The Grand Weave

After settling the crowd, Orsk led me to another abandoned building for interrogation. Not everyone was there. Orsk, Sam, Matias, Dyllan, Spencer, Caldur, Meleena, and I were in the large living room. I assumed the others were still sleeping somewhere else in the village.

I got a thumbs-up from Dyllan when I asked about Levin and Edithe. I chuckled in return. I couldn't blame them for wanting to spend some quality time together. Xertalus and Petraeus were still sleeping, and the rest of team Talon was off doing whatever.

After everyone settled themselves somewhere inside the living room, Orsk asked me to explain how I found myself in the remains of a blown-up building. And so the next half hour was spent telling them the story of how my morning went. I was interrupted and bombarded with questions before Orsk imposed order and forced everyone to wait till after I finished explaining.

After I finished, Orsk held up a hand to silence everyone and spoke first.

"How sure are you that everything you said is correct?" he asked gently.

I glared but quickly retracted it. "I'm not in shock, and I wasn't so scared out of my mind that I wouldn't have been able to remember anything. You should already know Orsk. I'm sure Brelten told you about Sam and me. So yes, everything I said is accurate."

Orsk held up both hands placatingly. "I'm not accusing you of anything, Cyrus. I just wanted to confirm all the details. We can begin discussing everything now that it's out of the way."

Matias was the first to ask a question now that Orsk officially opened up the discussion.

"Should I grab Xertalus and Petraeus? This seems like something we should all be here for," Matias asked.

"Aye, should I get Edithe and Levin as well?" Dyllan added.

Orsk looked to think about it for a second before shaking his head.

"There's no need. Anything asked here can be relayed to the others afterward. We still have plenty of hours till the next wave," he answered.

Sam stepped up and crossed her arms. "Are you sure? Shouldn't we be worried about this Arz'odral? We know he can approach us now, and we currently have no idea where he is."

"No, I don't think any of us are in any real trouble. This Arz'odral is almost certainly the main monster of this scenario. From what I know and what Cyrus confirmed in his story, he can't hurt us. And while the system is usually flexible on how things are done, something like this would inflict severe punishment. And considering that he's already been warned before for attacking Cyrus, it wouldn't dare make that mistake again. So, no, I think we're safe at the moment. Things, of course, could easily change once the waves resume," Orsk said, addressing the room.

Sam grunted, obviously unhappy, but she resumed her earlier position of leaning against a wall. Hers wasn't the only sour face. Meleena practically sent eye daggers at me while Caldur held a steady, intense, burning look my way. Though, I didn't think he was actually angry. Anger was his teammate sitting next to him. No, instead, it just felt like an intense inquisitiveness. Almost as if he thought that if he stared hard enough, he'd find the answer to all his questions.

I hid my shudder. It reminded too much of how Arz'odral.

"So, I want to get this straight. The big, bad demon man came to you because he thought you smelled good?" Matias asked slowly.

"No, not entirely. He said that he smelled it earlier. But he did say that I smelled excellent anyway," I explained.

"Err... So why did he think you smelled good? Is he like some vampyr or something? With the whole blood theme going around, maybe he wanted you? Though, it brings to question why he thought you smelled so nice," Dyllan added.

"I believe I can answer this. Despite how rare demons are in Inoria, not to mention our kingdom. I've managed to hear some rumors about them. It seems that across the Grolus Sea in the empire of Lurula, you could find them more commonly. Specifically to all races under the umbrella of demon-kind is the fact they share a racial perk," Orsk said. He gestured a hand to me before continuing. "This perk allows demons to evolve and gain power through the consumption of blood. Much like a proper vampire rather than a vampyr, if the blood is of a higher tier, it provides permanent benefits in some way. If this Arz'odral is a copy of a real Viscount of Blood, it certainly has the perk. Though it is highly doubtful that it would have actually gained anything since the demon is a higher tier than Cyrus, it probably wanted to enjoy him like one would a fine wine."

That was an unpleasant thought.

If the mood was lighter, Sam would have taken pleasure in teasing me about being the ultimate aromatic drink. And probably something else about attracting demon daddies. When I looked at Sam, she returned my look with a faint smirk on her lips. At least that confirmed I knew my friend well enough.

"Weird blood evolution thing aside, this means another scent inside the village attracted the demon's attention. If we can, we should find it in case something bad happens," Matias continued.

There were several nods of agreement at his statement.

"Very well. If we can spare time after the next rest, we will give the buildings a search. If we find that not all the villagers have been holding up in the town hall, we can bring them there and figure out what to do," Orsk answered. Another look around the room confirmed that we understood and moved on. "The biggest worry we have now is the fact that a scenario monster got awakened. Usually, outside of messing up the scenario, the issue remains relatively inconsequential. However, we're dealing with a very knowledgeable and powerful boss monster. And not just a monster, but a copy of a powerful demon. One that knows how the Grand Weave works. We need to be extra cautious about how things turn out."

Meleena seemed to burst and stepped forward. She pointed an accusing clawed finger my way before turning her ire at Orsk. "And what exactly does that mean? What does an awakened monster mean? What did this pearl do? Did he destroy our ability to get this rift reward?!"

As the questions grew, so too did the vitriol in her voice. By the end, I could hear her snarling her words and releasing a low hissing growl on the final question.

