Whew. Talk about a crazy two weeks. Family visit, eight hour drives, interview for a job. I'm kind of short for my normal requirements, but if I tried to hit 16k I'd have to wait another week or so and that just felt wrong.
I stood up as Klein approached and patted myself down, dusting away the imaginary dust that had settled onto my clothing during my impromptu nap. "It's a shame we can't take a wagon over there," I commented. It was the day before christmas, and it was our hope that we would be able to finish up the last of the «Region Exploration» line before tomorrow afternoon.
Messages from some of Klein's friends on the fourth floor claimed there would be a combined party for both Christmas and New Year's. While it was hosted by the front lines out on the fourth floor, a handful of extra people who had participated in previous clearing efforts were being invited. The same was occurring in the other main cities as well, though for the regular players instead.
"It's not like we won't be hurting for supplies," he responded, face lighting up when he realized what I was referring to. "There's a blacksmith over there, remember? And if we start running low on potions we can always make a farming run over by the outpost." Klein fiddled with the straps of his new chestpiece. Through cor earned from quest rewards and metal ores from clearing the northern mines, the rest of Fūrinkazan had been able to purchase new equipment from some of the player smiths on this floor.
Unlike the NPC made armor that I had, player made gear was special in that it could be upgraded significantly more times. True, the starting stats were usually worse off than similarly leveled equipment from a store, but they would easily change once the gear hit the near guaranteed success rate of 4 attempts.
Sans Harry and Dale (who had had heavy metal armor made for them in days previous) and Choryu ('I think I'll stick to a speed build and keep using Leather'), the rest were like me and had made the change to «Light Metal Armor», their equipment various designs of scale and laminar equipment. I was different in that my armor was incredibly similar to my previous set, strips of metal that distinctly classified it as 'split mail' attached to the hardened leather.
"I guess that's true. I know you guys like to pay attention to the storyline, or at least Harry does, but are we really going to be paying attention to everything this time around? There's that party going on tomorrow, and we're probably going to have to do a bit of travelling." I leaned to the side and waved at the figures of Issin and Kunimitzz.
"Not as much as we usually do. Is what I'd like to say." Klein let out a long breath. "I talked with Mitsui a little bit before I got here. According to the most recent reports, the guards found a secret entrance that the goblins were using somewhere in some ruins close to the mountainside." The man leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. "Goblins, hidden ruins, the last part of a quest line. We'll have to take it slow. Plenty of oil for lanterns, exploration limited by whoever's willing to take point and however many potions we have. We'll probably have to take full advantage of my «Searching» and the speed you and Choryu can run at." He slumped over, giving a pained groan. "Dammit, this is starting to feel like a D&D session."
I chuckled. "At least we're a group of people that are used to working with each other and not a bunch of randoms." It wasn't too often, but on occasion there would be a group of people at previous bases who spent their off time running table top sessions. I had tried my hand at it enough times to get a good understanding of it but could never fully invest into the game, preferring to play simple party games, read, or watch movies with my companions.
"Yeah, that's true." Klein stepped away from the wall, putting on a broad smile as the rest of our group approached. "Alright, guys!" He started with a loud clap. "Today we'll be heading back to Horunka. Some extra guards Mitsui sent over there discovered some ruins that were hiding a secret entrance. Choryu, Asasaki, when we get in there we'll be relying on you two to keep note of any traps. Make sure to stay potted up at all times. Who knows what the monsters there have set up."
The first time Klein had gone over the plan at dinner, breakfast, and before heading out, I thought it extremely odd and redundant. The more he did it though, the more comforting it got. Instead of working with the unknown and potentially running to our doom, the repeated briefings turned all of our trips into field trips or simple hikes.
"Our travel formation will be with Harry and Dynamm in front. Issin and Kunimitzz will be behind them and if we have enough room to work in, Dale and myself will be between you four but if not then we'll be in the back.." The redhead nodded at me. "Asasaki, make sure Choryu's safe if any new monsters show up. Argo's books don't make any mention of this so we're going to need any information we can get." Under Klein's guidance, we all clapped a single time, the sound surprising the few people passing through the southern gate. "Let's have a good hunt, guys!"
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I flicked my sword out to the side, wiping its faces on the piece of cloth I had attached over my tassets. "All clear over here!" I called out. As much as they wished to watch the fabled Swordsmen fight, the guards here had been assigned by Mitsui to collect some additional resources from the local monsters and so it had fallen to us to secure the area.
#All rooms clean. Return to the main hall.#
I took my time to arrive, soaking in as much as I could of the crumbling fort. Once I had asked Mitsui to talk about the history of the region. Long ago, before the 'Great Separation' had confined these lands, the building here had been used for the center of advanced training for troops. Even though most of the stone had been reclaimed by nature, there was still a sense of wonder at the remains.
"Find anything special?" Harry asked. When nothing but negatives were given, the teen grunted, expanding one of his screens and allowing us to see the map. "We're here." He pointed at a small depression on the north western edge of the forest. "Which mean whatever's through this tunnel leads either to here," he circled the nearby mountain range with a finger, "Or leads back to the structures they found back at the plains." While the researchers had yet to figure out exactly what the odd black metallic bricks were, their current guess was that that specific section was a tunnel of some kind based on the dimensions.
Klein stepped over to a square piece of masonry that seemed marginally different from the rest of the floor. "Keep your potions on your quick access bars. We'll take this nice and slow. Asasaki, Choryu, guide us well." The 22 year old motioned for Dale to assist him with the stone plate, leveraging their weight under it by way of a long handled shovel.
Dirt showered off from the sides, a steep staircase that showed signs of recent use being revealed in the sunlight. "Ladies first." I gestured for Choryu to enter before, motioning at the lantern in his left hand with a finger.
"Such a gentleman," he countered good naturedly. "Give us ten minutes before following after us." The office worker stepped through the rotating circle of smokey runes, his body disappearing with every step.
"I'd say I'll save you guys a piece of the action, but that'd just mean we aren't doing our jobs." I winked and leapt down, grabbing onto the far ledge and swinging myself forward. The initial path of the dungeon was a somewhat thin hallway, barely wide enough for the two of us to walk side by side with what looked like carved stone pillars spaced evenly like the ribs of a beast.
"Looks like we won't be needed this, will we Miss Asasaki?" Choryu snuffed out his lantern and put it back into his inventory. Evenly spaced out between the arches were wrought iron torches, the nails in the attachment plates presumably inserted deep into the earth to keep them in place.
"I'm surprised this is all still standing. With how bad it was above, you'd think there'd be a lot more rubble here." I kicked at a stone and sent it harmlessly ahead of us several feet. "Let's take it slow for now. If you feel suspicious about anything, don't feel bad about voicing it. Who knows what sort of stuff is still active around here." I huffed, resting a hand on the butt of my sword. "God what I'd do for some silly string right now."
"Silly string?" Choryu echoed, following my lead a few paces behind.
"Those cans that fire out a string of foam when you push down on the button?" I explained, not sure if the question was due to translation issues or just pure inexperience."Travels pretty far out and it'll hang over just about anything it flies over. It's lightweight enough that it usually doesn't set off wires attached to traps. Sort of like a smoke or mist emitter for laser sensors that you'd see in a spy movie."
