Divan grew more serious and continued. "You show promise, young mage. The Empress has need of those with talents like yours. Should you ever wish to serve in a more official capacity, the Knights would welcome you."
"I'm honored by the offer." Lumi replied carefully. "For now, my path requires independence. But our goals align. Stopping those who would harm the innocent. I love this world and the people in it."
"Well spoken." Divan turned to address the group. "You have all done the Empire a great service. To capture one of his level with your current strength..." He shook his head in genuine amazement. "It speaks well of your potential. I would like to extend an invitation. Join us aboard the ship. The Empress will want to thank you personally."
"The Empress?!" ToraX choked. "Like, the actual Empress?"
Divan nodded. "Indeed." He turned to Lumi. "I know there's someone you've been waiting to talk to." He subtly moved to the side, pushing Angle forward.
He stepped forward, grinning broadly. "Surprise! Yeah, I took your advice about the Eclipse Knights. Best decision ever."
"Hey!" Lumi moved forward, and the two clasped hands warmly. "You look good in that armor. How's the training?"
"Brutal." Angle admitted with a laugh. "But worth it. The Knights are everything you said they'd be. Honorable, powerful, and intent on actually making a difference. Only problem is myself."
"Yourself?" Lumi asked out. "You good, buddy?"
"Yeah." Angle nodded, then went quiet for a bit. "It's just that, I think I made a mistake with this name. I chose it casually, since, you know. But it feels really weird to have people call me this."
"I…" He thought for a bit, then continued. "I might change it. I might just make it Gabriel. It's not as if I'm not allowed to have the same name as someone else."
Divan lightly jabbed his side, "You have my full support, Angle. In truth, it's been rather awkward to call you that. But I didn't want to be rude."
"That's…" It wasn't that Lumi didn't understand Gabriel's sentiment. It was just that…
I don't remember this. No, it's not a matter of not remembering. This didn't happen. At all. Gabriel rode the name Angle like a badge of honor all through his past life. He didn't mind it at all. Even after it was revealed this was all a plot, even after players were escaping the system, even at the end…
Players used their usernames. As long as they were in Masteria, they used their usernames. I can't recall many instances of players feeling uncomfortable with their names.
So why is this happening now?
None of this makes any sense.
"Yeah, I've kind of been thinking that." Ryan agreed with Gabriel. "Called myself TrueKnightRyan. That's what I always go by. But it's weird. Everyone just looks at me weird and ends up calling me Ryan, anyways. Heck, even I end up finding myself introducing myself as Ryan. Now that you mention it, I'm just going to change my name too. Ryan is good."
…What?
But what triggered this? I don't understand?
I could say that I caused this by introducing Gabriel to Herene early, which caused him major embarrassment since he was not used to playing the game yet, being called by his username. And Gabriel saying such a thing triggered it for Ryan. But… but…
It doesn't follow. If these were concerns at all, they would have manifested in my past life, no?
Or is it the case that their development path has been skewed by me?
It is the case that the System creates a veil which makes natives subconsciously ignore or downplay certain aspects of the players. In particular, the matter of usernames, logging off, and respawning. Though the stronger the native, the more they notice.
Therefore…
Could it be that my influence had these players come into contact with more high level natives earlier, causing more awkward interactions?
I still don't feel like that would have caused such a change. I don't like it. This is different in a way I didn't anticipate.
"I'm fine!" Lena noted. "Lena? Nothin' is wrong with Lena."
"Mn. As for me, I'll think about it." ToraX gave his reply to the situation.
Gabriel poked Lumi to get his attention again, "Though I have to ask. How have you been doing, friend?"
"Great!" Lumi spoke honestly. There had been hiccups. But he hasn't been drowning in stress like he thought he would. He had been making more progress than he imagined. "Got to know and play with some great people." He gestured to the party he had been leading, then to Lena specifically. "And I got to know her."
"Ooh?" Gabriel looked between Lena and Lumi. "Good friends?"
Lumi nodded. "Absolutely." He waved it off. "But enough, how are you doing?"
"I got my class today!" Gabriel said proudly. "The Knight training is so good! We get stronger by training! And we get access to exclusive training grounds. You should see the techniques they're teaching us. How to dodge, how to properly take a hit, how to swing, there's so much! What kind of training are you guys doing?"
"Training?" Lena tilted her head, "I didn't do anything. I read a book."
"You read a book." Gabriel repeated, disbelieving.
"So did I." Lumi added.
"They showed me the skills and I learned em." VICE tagged on.
"Same!" Ryan added. ToraX also nodded along.
"I…" Gabriel looked on, disbelieving. "Seriously? Nothing?"
