15 Unhappy Reunion pt 2

"I made my first game when I was five. Technically it wasn't a game. I wrote some code to cheat at scrabble but you needed to manually input each letter on the board," Takehiro said. "I didn't have a camera that could capture the whole board and a computer that was fast enough to process it and recognize the board so it wasn't useful but I enjoyed every moment of making it."

"Take, I don't think they want to hear your stories. The board want to know how you're going to make the company profitable again," Shinji said.

The feeling in the boardroom meeting at Genesis studios was tense. A few games had not sold well and as a result, the company had a few bad quarters. The board summoned the CEO Takehiro Tomiyasu to take responsibility for the bad performance and explain the way forward.

"I don't care about profits. Or margins. Or overhead. Or stock prices," He said to the chagrin of many people present. This wasn't what they expected to hear from the CEO. "For me, it's never been about any of that. I just want to make better games."

"I apologise for his behaviour Mr Sullivan," Shinji said. "He's just very passionate about games."

Shinji was trying to salvage the situation but his efforts were in vain. The board were of the opinion that the obsessive perfectionist nature of Takehiro may have resulted in the creation of some of the best Alternate Reality games of the last decade but the amount of capital invested versus the returns was cutting into their margins. They felt that with another more conservative head at the helm of the company, they could be making a lot more money.

"I think the board has heard enough," Edward Sullivan said. "We cannot entrust this company to a man who doesn't care about profitability."

"I concur," a balding fat man said. "Effective immediately, Shinji should be named the new CEO."

***

"I love how the game has no fast travel," Namey said. "You have to spend time actually walking through each town."

"Save it for your blog, four eyes," Savage said. "Let's do this."

The mood was tense. Luxy, Namey and Savage looked like they were going to start a brawl. They glared angrily at each other as they swallowed hard and converged.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" They said in unison.

"Damn it!" Savage said furiously. "How do I keep losing?!"

"Alright, see you in Dorn," Namy said as he and Luxy handed Savage their guild cards.

"What just happened?" I asked.

"The game doesn't allow fast travel," Namey explained. "But if someone was to carry your guild card to a town, you can spawn from there."

"I still don't get it but ok," I said. "So what does that mean right now?"

"It means you're coming to Dorn with me, idiot," Savage said.

***

Most of the trip was uneventful except for Savage complaining and cursing all the way. For a tough-looking woman, she was prone to incessant whining. I was just about fed up and about to explode when we came across a travelling merchant caravan. A well-dressed man spotted us first and quickly approached.

Savage turned to me and said: "Jon listen to me, these guys will try to give us a quest," Savage said. "Do not accept it. All I want is to get to Dorn without any distractions."

The merchant dressed in fine gold and red reached us out of breath and struggled to speak:

"Greetings… You are adventurers, yes?" He said.

He had a funny way of talking. Almost as if he was summarising his statements before enunciating them.

"Yes, we are," I replied as Savage glared menacingly at me.

"Humble request… We were just set upon by bandits, I humbly request that you recover my wife and our stolen goods," the merchant said in between gasps. "Compensation… I shall make it worth your while."

Before Savage could decline, I said: "Of course, sir. I would be glad to help."

After the merchant left, Savage turned to me: "Why the hell did you do that?!"

"He desperately needs our help," I replied. "You don't have to come with me."

"Are you trying to be a goody-two-shoes?" Savage asked. "You realize that this is just a game right? None of this is real."

"I'll meet you in Dorn then," I replied as I left.

***

I used my hunting skills to track the bandits back to their hideout. To be fair, they made it too easy. They didn't cover up their tracks.

Their hideout was a cave on the side of a mountain. Two guards played cards at the entrance and argued loudly about their winnings.

I picked the first one off and before the second could process what happened and react, I picked him off as well.

As I cautiously entered I heard an old man's voice: "Dion! That you? The boss said that you'd try to sneak back in. Get back outside before I tell on you."

He said all this while staring right at me. That's when I realized that he was blind. So I said: "I just need something to drink, I'll be back outside."

"Alright, be quick about it," he said.

As soon as I passed him, he nimbly pulled out a dagger and held it to my throat.

"You think I don't know what my people sound like or smell like?" he said chuckling to himself. "You have an eastern accent, probably grew up on a farm and you smell like innocence and not rum or whisky like Dion."

As he spoke, several arrows hit him in the back and my shadow clone disappeared until he was grasping at air.

"I should've known that you didn't come alone, you brat," he said.

As he fell, he knocked over a table and a bell dropped and rang loudly. Two more people came from deeper into the cave. A man and a woman. They were unaware of what had happened.

"What the hell do you want old man?" they said as they rounded the corner.

I shot an arrow at the man's head but he managed to dodge it.

"You bastard! You're a dead man," He said as he took cover behind a wall.

When he re-emerged, he was holding a shield and the woman behind him was firing arrows at me.

Savage materialised from behind me and blocked the arrows with her shield.

"I thought you didn't want any distractions," I said.

"Shut up," Savage replied.

After a tense exchange, I was able to distract the woman with a clone and then hit her with my arrow while Savage overpowered the man with the shield.

After taking some stairs to the top, we squared off against a fully armoured knight. As we were about to start the battle, a dark-haired woman dressed in gold and red stepped between us to stop us.

"Please stop! Don't hurt him," she pleaded.

Her name was Inari. She explained that she was abused by Adachi her husband the merchant and that she staged the robbery to get away from him and be with her lover the bandit knight. On hearing that she was abused Savage first listened quietly then became furious.

"I'm going to kill that fucker," Savage said.

I didn't understand why she was so angry but I followed her as she made her way quickly to the merchant's camp.

She grabbed him by his tunic and lifted him.

"So you like to beat up little girls, huh?!" Savage said with a mad expression.

She landed heavy blows on him that bloodied him before I managed to stop her.

"Deceived. You have been lied to by that deceitful woman," the merchant said. "A skilled liar. She has a silver tongue. A question. What did she tell you about me?"

"She said that you are abusive," I replied.

"Lies. The woman has deceived you," he replied while seething. "Another question. Where are the goods that you were sent to retrieve?"

"We didn't… We forgot about that," I said.

He limped back to his carriage and brought out a finely carved bow.

"A gift. You are an archer. Take this. I trust you to be fair," he said. "Her location. You won't find her at the bandit's hideout anymore. She will attempt to sell my goods at the clothing market in Dorn. Please find her and if I am telling the truth, return my goods and my wife to me. Unharmed."

The bow was unusual. It was light but sturdy.