by Sakon Kaidou
Not minding his attitude too much, I began heading to the office again.
“I hear that you defeated the Gouz-Maise Gang,” said Sir Lindos before I could walk away.
“Yes,” I replied. “I can’t say that I did it alone, though.”
In response, he silently closed his eyes. “Thank you.”
Then he left after saying just that.
“Huh?”
What am I supposed to make of that? I thought.
“Maybe he just wanted to express his gratitude?” said Nemesis.
“But why him, of all people?”
“I’m not one to know.”
Slightly confused at what had just happened, I went towards the office again.
◇
Gideon’s knight offices had a free-to-enter area dedicated to the citizenry’s appeals and the like. Naturally, there were lots of secretive areas where civilians weren’t allowed to enter, but the office I was looking for was in the open area. There were guides to help people get around, so I had no trouble getting to my destination, where I quickly began going through the relevant procedures.
During the process, I was told something about merit or whatever, but I didn’t remember most of it. Almost the whole of my visit consisted of me looking at and signing some documents.
Most of them looked fine, and I didn’t hesitate to put my signature on them, but I refused to sign the one that gave me “The Right to Acquire the Treasure Plundered by the Gouz-Maise Gang.”
There was no denying that I had monetary troubles. Sure, with me getting the Grudge-soaked Greaves, I no longer had to buy an Amulet of the Equestrian Tribe to get the Horse Riding skill, but the thinness of my wallet was a problem nonetheless. However, I was highly averse to the idea of possessing money the scumbags hoarded by preying upon children. That was why I asked the office to donate that money to charities that helped children.
With Hugo also having a right to those dirty riches, my only regret was the fact that I’d decided this without consulting him. Sure, his letter had said that he needed no reward, but it still didn’t feel right to not get his input on this. If he didn’t agree with this decision, I was fully intent on giving him the reward I’d get from the guild.
However, I felt that this would never happen. Hugo and I hadn’t known each other for long, but I was certain that he’d have done the same thing as me if our positions had been reversed.
We were alike, and not just because we were both Maidens’ Masters.
Once I was done signing the papers, I was told that I was probably going to be contacted sooner or later, so I gave them the address of the inn I was staying at here in Gideon. With that, the procedures were done, and we began making our way out of the offices.
Before we left, however, one of the workers there stood up.
Facing me, he bowed and said one thing: “Thank you for avenging my little boy.”
◇
I didn’t know what to say in response to that.
I’d had such gratitude directed at me back when I saved Milianne and protected Alejandro’s people against Gardranda, but the situation was completely different this time.
Specifically, there were two main differences.
The first was the fact that I had only taken part in this incident’s end. I had only seen the conclusion of the tragedies surrounding the Gouz-Maise Gang. I hadn’t seen anything but the results of what they’d done, and the final end Hugo and I had delivered upon them.
To the people living in this city, the tragedy had been a process that had constantly tortured them. Since they hadn’t been able to do anything about it, that suffering had probably extended to the country’s knights, as well. In fact, that might’ve been the reason why Sir Lindos had thanked me. However, I knew nothing about this painful process these people had been involved with.
The other difference was the fact that I wasn’t being thanked for saving anyone. I had been thanked for avenging the son the worker had lost. The tragedy had already happened, and many children kidnapped by the Gouz-Maise Gang had lost their lives.
Though we’d successfully saved the boy that our quest had indicated, and a number of other children along with him, the number of undead I’d burned in the dungeon had been at least ten times greater.
Far too many children would never return home. Thinking of that made my heart ache.
I felt unreasonably guilty about all that was lost and the fact that I had been too late to do anything about it. I couldn’t forgive myself for that, and felt that I had to make up for it somehow.
But...
“What can I even do about this?” I murmured.
“I certainly don’t know,” Nemesis responded, with a wry smile on her face. “I can see that you’re seriously troubled about this, but there isn’t much I can say to you as you are now. If I have to, however, I’ll merely suggest that beating yourself up over a tragedy that already occurred and wondering whether it could have been prevented or not is best left to protagonists of time loop stories. It’s better to be troubled by what has yet to come. After all, you don’t have the power to go back in time. You are only human... and my only Master.”
“‘What has yet to come,’ eh?” I asked.
“Things will probably be the same as they always were,” she said. “You’ll happen upon an incident, and if you feel like letting it happen will give you a bad aftertaste, you’ll intervene and help those you feel should be helped. I am fully certain that this will keep happening to you.”
After a moment of thought, I realized that I’d been doing primarily that ever since I’d entered Dendro. No, in fact, such events had been with me ever since I was a child.
“That makes me seem like a highly haphazard individual,” I said.
I didn’t have a plan most of the time, and I often let the flow lead me to all sorts of trouble, which I’d often dive into headfirst. It never came to me when the incidents actually happened, but when I looked back, it often seemed like I’d gone straight for them of my own accord.
My words made Nemesis smile.
“There’s a number of things I like about you, and that’s one of them,” she said.
“‘That,’ as in...?” I raised an eyebrow.
“You don’t run away when you feel like you have to save someone.”
