Save Point

Tara looked up at me, her face flushed.

Adiel, the maids and Rumel followed suit, being the happiest to see us.

They were silent, surprised to see us coming. Tears sprang to my eyes and I continued, bowing in respect to all of them.

“You couldn’t have failed her! Those two fools didn’t treat anybody fair, neither here, nor in the court! Their kind weren’t afraid to blackmail and guilt-trip others! Anyone would’ve been afraid to act against them in your shoes, even I would’ve been!”

I lifted my head in fear, but then I saw the Tavern Keeper step up to me. It was like she recognized me—maybe by my voice—but she wasn’t sure. The only thing I caught in her eyes was trust, and that alone was enough

“I appreciate your kind words, my friend. You have no idea how much it means.”

Tara looked at the three of us. From me to Mineruva, and then to Lupa. She frowned slightly as she looked at her armor and sword, but then softened when talking to me.

“But you’ve already helped me far more than I can repay. Even though no one asked you to take such a risk for her, yet you took this hardship upon yourselves.”

She pointed to the table.

“Please, sit down and tell us your side of the story! And if you don’t mind, a bit about yourselves too, since I realize I haven’t seen you here before.”

The three of us nodded almost simultaneously and took seats next to Rumel on the comfy wooden benches, and I still couldn’t believe I was actually there with them.

“My name is Michio Hiroki. I’m originally from the East, being a kind of wanderer.”

I couldn’t tell them the truth either.

Man, this is the only thing I hate about Leclaire. You can’t just say you’re an ordinary guy from another world, just visiting. Everyone will either freak out or think you’re a freak-out!

“My name is Mineruva Bathory, Michio is a close friend of mine, we are both skilled in certain magics.”

Lupa introduced herself a little shyly. It was as if she sensed Tara’s doubts, since Rumel had been taken by knights like her.

“I’m Commander Lupa Ti Bery, the current head of the knights of the Capitol. Though... since we broke Rumel out, they probably already think I’m a fugitive.”

She paused, not being that much troubled by the thought.

“Not that it matters to me anymore. As for those two knights, they got their fair due when they tried to fight us. I delivered their share myself.”

Tara's eyes softened as she listened to Lupa.

I felt sorry for the poor girl, but now we knew she was different. Plus, her willingness to help us in the Imperial Court gave her a chance to be seen of as more than just another knight.

“I shouldn't be thinking ill of any of you, no matter where you come from or what your role is. All three of you are honorary guests from now on, as you’ve done us a favor bigger than imaginable.”

Honorary guests? You have any idea what that means?! It’s practically being best friends with a convenience store owner, but even better!

“You’ll stay a little longer, right?” Adiel managed to slip the question in. “Rumel and I would be delighted.”

The cat-girl next to us nodded wildly. Geez, she’d better not get dizzy.

“So would I!” Tara added. “Especially, I suspect—only a guess of course—that it’s still unclear where you’re going from here next.”

“Oh?” the maids asked quietly.

I looked uncertainly at the others. While Rumel smiled with twinkling eyes, I knew Mineruva and Lupa were right about we needing a place to talk, eat, bathe and sleep. We needed time to get ourselves together, since Lupa really had nowhere else to go.

Mineruva carefully stood up and spoke for us. It seemed we all agreed.

“I'm afraid you’re right, we’re in need of some rest for a few days. We’d like to take the offer, Lady Tavern Keeper.”

“Yesss…” I heard Rumel whisper.

“Come on, dears, you can call me Tara if you like…” she gestured to the maids across the room. “Anything you need, just let us know and it will get done. You’ll always be welcome at Ente & Ovia.”

◆ ◆ ◆

I didn’t care that the bathroom was considered medieval, it was an absolutely awesome experience.

I stood in a small wooden cubicle, hot water dripping from a pipe, and I felt every little drop of it along with all the steam clouds rising.

Oh well. If the Tavern Keeper is half-dragon, heating water is a piece of cake.

A couple of hours had passed by since we told Tara and Adiel what happened at the Capitol, skipping all unwanted details of course.

