One Hundred Years of Technology – Part 3

I was a bit afraid of explaining anything to Fianna’s gang, because we obviously couldn’t be truthful about the way we met. Fortunately, the Demon-Queen-turned-priestess didn’t have a single qualm in feeding our newfound companions a bunch of lies; I just had to follow along with her charade.

“I see… so your team got wiped out, and you were the sole survivor.”

“Yes,” Chloe said while feigning a sad expression, her hands in a prayer. “I have been running away for a long time now, trying to find my way back to civilization. If not for Takashi…”

“And you just happened to be summoned and spawned right here in the middle of the White Wasteland?” Keil asked me.

Incidentally, Tanney hadn’t joined us for our meal. She was too shy with strangers, apparently.

“Yes, that’s it. We just happened to come across each other,” I concluded our story while I slurped a sort of porridge Fianna’s group prepared for us.

I fully expected it to be completely flavorless, much like every food in Arcforge had been—after all, you couldn’t simulate taste just yet in the game. However, I was pleasantly surprised it did actually taste like something. Mostly water and vegetables, but still.

More evidence that this world is actually real, I suppose…

“So why did you—or could you—get to our world now?” Fianna asked me. “This world hasn’t seen a Hero in over a hundred years.”

Let’s… keep that to myself, alright?

“It wasn’t my choice. I didn’t come here of my own accord.”

“What do you mean?”

“One moment I was living my normal life, the next I was yanked into this corrupted world. Talk about bad luck. At least I could have ended up somewhere that wasn’t trying to kill me.”

“This sure sucks, man!” Keil said, patting my back with way more strength than I was comfortable with.

“There is something I’m curious about,” Fianna asked Chloe, with an intensity that revealed she had been holding it back for a while. “How did you manage to clear the White Death from such a large area?”

“I’m a Cleric, and I know Restoration Magic. It would be difficult to explore the White Wasteland on foot otherwise.”

Fianna raised an eyebrow. “Ohh, a Cleric, you say? Still, restoring this much area must have cost a tremendous amount of mana.”

“I had some mana potions left over. And by the grace of Elr, I could restore this town’s church, and restore my mana while inside it.”

I had to hold in a smirk. Damn, she’s really convincing!

“So what are your plans now? You can’t exactly survive around here for long.”

“T-That’s true.” Obviously, Yzara couldn’t tell them her main objective was to get to a Diviner and unseal her Dark Ruler class. “We want to get back to civilization. We’ll figure it out from there.”

“Hmm…” Fianna mumbled under her breath.

“If it isn’t too much to ask… would it be possible to give us a ride out of here?” I asked Fianna.

This was easily our best shot at getting out of here, and I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity.

“We could give you a ride, yes,” Fianna said after she finished polishing off some sort of jerky sandwich. “However, we aren’t a charity,” she firmly added. “We have limited supplies, and the Airdrake has a limited weight capacity. If we carry you two, then we’ll have to return to port immediately.”

“Right… of course. How much are you asking?”

“Let’s see… how about four Silver?”

I almost choked. “F-Four Silver, you say…?”

Iditath had a complex currency system with four types of coins—Copper, Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Four Silver was equivalent to forty-eight Bronze coins, and over two weeks of a laborer’s salary.

“B-But we don’t have any money on us…”

“Well, that’s a shame. I guess we’ll have to leave you stranded here,” she said with a completely blank expression.

“P-Please! Anything but that!” Chloe said, pleading with as much fake sincerity as she could.

Fianna scratched her head in frustration; again, a very un-elf-like expression. “…Argh. Fine. You can get a loan from the Adventurer’s Guild after we land, and use that to pay us.”

“T-Thank you so much!” Chloe said, beaming. If I didn’t know her true nature, I’d have fallen for her right there and then.

“Let’s not waste any time. Keil, Tanney!” She said, louder than her speaking voice. “We’ll be returning to Adaville immediately. Get the ship ready.”

“Yessir!”

“…Roger, Boss,” I heard Tanney say from inside the ship.