Lumi shrugged. "You are part of an organization. We are free adventurers. There's a difference. At most, we have some loyalties to our teacher and school, but that's all." He grinned, "You are a proper knight now, Gabriel. Like you always wanted."
"Indeed!" Gabriel lit up at that. "I am!" He raised his sword up into the air. "I am!"
"How is it?" ToraX inquired, curious. "The rules, the… Well, everything. You don't mind it?"
"Mind?" Gabriel shook his head. "I love it!" He began explaining, "I was worried it was going to be all boring and stuff. Just standing around guarding doors and nonsense. Standing around being all official? But no! The Aria Knights are amazing!"
He pumped his chest, and yelled. "Praise to Empress Aria and her Knight Order!"
That prompted all the knights around, even Divan himself, to repeat. "Praise be to Empress Aria and her Knight Order!"
"Woah." Ryan muttered as he saw the intensity.
Lena let out a low whistle. "You guys really are into the whole 'loyalty' thing, huh?"
Gabriel just grinned. "It's not loyalty just because we have to. It's because we want to. Empress Aria is... something else. She's amazing. The best. She deserves not just my loyalty, but everyone else's. She's amazing. Even her daughter, the Princess, is amazing too. Her compassion radiates outwards with the strength of a thousand suns."
"She's like… radiant." Gabriel went on, his voice carrying a reverent tone. "You feel like doing better just by standing near her. Her kind smile… such an all encompassing compassion, we don't deserve it."
Lumi nodded. "Of course. Empress Aria is the Empress of Herene for a reason. And her bloodline must be just as impressive."
"Gabriel." Lumi said. "We should spar again. See how your skills here are."
"You two sparred before?" Ryan asked, surprised.
"We trained together." Gabriel explained. "Lumi's the one who got me hyped in the first place. Said it would be unlike anything else." He looked around at the captured Puppeteer and the assembled knights. "He wasn't kidding."
"You magnificent bastard." Ryan laughed. "You've been planning this all along!"
"I may have made some preparations." Lumi admitted.
"This is insane." HazyNova muttered. "We're Rank One and we're about to meet the Empress?"
"If you would follow me?" Divan gestured toward the airship, having finished directing his knights in securing Afton. "We should depart quickly. The prisoner's associates may attempt a rescue."
As they walked toward the ship, Divan fell into step beside Lumi. "A word, if I may?"
Lumi nodded, letting the others move ahead slightly.
"You clearly lead this group, and you accomplished a great feat." Divan said quietly. "You knew exactly what you were hunting. What organization are you with?"
"You've noticed certain differences between people like me and normal people. People like me, Ryan, Gabriel, Lena are weird. And there are others." Lumi replied evenly. He then took out his identification card from Merath and showed it to Divan.
"Merath." Divan's eyes were sharp, examining the card. "There are no records of anyone like your kind. You all appear to have sprung into existence recently yet have impossible traits. Worse still, nobody notices. Except for the strongest, everyone goes about their lives like this is normal. Truth be told, I am scared."
After sufficient examination, he returned the card. "This is different. This is different than a regular card. Merath trusts all his people for he examines them greatly, yet, I can see that he attaches much greater importance to you."
"You should talk to him." Lumi urged. "Merath knows more about this than anyone else."
"Even yourself?"
Lumi let out a sigh. "No. But, it is the case that I am not capable of certain phrases."
Divan noticed the strange language immediately. "You had to say it in that way to even get it out?"
"Indeed." Lumi nodded.
"Hm." Divan took a second to think, noting, "It has been less than a week. It has been minor, yet widespread. People that appear out of seemingly nowhere, causing trouble. It is our relief that they were all incredibly weak. Yet I have seen that strength comes quickly."
"Therefore," Divan continued, "Given that what you can say is limited, then, given what you know, on a scale of one to ten, how much attention does this deserve? How big of a threat is this?"
Lumi gave his resolute answer, "Ten, and Ten."
Divan's eyes narrowed, "And yet you say you are a good person. And yet you did good. And the threat is ten?"
"Most people are good." Lumi answered, evenly. "Yet even good people can be forced or tricked into evil."
"I will talk to Merath." Divan noted, then, as if it suddenly crossed his mind, hiding his urgency, asked out. "Will there be consequences if your group talks to the queen?"
"Just one thing." Lumi started, making Divan's expression grow even more serious than it was. "The fact that we met her will spread, and people will grow interested in meeting her."
"Oh." Divan grew relieved and let out a breath he had been holding. "Just that? We deal with constant visitors anyways, we turn them all down."
Lumi could only nod in agreement. But Divan was… severely underestimating player stupidity.