Maggie? More like Margarita oh damn I should've used that pun somewhere

Margaret was sitting in her office sipping on her coffee, a double-shot espresso. As bitter as gasoline, and twice as energizing. Not that she needed the caffeine at the moment. The past few days for her had been rather calm. A call here and there, all of which her basic training prepared her to answer. She even completed the requests without the need of outside assistance or even reference to any game manuals. All in all, things were going quite smoothly. The phone rang and she picked it up, eager to help the next customer.

Only to hear my voice.

“Maaaaggieeeee!” I said.

My voice was so loud that she had to pull the phone away from her face with a grimace.

“Sweet Satan’s testicles, I forgot I was assigned as your direct line for customer service.” she said.

“So did I!” I said. “And izzat a real turn of phrase?”

Margaret groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Drunk again?”

“I thought I was doing a good job of hiding it,” I said, frowning.

“You weren’t. Besides, I’m nearly deaf from the racket of the building your in.”

“How’d you know I was at an inn?”

“Daisuke Mizuhara.” Her voice was scythe-iron hard. Her words were poisonous, but I had been guzzling pints of poison for the past two hours. “Getting shit-faced isn’t something that needs any customer service. What do you want from me.”

“Jeez Louise, can’t a guy just want some company? With a fwiend?” I clasped my hands together and did my best puppy dog, even though she couldn’t see that. The rest of the bar patrons got a kick out of it, though.

“Wow, I didn’t know you had those.”

“I don’t anymore!” I said. As soon as I said that, I remembered Gina. And as soon as I remembered Gina, I took another deep swig from my pint. The empty drink receptacle was slammed onto the bar countertop, joining its bretheren. “But I do have you! So can you look at your database thingy again, best friend of mine?”

“…For what.”

I knew that I could trust her still. 

“For Chouji. Check how he’s doin’.”

Tip tap tip tap tip. Her fingers clacked on the keyboard as she searched for the information. She scrolled and scrolled, clicking here and there. 

“Hm. Hang on. This can’t—Oh no.”

I waited for more information, but only got more silence.

“Hello? Maggie? You’re cutting out,” I said.

“Daisuke, I’m so sorr—”

A meaty wall plopped to the left of me. The force jolted my arm and made me accidentally hang up the phone. I whipped my head to the clueless bastard beside me.

“Hey! Watch it, I was making a phone… call…”

I was speaking directly at somebody’s rippling, exposed bicep. I had to crane my head up and up and up past skin and leather until I saw ruby red eyes framed by scraggly blond hair and set in a rough, scowling face. 

“This place is a pigsty,” Half-sword Dave said, his nose wrinkling from the stale ale in the air. “Is this what passes for a tavern down here?”

“H-Half-sword Dave…”

He grabbed a pint, which looked more like a kiddie cup in his hands, and downed it in one swig.

“That’s what they call me,” he said.

“What… What are you…?” I asked. He wasn’t even looking at me, just examining his fingernails (which were shockingly well-manicured). 

“I tracked you and Ginormous after you were kidnapped by royal guards. I realized you were going to the capital. And you shouldn’t trailing off mid-sentence. It’s unmanly.”

“Well, thanks for stopping them,” I said with a huff.

He shrugged.

“I figured that Ginormous was finally being arrested and that you had whatever it was coming for you. It took a long time to get from the Hermit Woods to here. I left almost immediately, because I expected both you and Ginormous to wind up dead and respawn.”

“Dave!” said a sharp voice to my right.

The accent clued me in, but I turned to look anyway. Sure enough, Coral was sitting there, but wearing flowing, sea-blue robes instead of her barmaid outfit. Which makes sense, since that’s her work uniform. She was pouting.

“What? The kid knows already.” He glanced down at me.

“Knows what?” I said.

Half-sword Dave blinked.

“You know, right? About Gina?” he asked.

Coral was glaring at him, hard enough to make a man of his caliber wince, but stopped when she saw me sulk.

“Not takin’ the news too well, huh?” she said.

“I just… wish she told me. It’s not even that big of a deal.” I reached for a new pint, but Coral swatted my hand. “But it is. She had no reason to lie to me, and that made me distrust her when she needed it most. When I needed it most.”

The three of us sat in silence as the rest of the tavern partied on, sloshing mead and bellowing drinking songs.

“So where is she?” Dave asked.

“It felt so obvious. I was like, Duh. Of course. Why didn’t I realize that? Maybe I did. Subcononsciously.” I hiccuped, only just realizing Dave asked me a question. “Gina’s in the royal dungeon right now.”

