章 12: The Split
"What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked, "How do you know? What are you talking about?!" Otto's firm gaze remained still as he stared at the large glowing red dot. It wasn't there before, and he was sure it only appeared because someone agitated it. The dot grew larger and larger before it seemed all-consuming, "Otto stop hiding things from us."
"... There's a monster that appeared over a lake," Ater turned his head immediately to glance at Otto, "And it appears as if some people are dying over there. Let's go there then, seems more interesting than the village. Everyone heals automatically so it'll be fine. By the looks of it, it's a... monster that only attacks if agitated."
"Are you insane?" Otto shook his head at Hai-rong, "We just got out of a dungeon, not to mention you're hurt. Very hurt. I saw."
"There might be someone useful there," Otto said, "Someone really strong. I have a hunch. It's not too far away, we better get there fast." Otto starting jogging, forcing everyone to follow. His overconfidence seemed to be illogical to the group, but they also trusted him.
They all trusted him more than they should've, but it couldn't be helped, "If we're lucky, we might be able to get one. Do you think so, Ater?"
"No," Ater prodded the grass, unwilling to continue, "It's a lake slime, it'll drown everyone in slime, suck their insides out, and leave the bodies floating around until the shell of their skin decomposes into the water. Slimes on land are powerless, but in the water, they're practically omnipotent. You'll need a priest for them."
"We shouldn't go," William tried to argue, "It's dangerous, as Ater said, the damn thing will kill us if we go in the water." Elizabeth nodded vigorously, eyes shining in a silent plea.
"Then don't go in the water," Otto reasoned, "We can just deplete Hai-rong's mana and use Klaus' spear. Not to mention I can use a gun. It'll be fine. As long we don't touch the water, we'll be safe. We need all the people we can get after all. It also appears as if the people who are from the village are at that lake too."
"This is really stupid," Mei-wan said as she grabbed Hai-rong's hand, "We'll die at this rate. Hai-rong, you aren't seriously going to follow him?!" Hai-rong shook off her sister's hand and followed Otto through the fields, her face sullen as she avoided Mei-wan. The mana decrease seemingly having little effect on her as she pulled herself away from Mei-wan, "Hai-rong?!"
"I trust Otto to make the right choice," Hai-rong replied, "It's none of your business as to what I'm planning to do. It's none of your business as to what happens to me." She turned and slowly walked over to Otto, who had Adrian and Ater trailing after him. William had stopped, along with Klaus and Elizabeth. The four didn't seem to care if the others followed, Elizabeth mouthing unspoken words.
Mei-wan, Elizabeth, William, and Klaus stood by a large rock, the village only further from it. They knew that they should follow, but they didn't, heading to the village.
There were several small weeds in the grass and even more grass. Several cliffs stood over them, but at no risk. There was a rather sudden increase of rocks and cliffs as the group started to head towards the small village.
The village was strangely ancient, primitive as they walked through it, some people wearing clothing that did little against stopping anything, just rags. There didn't seem to be much communication as most people simply stared at each other or continued on with their work.
They appeared to be either going into a mine or a farm. Everyone was staring at them, tense and worried. An elderly man walked forward.
"I'm Lucas, you are... ?" He raised a hand as if to question the group. Mei-wan looked over it before grabbing it shake, the old man smiled and let go before tapping the ground with his foot. Everyone seemed to settle down before continuing on with what they were doing. There was no need for introductions - They didn't want to know who came in.
"I'm Mei-wan, he's Klaus, William, and finally Elizabeth," She pointed to everyone, immediately taking on Otto's previous duty. They were still apart of Strawberry Pudding, but they just weren't with Strawberry Pudding anymore - Mei-wan started regretting not asking Otto to release them. He probably forgot anyway, "We're wondering if we can settle in on a place?"
"Of course," The elderly man clasped his hands, "Rest well, but in exchange, can you help us with something? We need some [Rode Kamelier], can you help us get some? We're a mining village and frankly, we use them to light the insides of the mines. Fire detonates sometimes."
[Quest: Red Revelation - Retrieve five Rode Kamelier found in the Lykke area
Reward: Unknown]
"... Sure, but can we get a map? Or at least something to tell us where we are because," Mei-wan smiled awkwardly, "I'm not sure where I am, at least none of us are. Our only map person... Well, he's not with us, neither of them is." William nodded and shrugged as he looked to the side. He didn't feel too well, he was beginning to regret going with Mei-wan.
"We don't have a map, but we're in the Lykke region, over there," The elderly pointed to were Otto and his group had gone, "Is the Sigtak lake. You shouldn't go over there, it got possessed by a slime some time ago. That reminds me, there was another group that came before you, we sent them to get some [Rode Kamelier] as well, I wonder if they are okay."
Mei-wan turned to William who pointedly ignored her, he was facing the direction of the lake.
"Ah, thank you then, can we go somewhere to talk this over?" Elizabeth asked and Lucas pointed to an area around a tree, "Thank you." The group walked over, under the scrutinizing gaze of everyone, they weren't wanted here. Mei-wan shifted uncomfortably as she sat under a tree, her health hadn't dropped one bit, the only one in the group to remain that way.
Klaus was struck by an Aye-aye when he went into the shade, losing a measly 5 HP, but it was still something. William had cut his arm on a low-lying tree branch and lost 10 HP, one that hit Elizabeth as well.
"... The villagers are sending us to our deaths," William said, receiving outburst from Elizabeth. Klaus gave him a distrusting stare as Mei-wan crossed her arms. No one seemed to know what to do with William, he was someone that outpaced almost everyone with his analytical abilities - It was him after all, that brought the group together.