"Sounds like useful stuff. Were they cheap to get?"
"Fairly cheap, but we only ever got it in care packages or if we requested it from family. Could you imagine the looks we'd get if on official requisition forms we had 'forty cans of silly string' listed?" I barked. "Also a fun, if messy way to kill time." As time passed, I slowly decreased our pace to a dead stop, paranoia growing stronger with every step we took. Either the hall was completely untouched or the inhabitants were meticulous with their work; both options were rather distressing.
In the ensuing silence, Choryu took it upon himself to alleviate the one sided awkwardness.. "Miss Asasaki, if you don't mind me asking, did you ever make up with Klein and the others?"
"Something like that," I muttered, moving onto the ground to inspect the region above at foot level.
"I see. That's good. I didn't really understand what the issue was when it first happened, but then I remembered you come from a military background and that you're probably used to risking your life." Choryu laughed a bit nervously. "Still though. It was rather scary when I looked over and saw you fighting that monster all on your own."
I huffed and got to my feet. "It's not like that thing was much of an issue. Like most of the monsters we've seen, all of its moves were horribly telegraphed. The only challenge was figuring out exactly what its limits were." I jabbed a thumb down the path. "Looks like it's all clear for now. Until the scenery changes we probably don't need to worry about anything. Just to be safe though, keep around five feet, err, one and a half meters, between us, okay?"
Haru hesitantly agreed, deferring to my judgement. "Do you think we'll ever reach your level?" He asked after a time.
"If by level you mean combat capabilities, I'd say no," I responded, presuming he was referring to my usual behavior of gallivanting on my own while others stayed together. "Not unless you change your life and join the JSDF or something. I've been in the military for around nine years now. I've had martial arts lessons on and off since I was around 14, and then sparring with friends and cousins almost every week." I wiped away some of the dust covering a flat part of the wall, realizing the strange brick behind it matched the qualities of the material reported to be underneath the plains. "It's a bit strange to think that that building extends this far west," I muttered.
"Do you think this was something meant for the game?" Choryu looked away from his own observations on one of the torches, an oddly symmetrical pattern of bricks blossoming out from its base.
"Come again?" I asked, utterly confused as to what he meant.
"It feels like there's a lot of inconsistencies in this questline." Choryu tugged at the light source, giving it several tugs before giving up. "Things that only we can access, NPC's with conversational behaviors that go beyond what you'd normally expect. Mitsui said that they've been separated from their neighbors for at least generations now, didn't they? I just feels to me that part of what we're seeing was something suddenly thrown into this world for experimental tech purposes and not to try and tell a consistent story."
I stared at the office worker. "Choryu, I think that's the longest I've ever heard you speak before."
The man chuckled and looked at the ground. "I guess I'm just finally getting used to the idea that I'm actually in this world and not sitting safe behind a computer screen. Also, the others are faster than me when it comes to voicing our thoughts. What Harry, Issin, and Klein usually come up with are just about the same as mine." He looked back up and grinned sheepishly. "You all keep forgetting that I was a huge gamer back in my teen's. I might not be able to execute everything you talk about, but I can at least follow along."
I shook my head and smiled. "A fork in the road," I pointed out redundantly several minutes later. Path that continued straight ahead slowly reverted back to the more natural, worked appearance while the one that went to the right had a pile of rubble that seemed to have resulted from our side resting at its mouth, once hiding the reinforced brick tunnel behind. "Should we split up or wait for the others?"
"As much fun as it would be to go off and explore on our own, I think it would be best if we waited for the others and discussed what we should do." Choryu continued examining the two paths, looking closely at the mound of stone. "This used to be a stone door."
"Think you can figure out how long ago it got destroyed?"
"No. But it wasn't recent, I can tell you that much. The layers of dust don't look as disturbed on the other side as compared to ours."
I sat down and leaned against one of the stone pillars. "Feel free to keep checking everything out. I'm going to take a small nap while we wait."
"Didn't you just get up a few hours ago?"
I opened my eyes partway, bemusedly smiling at his expression. "Haru, we're in a dungeon, essentially behind enemy lines, and this is the last area we have to explore for the region so far. I'm sure there's going to be something spectacular happening at the end of all this, and I'm willing to be it's going to be combat. Besides. We haven't seen hide nor hair of monsters or even traps this entire time. We should be fine for now."
"I'll keep watch for now then," he uttered quietly.
Three cheers to me for teaching them how to be safe.
Some time later, before I could reach a proper trance, the sound of footsteps and conversation reached my ears. "Look, all I'm saying is, if you're not doing any contact then you're not actually having sex, you're masturbating."
A heavy sigh, one I attributed to Kunimitzz. "And as I've told you a dozen times before, it doesn't matter that you're not actually having contact with her. If you're doing it together, then it's sex."
I slowly opened my eyes, taking in the sight of the two arguing over some asinine thing. Beside them, the other four displaying various states of amusement and irritation
"Something wrong?" Klein slipped between his friends. Secure in the knowledge that it wasn't something serious, the two spear users continued their riveting discussion on the technicalities of interactive VR porn.
"The path splits." I let out a huff, doing my best to ignore the conversation. "We were thinking about exploring them on our own, but figured it would be better if we went as a group instead."
Klein gave me a grateful nod. "Any idea on what we should expect?"
"If we want to look for the goblins immediately, we should probably just go straight ahead." I stood up, idly noticing that none of us had a light source out. "If we go to the right then we'll probably end up discovering the forgotten constructs of an ancient civilization. That's how this sort of thing goes, isn't it? Ancient technology forgotten by all?" I tapped my foot against one of the tiles, a dull, muted sound resounding.
"The quest log still says to explore the region north west of Horunka. Whether we check out these ruins or not, I don't think we'll be effected much. Ancient ruins don't really seem to fit much with what we've done so far." Harry shuffled forward, purposely rattling his armor to drown out the more graphic descriptions Issin and Dale were giving about their experiences.
"If the entrance had a special area marker on it, there's a chance we won't be able to return here." Dynamm rolled his eyes at the two behind him, their voices rising in intensity. "Whichever path we take first, we should consider taking both before leaving."
"Hey guys, mind holding this off for another time?" Kunimitzz shot Issin an annoyed glared and moved closer, the fisher chuckling before doing the same. "We'll put it to a vote." Klein took a step back and partially held a hand up. "All in favor heading towards the ancient, high tech region?" Issin, Choryu, Harry, and I rose our hands. "Looks like it's settled then. Same formation as before. Give us a shout if anything happens."
I gave a lazy salute, leading my dagger using companion down the second path. "You know, part of me wants to say that this is something specifically meant for the game, but then I remember hearing about ancient civilization technology from that 'Breath of the Wild' installment on the Switch a couple years back. Wanna put a bet on it?" I dragged my finger along the wall, wondering whether the indents along the material was something more technological or if it was just the markings for cement.
"What do you have in mind?"
"Say… Ten thousand cor that whatever this is it's part of the lore built for this world and not something added to the game and never taken out like the Konami code or a weapons debug weapons cache?" It was a hefty amount that I doubted either of us had. "By the time we figure out what this place was meant to be, I'm sure we'll have gathered that much."
