After All is Said and Done

While we waited for Kat to return from whatever debriefing they wanted her, I continued to teach Sophia how to use the Paradigm Help Entries to learn more about the System. She was still utterly confused as to how she found herself in Pjana and that there was suddenly something so monumental like the System had suddenly appeared since it never existed in her most recent memories.

After the memories that I witnessed from the entity that was in my left arm, my first thought was that Sophia might be like the Stranger, someone that came from the old world that had no System, a world whose history had suddenly completely disappeared. Completely disappeared except for remnants that the System used in its scenario creations.

I thought back to the cave structure that I found in the Solo Dungeon and wondered if that also was a remnant of the old world.

I wanted to tell Sophia this, but I decided not to yet as it might be a little bit overwhelming for her.

"This is ridiculous!" Sophia exclaimed in frustration.

Even though she had reminded me that she can read repeatedly, it seemed like she really disliked the act.

"There's quite a bit of information, yes," I tried to calm her down, "But normally the information is a bit more spread out over time. I guess since you suddenly got Registered, you've got quite a lot to catch up on."

"How can you act like this box hanging in the air in front of you is all normal?" Sophia whined.

"Depending on how you look at it, I'm luckier — or unluckier — than most since I've been Registered at such an early age."

"It is so disorienting!" Sophia said as she waved her arm as if to try to swipe the Window she was looking at away, "I have a headache."

I sat down on the other end of the group-seats to her and spoke as kindly as I could, "The faster you get the hang of it, the more natural it feels."

"Everything just feels so foreign!" Sophia explained, "What is this 'level' thing all about? I do not understand it at all!"

"It measures how strong we —"

"But how does it do that?" Sophia interrupted me, "It seems to quantify strength and skill, but there should be no definite way to do that. Accurately, at the very least."

I shrugged at her, "It's the System. It just does."

She shot an angry glare at me, "You are not helping at all."

She then clicked her tongue and looked at me up and down, "And who are you to believe that you can teach me anything? You look like a lowly peasant. I am the princess of the Aldgenn Kingdom!"

I scoffed. She had a bad attitude, how very typical of the noble class. There were some instances where a noble stopped through Town Ohda during their travels, and they were all terrible people.

"You might be the princess of the Aldgenn Kingdom, but right here right now, until you find your way out of Pjana, you're only an ex-slave." I crossed my arms tightly and looked away.

"You…" she muttered, "If only I did not need your help right now, I would burn your clothes in public to humiliate you because of your foul attitude."

I laughed out loud a little bit too loudly, "You wish you could cast a fire spell on me. I saw your Status Window, you've got no magic skills."

She hissed a breath in, "I do not need this silly box to tell me what I can and cannot do, I have mastered many magical spells!"

"Yeah right."

Her face was bright red in anger. She jumped up suddenly onto her feet and glared down at me as I laughed at her reaction. I stopped laughing when she started to perform intricate hand gestures and seemed to write foreign words in the air in front of her and pointed in my direction. The sincerity in her voice as she started to speak in a language that wasn't the Universal Paradigm Language started to scare me.

With a final rise in her voice and a final hand gesture that she pushed forward in my direction, we both waited for something to happen. But nothing happened.

"What?" Sophia said in a cracked soft voice.

I saw the familiar facial recognition of a Window popping up in front of her face and her gaze turned from confusion to anger, then to sadness.

"What's wrong?" I finally said.

A Window popped up in front of me as Sophia slumped back down and placed her face in her hands.

The Window explained that she had not fulfilled the prerequisites to perform such a high-levelled destructive spell. My attention kept going back to the part of the message that mentioned that the spell that she had attempted to do to me was a 'destructive' one.

"Wait, you were serious?" I gasped, "You were going to set me on fire?"

She started to sob into her hands, "I feel so helpless. I hate this place! I want to go home!"

