Fae is Foul [SAO/ZnT] (Crosspost)
- Thread starter Flere821
- Start date
Chapter 42
The climax of the Jotunheim arc. Or the first half of it anyway, I'm splitting this into 3k-ish chunks.
===
Chapter 42
-][-
The atmosphere were tense when Kirito and others descended into Thrymheim's third floor. The fourth floor consisted only of Thrymheim's boss room, so it was their last breathing space before the confrontation.
"We have a problem," Yui said quietly, but everyone could hear her regardless.
"Based on my sensors, Freya isn't where she's supposed to be imprisoned."
The group stilled, and the already high tension went up further.
"… Where is she now?" Kirito asked.
"I can't sense her," Yui admitted. "And in Thrymheim, only Thrym's throne room can't be sensed."
"How is he doing that anyway?" Morgiana grunted. "How can he block out the World Tree?"
"Technically, that's what Excalibur is supposed to do," Kirito said cautiously, while glancing meaningfully at the Spriggan Leader. They both knew Morgiana was referring to Titania's GM powers, something that no item that wasn't the administrator consoles shouldn't be able to affect, let alone block. But they didn't want the Halkeginians to know the inner workings of the World Tree that well.
Thrymheim shook, and that made everyone even more on edge.
"Round two with Frost Giants?" Morgiana all but swore.
"No," Yui disagreed. "It's coming from the throne room, and the interference there is lessening – I'll bring the feed up."
A large screen appeared before them all, the mist in the throne room fought against crackling thunder. With a rumble that shook the fortress, the scene cleared enough for the raid group to finally see what was going on:
Thor wielded <<Mjolnir>>, the strongest <<Hammer>> weapon in Alfheim Online, as he fought against Thrym. Every exchange between the gigantic beings made the fortress tremble, as the hammer struck against a frozen battleaxe of the same size.
"Trickery!" Thrym roared out. "Freya – no, Thor – I gave you Mjolnir as you asked, as a sign of trust. Are your senses blind? Is Asgard not cut off from you as Niflheim is to me? Is Oberon's foul sorcery that warped the nine worlds not more important than our feud?"
"You lie, Giant," Thor shouted back. "None among us could sense worlds beyond Bifrost from so far away. And the Allfather himself could not achieve such feat, let alone the Fairy King. I will be taking back what is mine."
Through a gap in Thrym's defences, Thor swung with all his might and Mjolnir connected with Thrym's chest. Thunder boomed and the raid group could feel the shockwave even from the floor above the conflict. However, Thrym's eyes gleamed – the gap was deliberately left open, bait that the thunder god took, and the Frost Giant did not even budge back from the blow.
"How-" Thor said, wide-eyed, before Thrym counterattacked. Large hands tore Thor limb from limb, until Thrym capped his assault off by tearing Thor's heart out.
"…" Thrym stood before Thor's fallen form, looking almost pitifully down at the god whose body was dissipating into specks of light. "How did I grow so powerful? Because I know the truth. What I thought was mere delicacies to boost my magic led me to the Great Purpose."
The raid group was silent throughout the entire scene, too stunned to do anything even as Thrym reached for Mjolnir.
"Little gnats, intruding upon my realm," Thrym boomed out in such volume that they didn't need Yui to hear him. "Join me in my throne room."
Before any of them could react, the frozen floor collapsed, leaving all of them at the mercy of gravity until they remembered they could fly. The faeries used their wings to slowly descend, and the Halkeginian mages levitated themselves downwards. Glancing at others, Kirito found more than a few of them were dreading how things had turned out. Miss Longueville especially had a green tinge to her face, like her hair's colour had drained downwards – she planned on leaving before they reached Thrym, and given the Frost Giant King called them out she couldn't exactly leave right without the risk of provoking Thrym.
When the raid group finally reached the final floor, Thrym was seated upon a frozen throne in the middle of the chamber. Mjolnir sat across his lap, within easy reach. Around the room, close to the walls, were small hills of gold, in forms of coins, weapons, armour, and even some furniture. Enough wealth to gorge any of the Factions, which any self-respecting, stereotypical Spriggan would die for. Nonetheless, tension ran through the raid group, with many among them clenching their weapons nervously, and all the treasure were but an afterthought.
"You are here to fight me, then, little pawn of Oberon?" Thrym's voice rumbled. Kirito stepped forward then – his Quest, his responsibility.
"I don't suppose we can talk this out?" Kirito asked hesitantly. Who knows, he might as well try to solve things diplomatically, as opposed to starting the cut scene to the final battle.
Thrym's eyes gazed down at him, silently judging. For all Kirito knew, the Frost Giant King was as surprised as he was that things didn't immediately descend into violence. The silence dragged on, uncomfortably so, to the point where Kirito thought if they were still in a VRMMO, he would wonder if the Quest had suffered a glitch.
"… What are you waiting for?" Kirito finally lost composure and blinked first, so to speak.
"The knife to the back, a sudden yet inevitable betrayal. After all, If you are not here to fight me, then how do you plan to return Jotunheim to Urd's rule?" Thrym questioned Kirito. At the Black Swordsman's surprise, Thrym continued: "I hear all that happen within my realm, little faerie. Though you seem to have mistaken my realm with that of only Thrymheim, as opposed to the entirety of the Land of the Giants. Did you believe that just by asking nicely, I would hand you Excalibur and give up?"
"Well," Kirito said slowly. "What do you want in exchange?"
"Kirito?" Klein tried to whisper his question. "What the hell, man?"
"What we want is for the Jotunns to stop attacking and killing players – we've been leaving other types of Giants alone if they weren't aggressive, after all," Kirito went on. "I want Excalibur. The rest of everyone here want loot. Titania – not Oberon, by the way – wants more energy for the World Tree, and for the players to be safe. Going by the spirit instead of the letter of the Quest, we don't have to turn this into a fight to the death."
"Are you serious, Kirito?" Morgiana spoke up, not bothering to tone down her volume or hide her incredulity. "Are you really trying to talk a Quest Boss down?"
"Since the Transition we've tried diplomacy with everyone else that could hold a conversation, so why not here as well?" Kirito asked rhetorically. "Is he really that different from the Tristainians?"
Before actually talking with Thrym, Kirito only thought of Thrym as a Boss monster. But given the resources Cardinal put into Thrym, to the point that he could still talk after the Transition meant Thrym was close to be an AI to start with. An AI like Titania.
Like Yui.
Or even if not quite on the level of Titania or Yui, there might as well be no differences between Thrym and them. Even without how Kirito believed he had very little chance to kill Thrym even with the Sword of Surtr, since Thrym stomped Thor easily and took possession of the Legendary weapon Mjolnir, Kirito felt it wasn't right to jump right to killing. Aincrad survivors didn't, shouldn't, resort to death unless there was absolutely no other options – at least not when the other party was practically the same as the players themselves.
"… Something has been bothering me, actually," Asuna said quietly, walking up to stand next to Kirito and addressed the Frost Giant.
"If you did hear everything that has been going on in Jotunheim, then you should have heard everything else that has gone on in Jotunheim," Asuna said slowly, her thoughts racing. "Every conversation of the raid groups. Every discussion, every complaint about how things have changed."
So much have happened since that last time Kirito and Leafa went into Jotunheim with the Black Hawks that Kirito had almost forgotten about it. At the end of that trip was a discussion that would be different to what Thrym's character would know, filled with different terms and ideas. Kirito was willing to bet such discussions happened all the time in Jotunheim, from players grouching about some mechanic or another, to raid leaders giving orders and so on.
"And what we just heard before we reached this room," Kirito continued for Asuna, feeling like he almost grasped something. "The 'truth'. The 'Great Purpose'. You…"
Kirito paused, forcing himself to let go of some of the tension.
"You know that this isn't Alfheim Online, don't you?"
During the Treaty negotiations the subject of elves had come up, mainly about how Alfheim would not ally themselves with the other major Firstborn superpower known to Halkeginia. From that, knowledge of spirit magic, and what it was capable of, was found by the players bit by bit.
"You're not scripted, or forced by programming to have to fight," Kirito realized. "But if that's the case… why send Jotunns on an all-out assault to try and tunnel out of Jotunheim? The players can't stop even the Jotunn groups leaving from below, let alone someone on your level if you wanted to leave. So why start all this?"
"Because this could not have ended any other way," Thrym replied, his grip tightened on the handle of Mjolnir, something the players would have missed if it had occurred on someone more similar to their own size. "Oberon – or rather, Titania as you claim – would not just let me leave, even if I was not the nemesis of all Alfheim as of the so-called 'Transition'. I would have been chased to the ends of the world should I have attempted to flee like a mongrel with its tail between its legs. And Niflheim is not what my memories tell me to be, there are no safe havens for me against the master of the World Tree. Only thing left that is possible for me is a last stand.
"You ask what do I want, little faerie? I want to be free. And for that, I'm willing to… bargain."
Thrym said that last word with distaste, even as a patch on the floor glowed golden. Excalibur emerged through the floor from below, flying an arc in the air, before stabbing point first into the floor in front of Kirito.
"Excalibur is yours, as a gesture of good faith," Thrym told Kirito, who looked at the blade before him in disbelief. "No matter what else that may or may not happen."
"… Isn't Excalibur the keystone to this fortress?" Asuna asked, seeing as her partner was still too stunned to respond. "Shouldn't the place be falling apart right now?"
"Thrymheim right now is being held together by my will," Thrym replied. "I no longer need assistance in order to keep my realm together.
"As for the rest of you," Thrym directed his words to the rest of the raid team. "The Fairy Queen may have Jotunheim and whatever energy she can scrounge up through the roots of the World Tree as she desire. All of you here may have half of my gold – the less magical half – in exchange for staying out of my way when Titania undoubtedly decide my terms are not good enough, and seek to destroy me. If you want more, you'll have to fight me for them – I still have some pride left. What say you all?"
-][-
The fighting in Jotunheim had slowed when the sound of thunder cracked from Thrymheim, accompanying flashes from within the tip of the inverted pyramid. Outside of small groups of Jotunns and the Field Bosses, there was little left that could harm the players of Alfheim Online.
Thus, none missed it when a gigantic sphere of flames ignited into existence, one large enough to cover an entire floor of Thrym, slammed into the final boss room. The sphere broke, along with the fortress walls, revealing the form of the <<Phoenix>>.
"Did the Salamanders decided to kill-steal or something?" Rufus asked Eugene sharply, glaring at the General who was on the other side of the battlefield, even as Rufus kept one eye on the Cyclops. "And we're allowed to use resources solely meant to defend our Capitals?"
"That wasn't us," Eugene grunted, unsure if the Leprechaun Leader could hearing him over the roaring blaze, sizzling the vapour in the cold air.
Further conversation was interrupted when the fiery drill imploded, a blast of air penetrating through the assault. Helpfully, Eugene's Medallion lit up, a screen popping up to show a zoomed-in view of what was going on. No sound accompanied the screen, but it was not like they needed it when they could hear the explosion from anywhere in the cavern.
Thus, every player saw Thrym, the Frost Giant King, wielding a large golden war-hammer, beating back the flames with little effort. Just as remarkable, was the lack of combat between the Frost Giant and the raid team that managed to reach the boss room.
-][-
The Black Swordsman had lowered his swords, even if he didn't sheathe them. That was clear to anyone watching from the beginning that Kirito was willing to take the deal, even if it would take some more hashing out.
Clear to watchers like Titania, for example; because there was no way the GM equivalent of ALO as it was would not be observing the Quest's progress.
"Why?" Kirito asked quietly – or maybe it only sounded quiet to him in the aftermath of some walls being blown in, as his ears was still ringing from the explosion. His sight was not much better off, with his eyes stung by the billowing winds from the Phoenix clashing with Thrym, as a firestorm fought against a blizzard.
Glancing at the Medallion on his chest, Kirito asked again: "Why are you interfering, Titania? And you didn't order the other players to attack, too, instead 'wasting' power like you claim was too inefficient to be considered as an option. So, why…?"
"Because it is clear that, even with past experience and mentally being amongst the most suitable players of dealing with such situations, you cannot be trusted to finish the job," Titania's voice came through his Medallion, as neutral as it ever was. "You have failed at the Treaty as well, which lead me to conclude that if I want something done right, then I will have to do it without player proxies. I would actually spend less if I step in at this moment, as opposed to step in later in a miscalculated desire for efficiency but having to spend more power at that future point to repair things.
"Nonetheless, Kirito," Titania said, her voice colder than even Thrym's domain. "I will allow you one final chance to redeem yourself. Kill Thrym."
"… No," Kirito replied stoically. It would be easy to summon the Sword of Surtr, and attack Thrym while the Frost Giant was distracted, but… "I won't. This could still work. We allied with Tristain, even after the mess at the beginning – so why can't we end things peacefully here as well?"
"Because outside of a small number of ways, Tristain poses no threat to the players," Titania replied. "The players may indulge in mercifulness given the margin of safety there. But Thrym cannot be allowed to continue on. Thrym was born with the potential to sink Arrun and invade the rest of Alfheim if left unchecked, and unlike before we cannot just roll back to an earlier save file if things go that far. And that is before taking into account Thrym's newfound strength. So remove Thrym, Kirito, or I will."
Kirito sheathed the offhand blade he equipped, leaving <<The Elucidator>> as his weapon in addition to the Excalibur Kirito picked up. Looking over at Asuna, the two of them exchanged an unspoken conversation – Kirito's Undine partner was no more willing to go along with Titania than he was. Same with Leafa. Klein sighed exasperatedly at how the train-wreck turned out, but indicated he had Kirito's back no matter what he chose. As did Agil.
With a roar, Thrym raised Mjolnir, and with the crack of thunder dispelled the Phoenix's form for the moment.
"If the deal had gone through, you wouldn't have attacked Alfheim right?" Morgiana spoke up to the King of Frost Giants in that lull.
"I would have retreated to Niflheim for at least several decades, and left you mortals to your devices," Thrym confirmed. "This world is large enough that I have no need to fight over this one continent with you all."
"Well, assuming the Quest Boss can be trusted, I'd be fine with that," Morgiana nodded. "Can't blame a guy for trying to go for a Paragon play-style as opposed to a Renegade one."
"Too bad we're getting railroaded into a specific ending," Kirito smiled weakly – never was he so glad that Morgiana, and the Spriggans as a whole, were such carefree players. "Cardinal was much more flexible with Quests back in Aincrad."
"Are you sure you're not saying that because we could have had half of all this gold?" Valoren poked his Faction Leader.
"I would have said that even if we weren't getting any gold," Morgiana scowled. "We're in the business of killing monsters for loot, and I'm not sure we can call Thrym a monster."
"It is time for you to leave, little faeries."
Thrym looked up, as if he could see Titania looking down from atop the World Tree. The moment had passed, and the Phoenix was reforming.
"What is happening next no longer concerns you."
A gale swept them, and the remains of the Phoenix, right out of the hole in the fortress. Mountains of gold flew out along with them, and the Black Hawk guild members scrambled to try and catch it all. Morgiana struggled to reach the falling <<Bank Chest>> against the buffeting winds, but once she did she crowed in success. The chest opened, and gold began to flow into it, not unlike water spinning endlessly down the drains.
Kirito had but a moment to hear players outside of Thrymheim shouting, likely green with envy, before their world practically shattered.
===
This will be the last time Titania be so heavy-handed at the end of the story arcs, since on retrospect this seem to happen with the Treaty arc as well. Though I'll refrain from saying how that'll happen in-story in the next few arcs.
Chapter 42
-][-
The atmosphere were tense when Kirito and others descended into Thrymheim's third floor. The fourth floor consisted only of Thrymheim's boss room, so it was their last breathing space before the confrontation.
"We have a problem," Yui said quietly, but everyone could hear her regardless.
"Based on my sensors, Freya isn't where she's supposed to be imprisoned."
The group stilled, and the already high tension went up further.
"… Where is she now?" Kirito asked.
"I can't sense her," Yui admitted. "And in Thrymheim, only Thrym's throne room can't be sensed."
"How is he doing that anyway?" Morgiana grunted. "How can he block out the World Tree?"
"Technically, that's what Excalibur is supposed to do," Kirito said cautiously, while glancing meaningfully at the Spriggan Leader. They both knew Morgiana was referring to Titania's GM powers, something that no item that wasn't the administrator consoles shouldn't be able to affect, let alone block. But they didn't want the Halkeginians to know the inner workings of the World Tree that well.
Thrymheim shook, and that made everyone even more on edge.
"Round two with Frost Giants?" Morgiana all but swore.
"No," Yui disagreed. "It's coming from the throne room, and the interference there is lessening – I'll bring the feed up."
A large screen appeared before them all, the mist in the throne room fought against crackling thunder. With a rumble that shook the fortress, the scene cleared enough for the raid group to finally see what was going on:
Thor wielded <<Mjolnir>>, the strongest <<Hammer>> weapon in Alfheim Online, as he fought against Thrym. Every exchange between the gigantic beings made the fortress tremble, as the hammer struck against a frozen battleaxe of the same size.
"Trickery!" Thrym roared out. "Freya – no, Thor – I gave you Mjolnir as you asked, as a sign of trust. Are your senses blind? Is Asgard not cut off from you as Niflheim is to me? Is Oberon's foul sorcery that warped the nine worlds not more important than our feud?"
"You lie, Giant," Thor shouted back. "None among us could sense worlds beyond Bifrost from so far away. And the Allfather himself could not achieve such feat, let alone the Fairy King. I will be taking back what is mine."
Through a gap in Thrym's defences, Thor swung with all his might and Mjolnir connected with Thrym's chest. Thunder boomed and the raid group could feel the shockwave even from the floor above the conflict. However, Thrym's eyes gleamed – the gap was deliberately left open, bait that the thunder god took, and the Frost Giant did not even budge back from the blow.
