Dragon X Questionable Business Practices

“So let me get this straight,” Dairoku said, reuniting his palm with his face for the fifth time in as many minutes. “You –” He pointed to Iris as he spoke. “– were out gathering resources and got ambushed.”

“Correct,” Iris answered, nodding seriously.

“And then he,” He continued, redirecting his accusatory fingertip to me. “Jumped in to save you, used up all his potions, and got himself flagged for two days.”

“Sounds about right.” I said, mimicking her stoic nod.

“He didn't save me,” Iris objected. “I could have handled them myself. He just made things a little easier.”

“Two-on-one, dying of poison and paralyzed?” I asked, giving a teasing grin.

“...And with all your Skill Slots taken up by gathering Skills instead of combat ones?” Dairoku added, raising an eyebrow.

“...I still had [Spellcaster],” Iris insisted, folding her arms. “I could have figured something out.”

“Right.” Somehow I doubted that, but if I teased her about it any more, she might actually get mad, so I settled for just maintaining my grin – an effort which was rewarded with a rather pointed frown from Iris.

“Well,” Dairoku sighed, changing the subject. “I suppose I should just be thankful you didn't get yourself Exiled – though this is barely better.”

“Yeah...” Gray agreed, rubbing his chin. “We'd been hoping that you could start taking on some quests today to get your Skills and gear up to match your level. But if you can't even go into town, that's...”

“...Not going to be possible. Yeah. I guess there's nothing to do but wait it out.”

“Unfortunately, we don't have time to wait,” Dairoku interjected, shaking his head at my statement.

“Huh?” I blinked. “Why not? Does this have something to do with what you guys were doing last night?”

“More or less.” Gray nodded. “We tried forcing our way into that secret area our guildmates found, but we just didn't have enough people. The entrance is heavily guarded by all sorts of powerful mobs that just keep respawning when they die. We're not sure if we need to kill them all at once, or if there's some kind of time limit, but either way, our guild is too small to handle that large of an encounter. We ended up having to retreat, and a bunch of our guys died and got stuck with penalties anyway.”

“We can't exactly ask just anyone for help, either,” Dairoku added. “Not without risking the other guilds finding out about the hidden area and clearing it before we can.” That made sense, but... There was a stranger among this group, wasn't there? At least, from their point of view. Since Iris had hidden her identity from me initially, I also hadn't told Jun or Hiroshi who she really was, or that we knew each other in real life. And, sure enough...

“...Should I not be listening to this conversation, then?” Iris chimed in pointedly, cocking her head to the side.

“That depends. Are you planning on having any friendly chats with the SPKs?” Our concerns turned out to be unfounded, as Dairoku simply shrugged.

“I already tried that, and they poisoned me for my trouble,” Iris answered bluntly. “Next time I see them, I'm just going to shoot them in the face.”

“Hah! Good answer. Then as far as I'm concerned, you're one of us,” Dairoku laughed – but his amusement was short-lived. His face went serious again, and he continued. “But much though I'd like to welcome you to our clearing party with open arms, there's another problem – one that applies to both you and Kei here. Since you're both under the PK Penalty...”

“...We won't be able to work together without risking friendly fire, since you can't add us to a party,” Iris finished. “And by the look of you, you're both mages.”

“Precisely.”

“Wait, we can't join parties either?” I murmured to myself. “That's news to me.”

“It's another measure to prevent griefing, Young Master,” SiLVA chimed in to answer my question. Suddenly, it seemed she was all-too-willing to help – she must have been worried that Dairoku would end up stealing her job again.

“If a player without the penalty could party up with a PKer, they could protect them and prevent other people from fighting back without suffering any consequences themselves,” She continued. “In short, the only way to party up while under the penalty is if you're penalized yourself.”

“...So the only person I can party with right now is Iris.”

“Correct.”

Iris must have already known that. That must have been why she was so insistent on offering to help me out, despite our earlier argument, and even though she no doubt had better things to do that the SPKs had already interrupted once with their ambush.

But, wait... speaking of which, rather than inconvenient... wasn't this the perfect chance for both of us? I could get what I needed, and help her with what she had been doing before!

“Wait, if that's the case, that actually makes things a lot simpler,” I piped back up, inserting myself back into the conversation.

“How so?” Dairoku tilted his head to the side quizzically.

“Since your guildmates still have death penalties anyway, it doesn't even matter whether I'm flagged right now or not. I just need to stock up on potions and armor while we wait for them to get back into fighting shape,” I stepped over behind Iris, patting her on the shoulder and shooting her a knowing grin. “I dunno about armor, but as it happens, there's a master Alchemist right here!”