"That's quite a lot." Choryu stepped ahead of me, poorly singing one of this year's hit songs under his breath. "Deal."
I laughed quietly. As hard as it was on the ears, the sheer act brought back memories of long drives, both on duty and while on vacation. "I feel like I need to be inebriated if I'm going to enjoy your singing properly," I joked.
"Sorry. Want me to stop?"
"No, you're good. Makes me feel like I'm on a road trip and all our music players are bugged out." I grinned. "You know. Aside from the walking, the the odd black halls lit by fires that never seem to run out, and the suspicious lack of bodies, human or otherwise."
I stopped when we turned the corner, the hall widening to accommodate a pair of braziers on either side of twin doors. Carved from its stone faces, ten unique symbols climbed their way to the top in an alternating zig zag pattern. Of the three drawings, the bottom three were currently lit up. "Choryu I know I'm crazy, but imagine this, only around ten times bigger and at the top of a spiraling flight of stairs."
"Yeah, I see it too." The man sat on his rear, elbows resting on his knees. "All that walking for a great stone door that leads to an underground secret floor." He looked up at me, mirroring my grin from before. "I'm liking my odds."
Considering that the doors to the second floor had a single unified theme, it was safe to assume that beyond these doors lay an amalgamation of ten floors. "We probably shouldn't go in there," I said, sharing my thoughts.
"We shouldn't, but I think we need to." Choryu stepped closer to the door. With his hands in the gesture for his «Scan» ability, the office worker slowly worked his way up the images, uttering a sound of dissatisfaction at the end."Couldn't even get a name off them. It'll be dangerous, but we need to consider taking a peek at the very least. There's a chance we might find things that will only show on the upper floors. Having that extra advantage might help people out."
I grunted in agreement. "I wouldn't mind getting in some action. Fully complaining here; it's starting to get mind numbingly boring." I spun around, facing away from him. "Where's the action!?" I cried, raising my hands to the air. "The drama?! This is supposed to be the final part of this quest line! We should be fighting our way through a fortress, not skulking about like we're covert ops. It doesn't line up with the previous stuff we've done!"
"If you're really looking for drama you could always leave us and join Kirito and Asuna on the front lines. I'm sure you'll get your fill watching Kibaou and Lind argue over who's the prettiest." Haru pulled his book on monsters out from his inventory, slowly flipping through it.
I brought a finger to my lips, pretending to consider the option. While hanging around Kirito would have undoubtedly filled all my desires for action, but the fact remained that he was still a teenager. Fun for a time and in short doses, but if you wanted to coexist with them for any length of time you needed to take on the role of a mentor to fix issues related to their inexperience.
"Asasaki, that was a joke," he said suddenly.
"I know. But it does have merits. Honestly, if I didn't need to worry about Argo charging me an arm and a leg for it, I'd ask her to record some of the interactions those two groups had. Would probably make for great daytime television" My fingers lazed out, typing out a message for Klein. "And now, we wait." I slumped against a wall, slowly sliding down it while I reread the bonus effect of the cloak I had acquired a few nights ago.
#Increases Stealth and Agility by 10% while in wooded areas.#
Even without knowing what their ultimate objective was, that effect alone would be incredibly useful for a ninja. A shame though that I didn't have either of the relevant skills, though I did plan on acquiring them later on.
It was a few minutes later when Klein's voice interrupted my musings. "When you said you found a door to an underground floor I was expecting something bigger, but I can see the resemblance."
The leader of Fūrinkazan stopped a few paces from the door. With a satisfied nod to a question only he heard, he began speaking. "Calling it here, this is as far as we go." Against the lack of protests, the man waved his hands placatingly. "Now, now, children. There's eight different designs on there that I don't even remotely recognize. We haven't even seen what's on the third floor yet, and that tree doesn't look friendly. If we go through those doors we'll without a doubt be running into trouble."
"Should we at least take a look inside?" I found myself asking.
"If we even can." Harry gestured towards the three lit images. "Unless it's supposed to be a record of what we've done, odds are we'll have to clear the first ten floors before we'll be able to open it."
I pressed a hand against the door, frowning at the unexpected resistance. With an utter lack of give, it was more like pressing against a cliff face. "Nothing," I grumbled after a few more attempts.
"Let's head back to the other path then. Hopefully we can still access down here if we ever come back." Judgement passed, the seven of us followed Klein's lead back through the hall.
"Harry, could you give us a number crunch real quick on what our odds are for getting back in there?" I couldn't see his face from behind, but based off his tone alone I felt it safe to say he was wearing a complete shit eating grin.
"No, I refuse to participate in something so old." Harry took a heavy step, rattling his armor in protest. "But I couldn't say. Argo said there was nothing like the quest line we're doing back in the beta. There were individual things that were rather similar, but they were designed as stand alone things."
When the hall widened, giving way from worked halls to a more organic cave appearance, I signaled for Choryu to follow my lead, taking point for our group "Having never looked into game development or business management, how troublesome would it have been to change all that in the time between the beta and release?" Almost as soon as I finished speaking, Choryu responded.
"Very, unless they already had the coding in place. Between writing the code, implementing it, and debugging, it would've have been a lot of work. And that's not even considering how much the budget was for this game." Haru's pace slowly marginally as he stared up at the ceiling. "One hundred floors, graphic design, systems testing, story writing. The amount of work put into this world is just completely mind boggling. Full Dive technology isn't even that old either. It took years to make the transfer from 2D gaming to 3D, and even then the graphics were questionable when you look back at it. I don't even want to know how big the storage room is for all the hardware needed to run to game."
I snickered. "All I'm hearing is that I should go 'Wow, technology sure is amazing'." I hummed in thought. At this point the rocky tunnel had opened up into a cavern, wide enough that the eight of us could walk beside each other comfortably. At the end of it, a large wooden palisade was constructed. From this distance I could only make out the general shapes of humanoids patrolling at the top. I motioned for Choryu to wait for me, doubling back to cheerily walk alongside Klein. "Hey, wanna guess we we just saw?"
"Was it another fork in the road?" He asked despondently.
"Nope! It was a rock. A big one. Giant, colossal. About the same size as-" I cut myself off with a few coughs. While it was true I felt budding senses of camaraderie, I had to occasionally remind myself that these seven were not the same people I had spent several months in a war zone with. The jokes that I had grown accustomed to would never make the same amount of sense to them.
I waved off their concerns. "Only joking. It's a wooden fort about four stories in height. Open ground all the way towards it and there's a pretty big opening in the center." I motioned towards the gap when it came into view. "I'm pretty sure I could get over there safely, and with my «Acrobatics» skill that wall shouldn't pose a problem either."
Klein stared me down for several moments. "You know I don't like it when you go off and do things on your own."
I shrugged. "It's not like I need to be worried about anything. Between my levels and real life experience, I can handle myself." With begrudging acceptance, Klein motioned for Harry to take lead of the operation.
"Asasaki." I grunted in response, irked that I was to be first. "Go set up a distraction. Throw them down to the ground if you have to. We'll come in and clean everything up."
I drew my sword, holding it questioningly. When he confirmed my suspicion I twirled across my body, ending the flourish with my normal flick to the side. "Catch you in a bit." A single calming breath was the only warning I gave before breaking into a run. When horizontal turned to vertical, I took note of the minute sense of power coursing through my legs.
