Day 47
As early as possible, Sunalla made us head out. He suggested we go to a different location just to be careful. Yokino opened up a portal and we all swam through it, but there was something off that happened this time.
<<Alert. External magic interference detected.>>
‘What?’
The agent was alerting me to a bizarre incident that was happening to the portal.
<<Coordinates for the portal are being altered by an external force.>>
Someone was hijacking our portal’s destination.
‘Is there something we can do about it?’
<<Negative>>
‘So, we just get teleported wherever their taking us?’
Just as I asked this question, I was spat out into the ocean once again.
DING
[You have entered a place with high pressure]
[All your stats will be lowered by 5%]
[Some of your attacks will not carry the same level of power as they do normally.]
[The skill [Pressure Resistance] has gone up 1 level]
I took in a big gulp of water and prepped myself for enemies. However, I couldn’t sense any nearby. Rather, what I sensed was the princess next to me. Sunalla and Yokino were not anywhere around. They had been teleported to a completely different location, leaving me alone with the princess.
“Where’s Susu?”
She asked me as if I was supposed to know. I shrugged, trying to blow off her question. Well, I could tell Yokino’s location through the Familia function, so on a technicality I could figure out where Sunalla was if they were together. However, I couldn’t be certain Sunalla and Yokino were together.
DING!
[You have 1 pending message from Yokino]
I read the message immediately.
[Yokino: Oi! Looks like someone hijacked my portal. Probably one of the Court mages. Shitty bastards. Anyway, Sunalla and I got teleported right in front of Atlantis’ gates. Looks like it falls on you to bring her over. Good luck!]
I received a stupid message.
[Me: No! No! No! How do you expect me to do anything?! This is my first time here for crying out loud! Yokino, come and help me!]
[Yokino: Um, trust me. If I could, I would. Just hurry it up or we’ll both be executed. Just teleport to me. You can do that, right? Using me to lock in a specific destination.]
She proposed a good plan. If I simply used her spot on the map to designate a specific location for teleportation, I should have been able to do it. And given the agent's help, that should have been a breeze. Just as I was about to do that, the princess grabbed me and brought me to her face level.
“Where is Susu?! Don’t ignore me!”
She commanded. I groaned, feeling annoyed by her voice.
‘She’s back in your home.’
“Huh? So why are we here? You’re working for my brother’s faction, aren’t you? You tricked my poor Susu, didn’t you?”
I easily broke free of her grasp and sighed.
‘Listen here. I have no idea what you guys are always talking about and frankly, I’ve reached this point where I don’t care. Just don’t bother me with your self-important crap.’
I said my piece, hopefully, she would shut up so I could make my portal. However, she pouted and glared at me. I originally thought I couldn’t be bothered by such a face till she started wailing. All the creatures that were swimming about us paused in their tracks for a moment, before they started attacking one another like savages. In fact, after I heard her cry, I felt like simply going on a rage and destroying anything in my way, but thanks to [Evolver] I was immune to changes in my emotional state.
[Cry of Discord].
It was an especially rare skill amongst [Orators] that allowed for them to create chaos with their mere voice. It invoked the status [Wrath], which was an extremely potent status effect. [Wrath] made its victim go on a rampage in which they wouldn’t stop, even if their opponent is dead. Basically, it made someone use up everything they had till they died from exhaustion or an external force killed them.
I put my wings… fins? I put them over her mouth and begged her to shut up.
‘Mawstewr… she is annoying. Should I kill her?’
On my back, the uncharacteristically quiet Kawaii proposed a tempting suggestion. I contemplated the option for some time, having a full-on discussion with my multiple minds and the agent.
‘Hmm, no. Killing her would cause even more problems.’
We ended up rejecting her offer and she lied down on my back again.
‘You! Don’t act like some sort of entitled brat! We will die if that thing finds us because of you.’
I reminded her of Daxia, even giving myself goosebumps. The mere thought of what she was terrified me and that energy she possessed. Chaos energy. According to the agent, that was a form of energy that hadn’t been developed in quite some time. Rather than calling it an energy, it was more like a manifestation of one’s very will that was not very easily controlled. It was basically having an overinflated ego that could quite literally swallow you up and leave you as some mindless beast causing lots of carnage at least that was how I understood it.
The princess smacked me away from her face and wiped her mouth.
“Tsk. Only beautiful things are allowed to touch me, you filthy creature.”
‘Are you sure we shouldn’t let Kawaii kill her?’
‘Unfortunately, that would only be detrimental to us in the long run.’
‘Y-Yes. What if Sunalla turns on us and brings Atlantis’ forces against us for killing their princess?’
They restrained me yet again.
‘Ugh, whatever. You know what, princess? Go to Atlantis yourself. I’m not protecting you.’
After having had enough of her unnecessarily rude behaviour, I swam towards Atlantis. Hopefully there would be better mermaids there! Nicer ones who don’t care about a poor bird’s face. It was hard being an ugly bird. It got a princess to instinctively hate you.
‘Maybe that’s why Shiro abandoned me?’
‘Ugh, don’t bring that one up!’
‘Hmm, maybe. She did look like a princess.’
‘Don’t support her stupid thoughts.’