“We’ll be leaving in ten minutes. You two, gather any belongings you have, and make sure you don’t forget anything.”

“We don’t really have any belongings,” I pointed out.

“Wait, Takashi. I’d like to pray at this church one last time,” Chloe said. “It was the one who saved our lives, after all. Will you come with me?”

I raised a metaphorical eyebrow.

“O-oh… sure.”

“Do what you must,” Fianna said, apparently not quite knowing how to react to Chloe’s apparent devotion. “But don’t take long.”

“We won’t.”

The priestess didn’t waste a single second and started circling the airship to get to the church on the other side of it. I didn’t even need to talk with her to know she didn’t actually care one bit about this church.

So what’s she planning here…?

* * *

The atmosphere inside the church was quiet and tranquil, just like when we last left it, pierced only by the distance sound of the airship engines rocking back to life.

It didn’t take long after we got inside before Yzara’s true personality bubbled back to the surface. She plopped down on one of the wooden pews, without any qualms about manspreading and showing off her legs.

I sure am glad Elr doesn’t actually exist, otherwise I bet he’d be pretty shocked at this heretic’s attitude inside his house.

Well, I hope he doesn’t, at least.

“Ugh. This majorly sucks ass. Why do I need to pretend to be some pious wench?”

“You brought this upon yourself, you know. You don’t need to lay it on so thick.”

“I guess. But I don’t want ‘em to suspect anything. The moment people find out I’m the Demon Queen, I’m mincemeat.”

“If it’s any consolation, you’re doing an amazing job of it. I’m impressed. You’re quite a natural at this.”

“I had to play up a character whenever I visited human towns in the past, ye know. Still exhausts me being so nice, but what can ya do.”

“So,” I said as I sat down in the altar in front of her, “did you want to come here just to vent?”

“Nah. Ya seem a little naïve, so I wanna leave ya with a warning.” She made a pause, locking her eyes with mine. “Do not show ‘em the Debuggun. Ever. Ya hear me?”

“I wasn’t planning to. But why are you so panicked about it?”

“Listen. Until now, the only way to resist the White Death is using Restoration. Even ya should know how much mana that consumes, right?” I nodded in agreement. “Yer gun can do it for free, and way faster, too. They’d wanna steal it and sell it if they got the chance to.”

“You really think so? They seem kinda nice. Even gave us food and all.”

“Don’t elude yerself. They’re not doin’ us a favor. Fianna had no problems chargin’ us for the ride to Adaville, for once. And the food they served us? Those were the most shelf-stable military rations. Adventure crews like these don’t tap into those unless they ran out of more perishable food. They’re runnin’ out of supplies already.”

“So you think they were on their way back to port with us on board or not?”

“I’m sure of it. Still, four Silver is a bargain to get out of the Wastelands, so we should take this chance.”

“…Alright.”

“Well then. I’ve rested my jaw from smilin’ so much, and I’ve said what I wanted to say, so let’s get back. We have an airship to catch.”

“Wait. I still have something to say,” I said as Yzara approached the church door.

“Go on,” she said as she turned around.

First things first, I had something left over to solve.

“Sorry about last night. I got a bit… heated.”

“Eh,” Yzara said with a smirk. “Turns out yer a nice Hero, after all.”

“Hey! I’m serious here.”

“I know,” she said, her voice noticeably more level. “But it’s fine. I touched on a soft spot without knowin’, too. So we’re fine.”

“Nice. Then, I have something to ask.” I pause to make sure Yzara was paying attention. “I can more or less guess what happened this morning. You saw the airship touching down on the village and hid your horns, tail and wing before they could get to us.”

“Pretty much. What’s the problem?”

“Weren’t we supposed to take turns keeping watch? Why did you let me sleep until morning?”

“Hmph. Is that what yer so worked up for?”

Yzara turned away from me, as if the topic was boring her to death, so I couldn’t see her face anymore. When she flung the church doors open, the warm air from outside creep back in.

Her voice, however, still echoed within the church’s still air just fine.

“It would piss me off to wake up someone sleepin’ so soundly.”