by Sakon Kaidou
“After all, the calculation volume I use doesn’t change at aall,” said the fourth.
“In fact, it slightly increases the calculation time and slows me down,” said the fifth. And thus, the five became one again.
I was silent again. All this talk about calculations had made me remember that we were in a game server. This might’ve the first time I’d been presented with a display of cyber technology.
“I get to handle the chores because I’m good at processing the splitting I just shoowed,” said Cheshire.
“I see,” I nodded. “So, if you take half of the newcomers, the other half is taken by other AIs, right?”
“Yees,” it answered. “There’s even an AI that doesn’t allow you to redo your character’s appearance after you set it once.”
“...Yeah, I really think it should allow that,” I said.
That might’ve been the control AI that my brother had been assigned to.
◇
After an approximately twenty-minute-long chat with Cheshire, we chose to take our leave.
“Not counting the welcoming, it’s been so long since I met a person while being in this foorm,” said Cheshire. “I’d love to present you with some souveniir... but since I’m part of development, that would be favoritism — a big no-noo.”
“No need for that,” I said. “The tea and sweets are more than enough. Thanks.”
“Indeed,” Nemesis agreed. “They were delicious.”
...With how much she ate, a part of me feels like we’re already in the “no-no” territory, I thought.
“Oh, my. Having you say that makes me feel like making them was really worth iit,” said Cheshire.
Those cookies were handmade? I thought. That’s unexpected. ...Okay, hold on now. How the hell can those cat hands make cookies?
“You should consider selling them on the market.” said Nemesis.
“I’ll think about iit,” replied Cheshire. “Oh, right. You’re heading to Gideon soon, aren’t you, Ray?”
I’d talked a bit about that during the tea party.
“Yeah, I am,” I said.
“...Take care noow.” Cheshire’s words seemed ominous.
“Is there something I should know?” I asked.
“There is, buut...” It seemed apprehensive about saying it.
Is it something it can’t reveal? I thought.
“I’ll just keep it in the safe range, theen: ‘The demon’s heart lies in its stomach.’”
“Hm?” I raised an eyebrow.
“That’s aall,” said Cheshire. “Though, it’s not like you’re guaranteed to meet iit.”
Cheshire had given me a riddle... or a clue you’d find in a mystery novel. I couldn’t tell.
...Well, guess I’ll record it in my memo window, I thought and did exactly that.
“I don’t know if we’ll ever meet again, but if we do, then until next tiime,” Cheshire waved goodbye.
“Yeah, see ya,” I reciprocated.
We passed through the exit the cat had created and returned to the previous map. Beyond it was the same wasteland we’d been in before. When I asked Nemesis about it, she said that she could no longer see the entrance to Cheshire’s workplace.
I looked at the time and found out that it was a bit past three o’clock in the afternoon. We had planned to meet Rook at four, so we still had enough time.
Nemesis and I made our way to the meeting spot — the facility known only as the Adventurer’s Guild.
◇
Infinite Dendrogram had three types of quests a player could accept.
The first type was like the first quest I’d ever gotten — “random event quests.”
The second type was like one Rook did for his job — “job quests.”
The third type was “guild quests.” In other words, the ones received at a facility known as the “Adventurers’ Guild.”
Due to the word “guild,” some could confuse it with job guilds, but the quests were different in nature. The Adventurers’ Guild was a service that managed many and varied requests, such as elimination, escorting, collection, or miscellaneous matters. Once registered, anyone could accept quests, regardless of their job or even if they were Masters or tians.
Of course, I was no exception.
My level was decent, so I decided to continue progressing through the game while making some coin from the requests there.
Also, ever since we’d met, Rook and I had been talking about how cool it’d be to party up, so we decided to do that while taking on the same quest.
And so...
“...There are so many requests that I have no idea which one to choose,” I muttered.
“True...” Rook agreed.
Inside the Adventurers’ Guild, Rook and I were letting our heads lie on a round table as we both eyed a thick book... and honestly, I was tired beyond words.
The books we had were quest catalogs that displayed every request the guild had available.
It was magically enchanted to add new requests and remove taken ones in real-time, making the number of quests being displayed grow and drop without stop. Also, it didn’t display quests from a difficulty level the players couldn’t take.
To us, it displayed all quests up to difficulty level three, and apparently, access to levels four and higher was based on the amount of completed lower-level quests.
Despite the lack of requests we couldn’t see, the catalog was far too thick. It had approximately one thousand pages.
The catalog’s thickness, too, had been caused by the King of Destruction and other Superiors. Due to the King destroying Noz Forest, the amount of people wanting to escape the capital had increased. Not to mention that the emancipation of the roads leading to other cities had revitalized the trading routes. As a result, there was a great spike in requests for escorts that could protect those travelers.
The problem we were faced with, however, was that...
“...The rewards and difficulties for requests from those going to Gideon are so all over the place that I can’t choose,” I said.