I swiped the Window away and watched as she continued to cry softly. I couldn't help but feel awful. I couldn't imagine what kind of whirlwind of emotions she was currently experiencing.

"Look, I'm sorry," I finally spoke.

She continued to sob, and the heavy silence hung over the both of us as I didn't know what else to say. I looked over at her and noticed the intricate black tattoo on her right wrist and looked down at the matching band on my left. I wondered what the tattoo meant when a new Window chimed into existence in front of me.

The Window had the familiar glitched writing that I started to see since I had my latest conversation with the entity in my arm.

[USER HAS BEEN BONDED TO ANOTHER USER WITH THE {unique-item: brand of eternal soul band}.

UNTIL THE USER HAS COMPLETED THE REQUIREMENTS, THE SOULS OF BOTH USERS ARE intrinsically intertwined WITH EACH OTHER.

NEW STATUS EFFECT HAS BEEN APPLIED TO BOTH USERS:

"intertwined souls".]

Confused, I tried looking for any Help Entries on the Status Effect, but nothing came up in the results. As a final attempt, I tried to look up the item: Band of Eternal.

[ITEM: BRAND OF THE ETERNAL SOUL BAND

TIER: {unique}

DESCRIPTION: A BRAND THAT ORIGINATED FROM THE ███████ ERA. THOUGHT TO BE CONNECTED TO THE POWER OF A GREAT EVIL, A GREAT AMOUNT OF MAGICAL POWER IS REQUIRED TO PLACE THE BRAND ON OTHERS.

THE BRAND WAS TYPICALLY USED TO ENSURE COOPERATION BETWEEN PARTIES (INCLUDING THE CASTER OF THE BRAND) BUT CAN BE PLACED ON PARTIES INVOLVED FOR A SPECIFIC REQUIREMENT, THE ACT OF ACTIVATING THE BRAND ON PARTIES PLACES BOTH SOULS IN THE LINE AS COLLATERAL IN THE LINE IN THE FORM OF 'RECTIFICATION'.

IF ONE PARTY DESERTS THE OTHER, THEN BOTH SOULS ARE LIABLE FOR 'RECTIFICATION'.]

My throat suddenly went dry, and I quickly asked Paradigm to scan my brand to try and glean any extra information on it. My fears were confirmed when I read the information on the new Window.

"Oh gods," I mumbled.

"What?" Sophia sniffed as she rubbed her eyes with her arm.

I sighed and shared both Windows of information with her.

She was silent as she read the Window explaining the brand first, then when she reached the second Window, her eyes bulged open in shock.

"This cannot be!" she exclaimed as she glared between me and the brand on her right wrist.

[unique requirement: both parties cannot leave the Party until the fulfilment of both 'STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND' and '{hidden quest}'.

note: secret requirements have yet to be revealed to uncover {hidden quest}.]

Justifiably, Sophia's reaction was a bit more violent than mine. I was more used to the System's censorship and seemingly hidden agenda against the entity in my arm and anything from the old world. Not only did Sophia have to suddenly deal with the existence of the System, but it also seemed like she was stuck in a Party with me for the foreseeable future.

"What in the blazes is this?" she roared.

Her anger was swiftly stopped by the sudden appearance of an out-of-breath Kat by the entrance flap of the tent.

"Ryuu!" Kat gasped as she heaved deep breaths in and out.

Before we could do anything, the knight named Peter also appeared behind Kat. He was also puffing as if he had run down after Kat.

"Ms Katsumi! Why did you run out of the meeting with the Head-Perator so suddenly?" the knight asked, though he paused when he noticed Sophia standing in the tent in her ilk-silk robe.

"I apologise, Miss, I did not mean to look." The knight placed a hand in front of his face to block his line of sight from Sophia in her undergarments.

Both Sophia and I realised, and I quickly said as I grabbed the fur coat she had taken with her over her once more, "Ms Sophia, we must get you some more appropriate clothing."

