章節 153: Raid’s Eve

A reassuring smile adorning his face, Isaac didn't let the apparent anxiousness of Phelia get to him and replied unhurriedly.

"To get an opportunity to really become my friend."

Puzzled, the queen tilted her head a little. This certainly wasn't the response that she had envisioned. Although she felt like she was currently just dancing on top of this man's palm, she chose to indulge him.

"What do you mean by that?"

Indubitably having expected exactly such a reaction from her, the corners of his mouth rose a little further.

"Firstly, I needed to drop the act that I had put up for the public. A friendship built on layers upon layers of masks isn't an especially stable one, after all. Anyway, this matter is already taken care of. Although I won't lie to you and tell you that I'm currently being entirely myself, I at least am only overplaying the vague emotions that I do feel, so our interaction will flow a little smoother. I'm afraid that the 'real me' isn't that conducive to relaxed social interaction."

Unfathomable loneliness flickered past his expression for mere fractions of a second, momentarily engulfing the room in its dreadful atmosphere. However, before anyone could properly react to it, it had already disappeared, as if a fleeting dream.

"Secondly, I also want to get to know you. How could I possibly be friends with someone that I don't truly understand? That one is a more long-term matter that cannot - or rather, should not - be rushed. This evening is merely our first actual encounter."

After waiting a little for Phelia to fully absorb what he had said, he arrived at the last part of his answer.

"Thirdly as well as lastly, I want to give you the opportunity to ask me anything. You surely have a lot of questions, so shoot. I'll answer all that I can. Like I said earlier, if we are to get along in the future, then being honest is an important part of the foundation of our friendship."

Despite these many kind words, the queen hadn't entirely let down her guard yet. That short flash of strong, desolate emotion that he had shown had served to significantly reduce her wariness, though. Now, with this offer that would likely resolve nearly all of her puzzlement on the table, she couldn't resist.

"Alright, I do indeed have lots of things that I want you to enlighten me about. What was that rousing speech on solidarity actually about? If you say that you spoke those words solely out of the goodness of your own heart, then I'm afraid that I won't be able to believe you."

With a smirk playing across his lips, Isaac scratched his right cheek somewhat sheepishly. This Pirate Queen was indeed perceptive - there had been far more going on than initially met the eye.

"Looks like you're starting to understand me a little better. Yes, that wasn't why I did all of that - or rather, not entirely why. In some corner of my heart, I do genuinely hope that the people can learn to work together, can be kind to one another and can stamp out crime and suffering whenever they encounter it. However, I'm all too aware that although such a societal state can be achieved, it cannot last. Therefore, even though I hope that my words had a positive impact on a few handfuls of individuals in the audience, I'm not expecting too much. Rather, what I wanted to achieve were a couple of other things. One: To motivate some people to do good deeds and fight crime, which would in turn reduce the amount of potential annoyances that I could run into. Two: To shift the burden of being perceived as a 'hero' and being expected to strive for the greater good from my shoulders, at least in part, while still retaining the positive perception related to this incident and myself. I made it evident that I'm not a miracle worker and showed a path forward, while keeping the image of someone who wants the best for everyone in the public's hearts. And three: To inspire more adventurers to grow stronger, in turn improving the public security of the city that my beloved Ais' familia resides in. If they're safe, then she'll be happy. And if she's happy, then I'm happy."

The bright and entirely innocent smile that revealed itself on his lips as he finished his lengthy explanation served to both wash away the last bits of anxiety that had plagued Phelia's mind and to make the cheeks of the astonishingly gorgeous young woman seated next to Isaac redden slightly.

'Those two are kind of adorable, aren't they?'

Upon being bathed in the wholesome aura that the two lovebirds exuded, Phelia chuckled inwardly. Only a couple of moments later did her mind return to the numerous questions that still desperately craved for an answer. His previous words had served to more than settle one of them, so she was looking forward to what else he would say.

"Thanks for clarifying - it all makes a lot more sense now. By the way, why did you decide to accept my request for friendship anyway?"

Isaac glanced at Ais with tenderness in his eyes.

"Well, Ais here judged you to be someone that I would most likely get along with. She informed me about it, and I trust her judgement. Just so you know, my impression of you thus far does seem to confirm her thoughts."

