Apologies for the wait. Chapters are resuming!
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"So let me get this straight, Your Highness. The reason why Grancel City looks like this is all because of this ability of yours?", Cassius said, his voice echoing through the Bracer Guild. As for me, I stood near a window, and looked out. To think a Divergent Weapon could trigger an Instance Dungeon. On one side, I should be shocked, but we still don't know much about Divergent Laws. It's where the Salt Pale came from. It's where Gnosis comes into play. All we really know is that it is called The Beyond. And apparently, the Grandmaster can forge weapons from it. I could even place a bet that The Beyond is where the Gamer System originated. In that regard, having a Divergent Weapon create an Instance Dungeon is making more and more sense.
But I stayed silent for a moment, before I nodded my head at Cassius.
"That's right. To put it bluntly, we entered a proving ground. Not the one I was expecting, but only good will come of this. To a normal person who I have zero connection with, this will not impact them. Once the proving ground finishes, and might I add, regardless of whether we succeed or fail, no harm will come to them. On that point, as the Crown Prince, I can assure you everyone is safe. Even if they look...like what they do now.", I answered, and kept my gaze toward the window.
The landscape changed entirely, like I said. All buildings, people, and even animals drained of color, frozen in place. It was as if I was transported into the Recluse Cube, an artifact that makes its appearance once the Aureole collapses during Sky SC. In the games, it was none other than Kevin who picks this artifact up, which binds its intentions to Kevin. In return, Kevin became the "Protagonist", which spun a story that dove deep into Kevin's trauma. From there, characters who became associated with Kevin appeared one after another, and turned into a dungeon crawler-type game.
But what happens if someone else picks up the Recluse Cube?
Like me.
I couldn't imagine the thought of such a thing. But this monochrome landscape was exactly like one of the dungeons of the Recluse Cube. It was scary how close it was to the exact model. But there were differences. In the games, there was an entire absence of people. All you were met with were monsters, monsters, and more monsters. Here, all the people were frozen in place. And when you were met with bosses, they were copies of their original characters. They weren't even real!
But here, it was very, very real. All those people were frozen in place. But reality bended, and turned into an Instance Dungeon. Only those who have a bond with me were brought into it. Any actions taken by the monsters won't impact those left behind in reality. Just us!
And I know there are a lot of people here in Grancel City. More than likely, there will be guests who will watch this event. Like Sherryl. I'm sure she doesn't want to meet with me quite just yet. Her Favorability is pretty high, so she'll get first row seats to watch this, haha!
"So this really was the prince's doing.", A girl's voice called out to us.
"Haha, I told ya didn't I, Ries? Strange events always sprout up around the Crown Prince.", A familiar voice also called out. It wasn't just me with Cassius. Joshua and Scherazard were beside me. Their initial shock had already ended, and accepted the fact I had such a weird ability. Zin is here too. Kilika came and went earlier, assuring me that she will look after Sherryl for me. Angelica is here too. When Zin came, Angelica followed. By then, my bow had already created the Instance Dungeon. That meant I had Favorability with Zin and Angelica! Even Elnan was here. Because he became interested in wanting to find out what we were up to, Favorability triggered for him. His is much lower, but it still caused him to join the Instance Dungeon, even if he isn't a fighter.
But all of our eyes wandered toward the staircase that led to the second floor. To my shock, Kevin and Ries showed up out of the blue.
"Yo, Yer Highness. Didn't think we'd catch up with ya so soon again. It's just been a couple of hours but time's out the window now. Literally, haha!", Kevin said, greeting us.
"You were in the stands earlier during the tournament. Nice to see you two again.", Zin said, calling out to the two.
"You know these two, Zin?", Elnan asked, gaining interest.
"I could say the same thing! Didn't think we'd see you two again so soon.", Angelica happily said.
"I wish it were under better terms. But they're not bad ones. Came here to join the fun?", I asked, welcoming Kevin and Ries into the Bracer Guild.
"Pretty much. Better than sittin' away doin' nothin'.", Kevin answered, nodding his head.
"But you were just doing that a second ago, Kevin.", Ries retorted him, slanting her eyelids downward.
"T-That's beside the point, Ries! We're good at goin' with the flow, aren't we? That's part of the job!", Kevin shot back.
"And what job would that be, exactly?", Ries questioned, seriously wondering that.
Hearing that, we laughed. These two are such a comedic duo. Kevin's always cracking jokes or spouting nonsense when he tries to interact with people despite holding back the trauma he holds deep within him. After all, one's stigma manifests from said trauma. I just don't know if his event has taken place yet. Is he a Dominion now? I do recall it taking place in S1198, but it's still too early in the year. He did join the Septian Church much, much earlier than when it was supposed to happen, so I'm not sure if that implicated things. After all, he was with Ein back during the Emperor's ascension. I don't think he was supposed to join the Gralsritter until S1197. Perhaps he had already done so by the time we briefly crossed paths back at Nemeth Island a year ago?
I'm not sure. I doubt he'll want to display such power anyway. Just having his orbal arts and crafts will be sufficient enough. Especially since he has Ries beside him!
"This sure is an interesting gathering of people. I was waiting to catch my flight back to Erebonia only to see all services stop running. Then there was that explosion. Now you got everyone frozen in time. And here I thought I knew everything about you, Naoto. You just had to show another card.", A woman's voice called out this time.
Sure enough, Aurelia wandered in with a look of interest. Cassius could feel a powerful aura releasing from her body, even without Aurelia doing anything.
"I take it this is someone you know as well, Your Highness?", Cassius asked.
"Yes. This is Lady Aurelia. She's uhh...how do you put this...my fiancé?", I responded, scratching my cheek out of embarrassment.