“True...” Rook agreed.
There were dozens of escort quests where the destination was the city of duels — the place where we could find Figaro. However, there were requests that had different rewards despite having the same difficulty, and vice versa.
Since we couldn’t accept any quests without thinking things through, the ones with favorable conditions often got picked by other people and disappeared from the catalog right as we were considering them.
“Also, escort quests aren’t even appealing,” I said.
“True...” Rook agreed.
The ones who took the escort quests had to protect the requesters for the entire journey. However, Rook and I were players. We had to log out every now and then, and we couldn’t do any protection when we weren’t in the game.
In the game’s setting, we Masters got “sent to another world every now and then,” and the tians were fully aware of that. Therefore, we players weren’t suited for escort quests, so most of them were taken by tians. Though, there were some exceptions made for Masters of a particularly high level.
“Maybe we should look for quests where we have to kill or deliver something,” I suggested. “Though the rewards would be smaller.”
“True...” Rook agreed.
“...Rook, that’s all you’ve been saying for a while now,” I said.
“Oh, sorry,” he said, finally speaking a different word. “Reading this made me remember some things...”
From the fact that he looked like a middle-schooler, I could only assume that he was remembering a time he’d studied for his exams.
“Father’s handmade textbook was even thicker than this...” he mumbled as he went through the pages with an empty look in his eyes.
If Rook’s face was really the same as it was in reality, he was of Western descent.
I guess the exam struggle is severe all around the world, I thought. The college e
ntrance exams I had to go through were so damn hard...
“Hmm...”
“Mmm...”
Nemesis and Babi were intently looking at books, too. However, they weren’t quest catalogs.
Nemesis was examining the bounty list, while Babi was staring at the guild’s food and drink menu.
“Master,” Nemesis spoke up. “It says here that those traveling on the road to Gideon sometimes encounter two boss monsters with bounties on them — King of the Wolf Pack, Lobohta and Great Miasmic Demon, Gardranda. I hope we meet them.”
“I’m not sure if I want to experience something so blatantly dangerous...” I replied.
“Hey, Rook,” said Babi. “Don’t you think that this Special Pudding a la Mode would be great with Death Sauce? Want to order it?”
“I don’t think I want to experience something so blatantly dangerous...” Rook replied.
We shifted our attention away from their... disturbed suggestions and focused on our quest catalogs.
First of all, it was already set in stone that we would accept a quest we could do on the way to Gideon. Rook wanted to go there because the city of duels had a beast market.
On the subject of Rook, though... In our little information exchange, I had found out that — despite being twice the level I was — he had low stats. Though his MP and SP were higher than mine, I had double or more of every other stat.
It was less about me being a Paladin — a high-rank job — and more about Rook’s Pimp being a low-stat job. A Pimp’s playstyle seemed to be focused on a gamble — you either Charm or die.
At this point, I had absolutely no doubts that it was Rook’s vocation. If not “Pimp,” the only possible thing he could have been was “Angel.”
“Master, get ahold of yourself,” said Nemesis. “You’re acting as though you’re Charmed.”
“W-Whoa,” I said, and snapped out of it.
Of course, Rook wasn’t using his Charm skill on me. He couldn’t even if he wanted to, since it only worked on females. However, he was just so handsome that he made the mind drift away every now and then. Even the other adventurers in the guild were throwing glances at our table. Hell, some were downright staring.
Rook wasn’t the only reason for that, though — both Nemesis and Babi were exceptionally beautiful, too. With three out of five of us here being so attractive, it was only natural to become the center of attention.
...Five? I thought.
“Man, it’s been a while since I’ve visited the Adventurers’ Guild. There’s quite a large pile of quests today, huh?” Marie — the Journalist who sold us info about the PK incident — was sitting at our table.
...Okay, just how long have you been here? I thought. I could’ve sworn that we’d started with just me, Rook, Nemesis, and Babi. Do you Journalists have some skill that allows you to sit at tables without getting noticed?
“Oh? Why are you here, Miss Marie?” asked Rook.
“I had business that involved going to Gideon, so I decided to pick up a quest I could do on the way and noticed you two talking about going to the duel city, too,” answered Marie. “I figured that I simply had to join. May I come with you?”
Had to join, huh...? I thought.
“...Well, I don’t really mind,” I said. “What about you, Rook?”
“Same here,” he answered. “In fact, having her join us would be reassuring.”
“...That’s true,” I agreed.
It was going to be the first time Rook and I ever traveled to another town. Marie, on the other hand, had been as far as Huang He, so there was no doubt that she was used to long-distance journeys. That alone was enough to make her presence reassuring.
Marie joined us in looking through the quest catalog. “I found one that’s named ‘Elimination Request — Sauda Phantom Sheep,’” said Rook. “The reward is high, too.”
“Oh, that one’s no good,” said Marie. “Though weak, Sauda Phantom Sheep are extremely hard to find. It would take you three days of searching.”
