>

Deciding on our best course of action upon receiving such a revelation was fortunately not a process that consumed much effort on my part.

Tayuma didn't even have to prod me any further to leave. The steps taken for a swift departure were of my own volition this time.

"Say bye-bye, Tayuma," I said, urging him with a nod, "I suppose another night under an oak tree wouldn't kill me after all."

The girl soaked in red, Arishia, gave a derisive chuckle.

"I did a funny-funny," An obliviousness on facade, yet the jeering intertwined with her words was impossible to miss, "Was it not funny-funny?"

I finally reached the exit, "No, it was very funny-funny. But I came for sleepy-sleepy, so I couldn't really appreciate it to its fullest. Maybe next time, when my sense of humor degrades to the level of a five-year-old, maybe then you'll get a small chuckle out of me."

My gaze shifted to the figure still frozen like a statue, "Tayuma, in case you haven't noticed, that was the cue to get a move on. Hurry the hell up."

A peculiar expression had taken over him and immediately I knew the worst had occurred.

The past couple of days together in his companionship acquainted me with a vast knowledge of the small quirks that made Tayuma, Tayuma. A good-for-nothing loliman. For example, right now I might as well be a wall for all the good my words would do. Anything that piqued his interest would immediately relegate everything else to an irrelevant whisper.

"If you don't work here," He began, hopelessly ensnared, hook, line, and sinker to matters that are of no concern to us, "Then where's the NPC that does?"

The smile that brimmed in prominence on this girl's punchable face only impelled him to greater heights of curiosity, "In fact, where is everyone else? Why are there no players apart from you here?"

"Strange, do you not look at the sky that often?" she said, retaining that smile permeating with contempt, "Those numbers aren't just for show, you know."

"I'm not an idiot," he said, his patience tested. "Numbers dropping like that, it's obvious they're fighting the floor boss. That still doesn't explain why this place is practically empty. Not everyone is keen to fight for their lives in this game. Yet nobody's here."

She nodded in approval, "Yes, yes… keep that ball rolling, you might actually figure it out."

"You're not telling me every single player went at once, are you? I mean, the hell are the chances of that?"

"Of course, that would be stupid, wouldn't it? Risking your life fighting a giant monster to the death only to wind up dying in the process, knowing your meaningless existence amounted up to nothing in the end. So sad. Indeed, it'd be better if other people could do it for you, right?"

Befuddlement continued to linger, "Well, yeah… that's pretty much the consensus around here. Look, can you just get to the point?"

She spoke again, but her words were not directed at Tayuma, instead, they found their way to me.

"Well, Your Highness, are you also as clueless as your jester over here? Do you also not know?"

"Know? Know what?" Tayuma asked, his scrutiny ping-ponging silent inquiries from her to me.

I tried to funnel my annoyance to the heavy breath that escaped me, an outstanding move that backfired spectacularly. That feeling only intensified.

"It's just gut feeling, but I'm thinking you do know," She turned once again to Tayuma, a fleeting look of fabricated pity on display, "And you're not telling poor innocent Mr.Loliman here for some reason I'm dying to find out."

Confusion had soared to its highest peak, Tayuma seemed ready to explode with bewilderment, "What is going on?! Seriously, a straight answer - that's all I want! Why is that so hard?!"

Reluctantly, I finally conceded. The direction forged by this little minx led to no other options but to submit to Tayuma's desperate pleas.

"Because if you knew the truth, you'd have absolutely no qualms about just becoming another digit in the sky that lowers the player count."

I remembered back at the break of dawn, where an orange overcast swarmed the hollow sky. I swore in secrecy to the bright ascending rays of opportunity that greeted my sullen eyes that I'd no longer wake, aching and restless. That I'd welcome a new tomorrow bountiful in peace, atop a bed that assured me a tender comfort throughout the night.

The look that was given to me, intense and stern, snuff that thought to the realms of unattainability. Why do it be like that sometimes?

"So, Sora…" Tayuma spoke quietly, harboring a solemnity that seemed to pierce my being. "Just what are you hiding from me?"

"A goody-two-shoes," Arishia muttered, suppressing a giggle as she settled atop an empty chair. "It's no wonder you didn't tell him."

A remark that went ignored by us both.

"In the game, there are NPCs you can recruit to use as followers for combat," I began, meeting his intense gaze. "There are only a fair few of them on every floor, so not everybody can get one. Naturally, they're high in demand."

"I know that already. I don't see the-"

"There exists an exploit," I continued. "Where non-recruitable NPCs such as merchants, villagers… and innkeepers can be used as companions to assist you in battles. Players who know about this exploit would simply take the NPCs from hub areas and use them in battle encounters with no danger to themselves. Let the NPC do all the work then go for the kill-steal. All of the glory, none of the risk. "

Arishia nudged her head towards a window. "Take a good long look outside. Count with your fingers just how many of them are out there. I guarantee you, you'll run out of people before you do fingers."

