Chapter 254: Backwater Talk
———Messi———
<12: 18 pm>
…Why does it look like both of them are at the same place? Am I missing something? Checking Kara’s stream and Lrem’s photo and the background look identical?
Could they be at the same party? But I thought that Lrem wasn't even in the same state?
“Did something come up?” Alsam asked, seeing my expression.
“Ah. It’s nothing.” I said while I read the message that came through. “…Did you just come back from dungeon diving as well? Didn’t see you earlier.”
“Yes. It was certainly weird to see multiple entrances like that.” He remarked. “It is helpful, but I don’t really feel that much of a drive to go into the dungeon today, You have been in there longer than me, I believe.”
“Well, not needing to worry about running into other people stealing your kill definitely helps with slowing down the pace.” There’s not much of a reason to rush at the moment. I guess he thought I was in trouble or went too deep into the dungeon for the loot. I’m not that crazy. “...Is James not here today? I thought he’d be active. “...Hey. Was there any entrance that didn't have a red glow when you came out?”
“...No?” He answered, sounding quite confused. I guess he isn’t around today. Weird. Maybe he found an interesting request or something. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“You can look it up later. Right now… Hey, have you heard about the big party?” My mind was on that, so let’s talk about it.
“Big party? Is that something specific?” He asked. Looks like he hasn’t doomscroll yet.
“Remember the Grand SK Institute? That massive campus that appeared out of nowhere? They are hosting a big party that anyone could enter for free. It’s full of free food and drinks.” I don’t really know why they’re celebrating because of that, but it’s one hell of a party from the footage shown. It makes everyone in there look like a bunch of rich brats.
“...Completely free? Where is it?” He asked, clearly interested. Unfortunately, we really don’t have the means of getting there.
“It’s all the way in Philadelphia. We’re not getting there before the party is over. We’re gonna be several days late.” I broke the bad news and his expression quickly darkened.
“...Crap.” He said, trying to not complain too loudly. He would probably startle a lot of people if he started yelling loudly, being a bipedal wolf makes him look even bigger than his height would suggest, so he had to stay quite low key if he didn't want to cause a commotion.
“Nothing we can really do about it. It being a backwater place doesn’t help… Not that our town isn’t any better. We’re lucky it’s not ravaged with the few incidents that popped up.” I don’t really know why that town suddenly looked a lot better while other places looked a lot worse, but it is what it is. I think there are other areas with similar phenomena, but they don’t get as much press as that place, so that’s the only one I’m gonna have my mind on.
“Hmm…” He mumbled as he pulled out his phone. I’m surprised those hands even worked with the phone, it looks quite small on his furry hand. Seems like he’s looking up what I’m talking about.
But back to what I was racking my brain over. Did Lrem somehow find a way to the party? It’s so far from where she alludes to be at that it’s hard to believe.
…Weird. I feel like I’m missing an important context here. Maybe I should look back at the chat log? They are all saying what I’m thinking as well, that she’s clearly at the place Kara is at right now. I can’t quite make much sense of it.
…You know what? I’m just not gonna bother. I think I’ll just relax and stay here until there is something on the request board. That’s what gets us the most stable income anyway.
We got all sorts of odd jobs that most people probably wouldn’t ask a professional to deal with, mostly dealing with brute force. Nothing too delicate, but they’re definitely seeing us as some sort of crazy bodybuilders with absurd power behind us.
There’s no difference between us and them, and yet there seems to be some sort of weird perception painted onto us, the adventurers. It is paradoxically a mix of reverence and disdain. Obviously they looked at us magic-users like we are some sort of superhuman, but at the same time that very thing makes us look like a bunch of ticking time bombs or barbarians who value strength over all other values.
It’s obviously an idiotic perception, there is no barrier between the two sides in the slightest, they simply don’t know what they’re talking about. It’s all in their head. It’s so dumb that I can’t believe that such a belief is so common.
“I didn’t realize this place is so big…” Alsam muttered. He must’ve been looking through all the photos posted there. “…That’s weird. I’m pretty sure there are a few faces in the party that are from a different state, right?”
“Huh? Really?” I said before I started searching for the photos as well. There are probably a lot of photos and videos for us to basically mapped out the entire area… “Yeah. Quite a lot of famous adventures I’m seeing… Huh?”
“What is it?” He asked after hearing my baffled voice.
“...Am I seeing things, or is that James?” I said while showing him the picture on my phone. He squinted hard to make it out clearly since the photo isn’t in the highest quality, but soon those eyes were wide open.
“It is him! It looks like him, right?” Alsam said, almost completely confident in his judgement.
“That is what I said…” I replied, hoping for him to actually be completely sure, but I guess this’ll work. “It would explain why he’s not here right now… Huh.”
