits and my dagger. In the middle of all that, another new voice cracked into existence.
"Okay Just caught up from the archive . Seriously that provably could have gone better Let's NOT do that again ever." It announced, appearing as a penguin of all things. With a knife.
The voices were eccentric to say the least. That said, I'll take eccentric any day over demonic. They could pick to look like eldritch abominations, but they're appearing as animals mostly, save for chaos and spec who appeared as women. "Oh I'm 103 by the way sorry for taking up more of your head space I'll try not to be a pain in your neck."
"Sure," I said neutrally. "We were missing someone with only numbers in their name. I think the only one left unchecked on the list is someone with six or more X's in their name."
I shot them all a glance. "That better be left unchecked."
A few leather pouched were tossed in my direction by passing warrior spiders, and one tiny casket. I saw them hauling over a cocoon as well. It was twitching. Ever the smart man, I decided not to ask questions and instead start counting up the pouched loot. All together, the undead adventurers that the broodmother had managed to bag came down to twenty silver and fifty seven capas. I thought I was rich. Then I opened the casket. Other than a few business letters and paperwork that had long since faded out, I found nine gold. Dear diary, jackpot.
Let me say that again. Nine. Gold. Pieces. In this world, buying a house would be about to thirty to forty for a good sized one. We're not talking loaning money to a bank or anything – straight up buying a house and property attached. For life. In your name. That you could pass down to your kids and their kids too. The only thing you'd have to pay is taxes for the local lord but that's the typical. Buying a house was something you'd do after thirty years or so. Ten if you're an epic adventurer. It's basically a lifetime of work. And in my hands I was holding a good one fourth of that amount.
We were fucking rich. Richer then rich. I had money signs on my eyes right now looking down on this, drool included. Whoever the undead was, it was probably some courtier running an errand for some fat cats in a friendly agreement. Damn were we lucky. Gold baby! Gold!
I glanced at Spectrum and quickly curled protectively over my new horde, suddenly empathetic to all the dragon stories I've ever heard. The fan twitched. I had a terrible feeling about this. My greedy pig was going to get dragged into the slaughterhouse in a moment, I could just tell. Time to divert attention.
"Last Fang, what would you recommend?" I asked her.
For a story to placate your pack?
"Yep." I answered, stuffing down the coins to smuggle awa – I mean doing absolutely nothing to hide this puny amount of money from any of my compatriots stuck in my head.
Tell them nothing. They'll find you stumbling, bleeding and wounded, but alive. Let their own imagination fill the gaps. When they ask, tell them you'd rather forget.
"Wait, Bleeding and wounded?" That made me stop all progress for a moment, contemplating. I mean what progress? Just sitting on this rock doing nothing important, yep.
I will order my warriors to attack you. Shallow wounds that will make you look far more battleborne then the truth. Your pack will react more emotionally to your re-appearance, and they will be far less critical of your story.
"I don't like the sound of that…"
You may not, but your hydra might. It wanted you to integrate faster with your pack yes? Appeal to their sympathy, It is an obvious move.
One of the new voices approached me. I'd counted three already just this past few minutes. Starting to wonder if it's just stressful situations that makes my mind create new ones. But Last Fang took them seriously, so there's really no telling where they're coming from. "Ask Yume if she knows anything about using crossbows." He began, "I have a feeling that you will be facing even gobbies that use crossbows eventually. How about using the same weapons against them? Crossbows do not require a lot of training to master, and they are very effective at sniping unaware targets from long range. Also, inquire around town if they do not have bolts that are made of silver: they could prove instrumental in your next encounter with the undead or magical beasts. Silver weapons could be better, but I guess they are a lot more expensive as well. With bolts you wouldn't really need to buy many of them."
Pragmatic. I approve. Yume might actually be better with a crossbow then a bow. Who knows?
With that, I approached the little meetup they were having and sat myself down.
"Sun's going to set in five hours. Let's get a decision out and move on with it."
