Chapter 79: The Better Deal
“I sure talked big before the battle.” Vallis grinned, slapping Sen’s back good-naturedly, “That was a brutal strategy! As always, I’m in awe of your tactics.”
“I thought your strategy was odd.”
“Harsh. After all that praise I just gave you? I’d say you don’t deserve it, except you won.”
“What made you so fixated on the waterfall?” Sen asked.
Vallis gestured to her healer, “Kiris here has an ability that would have ended the fight right then and there.”
-------
Ability: [Primordial Ocean Manifestation]
Spell (water, zone)
Incantation: “The primordial ocean, origin of evolution, the essence of life. I bring it forth from within my being, in which it lies, undisturbed. Those that disturb me shall feel its overwhelming dignity; bear the weight of abyssal depths.”
Cost: Extreme mana
Cooldown: 24 hours
Effect (iron): Manifest an extremely large dome of water encapsulating a large area for a moderate period of time. Allies can breathe and move freely through the water unimpeded. Ally abilities are unimpeded by the water. Enemies take continuous disruptive-force damage while in the water. The effect of the ability is proportional to available water in the environment. Without water, the range and effects of this ability are greatly reduced.
-------
“Kiris awakened it from a 5-star Vast Awakening Stone she got from the trials.”
“You wanted to try it out on us.”
Vallis groaned, “A shame I didn’t get to. It would be a marvel to see you all drown. Maybe even the quickest mirage chamber match in Academy history. Instead...” Vallis sighed, “That may have been the longest one instead. Wasn’t the brilliant victory I was aiming for.”
Sen politely held his tongue that relying on a single ability for victory would not have made much of a brilliant victory anyway. A fast victory, yes, but not a particularly clever one (although Sen knew the value of simple and decisive strategies).
“I see,” said Sen, “That would have been devastating.”
Vallis sighed, “That’s the best reaction you could muster? What a letdown.”
His other thoughts would have disappointed her more. He did acknowledge that the ability was extremely powerful. It was, in many ways, a way to guarantee their team’s safety as long as a source of water was nearby, except against water-adapted foes (which made this particular ability unsuited for ocean battles, ironically).
Water affects perception distance, which would have reduced the distance teleportation abilities could travel. Other than Nara, Sen surmised the rest of the group would have been trapped by the done of water. John and Nara could survive without air, but the rest of the team would have to fight for air while also fending off unimpeded enemies.
With the mobility of enemies greatly reduced, they team could easily finish off those within the dome, or quickly leave the dome to make a safe escape.
“I was too focused on my potential advantage.” She glanced at Nara, “I need to get myself a scout. I hadn’t realized the impact of the information advantage.”
Nara’s ability to communicate over long distances was a key component of their plan. With it, Sen could account for new factors on the fly, adjusting his own strategy. Without it, splitting the team would have been risky—Vallis’ gambit of reversing the chase may have succeeded if Sen couldn’t recall his team members. He duly noted his own growing reliance on the ability, and opted to establish alternatives in case Nara was indisposed or communication abilities were blocked.
“Next time, we can fight on an open field, starting face to face,” Sen genially offered.
“Yo, Sen, how about you don’t offer up a match playing at a disadvantage?” Nara said.
“I have a plan,” Sen said.
Vallis smirked. “I would normally say I don’t need a handicap, but I’ll take you up on the offer. I’m always ready for another fight,” She looked at her mentally exhausted team, “Another day. We have a lot to review.”
Vallis handed Sen a small rack of recording crystals, “These are your copies, courtesy of the Academy.”
Sen removed one, handing it to Nara.
“This will be interesting to show to my family. I wonder if they’ll think I’m violent.”
“Why would they think that?”
“There’s this misguided notion that watching or playing violent games makes someone violent. They don’t think that, but this is divorced from who I was months ago. It’ll be a shock.”
“You don’t have to show it to them then.”
“I think no matter what I’ll be a shock. There’s no stopping that. Well…it’s true, I don’t know if I’ll show a video of me ripping apart a bunch of teenagers with a sword, even if it’s all an illusion. It’s definitely not family friendly.”
Nara put the recording crystal in her ‘Maybe don’t show to the family’ section of her recording crystal storage.
Encio was stunned.
He saw Sen Arlang in an entirely new light.
Encio had heard rumors of the prodigal son’s tactical acumen (even earning himself a tidy nickname), but many of Sanshi’s newest pseudo-noble generation had a moniker in one way or another. It didn’t particularly indicate competency (Encio’s investigations were thorough enough that he knew Sen’s did.)