"I'll speak with some of the women of the Religion to see if they can provide Ms Sophia with something suitable."

"Ryuu!" Kat said again after she caught her breath some, "We were stuck in the Tower for two months!"

"What?" I said, frozen on the spot, "No, it can't be."

I had expected some sort of time lost, considering what happened to me during the Solo Dungeon, but I didn't expect it to be so drastic. Then I remembered what Kei had written to me in his latest letter that I found in the orphanage.

I lunged over to the backpack that I carried and quickly tipped out the contents of the pack.

"What's wrong sir?" Peter asked.

I quickly found the letter and furiously read over the words once more. As I feared, the letter talked about how Kei was going to be nearby in Shinobu City for the Hunting Games competition. If Kat was accurate about how long we were trapped in the Tower, that meant that the year's Hunting Games had been over for around a month by now. I slumped back down on my backside in defeat and sighed.

"He was going to be at the Hunting Games…" I said quietly.

I heard the movement of armour and Peter called out, "I'm sorry sir, but did you say The Hunting Games?"

I got back up on my knees and placed the letter back into my pack, "Yeah, I was supposed to meet someone there."

"I think you're still able to meet them, sir," Peter said.

"What do you mean?" I said as I turned to face him, still on my knees.

"Well, it seems that while you all were in the Tower, a magical disease outbreak happened," The knight explained, "A 'Quarantine' was placed on the surrounding towns as well as Shinobu City to prevent the spread of the disease. Citizens of the towns and cities were prevented to leave their homes. It meant that travel was restricted and many events had to be delayed. The Hunting Games was one of those delayed events."

"You mean—?" I started then I focused, "Hang on, what do you mean a 'magical disease'?"

The knight solemnly explained that an outbreak of a mysterious disease spread like wildfire in multiple cities all around the world, and somehow Shinobu City and the surrounding towns were also affected. They only knew that it seemed to be magical in nature when a few Master Mages from the Aldgenn Kingdom managed to find some mana signatures in the bodies of people who died from the disease.

I expected Sophia to react when her home kingdom was mentioned, but she was also very horrified by the description of the symptoms of the disease.

Peter explained that after a few days of seemingly being unafflicted by the disease, those that contracted it suddenly developed massive, bloody sores all over their body. At first, it seemed like it was just affecting them on the outside, but during an autopsy of an afflicted body, it was found that sores also developed all over the internal organs of those infected. These internal sores could develop up and down the throat which prevented people from being able to eat or drink, and even sometimes breathe.

The symptoms of the disease meant that those infected by it had a horrible and painful death and that there was no cure for it. The only preventative measure that was thought of was the 'Quarantine' that Peter had mentioned. And as suddenly as the outbreak appeared, it seemingly disappeared after almost two months of Quarantine. It was only after the Quarantine that the One Creator believers were able to reach the massacred camp near the Crimson Tower we were trapped in and reclaimed it for themselves.

After his explanation, one thought haunted me, "You said that the towns surrounding Shinobu City were affected by the disease, does that include Town Ohda?"

Peter's face paled to a scary complexion, "Oh One Creator," he mumbled.

His face pretty much told me all that I needed to know. His next words clinched it for me.

"It must've slipped my mind when you said you came from there when you introduced yourself…" Peter bowed down low in shame, "I'm so sorry to inform you, sir, but Town Ohda does not exist anymore."

***

Just shy of a month later, the little girl stood next to the boy and the princess in the One Religion campus that the little girl used to call her home. They stood near the stables as the princess, who was forced to play the character of the slave, was the only one to ready a packhorse for hers and the boy's journey to Shinobu City.

The little girl asked the boy if he was all right.

He smiled sadly at her. Almost everything I knew of the house I grew up in was a lie, he explained. The woman that ran the house, the orphanage, was evil, but nobody else in the town knew. They did what they could for themselves. They carved out simple lives for themselves and helped the boy over the years in the small ways that they could.