They didn't have an answer. Instead, they seemed to glare at my direction before hunching back around their little club and frantically discussing tactics among each other. I found a closer rock that was least covered in silk and other debris and sat down happily enough, tweedling my thumbs. For the most part, my discovery of gold seemed to stroke their inner greedy pig, just like it had mine. Plenty of entities were discussing to outright take a portion of the money with us. A few others were in favor of just leaving it all to find at the Tyule chest. Some of the crazier ideas involved breaking down the warrior undead's legs or weaken it greatly so that the group would find me locked in combat, or hauling the undead armor and all back home.
While I hung around, one of the new voices meandered to my rock. I raised an eyebrow, lately I haven't had good ideas on how to name everyone of them. In fact, the amount of spirits crammed into my head was making it spin. I'd need to keep a list pretty soon - not to mention they changed names like a politician changes their mind. "By the way, I would also want to take this opportunity to formally introduce myself as Master Yii." The new voice said.
"Master Yii?" That sounded familiar. I couldn't put my finger on it again, but maybe I'd known him in my past life? Turns out, Yii was a veteran soldier, a warrior who'd dedicated his life to the fight. It was good to know I'd have experience riding on my shoulders now. "Although almost the entirety of my life was spent fighting, or studying the art of war at epic scale and not much else, I will strive to advice you both within and out of combat in your travels to the best I can."
It seems some of the voice approached my rock too. They've come up with a plan. Or, as it turns out, just one part of the plan. Namely, I'd be secreting away a gold coin with me from the stash.
Even Spectrum seemed to have been bit by the money bug, although she was worried on how it would affect the group dynamics. Her eyes were twitching dangerously at the internal conflict. "Nine gold...at that rate, Mogzo, Haruhiro, Shihoru, Yume, Ranta, and Manato can all go retire and start that ramen stand instead. You'll just have to keep going with Mary and form a new party."
Ha. As if the merchant guilds would let us set up shop that easily. But thinking of the rest of them keeping up a stall, nice and safe in the town made me smile. Other then Manato and Mogzo, I don't think the others were really cut out for this life. Spectrum glanced back, and seemed to mutter to herself. "...wait. Wasn't I supposed to be convincing myself and the rest of you not to take the money?"
I'm certainly not arguing against! Lex was in agreement too. "Damn, that's a lot of gold. Though split eight ways it isn't nowhere close to the fortune it truly is. It will come down to one gold, fifteen silvers and seven capas each. Averynice payday, but not a jackpot. Not if high quality armor alone is 2 gold." Which is was, because this world sucked. Blacksmithing took years to learn, so of course there was a high price behind it. You'd even need upwards to three gold for decently enchanted armor. But a regular set without any bells and whistles that fit snugly would be around one to two gold.
The oldest voice nodded, "I'd concede that while the armor is pretty vital to survival, it's a bit of a stretch. It's also easier to argue for keeping the armor if you find it alone later instead of going as a group, so you don't need to argue over who gets the awesome armor." It took a glance at me, "Otherwise, you just KNOW Ranta is going to throw a fit about taking it out of your share, or trying to lay claim to it."
… Ranta does as Ranta is. Given a gold, he'll probably spend it all on the first cool looking but impractical sword he comes across, like tourist bait. Then he'll complain about going broke and blame someone else. Yii spoke up then, "When you find the gold and other loots in the undead's chest, you are going to share it with everyone." He said sternly. "Err, not that I want to dictate my preference to you or anything, but I think they deserve that much for trying to save you until the very end at great risk to their own life…. even Ranta... because despite what he said, he still did not abandon his party who were heading into certain death."
That's one way to think about it. But anyone with half a brain would follow the majority especially since living alone out here is asking for misery. Although… Ranta didn't have much foresight at all, so I guess he really did follow the party out of loyalty. "And because you are a good guy you would have thought to do that yourself anyway." Yii finished. Well….
There's the right move, and there's the profitable move. Can't recall too many cases where they were the same thing, sadly. That said I hadn't actually thought too much more than: Wow we're fucking rich. I'll take pride in that I hadn't thought: Wow I'm fucking rich. But that just might be because I'm a pragmatic person unlike Ranta. See, a hundred fish won't feed you for a lifetime if you don't know jack squat about fishing. Without my team behind me, at best, I'm a snarky henchmen for hire. I'd rather invest in making my current group stronger, we're a team. Even Ranta has a purpose. There will probably come a time when making the selfish choice would be better than an altruistic one and we'll need his vote to make it happen.