Small scale strategy wasn’t a particular focus of essence user battles, beyond what every team normally hashed out (protecting the healer, how to retreat in a variety of circumstances, fighting a target a rank above you, etc.) At iron rank, anyone could die if a blade so much as looked at you funny. Getting into the nitty-gritty specifics was more or less a waste of time when a stab to the gut would get the job done. Overall strategy and developing a well-oiled and instinctive teamwork was the basis of high and low rank combat. And while overall strategy was important, when a single ability can shape the tide of battle, like Kiri’s Primordial Ocean Manifestation, it was that instinctive teamwork and quick reaction that kept teams alive. You couldn’t develop a counter to every strategy, although mirage chambers helped with exposure.
At higher ranks, the individual essence user mattered less. Silver rank was the bread-and-butter of the adventure society, the ‘useful rank’. A silver rank team could defeat gold rank monsters and steamroll lower ranked enemies, and silver rankers far outnumbered gold rankers, who were esteemed and few and far between (although gold rankers were still practical to call upon, compared to diamond rankers, who you didn’t call upon, because they weren’t the sort of people you ‘summoned’. They summoned you). It became less about what each ability going off could do (because there were always abilities going off, you were expected to just adjust to them), but about group objectives—what target needed to be destroyed, who was running a distraction, what location needed defenses.
What enabled Sen’s tactical ability to shine was Nara’s Party Guide. Telepathic communication meant he could make quick adjustments to battle strategy.
When Nara made the mistake of running from Gento because of Hugh’s chains, Sen capitalized on the grouped enemies and had Encio to annihilate them all, with Aliyah’s timely judgement. Then he told Eufemia to reset his cooldowns at an opportune moment.
His original strategy of a drawn-out battle benefitted from Vallis’ slow decision making while emphasizing Nara’s growing power. Had Vallis sent Gento and Jaina to pursue Nara earlier, Nara would not have built up so much power from her repeated engagements. Without her built up power, she would not have survived Gento and Jaina both. Without Nara, he may still have managed a win, but Encio was an intensely mana-expensive essence user. He wouldn’t last after his burst expense of mana. He’d have to rely on himself and Eufemia to defeat Gento and Jaina. Who would win that engagement was a toss-up (although Encio was relatively confident to beat the two of them, even without Eufemia).
Sen was younger than Encio by a few years. Encio knew better, but it had unconsciously colored his judgement. He thought Sen was young and inexperienced (he still was), but he had a lot to offer. Not quite a diamond in the rough, but something in between.
Despite his inexperience, Sen was a thorough thinker. He could deftly apply theory to practice, a rare attribute that those of any age struggled with. While his sister helped them practice, he was making his own observations about the strengths and weaknesses of each team member. He filed and stored them away, then adjusted trainings and hunts to address those observations, strengthening the strengths and smoothing away the weaknesses. In the workings of his mind, Sen Arlang was quietly methodical.
It was a team of circumstance with Sen himself with the weakest circumstantial link. John and Nara were paired for their outworlder origins, with Encio and Eufemia as their plus ones, but Sen and Aliyah had little reason to pick this team specifically, even if Sen had proposed it from his side first.
Encio found himself more attached to this team than he thought he would be, not just Nara who he originally teamed up with.
Despite what Encio originally thought, Sen didn’t unilaterally gain the better deal.
He couldn’t help his grin.
*****
The team had only so far accepted one-star contracts; one star contracts were relatively simple kill quests. Two-star contracts required nuance and investigation. Three-star contracts were politically involved, and reserved for adventuring teams that the Society trusted had the subtly to handle them.
Encio himself was a three-star adventurer, which enabled the team to take them on if they were any three star contracts to accept in the first place.
The team inspected the two-star contract board. Nara felt a bit like she was a fantasy adventurer from a RPG game, until she realized she was a fantasy adventurer in real life.
“How about this? ‘Escort of Magic Beast Egg Shipment Caravan’?’ Or…” Eufemia pointed to another contract on the wall, “’East Sea Village Reclamation’?”
“Hmm…” Sen mulled over the contracts. Ideally, he wanted one that would challenge the team in unique ways. An escort fit the bill, but his eyes were drawn to another contract at his periphery.
Eufemia followed his gaze. Sen noted that she was adept at tracking sightlines and attention. Most people weren’t very good at hiding what they were looking at; it was a useful skill to have.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“…Adventurer Body Retrieval Investigation. You’re thinking about this one?”
He was, but Sen shook his head.
“Why not?”
Again, she had discerned that he was interested, and instead unwilling.
“When adventurers die, the situation is indeterminate. How they died, what killed them…”
“It’s confirmed danger.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s see…” she said, her eyes glancing through the information offered by the contract, “It’s recommended for at least a team of three. I don’t see the issue with a team of six.”