When the last few feet of the wooden pillars came into sight I hauled myself up and braced my feet awkwardly against the sides of the rounded spikes. Immediately within range were two lithe goblins armed with daggers and woven slings, small piles of stones gathered near by. The image was replicated at the three towers situated in the corners of the fort.
I leapt down and lashed out at the closest goblin, the tip of my sword gouging a red line across its neck. With a practised motion I grabbed the back of its head and brought it against my raised knee, kicking out with my opposite leg and launching it off the platform.
My head snapped forward courtesy of a fired stone. Silently the other goblin whipped out another projectile, the cherry sized object clinking off my armor alongside five percent of my health. Were it not for the knowledge that there were six other goblin ready to fire at me, I would have entertained the goblin's desire for a stare down. As it was, I bum rushed it unflinchingly, using the shoulder charge skill of «Barge». In the brief moment between my attack and the time it took for it to recover, I grabbed it by the front of its furred coat, sinking my blade into its side.
With a countering push and extraction, I brought my sword across its navel with a backhanded grip, charging half a step closer to deliver an elbow strike to an approximation of its solar plexus. As it reeled back, my left hand snaked out and grabbed the goblin by its right wrist, spinning it around me and throwing it off the edge.
Four stones pelted me in quick submission. Though they felt little more than weighty punches, the fact that I was now down a fourth of my max health needed to be accounted for. A sneer racing across my face. "What nuisances." I pulled on the not magic, goading my mind to push me faster than before as I skirted along the rock wall to the south western tower. Of the next round of stones only a single hit, the secondary goblin from my targeted group missing thanks to my mid air twirl.
I spun around twice, the first time sweeping the legs out from underneath an offending goblin with the second kicking it away as it fell. Stabbing my sword into the platform, I flipped over the monster, grabbing it with both hands and throwing it to the ground.
A sharp impact to the back of my head rewarded me for my efforts, taking down another eight percent. Growling, I shot forward and picked up my blade, turning my body perpendicular to my aggressor as I ran. Held by the center of my stomach, my enhanced weapon became enveloped by a rich blue, the coding of «Island Birth» aided by my own motions.
I twisted around and sprung out from my crouched position, united system and mind pulling the blade free from the monster's torso with a wet squelch I had never noticed before. With the post motion of the skill trapping me, a pair of pebbles were free to chip away another tenth of my health, the offending goblins winding up for yet another volley.
I hissed and rolled forward, leaping down to the third floor, uncaring of the single percent of damage I took. In the corner of my eye Klein and the others fought off the goblins that had surrounded them. Issin, Kunimitzz, and Dale freely abusing sword skills with their longer weapons while the others kept to the counters and ripostes I had suggested they incorporate into their fighting.
A salvo of stones snapped me from my thoughts, driving my back two steps. "Nearly done!" I yelled, running forward. Hyped on adrenaline, I let the tingling sensations course through my limbs, carrying me up the scaffolding of the north western tower. Seeing an out stretched limb reel back the other end of a sling, I kicked up and grabbed hold of a goblin's armor, yanking it back to fall to its doom.
The other screeched and leapt back, allowing me time to pull myself up. A manic gleam in its eyes, the yellow skinned beast dove forward and tackled me off the platform, arms wrapped around my torso.
My breath came out in what felt like an eternity. With my health under fifty percent, there was a very high chance that this fall would be fatal. I toss my weapon to the side, hoping that it would land away from my allies. With a grunt I reared back and slugged the goblin across the head, quickly repeating the action before positioning myself atop the beast.
The air in my lungs escaped in an instant. Instincts took over and I began beating the form beneath me senseless, my mind daring not to look at my health. Before the creature could shatter into data arms hooked underneath mine, pulling me away from the terrified beast.
"Asasaki, stop! That's enough!" Klein's voice strode over to me, striking a commanding figure I was both joyed and annoyed to see. "There's been a change of plans," he began, a pained look on his face. When I get him a raised brow, he sighed and continued. "Asasaki, no, Dawn. They surrendered. They can speak Japanese."
My face froze in a cheeky grin. Around me, I noticed the concerned and shocked appearances of my companions. "Oh." I gently shook out of the hold, reflexively giving Issin a nod. "Have they give any terms?" My eyes fell onto the goblin I had been attacking, the creature slowly crawling towards the rest of its companions in the center of the fort.
They don't normally show signs of damage.
They don't normally get thrown down four floors.
"Aside from a cessation in combat, no." Klein tore his gaze away from the eight remaining goblins, one of the more nimbler looking ones tending to the injured like a parent.
I slowly took a breath through my mouth, hand slowly tapping to withdraw a potion for each of the humanoids. "I need to reclaim my sword. We should see if they can use any restoratives." Issin quietly took away the potions, a grim look on his face.
I scurried up the wood frames, stopping on the third floor to examine the area.
These things can speak.
Shut up. Don't think about it. Save it for when we're out of hostile territory.
I downed one of the few potions I had left from Urbus, focusing on the bitter taste. In short order I reclaimed my partially degraded «Armor Splitter» and rejoined my companions in the center.
"The goblins can take potions," Klein whispered, his shivering arms shoved into his pockets.
"Klein, I'm probably going to have to take over here," I told him. "I know it's hard, but you need to figure out how we're going to all handle this." I glanced over at Issin and the others. Shell shocked would be an adequate description for their general appearance. "For now, just treat this like a quest. Put what just happened behind you, and focus on the now." I laid a hand on his shoulder, gently guiding his head with my other hand to meet my gaze.
"You helped me get out of my funk. Now let me help you." I smiled softly when he nodded. Searching within me for my leader persona, I cleared my throat when I approached the prisoners. "Who's in charge here?" I asked.
The goblin that had been checking on the others from before rose, his armor and clothing greater in quality than the others. "This Tuukaan leads This Shukechuun force." My mouth twitched at sound, his voice containing a hoarseness normally attributed to a lifetime of proximity to smoke. "This One brings Humans to High Leader. Humans no harm Goblins."
I looked at each of my companions, taking in their appearances once more before doing the same to the goblins. "You've seen our strength. What we can do." The situation was already FUBAR. Reinforcing the show of force wouldn't necessarily be a poor decision as opposed to making a complete reversal on what had just happened. "We'll see your Leader. We won't harm you. In exchange you give me your word, on your honor, that you will do nothing that will harm us in return."
The goblin nodded. "This One gives word."
I raised a hand towards the others, gesturing for them to move into certain positions. "You'll be going ahead," I told the humanoids. "We'll be following behind." I jerked my head towards Dynamm and Harry, repeating the motion for them to stand by my side.
"Asasaki, this is a bad idea," Harry whispered.
I watched the goblins rise, the one presumably named Tuukaan taking the lead. "They surrendered, they can speak, and this is the final quest," I returned. "We might as well hear them out. And besides." I quietly downed another potion, giving a long sigh at my yellow bar. "We're all level 16 and above. All our equipment is upgraded, and we all know how to work together as both a large group and individual units. It'll be a pain, but if anything goes wrong we'll be able to make it out."