“You like me for being foolhardy?”
“No, I like you for not hiding your courage, no matter how fearsome your opponent is. That part of you makes you very cool, if you ask me.”
I was silent.
Well... You’re gonna make me blush, I thought.
“However, even if it’s par for the course for you to face opponents far greater than you, it would be far better if you were the stronger one,” Nemesis said. “So, if you feel like you must do something, you should start by raising your base power.”
“Base power, eh?” I said.
It was obvious that I’d become stronger than before, but I was still among the weaklings of this world. Even with my trump cards Vengeance is Mine, Like a Flag Flying the Reversal, and my special rewards, I’d still needed lots of luck to emerge victorious against all the formidable foes I’d fought so far. After all, the PK, the Superior Killer, had ended me as if I was nothing.
“However, if you want to talk about becoming stronger in that regard, you have a far better person to turn to than myself,” said Nemesis. “Look, you have a friend that’s far more experienced than us. If we ever want to give the Superior Killer what’s coming to him, we should ask her for advice.”
Nemesis pointed at the café where our group agreed to meet. The “her” she was referring to was the woman sitting in the café’s open terrace as she waved at us — Marie.
“So you want to become stronger. I see, I see,” Marie said as she nodded in a pondering manner.
While I was telling the Journalist about what was troubling me, Nemesis got herself a pile of sandwiches for breakfast and dug into them.
Well, there goes the money I made during
this morning’s hunt, I thought.
“Indeed we do!” said Nemesis. “We need your advice if we ever want to give the Superior Killer what’s coming to him.”
“...Right,” Marie said. She covered her face for some reason.
“Since you’ve played Dendro far longer than me, I imagine you’re pretty knowledgeable about it,” I said.
“Oh, believe me, I am,” she said. “I’m unemployed, and I’ve been doing this for more than a year now. Been going hardcore, so to speak.”
...Is your life all right? I thought.
“Anyway, you want to know what you must do to become strong enough to win against the Superior Killer, correct?” Marie asked. “Hmmm.” She put her hand against her mouth and pondered something before speaking. “What do you think are your weak points?”
“Weak points?” I asked.
I feel that I’m still weak in many ways, but if I have to converge on something specific, then...
“My range is too short, and also everything goes to hell if I mess up Nemesis’s skills,” I said.
“Indeed, that’s more or less right,” nodded Marie. “Can you explain why?”
The problem with my range was obvious. Vengeance, my trump card, was limited by the reach of my greatsword, and though my Purgatorial Flames went a bit farther, the distance still wasn’t particularly notable.
Given that, it would be hard for me to do anything about those who used guns or magic and attacked from hundreds of meters away. Sure, I could defend myself against such opponents by using Counter Absorption, but the skill’s maximum stock was very limited. The tough enemies I’d defeated so far — Demi-Dragon Worm, Gardranda, and Gouz-Maise — had all been close-range fighters, just like myself.
Meanwhile, the Superior Killer, who stood at a distance and shot monstrous bullets at me, had killed me without getting as much as a scratch on him. If that wasn’t a weak point, I had no idea what was.
There was also the lingering possibility of me failing to use my skills properly. That included scenarios where I used Counter Absorption against the weakest of attacks — basically wasting it — or where the enemy stopped the damage conduction from Vengeance is Mine by removing the part of the body I’d landed it on, which was something I’d thought about during the Gouz-Maise fight.
If my enemies were aware of these possibilities, they could easily nullify Nemesis’s unique skills. It wouldn’t usually be a problem on the first fight, but that would change the moment they figured out how my skills worked.
“Yes, you seem to know why those are big problems,” said Marie. “However, you forgot another weak point.”
“Which is?” I raised an eyebrow.
“The lack of speed or toughness.”
Yeah, I’m gonna need an elaboration, I thought.
“All right, Ray,” she said. “You want to get stronger, so I’ll tell you what you must do from the game’s perspective,” she continued. “‘Raise your AGI or END.’ That’s it.”
...What?
“Now wait just a second,” I said. “That can’t be all there is to it, is it?”
“Of course,” Marie nodded. “There are job and skill builds to consider, not to mention their synergy with your Embryo. However, when looking at the way the game works, you simply must raise either of those stats.”
“‘Must’?” That word seemed kinda off in this context.
“Now, Ray,” she spoke up again. “Have you ever felt that the surroundings slowed down when you were fighting?”
“...Yeah, actually,” I answered. That sensation was especially palpable when I was strengthened by Reversal. The world seemed to be in slow-motion, making it far easier for me to evade the enemy’s attacks.
“That happens because of the greatness in difference between AGI in normal situations and battles,” she explained.
“‘Difference’?” I repeated.
“Yes. First of all, when you don’t have a job, you’re much like a standard person on Earth. You know how your stats were at about 10 or 20 back then?”
“Yeah, I remember them being around that range.”
“So, as you already know, when you raise your job levels, that number can go to 100, 200, or even break the 1,000 mark if you pick a high-rank job with a focused stat growth. Those numbers become ten times greater when they’re about HP, MP, or SP.”
