[09:17 | May 04, 2035]
Fuyumi knelt down and lowered her hand until it rested on her thigh. She stared at her empty hand. To her right, Nightingale clasped his hands, locking his fingers as he sat in silence.
“Damnit… Why did he sacrifice himself?! We had it!” Fuyumi vented, as she put her hand over her eyes in frustration.
“Sure, we were in a sticky situation but that wasn’t anything new! We had it!”
No one dared to interrupt her as the party members stared at the ground in silence.
“He just had to run off and be a hero!” She slammed her fist, freezing the ground on impact.
She felt a gentle hand rest on her shoulder.
“Calm down Fuyumi, it’s not his fault. I’m sure he didn’t do it with the intention of dying.”
Fuyumi looked over her shoulder to see Malady smiling at her softly. Her long blonde hair covered her eyes. Fuyumi was surprised. Her words were reassuring and calming despite her usual timid and quirky behavior.
Fuyumi’s face turned beet red as she remembered where she was. It was only a game after all - it wasn’t like he had died in real life.
She felt a presence staring straight into her.
It was Nightingale; his face was filled with mischievousness as he held in his laughter with his hand over his mouth.
“He must be thinking exactly what I thought.”
Her mind roamed wildly as she prepared for a response to Nightingale’s inevitable teasing remark. To her surprise, he stayed silent. Feeling the awkward stares from her allies as her face was still flushed, she spoke up.
“It’s whatever, he’ll be back in a couple hours anyway.”
Fuyumi stood up, stomping on the ice that she created on the floor in her frustration.
Realizing her embarrassment, Geoff cleared his throat.
“That’s right. He’ll be back to explain himself later. For now, let’s check out what the rewards are.”
He pointed at the corpse of the boss. Unlike other monsters, its body didn’t fade away. His only hypothesis was that they didn’t collect the loot from its body yet.
The group approached the minotaur’s body, which reeked of burnt flesh. Small bits of cloth underneath its armor were still burning from Shin’s black flames. Malady shuddered and held her nose to avoid the stench.
“Let’s see… What do we have here?”
Scottie knelt down at the corpse’s waist, pulling on a pouch that was attached to a leather belt. He opened the pouch to find a small sum of golden coins.
“That’s it?!”
Malady, Nightingale, and Prezzo peered over his shoulder with curiosity while Fuyumi stood idly behind the group.
“Money probably isn’t the main prize here.” A manly voice called out from the other side of the body.
“I think there’s something more important over… here!”
Geoff yanked off a plate of armor from the minotaur’s chestpiece, revealing a brilliant sapphire orb and a golden medallion hanging from a necklace.
“Damn.” He muttered to himself.
“Let me see! Let me see!” Prezzo called out from Scottie’s side.
Geoff panicked, looking left and right. He heard the footsteps of peers approaching him. He sneakily pocketed the sapphire orb in his item pouch before forcefully pulling the necklace off of the minotaur’s neck, snapping the golden chain.
Prezzo’s head playfully peeked over the beast’s leg.
“Oooo, that looks expensive!”
Geoff held the necklace out with his right hand to show it off.
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“I’m sure it’ll fetch us a pretty penny.” Geoff said, with a big smile on his face.
He lightly tossed the necklace at Prezzo who looked at it with awe as it flew through the air before reaching up with both hands to catch it. A shadow cast over him as a looming figure nonchalantly caught it out of the air.
“Hey! He threw it at me!” The midget screamed, jumping eagerly in an attempt to snag the necklace.
“Should’ve caught it then!”
Scottie dangled the necklace over him like he was a dog begging for a treat.
Nightingale and the girls stood came out from around the corner in response to the ruckus.
“This is a nice change of pace.” Malady whispered to Fuyumi and Nightingale.
Nightingale chuckled while Fuyumi nodded in response.
“Alright! Alright, here you go.”
The warrior lowered the necklace into Prezzo’s hands, whose eyes glowed with excitement as the golden medallion rested in his hands.
Geoff smiled at his party member’s banter before looking down at the item pouch on his waist. His smile faded.
