Fern Village
Everyone remained silent, breathing shallowly as the monster crawled down the street below them. Eliz covered her mouth with her hand as she nearly started cursing at the sight of the task, even in this situation.
The Mimic Illusive Corpse slowly crawled forward and peered into the building. Suddenly, it stopped in mid-movement, as if it had noticed something. The mimic's head slowly turned and tilted to the side, just like a bird's would. Then it suddenly darted forward, surprisingly fast for its size, thanks to the snake-like body.
However, Eliz could see that when compared to Grash and his cat monster form, it was slower. The Mimic Illusive Corpse quickly reached the end of the street, turned, and disappeared completely from their sight. No one moved until they could no longer hear the monster; only then did they begin to relax.
"Hell, for fuck's sake," they heard cursing at that moment, and everyone looked at Eliz, who vented her frustration verbally.
The others were beginning to get used to Lady Elizabeth's refined vocabulary, but Alobela was shaken. "My lady, that is not appropriate language for a lady," she warned.
Eliz shot her a bland look. "Perhaps, but it certainly describes the situation. A curse word like 'Golly Gee Willikers' doesn't sound right." Eliz hesitated, finding it silly to discuss swear words now.
She shook her head and stood up. "Now we know what we're dealing with here: a Rank 5 monster. What chances do you see?" She asked them, deciding to stay in the attic for now until the purple gas dissipated.
"Suicide."
"Difficult enough."
"Fighting is the wrong choice; it's best to try to get out of the illusion."
"Fifty-fifty."
There were various answers, but the last one sounded good to Eliz. She had already dismissed the System window that gave her a task with two choices: wait or fight. Eliz wondered why she had to wait for two days. Probably either rescue would come, or the monster would leave. The new Buffs were both tempting; naturally, Hypnotic Eyes would be great, but Eliz saw what the System was trying to do. The level's difficulty was Hell, but the reward was appropriate, and it would be a great match for what Eliz already had.
Eliz, however, was concerned about the wording of the quest. By her own choice? She doubted it. What were the chances of running into such danger on her first day on the road? The System must be trying to discourage her. She scrunched her chin and realized another thing. If they stayed here for two days, help would probably arrive in the form of the soldiers who had set out with the caravan. The likelihood of them following her was high, and they would probably drag her back, and Shannon would probably rot.
"Ah, that's miserable," she muttered to herself. Why did she have to fight at every turn? She looked at Raiana, who had spoken the last sentence, saying the odds were fifty-fifty. "What do you mean?" Eliz asked.
Raiana was momentarily surprised that the attention had turned to her. She cleared her throat. "If we set a trap, the chances of killing the monster will increase. But it's still quite a risk. The biggest problem right now is the gas. Once we inhale it, we'd probably fall into the illusion as well. But even that's not completely out of the question. As we've all seen, the gas is coming from the mushrooms on the monster's back. If we shield them, our chances will increase," Raiana explained.
Eliz also reckoned that with the Coordinator's achievement, they had a 3% better chance of success, and that wasn't a small number. Eliz could feel an idea forming in her mind, but it wouldn't be possible if they couldn't get rid of the gas. "Alright. Then the first task will be to figure out how to get rid of the gas mushrooms." She turned to look at Grash.
Grash's ears stood up, and his tail bristled. "What?" He asked.
"How much Dark Mana can you generate in an hour?" Eliz wondered and smiled.
Grash averted his gaze. "Um... like thumb size."
Eliz stared at him with her glowing eyes, and Grash grew increasingly concerned. "That's not enough. You'll have to try harder."
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Silk Kingdom
Capital City
Gray sat on the bed with his legs pulled up close to his body, nervously biting his nails. It was his new bad habit, and his nails were all bitten and red. It had been a few days since the incident in Sun Alley, and the capital still carried a suffocating atmosphere.
However, Gray didn't care about any of it. Currently, as someone who had participated in the fighting, he had days off, but all Gray did was worry and teeter on the very edge of insanity. His originally heroic and handsome appearance had disappeared, and his condition was getting worse. He had lost a lot of weight, his skin had taken on an ashen color, his eyes were sunken and bloodshot, as if he hadn't slept in a long time. He now looked more like someone with an addiction problem, and ordinary people would rather cross the street than be near him.
