Chapter 84

I Can Explain

“So, I can explain, this is not quite what it might look like.” I admit. To my point, I do think I can do explain what we are seeing to Mallory, though I will admit that this is getting a bit harder to believe, even for me.

“No, you don’t need to. I already understand. You have found the ultimate way to launder stolen currency, marking it as trash, then disposing of it in such a way that can’t be tied back to you. Then you apparently gave yourself a repeatable quest to get rid of a pound of trash, which equates to fifty coins. By the amount of bulge happening in this room, I take it you stole all ten million coins and stashed them all here and have been working feverishly to get rid of them since you robbed me of my winnings.”

It had been the better part of the day that Mallory and I had been together. She was a trooper and stayed with me throughout my healing of everyone that was injured during the attacks. She even stayed with me as I healed the attackers, who were subsequently taken in for questioning. Sadly, just being a healer didn’t get me any type of response from the impromptu quest that had been generated.

Local Quest Generated: Good Samaritan: You have stumbled upon a burglary of the traveling Merit Shop. Help stop the fleeing burglars. Rewards: Experience, a portion of the value of the recovered goods.

I did get a separate reward from Mudrikal Ghaniston, the gnome shopkeeper that I had healed back to life.

“Here take this,” he said, holding out a card to me.

Soul Bound Item: Personal Thanks: This is a personal note of thanks from Mudrikal Ghaniston, seek him out once you leave the tower to earn a possible reward.

That was all I got from the gnome, before my life became extremely hectic for a point. After that, it was heal, heal, heal. Then finally after a long while we were able to relax. The entire time Mallory was by my side, providing help in ways that I never thought a Valkyrie could do. Grabbing and holding spirits to keep them in place, working with Zero, who she absolutely loved. Then finally making it so that people I healed didn’t stick around too much longer than was necessary. Ultimately, she was an amazing help.

I remember one moment that kind of stands out from that whole blur of an encounter, was when she helped me calm down between patients by commenting on just how crazy everything was.

“This reminds me of that old joke, that an eating contest is just the prelude to a shitting contest. Round one there is a clear winner, round two everyone loses.” Mallory began.

I must have given a look, as I was beyond exhausted at this point, which was why she forced me to sit and take a moment to recover my mana.

“You know, a big explosive combat is really just the beginning of a massive healing campaign. You know, it’s not quite as funny when you try to put it into words.” Mallory said.

At that, seeing the all powerful Mallory attempt to joke and fail miserably, that was when I began laughing uncontrollably.

“Oh come on, it is not that funny.”

“I know, which only makes it so much worse.” I cried out as laughter continued to pour out from me. Finally after a few minutes of punch-drunk humor I managed to calm myself enough to once again continue healing. The entire time Mallory stayed right by my side, never asking for compensation or anything.

That was when I decided she could be trusted with helping me out with my trash problem. Flash forward a bit and we find ourselves right here.

***

“Well, to be fair, they robbed me first, so this was payback.” I admitted, though in hindsight it might have seemed like a bit of overkill.

“Oh, no, don’t worry I got mine. Legrand Empire had to give out vouchers that have daily interest applied. So, I am more than happy with having them work to drum up the funds. All while they are wasting a lot of resources to look for you.”

“For me?”

“Well, for a Tobias. Apparently, he is a master manipulator and heartbreaker who seduced the Duke’s Daughter and swindled millions of gold and experience potions out of the Legrand empire. Honestly, they are calling it the theft of the century.”

“Oh, they are?” I ask.

“Yeah, also. I think you are at your daily limit for getting experience for removing trash.”

“What makes you say that?” I ask.

“The fact that you haven’t leveled up in the past few minutes, despite receiving the new upgrade to your title.” Mallory answers flatly.

“What?” I ask, then pull up the details of my newest upgrade to my new Title.

Title Improved: Nature’s Friend (V): You have helped clean up over fifty thousand pounds of trash and have been recognized as one of nature’s true champions. Rewards: Life and Nature based Spells are now 25% more efficient. Neutral rating to most woodland and creatures found in the wild.