Tayuma spurred a movement then paused, an impulse of indecision. He had already seen the desolation inflicted upon the town, he needn't any affirmation for doubts non-existent.

"That in mind, take the same logic, apply it to a floor boss and a magnitude of players aware of the exploit and the story pretty much writes itself from there," I finished, hands delving deep in the pockets of my leather coat.

There was a discrepancy, and sure enough, Tayuma had taken notice, "If that's the case, the player count shouldn't be sinking like the titanic. Explain that."

He got an answer, but not from me. Arishia shook her head.

"Rather naive and also a bit disrespectful to be comparing a floor boss to a bunch of meaningless mobs. Think, pedobear... non-combatants in mortal combat with a giant monster. Just how well do you think they'd fare? Once they're gone - those players - the ones not knowing a swing from a stab - they have to finally start pulling their own weight."

She raised a finger, pointing upwards to the ceiling, "And if the sky doesn't lie, it looks like they are a rather heavy bunch."

As expected, the ongoing massacre, that he had moments before remained blissfully unaware about, started to have a profound effect on him.

"The NPCs…" He blurted out, tone verging close to trepidation, "they respawn though, right?"

"The recruitable ones do. They are supposed to die after all," said Arishia.

"And the others - the merchants, vendors… they do too, right?"

The look he gave me begged for reassurance. But all I could present was the raw reality of the matter.

"They aren't supposed to be fighting, which means they aren't supposed to be dying. So death for them is basically the same as death for us."

I could practically feel his spirits plummeting to a dark abyss from a mile away.

"But if they take all the vendors, and if they all die, where the hell are we supposed to stock up on for supplies?"

A smile that provided no comfort was Arishia's only offering, "Floor two. If any of us ever make it there that is."

There wasn't a moment of hesitation, not even a single second of contemplation. The resolve that shimmered in his eyes, an impassiveness that steeled his expression. He walked towards my direction, every step exuding with purpose.

A foolish purpose if you asked me.

"Sora, we need to-..."

Oh, here we go.

"I already gave my thoughts on the matter," I interjected, inflecting a tone of finality, "It's not my damn problem and that's that."

But he did not relent this time, "It will be for you if they take all the NPCs and you can't buy shit anymore, why can't you see the bigger picture?"

"They'll learn. They'll realize. They'll stop. That's how it always is with people. Let them have their martyrs, then they'll realize the repercussions. Besides, what can the two of us do that the rest can't do different?"

His benevolence fanned the flames of passion and he fired back at me, "Your stupid sword, you idiot! That thing could probably put an end to it in one swing and you're not even gonna try! That's what's wrong with you! All that power and you just hang back because you concluded that it's none of your business. I'm starting to think your character model glitched out and you're missing balls."

"Please don't talk about something you know so little about. You'll just end up looking stupid like you are now."

"I swear to God, Sora, I-"

"He's right, you know," spoke Arishia, cutting him off. "Once they realize it isn't working, they'll stop. For now, just let those numbers wane… it'll settle eventually."

"These are people that can be saved," He stared appallingly, his mouth wide open. "Lives - human lives... and you two reduced it to mere digits on a fucking board!"

A wild panting of breath in the silence that followed, each and every one of our gaze assessing one another's.

This outcome wasn't exactly unexpected. I knew he'd take it like this but the exact extent of his chivalrous ways was a factor unbeknown to me.

"Fine," He suddenly snapped, shoving past me and striding violently towards the exit, "I'll go myself. It's clear you won't even bother to lift a finger as long as it isn't anything that revolves around you."

Tayuma wasn't muscular but neither was he feeble. I stumbled for a bit before I regained my footing, and in that time, the resounding slam of the door had already signaled his departure.

I trailed after him, swinging the door ajar, and caught sight of him shrinking rapidly in the distance.

"And just what do you think you can do about it?" I shouted after him.

Considering the progress he made in such a short span of time, I had thought my voice had merely drifted away to the whims of the wind, but he had responded in equal force.

"More than you ever will!"

The shake of my head was one in disbelief, "Welp there goes my hero," There he was, a dwindling figure in a rapid pace casting himself to the perilous horizon, it was aspiration enough to simply waltz back into the inn and take a seat. "Just watch him as he goes."

Back inside, I was greeted once again by Arishia, her face a flicker of mild surprise.

"Not stopping your damsel?" She asked, retaining that same expression of amusement all this time. "You really do not care at all, do you?"

Feet perched atop another chair, arms folded across my chest, I closed my eyes, "He'll learn," I yawned, "We all do."

A scraping and a stumble of wood indicated she had taken a seat directly across from mine.

"And what exactly is the moral lesson of his fairy tale?"

Before fatigue finally whisked me away into slumber, before nothingness overwhelmed all there was, my voice expelled in a tired whisper, "You can't save everyone."