But even that didn't matter to Gray. He was in a state of confusion after completing his task from the mysterious window that only he could see. His memory was restored to 3%, but he still didn't understand any of it. In his mind, he saw several images of the city made of glass and a memory of when he was sitting at a food stall, and a lady with black hair and uniquely curved eyes called his name, Huu Phạn.
"Huu Phạn. Why did she call me that? Who was she? Where was it? Aghr! What's going on?!" He clutched his head desperately and lowered his head.
After a moment, he lowered his arms and stopped moving his body, which automatically began to sway. He took a deep breath and looked up into the air to recall the intangible window that had provided him with new text a few hours ago. Another thing that was causing him concern.
Main Quest Update! Unknown waters Description: Elizabeth Von Roseblood is burdened with the unfortunate fate of being destined to die. In trying to defy fate, she leaves the time line of the script and gets ahead of events. The future begins to show signs of disturbance, but her destiny remains unchanged. Protect Elizabeth by all means. Reward: Ending the Cycle Failure: Restarting the Cycle, Falling under Selene's influence. Side Quest Update! Be stronger Description: The Festival of Light showed that you're only strong like this. Your lack of strength will be your undoing. Go through a year of Pacifist training and learn new skills. Reward: Memory Recovery 10%, Bonus: Master Light Force Control, Resistance to Dark Magic, Nerves of Steel, NPC Number Reduction Failure: Increase NPC number, Resetting Memory Recovery, Dissociative Identity Disorder (treatable) Secondary Quest Description: Complete tasks and restore your memory and rights. Due to many failures, you have lost the right of autonomy. Through the Visitor's efforts, you have gained the chance to regain what you have lost. Reward: Memory recovery, Visitor rights Progress: Memory restored 3%
Gray bit his chapped lips and reread his quests. He had no idea what Elizabeth was doing that had changed the wording of the main assignment, and he couldn't tell if it was good or bad.
Stolen novel; please report.
Under different circumstances, he would have just dropped everything and followed her, but the side quest he was given was considerably disturbing. He was already having trouble with his own mind, but if he didn't go through Pacifist training, his mind would be completely in trouble. Mental illness? It would probably cause the higher power to mess with his head again.
If he pursued Elizabeth, his side mission would fail. But the main quest hadn't told him how to protect her; that seemed to be a concession of sorts from the mysterious window. The being who communicated with him like that seemed to care about Gray. He wanted him to grow stronger and not lose sight of the main reason why he should grow stronger.
Gray stopped chewing his nails and settled his thoughts a little. Then he got up and headed out.
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Donovan and Chad were wearing their military uniforms and walking their route. The day after the events in Sun Alley, they were all called back to duty, and the streets were full of soldiers patrolling. Donovan understood that this was mainly to make the residents feel safe again.
Donovan looked back at the other soldier who had followed them. He was newly assigned to them since Gray was assigned to the Pacifists, and it was protocol that patrols had to be in teams of at least three.
The newcomer looked ordinary, though his physique appeared strong. But he had common roots, so he kept his distance and didn't talk much, feeling intimidated by Donovan and Chad's position. Donovan had never had acquaintances or friends who came from ordinary backgrounds, and even though he had heard that there were problems, if a person hadn't experienced it themselves, he didn't pay much attention.
"Lexus, why are you so far behind? Come next to us," Donovan addressed the young man, but his words only caused the young man to break out in a cold sweat. "No... no... it's okay. I'm paying attention to what's going on in the back," he dismissed Lexus with a feeble excuse.
Chad looked back at Lexus, then shook his head. "Leave him alone," he said to Donovan and shrugged. "I guess he just needs to get used to the new team." Chad had a different perspective than Donovan on this matter. Donovan understood the nature of the problem, while Chad considered it a character trait.
Donovan didn't try to explain it to him because it would be disrespectful to Lexus to talk about him as if he wasn't there. They continued their errand, and Lexus in the back could only sigh at his fate of being put together with two big shots who came from aristocratic families at once.
A man with white hair walked quickly past Lexus, and for just a moment, he caught a glimpse of the evil-looking man staring at the backs of his two new colleagues with sunken, bloodshot eyes.
Lexus was startled. "That... Watch out!" he quickly warned, grabbing his sword because the man looked like he meant no good.
