Part Three

“#&#&!&!(“`÷[!,[email protected]*@`!!”

With the now-familiar unearthly screech, my laptop connected to the Lore Seeker forum. I still didn’t have a clue how this worked. All I knew was that every night at approximately eleven-thirty, according to my current time zone, the laptop would automatically connect to the forum so long as it was turned on and connected to the internet. How that worked was beyond me.

Currently, there was a drought of jobs on the forum, which made sense. After all, there were only so many people willing to pay total strangers to retrieve their stuff, and trust that they wouldn’t run off with it. We hadn’t yet reached a point where monster hunting was an established career. I wasn’t sure we’d ever reach that point.

Okay, let’s see what’s going on. Lots of talking about Australia and Kyushu. Some speculation about the incidents happening in the background. Ah, a conspiracy loon screaming about how this is all a plot to cull the global population. What do these people even think this is? Some sort of giant hoax? Then what are all the monsters? Holograms? There needs to be a filter option so I can ignore this shit.

Ah, finally something interesting. Hrm, is this true? Because if it is, then this is going to accelerate things. Well, things will get much more interesting from here on out.

***

I woke up the next morning both looking forward to and dreading the next day. I had no idea how this would play out. Though now I had another problem. Getting out of bed.

Ahhh, real beds are so soft! I don’t think I ever want to get up. Mn, maybe I can just go back to sleep? No? Fine, I’ll get up.

After a quick shower and getting dressed, I went down to the dining room where breakfast would soon be served. Alicia was slumped over the table, looking more dead than asleep. The proprietress was sitting at a different table, watching what I think is the news. That meant that Kalia was cooking again.

Seriously? Does she just like cooking? She practically forced that little old lady out of her kitchen yesterday morning. Wait, I just realized that there doesn’t seem to be anyone else working here. Is she taking care of this place all by herself? No Michael, don’t think about it. We’ve got bigger problems right now.

Kalia came out holding a pan filled with food just as I went to sit down. She sat it down in front of Alicia before taking a portion of food over to the proprietress. Alicia, smelling the food, lifted her head up, before looking around with bleary eyes.

“Mn? Breakfast?”

“Yep, breakfast. Now wake up. Hm, would coffee help?”

I wasn’t a big coffee drinker myself, but I’d known people who were useless in the morning until they’d had a cup. I’d never seen Alicia drink it either, but there’s a first time for everything.

“Mn, no cofefe. Want food.”

Okay, she’s lost it. And what’s with the cave woman talk?”

“Kalia? Can you come here?”

“Sure. What’s up? Oh, uh, Alicia? Are you okay?”

“Mn, food. Give food.”

The two of us just looked at each other, both of us completely lost. Kalia then timidly approached our resident cave woman, before putting her hand on her shoulder and releasing a pulse of magic. Kalia had actually told us that this was the 0th Grade Healing Magic Spell [Triage], which allowed you to exam a target’s health and wellbeing.

After a few moments of intense concentration, Kalia eventually broke into a smile.

“It’s okay Michael. She’s just suffering from Mana Exhaustion. It’ll pass once she’s recovered enough.”

“Wait, that’s what’s causing this? I thought Mana Exhaustion just made you tired or sore. Not, whatever this is.”

“Those are only some of the possible effects. Mana Exhaustion can cause all kinds of symptoms, not just soreness or fatigue. Like I said, she’ll recover eventually.”

While we were talking, Alicia had managed to put some food on her plate, and was now using her fork to tip it into her mouth, without lifting her head from the table. I’d say it was impressive, if it wasn’t so ridiculous to witness. She’s going to hate herself when she comes to.

With the mystery of Alicia’s behavior solved, me and Kalia began to eat as well. She’d made a breakfast scramble, something that was quick to make, but also filling. It was a good choice.

“So, how does Mana Exhaustion actually work? I’d like to understand it just in case something like this happens in the future.”

“…Well, mana functions similarly to any other nutrient or hormone within the body. But unlike nutrients or hormones, it’s not a hundred percent vital to life, or any particular bodily functions. We can use it if we have it, but running out won’t kill us. However, just like how a sugar spike will cause excess energy and then a crash, using up to much mana within a short time will cause some form of side-effect. That process is what’s known as Mana Exhaustion.”

“Huh. Kinda sounds like Mana Deficiency would be a better name. It’s a more apt description. So I’m going to guess that’s why people experience different effects?”

