Chapter 32 “Team without a leader? Part one.”

The empire of Solaris was the most prospering country during the era of its greatness. Back then, the people thought that it will always stay that way as there was no one that could threaten them.

However it was not that there was no one that could threaten them but rather it was just that the people did not know anyone that could threaten them. Not knowing about something, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. In the end the empire of Solaris fell under the assault of armies of hell that came to execute their revenge.

Nowadays, even the name of the empire ‘Solaris’ is not vastly known and once majestic lands of the Solaris are not a place to which one would want to travel to. After the demonic invasion and fall of the empire, the number of monsters that spread through those lands was enormous. Some demons also stayed behind to make sure that no empire will once again rise on those lands. But it was not only them. With no mortal races around, the monsters roamed through those lands without anyone’s interference. Not only they vastly increased in numbers but also thanks to demonic influence they became much stronger than their counterparts anywhere else in the world.

“The city of Karma is named the western end of the world precisely because going any further means unavoidable death. Anyone who goes to the west sooner or later will encounter a wall that he will not be able to pass through. That is why naming Karma the end of the world couldn’t be any truer. After all, if you go any further than that, you will encounter the edge of the world and fall into the abyss. People once believed that the earth is flat. Nowadays everyone knows that it’s not the truth and something like the edge of the world does not exist. Still, did anyone confirm that EOA’s world is not flat? ‘We’ really might end up falling into the abyss if we go there. And here out of sudden one day ‘they’ tell me that they want to go there. Hahaha, why are they always so carefree?”

The man in the white cloak looked at his teammates from under his glasses and right away his worries left him.

“Well, if something bad happen, I can always really on them.”

-we are here. Sorry for being late but Mika had stomach pains.

-brother, don’t tell them that!

The already filled room became even more filled and now it was fifteen people inside there. Two last arrived and after saying hello to everyone, they sit down on prepared beforehand seats.

-Shin! Hiro and Mika are here, everyone is ready!

Someone said it to the man in the white cloak who was sitting at one of the chairs looking at his hands. He was holding them in specific position where only his fingertips were connecting to each other.

The man whose name was Shin once again looked up and confirmed that two ‘azure heads’ arrived. ‘Azure heads’ because that was a hair color of two people that just entered.

“It’s a little shame that there is no one to start it the way it should be started but we can’t do anything about it.”

Shin stood up from the chair walked in the front of everyone and stopped next to the blackboard. He adjusted his glasses and went over his black hair with his hand. Then he started.

-we already been on this once but not everyone was there so for starter, I will repeat the main points of our last meeting…

Normally in EOA when going for a dungeon or any other place with other people, players tended to make it more special by giving some form of speech. Those were usually the leaders of the group that just tried to make everyone more excited and at the same time more focused on the task. In this group however that part was rarely seen and their meeting in this room or any other place were filled only with tactics on how they would deal with incoming matter.

-as you all know, today we are making an expedition to the west. Still it’s not like we have any goal in mind, that’s why we are free to choose the direction that we will go. Originally we were going just to leave Karma and go to the west but with informations that we gathered over past few months, we found out that there is a better place to start from. Previous expeditions that left from Karma and went straight to the west were usually reduced by half in numbers on the very first day. That means that creatures they encountered were especially strong. That’s why we will try to avoid following their footsteps and use that information to our advantage. So rather than leaving from Karma we will start off from Larisane, you know the elven village to the south, the one that for an elder has a young girl. Before you ask any question, I perfectly know that, adventurers can’t visit that village but because of our previous relation with the village we will be allowed to stay there for few days. Vatras was the one that make this deal happen, so say thanks to him later. Before we go on, are you all okay with going to the west not from Karma but from Larisane?

-yes, we are!

To the man’s question everyone answered together loudly and clearly. Their synchronization was almost perfect. They definitely weren’t doing it for the first time, although there were some annoyed voices as on other one hand the question was completely not needed. Shin continued.

-so, we are taking off to Larisane this evening. Musashi arranged two carts for us, so it should be a comfortable ride. It will take us two to three days to get to Larisane. We will probably arrive there at morning of the third day. With a ride as long as this you will all have a lot of time to catch up on everything with each other, so listen till I finish because now is the important part. You should know that in comparison to the dungeons that we are usually doing, going for an expedition is little different. Well, maybe thinking that ‘the west’ is one large never ending dungeon is not wrong but standard strategy that we usually use will not work there, that’s why I thought of somewhat new formation that we are going to use…

Shin picked up the chalk and started drawing on the blackboard. He drew only circles so it wasn’t anything complex. There were six circles on the left side of blackboard, six circles on the right side and three circles down in the middle. He signed up circles on the left with the letter A, circles on the right with letter B and circles on the middle with letter E.

-when we start going to the west, we are going to split into three groups. Groups A and B will be rotating throughout our entire expedition. When group A will be fighting, group B will be resting and recovering mana, then when group B will be fighting, group A will be resting, and so forth. We are not going to fight all at once so we never get caught off guard without any resources to fight. I was also thinking of a plan in which we would stop every time we are at 50% of our mana and stamina but I think we won’t be able to make long breaks to rest as the longer we stay in the same place the more monsters will come at us. That’s why we will be constantly in move to avoid getting overwhelmed. When the problem arrives in which one of the groups can’t manage with it, group E will join in the fight. Team E is an emergency team. When team E will still not be enough, the resting team will join in as well. Anything else will depend on the situation. I am expecting that all of us will be needed in fight most of the times anyway but if that will not be the case we will go with plan like this. Now teams distribution.

Shin once again started to write down something the blackboard. He was now writing letters inside the circles. At the same time he was speaking.

-team A’s members will be: Flynn, Lee, Vivi, Konan, Thesar and Yume. Team B members will be: Musashi, Hiro, Mika, Kuma, Bran and Julia. And lastly team E will be the remaining people which mean me, Kei and Vatras. Before we go on, is everyone okay with everything I said?

-yes, we are!

Everyone once again answered in union but then.

-wait, I am not okay!

The girl with long light-brown hair and in white-brown clothes stood up from the chair protesting.

“Oh, it’s been a while since someone say no.”

-is something wrong Julia?

Shin asked her.

-switch me with Kei, I want to be with you in the party. There shouldn’t be a problem right? I have the same position as him.

“Eh…”

After she said her demands, Shin already knew what will follow next.

-hey, I also want to be with Shin in party!

-me too.

-and me!

-why is the team E so small? There should be more spots in it!

-I want to be with Shin in party too! He hasn’t been playing for so long!

-we are all the same here!

“How did it turn into storm when just a minute ago everyone was listening?”

-emm… I tried to make teams the most balanced and…-

He tried to stop them but Shin’s voice was no longer heard by his teammates.

-there is no other choice. We are going to make some sort of competition to select those who will be in Shin’s group!

-then let’s all go to the arena, and fight it out!

-but if we do that Kei will still win, right?

-there is still the second spot and I going to take it.

-as if I let you!

“Ah, why does it always end up like this?”

-shut up, all of you!…

The loudly shout filled the room and everyone become quiet. Naturally it wasn’t Shin who shouted. In the first place he wasn’t probably able to make a shout that loud.

-you want to change the compositions of the teams? Does that mean that you have better tactic than Shin? …

The dwarf with a long orange-brown beard continued.

-why does team E has those members and not others? I can explain it to you if you want. Me and Musashi are out from the beginning because we are the tanks. Then Vatras is the healer of group E because he is the most omni-spec here and out of all healers have the highest dps in case there would be need for it. Thesar would probably do as healer as well but Vatras simply has much more utility in many other areas. As for Mika, we all know that she can’t focus unless she is with Hiro. Then Kei is in group E because he is our ‘Ace’ and will deal with the emergencies the best. And as for why Shin is in group E, I don’t think that I have to explain this. So Julia and Konan you two especially, don’t start riots over nothing. I understand that Shin didn’t play for long but it’s us who wanted to go to the west. Anyway Shin, we all accept the party distribution. Right everyone!?

