DD 302 Ch 12

The next day, we found all three of us in a much better mood. The tension that had been laid thick between us was gone. It was replaced by a steady calm that seemed obviously to all, particularly by Helen.

She had been grouchy all afternoon through our joint conditioning. Though I didn’t care, especially after Bellaire and I had some private tutoring for the interviews tonight and she made sure to both put enough tension on me while I was answering questions and sooth over any nerves before sending me on my way.

Of course, we were now all getting our makeup ready for the show while Bellaire had a few parting thoughts. “Just remember Ken, stay cool, calm, collected. And there's going to be plenty of questions about last night,” Bellaire coached.

“I know, I know. It wasn't that big of a deal. Don't downplay the deaths, but do downplay the attack,” I nodded along.

“Good.” She stood up to walk away, only to get daggers glared at her from Helen, which Bellaire smirked at, tossing her hair gently to make it look a little messy.

“Damn, that’s cold.” Des said at my side.

“Yeah, well, if she's got it, why not strut?” I said.

It had been sudden, yet inevitable. Perhaps I needed to be less resistant in adding to my family. So I found myself incredibly happy every time Bellaire so clearly told the world that she belonged to me.

“Alright, stage, everyone!” another clipboard woman was running the show here. She looked a little more frazzled than the first that I had seen on Kernal's show.

“I guess that’s us.” I winked at Des and stood up to enter the set, only to come around the corner with the crowd to roar in excitement.

Signs bobbed back and forth, saying a variety of things. “Thank you!” “We love you!” “Have my baby!” But they were all targeted at a singular person. Me.

I gave my best smile and waved at the crowd. One of them actually swooned and fainted at my attention. Okay, don’t let this get to my head.

“It's a pleasure to meet you.” Gary met me halfway to shake my hand. “You know, I was excited to have you in the first place, but now I am honored to have you on behalf of all of New York. Thank you for being here.”

“No problem. This is a little much.” I stared out over the crowd, going absolutely bonkers at my appearance. Oh, someone just lifted her shirt only for two bodyguard types to start down towards her. This was getting out of hand.

“Yeah, well. Just wait until you start answering questions if you think this is too much. I'm afraid you might leave here absolutely shell-shocked.” Gary waved at the crowd while leading me to my seat. Their excitement was not dimming at all. Instead it only grew into a deafening roar, people jumping up and down, shaking the stands, all in the attempt to get more of my attention.

I waved at them too and flashed a practiced smile, only for it all to be doubled to the point that Gary had to comment.

“Careful. Otherwise my sound guys are going to start complaining that their mics are having trouble tonight.” Gary chuckled. “I think I'm going to get jealous.”

“You have nothing to worry about,” I said, looking from the crowd, to where Bellaire was standing at the side of the stage in a lovely silver dress. She gave me a finger wave with a smile that I quickly returned and half the crowd clearly picked up on not to mention some of those working at the stage did as well, as Bellaire’s own popularity with the staff exploded.

“Everyone! We’re going to be live in 60 seconds. I need you to hold it in for a moment, and then I'll let it rip.” She made a dramatic gesture and the crowd reached a crescendo, only for the clipboard to slowly lower her hand, and then the crowd’s volume dropped with perfect control. She turned to the cameraman as if to give them the signal that it was their turn to start.

They did a few passes over the crowd before focusing in on Gary and us, the ladies had joined me on the couch.

“Thank you. Thank you everyone for being here tonight.” Gary waved to everyone while it was quiet enough. “Ken, I mean, really, thank you, because it is clear by the audience here in the studio that they are not here to see little old me tonight.”

The crowd chuckled along with him.

“No, instead, they're all here for this schmuck on the couch… but I don't even need to introduce him. This is—”

He held an arm out and with the other hend his ear, only for the crowd to scream my name at the top of their lungs.

“Ken Nagato!”

“See? I'm just here for the sex appeal.” He gestured at his face and got another round of chuckles from the crowd. “Let's not forget everyone else we have: Helen Braveheart, and Candice Farage, and Desmonda Renard.”

The three did little half-bows, and I could tell that Helen wasn't entirely happy getting so absolutely shoved to the side by my new booming reputation.