“Yeah! Some actual fucking treasure, man!”
Prezzo jumped around in excitement while Scottie laughed at him with his arms crossed. Geoff put on a fake smile as he walked back toward the laughing adventurers in front of him.
“Let’s get going back to Dragonfall, shall we?”
+++++++++++++
[10:32 | May 04, 2035]
The guild hall tavern was as full as ever as they spent some time trying to find an open table. They sat at the corner of the dimly lit room on wooden barstools with an obsidian-carved circular table in front of them. The group of six sat at the table with tall mugs of ale in hand.
“This one is to Shin for his epic attack and noble sacrifice!”
The paladin raised his mug in the air.
“And our new treasures!” Prezzo raised his cup shortly after.
“Cheers!”
Everyone else raised their mugs in unison before drinking.
Malady slammed her cup on the table.
“Paaah! Nothing beats a drink after a tough battle!”
“It’s a shame Shin couldn’t be here.” Nightingale said as he snuck a glance at Fuyumi, fishing for a reaction.
She rolled her eyes as she took another sip. Nightingale smiled as she granted him his wish.
“We’ll have another round once he’s back! No problem in celebrating twice! Speaking of which, time for seconds!”
Scottie imitated Malady, slamming his mug on the table. He raised his hand, signaling to the waitress for another drink.
+++++++++++++
[04:32 | May 04, 2035]
Geoff opened the door to his room in an inn beside the guild hall. He felt the unsettling somber ambiance of the dark room. It shouldn’t even be sundown at this time of day, and he wasn’t used to the everlasting darkness of Dragonfall.
He took off his armor, hanging it inside the wardrobe along the wall before laying down in the bed. He closed his eyes, exhaling heavily as he reminisced about the fight.
“The boss’ strength, extra arms, new attacks… Shin’s sacrifice… All of this just for a bit of experience and my own greedy goals.” He thought to himself.
Geoff opened his eyes as he shot up from the bed. He paced over to the wardrobe, digging in the pockets of the pouches attached to his belt, and taking out the orb. It twinkled and shined in his hand as he walked over to the desk, where he lit a candle and pulled out the chair.
Geoff sat down, leaning forward into the desk beside his nightstand. He clutched the sapphire orb in his hand, staring into its luminance. The orb changed hues as it took on the light from the flickering candle on the desk.
Geoff sighed as he put the orb back on an intricate silver stand.
“Goddess, what is the right choice?” He said to himself.
A cold breeze swept into the room as the window’s shutters opened. He rubbed his arms shuddering.
“Is this a sign, great Goddess?”
“Not quite.”
A cold metal blade pressed against his neck.
He closed his eyes, recognizing the cold atmosphere and voice. He didn’t dare move or turn around.
“What’s the meaning of the orb? Why did you hide it?”
“Sorry, I didn’t want to have to hide anything from you guys.”
Geoff grabbed the blade, pushing it away from him.
“Let’s just talk this out, shall we?”
“I’d prefer if you answered me straight up. Sorry doesn’t solve anything. ”
Fuyumi pushed the blade back toward his neck, lightly cutting into his skin.
“I can’t tell you exactly what it’s for. But I can tell you that it has nothing to do with you.”
“What makes you so sure about that?”
“I don’t need to tell you and you can’t stop me anyway.”
Geoff grabbed the blade tightly and pushed it into his neck. Fuyumi flinched as her dagger went straight through his neck. However, no blood was spilled.
Geoff let go of the dagger and turned around to face the assassin.
“You can’t hurt me here.”
Fuyumi clicked her tongue and sheathed her dagger.
“You didn’t think this through, did you?”
Geoff pointed at his neck with his thumb.
“No player combat in Dragonfall, remember?”
He turned around, picking up the orb from the stand.
“This will remain a secret between us. We go on as if nothing ever happened. If you still really want to know, then expect a battle between us in the near future.”
A gust of wind blew into the room, slamming the window’s shutters shut and extinguishing the candle, plunging the room into darkness.
“Still not much of a conversationalist I see.”
He crumbled to his knees with a thud and put both hands over his face in anguish.