Beyond M-Eclipse: Easy Mode LIVE

———Wiina———

<9: 58 am>

Hmm… Does this look convincing enough? This katana of mine might be extremely durable and doesn’t really need to worry about ever breaking against common weapons, but I don’t want to look like I am a barbarian who only wields this weapon because it looks cool. While I’d like to say that I am doing fine, it would only be clear when there is a second-hand opinion.

…Well there should be people swarming in soon with nothing better to do during the holidays, it seems like the early floors are more or less figured out by everyone, so there is usually more traffic there. Better to go deeper and refine myself a bit more. The early floors will probably be flooded by people trying to clear the area out before the others do, and I don’t really feel like dealing with the mess that kind of activity entails.

Floor five with the giant cube and just something I don’t really feel like dealing with properly.

*Slash* *Crumble*

Before it could summon its minion I already walked past and sliced it up. Since it’s technically the only thing in the room right now that means it’s cleared.

*Shine*

Simple loot. There’s no way to get anything special on these early floors no matter how many times you tried it. Even at floor fifty and below the odds are still slim to none. Just put it in item space and be done with it.

I can’t imagine those at the top or even just the commonfolk won’t go nuts at the stuff you can get at the bottom. Obviously for someone like me they are practically junk, but not everyone is me, or Rico, or Walsuna, and a few more people lurking in the shadows or in plain sight.

*Dash* *Slash* *Leap* *Slice* *Dice* *Dash* *Slash* *Leap* *Slice*

I’m just mindlessly going through the floors and sliced through the monsters like they were nothing. Admittedly it wouldn’t be good practice unless I fight something at least on the level of… Hm? Someone is already on the tenth floor? This early in the day… Well. At least it’s two faces I recognize, not that I can act like I know them personally right now.

“Well I don’t really know what we should’ve expected at this point. These early floors are way too easy. I mean you could’ve done it solo if you wanted to… Actually, didn't you already do that?” Jeyst is talking to Seni about something with the corpse of the boss in the background and the loot already collected. Not a pairing I was expecting.

“I just… rather not risk anything.” Seni said before scratching her cheek. She’s in the top half of our class in terms of raw strength, it’s weird to see her being so unsure of herself.

Well… What should I do? It’d be weird to ignore them, and it does look like they are trying to do a rather long dungeon run. It’d be negligent of me to not accompany them.

“Hey, you two, if neither of you want to go further in, then I’ll cut in line and go in myself.” I said and the two of them looked alarmed at the presence of someone they don’t know… Or rather, someone they only saw very infrequently. “Hm… Aren’t you kids from that school? I guess it is the holidays, not like any of you got anything better to do.”

“Y-You are…” So they still recognized me from the chaos of the raining snakes. Seni meanwhile have never seen this form of mine in the flesh.

“Yeah… I do remember seeing your face specifically.” I said before scratching the back of my fox ears. “Well? What are you two doing here? I got some history with that school. It’d be bad if I let the kids there get into trouble.”

“Uhh… We were just doing a normal dungeon run. We’ll probably go to floor forty before leaving.” Jeyst said with a nervous smile.

“Forty? Rather modest goals you two have.” I commented, even if that would at least make them quite exhausted. More so due to the travel length than the strength of the monsters.

“So… What about you? What are you doing?” Jeyst asked, clearly unsure of how the conversation should progress. “W-Wait a second! Who even are you anyway?”

“Name’s Navi. Just a fighter who rarely interacted with others. I’m busy with multiple things, and I can’t really talk about it.” I said while crossing my arms. “I guess I never had the time to tell any of you anything about myself. It wasn’t needed anyway, I don’t even actually work at the school. More of an associate.”

“Well…” Jeyst muttered before their eyes darted towards Seni. “Aren’t you gonna say anything?”

“I’m fine…” She said, clearly not wanting to take part.

“Seems like you have something in mind, you can share it if you want. I won’t laugh.” Jeyst seem a bit nervous, and unless I prodded them it’s likely they won’t tell me what’s going on in that head of theirs.

“Uhh… Can you join us? Seni seems a bit nervous about the run even though she had gone through worse.” Jeyst said while poking her shoulder. Considering their first impression of me is me killing a bunch of strong monsters in literal seconds, it’s only natural they think I am very strong and competent. Which I am, but it’s also rather odd since we’re supposed to be strangers. That’s a bit of a weird request.

“...I guess I could accommodate. Like I said, it’d be bad if you two got in trouble, but…” Normally I wouldn’t try to set up any conditions, but a stranger won’t do something free of charge, now would they? “I am planning on going deeper than forty. I’m hoping for at least eighty floors. And I think the two of you could use something more challenging… Here’s the deal. I will accompany you two, but only if you two will stick with me until floor eighty. How does that sound?”

“E-Eighty?” Jeyst repeated, clearly rather alarmed by the number.

“Yes. Not to worry. I can normally go there by myself anyway. It’s not as if it’ll be hard with me around.” I said, trying to sound dismissive. “Do we get ourselves a deal? I’ll even let you keep the rewards. I am very well-off, so none of these treasures are of interest to me.”

———Kenni———

<11: 17 am>

*Munch* *Munch* *Gulp*

“Just so you know, Useph. Treating either of us to food won’t stop us from killing you in the future.” I said after finishing my portion.

“Trust me, I know it won’t.” He said with a strained smile.

“I’d say this hospitality does improve the odds, at least.” Emmie said while slowly enjoying her soft serve. Most of her orders are sweet stuff and a lot of burgers. She doesn't even bother with the fries and other sides.