"How-" Thor said, wide-eyed, before Thrym counterattacked. Large hands tore Thor limb from limb, until Thrym capped his assault off by tearing Thor's heart out.
"…" Thrym stood before Thor's fallen form, looking almost pitifully down at the god whose body was dissipating into specks of light. "How did I grow so powerful? Because I know the truth. What I thought was mere delicacies to boost my magic led me to the Great Purpose."
The raid group was silent throughout the entire scene, too stunned to do anything even as Thrym reached for Mjolnir.
"Little gnats, intruding upon my realm," Thrym boomed out in such volume that they didn't need Yui to hear him. "Join me in my throne room."
Before any of them could react, the frozen floor collapsed, leaving all of them at the mercy of gravity until they remembered they could fly. The faeries used their wings to slowly descend, and the Halkeginian mages levitated themselves downwards. Glancing at others, Kirito found more than a few of them were dreading how things had turned out. Miss Longueville especially had a green tinge to her face, like her hair's colour had drained downwards – she planned on leaving before they reached Thrym, and given the Frost Giant King called them out she couldn't exactly leave right without the risk of provoking Thrym.
When the raid group finally reached the final floor, Thrym was seated upon a frozen throne in the middle of the chamber. Mjolnir sat across his lap, within easy reach. Around the room, close to the walls, were small hills of gold, in forms of coins, weapons, armour, and even some furniture. Enough wealth to gorge any of the Factions, which any self-respecting, stereotypical Spriggan would die for. Nonetheless, tension ran through the raid group, with many among them clenching their weapons nervously, and all the treasure were but an afterthought.
"You are here to fight me, then, little pawn of Oberon?" Thrym's voice rumbled. Kirito stepped forward then – his Quest, his responsibility.
"I don't suppose we can talk this out?" Kirito asked hesitantly. Who knows, he might as well try to solve things diplomatically, as opposed to starting the cut scene to the final battle.
Thrym's eyes gazed down at him, silently judging. For all Kirito knew, the Frost Giant King was as surprised as he was that things didn't immediately descend into violence. The silence dragged on, uncomfortably so, to the point where Kirito thought if they were still in a VRMMO, he would wonder if the Quest had suffered a glitch.
"… What are you waiting for?" Kirito finally lost composure and blinked first, so to speak.
"The knife to the back, a sudden yet inevitable betrayal. After all, If you are not here to fight me, then how do you plan to return Jotunheim to Urd's rule?" Thrym questioned Kirito. At the Black Swordsman's surprise, Thrym continued: "I hear all that happen within my realm, little faerie. Though you seem to have mistaken my realm with that of only Thrymheim, as opposed to the entirety of the Land of the Giants. Did you believe that just by asking nicely, I would hand you Excalibur and give up?"
"Well," Kirito said slowly. "What do you want in exchange?"
"Kirito?" Klein tried to whisper his question. "What the hell, man?"
"What we want is for the Jotunns to stop attacking and killing players – we've been leaving other types of Giants alone if they weren't aggressive, after all," Kirito went on. "I want Excalibur. The rest of everyone here want loot. Titania – not Oberon, by the way – wants more energy for the World Tree, and for the players to be safe. Going by the spirit instead of the letter of the Quest, we don't have to turn this into a fight to the death."
"Are you serious, Kirito?" Morgiana spoke up, not bothering to tone down her volume or hide her incredulity. "Are you really trying to talk a Quest Boss down?"
"Since the Transition we've tried diplomacy with everyone else that could hold a conversation, so why not here as well?" Kirito asked rhetorically. "Is he really that different from the Tristainians?"
Before actually talking with Thrym, Kirito only thought of Thrym as a Boss monster. But given the resources Cardinal put into Thrym, to the point that he could still talk after the Transition meant Thrym was close to be an AI to start with. An AI like Titania.
Like Yui.
Or even if not quite on the level of Titania or Yui, there might as well be no differences between Thrym and them. Even without how Kirito believed he had very little chance to kill Thrym even with the Sword of Surtr, since Thrym stomped Thor easily and took possession of the Legendary weapon Mjolnir, Kirito felt it wasn't right to jump right to killing. Aincrad survivors didn't, shouldn't, resort to death unless there was absolutely no other options – at least not when the other party was practically the same as the players themselves.
"… Something has been bothering me, actually," Asuna said quietly, walking up to stand next to Kirito and addressed the Frost Giant.
"If you did hear everything that has been going on in Jotunheim, then you should have heard everything else that has gone on in Jotunheim," Asuna said slowly, her thoughts racing. "Every conversation of the raid groups. Every discussion, every complaint about how things have changed."
So much have happened since that last time Kirito and Leafa went into Jotunheim with the Black Hawks that Kirito had almost forgotten about it. At the end of that trip was a discussion that would be different to what Thrym's character would know, filled with different terms and ideas. Kirito was willing to bet such discussions happened all the time in Jotunheim, from players grouching about some mechanic or another, to raid leaders giving orders and so on.
"And what we just heard before we reached this room," Kirito continued for Asuna, feeling like he almost grasped something. "The 'truth'. The 'Great Purpose'. You…"
Kirito paused, forcing himself to let go of some of the tension.
"You know that this isn't Alfheim Online, don't you?"
During the Treaty negotiations the subject of elves had come up, mainly about how Alfheim would not ally themselves with the other major Firstborn superpower known to Halkeginia. From that, knowledge of spirit magic, and what it was capable of, was found by the players bit by bit.
"You're not scripted, or forced by programming to have to fight," Kirito realized. "But if that's the case… why send Jotunns on an all-out assault to try and tunnel out of Jotunheim? The players can't stop even the Jotunn groups leaving from below, let alone someone on your level if you wanted to leave. So why start all this?"
"Because this could not have ended any other way," Thrym replied, his grip tightened on the handle of Mjolnir, something the players would have missed if it had occurred on someone more similar to their own size. "Oberon – or rather, Titania as you claim – would not just let me leave, even if I was not the nemesis of all Alfheim as of the so-called 'Transition'. I would have been chased to the ends of the world should I have attempted to flee like a mongrel with its tail between its legs. And Niflheim is not what my memories tell me to be, there are no safe havens for me against the master of the World Tree. Only thing left that is possible for me is a last stand.
"You ask what do I want, little faerie? I want to be free. And for that, I'm willing to… bargain."
Thrym said that last word with distaste, even as a patch on the floor glowed golden. Excalibur emerged through the floor from below, flying an arc in the air, before stabbing point first into the floor in front of Kirito.
"Excalibur is yours, as a gesture of good faith," Thrym told Kirito, who looked at the blade before him in disbelief. "No matter what else that may or may not happen."
"… Isn't Excalibur the keystone to this fortress?" Asuna asked, seeing as her partner was still too stunned to respond. "Shouldn't the place be falling apart right now?"
"Thrymheim right now is being held together by my will," Thrym replied. "I no longer need assistance in order to keep my realm together.
"As for the rest of you," Thrym directed his words to the rest of the raid team. "The Fairy Queen may have Jotunheim and whatever energy she can scrounge up through the roots of the World Tree as she desire. All of you here may have half of my gold – the less magical half – in exchange for staying out of my way when Titania undoubtedly decide my terms are not good enough, and seek to destroy me. If you want more, you'll have to fight me for them – I still have some pride left. What say you all?"
-][-
The fighting in Jotunheim had slowed when the sound of thunder cracked from Thrymheim, accompanying flashes from within the tip of the inverted pyramid. Outside of small groups of Jotunns and the Field Bosses, there was little left that could harm the players of Alfheim Online.
Thus, none missed it when a gigantic sphere of flames ignited into existence, one large enough to cover an entire floor of Thrym, slammed into the final boss room. The sphere broke, along with the fortress walls, revealing the form of the <<Phoenix>>.
"Did the Salamanders decided to kill-steal or something?" Rufus asked Eugene sharply, glaring at the General who was on the other side of the battlefield, even as Rufus kept one eye on the Cyclops. "And we're allowed to use resources solely meant to defend our Capitals?"
"That wasn't us," Eugene grunted, unsure if the Leprechaun Leader could hearing him over the roaring blaze, sizzling the vapour in the cold air.
Further conversation was interrupted when the fiery drill imploded, a blast of air penetrating through the assault. Helpfully, Eugene's Medallion lit up, a screen popping up to show a zoomed-in view of what was going on. No sound accompanied the screen, but it was not like they needed it when they could hear the explosion from anywhere in the cavern.
Thus, every player saw Thrym, the Frost Giant King, wielding a large golden war-hammer, beating back the flames with little effort. Just as remarkable, was the lack of combat between the Frost Giant and the raid team that managed to reach the boss room.
-][-
The Black Swordsman had lowered his swords, even if he didn't sheathe them. That was clear to anyone watching from the beginning that Kirito was willing to take the deal, even if it would take some more hashing out.
Clear to watchers like Titania, for example; because there was no way the GM equivalent of ALO as it was would not be observing the Quest's progress.
"Why?" Kirito asked quietly – or maybe it only sounded quiet to him in the aftermath of some walls being blown in, as his ears was still ringing from the explosion. His sight was not much better off, with his eyes stung by the billowing winds from the Phoenix clashing with Thrym, as a firestorm fought against a blizzard.
Glancing at the Medallion on his chest, Kirito asked again: "Why are you interfering, Titania? And you didn't order the other players to attack, too, instead 'wasting' power like you claim was too inefficient to be considered as an option. So, why…?"
"Because it is clear that, even with past experience and mentally being amongst the most suitable players of dealing with such situations, you cannot be trusted to finish the job," Titania's voice came through his Medallion, as neutral as it ever was. "You have failed at the Treaty as well, which lead me to conclude that if I want something done right, then I will have to do it without player proxies. I would actually spend less if I step in at this moment, as opposed to step in later in a miscalculated desire for efficiency but having to spend more power at that future point to repair things.
"Nonetheless, Kirito," Titania said, her voice colder than even Thrym's domain. "I will allow you one final chance to redeem yourself. Kill Thrym."
"… No," Kirito replied stoically. It would be easy to summon the Sword of Surtr, and attack Thrym while the Frost Giant was distracted, but… "I won't. This could still work. We allied with Tristain, even after the mess at the beginning – so why can't we end things peacefully here as well?"
"Because outside of a small number of ways, Tristain poses no threat to the players," Titania replied. "The players may indulge in mercifulness given the margin of safety there. But Thrym cannot be allowed to continue on. Thrym was born with the potential to sink Arrun and invade the rest of Alfheim if left unchecked, and unlike before we cannot just roll back to an earlier save file if things go that far. And that is before taking into account Thrym's newfound strength. So remove Thrym, Kirito, or I will."
Kirito sheathed the offhand blade he equipped, leaving <<The Elucidator>> as his weapon in addition to the Excalibur Kirito picked up. Looking over at Asuna, the two of them exchanged an unspoken conversation – Kirito's Undine partner was no more willing to go along with Titania than he was. Same with Leafa. Klein sighed exasperatedly at how the train-wreck turned out, but indicated he had Kirito's back no matter what he chose. As did Agil.
With a roar, Thrym raised Mjolnir, and with the crack of thunder dispelled the Phoenix's form for the moment.
"If the deal had gone through, you wouldn't have attacked Alfheim right?" Morgiana spoke up to the King of Frost Giants in that lull.
"I would have retreated to Niflheim for at least several decades, and left you mortals to your devices," Thrym confirmed. "This world is large enough that I have no need to fight over this one continent with you all."
"Well, assuming the Quest Boss can be trusted, I'd be fine with that," Morgiana nodded. "Can't blame a guy for trying to go for a Paragon play-style as opposed to a Renegade one."
"Too bad we're getting railroaded into a specific ending," Kirito smiled weakly – never was he so glad that Morgiana, and the Spriggans as a whole, were such carefree players. "Cardinal was much more flexible with Quests back in Aincrad."
"Are you sure you're not saying that because we could have had half of all this gold?" Valoren poked his Faction Leader.
"I would have said that even if we weren't getting any gold," Morgiana scowled. "We're in the business of killing monsters for loot, and I'm not sure we can call Thrym a monster."
"It is time for you to leave, little faeries."
Thrym looked up, as if he could see Titania looking down from atop the World Tree. The moment had passed, and the Phoenix was reforming.
"What is happening next no longer concerns you."
A gale swept them, and the remains of the Phoenix, right out of the hole in the fortress. Mountains of gold flew out along with them, and the Black Hawk guild members scrambled to try and catch it all. Morgiana struggled to reach the falling <<Bank Chest>> against the buffeting winds, but once she did she crowed in success. The chest opened, and gold began to flow into it, not unlike water spinning endlessly down the drains.
Kirito had but a moment to hear players outside of Thrymheim shouting, likely green with envy, before their world practically shattered.
===
Wouhou!! Go Spriggan go!
Chapter 43
===
Chapter 43
-][-
The frozen fortress of Thrymheim cracked and split, crumbling into falling icebergs. A sphere of wind began to expand out from where the throne room used to be, growing larger and larger before the sphere instead turned into a pillar of roaring hurricane that stretched connected the surface and ceiling of the Jotunheim.
From where Kirche von Zerbst stood, on the back of her best friend's Wind Dragon familiar as they fled the collapsing fortress, it was both awe-inspiring and terrifying. Even through the disorientation as they were blown out of Thrymheim. So much power within the storm, yet the Frost Giant King had made it so that it didn't drag entire armies of the Fae into the column. Otherwise they, the only humans within the mess of a situation, would have been ripped apart by the winds, or be crushed by the small boulders of ice that flew in the storm.
"Here for my life, then, lost children of Midgard?" Thrym called out, his voice resounding within the large cavern. Slowly, the hurricane morphed, into the Frost Giant's likeness but writ even larger. "If you wish to take my head to exchange for baubles, you will not obtain it cheaply.
"Come at me then, unthinking slaves of Alfheim," twin slits of blue light flared up where the eyes should be, each larger than a fully grown Halkeginian dragon. "I am Thrym, the King of the Frost Giants, the Ruler of Jotunheim, and I defy my fate to fall to the likes of you. You will not end me like I am some mere beast."
Silence. Apart from the roaring winds, which seemed faint compared to Thrym's proclamation, there were no replies. Until one finally did.
-][-
"Kirito has failed to eliminate Thrym, before the Frost Giant could have grown into such a threat," Titania's voice spoke from the thousands of Medallions in Jotunheim. "And not due to a lack of tools to complete the quest, but due to a lack of resolve. Who amongst you all, then, are willing to continue where he failed?"
The players of Alfheim Online came from diverse backgrounds, not just university students and salarymen, but even law enforcement officers and such that were more used to combat. Many of those in the latter category were there in Jotunheim to fight the Jotunns. The survivors of Aincrad might have spent two years in an active campaign, but Titania held on to the possibility that there were other usable players to minimize her intervention, before she had to redraw Jotunheim's maps entirely. While Titania concluded she had to finish things herself, she had no desire to do so if a more efficient solution was viable.
A few players were tempted, but still hesitating. Even Sigurd, as aggressive as he had become after his revival and recovery from Laughing Coffin, had to think about the GM's offer. The players were all too used to peace, the avoidance to violence ingrained into their upbringing away from socially unstable settings.
No, instead, it was one quiet little girl that nobody really paid attention to that did so, in a voice that could be barely heard:
"I accept."
The blue haired girl from Tristain Academy – Tabitha, Titania recalled – answered the call to arms.
"I do not have the ability to kill Thrym," Tabitha admitted to a screen that materialized in front of her. Her face was still as blank as it was before thousands of players, and Titania, directed their attention to her. "But I do not lack the resolve to do so. Give me the means to accomplish my mission, and I will not hesitate."
Tabitha was not a player of ALO, but that did not matter for Titania. Ignoring the gasps from the players, Titania created a replica of Yui's Sword of Surtr in front of the petite mage – the vast majority of players had never seen a Legendary weapon in person. Then, seeing as Tabitha preferred a staff for her casting, the GM altered the sword into a spear as it suited Tabitha more.
The Phoenix finally reformed, coalesced for but a moment, before it was absorbed into the newly created spear. Buffs after buffs were applied to Tabitha, her steed, and her fellow humans on board her dragon.
"I judge that as you are now, you're as capable of ending Thrym as Kirito's raid could have," Titania informed Tabitha. "Kill Thrym, and you will be rewarded. Even if your wish is to acquire a Legendary weapon.
"The same apply to everyone else here. In addition to the vast amount of Reward Points, there will be one Legendary weapon for the individual that did the most damage. Plus one Legendary weapon for the individual that performs the Last Attack. Those that do not wish to continue, evacuate. For I shall bring the full might of the World Tree upon Thrym if the raid is wiped."
Tabitha reached for the spear, and with a stab a torrent of flames engulfed upon Thrym's towering torso. Thrym snarled, the damage merely cosmetic and did not break through the shell of storms shielding him, and one gigantic hand reached for Tabitha's dragon. Said dragon swerved away from the hand, and events fell like dominos from there.
Many players decided things were too far above their capability to handle, and teleported out of Jotunheim. Nearly just as many however entered into Jotunheim via portals, the chance for a rare and powerful weapon was enough to attract them to fight when the rewards before were unable to. Chaos reigned, as spells saturated the skies of Jotunheim, impacting upon Thrym, while wind and thunder tore through entire waves of players. Remain Lights dotted the cavern like stars in the night sky, resulting even the healers among the players earning a high rate of Reward Points, having plenty of targets for their craft.
The remnants of Thrym's forces, a few Jotunns, the Cyclops and what looked similar to a ten-legged Centaur, flew to Thrym's side. They fought hard, but even field bosses could not last against what was easily hundreds of times the players they were designed to challenge. What remained of those giants were either swept into the storm, or turned into particles of light to be absorbed by Rufus' contraptions.
Morgiana and her Spriggans withdrew, clearly wanting no more of the furore once they have gotten their gold. Kirito and his loyal friends stayed, albeit Yui's avatar with them had been destroyed in their exodus from Thrymheim. Titania did not know what Kirito believed he could accomplish by that point.