“I’m in favor of retrieving the body,” Encio said, “Families deserve the return of their body. A resolution. If others haven’t taken it, we should.”
“I agree,” said Sen, “But the danger is higher.” He turned to the rest of the team, “What do you all think? Should we take on this contract or not?”
John, Nara, Eufemia, and Aliyah crowded around to look over the details.
A few days ago, an adventurer’s membership card indicated they had died. They were on a contract to hunt some monsters in near East River Quarry Village. Initial investigations found the membership card, but not the body.
“Either he lost his membership card, or someone took it from him,” John concluded.
“Yes,” Sen said, “The probability of human involvement is high.”
“Anyone with an inventory wouldn’t lose their membership card. Most would store it in a dimensional pouch. Did they find a pouch or bag?”
John looked over the details, “No bag turned up.”
“When you die, you don’t just lose everything in your inventory to the void, right?” Nara asked.
“When adventurers die, a looting ritual is used to remove everything from their dimensional inventory if they have one,” Aliyah explained.
“So,” Eufemia concluded, “Someone stole the pouch and dumped the card. No doubt—the culprit is human. I don’t know of any monster that can do that.”
“You don’t know that many monsters,” Encio said.
Eufemia rolled her eyes. “I am taking classes Encio. I can generalize.” Eufemia picked up on Sen’s emotions, finding that he had long made the same conclusion, “That’s why you’re hesitating to take this contract. We might have to deal with…people.”
Sen nodded, “Encio and I have adventurer upbringings. We’ve dealt with human enemies.”
It was clear from Sen’s expression what ‘dealt with’ really meant.
“The rest of you have not. I believe as an adventurer it is inevitable that we must confront the malice of humans. Those that walk this path take the lives of others in our path to save others. However—” He pointed to the contract, “—Neither should we do beyond what is necessary. The adventurer in question is already dead, and no additional lives are at risk, as far as we know, the contract is not urgent. The culprits roam free, but only for so long. Should be leave this be, another group will take up the task.”
“I thought you’d say it’d be better to experience it now while the stakes are low than hesitate later.”
“Hesitation in the face of death is natural. I can only hope that hesitation is not a costly mistake.”
Nara looked towards John, who she related most closely to in culture, ethics, and morality. She hadn’t directly seen anyone die yet, although she had heard some adventurers died during the trial.
Had it been John back on Earth, he would have been similarly conflicted. However, he had spent a few months in Nekroz in the sewers of society together with Eufemia. While he had not killed anyone, to him, dealing with the dead was just another trans-dimensional Tuesday. In a world where most were illiterate, John’s ability to read, write, and speak all languages was useful enough to keep him alive in Nekroz. Leveraging that ability, he’s managed to keep his hands relatively clean. While his hands were clean, his eyes were not.
His eyes were steady.
“We should give it a shot. The contract says they don’t know where the body is, which means they may need the services of a certain adventurer-detective,” John said, resolutely patting his chest.
“That’s how you’re going to style yourself now? Adventurer-detective?” Eufemia scoffed.
“Aren’t you an adventurer-actress?” He then pointed to Nara, “You’re an adventurer-inventor, Aliyah is an adventurer-researcher.”
He paused at Sen and Encio.
“Adventurer-tamer?”
“I haven’t tamed Caspian. He is not my pet; he is my bond.”
“Sorry about that. Adventurer-tactician, if you will.”
Sen was satisfied with that.
“Encio’s an adventurer-grandson then,” Nara said.
“You couldn’t think of anything else?”
“Adventurer-gambler?”
“That isn’t very flattering.”
“Adventurer-gamer?”
“Somehow, I don’t like the way you said that.”
“Adventurer-flirt?”
“I’m not a flirt.”
The team stared at him.
“You aren’t?”
“Is he joking or serious? I can’t tell.”
Encio rolled his eyes, “Just because I smile pretty doesn’t make me a flirt.”
Nara narrowed her eyes, “But if you’re aware that you smile pretty, does it make it flirting?”
“You have an awfully low bar for what constitutes flirting.”
“Do you consider yourself a low bar?”
Encio’s mouth quirked up, “No.”
“Q.E.D.”
Nara’s smile was insufferably smug.
“Stop smirking like that. That doesn’t mean anything.”
“It does. You proved my point.”
“You just said a bunch of letters like we’re supposed to understand what they stand for.”
“Please, you and your diamond-grade education can’t deduce what it means?”
Encio pouted.
“You can, can’t you.”