Donovan and Chad immediately turned around and faced the dark gaze of the man approaching them. Donovan immediately reached for his weapon, but when he took his attention away from the dangerous-looking eyes, he realized who it was. "Gray?" he was startled by the appearance of his good friend.
Chad also realized who it was. "Shit! What happened to you?" He exclaimed, stunned. It hadn't been that long since they had seen him, and he didn't look that bad. "We need to talk," said Gray, who looked a little relieved to be with his friends again.
Donovan signaled Lexus to calm down first, and then they took an early break and headed to a nearby cafe. Donovan wouldn't turn down his friend, especially now that Gray looked like he really needed help.
They settled into the café, which was still fairly empty at this point. Donovan felt bad but asked Lexus to sit elsewhere because they needed to talk in private. He could only hope that Lexus wouldn't feel ostracized.
Chad frowned at Gray, unable to understand what was happening to him. "What's wrong with you? Don't tell me... are you using something?" Naturally, Chad's first thought was whether Gray was addicted to something. His appearance would fit the bill.
"Chad!" Donovan hissed at him, not feeling it was the right time to push Gray.
"Don't hiss at me! I'm just asking!" Chad wasn't someone who danced around words like Donovan, nor did he know how to anyway.
Gray smiled a little and rubbed his forehead. "No. I'm not taking anything. I just can't get used to the new power. It's giving me a headache. It'll pass."
Chad seemed to accept that answer, yet Donovan was still worried. "Maybe you should go talk to someone about it." He couldn't imagine how bad the headache must have been to end up like that.
Gray nodded but didn't confirm anything.
Donovan sighed. "So? Why were you looking for us?" He asked.
Gray looked at the two of them. "You need to go see Elizabeth. I can't trust anyone else."
Both Chad and Donovan frowned at the same time. "Dude. You should give up. She doesn't want you anymore, okay? You're only hurting yourself, and chasing her like this really... isn't right." Chad said, being a little more careful with his choice of words.
He realized that Gray's condition might not just be due to the headache. He was worried that he had developed some sort of obsession towards Elizabeth, and that was dangerous not only for him but for Elizabeth as well.
Donovan nodded. "Chad's right. Elizabeth has changed and moved on. You should try it too. Maybe... have you considered seeing a professional?"
Gray shook his head. "No... no... it's not that I want to pursue her. But Elizabeth is in danger and I can't leave to protect her! You're the only one I trust in this. You have to go after her and keep an eye on her!" He glared at his friends, his eyes looking intense.
"Gray." Donovan changed the tone of his voice to be as soft as possible. "We can't just go chasing after Elizabeth. She's gone to the Blue Rose Estate. And we have our mandatory military service." He reminded him.
"Then ask to be transferred under the Roseblood crest." Gray didn't look like he wanted to consider it rationally and pressed on.
Donovan sighed inwardly. "Do you know what you're asking us to do? If it were just a matter of giving up some future position in the military, it wouldn't be a problem. But going to another noble family would cost us five years of our lives, not to mention the fact that it might cause a fight between our families and the Roseblood family. Our parents are also nobles. Do you think they would agree to us serving under a noble crest other than our own family's?" He tried to gently show Gray that this was not the way to go.
A muscle in Gray's cheek twitched, and then he ran his hands through his hair, resting his elbows on the tabletop. He seemed to get the message. Chad and Donovan looked at each other, and there was silence at the table for a moment.
Finally, Chad cleared his throat. "Actually. I might." Gray looked up at him, and Donovan gave him warning look. "I mean, I can't go under the Roseblood crest, but I could get out of military service for a while." Chad explained.
"For how long?" Gray asked, looking eager.
"At least six months. Sis has been bugging me for a while to get out in the world and get some experience and see real life. She wants me to join the Mercenary Guild and stuff."
Gray leaned forward and brought his intense face close to Chad's. "Then I'll hire you to protect Elizabeth."
Chad returned his friend's gaze. "But on one condition. You go and find a professional to help you... with your headache."
"Deal." Gray agreed.
Donovan rubbed his temples. He was proud of Chad's selflessness; this was his way of getting Gray to seek help. However, he had a feeling that both of his friends were on a completely different train of thought than he was.
He sighed. Well, whatever. As long as they were happy.