“It is rather rare for you two to not be… doing other things.” Hey, what the hell does that mean?

“Run that by me again, Orrel?” I said with a smirk.

“I’d rather not.” He said with a stiff expression.

“Pussy.” I said while I leaned on the table with my hand pressed against my cheek.

“Why is the atmosphere so tense, break it up, all of you.” Wers said with a sour expression. Meanwhile Mreak isn’t even saying anything and continues to silently enjoy his food while ignoring the conversation.

“It’s just a simple question. You don’t need to butt in, weird elf lizard boy.” I said with a smirk as I leaned back. “Seriously though, does no one have anything fun to say around here?”

“You can’t expect anyone to suddenly have something worth talking about all the time, even in a casual meeting at a fast food place.” Useph said. I disagree with that. Bet someone here has some embarrassing story they ain’t telling.

“Then what’s even the point of a group meeting! Can’t someone yap about something so I can make fun out of them for it?” I said while looking at the others to see if anyone reacted to that. Of all the time they had to keep their reaction subtle… “Just some sort of story! Are we not gonna talk about anything?”

“How about that fight you had with a warlord? You might as well talk about that in more detail.” Orrel suddenly spoke up about that.

“Whoa! When was it ever confirmed?” I said before shrugging my shoulders. “Do you guys think the black feathers immediately mean it’s me? Come on now, don’t show prejudice towards me.”

“You confess in the group chat.” Wait what? No I didn’t. I would’ve remembered it otherwise.

“Huh? No? Why would I do that?” I said while tilting my head. They think I actually did something like that?

“Search the chat. You’ll see it.” …Is this a prank of some kind? Whatever, there’ll be a punchline no matter what, do I might as well… ‘lmao dat warlod was weaksauce’... When did I type that?

“...Don’t tell me you actually were drunk.” Wers said with squinted eyes. Eh? Did I actually say that as well? …Oh. I did say that. Whoops.

“What do you want me to do about it? See a bunch of free alcohol lying around and not drinking it? Who’s gonna stop me?” I said while raising my shoulders high. “I get all the spoils and an abandoned shop with them also counts! Who cares about legal drinking age!”

“...How much did you drink for you to forget all of that?” Useph asked, also giving me a scrutinizing gaze. What the hell? Why are they shaming me for this when they don’t trust the government either!

“All I could find, so it’s a lot.” I honestly answered. “Like I said, it’s all mine. Victor goes to the spoils and all that.”

“That doesn’t excuse the alcoholism.” Stop acting like you guys are my parents!

“Stop with the moral high ground nonsense you guys are trying to pull!” I bet they probably do something similar and only make fun of me for it because I got caught or whatever… Hold on. “Why didn’t anyone bring this up yesterday? The whole warlord thing. If I already confessed before then.”

“Because talking about Jennla’s stories is a bigger issue, first of all.” Hey, that just makes it sound like my problem is less of a problem!

“Secondly, we thought you were aware of your confession. Who would’ve thought all that alcohol to your head would’ve purged those conversations from your mind.”

“Way to downplay all my trauma like it’s nothing…” I said while feigning to cry. “It’s like… you guys just see me as a comic relief to keep punching down…”

“Stop that. It’s so gross.” Wers said with a disgusted face. “Last I check, you weren’t exactly expressing remorse or even a hint of regret about any actions you took or suffered.”

“What! Stop assuming!” I defiantly said. How could he possibly know that for sure! “Don’t you know what they said about assuming!?”

“In your case, the only one who is made an ass out of is you.” Huh!? Emmie!? Why are you on their side as a fellow weirdo!?

“Emmie! You traitor!” I said, trying to sound as dramatic as I can. “I thought we had something together! Was it all a lie!?”

“Don’t spread nonsense like that around.” She calmly replied. She has absolutely no chill.

“Ugh. I am completely defeated in this argument, aren’t I…” Trying to argue anymore and the bit will become stale.

“Yes.” Don’t answer the rhetorical question! “Now why don’t you tell the reason you even fight someone like that in more detail?”

“Oh… It’s nothing special. I just feel like going around seeing crazy shits happening. I thought maybe seeing a warlord in action would do that.” It’s not anything different from what I did before outside of being more proactive. “Killing the guy because I was in the mood for it. Aside from throwing the buildings and debris around very well he wasn’t that special. If he wasn’t in the middle of a ruined city even you guys could’ve killed him no problem.”

“Did you just walk up to him or what?” Useph asked with a somewhat complicated expression.

“Nah. I make a grand entrance by killing most of his goons before the fight. They were fodder, but a good impression is everything, right?” I was pretty damn confident about the fight, so there’s no need to care about being pragmatic.

“...I’m glad the place is so noisy and no one could eavesdrop on that.” Wers said with a glare.

“Oh I’m so sorry for killing the bad guys. Didn’t know we are children’s superheroes now.” I replied with a sarcastic tone. Like I care about killing people who kill other people anyway.

“Saying that kind of shit in public is just asking for trouble…” Useph said, also having a disapproving look.

“Just say you’re not associated or something! Shouldn’t be that hard, right?” If they’re afraid of being roped into it… “Maybe you guys shouldn’t have tried to egg me on into talking about this in the first place. Ever think of that?”

Don’t they feel stupid now making me say all these horrible things they might get associated with! Hah!

“Can you guys pipe it down? Also, I want another order.” Mreak finally spoke up and he seemed to have ignored the conversation up until now.

You know what, I could go for more food as well. All this talk isn’t gonna fill my stomach to the brim now, would it?