Yeah, so that is irony right there. You rob from the rich, disguise everything as trash, then come up with a convoluted way to launder said stolen funds so nothing gets traced back to you, and boom, you are given an ever-increasing title as Nature’s Friend. I am pretty sure this is a throw back title that was hidden away by the original developers that wanted people to work to make the world better. This Title has since been proven to be irrelevant as all trash disappears within hours of being left unattended.

“Oh yeah, look at that, Nature’s Friend V, my mother would be so proud.” I admit with a bit of chagrin.

“Oh, was she an environmentalist?”

“Sort of, she was a Dark Elf Druid.”

“Oh, that’s an odd combination.”

“Tell me about it, she was fine for her first reincarnation, well until she was in a house that was bombed on the first day of the Nuluman invasion. After that her choice seemed terrible.”

“Nuluman?” Mallory asked, a note of sadness filling her voice.

I just nod. “Yeah, it’s okay, war is kind of one of the things this game is known for.”

I know for a fact that Mallory was on the side of Nuluman, during the invasion. I don’t know if she had anything to do with the bombings of the citizens, I honestly don’t care at this point. That wasn’t what killed my parents the final time, it was just the hardest death for them to take. It was also the reason why I wanted to live my best life here.

Slosh.

“No, you should stop. We have already put in a huge dent into this as you can now crawl on the top and put everything into your trash bag, that you then throw out the window to my cleaning crew member down below. But I think you found the truth, these repeatable quests have a certain cap limit on how many times they can be done in a day.” Mallory said.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Sighing, I pull up the repeatable quest in question.

Daily Repeatable Quest (Crossroad Mage’s Guild): Cleaning the Guild Hall: Continue to clean the Mage’s Guild Hall of trash. Do your part to keep the Crossroad Mage’s Guild Hall clean, by removing at least one pound of trash. Rewards: Experience (10 per pound).

I did a summary of the experience gained and found that apparently the daily cap is around 10,000 pounds of trash, which was 100,000 experience overall, which when split between my two classes netted me 50,000 experience points, or exactly six levels in each class.

Experience Gained: 50,000 / 50,000

Ding.

Level up.

You class Void Healer has increased to level 94.

Your class Simulacrum Master has increased to level 89.

Looking at the room, I felt like we had done nothing. We had barely cleaned out half a million coins, or one twentieth of the overall earnings.

“Relax, we’ve got this down to a science now.” Mallory said, patting me on the shoulder. “Besides with your Simulacrum here, you won’t need to stick around to wait. You can just wait until tomorrow after shift, get your simulacrum to put the trash into these handy trash bags.” Mallory said, pulling out a stack of the bags we had already been using for the coins. These were heavy duty bags, and clearly designed to hold a lot of weight, and by weight I mean for trash. They can hold up to twenty pounds, or roughly a thousand gold coins, meaning we will go through one hundred bags a day.

“Yes, your math skills are just as impressive as I have been led to believe.” Mallory said, apparently, I had been talking out loud. I do that when I am stressed. “Relax, my… I mean, our guild, will be just outside catching the bags and continuing to help you become the proud nature enthusiast.”

“Thank you again for this.”

“No, this is one time when I don’t think anyone would mind helping. I mean especially since we get the benefit of taking the money and recycling it, effectively making our guild part of the Recycling process, getting us our own benefits and prestige.”

“Is that a Guild Title?”

“No, well I guess you could call it a Title for the Guild. We get banners that we can display, and the more banners we have, the more we have done. With this we will be one of the newest, and likely last guilds to get a recycling banner. Also, honestly, I am glad we are sort of limited to half a million gold coins a day, that gives us time to work on getting everything slowly trickling out to improve our flailing projects, while also breeding more life into our thriving projects. It’s good and has given my Ivanya the capital she needs to help our guild grow into more sectors.”

At that I must have given a confused look, as she continued. “Oh, Ivanya is the guild’s main treasurer. She is the one that finds worthwhile investments and oversees the current and future growth of the guild.”

“Oh, that’s cool. So, she has a plan for all this.”

“No.” Mallory began, but then paused, “well obviously she can do something with an influx of capital, but right now she is saying to invest in you. And I agree with her assessment.”