"So let's put off those gold just for now. You are going to get your house, and your wife too; this I promise on my honor as a Spirit." I rolled my eyes. Is this what it feels like to have your friends push you along for blind dates? I suppose at some point I'll have time to give it some thought. The only girls I knew so far were in my party, and dating within the group seemed like a bad idea. A nasty breakup could literally kill someone if the team cohesion fell.
Chaos followed behind Yii, raising a point, "Yi may have some good point but I believe it could not hurt to take only some gold for now. The whole party must be exhausted. Possible suggestion of taking 1 or 2 gold coins and the rest can be retrieve later from the queen or place in the chest of the thief's hideout." She finished, just as Lex took the stage.
"Now why don't we get a little bit from both worlds? We take some gold, and only gold, for ourselves, say, three or four pieces, and leave the armor and the rest of the gold to be found by our party on the way back. Everyone gets their mood lifted, a nice surprise on top of our survival, we get the armor and enough money that suddenly appearing with new gear (we need a new weapon) won't look suspicious."
It looked like most people were in agreement on one thing: We take some of the gold back with us and leave the rest for that chest. As for how much, that seemed in constant flux. I flicked a gold coin in my hand and dropped it into my boot, then called it a day for hiding things. Lord Bleeding heart showed up, proud. "And now all of you bastards have no reason NOT to help out Kate." He had that smug grin, fixing his glasses at the same time. "Hope it teaches you that karma is not to be fucked with, and helping little girls is the right thing to do even if you have to bend backwards." What was your name again? I totally forgot. I swear on me mum it's not on purpose.
The alpaca was not impressed. "Haa. At this rate, you'll really end up no good..." He said, looking over at me. Lost cause, I thought. The money bug had bit me from the moment I swiped that extra ten silver from Britney. I regret nothing. Nothing!
"I'll just leave you with some advice. I've seen far too many people ruin themselves with money."
He hoofed the ground somberly, "They start out poor, then one day they strike it rich. Inheritance, lottery, whatever. Sure, some smarter guys may be able to keep it together for a while, but everyone cracks eventually. People want your money, paranoia mounts, you spend as if you had ten times the money you actually have. Some lucky people only end up back where they started. Others end up totally broke, or in debt."
The others grimaced to the prospect. For a dumb animal, the alpaca sure gave us a grim reminder on what reality we lived in. "Let's not forget the huge-ass target painted on your back. Don't kid yourself about being able to hide the fact you have money; shit always has a way of leaking out. And people will kill for gold. Hell, you and Manato were killed for silver. Money should be gained gradually and properly; with time, you also build up a reputation and network. People know who you are, and know why screwing with you is a bad idea. Now? You're a bunch of newbies who got lucky. You have no idea how tempting of a target that looks."
With one more witful glance, Khiruki ended his thoughts. "You wanna know some of the happy stories involving striking it rich suddenly? They are, "Couple donates lottery winnings to charity", "Lottery winner gives back to children in his community", and "Man wins millions and builds day camp for children".I don't think this world has a decent concept of charity."
I thought back on Kate and what she'd told us. How no one stopped for the daily suffering of people. Because everyone was too busy keeping things together for themselves.
Has it been decided? Last Fang asked, snapping me from my thoughts.
"For the most part I think." I shut the coffer, along with eight gold pieces and the rest of the pocket change. "Can you bring this and the undead warrior over to a marked place on a map?"
Fishing around for the map brought it out quickly, and I let Elise take a glance at it.
Yes. It is outside my sphere of influence, but I am confident my warriors will find this area.
"Do you need to keep the map?"
No. I remember everything, fledgling.
"Sounds good. Also, destroy the undead when you drop it off there. I don't want to have to fight an armored one, might break the armor we could recover."
It shall be done.
I walked back to the group. They'd already begun discussion among each other future plans and tactics. Yii stole the spotlight and began to detail out a defense on his crossbow plan. A snippet of it that took my attention was his discussion on his… homeworld? Whatever it was, it was clear the voices thought they weren't being overheard.
