Upon hearing that familiar voice, Diegi whips his head to the right as fast as he can. And sure enough, standing slightly away from the Guild Hall on the cobblestone street is none other than Gloria, looking quite… disheveled? Her brown-blonde curly hair is slightly matted, her expression is somewhat strained, and her body language conveys great shock and surprise— though that last part may be moreso because of what she’s just witnessed.
“Sir… is that you…?”
After making her initial shriek, she quiets down and begins speaking in a whisper, almost to herself. Her eyes, slightly glazed over, tremble as she begins to stumble backwards.
Diegi, awkwardly holding open the secret stone door that had just been part of the hollow pillar’s wall, can’t do much but watch as Gloria displays this erratic behavior.
Man, she isn’t looking good. Just what the hell has she been doing? And…
His eyes go wide.
Oh no, wait a second. Hold on, she just saw me do something weird again, walking straight out of a pillar— I know what comes next.
Diegi, trying to be careful not to set Gloria off, slowly closes the door to the hidden passageway he’s just emerged from. From Gloria's perspective, however, he’s just turned a pocket of empty air into the solid side of a pillar; the bizarre sight makes her jolt.
And so it begins.
“No, but. You just came out from inside th- that pillar and of course humans cannot do that so it cannot be you sir which means it has to be.. H- has to be a phan- a phan-”
The contents of Gloria’s muttering begins to become more dire. She lifts her arms, curly hair floating in a nonexistent wind, fingertips beginning to glow with the telltale signs of mana condensation. Her eyes flash, and she shrieks:
“A PHANTO—”
“OBJECTION!”
Diegi, giving up on subtlety, holds a single hand out and dramatically points at her. Maybe not the most diplomatic pose to take, but it’s too late to change now. Then, speaking quickly with perhaps the straightest face he’s ever donned in his life, he continues to interrupt Gloria’s runaway thought train before she can really get going.
“Nope, we’re not doing this again. Gloria, I’m not a phantom. Look, I’m right here and I’m not coming any closer to you, I’m not attacking you in any way shape or form, I’m the real Diegi, I’m not a phantom and I’m not any kind of monster whatsoever so don’tattackmeorhitmewithanymorewindbladespleasethanks.”
The unprompted influx of information stops Gloria mid-cast, and she blinks. For an extended moment, nobody moves. Just a boy and a girl on an empty street, gesturing towards each other in absolute silence.
It’s like we’re actors in a play. You know what would really complete the mood right now? A big old tumbleweed, blowing right between us like in an old Western. But, more importantly…
Diegi awkwardly lowers his pointing hand and sheepishly continues:
“So… you believe me, right?”
Gloria blinks again. Then again. Then, relaxing her arms and keeping them at her sides with an obvious effort, she responds in a low voice.
“You’re… not a phantom! R- right, sir. I knew that.”
Diegi grins in relief. Gloria does her best to force a chuckle. And they both just decide to leave it at that.
#
Nothing quite like leaning against a pillar and sighing sadly every few seconds to get yourself hyped up for a death mission. Really brings out the happy vibes, relaxes the spirit, sharpens the mind, all of that jazz.
Said no one, ever. Especially not Diegi— and yet, here he is.
I’m really gonna do this, aren’t I. Ah, I wish I could have just found the guild register back in the Hall. Where’d they hide that stupid thing? If I just got to complete the tutorial and level up, maybe I wouldn’t have to even save— NO! I said I’d finish what I started, and that’s what I’m gonna do. So, like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted… by myself… First step to saving the city is…
Diegi glances over at the trembling Gloria, who’s sitting and hugging her knees on the rough surface of the street. Despite her insistence on being all right, she seems to still not have recovered from the fright of seeing Diegi walk out of a structural support even after several minutes.