For several tense minutes Tuukaan led us through a winding trail, shouting and waving something at the guards situated at the handful of checkpoints along the cave system before motioning for us to go through. The entire time I kept sneaking looks at my companions, giving them reassuring smiles until their expressions changed.
Eventually we stopped at curtain of beads obscuring a mass of figures. "Humans stay here. This One tells High Leader." Without another word the goblins shambled through the curtain, each one pausing a brief moment when they stepped on a decorated mat two paces from the entryway.
I bit back my sarcastic comment, well aware that tact would be the better option for the time being. "Guys, just focus on the quest for now. When we get back to Tolbana we can talk about this all you want, but I need you all to be paying attention." In their own way, each of them slowly gained a hint of their usual expressions, tinted by a worried crinkle or wider than normal appearance.
"High Leader ready. Come." The green skinned soldier (which I presumed to be the same) led us into the hall, stone pillars lining the path up to a carved throne upon which a massive, green-yellow skinned creature sat. Around the hall a host of goblins in varying degrees of dress stood, on both the bottom floor and carved balconies. It felt to me that if we hadn't interrupted a meeting then nearly the whole colony of goblins had appeared to observed us.
A booming voice bounced around the room. "This One welcomes you." Heavy and deep, the furred and semi-plated behemoth stood and stepped towards us, small vibrations making themselves known in my legs with each step. "This One's name is Gherlec. This One is grateful Honoured Swordsman grace us with their presence." The giant crossed an arm over its chest and gave a light bow, keeping its gaze on us.
I took a slow breath, doing my best not to show any reaction to the sounds of shuffling behind me.
It's just a nearly eighteen foot tall creature. They act like they're never seen a haul truck before.
"The honor is ours, High Leader Gherlec." I reciprocated the bow, sans the crossed arm. "So that we may reach an understanding, might we know as to why you have requested us here?" My mind raced. Up until this point I had been expecting a trap. With such a cordial greeting though, the idea that this was supposed to be a negotiation of some kind was highly promising.
"This One wishes to fix the misunderstanding of our actions. Those that This One has sent to explore the lands the humans have claimed were not meant to incite battle. They were only to collect and explore." The hulk-esque growled softly. As soft of a creature of his size could manage anyway. It still ended up sounding like the engine of a stereotypical high powered Harley.
"This One regrets that This One's troops had been misguided in their beliefs. It was never the intent of This Shukechuun to fight against Humans. This One's tribe has spent too long oppressed to wage war against such experienced foes."
I licked the back of my teeth. "The blame is mutual, High Leader. We should have attempted diplomacy first instead of responding in kind to the violence."
"This One is glad there are such understanding beings amongst your kind. Though influenced by past actions, This One hopes Honoured Swordsmen would be willing to aid." His helmeted face gained a look of sorrow. "For generations, This One's tribe has been forced to create with itself. The young of This Shukechuun are not fit to carry on the Legacy. The Elders and This One decided time ago that This Tribe must find our Lost Kin in the «Forgotten Lands»."
Gherlec stepped over to one of the balconies, reaching up and taking one of the goblins into his hands. "Moons ago, This One sent scouts to explore all the land. All come back with words of earth giving to endless sky. And so This One and This Ol'daar thought to ascend the the Tower. But This One's tribe could not do it, not as they are now."
The behemoth lowered his hands, revealing a somewhat disfigured goblin. It could walk and move about, but unlike its older brethren who appeared like earth skinned and athletic humans, this one seemed much more like the stereotypical hunchbacked and sickly monster of common tales.
I stepped forward, something tugging at my emotions. Behind me the men were whispering furtively, their voices a mix of harsh consonants and slurred words. "Is there something we can do to help?" My eyes flickered towards the barely visible symbol above his head, the indicator changing from a bright yellow question mark to a neon green exclamation point before slowly fading to a translucent, yellow indicator tinted by the occasional streak of dark purple.
"This One would be pleased if Honoured Swordsmen would accompany This Tribe's warriors through the Tower. When scouts were sent, they were repelled by this tribe's former allies, the Kobolds." Gherlec brought the goblin child back up to the balcony. "This One would be joyed if metal could be supplied for This Shukechuun as well."
I get the sense Mitsui isn't going to be happy about this.
"We'll see what we can do. Do you already have your warriors chosen?" I spared a glance behind, giving an assuaging smile to my companions. When I turned back around four goblins stood before us, each armed significantly more than anything we've seen before
"These are among strongest of This Shukechuun. They are Tarthuul, Rhaagaar, Rhaan, and Tuukaan." As each one was named, they brought their right arm across their chest. "They are strong, but they are not experienced in ways of war. This One humbly requests Honoured Swordsmen teach them in the ways of the world."
I let out a slow breath, several notches lower than what would be required for a whistle, when I realized the last goblin was the very same one who's fort we had assaulted. "We accept your requests, High Leader Gherlec." The others gave their consent, a heartbreaking apathy washing over my back. "It may take some time to inform those in charge of the region what's going on. Do you have a place where were can meet them when we are ready?"
"There are tunnels in the far north These Ol'dekhaan can rest in. When Honoured Swordsmen are ready, create a fire where our entrance was made. These Warriors will find the sign and meet at night." Gherlec motioned to the side and proceeded to tap a clay plate at his side, decorated with the same symbol on the mat we had crossed. "Honoured Swordsmen must wear these while travelling through our homes. This Shukechuun respects all who bear This One's symbol."
Another goblin stepped forward and held out a small, pentagonal piece of painted clay attached to a length of twine for each of us to take. Despite its larger size, it was notable lighter than the metallic sigil Ferghus had given us.
"Thank you, High Leader." Klein stepped forward suddenly, giving a slightly deeper bow than the one I had given. "We shall contact your men when all has been prepared." Part of me worried that the difference in gestures might be interpreted as something else, but I did my best to silence those fears. Motioning for me to follow along, Klein took three steps back before turning around. I did the same, though without the short retreat. Slowly we filed through the curtain of glass and bone fragments, travelling back the way we came in silence.
"Extra Skill: Contract." I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. "Do you think this means we won't be able to get a skill once we hit level 20?" Issin folded an arm behind his head, lapping at his interface with his left. Those of us with small arms had sheathed our weapons before entering the hall, the other three forced to dismiss them to their inventory.
With the dam broken, the men of Fūrinkazan began discussing what had just occurred. "Asasaki, I-" Klein inhaled deeply, bringing a hand to his face. "Thank you," he breathed.
I smirked gently, hopping forward a few steps to nudge him aside with my hip. "So me being the most amazing person that I am and having messed with my settings to remove most of my HUD and UI notifications to make this place as realistic as possible, what did I miss?" I pointedly ignored the red box sitting in the lower right corner of my event log. Finding out what had happened would be easy, but I needed to keep everyone away from their thoughts until we were back in Tolbana.
"We have a new quest line called «Reuniting the Tribes»," Dale supplied, "as well as an Extra Skill called «Contract». We also got a hefty amount of experience but no cor to speak of." As we approached one of the three checkpoints, I bared the symbol of a segmented crook intersected by a slim black dagger part way up the handle. After a few moments of scrutiny, the goblins begrudgingly let us go through, all eyes tracking our passage.