“Alright, alright. Everyone settle down. If you guys get quiet, maybe we can ask Ken some really good questions, like what type of women does he prefer?”

There was a wave of gasps and flirtatious screams from the crowd, and Gary chuckled, turning to me. “So Ken or the hero of the New York City invasion, as some of the videos are calling you now…”

I raised an eyebrow and did my best not to jerk my head in Bellaire's direction, but I did catch her out of the corner of my eye, and she just pulled her fancy CID out and began swiping away madly at it. We had been a little distracted lately and apparently missed a massive new trend.

“Now I'm sure everyone here has seen the video this morning.” Gary continued.

I did my best not to curse under my breath. I had not seen this video and Gary could clearly tell.

“Oh what's this? Ken, have you not seen the video?”

I chuckled, deciding to play along. “I think I might have missed it, to be perfectly honest. I was giving my statement with the police and then the UG, and then I may have slept in a little this morning.”

“You did. Well then, someone get me a tablet, because we're about to get a live reaction!” Gary motioned over to the stage crew and they passed the tablet around until someone suitably dressed had it in their hands and rushed over to give it to Gary.

“Alright, and one of those tech wizards behind the scenes put this one up for the rest of you.”

I could already tell someone was working, and the viewing screens of the crowd further in the back were being switched over to something.

“By the way everyone—” he turned to the audience expectantly, as if they already knew what was about to happen. Instead, I locked my eyes on the tablet in front of me as a video of me darting through New York streets and cutting down dwarves moments before they harmed someone played.

Only for me to flash back elsewhere with [Shadow Ambush] and a whole barrage of my abilities. It was cut together as if I was killing a hundred dwarves in the blink of an eye. The video was at such a rapid staccato pace that I couldn't help but find my eyes glued to it before I jumped, sailing through the air, blades out, and attacked the dwarven queen within Grand Central Station.

“Woohoo, that's my favorite part,” Gary said.

“It’s out of order,” I found myself saying, and Gary waved a hand.

“But it's real?” He asked.

“Oh yeah, absolutely,” I said, continuing to watch as I watched the battle I had lived last night. Whoever put this together had done a pretty good job, and got plenty of flattering angles. 

“But you have to wait for the best part.” Gary made sure I was paying attention as I saved another group of people, and then, there it was. Me and the Dwarven Queen. And I knew before it even started that this was the finishing moment. As I activated [Liminal Space] and destroyed the Dwarven Queen.

Only from the onlookers’ perspective it was instantaneous. I switched from the right to the left side of the Dwarven Queen and she just… fell apart.

“Whoa!” Gary held his head and leaned back. “I am standing next to that Ken Nagato! And let me just say, you are as impressive in person as you are in video.” Gary laid it on thick. “But for the viewers; why didn’t you do that finishing move the second the Queen appeared?”

“Oh,” I chuckled. “I have to build up stacks before I can launch that. I need to hit other things a number of times. It’s a two-phase ability.”

“Ohhh,” Gary nodded along. “So you couldn’t just turn me to mince meat with the snap of your finger?”

“I mean, he probably could,” Des chuckled beside me. “Even when he’s not going hypersonic like that, he is still ridiculously fast.”

Gary smirked at me, his coffee cup in hand. “Oh come on. I just want to experience it for myself. Just cut the cup.”

He held it up and I chuckled, wanting to find a way out of it. However, I could tell by the way the entire crowd was leaning forward and Gary was smiling that I wasn’t getting out of this one.

“It’s not going to look so impressive right now,” I chuckled. “But you want me to cut the cup?”

“Yeah, come on. I want see Ken Nagato’s speed in the flesh.” Gary goaded me on.

I was certainly not one to shy away from a challenge, even if this was a little more performative than I would have liked.

Still, I tensed on the couch, coiling my strength in my legs for just a moment before I bolted the five feet between us. A short sword came out of my CID with a thought, striking his cup just at the edge of my reach, before in a single push I back-kicked and threw myself back down into the seat with a plop, and stowed away my weapon with a wave of my hand.

I could have probably done that better, I thought to myself, if I had used [Sprint] it probably would have been even faster.

Gary was standing there blinking at his cup. “Holy crap, you’re fast.” He jumped in a much too delayed reaction while the crowd roared.