-yes!

The rooms become silent and everyone returned to their seats.

“That was really helpful Flynn.”

-well before I go on, I think there is one thing that I need to clarify…

Shin continued after everyone become silent.

-even though we are technically separated into three groups we are not going separate way at any point. We are traveling together at all points of time. Don’t even think of wondering somewhere as it will bring heavy consequences for the group and will probably result in an instant failure. Also, in the first place, team E is defending the resting team should something got through the fighting team.

-ah, so that’s how it is.

-in that case, what we even fought over?

The peace once again arrived in the room.

-before we go into any details, does anyone has anything to say or has any questions?

Shin asked again.

-I have one question. Why do we even bother to go there? Do we have any reason?

The question was asked by the man with azure hair.

-of course we don’t have any. You remember how it went Hiro, someone joked about going to the west and then somehow we end up deciding to actually go there.

-then Shin, what do we actually have to do to succeed in our exploration?

Asked the man who was until now standing quietly in the corner. He had black hair falling that covered his left eye. He was wearing just a black t-shirt and jeans. He also had a glove protector on his left hand and a longsword on his left side. He was actually one of the few people that had weapon equipped in this room or rather he was the only one that had weapon equipped right now.

-if you are asking for wining condition Kei, then it would be going to the west and returning alive…

Shin answered.

“That’s the best thing I could think of.”

-as to what we will actually be doing there, we will find out when we get there. If we encounter some rare monsters, then we will think about fighting against them. Same if we find some dungeons that no other players ever completed before. There should be some easy dungeons that others did not complete, simply because they couldn’t reach it. Being the first one to complete the dungeon is really profitable as you all know. When last time we did it, we got like what? Seven good items from the last boss? So I guess completing some unexplored dungeon might as well be our objective.

“I said that but, we would first need to find those dungeons. Also rather than looking for the dungeons, we have one large endless dungeon out in the open and if we manage to survive just few days it will already be good result.”

-hey Shin! I don’t think it’s that important but there are some people standing next to the door to this room. They have been standing there for about 10 minutes already so I thought I would let everyone knows.

While Shin was deep in thought one of his party members, the dwarf with long black beard informed him. The name of the dwarf was Bran. He was marksman/beastmaster who has been playing with Shin for really long time now, even before the current party came to be. The greatest quality of Bran was his unexpectedly good hearing which allowed him to detect people and enemies within a long range. It was especially helpful in dungeons. He could detect incoming patrols before anyone else. Also against the enemies that could make themselves invisible, Bran would still manage to recognize where they are based on the sound. In a way Bran was a perfect scout. At the same time he had the highest dps output in the entire party.

-there is no reason to bother with them if they are just standing there. If they wanted anything from us they would knock right. Also there wouldn’t be anyone who would want to spy on us and even if there were, we don’t really have anything to hide.

-nah, I wasn’t thinking of that but rather maybe they have something to tell us.

-I will see who it is and if they want something.

Girl with the long brown curly hair said that and walked to the door. Her name was Yume. She was someone that was hard not to know if someone spent more than a week in Karma. Most of the times even few hours were enough. Her ‘sociable skills’ were simply on ‘god level’. That’s was at least how Shin thought about it.

“I guess I will leave it to her.”

Yume ended up leaving the room for the time being. It was still completely filled with people though.

-we all know Yume so we know that it will probably take her some time before she comes back so Shin, how was your vacation?

Black bearded dwarf asked.

-it’s not the time for questions like that Bran.

-don’t be like that, everyone wants to know and you can’t continue till Yume is back.

“…”

After a long absence Shin couldn’t evade questions like this so it was better to give up at the start.

-fine. But, first of all I didn’t go on vacation but to work.

-since when going to Hawaii is considered work?

-it is. I was working part time at my aunt shop as it was the most active period, the start of summer. I was practically either sleeping or selling stuff in her shop.

-and how was the beach? Did you have your romantic episode there?…

The elven girl in blue clothes with long straight blonde hair asked. The worst thing however was that she did not stop only on asking and because Shin wasn’t planning on answering stupid questions like this she started a monologue.

-after long hours of work when everyone already left the beach, I lay down on the sand and looked up at the stars. In the middle of it I fell asleep. Few hours later, when I woke up, I saw someone sleeping next to me. It was…-

“…”

-what are you talking about Vivi?

Shin had to stop her before she went into the details of her delusion.

-your romantic episode of summer of course, what else? So Shin, you had something like that? I need to know because someone paid me to ask you that question.

-ah… once again, I was only working and sleeping and the shop was not located on the beach. I didn’t even see the beach as I didn’t have time for that. As I said I went there to work.

“It was so tiresome that actually right now it’s my resting time. Sure sometimes they are hard to deal with but still… this is the most pleasant time of all. Looks like I missed all of them more than I thought I did.”

A gentle smile appeared on Shin face, which disappeared instantly when the door opened and he saw that there were more people entering than just Yume.

“Well, it has nothing to do with the tactics so I am out of it.”

Shin decided that it is not his role to do anything about that and quickly sat back to his seat on which he was sitting in the beginning. Everyone looked at the door at that time so no one saw him sneaking out.

-wait, we can’t just enter in the middle of it.

-it will be fine, just leave it to me…

Yume was dragging someone inside by the black sleeve of that person’s coat. Seeing this scene Shin started thinking.

“Ah, I already see it. In a moment, she will say something along the lines. ‘Hey everyone! Can those people join our expedition as well!?’”

It was not the first time that Yume did something like that and Shin could easily foresee this situation given his experience. And just like he predicted in five seconds when the doors were closed and Yume dragged all three people inside, she said.

-hey everyone! Can those three join our expedition as well!?

“Ah, nearly there. I was wrong just by one word.”

It was sometimes scary how well Shin could predict what will happen.

-when did I told you that we wanted to join? I just asked you for some advices that all.

Shin looked at the people who entered. At the front there was Yume and the man she dragged in.

“Black-white colored hairs and black-white colored clothes. Two swords unusually both on the right side, one of them black, other red… I see, so this is the man that fought on par with ‘her’. Then on his right side should be his comrade that also fought in the arena few days ago. Blonde hair and gray cloak, somewhat knightly looking, yes it’s probably him.”

Even though it was not on Yume’s level, Shin had vast information on people that were in Karma as well. It got a little worse as he didn’t play for some time but he heard the resent news that were spreading throughout the city and connecting the facts was especially his good point.

“I can’t see the last person but it’s probably a girl. She is hiding her face behind the paper that she is holding right now. Still, I can see as something red is repeating to appear in my view under that paper. Also it’s someone who has the reason to hide the face from us. In short it means that it’s ‘her’…”

-sigh.

Shin sighted to himself.

“Ah and now everything out of sudden became so complicated. It’s a good thing that I already hided. Still, I wonder why a group like that came to us. Also why would they want to go to the west in the first place? After all no one sane would do that.”

Some people in the room looked at Shin after what Yume said but seeing that he doesn’t want to deal with the matter at all, someone took the initiative.

-Yume, how many times did we tell you not to do things like this?

His name was Vatras. Although he was nearly two meters in height and was quite muscular with his profession he was a team’s healer. He was of elven race and had long dark green hair. Similar to Bran he was also playing with Shin before this party came to be.

-don’t be like that Tras, it’s different this time.

-and here she goes again.

The man with azure whose name was Hiro hair commented.

