CHAPTER 416: ARC 6, CHAPTER 32: CO-OP QUEST

’A duo adventure with Crispy. It’s been a while since we did that. It’ll be nice to catch up and see where we can go next. Hopefully it won’t be longer than a day though, I might get tired.

Even with all that, I can’t help but think there’s something odd about him. I get it, it’s not like I haven’t changed ever since coming to this world, but... I feel like... Forget it. I’m probs just being paranoid.’

With a small pack slung over her shoulder, Jotou turned the knob of her room door and was met by someone about to knock outside.

Hotaru paused, staring back.

The blonde knitted her brows and raised one, "Need something?"

The wolf-girl’s lips parted, but it took a second for the words to form, "I didn’t realize you were leaving so early. Just, seeing you out."

"Out of my own room?"

"And to tell you to stay safe."

"As if I wouldn’t."

Hotaru’s eyes lowered, "Knowing you?"

Jotou stuck her tongue out briefly.

"Well, safe travels on whatever quest you two are gonna go on. I’ll try to have something for you by the time you return."

Jotou cocked her head to the side.

"From the old books Ms Howllett," she said with a few flutters of her lashes.

"I thought so. You can think whatever you want about what I was thinking about Ms Kinoshita."

"Uh huh. Do you have any idea when you’ll be back? They surprisingly do room service. Should I inform them for your," the redhead let her eyes wander the room Jotou stood in. "Very nice room?"

"They offered a bigger room for free, how could I say no?" Jotou smirked. "Are you, perturbed, that I didn’t elect to invite you? You could’ve just asked~"

"Not at all, simply examining the room and its vast space," she hissed a little through her fangs.

"I don’t actually know when I’ll be back. Guess it depends on the commission Ben picked out. Anyways, same to you. I’ll see you later so stay safe," Jotou ducked past Hotaru and closed the door, prompting the redhead to take a couple of steps back.

Hotaru turned away, flicking her tail a little as she walked off; Jotou did the same the other way.

_

"Oh, hi Thundering Blade."

"H-hi," Jotou sharply turned her head to greet a stranger she could not even spot in her stride. She continued on through the guild hall.

"Up in the wee hours Thundering Blade—that’s an adventurer!" some older looking adventurer of short stature told.

’It’s like six-thirty, it’s not that early.’

"Ms Blade," a lady bowed as she walked by.

Jotou gave a half-efforted nod while passing by.

"Hey, I got here first."

"Who cares about first, it’s first to get the quest done!"

Jotou overheard two voices arguing as she approached. A man in bright red armour and shorter half-elven woman—both holding the same poster it seemed, with the rest on the board being blocked by the woman. "Ben? What’s going on?"

Ben turned, "Nothing, this lady’s part of today’s questline I guess. We have to get her out of the way if we want a successful mission, cause she’s planning to undermine us and beat us to it."

"I got the rights to do so!" the lady poked her head past his armour.

"If you already have it, what’s the point of blocking it exactly...?" the blonde asked.

"She’s trying to steal the one I have and stopping me from getting any more," Ben was holding his poster at arm’s length away from the half-elf.

"It’s fine, we can just pick another one," Jotou replied.

Ben raised his arms, "Come on man, I picked this one fresh off the board just for us."

"W-wait, you’re the Thundering Blade, right?" the woman’s eyes widened.

"Yes."

"And I’m the Scorching Inferno," Ben faced her.

"I knew that, but... well, if the Blade wants it..." she nervously moved away from blocking part of the board.

"I’m not gonna hurt you for it," Jotou said—her eyes half-lidded.

She forced an awkward laugh, "Right, you won’t," she handed her own poster to the armoured man and slinked away.

Ben held a paper in each hand and greeted the blonde, "Nice! You succeeded on intimidation with your resting bitch face! Come on, let’s go."

"Huh? No, I was being sincere," Jotou corrected as Ben was already walking towards the exit. "Oh whatever," she followed behind.

_

"Supplies packed, the path selected and the party split!" Ben proclaimed as the two walked southwards from the guild through paths in the woods. The morning birds sang their songs as early critters foraged for food.

"You haven’t told me what the quest is yet," Jotou remarked.

He unfurled the paper in front of her, "Goblins!"

"Goblins?"

"Goblins!"

"They exist in this world?"

"Yeah, seen a few of them," he grinned. "There’s dwarves too—not here though apparently."

"Where are they then? First I’ve heard of them."

Ben shrugged, "I dunno. I think they’re all isolated somewhere. Nowhere here though. Anyways, goblins made a small encampment in the woods near the village of Brillingfon. They’re stealing crops, livestock and the guards can’t handle them.

We need to dispatch the goblins from their encampment and we get two gold per goblin ear. Plus, we get all the sick loot and the villagers will make delicious food and might give us some stuff too."

"Ears as in killing them?"

"Well duh. But they’ll be no trouble at all for the Scorching Inferno and the Thundering Blade!" he hooked an arm around her and shook her by the shoulder.

Jotou smiled, "Yeah, I’m sure we’ll handle it."

"We need to first stay the night in a little town called Hirenheurt. Then the village is a small walk away."

"Hm, figured it’d take at most a day. Looks it’ll be two."

"We’ll reach there like at night. Goblins are nocturnal, so fighting them at night’s not the best plan, unless you’re trying to up the difficulty," he said with joy.