“But how does that make any sense? He was here yesterday, right?” Alsam asked, clearly bewildered by something I just now understand. I kinda forgot about that fact until now, mostly because of how absurd it was, so I try to forget about it and not stress over it too much.
“They have done this kind of thing before.” I pointed out. “Remember the most recent set of exhibition matches they did? They also invited people from all over the country to participate. Maybe you haven’t seen it yet.”
“The what?” So he hasn't seen it.
“Basically it’s just an event where they show a bunch of people fighting. They seem to have some sort of way to transport people from far away like it’s nothing. I guess you haven’t been keeping up with the news.” It was a while back, the discussion has died down at this point. “I guess they’re using the very same thing to bring James and a few other people to the party. Guess we don’t get an invite. A shame.”
“What even is the criteria for that, and why?” He said while scratching his head. He seems to not be familiar with that place in general, which I can’t blame him with how enigmatic it is. It’s just hard to make sense of it especially if you’re still sticking with the common sense of the past.
“It looks like…” I said while still scrolling through the page and looking at threads of people discussing it. “Hmm… They invite a few guilds that have a lot of good performance, as well as powerful individuals whose merit couldn’t carry the guild, or isn’t even associated with one.”
“That’s… an odd criteria. I thought they would’ve invited basically anyone famous. They clearly have the clout for it, right? Who wouldn’t want to go to a party hosted by someone with so much power and influence?” Alsam asked.
“I guess they just weren’t considered interesting and impressive. Besides, I’m pretty sure those guys are either busy or pretend to be busy. Not really worth extending their hands for.” Some of them are full of themselves and extremely annoying anyway. Best for them to not be around to cause a scene. “As for why them… Well. The school looks like it’s basically some sort of military campus for people to learn how to fight. From my understanding, everyone learns how to use magic and some specialized fighting techniques. You could get a losing grade if you don’t accomplish that much.”
“S-Seriously? Is that even legal?” He asked, clearly finding the idea ridiculous and unreasonable.
“It is like that. Admittedly from what I have looked into, that is the bare minimum. Think of it as a… very elaborate self-defense class, updated for the age with magic.” They aren’t forced to actually fight anything dangerous last I checked. There is always a capable adult around.
“...A bit more acceptable. Not that most people even know how to use magic, right? Not even the bare minimum?” He pointed out. I think those people are still clinging too much to the past year, which is dumb.
“Yeah. I still think that is stupid. Surely they can make fire appear on their fingertip or make whatever they’re holding a bit more chilly. It’s not that hard.” I managed it just from a few things Kara said in the group chat. No way the others can have trouble with that.
“No idea why they’re having trouble… Demi-humans shouldn’t, right? They’re supposed to be gifted, from what I heard.” …Can’t you use yourself as anecdotal evidence? You’re one yourself! You’re a big wolf guy!
“...If only I had a mirror.” I snarked at him instead of raising my voice.
“What? I can’t just use my experience alone!” He protested.
“Whatever.” I said before leaning back on the chair and stare up towards the ceiling, trying to think of something… “Hey, have you ever been drafted before?”
“...Where did that question come from?” He asked, puzzled by the sudden thought that came into my head.
“Just wanna know how the training regiment was like normally. I’d imagine the one in that school to be significantly different.” I explained. I have heard some words from Kara on the topic, so I have some frame of reference, at least.
“...No. I never got drafted.” Really? That’s surprising.
“I remember you have quite a physique even before the Eclipse, are you for real?” I’m pretty sure my memory isn’t shoddy.
“I’m pretty sure no one gets drafted around these parts. I don’t really know why. Literally everyone gets drafted.” That’s weird with how bloodthirsty those people were, but it’s good that he doesn’t have to go through such unnecessary hardship.
“I never pay attention to any of that.” I’m not personally at risk so I never bothered checking it out. “...Now that I think about it. It feels like a lot of soldiers are complaining about us. Why?”
“Probably envious that we’re stronger than them despite not going through the abuse.” He gave out quite a concise guess.
“Ah. That’ll make some sense. It doesn’t help that all the battles they go through were nulled thanks to the Eclipse. Not that they should be angry at us. That’s dumb.” There are so many things that don't really make any sense. I know it’s anger and jealousy clouding rational thought, but I feel like people nowadays should learn to not let those get in the way of what is written on the wall. I don’t think that’s too high of an expectation, right?
“We can’t really do anything about that, unfortunately.” He said before taking a sigh. Now that I think about it, he probably gets it extra bad as a furry wolf guy. At least people around here stop giving a crap about that. It’s been almost a year, they got used to it.
“Unfortunately true.” I remarked before walking over to the water dispenser. Need to make sure to stay hydrated.