Part Four

“Ehem, could I ask you to clarify what you mean by that?”

“Sure. To this date, seven different parts of the planet have been infested with monsters. We don’t know why or how this has happened, but I’m certain that it won’t stop here. It’s possible that this won’t end until the entire planet is infested.”

“And while the land mass lost to the monsters is probably less than three percent of the total, do you really think people will accept that it’s not theirs anymore? Especially the older or larger countries. Look at China and how they’ve maintained that certain islands belong to them. At some point, there will be a push to begin retaking the land that the monsters have taken.”

There was some shocked silence once I’d finished, but no one tried to dispute what I’d said. After all, it was something easily envisionable. The countries of the world would only stand back for so long before taking direct action. Everyone was in a holding pattern right now, unsure of what the future would bring. But familiarity breeds contempt. Once we got used to the situation, things would really begin.

“My biggest fear is that we’ll anger something we can’t handle once that happens. The zones are large and satellites can’t seem to penetrate through the dense mana there to see into them, so we’re completely clueless as to what could be hiding inside. If there are C-Ranks, then there must be B and A-Ranks as well. Why else would there even be these Ranks? What’s the point of them? I don’t know, and the System isn’t telling us. Which means that we need to figure things out on our own.”

“Before that happens, I’d like to be strong enough that even Armies of monsters can’t stop me. I know it’s a vague, unrealistic goal, but I truly feel like that’s what’s needed.”

I’d said my piece. All that was left was whether or not it had scared them off.

“Hm, I see the logic in what you’ve said. I could certainly see that happening. But I must ask, what would you do? Would you push to exterminate the monsters? Or would you be content to sit back?”

“Me? Hm.” A hard question, one I didn’t quite have an easy answer to. “I think it would depend on the situation, though I’d like to exterminate the monsters. There’s no reason to allow them to continue existing.”

“…Damn, that was kinda intense.”

“Gwen! Really, must you ruin the mood like that? Haaah, why are you such a tomboy?”

“Hmph, I just call ‘em like I see ‘em.”

I had to agree with Gwyn, that had really killed the serious vibe I’d built. Not that I’d complain about it.

“So then, do the two of you feel a similar way?”

“Hm, yes, yes I do. I will not speak for my sister, but I too wish to see the end of all monsters. Haha, I’m not sure if this could be considered a noble goal or not, but it is one I wish to pursue.”

“Why wouldn’t it be? Think of how many lives would be saved if there weren’t any monsters in the first place. I can almost guarantee that things’ll only get worse from here on out.”

“And you seek the strength to stand against that? Interesting. Very well Kalia. I’ve made my decision. I’d like to join the three of you.”

“Ahem! Aren’t you forgetting someone dipshit?”

“Aha, oops. Would it be okay for my sister to accompany us?”

“I, sure, why not? We could use the extra company.”

“Excellent. Then I look forward to working with you all.”

And just like that, it was decided. A small decision that took a weight off my shoulders. In the grand scheme of things, this probably wasn’t all that important. But I’d like to think it could be.

***

We chatted and snacked for a time after that, getting to know one another. I quickly learned that the two of them were fitness buffs, and that Gwen had been a professional wrestler. She was particularly proud of that, and spent ten minutes describing all the ways you could hit someone without actually hurting them.

Gwyn had been a personal trainer/bodybuilder, and had even won some contests, though he didn’t go into too much detail. He was also an avid reader, which gave me hope that someone would be able to understand my jokes in the future. Kalia completely missing the Leroy Jenkins reference earlier had seriously bugged me.

From there, we began to discuss our next moves, when Gwyn made an unexpected proposal.

“Before Kalia contacted me, I had already begun making preparations to go on a short expedition to further my and my sister's growth. As it is, those plans are still made, and I’d like to know if they’d interest you.”

I’d learned from Kalia that Braddock had never gone longer than a week inside a disaster zone. He’d apparently thought that the increased exposure would unduly stress people out, which wasn’t wrong, just not optimal. That may even be one of the reasons why his group failed. Or at least it was why Gwyn left the group. Maybe.

“Hm, so long as you’re not planning to run around for months on end like a certain training maniac, I’m fine with it.”

“Hey, you agreed to do that. I didn’t force you to stay there.”

“Yeah, but you also didn’t say we’d be there for three months. Two or three weeks is reasonable, months is not.”

“Haaah, whatever. You complain, but it did us a lot of good back then.”

“…The two of you spent three months with the monsters? Wow, you are crazy.”