Holy cow, she really isn’t looking too hot. What did this to her, the tutorial monsters? But, that can’t be it…
Diegi’s no genius, but he’s no idiot either. Well, that last part is actually quite debatable, but in any case even an idiot could see that Gloria hasn’t been in any fistfights recently. Though the girl herself appears to be in a precarious state, her clothing is still relatively pristine. Dusty, to be sure, but not battered or ripped in any major way. Plus, there’s the matter of her deathly fear of monsters… surely she wouldn’t put herself in a position to be anywhere near the fighting going on at the city’s perimeter.
But if all that’s the case, then why didn’t she just go to a protection center? No, something else is going on here. Is it because she’s…? Either way, I could really use her help right now. But with how flighty she’s been looking, how do I make sure she doesn’t just turn me down and run away?
Diegi closes his eyes and tilts his face upwards— before snapping his eyes open and suddenly donning a crooked grin. He even places a palm on his chin, just to complete the effect.
Hmm… this could work. Ah well, here goes nothing.
Diegi makes sure to reset his expression and tone, and then speaks.
“Gloria. We need to talk.”
Upon hearing her name, she yelps and looks around in a slight panic, but her eyes refocus when she realizes it was just Diegi. Judging by her expression, she’s somewhat surprised to see that he hadn’t walked away in the past few minutes, but decides not to touch on that and instead simply responds with a strained smile.
“A- ah!? Oh, my apologies. Sorry, you were saying…?”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Ya know, Paxdom’s adventurers and guards are supposed to be in the middle of a battle right now. Just outside the city walls, they’re holding off a whole buncha monsters, enough to take out the city, and the alarm has played twice now to remind Paxdom’s civilians to seek shelter. I can tell from looking at you that your nerves’ve been shot for a while, so you must’ve been out wandering for a bit. It might be a little hypocritical of me to ask, but…”
Diegi focuses his gaze directly on Gloria’s face.
“Bit of an odd day to be taking a patrol, isn’t it?”
So Diegi says, throwing caution entirely to the wind. It would be different if he was talking to Vivian or Equo, and it’s not like he wants to entirely disrespect her right to privacy, but— well, there’s no good way to put it. In reality, he knows he’s being rude by prying, but he just doesn’t care. He knows Gloria won’t do anything about it despite her overwhelming strength advantage, other than potentially get mad and leave. And, from what he’s seen, she likely won’t even do that. So, he unashamedly takes advantage of that kindness.
Gloria, like a child who’s been caught with their hand in the cookie jar, blanches slightly.
“Oh, well, I… I… I just wanted to take a look around Paxdom. I mean, um, I would hate to let anyone die…”
“No offense, but say one of those goopy monsters were to show up right now and start rampaging. Would you really fight it? Or just run away?”
“—!”
With a slight gasp, Gloria first widens her eyes but then goes silent and hangs her head. Guilt? Fear? Or something else? Whatever the case, the reaction signals to Diegi: it’s time to press his advantage.
“Oh, and by the way. I said going for a patrol, not a walk or a stroll. But you didn’t seem to react to the weird choice of words even a little. Odd.”
And then, even though Gloria’s face is obscured by being buried in her arms and knees, Diegi can tell— she stops breathing entirely. She can barely force herself to attempt to squeak out a response:
“I…”
But Diegi handwaves the beginning of her sentence with a sigh and a shake of his head.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Know what, I’ll stop pressing for now. You take walks when you want and where you want, it’s cool. I won’t talk to anyone else about it, either. But, mind if I ask about something else instead?”
“Um… yes! Yes, of course!”
Grateful for the respite from his questioning, Gloria eagerly nods.
And just like that, I’ve got her. Best way to guide a conversation is to press someone with something that catches their attention in an uncomfortable way— something they don’t wanna talk about, but can’t resist reacting to. Then, once the chat gets nice and tense, they’ll be happy to pivot to basically whatever else you want, even if they didn’t wanna talk to you in the first place. It doesn’t earn you many brownie points, but what does that matter now? I’m trying to save a city, aren’t I!?