At that I pause for a moment trying to understand what Mallory is getting at.

Light chuckle.

“Oh, you are going to be a heartbreaker once you are of age.” Mallory said apparently taking in my appearance and deriving some form of understanding. Then shaking her head, she continues, “no, Ivanya says you are the way of the future, and so we were already ready to take you on, even before your little loophole here about how to launder stolen goods.”

I was about to argue about it not being a true form of laundering, when I realized that was exactly what it was. Worse, I was getting rewarded by the system in odd ways for having done so. I was going to look like some amazing defender of the planet when this was all said and done, only for it to be a lie. Still, what’s done is done, and I don’t think I can take back this process, nor where this title will ultimately end up.

“So, I want to make sure I have this straight, what exactly is the plan going forward?” I ask.

At that Mallory nods her head and smiles brightly.

“We power level you, by having your Simulacrum come here and empty out the daily limit of ten thousand pounds of trash, a day. This will be done in addition to her other work, where your familiar will no doubt help her with her healing and reading the books you seem to have a vested interest in reading. Meanwhile, I will take you on a whirlwind run tour of the tower. Getting you as high up as you would like to go, then once you are done, we will both head back and you will join the guild as an official member. Or you can determine that you are completely annoyed by me and say you are done with me, and I will try not to take it personally. Regardless, we will keep quiet about the sudden influx of currency and will have our own reasons for not betraying your trusts on how you happened to come into possession of so much trash.” Mallory said.

Thinking about it, I could see the logic behind everything. Regardless of whether the Midnight Hunters would want me, they have a vested interest in seeing this plan through to completion. With that in mind I could very easily see how the Midnight Hunters would want to complete this transaction.

“So, you power level me, both leveling wise and towerly?” I pause trying to make sure I said that correctly, ultimately, I can’t come up with a better way to say the last part, so I continue. “Then when we get back, regardless of whether you are fed up with me and my antics, I have a position with your guild?” I ask.

Chuckle.

“Oh girl, you are too much. Yes, I would want you based on your powers alone, the fact that I am here, versus one of my underlings can tell you two things. First, I want this done right. Secondly, that I want to see exactly how high up in our organization you would start.”

At that I pause, but then nod. I am not so pessimistic that I can’t see the logic behind someone like me. I just know that I have a bit of an overbearing personality at times. So, I must admit that I am taken aback by this honesty and transparency from Mallory. I like to think that I could in fact be friends with someone like her in the future.

“All right, deal.” I say, holding out my hand.

Mallory pauses for a second, but then seeing my hand she extends her own.

The minute our hands clasp and we shake, I am met with a message.

Personal Accord Struck: The Strength of Your Word: Would you like to wager part of your Social Attributes to ensure this accord? A maximum of 5% of Social Attributes can be wagered at a time. Current maximums that can be wagered 10 Personality, 10 Sociability, and 13 Attractiveness. By accepting the ‘Gentlemen’s Agreement’ with Mallory, you are hereby automatically wagering these Attributes.

Chime.

Seeing and feeling that, I almost forgot such a system existed in the game. This was a way players could hold each other accountable, and also part of why the Social Attributes were so important in the game. Five percent was worth ten Attributes, well, all except Attractiveness which was thirteen? Wow, that was a lot to take in, I had grown a lot socially over the past half a year, and I didn’t even realize it. I wonder if that recent growth was why I have had an easier time with completing social quests, like passing a surprise Audit by the Guild, or my ability to lay low and seemingly unnoticed during the Casino robbery.

“Well look at that, you are an up and comer, if you can generate that type of response from the system. You have never broken your word, I am impressed.” Mallory said.

“What?” I ask.

“That prompt only comes up when people who have not broken their promises enter a pact with others. It is a sign that you can be trusted. Most just go through the gestures hoping to trigger a response, but most never will. That’s good and it shows that Ivanya’s trust in you is not unfounded.”

I am about to ask what the heck she is talking about, but decide it is pretty self-explanatory really. The ability to wager and improve your attributes based on your words and a handshake speaks volumes. Here my portion of this ‘Gentlemen’s Agreement’ is simple, I have my Simulacrum fill the bags full of gold, throw them out the window at set times to members of Mallory’s Guild each day, and get both experience and bonus points for saving the planet. I almost want to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Increased Attributes, Increased Titles, and Increased levels all from working the system.

