How the hell is a time traveler story more believable than transmigration story, you idiot?!

For the first time, I saw an actual delighted smile on Dragon Kimono's face. A beautiful smile, even though the reason was surely the fact that my claim was too ridiculous to keep a straight face and she expected a swift order to eliminate me.

Crystal Pencil wasn't smiling, but since I already said it aloud, I had to keep a straight face and stick to my new time traveler backstory somehow.

“A time traveler. That is obviously a lie, isn't it?” (Kimono)

“Uh... it's a half-lie.”

“You mean it's still half-truth?” (Crys)

I need to stop half-lying. First half-lie about being a merchant was fine, but second half-lie about being a time traveler was outrageous. Half-lie three would confirm I'm fully dead.

Damn it, why am I so nervous? It's not like the whole run rests on the shoulders of getting main characters to agree or anything – well, it actually does, but no pressure. Don't try to make clever schemes, Crys will see right through them. Just tell the truth in your own words.

“I-it is a true statement to some degree. This place is not my original place in time and space, that is definitely true. I'm kind of, like, from an alternate universe where I knew different versions of you, but I created a new split when I traveled back in time, so... I know this sounds really weird, but could we just, ah, for the sake of argument, continue from the assumption that I know what happens in the future, is that okay? Please?”

They are buying this, are they? Are they not buying my hearfelt words?

“Tell me then, time traveler: what happens tomorrow?” (Crys)

“...It's unfortunate, but I do not know such detailed things. I mean, you know– human memory has it's limits and history books don't have unlimited number of pages, right? You can't know what happened to a famous person in a certain normal day of their life, but you can know what famous things a famous person accomplished during his life, when he was born and when he died, and so on...”

“I see. Tell me something about the history you know then. Go on.” (Crys)

“W-well, to start with, I know we both want to use Strangers over-tech weapons against their followers. That is, Caliph and Suleiman. All three of us in this room want them to die.”

“Trivial. Those two will eventually destroy each other as the war goes on.” (Crys)

“But what if they don't? I happen to know that those are not your true thoughts. You have already been inspired by a brilliant idea: to create a third superpower, a shadow superpower, to oppose them, am I right?”

“Really now? That is also something many people could think.” (Crys)

“No, it's more than that. You and your sister recently experienced a certain painful event in the hands of a local crime lord in the City of Sighs, and that event lit the fire of revolution in your mind. Also, even if other people have thoughts about similar things, very few people have the talent and the skills to turn this idea into reality. You have what it takes to make it happen.”

Crys and Kimono seemed tense up for a moment. Did I make a mistake by talking about the crime lord event?

“You know what happened in the City of Sighs?” (Crys)

“Yes. I know it because I know the future–”

“So you work for the crime lords!” (Kimono)

“No, no, I don't –“

“Three-time death sentence. First poison, then spike to your stomach, then rope around your neck. Dance in the air while you bleed! We'll see which one kills you first!” (Kimono)

Oh crap, her claws came out again. Kimono was furious.

“No, please listen! I can prove that my words are the truth! Crys, you have kept a journal about everything since you were a small child. Every year, you fill one or two notebooks with text and artistic sketches. You used to carry these notebooks in a suitcase everywhere.”

“Don't call my brother Crys, he is not your friend!” (Kimono)

“Kimono, hold it. This is getting interesting.” (Crys)

“S-sorry, I was rude. Thank you... May I continue?”

Crys signaled me to continue.

“Anyway, during the recent crime lord event, you lost your suitcase and went back to retrieve it. Dragon Kimono, you tried to stop your brother, because you think he cares too much about his books. On your way out, a small mistake happened and your suitcase burned. In a fit of rage, you went back again and burned the crime lord's gang alive–”

I explained the most memorable Crystal Pencil scene from the anime in detail. It was the so-called Crowning Character Moment of Awesome, where Crys just snapped and his sherlockholmesian brain hulked out. He took down Ceer af Cll, a major crime lord leader of the Princes of Darkness gang, using unbelievably elaborate heist tactics reaching all the way back to his birthplace in Crater City. A great episode and a great montage sequence that solidified his character as fan favorite.