Diegi covers his mouth, pretending to think. But he’s really just doing it so Gloria, looking up at him, won’t see the wicked twist forming on his lips.
Heh heh, hey, who said internet trolls have no social skills? It takes skill to bait people. And boy, do you learn a thing or two about being a baiter on the web. You could even call me a master baite— yeah, I’ll stop right there.
“Do you know where the Adventurer’s Infirmary is? The place where all the beat-up guards and adventurers are probably being carried once they’re too injured to fight. I know it’s near the Guild Hall, but other than that I can’t pin it down.”
Gloria nods.
“Cool, cool. I got a message for you… to carry… for me… blagh.”
Diegi had been gradually leaning over while he was speaking and slowly closing his eyes, to the point that by the end of it he was doubled over with his hands hanging loosely. Then, with a flourish— he begins beating himself on the head.
“Stupid stupid stupid stupid!!”
“Sir!?”
Gloria’s eyes nearly bug out of her head as she sees Diegi shut down like an old robot, then hit himself on the head for seemingly no reason. She can’t catch what he briefly mutters to himself— “no, gotta face shit head on, said I would, dammit”— merely watching as he proceeds to draw himself back up and stand straight with his hands on his hips
“Sorry about that. Like I said… you mind showing me the way there? And, don’t worry— before you ask, no, you don’t have to go inside. I just wanna know how to get there.”
Like nothing ever happened.
Because nothing ever happened. I wonder where that crazy guy who was beating himself up went. I sure don’t see him anywhere. Heh heh. Heh. Yeah…
_
Gloria, for her part, is entirely flabbergasted by the performance. In fact, she’s temporarily forgotten the reason she’d even walked this way in the first place. She feels almost compelled to agree to help the strange boy— as long as he stops asking his oddly insightful questions. And what he’d just insinuated, guessing what she’d ask before she even interjected… it’s almost as if he knows.
A shudder travels down Gloria’s spine. This is the same clownish, prideful boy from before, isn’t it? She hadn’t held a very high opinion of him, given his disregard for everything and everyone around him— though she’d found him tolerable enough to lend a hand to, so it’s not like he didn’t have any good traits either. He had a decent sense of humor that she’d found somewhat calming, and he… Well, maybe that was his only good trait. Or so she thought, until now. Now, she can see purpose flickering behind his eyes, faint but unmistakably present. And in his eyes, she feels like she can see herself reflected, her purpose entirely extinguished.
Perceptiveness is often seen as a good trait. Gloria would call it one as well. But like anyone else, she doesn’t like when it’s being used against her. Has he always been this perceptive? How else could he know, or at least have an inkling, that she— no. She can’t think about this any more.
“I would be glad to help, sir! The infirmary, you said? Here, I’ll show you the way.”
In her flustered state, she forgets to even ask him why he even wants to go to the infirmary, or question him about what he’s doing outside of a protection center, or finally inquire as to how he seemed to know her before she’d ever met him. All those thoughts are pushed out of her mind, and she starts to feel somewhat lightheaded. Is she feeling alright? As long as he stops asking those dreadful questions, she’ll be alright. She’ll be alright. Right. All she has to do is help with what she asks, and he’ll stop asking questions… right?
She really hopes he will.
##
“Ow! Damn it, I can’t see for shit! Ugh…”
Diegi peels himself off the surface of Paxdom’s road and brushes himself off. It’s his third time tripping in as many minutes— while he’d mostly been fine in the relatively empty Paxdom fields, being in the city itself with all of its buildings obstructing the moonlight has been quite the challenge for him.
”Huh? Are you alright, sir?”
Slightly ahead of him, Gloria turns her head slightly once she notices that Diegi fell. Even after he’s done it thrice, she still keeps reacting like it’s the first time, every time. What a kind soul. Now if only that kindness could stop Diegi’s feet from finding random objects to get caught on.
“Am I alright? No, I’m dying!”
”What??”
