«Now, now, everyone, have a drink! I invite you, so don't even think about sitting still! Hahaha!»
Time passed and, once the maze was closed, Amelia and I joined the after-party. The place was the tavern run by the adoptive father of the Rainwales sisters.
«Hahaha! Iron Mask! Do you remember what that guy said while his intestines were coming out? Help me! Hey... Don't you think it's funny...?».
«Not funny at all.»
«I see...?»
I gave Dumbo, who was pretending to be nice with emotion, a stony look before getting up from my seat. Then I turned to Felic Barker.
«Hey, Iron Mask!»
«Barker».
«Haha, I told you to call me Fel».
«No, it's easier that way».
«A drink?»
«A drink?»
«Clear.»
«Clear.»
When I sat next to him to drink, the guy started talking non-stop. Most of the talk was praise directed at me, as the fashion barbarian's strategy worked as well as I expected. No, it actually exceeded expectations. According to him, the «warriors» who received my training and were divided between each team even had higher batting averages than me. Well, that couldn't be helped, since I constantly covered my face with a helmet, as befitted my nickname. People who showed their faces were less suspicious.
When I sat next to him to drink, the guy started talking non-stop. Most of the talk was praise directed at me, as the trendy barbarian's strategy worked as well as I expected. Not really
surpassed the
expectations. According to him, the «warriors» who received my training and were divided between each team even had higher batting averages than me. Well, that couldn't be helped, since I constantly covered my face with a helmet, as befitted my nickname. People who showed their faces were bound to appear less suspicious.
«This is a masterstroke! For some reason, they trusted you more than shepherds as children».
«So you won't need pastors from now on?»
«So you won't need pastors from now on?»
«Hmm, I don't know. I think it's still early to decide. I also don't know how long this strategy will last». Although he casually threw that out just in case, the clan chief showed no intention of letting the sisters go. It may not have seemed like it, but he had good judgment. «Also, I don't know about the others, but I think the Rainwales sisters are very talented. After a few years, they will become great additions to the clan».
«Hmm, I don't know. I think it's still early to decide. I also don't know how long this strategy will last». Although I casually threw that out just in case, the clan chief showed no intention of letting the sisters go. It may not have seemed like it, but he had good judgment. «Also, I don't know about the others, but I think the Rainwales sisters are very talented. After a few years, they will become great additions to the clan».
So you're not going to let them go so easily, huh? Ugh, and it's not like I can cut his throat here either.
I just calmly sipped my drink. To be honest, Felic Barker was the biggest obstacle to our plan. Well, to be more precise, the problem was one of the essences he had in his possession: the rare rank four Marine Merchant. It was a neutral monster that was very unlikely to encounter while sailing across the ocean on the sixth floor. In most cases, it never attacked first, and when you encountered it, if you threw a certain amount of mana stones into the ocean it swam in, it would return something called bluestone, a high-grade material used for equipment. Of course, since it was a monster, it was also possible to hunt it, and if you overcame extreme adversity and obtained its essence, you could acquire a unique active ability called Unhealthy Contract.
The only one currently subject to this contract is the sister.
The problem was this Unhealthy Contract. This man had created an atrocious contract, and we had to free Laura from him first in order to save her.
Ha... How had this precious essence ended up in the hands of a guy like this?
The idea pissed me off, so I asked Felic bluntly. «How did you get the essence of a Sea Merchant? I have heard that it is a very rare essence».
«Oh that? Why do you ask it suddenly?».
«I was always curious. Only before I couldn't ask because we weren't close».
«Hahaha! So are we intimate now?». When I shrugged to avoid responding, the boy interpreted the gesture as he wanted and began to explain. «It was when he was still active in a clan on the surface. I was young then too...».
Without all the extra and unnecessary information, his story could be summed up like this: while conducting a search with his clan, a Sea Merchant dropped an essence, and this guy was so crazy about the money that he stole the test tube containing it.
«I was thinking of auctioning it to make quick money when time passed and things calmed down. I thought I could live the rest of my life without worrying about money».
But despite his high hopes, Felic's crime was discovered shortly after. So he fled to Noark. In the process, he apparently ended up being unable to sell the essence into the test tube and absorbed it himself.
«Bjorn». We had just reached that point in the story when Amelia approached me.
«Ah, Emily...»
«I'm thinking about leaving soon».
«Really? Then I'm leaving now».
When I excused myself from his company and stood up, Felic gave me an evil smile. «Keke, have a good time».
With that smile, I thought, I can't wait for the day to come when I break this guy's head.
***
Tap.
Arua Raven closed the book she had been reading all night. Then he stretched and stood up from his place. When he did so, the objects he had pushed into a corner of the laboratory caught his attention. They were Bjorn Yandel's belongings.
«I should... get rid of those now...».
Raven let out a long sigh. The weather was really cruel. She had searched through several books, convinced that there must be some big secret, but she had discovered nothing. As the days passed, Raven became less and less able to ignore reality.
Maybe that was the kind of person he was. The emotions were temporary. No matter how angry or sad she became, as time went by, she inevitably thought logically again. Bjorn Yandel had died, so the time had come to sell those items and divide what was left according to his will. Instead of rummaging through books late into the night, that's what I should do.
But the more she thought about it, the more an inexplicable sense of shame took hold of her. That's why I had been reading until now. Bjorn Yandel's death had changed Missha and Erwen's worlds. Those two would never be the same again. But she?
But the more she thought like that, the more an inexplicable feeling of shame took hold of her. That's why I had been reading until now. Bjorn Yandel's death had changed Missha and Erwen's worlds. Those two would never be the same again. And she?
Sigh...
