———Jerson———
<11: 22 am>
“<You sure you’ll be alright, Jack?>” Lrem’s voice rang out with concern.
“It’ll be fine, it’ll blow over eventually.” I said to sooth her and the others’ concern. No one is going outside today, the scarily accurate intel from Idea was right on the mark, there seems to be a skirmish outside. If my kids go out there they’d… Let’s not think about that.
“<Sure hope you’re right about that.>” Seemi commented. These guys really need to stop trying to jinx me. I’m trying to stay quiet here, far from where the fight is happening.
“<Hopefully he’ll hold out for at least an hour.>” Lrem remarked. “<By that point things should be resolved, or at least tire everyone out. People haven’t gotten to the point of lasting that long yet.>”
“<I mean most brawls barely last up to two minutes, an hour is kind of a miracle.>” Seemi remarked. I think I just heard something exploding.
“<Magic doesn’t exactly increase the longevity of a battle. Sure, being stronger means you last longer on your two feet, but that also means the punch from your enemy is also stronger, ultimately canceling it out. The main thing that changed is the amount of collateral damage.>” Lrem pointed out. “<It’s not exactly something you would like to hear, but just bare with it. I hope you didn’t tell your kids that.>”
“I’m not doing anything that stupid, cut me some slack.” I said with an annoyed face. I don’t want my kids scared and restless. I’m never gonna hear the end of it from her if I did as well.
“<...By the way, how were you doing with all the battle stuff? You still look as buff as ever, but I obviously can’t sense anything through the screen.>” Seemi asked.
“Just doing as well as I always have. No idea how much stronger I got, but probably not on Lrem’s level.” I don’t have the gall to try out whatever the hell she did yesterday. I’m surprised she even went that far. Doesn't she have an image to protect or something?
“<Who the hell here is on that level except for maybe Kara? Idea? Idea, you never show how strong you are, right?>” Seemi suddenly turned her attention towards Idea, who had been silent up to this point. “<...Are they afk?>”
“<Probably.>” Lrem replied. “<What do you expect from someone so mysterious all the time? Clearly not the type to be around when it’s convenient.>”
“<Kara is probably in school right now… The others barely boast about it so they’re probably not that strong either.>” Seemi recounted. “<You’re basically the voice of authority when it comes to magic, Lrem, at least provisionally!>”
“<The heck do you want me to do with that meaningless title?>” Lrem asked, clearly sounding annoyed. “<What are you even doing right now? Jack can’t get outside, but you’re not in any trouble yourself, right?>”
“<What? I get a rest day, right? Doing dungeons every day is suicidal anyway.>” Seemi argued.
“<Going in for at least ten floors would’ve been fine. That much wouldn’t cause significant strain.>” Lrem argued back.
“<Oh come on, I already went down like thirty floors yesterday. I really need a break.>” She pleaded with the harsh mistress. That is a good amount of floors. Going beyond that and it’s starting to feel like a struggle. “<By the way, Jack. You’re really fine, right?>”
“Of course. They seem to be scrapping around the middle of town. I’m in my house far from that.” There are sounds of fighting that can be heard even from here, but it’s distant so it should still be fine. If they get close to this area then I would’ve seen them through the window by now.
“<Sure hope they get that done quickly. I don’t need any more scare of online friends suddenly going offline.>” Seemi commented. Wasn’t she one of the people who needed rescue in the first place? At least with Lrem she was wrapped up with dealing with terrorists but she was one of the people least in danger at the time, and with the other guys that was just random incidents and nothing to do with all the terrorism right now.
“<Of all the people to say that…>” Lrem sees the irony in that as well.
“<Say, Lrem, what are you even doing then?>” Seemi suddenly spoke up.
“<Nothing. Unlike you I can afford to slack off a bit. I need to pry away from the public eye for a moment anyway.>” She answered. That little stunt she did yesterday probably brought a lot of gazes. I think she had complained about it being the wrong kind of gaze in the past with an unrelated incident. She is probably sick of that by now.
“You are dealt quite a rough hand.” I guess it’s like some sort of curse for being so strong. A lot of really unnecessary scrutiny. I don’t think she said she was harassed or anything of the sort, but it’s clear she’s annoyed by something.
“<At least I can do something about neighboring towns doing some nasty things. Most of you get in way more trouble than I would’ve been fine with.>” …I can’t tell if that’s her sympathizing or berating us, but at least it’s vague? “<...So has there been any news on this?>”
“Can’t you all just check that?” I wasn’t being secretive about where I live, so they should know by now where I’m at. I don’t think searching for your town being attacked is the best use of my time anyway. I’d look quite a weirdo if anyone finds out.
“<What, aren’t you a bit curious?>” Seemi asked.
“I seriously am not.” I flatly answered. What use is ego-searching my town anyway?
“<…By the way, you got someone strong in your town? You know, you’re a bit calmer than I thought, so there’s someone acting as the ace in the hole, right?>” Seemi asked.
“Not really?” Is something like that common?
“<Oh… Well, I hope it’s all fine anyway.>” Wha- Why does she have to say it like that, it’s kinda scary.