"…even third-class physique citizens of age 18~19, of the entire male population, learn to use advanced weapons in a military fashion. Third class physique citizen includes those with eye defects and hearing defects, including color insensitivity. These conscripts receive just 4 weeks of training before becoming competent infantrymen with heavy, full-length assault rifles - a majority anyway. I will expect none of them to be able to use bows to the same degree, though."
"If you look at SKT T1 Faker, you'd know what a typical conscript of similar descent to the Japanese would look like." I continued to listen in, fascinated by his world. These trans-dimentional beings seem to have at least some similarities to human culture at least. Maybe they weren't information based entities? Yii continued onwards, explaining how archers tended to be physically stronger than even spearmen after years. It wasn't a good position for a girl like Yume. He even shared some sort of video showing soldiers and their weapons. The strangest thing about all this – how familiar it all looked. How everything from Yii's world seemed to make sense in my head. I remembered what a gun was, for example. Even if the concept seemed so ludicrously insane.
"The efficiency of crossbows are OP in their own right, compared to arrows or even daggers, so it was just a simple suggestion put forward to make some of our less experienced crew into more effective fighters. Let's discuss this some other time in the next chapter while we are refitting our party." That word stuck in my head for a moment. There was something eerie about the way he said chapter. I couldn't put my finger on that uncanny feeling in the end, so I moved on. But that gave me some ideas on testing experiments of my own with the voices. They ran their own tests on me right? Turnabout is fair game.
Then he said something that chilled me straight to my core.
"Manato was killed by a goblin's crossbow in the original timeline, half way through Volume 1 in the Archive. So it's a relatively early-level weapon."
Manato… was supposed to die in the original timeline? And I didn't stop it? Fuck.
Then something even colder hit me. Volume one. Archive. Chapters. Pre-destined.
The archives were a history book to them!
"Only in one depiction of it." Spectrum answered, "In the original depiction, the bodyguard threw its blade at him. Crossbows actually only appear on well armored leaders."
"Well yes, he died to the hobgoblin instead in the LN, but the goblin had crossbow all the same in Volume 1. He shoots it at Yume in the battle where they were killed."
Forgotten seemed pretty shaken by that, "... wait. Yume dies?"
"No, I mean where the goblins were killed near the end of volume 1. Yume is fine, there's nothing to worry about." Yii answered back.
"Whew. I was soo worried."
I had my own thoughts shaken, but for different reasons. LN? I frowned hard and thought. I knew what an LN was. I was sure of that. I even joked earlier about it with Spectrum. But what exactly was it again? Given that the archives were separated in volumes and chapters, it was probably some sort of book. For the moment, my mouth stayed shut. Didn't want to interrupt them when I'm finally doing the eavesdropping for once.
"Most exiled goblins of Damroww will know how to use a crossbow as long as they can afford more than just a rusty sword and small shield. Most Crimson Moon members are much better equipped and trained than goblins anyway. Haruhiro's party in the original timeline was an exception."
Haruhiro's party? If Manato dies in their historical archives, Haru inherits the group leadership? No way. The kid barely speaks and follows behind everyone diligently. If anything, I could see Ranta being the leader next. The guy would strong-arm everyone into following him, and they'd do it out of sheer necessity since none of them had the backbone to say no except when it was too late. Except for Mogzo. He'd probably follow just because Ranta would lead his friends to their death. They'd need someone to bail them out.
Forgotten seemed to remember I was around, "And should we talking about the original archive where S.B. can hear? He might grow overprotective of them if he knows, even thought he should know we have no intention of letting that happen."
Me? Overprotective? Please, do I look like the hero of a story or something? They're fine, we've survived plenty so far. Getting an unobstructed view into the voices was far more fascinating.
Yii glanced around, but somehow I'd managed to go under the radar. I silently thanked the time dilation between our worlds.
"I still don't know how much S.B. can hear us... aren't we sending him pre-recorded messages, so those he doesn't need to know yet get filtered?"