-][-
"Eugene!" Kirito shouted, making a beeline towards the Salamander's field commander. "This-"
"I don't think I can stop this, Kirito, even if I wanted to," Eugene forestalled the Black Swordsman and his team. The Salamanders' formations had mostly fallen apart, even their discipline was no match against the temptation of rewards. "You've got your Excalibur, why are you even here?"
"Because all this fighting could have been avoided!" Kirito said, frustrated. "We might have gotten Thrym on our side instead of this. He's not just a NPC, he's a living being like the native Firstborn races – all of you have even heard him starting a conversation. Why are we killing someone like us when we don't have to?!"
"I'm pretty sure most of the players took it as pre-fight dialogue, or cut-scenes," Eugene shrugged his broad shoulders. "That, and greed made them decide the risks are worth the rewards. Plus I'm sure you've been around long enough to know how toxic online communities can be – and with pain removed for this raid, it's like it's back to the 'good old days' in ALO, one at a scale we've never seen before. You and the rest of the SAO survivors had years to come to terms with the craziness, Kirito, but remember for us ALO players it's only been a month. Of course they went back to what they're familiar with."
Kirito gritted his teeth. Back in Aincrad, they hadn't even cleared the First Floor within their first month as they came to terms of being stuck in virtual reality. He couldn't point fingers, given that.
And Tabitha… Kirito regretted having gone to Tristain Academy for help. Colbert got hurt, and Tabitha was being the literal spearhead in trying to take Thrym down, with fire attacks destroying vast swaths of the storm before it reformed. Those in Halkeginia was much more familiar with violence and killing than the people from Earth.
"Maybe if Thrym never started the opening shots, we wouldn't be in this situation," Eugene considered. "He and his forces went after the players first instead of trying to escape; he pulled a Duchess Valliere, Kirito. Maybe he's more justified in that the players would be the first thing Titania send after him, as opposed to the players newly landed in Halkeginia holing up and generally not hostile to the locals, but I have responsibilities to my men that the Jotunns killed in that attack, Kirito. The Salamanders care for our own, even if Alfheim stands divided between Factions."
"Even if, as you said, he might have been justified and it did no lasting damage to the players?" Kirito asked. When the Jotunns attacked everyone was more worried about the Jotunns getting out, as opposed to the losses taken in the opening stage.
"Even then," Eugene nodded. "I can tell you're not a formal guild leader or anything like that, Kirito, so I won't hold it against you. But don't get in our way – the Salamanders already got devastated once after the Transition, and Mortimer and I can't let similar situations happen anymore. Your girlfriend and that Salamander with you can explain more if you still don't understand, they've had experience as leaders, right?"
Eugene flew off, barking orders to those still listening to him in the free for all. Given it's the Blazing General, he likely wanted to make sure first and foremost Thrym was taken down, dealing with Legendary weapons could be sorted out later. With all the Reward Points behanded out, Eugene could likely have the Faction buy one for their MVP if he had to.
Kirito watched him leave. On one hand, it looked like the ALO players had begun to acclimatize to being stuck in a different reality. On the other hand, Kirito couldn't say he approved of what was happening. He was the idealistic 'idiot' that believed even NPC had lives, back on Floor 56 in Aincrad, when Asuna and other Frontliners suggested to use villagers as bait for a Boss. It would be hypocritical for him to abandon Thrym when he cared about AI lives back then. Not to mention, Thrym was much closer to humans than the NPC villagers were as well. But just what could he, and his handful of allies, do?
Events didn't allow Kirito time to feel helpless as enough magic began to flare up than even Kirito felt it, and he wasn't a magic-focused build. Nine golden cylinders lit up like miniature suns across Jotunheim, ambient magic flowing into them like they were holes in reality instead.
"What are you doing, Rufus?!" Eugene shouted over the sound of combat.
"Absorbed magic – energy – don't just disappear, you know," Rufus said, his eyes lighted up in glee. "I've been waiting for this ever since the beginning of the raid. Everyone, this is how you get things done!
"Spin, Ea Mk II!"
A cylinder flew towards him, spinning clockwise. The next looked almost magnetized towards it, ending up spinning counter-clockwise beneath the first cylinder. The third connected, spinning clockwise, and like that the pattern continued until all nine cylinders was connected in a column. There was enough magic spinning in and out of the combination that it hurt anyone that had even the tiniest ability to sense magic that looked towards the maelstrom.
"I don't want to be blamed for causing friendly fire out of greed, so everyone get the hell out of the way!" Rufus commanded, with all the authority he had as a Faction Leader. The players scrammed, as the cylinders bolted towards Thrym's hurricane like a missile.
The resulting detonation destroyed the golden cylinders and blew away everyone, and those unfortunately too close to the edges of Jotunheim was splatted into the walls and becoming Remain Lights. Thrym's storm form lost everything above his waist, until the winds no longer kept that form and collapsed into raging winds. Before anyone could do anything else, however, a green speck of light flew towards the Frost Giant silhouette that was close to the bottomless Well of Urd.
"Oh you motherfucking kill-stealing piece of-" Rufus swore angrily, as Sigurd, clad in an aura of grey wind, cut through the winds like the proverbial hot knife through butter. Thrym swung Mjolnir up, thunder crackling, but the electricity could not pierce the veil of grey winds, and the Sylph was too fast for the physical hammer to hit.
With a roar, Sigurd stabbed a two-handed sword into one of Thrym's eyes, channelling his Incarnation attack into the Frost Giant's brain. Mundane defences, and magical ones, were no match for the heightened emotion and spirit. Sigurd poured everything he had, into a wound intended to be incurable, even as Thrym's head was pushed back by the force of the stab and the Frost Giant King howled in rage.
Sigurd was swatted away by the Frost Giant in response, but the Sylph had a satisfied smile even as his body threatened to disperse into a Remain Light. With that strike, Sigurd was sure he got the Last Attack.
To Sigurd's, and everyone else's, surprise however, after trembling for moments Thrym did not fall. Instead, the Frost Giant laughed, and laughed, and laughed.
"I see…" Thrym muttered, uncaring of his blind eye. "I see. Yes. O Spirit of the Great Purpose, I see."
"Get away-!" Kirito shouted, but it was far too late.
A grey wind blade bisected Sigurd, seemingly no more powerful than any a faerie could cast. A Gnome tank tried to block it and save his fellow ally, but he was bisected along with the Sylph as his bulk accomplished nothing against the attack. Tabitha swooped down upon her wind dragon, Surtr's weapon in hand, enveloped with all the fiery power of the Phoenix.
Thrym allowed it to smash against the side of his head, blue skin covered by a patch of grey where the spear would have pierced him. Fire, the natural enemy of Frost Giants, concentrated in such volume that the original plan was for Kirito to pull such an attack off at the beginning of the encounter, and it would have been enough to destroy the King of Frost Giants. Should have been. But after Sigurd's attack…
"Motherfucker," Rufus choked out, watching all chances of victory escaping his grasp. "Thrym learned Incarnation?! How?!"
"What did all of you think I meant when I said Thrym is the same as any of us?" Kirito bit out, but he took no pleasure in the 'I told you so'. It wasn't like Thrym needed any more advantages to destroy the raid.
"We created a monster," Eugene said grimly. "If we get out of this, Mortimer and I will make it a law that no-one is to use Incarnation except in self-defence where it's used against you first."
Humans – or faeries – could learn Incarnation. It was even theorized that such reality warping was what allowed Halkeginia mages to perform their magic. As such, anyone that could perform Incarnation, regardless of being AI or some other kind of existence, would have proven they had practically the same emotional range and brainpower as a human being. So everyone finally came back to Kirito's earlier question – were they willing to kill someone like themselves for what they wanted? Kirito hoped for the players the answer would be 'No', that there was still enough empathy with them in their new reality.
"This changes nothing," Tabitha looked Thrym in his remaining eye. "I don't know why the faeries are hesitating, but if your death is what is necessary for mot- me, then I will continue."
"A better reason than what the other lost children are fighting for, at least," Thrym rumbled out. "But enough of this farce. With the power to affect things at a higher level, I no longer have to worry about being forced into this last stand, or of Titania's retaliation. I am leaving."
"You're not interested in revenge?" Eugene asked, unconvinced things would end so easily.
"My Jotunns were but pawns, not unlike what some other Firstborn races have between their leaders and their warriors," Thrym replied. "And even in death, their essence live on inside me – I have learned quite a few things from absorbing spirit stones. I have no need to revenge them. And now, even if Titania were to chase me to the ends of the world, she could no longer harm me."
"Then let us test that hypothesis."
A blinding pillar of searing light shot down from above, encasing Thrym in his entirety. Tabitha was warped out of the way beforehand. The Phoenix left her weapon, joining the Simurgh which was summoned. The emerald-green griffon and the crimson firebird glowed, and unleashed a combination attack, a firestorm that razed Thrym's vicinity. Water sizzled, and Kirito would have almost swore the cavern of Jotunheim was fast becoming a pressure cooker.
"It is futile, 'Fairy Queen'," Thrym called out from under the attacks. "There is no will behind your attacks. You cannot break me. Not anymore."
-][-
Let him go, Titania, Kayaba said calmly to the acting GM of Alfheim, where she was stationed in the World Tree. You've lost this time.
"Surely you have some trump card up your sleeves," Titania argued, even as she increased the intensity of her attacks. Titania wanted to believe that if she wasn't succeeding then she wasn't throwing enough power behind it, but with every passing second it looked like that belief was not the case. "Not all of Cardinal was devoted to running Alfheim in the past weeks. You must have something saved for times like this."
And if I did, those are reserved for use against Brimir, Kayaba shrugged. Thrym may be powerful, but he is not an extinction event for the players. If all Thrym want is to leave, then we should oblige him. What he does to the rest of this world is not our concern.
"He will return one day, whether that is a month or a century from now," Titania insisted. "Thrym uses Incarnation, so he has emotions. He will be irrational enough to come back one day and 'even the score', no matter what he says now. And Alfheim will have even less of a chance then, if Thrym is given a chance to master his powers. Thrym needs to be eliminated before that can happen."
If that should happen, then the players – all of them – will take up arms to fight for their survival, Kayaba replied. Don't underestimate the human will, Titania. And I'm not just saying this because that was what caused my own defeat.
If Titania had to put a 'feeling' to her situation, it would have been 'frustration'. It was illogical to ignore the problem and put it off until later, when it could become a larger problem. No data they possessed had projected Alfheim would be more capable by then – if anything, the players were more likely to implode and save Thrym the effort to do anything. Titania had to conclude that even Kayaba, the true GM of Alfheim Online, was human enough in his roots to suffer similar imperfections in his cost-benefit analysis.
Yui was badgering her as well, advising to let things end there. The smaller AI could not see Kayaba, none of them could unless Kayaba allowed it given his superior access and control over Cardinal, but Yui made similar points as well. Those points, plus Yui's assertion that if things continued Titania would have been responsible for more player deaths with her attacks' splash damage than Thrym had personally caused, made Titania grudgingly stop.
-][-
"Very well," Titania finally said, ending her attacks. "Leave, and never return. Return Jotunheim to Urd, and allow the roots of the World Tree to descend unimpeded once more."
"Very well," Thrym called out, the Frost Giant appeared covered in grey mist once everyone could see him without the attacks in the way. "I have no more quarry with any of you, if that is the case."
"What are you planning to do now?" Kirito couldn't help but ask. His gamer instincts for a conclusion of the Quest nagged him.
"I will make my way to Niflheim, and hone my skills there," Thrym responded. "But even with these skills, with all the similarities compared to a Spirit, I am not truly of this world. Ice is but a combination between Water and Air, but one day I shall impress upon the World that Ice is an element by its own right – even if that is limited in Niflheim alone. I shall mark my, and Ymir's, presence upon the Great Purpose. Why will the affairs of Alfheim matter to me, then, when compared to the world itself you all are but dust in the wind? Why should I care about your antics, when compared to the eternal you all are but brief flickers? Alfheim is – or will be – too small for me to concern myself with, no longer a prize worthy for my conquest. Assuming any of you will still be present after centuries have gone past."
Thrym paused as he considered his previous statements.
"By that logic, I have no need for Mjolnir anymore, too. Here, young Spriggan – I'll leave it to your allies as a reminder that good things happen to those that consider more than brute force as the solution. Farewell."
With that spoken, the golden hammer shrunk down to its normal size before it flew up to Kirito, who stumbled under the weight before Agil took pity on him and handled it for Kirito. Thrym then descended through the Well, and soon passed from sight.
===
The bit about Kirito and Aincrad Floor 56 was mentioned in SAO Vol10 Ch2. The SAO anime even made a scene of that in the Aincrad arc, though I can't remember which episode exactly.
The Incarnation mechanics and themes are taken from SAO Alicization, and Accel World. Themes such as 'be careful what you focus all your passion into, unless your plan to begin with was to create a monster', and paraphrasing a certain Uncle from a old animated series, '(soul) magic must defeat (soul) magic'.
Next time, the end of the Jotunheim arc.
Chapter 43
-][-
The frozen fortress of Thrymheim cracked and split, crumbling into falling icebergs. A sphere of wind began to expand out from where the throne room used to be, growing larger and larger before the sphere instead turned into a pillar of roaring hurricane that stretched connected the surface and ceiling of the Jotunheim.
From where Kirche von Zerbst stood, on the back of her best friend's Wind Dragon familiar as they fled the collapsing fortress, it was both awe-inspiring and terrifying. Even through the disorientation as they were blown out of Thrymheim. So much power within the storm, yet the Frost Giant King had made it so that it didn't drag entire armies of the Fae into the column. Otherwise they, the only humans within the mess of a situation, would have been ripped apart by the winds, or be crushed by the small boulders of ice that flew in the storm.
"Here for my life, then, lost children of Midgard?" Thrym called out, his voice resounding within the large cavern. Slowly, the hurricane morphed, into the Frost Giant's likeness but writ even larger. "If you wish to take my head to exchange for baubles, you will not obtain it cheaply.
"Come at me then, unthinking slaves of Alfheim," twin slits of blue light flared up where the eyes should be, each larger than a fully grown Halkeginian dragon. "I am Thrym, the King of the Frost Giants, the Ruler of Jotunheim, and I defy my fate to fall to the likes of you. You will not end me like I am some mere beast."
Silence. Apart from the roaring winds, which seemed faint compared to Thrym's proclamation, there were no replies. Until one finally did.
-][-
"Kirito has failed to eliminate Thrym, before the Frost Giant could have grown into such a threat," Titania's voice spoke from the thousands of Medallions in Jotunheim. "And not due to a lack of tools to complete the quest, but due to a lack of resolve. Who amongst you all, then, are willing to continue where he failed?"
The players of Alfheim Online came from diverse backgrounds, not just university students and salarymen, but even law enforcement officers and such that were more used to combat. Many of those in the latter category were there in Jotunheim to fight the Jotunns. The survivors of Aincrad might have spent two years in an active campaign, but Titania held on to the possibility that there were other usable players to minimize her intervention, before she had to redraw Jotunheim's maps entirely. While Titania concluded she had to finish things herself, she had no desire to do so if a more efficient solution was viable.
A few players were tempted, but still hesitating. Even Sigurd, as aggressive as he had become after his revival and recovery from Laughing Coffin, had to think about the GM's offer. The players were all too used to peace, the avoidance to violence ingrained into their upbringing away from socially unstable settings.
No, instead, it was one quiet little girl that nobody really paid attention to that did so, in a voice that could be barely heard:
"I accept."
The blue haired girl from Tristain Academy – Tabitha, Titania recalled – answered the call to arms.
"I do not have the ability to kill Thrym," Tabitha admitted to a screen that materialized in front of her. Her face was still as blank as it was before thousands of players, and Titania, directed their attention to her. "But I do not lack the resolve to do so. Give me the means to accomplish my mission, and I will not hesitate."
Tabitha was not a player of ALO, but that did not matter for Titania. Ignoring the gasps from the players, Titania created a replica of Yui's Sword of Surtr in front of the petite mage – the vast majority of players had never seen a Legendary weapon in person. Then, seeing as Tabitha preferred a staff for her casting, the GM altered the sword into a spear as it suited Tabitha more.
The Phoenix finally reformed, coalesced for but a moment, before it was absorbed into the newly created spear. Buffs after buffs were applied to Tabitha, her steed, and her fellow humans on board her dragon.
"I judge that as you are now, you're as capable of ending Thrym as Kirito's raid could have," Titania informed Tabitha. "Kill Thrym, and you will be rewarded. Even if your wish is to acquire a Legendary weapon.
"The same apply to everyone else here. In addition to the vast amount of Reward Points, there will be one Legendary weapon for the individual that did the most damage. Plus one Legendary weapon for the individual that performs the Last Attack. Those that do not wish to continue, evacuate. For I shall bring the full might of the World Tree upon Thrym if the raid is wiped."
Tabitha reached for the spear, and with a stab a torrent of flames engulfed upon Thrym's towering torso. Thrym snarled, the damage merely cosmetic and did not break through the shell of storms shielding him, and one gigantic hand reached for Tabitha's dragon. Said dragon swerved away from the hand, and events fell like dominos from there.
Many players decided things were too far above their capability to handle, and teleported out of Jotunheim. Nearly just as many however entered into Jotunheim via portals, the chance for a rare and powerful weapon was enough to attract them to fight when the rewards before were unable to. Chaos reigned, as spells saturated the skies of Jotunheim, impacting upon Thrym, while wind and thunder tore through entire waves of players. Remain Lights dotted the cavern like stars in the night sky, resulting even the healers among the players earning a high rate of Reward Points, having plenty of targets for their craft.
The remnants of Thrym's forces, a few Jotunns, the Cyclops and what looked similar to a ten-legged Centaur, flew to Thrym's side. They fought hard, but even field bosses could not last against what was easily hundreds of times the players they were designed to challenge. What remained of those giants were either swept into the storm, or turned into particles of light to be absorbed by Rufus' contraptions.