After I was done telling details about their past, Kimono looked at his brother with a complex expression. Crys put his hands together in front of his face like a certain famously bad father figure in a classic anime series.

“I am quite intrigued. Ignoring your time travel claim, what is the source that contains so highly detailed records about my life?” (Crys)

“Well, future has records. It's because you're not an ordinary individual. You're famous leader in the future. You're the future leader of the third great power in this world, a great leader on the same level with Caliph and Suleiman.”

“You think you are praising me. Yet being compared to those two sounds like an insult.” (Crys)

“No, I don't mean –“

“How far from the future did you come then?” (Crys)

“Aah, that's hard to say... hundred years from now, maybe?”

“What an extravagant lie, brother!” (Kimono)

“Quiet. You are not certain which year you are from?” (Crys)

“Ah, the thing is, I know the next three or six years very well, but then there's a large gap in my knowledge. The reason I'm here, I think, is that the next three to five years are very important and determine the long-term future of this world. If that future is not changed, the next ninety plus years after are just really, really dark. The next three years are a major watershed moment in the history of this world. These years determine if humanity has any hope, or if the world turns into a wretched hive of grimdark and villainy.”

“I see. We sure are lucky to live in such exceptionally meaningful times, it seems.” (Crys)

“Oh... yeah, this sounds like blatant cult talk, doesn't it? But it's not like that, it really is not.”

“Brother, should I break his knees or cut his fingers first?” (Kimono)

“You can tell I'm telling the truth, right? You can read people. You are already working your way to up to power with the ultimate goal to bring Suleiman down, and I'm working with the ultimate goal to bring both of them down, but I want Caliph to fall first. They are in a trench warfare deadlock now, yes, but Caliph will power-up in the near future and that ability boost needs to be pre-nerfed as soon as possible.”

Crys thought for a while. I kept using game terms like talking to another gamer, but Crys was hopefully smart enough to pick up the meaning from the context.

“I presume you used some type of Strangers' device to, apropos, travel back in time?” (Crys)

“Yes, a device built by strangers called neuro– neuro-VR.”

“Neuroviar, do you have this device with you?” (Crys)

“No, it simply opened a portal for me to clip through time. I call it time glitch.”

“And you time-glitched back in time alone?” (Crys)

“Yeah, I mastered, or tried to master, the use of the device, but it was still an accidental time warp. I don't think there are any others like me here.”

“This story sounds all too convenient, brother. Let's just break his fingers and hear his true answers.” (Kimono)

“Even if he's not a traveler in time, he seems quite persuasive for a charlatan. Even a lesser clairvoyant can still be of use to us.” (Crys)

It's like I'm getting grilled by detectives. It was an accident, officer, I swear!

Wait a minute, are they actually performing a natural good-cop bad-cop routine on me? These damn siblings...!

“Please don't break my fingers. I'm more useful to you, if I can write and draw. I can draw the whole world map, you know. No one has a true world map yet, right? I can draw you one, if you give me a chance. I can give you all the secret locations and hidden treasures. Oh, and I can point you towards the right drugs to treat your insomnia too. You believe me, right? When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth, right?”

“I believe these are not rehearsed answers of a trickster. You believe you are speaking the truth, more or less. You were reluctant to come to this place, yet you mastered a Strangers device that brought you here?” (Crys)

“That's right, yeah. It sounds a bit weird, but –”

“A contract, then, and you will release more detailed information in return?” (Crys)

Kimono was genuinely surprised and shocked when his brother stated his willingness to make a contract with me.

“Brother, are you sure? A contract with this delusional madman?” (Kimono)

“I have great treasure strats. I'm very useful guy.”

“Shut up, I'm not asking you!” (Kimono)

“Your information and your demeanor seem like you have personally watched the unraveling of events from a close-by hiding place. Let us assume you can see both the past and the future through some method of clairvoyancy. Do you accept this as an explanation yourself?” (Crys)

“Well, I kind of have two canonical sources... all I can say that there was a method I used to look at past events directly with my own eyes, like looking at people walking on a street through a clear window.”