-Yume, we let you invite people from time to time but this time specifically everyone told you not to do that. Look at Shin, he is already in his pose, ‘you guys do what you want, I don’t care anymore’.

Julia added.

“Lalalalala, I am definitely not going to involve myself in this.”

Shin was trying his best to avoid everyone’s gaze.

-but we always lack people right? And especially because we are going to dangerous place like this we could use some help…-

-Yume that’s enough…

Then all off sudden the man with black-white hair that was standing next to her stopped stretched his hand before her and stopped her.

-sit down and I will take it from here…

What was more surprising though was the fact that Yume actually listened to him.

“Oh, he managed to convince her to sit down just like this? This might be interesting.”

-before I continue give us two minutes. Also so you all know, the person who tries to hide her face next to me is Rin.

-Arata, why did you tell them that!…

The girl stops trying to hide anymore and shouted at the other man.

“So it was ‘her’ after all. I still had some hopes as you don’t see ‘her’ with other people too often. Or rather except with Yume, you don’t ever see her with other people.”

Yume sat down to her spot and the room became quiet. In that time the party of three that came inside started to whisper to each other.

-what!

There was that one time when the girl shouted out loudly but apart from that, Shin could not hear them.

“That guy, he probably knew her before. Otherwise I can’t think of a reason why would she cope up with him rather than killing him on the spot.”

Shin thought like that seeing their conversation.

-pss, Shin. If you are wondering what they are talking about then they are considering joining our expedition, it looks like they didn’t plan it beforehand.

-I already knew that, but Bran how can you spy on people like that?

-well, they might as well be planning on attacking us so if I heard something like that then I would just shot the bolt between their eyes before they get ready. You remember how our last encounter; or rather how our all encounters with that girl went…

“Hmm… I guess it’s a good thing that he is spying after all. Still I don’t think they will attack us. Hopefully. Last time I also thought it will not happen, and it was a grave mistake. Then the first time we meet I had no idea why but I ended up dying suddenly as well. I don’t like dealing with unpredictable elements like her.”

-you also know that I can’t help it even if I didn’t want to spy.

Bran added at the end.

-no, no Bran, spy ahead. You need to inform us if we should do an emergency log out.

‘Emergency log out’ was the current tactic that Shin though off in case when it might seem like Rin would try to attack them. As long as they did it fast enough nothing would happen.

After about three minutes the three people that just came, came to understanding, although it was clear that the girl with long red hair was not happy about the outcome.

The man with black-white hair once again started.

-although we came here just to talk with Yume and ended up in this room because she dragged us in here, after thinking it through it would be quite beneficial for us if we could join you on your expedition to the west. First, let me apologize for already taking so much time, you had a meeting after all and we disrupted it. We didn’t plan on doing so but Yume suddenly came out from the room and since then, there was little we could do to stop her.

The atmosphere in the room once again changed to peaceful.

-she is always like that Arata, don’t worry we are already used to it.

Out of sudden Vivi responded to him.

“They already knew each other? Yes, probably that.”

The tone that Vivi used was not the tone that she would use to a complete stranger.

-before I say anything else, can I take some more of your time?…

Arata asked. No one interrupted him or said no, which meant that no one was hardly against it.

-I should start with introducing ourselves. My name is Arata. Levi is this guy name and as you all probably already know her but this girl name is Rin. We found ourselves in need of going to the west and came here to talk with Yume about it as we knew that she is going to do the same. We thought that we can find out something useful by speaking with her and because she was leaving the city today, the only way to speak with her was to wait for her in this inn. The rest you know, she suddenly came out and dragged us inside. Still, she said that you are going in similar direction like us, as our destination is south-west from here. When I heard that, I thought, it might not be a bad idea to join up with you, even if only for some time until our destinations separate. I know it is a selfish request of mine but you guys definitely won’t lose on that. The only thing that we can offer is our assistance in fights but you should know that Rin is someone who is worth at least 20 normal average players. She has a rank zero in this city arena, and her win percentage is 100%, she will definitely be useful in hard times. Then there is this guy who is a member of silver hand order. From what he said, getting to silver hand is quite hard. How hard it actually is I don’t know but maybe you do, anyway he also should be probably useful.

-probably useful? You are doing a horrible job at advertising us.

The man with blonde hair next to Arata commented.

-then there is me who is from unknown guild and has no achievements to speak off, sorry to disappoint you.

-did I say horrible? It’s worse than horrible.

-em, em. Arata’s achievements are as follow…

Vivi suddenly interrupted.

-maybe some of you saw it in the arena three days ago but his fighting skills are at least as good as Rin’s one. I personally think that he is better, then there is other thing that he told me few days ago. Just recently, he fully completed the trial of adventurer on 100th level barrier. Yes fully, all stages without dying.

“All stages!? So people like that do exist. I never meet anyone like that though.”

Seeing how Vivi said that, Shin had no doubts that she was telling the truth. There were people though who did not believe right away.

-then, what do you fight at the end of that trial?

Kei who was standing in the corner asked.

-after you defeat all of five bosses you fight against copy of the players that already completed the trial in the past.

Arata simply answered the question.

-you mean those are not the real players themself?

-no, they are not. Then as for the copies ability, it is their powers that they had when they themselves completed the trial.

-then it wasn’t her?

“Ah, right, I do know someone who didn’t complete the challenge fully only because he went easy on his last opponent. Still, I wonder why this guy answer was so detailed. This much information shouldn’t be possible to gather by simply experiencing the thing itself. I wonder where did he found out about it in such detail. As far as I remember I did search for that information myself but I didn’t find anything close to what he just said.”

-I didn’t understand this question, can you repeat?

-no, never mind, you can continue.

It looked like Kei was satisfied with his answer.

-well, I would want to continue but I don’t know what else to add. Do you have any questions other question maybe?

Arata asked once again.

-okay, okay, I will help you with this one. Everyone you can bombard him with any questions you have and he will answer them, still to make it easier for him and faster as well. Everyone will ask only one question…

Vivi interfered.

“So, he will answer some questions, and then it will all work out… I don’t think this plan will go in the direction he wanted. Not with this bunch at least.”

Shin thought like that. Still there wasn’t anyone who would try to stop Vivi right now so it wasn’t like they were against that.

-so, Flynn you already know him so it will be easy for you to start. Ask him a question.

Vivi started.

-okay. So Arata, how did the riddle go, did you solve it?

-yes I did, after that I also ended up helping with that quest and we completed it. That’s how our party came to be in the first place.

-good job, and what that quest was about?

“I see so they have a quest that tells them to go to the west. That explains much.”

Even though it was not voiced, Shin already understood the motive of that party to go to the west. Well it was not a hard thing to guess. If you were going to the west then you either had some objective like them, possibly some quest. The other option would be like Shin’s party and that is to be crazy and die young.

-Flynn only one question!…

Vivi interrupted Flynn although his question so random that most of the people didn’t understood what it was about.

-okay, next one. Mika why don’t you…-

-no! Not me! I didn’t thought of anything yet.

The girl with azure hair started to panic.

-hey Mika, ask him if…-

Hiro who was sitting next to her also with azure hair, tried to tell her something, but he was soon interrupted.

-stop! Stop! Brother’s influence is not allowed. Mika come up with your own question.

-then, eto. Why is your hair so strange?

Mika ended up asking question which was as far as possible from the current topic.

“No matter how many tactical meeting we have, why does it always turns into parody?”

-you know, I want to know that myself…

Arata ended up answering. Despite stupidity of the question he was not neglecting it.

-they were like that on default and there was nothing I could do about it. I once had a character in other game that had a hair like this, so maybe it’s because of that but I don’t know why other games would influence my look here. Anyway, although it looks like that, I am already used to it. I am also already used to people saying that it look strange. But you are on the same boat with that unique color, aren’t you?