Heh. Fat chance. Like someone would just conveniently filter anything. Trog and Nuclear haven't been around since I got freed by the spiders, but he's the one who figured out a way to discuss in private. Maybe something happened to him, and his filter disappeared with him? If so, the voices had nothing to hide their secrets from me anymore. Good.
The time dilation seemed to have caught up, because Chaos noticed me. She leveled a glance on Yii, and it wasn't a friendly one. "I was gone just a little while and what do I find? Yii Put your need-to-know words in-" And her voice cut out. I could tell there was more but it was gone like it'd never arrived. Fuck, Trog wasn't the key. Yii must have just been too new at this and no one showed him the ropes. I got some good info out of it, but pretty soon they'll be catching back up on all this.
"Spectrum can we agree to give this info later after the party is safe? not now please... we can give this info on 4th day or even tomorrow on the 3rd day." Chaos requested. That got a wave of a fan and the voices turned silent.
The next plan they discussed wasn't as great – for me at least.
Lex glanced at me. "Can't look pristine, that's suspicious as all hell." He agreed with the others.
Uh oh.
The oldest voice followed with a solid Aye. "Getting back unhurt is going to look incredibly fishy."
Rag nodded, appearing as a specter like entity. "Sorry Silas - I'm calling you Silas Bell - it sucks but it will definitely sell it better. Also, sorry about the bad timing for the introduction. But, hey! Look on the brightside, I gave you a distraction while you were being carried off by spiders!" Don't try and laugh this off you traitor! You try getting mauled by giant spiders and see how you fare after! They all stared me down anyhow. I sighed heavily, weary of the world.
"They… uhh, they want me to… you know. Do the thing." I mumbled out to Last Fang.
I don't understand. You'll have to be more detailed or give me permission to read your thoughts.
One of the newer voices knocked some sense into my bubbling. "Better feel physical pain now then to feel emotional pain later S.B, we all want you healthy both physically and mentally." Objection! False equivalence! "Yes I know, I contradicted my self. Oh Yeah, name's Revya."
Goddamnit. I was looking forward to making another giant title. Fine. Revya it is.
I squinted back at the broodmother. "No thanks. I got a nudge about getting it over with." It'll be like ripping off a band-aid, I thought. Yep. A really painful fang-filled band-aid. I gulped out the words, "They want to do the cover-up plan."
Very well. I'll have my warriors attack you lightly.
Three giant murder-spiders dropped right next to me, incisors sharp and legs stretched out. Logic, accounting for about 95% of my thought process, was swiftly trampled down by sheer primal fear for my life. I did the only sensible thing: leaped backwards and drew my knife out without a second thought. Richard would have nodded at that. If I'd been more of an animal I might have even hissed. My sense of reasoning managed to beat down the invader a few moments later. Chaos flew her way over, patting my shoulder while I got myself back under check. "It is going to be ok, we are here for you,"She said soothingly. As much as I hate being looked down on, it did the job oddly enough.
"I'm calm. I'm calm…" I muttered.
You fear pain. I may have a solution. Last Fang had ordered off her minions, seeing a problem.
"What do you suggest?"
I've rendered you unconscious before. I can do it again easily enough. You won't feel the immediate pain, or the mental trauma. You'll simply wake up bloody. Satisfactory?
"You know what. Sure. Let's do that. What could go wrong?"
I felt her reach into my mind and then nothing.
The first thought when I came to was pain. I sensed lacerations all across my chest and arms. Legs too. She had been thorough. Opening my eyes only revealed a red-tinted world. She hadn't spared my face either, there was definitely blood dripping down from my forehead, past my eyes and onto the forest bed. It hurt pretty fucking bad and all over too.
"Urrrrrraahhhhhh….gggggrrr," I half growled, half groaned. The pain wasn't sharp, but it was everywhere - and constant. A grim reminder from my body that it was fragile, despite the armor. Speaking of that, a lot of the leather was torn up too, though all metal plates were accounted for. And equally damaged. I equally realized I wasn't near any more spiderwebs. The culprit wasn't even in sight anymore either, nor were any spiders. Last Fang probably carried me away from the hive.
