Chapter 14: Awake

[Alcoham Mountains, Duchy of Branbenburg-Puntia, Dalycon Union of Duchies]

(33th, Black Sea Moon (VII), 644 ASY)

Daniel suddenly sits up in agony. The sight before his is not what he remembers when he lays down. His head hurts as if it has been struck by a hammer, and that's not exaggerating. It feels like that time when Moricant accidentally swung his hammer into his face. Once again, he seems to be missing a chunk of his memory.

"Really, again…?" he mutters into the white void that is his vision.

"Again what?" a suspiciously Tyson-sounding voice mutters back. The white void slowly turns into coherent colors as Daniel's vision clears up. A rocky mountainside camp greets him as he takes in the scenery.

"Great choice of camp, maybe next time find a place that has more plants and less rocks?" Daniel doesn't skip a beat berating their choice for a camp.

"He's fine Tyson, he's already getting mad at us," Moricant screams out from somewhere out of sight.

"Eh, that appears to be the case. No matter what though, you must have one heck of a story to tell," Tyson shakes his head. Daniel stretches up, then suddenly realizes that he can't feel his arms.

"It seems as if my arms aren't responding at the moment, please give me about six minutes," Daniel responds.

"Alright, fix that up. Still, you can talk while reattaching your nerves, right?" Tyson nods. Using his Alchemist's sight, Daniel starts the slow process of creating new cells to replace the ones that he lost. Slowly, numbness spreads back into his arms.

"I can. What do you want me to say?"

"What happened during the fight?"

"Pardon?"

"What happened during the fight? It seemed kind of weird for you to suddenly shoo me away,"

"Mmm. Let's talk later. There are reasons for everything,"

"As cryptic as ever. You know that if you had told us about the Articon instead of just telling us 'Hey, let's go explore the Harihama Mountains' it would have ended much better?"

"Didn't want to alert the King,"

"Are you really that distrustful of the King?"

"Ha! Believe me, he would have me executed at the earliest convenience if he could. He doesn't like the fact that I circumvented his monopoly of gemstones by making new types of gemstones. Understandably, if annoying. He needs to appear strong to the nobles to retain power. It seems that Alterya still hasn't fully centralized yet,"

"Right… What would have happened if you told us the true danger of Articon?"

"You most likely would have told somebody connected to the King or even told the king himself. He's been trying unsuccessfully to take away my glassware business for quite a while at that point. He could just say that 'I was keeping your business under my protection while you were gone on a dangerous expedition' and I would lose my only advantage in that fight,"

"Wow, how much do you care about your monopoly on glass?"

"Very. Who do you think gets the money for your ridiculous ideas?"

"Hey, the banquet afterward was a good idea!"

"And how much did it cost? I was the secretary, you never once looked at the tabs and bills. I'm going to guess that you've sold the entirety of Famathia to get enough money to run the organization during the second month of me leaving,"

"H-How did you know we lost our titles?"

"Simple. There was no way that you people could put together a scheme that could get you money other than renting your titles,"

"I hate how much you know about us…"

"Don't worry, I know about the other members more than I know you,"

"Pardon?" Lucya shouts over from where she's setting up another tent.

"Remember, I scouted every single of the original members. I had to know whether or not you'd go along with the group,"

"So you stalked us?"

"Not really? I asked a lot of people about how you were like and your skills. I did come to a lot of practices to see your combat skills. The most worrying thing was your intelligence. That I couldn't figure out by just asking around or being a trainer at the guild. That was why I asked you to dinner,"

"Wait, if you were worrying about her intelligence, why'd you let Moricant in?"

"Hey!"

"Because if our musclehead was too smart, it could lead to problems,"

"What do you mean!"

"Anyhow, let's stop reminiscing the past and start planning our future. We all know why we're in the Alcoham Mountains in the first place, right?"

"Yes,"

"Yup,"

"That is correct,"

"Yes,"

"Are you going to answer my question?"

"Good. Now, which mountain are we currently on?"

"Mount Illvernes. We haven't gotten to Mount Havon yet,"

"Ok, are we taking the shortest path to Havon?"

"Yes? We're going over Illvernes to Havon,"

"I will repeat, are we taking the shortest path to Havon?"

"Yes?" After this reply, Daniel sighs.

"Angelica, can you get me a map of the Alcoham mountains,"

"Sure," Angelica unfurls a large map of the area. On the map, she marks out their current location with a quill.

"See, instead of going over the mountain," Daniel points at the mark labeled 'Mount Illvernes.' "And instead follow the Dereva River," He traces his finger through a line marked "Rivera Devera." "We can get to Mount Havon much faster. Climbing mountains is never fast," He traces his finger back up onto a mark labeled "Mount Havon."

"I see that, but we're already on Mount Illvernes. How exactly do we change course?"

"That's fair. I guess we have to continue on, however slow it is,"

"Wait, why can't we jut go down the mountain?"

"We're already tired. Going up is much easier than going back down, especially when you've already climbed. We're going all the way up, then just jumping off,"

"Wait, isn't that really dangerous? Wouldn't we die?"

"Hello? We have spells? We don't need to agree with physics,"

"Wait, so we're jumping off Mount Illvernes to fly to Mount Havon?"

"I think it's the best decision now. I would've flown all the way, but Ashe's mana generation would alert everything within seven kilometers. It's better for the lesser spellcasters to use their spells rather than place a massive beacon on our position,"

"So… Why aren't we just going down this mountain and following the river? It wouldn't require any mana,"

"Because this is the best compromise. It uses the least amount of mana for the fastest speed,"

"I see… You could have told us that from the beginning…"

"Why should I? If you couldn't understand, it would have been better for you to say that and for me to explain than just babying you around. You'll have to go without me eventually,"

"Wait, why? Are you going to leave again?"

"That's- Well, that's closer to the truth than I'd like. You see, while Ashe and Tyson weren't awake as we were reincarnated, I was. What I saw there was… Frightening. However, I managed to negotiate with them… However, one thing became clear. They wanted the gods of this world to die. That is my mission here. I will kill the gods of this world. Then, I shall rest forever,"