Through thinking through their responses to everything, he sucked information out of them.
"What do you mean?" Klaus asked, after Otto, who was just strange overall, there was William, who no one really understood beyond that he liked to screw around with Elizabeth, messing with her - Annoying her beyond description.
"These villagers, they just told us the last group they sent out hadn't come out," William started, but Elizabeth interrupted him.
"So?"
"So - Before you interrupted Milly Mills - It means there is only one group out in this area, assuming, of course, they aren't lying. Now, before Otto and the others left, he said a huge group of people died in the area of the swamp that we're told not to go to."
"And? What does that have to do with the villagers?" Mei-wan asked, "That just means that one group didn't find the village or they went the wrong way without knowing."
"Yes, but they can't have found the village if they all started at the same place as us," William replied, "We had a clear view of the village as long as we had a straight shot of the area. They couldn't have known, they had to have gone to the village and so they had to have started the quest."
"They started it, didn't come back," Klaus reasoned, "It is a large area, Lindberg." William made an exasperated noise, "What? Are you suggesting that the group went to the lake? The villager man said not to."
"Yes, he did, but how likely are you to remember exactly where a lake is? There might be other lakes, and what if they didn't get to the lake through normal circumstances," William said, "All I'm saying is that as 'players' we are bound to complete quests, the other group was also bound as 'players'. Assuming they came before us and was the group Otto saw, it means that this quest is a death trap or at least it was for that group."
"Your point?" Elizabeth asked, "You really aren't making sense. Stay away from the lake, get flowers, easy. It's five flowers."
"It's five flowers from each of us, that makes twenty-five flowers," William said, "All of us were told to get five flowers, meaning we each have to get five flowers. By the looks of it, the other group probably died trying to get them. Finally, do you remember seeing any red flowers?" Elizabeth and Klaus shook their heads, but Mei-wan raised her voice.
"I saw a blue one," She said, "Otto... Otto prevented me from touching it, I'm not too sure why." William blinked at that, "What?"
"Blue flowers? Otto never said anything about blue flowers, nor did he say anything about red flowers or any flowers, besides we're looking for red flowers!" William huffed at Mei-wan, "Red flowers, not blue. And then you'll ask me why red flowers because Rode means red in English. It's Dutch, and how do I know that, because I'm from Sweden and Swedish and Dutch Danish whatever are pretty much the same thing!"
"You didn't have to yell," Elizabeth replied, "So we don't get red flowers, then what do we do?"
"Go to Otto," William replied, "He's a literal map, he should be done with whatever it was he was planning to do." Mei-wan protested it, "What? You have a better plan? My plan is we go to Otto, we bring him back and we have him find the flowers. He's a literal map."
"No," Mei-wan said, "He doesn't appear to be willing to talk to us about any of his goals or whatever it is he's planning to do. He goes wherever he wants and doesn't whatever he pleases. Being around someone like that is dangerous."
"Isn't that just what we're doing? Going wherever we please, without telling anyone what we're planning. We're here, but do any of us really know what to do? Ater's the only one who knew what to actually do. Otto was the only one who knew where to go. We've lost both of them and so what do we do now? We have to find flowers, do you know what they look like? It's only because I'm here that anyone of you knows that it's a red flower," William said, "You can't do anything."
"All we have to do is find five red flowers each, that's twenty flowers," Mei-wan replied, "The area is large, I'm sure we'll find something. If you don't want to do it, then don't do it. Go to Otto or something."
"Will, come on," Elizabeth said, "Otto literally walked to his own death."
"Do you really think he's someone that would just walk somewhere he knew he would die?" William asked, "I followed you all because I thought we were going to get supplies or find some goal. If the goal is to wander then there's really no point since Otto is wandering as well. I'd rather wander with a map than with people who don't even know where they are going."
"Then don't come," Mei-wan replied curtly, "Go find Otto or whatever it is you want to do. I don't care, we need to find red flowers." William stared down at his shoes, they were rundown and he knew that there was a possibility that without supplies, he would die. There was no way he would go to a variable.
"I'll stay, but we have to steer clear of where ever it was that Otto went," William warned, "All the fields look practically the same, so we have to be really careful. We can't risk any health or anything, not to mention it seems like the village is willing to give us something to eat before we head out."
"We should ask them first though," Elizabeth said, "We can't just go in, they'll probably attack us. Did you find anything on the old man, Will?" Will looked behind the group to see Lucas talking to someone who seemed too stressed.
[Lucas Jensen
HP: 50
S: 10
AG: 15
DEX: 30
Skills: Farming, Basic Management]
"Pretty weak," William replied, "Even Milly Mills the Klutz could beat him if she tried really really hard. And tried not to miss too many times." Ignoring the last comment the group looked around the village behind them.
The straw buildings were rubbly, with a well going down into the ground and the ground was rough, "My question is, how is it that Otto has a gun, but this place looks like some ancient farming village."
"Could be that guns are a tool given as an opportunity?" Klaus said. William shook his head, it wasn't possible. The class options said [previously archer] meaning at some point whatever it was that dictated what job they had upgraded.
"No," William tried to come to a conclusion. It seemed much more difficult without Otto around, Otto who seemed to draw magical lines connecting everything, "It's much more complicated than just the Gods like us."
クリエイターの想い 
Katzenliebe
Katzenliebe I was unsure as to how I was going to split this up because the two go through different experiences so I decided to stick with Mei-wan, Klaus, Elizabeth, and William and have Otto start next time (Edit: Or not)
I know I put in a lot of clifhangars, it's so I don't run out of stuff to say on a certain event because I hate starting new events on a new chapter and so that I don't have to worry about page breakers.