by Sakon Kaidou
Next up:
We will focus on analyzing all the forces taking part in the battles for the orbs, starting with Caldina and Huang He.
I will also report this to our leader in the gaol.
Just as scheduled, I will play a role in the upcoming war between two countries on the west side of the continent.
The orb I have with me will be a good bargaining chip when trying to persuade someone to join us.
If possible, I will also try meeting the newbie infiltrating Gideon: Gerbera.
It appears that she is planning to do something we haven’t accounted for, so I intend to question her.
Human affairs:
I entrust our Caldina operations to those who aren’t wanted there.
Revision:
All of us are.
Designation:
I entrust it to Murder Princess, Emily.
Remarks:
I request that The Weapon, Rascal the Bloodonyx support her.
Additionally, I have found someone of value in the desert. Entrusting him to my successor.
Caution:
Emily, keep your kill count for this case within three digits.
Episode Five: Predicament
April 5th, 2045, Prism Rider, Ray Starling
It was Wednesday. I was in a certain room in the Quartierlatin palace.
Two girls were facing each other, surrounded by crushing silence.
One was Azurite. She was staring — or more like glaring — at the other girl.
The other was B3, who was sweating profusely as she meekly sat on the floor.
These acquaintances of mine clearly weren’t enjoying each other’s presence.
It wasn’t a nice comparison, considering the fact that they were girls, but it felt like I was watching a snake ready to swallow a frog.
Why is this happening? I wondered.
“You putting them in the same room is one of the reasons, I assume,” Nemesis said telepathically.
I couldn’t deny that at all.
I was partially responsible for this.
It had all begun an hour... or perhaps over a month... ago.
◇
After coming back from college, I logged in to Dendro and, just like yesterday, paid a visit to the adventurers’ guild.
It was packed again, but Rising Sun secured a table and invited us over.
It was my first time talking to Blue Screen, and he apologized for shutting down Silver back in Torne.
“Sorry ’bout that,” he said. “Gremlin’s effects should be temporary, though. Did it work fine after that?”
“Yeah. It didn’t change one bit,” I told him. Silver had flown around during the Quartierlatin incident without a hitch.
Though he had done something weird when we’d fought the whale.
“Good thing it didn’t put you on another wanted list, eh, Blue?” Dum-Dum commented. “Dryfe’s is more than enough.”
“Never again on that crap,” Blue Screen replied.
He’s on Dryfe’s wanted list...? I thought.
“Umm... Can you expand on that...?” I asked.
“I don’t wanna talk about it,” said Blue Screen.
“I do,” grinned Dum-Dum. “Blue started out in Dryfe, and it happened sometime before the war, right about when his Gremlin got its ult. You know, the skill that fried your Prism Steed.”
Oh, that.
“He was in town, and he decided to try it out on one of his magic machines, but he didn’t know how to control it, and it had such a large AOE that it caused an electricity... magic(?)... whatever, power outage in the entire area. It even fried a bunch of state-owned machines. No one died, but he still got on the wanted list for terrorism.”
“Ohh...” I nodded in understanding.
“That does sound like something that can happen,” Nemesis commented.
Looking back at it, my Miasmaflame Bracer and Wind Hoof tests went pretty badly, too, I reflected. I’ll make sure to do my other tests in safe environments.
As we continued to chat...
“Ray, Nemesis... Sorry for the wait.”
“Hm? Well, if it isn’t B3,” said Nemesis.
“Eh? She’s here?” I said as I turned around and saw her.
She had told me that she would be heading to Quartierlatin, but man, was she fast.
“Egh?! Barbaroy...”
“Whoa!”
The two Rising Sun members — especially Blue Screen — seemed to be afraid of her.
“Oh? Well, if it isn’t the leader of Sol Crisis and the High Engineer I crushed first,” B3 said. “Why are you with Ray?”
Oh, so Blue Screen was the first Sol Crisis guy she killed? I can see why he’s afraid.
B3 started equipping a shield like it was no big deal. She was fully ready to crush them again.
To avoid standing out too much, she wasn’t wearing her Magnum Colossus right now, but she wouldn’t hesitate to use Instant Wear if it came down to it.
Blue Screen looked at me as if to say, “Dude, you said you’ll back us, right?! C’mon!”
“I ran into them here in Quartierlatin,” I said. “They apologized and we made up.”
“I see,” said B3. “It’s all fine, then. I have nothing against that.”
She quickly accepted the situation and put her shield away, and thus any unnecessary bloodshed was prevented.
B3 then told them she forgave them for using her name. According to her, she didn’t mind that part at all, but as the ex-leader of Mad Castle, she couldn’t stand the fact that the faker hadn’t been at the top of Sol Crisis.
That clan had disbanded, and they were now Rising Sun, so B3 no longer had anything against forgiving them.
The two then went out on quests, leaving just B3, Nemesis, and me.
“You sure got here fast,” I said. “I don’t remember Altea being this close.”
“My afternoon lectures for today were canceled,” B3 replied. “And I had a good ride.”
“You did?”
