Part Forty-Five

Well that was a long story. To think that they were dealing with so many different things while I was gone. Undying monsters, endlessly shifting Labyrinths, gauntlets of magic and Golems. Wow, that story sounds more interesting than mine.

“So yeah, that was definitely a whole thing. I’d like to just go back to my room and sleep it off, but we’ve got a mandatory briefing pretty soon, so it’ll have to wait.”

“Wait, what? That’s the first I’m hearing about any meeting.”

“The Commander wants to gather a much larger group than normal to discuss the defense efforts. There were a number of developments while we were occupied.”

“Yay. Haaah, I hate meetings.”

“Oh shoosh. So does everyone else. I think just about everyone would like to get some rest rather than attend another meeting.”

“Well yeah, I wasn’t denying that. I just don’t understand why we have to have all these meetings. It just feels like too much bureaucracy. It’s getting in the way of actually dealing with the Monster Army.”

“So you’re just griping again?”

“…….Well if you want to oversimplify it. Haaah. So, you mentioned some loot before? What exactly did you get?”

“Well, Sampson was very specific that every group get an equal share of everything that we found. There were some complaints about that, but well, he dealt with it the same way he deals with everything. By menacing all the malcontents. No one really wanted to go against him anyway, especially after how many Golems he killed by himself.”

“We mostly got medical items. An assortment of the various tonics we found in the Alchemy workshop. A few pieces of metal that we think we can sell. Oh, and this axe I found.”

Devastation Battle-axe

Rank: C

Restriction: Must possess at least one Destruction-type Skill.

Effect: Increase to Strength, Increase to Destructive Power, Increased Durability, Devastation Enchantment

Description: A battle-axe given a special treatment to make it far more durable than normal. It also posses a Devastation Enchantment that increases the power of any impact it causes and the potency of Destruction-type Skills used on it.

Upgrade Requirement: 5 Dragon Heart-scales OR 7 Arachne Fangs.

10 Kilograms of Red Onyx.

Devastation Jewel.

“Goddamn. Just goddamn. That is one impressive weapon.”

“The weirdest part of it is that only me and Sampson can lift it. It’s too heavy for anyone else. Even when three people tried to lift it, they could barely it a few feet before they had to drop it.”

Just to prove his point, he set it on the table and gestured for me to try and lift it. Sure enough, I couldn’t even budge the damn thing. Whatever Enchantment it had kept those who lacked the qualifications to use it from even holding it. It might be similar to how the Twin Swords were supposed to Curse people who tried to use them.

Hm, this is the second time I’ve seen an item with equip restrictions. And it has been quite awhile since I’ve seen one that can be upgraded, especially an upgrade so complex. This weapon might just be something incredible in the future.

“Hehe, he’s got that impressed look on his face again.”

“Impressed face? What the heck are you talking about?”

“You sometimes get this look on your face whenever something impresses you enough. The first time we saw Kalia’s magic. After I told you about Imbuement. It’s been happening pretty frequently recently.”

Seriously? Huh, I never knew that. Now I’m kinda paranoid that I don’t have as strong a poker face as I’d thought.

“Huh, well. The requirements for upgrading it sure are ridiculous, aren’t they? Why the heck does it need Dragon parts?”

“Just gonna change the subject? O-kaaaaaay. Dragons aside, we don’t even know where an Arachne would be, or a Devastation Jewel either. Or where we could get Red Onyx.”

“Yeah that one’s weird. Onyx is supposed to be a gemstone I believe, or some kind of mineral at least. I’m not a geologist. But I’m pretty sure that it’s supposed to be black in color, so Red Onyx doesn’t really make sense to me. And how much is ten kilograms anyway?”

“I think it’s around twenty pounds. I’m not certain of that though.”

“Twenty pounds? That’s quite a bit, especially when we don’t know how to get any of it. Haah, we just got more work for the future.”

“Eh, it might be or might not. By the way, didn’t you check your item drops? It’s not like you to not immediately sort through them at the first opportunity you get.”

“I feel like you’re slighting me, but I’ll just let it go because you’re right. I didn’t really kill any particularly strong monsters this time and I did look at it. There just wasn’t anything interesting inside.”

“……You know, I feel like the monsters you look down on are threatening to the other mercenaries. Most of them aren’t excited when a Minotaur appears.”

“Well that’s, um. Yeah alright, my sense of what’s strong or not is messed up. It’s not my fault that I can kill a Minotaur one-on-one. Oh! There actually was something now that I think about it. Me and Kalia found this odd disk inside of a dead tree in the forest. It doesn’t seem to have a purpose, but it’s one of those things that’s just too suspicious to not be useful.”

“I feel like you’re trying to change the subject again. Huh? What a conspicuous item. So, does it do anything?”

“Not yet at least. See this notch on the bottom? I think it means that there’s more than one piece to whatever this is and I’ll need the other pieces to figure it out. It’s basically a side quest.”

“Haaah, everything somehow comes back to video games with you. Still, you shouldn’t waste too much time on whatever it is. Though I’ll help if I can. Something’s bound to come of it.”