Morgiana and her Spriggans withdrew, clearly wanting no more of the furore once they have gotten their gold. Kirito and his loyal friends stayed, albeit Yui's avatar with them had been destroyed in their exodus from Thrymheim. Titania did not know what Kirito believed he could accomplish by that point.
-][-
"Eugene!" Kirito shouted, making a beeline towards the Salamander's field commander. "This-"
"I don't think I can stop this, Kirito, even if I wanted to," Eugene forestalled the Black Swordsman and his team. The Salamanders' formations had mostly fallen apart, even their discipline was no match against the temptation of rewards. "You've got your Excalibur, why are you even here?"
"Because all this fighting could have been avoided!" Kirito said, frustrated. "We might have gotten Thrym on our side instead of this. He's not just a NPC, he's a living being like the native Firstborn races – all of you have even heard him starting a conversation. Why are we killing someone like us when we don't have to?!"
"I'm pretty sure most of the players took it as pre-fight dialogue, or cut-scenes," Eugene shrugged his broad shoulders. "That, and greed made them decide the risks are worth the rewards. Plus I'm sure you've been around long enough to know how toxic online communities can be – and with pain removed for this raid, it's like it's back to the 'good old days' in ALO, one at a scale we've never seen before. You and the rest of the SAO survivors had years to come to terms with the craziness, Kirito, but remember for us ALO players it's only been a month. Of course they went back to what they're familiar with."
Kirito gritted his teeth. Back in Aincrad, they hadn't even cleared the First Floor within their first month as they came to terms of being stuck in virtual reality. He couldn't point fingers, given that.
And Tabitha… Kirito regretted having gone to Tristain Academy for help. Colbert got hurt, and Tabitha was being the literal spearhead in trying to take Thrym down, with fire attacks destroying vast swaths of the storm before it reformed. Those in Halkeginia was much more familiar with violence and killing than the people from Earth.
"Maybe if Thrym never started the opening shots, we wouldn't be in this situation," Eugene considered. "He and his forces went after the players first instead of trying to escape; he pulled a Duchess Valliere, Kirito. Maybe he's more justified in that the players would be the first thing Titania send after him, as opposed to the players newly landed in Halkeginia holing up and generally not hostile to the locals, but I have responsibilities to my men that the Jotunns killed in that attack, Kirito. The Salamanders care for our own, even if Alfheim stands divided between Factions."
"Even if, as you said, he might have been justified and it did no lasting damage to the players?" Kirito asked. When the Jotunns attacked everyone was more worried about the Jotunns getting out, as opposed to the losses taken in the opening stage.
"Even then," Eugene nodded. "I can tell you're not a formal guild leader or anything like that, Kirito, so I won't hold it against you. But don't get in our way – the Salamanders already got devastated once after the Transition, and Mortimer and I can't let similar situations happen anymore. Your girlfriend and that Salamander with you can explain more if you still don't understand, they've had experience as leaders, right?"
Eugene flew off, barking orders to those still listening to him in the free for all. Given it's the Blazing General, he likely wanted to make sure first and foremost Thrym was taken down, dealing with Legendary weapons could be sorted out later. With all the Reward Points behanded out, Eugene could likely have the Faction buy one for their MVP if he had to.
Kirito watched him leave. On one hand, it looked like the ALO players had begun to acclimatize to being stuck in a different reality. On the other hand, Kirito couldn't say he approved of what was happening. He was the idealistic 'idiot' that believed even NPC had lives, back on Floor 56 in Aincrad, when Asuna and other Frontliners suggested to use villagers as bait for a Boss. It would be hypocritical for him to abandon Thrym when he cared about AI lives back then. Not to mention, Thrym was much closer to humans than the NPC villagers were as well. But just what could he, and his handful of allies, do?
Events didn't allow Kirito time to feel helpless as enough magic began to flare up than even Kirito felt it, and he wasn't a magic-focused build. Nine golden cylinders lit up like miniature suns across Jotunheim, ambient magic flowing into them like they were holes in reality instead.
"What are you doing, Rufus?!" Eugene shouted over the sound of combat.
"Absorbed magic – energy – don't just disappear, you know," Rufus said, his eyes lighted up in glee. "I've been waiting for this ever since the beginning of the raid. Everyone, this is how you get things done!
"Spin, Ea Mk II!"
A cylinder flew towards him, spinning clockwise. The next looked almost magnetized towards it, ending up spinning counter-clockwise beneath the first cylinder. The third connected, spinning clockwise, and like that the pattern continued until all nine cylinders was connected in a column. There was enough magic spinning in and out of the combination that it hurt anyone that had even the tiniest ability to sense magic that looked towards the maelstrom.
"I don't want to be blamed for causing friendly fire out of greed, so everyone get the hell out of the way!" Rufus commanded, with all the authority he had as a Faction Leader. The players scrammed, as the cylinders bolted towards Thrym's hurricane like a missile.
The resulting detonation destroyed the golden cylinders and blew away everyone, and those unfortunately too close to the edges of Jotunheim was splatted into the walls and becoming Remain Lights. Thrym's storm form lost everything above his waist, until the winds no longer kept that form and collapsed into raging winds. Before anyone could do anything else, however, a green speck of light flew towards the Frost Giant silhouette that was close to the bottomless Well of Urd.
"Oh you motherfucking kill-stealing piece of-" Rufus swore angrily, as Sigurd, clad in an aura of grey wind, cut through the winds like the proverbial hot knife through butter. Thrym swung Mjolnir up, thunder crackling, but the electricity could not pierce the veil of grey winds, and the Sylph was too fast for the physical hammer to hit.
With a roar, Sigurd stabbed a two-handed sword into one of Thrym's eyes, channelling his Incarnation attack into the Frost Giant's brain. Mundane defences, and magical ones, were no match for the heightened emotion and spirit. Sigurd poured everything he had, into a wound intended to be incurable, even as Thrym's head was pushed back by the force of the stab and the Frost Giant King howled in rage.
Sigurd was swatted away by the Frost Giant in response, but the Sylph had a satisfied smile even as his body threatened to disperse into a Remain Light. With that strike, Sigurd was sure he got the Last Attack.
To Sigurd's, and everyone else's, surprise however, after trembling for moments Thrym did not fall. Instead, the Frost Giant laughed, and laughed, and laughed.
"I see…" Thrym muttered, uncaring of his blind eye. "I see. Yes. O Spirit of the Great Purpose, I see."
"Get away-!" Kirito shouted, but it was far too late.
A grey wind blade bisected Sigurd, seemingly no more powerful than any a faerie could cast. A Gnome tank tried to block it and save his fellow ally, but he was bisected along with the Sylph as his bulk accomplished nothing against the attack. Tabitha swooped down upon her wind dragon, Surtr's weapon in hand, enveloped with all the fiery power of the Phoenix.
Thrym allowed it to smash against the side of his head, blue skin covered by a patch of grey where the spear would have pierced him. Fire, the natural enemy of Frost Giants, concentrated in such volume that the original plan was for Kirito to pull such an attack off at the beginning of the encounter, and it would have been enough to destroy the King of Frost Giants. Should have been. But after Sigurd's attack…
"Motherfucker," Rufus choked out, watching all chances of victory escaping his grasp. "Thrym learned Incarnation?! How?!"
"What did all of you think I meant when I said Thrym is the same as any of us?" Kirito bit out, but he took no pleasure in the 'I told you so'. It wasn't like Thrym needed any more advantages to destroy the raid.
"We created a monster," Eugene said grimly. "If we get out of this, Mortimer and I will make it a law that no-one is to use Incarnation except in self-defence where it's used against you first."
Humans – or faeries – could learn Incarnation. It was even theorized that such reality warping was what allowed Halkeginia mages to perform their magic. As such, anyone that could perform Incarnation, regardless of being AI or some other kind of existence, would have proven they had practically the same emotional range and brainpower as a human being. So everyone finally came back to Kirito's earlier question – were they willing to kill someone like themselves for what they wanted? Kirito hoped for the players the answer would be 'No', that there was still enough empathy with them in their new reality.
"This changes nothing," Tabitha looked Thrym in his remaining eye. "I don't know why the faeries are hesitating, but if your death is what is necessary for mot- me, then I will continue."
"A better reason than what the other lost children are fighting for, at least," Thrym rumbled out. "But enough of this farce. With the power to affect things at a higher level, I no longer have to worry about being forced into this last stand, or of Titania's retaliation. I am leaving."
"You're not interested in revenge?" Eugene asked, unconvinced things would end so easily.
"My Jotunns were but pawns, not unlike what some other Firstborn races have between their leaders and their warriors," Thrym replied. "And even in death, their essence live on inside me – I have learned quite a few things from absorbing spirit stones. I have no need to revenge them. And now, even if Titania were to chase me to the ends of the world, she could no longer harm me."
"Then let us test that hypothesis."
A blinding pillar of searing light shot down from above, encasing Thrym in his entirety. Tabitha was warped out of the way beforehand. The Phoenix left her weapon, joining the Simurgh which was summoned. The emerald-green griffon and the crimson firebird glowed, and unleashed a combination attack, a firestorm that razed Thrym's vicinity. Water sizzled, and Kirito would have almost swore the cavern of Jotunheim was fast becoming a pressure cooker.
"It is futile, 'Fairy Queen'," Thrym called out from under the attacks. "There is no will behind your attacks. You cannot break me. Not anymore."
-][-
Let him go, Titania, Kayaba said calmly to the acting GM of Alfheim, where she was stationed in the World Tree. You've lost this time.
"Surely you have some trump card up your sleeves," Titania argued, even as she increased the intensity of her attacks. Titania wanted to believe that if she wasn't succeeding then she wasn't throwing enough power behind it, but with every passing second it looked like that belief was not the case. "Not all of Cardinal was devoted to running Alfheim in the past weeks. You must have something saved for times like this."
And if I did, those are reserved for use against Brimir, Kayaba shrugged. Thrym may be powerful, but he is not an extinction event for the players. If all Thrym want is to leave, then we should oblige him. What he does to the rest of this world is not our concern.
"He will return one day, whether that is a month or a century from now," Titania insisted. "Thrym uses Incarnation, so he has emotions. He will be irrational enough to come back one day and 'even the score', no matter what he says now. And Alfheim will have even less of a chance then, if Thrym is given a chance to master his powers. Thrym needs to be eliminated before that can happen."
If that should happen, then the players – all of them – will take up arms to fight for their survival, Kayaba replied. Don't underestimate the human will, Titania. And I'm not just saying this because that was what caused my own defeat.
If Titania had to put a 'feeling' to her situation, it would have been 'frustration'. It was illogical to ignore the problem and put it off until later, when it could become a larger problem. No data they possessed had projected Alfheim would be more capable by then – if anything, the players were more likely to implode and save Thrym the effort to do anything. Titania had to conclude that even Kayaba, the true GM of Alfheim Online, was human enough in his roots to suffer similar imperfections in his cost-benefit analysis.
Yui was badgering her as well, advising to let things end there. The smaller AI could not see Kayaba, none of them could unless Kayaba allowed it given his superior access and control over Cardinal, but Yui made similar points as well. Those points, plus Yui's assertion that if things continued Titania would have been responsible for more player deaths with her attacks' splash damage than Thrym had personally caused, made Titania grudgingly stop.
-][-
"Very well," Titania finally said, ending her attacks. "Leave, and never return. Return Jotunheim to Urd, and allow the roots of the World Tree to descend unimpeded once more."
"Very well," Thrym called out, the Frost Giant appeared covered in grey mist once everyone could see him without the attacks in the way. "I have no more quarry with any of you, if that is the case."
"What are you planning to do now?" Kirito couldn't help but ask. His gamer instincts for a conclusion of the Quest nagged him.
"I will make my way to Niflheim, and hone my skills there," Thrym responded. "But even with these skills, with all the similarities compared to a Spirit, I am not truly of this world. Ice is but a combination between Water and Air, but one day I shall impress upon the World that Ice is an element by its own right – even if that is limited in Niflheim alone. I shall mark my, and Ymir's, presence upon the Great Purpose. Why will the affairs of Alfheim matter to me, then, when compared to the world itself you all are but dust in the wind? Why should I care about your antics, when compared to the eternal you all are but brief flickers? Alfheim is – or will be – too small for me to concern myself with, no longer a prize worthy for my conquest. Assuming any of you will still be present after centuries have gone past."
Thrym paused as he considered his previous statements.
"By that logic, I have no need for Mjolnir anymore, too. Here, young Spriggan – I'll leave it to your allies as a reminder that good things happen to those that consider more than brute force as the solution. Farewell."
With that spoken, the golden hammer shrunk down to its normal size before it flew up to Kirito, who stumbled under the weight before Agil took pity on him and handled it for Kirito. Thrym then descended through the Well, and soon passed from sight.
===
The bit about Kirito and Aincrad Floor 56 was mentioned in SAO Vol10 Ch2. The SAO anime even made a scene of that in the Aincrad arc, though I can't remember which episode exactly.
The Incarnation mechanics and themes are taken from SAO Alicization, and Accel World. Themes such as 'be careful what you focus all your passion into, unless your plan to begin with was to create a monster', and paraphrasing a certain Uncle from a old animated series, '(soul) magic must defeat (soul) magic'.
Next time, the end of the Jotunheim arc.
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
While there's a certain poetic sense in Thrym not giving a fuck about whatever Titania tries to do, I'm honestly not sure I buy into her acting as the antagonist effectively and going crazy and heavy handed yet again to trigger the whole thing off. (Then again I've admittedly been a bit of an apologist for her in the past, so I don't really agree with this myopic characterization of her.)
I also think that Incarnation out of nowhere to buff Thrym effectively narratively just to spite Titania is a bit of an asspull. Yes, the mechanics are present in Alicization but Alicization is basically completely different from SAO/ALO/GGO.
I also think that Incarnation out of nowhere to buff Thrym effectively narratively just to spite Titania is a bit of an asspull. Yes, the mechanics are present in Alicization but Alicization is basically completely different from SAO/ALO/GGO.
Hence why I said earlier Titania being heavy handed would be the last time in this fic, from a out-of-setting point of view. From in-setting point of view, Titania values Player well-being above all else, and I've tried to portray before that from her point of view if she has a problem such as a virus or corrupted file, it need to be deleted and not left there doing its thing. Less 'crazy' and more she has a different set of priorities - she even calls Kayaba crazy in the sense that while Kayaba is confident the players can handle Thrym if he returns, players would undoubtedly take losses and Kayaba accepts that collateral damage, given Kayaba's personality in deaths are acceptable in getting what he want. Meanwhile Titania is further along the 'Them and Us' mindset and decides offing Thrym now is better than having future player losses, she values player well-being more than Thrym's well-being because he's not one of the players.
And as said in the notes in the end, I'm borrowing Accel World Incarnation mechanics as well. Especially since according to the LNs the AW-verse is an AU of Alicization, where Kirito failed to get Alice out in the end.
Posting what I said on SB as well, Sigurd survived since going by Accel World mechanics Incarnation attacks aren't soul-killing by default, though it'll hurt a lot. Someone have to want to cause pain/deaths a lot to get that effect, and for Thrym A) he has bigger issues to handle, ie Titania B) he got Incarnation due to Sigurd, so Thrym wasn't completely murderous towards Sigurd.
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
I mean...that doesn't really address what my complaint was, which was the fact of its inclusion mostly out of nowhere at all. Alicization as an arc practically speaking has nothing to do with the rest of SAO's story, beyond even the tenuous linkage from there to Accel World, so using that as a plot device to get Thrym to exit stage left sticks in my craw wrong. (This is beyond my general held beliefs that Alicization itself is just a dumb arc resulting from Kawahara's need to keep writing the story past where he had good ideas and that Accel World is pants.)
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Fair enough, if I was writing a non-crossover SAO fic I might ignore Alicization too. Having said that, this is a crossover, and there's enough similarities with the mechanics of ZnT human magic that it doesn't feel right to me if for example the ZnT side can get more powerful by being more emotional, but all else being equal the the SAO side can't when both source materials have similar mechanics on that matter. And to preempt how SAO side can afford a nerf from what's being shown thus far: holistically, the ZnT (Halkeginia, not just Tristain) side and SAO (Alfheim) side are supposed to be balanced in the story, it's just that this early in ZnT plot Tristain is the main stage and not Halkeginia as a whole, so Alfheim (a whole 1.0) is pitted against a fraction of ZnT side (0.25-ish) so things look unbalanced. When the stronger factions of Halk get actively involved (eg Gallia) then things won't look as unbalanced - and I don't mean purely in the terms of magic biggatons that can be thrown around, conflict are more than just combat.
As for the out of nowhere thing, I'd like to point out technically Incarnation has been present in the fic from the very start, even if it didn't get named by the players as such until much later. Replace 'Incarnation' with 'soul magic bullshit', and we have things like canon Kirito killing Kayaba in Aincrad, to Kayaba running around as a disembodied soul in this story, to Sachi, and so on. Given that ZnT has actual magic in the setting, I feel that SAO's metaphysics can be folded into the story as well and not break SoD that much, especially when the setting of this fic is predominantly
Ultimately though, if some readers didn't like Alicization and Accel World, well I don't think I can do much about that other than give my reasoning as mentioned above. There's in-setting mechanics involved that, even though there's out-of-setting reasons to dislike it, I didn't see any in-setting way to remove the unpopular mechanics at the time of writing.
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Chapter 44
===
Chapter 44
-][-
With Thrym's departure, life was breathed back into Jotunheim. The water that made up the frozen Thrymheim had been evaporated during the harsh combat, and without the Frost Giant's control the water sped back into the Well of Urd. The lake was restored, and roots from the World Tree reached downwards towards it, and then spread out from the lake to form smaller trees within Jotunheim. The ice that covered the vast cavern melted, flowing across the land into parched canals that was restored into rivers. The <<Beast Gods>> clamoured to be let out of their enclosure, and once the barrier protecting them was down they dispersed throughout Jotunheim. The land was still cratered from the conflict, but the greenery covered most of it well enough it was almost unnoticeable when looking from above.
