Ganersam Volume 2

“Have you told Riko about the change of plans?”

Emma, who was relaxing on the seat beside me, asked. She made sure all the systems were off, just so she could play around with them.

“Yes. We’ll meet them in the capital. He said that we should rent an inn, though, as he will be arriving the day after tomorrow.”

“Ah, alright. Some time for more rest.”

Our group felt pretty laid-back for a group that is about to assault an enemy fortress. Guess everyone is just confident with their strengths, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. Well, if push comes to shove, we’ll just think about a way to run.

The flight down south took a lot less time. In less than an hour, we flew above the capital. We set down on the massive airfield. Amber went and sorted some documents, while we headed for the adventurer’s guild.

“You visited this place back with Riko, right? When we were resting?”

“No, actually... For some reason, I didn’t visit the guild at all.”

I’m sure if I have I wouldn’t forget about these slates. We only need one more of them. They say the last one was around Alpha, but we were stuck on that front. Those two bounty hunters would probably return to searching for the slate once all this had concluded.

We still hadn’t unlocked Amber’s old workshop, so maybe some hidden secrets lurk in there. I wonder if I need to level myself up in order to trigger that event.

“So... where should we go?”

Emma looked around and waved her hand up. A carriage parked beside us.

“Can you take us to the adventurer’s guild?”

“Ah, si, si. Come on in.”

The three of us hopped into the carriage, and we drove off. The capital was a massive city, I realized that much on my last visit, but I couldn’t help but gasp at the wonders of the center of this nation. It was the total opposite of Kalagai. The drive took us around 20 minutes.

“Gracias.”

Our driver left us in front of the guild. The guild here was massive, twice the size of the one back home at Alpha. Its walls had been painted a pure white, while its top was decorated with various ornaments made from colored glass. The ornaments form the proud symbol of the guild emblem. We pushed the door, and an astonishing sight greeted us inside.

Even at this hour, the guild was packed to the brim with adventurers. The guild had the ground floor acting as the tavern. The sign pointed us upstairs toward a balcony overlooking the main hall, where the receptionist is located.

As we passed through the crowd of people, my mind drifted around, reaching the conclusion that I must open a boba store here. Just imagine the huge profits coming in every single day. I wouldn’t need to work a single sweat anymore.

Emma led us past the adventurers toward the receptionist. There was a guild staff standing on top of the stairs. She asked him about the slate. He widened his eyes at her words, but after regaining his composure, pointed toward the treasury section which was located beside the receptionist.

We made our way towards the treasury, waiting in line behind another group of adventurers who were storing something. We didn’t wait for long, as in no more than 2 minutes, the group in front of us finished their business and went back down.

“Welcome to Omega’s Adventurer’s Guild Treasury. How may I help you?”

The lady asked us politely. I brought up my bag onto the counter.

“Hi, I would like to store this.”

The guild lady pulled the bag closer to her eyes. She widened her eyes at the sight.

“Umm... you got some interesting... umm... rocks...”

Well, that’s an interesting way to put it. She looked around, making sure no one was around.

“Could you follow me, please?”

Ever since I started my journey here, I have met several important figures numerous times. The one in front of us now is the leader of Omega’s adventurer guild, Sir Ryonald Luwrickson.

The reaction I received was quite surprising, though, as it seemed to me that the people here took the slate with way more seriousness compared to the people back in Misana. They probably didn’t have the capacity to work with these slates though.

We took longer than planned, as Sir Ryonald, who was ex-knight, took quite a while to examine the slates. Amber ended up joining us in the guild, despite the original plan to have her meet us at the inn.

"Sigh...”

Sir Ryonald let out a sigh.

“Is something the matter?”

“This is definitely the real slates.”

He repeated for the fifth time.

“Is there anything wrong with that?”

I replied for the sixth time. I forgot which reply came from a different statement, though.

“Asparagus is a city full of mysteries. Personally, I would prefer that we never touch it, but with the two slates here... I’m at a loss at what to do.”

“Couldn’t ye hide them again?”

Amber, who didn’t know the context of the previous conversation, joined in.

“I’m afraid not. It’s far too risky. But storing them is risky as well.”

I decided against mentioning the fact that we were searching for mushrooms when we found one of those slates. Emma leaned in to take a closer look at the slates.

“Say, how do you even know they’re the real ones?”

“There’s strong magic coming from the, and the carving felt different.”

He took another sigh, before looking back at us.

