TtOW! - Chapter 13: Mission Parameters Set

NSLICE-00P lowered to the ground after defeating the Ursanus.  Rattingtale and Lilussees exited the monster hanger and climbed to her shoulder.

“Wow.  Like, good job, boss.  There’s not like, any leftovers though, or something?  Ah, too bad.”

Rattingtale’s ears were pressed flat against his head.

“Y-Yes yes, g-good job, boss-queen.  T-This, um, most impressive.  A-As expected of the one who defeated the Great-High King, yes yes.

“Acknowledged.”

With that, NSLICE-00P glanced around, analyzing the angle of the ground.  She once again started walking downhill.

“So, like, what now, boss?  We probably, like, hit a lot of the young dungeons in the area, or something.  So we should, like, move a bit if we want to find more weak ones, or something.”

“Negative.”

Rattingtale’s ears perked as NSLICE-00P rejected the spider.

“T-Then, how about we find another dungeon and NOT destroy-demolish it, yes yes?  Then we can build-construct a new dungeon, now that the dangerous monster is dealt with, yes yes?  The Great-High King of all the land could assist you with that…”

“Negative.  Explanation: Now that this unit’s capabilities have been sufficiently upgrading, mission success probability has returned to acceptable levels.  Resuming primary directive.”

Lilussees tilted her head.

“Primary directive?  Like, what do you mean?”

“It is this unit’s current mission to locate persons of interest and provide assistance.”

Lilussees rubbed a leg across her mandibles.

“Wait, so like, you’re working for someone?”

“Affirmative.”

Rattingtale and Lilussees glanced at each other.  Lilussees shrugged with her two front legs.

“Eh.  Well, whatever, guess it doesn’t matter much to me.  As long as they don’t kick me out or, like, make me work or something.  So, like, I’m going to take a nap, or something.”

With that, Lilussees returned to the monster hanger.

Meanwhile Rattingtale was trembling.

This weird man-dungeon master-thing…

Was not alone?

In fact…

She wasn’t even in charge?

The Great-High King decided he needed to review his plans for the seventh time that day.

And so NSLICE-00P and the subordinate units began traveling, the cyborg scanning for any signs of civilization…

***

In a humble but spacious wooden home stood a teenage boy.  Taog Sutharlan was standing over the hearth, watching the soup simmering in the pot.  He boy stirred the soup with a ladle before scooping up a bit, bringing it to his mouth to taste.  As he did so, the two canine ears on top of his head twitched slightly.  He lowered the ladle and heaved a sigh.

“Three…two…one…”

The door slammed open.

“Taog!  I found it!  Our big break!”

Taog heaved another sigh and turned to face the door.

A teenage girl walked right into the room with her muddy boots.  She wore a hunter's garb, with a bow slung over her back and a large dagger tied to her thigh.  She had her blonde hair up in a ponytail, and a big grin on her face.

“Come on Ateia, how many times is this now?  Can you at least try not to get as much mud on the floor as you possibly can?”

She ran up to him.

“Nevermind that, Taog, listen to this!  I know how we’re going to get into the Exploratores this time!”

“Yes yes, I’ll listen to it over dinner.  Now go wipe off the mud.”

She puffed her cheeks.

“Oh come on, Taog!  This is way more important than dinner!  This could be our big break!”

Just then, Ateia’s stomach let out a loud grumble.

Taog just raised an eyebrow at her.

Her face flushed and she turned around.

“I…um…will clean up a bit while you cook?”

Taog just shook his head as he smiled.

A short while later and the pair sat at a table, bowls of stew and loaves of bread in front of them.  Ateia grabbed the loaf, biting off a huge chunk.  Taog calmly sipped on the stew, dipping a small piece of his bread into it.

“So, listen to this, Taog!”

“I’m listening, I’m listening, so can you at least finish chewing?  It’s hard to hear you when your mouth is full.”

She frowned as she swallowed the chunk of bread.

“Oh come on, Taog!  It’s like you’re not even excited over something that could change our entire lives!”

He heaved a sigh.

“That’s because I remember the last five things that could change our entire lives.”

Ateia averted her eyes.

“I-It’s not like that this time!”

“Really?”

Taog just stared at her until her face flushed.

“Just…just listen, ok!  So, I was just making my way back from the butchers when I caught a glimpse of one of those Imperial mages, right?”

“Ateia…”

She glared at him.

“I didn’t do anything, ok!”

“This time.”

“ANYWAYS!  So I was wondering what on Aelea they’re doing all the way out here…”

“So you spied on them.”

“I just took a moment to rest in the tavern!  It’s not my fault if they’re talking loud enough to be heard all the way in Castra Turannia!”

“Right, right.  So then, what did these apparently provincially loud mages say?”

Ateia smiled.

“So, apparently there’s been some pretty high concentrations of mana up in the forest lately, and they were sent to investigate!  Something like another mana surge.”

Taog frowned.  Mana surges…were never good.  Unpredictable phenomena.  New dungeons popping out of the ground.

And if they were especially unlucky, monster waves.

Like the one that claimed his parents.

Suddenly Ateia’s eyes widened.

“Ah…no, I’m sorry Taog, I didn’t mean…”

He shook his head.

“It’s fine, it’s been almost a decade since then.”

“Taog…”

“You were saying?”

Ateia heaved a sigh, then shook her head and continued on.

“So, doesn’t seem like it's a full-on mana surge or anything, just an elevated concentration.  They’re predicting we’re going to see some new dungeons in the area soon.”

Taog crossed his arms once more.

“Well that’s interesting.  I don’t see what that has to do with us, though.”

“Come on Taog, use your head!  It’s dungeons!”

He took a deep breath.

He had a feeling he knew what she was about to say.