"The event is over," Titania declared, an image of herself appearing above them all. "All of you can exchange your Reward Points at the usual locations. However, there is the matter of Legendary weapons to be decided."
Tabitha's spear vanished from her hands, as Titania recalled it away.
"Thrym was not eliminated, with no Last Attack occurring, so you do not get to keep the Sword of Surtr," Titania said. "Nonetheless, I am impressed with your performance today. Should you desire it, I may call upon your aid in the future."
Tabitha nodded stoically.
"For the individual that did the most damage – step forward, Rufus of the Leprechauns."
There was an uproar at the declaration, even as Rufus smugly flew towards Titania. Rufus' contraptions might have helped everyone to some extent, but everyone felt to some degree they had been exploited, as their magic residue was absorbed to help Rufus. Not to mention the explosion caused by him that caused a lot of player deaths near the end.
"For you, a replica of Mjolnir, seeing as even I am not so callous to demand drops that players acquired elsewhere-"
"Actually," Rufus spoke up. "May I exchange my prize for something of equal value?"
Titania paused, as did the uproar. "What is it that you want?"
"I want the keys to the <<Dvergr's Workshop>>," Rufus declared. "Why should I be happy with one Mjolnir, when I can have several? Or create more wonders on the same tier? I am perfectly willing to spend Reward Points or otherwise make up for the difference.
"And I am not doing this just for myself!" Rufus shouted to the rest of the players gathered, before they could riot at his audacity. "I am doing this for the sake of my Faction! Imagine, for example, if we had more Legendary weapons before we had to fight Thrym. Titania would not have had to intervene directly! We would not have had to resort to dangerous, forbidden techniques! How many of you here would say no to more shinies, and more explosions?"
"What about the rest of us?" An Undine shouted back. "Why should the Leprechauns get all the cool toys?"
"Well it's not my fault that your Faction wasn't willing to spend more time and more gold for success!" Rufus retorted. "Then again, if any of you want to jump ship, that can be arranged. The Faction Leaders are currently debating on improving the 'Mercenary' system, where players of one race work for a different Faction for rewards. We've seen today that having raid teams composed of Gnome Tanks, Undine Healing, Salamander DPS and so on, worked out far better than single-race raids that try to cover all the roles that they don't specialize in. Imagine having that kind of power, that kind of cohesion, in the future!
"If you join a different Faction, we're proposing that you'll never be capped as just a sword-for-hire, where you get paid but you can never rise up to be able to make important decisions. Under the proposed system you can, for example, be a Spriggan or a Salamander and still hold a position of importance in Demnann, assuming you've proven to be loyal to the Faction. In the future, we won't be divided by player racial specialty, but by our ideals! Sure, I'm still of the idea of 'Leprechaun Master Race', building things the goddamn Batman can only dream of, is the way to go – but I'm willing to share my wonderful toys with those that's willing to do things the way I do.
"Of course, I'm not just going to hand out WMDs to any Laughing Coffin wannabe," Rufus clarified. "If the Leprechauns get Dvergr's Workshop, there will have to be some precautions. Such as if you can't pass a mental health check, then go find your own nukes. After all, with great power comes great responsibility, and for Factions it doesn't get much more power than these Endgame tier upgrades.
"What do you say, Titania? Would the Leprechauns be allowed the Holy Grail of our Faction? Does my idea need more adjustments?"
"I will have to think on this further," Titania replied, her superior processing power made it seem like she did not take long to consider. "Allow some time for discussions and petitions to happen. However I will not dismiss this offhand."
"Thank you for that," Rufus said, looking like the cat that got the canary. "Would that be all?"
"In regard to the players, yes."
With the emergency over, splurging on teleportation crystals was no longer needed to maximise the efficiency rate for reward points, and so most players decided to move towards the physical exits and save their rare items. The raid teams had no more strength to scout out the new areas, so they only stuck around because of the bottleneck at the exits, and that they were still curious at what the major movers and shakers were planning in the aftermath. Titania's hologram had yet to disperse despite her word that she had finished speaking, for example.
-][-
Kirito made his way to Tabitha in order to debrief them. Upon Tabitha's dragon, Kirche's face flushed at what they had survived. When Greater Spirits clashed they caused widespread devastation, something Kirche had never considered she would witness, never mind being dragged along for the ride as Tabitha for a time held enough power to be considered one of the active participants. The last passenger, Miss Longueville, looked ill after the experience. With one thing after another she either didn't have time to activate the crystal, or too shocked by the events to have considered to do so.
Tabitha tensed as the Spriggan joined them. To say the entire Quest was a mess would be a severe understatement. First, Tabitha found out the succession for faerie royalty could have been convoluted enough to give Gallian history a run for its money, as she has suspicions as to what happened to 'Fairy King Oberon' that led to Titania taking the reins. Then, there was the practically open rebellion between Titania and Kirito who acted in her stead – Kirito went against a direct order, and came out unpunished. Tabitha picked a side in what could easily be civil war in Alfheim, and she dearly hoped Kirito wouldn't just remove them as he had got what he wanted. Kirito had gotten away with more, from what she had seen already.
Kirito's boyish visage warred between disappointment and betrayal as he faced Tabitha. Tabitha's expression was stoic, and spoke before Kirito could:
"I did not hide that I joined this Quest because I needed Titania's aid," Tabitha said quietly. "I empathize with your view that peace is preferable, but I do not agree peace is worth pursuing to the detriment of our own benefits. Halkeginia is not so kind."
Kirito sighed deeply.
"I shouldn't blame you," Kirito said tiredly. "I'm reminded of having to adjust after leaving Aincrad. Of the different expectations between having to compromise when fighting for our lives, and during times of peace. The difference between us, I think, is that while those with me managed to leave… you never left your Aincrad. Or couldn't. Am I right?"
Tabitha didn't allow herself to react to Kirito's words.
"Well, even with everything that I disagree with Titania about, I'll admit she holds up her end of the deals," Kirito said, turning away. "Whatever you're looking for, Tabitha, I hope you find it. I hope that the next time we're on the same Quest, we won't end up on different sides. I don't want to fight those like us ever again.
"Kirche, and Miss Longueville – good luck with getting whatever it was you're after as well."
Kirito flew off to reunite with his comrades, and Tabitha directed Sylphid towards the closest exit. To some extent, Kirito and the rest of the faeries reminded her of herself, after the first mission Isabella sent her on. The difference however, was that the faeries somehow were still holding onto their optimism when Tabitha's was crushed.
In that single moment, Tabitha felt truly envious of the faeries. That they were fortunate enough that even after everything they went through, they didn't have to compromise many times, to the point they might as well became dolls so it would be less painful.
Tabitha – Charlotte – was not that fortunate, and the comparison hurt.
-][-
Kirito exchanged glances with Leafa and Asuna. They likely needed to report back to Urd to end the Quest, but they didn't feel contacting them in front of so many players was a good idea. Sadly, that decision was taken out of their hands:
"I request your presence, Urd," Titania's voice came only from Kirito's Medallion, even though her image was still present. With a golden glow, Urd appeared in front of Kirito's raid team, with a guarded expression on her face.
"Titania," Urd nodded towards the source of the Fairy Queen's voice. "Much has changed since… the 'Transition', wasn't it?"
Kirito blinked, and then winced. Of course, if Thrym could have figured it out, then why wouldn't the true Spirit that ruled Jotunheim? "Um, Urd, well…"
"I do not wish to take Jotunheim from you, Queen of the Lake," Titania stated plainly. "May the players – the faeries – use your realm reasonably?"
"You would take Jotunheim regardless of your wishes, if your wards clamour for such, Titania," Urd said sourly, her expression marred by distaste. "While I hold no love towards Thrym, I am not blind to the possibility of being chased out of my sanctuary. We would defend ourselves, and help out against those that seek to use Jotunheim to cause you trouble, but do not mistake that for trust between our kinds."
"That is acceptable," Titania said neutrally. "And that is all I would ask from you. Rest assured, you will not have to deal with the faeries if you do not wish to – send a message directly through the roots of the World Tree if you wish to converse. I have found that relying on proxies to complete Quests to be unreliable."
Urd said nothing as Titania withdrawn her presence from Kirito's Medallion, and her image vanished. Urd then turned her gaze upon the five faeries in front of her. A sphere of gentle wind expanded from her, removing other players' ability to listen in to their conversation.
"You have done well, Leafa, Kirito, Asuna, Klein, and Agil," Urd spoke. "While Jotunheim has not quite returned to its former glory, it is on its way to full recovery."
"We aren't the ones that settled things with Thrym though," Kirito apologized. "I mean, we tried to let him go. Aren't you angry about that?"
"As far as I'm concerned, the Thrym that committed his offences died an ignoble death soon after the Transition," Urd said, almost sadly. "He was power-hungry, literally so, and in trying to 'game the system' he lost sight of who he was, with the spirit stones morphing him. If Thrym was a more virtuous soul, what happened to the King of the Frost Giants would have been a tragedy instead. Nevertheless, his is a cautionary tale for us all."
"I don't think eating Windstones is going to be an option for any of us anyway," Klein joked weakly.
"I meant more in the case of my sisters," Urd smiled slightly. "Speaking of them, they wish to meet you as well."
A blonde robed woman, slightly shorter than Urd but still taller than the faeries by at least a head's height, appeared to one side. To Urd's other side, a figure closer to the size of the faeries' appeared, dressed in armour not unlike the players would have chosen.
"Verthandi," the robed woman nodded.
"I'm Skuld," the smallest sister smiled. Klein's breath hitched, much to the others' amusement.
"We would reward you with many coins and items for your efforts, but alas you no longer have an 'inventory' that could hold all of them," Urd said apologetically. "Do come back and visit again if you want them. We have further Quests for you all as well, if you would help us."
"Yes!" Klein said sharply, puffing himself upright. "It would be our pleasure!"
"Dammit Klein," Kirito muttered. "You're embarrassing us."
"Shut up," Klein hissed back. "Don't you dare ruin this for me, not when I'm the only guy left that-"
"We'll take our leave now," Urd stated, the bubble of air dispersing around them. "Thank you all, and farewell."
"Skuld-san!" Klein cried out as the Water Spirits floated away, golden glow enveloping around them. "Please, may I have your contact details?!"
What. Kirito was gobsmacked at his best male friend's daring. He was further dumbfounded however, when the smallest Spirit smirked after some thought, and send a speck of light into Klein's Medallion.
"Call me later," Skuld said with a wink, before the sisters vanished.
Every player left within sight of the scene was left frozen, they couldn't have been more still if Thrym was around and decided to freeze them all.
"What the fuck," the Puca player with the Salamanders said flatly. "That's just… hey bro, do you mind introducing me to her sisters?"
"No way!" Klein hollered back. "That'll just hurt my chances with Skuld! Over my dead body!"
"That can be arranged!" The Puca shouted, before another player cut them off:
"We don't even have dead bodies as faeries," a Salamander pointed out.
"That's the point!" Klein said emphatically.
"So Remain Lights don't count?"
"Bodies have to be physical, don't they?"
Even though it had been a long day, at least it ended with laughter and a façade of normalcy where players trash talked like they were back on message boards.
===
The bit with Klein and Skuld came about because that plot hook never went anywhere in the SAO LNs, and I wanted to play around a bit with it in the future.
Next time, a breather chapter with Charming Faeries Inn arc, before we get back to the next part of the main plot with Reconquista.
Chapter 44
-][-
With Thrym's departure, life was breathed back into Jotunheim. The water that made up the frozen Thrymheim had been evaporated during the harsh combat, and without the Frost Giant's control the water sped back into the Well of Urd. The lake was restored, and roots from the World Tree reached downwards towards it, and then spread out from the lake to form smaller trees within Jotunheim. The ice that covered the vast cavern melted, flowing across the land into parched canals that was restored into rivers. The <<Beast Gods>> clamoured to be let out of their enclosure, and once the barrier protecting them was down they dispersed throughout Jotunheim. The land was still cratered from the conflict, but the greenery covered most of it well enough it was almost unnoticeable when looking from above.
"The event is over," Titania declared, an image of herself appearing above them all. "All of you can exchange your Reward Points at the usual locations. However, there is the matter of Legendary weapons to be decided."
Tabitha's spear vanished from her hands, as Titania recalled it away.
"Thrym was not eliminated, with no Last Attack occurring, so you do not get to keep the Sword of Surtr," Titania said. "Nonetheless, I am impressed with your performance today. Should you desire it, I may call upon your aid in the future."
Tabitha nodded stoically.
"For the individual that did the most damage – step forward, Rufus of the Leprechauns."
There was an uproar at the declaration, even as Rufus smugly flew towards Titania. Rufus' contraptions might have helped everyone to some extent, but everyone felt to some degree they had been exploited, as their magic residue was absorbed to help Rufus. Not to mention the explosion caused by him that caused a lot of player deaths near the end.
"For you, a replica of Mjolnir, seeing as even I am not so callous to demand drops that players acquired elsewhere-"
"Actually," Rufus spoke up. "May I exchange my prize for something of equal value?"
Titania paused, as did the uproar. "What is it that you want?"
"I want the keys to the <<Dvergr's Workshop>>," Rufus declared. "Why should I be happy with one Mjolnir, when I can have several? Or create more wonders on the same tier? I am perfectly willing to spend Reward Points or otherwise make up for the difference.
"And I am not doing this just for myself!" Rufus shouted to the rest of the players gathered, before they could riot at his audacity. "I am doing this for the sake of my Faction! Imagine, for example, if we had more Legendary weapons before we had to fight Thrym. Titania would not have had to intervene directly! We would not have had to resort to dangerous, forbidden techniques! How many of you here would say no to more shinies, and more explosions?"
"What about the rest of us?" An Undine shouted back. "Why should the Leprechauns get all the cool toys?"
"Well it's not my fault that your Faction wasn't willing to spend more time and more gold for success!" Rufus retorted. "Then again, if any of you want to jump ship, that can be arranged. The Faction Leaders are currently debating on improving the 'Mercenary' system, where players of one race work for a different Faction for rewards. We've seen today that having raid teams composed of Gnome Tanks, Undine Healing, Salamander DPS and so on, worked out far better than single-race raids that try to cover all the roles that they don't specialize in. Imagine having that kind of power, that kind of cohesion, in the future!
"If you join a different Faction, we're proposing that you'll never be capped as just a sword-for-hire, where you get paid but you can never rise up to be able to make important decisions. Under the proposed system you can, for example, be a Spriggan or a Salamander and still hold a position of importance in Demnann, assuming you've proven to be loyal to the Faction. In the future, we won't be divided by player racial specialty, but by our ideals! Sure, I'm still of the idea of 'Leprechaun Master Race', building things the goddamn Batman can only dream of, is the way to go – but I'm willing to share my wonderful toys with those that's willing to do things the way I do.
"Of course, I'm not just going to hand out WMDs to any Laughing Coffin wannabe," Rufus clarified. "If the Leprechauns get Dvergr's Workshop, there will have to be some precautions. Such as if you can't pass a mental health check, then go find your own nukes. After all, with great power comes great responsibility, and for Factions it doesn't get much more power than these Endgame tier upgrades.
"What do you say, Titania? Would the Leprechauns be allowed the Holy Grail of our Faction? Does my idea need more adjustments?"
"I will have to think on this further," Titania replied, her superior processing power made it seem like she did not take long to consider. "Allow some time for discussions and petitions to happen. However I will not dismiss this offhand."
"Thank you for that," Rufus said, looking like the cat that got the canary. "Would that be all?"
"In regard to the players, yes."
With the emergency over, splurging on teleportation crystals was no longer needed to maximise the efficiency rate for reward points, and so most players decided to move towards the physical exits and save their rare items. The raid teams had no more strength to scout out the new areas, so they only stuck around because of the bottleneck at the exits, and that they were still curious at what the major movers and shakers were planning in the aftermath. Titania's hologram had yet to disperse despite her word that she had finished speaking, for example.
-][-
Kirito made his way to Tabitha in order to debrief them. Upon Tabitha's dragon, Kirche's face flushed at what they had survived. When Greater Spirits clashed they caused widespread devastation, something Kirche had never considered she would witness, never mind being dragged along for the ride as Tabitha for a time held enough power to be considered one of the active participants. The last passenger, Miss Longueville, looked ill after the experience. With one thing after another she either didn't have time to activate the crystal, or too shocked by the events to have considered to do so.
Tabitha tensed as the Spriggan joined them. To say the entire Quest was a mess would be a severe understatement. First, Tabitha found out the succession for faerie royalty could have been convoluted enough to give Gallian history a run for its money, as she has suspicions as to what happened to 'Fairy King Oberon' that led to Titania taking the reins. Then, there was the practically open rebellion between Titania and Kirito who acted in her stead – Kirito went against a direct order, and came out unpunished. Tabitha picked a side in what could easily be civil war in Alfheim, and she dearly hoped Kirito wouldn't just remove them as he had got what he wanted. Kirito had gotten away with more, from what she had seen already.
Kirito's boyish visage warred between disappointment and betrayal as he faced Tabitha. Tabitha's expression was stoic, and spoke before Kirito could:
"I did not hide that I joined this Quest because I needed Titania's aid," Tabitha said quietly. "I empathize with your view that peace is preferable, but I do not agree peace is worth pursuing to the detriment of our own benefits. Halkeginia is not so kind."
Kirito sighed deeply.
"I shouldn't blame you," Kirito said tiredly. "I'm reminded of having to adjust after leaving Aincrad. Of the different expectations between having to compromise when fighting for our lives, and during times of peace. The difference between us, I think, is that while those with me managed to leave… you never left your Aincrad. Or couldn't. Am I right?"
