Chương 11: Aftermath, Part 2

"I'm sorry for carrying on," Elvira said with a sigh. "You remind me of my former comrade, that's all. I guess that by lecturing to you, I am hoping to assuage my own guilt by proxy."

The two looked on at the destruction of Hillsborough in silence for a few moments before the reality of their situation once again set in.

"I should look for other survivors," Lucas said abruptly before standing and stretching. Where before his bones and muscles had cried out in pain, he now felt nothing. The wonders of a good health potion never ceased to amaze him.

"Before you go, there's one other thing I'd like to ask of you," Elvira said with concern. "I am sure you've noticed the anomaly of Joten's skills. It's not something you're likely to miss when traveling together for days. An NPC leveling has never happened before."

"Yes, he explained the details behind his leveling and how it began. Is Bree undergoing the same changes?" Lucas asked, surmising the subject of the conversation.

"The details of her situation are explained thoroughly in the notes I gave you. In short, yes, she is gaining levels at a rapid pace, like a player fresh from the starting beaches. Which brings me to my request: will you take Bree with you to Freehold?"

Lucas rubbed his chin in thought for a moment. It would be helpful to have a healer and mage around, even if she was only a novice. However, that also meant he was babysitting two adolescents in his party - adolescents controlled by a system whose recent developments he didn't understand. They may as well have been aliens to him. On the other hand, two examples of the same anomaly would make for a compelling case to the Council in order to acquire resources to investigate. The pros seemingly outweighed the cons, but Lucas had to be sure of one other thing before he made his decision.

"Why do you want me to take Bree to Freehold? Wouldn't you feel better if she stayed here with you?" Lucas asked Elvira. Based on the little he knew of her, she seemed to care deeply about Bree's well-being. Sending her on a quest through unknown - and now, possibly fatally dangerous - territory was out of character for her. There had to be an ulterior motive.

The woman chewed on her cheek a moment as she mulled over her response. So there was something she wasn't telling him.

"On Earth I have one daughter, and that daughter has given me one granddaughter. My granddaughter, Alina, has grown into an adult in the time I've been stuck in this god-forsaken game. While I was on Earth, I cherished our time together and always gave my best effort to instill in her lessons to guide her as she grew older. During the early days in Savior Online, I worried every day about how she would grow up. How would my death affect her if I slipped up here and couldn't make it back? Had I done enough to prepare her for the path ahead?

"It was difficult accepting that I needed to let go and trust that she would find her way. I had done all that I could in the time I was given, and no one can ask for more than that. The rest of her life was up to her, and it'd be selfish to take that from her. Now I approach the same crossroads with Bree. Each day I feel my mind slipping just a little bit further. Constant bedrest and malaise is not kind to people of my age - as I'm sure my body is experiencing on Earth. She shouldn't be responsible for enduring my decline at the expense of her own experiences. Before I go, I want to watch Bree embark on her own path. I want to know that she is capable - that I've done all I can, much as I had done with my granddaughter. Make no mistake, I care for the research that she can assist with regarding these systemic mutations - however, and perhaps this is selfish or foolish of me, I care much more to see her grow into a capable young woman. " Elvira finished proudly. She stuck out her chin nobly, daring Lucas to call her selfish or audacious for making such a request of him, but he couldn't. Her aim was noble and compassionate, and truthfully Lucas wished he could have had a mentor like Elvira in his younger days. Anyone to help guide him through this tumultuous world, especially on the hardest days, would have been a godsend. The best he could do now was serve as that mentor and protector for the next generation - though it did feel odd that they were technically NPCs.

"I will take her," he responded with a respectful nod. "But first, there is more I can do for Hillsborough. Go to Bree while I search for survivors."

Elvira accepted his response with her own nod. He felt better knowing they would be awaiting his return in the safety of their stone home. Now his brain switched to worrying about Joten and Lorna. He could only hope that Joten had heeded his warning and ran far away from the village.

Lucas activated [Fleet of Foot] and dashed through the shattered remains of Hillsborough. There was no use investigating the area near the crater the demon had left. It looked as if the homes were made of black sand and a strong wind had simply blown the dust away. Nothing but the burnt earth beneath the cottages remained. The smell of ash and firewood clung to the air and stung Lucas's nostrils and eyes as he continued on.

A bit further out from the epicenter of the blast, the effects were far less pronounced. It seemed most of the fatal damage had been concentrated on the pillar of flame produced by the self-destructing demon, meaning the homes outside of its reach were largely unscathed. The shockwave from the initial blast had blown out all of the glass in the village and knocked over anything that wasn't nailed down, but it was a far cry from the Sodom and Gomorrah scene just a few hundred feet away. A few families had even mustered the courage to crack their doors and cheekily peer outside to assess the situation. To those Lucas offered a reassuring update before continuing on in search of Joten and Lorna.

