Sky World

Chapter 3: Raid Guild

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VOLUME 2

Chapter 3: Raid Guild
Part 4

Jun, having purposefully checked in at a usually empty inn, secluded himself in his room. After making sure that the door was safely locked, he called for Alice.

“So far, here’s what I know.” Alice nodded in response. “Let’s try to make this fast. If you have any clues, please let me know.”

“Any… clues?”

“It doesn’t matter what. Just anything about this quest, the Penglai Emperor, or why the Illusionary Brigade needs Phoenix Blood. Why would the developers design such a deadly quest? Exactly what kind of event is this?”

Alice shook her head in silence. It meant that she couldn’t respond. Though he didn’t expect much, Jun took a huge sigh.

“I’m begging you. Anything would be great. Did this quest exist since the start?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m asking if this quest was the same back when Sky World was an MMO.”

“It was.”

“Well, so it’s settled that the dangerous penalty of that quest stayed. But now, adventurers have to put up with a limited battery. Was that danger part of the quest design? Is there any way out?”

“There isn’t.”

“Let me rephrase my question. Is the situation with the Illusionary Brigade collecting Phoenix Blood something that would have been done back then too?” Alice remained silent. However, that was enough for Jun. “I understand. So, they won’t abandon their position.”

“I didn’t say anything.” It was true that she didn’t say anything. Though, there had to have been specific restrictions that Alice followed. However, she tried to keep those guidelines secret as much as she could. “So can I leave?” Jun took out a special linkstone from his back. “That is…”

“Right. You know what happened on Altaria Island. It’s Sakuya’s.”

“Are you going to… contact her?”

“Well, the situation calls for it.”

When Alice disappeared, Jun shook the linkstone.

Kai/Sakuya. He still didn’t quite know what to make of her.

Jun’s close friend. Kasumi’s close friend. The complex circ.u.mstances that these words could not express, and the sentiments behind them, enveloped both of them. However…

“Yo! Haven’t heard from you in a while.” Just as her slightly suspicious voice seeped out of the linkstone, Jun’s spirits rose. He had missed her voice. Though he had only first heard her voice a month ago, he felt like he had known that voice all along. “I’d hoped that you would have contacted me sooner. How awful of you, ignoring me for a whole month. If I were fickle, I would have broken the linkstone a long time ago. You should really study the female psychology some more.”

Just two months prior, he had a.s.sumed that her voice would be that of a boy. Though he knew that they were both the same age, and that Kai was quite clever, Jun thought that she would’ve looked older than him.

He reminisced about these things as he listened to her tomboy-ish voice, thinking about her from the bottom of his heart.

It was Kai. This intonation and slurred speech. Her aloof and teasing att.i.tude.

“Is now a good time?”

“I’m free today. Shouldn’t we, as friends, chat until we’re satisfied?”

“There’s something I want to know… The Illusionary Brigade is collecting Phoenix Blood. Do you happen to know anything about what it can be used for?”

“You don’t really care for large-scale guilds, huh. Well, I think it just all comes back to money.”

“It might. That’s probably in the right direction. I just want your opinion. I’m asking if the guild’s main forces are on higher island rings. As a matter of fact, over here, there’s no information about anything past the fourth ring. How is it?”

“What do you mean, ‘how’?”

“Hasn’t the Illusionary Brigade been painfully defeated?” In Jun’s mind, Sakuya was facing her linkstone with a smile on her face.

“Jun, I don’t know much about what goes on inside large-scale guilds.”

“Anyways, Sakuya, haven’t you worked with the Illusionary Brigade before?”

“Unfortunately, they didn’t think very highly of us. But there wasn’t much of tension between us.”

As far as Sakuya was concerned, though they were trivial, there had been provocations between them. Jun knew of Kai’s uncanny ability to get on others’ nerves and pierce them with her words.

“Well, see. We haven’t been able to put out the sparks that did occur.”

That was all Jun needed to hear. Sakuya and her friends had a hostile relationship with the Illusionary Brigade. One of the reasons why they had been driven to a corner could have been her group.