If I hadn’t been part of the process and known that this was mostly me trying to figure things out on my own from day to day, I could see how others could be confused about my being a criminal mastermind. That was why at the end of it all, I said the truth.

“Wow, I really hope you feel this way at the end of our journey together.” I state and mean it too.

“Oh, I have no doubt that I will be more than happy with you joining the guild at the end of this, but that is something I have a feeling I will have to prove more than anything.” Mallory said.

“I do have to give you credit, you don’t back down.”

“No, I do not. That is something that you will see a lot from me. Truth be told, it is also how I got Ivanya and so many others to join and stay with us. It is also why our guild is so small, but influential.”

“Well good, also know that since we are on this journey together, you are in charge of any and all killing.”

“Oh, I know all about that, your eyes are a dead giveaway for that, by the way.” Valerie said.

At that I shiver at the comment, the realize that her being a Valkyrie might have more insight into what my eyes mean.

“Say, can you tell what my eyes actually mean?”

“Yes, you have eyes that are a direct gateway to your soul. The green speaks of how you are pure of heart and have not murdered anyone or anything in a long time. Honestly, that is another reason why I want to go with you, to sort of protect you as the porcelain doll that you are.”

“Hey.”

“Sorry, that came out wrong, but hopefully you get what I mean.”

“Yeah, you have an eye fetish, I got it.”

Chuckle.

“Oh wow, it does sound bad if you put it that way.” Mallory laughed, then finally regained control of herself. “I don’t know why, but I like being with you. You allow me to be myself, at least in these moments.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to change. What you see is what you get.” I admit.

“Oh, yes, the greedy granny who will do anything to learn about magic, or right an injustice. I can fully endorse all those things.”

“Greedy granny?”

“Well yes, you do have family coming here soon, from my understanding.”

“I do?” I ask, suddenly wondering what this person knows that I don’t. Instantly my mind runs through everything and I realize that so long as I am in this tower, I cannot get information from the outside world, unlike Mallory.

“Oh yes, haven’t you heard? I believe both your real life daughter and son are trying to join.”

At that, I feel like a punch in the gut.

“When?” I ask, wondering what has happened to them. They both said they were fine, but the last I heard from them was months ago, before I even set out on entering this tower. Now that I have this, I realize I won’t be able to explore this tower forever.

“In a month or two.” Mallory admitted.

Then I realize this is it, my last and final push to get a Doctorate, as once again just like real life, my kids will likely put a hold to my educational future.

“So I have you for twenty days, well nineteen days?” I ask, suddenly realizing the dilemma I was under.

“Dear, you have me for as long as you want to climb. I will be by your side the entire way.” Mallory admitted.

And with that, hearing her voice, I couldn’t help but relax slightly. “All right, are we ready to go?” I asked out loud. My words were directed to her, but I turned to face both my Simulacrum and my Familiar Zero, who both had overheard out plans.

“Yes, you two will go up the tower as quickly as possible. Meanwhile we stay here, establishing your alibi and getting rid of any traces of the crime being able to be linked back to you.” My Simulacrum says, in a voice that sounds like a garbled recording of my voice. At least I hope that is what it is, otherwise, I have a very annoying voice, at least to my ears.

“Thank you.” I say, as I lunge forward and hug first my Simulacrum, then Zero.

Now that I am here, I can feel the pain that this causes Zero.

“I’m sorry, this is the last time without you. I just…” I trail off.

Zero just nods his snout, “I understand, you couldn’t live with the guilt if your Simulacrum couldn’t heal others the way you could, which is why you want me here to help guide her sight.”

With that I nod.

Finally, after a moment I turned to Mallory. Mallory saw the entire exchange but chose not to speak about it, this was good as I didn’t want to tell her about my unique eyesight, or lack thereof. I knew that she would likely learn about my vision problems eventually, but that would be a problem for a future day.

“Let’s go.” I said, and like that, my time climbing the Tower with a master level climber truly began.