Chapter 26: Secrets
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[Residential Zone, Phoenix Guild Base ; Day 24, Year 2… forty days ago.]

POV – Overworked Assistant Guild Manager, Zach

Why me…

Why does it always have to be me?

Some crazy psycho comes out of the Hell Difficult level… and he charges right toward me.

He even has the nerve to act like we’re friends.

What was his name again? Hans Reo? Han zoo?

The worst part is he stated that we are going to change the entire people regulation system of the residential zone.

…and he said it as though it was the obvious conclusion to all of life’s problems.

Who does he think I am?

I’m a glorified manager, how could I possibly accomplish that?

At most, I could put in a request at the next guild council meeting.

Literally everyone would ignore the request though.

There’s no incentive to about changing the system to allow everyone access to the zones.

When something works, don’t fix it.

Actually, more importantly, why would I do that?

Well, besides the obviously threatening man who managed to sneak into our base demanding it.

…Which honestly is probably a good enough reason alone.

But… IT’S SO MUCH PAPERWORK!

*Internal sobbing…* Nobody can simply go about submitting a random request in the guild council…

There are processes to these things.

Processes that require paperwork… truck loads of paperwork.

Couldn’t he have simply threatened anyone else into doing this?

Why me?!

Do I simply have a bullyable face?

Glancing down at the mounds of paperwork on my desk…

Maybe, I’m simply too naïve.

I think I preferred Earth.

Hearing the door open, I turned toward my savor from paperwork…

Only to see the devil himself, Steven… carrying more paperwork with him.

I can’t take this anymore.

Declaring his fate, I announced, “Steven, you’re fired.”

“It’s Jonathan, Sir. It’s always been Jonathan.” Jonathan stated, before continuing through complaining. “I’m your personal assistant, can’t you at least remember my name?.”

Correcting myself, I announced his fate, “Jonathan, you’re fired.”

Jonathan gave me a salute, before replying, “Thank you and goodbye.”

Wait… What?

John left the room.

Oi… “Come back here!” I ran out the room calling after him.

Annoying, John replied, “Too late, you already fired me… I’m finally free.”

Glancing back into the room piled with paperwork, I cried out, “You can’t just leave!”

He seemed unperturbed stating, “Shouldn’t have fired me then.”

I busy enough as it is… I can’t deal with everything else alone.

Quickly thinking through to a solution, I shouted, “You’re rehired!”

“I think not, I’m finally free…” James replied unimpressed, before stating. “Don’t worry. I’ll inform the guild-leader that you fired me, and that I’m finally free to go back in the zones.”

Desperate, I cried, “Don’t leave me here alone!”

“Fine. Answer my question correctly and I’ll return.” James stated before pausing and asking, “What’s my name?”

Crap…

“It’s… err… James? No… John!” I realized my error and quickly corrected it.

His face clouded over and John angrily stated “I literally told you it 10 seconds ago! IT”S JONATHAN! J-O-N-A-T-H-A-N!”

“No, I’m sure it’s John.” I deadpanned.

“Do you think I’d remember my own name wrong? It’s Jonathan.” John argued clearly confused.

“I see… you must be very confused, John.” I stated nodding sagely toward the psychotic patent.

“Right, I’m leaving.” John turned to leave again.

“It’s okay, John. I’ll help you.” I said nodding to myself and stated. “Until then, you can’t leave. I guessed your name correctly.”

John continued wandering off replying, “My name isn’t John!”

Damn, he isn’t easily convinced… where am I going to find another unhelpful guard to suffer along with me?

Staring back toward the growing pile of paperwork.

These days are just keep going from absolutely terrible to worse…

I definitely preferred Earth.

[Third Zone; Year 2, Day 88… twenty four days later.]

POV Swap – Tobias

Nothing particularly exciting has happened since leaving the lava bog.

We’re still traveling like normal and are constantly running into various monsters.

Considering the direction we’re heading, we should reach the blazing plant plains soon… or whatever they’re called.

Basically, it should be grasslands that entirely consist of various plants that are constantly on fire.

Basically, imagine grassland that’s constantly on fire and never burns up. Should be a rather accurate description.

Rin’s been extremely efficient at dealing with anything we’ve run into.

Granted, sometimes I get chance to deal with them… It’s gotten significantly easier to intervene in those fights now that The Unnoticed has ranked up.

Fortunately, The Unnoticed’s improvements mean that I’ve been able to avoid being targeted by stray attacks.

Something that’s allowed me to keep my remaining clothes intact.

Unfortunately, I have to focus entirely on keeping my mana from spreading into the environment for The Unnoticed work.

Haven’t quite figured out how to fix that problem yet.

…So besides a few basic attacks, it’s basically useless in a fight at the moment.

In other news, we have enough water that I don’t have to worry about conserving it.

I’ve been able to save my recharging canteen for emergencies and continue chatting with Rin.

Well, it’s mainly me chatting to Rin… Rin doesn’t respond often.

Still, it’s better than walking in silence like before.

Rin abruptly stopped signaling that we were going to set up camp here.

… Why here?

Searching about I found nothing extraordinary about this place… actually there’s nothing even slightly different.

Well, Rin probably has a reason.

I’d converted the bag 2.0 into a pillow earlier by stuffing some relatively loose material into it (sand, fur, feathers.)… I miss my proper sleeping bag.