-yes but I never disliked my hair in the game. Although at first it was strange, with time I started to like them. They make me feel unique. I am quite plain except from them. Then they also symbolize my connection with my brother. Emm… even though you hair looks strange I didn’t want to offend you by asking about them. I think that they look cool.

“Mika opened to him that easily? Did having strange hair automatically created a bond between them? Normally it took a week for her to get used to anyone who joined and if Hiro weren’t there, it would probably took even more. Actually some of us still have problem speaking with her if she is alone.”

-well thanks, you are also definitely not plain so don’t think like that. You are rather pretty from what I see.

-okay Arata, you can flirt with her later.

Vivi stopped the conversation before it went anywhere else.

-eh, I wasn’t fil…-

-next question, Konan why don’t you ask something?

Konan was sitting in one of the middle chairs. His greatest characteristic was his height, as he was quite small. Even smaller than the dwarfs but he was of a human race. Interesting fact was that when Shin meet him in real, Konan was higher than him by head.

-something simple, how old you are?

It looked like Konan did not try to think too hard on his question.

“Why does all those question are so random?”

-19. By the way, I am not the only one that is answering questions. You can ask something Levi and Rin too.

Arata was answering all questions without care, he probably didn’t really care and simply wanted to get it over with.

-this proposition is appreciated, now them who should be the one to use it first…

“Vivi is fully in her presenter role.”

-I know, I will ask next question…

Vivi decided to ask the question herself.

“Now, they should prepare for the most stupid question they can get. Although with this group you can never know. There are still many stupid questions left to be asked.”

-the person I will ask is Rin.

“And she is doing it right away. I just hope it won’t end up like last time. Maybe I should hold my finger on log out bottom?”

-me?

-yes and the question is. Out of two your party members if you had to go out with one, whom would you choose?

“hmm… as I though, it will be hard to beat her in competition of stupid questions this time. But will Rin actually answer to that? I personally expect red weapons to appear in the air any second.”

-I don’t want to answer to this stupid question.

“Yea, thought so.”

-if you don’t answer, it might decide negatively on our voting later, this is the deciding moment, you can’t let down your teammates.

-… fine.

Rin gave her annoyed look then pointed at Levi.

-this one is the last man in the world that I could go out with so the answer is simple, it would be Arata. Still for your information Arata is already taken so that’s not happening. Also for everyone information, I don’t want questions like that again.

-hey, how can you say the last man in the world!?

Her teammate was not too happy.

-I said what I thought, that’s all. And even if you were the last man in the world, there would still be no chances of that happening. I would not care about continuation of human race at all.

The atmosphere in the room change, some were even amused by her answer. Shin included.

“Haha, I didn’t expect that but even though this question was as stupid as it was, it really might have been a deciding moment. What everyone wanted to know was if Rin won’t start killing us out of sudden in the middle of the exploration but if she can take a question like that and properly answer it, then maybe I was wrong about her this whole time. Well, I always thought like that at the back of my mind. After all, the person that Yume considers ‘best friend of heart’ from all those people she knows can’t be a bad.”

-great, great, now next question. Lee, why don’t you ask something?

Vivi continued.

Lee greatest characteristic was that he was bald and he changed it ingame himself when he went to hairdresser. He said that it helps him in playing the role of monk which was his class. Monk is a special class that does not use weapon in fights and is pure material artist.

-I think it will count as a question. My name is Lee, Arata will you fight with me later on? I want to test my skills against someone who managed to beat the trial of adventure.

-sure, when I will have time.

Some of the questions weren’t even question but it seemed if they were asked in the specific tone it would work out.

-well, that was really quick, now then Kuma, you have anything to ask or rather, you have to ask something.

Kuma was a unique being even in this group. Out of all fifteen people only he was of Quantin race. Not only that, Quantin race was quite rare to see except their starting area. Many people never actually met one before as it was newest race in EOA that was unlocked just recently. People of that race who passed 100th level barrier were still very few.

The characteristic of Quantin race were simple to understand. They were cat people. They had cat ears and cat tails, some of them were covered in fur but not all of them. Kuma was in between where he was partly covered in fur. Still, he was no some random little kitten. From all people in the party he was the largest of all, over two meters in height and he had a huge build as well. Similar to Lee he also was not using weapons but only his claws in fights. Kuma looked like someone who you wouldn’t want to meet at night in dark alley. Although, his personality was nothing like his look. He was very calm and friendly in nature. In real life he was a kindergarten teacher in practice.

-then I have a question to the man on the right. I heard some dark rumors about the leader of silver hand order, what can you tell me about it?

“All the questions were random so far. Although, I’m also little interested in this topic.”

Levi started answering.

-I don’t really know anything except those rumors I am afraid. I am not high ranked enough to find out. Still, I do share some suspicious about the leader myself but you shouldn’t think that the whole silver hand order is bad. Also if it all goes well, the leader might not be the leader anymore in the near future. Right, the last information is something you didn’t hear from me.

-now then, before we go into ‘serious questions’ there is still one person that needs to ask the question.

Vivi once again took the lead.

“The rest are me, Vatras, Thesar, Bran, Kei, Hiro, Musashi and Julia. Did Vivi divide us into those who will play around and those who might actually ask for something important? That’s why all those questions so far were so unrelated. And the last person to ask a stupid question will be Yume.”

-Yume you probably already know everything there is to know but you also have to ask the question.

-Arata, Levi, Rin sorry that it all turned out like this…

Yume started like this.

“After bringing them here you knew that they won’t have it easy. I somehow don’t think that you are truly sorry.”

Shin though like that. Also especially Yume’s playful tone was giving her out.

-now then, what to ask? What to ask? Oh, I know. It might be something that people normally don’t ask but if you are to join our raid then you will need to say it anyway and if you do that beforehand, it might convince some people. You see, in our group everyone knows each other classes so we can work better together with. Especially Shin has to know everyone’s classes as he is the one thinking up the strategies. That’s why could you tell us your classes. No one in this room will share it with anyone so don’t worry about this information leaking out.

“Oh, Yume actually asked for something useful in discussion. Is this the end of the world? Still, I wonder what their reaction will be. After all in EOA people can be divided in three groups, those that can tell their classes without holding back to anyone, those who will tell that only to their friends or when it’s really necessary and lastly people who will not tell anyone under any circumstances.”

-the question has been asked! Now then, first person to answer that will be turururururrurur. Levi! The member of silver hand.

Vivi continued with a playful tone.

-do we really have to do it?

-the question has been asked! There is no way to run anymore. This is the deciding moment.

“Oh we already have the second deciding moment. I wonder on which number we will end up this time.”

-fine, fine, I won’t die from that. Rank 6 in game ranking system, class name ‘Crusader’…

“Rank 6 ‘Crusader’. Quite rare but not something out of the reach. They can take roles both of tank and dps but in comparison to the paladins they don’t have any healing spells. Still their dps output is greatly higher than paladin’s one. As for tanking, they are good for small dungeons but in raids they would rather do the jobs off-tank, although it’s not impossible for them to be a main tank when player is dedicated to tanking and gather gear for it.”

Shin had a lot of knowledge about the classes in EOA. Of course he didn’t know all of them but those that were listed on websites or generally were somewhere on the internet were known to him.

-great, great, we could definitely use someone like that on our side, right everyone? Then the next one to answer will be Rin, what’s yours.

-…mine is called “Crimson bladedancer”, if I remember correctly it was of rank seven. It’s been a long time since I saw that message so I might be wrong. If you really want to know then I want to check but the name should be enough for you right?