“We need Phoenix Blood for a quest. That item is dropped by the Phoenix on Lao Thai. Do you know it?”

“Ah, I know. I’ve even taken part in a Phoenix raid once. Sorry, but I didn’t really enjoy it, so I didn’t ever get any of its blood.”

“As for now, the Illusionary Brigade is camping it. It’s already been more than a week. Whether they still can’t hand it over after negotiations, we have to find out…”

“Jun, I bet that with your unrivaled charismatic love of harmony, you would be able to move them to tears and convince them to let you guys use it.”

“Just to make sure in case they won’t budge, I want that information. Specifically, if we had to go to war, and call in reinforcements.”

“Would that be okay? Do you know how many members they have camping the Phoenix?”

“According to information we’ve gotten here, about hundred new faces have come to the island.”

“Do those newcomers of two months all seem to be there?” Unfazed, Jun smiled bitterly. He didn’t know what went on within the guild itself. “Jun, really, n.o.body knows about what I’m about to say. The Illusionary Brigade only knows about the same as us.” Prefacing with this, she continued, “Phoenix Blood is a material for a high ranked alchemy recipe. This recipe, found on the fourth ring… is a recipe for a special kind of potion. But it is kind of weak. It can charge tablet battery by just a little bit.”

“I knew there had to be something… so that’s why…”

The hundred or so people camping the Phoenix were underlings in the guild. Buying up items without caring about the expense and trying to endlessly collect them. It had to be some sort of consumable.

The guild wanted to get its hands on them.

The final thing that solidified Jun’s hypothesis was what Alice had said. She remained silent when Jun asked if it could have also been done back when Sky World was still an MMO.

The Birthday greatly changed one mechanic.

Battery Level.

It used to be the case that no matter how many times somebody died, there would just be a small penalty incurred. Shortly after the Birthday, the term “the third death” was coined.

Quarreling with other guilds, and raids. There were many dangers in Sky World. Challenging guilds in previously unknown areas came with increased dangers of death. As far as adventurers were concerned, the current death penalty was too unforgiving.

If there existed an item that could mitigate the effects of death, it would be worth collecting.

“Thank you. I’ve figured out what to do.”

“No problem. Now then, isn’t it time for you to hurry up and pay me back?”

“Sorry, but I’m poor.”

“The price for information is other information of course… Jun.” She chuckled. “How’s Kasumi doing? Is she safe?”

“Ah. I’m doing whatever it takes to bring her to you, kick you over, and have you kneeling on the ground in front of her. We’ve decided. Look forward to it.”

“Is that so? I’m relieved… By no means have you laid a hand on her yet, right?”

“Of course I haven’t!”

“Even though you yelled at me, I’m not upset. Calm down, even if Kasumi may be a bit heavy, she’s a good girl. And if it’s convenient for you, I’m willing to join your harem myself.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about! Are you sure that you don’t have a tumor growing in your brain?!”

“Excuse me. That was just a confession from the bottom of my heart. Ah, calm down. I’m bi, so I can take both of you on. Maybe we can have fun, the three of us, someday…”

“I have stuff to do. I’m hanging up.”

“Well then, see ya!”

Returning Sakuya’s linkstone into his pouch as soon as he could hear her no longer, Jun released a sigh.

Did she catch on?

He hid Kasumi’s current situation from her. He hid his own mistake in the Pyramid. Even if Sakuya did push her down onto Altaria Island, she did it to protect her. Sakuya’s tendency to worry profusely about those close to her, unrivaled by nothing but her infinite perverseness, caused Jun to not want to tell her.

Either way, going from island to island took time. Because of the air currents, traveling up and down island rings took whole days by scheduled airship. Between the fourth and fifth rings, there was an even more extreme turbulence, a grand storm. Going from the fourth ring to Lao Thai on the seventh would take more than five days.

Certainly, if Sakuya’s group had their own private airship, it would be a different story, but…

He didn’t want any advice. They could do it on their own. If Jun wasn’t certain about whether they could, then why would he have declared that they would be able to chase Sakuya?

Jun left the inn and returned to gathering information again.

If he was really on to something…

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