“I’m aware.”
By the time I maxed out my Paladin job, my HP would likely be far above the 10,000 mark. But it wasn’t like this job was focused only on HP, and from what I could tell by looking at Liliana’s stats, standard Paladins didn’t get that much of it, so my stat growth was probably greatly influenced by Nemesis. It was fair to assume that other Masters could easily get to those numbers with their own Embryo bonuses.
“All right, so,” Marie continued. “The amount of time experienced by a person with 10 AGI is different to that experienced by a person with 100.”
“Hm?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Right now, when we’re not doing any fighting, we’re experiencing time the same way someone with normal AGI does,” she said. “However, when you enter a battle or merely make a conscious decision to switch it, that stat instantly changes. Why not try it?”
“Hm...”
With the bonus from the Grudge-soaked Greaves, my AGI was about 100. Just like Marie suggested, I consciously changed my stats. In that state, I looked down the street and, sure enough, the people there were walking at a slightly slower pace.
It was the first time I’d experienced it outside of battle, and the results slightly impressed me.
“It’s not like the time perceived scales directly with AGI,” Marie added. “However, this function is a part of the game’s system, and no Master, tian, or monster is an exception. I think it works like this because a constant slowing down would affect people’s day-to-day lives.”
“So AGI affects the amount of time experienced during battle, huh?” I said as I pondered.
By now, it made sense why Marie had suggested that it was a “must.” Experiencing more time gave those with greater AGI a huge advantage in battle.
“It doesn’t matter all that much to rear guard roles,” she continued. “Vanguard roles, however, must have enough AGI to allow them to act faster than their opponents or enough END to survive their attacks. Those focusing on the latter also need to find ways to fight back.”
With me being a Paladin, my build was leaning towards END. However, it still wasn’t high enough for me to survive attacks from those more powerful than myself. Also, Paladin was my very first job, so I didn’t have the stats that most people would normally have after maxing out low-rank jobs such as Knight.
Clearly, my situation wasn’t the best.
“By the way, riding fast mounts and the like has no effect on the time you experience,” Marie added.
I was fully aware of that. Riding Silver had increased my movement speed, but I didn’t feel like there was much of a change in the time I’d perceived.
I said, “But man, I’m surprised I was able to win such tough fights without being aware of this difference, and...”
Suddenly, I realized that the tough enemies I’d fought against so far hadn’t had that much AGI. The Demi-Dragon Worm, Gardranda, and Gouz-Maise had all excelled in endurance rather than agility.
“Remember that you can take six low-rank jobs and two high-rank jobs,” Marie spoke up again. “Your overall power is greatly affected by how many of them you have.”
“So, with me being on my first job and my level not being all that great, I still have a long way to go, huh?”
“Yes,” she nodded. “Oh, just so you know, AGI-focused Superior Jobs can get their AGI to five digits.”
“Five?!” Superior Jobs seem to have a serious stat inflation problem, I thought.
“People with such jobs can move at supersonic speeds and even block or catch bullets mid-flight,” Marie continued. “Also, this is merely something that I happened to hear
through gossip, but they say that the so-called Superior Killer has an AGI-focused Superior Job, so you should really raise your AGI or END if you want to stand a chance against him.”
Well, if that guy’s an AGI build, getting my stats up is pretty much a necessity, I thought. Wait, speaking of stats...
“What if I focus on STR?” I asked. Increasing offensive ability seemed like a very simple, reliable way of becoming powerful.
“STR build?” she asked. “You’ll die.”
D-Die?!
“Focusing on STR would have you sacrifice AGI and END, after all. No matter how hard you hit, you won’t be able to dodge or bear many attacks, leading you to dying pretty quickly. The fate of all glass cannons.”
“So that’s how it works...”
“There are some well-balanced builds that merely happen to have high STR, and there are people such as the King of Beasts — the ‘Physically Strongest’ — whose every stat is so high, it’s stupid. However, your average STR builds are just fodder.”
I see, I thought. Also, if I recall correctly, the King of Beasts is one of the imperium’s Superiors. I didn’t know he had “Physically Strongest” as a nickname.
“That just about settles the talk about the basic power relations in fights,” said Marie as she took a cup into her hand. “Now, let me tell you about player skills.”
After gulping down some of her tea, Marie took a breath and began talking again.
“There’s so much to player skills that I’m not sure where to begin. Well, for example, if you’re good at martial arts in reality, you can use those techniques in Dendro just fine. Or if you can draw, you can do it here without getting the skill for it.”
“Martial arts, huh?” I said.
Naturally, with him being a person who had won Un-kra, the one that came to mind was my brother. However, instead of applying those skills to his Dendro fighting, he used a minigun and even rode a tank.
Can he even do any martial arts in that suit, though? I wondered. It sure didn’t look that comfortable to move in. And hell, bears are usually the targets of martial artists, not the other way around.
“Well, the subject of real skills involves too many person-to-person differences, so let’s leave it aside for now,” said Marie. “In battle — especially against other people — there are three main things one must always consider.”
