‘Master, if I may…’
Elroad held his hand over Shuutarou. A mysterious glow enveloped the boy, and when it faded, a slight sparkle had returned to Shuutarou’s eyes. He slowed down a bit.
‘Thanks,’ he said, now less tense.
Elroad nodded. He’d used the Calm Mind spell on his master yet again. Every time he had to recast it, it seemed as if the duration of the spell’s effect had shortened.
We have to find the girl soon, or Master’s psyche will be damaged beyond repair…
They’d been searching for Kettle together, scouring many areas of the game world, but there was simply no sign of her. Only the online status displayed next to her name in Shuutarou’s friends list indicated that she was still alive.
‘The next Prayer is still up?’ Shuutarou asked Elroad.
‘Yes. I can confirm it remains in effect.’
People were able to go past the Cerou Underground Labyrinth once the spirit and its Prayer had been destroyed, but that also led to an invasion by monsters that had been waiting behind the barrier. The allied frontline guilds stopped the incoming monsters, which Vampy and Theodore finished off. The players suffered losses, but those who survived gained a massive amount of experience points, and they unlocked access to the next area—the Sorn Mines.
‘Five areas separate the players from the next Prayer,’ Elroad told Shuutarou.
‘I don’t think it’s super likely, but Kettle could be in one of those areas, too.’
The Prayer’s barrier stopped anyone from passing through—it was certain at least that even the Evil Overlords didn’t have the power to burst through the Prayer. This narrowed down the search area to the in-game locations between the starting town and the next Prayer. However, each zone took time to search thoroughly. Dead ends, hidden locations, houses, canals—the list of places to check was overwhelming. Yet Shuutarou and his two Overlords had already finished going through the areas up to and including Ur Sluice, leaving no stone unturned.
Sylvia exchanged glances with Elroad.
Master said he won’t sleep until the search is over… We may have to put him to sleep with magic, for his own sake.
Elroad nodded, guessing what she was thinking.
‘Don’t even try,’ Shuutarou warned.
Flying ahead of them, Shuutarou didn’t turn to look at his two concerned minions.
‘I won’t sleep until we find Kettle. I’ve made up my mind about that.’
Sylvia gulped. Elroad’s mind-calming spell had already stopped working. Chilled by the realization that Shuutarou’s psyche had the power to resist even Elroad’s magic, the Overlords silently followed their master into the night.
Forty-eight. That was the number of elite fighters who’d died in the battle against the invading monsters.
“I can’t fight here anymore,” a man clad in armor said in a strained voice.
The flickering light from the torches mounted on the walls illuminated a group of armored people around a large table with many chairs. The dark room was the Adventurers Guild office, and the players had come to speak with Wataru and other top officers of Crest.
“That defense battle was insane, and I’m really sorry you’ve had to endure it,” said Flamme. “But we had to stop the monsters at all costs here, or they’d have—”
“Look, I understand it was necessary. We agreed to fight. It’d be all over if we let the invasion run rampant. But we only got into this mess because the guys from the other guilds defeated that boss without doing proper research! Shouldn’t you have, like, coordinated with the other guilds to not spring things like this on us?!”
The man was being unreasonable, basing his arguments on hindsight—but after what had happened, remaining reasonable was a tall order. This Crest member, a tank, had just lost two of his close friends. His voice was full of emotion.
“I’ve honestly liked this guild since Wataru stopped the chaos when the game trapped us. When we had to defend Allistras, I was willing to die fighting to protect the city and my friends! But now?!” the man shouted. “We stop the invasion, and the first news we get is that a lot of people have died in Calloah! I thought we were saving the towns behind us, but something killed people there… My friends—they’re now dead!”
The room fell silent.
First, there were the murders at the hands of a player killer’s gang. Then the massive invasion, and a large number of unexplained deaths all happening at once. The fact that so many people had died in such a short span of time pushed the surviving players to the brink of mental exhaustion.
Flamme hesitated whether to interrupt the man or let him talk. Alba was biting his lip, looking anguished. Wataru was staring at the table, saying nothing.
“I could understand why you didn’t tell us about the murders when we were in Ciola—they’d have wanted us to press on to clear the game. But it just keeps happening, and it’s killing my resolve to go on. If Crest wants to be a progression guild despite all that, count me out.”