“Er, there were actually three of us then. But yeah, we spent three months or so training and fighting monsters. Not something I’d do again unless I find a really big Dungeon though. I don’t want to spend too long away unless it’s necessary. There’s too much going on to stay out of the loop for too long.”

That was a definite possibility when it came to B and A-Rank Dungeons. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were hundreds of miles in all directions. The forest around the fort had been pretty big, but I believed that high-ranking Dungeons would be far worse.

“Well anyway, I don’t have any objections.”

“I’m alright with it too.”

“Excellent. Then I’ll fill you in on the details on the way. We’ve got a boat to catch.”

***

Dang, he sure knows how to get things going.

Gwyn led us to a small dock a short ways from the town, where a motorboat was anchored. We would be taking the boat across the English Channel, and sneaking into Southern England. I found the idea slightly concerning since I was worried that whoever was patrolling the Channel would stop us, but there apparently wasn’t anyone. There had been at one point, but since nothing was ever required of them, those resources were redistributed elsewhere. It sure made our job easier.

The boat was owned by this crusty, old fisherman dude, who called us all “a bunch of insane children who don’t know what’s good for ‘em”. Despite that, he still agreed to ferry all five of us at no additional charge.

We had plenty of time to talk on the boat ride over, so we began discussing what roles we’d play in combat. Kalia was a given, and Alicia wasn’t exactly geared for close-range combat. Really, the only question was what Gwen would do, given that she was unconnected to the World System. Though with her physique, she’d be able to easily handle F-Rank monsters so long as she was armed.

Huh, so Gwyn dual-wields too. I’m surprised. I thought more people would be inclined to use a shield in their oft-hand. I only started doing it because of the Twin Swords. If not for that, I may have started using a shield at some point.

After several hours, we finally landed in England. We disembarked from the boat, while Gwyn double-checked our pickup date with the boatman. We had twenty days until he’d come back around, so just under three weeks. That was plenty of time to train and fight.

“Alrighty, what’s our first move? Well, aside from getting changed.”

“There’s a cottage just up ahead where we can change. It should be big enough for all of us if we need to sleep there tonight.”

That sounded pretty good. None of us had bothered changing into our gear since we’d been heading for a boat ride. Falling into the water in our armor would’ve made it harder to get back in the boat. There was also the fact that we didn’t want to be seen in our gear. We didn’t want anyone sticking their nose into what we were doing here.

The path up from the shore was pretty steep, but my enhanced body didn’t have much trouble with it. I could probably have kept up our pace for an hour or so, but Kalia couldn’t. Without her magic, she was probably the weakest out of the five of us, something I hoped to remedy over the next couple weeks. She should at least be able to outrun monsters if it came to that.

“Ah! What the? Blasted voice speakin' in my head.”

“Wait, a voice? Oh, the World System. So we’ve finally entered its influence?”

I’d noticed that the amount of ambient mana had been slowly creeping up, so I’d thought we’d already entered its influence. There had to be some way to mark where it began, though it would probably take a lot of trial-and-error. Definitely not something I interested in doing. I don’t need to know how it works to use it.

We stayed quiet for the rest of the walk. While I didn’t think it was likely, there was always a chance that there were monsters nearby. We all held weapons just in case something did pop out at us. But as luck would have it, we had no need of them before we made it to the cottage. It was bigger than I thought it would be, and had a bath, two bedrooms, and a small living room/kitchen. It was definitely big enough for the five of us to stay in, for one night at least.

***

A little bit later, and we were all geared up. Alicia and I were still using the same general equipment as what we’d had in the Dungeon, but Kalia was now wearing the robe she’d gotten as her Dungeon Clear reward. While its defense was as flimsy as cloth, it strengthened her Healing Magic and mana regen in exchange. With that added to her other gear, her basic healing spells were now quite potent.

Gwyn had readied an equipment set for Gwen, along with a bag of various goodies. She’d already put the Adventurer’s armor set on, and was rummaging through her selection of weapons. Given that I really wanted a tank, I was hoping she’d pick something that could be wielded with a shield.

Now Gwyn himself wore a Vanguard’s set, which was leather armor reinforced with metal plates. It had actually been my second choice for armor, but lost because it was slightly inflexible. He also used a pair of black-and-red war axes with wide blades and a thicker back-end, likely meant for bludgeoning.

Once we were all ready, we set out intending to come back to the cottage once it started getting dark. Our first day of hunting was about to begin.