Tabitha didn't allow herself to react to Kirito's words.
"Well, even with everything that I disagree with Titania about, I'll admit she holds up her end of the deals," Kirito said, turning away. "Whatever you're looking for, Tabitha, I hope you find it. I hope that the next time we're on the same Quest, we won't end up on different sides. I don't want to fight those like us ever again.
"Kirche, and Miss Longueville – good luck with getting whatever it was you're after as well."
Kirito flew off to reunite with his comrades, and Tabitha directed Sylphid towards the closest exit. To some extent, Kirito and the rest of the faeries reminded her of herself, after the first mission Isabella sent her on. The difference however, was that the faeries somehow were still holding onto their optimism when Tabitha's was crushed.
In that single moment, Tabitha felt truly envious of the faeries. That they were fortunate enough that even after everything they went through, they didn't have to compromise many times, to the point they might as well became dolls so it would be less painful.
Tabitha – Charlotte – was not that fortunate, and the comparison hurt.
-][-
Kirito exchanged glances with Leafa and Asuna. They likely needed to report back to Urd to end the Quest, but they didn't feel contacting them in front of so many players was a good idea. Sadly, that decision was taken out of their hands:
"I request your presence, Urd," Titania's voice came only from Kirito's Medallion, even though her image was still present. With a golden glow, Urd appeared in front of Kirito's raid team, with a guarded expression on her face.
"Titania," Urd nodded towards the source of the Fairy Queen's voice. "Much has changed since… the 'Transition', wasn't it?"
Kirito blinked, and then winced. Of course, if Thrym could have figured it out, then why wouldn't the true Spirit that ruled Jotunheim? "Um, Urd, well…"
"I do not wish to take Jotunheim from you, Queen of the Lake," Titania stated plainly. "May the players – the faeries – use your realm reasonably?"
"You would take Jotunheim regardless of your wishes, if your wards clamour for such, Titania," Urd said sourly, her expression marred by distaste. "While I hold no love towards Thrym, I am not blind to the possibility of being chased out of my sanctuary. We would defend ourselves, and help out against those that seek to use Jotunheim to cause you trouble, but do not mistake that for trust between our kinds."
"That is acceptable," Titania said neutrally. "And that is all I would ask from you. Rest assured, you will not have to deal with the faeries if you do not wish to – send a message directly through the roots of the World Tree if you wish to converse. I have found that relying on proxies to complete Quests to be unreliable."
Urd said nothing as Titania withdrawn her presence from Kirito's Medallion, and her image vanished. Urd then turned her gaze upon the five faeries in front of her. A sphere of gentle wind expanded from her, removing other players' ability to listen in to their conversation.
"You have done well, Leafa, Kirito, Asuna, Klein, and Agil," Urd spoke. "While Jotunheim has not quite returned to its former glory, it is on its way to full recovery."
"We aren't the ones that settled things with Thrym though," Kirito apologized. "I mean, we tried to let him go. Aren't you angry about that?"
"As far as I'm concerned, the Thrym that committed his offences died an ignoble death soon after the Transition," Urd said, almost sadly. "He was power-hungry, literally so, and in trying to 'game the system' he lost sight of who he was, with the spirit stones morphing him. If Thrym was a more virtuous soul, what happened to the King of the Frost Giants would have been a tragedy instead. Nevertheless, his is a cautionary tale for us all."
"I don't think eating Windstones is going to be an option for any of us anyway," Klein joked weakly.
"I meant more in the case of my sisters," Urd smiled slightly. "Speaking of them, they wish to meet you as well."
A blonde robed woman, slightly shorter than Urd but still taller than the faeries by at least a head's height, appeared to one side. To Urd's other side, a figure closer to the size of the faeries' appeared, dressed in armour not unlike the players would have chosen.
"Verthandi," the robed woman nodded.
"I'm Skuld," the smallest sister smiled. Klein's breath hitched, much to the others' amusement.
"We would reward you with many coins and items for your efforts, but alas you no longer have an 'inventory' that could hold all of them," Urd said apologetically. "Do come back and visit again if you want them. We have further Quests for you all as well, if you would help us."
"Yes!" Klein said sharply, puffing himself upright. "It would be our pleasure!"
"Dammit Klein," Kirito muttered. "You're embarrassing us."
"Shut up," Klein hissed back. "Don't you dare ruin this for me, not when I'm the only guy left that-"
"We'll take our leave now," Urd stated, the bubble of air dispersing around them. "Thank you all, and farewell."
"Skuld-san!" Klein cried out as the Water Spirits floated away, golden glow enveloping around them. "Please, may I have your contact details?!"
What. Kirito was gobsmacked at his best male friend's daring. He was further dumbfounded however, when the smallest Spirit smirked after some thought, and send a speck of light into Klein's Medallion.
"Call me later," Skuld said with a wink, before the sisters vanished.
Every player left within sight of the scene was left frozen, they couldn't have been more still if Thrym was around and decided to freeze them all.
"What the fuck," the Puca player with the Salamanders said flatly. "That's just… hey bro, do you mind introducing me to her sisters?"
"No way!" Klein hollered back. "That'll just hurt my chances with Skuld! Over my dead body!"
"That can be arranged!" The Puca shouted, before another player cut them off:
"We don't even have dead bodies as faeries," a Salamander pointed out.
"That's the point!" Klein said emphatically.
"So Remain Lights don't count?"
"Bodies have to be physical, don't they?"
Even though it had been a long day, at least it ended with laughter and a façade of normalcy where players trash talked like they were back on message boards.
===
The bit with Klein and Skuld came about because that plot hook never went anywhere in the SAO LNs, and I wanted to play around a bit with it in the future.
Next time, a breather chapter with Charming Faeries Inn arc, before we get back to the next part of the main plot with Reconquista.
Loved the bit with Klein and contact info. as well as that Puca reaction. I look forward to its future playout.
It was interesting, how Tabitha viewed Kirito, as rebelling against his queen and going unpunished, and possibly contender in future civil war.
Wonder what were she to think, upon learning, that He was the one to rid of 'King Oberon', after the later went for his wife, initially in the guise of 'Sugou Nobuyuki'. as either replacement or addition to Queen Titania. wonder what the halkeginians were to make of such revelation.
Kirito's words to her were well chosen and insightful, and her last thoughts about the fairies... seem an omen for less happy days in the future.
Wonder what colbert, Longueville and Kirche think of the entire fiasco...
This was a very good chapter, great job
It was interesting, how Tabitha viewed Kirito, as rebelling against his queen and going unpunished, and possibly contender in future civil war.
Wonder what were she to think, upon learning, that He was the one to rid of 'King Oberon', after the later went for his wife, initially in the guise of 'Sugou Nobuyuki'. as either replacement or addition to Queen Titania. wonder what the halkeginians were to make of such revelation.
Kirito's words to her were well chosen and insightful, and her last thoughts about the fairies... seem an omen for less happy days in the future.
Wonder what colbert, Longueville and Kirche think of the entire fiasco...
This was a very good chapter, great job
The whole encounter at the end of the Fairy Dance arc never happened though?
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
I've seen it argued that that joke made Klein look like a buttmonkey (supposedly as usual) in the LNs. I've always disagreed and thought that helped show that he could always have been a protagonist in his own right given more screentime.
I would read a spin-off series starring
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
Only after we finally get an Argo series (ie never).
She just drops off the face of the earth post-SAO and it's so disappointing. They could even have brought her back in for Girls Ops!
Oh, right. Sorry, I forgot.
Chapter 45
Charming Faeries Inn chapter. Readers might want to go reread at the first part of Chapter 34 for what's going on. Other optional rereading include Henrietta's part in Ch38.
Chapter subject to further editing, I got what I wanted to write in, but it doesn't felt like it flowed well.
===
Chapter 45
-][-
Jessica inwardly sighed, even as she did the rounds amongst the Charming Faerie Inn's patrons with a smile on her face. After the Treaty signing, the Inn's customers practically dried up, other than the diehard regulars that still attended – a far cry from the Inn's heyday. After Fairy Queen Titania's show of force, no-one sane wanted to approach anyone that resembled faeries. Those that did business with the fae, such as the predominantly Germanian merchants as opposed to the Tristainians, were regarded as having more greed than sense. Or more magic than sense, but no commoner was willing speak that aloud, not daring to risk the nobility's ire.
To make things worse the tax collector, Chulenne, were getting more daring by the day. Jessica's father, Scarron, managed to stave off Chulenne's advances on their girls for the time being, having to bribe the tax collector with some of Alfheim's goods. Natasha's friend, John, somehow became friends with the group of Salamanders that patrolled close to Tristainia, and a few Salamanders foisted off what they called 'vendor trash' onto John for some mundane things like good food. Of which the Charming Faeries Inn were more than willing to make, a few baskets occasinally was a good trade-off – even though the fae were scary, their creations were undisputedly of a higher quality, hence how merchants and nobles clamoured for Alfheim's business.
Such under-the-table deals were fairly common, given the Faerie Lords' strict official control over what could be traded to Tristain, but not even they could control every single one of their subjects. Regardless, Jessica was glad, even if the disobedient Salamanders never handed off anything more than slightly magical – the craftsmanship was enough to persuade Chulenne if he went too far he would incur the faeries' wrath.
However, Chulenne became more suspicious as time went by, without actual faeries coming by for even a pretence of appreciation. Jessica would like to say the Inn was in no danger of being shut down, but she was not confident at all. Word on the street was that Romalia was sending feelers into Tristain to see what they could get away with, and for all Jessica knew Chulenne was pressured to shut the Inn down, for a minor and removed victory against Alfheim's reputation. Not that Chulenne would need to be forced to do any such thing, seeing as the portly noble would likely have the Inn's staff taken away by the lesser nobles once the Inn was shut down, for their 'entertainment'. The Charming Faeries Inn needed whatever help they could get.
Speak of the devil… Jessica thought as a ragtag group of soldiers entered the Inn.
"Well, Saito?" John ribbed a hooded figure that entered with his group. "What do you think?"
"Oh my god," the figure said in a daze. "A maid café? You guys have a maid café?"
Men, Jessica exhaled in amusement – the faerie, Saito, spoke his last two words like a devout entering the Pope's cathedral. While the Inn did base itself on taking money from men like Saito, it never cease to amaze Jessica just how much hormones affected her opposite sex.
The Puca's hooded cloak was one of a quality that would have been equal to a Knight-Captain's in Tristain, showing his face but conveniently hiding his pointed ears. His rugged 'noble adventurer' clothing underneath it was of a similar quality. Given Saito's black hair that was slightly visible from under his hood, he could have passed himself off as one of her cousins. Though if any of her relatives were so enamoured by the Inn's employees, they would be given a front-row view to what Scarron would do to bring them back to their senses, no exceptions.
Natasha went to her prospective lover to start taking orders as they picked an out of the way table, and Jessica sat down by them. The Inn wasn't busy enough to need all hands on deck anyway, and Jessica would like to gauge what kind of person Saito was first-hand. Eventually…
"-and the goddess said yes!" Saito lamented, after chugging down his third beer like it was water to him. "Dammit! Some people have all the luck…"
Giving an aside glance to John, he and his friends smiled sheepishly at Jessica. It felt just like the soldiers bringing one of their heartbroken comrades over for a meal and drink, and commiserate with how tough life has been. Even without an audience listening to the faeries' most recent campaign, against Giants that came right out of stories, Saito poured his heart out. Without needing the alcohol, Jessica might add, as faerie constitution seemed to be far more robust than a human's.
"So, uh, Saito…" John began hesitatingly. "I kind of need your help."
"Hm?" Saito said through a mouthful of food. "What's wrong?"
John went on to describe the Charming Faerie Inn's situation, and how his girlfriend was on the verge of being taken from him. To Saito's credit, the foreign-looking faerie went straight into righteous indignant anger, without Jessica or anyone trying to charm him with sweet words or an exaggeration of their chests. A short-lived wave of magic pulsed out from him as Saito gnashed his teeth, causing the soldiers to tense and Natasha to instinctively lean into John.
"That bastard," Saito spat venomously. "Okay, I'm in. I'll call Eugene up right now."
"Wait, now-?!" John spluttered, before a translucent screen appeared in front of Saito. None of them expected things to move that fast.
"What is it, Saito?" Jessica assumed the seated Salamander at a desk that appeared on the screen was General Eugene. Even through an image with only his upper half shown the armoured General had a certain presence. Albeit one marred by tiredness, if she sees the Salamander's dark patches near his eyes correctly. "… What the hell, are you in a brothel?"
"It's a maid café, Eugene," Saito said, affronted. Jessica had a similar impulse, though she quashed it given who was making the accusation. "Jeez, I'm desperate, but not that desperate."
"Seriously?" The General said incredulously, looking around. It occurred to Jessica that the size of the screen was wider than she expected. "Places outside of Japan has that kind of thing?"
"I don't know what gods out there I need to give thanks to, but yeah this place exists," Saito confirmed. "But look, Eugene, we have a problem."
Saito began to reiterate what John said to him, but before he could finish they were interrupted by a loud noise at the Inn's entrance:
"Well hello there, Scarron," a portly noble said, in front of a group of his peers. Jessica scowled – Chulenne' and his cronies of lesser nobles came much regularly for 'patronage', outside his normal visits to collect tax.
"Minimize," Saito hastily said, and the screen in front of him shrunk down to a speck.
"Welcome, esteemed customers," Scarron lied through his teeth, though Jessica would wager the nobles were too self-absorbed to see that. "I thank you for your patronage, especially in such tough times."
"Indeed, you should thank us!" Chulenne guffawed, one hand went up to brush his thin moustache. "Seeing as we're important customers, we should get something special, no?"
"Well, we did recently came into possession some fae-made cider…" Scarron began. Jessica remembered that bottle, it was some faerie or another that decided to try their hands at beginner <<Cooking>>. It was somehow a failed product by the faeries' eyes, thus how the Salamanders were willing to pass it on, but after tasting it the girls at the Inn swore unanimously they would believe it was worthy to be offered at a noble's party.
"Excellent," Chulenne smirked. "We'll take that, and a private room. Have one of your girls come in with it."
"… We don't offer private rooms for visits, esteemed customer," Scarron said slowly.
"Oh, really?" Chulenne's smirk became more lecherous. "Is this not an inn? And as valued customers, shouldn't we receive that kind of services? We're not asking for much either, just one of the girls to keep us company – and we'd tip her generously too!"
Even if the cronies weren't sniggering, it was clear to everyone Chulenne was up to no good. Never mind that everyone there knew Chulenne never gave tips, stingy bastard he was. Jessica kept a lid on her own seething – if they folded, Chulenne would just keep pushing for more and more.
"Are you telling me it's not an honour to serve one of the nobles under Her Royal Majesty?" Chulenne insisted over Scarron's polite refusals. "Or are you all truly heretical scum working for Alfheim? You, and your customers, are one informant away from being sent to the dungeons. You can't possibly want that for your girls, do you?"
Behind Chulenne, his cronies pulled out their wands threateningly. Many of the actual customers cleared out of the Inn, not wanting to get involved into the mess. John snarled, reached for his wand and about to get up, before his friends pushed him back down onto his seats.
"And who the hell do you think you are, that you can talk like that here?" Saito demanded as he stood up.
"Hm?" Chulenne looked over at Jessica's table. Running one eye over Saito's wealthier attire and demeanour, Chulenne likely pegged Saito as a kindred spirit when the tax collector spoke: "Apologies, my good sir, I meant no offence towards the proper customers of this fine establishment. Would you care to join us? I imagine someone of your wealth and taste are unsatisfied with the usual fare this place offers you."
"No, I'll pass," Saito said flatly. "And what's this about Alfheim? I thought Alfheim has a formal Treaty with Tristain, so why should anyone be worried about a connection with them?"
"Surely you jest," Chulenne raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Then again, you don't look like a local, are you Germanian perhaps? New to Tristain? No-one that was present back then could have missed how the Fairy Queen held Her Highness and the rest of the Capital by the throat, threatening widespread immolation if we did not comply. Nobles, even a Marquis among them, which went against the faeries had their titles stripped from them. Stripped, I tell you! As if it was a betrayal to the Crown to look after our own! Is it any surprise that Tristain's nobility treat the Treaty as a farce?
"Princess Henrietta might be forced to comply with the Treaty, held hostage under faerie observation, but I assure you the rest of us are freer to act against the invaders. No court would convict me if I hand in Alfheim sympathizers. Why, I might even be rewarded with the opportunity to bring these lost souls back to the loving embrace of the Founder's followers."
"You disgust me," Saito spat out. "Having to resort to blackmail to get girls is already the lowest of the low. To think you're justified in it as well, man I thought I've seen bad hentai before, but no."
"I'm not sure what you're going on about, but are you sure you want to push the issue here?" Chulenne harrumphed and drew his wand. A handful more was pointed at Saito. "It would be unfortunate for a noble to fall to faerie assassins, you know, when it was avoided at the Treaty."
Saito looked at the wands disdainfully, before he whistled sharply. A few of the lesser nobles flinched at the loud noise and reflexively tried to attack, only to find no magic happened and their incantations was muted. Chulenne tried to speak up in his surprise, but he too was <<Silenced>> like the rest of his group.
"So, you got all that Eugene?" Saito said, pulling back his hood to reveal his pointed ears, causing Chulenne to pull back fearfully.
"For a supposed case of undercutting Treaty authority, this is painfully small time," General Eugene grumbled as the screen was restored to full size. "I mean, I could inform my brother and have Princess Henrietta deal with these guys as soon as she holds court in the morning. But Mortimer might say something about not wanting to rock the boat any more than we have to, that will just lead to war. We didn't make the Treaty with Tristain and avoid slaughtering them, just to do that a week later."
"Are you seriously saying I need to let them go?" Saito said, stunned.