They didn't deserve the deaths that they got.

The boy explained that while he was still saddened by the loss of the townsfolk's lives, he recognised that he had to keep moving forward even while he dealt with that loss. He promised himself that his actions from that point on would be dedicated to them. That was the best thing he could do for them.

He turned his attention to the little girl. The boy asked if she was sure that she wanted to part ways for now. She nodded confidently. Because of her innate 'Holy Faith' attribute, the Head-Perator of Pjana had offered her a sponsorship to become a Holy Knight. It was a sponsorship that she had accepted.

The boy studied the little girl. She gave him a genuine, hopeful smile and said hoped that by the next time they see each other again, she would be strong enough to be the one to protect him.

He placed his right hand on her shoulder softly. She is plenty strong enough already, he told her, way stronger than he was when he was her age.

A heavy silence fell on them. Only the frustrated yelling of the princess as she wrestled for control with the packhorse broke the silence.

The boy apologised for what the little girl had to go through during the Crimson Tower Quest.

The little girl shook her head and told him that he had ultimately managed to keep her safe until they got out of the Tower.

"Whatever did happen to Saizo?" the boy asked. They both had been too busy to have the conversation about the old man.

All that the little girl could say was that the old man was transported out of the Tower earlier than anyone else with a new Quest.

The boy apologised that the little girl had been exposed to the entity repeatedly. He explained that even he was confused as to what the entity is. He asked her what happened when the entity took over his body after the assassin's death.

The little girl was about to say something, but they were interrupted once again by the princess who was barely able to keep hold of the reins of the packhorse.

The little girl promised to tell the boy what happened the next time they see each other. The boy sighed and said that he understood.

The boy followed the little girl as she approached the princess. He grabbed the reins from the princess and easily soothed the packhorse. The princess stared at the animal and then at the boy and ordered him to tell her his secret.

The little girl quickly reminded the princess that she had to pretend to be a meek slave, at least in public. The princess understood what the little girl said, but still grumbled under her breath.

A Window appeared in front of the princess, and she angrily swiped it away. She asked the boy and the little girl for hints to control the Windows. She still struggled to live with the System. The boy simply shrugged and asked the little girl if she had any ideas. The little girl apologised and simply said that she had a much better handle over being a 'late-bloomer' simply because she was a natural at it. That was something that couldn't be taught to someone else.

The princess sarcastically thanked them both for their wisdom, and the packhorse snorted in her face. This caused the little girl and the boy to laugh.

To say that the departure was a happy one would be a lie. The boy still had the sense that he had to keep protecting the little girl, but he had to respect her decision to leave the Party.

The little girl still felt the familial connection that she had with the boy, and she didn't know when they would cross paths again, but she was determined to not be as useless and weak as she had been. She wanted to be someone the boy could depend on in his journey and studying to be a Holy Knight seemed to be a solid start to fulfil that goal.

The princess still struggled with Paradigm. A construct that did not exist in her memories. The Quest that had been bestowed on her and the brand that suddenly appeared on her and the boy meant that she was stuck with him for the foreseeable future. And though she missed home and her family, she understood why the Party headed back to Shinobu City. They needed money for their journey back to Aldgenn, and the Hunting Games was a good place to try and get the necessary funding.

And as they separated, they knew that they would all gather again into a Party at some point in the future, though they didn't know how or when that would happen.

That uncertainty exists in everything, everyone, everywhere. It is even more all-encompassing than Paradigm itself. Such is the nature of the world. Even a world with Paradigm.

That uncertainty exists even for me, as I watch these events unfold from afar, I am unable to even predict what would happen next. Imagine my surprise when a Window with a message suddenly appeared in front of every User in the world. A message that was the catalyst of everything that was about to happen. A message that even I never expected to appear. A message that should never have been necessary to exist:

[INTRODUCING THE NEW 'EXPANSION' UPDATE…]