I chuckled. “Anyone in my position could do it that fast, I didn’t even use any abilities.”

He put the cup carefully down to the side. “I hope you know, Ken, I’m having them put this cup in a glass box, and I’m putting a sign saying — I survived an interview with Ken Nagato.”

I chuckled. “Well, it’s a little bit early to say that now, isn’t it, Gary?”

We both laughed as he turned to the other ladies on the couch.

“With a guy this fast, how do the rest of you even get your chance to do DPS?”

“That’s the best part,” Des said. “When Ken’s around sometimes I just sit back, relax, and sip a little tea.”

Gary joked, “So adventuring’s that easy?”

“It is with Ken around.” Des thumbed at me, and I realized I was going to be the hero in multiple ways tonight.

Gary’s attention shifted down the couch.

“I’m just the tank,” Helen shrugged. “I will say, Ken’s nice to have around. I get punched a few less times in the face by bosses he’s killing.”

“Maybe not at all if he does the same thing he did to the Dwarven Queen,” Gary said. “Which brings us to the ever-present dilemma of who’s more important: the tank, or the DPS, or even the healers. Though I think we can all agree the healers are a selfless lot that we would never put down.”

The crowd shouted and agreed with him on his showmanship.

The girls however, didn’t bite on that very controversial topic and he moved on.

“Back to things. We’ve seen a little bit of what it’s like deep in the dungeon with these dwarves coming up. And what I’ve learned is that the entire class got stuck down deep in the dungeon during the Shuffle on the 40-something floor?”

“Mid 40s, yeah. That happened,” I laughed.

“So you were in a raid and apparently stuck between a Dwarven safe zone and a Naga safe zone. You had to fight your way out. So this isn’t the first time you’ve clashed with the dwarves, is it?”

“Not by a long shot,” I said. “The dwarves are unfortunately one of the most aggressive races we’ve met in the dungeon.”

“Even more than the Naga?” Gary asked.

“I’ve found a naga that’ll sit down and have a beer and a conversation with me but dwarves? Never a single one. It’s been either you see a Dwarven drone doing a task while being standoffish, or it’s a full-on angry queen trying to expand.”

“Yeah, I feel like I’m suddenly interested in becoming an expert on Dwarven ecology. I’m sure most New Yorkers are now. So what’s the difference between a drone and a warrior?” Gary asked.

I looked over at the other ladies on the couch, giving them a chance to answer. Candice had zero problem jumping in.

“Intelligence, mostly. The drones are really mindless. If at any point last night you guys saw them go slump, that must be because the queen was briefly too injured to make commands.”

“Oh, that makes sense.” Gary nodded along. “So they’re not really people, then, right? Or You don’t see them as one?” He spun back to me.

“It’s hard to know.” I said. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to explain, I just didn’t want to go deep enough that it actually made me come off as an asshole. “What we do know is that without the queen, the drones aren’t much of anything. When it comes to the warriors, they at least seem to have some intelligence. Some sense of making their own decision, though it still heavily favors the queen. The queen, though, is certainly intelligent. At times, frustratingly so.”

“Yeah, we saw that fight,” Gary said. I imagined the viewers at home had an image pop up above his finger. “Were you having trouble getting through that black armor?”

“I think of it as a carapace. It’s alive and regenerates. I assume it’s part of the living dwarven queen.” I explained. “And yes, it’s tough.”

“Well, on behalf of myself and everyone in New York, I am happy to have you in the city, Ken. Happy you were around to do something.” Gary did a little half bow.

“I’m sure the New Yorkers would have rioted and tossed them out in time.” I chuckled. “Oh, I wouldn’t bet against New Yorkers even if you put a gun to my head.”

Gary clapped his hands. “He understands what our city’s like. Gosh, I’m just so stuck on this, Ken. I mean really, I’ve watched this video a hundred times and it blows me away. Do you think we could get a play-by-play from you?”

I winced. “People can take a good look at the video, but I don’t necessarily want to share everything I can do. I hope you understand.”

“Alright, that makes sense,” Gary said, holding both hands up and backing off. “Still had to ask.” He shifted to compliment the rest of the group. “And I was shocked to see your PR agent down there helping with the fight.”