“Remember the car Embryo that Kashimiya and Rosa rode after Rosa attacked us while we were on our way to Torne? Its Master had nothing better to do, so she drove me here.”
Oh, yeah, there was that armored car Embryo, I remembered. If I recall correctly, its Master was “Tomika,” similar to the line of toy cars. How fitting.
“I had to pay her like she was some sort of taxi service. So I just took some from the money Rosa gave me,” B3 added.
“I see.”
Apparently, as self-punishment for what Rosa had done while Kashimiya was away, K&R wouldn’t be doing any PKing for a while.
“Anyway, who did you want to introduce me to?” B3 asked.
“Oh, yeah.” I’d already mentioned that there was someone I wanted her to meet. “Looking at the time... she should be in the Quartierlatin mansion.”
“The mansion?” B3 asked. “Is it the countess?”
“You’ll know when you see her.”
B3 tilted her head in curiosity, but didn’t have anything against coming along.
So the three of us went to the countess’s mansion, creating the strange kind of hell before me.
◇
The silence continued to be crushing.
Once we’d entered the office Azurite was borrowing, I had introduced them to one another.
A moment after I’d given their names, B3 had sat on the floor, with Azurite glaring at her.
...Seriously, what’s going on here?
“Ray...” they said as they looked at me in unison.
“Why did you bring this person here?” Azurite demanded.
“What kind of place did you drag me to?” B3 finished.
“Umm... did I do something bad?” I asked hesitantly.
They looked at me with eyes that asked, “He doesn’t know?”
Well, I knew that Azurite didn’t get along with Miss Eldritch, but B3 should’ve been fine... right? They were in the same club, but B3 was nothing compared to t
he aberration.
As I wondered what was going on here, Nemesis said, “Hey, I just realized something.”
“...What is it?”
“Something you could’ve realized before you even brought B3 here. Unfortunately, you’re only sharp when it matters the most...”
Come on, don’t stall like that! Just answer, please!
“Last month. PKers. Newbie hunt. Capital blockade.”
“...Ah.” That was enough for me to connect the dots and understand the situation.
B3 was a PKer.
That wasn’t a problem, since issues between Masters were outside of the law here.
The only crimes that could have you sent to the infamous “gaol” were those that involved tian victims.
However, that was exactly it — one time, B3 had indirectly harmed tians.
It had been during the blockade at the capital... the time Marie had given me my first death penalty.
Though it had been primarily a PK incident with the only cases of tian assaults happening in the west of Altea, the act of terrorism had made it hard for tians to travel to and from the city.
Many of them had been merchants, and the blocking of the southern trade route leading to Gideon — Altar’s second largest city — had caused great damage to the economy.
The biggest problem here was the fact that the ones in charge of that side had been Mad Castle... Barbaroy Bad Burn’s clan.
Thus, to Azurite, the acting ruler of Altar, B3 was someone who had caused great losses for her, while to B3, Azurite was someone she had deeply troubled.
Thus, B3’s sitting position and Azurite’s glare.
“So you finally figured it out,” Azurite snapped.
“Ray,” B3 looked back at me.
Uh huh. Yeah. I know how I messed up now, I thought.
“Umm... I didn’t bring her here as a criminal. And it’s not like she caused any loss of life or property,” I argued.
“That is true,” said Azurite. “All the damage she caused was indirect. Though I can still put her on the wanted list for this.”
“Eh?” I asked.
Azurite elaborated that B3 could be judged for forcible obstruction of business and that, as royalty, she had the power to put her on the wanted list.
That was probably the reason for B3’s meekness.
An awkward silence filled the room.
Azurite suddenly reached into her inventory and took out a bunch of papers.
“Umm... Azurite? What’s that?” I asked.
“I carry copies of my documents in case I need to work away from the capital. These contain the economic data for the month the blockade took place.”
Those words made B3 twitch.
“The blockade lasted for four days, didn’t it? There was a loss of several hundred million lir’s worth of distribution flow per day... and there’s also been an increase in people leaving... though that might have been due to Noz Forest burning to the ground.”
Now it was my turn to twitch.
That fire had been caused by none other than my own brother.
Looking back at it now, things were really bad for Azurite... no, the whole kingdom.
B3 and Marie had joined the likes of Rosa in creating a blockade around Altea. Shu had gone and burned down Noz Forest, an important source of wood. And Franklin and Hugo had terrorized Gideon.
The kingdom was in such a bad state that I could totally understand why Azurite didn’t trust us Masters.
“And many of those causing trouble are your acquaintances,” added Nemesis telepathically.
Damn, I feel so bad now!
“...Ngh.” The next moment, I found myself sitting next to B3.
Gouz-Maise’s spikes were poking my thighs, and that wasn’t pleasant, but...
Azurite spent a few moments looking down on us before heaving a deep sigh and saying, “I’ll ignore it for now.”
“...Really?” I asked hopefully.
“It’s the sage’s pilgrimage... or a ‘twist of fate,’ as you Masters would say it. There might be a better future that can only be reached because the blockade incident took place,” she said as she stared at us. “There is no lawful basis for binding you to any role, but if you feel bad about what happened, I want you to help me. I will be relying on Masters’ powers and knowledge more and more in the future.”