Whilst the two had been conversing, the rest of the group had been chatting amongst themselves, with only a couple of them listening in from the sidelines from time to time. Over the next hour or so, many matters that had left Phelia at a loss slowly got cleared up one by one.

Due to his glorious return to freedom, when it was time for dinner, the Loki Familia hosted a massive gathering in the canteen, celebrating to everyone's hearts' content. The Pirate Queen and her guards were also invited to take part, as well as Isaac's students, so they didn't stand on ceremony. Even Loki appeared a little bit less crestfallen during this joyous occasion.

At close to midnight, everything finally died down again - no matter how much everyone wanted to let loose, a certain mother hen sternly reminded them that they still had plenty of duties to take care of, and that there was an important operation that would be carried out tomorrow. Maybe, today's nearly excessive merriment was in part spurred on by the dangers that they were about to face.

Recalling the clear relief in Isaac's eyes when Riveria had finally freed him from being the center of attention and had scolded everyone for staying up too late, Phelia couldn't help but snicker. As she was reminiscing, before she knew it, she and her guards had already arrived at the entrance of the Twilight Manor's grounds. They were accompanied by Isaac's students - the man himself had already taken his leave, because he was considerably busy.

"See you in two days, then?"

In response to Kalin's slightly saddened, hesitant farewell, a broad grin stole itself on the queen's lips. Despite his relative weakness, she had grown particularly fond of this young man. Admittedly, it might partially be because she was subconsciously looking forward to the person that he would come to be in the future, but mostly, it was because of just how approachable and genuinely friendly he was. Aside from him, she had hit it off well with Lefiya and Mina. Now that the lovable Chienthrope girl didn't suspect her of chasing after her lord anymore, there were no mental barriers preventing their harmony. As for the rest of the students, they got along decently with her - none of them were particularly social in nature, so it would have needed a once-in-a-century miracle to make them become chummy with her immediately.

"Yeah. Stay safe tomorrow, you hear? I want to see you all still in one piece when we meet again, okay?"

Thinking about what they would have to face soon - Isaac had clued her in a little after she had touched upon the topic during his earlier AMA - Phelia grew a bit concerned before dismissing these worries in their infancy. With Isaac's support in the background, they should be safe. Probably. That enigmatic man was not someone whose means she could fathom.

"Relax, we'll be fine!"

Kalin's confident grin served to wipe away most remaining traces of her unease, and Mina's heartwarming smile got rid of the rest in their entirety.

"With milord to watch our backs, we can only be victorious. As long as we trust in milord's judgement, we will have nothing to fear or doubt."

Scratch that - for a moment, she had forgotten that this girl was too much of a fanatic.

"Well then, we'll take our leave. See you then! Nikyos, hurry it up, for goodness' sake!!"

One of Phelia's guards, a man no older than 25, winced at the mention of his name and hastily put the book that Jakk had secretly slipped him into one of the bags that were strapped to his belt. Nikyos was by far the youngest of the guards, and could be called the second most promising fighter of Mystldom. There was just one problem with him: He was very much interested in pursuing the more erotic paths of life, but due to being a soldier, he hadn't gotten any chances to become involved in romantic relations. Having met a like-minded man of culture in the Hume Bunny youth, the two somehow grew closer without most being the wiser. Birds of a feather flock together, after all.

'I'll just pretend that I didn't see that.'

Phelia's eye twitched as she caught a glimpse of the title and cover of the book that her personal guard had just pocketed, but she didn't make a fuss about it. As long as they weren't on duty, her soldiers could do whatever they wanted to do in their private lives, after all. Although Nikyos was technically still on the job, she made a special exception due to today's extraordinary circumstances. With a shake of her head, she purged the words 'Solo on Melen's Beach Vol. 73' and the bikini-clad cat girl beauty seductively posing beneath them from her mind.

Even though he was clearly embarrassed at having been caught red-handed, Nikyos shot a knowing and grateful smile in Jakk's direction, while the bunny boy gave him a covert thumbs up. No words needed to be spoken between these two erotica-versed gentlemen.

Some waving later, the group from Mystldom vanished into the night and the students made their way back to the base.

-----

Contrary to what he had done during all those previous times when he had been primarily focusing on his Mana Cultivation in his private world, Isaac didn't work on researching new Magics at the moment. Instead, he was reading through his massive backlog of system notifications. During the protest, three different kinds had appeared, some leaving him more speechless than others.