I stood up, steadying myself. Sharp pains came up anytime my movements shoved the open wounds into the ruined leather. Walking was redefined to limping. Either I was going to waste my healing potion now, or I'd better find Mary and Manato quick. A quick item check revealed everything was in place, except for Kate's dagger which lay at my feet, covered with some sort of ichor. Spider blood likely. My shield was nearby, and sported a pretty deep gash in the wood.
"Which way?" I grunted, snatching the dagger up and keeping it in hand. The shield went in my other, and I felt much less naked with it.
Walk forward. She chittered lightly through Elise.
"Fine." I snarled, and began to limp through the thick jungle. True to her word, not even five minutes passed before I heard rustling ahead. Then I spotted a group making a fast walk through the shrubs. They were looking in every direction, on edge. I felt tension unknot itself across my body.
Manato and Mogzo stopped walking, the first to spot me. There was some confusion on their face, but it only lasted a fraction of a second before the priest rushed over to my side. The rest of the party quickly followed with shouts.
"SOBATO!" Yume practically screeched, sprinting down.
"He's alive?!" Ranta sputtered, clearly disbelieving his eyes. When they got closer, my wounds got the attention next. Even yume stopped her attempted hug mid-way once she noticed the blood. Instead she recoiled in horror, taking a few steps back. "He's wounded!" Manato shouted, turning to Mary.
She gave me a critical glance, I couldn't tell exactly the details due to my fuzzy sight. It felt like her resolve was being tested. "Sit." She told me after a moment of hesitation.
I kneeled down slowly, trying to minimize the pain. She reached out and I felt hands scan through the damages, quickly. Then she clamped back shut, and the girl I'd known came back with a slight shake. "H-he's fine. We need to move back to safety and meditate." Manato looked at the girl with pleading eyes, but it was Ranta that beat him to the punch.
"Are you fucking insane bitch?! Look at him! He's gonna turn into an undead any moment now and you don't want to heal him?!"
Mary didn't answer for a moment, stripping down the last of her bandages and applying them over the wounds. Once done, she stood tall, gazing down on Ranta from her full height. "Yes. There's no injuries that require immediate attention."
Manato frowned. "I don't like this. Sobato, can you walk?"
"I've been walking for the past few hours," I lied. "Was already resolved to walk my way back into the town. You guys are a welcome surprise."
Our priest nodded, taking command. "Haru, help me carry him. Mogzo, take the vanguard. We need to get out of here quickly." I felt a giant hand reach to my side and lift me up. Mogzo had a worried expression on his face, and I noticed with a smile he'd also been carrying my spear on his back. Least I hadn't lost that.
Ranta stopped the group then, "You're going to take her side on this?! You know she's got enough juice for one more heal. Probably even two! What the fuck, that bitch is holding out on us!"
Mary said nothing, her eyes had gone ice cold. The priest on my side, already lifting me up, answered his peace. "She knows she needs to save it. We can discuss this later Ranta."
"Save it?! Save it?! She doesn't heal, she doesn't fight, she doesn't do anything but stand behind and wait for us to kill shit for her. She even demanded you stop fighting! What the hell are we doing to do if two people stand around doing nothing?!"
"Ranta, we'll talk later." Manato said calmly but there was a certain non-negotiable chill to those words. He was angry. A cold fury. I spoke out then, trying to keep things going. "I'll be fine Ranta. Group takes priority." I took a look at Mary. Resolute. Silent. She gave me a glance, but I only saw an iron defense inside.
"Whatever. I don't even care anymore." Ranta shrugged, strapping his blade and turning around to walk.
"Just telling it like it is, not like you all would listen to me anyhow. That bitch is an outsider, but I'm no different."
We force walked for a solid half hour, before finding a spot that looked defendable. "This place is good." Manato nodded at the stream. "We can set up camp here. Yume, Haru, scout around us like normal."
The two nodded and immediately disappeared into the shrubbery. The moment that was done, Manato immediately sat down in meditation. Eyes shut and a focused guise stretched on his face. Mary followed suit, giving a glance at Mogzo who only nodded back.
As for me, I sat down with my back to a tree and rested for a moment. What a fucking day.