Finished laying out my stuff didn’t take long, due to not having much.

Afterward, I discover Rin standing above me. She seemed focused?

Deciding to ask, “Something the matter?”

“What are you hiding?” Rin questioned staring into my eyes while asking.

Somewhat speechless, “Err… what?”

Rin continued, “You’re hiding something… badly. Tell me.”

What’s she talking about?

I mean, I’m hiding tons of things… I know about her power, knowledge about this zone/universe, my own powers, and anything I believe is potentially dangerous.

But, why asking now?

Yea, no… I’m drawing a blank.

“Can you be more specific?” I cautiously probed.

That only seemed to irritate Rin though.

She coldly replied, “So… Tobias, you’re saying that you’re hiding enough that I need to be specific?”

Oh. OH… Crap, uh… I guess it can be interpreted that way… Whoops.

Err… Should I break the ‘no lying’ rule? Probably not…

Backing up slightly, I didn’t want Rin close while I answered.

“Maybe?” I ambiguously replied.

Rin’s simply stared at me keeping her face expressionless.

Before wordlessly heading back to her sleeping bag.

I’m gonna die aren’t I?

Should I have just told her? Told her what though?

I can’t imagine a good result from telling her anything I’m keeping secret. There’s a reason I’m keeping that knowledge secret to begin with.

Sorry Rin.

Knowledge is power.

I’m don’t intend, nor am I willing, to give up that power at the moment.

Not without gaining a massive advantage from doing so.

I’m weak enough as is… even without giving myself a handicap.

Apologies.

[Several minutes earlier…]

POV Swap – Rin

This location seems good enough to rest for the night.

There’s no monster scents in the immediate area… meaning it should be safe enough to rest in.

After setting up my sleeping bag, I walked over toward Tobias.

Tobias clearly still hiding something lately.

Although, he’s gotten more talkative since the lava bog… he isn’t acting normal.

While I was thinking… Tobias called out, “Something the matter?”

Fine.

Since he asked, I’ll tell him. “What are you hiding?”

“Err… what?” Tobias replied seemly perplexed.

Annoying… does he really think I haven’t noticed?

I stating in deadpan manner, “You’re hiding something… badly. Tell me.”

…he’s gotten lost in his head again, I’m definitely right.

“Can you be more specific?” Tobias carefully probed…

What… Tobias wants me to specify what I believe he’s hiding?

Simply stating Tobias is hiding something isn’t clear enough for him to instantly know what I’m talking about.

Or in other words…

“So… Tobias, you’re saying that you’re hiding enough that I need to be specific?” I coldly inquired.

Tobias seemed to instantly realize his error.

For someone so intelligent, he can be an utter idiot at times.

You’re completely verbally cornered.

Answer my question.

Tobias backed up…

Is he afraid I’m going to be mad at him because of his response?

Tobias responded, “Maybe?”

Staring into his eyes…

Fine… no, fine.

I’ll figure it out myself.

Tobias, it better be important enough for you to hide… or insignificant enough that you didn’t see a reason to mention it.

Otherwise…

I’m going to be angry.

Very angry.

[Residential Zone, guild council; Year 2, Day 88…]

POV Swap –Extremely Overworked Assistant Guild Manager, Zach

I HATE this city.

It can go die in a fire.

Somehow everyone in the guild council voted to overturn the current arrangements, which makes no sense.

Then they decided to dump the problem of creating new arrangements on me.

‘It was your idea.’ They said.

‘Why should we do it when you’re the one who wanted new arrangements.’ Another stated.

WHY DOES EVERYTHING GET DUMPED ON ME!

I call bullshit.

They also approved the new arrangements! Before they've even been created!

Why should it be my problem if they decided to overturn the old proposal?

Everyone in this city can go die a painful death in a fire.

See if I care. (Spoiler alert: I wouldn’t.)

In the first place, it makes no sense for one person to create the entire arrangements for all the guilds in the city.

What would they do if I purposefully mess everything up?

Nothing that’s what.

They wouldn’t know how to dump water out of boot with the instructions on its heel.

Why don’t I purposefully mess everything up?

…Well, that Hell Difficult dude would probably kill me.

Depressing.

In other news, I’ve received reports that John’s reentered the zones… That’s so unfair!

Although, apparently, the guild also got his name wrong and wrote that Jonathan had reentered the zone.

Don’t worry, John.

It's taken some time, but I made sure to fix that mistake.

Then I realized that I should fix the rest of the guild’s records!

It wouldn’t be right to simply fix that one mistaken record.

After several weeks worth of efforts, I've changed all the appropriate files…

It's still in progress of being distributing to the other guilds... but, once you get back every legal document should be changed.

It took time out of my other paperwork, but I managed to accomplish it.

Every file should now have the correct name of John.

It’s that excellent?

I’ll make sure to send him a letter to inform him…

After all, I wouldn’t mind John’s thanks when he gets back.

Spoiler

Alright... I believe I've figured this out in a way that makes sense.

I'm going to cancel...

  • Sunday's chapter, April 21st.
  • Friday's chapter, April 26th.
  • Wednesday's chapter, May 1st

Meaning the next chapter should be Wednesday, 24th.

Sorry, this chapter is slightly shorter than usual... I've gotten rather busy at the moment.

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