[ Eliana Ilaria has fallen in love with you.

Quest 'Gain three people's love.' completed. 300 AP rewarded. ]

[ ... ]

[ Susanna Voivaine has fallen in love with you.

Quest 'Gain 37 people's love.' completed. 3,700 AP rewarded. ]

Aside from the million plus people that had directly stood up for him, the rest of Orario's population had also had the opportunity to gaze at him via Hermes' mirrors after his release. Considering how enormous the final number was sure to be, it had been inevitable for some individuals to grow overly attached to him - despite being aware of this, Isaac was still dumbstruck at how many maidens had truly fallen for him.

Curiously enough, he couldn't spy even a single male name amongst this list, which surprised him. He had somewhat expected a few gay men to have been recorded here too - purely statistically speaking, it was likely - but it seemed like none of them were as mad as these 35 nutcases.

[ Terry Jorvas considers you a friend.

Quest 'Make 29 friends.' completed. 2,500 AP rewarded. ]

[ ... ]

[ Phelia Nihara considers you a friend.

Quest 'Make 2,372 friends.' completed. No AP rewarded. ]

As predicted, an unhealthy amount of people had also formed a parasocial friendship with him. Ever since the system had told him that Kalin considered him a friend all those weeks ago, only his fellow supporters, members of the Loki Familia and a certain Elven waitress working at the Hostess of Fertility had been mentioned in these notifications, making up a total number of 28. But now, more than 2,000 people that he didn't know at all suddenly thought of him in such a light. Being a public figure, and being exposed to these unhealthy obsessions, felt quite disturbing. Having the ability to conclusively determine who and just how many had gone too far didn't make it any better.

The ray of joy that made him brighten up again was the very last friendship-related notification. Seemingly, over the evening, Phelia had come to truly see him as a friend - somehow - regardless of their relatively rocky start. It was a bit quick, but matters of the heart often didn't care about the amount of time that two individuals had spent together.

[ Tsukikitsune Kaede's fundamental beliefs relating to the power of solidarity have been changed by your words.

Quest 'Transform four people's fundamental beliefs.' completed. 400 AP rewarded. ]

[ ... ]

[ Estelle Brown's fundamental beliefs relating to the power of solidarity have been changed by your words.

Quest 'Transform 42 people's fundamental beliefs.' completed. 4,200 AP rewarded. ]

By the time that he got around to skimming through this last batch of notifications, he had already grown numb to them and didn't know what to remark inwardly any longer. For 39 people to have undergone a thorough mental awakening due to his little speech simply felt surreal. Still, upon thinking about it once more with a clear head, it did make sense - within a crowd that was larger than seven digits, a couple of handful of individuals might just coincidentally be in the right state of mind to internalize something like this.

Regardless, far more important than these unknown people's fates or circumstances was his astonishing AP income: 214,700. To be honest, today's performance had netted him an almost unbelievable amount. Because he was highly averse to doing such publicity stunts, and as he didn't have a desperate need for AP that would drive him to overcome this displeasure more often, this windfall would certainly be a one-off occurrence. At least for the foreseeable future.

One other thing to note was the difference in AP rewards when it came to these three different kinds of achievements. Friendship rewarded him with an increasingly higher amount of AP - 100 more for each successive achievement - until the 25th one, after which it stayed at 2,500 AP all the way until the 50th one. Once that point had been reached, no further AP were rewarded. As for the love and fundamental beliefs achievements, they followed the same pattern as the friendship ones, but their rewards didn't stagnate at 2,500. So far, Isaac also had no idea where their limit was. Would it also be at 50?

'Oh well, I'll find out someday. Back to magic practice we go.'

Dispelling any distracting thoughts, Isaac focused all of his surplus mental strength on chipping away at researching some new concepts for Magics again, and on slowly studying this world's magic itself.

-----

Yesterday night, a sealed letter had appeared on Ryuu's nightstand. Judging from the insignia of a minimalistic 'I' with an ornate crown on top, she had quickly realized that it had to have something to do with the recently released Isaac.

Although she had wondered about how in tarnation he could have possibly come here and left this message for her, she had decided to read it first. Whatever the case, the wrongdoer in question hadn't been present, so it would have been pointless to blow her top.