“So... After you guys used magic to get out, that thief showed up?! The one who stole from her last night?”

“That's right,” I said. “The Birdman, the figure in the mask and robe.”

“Did you beat him?!”

“Will he come back?!”

Rumel and Adiel asked two separate questions at the same time. Rumel asked out of worry, Adiel out of uncontainable excitement.

“We beat him, and he won’t come back.”

Tara wasn’t very satisfied with this, and I understood what she might’ve been thinking.

“What was his reason at all, returning a second time?”

Mineruva sighed heavily. It wasn’t so easy to put it all into words.

“It’s likely that whoever hired him didn’t like that we prevented their goals, so they sent him to get revenge on us.”

“Revenge,” I pondered.

This all sounded so unreal, letting loose a puppet to finish the dirty work.

“It was a perfect crime where all the evidence pointed to her. Sure, it wasn’t true, but that doesn’t change the fact that Birdman’s employer would’ve been satisfied if she had been executed.”

Just thinking about the Birdman seemed to trouble Lupa

“I’ve never met him before, nor the magic he used,” she said. “He was pretty scary.”

“Dark magic... I’m truly sorry we had to expose you all to it.”

I could see the shame return to Mineruva’s face from yesterday.

I was about to say something when she seemed to get a notion.

“That reminds me—Tara-sama?”

The Tavern Keeper turned to her, all ears.

“Is Ente & Ovia protected against dark magic?”

“Well dear, I don’t know exactly, but we're protected against anything that harms dragon magic. I covered the place with the runes of our kind when I bought it.”

Mineruva mused, ruffling her hair.

“Just in case, may I have permission to fortify the tavern with an extra layer of magic?”

Tara widened her reptilian eyes in surprise.

“Would you be able to do that?”

“Certainly. You’re still sheltering fugitives in the eyes of the Empire, and thankfully we won’t be found easily, but may I compensate you for your troubles by providing protection against virtually any magical threat?”

Tara was speechless for a few moments, blushing.

“Well, that’s extremely thoughtful! Frankly it might even come in handy! Are you sure you can do it? You mustn’t overwhelm yourself, whatever you’re up to.”

Here Mineruva was in her own capricious good mood now.

“That’s not the case at all, I’d be happy to do it! I won’t overwrite your enchantments, merely reinforce them against dark magic and curses just in case.”

“Well, I’m not against it. Let’s see what you can do then.”

Tara then led her away excitedly, not far from the entrance. Lifting my head up, I could roughly see that they were checking one of the top beams, which I think had something carved into it.

Those must’ve been the runes. With a few swipes, Mineruva made a couple of new ones there, which flashed gold before fading.

“Gods, you have so much potential!”

She flushed, even though she was literally a goddess with much more power to showcase.

“Thank you so much, Tara-sama!”

Yet I had the feeling she wasn’t complimented for a long time, and it showed. She looked so proud—and I was proud of her too.

By this time, it was getting dark, and the guests were slowly leaving, only a few people remained. Tara told the musician to play something softer on the lute.

“Okay, I won’t bother you, dears, you’ve already done me the honor of telling everything, and the rest is everything but easy for me to express. So what’s next before bed, may I ask? Dinner? Hot bath?”

“Oh, I’m already hungry just by hearing ‘dinner’,” Lupa said. “And I suppose we could take a bath in the meantime.”

“Yeah, you guys have to try it!” Adiel said.

“Agreed. It's lovely,” the cat-girl added. “Even for someone like me who hates water most of the time.”

Silently, Mineruva and I both let out a nice, contented sigh.

Finally, a bath!

Hearing that, Tara clapped her hands together.

“Perfect! Feel free to choose anything from the menu, we have plenty of everything! In the meantime, I’ll heat up our water! I always do it anyway, but that’s part of why I never get bored!”

◆ ◆ ◆

Luckily, I was the last one to shower, letting me enjoy the hot water the longest before I headed back to our table.

In the meantime, a couple of evening guests came in, and the maids brought them food and beer. They were also very loud, which worked to our benefit during our talk.