"No," Eugene noted. "All that means is that when we report them, we avoid the Treaty bit and stick them with behaviour unbecoming for nobles, or something."
"Y-you'll never get away with this," Chulenne said with false bravado, as soon as he found his voice. "I know people."
"Bitch, please" Saito snorted. "Do you have any idea who you're talking to? This is General Eugene of the Salamanders here. You know, the guy that crushed the Tempest? I don't think anyone you know can top that."
"Tristain will not stand for this insult upon her nobility!" Chulenne said shrilly. He probably wanted to run away long before then, but guess even the rotund tax collector knows better than to show his back to a faerie that could shut him and his cronies down in a syllable. "Even those I don't know would support me in that light! You'd be facing Tristain's nobility in its entirety!"
"No, they'd support the next guy who they believe can offer them more, or that they'd have a real reason to support," Saito disagreed. "More likely, they'd cut you off and deny all involvement. I'm willing to bet you're not worth the effort to defend for the higher ups.
"And even if you are defended by them," Saito said in disgust at the thought. "Well, remember that the Salamanders was willing to fight off a Dukedom just by ourselves. And that Alfheim's willing to throw down with Halkeginia in its entirety if anyone tries to invade us. Or, to put it bluntly…"
Saito walked up to Chulenne, forcing the fat noble to lean back in fright.
"My stick is bigger than yours," Saito stated. "So shut up, asshole."
Chulenne collapsed. After some thought, Saito knocked out the rest of Chulenne's followers with a short tune, and John's friends helped to tie Chulenne's group up for their appointment in the morning.
"Well that's that," Saito declared. "So, what now? You guys have a fall-back plan or something? Since I don't think the nobles will leave this place running for much longer after today – they can't touch us faeries, but you guys aren't faeries so…"
Jessica bit her lips. Scarron had planned on moving them to a different city, or back to Tarbes if he had to. But that would still need days to sort out, when after that night they would be lucky if they get to see the next sunset from outside captivity. Not to mention there was no guarantee that someone like Chulenne wouldn't be wherever they end up relocating to.
"Natasha," John spoke up seriously to the girl at his side. "I know this is sudden, but… would you marry me?"
"Eh?" Natasha's eyes went wide.
"I'm not even a landed noble, but my family do have a small plot of land out in the countryside," John said earnestly. "I can probably get a transfer back home too, there's never enough mages to defend villages. I can't promise you a well-off life, but I'd do my best for you-"
Natasha stopped him from saying more by planting her lips onto his, even as she became teary-eyed. Sounds of "d'aww" came from all over the bar at the sight.
"Nice to see one happy ending at least," Saito coughed. Seeing as the couple not breaking apart even after some time, Saito grumbled: "Lucky bastards… fine, lay it on me! Who else is getting together with their sweethearts?"
That ended up dampening the mood. While John's friends had made some overtures, there was nobody else who had developed as much as things between Natasha and John. And given the short notice, at best only one or two out of all the girls that would end up the same.
Saito winced at that outcome. John, finally able to talk, asked tentatively: "Can you do anything about it, Saito? I know we don't have any right to ask that of you, but…"
The Puca looked over at Eugene, who remained on the call. "Please, Eugene? You know what would happen if we don't."
"Alfheim doesn't have room for a maid café, Saito," Eugene said bluntly. "Now, if they're a cook's guild or something, then maybe I can spin it enough to get Mortimer on-board. Gods know we don't have enough cooks around."
"Are you suggesting we're just pretty faces or something?" Jessica said indignantly. Seeing Eugene focusing his attention on her, Jessica blushed in embarrassment at her outburst but pushed on: "We can cook, sew and so on. In fact, if we can all get jobs as cooks and make a decent living, that'd be a step up than acting as waitresses."
"… So why didn't you?" Saito frowned.
"It's tough to find a place to be employed where the girls won't be taken advantage of," Natasha defended the girls. "In fact, many of us were chased out of those jobs because we didn't want to let it go further than some people letting their hands wander. Scarron here took us in, and stops things before it goes too far."
"Oh yeah," Saito said in realization. "I'm so used to having <<Ethic Codes>> around I almost forgot that's not a thing in real life. With Titania around though all of you will be safe from that at least – she treats those kind of offenders very harshly."
"Really?" Jessica said sardonically. From her experience nobility – and royalty – were ambivalent towards the commoners at best, and at worst it would be someone like Chulenne.
"Yes, really," Saito nodded, before materializing an ethereal pendant. "See this? Every resident in Alfheim gets one. Anyone that get even a bit touchy on someone without permission, they get hit by divine punishment. As long as someone that has a <<Medallion>> is one of those sides."
"You're kidding me," Jessica said, staring at the small piece of jewellery. "Prove it."
"What?" Saito asked blankly, before he shied away from Jessica who puffed her chest out.
"I want to see first-hand evidence," Jessica said emphatically. "We don't want to trade one problem for a bigger one elsewhere."
"You make it sound like Alfheim relocating you all is already a done deal," Eugene deadpanned, at the same time Saito said:
"Hell no! I've already racked up enough demerit points that the next time I try something Titania would smite me worse than just what felt like my arm was being burned off! I don't want to be stuck in a block of crystal for the rest of my life!"
The various girls present, plus Scarron, gave unflattering looks at Saito's confession. Well, at least he's honest, Jessica thought.
"… I don't suppose you can get me a pass so I can demonstrate, Eugene?" Saito asked hopefully.
"Members of the Leadership aren't supposed to encourage rule breaking," Eugene said critically. "And there's enough idiots like you out there that Titania already have plenty of data points stored up."
"Then let Mademoiselle help you out."
Saito saw thick arms came after him, blanched, and then screamed like a little girl. Scarron's hands were blasted away from the Puca after barely touching his face, still tingling with white lightning as Scarron winced.
"Don't touch my girls, little faerie," Scarron frowned at Saito. "Or else."
Saito nodded furiously.
"Are you alright daddy?!" Jessica said worriedly, running up to Scarron. Meanwhile Saito paused like he had been <<Petrified>>, while trying to mouth out 'daddy?'.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Scarron shuddered. "Not that much worse than getting kicked by a horse that time at the farm back home, really."
"That's just for first time offenders or accidents," Saito said helpfully. "Second time you get blasted hard enough to break through walls. Third time you just die. If anyone's dumb enough to still continue after that, they get locked away for good."
"Is that where you're at right now?" Jessica asked with narrowed eyes.
"No!" Saito denied. Jessica didn't buy it.
"Well, okay, I might have some previous records before the Transition," Saito admitted. "But I've only got hit one time after we got dumped into this world, and it was an accident I swear!"
"Then why are you worried about being locked away?" Jessica asked.
"Because for all I know Titania would skip a few steps, even if she had made statements that what happened before the Transition wouldn't count," Saito argued. "For all that the Fairy Queen is cold and impersonal, the cases show she treats this with so much intensity it's like she's a completely different person. I do not want to get on her bad side, especially when it's her berserk button."
"Again, Saito, you make it sound like Alfheim relocating them all is already a done deal," Eugene said once more. "At the very least, I don't think you can count on the Salamanders for this."
"You owe me one, Eugene," Saito pointed out. "You said so yourself, back when you got Gram."
"That was a figure of speech, I said it in the victory speech to everyone in that raid at the end," Eugene retorted. "You should know that."
"Yeah, I know," Saito admitted. "But I'll take whatever advantage I can get for this. Hell, give me shit duties from now on as well, or whatever punishment you want to throw at me. Just, help the girls out here. Please."
Eugene stared at Saito for several moments, before he gave a long sigh.
"Saito, with the Mercenary system being reworked, I was planning on promoting you to one of my new lieutenants," Eugene divulged. "Like you said, you were around when I got Gram, and have been around since the Salamanders were in its early days of being a major Faction in Alfheim. You've proven yourself by now. Are you sure you want to throw all your goodwill and accomplishments all away for them, especially when you're not going to get anything back?"
"You know I was never in the game for prestige or power, Eugene," Saito shot back. "I was in it for the chicks. Hell, you poached me from the Pucas by promising me I'd be popular with the girls, if I made a name for myself with the strongest Faction in Alfheim!"
"In my defence, that worked for me, and I didn't know better back then," Eugene said, almost embarrassedly. Jessica didn't know if she should laugh or cry at how dense men could be, it seemed to be something prevalent across species.
"Fine," Eugene grunted. "I can pull some strings. But Saito, you're getting shit jobs for what's probably the rest of eternity. And probably pulling double duties as well, to the point you'll be lucky if you have even an hour left in the day for chasing after girls. Even if you help them, you'll likely never have the chance to go out with any of them. Are you sure you still want to continue?"
"Dude, low blow," Saito winced. "But, okay, fine. It's the right thing to do. I can't forgive myself if I don't help out here."
"Really?" Jessica couldn't help but ask. "You're not doing this because you expected to get a harem of the girls here or something?"
"I wish," Saito grumbled. "Look, I might be a pervert, but I'm a chivalrous pervert. I have standards. And I want to actually be able to keep whoever I might end up with, you know?"
Looking over at John, Saito said: "Guess this is probably the last time I'll ever see you guys. I'm probably never going to get another low-risk job like surface mob clearing again. Get enough lovey-dovey stuff done to make up for what I'm missing out on, you hear me?"
"You make it sound like you're going to be gone for good or something," John joked weakly. "… I'm sorry. I never intended for you to give up this much for them."
"What can I say?" Saito grinned cheekily. "I'm just that cool. Or stupid. But one day a girl will fall for me the way I am, just you wait."
"Anyway," Eugene called out, eyes darting to screens not visible from their viewpoint in the call. "Scarron, right? This is what we're going to do…"
Scarron had no reason to not take the out offered to them by the faeries. A few hours later, everyone at the Inn had their belongings packed and ready to move through a portal to Arrun. The girls would be crammed into an apartment turned impromptu female dorm, with several girls having to share a bedroom. Scarron might have to camp out on the roof, but he accepted that along with relocating, since it would help his employees. The women at the dorm were briefed on the situation, and all of them were willing to guard them until they got their Alfheim residency and Medallions sorted – General Eugene picked a place where all the tenants were at least what's called 'Mid-liners', just a step down from warriors that fought on the front lines.
"Saito, wait," Jessica called out, before Saito had to go through the portal to the unamused visage of General Eugene on the other side. Saito's expression was one of hopeful disbelief, to the point Jessica had second thoughts but continued. It felt too much like kicking a puppy to stop there.
"If you have time at the end of the day, come by to our new shop for a meal," Jessica said. "Dad can probably slot you in as pulling guard duty or something."
"You mean it's like a date?" Saito gulped.
"Heh, no," Jessica smirked, to which Saito wilted instantly. "But who knows, it might be one day. Depends if one of the girls decide you're worth looking into."
"Guess I have no chance with you too, huh," Saito said gloomily.
"For any chances of that, come back when you work your way up to a possible lieutenant again," Jessica waved him off. "You're going to have to be able to support a family if you want anyone to be interested in you, just saying."
Saito straightened up, determination in his eyes. "Alright. I promise you I'll do that."
"Before I get old and frail too, you idiot! I know you faeries have a warped sense of time!" Jessica shot back as Saito walked through the portal. Glancing around, Jessica found the rest of the girls hiding wide smiles. "What? He just looked so pathetic he needed a pick-me-up. And given what he's done for us, he deserves at least that much."
"Sure, sure," the girls chorused innocently.
"…" Scarron stared at where Saito left to. "Jessica, dear, when we start up the new shop we're investing in a good quality frying pan. It'll be too costly for you to have to replace a new one every time you bash in his head to stave off his advances."
"Not you too, dad," Jessica groaned.
-][-
Good thing for Saito and Eugene, as faeries that have marginally better hearing than their old human selves. They caught that particular conversation as they walked away from the portal.
"…" Eugene exchanged a look with Saito. "… I guess I can say I fulfilled my promise of making you popular then, Saito?"
Saito groaned. "Right when I can't benefit from it too. You suck Eugene."
Eugene chuckled. While he might be called a 'General', Eugene was still an ALO player first and foremost, and at least half of his command structure were somewhat friends with him.
"Consider it karma for getting locked in <<Jail>> that time when we needed you for a raid," Eugene said unsympathetically. "By the way, your new shift in the Waste Processing Plant starts tomorrow at six in the morning. Go get some rest, you'll need it."
Saito groaned louder.
===
Chulenne was the noble's name in English, according to Bakatsuki's ZnT Vol5. I've taken some other bits from there as well for this chapter, hopefully not word for word.
Next update, laying the ground-works for Albion arc.
Chapter subject to further editing, I got what I wanted to write in, but it doesn't felt like it flowed well.
===
Chapter 45
-][-
Jessica inwardly sighed, even as she did the rounds amongst the Charming Faerie Inn's patrons with a smile on her face. After the Treaty signing, the Inn's customers practically dried up, other than the diehard regulars that still attended – a far cry from the Inn's heyday. After Fairy Queen Titania's show of force, no-one sane wanted to approach anyone that resembled faeries. Those that did business with the fae, such as the predominantly Germanian merchants as opposed to the Tristainians, were regarded as having more greed than sense. Or more magic than sense, but no commoner was willing speak that aloud, not daring to risk the nobility's ire.
To make things worse the tax collector, Chulenne, were getting more daring by the day. Jessica's father, Scarron, managed to stave off Chulenne's advances on their girls for the time being, having to bribe the tax collector with some of Alfheim's goods. Natasha's friend, John, somehow became friends with the group of Salamanders that patrolled close to Tristainia, and a few Salamanders foisted off what they called 'vendor trash' onto John for some mundane things like good food. Of which the Charming Faeries Inn were more than willing to make, a few baskets occasinally was a good trade-off – even though the fae were scary, their creations were undisputedly of a higher quality, hence how merchants and nobles clamoured for Alfheim's business.
Such under-the-table deals were fairly common, given the Faerie Lords' strict official control over what could be traded to Tristain, but not even they could control every single one of their subjects. Regardless, Jessica was glad, even if the disobedient Salamanders never handed off anything more than slightly magical – the craftsmanship was enough to persuade Chulenne if he went too far he would incur the faeries' wrath.
However, Chulenne became more suspicious as time went by, without actual faeries coming by for even a pretence of appreciation. Jessica would like to say the Inn was in no danger of being shut down, but she was not confident at all. Word on the street was that Romalia was sending feelers into Tristain to see what they could get away with, and for all Jessica knew Chulenne was pressured to shut the Inn down, for a minor and removed victory against Alfheim's reputation. Not that Chulenne would need to be forced to do any such thing, seeing as the portly noble would likely have the Inn's staff taken away by the lesser nobles once the Inn was shut down, for their 'entertainment'. The Charming Faeries Inn needed whatever help they could get.
Speak of the devil… Jessica thought as a ragtag group of soldiers entered the Inn.
"Well, Saito?" John ribbed a hooded figure that entered with his group. "What do you think?"
"Oh my god," the figure said in a daze. "A maid café? You guys have a maid café?"
Men, Jessica exhaled in amusement – the faerie, Saito, spoke his last two words like a devout entering the Pope's cathedral. While the Inn did base itself on taking money from men like Saito, it never cease to amaze Jessica just how much hormones affected her opposite sex.
The Puca's hooded cloak was one of a quality that would have been equal to a Knight-Captain's in Tristain, showing his face but conveniently hiding his pointed ears. His rugged 'noble adventurer' clothing underneath it was of a similar quality. Given Saito's black hair that was slightly visible from under his hood, he could have passed himself off as one of her cousins. Though if any of her relatives were so enamoured by the Inn's employees, they would be given a front-row view to what Scarron would do to bring them back to their senses, no exceptions.
Natasha went to her prospective lover to start taking orders as they picked an out of the way table, and Jessica sat down by them. The Inn wasn't busy enough to need all hands on deck anyway, and Jessica would like to gauge what kind of person Saito was first-hand. Eventually…
"-and the goddess said yes!" Saito lamented, after chugging down his third beer like it was water to him. "Dammit! Some people have all the luck…"
Giving an aside glance to John, he and his friends smiled sheepishly at Jessica. It felt just like the soldiers bringing one of their heartbroken comrades over for a meal and drink, and commiserate with how tough life has been. Even without an audience listening to the faeries' most recent campaign, against Giants that came right out of stories, Saito poured his heart out. Without needing the alcohol, Jessica might add, as faerie constitution seemed to be far more robust than a human's.
"So, uh, Saito…" John began hesitatingly. "I kind of need your help."
"Hm?" Saito said through a mouthful of food. "What's wrong?"
John went on to describe the Charming Faerie Inn's situation, and how his girlfriend was on the verge of being taken from him. To Saito's credit, the foreign-looking faerie went straight into righteous indignant anger, without Jessica or anyone trying to charm him with sweet words or an exaggeration of their chests. A short-lived wave of magic pulsed out from him as Saito gnashed his teeth, causing the soldiers to tense and Natasha to instinctively lean into John.
"That bastard," Saito spat venomously. "Okay, I'm in. I'll call Eugene up right now."
"Wait, now-?!" John spluttered, before a translucent screen appeared in front of Saito. None of them expected things to move that fast.
"What is it, Saito?" Jessica assumed the seated Salamander at a desk that appeared on the screen was General Eugene. Even through an image with only his upper half shown the armoured General had a certain presence. Albeit one marred by tiredness, if she sees the Salamander's dark patches near his eyes correctly. "… What the hell, are you in a brothel?"
"It's a maid café, Eugene," Saito said, affronted. Jessica had a similar impulse, though she quashed it given who was making the accusation. "Jeez, I'm desperate, but not that desperate."
"Seriously?" The General said incredulously, looking around. It occurred to Jessica that the size of the screen was wider than she expected. "Places outside of Japan has that kind of thing?"
"I don't know what gods out there I need to give thanks to, but yeah this place exists," Saito confirmed. "But look, Eugene, we have a problem."
