Team Shige's Newest Member, Dige?

“First time using magic, huh?” Marine sighed, understanding, but disappointed. “You alright?”

His face was as white as a sheet. He had never felt so much fear and helplessness in his life, well, aside from that one time. Marine couldn’t help but pat his head.

“Don’t worry. You’ll have more time to practice. Now go back down there and try again. (Also kill the demon general in Fargo.)”

When Dige awoke, he found himself being robbed. His respawn point was a good fifty meters from where he dropped, and Vel was rushing to his aid, so calculating her speed and his prior distance, this lizard man started picking his pockets within 2 seconds of him dropping. Dige grabbed the creature by the neck.

“Gunch! What in the hell are ye doing?” Dige asked. “You know I’m alive.”

The thief’s chameleon-like eyes locked on his face. “Eh…no…I found these. These are mine.”

“The hell they aren’t you weasely bilge rat! I’ll throttle you, ya git!” And so Dige did. Though it was an odd presence to be sure. What was a low-class Dreams adventurer doing so far east?

“Dwarf, are you alright?” Vel asked. “I’m so sorry, I-.”

Dige practically screamed out of his skin at her presence, and it reminded him to take off his shoes as fast as possible. Gunch stole them before they finished bouncing.

“Oh no! Never again, you harlot! No way I’m flirting with your tricksy magic again!”

“No, you misunderstand! I didn’t think you’d expel that much mana.”

“I bet you’d say that! You’re the one writing things down on me shoes! Was that a good laugh, knife ears!?”

“No, it’s-...Knife ears!?” The classic universal slur. Her hair stood on end. “Well, it’s not my fault you can’t even handle basic magic! Shige is dumb as a rock, and even he could figure it out, so what does that make you? Granite? Slate? Coal for brains?”

“Oh, that is it!” Dige summoned the hammer. “You'd better be ready for a fight, elf, lest I remember what you did to me last time!”

“Don’t make me bring out the ice again! I have you figured out, dwarf!”

With her staff drawn, the two stood 10 meters apart, enough to initiate a brawl instantly. Dige’s mind was working feverishly, ready to pounce. He could feel Vel’s name being grafted onto his grudge list, the second person in Glynn’s world to kill him. That feat could not go unpunished. He’d regain his honor through revenge.

“No,” Vel said. “I’m not going to fight you. I can’t make you my enemy.”

She lowered her guard. Her eyes were still resolute, but everything else was an easy target. Payback time was needed.

“If ye think that’s going to stop this fight, you’re wrong!” Dige began to charge.

“It’s because I need you, dwarf!”

Dige’s bare feet dug into the soft dirt as he ground to a halt. She needed him? What for? What did he have to offer through magic? There had to be some catch.

“I know what you are." Her eyes finally broke away. “You’re a hero, summoned by the goddess Marine. I was born on her island. The forest of Olfank on Mariglynn Island...it was the center point of the corruption. I don't know what happened, but my home was perverted into a multidimensional fortress of evil, dedicated to reverting Glynn’s World back into a black, smoldering husk. I am Olfank’s last elf. There’s no one left who cares about that forest but me, so as long as you’re a hero, as long as you fight for what’s good, I’ll do what I can to assist you. I’ll do anything to go home, anything! So please, fight them, Dige!”

Her emotions got the better of her, and she was left completely defenseless against the rage-fueled dwarf. However, Dige did not move a muscle. He was still as a statue, absorbing every word spoken to her in rigid silence, though if Vel keyed in on his microgestures, his motive was clear.

Dige walked over to Gunch mid-storage and clocked him in the face, unstealing the stolen goods. The shoes returned to his possession, and right on his feet. Dige wouldn’t give up.

“Ay,” he sighed. “I guess I can…kill them for you. I’m…going to try later.”

Vel’s head tilted back up. “If you want, I can take you in as a student. I’ll put in a good word for Shige. Perhaps you could join our party for a time.”

Dige’s eyes bulged out of his head. “You what!?”

“You’ll have to be nice to him, and vice versa, but the others...I think they will enjoy your company. What do you say?”

A team, with his worst enemy!? Or rather, his second worst. Third worst. Actually, did Shige do anything that horrible to him? Was this grudge a figment of his imagination? It had to be because no one in their right mind would bring someone like him into a party like that. It was insulting! It was nice. 

Dige’s mind wandered back to the bar, how they all got along. Vel, Nice, Fura. They all seemed like nice girls. Not like Mars, who took his money and ditched him for lascivious reasons. To be in a party, to belong once more. He’d have to fight some deep-rooted anger, but it’s not like dwarves haven’t overcome it before. To be in that conversation, to be jovial with another again. That’s all he wanted. Could she really provide it? Was she lying?

Dige looked up and saw Vel’s hand outstretched. No, she was being genuine. Desperate, but well-meaning. Dige realized it was the first time he actually looked at her and recognized her face. His teeth gritted. He had to take it.

“Aye, I’ll join,” Dige took her hand. “I hate to admit it, but I’ve taken a liking to you lasses.”

Vel smiled. “That’s good.”