“I can make healing potions, true,” She agreed. “But I think I already repaid you for helping me out by letting you stay at my camp earlier.” She tilted her head back to stare at me pointedly as she spoke, and brushed my hand right off. She must have thought I was asking for a handout. But rather than that...

“Don't get me wrong – I'm not asking you to do it for free,” I answered. “I'll be paying for my potions by serving as your bodyguard!”

“I don't need a –” She began, but I raised a finger and cut her off.

“I mean, those SPKs only had you on the ropes because you needed to equip Gathering Skills rather than Combat Skills, right?” I pointed out.

“Right, but...” She must have realized where I was going with this, since this time, she trailed off all on her own rather than finishing her argument.

“As it happens, Combat Skills are all I have going for me right now. Not like there's anything else I could use those Skill Slots for even if I wanted to. But I can spot resources for you with [Detection], and as a Dragonkin, I'm pretty much the toughest meat shield you could ask for around these parts. All for the low, low price of having to put up with my company!” I spread my arms like a salesman finishing his pitch. “So, whaddya say?”

“I don't think that's something you should be bragging about,” Iris snarked. For a moment, I thought she'd refuse despite everything – but her next words put those worries at ease. “But I see your point. I'll be able to get a lot more than just potion ingredients if I don't have to worry about bringing [Stealth] or [Spellcasting].”

...Hm? Why did I feel so relieved all of a sudden? I did want to help Dairoku and Gray out... and I guess this was a good way to talk to Ayame again without real life getting in the way. But really, it wasn't good to let myself get stressed out over nothing... or to get caught up thinking about the past.

We were just gonna be playing a game together. That was all.

Anyway, more importantly, there was something off about her answer just now, and I couldn't help but wonder what she meant by it.

“What else do you need besides potion ingredients?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. Was this something about what she had been looking for last night when she got attacked?

“Hmm... Iron ore, reptilian scales, and beast hides should be good enough for level 20 or so...” She answered absentmindedly, rubbing her chin as she checked something in her menu. Was there some kind of crafting recipe she was planning on making?

“Are you trying to make yourself a new set of armor or something?” I asked.

“Of course not.” She stared at me blankly, as though I'd suggested something absolutely inane. “I'm making it for you, obviously.”

“...Eh?!” If she could – and if she would – that would solve pretty much all of my problems. But she just said she didn't work for free, right? And if I recalled correctly from what I had seen in town...

“Wait, wait, wait,” I said, holding up my hands. “Isn't custom armor really expensive? I can pay for the potions by guarding you, but...”

“Well you won't be much use as a guard if you die in one or two hits like before – now will you? It's not like I can jump in to save you like I did against that Dain fellow last night, if I don't have any of my Combat Skills equipped.” Suddenly, my own smugness from earlier was turned on me, and I couldn't help but glare in much the same manner as she had at my prior teasing.

“I would have figured something out,” I grumbled.

“With no HP, no cover, and no sword?” She asked, the corner of her mouth curling slightly.

“Urk...” Somewhere in the background, Dairoku and Gray looked to one another in a knowing manner that made me certain I was going to hear about this later.

At any rate, this is just an investment for my own convenience – so there's no need to worry about payment.”

...Well, when she put it like that, it almost – no, scratch that, it didn't make any sense at all! There were more holes in that logic than a slice of swiss cheese! Why was she being so stingy about payment for cheap potions, then offering me something huge like custom armor for free? And in the first place, why was she selling potions that kill you when she could have been making weapons and armor that were worth a hundred times more?!

“...Geez. For all your brains, you really don't have a lick of business sense,” I was forced to conclude. “You know that, right?”

Rather than answering that question, she just crossed her arms and stared up at me, her face at once completely blank and deadly serious. “...Do you want the armor, or not?” She asked.

“...Yes, please.” I caved immediately.

Off to the side, I heard Dairoku snickering, as Gray offered him a bag of popcorn – seriously, where did he keep getting those?!

“I can't believe it,” Gray said, munching on a mouthful of his own. “He managed to find the tsundere setting for an actual girl, too.”

Iris' emerald glare immediately turned 90 degrees, and silenced this line of thought instantly. Gray ducked for cover behind Dairoku, then silently produced another bag of popcorn as a peace offering.

Iris' stomach growled. I guess between her dignity and the chance of finally eating something other than fruit, basic instinct won out. Gray got to live another day, Iris got a snack, and when we finished our preparations, bid the other two farewell, and set out for the woods together for our first adventure as a party, I could have sworn she had the faintest of smiles on her face.

I smiled too. It looked like today was going to be fun, after all.