I noticed Ranta was pacing around, sulking. Every few moments he would give me a glance. It was filled with anything from pity, to horror, but mostly guilt. I didn't really understand it. Eventually, he made his way over and sat down next to me.
"So." He started. "What happened exactly."
"Got abducted by giant spiders, probably planned to make a meal out of me." I shrugged.
"I know that already! I was there remember? I mean what happened after we lost sight of you! Obviously!"
"Had my dagger. Saw a chance to escape. Got away. Listen Ranta, it's not exactly a great memory, and I don't want to think about it right now. Or ever."
He was silent for a while. "S-sorry." He said quietly.
"For what?"
"… When you got taken, everyone was panicking and running after you. And… I got sc-" He stopped. Thinking. "It was obvious running after a bunch of giant spiders was a dumb idea. We can't possibly take on giant spiders but maybe someone back in town could, if we all paid everything we had…" He thought for a moment more. "You know what, I'm not sorry!"
He stood up, glaring down at me. "You got lucky Sobato! Real lucky! How was I supposed to know you were still alive?! No way! No one could! It's not my fault, I did what I had to." The dread knight stared me down, then turned and walked away quickly. Mogzo and Shiharou had overheard everything, but neither said a word. Mogzo just remained at the ready.
No one talked for a good quarter hour and I dozed painfully off to sleep. When I woke up, it was because voices were mumbling around me. I felt a hand touch my face. Then the familiar sensation of being healed. Goddamn did it feel good. Like laying down on a cold day in the middle of a sunbeam. At first, there was still pain. But slowly, it disappeared all around beaten by a warmth. The wounds were knit shut. I opened my eyes.
"How are you feeling Sobato?" Manato asked me.
"Alive." I deadpanned, standing back up. "And it's Silas Bell. That's my name."
It also hadn't felt right, but much closer to what I was looking for. It would do for now. Manato looked puzzled for a moment, before nodding. "All right Silas." Mr. Heng had told me they did know my real name – but I was better off not knowing for some reason. At this point, I had three names already so that was plenty enough.
"Spear?" I requested, arm outstretched. Mogzo handed it to me without word. Holding onto the familiar weight set me at ease. I gave a deep sigh.
"Right. I'm ready." I declared to the group, a sort of conclusion implied.
Our leader brought himself up, "We're heading back to town now. We need to recover."
And that's when Ranta flared, "What about the loot we left behind! My vice! You told me we could pick it up after we saved Soba-" He looked at me quickly, "Silas. Whatever. We killed like, an army of goblins behind us and we didn't stop to grab anything! It's all nice and awesome that we rescued Silas, but we gotta make money too. Don't fucking forget that, we're broke."
Manato grimaced, then turned to me. I shrugged back, "I'm alive and healed up. No point in leaving anything behind just to get to town faster."
"But what if the spiders come back?" Haru asked from the side, "Aren't you scared?"
Oh kid, if you knew the half of it. Two days into my new job and I've met a retired general in hiding of the deathless king himself. Some start. Wonder if I'll meet the human king on day three and go on a quest to save the world for day four.
"It carried me pretty far off, I think we stumbled on something special by accident when we ran into that hive. Their territory is hours away from here."
With that, the group settled and backtracked cautiously through the forest. Like before, it was a boring treck – but this time none of us let our guard down. They'd asked me about what happened and how I escaped. I told them the same thing I told Ranta. They got the memo real quick and dropped the subject. On their side, it turned out the group had killed a total of three goblins, although they fought a lot more than that – They'd just let the goblins run away if they tried. It seemed like that was more likely to happen too, the goblins in the forest did not want to pick a fight with the crimson moon. Once they found out the group wasn't after blood, they'd scramble away except for a few here and there that were determined to kill the humans.