Sam clenched her jaw, and I saw her hands balled up. She looked ready to skin the beastkin but was stopped before she could confront Melerna. Surprisingly, it was Caldur who gripped Meleena's shoulders and pulled her back. At the strength of the grip, she half-turned her body to face her leader, growling at him as she did.

"Let me go! This idiot might have ruined everything! He-," Meleena started lashing out but was silenced by Caldur's own rumbling growl.

It was the kind of thing that would have made me pale in fear back on earth—the sound of an angry predator echoing in the now silent room.

"Even if you're right to be angry, you will calm down. That pearl you keep sending spite-filled glares at is the reason Retas and Setar are alive. Show him some respect. Even if the fool is not yet tier one, he has done his job diligently. Am. I. Understood?" Caldur growled.

His words were met with more beastly snarling and some baring of fangs. All in all, it felt like watching a nature documentary about giant cats.

Throughout the entire thing, Orsk stood silently with a neutral look on his face. Thanks to his guild training, the man must have been used to dealing with adventurers of all sorts. I doubted he'd get the position as a guild representative otherwise. Eventually, the two feline beastkins quieted down and let Orsk continue the discussion as if the whole spat never happened.

"To answer Meleena's questions, simply put, I don't know. I said that it is usually inconsequential. Awakened monsters are not unknown. And the event usually occurs in higher-level rifts, especially in cases with the awakened being a psionic skill user. Due to the mental aspect, spirits, and spirit beasts are generally susceptible to being accidentally awakened if it occurs. Rarer cases, when it is a person, are even more unknown. As far as I know, there have only been two cases in our records where the boss monster of a scenario is the one who awakens. One record stated that the monster ended up killing itself in a blind rage after gaining knowledge of its existence. The second record was a scenario event about a dwarven king who let the scenario play out as was intended. The only difference in the expected script was when the king invited everyone to a feast before changing the final encounter into a massive festival in the city. The grand event was the fight between the adventurers and the king," he lectured.

"So this Arz'odral is most likely going to derail the scenario then. From what Cyrus said, he did not take it well when he learned it was just a copy," Matias followed up.

"Perhaps. It seems likely to do something, but we can't honestly know without asking it. And that is something we should probably avoid if we can. There is always the chance it might still attack us anyway, even if it knows it'll be penalized. The last thing we need is the demon to drop a horde of monsters into the town hall out of spite."

The discussion continued with a few more clarifying questions before concluding twenty minutes later. Sam stuck around while the others went off to do their own thing. Matias promised to let his brothers know the situation, and Spencer went with Dyllan to inform the rest of their team. Caldur had to escort the subdued Meleena away and head to the town hall.

I sat down on the now vacated living room couch and rubbed my temples. Sam snorted before nudging me over. Her large frame took up most of the couch's space, but l didn't complain. I was honestly thankful for the company.

"Hey," she said.

"What?" I replied exhaustedly.

"I have a serious question for you."

"What is it?"

I expected her to ask me if I was doing alright or if everything was okay, but that's not what came out of her mouth.

"Do you think vampires sparkle?" she asked in a completely deadpan voice.

I scowled at her, not wanting to give her satisfaction for her idiotic joke. I, however, did not have as much stoic willpower as I thought and burst out cackling. Seeing that she made me laugh at her question, she joined me and chuckled.

It felt good. I wasn't lying when I told Orsk I wasn't scared, but a building tension in my shoulders built up during the entire discussion. I knew I was useful, I knew I did my part, and I even had Caldur acknowledge it. Still, it was me who accidentally awakened Arz'odral, even if it was an accident.

"Feel better?" she asked as she gave me a once over.

I leaned into her and laid back on the couch.

"Yeah, yeah. You got me to laugh at your ridiculous joke. And for the record, I hope that vampires do sparkle,'" I replied, making quotation marks in the air at the word sparkle.

She chuckled lightly. "I'm just glad you're okay, Cy. I'm not sure I could handle being associated with you if you ended up dying as a juice box to a fake demon. I mean, seriously, not the coolest way to go. We're isekai protags now. If we have to go, we're supposed to do it fighting the demon king or something, not some clone of a viscount."

"You're right, but you know? I don't plan on going down at all, Sammy. I've been officially adopted by a demon god. There is no way I'm not going to go to the end of this storyline without becoming an immortal king myself."

Like that, we bantered back and forth for a time. We were taking the time to relax before we dived head-first into a bloody war between adventurers and a demon's blood-spawned army. At some point, Sam pulled out some of the silver fish we caught the other week, and I pulled out my neglected magical spice pouch. We spent one of the remaining hours making a meal with the fish and some fruits we had stored in our inventory.

It must have smelled good because we attracted the attention of the elven brothers, and they joined us for breakfast. It was a pleasant experience to hang out with them, and it was nice to see Petraeus had recovered entirely from yesterday's battle. It made me wonder how the trio of guards we befriended was doing. It would be nice to hang out with Warren and the others if we survived the rift.

Before too long, we ended our impromptu breakfast gathering and headed to the wall. The remaining hours on the timer were spent repairing and helping others add defenses to the field. There wasn't much we could do to add to our preparations, but we managed to magically dig out a dozen pitfall traps and lined the bottoms with wooden spikes. Despite some lingering concern over the viscount, I shoved it into the 'worry about it later' category of my mind.

It was time for the next beast wave.

Protect the Village of Holmfirth

Wave: 3/10 Survived

Village Survivors: 98%

Time remaining till next wave: 0h: 2mins: 14sec