By the time that she had arrived at the elegant signature at the end, her expression had turned especially grim and solemn, even a bit icy. With hurried steps, she had proceeded to Syr's room, to indulge in both the comfort of her close friend, as well as in the counsel of a wise goddess.

"What's wrong?"

Upon having noticed her distressed state, the usually playful grey-haired enchantress hadn't bothered to beat around the bush and had ushered the agitated Elf towards her bed, where they had both sat down.

"Have a look. I… I think I'm going."

Once she had quickly skimmed through the contents of the letter, everything had become crystal clear and a rare softness had glimmered in the disguised goddess' eyes. She had pulled Ryuu close and had enveloped her in a gentle hug, during which she had patted her back to both cheer her up and support her.

'So that's what's going on. I was wondering about what he was aiming for. With that, a few more pieces of the puzzle fall into place.'

Instead of uttering these selfish thoughts of hers, Syr had chosen the appropriate words for the situation.

"I will tell Mama Mia. The girls and I will cover for you, so don't worry. Your safety is the top priority, though. Okay?"

While having been immersed in a painful memory, Ryuu had simply shivered a little and had let out a barely perceptible "Mhmm". Ever since she had fully accepted her friend's real identity, she had grown a lot closer to her - using her embrace to quell mental echoes of the past had been a first, though.

Eventually, the Elf had fallen asleep in the arms of her undercover goddess friend. When she had awoken six hours later, Syr had already left for the Hostess.

At 9 a.m., Ryuu found herself in front of the gates to the Twilight Manor. She had donned her adventuring outfit again, the green cloak hiding her mostly exposed limbs from view. As she waited in silence, she couldn't help but recall the events that had led up to this point and blushed a little.

"Ms. Lion, you're cleared. P-Please follow me to the Captain's office."

A young man who was even more nervous and awkward than the current her by the name of Raul Nord led the fidgety Ryuu into the manor's grounds. Soon after, they entered the main manor itself. The way in which this relatively new Level 4 adventurer behaved quickly made her ease up, however. One time, he forgot to open a door before entering it, another time, he tripped over nothing… all the while, he was stuttering nervously, introducing the various parts and areas of the manor to her. Honestly, for a Second Class adventurer to appear so unreliable both made her fear for the future of this familia as well as calm down entirely.

Finally, they arrived at the 'war room'. Two knocks later, they were asked to come in.

With a glance, Ryuu took note of everyone who was assembled. Loki, Finn, Gareth, Riveria, Ais, Isaac, Tiona, Tione, Bete, Lefiya, Aki, Alicia… as well as pretty much every other Level 4 plus adventurer of the familia. All in all, with her and Raul included, there were 35 people.

The moment that she stepped into the room, everyone suddenly grew quiet and 33 pairs of eyes focused on her, causing her to halt in her steps momentarily. This stand-off didn't last for long, however, because she saw Isaac beckoning her to take a seat next to him and Lefiya - he seemingly had saved her a spot.

Relieved at having been handed an escape route from the spotlight, the tense Elf made her way over to him and took him up on his offer. Meanwhile, Raul closed the door and sat down next to Aki.

Nodding calmly, the blonde Pallum overlooking the crowd from behind the most prominent desk rang a small bell that stood atop it to get everyone's attention. Once the various murmurs had died down, Finn smiled elegantly and spoke up.

"Alright, we're all here now. As all of you already know, we're about to raid a manmade labyrinth that is located beneath Daedalus Street, known by the name of Knossos. The specifics of the operations will now be laid out to you. With that said, I'll let the one who has drafted them, the organizer of this whole event, take over. Isaac, would you be so kind?"

Rising to his feet after having been addressed, Isaac gave a small, polite bow and waved his hand in a nonchalant manner. What happened next caused nearly everyone who attended this pre-raid strategy meeting to widen their eyes in shock.

An unbelievably detailed miniature model encompassing the entirety of Knossos took shape in the middle of the room. If one were to look close enough, then one would notice that it was made solely out of dust of various colours, held perfectly in place and sculpted by gusts of wind that couldn't be perceived by anyone who was further than a few millimeters away.

Such a feat of chant-less, manual magic was entirely unprecedented.