"The skill makes mention of being able to party up with a willing NPC, though they need to have a unique name as well as be willing to be brought into your group. The rest of the descriptions don't say more than that."
I twirled around to face Harry, mindful of my backwards steps so I didn't fall. "What sort of limits are there?"
Focus on the information. You can start freaking out later once you get everything sorted.
"It works like all the other skills," the warhammer user said. "Every fifty levels or so we should get access to a mod. There's one for gaining another Contract slot, one for increased experience rate, and a handful for stat buffs. They're all support oriented. Nothing for us personally."
"I'm putting this out there right now. I'm making myself a harem."
"One, I don't think the system will let you do that, Issin. Two, if you don't have at least two guys on your team if you decide to keep using this skill I'm going to force you to my level of fitness. Don't think I won't track you down." I grinned evilly.
"Message received!" he said hastily. "No abusing the Developer's pride and joy for unintended purposes."
I huffed and lazily flashed my badge once again. "It's more that the NPC's automatically have their moral code option permanently turned to 'On' and if you try anything with them you'll find yourself instantly in the «Black Iron Prison». Also, polygamous relationships like that tend to be more work than they're worth in the long run." I mentally reviewed what I said when they fell silent.
You know what? Sure, why not. Let them think what they want.
I stopped when we reached approximately halfway down the tunnel to the last checkpoint. "Hey guys?" I asked, not looking at them. "We need to talk about what happened." I turned around. "If you don't want to vocalize your thoughts just yet that fine, but whether anybody says anything or not, I'm going to try and set things in perspective here."
Issin laughed awkwardly. "Kayaba's a serious piece of shit, isn't he?" The spear user rubbed his neck, staring at one of the torches embedded in the wall. "I mean, I know there's supposed to be elves up on the third floor, but to design the goblins to speak and fight like that?" His gaze turned downward, as did most of the others. "That's just wrong."
"We were wrong," I said immediately, finger the handle of my sword. "Like I said back in that Hall. We should have tried diplomacy. On top of being a completely immersive game it's safe to assume Kayaba, or whoever was in charge of designing these quests and NPC's, wanted us to have to make choices and decisions."
I let go of my blade, moving my hand to my hip. "Maybe we set some standards. We don't fight unless they engage first. We don't fight humanoid enemies. If we do end up fighting humanoids, we work to subdue them instead of killing." I glanced over at near synchronised flinch.
"Look," I paused.
Just say it. There's no point in coddling them.
"Yes, we ended some lives. Yes, they weren't human lives." My hand moved back to my sword, thumb caressing the butt. "With the way this game is designed, we're going to have to get used to it. Especially if we're looking to get involved with quests. If we just grind monsters, we don't need to associate any stories to them. They're just shadows and shapes, nothing more than statistics."
I gave Harry a long, pitying look. "If we spend time and learn about their struggles, their lives, the story behind why they're here, if they ever die it's only going to lead to hardship." My lip tugged into small smile. "But that's what's nice about it. It gives us a reason to fight, to pick sides." I scoffed and shoved my hands into my pockets. "Sorry. I meant to try and lift our spirits, not but a damper on them." I turned back around and stretched my arms above my head, resting them across my neck when I finished.
"How do you do it?"
I tilted my head and made a questioning sound.
"How do you forget what you did? Their faces, their screams."
I smiled grimly, closing my eyes. "You don't. They never go away. They should /never/ go away. If they ever fully go away, you've become a monster. The best you can hope for is that you make peace with your actions as soon as possible. And to live for the lives you ended. Whatever their dreams were, whatever their aspirations were. You just have to live better for their sake. There's nothing else you can do." I set off at a slow pace, unsure as to whether or not the clinical appearance Harry was sporting was something I needed to be concerned about.
{ } - { } - { } - { } - { } - { } - { } - { } - { } - { }
I gently blew on the cup of «Shrouded Rose Tea», savoring the bittersweet fragrance suffusing the room. "Did you guys have a safe trip?" On the other couch, Mitsui slowly stirred her own up, having added a spoonful of honey. Beside me, Klein and Harry handled their drinks in their own way, one significantly more subdued than the other.
With a humorless laugh, I shrugged. "Nobody got significantly hurt, if that's what you mean." I purposely took a long sip, ignoring the look our armorless tank gave me. "We found some interesting stuff though." If we hadn't met the guards in Horunka I would have engaged in some talk about how their mission had fared, nerves fraying at the somewhat sensitive topic of the hidden tunnel.
"Miss Asasaki, you're Swordsmen who've traveled to the lands beyond and back. Anything you share with me will be interesting." The businesswoman's words brought forth a bark of laughter from me.
"That's true." I swirled the cup around, staring at the pieces of flora within. "First and foremost, those goblin incursions were an accident." Klein bent over suddenly, thumping his chest as he broke into a coughing fit. "That hidden entrance the guards found over by the old ruins? Turns out it let to a secret tunnel that split into two paths. The first we suspect leads to that odd material the researchers found over in the fields while the second lead directly to the goblin's lair. Massive place, that. We spent some time checking our maps before coming over here, and it seems like they dug their homes out underneath the western mountains."
"Turns out that their leader, Gherlec, was just trying to find places they could get resources from. I guess at some point his scouts got it in their head that they weren't supposed to be seen and started scaring off or killing people. There weren't any reports of killings, right?"
Mitsui shook her head. "Once we started getting reports of monster activity we pulled back our workers."
"That's good." I materialized my «Sigil of the Shukechuun» and placed it on the table, positioning it so Mitsui could easily see symbol painted upon it. "I ended up agreeing for our group to operate as ambassadors for them." My fellow sister frowned. "They didn't ask for much. Only that we assist some of their warriors up the Tower to the north, and potentially see if your guild would be willing to part with some supplies for them. They're trying to reestablish contact with their own lost tribe. The only thing I can promise from their end right now is that you won't be seeing much of any of their presence in these lands anymore. I guess they don't have enough forces anymore to keep gathering."
The red haired female sipped at her tea, taking a moment to compose herself. "That's quite the interesting tale. Especially considering that you offered to escort myself through the tower not that long ago."
I felt Klein turn towards me, the suddenness making me impose a gobsmacked expression on his face. "It's a little hard for me to believe too. All previous goblins we fought with just immediately went into combat or only gave guttural sounds. A while back they learned how to speak Japanese, but since they rarely have to use it their articulation and speech patterns are a little…"
"Archaic?" Harry suggested. Ordinarily it would only have been myself here, Klein if he truly felt the need. The shield user had tagged along, claiming that he wanted to see how the story would progress in person.
"Yeah. Odd sounding." I ignored Harry's complaint on how I altered his wording. "Considering that they're not here to say anything, and that Gherlec is actually stupidly big, I'll say it in their place. The tribe of the Shukechuun expresses their deepest apologies for how things have turned out. They wish for nothing more than to put this incident behind them and hopefully to simply continue on their way." I closed my eyes and gave a partial, seated bow.
"Since no casualties came from it, the Shukechuun are forgiven." Mitsui took another sip, successfully hiding any confusion regarding the pronunciation. "Did they say where they would be transporting their troop through and how many?"
"Four warriors." Klein recovered, a facsimile of his usual smile adorning his face. "They're waiting towards the end of one of the northern mines. They're just waiting for a signal from us before we head up through the Tower."