“Well, that’s unexpected, I thought she would be much higher, although it often is like that. Most of people become better in the game only with time. It’s rare to find anyone who was truly good from the start and when it comes to classes rank it is purely based on first month of the play. At higher level rank of classes don’t tell much person skills. Rank of classes symbolizes how good they were and not how good they are now. Still if someone has a high rank you can automatically assume that he was better than average in the beginning and that probably lead to being better later on as well. Still those people are rare. Although I was convinced or rather I do know that Rin’s abilities are not something that she learned in this game. So I assumed that she should have higher rank of class. Well, classes are based on first month of play so even if she knew how to fight that was not enough. I also remember dying out of hunger because I didn’t know I had to eat in the game. Still in the end rank 7 is still high, we don’t have that many people who have higher rank here. Also, even though the name of class ‘bladedancer’ sound familiar and it is quite common in many RPGs games, I don’t think that I read about it anywhere in EOA. People who didn’t look into it, might think that it isn’t that of rare class but if I never heard of it then it is not in common knowledge at least. Also who cares about the class, there is not a single person in our group that would doubt the ability of Rin. After all, she is the strongest player under 200th level if not higher. Long time ago when she was more active in arena I did see her once beating five player of level 230. And that was before she got ‘that’ skill.”

-and finally, Arata what class has someone who can manage the 100 level trial?

Vivi continued.

-… .

“Oh, is he someone from the third group? Or does he not want to reveal his class because it fades in comparison to rank 6 and 7? It’s true that if it will be class out of ranking system then it might make his passing 100 level trial, doubtful.”

-Arata, people are waiting, this is the deciding moment. Prepare yourself mentally and say it.

“It’s already third deciding moment. Well depending on his answer it might actually change how others will look at his request.”

-I don’t need any preparation. Anyway my classes are… well I have class that is called ‘Sword enchanter’ and its rank is four.

“Four? High, high, super high. My theory about people getting high rank at the beginning and being good later on is true it seems. And for his class Sword enchanter, the only thing I read about this one was that it’s an ultimate anti-magician class. It was a story from a perspective of a mage who got completely destroyed by some sword enchanter and all of his attacks were nullified or backfired at him.”

-and there you have it. Their classes have ranks of six, seven and four. So high so high. Next question will be asked by.

-Vivi, I didn’t finish yet. Sword enchanter is only my second class.

Vivi wanted to continue but Arata interrupted her.

“Second class?”

-second class?

-yes, I do have ‘double class’ which means I have two classes. My other class is called ‘The twilight swordsman’ and it’s a class of rank two.

-… .

Everyone looked at Arata with surprise. Even his teammates that stood next to him were surprised by that number.

“They also didn’t know. Hahahaha… I didn’t foresee that, you are interesting indeed, Arata. I am not even sure if I should be surprised by the word ‘double class’ or ‘the twilight swordsman’ or ‘rank two’. There are absolutely no information about classes of rank three or higher anywhere I looked. Because of that I arrived at the conclusion that only few players in the world would have a class of such high rank. Same is with double class, although I did hear that something like that exist.”

-hey Vivi, I will take the next question.

The first to react was a large man who was wearing heavy plate armor. Although similar to Vatras, his posture was as misleading as it could get, because he was also a healer. His class was ‘the sixth paladin’, which was one of the types of paladin class.

Apart from color, classes often had other indicators as well. Numbers being the one of those.

-ask away, Thesar.

-Arata, can you show us a proof of your words?

It was given that after saying that much some would want a proof.

-you mean, that I have this class? Well I can show you my skill books if you want but I have a better idea, here…

Arata unsheathed his sword from the sheath on his right side. It was a sword darker then night, darker than abyss. Somehow the light was not reflecting on this sword as if it was avoiding it.

-this is the sword that I received after completing a class quest of twilight swordsman type. It’s probably much more interesting to look at than the skill books.

-yes, thank you very much.

It looked like Thesar was convinced momentarily as well as all others who still did not believe 100%.

-good, good, after the big revelation we continue with the questions, there are still six people left. Kei, what about you?

Vivi continued the show.

-I already asked him about 100 level challenges.

-yes but that was before we started.

-it was you who said one question per person.

Kei was too stubborn to ask another question.

“Ah, he is always like that.”

-okay, okay, then oh I know. I was thinking of leaving it to the end but, Shin! Everyone can’t wait for your question, we can’t keep them waiting. I also can’t wait for it so what’s your question?

Out of sudden Vivi decided to ask Shin.

-me?

Shin also thought that he will be left for the last question so he didn’t prepare anything yet.

-Arata, you better prepare yourself because it will be the deciding moment…

To make matters worse Vivi said something like this.

“It’s already forth deciding moment. Anyway, I didn’t think of anything yet because someone else might have asked that question before me and I would have to come up with something else again. Still, there is something that no one asked yet and I wanted to know if what I saw was what I think it is.”

-Shin, so what do you wanted to ask?

Everyone looked at him with expectations.

-my question is to you Rin. What is that piece of paper that you keep holding and looking at?

The moment Shin asked that question he could see a quick change of look on faces of the three, Arata’s, Rin’s and Levi’s. Especially Arata focused his gaze on Shin right after that question.

-hey, Shin, earlier he said he is a twilight swordsman and now you ask about some piece of paper?

-yes, that’s little unexpected of you.

Bran and even Kei commented on that but Shin already knew that his question was not careless.

-how did you know?

Now it was Arata who asked even though the question was not to him.

-well, I just asked what is that piece of paper, nothing else. I didn’t have a question ready so I randomly asked for that.

-randomly… heh. Yes definitely randomly…

A smile appeared on the man with black white-hair.

“Now what do you have there? My guess is that it will be a thing that would convince us to let you join even if things turn out against your favor. That’s why you were saving it for later.”

That or Shin really asked a random question. Still Arata soon started answering and it turned out to be the former.

-well we were going to use it as our trump card at the end of this question session but I guess it can’t be helped now. Rin question was yours so answer them.

Rin turned around the piece of paper and showed its front.

-it is a map of Karma and its surrounding area. The left side of it shows the areas to the west, for example the place where we will be going or any place that you guys might want to go. Having a map would be useful while traveling anywhere and I never saw a map of the west anywhere in Karma before. If I couldn’t find it means that you definitely not have it.

Rin answered while showing the map.

“Yes, I also didn’t find any map of the west even though all of us put in the effort to find it. I only found the old map of Solaris but the structure did not match to what I saw or heard from people who took part in previous expeditions to the west… even though played early, their trump card still has strong the effect, I guess.”

-ah, that’s Shin for you. To realize it’s something like that.

Flynn complemented.

-I was amazed when I heard that he has double class and rank two but if we compare him to Shin then he is nothing to be amazed about.

And Julia’s complemented was even more.

“There is nothing amazing about me though. And I definitely shouldn’t be compared with someone like that guy.”

-okay, everyone we will have time to get amazed by Shin later. There are still some questions left. Bran, give us something inspiring.

The question session continued.

-my turn eh. Well, I don’t know it will be inspiring but aye, I do have good question. You three come here without planning to join us but all of sudden you decided to do so. But because it was all of sudden not all of you are convinced that it is a good idea. So my question is, can a solo player like you Rin can actually play in raid groups? I am asking if you can do what you are told and don’t complain about the job we might or might not give you. And also most importantly, will you not end up killing someone by chance with that skill of yours?

“You have no mercy Bran.”

The dwarf with black beard was not someone who would avoid hard questions. Rather he would be the one to ask them as he didn’t know how to hold back, or rather was not afraid of not holding back. After all it was a question that was on everyone’s mind.

To his question, Rin answered right away without much thinking.