“Yep. There’s some common ones like fatigue or pain, but it’s not a guarantee what you’ll get. Alicia seems to be experiencing an extreme lethargic state. I’d say it’s her brain that’s suffering right now.”

“I’ll say. I’m kind of looking forward to her reaction when she comes to. Though I’m confused as to how she caused this. I know she was going to practice magic last night, but surely it should’ve passed by now.”

“Mn, made boom-booms. Many boom-booms. Then sparky boom-booms.”

“Great, her vocabulary has regressed to the level of a three year old. I just hope boom-booms mean Grenade Arrows, and not what a three year old might mean.”

“Michael! That’s disgusting. Can you please not make jokes like that while we’re eating?”

“It wasn’t a joke, Kalia. Not at all.”

“….Ew.”

***

Thirty minutes later, Kalia and I were cleaning up after breakfast. The proprietress had gone back to the lobby in the hopes of new customers since we were expecting to leave today, one way or another. And Alicia had gone back to her room to pack up, despite her numerous complaints.

The two of us were silent for a bit, too focused on our current task to talk. However, I needed to tell her what I’d found out last night. I wasn’t going to hide it, though I’d wait to tell Alicia once she was coherent again.

“You’re not gonna believe what I read last night.”

“Hm? That is hard to believe. I don’t think I’d be skeptical if you told me that aliens had finally arrived.”

“Uh, wouldn’t otherworlders count as aliens? I mean, Finnél sure looked like one. No, wait. I can’t get distracted. Now I haven’t completely confirmed this, but according to multiple people on the Lore Seeker forum, the Australian government is going to begin encouraging people to hunt monsters. It’s only a rumor at the moment, but it gained a great deal of traction last night.”

“Isn’t that just hearsay? It sounds like one of those rumors that gets started on the internet every day.”

“True, true. Except that it was on the Lore Seeker forum. I’d have already dismissed it if I’d read it anywhere else. We’ve already seen that the governments of the world are willing to use it, and that they know that it’s used all the time. Where better to announce something like that then somewhere where mercenaries routinely gather to communicate?”

“Okay, that actually kinda sounds plausible. So you’re saying that someone from the Australian government deliberately announced this somewhere it was sure to be seen?”

“Yep. And here’s why I think it’s so important. Once one country starts encouraging monster hunting, others are bound to follow. This is going to lead to something, I just know it.”

***

A short time later found us walking down the street to the café we’d stopped at yesterday. We said goodbye to the proprietress and had our gear with us in bags, as we intended on leaving regardless of what happened next. Resting for too long could lead to us getting soft. We needed to keep our edge to survive.

“Mnamnam. Hwaaaaah."

“Can you please stop muttering in my ear? And don’t nibble on my ears, it’s weird.”

Because Alicia was still in her weird, regressed state, I’d been conn-, convinced, to carry her on my back. Unfortunately, this gave her easy access to my ears, which she didn’t hesitate to nibble. I will never let her live this down. I’m going to mercilessly tease her with this once she’s back in her right mind. Mercilessly.

“Hey Kalia? Wouldn’t it be better to put this off for a few hours? Let Alicia sober up?”

“Mn, I think it’ll be fine. Gwyn’ll probably just laugh about it. It would be the first time someone made a fool of themselves while intoxicated or suffering from Mana Exhaustion. Heck, Gwyn himself goes into a manic state from it. He once rushed headfirst into a horde of Goblins because of it. It completely ruined our carefully planned attack.”

“……Did, did he scream his name when he did it?”

“Huh? No, why would he do that?”

“………..…Haaaah, I need to find someone who understands my jokes.”

“Mumbamumba. …zzz….”

“And now you’re snoring in my ear? Haaah, this day. This. Day.”

Kalia tried to hide her snickering, but I still caught it. Both of them were now going to get it. I’m this close to dropping Alicia on her ass. Seriously, what the hell is this? I can understand the low-energy, but where’s the mental regression coming from? I hope it wears off soon.

We were the first to arrive at the café, so I set Alicia in a chair, only for her to promptly collapse onto the table. A waitress soon came by for our orders, of which I wanted iced tea and Kalia wanted some fancy coffee thing. Alicia was already asleep, so she didn’t get anything.

“Hey, didn’t you leave that ring here? Won’t it just come back in your drink?”

“That doesn’t seem to be how it works. It always takes two days before it reappears. I’m beginning to think I’ll need a volcano to get rid of it permanently.”

“I, I see. Um, are you sure you don’t want to keep it?”

“No way, now how. I don’t know what it is, but it creeps me out too much to even consider that. The fact that it can follow me to different continents is proof enough of that. So, when are they supposed to get here?”