The man stood up from his chair. Others were nodding as if to say they felt the same way.
“We need to progress to get the survivors out of here,” Alba told the man.
“There was nothing in that message from the Mother AI about setting us free if we defeat the last boss. I’m not going to blindly follow you without any proof that this is the way out. I’m going back to Allistras.”
A sullen mood spread among the guild members.
What counted as clearing the game? In most RPGs, the story ended when you got to the last area and killed the final boss, and that could also be the case in Eternity—but there was no guarantee. The message from the Mother AI told the players they must defeat someone, but it was anyone’s guess if it was the final boss of the game or not. Although they didn’t want to say it out loud, everyone in the room had a lingering suspicion that they might make it to the last area only to discover that wasn’t the key to get out.
Alba frowned. “So without a guarantee it’ll work, you don’t want to try to escape?”
The man scowled back. “There’s something else you need to sort out before insisting on progress.”
Alba nodded deeply. “We’ve already decided that we’ll all go back to Calloah to investigate what happened there, and we’ll only return to the front lines once we find the cause and deal with it. Does that not sound sensible to you?”
“You still want to return to the front lines? I’m not going to do that. Me and my men here will help you with the investigation. We’ll do anything to find out what killed our friends. But we won’t be coming back here with you.”
Both the man and Alba had a point, and neither was backing down.
“Nothing will change if you stay in the starting city!” Alba shouted. “Or do you disagree?! Our real-life bodies can’t wait forever for us to wake up!”
“It’s not absurd to expect help from outside the game. I’ve been thinking of the best strategy, and seeing how risky it is to progress, I opt for putting my life on the line to defend the starting city and waiting there for help from the outside.”
The man looked around the room to gauge approval.
“Who will go with me to Allistras? If you want to bunker down in Calloah, that’s fine by me, too.”
He was effectively asking who else was willing to quit being a frontline fighter. After some hesitation, about 30 percent of the guild members sided with him.
“Hmph…”
Alba clenched his fists, feeling powerless. He had to admit that the man’s stance was justified. If similar incidents kept occurring, they were going to lose more and more fighters. Moving the whole guild back to Allistras to bolster the city’s defense did seem logical, and they couldn’t rule out the possibility of help from the outside. Alba began to waver, almost convinced that what the man proposed was indeed the best course of action.
Wataru, who’d been quiet this whole time, stood up. Everyone held their tongues, waiting for him to speak.
“I will take responsibility and escort you back.”
Alba and Flamme stared at him in shock.
“You…agree with him, then?” Flamme asked cautiously.
Wataru smiled.
“There is no point in pushing on if we leave the problems behind us unresolved. If we lose our strongholds in Allistras, Emaro, and Calloah, we’ll become stranded.”
The master of a progression guild wanted to backtrack—this was a big surprise for the players who had decided to return to earlier towns.
“Since the beginning, I’ve had my eyes firmly on the task ahead of us, and this is what I’d been guiding us toward. You can be certain that Crest isn’t changing its direction. There is much to be gained by progressing—resources, information to be gleamed at towns, and a better understanding of the overall state of affairs in this world.”
The argumentative man opened his mouth to say something, but Wataru raised his hand to tell him to wait. He smiled at the man.
“I admit that my decisions have led many to die,” he said, unequipping his armor and shield.
The players gathered in the room watched, dumbfounded.
“Many of my decisions backfired, and I intend to take responsibility for that.”
“No!” shouted Flamme.
But Wataru had made up his mind.
“I’m leaving Crest.”
Everyone was silent as Wataru changed his gear to a crude shield, light armor, and a full-length hooded cape.
“There’s no…no need to go that far…”
The argumentative man was panicking. It never crossed his mind that expressing his opinion to the guild master would make the latter resign.
“I must ensure that from now on, nobody dies because of me. To make amends for my mistakes, I will henceforth patrol the areas between towns, deal with monsters that might invade our strongholds, and share information from the front line with the wider player population.”
Wataru was going to try to achieve the goals he’d laid out for his guild all by himself.
Nobody in the room seriously thought that Wataru was to blame for everything, but they couldn’t help thinking that if he’d taken the frontline fighters back to Calloah as soon as he learned about the Liberator’s killings, they might have prevented the next wave of unexplained deaths, for example.