Not long ago she had eaten every meal again, worried that her body would break down at this rate. She wasn't so desperate to search the books to solve the mystery anymore, and sometimes she found herself thinking it wouldn't make any difference anyway. And that wasn't all: she even drank tea and forced herself to smile when the final year students struck up a conversation with her. Raven knew that if time continued to pass like this, she would end up returning to her daily life. It was like a match: it could burn, but not for long.
Not that... I didn't care about him too...
She had liked Bjorn too. She may not have seen it as a romantic interest, but she felt as much human affection as possible for him. She had learned a lot from him, and being by his side was fun. She was probably the first person who had had such a strong emotional impact on her since that woman. But just like then, he was recovering from his loss, and that fact caused him guilt.
«...I should let it go for now. I can sell it another time», Raven said, almost as if trying to convince herself. Then he began to officially organize Bjorn Yandel's belongings.
He evaluated the equipment and wrote down market prices, then reviewed the objects in the subspace. As he did so, something caught his attention.
«Hey? This has to be...»
The Golden Mask was an item that could be obtained from the first floor Rift, the Bloody Citadel, but the method of doing so had been erased from the copy of The Complete Book of Rifts in his possession.
«How did Mr. Yandel...?».
When he saw Yandel defeat the Vampire with the Tears of a Goddess, he thought he had his own copy of the Complete Book of Cracks. But when he took a warrior's oath and claimed it was a coincidence, she abandoned her suspicions.
«...Was it all a lie?».
Maybe I had The Complete Book of Cracks or had read it before. However, just as he thought this, he remembered that his teacher suspected him of being an evil spirit.
Come on, what kind of ridiculous thought...?
Raven giggled and continued organizing the backpack. «What... is this?» Raven discovered a magical device of unknown origin. Judging by the symbols it contained, it appeared to record conversations and allow the user to use Secret Voice.
Click.
Raven pressed the slot at the bottom. Then voices began to come out.
«What is there to think? They are NPCs, anyway».
«But they are comrades who have been with-»
«What a joke. Do you think those guys will think that way when they find out your identity?».
None of those voices were Bjorn Yandel's. So who were the two people in this conversation? The answer came quickly.
«The person your comrades considered a friend was the real Hans. And as you know, the real Hans is no longer in this world».
«But... I consider them my true comrades».
It was a conversation between Hans Chrisen and the Noark dwarf they met in the Doppelganger Forest. This must have been the weakness the dwarf had spoken of. She never thought Bjorn would still have this. Anyway, if they wanted to sell it, it would probably have to be rebooted.
Shaaaaaa.
Raven channeled mana into the device to find out how its mana circuits were structured. For someone specialized in magic devices, it was an easy task.
So you have to press it twice and then hold it once.
Although he had learned to reset it as he wanted, Raven did not retract his mana and continued exploring the structure of the circuit. It was unusual, so he wanted to take a closer look. He went further and began to read the residual mana.
What, the maximum number of times a recording can be played is fixed? Did they use a cheap core or something?
Raven's hand jumped. «Hey?» This magical device could only play a recording up to a hundred times, and when that limit was exceeded, it would automatically restart.
Only two views left?
The number of times it had been heard was a bit strange, too strange to consider it a simple mistake. So he channeled more mana to get a closer look. Then he checked the playback history.
«But what...?» Except for the first two, the rest were after the exit of the Doppelganger forest. Simply put, that meant that the person who had played it the remaining ninety-six times was Bjorn Yandel. «Why did Mr. Yandel listen to this conversation so many times...?».
He had no idea, but Raven instinctively felt that something was wrong.
Knock knock.
Someone knocked on the door of his laboratory. Raven stopped what she was doing and opened the door. Before her was a totally unexpected person. «Miss Missha...?»
«Yes... can I enter...?».
«Ah yeah! Of course. Pass. Wait a minute, I have to clean the room...»
«You don't have to try so hard».
«Yeah... but what brings you here suddenly?». Raven was taken aback by the sudden visit.
«There is something I have to tell you...»
Suddenly he had a sinister feeling.
***
«Drinking again?»
«Ah, there was nothing else to do, so...»
When Amelia returned to the inn, she looked at me as she hung her coat on the hanger. Why was he judging me? Did you know how boring it was to sit here alone?
«Did you get our share of the loot without any problems?».
Amelia laughed at my question. «What, you think I don't even know how to calculate something like that well?».
«It's not that, but you never know. They could have played tricks on you behind your back...».
«Don't worry. I made sure we had our share. Well, not that it matters».
«That's true.»
Our goal was not money. Although it was difficult to say that it was a totally meaningless quest, only once we saved Laura and found a way to return to our original world would it become meaningful.
«So what are you going to do now? Judging by the conversation I had with him, it seems that terminating the contract and removing her from him before the incident in a few months will be difficult.»
«Nothing changes for now. We will keep trying. At least until we come up with a better method».
«Sure...»
It had been about two weeks since we returned to Noark. Since we left the maze, we kept thinking among ourselves how we could save Laura. But even after several days of talking, we still hadn't been able to come up with an adequate response.
Ugh, I feel like I could think of something, but...
The more suffocating our situation became, the more I longed for midnight on the 15th to arrive. I was hoping that by meeting Auril Gavis again and getting information from the other members, I might be able to cook up a good idea.
«Is it today?»
«Within two hours, to be exact».
Amelia nodded to my response and went to clean up, and when she came out, we just chatted out of boredom. It didn't take long for the time to arrive and it was about ten seconds before midnight. I closed my eyes and focused on the sound of the seconds hand.
Tick,tock, tick,tock...
Soon, I heard the tenth tick.
«...What else...?»
I immediately opened my eyes.
Tick, tick, tick...
The ticking of the seconds hand continued to mark the silence.
«...Are you back yet?» amelia asked, but I stared at the clock.
Tick,tock, tick,tock...
Why can't I go?