“I see. You understand that the world is full of prophets and charlatans selling fables of their own making, offering nothing of substance. Tell me something immediately useful about the near future and the contract you desire is on the table.” (Crys)

“Immediately useful? Let's see... The war will spread north again, which forces you to move to north in a year or two...”

“I could make a guess about something like that. Speak in details.” (Crys)

“I'm not sure what kind of details could convince you... I could tell...”

No, wait. I certainly could reveal the secret areas full of supplies in the Crumbling Shores level, but my info might be wrong because I have no idea when those supplies where left in those secret areas and by whom. Maybe there aren't supplies yet, and maybe there are traps that weren't present in original timeline, or maybe there are gangsters still living in those secret areas and Crys will think I set him up. This info could easily backfire.

What can I tell that's immediately useful and remains constant? Gold coins in a submerged coffin just outside Low City shores? No, it would take too much time and effort to check the validity of that data, we would have to acquire Strangers diving gear from –

“Ah, the syndicate!”

“What about the syndicate?” (Crys)

“The names of the syndicate crime lords three years from now are knight-ambassador Notzche, Chreilau... something... Vorrelcrych, and count Lamprecht. The dragonhead of The Princes of Darkness in the east is Osman Creyzis... something. I don't remember their full names, but Osman is assassinated by this secretary dude named Gaogzo, which leads to dragonhead Ruzi Non-Existent taking over, but the Princes of Darkness in the east and the Dark Murderers in the west are still the two factions that hold power behind the curtains about three years from now. Then there are the clan heads Darryndar and Kryrundar, and some chief dudes called Jifu, Li and Kinleng –”

I'm giving very detailed insider info here, as far as I can remember. The true names of the high crime lords are closely guarded secrets because most of them are actually leaders of noble families from the Corelands of Om. The family names should be the same as they are now.

I remember the names from the anime filler episode that showed actual meeting of high crime lords. It was an unusual one-shot episode that was completely dialogue and zero action – if you don't count the deep political intrigue and subtle status games as action. The main point of this point-of-view change episode was to show how the Revolution Movement was seen from outside, by the eyes of international mafia and yakuza of this world, or by the eyes of thuggees and routiers, and show to viewers how powerful and vast these groups were in comparison to our small MC party. Or maybe just hype them up as future villains and boss fights.

I was a bit surprised how well I remembered their names under stress. Is it because my livestream followers used to entertain themselves with anime dialogue recitals during runs? Is this another fast attack counter bonus for me? Is it because I'm so used to live commentary during runs that I start explaining details automatically? Must be an all-round experience combo.

I don't have any plans to fight against these middle-level syndicate bosses now, of course, I intend to skip straight to the final boss. But anyhow, this should be very convincing insider info for Crys.

“I see. Osman Creyzis-Oughvenien and grandmaster Chreilau of Tigerreed. I can see how that operation would work. If true, it is indeed immediately useful information in many ways, starting from simply selling these names to the highest bidder.” (Crys)

“Yeah, they are at the top of the syndicate, or will soon be at the top. But I should point out that this info is just a small accompaniment to the bigger picture.”

“Really now? What moves should you and I make, then, according to your bigger picture?” (Crys)

“Well, mainly we need to do some serious power-up hoarding, get the band back to together and play some gigs in house parties before the arena concert... sorry, I start making stupid jokes when I get chokes... Ahem, in this area, the most important thing we need to do is find is a guy named Self-Destruction Dance, or just Dancer or Saif. Finding him will also prove to you that I speak the truth, and he will give us some serious leverage. Dancer will be our final back-up strat, if something goes really wrong and we need to nuke everything.”

“He sounds like a dangerous person.” (Crys)

“Well, as an arms dealer, you should be very interested.”

“Meaning?” (Crys)

“Dancer is a walking weapon of mass destruction.”