“Is that why you’re drinking?” Coral asked.

“No, that’s because my brother is gonna be dead soon.”

“By the gods, I’m sorry.” She rubbed my shoulder.

“Is fine. That’s what the past week of my life has been like.”

I then explained my circumstances and emotional state of being that lead me all the way to this dinky bar. Most of it, I think. I was drunk, so I probably went on a bunch of unnecessary tangents, but the two of them got the gist of it.

“And that’s that.” 

They sipped from their own drinks as they digested my sob story.

Half-sword Dave tugged at his chin scruff. “Hm. Are you really gonna run away from reality like that?”

“Oh, c’mon, Davie…” Coral said.

“Whuh?” I said.

He looked at me with hard eyes, but without the usual unkindness that he sported.

“That’s what Gina did,” he said. “I’m no psychologist but to me, the reason Gina lied to you was because she was ashamed. Of herself, of what she had done. So she crafted this whole other life, about being a ‘tutorial NPC’ or what have you just so she could look at herself in the mirror each morning.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “So just because she stole some shit she wants to live a new life?”

“That’s only a part of it,” Coral said. She was hugging her glass close to herself, her eyes blue and wistful. “She wasn’t stealin’ it big alone. She had an accomplice.”

I raised my other eyebrow at her, taking a sip from my mug. “Don’t tell me. You? Or was it Dave?”

“It was the fourth member of our party. One Hinata Oninomiya.”

I did a spit-take. I didn’t realize that could actually happen in real life.

I looked between the both of them, cheap ale dripping from my lips. Despite my outburst, both of them had dead serious faces. “What?” I said.

“When she and Hinata formed our party,” Coral said, “the two of ‘em was thick as thieves. Cuz they were thieves. Gina eventually chose that as her class, while Hinata stuck to bein’ an adventurer. The two of ‘em loved this world. Not because it was beautiful or anythin’ but because they could do whatever the heck they wanted to here. The stole, they brawled, they conquered.”

“We thought nothing of it. We should’ve, but we didn’t,” Dave said. “Before you knew it, both of them had pillaged their way up to the top. Gone was the old monarchy. In it’s place was His Majesty Hinata Oninomiya and his fucking catgirl harem.”

Coral shivered. “Sweet celestials, don’t remind me.”

“That should’ve been the biggest red flag. But when you travel around the countryside fighting monsters and trust your lives with people, you form bonds with them. You see the best in them, even if that isn’t anywhere near the people they really are.” 

Dave knocked back another glass. 

“After Hinata turned Prayerhaven into Prayerhaven, Gina had had enough. Her morals finally got the best of her, and when she tried to force his hand, he simply put out a warrant for her execution. Hinata kept on imposing his will on Questia, warping it to his base desires. I couldn't face them after that and ran off into the woods. I’ve never forgiven him for that. And I never thought I’d forgive Gina for allowing it to take place.”

His eyes were glistening. And now the sclera around his eyes was red too.

“Do you?” I asked.

He blinked his tears away.

“I don’t know.”

I sat there, thinking back on his story. “What about yourself and Coral? Any forgiveness there?”

A rueful smile. “Definitely not.”

I glanced at Coral, who didn’t seem offended. In fact her tired face seemed to agree. These thoughts had been shouldered by both of them for years.

I picked up the phone that Dave had knocked out of my hand earlier. I toggled off my drunkenness and rose to my feet.

“Lucky bastard,” Coral muttered. Half-sword Dave nodded.

“I may or may not be able to save my brother,” I declared. It burned my throat to say those words, but I knew I had to. “But I can save Gina! We can save Gina!”

My righteous call to action made Half-sword Dave roar in laughter.

“Maybe you aren’t the bumbling, passive loser I thought you were. I like your moxie, kid.” He stood up, nearly bumping his head against the ceiling. Coral did the same. Now we were all standing up for some reason.

“You’re determined,” Coral said. “I can see why Gina was so drawn to you.”

“The compliments can wait!” I said, blushing. “We need to save Gina!”

“And you lack plans,” Half-sword Dave said. “I can really see why Gina was so drawn to you. She was always a ‘swing first, ask questions later’ type of gal. That’s why Coral and I always came up with the best plans.” He raised his hand, which Coral high-fived.

“Alright. What do you have in mind?”

Coral smiled.

“Are you ready to learn Tyro Town’s greatest secret?”

I returned that smile.

“You bet your ass I am,” I said.