“I can,” he relented. “Don’t tell me about ‘context clues’. I know what it means.”
“Sounds like you’re the adventurer-flirt for the foreseeable future,” said Eufemia, also insufferably smug.
“You’re more of a flirt than I am,” Encio countered.
“My flirting is an act, Encio. I want your watch, not your heart.”
“My wat—”
He glanced down at his wrist. His watch was still there.
“Made you look.”
But in her hand was a rather familiar necklace. His necklace.
“Get a hobby, Encio,” Eufemia said in mock singsong, “Or maybe I should call you adventurer-victim?”
“Don’t cry to me when I get better at pickpocketing than you are and you lose your place on the team,” Encio challenged.
“You’d just be the adventurer-thief then. Is that what you want?”
“I think thievery isn’t the only thing we’re competing in,” Encio said.
“Is that how it is?” Eufemia said, challenging.
“Ladies. Gents. You’re both lovely,” Nara said drolly. “Can we get back to the contract?”
*****
East River Quarry Village was easy to access, thanks to the river that ran to the west of the village. The village itself was situated between the river and the ocean, serving as an intermediate hub for ocean transfers to Sanshi as well as their own industry, namely stone mining and processing. Sanshi was situated on a bay, flanked by a peninsula on its east side. For smaller shipments (or expedited shipping), it was quicker to cut across the East River Quarry Village (or any other intermediate shipping village. The East River Quarry specialized in stone transfers) and charter a shipping ferry along the river down to Sanshi.
Resources from nearby spires were harvested and sent down barges to other villages, which eventually made their way to city. Proximity to the river also meant easier trips from adventures so river towns and villages enjoyed relative safety.
Sen contacted the village’s representative that was sent to receive them. Such a large party of adventurers was rare in these parts, where monster manifestations were weak, infrequent, and cleared out on the regular.
“Here’s his badge,” the representative said.
“Roan Sei,” Sen read out, “Iron rank, 1-star adventurer.”
“Roan is…was an adventurer born of this village.” The representative struggled for a moment, fighting against emotions, but managing to maintain his calm. “Please find his body and bring it back so we may lay him to rest.”
“Roan Sei? Like the Nisei?”
The representative shook his head, “Many of us are distantly related to the Nisei, so distant that we may as well be an entirely different family.”
The six families were old families, with many in both their main and branch families. So long had passed that variations of their family name was long common, much like the last name Smith. The East River Quarry Village was near the main territory of the Nisei, and many of them adopted surnames with similarities to the Nisei.
The representative guided them to their accommodations, a suite in an inn dedicated to adventurers. The lodging was humbler, worn but well-kept. The team gathered around a large table as John organized their findings.
“The adventurer Roan often took solo contracts near his home village. He was the one clearing out the boards.”
“He kept his hometown safe,” Sen said.
“It’s a tradition in this town to create a fund to essence up a few people each generation. For a town of this size, it’s around two or three adventurers every two decades.”
“It’s a tradition for many small towns,” Sen added.
“For communities smart enough to work together,” Encio said. “Many rather keep the essence to themselves, and split 6 essences between 6 people than 6 essences for 2.”
“It’s an investment,” Sen acknowledged. “A well-trained essence user can bring great wealth back to a town.”
“If the town was smart enough to write a contract.”
“Personality is an important factor in who they choose,” John explained, “If they don’t choose well the adventurer in question may try to get out of the contract, or do the bare minimum, or stagnate at iron rank.”
“If they don’t get past iron there isn’t much wealth to be had,” said Sen.
“Sounds like an evaluation based on past mistakes,” Nara said.
“They used to give them based on the influence of the families, like the chief’s son, but that ended up backfiring. Got themselves killed to often, and abandoned the village if they managed to make it. This was before the contracts, but it’s still imperfect. And you can’t enforce a contract on someone on the other side of the world, or one that chooses under-the-table or less-than-legal avenues.”
“Can you get on with the point John? How’d this guy get himself killed?”
“As we suspect, it’s likely by the hands of humans. Bandits. Back at Sanshi, I looked through the archives and records the Adventure Society keeps of how every adventurer dies. This world is unexpectedly rigorous with record keeping.”
“They have a goddess of knowledge, so I guess it’s part of the culture,” Nara mused.
“In the Shian region, there’s around twenty adventurer deaths over the past year where no body was found or recovered. I’ve separated the events to determined the ones most likely connected—team deaths, high rank monsters, local wide scale disasters, and other unique events were left out.”
John tapped the papers. “My theory is that there’s been a group of iron rank bandits going around killing and looting solo adventurers. They make a rotation in a moderate area to keep their tracks hidden. Roan is the most recent victim in their circuit.”