“We’re a little early, but I’d say ten to twenty minutes, maybe less. We never settled on an exact time last night. They might end up coming early like we did.”

“Hm, alright then. So guess the next thing is what we do next, especially if they don’t join us. Recruiting is hellish, but I still don’t like our chances of fighting with just the three of us. Running into something as strong as the Cyclops or Warlord would be a death sentence.”

“We could look to see if there’s anyone among those who aren’t already connected to the World System. I’m sure we could find more than a few who are interested.”

“Definitely, I’m just not sure I want to go through that effort. There’s also other issues with such a thing, like making sure these people don’t try to stab us in the back, and keeping them alive. We’d have to hold our own growth back while training them too.”

I’d done that for Cameron and Alicia before, so I wasn’t too adverse to doing it again. I just wanted to make sure I could trust the people I’d be training. I already knew Kalia would need a bit of time to catch up to me and Alicia since we’d shared ou Statuses earlier, so adding one or two more wouldn’t hurt too much. It was the people elements that frightened me.

People can be so unpredictable. Take Kalia and Cameron for example. I never would’ve expected for either of them to make the choices they did, but here we are. Hm, I wonder what Cameron’s doing right now? I hope he’s safe, at the very least.

“Haah, this is harder than I thought it would be. I dunno what I thought it would be like, but it wasn’t this. Just as things seem to get a little bit easier, they get harder again.”

“Hey, you don’t need to be so down Michael. I’m sure we’ll figure something out eventually. It’s just a matter of time and effort.”

Time we may not have. I wished I could have even a little bit of her positivity, that way I’d feel a little better about our chances.

“Garufshama! Huh? Where are we? Th-the café? When did we get here!?”

Alicia, who’d been asleep for awhile now, woke up with the weirdest snort I’d ever heard. She apparently couldn’t remember what had happened since this morning, and was shocked to find herself at the café.

“How do you feel, Alicia?”

“Uh, tired, but awake? Like I just woke up and haven’t had any coffee. Hwaaaam, mn, so why are we at the café? And what time is-. Uh, Michael?”

“Yes Alicia?”

“What happened to me?”

***

Filling Alicia in on her early morning antics didn’t take all that long. And the second she knew what she’d been doing, her entire face went red, and she collapsed onto the table.

“Wha-wha-why!? Why did that happen!? Whyyyyy!?”

“Alicia, calm down. It’s not that bad. Just think about it like you were drunk, but worse.”

Huh, I just remembered that Alicia’s not old enough to drink legally, and I doubt she’s ever broken that law. Not that it really matters. It was just an odd observation I made.

“So what happened exactly? How’d you use so much mana in such a short time?”

“…Well, last night I made a number of my Imbued arrows. Quite a few actually. I’ve got a pretty good stock-pile right now. I went to sleep to recover, and then went to make some more once I woke up. Then I decided to try making an arrow Imbued with [Spark Burst].”

“Did it work?”

“Yeah, yeah it did. But it used a ton of my mana, enough to make more than twenty Grenade Arrows. I remember putting the arrow away in my bag, then things go hazy. That must’ve been when I went down to the dining room.”

“Geez, sounds like that one arrow pushed you over the edge. Just be careful next time when you mass-produce arrows. Dealing with you was exhausting, and that’s coming from me.”

“Ugh, dully noted.”

With that out of the way, we waited around a little longer before Gwyn and Gwen arrived. The two had packs just like us, so something was bound to happen. Whether it was what we hoped or not, I didn’t know.

“Hello again. I hope you all slept well.”

“Well enough Gwyn. Well enough. It’s so peaceful here it makes me want to stay longer.”

“Haha, I hear that. Not at all what it’s like over there, is it?”

He pointed towards the coast when he said that, meaning he was probably indicating England. Over half of the country was infested with monsters, though Ireland was still safe for the time being. Scotland, though, was doing the best they could to keep the beasts out. I wasn’t exactly sure who was in charge of that defensive line, except for the fact that the Committee was heavily involved. Might be something to look into.

“No, no it isn’t. In fact, we were just talking about what to do next. We’re not exactly sure what we should do.”

“Hm, is that so? Have you heard the rumors about Australia?”

“You mean about them creating some kind of system for hunting monsters? Yeah, I did. If it’s true, then it means that things will begin advancing faster than I thought.”

“Oh? May I ask towards what?”

“…..Towards the complete annihilation of every single monster on the planet.”