Saito began to reiterate what John said to him, but before he could finish they were interrupted by a loud noise at the Inn's entrance:
"Well hello there, Scarron," a portly noble said, in front of a group of his peers. Jessica scowled – Chulenne' and his cronies of lesser nobles came much regularly for 'patronage', outside his normal visits to collect tax.
"Minimize," Saito hastily said, and the screen in front of him shrunk down to a speck.
"Welcome, esteemed customers," Scarron lied through his teeth, though Jessica would wager the nobles were too self-absorbed to see that. "I thank you for your patronage, especially in such tough times."
"Indeed, you should thank us!" Chulenne guffawed, one hand went up to brush his thin moustache. "Seeing as we're important customers, we should get something special, no?"
"Well, we did recently came into possession some fae-made cider…" Scarron began. Jessica remembered that bottle, it was some faerie or another that decided to try their hands at beginner <<Cooking>>. It was somehow a failed product by the faeries' eyes, thus how the Salamanders were willing to pass it on, but after tasting it the girls at the Inn swore unanimously they would believe it was worthy to be offered at a noble's party.
"Excellent," Chulenne smirked. "We'll take that, and a private room. Have one of your girls come in with it."
"… We don't offer private rooms for visits, esteemed customer," Scarron said slowly.
"Oh, really?" Chulenne's smirk became more lecherous. "Is this not an inn? And as valued customers, shouldn't we receive that kind of services? We're not asking for much either, just one of the girls to keep us company – and we'd tip her generously too!"
Even if the cronies weren't sniggering, it was clear to everyone Chulenne was up to no good. Never mind that everyone there knew Chulenne never gave tips, stingy bastard he was. Jessica kept a lid on her own seething – if they folded, Chulenne would just keep pushing for more and more.
"Are you telling me it's not an honour to serve one of the nobles under Her Royal Majesty?" Chulenne insisted over Scarron's polite refusals. "Or are you all truly heretical scum working for Alfheim? You, and your customers, are one informant away from being sent to the dungeons. You can't possibly want that for your girls, do you?"
Behind Chulenne, his cronies pulled out their wands threateningly. Many of the actual customers cleared out of the Inn, not wanting to get involved into the mess. John snarled, reached for his wand and about to get up, before his friends pushed him back down onto his seats.
"And who the hell do you think you are, that you can talk like that here?" Saito demanded as he stood up.
"Hm?" Chulenne looked over at Jessica's table. Running one eye over Saito's wealthier attire and demeanour, Chulenne likely pegged Saito as a kindred spirit when the tax collector spoke: "Apologies, my good sir, I meant no offence towards the proper customers of this fine establishment. Would you care to join us? I imagine someone of your wealth and taste are unsatisfied with the usual fare this place offers you."
"No, I'll pass," Saito said flatly. "And what's this about Alfheim? I thought Alfheim has a formal Treaty with Tristain, so why should anyone be worried about a connection with them?"
"Surely you jest," Chulenne raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Then again, you don't look like a local, are you Germanian perhaps? New to Tristain? No-one that was present back then could have missed how the Fairy Queen held Her Highness and the rest of the Capital by the throat, threatening widespread immolation if we did not comply. Nobles, even a Marquis among them, which went against the faeries had their titles stripped from them. Stripped, I tell you! As if it was a betrayal to the Crown to look after our own! Is it any surprise that Tristain's nobility treat the Treaty as a farce?
"Princess Henrietta might be forced to comply with the Treaty, held hostage under faerie observation, but I assure you the rest of us are freer to act against the invaders. No court would convict me if I hand in Alfheim sympathizers. Why, I might even be rewarded with the opportunity to bring these lost souls back to the loving embrace of the Founder's followers."
"You disgust me," Saito spat out. "Having to resort to blackmail to get girls is already the lowest of the low. To think you're justified in it as well, man I thought I've seen bad hentai before, but no."
"I'm not sure what you're going on about, but are you sure you want to push the issue here?" Chulenne harrumphed and drew his wand. A handful more was pointed at Saito. "It would be unfortunate for a noble to fall to faerie assassins, you know, when it was avoided at the Treaty."
Saito looked at the wands disdainfully, before he whistled sharply. A few of the lesser nobles flinched at the loud noise and reflexively tried to attack, only to find no magic happened and their incantations was muted. Chulenne tried to speak up in his surprise, but he too was <<Silenced>> like the rest of his group.
"So, you got all that Eugene?" Saito said, pulling back his hood to reveal his pointed ears, causing Chulenne to pull back fearfully.
"For a supposed case of undercutting Treaty authority, this is painfully small time," General Eugene grumbled as the screen was restored to full size. "I mean, I could inform my brother and have Princess Henrietta deal with these guys as soon as she holds court in the morning. But Mortimer might say something about not wanting to rock the boat any more than we have to, that will just lead to war. We didn't make the Treaty with Tristain and avoid slaughtering them, just to do that a week later."
"Are you seriously saying I need to let them go?" Saito said, stunned.
"No," Eugene noted. "All that means is that when we report them, we avoid the Treaty bit and stick them with behaviour unbecoming for nobles, or something."
"Y-you'll never get away with this," Chulenne said with false bravado, as soon as he found his voice. "I know people."
"Bitch, please" Saito snorted. "Do you have any idea who you're talking to? This is General Eugene of the Salamanders here. You know, the guy that crushed the Tempest? I don't think anyone you know can top that."
"Tristain will not stand for this insult upon her nobility!" Chulenne said shrilly. He probably wanted to run away long before then, but guess even the rotund tax collector knows better than to show his back to a faerie that could shut him and his cronies down in a syllable. "Even those I don't know would support me in that light! You'd be facing Tristain's nobility in its entirety!"
"No, they'd support the next guy who they believe can offer them more, or that they'd have a real reason to support," Saito disagreed. "More likely, they'd cut you off and deny all involvement. I'm willing to bet you're not worth the effort to defend for the higher ups.
"And even if you are defended by them," Saito said in disgust at the thought. "Well, remember that the Salamanders was willing to fight off a Dukedom just by ourselves. And that Alfheim's willing to throw down with Halkeginia in its entirety if anyone tries to invade us. Or, to put it bluntly…"
Saito walked up to Chulenne, forcing the fat noble to lean back in fright.
"My stick is bigger than yours," Saito stated. "So shut up, asshole."
Chulenne collapsed. After some thought, Saito knocked out the rest of Chulenne's followers with a short tune, and John's friends helped to tie Chulenne's group up for their appointment in the morning.
"Well that's that," Saito declared. "So, what now? You guys have a fall-back plan or something? Since I don't think the nobles will leave this place running for much longer after today – they can't touch us faeries, but you guys aren't faeries so…"
Jessica bit her lips. Scarron had planned on moving them to a different city, or back to Tarbes if he had to. But that would still need days to sort out, when after that night they would be lucky if they get to see the next sunset from outside captivity. Not to mention there was no guarantee that someone like Chulenne wouldn't be wherever they end up relocating to.
"Natasha," John spoke up seriously to the girl at his side. "I know this is sudden, but… would you marry me?"
"Eh?" Natasha's eyes went wide.
"I'm not even a landed noble, but my family do have a small plot of land out in the countryside," John said earnestly. "I can probably get a transfer back home too, there's never enough mages to defend villages. I can't promise you a well-off life, but I'd do my best for you-"
Natasha stopped him from saying more by planting her lips onto his, even as she became teary-eyed. Sounds of "d'aww" came from all over the bar at the sight.
"Nice to see one happy ending at least," Saito coughed. Seeing as the couple not breaking apart even after some time, Saito grumbled: "Lucky bastards… fine, lay it on me! Who else is getting together with their sweethearts?"
That ended up dampening the mood. While John's friends had made some overtures, there was nobody else who had developed as much as things between Natasha and John. And given the short notice, at best only one or two out of all the girls that would end up the same.
Saito winced at that outcome. John, finally able to talk, asked tentatively: "Can you do anything about it, Saito? I know we don't have any right to ask that of you, but…"
The Puca looked over at Eugene, who remained on the call. "Please, Eugene? You know what would happen if we don't."
"Alfheim doesn't have room for a maid café, Saito," Eugene said bluntly. "Now, if they're a cook's guild or something, then maybe I can spin it enough to get Mortimer on-board. Gods know we don't have enough cooks around."
"Are you suggesting we're just pretty faces or something?" Jessica said indignantly. Seeing Eugene focusing his attention on her, Jessica blushed in embarrassment at her outburst but pushed on: "We can cook, sew and so on. In fact, if we can all get jobs as cooks and make a decent living, that'd be a step up than acting as waitresses."
"… So why didn't you?" Saito frowned.
"It's tough to find a place to be employed where the girls won't be taken advantage of," Natasha defended the girls. "In fact, many of us were chased out of those jobs because we didn't want to let it go further than some people letting their hands wander. Scarron here took us in, and stops things before it goes too far."
"Oh yeah," Saito said in realization. "I'm so used to having <<Ethic Codes>> around I almost forgot that's not a thing in real life. With Titania around though all of you will be safe from that at least – she treats those kind of offenders very harshly."
"Really?" Jessica said sardonically. From her experience nobility – and royalty – were ambivalent towards the commoners at best, and at worst it would be someone like Chulenne.
"Yes, really," Saito nodded, before materializing an ethereal pendant. "See this? Every resident in Alfheim gets one. Anyone that get even a bit touchy on someone without permission, they get hit by divine punishment. As long as someone that has a <<Medallion>> is one of those sides."
"You're kidding me," Jessica said, staring at the small piece of jewellery. "Prove it."
"What?" Saito asked blankly, before he shied away from Jessica who puffed her chest out.
"I want to see first-hand evidence," Jessica said emphatically. "We don't want to trade one problem for a bigger one elsewhere."
"You make it sound like Alfheim relocating you all is already a done deal," Eugene deadpanned, at the same time Saito said:
"Hell no! I've already racked up enough demerit points that the next time I try something Titania would smite me worse than just what felt like my arm was being burned off! I don't want to be stuck in a block of crystal for the rest of my life!"
The various girls present, plus Scarron, gave unflattering looks at Saito's confession. Well, at least he's honest, Jessica thought.
"… I don't suppose you can get me a pass so I can demonstrate, Eugene?" Saito asked hopefully.
"Members of the Leadership aren't supposed to encourage rule breaking," Eugene said critically. "And there's enough idiots like you out there that Titania already have plenty of data points stored up."
"Then let Mademoiselle help you out."
Saito saw thick arms came after him, blanched, and then screamed like a little girl. Scarron's hands were blasted away from the Puca after barely touching his face, still tingling with white lightning as Scarron winced.
"Don't touch my girls, little faerie," Scarron frowned at Saito. "Or else."
Saito nodded furiously.
"Are you alright daddy?!" Jessica said worriedly, running up to Scarron. Meanwhile Saito paused like he had been <<Petrified>>, while trying to mouth out 'daddy?'.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Scarron shuddered. "Not that much worse than getting kicked by a horse that time at the farm back home, really."
"That's just for first time offenders or accidents," Saito said helpfully. "Second time you get blasted hard enough to break through walls. Third time you just die. If anyone's dumb enough to still continue after that, they get locked away for good."
"Is that where you're at right now?" Jessica asked with narrowed eyes.
"No!" Saito denied. Jessica didn't buy it.
"Well, okay, I might have some previous records before the Transition," Saito admitted. "But I've only got hit one time after we got dumped into this world, and it was an accident I swear!"
"Then why are you worried about being locked away?" Jessica asked.
"Because for all I know Titania would skip a few steps, even if she had made statements that what happened before the Transition wouldn't count," Saito argued. "For all that the Fairy Queen is cold and impersonal, the cases show she treats this with so much intensity it's like she's a completely different person. I do not want to get on her bad side, especially when it's her berserk button."
"Again, Saito, you make it sound like Alfheim relocating them all is already a done deal," Eugene said once more. "At the very least, I don't think you can count on the Salamanders for this."
"You owe me one, Eugene," Saito pointed out. "You said so yourself, back when you got Gram."
"That was a figure of speech, I said it in the victory speech to everyone in that raid at the end," Eugene retorted. "You should know that."
"Yeah, I know," Saito admitted. "But I'll take whatever advantage I can get for this. Hell, give me shit duties from now on as well, or whatever punishment you want to throw at me. Just, help the girls out here. Please."
Eugene stared at Saito for several moments, before he gave a long sigh.
"Saito, with the Mercenary system being reworked, I was planning on promoting you to one of my new lieutenants," Eugene divulged. "Like you said, you were around when I got Gram, and have been around since the Salamanders were in its early days of being a major Faction in Alfheim. You've proven yourself by now. Are you sure you want to throw all your goodwill and accomplishments all away for them, especially when you're not going to get anything back?"
"You know I was never in the game for prestige or power, Eugene," Saito shot back. "I was in it for the chicks. Hell, you poached me from the Pucas by promising me I'd be popular with the girls, if I made a name for myself with the strongest Faction in Alfheim!"
"In my defence, that worked for me, and I didn't know better back then," Eugene said, almost embarrassedly. Jessica didn't know if she should laugh or cry at how dense men could be, it seemed to be something prevalent across species.
"Fine," Eugene grunted. "I can pull some strings. But Saito, you're getting shit jobs for what's probably the rest of eternity. And probably pulling double duties as well, to the point you'll be lucky if you have even an hour left in the day for chasing after girls. Even if you help them, you'll likely never have the chance to go out with any of them. Are you sure you still want to continue?"
"Dude, low blow," Saito winced. "But, okay, fine. It's the right thing to do. I can't forgive myself if I don't help out here."
"Really?" Jessica couldn't help but ask. "You're not doing this because you expected to get a harem of the girls here or something?"
"I wish," Saito grumbled. "Look, I might be a pervert, but I'm a chivalrous pervert. I have standards. And I want to actually be able to keep whoever I might end up with, you know?"
Looking over at John, Saito said: "Guess this is probably the last time I'll ever see you guys. I'm probably never going to get another low-risk job like surface mob clearing again. Get enough lovey-dovey stuff done to make up for what I'm missing out on, you hear me?"
"You make it sound like you're going to be gone for good or something," John joked weakly. "… I'm sorry. I never intended for you to give up this much for them."
"What can I say?" Saito grinned cheekily. "I'm just that cool. Or stupid. But one day a girl will fall for me the way I am, just you wait."
"Anyway," Eugene called out, eyes darting to screens not visible from their viewpoint in the call. "Scarron, right? This is what we're going to do…"
Scarron had no reason to not take the out offered to them by the faeries. A few hours later, everyone at the Inn had their belongings packed and ready to move through a portal to Arrun. The girls would be crammed into an apartment turned impromptu female dorm, with several girls having to share a bedroom. Scarron might have to camp out on the roof, but he accepted that along with relocating, since it would help his employees. The women at the dorm were briefed on the situation, and all of them were willing to guard them until they got their Alfheim residency and Medallions sorted – General Eugene picked a place where all the tenants were at least what's called 'Mid-liners', just a step down from warriors that fought on the front lines.
"Saito, wait," Jessica called out, before Saito had to go through the portal to the unamused visage of General Eugene on the other side. Saito's expression was one of hopeful disbelief, to the point Jessica had second thoughts but continued. It felt too much like kicking a puppy to stop there.
"If you have time at the end of the day, come by to our new shop for a meal," Jessica said. "Dad can probably slot you in as pulling guard duty or something."
"You mean it's like a date?" Saito gulped.
"Heh, no," Jessica smirked, to which Saito wilted instantly. "But who knows, it might be one day. Depends if one of the girls decide you're worth looking into."
"Guess I have no chance with you too, huh," Saito said gloomily.
"For any chances of that, come back when you work your way up to a possible lieutenant again," Jessica waved him off. "You're going to have to be able to support a family if you want anyone to be interested in you, just saying."
Saito straightened up, determination in his eyes. "Alright. I promise you I'll do that."
"Before I get old and frail too, you idiot! I know you faeries have a warped sense of time!" Jessica shot back as Saito walked through the portal. Glancing around, Jessica found the rest of the girls hiding wide smiles. "What? He just looked so pathetic he needed a pick-me-up. And given what he's done for us, he deserves at least that much."
"Sure, sure," the girls chorused innocently.
"…" Scarron stared at where Saito left to. "Jessica, dear, when we start up the new shop we're investing in a good quality frying pan. It'll be too costly for you to have to replace a new one every time you bash in his head to stave off his advances."
"Not you too, dad," Jessica groaned.
-][-
Good thing for Saito and Eugene, as faeries that have marginally better hearing than their old human selves. They caught that particular conversation as they walked away from the portal.
"…" Eugene exchanged a look with Saito. "… I guess I can say I fulfilled my promise of making you popular then, Saito?"
Saito groaned. "Right when I can't benefit from it too. You suck Eugene."
Eugene chuckled. While he might be called a 'General', Eugene was still an ALO player first and foremost, and at least half of his command structure were somewhat friends with him.
"Consider it karma for getting locked in <<Jail>> that time when we needed you for a raid," Eugene said unsympathetically. "By the way, your new shift in the Waste Processing Plant starts tomorrow at six in the morning. Go get some rest, you'll need it."
Saito groaned louder.
===
Chulenne was the noble's name in English, according to Bakatsuki's ZnT Vol5. I've taken some other bits from there as well for this chapter, hopefully not word for word.
Next update, laying the ground-works for Albion arc.
great chapter.
i loved the inclusion of Saito on HalkO, and love it here. I hope we will see much more of him. and his daveloping romance with Jessica. something funny for Siesta to mention later, how jessica got an Alfheim boyfriend...
Should have realized who the Pucka that argued with Klein was...
i loved the inclusion of Saito on HalkO, and love it here. I hope we will see much more of him. and his daveloping romance with Jessica. something funny for Siesta to mention later, how jessica got an Alfheim boyfriend...
Should have realized who the Pucka that argued with Klein was...