”Ah, Nevermind. Let’s keep walking…”
Behind her back, Diegi looks at his hands and sighs. Even without opening his Main Menu, he can tell that he’s down another health point. Yes, he lost health from falling against the stones. Apparently, the game doesn’t count that as being ‘his own attack.’ Go figure.
7/10 health left. Yeah, this avatar’s biting me in the butt again. I was so gung-ho about my second chance, but forget my mental state— is it even physically possible for me to save the city with a body like this? Ideally, I’d finish the tutorial first, but…
…He won’t be able to do that until he saves the city. What a conundrum. Unable to see a solution, Diegi decides to turn his mind and eyes to more important matters.
“From the little I can see… everything looks fine. The buildings look fine. The bridges look fine. The fountains look fine. Totally, completely fine. Not a hint of raking claws or bite marks or destruction in general. Did not a single monster really enter Paxdom?”
He mutters to himself as Gloria continues leading him through the eerily empty streets of Paxdom. Not even the sound of the emerald water rushing through Paxdom’s canals reaches his ears— because, as Diegi has recently realized, the Aventurer’s Guild drainage of the channels had apparently completed. All the waterways are now dry.
“This total lack of damage… does this mean the guards and adventurers were able to repel the monster attack after I died? Really? That massive invasion?”
“You died, sir!?”
Wha— seriously!? How sensitive are your ears!? Does she just have a high Wisdom attribute or some kinda Listening perk? I’m so jealous…
Gloria, having apparently overhead Diegi’s whispers, turns around fully this time and gazes at him with wide eyes. Once again, Diegi has to scramble to cover up his slip of the tongue.
“NO! Died?? Don’t be stupid! I meant… after I… tried! To, you know, fight the monsters? But clearly, just like before, I ran away, cause I’m here now and not dead, heh heh…”
“...sir, I’m sorry to ask you this once more. But… are you sure that back then, in the fields, you—”
Diegi cracks his neck and sighs as he walks.
“Come on, Gloria, I’ve got somewhere to be. Can’t stop and talk about every little thing that comes to mind. Or do you want me to bring up that thing we discussed earlier again? I wouldn’t mind going to a protection center and including a couple of random folks in our discussion, if you’re so eager to spread the word around.”
“W- well—”
Alright, that’s it. Time for the secret weapon.
“La la la, can’t hear you! La la la, na na na, yeah yeah yeah…”
Gloria sighs, exasperated at the Diegi’s continued childish behavior. But, despite her best attempts to appear put-together on the surface, her head’s starting to pound from all the accumulated stress of… well, of doing whatever she’d been doing that night. So she decides to simply turn around and keep leading him towards the infirmary.
Ahh, classic fingers-in-the-ears trick. Works every time.
Diegi, upon realizing that Gloria’s given up, eventually moves his hands away from his ears.
It really is annoyin’ to have someone know what happened to me out in the Paxdom Fields. Gotta find a way to deal with that. Okay, refocusing… Seriously though, could the adventurers and guards have beat all the Terries?
He sharply shakes his head, frustrated.
No, no freakin’ way. The humans’re strong, but the combined force of all those tutorial monsters should definitely have sent them six feet under. At least, that’s what it was looking like when I died. So there’s something weird going on here. I guess the absence of monsters inside the walls makes my plan way easier, but… damn it! I thought I had this whole situation all figured out!
Diegi, absorbed in his thoughts, stops paying so much attention to the city around him. So he misses it when, a few meters to his left, two glints of red light emerge from one of Paxdom’s shadowy backstreets— and vanish just as quickly.
And so the oblivious Diegi, accompanied by Gloria, continues, steadfastly on his way to the Adventures' infirmary.
Until he trips again.
”Ow! Fuck!”
”Sir!?”
If you made it here, thanks so much for reading my story, as always! Don’t have much to say for this one; maybe I’ll come back and add a yappier authors note later if I think of anything. I had fun writing it, hope you had fun reading it, and so… see ya next chapapapapa!