H: Quentin? (?_?)

H: Are you okay? (°x°);

H: It's been 6 hours since you message me… did something happen? …(?_?)

H: That’s weird… (・.・);

H: Maybe you are busy, contact me if something comes up, okay? (^_^)/

Under the pouring rain, our two scavengers were calmly making they way back to Ogre’s workshop.

Even though it was harder than expected, the fight against the Guardian concluded exactly as planned: with an indisputable victory of Alice. After that, nothing was left between them and the relic, except a single trapdoor.

There wasn't much to say about what was underground. Long stairs finishing on a single wide room lighten by some phosphorescent sphere dispersed on the ground, emitting a faint blue-ish colour. In the room, there was nothing but a small pedestal, several meters away from the stairs, with a small golden cup sitting on it. That was the relic.

Ogre didn’t tell them its purpose, but they couldn’t care less.

The blue light at the ground level was barely enough to show the shape of the pedestal, but as they had both night vision - one through his class and the other through… well, birth, sort of- it was no problem at all.

And nothing else happened.

Alice started to have a bad feeling, and for fear of the Guardian regenerating himself, they decided to quickly leave.

In a sense, it was almost disappointing, to follow such a near-death experience with the most boring scavenging hunt of the history of mankind. But at least, the job was done. They were on their way to give Ogre his payment, and get Alice her own Quest Book.

They were still undecided as to whether or not part ways immediately, or stay together a bit longer, but none of them could gather the courage to ask. To be fair, there was another important topic that Alice wanted to talk about…

“So… why the fuck did you intervene in the fight? Without your foresight, you didn’t stand a chance… if it wasn’t for my last second transformation, you would have been crushed, and by now I would be raging over the land in pure sorrow and madness.”

“Haha, you’re probably right.”

“I wasn’t joking though…”

“I know, I know. The thing is… I underestimated my other abilities. I…I had a vision, from the purge.”

“What? But…”

“And you were there too. It was the moment I saved you and Adele from that soldier.”

“Oh… yeah…”

“…sorry to brought her up.”

“No! No. It’s fine… I… I don’t really remember that part anyway. My talent was too weak.”

“Well… I… I just forgot that I have a talent too, and the vision reminded me that.”

"Really? What happened to the soldier?"

“He… he fell and hit his head. Then we escaped.”

“Sam… was that a l…?”

"I can't tell you! Not now. Not yet. I have things to sort out. I feel like I'm missing something, and I want to deal with this by myself."

“… You know that, whatever happened that day, it won’t change how at feel about you.”

"Yes, I know. I… let's change the subject! I-I don't want to get too dramatic right now. We'll have plenty of time for that when we'll have to split up."

"Damn! I had finally managed to keep my mind away from that! Do you know how hard it is for me to do that?!"

“Really hard…?”

“Yes!”

…

After a few, but long, hours, our duo arrived at the said workshop. It was still raining, so they didn’t even bother to knock and promptly entered the house.

At last, they would be able to sit down a bit and relax.

Well, it wasn't that easy. Of course, Ogre was there, but his atmosphere was… different. As they entered, Sam caught an exaggerated surprise and joy on his face, as if he never thought he would see them again. A logical explanation would be that he knew about the Guardian's strength, that would obviously outmatch any normal Quester. Even Sam who was a bit above average couldn't do anything.

In fact, Sam wondered on the way back why Ogre had been so vague about his description. He should have warned, but he purposely avoided to do so… why?

This question was immediately replaced by a more urgent one…

~~

Why does he have 4 arms ?! What the fuck is happening in this struggle?! Is that a new trend?

I tried to use inspection on him, but…

Ogre Omtapo, Mason of Kinḓnἓ₴ﯕ (lvl 17) Strength 102 Agility 120 Dexterity 251 Intelligence 2 Flux Control 540 Flux Power 862 Techniques Material Gathering (Proficient)

Universal Artisan (Beginner)

Blueprint Reader (Proficient)

Perfect Replication (Beginner)

Nothing was out of the ordinary, except his low intelligence. Although, I didn’t look the first time I met him, so I can’t know for sure if something is different.

“Ogre…? Are you okay?”

“Re-re-re-relic…”

Confused, I showed him what we found, and everything went blurry.

In an instant, Ogre was at the opposite side of the room, with Alice holding him by the neck, his feet above the ground and his back crushed against the wall.

I barely saw it, but he… attacked me?