The serenity of the early morning was once again broken by a bloodcurdling scream. Somewhere deep in the brothel’s depths, a door smashed open, and furious footsteps could be heard crashing down the stairs at a lightning pace. There could only be one man with that kind of shrill squeal.

“NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Shige barreled toward the two of them. His face was stretched to unseen proportions. “No! No! No! He is not joining us!”

“S-Shige.” Vel was red as a beet. “W-Were you listening?”

“No, but I got a ping in my head that told me this fucker was in our party now!”

“A…ping?” He must’ve meant his interface. As much as she’s tried to understand what Shige and the other heroes saw, it was completely lost on her.

“Dwarf! Uh wait…Dige? Dige! You’re banned from the party! You’ll never be allowed in! I order it! Got it!” Shige paused. Another ping went off in his head. “Whew, that got me worried.”

“Why can’t Dige join the party?” Vel asked. “He’s a hero like you. We could use the muscle.”

“He caved my skull in! How could you forget that!?”

“Well, I just cratered his skull on that tree over there!”

“That doesn’t change anything!... Wait, you killed him?” Shige shook the grin off his face, getting back on subject. “Look, forget about the beef, or who killed who. I won’t have a dwarf in my party. No hero will.”

“Is it because I ain’t pretty?” Dige asked seriously. “You don’t fancy me?”

Shige puffed his chest. “You know what? Yeah! You’re not pretty! You’re not even a cute boy girls can write BL novels about. You’re a short, ugly bear! You’re the pig character that the girls cheat on me with in those salacious indie magazines!”

Vel covered her mouth. “Sakakura, what the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about marketing! No matter how you cut it, no one cares about dwarves! You have me, and you have the love interests. That’s it! Anything that ruins that fantasy is forbidden! Until I find someone ‘marketable’, nobody’s joining!”

Shige’s tirade was stopped by the galloping of horses. As the sun finally beat the darkness, a trio of riders raced over the hills and toward the brothel at high speeds. The hero's presence seemed to stir them forward until the three could decipher their faces. It was two guards in armor flanking a beautiful mage in traveling robes similar to Nice’s, though much more colorful. Shige was absolutely dazzled.

“Princess! Have you come to our aid?” Shige asked. “Please, join our party. I’d love to have you.”

“Princess?” Artemis huffed. “I’m a boy.”

“You’re-! Hmmm…” Marketing, he thought. Marketing.

The mayor dismounted from his horse. “Sir Dige. I’m glad I found you. Why’d you leave without me? We had a deal, remember?”

“We did?” Dige could barely remember. “Oh, right. Well, I’m pretty sure I’m banned from Dreams, so it doesn’t matter?”

“That doesn’t change anything! You still owe me an adventure.”

“I’m not going on no kiddie adventure, lassie. I’m…what did the blue lady say? I’m fighting the weevil general in forgot?”

Shige and Vel took note.

“The demon general?” Artemis looked away for a moment. “That’s easy! I can handle that, no problem! Huh?”

The two’s conversation was interrupted by the lizard man showing no sense of personal space.

“Black quest. Want money.” Gunch hissed. “Party, yes?”

From the brothel, a fully loaded Mars stepped onto the path. “Dwarf, are you ready to move?”

“Eh?” Dige looked back. “You’re following me now?”

“I had a talk with Swell,” Mars replied. “After making love last night-.”

“Too much information!”

“She told me I ought to be nicer to you. Save the world and such. She’d offer me…better discounts.”

The group began chattering with clarifications and negotiations as Vel and Shige took a step back. Within 60 seconds, Dige had formed the party Shige claimed he’d never get. It wasn’t a good party. The stats showed that aside from the orc, they were novices at best, utterly doomed in a demon-level fight, but the quest was clear. Fargo was the objective.

“Alright, I didn’t expect to say this so soon,” Dige chuckled. “But let’s walk, expedition team!”

“Actually, one moment,” Artemis said, turning to his two guards. “Burt, Wes, you’ve done enough for me. You’re dismissed.”

“Understood. We’ll return to the capital immediately.”

“Uh, about that. I’ll need your horses. Both of them.”

“What!?”

With a quick loading up and weight distribution made evenly across the equines, the new party, Team Dige, galloped toward Fargo. Then they stopped, as Dige was thrown off his horse. Two by two would do, with a third for supplies.

Not long behind them, Team Shige finished their morning prep and applied magic on each other for travel. Swift Feet, Lightweight, Long Strider, Infinite Stamina. When they embarked on the path, they were practically flying with a movement speed faster than any horse could keep up with.

Mere moments later, the sky was littered with a dozen small clouds, as Team Hideyoshi took to the air with Sarugami at the head, lounging like a carefree warrior.

“Man, do I love the Cumulocloud!” He cheered to himself. “This world is gonna see the new legends of Sun Wukong!” 

Three parties, three heroes, all converging on Fargo with an unknown force ahead. All the while, the two guards were left abandoned, their dedication punished.

“So, what do we do now?” one of them asked. 

“Hello, comrades,” Swell hung onto both by the shoulders. “You boys want a wake-up drink?”