"Miss Asasaki." Mitsui's voice cut through the lull. An odd feeling settled over me. In her voice there was something subtly wrong, as if the emphasis from the words of normal NPC's had transcended mere imaginings and became physical. "In regards to the offer from before, would you still be willing to accompany me to the lands beyond?" It felt so terribly wrong to hear that tone in her voice, but it was so faint I thought it was only my imagination. "Regardless of your decision, I still plan on bringing my own retinue, but with your assistance we wouldn't need to worry about leaving this region unprotected."
I forced a smile, driving out the fears of her dulcet voice. "We'd be honored to, Lady Mitsui." I paused, realizing a small issue. "How long will you need in order to leave?"
"We can be ready by tomorrow morning. I'll send messengers out to my personal guards to finish their preparations."
In the corner of my eyes, the status windows of my three party members disappeared. "You should try forming a «Contract» with her," Harry whispered.
"Lady Mitsui, there was something else we found in those tunnels," I said slowly. "It was after we met the Goblin leader. We don't know exactly what going through this will entail, if anything will even change, or anything really." I tapped one of the buttons on the skill page, moving my left hand to grab hold of the roll of parchment and quill that would appear.
"It's a special ability of sorts," I explained, placing it down for her to see. "It binds me and another being together. In exchange for protection, teaching, and whatever else is required, I can bestow some of the abilities we ourselves have access to." My chest trembled. I desperately hoped my voiced stayed firm.
I didn't want to think of Mitsui as an NPC. I didn't want her to be a construct of 1's and 0's. I didn't want to believe that somebody I found myself deeply caring for and so desperately wanted to help was pure fiction.
"What sort of abilities?" She questioned.
"The ability to join her party, for starters. That means we can see the numerical value of your physical abilities. The same values that we see for ourselves. We don't know if that means you can adjust them the same way we can, or if you'll just continue growing the way you always do." Klein leaned forward, his form obscured by a shock of disobedient strands.
"If you get in danger, we can see it for ourselves. Whoever else you sign that contract with will be able to have limited contact with you in certain places. We think." He let out a forceful huff of air. "We also don't know how to break the «Contract» either, or if it can even be broken at all."
Mitsui stared at the paper for several seconds before responding. "I'll do it." The woman leaned over, eyes scanning over its words. "I trust you, Miss Asasaki." She gave me a brief smile. "You've been nothing but helpful and upfront with me throughout this whole ordeal. If you think me entering this «Contract» with you is a good idea, then I'll take you up on your judgement."
No I haven't. There's still so much you don't know. So much I haven't told you.
I took a deep breath. "The moment you sign that, I'll have access to inviting you to my «Party». We don't know anything that will happen after that. We'd like it if you could help us record the process for any future participants."
"Of course." Mitsui smiled once again, her hand dancing along the bottom of the page.
The previously grayed out 'avaliable members' on the skill tab gained colored, joining its brethren on the front row. When I tapped on it a window opened to the side, showing the name and portrait of 'Asuka Mitsui'. "Let me know if anything happens." I continued tapping on her profile, skimming over the information until I came across the button to invite her to a party.
The merchant blinked owlishly. "Such a odd thing," she mumbled, her eyes gaining a far off look. Underneath my own status window in the upper left of my vision, Mitsui's health pars suddenly appeared, her full name displayed with a degree symbol attached at the end.
"What happened?" Harry leaned forward, his figure filling up my right peripheral.
"There was a voice in my head. It sounded so warm and fatherly. It asked me if I wished to enter a party." Asuka poured herself another cup, holding the warm drink in her hands comfortingly.
"Well, that's exactly what happened. I'm guessing you said yes?" I asked in consideration. Alongside the button for 'Party', I could also take a look at her equipment (several items of which were grayed out), detailed information on her stats, and a short entry about her.
The woman nodded, taking a slow sip from the drink every so often.
"Chekhov's Gun," Harry stated. At our confused look (excluding Klein, whose head had dropped at the words), he began explaining, "At some point it's going to be necessary to have an NPC, someone who isn't a 'Swordsman', in order to complete a quest. Choryu was right. We're working with something highly advanced. They wouldn't just throw it in for a simple test. If they went this far, they would have gone all the way and made the most of it."
I shifted, worriedly watching Mitsui's face. Aside from the few instances where her voice seemed a little flatter than normal, she still seemed to me incredibly human, laughing along with the few jokes I shared and giving me advice to the best of her ability. Having Harry accidentally flaunt her status of a computer program, when I had been so careful to avoid, was gut wrenching.
"Does Mitsui have a level listed anywhere, Asasaki?"
"She's listed as being level 12." I met eyes with the other woman, giving a soft smile. "If she gains experience like we do, I don't mind taking the hit if I'm needed to Party with others." I intentionally put emphasis on the word of Mitsui's benefit, pushing down the fears and concerns that talking about game mechanics would break her in a way I wasn't prepared for.
"See if you can even party up with others. I just dropped out." Upon Harry's request I sent him an invite, checking the various settings I had access to as party leader when his window appeared.
"Looks like I can still change everything. As far as the party system goes, she's mostly considered another Swordsman. Items and Cor are stuck at 'Last Hit' for her though, even though I can change everything else for us freely."
"Sorry, Lady Mitsui. I know this must all sound confusing to you. Feel free to ask me anything." I turned to look at Klein and Asuka, a bit of concern flashing through my mind as to whether Klein was being nice to be nice or to try and get into her good graces as he'd done a few times whenever we came across females players in our free time.
"It's almost a bit like Pokémon or considering the setting, perhaps Fire Emblem." I gave Harry a startled look. "I know Klein and the others constantly talked about how I'm focused on my studies and only ever play with them on the weekends, but I still had time during the weekdays to play other things too."
I gave a quiet apology. I'd been failing as a friend. Part of me wanted to use the excuse of social taboos being in place, but it was exactly that. An excuse. There was no reason for me to try and ignore the past each of my companions had. If I didn't learn about them, there would be no way I could properly communicate with them in a stressful situation.
"We'll need to look into whether or not an NPC who's formed a Contract can use other things like portals." A muted tapping sound began, one of Harry's tell that he was thinking heavily on something. "At most we can get three other people from Lady Mitsui's side. There's also the four Goblins we have to think about." He grunted, shifting away to stare at the wall.
"We'll need to think about sending in an advance group to clear the way. At her level, her stats should be fine, but I'd rather not risk it. At the very least, we'll need to be cautious on the upper levels of the Tower." Harry's frame collapsed, the teen resting his head in his head. "This is turning out to be more work than I expected." I cautiously rubbed his back, not sure if I was going past my bounds.
"If we can only bring along three people with me, then that's fine. At most I need two, but a third would be nice." Mitsui smiled, the professional joy in her face having regained a hint of her normal exuberance. "It'll be strange taking them away from their homes for so long, but I don't think Captain Yamaguchi will be terribly upset. Excuse me one moment." The woman collected all of our plates and slipped into the back room, the door closing behind her silently.