*Beepbeep!*

“Oh, guess it’s time to go. The meeting’s in five minutes. We should head to the conference room.”

“Crud. Just crud.”

“And you still need to tell us what happened on your end. It’s not fair for only us to talk.”

“Fine, I’ll do it on the way there.”

***

I gave a basic rundown of the event in the forest, though I left out certain details. I just could bring myself to tell them about the vial. It’s not that I don’t trust them, I just don’t want to get them wrapped up in my mess. This was between me and the scumbag responsible.

Anyway, we ran into a familiar face on our way to the conference room.

“Hey kid! Guess I should’ve expected you to be here! Hahah, it’s good to see you’re still kicking.”

Er, what? I know who he is, but why the heck is he talking to me so friendlily? And I thought he didn’t like me in the first place because I can’t remember his name. Even now I want to call him Fred, but I know that’s not it. What was it again?

“We’re doing pretty good Brad. Tired, but everyone is. Hey, I heard you guys really did well while we were gone. Someone even said that you killed a giant bird all by yourself.”

“Ahahah, erhm. Well, it wasn’t really by myself. The rest of the guys helped me pin it down and all I had to do was stab its head a couple times. It did put up quite the fight though.”

Is, is he blushing? Dude, seriously? Welp, I feel like this just went from being tolerable, to being irritating. Haaah, I want to go home. Or to sleep, it doesn’t really matter right now.

“So, what happened with you guys? You all look pretty worn out. Were those mission things that hard?”

“Yep. But we should hurry up or we’ll be late.”

“Ah, uh okay. Then, I’ll talk to you later?”

Could you be any more awkward? Seriously, is this really the time to be developing a crush? Or am I the odd one here? Maybe it’s normal to develop romantic feelings in dangerous situations? Suspension Bridge effect and whatnot? Eh whatever.

“Michael? You okay?”

“Yep. Let’s get going. The sooner this is done, the sooner I can take a nap.” And the sooner I can kill the fucker who tried to kill me.

[Alicia’s POV]

Hm, what are you thinking Michael? Something’s peeved him off, but nothing's happened in the last hour or so to do that to this extent. Unless he’s angry about Brad's awkward flirting. That was painful to even watch. No, I guess he wouldn’t care too much about that. So what’s eating him? He’s been on edge since he got back, but it’s only gotten worse since we mentioned the meeting.

He was glancing about furtively, as if worried that he was being watched. Michael generally had a touch of paranoia, but it didn’t usually manifest like this. It was usually just to the point where he’d act uncomfortable around people he didn’t know or be overly anxious in a social setting.

He’s hiding something from us, but I can’t tell what. Did something happen with Kalia out in the forest? He was vague about the details of their time alone. He didn’t do anything to her, right? I’d like to think he’s not the kind of person to take advantage of a situation like that, but….no, he wouldn’t. He’s never done anything like that before, so I refuse to believe he would in that situation. But then what’s bothering him?

Michael was so preoccupied, that he hadn’t even noticed they’d arrived at the conference room. He nearly ran into someone who was waiting outside the door, before jumping to side to avoid them. He hastily apologized to them, which was even more out of character for him, before looking around for something.

“Tch, they’re gone again. Damnit. That’s the second time I’ve felt a gaze on me. Could that have been them? Should I try to learn a detection Skill or something?”

“Michael? Is something the matter?”

“Ah! Oh no, nothing’s wrong. I’m just a little self-conscious right now, that’s all.”

Oh, he’s definitely hiding something. Michael, self-conscious? Those are two words that do not belong in the same sentence. This is frustrating. I know that he’ll just clam up if I prod him, but at the same time, he won’t tell me on his own.

He seemed to become even more agitated as they took their seats. Added to the glances he kept casting and there was definitely something bothering him. Though it seemed that no one else had caught on. The fact that he wore his helmet whenever he could made it harder to read him if you didn’t know him that well. It was only due to the time they’d spent together that she’d even noticed.

[Protag’s POV]

I can’t calm down. Someone in this room could be a murderer, and I don’t mean the Title kind either. I know someone was watching me earlier, but they’ve stopped. I don’t know if it’s the culprit or if it’s just innocent curiosity, but it’s agitating me all the same. And I think Alicia’s noticed too. She’s been glancing at me here and there. At least she isn’t asking about it. I’m not sure I could lie to her about what’s bothering me.

I was sitting on tenterhooks waiting for everyone to arrive for the meeting. This would be my chance to try and suss out the culprit in a way that hopefully wouldn’t be too obvious. There was another method I could use, but that came with its own set of issues. I was extremely hesitant to put that one into motion.

It only took a few more minutes until more people started filing into the room. Braddock’s group arrived, but Kalia was conspicuously absent. I assume that meant she was still recovering. Sampson arrived all alone for whatever reason. The two lackeys that usually accompanied him weren’t around. And of course Finnél was there too.