-I don’t like being ordered around, that’s for sure. So if you ask me to do something in a way that will feel like I am being ordered around, I will not do what you ask. Also, if it will be something unreasonable then I will not do so as well. Also, if it will be something that I don’t like or don’t feel like doing, I won’t do it either. As for playing in raid groups, it will not be my first time doing so, although I didn’t party with others ever since I got the skill you spoke of. This is because from that point on, I could deal with anything by myself. That’s why as you said using that skill while other are around might end up in someone dying so don’t get in my way. I won’t be using it if there will be no need for it though. The situation in which I will have to use it will be probably only after you all die or at least some of you. At that moment there shouldn’t be that many of you left so as long as you don’t jump in front of my skill then you shouldn’t get killed by it… .

Rin was not holding back either and voiced her thought.

“Oh finally a negative answer but it is also something I did expect. And I do expect more of it happening from now on.”

-does that answer your question?

-aye, thanks for being truthful.

-of course she will try her best to…-

-interference from others is not allowed…

Vivi cut in when Levi tried to repair Rin’s answer.

“If it weren’t like this then there would be no meaning to this questioning in the first place. Not all answers will be what we want to hear because if they were, they would be filled with lies.”

-now then, Hiro what you will ask about?

Vivi asked the man with azure hair. He was Mika’s older brother and the fact that they both ended up having that kind of hair was quite funny. Although, his character was much different than his sister. In comparison to her, he was fearless and very dependable. Still at the same time he was sometimes quite arrogant. His class was a mage, or rather ‘water mage’ with the rank of 4, which was highest in the party. Well, maybe except from one person that had the same rank as him. That person was his sister whose class was ‘water cleric’. In the city of beginners they were doing the same thing and that’s why their classes ended up like that.

-I did have one question but after hearing what Bran asked about, I have a follow up to this. Rin do you think that joining our party is a hustle and you would be better off without us coz we will just get in your way?

“Ah, another so merciless and the answer will make it only worse.”

-yes I do think so. I don’t know why Arata decided to group up with you but it’s his decision and I will cope with it. But yes, I do think that taking care of you all on the way will be tiresome.

-I see. In that case I will tell you while I have a chance that if by some miracle others will accept you to this group, I will definitely not. But if you really happen to join us, you will have to fight with me, miss rank seven. I have to change your attitude a little.

-brother you shouldn’t say things like that.

His sister tried to stop him but Hiro was just starting.

-Mika, no everyone! You do all remember what is the most important thing in our group right? What is the reason that we can go on with only this many people and deal with things that others usually need twice or thrice the amount. It’s true that Shin comes up with all plans but it is all off us that are working together to make those plans happen. Shin’s tactics work out precisely because we don’t have to worry about others as we believe in each other. It wasn’t always like that. It is a trust we built during all our journeys together. But now you want to bring here an element like her. How many of you would spend their time worrying if she might not go berserk out of sudden and start attacking us in the middle of boss fight?

-Hiro you are overstating it a little with that last comment.

Vatras, the elf with green hair and beard tried to calm him down.

-yes, maybe Tras, but it’s something I wanted to say…

“Hiro as always is good with words. He completely changed the momentum from inviting them to not inviting them. Still, he did that only because she said that he would get in her way and he couldn’t simply didn’t take it lightly. Or is it because of something else? As far as I remember Hiro could never stand calm when the talk was concerning Rin. Does he hate her? Is it because she is better than him? I could never understand him in this regard.”

-I already said everything I wanted to say but there is also something that I would want everyone to hear before making their final decision…

Hiro continued.

-Mika can you tell everyone what you told me after we logged in today?

-it was, ‘hurry we will get late?’

Mika’s answer was completely anti-climactic.

-not that! Of course I meant the thing about today’s journey and how you felt about it.

-do I really have to brother?

-… .

Hiro gave her annoyed look.

-okay, okay. So, what I told Hiro earlier on is that I was actually quite scared of going to the west when I first heard about it. Then the more we found out what can we find there, the more I didn’t want to go. Still, because I am going there with my brother and all of you that I can trust from the whole heart I know it will be fine. We will just have to do what we always do and if something goes wrong, we will laugh it off afterwards, it won’t be our first time that it happened not it will be the last time. With you all whom I spent so much time, even dying is entertaining and enjoyable.

The warm words of the girl with azure hair changed the atmosphere completely. When Hiro speech had quite an impact, it was speaking only to others’ reason and mind. Mika’s words however were spoken from heart and were meant to be listened by hearts of others. She herself probably did not realize the importance of her words and how much influence they had but they completely shifted the gears.

“Wow, even I got convinced.”

Shin thought like that after hearing that.

“I think that this is truly the deciding moment. So far, I was thinking that adding this three will be very good addition in our fighting power. I also really want that map. Not to mention that being able to play ‘the card of queen’ in the right moments would greatly increase our chances of survival. Still, it was only for the wellbeing of the mission in which I don’t have any winning condition. I usually think of plans that the greatest importance is succeed no matter the cost, here however our plan is to have fun while traveling together in unknown land. Should it last five days or ten days or a months the important thing is not winning but the fact that after a long break we can finally do something together with this party.”

-hey Arata, it just turned really bad, didn’t it?

Shin saw that two from the party of three started to discuss their position.

“Yes, if I got convinced then they really are in bad situation. Still, I want to see how he will try to turn it around.”

-Levi, you know what, maybe we shouldn’t try to join this party after all. They have this nice atmosphere and they been playing together for years, do we have the right to enter it out of sudden just like that?

Arata answered.

“He also got convinced by that speech! Mika, you powers are terrifying.”

-it was your idea, if you don’t want to do this then we can just go in three like we originally planned.

-yes, but I didn’t think it will be like that. I thought that if we go with them it will be simply easier for us. I also wanted to see raid group in action in EOA. So far the biggest party I was in was only 6 people. Then, there is also the fact that Rin would be happy if she could travel with Yume, right?

-I see. In that case at least wait till it finish.

“So they don’t plan on doing anything. All that’s left are three questions. There is Julia, Musashi and Vatras left. Julia will not make it easy for them. Musashi won’t try to change anything and will ask some safe question. Then I don’t really know what Tras will do but it might be another hard question but that question will not be unfair, rather it will probably be a chance for a recover.”

-now then we have three questions left. Julia, what will you ask for?

Even though the tides have changed Vivi the questions continued.

-do I really have to ask for anything? I already know how I will vote.

-you still have to ask the question.

-okay, so… ah whatever. You in the middle! I planning to vote against you joining our group, try to change my mind.

Julia pointed at Arata and asked the question.

-Julia it’s not a question.

-ah, you are too picky Vivi. Then my question is, what would you want to say to change my mind?

“The way she asked this question makes anything he said just some hopeless excuse to convince us.”

-well, I don’t really want to try to convince you if you already know what you want to do. Rin said some bad things but I can’t say that those were lies as probably thinks like that. I told her to be truthful if she got a question rather than trying to produce some lies so that’s what you get.

-I do appreciate being honest but that didn’t change my mind.

-well, we are getting nearly to the end, only two questions remains…

“The thing that Vivi can keep it up the same no matter how it goes is really something.”

-Musashi, it’s your turn.

Musashi was another tank after Flynn that the party had. He was a muscular man with black hair falling on the sides of the forehead but not going anywhere near the neck. Right now he was in common clothing but usually he wore full plate armor a large shield and a long trident as his weapon. In comparison to Flynn he was doing a ‘long range tanking’ style in which enemies had problem in getting even near his shield. He was also the fourth person who was in this party even before it was officially created. Or rather the four: he, Shin, Bran and Vatras were the ones who created it in the first place.