“What? Is that sorta thing common?” I asked in confusion. There are strong people in the guild, but no one ‘ace’ I would say.
“<My place has one, Lrem is one, and Kara’s whole school is one, pretty much. You know, a guy capable of leveling an entire town so no stupid people dare to invade it?>” Why is she saying the last part out so casually!?
“No!?” I know this is probably not the first time we discuss something like this but it feels like an absurd thing to bring up even one time! I think if I know someone like that I would’ve told them by now!
“<Well that’s a shame. No wonder things haven’t resolved yet.>” She said with an absurd amount of callousness. She does know that if Idea hadn’t warned me then my family might have ended up dead!?
“I know people leveling towns and cities are old news at this point, but should we be talking about that casually?” I asked in frustration. “The fact that Lrem can do something like that feels absurd.”
“<My upper limit is probably around half a state.>” Lrem suddenly interjected.
“Ugh…” Of all the things she has to say and it’s that!? Why am I the one getting frustrated by all the magical nonsense? Can’t Seemi keep getting stuck with that role?
“<At least it doesn’t look like anyone from the invading group has someone like that, otherwise it would’ve been over by now, and I need to come over to bail your family out.>” Lrem said with a straight face. Can she even do that even though we’re multiple states apart? “<Of course, I don’t actually know who holds the advantages right now. If it does reach that one hour mark we can say it’s a stalemate.>”
“<…Is Idea still not here?>” Seemi asked. The status shows them being busy, but it could be something they manually set, so it’s hard to be sure.
“<I wouldn’t count on them coming here to chat, to be honest.>” Lrem remarked. “<...By the way, did you warn anyone else about the upcoming attack?>”
“As if they’ll listen to me. I don’t have any authority in town, you know?” I have been laying low and doing my own thing. For a family guy like me trying to stand out too much is gonna cause me some real trouble.
“<Zero connections… Alright then, guess that’s fine.>” Lrem dispassionately said. It’s really starting to feel like they’re mocking me for something I don’t have control over. “<As long as you and your family are safe that’s enough for us right now… If you’re lucky, it could be over with in the next ten minutes.>”
“Why ten?” Is there something that would happen ten minutes from now? I don’t think lunch break is going to stop everyone from fighting.
“<...Maybe twenty if we’re being more realistic, but no matter.>” She walked back her statement. I still don’t know what she’s insinuating. “<One thing for sure, most places will probably shut down for a few days due to collateral damage. Maybe you won’t find anything to eat for a while.>”
“I mean, the supermarket isn’t around there, so it should be fine.” I said, maybe being a bit too optimistic. Who knows who’ll be on the cooking duty once all of this is over. At least right now we have plenty of stuff in the fridge.
———Luik———
<11: 53 am>
*Zoom*
Hmm… Things have gotten quite bloody. The mission was up for a long time, so perhaps they’re close to finishing it up anyway, but none of that mattered. I know who the enemy is, and my only purpose here is to eradicate them all.
*Leap* *Slash* *Slice* *Chop* *Dice*
I quickly cut down all the invaders in under less than a minute. While a less lethal solution could’ve worked, I am not in the mood for such a thing. They have already done so much damage to this place it’s honestly nauseating, and I didn’t even have lunch yet. I saw the incident on the news and know right away there’s going to be a mission for it.
“<Mission accomplished. Do you wish to return?>” Get me out of here already, I’m starving.
*Zoom*
———Jerson———
<11: 55 am>
“<Huh. Perhaps being realistic isn’t the call.>” Lrem suddenly said. What just happened?
“<Heh? What makes you say that all of a sudden?>” Seemi asked, and then Lrem showed her screen and began playing a video… It’s a… What just happened. “<Where is this from?>”
“<From Jack’s town, obviously. Looks like the reinforcement showed up and left in less than a minute.>” Lrem casually answered. In less than a minute. Suddenly a bunch of people get turned into mince meat in only a few seconds with no one realizing what happened. Kind of a miracle that anyone even managed to record that. “<Don’t you feel the spikes in power from the battle reducing to zero? You should be able to feel that.>”
“...I guess I got nothing?” I definitely am not feeling anything from the outside, but I’m not even that confident in my own power reading ability in the first place. “How did you even know reinforcement would arrive?”
“<It follows the pattern with all the other mysterious reinforcements, that’s how I know.>” She answered. Is there really a pattern to that? “<Anyway, I guess you’re safe to come out now.>”
“Too bad it’s going to take a while before they clean up the mess. My kids were annoying me about going outside as well.” I said that and the people in the call nodded in understanding. No way I can bring them out right away. I should be quiet about the update for now. Even with a reinforcement that quickly deals with the problem… “So who even was that?”
“<No idea.>” Lrem quickly answered. “<In the first place, they move so fast that they’re nothing more than a blur. No way anyone can tell who that was.>”
“Yeah, I guess it will be like that.” Not like knowing who that was would’ve given me much to work with. The most that’ll do is give me something as a conversation starter.
*Knock* *Knock*
“Oh. Looks like lunch is here. See you guys in a bit.” I said before leaving the chat and walking to the door.