"W-What!?", Cassius exclaimed.
"I was just as shocked as you are when I learned of it too, dad. With things leading up to this, I just forgot to mention it.", Joshua said, still feeling surprised about my connection with Aurelia.
"Likewise. We were in the crowd when Lady Aurelia showed up. You're such a lucky guy~", Scherazard said, teasing me. At the same time, she looked at Aurelia once more, and did a mental comparison to herself. They were very similar in many regards. It was almost as if she had found a rival.
"It's not official anyway. We can discuss this matter later. Seeing as there were no flights to take you out of the country, you made your way to the source of the problem, here.", I said.
"That's about it. Then these blue screens started showing up.", Aurelia said, pointing upward. There was a Gamer System blue screen hovering above her head. It wasn't just her either. There was one above mine. One above Cassius. One above everyone present in this room. Even McBurn, who just watched on with a lazy look in his eyes. On it read a single message.
[Ding! Time remaining until Grancel City Monster Raid, 07:00...]
That's right. It's a bonafide Monster Raid! Grancel City has four main blocks with Grancel Castle at its core. I'm guessing all four will be utilized. It's very possible that Grandmother is also participating in this Instance Dungeon, seeing as I have Favorability with her. It's also likely those around her, some members of the Royal Army, will also see this Instance Dungeon unfold. After all, during this time spent in Grancel City, I've unlocked some Favorability with some of them, on top of Zin, Kilika, Angelica, etc.
And I'm sure this is the reason why the Gamer System temporarily doubled the slots of my Party from 6 to 12!
"That's right, Naoto my boy. Plus with your bird friend, we should be rounding everyone else up right about now.", Prince Olivert said, smiling at us. He too, had a blue screen still above his head, showing the timer now under the seven minute mark.
"Right. We did send Sieg out, didn't we?", I said, remembering that. On top of that, during this couple of minutes, Kilika wasn't the only one who came in for a status update before heading toward Sherryl's direction. There was another person. "Why don't we all head down to the first floor? We might have more guests arriving shortly. It did say we should regroup after all."
Hearing that, Cassius quickly regained his composure.
"I suppose that's for the best.", Cassius said, and nodded. We then urged everyone down toward the first floor. Sure enough, once we arrived, I heard a familiar voice.
"Schreee~", Sieg's voice said, quickly reaching my ears. Flap. Flap. Flap. I saw Sieg fly into the Bracer Guild. Reaching my arm out, I let him land.
"Haha. Did you finish rounding up the rest of our guests?", I asked Sieg, welcoming him.
"Schree.", Sieg said, acting as if he was responding to me. It was then I heard several hurried-sounding shuffles of feet reach our ears.
"Kyuuu!", Tamamo shouted. For some reason, she was angry seeing Sieg on my shoulder. Maybe she was jealous?
"Meow.", Celine said, directing her meow at Tamamo. She couldn't speak directly, so she tried to say "Now's not the time, stupid fox.".
"You're safe, Naoto!", Princess Alfin happily said, and approached me with a smile. Seeing Princess Alfin in front of me, I smiled back.
"Sorry for having to worry you, Alfin. I'm as fit as a fiddle, as you can see. Thank you for escorting them here, Julia.", I said, looking at Julia.
"I'm just doing my duty, Your Highness. This is all still very strange to me. But at the very least, our people are safe?", Julia asked, wanting to be sure.
"That's right, Julia. I'm sorry to have caused you worry. Any person you see frozen in place will not be affected by what is to come our way.", I said, assuring Julia that everything was fine.
Hearing this, Julia finally slumped her shoulders a bit, and let out a deep sigh.
"Oh thank Aidios...", Julia uttered.
"See? I told you things are fine, Julia. You needn't worry about us. But that does pose a question, Naoto. If what is written on these screens are true, that only means twelve people can participate in this "Dungeon", as you call it. I don't think we have all of our guests yet, do we?", Kloe questioned.
Along with Julia, she rounded up Kloe's group. Estelle, Emma and Princess Alfin were with her. Estelle just stared at everyone, still in a daze.
"We really are going to fight monsters?", Estelle asked, confused.
"That does seem to be the case.", Joshua said, responding to Estelle with a nod.
"If things are leading to this, is it alright if I occupy a slot?", Emma questioned. Our group was pretty big now, so I felt a clear change shift in the air once all eyes landed on Emma, who now had her hand raised. At the same time, she pulled out a rather big orbal rifle, and easily placed it over her back.
"That...", Cassius said. He didn't immediately answer. I didn't either, for that matter. "Since when have you started using such a weapon? I don't ever recall you using a gun."
"Just this last year. I've been practicing my marksmanship in secret. It is as Naoto says. We've entered a proving ground. I can provide support from the backlines.", Emma stated.
"What do you think, Cassius? This is Emma we're speaking of here. She's one to not crack jokes.", I asked. Yet, it was then we heard more noise reach our ears, coming from the door to the Bracer Guild. Cassius couldn't even answer before someone else answered before him.
"Let us not act too hasty, Your Highness. We've still a few minutes to prepare. I've gotten the general gist of things, albeit how crazy this situation has turned into. If all we have are twelve people, we will need to divide up and assign appropriate countermeasures. I have a feeling the entire city is going to get involved in this so-called raid.", A familiar voice said, calling out to us.
"It is as the Colonel says, Young Master. We should take in all accounts to decide the best way to deal with this.", Another familiar voice said.
Sure enough, I saw two people I recognized. The latter is someone even more familiar. I've initiated Favorability with the first person after returning to Grancel City, but I've had Favorability with this second person for quite a while. It was Colonel Richard and Phillip!
Twelve people for a raid, huh? Why am I getting MMO vibes all of a sudden?