-well, given the atmosphere it is probably the last occasion to do that, so I wanted to ask. What does one has to do in order to get a profession of rank two and dual class at that. I am simply curious it.

-well, I can just tell you what I did. Firstly I won the arena tournament, and then did few quests. Two were specifically for me and in one I had to help other player. At the end of the last quest I ended up dying while fighting against level 40th wolf. Although, I did manage to kill it somehow, I died from bleeding effect afterwards. Then there was a time in which I worked in restaurant to earn few coins. Other things would be minor details.

-unfortunately I won’t be able to hear them but still, good luck.

“As I thought, Musashi didn’t try to ask a relevant question. Still, fighting 40th level creature in city of beginners? That place is truly full secrets and mysteries.”

-and with that only one question remain, after that we proceed to the voting. Let’s see what our great sage Tras has to ask.

Vivi said that but of course Vatras’s class was not a sage but a druid.

-it’s finally my turn, eh. Well… if I am the last let me sum up everything as well. You all asked very different question, I would say some of them were even quite impolite.

-oh, which one was impolite?

-yours definitely was Vivi. Also from all the questions we hat, the only one worth mentioning that were on topic were Yume’s, Bran’s and Shin’s. Kei’s and Thesar’s ones were to confirm the truth so they might also not be that meaningless. All others were either you want to find out something that doesn’t involve our issue right now or you were simply rude. Ah, right, I forgot. Mika’s question was also appropriate in a way as it was a question that helped her make her own decision and we started to ask those questions specifically for this.

-Tras, what about mine?

-you asked that question Hiro only because you felt resentful after the answer that Rin gave to Bran’s question. Also, about your question. Didn’t you ask it because you already knew the answer? And you knew it very well, because in old times you were thinking just like that yourself, although most of us here don’t remember it as at that time as it was only me, Shin, Bran and Musashi in the party you were trying to join.

-I will not deny that but that was before I saw how you all play.

-and is this time any different? She also never played with us, did she?

-you might be right but even so what I said and what Mika said is definitely true.

-yes there is no question in that. Thanks to the speeches of both of you we finally arrived at the question that we have to answer here. And that question is. ‘Should we continue as we are and play with the current team, with the people we all know well and are used to or do we try to invite those three and actually do something challenging in the west?’ It’s not like we can’t do anything challenging with people we have right now but we would be able to do much more with those three. It’s a simple question we take them with us or not. Both have consequences and both have rewards. Actually I am fine with both of options but I can tell you what my answer will be, even before I ask my question. Still all of you just like me should think about the answer to the question I just ask on your own. That’s all I am saying.

-so what did you decide Tras?

Musashi ended up asking.

-I know that will say ‘no’ as the question I going to ask can’t change my mind. As to why I say no, it is my decision I don’t want to influence any of you so I will not explain it, at least not until the voting is over. Now then, my question is quite simple. Any of you can answer that. Why you guys want to go to the west? Your decision must have been sudden otherwise you would mention it to Yume earlier and she would keep nagging us for few days already. But today is the first time I heard of it.

“How did that happened that no one asked that question thought out the whole time? I didn’t ask it because I already know it is about a quest but still, I do want to know what that quest is about in some details.”

-well, that’s easy to answer. I already mention that we were doing a quest right? Actually it’s a chain quest and our next quest that we got today asks us to go to gates of heaven that are located somewhere around here…

Arata showed it on the map.

-if we manage to complete the quest not only we will get the world first for being the first one to complete the quest of rank three but also we will end up going to heavens for some time. I can’t wait for the view from there. That’s why even though I heard that going to the west is suicidal it is definitely worth to try.

Arata explained their reason. It was quite simple reason that Shin already predicted long time ago but now that he heard about it completely he started thinking.

“Well, it is not something that we can set as our winning condition, as we don’t have that quest. But the thing he said at the end…”

Shin considered Arata’s last words.

“I would want to let everyone see the view from heaven as well. It would be something worth remembering. Something worth the effort that expedition to the west brings. Now once again, I don’t know what to choose. Still, that guy is really ambitious to aim for rank three quest and world first at. Or is this situation normal for him? I wouldn’t be that surprised to see him succeeding in the end. Sure no one managed to complete the quest of rank three so far, still if I were to get it I would definitely not think about it in this regard. I would focus only on the ways in which I can complete it, it would definitely be a good puzzle.”

The last question and answer was heard and now it came to voting.

-well, unfortunately we don’t have more questions to use so we can’t ask in details about this heaven thing and I won’t change the rules right now. Note to the future me, make Tras ask question earlier because we can make a follow ups to it. Em… Arata. You want to do some last speech or something?

Vivi continued.

-nah, they should decide as they think, I shouldn’t try to convince them anymore.

-I see, well, then we will proceed with voting…

“It will be interesting to see what everyone’s answers will actually be but I can already predict most of them.”

-so, Tras you are staying with no?

-yes.

-then one ‘no’, zero ‘yes’. To balance it out Yume, one for yes?

-of course!

“Well Vatras already said what he is going to vote on and Yume was given from the start. Then, I am sure that Julia will definitely vote for no, even if only to not throw her words on the wind. Although after Tras question, she probably wants to vote yes, but she still won’t do it. Then Musashi will definitely vote for yes because that’s how he always been. Still despite everything, why I can’t say for sure that Hiro will vote for no? It should be obvious and yet.”

-now who should be next? I would want a yes now, hey Flynn what about you?

-one for no. If it was in different circumstances then I would have no problems but because it is the first time that we are going somewhere all together since so long then I want to go with regular squad. We can challenge ourselves next time.

The dwarf with brown-orange bread answered.

-you traitor!

Vivi quickly called him traitor for that.

-everyone has their own right to vote, Vivi. You can’t force anyone and voting has been our option of making choices since long time already so deal with it.

-fine Flynn, I will remember it though. It’s two no and one yes, who should be next. Kuma what about you?

-hmm, I think what Flynn said is true. We were planning to go only with regular members anyway so we should stick to that plan.

-you too!? Okay it’s three for no and one for yes. To balance it I vote for yes so it’s three for no and two for yes. Now then asking Hiro or Julia will only increase the gap so… .

-Vivi! Just ask everyone as it goes and don’t play with votes. Or should I replace you.

-yes, yes Flynn, okay next Konan, how will you vote?

-hey, you were going to ask Hiro!

-I will give him more time to think, stop nagging! So Konan what’s your answer.

-I was going to say yes but after hearing what Flynn said, I change my answer to no.

-I see, four for no and two for yes, next Lee, and what about you?

-well I did want to have a duel with Arata and all but what Flynn said is indeed true so I will also have to vote for no.

-Flynn! You see what is happening! It’s your entire fault!

Vivi ended up yelling at him as she couldn’t hold it any longer.

-how could that be my fault? It’s their decision.

-but because of what you said we have three additional no. If you had to say no then you could at least follow Tras example and keep your reasons for yourself.

-but those are also not my reasons, I just agreed to what Mika said earlier.

-still it’s definitely your fault for repeating it! And now it’s five no to two yes with Hiro and Julia saying no for sure. One more no and it’s over.

-but it’s everyone decision so try to respect that.

-no! It’s only your decision that spread to three other people.

“I never get tired of hearing them fighting.”

-just continue with the voting already!

-fine, fine but I will not forgive you for it. So emmm who should I ask now?

Vivi looked around.

-stop influencing the score!

-stop nagging already! And you are the one that influenced the score the most. Anyway right now it is already hopeless so, I give up let’s just finish it quickly already, Mika what about you?

-one for yes.

Mika answered quickly without a second of though. She already had the answer prepared for a long time.

-ha?

“Ha?”

Even Shin was surprised by that answer.

-I vote for yes, I want them to join.

Mika repeated herself.