‘S-Sorry.’
‘Oi! Did you just call me “her”?’
‘Shhh. Keep swimming. I’m busy fusing skills. Akkun, go make more new magic spells. Now, Tori, do whatever it is you’re doing.’
‘Oi! Don’t give me orders.’
I heaved a heavy sigh. The recent days were only getting worse by the second. Goliath’s death, Minerva’s disappearance, my embarrassing display in the dungeon and now this stupid mission. And it had only been a month! At this rate, how was I going to get through a year?
Channelling a bit of mana into my hands, I tried to open a portal to where Yokino was.
DING!
[Massive Waves of Chaos Energy are preventing any magic use]
I received an absolutely terrifying alert.
‘Huh? What do you mean massive waves of chaos energy?’
<<There are large traces of chaos energy present. It would appear that something either intentionally created this space to prevent the use of magic or accidentally left residues of chaos energy>>
‘Huh? Huh? That’s bad news, isn’t it?!’
<<Affirmative>>
‘B-But wait, doesn’t that mean Daxia is probably around?’
<<Due to interference from massive amount of Chaos energy, all perception abilities have been rendered inefficient>>
‘Huh? What the heck?’
“Oi. You thing…”
The princess called for me offensively. My eyes met hers threateningly, but she didn’t even twitch.
“I apologise for my rude behaviour. Can you please take me back home?”
A few more minutes of simply staring at each other’s faces and the princess cracked.
“Ugh, fine. Let’s make a deal. If you get me back to Atlantis, safely, I will grant you any wish 1 time.”
[Side Quest: Royal Escort]
[Status: -
[Type: Time Limit [9 days remaining]
[Description: The princess, Elriek Sox Den Anon Yorul III, is asking for your services. Ensure that she arrives home safely before the Ceremonial Feast!
[Possible Rewards: 1 Royal Wish
‘Huh? A quest showed up? Ceremonial Feast?’
I was shocked by the emergence of the panel after she made her request to me. Did that mean she could forcefully use the system? But that wouldn’t make sense any way I saw it. From what I had seen, I was the only person who even knew about the system’s existence; that is if you ignore Alpha. But wait… wasn’t it foolish to think that I was the only one with a system? Alpha did say she wasn’t the only one bringing in souls. And the way she talked about system, like it was just her project for fun or something.
Either way, the system had basically confirmed it for me that if I sent her back, I really would get my wish granted. This meant I would be able to find Minerva by simply sending the brat to where Yokino was.
‘No, no. Think about it better.’
‘Huh? What do you mean?’
‘Remember what Yokino said? The Court mages did this to us, which means they want the princess dead. She has literally no power.’
‘Eh? But the system just said it’s a reward. Or do you mean the system is incorrect?’
‘N-No. T-The system should be right.’
‘What do you mean Akkun?’
‘W-Well, it says “possible rewards” but from what I remember, you don’t get some rewards because you choose not to get them.’
‘Ah?!’
‘U-Um… when we rescued Ulva. We were supposed to get 1 vampiric servant.’
‘Yeah. We got Grimm Black.’
‘N-No. Technically, he is just a vampire in our ranks, not a servant.’
‘Oh… I totally see what you’re talking about.’
‘Hmm, maybe we should add him to our familia when we get back.’
‘Y-Yeah. That might be best.’
‘So, you’re saying that we might not get that wish because we didn’t understand the situation better?’
‘Y-Yeah. But she said something about her brother’s faction, meaning he is the one with the power.’
‘I see where you’re going with this. I’d just need to deliver her to her brother, right?’
‘Wait… why not just kill her now?’
‘Wouldn’t that cause a lot of problems?’
‘Y-Yeah. First, we aren’t sure if her brother wants her dead. Maybe the court mages messed up the spell and instead of sending the princess to Atlantis, they brought her here. Also, Sunalla would get very angry. And, the quest said that she needs to be delivered safely.’
‘Um, fair enough. So, we’ll just lie to her about this deal to get her brother to give us the deal instead.’
‘Uwa! W-We sound like thugs! I don’t like this, guys!’
‘Ah! Don’t back down now after giving us the plan.’
‘Hmm, I think we should still contemplate on the plan for now. We aren’t certain about the circumstances in Atlantis for now. Maybe making the deal with her would be the best for now, don’t you think? It would end up allowing for her to trust us a bit and spill a bit of information.’
‘Ok. We will draft the plan till we have more information.’
We came to a decision in less than 5 seconds. [Multiple Minds] in tandem with [Super Thought Process] was fantastic! Although I found it weird how my alter egos could think in such ways. Maybe boredom was making them smarter? Maybe because I was distracted by lots of things I couldn’t think?
Yes!
I was smart, just that I was bothered by too many things. I just received the necessary boost in self-confidence. Thank you alter egos!
‘Ok, princess. I’ll accept your deal on one condition.’
“Go on…”
‘I’ll need you to tell me more about the current situation.’
She put her hand to her chin and contemplated it. Strangely enough, I got the feeling that she wasn’t really thinking about it. My [Superior Survival Instincts] had been bothering me ever since I met the girl. I simply couldn’t trust her, even with this deal.
We eventually agreed on it, and my side quest began.
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