"Morning’ll be fine," Jotou rolled her eyes. "It’s more so that we didn’t inform the other how long we’ll take."

"Yeah a full-party adventure’s more fun. But eh, this trip’s just you and me. We don’t need the additional dialogue," he replied. "Speaking of parties, what’s your party’s name?"

"Don’t really have one."

"Dude!" he exclaimed, making the squirrels scatter through the bushes. "You gotta have one! It’s like a signature!"

Jotou bobbed her from side-to-side, "I don’t disagree, but we just never came up with one. We aren’t adventurers in the traditional sense—taking quests from a board and gathering at taverns. We’re more well-known and I don’t if a name changes that."

"It’s not too late to have a name," he poked the blonde in the temple.

"Alright then, what’s your party’s name?"

"The Infernals!" he announced with a pose of his hand, flickering a flame into it.

Jotou blinked a few times. "Kinda has a negative connotation don’t you think? Besides, aren’t you the only one in the party with fire? Colwyn had some sort of water-based magic."

"If I’m the face," he probably smiled as he showed her his armoured face. "Not like they’re protesting. Alright, so team composition is important to your naming scheme, we have that now. Name—go!"

"Uh... The, L-uh..."

"Okay, no. Maybe we need more details. What’s your party’s elemental powers? Maybe we can mishmash them into a name."

"I’m lightning, Meko’s shadow, Hotaru’s water and Sobi’s light. Oh and I guess Tiffany’s echo; she’s new."

Ben nodded and pondered for a minute or two as they walked and the sunrays breached through the branches and glittered the leaves and dew. "Fulbruacisonus!"

"You trying to summon demons?"

"No, dude, it’s like a mix of Latin."

"Since when do you know Latin?"

"I know the elements! They’re all in games who think they’re slick. How about it?"

"Not into it."

"Kay fine," he sighed.

_

"So you just blew your cover immediately?" Ben inquired.

"I wasn’t trying to keep a cover," Jotou explained with mild annoyance.

"Come on, anime’s taught you better than this my guy. You get transported to another world, you start your life with a new name and adapt. You don’t wanna change the course of the story too much!"

"Change the course of the- The hell’re you talking about? And more importantly, why? Why d’you need to do it that way?" Jotou scrunched her face.

"Otherwise it just raises suspicion."

"I just died. I came back to life in a coffin and got the cops called on me instantly. I was talking to a father I didn’t know and apparently had a giant gash in my chest that was gone. Oh yeah, and there was a whole case of velatos going on.

At what point would it’ve been a good idea to ’just blend in’?" her eyebrows knitted as her voice got more hectic. "It was more direct for me to do what I did, than try to overcomplicate it for absolutely no reason other than anime told me so.

It’s not like answers just fell on my lap and some god told me about my special abilities or something. I had to work from the ground up and the only advantage I had were from people who were planning to keep an eye and kill me!

Luckily they bought the amnesia story and I couldn’t be stabbed by velatos. If I just presumed and tried to blend in, that would’ve gotten me killed faster, cause this body’s previous host got assassinated for knowing things!"

"Okay, okay, okay, enough with the rant," Ben raised his hands in surrender. "No need to get angry."

Jotou glanced at him and stuck her tongue out, "I’m not angry, just having fun."

Ben looked down at her and hooked by the shoulder to hug sideways. He let out a loud sigh, "Man, I missed you."

"Missed you to buddy," Jotou patted the stomach of the armour.

Dawn had turned to dusk as they walked and talked, neither seeming to need to take a break or sit down. Many a beast they avoided—many a monster they did not spot.

Their loud chatter kept most things at bay, till over the hill they were and a village was within their sights—torchlight being lit visible.

"So, the Trailon Regime is down. And they basically call us stars?" Ben recounted from all the tales Jotou had told up until now.

"Mhm. They also say vas, but I guess they changed it."

"And they don’t want us killed?"

"They actively try to avoid it. It’s probs helped us win a lot honestly," Jotou nodded.

"Why though?"

Jotou shook her head. "All I know is that they do and that any answer will probs come from the Tri-Regimes; Di-Regimes, sorry."

Ben pondered and looked to the early evening sky, "If they’re trying to avoid it to that extent, my bet’s that killing us might rip a hole in spacetime or the fabric of reality."

"I don’t know if I like the idea of being an untriggered black hole. No use worrying about it now."

"So, hurting or killing myself is impossible, we’re immune to the thing that killed us last and we’re immune to telepathy unless we consent. Plus, the palace sounds fun and we should all meet up with Daiyu. Did I get that all right?" Ben retold.

"Told you everything up until now. I’m sure we’ll get to visit the palace after the cult business gets settled," Jotou bumped her fist into his shoulder.

"Yeah. Ah glorious exposition. Wish there was a skip button to access or a wiki to read later. I would’ve been bored reading everything that you said on a screen."

"True."

_

The small village built of cobble from streets to walls was ready to go to rest and revelry. Pubs were opening up, shops were closing and there was no local inn.

Glancing up, the two watched the tavern sign swinging in the wind. "I always love the medieval fantasy vibe these places have," Ben took in the cold nightly country air.

"Different from the rest of the world really," Jotou replied.

"Let’s go, probably our rooms for the night are in here. Let’s get drunk with the locals too!" Ben sprung through the door.

Jotou took a breath, "Oh hell..."