“I’m afraid I can’t guarantee their safety. But we’ll try our best.”

“That’s... fine... I guess.”

The guild still has a lot more resources compared to mere adventurers like us had. Trusting them on this matter would be the best possible option.

We discussed several other related matters, and after finishing it all, we left the guild. We once again hopped onto a carriage and headed toward the inn. We would be staying in the same one we visited back then.

We rented two rooms, connected by a door. Room arrangements were the usual, Nia and Amber, me and Emma.

“Guess I’m stuck with you again.”

“To be fair, you’ll always be stuck with me, till the end of your life.”

“I guess that’s true...”

I did choose her. I checked the clock, it was already 1 in the morning. We departed from Kalagai around 8 last night and arrived here around 9. We finished stuff in the guild at 12, and now here we were.

“Let’s get some rest.”

I lay down on the bed beside Emma.

“When will Riko be arriving?”

“It’s 1 am, so we’re on a new day. That means he’ll arrive tomorrow.”

“Ah...”

We both stared up at the ceiling. It was silent.

“Goodnight...”

With those words, Emma fell asleep.

"Whoaam...”

I stretched my hand up high. The sun was shining through the window, marking a new day has arrived. I looked around the bed, but Emma was nowhere to be found.

“Oh... she’s probably...”

I thought she had gone out, but I could hear breathing sounds to my left. I looked over the bed to find her sleeping on the floor.

Guess she fell, a very Emma thing. As I stood up, I heard knocking from the side door. I opened it, to find the two cademons on the other side.

“Morning.”

“Morning. Ye want to grab breakfast?”

“Sure... let me wake Emma up first.”

I went toward the side of the bed. I crouched down and started poking Emma.

“Hey, Emma, wake up.”

“Hmm?”

Emma slowly opened her eyes and looked around. She then looked at the floor, before looking at me who was on top of her.

“Ah, so did you finally do it?”

“Do what? Don’t spread misunderstandings so early in the morning.”

Emma got up and looked at the two cademons peeking through the door.

“Ah, wait, let me get dressed.”

We then had breakfast at the inn’s restaurant. There was no breakfast buffet in this one, unfortunately, so I ordered fried noodles, while all the girls chose rice with fried chicken.

“What are the plans for today?”

“Us test flight me ship.”

Ah, right, upon remembering about the slates, we immediately headed down here to store them at the guild. We ended up completely forgetting about the test flight.

“Me only need Nia to help, so where ye going?”

She directed the question toward us. I and Emma glanced at each other, before returning with an answer.

“We’ll just go with you-”

“-I’ll take William questing.”

...

“I thought we were supposed to think about the same thing?”

“You still need to do your training, remember?”

She said, just like a strict teacher.

“Ah... I forgot about that.”

“Us could do both in one go. Me deliver ye to the quest location, ye go questing. Sounds good?”

We nodded to Amber’s suggestion. It would help reduce the travel time, so it was pretty helpful.

“Good, let’s go to the guild.”

After finishing breakfast, we stood up and headed out.

We took a simple kobold subjugation quest. This shouldn’t be too hard, as kobolds were considered at the same level, if not lower, than goblins.

Unlike back in Alpha, you’re not allowed to freely hunt here at Omega. There were some free hunting areas, where you were free to hunt to your heart’s content, but most of the surrounding region was categorized as secured, which means you’re only allowed to hunt if you’re taking a related quest from the guild.

This time, however, the group of kobolds was spotted in the free area, so after being dropped off by Amber, we were free to do whatever we want.

“Just because we’re free to do whatever, doesn’t mean we should.”

“What are you even talking about? My face isn’t even showing anything!”

“I just have a feeling that you’re thinking something weird.”

“I’m not!”

Emma giggled and continued walking in front of me.

“Anyway, what are kobolds like?”

“From what I knew, they’re similar to wolves, but quite a bit bigger and more dangerous.”

“You sure just us two is fine?”

“Bet. They’re just oversize dogs, what could go wrong.”

“Don’t set up a flag.”

“Don’t worry too much. Ah, we’re here.”

Emma checked the surrounding landscape. We were now standing beside a small river, with large trees surrounding us.

“Why does someone want the kobolds gone? Aren’t they in the free area?”

The free area was for adventurers looking to train, so a couple of monsters shouldn’t be a problem.

“They say these ones are more aggressive, and a lot more dangerous.”

“What?”

