Game 13: Riddle of Life

“What do you mean Takeshi Ishida defeated one of our Player Hunters?!” a deep, loud voice emanated from the distance.

Five shadowy figures sat in a row, all sharing a desk in what appeared to be a conference room. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary with these figures other than the fact that they were hiding in the darkness. Two seats in this row were empty, one at each end of the desk. A worker was in the middle of relaying their story to them.

“I'm sorry, sirs,” the worker pleaded. “I don't know how he did it, but he was able to do it.”

“This Ishida character seems quite strong for someone who's only been in The Game for eleven days,” another voice, this time that of a woman, noted. “If he wasn't being such an obvious threat to the project, he could have been of some use to us.”

“Eileen, don't be ridiculous,” the first voice scolded her. “This brat isn't any better than any of the other little boys playing with swords in The Game. It's not that he's getting better at it, it's that the quality of our players is getting worse.”

“I concur with Lazlo,” a second male voice added to the conversation. “If there is any real threat to the stability of our project, it's that the actually good players are too busy killing each other to help us keep the project running. All we have left is stat padders like that idiotic Slicer.”

“If I may, sirs,” the worker interrupted them. “It's pretty clear he's getting help.”

“Of course, he's getting help,” the leader of the five told the worker. “Tell us something that we don't know!”

“Something you don't know?” the worker asked in response. “Mr. Set!”

“What about Mr. Set?” the leader asked the worker.

“I have reason to believe that Mr. Set is working to sabotage the project.”

“That's impossible,” the leader scolded the worker. “If anyone is trying to sabotage this project, like this Ishida character is, we would know about it immediately.”

“I'm just saying there's a reason why cracks are starting to show in The Game's infrastructure,” the worker continued. “Takeshi Ishida may be a thorn in your sides, but even he's not smart enough to mess with The Game itself. It has to be someone who can affect it from the outside.”

•

Innsbruck had been at peace for roughly a week. Well, unless you had counted the constant cries from ten year old Robbie demanding that Takeshi emerge from bed to fight him. And for some reason, Robbie just had to speak in a very fake medieval accent.

“Takeshi Ishida, thou knave! I demand thou emerge from thine abode to engage me in combat!”

Thanks to Takeshi and the gang's several heroic deeds, they've started to acquire a small fanbase, as well as a few wannabe rivals.

Rita yelled at him from the room next door, “You're going to have to fight him eventually!”

“I am not fighting a child!” Takeshi snapped back.

“You aren't even really fighting him, Takeshi. You just need to humor his little fantasies.”

“Fine…”

At last, Takeshi emerged from the inn to face his wannabe rival, Robbie, only to be met with a water balloon to the face.

“Aha! I have finally managed to deal damage to thee! Thou shalt fall before the glorious hero of Innsbruck, Robert Smithee!”

“How about we don't and say we did?” Takeshi asked him.

“Tis cowardly to seek to forfeit a challenge, thou knave! Have at thee!” Robbie threw a second water balloon at Takeshi.

“Oh, no! I have been defeated! I should have known to have a Heart Cookie with my breakfast! My Life is now at zero, and my time in The Game is at an end!” Takeshi faked being killed by the water balloon in an attempt to make the kid happy.

“I did it! I defeated the cowardly fraud, Takeshi Ishida! I truly am the hero of Innsbruck!” Robbie galloped away in a cheerful and triumphant mood.

After that wonderful display of pretend, Rita was the next to leave the inn.

“Is it safe to be out in public now?” Takeshi asked her.

•

“I still cannot believe I'm in the top 1000 players in the world,” Takeshi told Rita as they walked through the village. “I've only been here for eighteen days.”

“I still suspect there's some behind the scenes manipulation,” Rita replied. “But the achievement is nothing to scoff at. You did good.”

“The flood of gifts could ease up a bit, though,” Takeshi added. “I can only carry so many items in my bag without using storage cubes, and I don't even really need to do that. A guy only needs one new sword.”

“Money, food, clothes, lots of clothes, and tons of pictures,” Rita teased. “Who would have thought any girl would find you attractive?”

“Some of these ‘girls’ are old enough to be my stepmother,” Takeshi reminded her. “Wait a minute… Do you not find me attractive?”

“Whether I tell you the truth or lie, you might try to reduce my Life to zero,” Rita joked before darting off.

“Come back here, you little scoundrel!” Takeshi shouted as he chased after her.

Makoto and Proteus followed them from a safe distance.

“Don't you just love love?” Makoto teasingly asked.

“I do not,” Proteus answered, clearly not getting the joke.

•

As Takeshi chased after Rita, he accidentally bumped into someone on the main road, knocking both of them to the ground.

“I am so sorry,” Takeshi told the person as he went to pick them up off the ground. “I had no idea you were… Aisha?! Where have you been?” It turned out the person Takeshi bumped into was none other than Aisha, whom he had been trying to find for the past week.

“Healing,” Aisha answered. “Mac took me in after you introduced me to the townsfolk. Unfortunately, that musical spell took a lot out of me, so I had to sneak away in order to recover.”

“At least tell us next time when you need to run home,” Takeshi told her. “We had been looking for you all week! Well, I had the others looking for you. I've been trying to hide from the public ever since I suddenly became famous.”

“Did none of you bother to ask Mac? I was literally there the whole time!”

“Takeshi!” Makoto called out in the distance.

“Makoto! How is the studying coming along?”

“Aisha!” Proteus was excited to finally see her. “Just the girl I've been looking for!”

“I know what you're here for, Proteus,” Aisha told him before he could even ask, “but unfortunately, I cannot use that spell again for a while. What I can do, however, is try to mitigate the more harmful effects of the curse in the meantime. When I can fully heal again, you'll be the first to know.”

She then left the three boys alone.

“We may need a bigger library, Takeshi,” Makoto told him. “I've tried every source I possibly could, but it turns out the people here aren't very good at recording their own history.”

“You mean you can't figure out how old The Game is?” Takeshi asked.

“Not currently,” Makoto admitted. “The best I can do currently is anecdotes from people like Mac who have been here for years and years.”

“Where's the closest big library?”

“There is an abandoned library north of Mossy Hills,” Makoto continued. “We could see if there are any salvageable books there we can use.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Takeshi said. “When do we set out?”

“We can actually head out as soon as this afternoon,” Makoto answered. “If everything goes well, we could be back here at sunset.”

“Alright, then. Let's go.”