The whole tavern was filled with delicious smells, and I was drooling when I discovered that the best of the goodies were coming from our table.

Yesterday’s stew, bread, meats and salads were on the platters, and among them were some I’d never seen in real life! Sausages, pork, fish, and dozens of spices. Everything was steaming, and I could hardly stop myself from diving in head first.

Lupa and Rumel were already there, the former without her armor in black dress, the latter in her maid outfit. That left Mineruva, but we couldn’t start without her.

Still, it felt good to sit down and take in the cozy feeling of the tavern for a few minutes before the serious stuff again. I was a little nervous, I won’t deny it, but it didn’t stand a chance against all the kindness that greeted me here.

Now we had a place we belonged, and were protected by magic against everything.

In game terms, we finally reached our Save Point.

Not in the usual sense, of course, since the System had no saving features. There was no way to pause the flow of time or reverse it. Not by opening the menu, exiting the app, and probably not by compressing a snapshot of it into a save-file either.

No, this Save Point wasn’t permanent, but it was still a record of how far we’ve come.

Four of us in a tavern in a different world, far from everything I previously considered normal, hours after a legit rescue mission and sudden ambush.

A Save Point like this was all we needed right now.

Barely ten minutes passed, and then Mineruva appeared, hopping down beside us.

With all of us at the table, as if a starting gun went off, we dug in.

I can't describe the variety of flavors that Tara’s stew and everything else caused. It was a real symphony, after every bite I just wanted more!

I tried all the meats and salads with all the spices, and by the end my mouth was burning, but I wasn’t bothered—I loved spicy stuff.

The System wasn’t lying stating that all five of my senses as an avatar worked exactly as they did in real life!

As much as I couldn’t get enough of the taste, after a while I could feel myself getting full until I couldn’t eat any more. I saw the others were full too.

“Well,” I began after we finished eating. “If you have any questions about today or us, we’d be happy to answer them the best we can. We’ll also be making a plan after that.”

Lupa and Rumel looked at one another, slightly worried but trusting. The knight-girl cleared her throat.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to hear where you actually come from. Surely you couldn’t have told Tara-sama everything. What’s the full story?”

Clever, straight to the point.

Mineruva looked sideways at me, confirming that I really should be honest. We weren’t in front of a hundred judges now.

“I’m indeed from the East, just... not of this world. I come from outside Leclaire.”

They were stunned, not because of what I said, but that I wasn’t joking.

“Wait, you mean the same world the Gods of Integrity are from?!” Lupa slammed.

“No, I don’t think so. I’m from the same kind of world as this one, called Earth, only some things in it are different.”

“Like what?” Rumel asked immediately.

“Well, it’s more advanced. Where Leclaire is now, that’s been obsolete on Earth for two thousand years. There are no demi-humans, nor magic. Never were. There are only humans and technology.”

Mineruva raised a finger. “Technology based on energy from lightning. It gives them light, heat, and powers their machines. Michio-sama previously viewed us through one of these machines.”

It was rather surreal to explain the modern world to people who had never heard of such things as electricity, cars, trains, and other stuff. I sort of thought they might laugh.

Lupa was visibly shaken by the thought of this. Surely, she couldn’t just accept they were thousands of years behind, so much that Leclaire could only exist because of this otherworldly technology.

“That sounds terrifying.”

“Yeah! How do you guys go on without demi-humans?”

“Uh, well—”

She didn’t let me finish.

“All those people must be boring, especially without magic! Wait—so how can you use magic now?”

“I’m not sure. What abilities we do have are granted by the System, which is basically the laws of nature of this world.”

Rumel turned to Mineruva in awe.

“Is that how you were able to fly and teleport? Could you show me a trick or two? Anything! Could I learn this System?”

“I could show you many things, but it’s highly unlikely you could learn it.”

She drooped her ears hearing that.

“Okay...” Lupa collected her thoughts. “Then one of us is from another world, but you Mineruva? Are you from there too?”

“It’d be nice, but I was born here in the Empire. In a village in the mountains to the northeast, near our borders with Karpathy.”