“Elimination Request — Blue Lemmings. This one also has a nice reward,” I said. “We’d have to kill a whole fifty of them, though.”
“They’re weak, mouse-like, easy-to-find monsters that come in flocks,” Marie explained. “It should be eas—”
“No mice,” said Rook.
“Rook?” I looked at him.
“No mice,” he repeated himself.
“O-Okay...”
About ten minutes passed as we continued glaring at the catalog, when suddenly...
“Oh! What would you say to this one?” Marie pointed at a certain page.
Difficulty Level Two, Delivery Request — The Guild in Gideon, City of Duels.
Reward: 30,000 lir.
Please complete a delivery from the capital’s Adventurers’ Guild to the Guild in Gideon.
There is much to be delivered, so it is recommended that only those with a storage bag accept this quest.
You have three days to complete it.
P.S. If you take the delivery and run, we will send an assassin after you.
“This request is from the guild itself,” Marie explained. “We only have to take the delivery to the other guild, so it’s nothing complicated. The reward is good, too, so it’s a really nice deal overall.”
...The P.S. is a bit questionable, but I guess there’s no need to worry about it if we play it fair, I thought.
“I’m up for this quest. What about you, Rook?” I asked.
“Yes, it seems agreeable,” he answered.
“Then it’s decided,” said Nemesis.
“Already? I didn’t get to eat my pudding yet,” Babi complained.
Everyone replied in their own way.
Whatever the case, we had chosen the first quest we would do as a party.
“With that settled, you go on and accept it, Ray.” said Marie.
“Hm? But you’re the one found it, so shouldn’t you be the one to do it?” I asked.
“When several people accept the same quest, the proper procedure is to create a party and have a representative go through the acceptance process,” she explained. “That involves the representative writing down his main job.”
“Which means...?” I raised an eyebrow.
“The guild’s receptionist wouldn’t be too keen on giving the quest to a Journalist or a Pimp, right?” Marie elaborated.
She wasn’t wrong. The request had come directly from the guild, so there was a chance that they wouldn’t give it to anyone who was questionable in terms of ability. However, that would never apply to Paladins such as myself.
...But wait, my level is the lowest out of us three. Won’t that be a problem? I thought.
“The first thing that comes up is your label, after all,” said Rook. “I also think that you should be the one to do this, Ray.”
First Marie, now Rook. They were both fine with it, so there was no reason for me not to do it.
I took the catalog to the guild’s receptionist and showed her the page of the request we’d decided upon.
“Understood,” she said. “Please give us your card and fill in this form.”
I gave her my freshly-made Adventurers’ Guild member card and filled in all the fields I had to.
“We have processed your acceptance of this quest,” said the receptionist. “Please go to that counter and retrieve the items.”
Doing as I was told, I went to take the delivery and placed it into my storage bag.
With that, the preparations were done and we officially had a guild quest — a new step in our Dendro career.
Difficulty Level Two, Delivery Request — The Guild in Gideon, City of Duels.
Our destination was obvious.
And so, we began the quest.
◆◆◆
Kingdom of Altar, ???
Cheering.
Cheering as far as you could hear.
It represented nothing but delight.
Countless goblins were fiercely
expressing their overwhelming joy.
It was all because they had seen some creatures. Though four-limbed — just like the goblins — they were different from them... for they were human.
The goblins hungered. These past few days, no humans had passed through their territory.
Thus, the goblins — with their love for human flesh and the things they hauled — had become hungry beyond words.
They survived by eating other monsters, but compared to the taste of humans and their food, those were simply unsatisfying.
Thus, the goblins were overjoyed.
The human traffic through this area used to be stopped by something at the mountain, and they couldn’t be more pleased that it was revived. For, once again, they had access to the food they loved.
The strangely-dressed human that had recently gone through their territory was too scary for them, so they could have only waited for him to pass. However, the humans passing before them now weren’t scary at all.
Thus, the humans themselves and the food they carried were nothing but a feast for them.
“Ghgheeeee!”
“Geghyaaaaahhh!”
Letting out their war cries, the goblins began running towards the carriage before them.
“Goblins?! Why are there so many...?!” shouted a human.
“Sir, this is too much for us to handle! Make the horses go as fast as they can!” roared another.
“A-All right!”
“We have to run, too!”
The merchant man increased the carriage’s speed as the tian adventurers responsible for guarding him and his goods ran after it, trying not to fall behind.
They were fleet of foot, so it was obvious that the goblins wouldn’t catch up.
Thus, the goblins roared. They roared out their cheer and delight.
“What are they doing?! Are they trying to threaten us?!” asked a human.
“Ignore them! Just keep on running away!” howled another.
The goblins weren’t threatening them. They might’ve done that before an enemy, but when faced with food, such acts were meaningless. They were simply calling.
“Ha ha, looks like we escaped... Huh?”
A moment later, the merchant — along with his carriage — was crushed by something that fell from the sky.