(A) “I knew something was fishy…”

Ogre screamed and shouted, trying to free himself, pummeled Alice with a barrage of fists, but…

⎾Diamond Skin ⏌

…it was completely useless.

Still, I could feel the strength behind those blows, at the very least, he was way stronger than me. Something was off, and to top it all, his eyes were filled in grey, voided of any pupil.

She tightened the grip, and the attack stopped.

The gap of strength was obvious, and Ogre was now desperately trying to get some air.

What the hell is happening?! Was Ogre a bad guy from the start? It’s… wait…

Adam said something about him… he asked to… not give him the relic? But he seems to really want it, right now, even though he's dying, one of his arms is still extended in my direction. It's like it's the only thing he can think about!

That doesn’t make any fucking sense! Why does he want it so m…

Oh…

I… yeah, that might work.

"Alice! Stop!"

“Hum? Do you know what’s happening?”

“Yeah… sort of. It all started when he saw this, right?”

I exposed the relic to show Alice, but that was a mistake. The arm pointed in my direction… expanded, like it was made of rubber, the hand went through the room in an instant.

Exactly like I thought.

I didn't expect the arm to grow like that, but I knew he was up to something. I retracted the object a instant before he could touched it, and his hand finished his course in the window behind me, grazing my cheek on its path.

“You son of a…”

“Alice! Stop! I figured it out.”

“Care to explain?”

“Ogre! I have a proposal!”

The arm already retracted, and even though I managed to stop Alice fist before it could meet Ogre’s flank, he was still being strangled, and all his limbs were chaotically moving in every direction, like a mad animal desperate to free himself from his collar - except this collar was the hand of a 18-years girl capable of bending metal with a finger.

“I offer you the relic.”

His eyes widen, and his expression instantly changed. He turned his grey eyes in my direction, as if the situation around him had no importance anymore. The madness he was exercising a second ago was nowhere to be seen.

“Re-Re-Re…”

"But! In exchange, you'll need to do something for me."

I started to walk toward them. Alice was perplexed, but she confirmed her trust with a slight nod.

"See this book? We want another one, and you told us you could do that in exchange for the relic. Do you remember?"

Damn, I feel like I’m trying to bargain with an intelligent and rampaging monkey or something…

“I-I-I…”

“I’ll make it easier. In exchange for what you want, you’ll have to craft another Quest Book.”

He kept looking at me, probably trying to assert the trustworthiness of my proposal.

“I-I-I-I-I accept.”

"Great choice! Alice, can you please release him?"

“No.”

“Come on… trust me on this!”

“He is too dangerous!”

“But you’ll keep me safe, right?”

“…fine.”

She suddenly opened her palm, and Ogre fell down on the ground. He coughed for a few seconds, and after calming down, he looked back, without a care for his previous torturer.

“So… what do you need for…”

I didn't even finish my question, that he pointed at me. More accurately, he pointed at my hand, at my Book?

“You… need this?”

He rapidly nodded, apparently quite eager to have it.

Hesitantly, I approached him, and gave my Book to him. In the end, it’s not like I’m risking much, there’s no way he could do anything to it, right?

He grabbed it firmly, with all of his hands, and put it above his head. He closed his eyes, and started to murmur something.

What his is he doing? Is he making a mental image of the object or something? At the very least, it seems pretty shady.

“Sam, step back a bit, I have a bad feeling about this.”

“…”

I executed myself, and at the same moment, his arms started to glow. It wasn’t bright, just enough to be noticed. I sensed something strange gathering around the book, like a sort of dark mist.

Then, the Book exploded. In a flash of light, the Book disappeared from my view, and as I looked back a second later, there was nothing, not even the two pair of hands.

What the…

I looked down, and there it was.

Wait a minute… there they… were?

There are two books?! One on each side, as if… as if he pulled my Book from both sides, and two others emerged.

“Huf…Huf… Fi-Fi-Fi-Fi-Finished…”

“What the fuck just happened.”

“I… I think he multiplied the Book.”

“Just like that?”

“I don’t know… we can check.”

Alice picked up the two book, glaring at Ogre, who was too tired to move anyway, and opened one.

“Here, it’s yours.”

She threw it to me, and opened the second one.

“Hey, guess what.”

“What?”

“You were right?”

And she turned it around, so I could see the first page.

The Quest of Alice, the Heroine of []

Welcome to your Quest!

Forget everything you know, it’s all in the future now!

You will live amazing adventures and overcome countless struggles!

This device will help you throughout your journey!

May luck be with you.