-but didn’t you said earlier on that you want to have people that you can depend on and full heartily trust in? When you said that everyone changed their minds otherwise we wouldn’t even had to vote. Why did you change your mind all of sudden?

-I didn’t change my mind. After my question I found out that they aren’t bad people and since then, I wanted them to join. You see except Vatras, Musashi, Shin and Bran who created this group I saw how everyone joined at some point and now there are fifteen of us. People kept on joining, some of them only for one trip, some for longer but it was always a good thing. It’s fun to travel with all of you but it will be even more fun if our numbers increases. There will be more people that I could depend on and trust in.

Mika again said it out like nothing.

“I think that Mika really doesn’t know how much influence on other she has.”

-but you will be voting against your brother?

-hey Vivi, you wanted a yes so just take it and move on.

Flynn hurried her up.

-ah you are right, never mind Mika. Now it’s five for no, three for yes.

-hey Vivi can I change my answer?

-me too.

-I also want to change it.

Konan, Lee and Kuma ended up saying the same thing.

“You guys are too easily influenced.”

It looked like newest Mika speech once again changed their minds.

-there are no changing votes after you say yes or no. It is something we agree on, Vivi continue with the voting!

Flynn hurried her up.

“You are too easily influenced Flynn.”

-but we could change it this one time.

-Vivi, continue with the voting!

-okay, okay. Then what about you Thesar?

-as Mika said, everyone joined at some point and it was the same for everyone, I vote for yes. We never had a problem with it, did we?

-okay, now it’s five no and four yes, we are nearly there. Now then whom should I ask?

-Vivi!

-okay, okay, then mmm, Kei share with us what you think.

-one for yes.

-and your arguments?

-… .

Kei did not add any arguments.

-Vivi you really shouldn’t be the one to collect the votes. Should I change with you?

-Flynn, stop nagging me already! Anyway it’s now tie five to five. I did a good job. Hmm who next…

Vivi looked around the room.

-hmm, those two are the land mines so… Musashi what about you?

-me? Well as always I don’t mind anyone new joining. This time there is also the fact that I simply want to see the twilight swordsman in action.

“Yes, just like I thought.”

-okay that makes it six yes and five no. ‘Yeses’ are finally winning. In that case, eh… Julia?

-one for no. I already said it before, didn’t I?

“Too prideful as always. Even though she once told me that visiting heavens in this game is one of the reasons she started to play. Really, why can’t she just be honest with herself?”

-okay, it’s the tie again and there are two people whom I have no idea what they will say and one ‘no’ from Hiro. Well I already collected the ‘no’ from Julia, so I might as well collect the second one. Hiro you are staying with no right?

-did I ever say that I say no?

Hiro answer was rather unexpected.

-no you didn’t, but you are saying it right?

-Vivi, mark one vote for yes.

He just said quickly.

-wait, wait, wait, I didn’t hear you clearly, can you repeat?

-you did hear it so stop acting like you didn’t. I vote for yes and now it’s seven ‘yes’ and six ‘no’, move on to the next person.

“So he did say ‘yes’ in the end. I felt that ‘no’ is somehow uncertain and he said ‘yes’ probably because of what Tras said earlier. It probably reminded him of the situation in which he was once in. We also held a vote at that time, didn’t we? Hiro and Mika were the first one who joined our group after it was created. Still I wonder if it is just simply because of what Tras said earlier? Well, it will probably be one of the things that I will not get a clear answer to.”

-well ,I will not ask for anything right now and just take this ‘yes’ as it is before he changes his mind. Now then Bran, just one more yes and we can finish the voting.

“Now it’s someone whom I really have no idea what he will say. Although just like Musashi he never had problems with new people either.”

-hmm…

Bran went with his hand over his black beard.

-you know I was planning to say yes and if you asked me earlier I would do so but if a score is like this then I will say no.

-wait! But you just said wanted to say yes.

-well I wanted to say yes because I don’t mind them joining. Ever since we created this group there were many people that came and joined us. Some of them went only for one dungeon, then some stayed with us for few months or some stayed with us for this whole time and are here today with us. New people in party are always refreshing. Still because the score is like this, I will vote no and hear what Shin has to say about the matter as so far he just stays in the corner and try his best to not get involved. Best regards Shin.

After saying that, a large grin appeared at Bran’s face and he waved his hand in Shins direction.

“Bastard.”

-ah so it came to this. It’s the tie seven to seven and the final vote is yours Shin.

Vivi kept on the whole thing till the end.

-ah why do I get the deciding vote once again? You guys are not planning it beforehand, do you?

-hmm? Of course not…!

“As if I would believe that when three last sessions of voting ended up in tie seven to seven.”

-so Shin what is your vote? …

Vivi once again asked.

“Even though it ended up in the tie, pretty much the only person that really said ‘no’ was Vatras at the start. Everyone else said no ‘just because’, Bran didn’t even try to hide it. Even Hiro changed his mind for some unknown to me reason but the only thing that I still don’t quite understand is why Vatras said no. He should be like Bran and Musashi, already used to inviting new people after all those years.”

-attention! Attention! Shin is hardly considering if we should let them join or not. We might even get the greatest insight of all times, prepare the notes.

“Really she has to make it harder. Well I won’t find out why he said that unless I ask him.”

-Tras now that all the votes went by, you won’t influence anyone so why did you decided to vote for no?

Shin ended up asking as he couldn’t find the reason no matter how hard he thought about it..

-so you did realize that everyone else in truth also said yes, well I also realized that.

Vatras answered.

-hey, my no is just as real as yours Tras!

Then the girl with long brown hair intervened.

-yes definitely miss ‘visiting heavens in this game is one of my dreams’.

-ummm.

Vatras shot down all of Julia’s arguments in one sentence.

“So she told him as well, and here I felt a little special.”

-so Shin, do you know the true reason why I didn’t want them to join?

Vatras ended up asking him.

-I am really out of ideas on this. You are definitely not someone who is influenced by others and you wouldn’t say ‘no’ for no reason like Bran who just wanted to play around or Julia who just had to say no because she said so before and had her pride to keep. Tras, you have some reason that you are convinced of. Still, I can’t think of anything that it might be.

-well, I already gave you few hints on the way but as always, even though you should realize it in few seconds, your mind will simply never think in that direction…

“But, I really can’t think of anything.”

-the reason is quite simple. I don’t have anything against new people joining us and never had but every time new people join, you always try to come up with new tactics that would use their ability to the fullest. You change the formations, think of new combos and research in depth the classes of those new people, sometimes even more that they do themselves. If we were to add new people right now you would also had to rethink our strategy for the going to the west. But didn’t you say that you worked hard lately and only now your vacations are starting. I voted for ‘no’ so you don’t overwork yourself too much. So you could simply relax and enjoy playing this game with us.

-but I don’t hate doing that, it’s my way of playing this game to the fullest.

Shin explained.

-I know and even though for me my ‘no’ is a ‘no’, for you the reason for my ‘no’ are similar to that of Bran.

“So in the end it’s fourteen ‘yeses’ and only my vote left. Well, I will say yes as this is what everyone decided on but would I also say yes in other circumstances as well?”

Shin once again looked at the party and the man in black and white.

-so Shin, the last deciding vote?

Vivi asked once again.

-one for yes but don’t except any big insight on why I chose that. My reason is quite simple.

-Yume you heard, they are joining!

Vivi didn’t even ask for that reason and shouted in direction of Yume who was already near the three and was hugging all of them.

During a commotion Musashi came to Shin and asked.

-hey Shin, what was your simple reason?

-funny thing that it’s you who is asking Musashi.

-hmm?

-I am the same as you, I also simply wanted to see the twilight swordsman in action.