“Okay,” B3 said, still tense.
“No need to worry,” Azurite answered. “I shall not have you work to make up for the economic losses. You will even be rewarded, just like with normal quests.”
Those words made B3 relax a bit, and then she looked like she was pondering whether she should refuse the reward.
“Let us start right away,” Azurite continued. “I have a question for you.”
“Yes?” she asked.
“Are you familiar with any Masters knowledgeable in machines?”
That was the question she’d given me yesterday.
“Could you elaborate?” B3 asked.
“We don’t have anyone who can operate the computers in the plant within the ruins here. I was told they are protected by security that none of the kingdom’s current technicians can break.”
A whole three days had passed here, but it looked like they still hadn’t found or grown a person fit for the job.
Hm...? Hold on a second, I thought as a certain someone flashed to mind.
“There could be a decent few Masters who can operate them here in the kingdom, but some could very well be Dryfean spies,” Azurite went on. “That is why I was hoping that you would introduce me to someone trustworthy.”
B3 pondered. “I would like to consult Ray about this...”
“Very well.” Azurite nodded.
So B3 had thought of him, too.
It was the ex-Dryfean Master we’d just met — Rising Sun’s Blue Screen.
B3 and I left the room and talked about getting him this job, while Nemesis stayed behind to talk to Azurite about something.
“What do you think?” B3 asked.
“Well...” I said.
He was an ex-PKer, but the fact that he was wanted in Dryfe made him an even safer choice than most.
From the little I’d talked to him, he did seem trustworthy enough to at least give a chance.
“I think he’ll do all right,” I said at last. “You?”
“I wouldn’t have thought so when they were still Sol Crisis, but Rising Sun is just him and the leader. They desperately need sponsors and funds, so if they make it a Contract-bound quest, I’m sure there won’t be any problems.”
“True.” I nodded.
“There’s also the fact that Blue Screen might be able to easily take care of any other incidents in the ruins. He was able to stop Silver — an original Prism Steed — so he would surely be able to deactivate any machines causing trouble there. In a way, he might be the best man for the job.”
“Good point.”
He was more than qualified on that front.
It made me wonder why a guy from Dryfe had ended up being a machine-killer.
Anyway, with that decided, we returned to Azurite’s office.
“We know someone fit for the job in the ruins,” said B3.
And so, we told her about Rising Sun and Blue Screen.
◇
We then went on to find the two questing out nearby and introduced them to Countess Quartierlatin.
It was her rather than Azurite because the countess would be the one in charge of the operations here once Azurite returned to Altea, and the first princess’s visit here wasn’t official.
The two gladly accepted the high-reward, continuous quest, and thanked us for mediating.
It was a win for everyone: the kingdom, Rising Sun, and B3, who had now somewhat made up for what she’d done a month ago.
“I thought I was about to be sent to the gaol,” B3 sighed as we headed out on our own quest.
Her voice made it clear just how hard the encounter had been on her mind
.
“Sorry, B3,” I apologized.
“No need for that. Despite all I said, I’m aware that I brought this upon myself with what I did back then. Also, thanks to you mediating, it’s now less likely that I’ll get put on the wanted list in the future.”
Oh, that’s one way to look at it, I thought.
“I’ll also have to be careful to not get on her bad side from now on,” Nemesis put in. “She was in a pretty foul mood during the consultation.”
“Hm...?”
She was? Why? I wondered.
“By the way, Nemesis, what did you talk to her about?” I asked.
“Ray, it’s rude to pry into secret chats between women.”
So that’s the kind of chat it was, huh? You two seem to be on a similar wavelength, so I imagine you have lots to talk about.
“Well, we mostly chatted about your fashion sense and human relations,” Nemesis went on.
“Hm?”
You’re saying there’s a lot to talk about there? I thought, puzzled.
“You ordered something dreadful recently, didn’t you?” Nemesis asked darkly.
“You mean Storm Visage?” I’d picked up the completed accessory before entering the adventurers’ guild today.
The stats and abilities were exactly as advertised, and the design matched my gear perfectly — a pro’s work if I’d ever seen one.
“Why would you make them create something so terrifying?!” Nemesis exclaimed.
“Hey, we needed it for what it does, right?” I argued. “The dark-ish design is pretty damn cool, too, isn’t it?”
“Is that all you think of it?! Seeing you wear it gave me chills! What kind of cursed set have you developed?! I’m supposed to be a part of that?!”
“Well... yeah. My gear isn’t complete without you.”
“...Ugh! Why are you so...?!”
Why are your cheeks all red, and why are you hitting me? Why is B3 looking at me like I’m complicated? Did I do something wrong?
“You might go to the gaol for illegal levels of all-nizing,” B3 put in.
“That’s not a crime that exists.”
Silence.
“...Is it?”
It’d be pretty damn scary if she wasn’t kidding.
I didn’t doubt that there were crimes that were unknown to me, but getting a criminal record for “all-nizing” would be a whole new level of absurd.
Wait... Gaol... Unknown... That reminds me of something. But what? Pretty sure it’s something Shu told me about...