Despite seeing firsthand the destruction that had just been wrought upon the village, Lucas still thought the streets were eerily quiet and empty. A few people had run directly to their homes from the funeral upon seeing the demon, but over half of the homes that Lucas checked during his sprint through Hillsborough were empty. His mind immediately drifted to the worst case scenario: that while he was recovering in the fisher's cottage, the demon had performed some violently fatal attack that wiped out half of the fleeing villagers. He had to remind himself that there was no evidence to support this, and to stay reasonable. He wasn't a hermit anymore; people were relying on him as the most powerful person around to help them, and breaking down into a nervous wreck would accomplish nothing.

Lucas made his way toward the Sakura, intermittently checking homes to ensure the safety of those within, more often than not finding them to be empty. Luckily the damage was nearly non-existent this far into the village - yet that only made the mystery of the disappearing villagers even more confounding.

Returning to the notion of being the most powerful person around, Lucas pondered his future in Savior Online given the recent escalations. The continent of Alstyn was largely peaceful when he had last left it. Aside from the far Westerlands that butted against the Demon King's Fortress, the world had been re-conquered for humans - NPCs and players alike. The Vanguard had spent four long years slowly advancing westward, methodically clearing out remnants of the Demon King's army and rescuing villages, towns, and cities held hostage by stubborn hold-out overseers. It seemed they lacked the ability to surrender, so even those overseers who occupied lands surrounded by re-conquered territory fought tooth-and-nail to the very end. Because of their methodical clearing method and Ann's fanatical obsession with establishing 100% cleared safe zones - Ann was the leader of the Vanguard forces - the world outside of the far Westerlands was declared demon-free a week before preparations for the final assault began.

Of course, that final assault had ended in abject failure and relegated the remnants of the Vanguard to impotent lives of indefinite suspension in the game, but at least it was in a peaceful world. The animals of Savior Online didn't stand a chance against even the most beginner players, which meant those that had stayed near the coast for fear of death in battle were free to settle anywhere on the continent now without ever raising a weapon.

This latest development of mutated creatures in formerly peaceful areas changed all of that. Until the player community could figure out the pattern behind these creatures' appearance, no place was safe. A single legendary-class demon could potentially wipe out hundreds of players before the Vanguard was even notified of its appearance, to say nothing of the difficulty of dispatching enough high-level players to defeat it. Even if they were able to create a coherent system that allowed the Vanguard to defend far-off places quickly and safely, it would be difficult for their already strained community to both play whack-a-mole with these anomalies and also investigate their source. There just weren't enough high level players surviving to accomplish both - not to mention the end goal of defeating the Demon King became further out of reach by the day. The most effective plan to keep players safe would be to move everyone to a central location like Freehold, but was there even enough space for tens of thousands of players? How long would that last? How many people were even left at this point?

Lucas began to feel overwhelmed by the number of loose strands swinging around in his mind, unable to pin down any of them for longer than a moment before it multiplied into a dozen more considerations. This crisis was far too complicated to figure out alone. He needed to take baby steps. One problem at a time. The issue at hand wasn't saving the world, or coordinating the exodus of thousands of players - it was finding Joten and Lorna amid the chaos of Hillsborough.

The Sakura stood in immaculate condition near the center of the village. Not even one paper window was out of place. Of course, player-owned buildings were protected by special game mechanics that didn't govern NPC housing, but it still surprised Lucas to see that the ryokan's delicate-looking wood hadn't suffered even a single scratch.

Lucas slid open the wooden door at the front and called out to Joten and Lorna within. No answer. Nobody else was inside either.

Just as Lucas put his hands on his hips in confusion, a voice from down the road grabbed his attention.

"Lucas!" someone shouted happily.

Just down the road, toward the farm fields opposite the forest the demon had exited, a large group of dozens of villagers returned to the village center with Joten at the helm. He waved proudly to Lucas. It seemed Joten had not only listened to Lucas's advice, but saved half the village in the process.

Outwardly Lucas beamed happily at the proud kid's accomplishment; inwardly, his stomach twisted in anxious knots. Joten had saved a village from a demon attack - something that previously only players could influence. The NPCs at the beginning of Savior Online would immediately capitulate and become enslaved.

It did not bode well for the future of the Saviors if NPCs were gaining independence over their domain while powerful monsters were appearing to attack and kill players. What was the AI planning?