“Lucky, what I would give for a rural life!” I dreamed.

Honestly, sometimes I wondered what it would be like to be outside the city and hang out with others, but Sachi was the only person I knew, and she lived in a place similar to mine.

Also, tickets were expensive to farther parts of Japan, and I didn’t know exactly where to go, what places to visit. That’s why I thought it best to stick to my good old sharehouse room with my gamedev job.

“It was a quiet life for a long time. I never left the Empire until I learned to use the System. But after that, I travelled to many places on the continent.”

“And... did you have to fight? With monsters, or... Demons?”

Lupa’s last question was nearly the most careful, and I was a little confused as to what she meant. Today was the second time she mentioned the word, and I really wanted to know what a Demon was in this world.

It made the point stronger that she was hesitant, yet there wasn't any reason to be. And not just Lupa, but Mineruva too, shuddering almost invisibly.

“People like us can’t stay without a fight, but unfortunately I couldn’t—”

“Sorry, just for a sec!” I cut in while I could. “What do you guys mean by ‘Demons’? Lupa called me that before, but I didn’t understand why. Back home, they’re legends and tales of hellish creatures, sure, but what about here?”

Rumel laughed lightly. “Heh, if only that’s all it was! But it’s partially the same.”

“Partially?”

I gave them all a look, and as I could see they knew what to answer, but didn’t know who would say it first.

Lupa sighed, then started.

“From what we were taught as kids, Demons aren’t just tales. It’s said that they were humans who were given extraordinary powers, but couldn’t use them well. Their power drove them insane and consumed them, and they were transformed."

Rumel swiped her hand like she heard this dozens of times.

“Oh, let me guess! Several pairs of bat wings, three eyes, the usual freaky things.”

“And these were people?!”

“Yes, long ago,” Lupa continued. “After the transformation, all they wanted was conquest, lust, and the blood of their enemies. As far as I know, they hadn’t been seen in centuries since the campaigns against them. They were the most dangerous threat in history.”

“That’s true,” Mineruva admitted, her voice a bit strange. “However, it’s also worth telling this from the perspective of the System. Certain beings in the world were born special, but some had a later awakening of powers. It was magic, just like... mine or yours, Michio-sama.”

Like ours? What does that mean?

“But humans are predictable. If they get power, they might not handle it correctly. Selfish desires have darkened their magic, creating… dark magic.”

No, I have a very bad feeling about this.

“Because of this, they were corrupted. Some of them have indeed taken other forms, but some look as ordinary as us.”

Corruption…

Then it’s true—Mineruva just said it!

She didn’t use any terms, as it didn’t make sense in front of the two girls, but I could read everything from the look. She meant the other Master Profile NPCs.

When the System was accelerated to 3000 generations, the first NPCs created were given abilities, probably to become Leclaire’s deities, but this didn’t do them good. Out of pure hubris, many of them became evil, corrupted like a game save!

I couldn’t have known this was possible... but it was an unspeakably awful feeling that I had a hand in putting others through such terrible things.

My entire avatar-body trembled in horror, not realizing Mineruva was breaking down too. She wanted to let everything out as promised.

“Lupa thought we were Demons because we really have powers that the System gave us. The sole reason we’re not is that we can keep them at bay. But it’s never that simple. Never.”

“D-Did I say something wrong?” Lupa asked.

"No! It's my fault!" she struggled, each word closer to crying. “I haven’t aged for a long time because of my magic, I’m thousands of years old! I could’ve become a Demon too... like so many of my close friends did, and I couldn’t do anything to save them!”

No, this can't be true! Tell me it's not!

Seriously, how would it feel to talk about this? I wouldn’t have dared to, let alone someone like Mineruva! I’d have been as ashamed to keep it a secret as she was!

The two girls didn’t know how to continue, but it wasn’t because they were judging Mineruva.

It was that they had never met anyone who confessed such a thing to them. They were moved, and it didn’t matter what we were.

They were there for us now, to comfort us.

“I’m Michio’s friend, but I wasn’t honest with him! I didn’t prepare him for any dangers! Not even…her…”