He sincerely hoped he was wrong.

“And…?”

She heaved a sigh, shaking her head.  A vein bulged slightly on Taog’s forehead at that.

“You see, Taog, that means there’s a bunch of brand new dungeons.  Weak dungeons.  And guess what?  Anyone with a Dungeon Conqueror feat on an undiscovered dungeon is guaranteed for the Exploratores.”

Taog held his forehead with his hands.

“So you’re saying…”

She grinned at him.

“We go and find one of the new dungeons, before anyone else.  We conquer that dungeon.  Then bam!  We’re into the Exploratores.  How’s that?  Guaranteed victory.”

Taog covered his face with both his hands, exhaling deeply.  He then brought his hands together in front of his face.

“Ok, so let me get this straight.  You want us to waltz into the Domhan na Beithigh, the Forest of Beasts, during the middle of an almost mana surge that the provincial mages came all the way out here to investigate.  Then you want us to walk around said Domhan na Beithigh until we stumble upon a dungeon.  You know, the monster spawning labyrinths of death created by demon lords specifically to kill people?  And then you want us to waltz right in, kick the front door down, kill a demon lord, and destroy its lair?”

She crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks.

“Oh, stop being dramatic, Taog!  This isn’t exactly the demon lord’s lair!  Yes, I know all dungeons are dangerous but this would be a brand new one!  Completely untested, only a handful of monsters and traps!  And this is the sort of thing we’ve trained for!  You and I have both been to the Beithigh Forest and came back no problem, all the time!  And look, we still have that stock of potions from my father, we’ll be extra careful and take our time to prepare.  I know it’s risky but this is our best shot and I know we can do it.”

Taog stood up, and walked over to the other side of the table.  Ateia rose to meet him.  He grabbed her shoulders and looked her in the eye.

He took a deep breath.

“Ateia, it’s time to stop.”

She froze.

“What…?”

He frowned but he pressed on.

“It’s over, Ateia.  Look, I don’t want to say this, but you’re forcing my hand here.  You need to stop.  You need to accept the truth.”

“What are you…”

“We were turned down from the Exploratores.  It’s over, Ateia.  If we couldn’t pass their tests, there’s no chance we can conquer a dungeon of all things.”

“You’re wrong!  We just, we were nervous that day!  And we’ve gotten stronger since then!  This time, we’ll be prepared!”

“We’ll be dead is what will happen, Ateia.  Running through bandit country, into the Forest of Beasts, and then into a dungeon?  Not to dive but to conquer the entire thing, demon lord and all?  That’s suicide, Ateia.”

She started to tremble.

“No, we can do it!  We have to…”

Taog shut his eyes.  His stomach leapt to his throat.

But he had to say it.

He couldn’t let her die.

“Ateia…”

“...what?”

“...I think…it’s time to consider the truth.”

Her eyes started to quiver.

“What are you saying?”

He grimaced, his eyes starting to water.  But he pressed on.

“He’s not coming back.  Whether you wait for him here, or chase after him, he’s not coming back.”

She took a step back, staring at him eyes wide open.  She looked as if he had slapped her on the face.

But he steeled his heart.

“It’s time to move on, Ateia.  The legion is still paying for you, and you have a lot of skills.  A lot more than the average person.  You can make a good life for yourself here.  So please, don’t throw it all away like this.”

Her face curled into a snarl.

“You’re wrong!  My father’s alive!  Look, the legion hasn’t said anything, have they?!”

“Ateia…”

“My father’s alive and I’m going to find him!  I can’t believe you of all people would say that, Taog!”

Taog frowned, his eyes tearing up.

“Ateia…you know no one wants to believe your father is alive more than me.  He’s a father to me too, you know that.  But I…”

“But what?!  If that’s how you feel, then help me find him!”

“Look, I don’t want to lose you too.”

Ateia opened her mouth to shout, but stopped as she saw the look on Taog’s face.

The two stood in silence for a long moment.  Ateia looked down, wrapping her arms around herself.

Eventually, she whispered.

“I’m going.”

“Ateia…”

“I have to, Taog.  I have to at least try.  I can’t give up now.  I can’t…”

Taog grit his teeth as he watched her…then he heaved a sigh.

“...fine.”

“Taog…”

“Then, let’s start figuring out a plan.  And we’re leaving nothing to chance, got that?  We’re not taking one step out of this house until I’m satisfied we’re as prepared as we can possibly be.”

Ateia’s head shot up, her eyes widening.

Taog gave her a wry smile.

“I told you, didn’t I?  I’m not going to lose you too.  So if you’re going to do this, I’m going with you.  Either we come back together, or neither of us come back at all.  So…just promise me this.  If things don’t go the way you want them to, if it looks like we’re going to fail, then we turn around, right then and there.  If we survive, we can always try again, but you can’t do anything if you’re dead.  So our number one priority is stay alive, got it?”

Her eyes began to moisten as she nodded.

“Yes!  I promise!”

She grabbed him in a hug.  Taog’s eyes widened and his face flushed slightly before he returned the embrace.

“Thank you, Taog.”

He heaved a sigh.

“Just…just don’t die on me, ok?”

Author’s Note:

Eh?  Who are you people?  There’s a suspicious lack of termination and a suspicious excess of talking here.  And like, that almost sounds like a serious plot or something.  We don’t do that here.

What’s that?

My last comedic novel was full of serious plots and lots of joke characters became serious over time?  That’s totally a thing we do here?

Um…

T-That can’t be right.  I-I’m not in denial or anything!

Anyways!

What will NSLICE-00P do next now that she can resume her mission?  Will she manage to find civilization once more?  And who are these randos and why are they taking up prime termination time?  Tune in next time, to find out!