However, there were a number of new faces that hadn’t been at any previous meetings. Brad, or Fred or whatever his name was, was the only one I recognized. He and a few of the others from his group had arrived and sat down over near Sampson, which I thought was odd. None of the others really grabbed my attention, but the day was still young. They had to be here for a reason.

“Welcome, we have a lot to discuss. Much has occurred over the last few hours.”

The Commander and Archmage were as poignant as ever. How the two managed to arrive at the exact moment everyone was gathered was just one of those mysteries.

“First order of business, all three missions were successful, though there were multiple casualties. Twelve soldiers bravely gave their lives in order to complete the tasks asked of them. And so, I have decided that their rewards will be divided up among their surviving comrades. It may not soothe your grief, but I hope it will inspire you to continue fighting. Additionally, your rewards will have been delivered to your rooms by the time this meeting is over.”

There was some scattered applause and a few grumbles about that announcement. Just about every group had had at least one casualty during the assignments, so there was some minor resentment there about it being swept under the rug so to speak.

“Secondly, due to the difficulties experienced during the operations, we have decided to expand the roster of eligible soldiers for future assignments, along with supplying mages for support. We believe these measures will help to prevent future casualties.”

Well, well. Here I was thinking we’d have to keep attempting the same strategies, but they’ve turned that on its head. Healers should go a long way to keeping a group in fighting shape. Alicia said that was the biggest obstacle to their success. I’m honestly surprised we’ve had to wait this long for aid. Maybe it’s because we’re supposed to either already have our own healers, or we shouldn’t need them.

“Now we move onto the serious discussions. As many of you may know, the fort experienced another assault by airborne monsters a few hours ago. Our scouting has led us to discover that this was not on planned attack, but a knee-jerk reaction to their commander being involved in a battle.”

Wait WHAT!? So I was right! The thing that carpet-bombed us was actually another Mid-boss? What kind of luck do I have to have to encounter two Mid-bosses this early into the Dungeon!? Please tell me I’m not going to run into the third.

“Do you know what kind of monster it is?”

“We do not. It had attained such a height that even my magic couldn’t observe it, but the current theory is that it is a kind of Eclosis. Ah, those are a type of Magic using avian monster. We’ve already observed a few lesser Eclosi within the flock, so we believe this to be likely.”

So there’s more monsters that can use magic? How haven’t we seen any of them before now? Or were they staying to the back for later? Haah, so many annoying possibilities.

“Wait. This monster was involved in a battle? With who?”

“Ah, that was me. Though I wouldn’t call that a battle. More like a one-sided assault where it just carpet-bombed me over and over again. Just for the record, it attacked me. I didn’t provoke it into a fight.”

My sudden statement caused everyone to gawk at me, though it appeared that the NPCs were already aware. Probably due to whatever magic they had to observe what was happening.

“We were already aware of those events. I must say, you must possess the most peculiar luck to be attacked by two of the Monster commanders.” Tell me about it. I’m already expecting the third one to appear tomorrow.

“Regardless of the circumstances, this was still an unplanned assault. Reconnaissance has revealed that the monsters are planning another full assault near dusk. Oh, and as there have been many casualties, we have reassigned some of you to rebalance our defenses.”

Hm, I’ve been watching everyone as closely as I can, but I still can’t tell if anyone is particularly suspicious. Even when the casualties were mentioned, no one had an obvious or overt reaction to the news. So either the culprit isn’t in the room, or they’re a psychopath. Could be either.

“I have one more piece of business to discuss before we adjourn for the day. The Archmage has expressed concerns that very few of the volunteer soldiers can use magic, let alone manipulate mana. So he has generously decided to hold lessons to anyone who wants to learn the basics. Archmage.”

“Thank you commander. As he said, I’ll be hosting a lesson each day until the monster army is vanquished. Each lesson will begin sometime after the dawn shift has ended, providing we are not attacked. Those not as sure of their strength should participate, as mana manipulation is essential to learning other techniques. Also, anyone who does participate will be exempt from their other duties for the duration of the lessons.”

Huh, well that’s nice. I do wonder how many will actually participate.

“Now, unless anyone else has a question, we’ll adjourn here.”

“Um, um. I do?”

Uh, who’s she? I mean, I have no idea who she is. She’s one of those new faces that I don’t recognize.

She’d recoiled when everyone’s attention had turned to her, but she drew a deep breath and continued on anyway.

“Oh well, I found this little crystal in my reward chest. It says something about giving it to the Archmage in its description.”

She slid a small pinky-sized crystal across the table to the Archmage, who picked it up and examined it. He then gasped in the most dramatic fashion possible after a few seconds.

“This is…? This is a shard of crystallized mana. There’s enough energy in this to cast my teleportation spell a dozen times.”

Didn’t, didn’t he say that using it three times was enough to leave him near empty? Meaning that crystal has nearly four times his mana pool!?

A minor uproar ensued, as no one had seen this development coming. The existence of what was essentially a mana battery was amazing and terrifying in equal measure. What this heralded was as of yet unknown, but it would certainly lead to something. Whether or not we’d be able to make use of it was up in the air though.