“So? Do you know where the bandits are now?” Eufemia asked.
“I’ve done some digging together with Sen,” John said, spreading out a new, smaller map of the immediate area. Nara’s Guide Map was useful for combat, but less useful for investigations. It unveiled itself like fog of war, so identifying points of interests was difficult without additional input from an outside map.
Map crystals that could be absorbed to interface with information powers was common in Erras, but a village like this didn’t have the resources for that sort of expensive magic. Nara’s Map updated itself with maps she added to the archive, but she couldn’t interact and add to her archive maps like she could a physical map.
“East River Quarry Village was built by the survivors of an older village to the north that was overwhelmed during a monster wave. The ruins of that village are here—” John pointed to a location slightly north of East River Quarry Village, “—It’s likely the bandits have a base in these ruins.”
“It’s no wonder Erin Nisei values you so highly,” Encio said, “This is impressive. Few adventurers are suited towards investigation contracts.”
“Much easier no-thoughts-head-empty and kill monsters,” Nara said, “I completely agree.”
“During the trial you displayed a remarkable understanding of the kinematics,” Aliyah said, “Are all people from your world like this?”
“Like what?”
“Erudite.”
“I want to say John and I are above average for our world, since we’ve both made it through university.”
“Nara has a degree in engineering, so she should be smarter than me.”
“No, but you’re way more patient and much better at practical intelligence,” Nara said, “I’m book smart but you’re both street smart and good with information.”
“I’m not sure what this degree you mention is,” Aliyah said.
“You pay a lot of money to an institution for a piece of paper that says you’ve paid enough money to be hired for certain things.”
“That’s rather reductive,” John said, although by his tone he didn’t disagree.
“I’ve worked harder on my adventurer training than I did in four years of university.”
“There is a difference in stake,” John said reassuringly, “Life and death is a real kicker to the arse.”
Nara wondered if Amara had her fight the wolf as a way to jumpstart Nara’s enthusiasm. Maybe it was not such a spur-of-the-moment enemy. Nara had long given up on trying to understand Amara’s thought process. Sometimes she wonder if there was a thought process, and her words of wisdom were to cover up the fact she hadn’t been thinking at all.
“It’s a bit late to go today. Tomorrow we should head to the ruins and search them,” said Sen.
“Won’t the bandits escape by then?”
“Maybe, maybe not,” John said, “Either way, fighting in the dark in what could potentially be the bandits home turf is a risky proposition.”
Sen nodded, “We head out in the morning.”
“For better or for worse, the contract is only for the body,” Encio said, “Not for wiping out the bandits. We can give the Adventure Society our findings, and they’ll send out a team to scout where the bandits will most likely go next. Once that’s verified, they’ll put up a bandit kill contract.”
“Kill? Not capture?” Nara asked.
Encio shrugged, “You could capture them if you are able, but most adventurers don’t. It’s risky to leave them alive, especially if they are essence users. Kill the ones that fight back, and capture the ones that surrender.”
“Y’all hardcore,” Nara muttered, unsure of what else to say. They were getting awfully close to broaching her last holdout. It was basic, it was obvious, it was cliché—but she couldn’t help the apprehension of the thought of killing someone. Even accidentally killing someone was scary, like slamming on the breaks when a pedestrian darts across the street in the middle of the night, shooting adrenaline through the veins and flashes of unpleasant ‘what ifs’. Did the fact that they were bandits assuage her nerves? Was she logical enough for that to matter?
“John is right. Life and death is motivational. Moreover, you have morality and the law on your side. There’s no reason for hesitation or guilt,” Sen said.
Encio narrowed his eyes. This was one of those things Sen was too inexperienced to understand, in the opposite direction. He’d grown up too used to battle. He may logically understand Nara and John’s hesitation, but Sen didn’t get it.
“I guess it’s one of those ‘won’t-understand-until-you-do-it’ things. Like SCUBA diving.”
“Is that really one of those ‘don’t-understand-until-you-do-it’ type of things?” John said, aware that Nara was redirecting the topic but thankful nonetheless. While his reservations for the lesser forms of crime had worn thin from the perils of Nekroz, he shared Nara’s reluctance and pervasive hesitation.
“Have you SCUBA dived before?”
“I haven’t. I’d like to try.”
“You don’t have to breathe John; You don’t have to try.”
“You’d say that wasn’t the point,” John countered. “The point is to try it out and enjoy it. We may have ways around it, but the experience is still fun.”
“What if you get back into the habit of breathing again? Do you think you can get back out of it?”
John scrunched his nose.
“You think I’d have to drown myself next time?”