Overall loot, two wolf fangs, a tiny gem, twelve capas with holes punched into them. Ranta had gone around butchering the corpses. At first, when I was dragged up into the trees, they chased after me with no formation and no cohesion. Lost sight within minutes. Then maybe a half hour of running they ran into three goblins who immediately attacked. Mogzo took a beating, and so did Haru. If it weren't for Manato beating down two goblins at the same time and holding them off, the others couldn't have put a killing blow on the isolated one. Once their companion had died, the other two became enraged and fought even more, stabbing Manato badly. Ranta dove in to save their priest and it worked out fine. Once the second goblin was killed, the third ran away. Mary hadn't lifted a finger to save Manato, and she chose to cast the renew spell on Mogzo. After that, she'd scolded Manato for his actions badly.
Manato listened. Or at least, as he told me, "You were the one that vouched for her Silas. You've always been someone I could rely on, you know? Always knew a lot more about everything then any of us. I thought: If you'd seen something in her, then there must be. Had to be. I trusted her."
He'd backed off and the next engagement spent it in the rear line flinching the entire time. "It was hard," He told me on the hike. "I wanted to jump in, I saw plenty of places I could have stopped a hit or got an attack in. But Mary didn't let me. So instead, I studied just what she was doing. That gave me a clearer picture." He sighed, "You were right again. She's on a different league then us. Ranta and the others didn't understand it at first. I still think Ranta doesn't, but Haru, Mogzo and Yume at least get the picture when I explained it to them."
We both looked over to the priest a few members in front of us. Everyone else was talking to their neighbors, but she remained silent. Keeping a sharp eye out for trouble.
"She was always keeping an eye on the bigger picture. Calculating if our team would be able to kill an enemy or if she needed to heal someone. I understood her style quickly enough. It's frustrating. But it's safer. The entire time she had her hands on that potion you gave her. Like she constantly was thinking to use it. Glad she didn't. She's… not easy to work with and was cold to everyone. But she didn't abandon us either. The rest of them got it together, like she gambled they would. Ranta complained incessantly about everything, but they fought smarter bit by bit. I was holding them back by helping."
That's Manto all right. Always seeing the best in people. "Told you I had good instincts." I said smugly.
"I know how to pick'em. If I'd died, she'd be a good second-in-command to replace me."
I saw Mary flinch ahead and realized she might have been listening in on our discussion, despite the babble around her. Manato on his part seemed to pale a bit. "Silas." He said with an edge, "You know, it's funny how easily we took you for granted. We lead this outfit together remember? Without you, I felt weak. We felt weak. So don't go around saying stuff like you're replaceable by anyone." He let that sink for a moment. "I know you're the kind of person to plan for any situation. Bookstore, potions, bandages, you study everything and everyone around you. You've got a plan for everything no matter how hard of a choice might be. But I don't want to hear you plan for this. Not like it's just another thing that could go wrong."
"Is that an order?" I asked.
"It is."
"…. Then I'll follow it captain." I answered easily enough. That seemed to relax him. Not to mention the group had gone quiet near the end of our discussion.
Returning home wasn't eventful either. We sold the profits for a total of two silver and forty five capas. Divided eight way, that was about 30 capas for each of us. I hadn't killed any of these, so I protested getting money but the look the party gave me shut me up. It was more symbolic come to think of it. It was the party's effort and they needed me to know I was still a member. That only made me feel guiltier and guiltier about the gold coin in my boot. Clearly S.B. actually stands for Scum Bag.
Mary took her share politely, thanked the group, and walked off to her side of the town without another word. She didn't say anything about meeting up again tomorrow, but I didn't have a doubt in my head she'd be at our inn, seven in the morning sharp. Thirty capas wasn't much, but it was enough for a few day's worth of food. A good start.
I handed off my gear to the blacksmith shop where I'd got a promise of it being fixed by tomorrow morning. The man simply raised an eyebrow when I walked in.
"You again?"
"Yep. Ran into something nasty."
"You pay good money, so on one hand I wouldn't mind you arriving each night here. On the other hand, that's a lot of work to put in. Adventurers need their gear fixed once every few weeks. Try not to make this a habit."
"Yessir." I answered dutifully, paying the dues and walking out with just the shirt on my back. And pants of course. Comfortable.
We'd agreed to keep the details hushed, so the tavern was skipped for tonight while we ate dinner and promptly hit the sack after cleaning up. I thought about the future. And the spider hanging around my ceiling. Watching my every move.