I scooted back in my seat and slouched over. Even beyond the whole soldier-civilian thing I had with the rest of Fūrinkazan, I felt an incredible divide between us. Perhaps it was just how much free time I spent with Mitsui, or that having almost regularly exposed myself to 'normal' life whenever I could meant I was more sensitive to minute differences.
"Klein, will you be holding onto this skill if it turns out that we won't be getting an extra slot when we hit level 20?" Harry walked around the room, closely examining the weapons on the wall.
"I'm not sure. The quests that this feels like it's going to be used for seem like they're going to be very specific. Plus, it's just another hassle to deal with in regards to juggling around resources."
I forced myself to breath slowly. There was absolutely no reason to be mad. They just simply didn't know or suspect the things I did. It was only natural for them to feel this way. To treat the lives that came before us as nothing more than optional background information.
"I suppose It will just be Asasaki and myself who focus on this quest line then." I imagined he turned to gaze at me. "Will you be helping me out with this?" I could only nod. "I think Kunimitzz and maybe Choryu might join us as well. They seem like they weren't as effected by the idea that we're going to be facing monsters that are so life like."
"We'll see how things go. At the very least, we'll stay with you until you can unlock the first mod and sign a contract with the NPC's we'll be working with. Hey, Asasaki? What sort of rewards do you think we'll get out of this?"
I took a moment before responding to Klein, no longer able to trust my judgement on the forced enthusiasm I thought I heard. "Maybe unit related skills or equipment and possibly large amounts of experience whenever a condition is met," I rattled off.
"Unit specific skills sound pretty fun." Klein sat up, resting his knuckles on his knees. "Hey, what if we gain access to things the higher level our contracts our? Or maybe the more of a specific type we have the more things we can access?"
"Guess we'll just have to stick with this until we can figure it out." Harry plopped down beside me. "What worries me is the idea that we're the only players who have access to this skill. You hear how much flak the Beta testers get. Imagine if word got out that there's something that only we can use?"
"I'm sure we'll find a quest somewhere else that allows others access to the skill." I stood up and stretched, resolving to let my current issues simply play out. "Kayaba's a sociopath, not an ass."
"Who's Kayaba?" I flinched, hiding the motion by rubbing my neck. Mitsui tucked her skirt underneath her legs before sitting down.
"The person responsible for us being here. It's a love, mostly hate relationship," I said immediately, putting on an ambivalent smile.
"Was this not something you volunteered for?" Mitsui cocked her head slightly.
"It was, but it wasn't what we were expecting." The scruffy curved blade user scratched his chin.
"We thought this was going to be something for our entertainment. It still is for the most part, but we were supposed to be protected from death."
I shifted at Harry's words. "Most of the Swordsmen currently in this world never got trained for proper combat. We have concepts, and the inherant knowledge we have helps us through a lot, but there's only so much you can do with just theory."
"But why would someone do that?" She frowned, blinking several times as she processed the information.
Klein folded his arms and stared at the ceiling. "Kayaba fancied himself a god. His parting words were how he had succesfully created a world of his own before leaving us to our fates."
I nodded. "Most people are lingering in the Black Iron Kingdom and Urbus, that's the region above us. The bravest and most determined of us are out on the third floor. I think the main city there is Zumfut?" I looked to Klein for confirmation. "If we didn't feel our efforts would be better spent assiting you, our group would probably be there as well."
Mitsui stood and pulled out a sizeable book, searching through it rapidly. "You mentioned that place before, I believe. When I asked you about your weapon?" She placed the book on the table, allowing us to see the map that sprawled across its pages. "Is this the same region?"
I tapped over to the incomplete map info for the second floor, comparing it to the seperated picture. "The map is bigger than what we saw, but that's around the same."
"Lots of cayons, caverns, caves, mountains with oases tucked away towards their peaks, does that sound about right?"
"Frighteningly accurate," Klein muttered
"The Mitsui Trading Guild once traveled through this region," she explained. "Materials and seeds from the Black Iron Kingdom were moved to the Kingdom of Selmburg in exchange for textiles and livestock. My ancestors wrote very little of it since the land held nothing of much value to us, but they recorded the terrain as a precaution."
"What was it that you referred to those places as? The Lands Beyond?" I pursed my lips, wanting to double check for the benefit of my allies. "Where did that term originate from?"
"They're the lands that are lost to us. We don't know where they went or what happened. All that surrounds us if we go far enough out is endless sky." I coughed in embarssment, realising how self explanatory it was. Asuka gained a thoughtful expression. "But I wonder how many kingdoms were taken by the Seperation and how many were left behind."
"We'll go with you as far as you want, Lady Mitsui." Harry nodded resolutely. "You can count on us."
"Yeah. You have our word as both Swordsmen and Samurai." Klein pumped an arm, grinning in the face of Mitsui's lost expression.
"Really, Klein? Samurai? We don't even look the part yet."
"Hey, we will! There's bound to be a floor that has the equipment for it!"
"Miss Asaski, I feel as if there is a large amount of information I need to learn about if I'm going to continue spending time around you."
I chuckled at her wry expression. "Maybe I can explain while we travel. We have our own preparations to make as well."
She nodded idly. "Shall we meet at the North gate then come sunrise?"
I whistled at Klein and Harry, breaking them from their discussion. "Sunrise tomorrow, North gate."
"May the Gods smile upon our travels."
I smiled and gave a curt nod before exiting, internally surprised at the expression. Behind me two pairs of footsteps followed, eventually melding into the same cadence as my own.
"Why Sunrise though?" Klein complained, an over dramatic choking sob sounding out.
"It's something they're used to. Besides, it's not even late afternoon for us. I'm sure you'll be able get enough sleep. I can always wake you up if needed."
"Oh god, please no." Scruffles shot back up, his eyes wide. "I had enough of that the first month, I don't need that again."
"Better set up some alarms then," I sung. As we passed the guard in the foyer I repeated my normal good bye to him, thankful for the chance to keep up the habit. I pushed the door open, uncaring of the interface that showed up in the brief moment before contact. A blinding beam of artificial sun danced across my vision, slowly becoming bearable after I raised a hand to shield myself. "Get every one to do another round of check ups," I said. "Tomorrow's going to be another long day."
"What about you?" Klein walked beside me, Harry's lighter footsteps behind.
"I'm going to bring Choryu and maybe Issin along to let the goblins know we're ready." I leaned on the railing, looking out over the smoke stacks and miniscule figures making their way around the streets. "We might need to send some others to go fetch them in the morning though, especially since I'll need to be with Mitsui."
"Bring Dynamm with you when you go," Harry commented. "If you're going to go out at night you'll need the extra body."
I grunted my understanding, continuing to look over the city as they walked off.
Was there really an issue regarding the humanity of those goblins or was I just imagining it?
Assume imagining. This is just a game after all, no matter how much you wish otherwise.
I stepped onto the handrail, taking a deep breath. "Kayaba, wherever you are, I hope you're getting good data. You're putting a bunch of innocents though a bunch of shit they never should have experienced."
Out… 2… 3…
4.
Behind the scenes, I just spent the better part of an hour trying to get this uploaded. Side note, doing it from mobile is drive, save as: odt, desktop version of ff. I'm aware there's a publish feature on the app but it doesn't show or keep my borders or font modifications.
Next chapter slated for October 20-21st. Failing that, expect the following weekend.