The East Brings Ominous Tidings

Pulling out my phone-turned-Terminal, I looked through the Mall while simultaneously checking my Inventory on the HUD.

Food. Food. Food. Clothes. Not this. Nope. Nope.

[Nori?]

'Are you aware of killing games, Thirty-Seven?'

[I do not follow.]

'This is what I know: we and other foreigners with their own AIs are on this planet for some reason or another. Forty-Two and Fillemund seemed to reject you wanting to team up. They meet another pair and something happened to them.'

I found a dust mask I've used when doing motocross and bought it. A regular black medical mask was fine when spying but it would fall off with too many vigorous movements.

'Now, if teaming up is an option but not a requirement. Does this make it a competition? Or is there a benefit to getting rid of other Partners?'

Several Korean webnovels came to mind when I was trying to find parallels to my situation that reminded me of Japanese light novels before now. Unfortunately, Korean novels are known to be ruthlessly brutal (partially why I read them, to be honest).

I'm a very low-key person. The total opposite of a glory hound, many people on Earth had remarked in surprise when they met me. I enjoyed the rush of extreme sports but I didn't go looking for trouble (unlike my baby sister).

This felt like a setup which I didn't very much want to play, even if my bond with 37 automatically meant I was involved.

[Nori…]

'It's fine,' I smiled grimly as I found a set of bracers in the Market and bought it. This falls right in line with the Blackwell Luck, to be honest!

Fiddling with the workshop menu, I combined the bracers with a pair of archery gloves and put the new armor away. It was actually rather convenient that I can switch equipment and outfits with my Terminal, though I figure it's a perk of the energy shield that covered my form 24/7.

Flopping down onto the roof, I got comfortable and waited for dawn.

…

The doors to the meeting hall banged open, interrupting one of the Westrian officials mid-speech.

'Ah, great,' I thought sarcastically. A new group of people arrived and I couldn't even risk <Scan> because of that blond alfr in the room.

This time, I was putting a little more distance between myself and the group that was part of the conference, watching from outside a high window. The angle prevented people easily spotting me from outside and I made sure the lighting was shadowed enough no one would think to look up from an odd shape or flickering shadows.

[It's the Eastern Contingent.] The AI sounded a bit confused.

'What's wrong?'

[It's nothing.]

Dismissing it as nothing, I focused on the ruckus in the hall, cocking my head and increasing my hearing with the help of 37. It didn't make much of a difference where I was since I could hear the conversation as if I were in the room myself.

"—apologies but my King is preoccupied with the recent unrest in the east. I was sent here to inform our neighbors of dire news that would potentially affect the entire continent."

"Do tell us, Sidius," the woman that had been part of my testing panel spoke up. (Romilda Goshawk.)

Sidius, the rather chubby emissary adjusted his lapels uncomfortably or habitually. "Yes, well. The Augur has seen a massacre in the Dead Man's Circle. A demon was summoned recently and an entire island was destroyed by its evil actions."

"A demon!"

"That sounds like a devil rather than a harmless imp. One of such power hasn't been seen on Gaellia in centuries…"

… I wonder if that demon was a Partner.

Continuing to listen closely to the other disastrous news being brought on the table, I pinched my brow.

None of those were exactly natural disasters being listed which was not positive news. It meant that 37's pronouncement of Gaellia needing to be saved was not hyperbole. I mean, I figure that any civilization would be wrought with its own problems but I'm kind of stuck as an alien observing all this right now.

A part of me can't help but wonder if the cause of all this trouble was because of us (AI and their Partners). Or that we really were here to fix this problem.

Large groups of undead digging themselves up and going missing does not sound like a natural anything at all.

Neither did some other things when one calculated that magic was real in this world. Maybe one or two might be freak acts of nature but half a dozen reports added to something uncomfortable.

To not even mention how certain powers seemed to be turning aggressive or acting on their greed for land and power at this moment. The timing was awful.

Looking at the people gathered below me, inside that hall, my eyes inevitably trailed to the blond alfr. His presence was somewhat reassuring in the sense he seemed dependable. In this instance, though, I found him annoying because I couldn't risk being discovered through use of a spell.

'I've heard enough for now, Thirty-Seven. Let's go.'