“Yes, well, she’s a member of the Silver Fangs, and even if she’s only on PR she still does some training with us,” I said. “None of us could walk away last night. We heard what was happening. In fact, we had actually portaled out of the studio, only for them to call us and tell us what was happening. We portaled right back into the mess. That part probably wasn’t caught on camera,” I added.

Gary leaned over his desk. “Like, you mean, you were all out of the mess and then came back in?” He held his hands against his head and then threw them out, like his mind had blown. “I am honored to be having this chat with heroes like all of you.”

“Heroes is laying it on a little thick. We’re just another group of adventurers that happened to be somewhere when we were needed.”

“That, ladies and gentlemen, that is the kind of people we need.” He pointed at the camera. “Alright everyone, I’m being told it’s time for a commercial break. We will come back live next time and we’ll get to the topic I know you’ve all been waiting for — what Ken’s dating life is like.” He winked at the camera and flashed a smile before they spun away.

Then he turned more casually to us. “That was fantastic. You just jumped back into the fight and you’re trying to be all humble. Really selling your hero bit well. Incredible.” He leaned forward. “Look, I have an after-party after every show. It’s usually just some people from the studio, maybe a few who are looking for some sort of gig related to me or the New York scene. But man, I put the feelers out for tonight. This will be the biggest party of the year. We put things together last minute with the who’s who of the city. They want to meet you. You will be there, right? I mean, you are the star of the hour.”

I wasn’t sure how to answer and Gary turned to Des and the others.

“You’ll drag him along?”

Des smirked. “Sure. I’m sure I can drag Ken away from training for a single night.” She winked at me.

“I’ll give you a plus-one. I know you’re an adventurer, so you have a polycule, is that the right word?” Gary was very cautious with how he spoke to me.

“It works,” I said. “I accept the plus-one.”

Gary laughed. “An adventurer… you know what? I’ll give you plus twenty-five to bring your whole raid if that’s what you need.”

“No, no, I don't need that much.” I held my hands up to get him to stop.

“Some of my party might not be accustomed to earth, is that okay?” Des added in.

Gary's eyes popped out of his head. "Wait. What races?"

"Whaleryn, Nekorian, heck, we could probably bring the elves too" Des was quickly ticking off everyone that we could invite.

Gary, spun back to me. “You'll be there. Right?”

“Fine.” I caved.

Gary's face split into a massive grin.

“We’re coming back from commercial break.” Clipboard stepped on the set and reminded Gary.

Who spun back, flashing a smile as a light flashed red saying that we were live. "Well, I was just getting the down low from Ken and some of the friends he made deep in the dungeon," Gary winked. “It sounds like our man has spread his relationship far past Earth and humanity into the other dungeon races. So, Ken tell us a little about the other races and in particular what dating one of them might entail. I’m sure more than a few guys here would love to hear what they need to date a Cat Girl.”

"Well, they're all a little different and let's be honest, variety is the spice of life, isn't it?" I chuckled and tried to dodge the question without confirming anything.

"Oh yeah, it is." Gary was a pretty good hype man. "Not to say that the variety on the couch with you there isn't half bad itself. Tell me ladies, has Ken managed to sweep each of you off your feet?"

Des leaned back with a confident smirk. "It was freshman year," she said. "Ken was the only guy ever admitted to Haylon. On top of that, fully backed by Mistress Crimson herself. He's her protégé, if you've been living under a rock."

Gary laughed and motioned for her to continue.

"So, we met freshman year. Sat next to each other in orientation. And if I'm honest, options in Haylon are a little limited." She got a laugh from the rest of the crowd.

"Ken here was assigned with me in some of our early party exercises and to be perfectly honest, it's so easy to get attached when you're diving in the dungeon with someone. Heck, Ken saved my life no less than a dozen times in that first month. That feels like the kind of trust you can’t find anywhere else."

Gary went along. "So it's just like the novels. Man saves woman, woman swoons."

"There's a little more to that. It's about working together even if Ken does have a little bit of a hero streak." She gave me a playful glare across the couch.

"Wow. Now that is the story we can get into tonight." Gary grinned and urged her forward.

I rolled my eyes, which only added to the playful excitement in the studio as Des went into one of the first times that I went solo to save the rest of the group's bacon.