Should’ve gone with Amber instead. Just as I started regretting my choices, a growl could be heard coming from the trees.

“You know... you’re screwed when the trees started growling.”

“What?”

Emma looked at me, puzzled. At that exact moment, because of course, those kobolds were waiting for her to turn around, a group of three kobolds jumped off the trees and headed straight for Emma.

“Emma, duck!”

Swinging my LIAR forward, I pulled the trigger. Emma went flat down onto the grass, before rolling away, my bolts flying just a few centimeters above her. After four shots, we killed the three kobolds.

“Kobolds can climb now!?”

Emma screamed as she looked back at the dead kobolds.

“They’re not supposed to?”

“No! The books say nothing about that!”

She exclaimed as I helped her up. Does the demon’s army have anything to do with this? The last time we dealt... wait, no, not the last time, but all of our major encounters with enemy mobs all relate to the demon’s army somehow. The blue tiger, the goblins, and now these kobolds, which means...

“William, behind you!”

“Lightning Cut!”

A shot of lightning pierced the four kobolds sneaking up on me. It’s been a while since I last used magic, so the feeling felt a bit weird.

“We need to get out of here. It’s dangerous to handle them with just the two of us.”

“You call Nia. I’ll guard.”

“You could?”

I gave her the most gentlemanly smile I could bring up.

“You told me to train, right?”

She smiled at me and grabbed her phone. The river we were beside was too narrow for Amber’s ship, so we followed the stream, hoping it would get wider.

“Nia, tell Amber we need pickup!”

“Where?”

“The lake close to where you dropped us!”

“Roger!”

Emma closed the call and continue running. We couldn’t go back to the exact place where they dropped us, because that place was surrounded by trees. Since the kobolds could climb, that place would be risk-

“William, up!”

“Lightning Cut!”

My trusty lightning spell once again showed its value when it sliced the pair of kobolds jumping toward us. I may not have the high ground but never mess with me in a relatively open field.

“That was scary!”

“Yeah, I didn’t expect those kobolds to be flying so high-”

“No, not the kobolds! You’re lightning nearly hit me!”

“What?”

I need to be more careful. Deep inside, I regret not using my time to train, just a bit, though. No major life-changing regret or anything.

Running along the river, we were continuously assaulted by kobolds, who seemed to be getting smarter. They started attacking simultaneously, but not in large groups. Instead, they would split up and attack from multiple directions at once. This meant handling them became much harder, as I need to hit multiple small targets in a wide area.

“Lightning Cut! Lightning Cut!”

“Brrrt!”

My spells and Emma’s gun light up in unison, slaughtering any kobolds that dare appear. We’ve been running for around 500 meters. Roughly another 500 meters from us is a lake, where we could get picked up.

“I need to recharge!”

“Didn’t you bring extra!?”

“I wasn’t expecting this! I only brought two!”

“Grab mine!”

Emma threw her Kritz to me and traded with my LIAR and continued firing. While laser weapons have more capacity compared to shrapnel, they still need a recharge. You could charge the magazine separately with a specific device, or charge it along with the rifle.

While running and firing spells, I threw her my magazines. She ejected the empty magazine from LIAR and replaced it with the new one. We continue this pattern until we reached the lake. Stopping right at the waterline, I looked back and immediately fired a spell,

“Lightning Cut!”

The kobolds that chased us didn’t stop in time and got roasted as my lightning hit them. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end for them.

“Wind Strike!”

I shot another spell, this time toward the kobolds jumping from trees to my left.

“Ah, I’m out!”

Emma whispered to me in frustration. She knocked on the weapon, trying to squeeze every last bit of energy it still had.

“How did you drain it so fast!?”

“I’ve been continuously firing, that’s how!”

More and more kobolds approached us, slowly moving toward us in unison.

“How many kobolds did the request ask for!?”

“30!”

“30!? Why did you accept it!?”

“We could’ve dealt with them if they were normal kobolds!”

“Well, they’re not normal!”

“Well, I don’t know that!”

The kobolds took a stance and prepared to jump at us. I don’t know how much energy I have left, but I’m pretty sure I still have some since I have high stats. But, looking at the kobolds joining the fight from the distance, I’m not sure if I’ll have enough.

“Emma, stand behind me.”

Emma moved toward my back. The sound of splashing water could be heard as her foot hit the surface. I lifted my hand forward, preparing to launch my spell.

“Lightning Cut!”