Even though Danika was tired when she logged out, she couldn't resist looking up the band Underneath before she went to sleep. She was already expecting it, so she wasn't shocked to see Aishin's familiar figure in the group. She did feel a little surprised somehow that he wasn't the group's leader when she tapped over to their information summary.
The leader, Tanaka Naoki, was a little older than Aichi Shinichi and had a smaller and more delicate build. Aishin's pretty face didn't stand out as much in the group of five attractive young men, but Danika would still have voted for his familiar face in a heartbeat if there'd been a competition.
It took her awhile to find a song with Aichi Shinichi singing a few lines solo, because the group used a lot of harmony in their songs. Danika frowned and replayed it several times before deciding that the silvery ring that Shrubbery spoke of was probably the resonance, as though the voice was producing more than one sound at the same time, that some singers had and others didn't.
She wrestled with her conscience a bit before searching for interview footage. It felt kind of like she was spying on Aishin by researching Aichi Shinichi. She remembered Shrubbery's comment about millions of girls and decided to compromise and watch one at random without trying to seek out everything.
She felt embarrassed for him as she watched the interview from a couple of years before. Aishin, or at least Aichi Shinichi, was too awkward and stiff compared to his bandmates. Although he did at least speak more than the group's baritone, who appeared relaxed, but rarely spoke. The other three members joked around a little and acted fairly comfortable.
It was actually the baritone's voice that made her think of Aishin's friends talking in the background the first time he'd used his headset. All of it proved nothing, and Aishin could still be just a dedicated fan of Underneath. But… Danika wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that Aishin was Aichi Shinichi. If he was, he was older than she had guessed, but still younger than she was. He also wouldn't be the first famous person that she'd played a game with.
In one of the guilds in one of the games she'd played for years, there'd been a snowboarder of international fame who had promoted his videos in their channel every time he'd shot a new one. Some people had claimed the snowboarder was lying about his identity, and others had simply mocked him for always bragging about his stunts. Danika had always found him too consistent for most liars, and she'd watched the videos and thought that even she might have wanted to brag a little to her friends if she'd been able to perform such feats.
She fell asleep thinking of old friends, old enemies, and how sometimes there was no difference between the two.
--
Several days passed quietly, and yet intensely, as Danika worked on getting old game accounts through the horrible quest that they were locked into. After she got each one through it, the accounts were assigned to other people to level. She kind of wanted to complain about that, but it didn't go against the contract at all.
At night she played "Living Jade Empire" through the VR-medi pod and caught golden orb spiders for the fairy weaver's strange spider thread spinning contraption. Shrubbery and MatchlessMinion joined her for at least an hour or two each evening, but Aishin was never on in the evenings, although he did send a short greeting message each day.
--
Danika's calendar popped up a notification reminding her to send out holiday greetings, and so she wrote another email and sent it to her family group. Her mother had been the only one who'd ever particularly celebrated the time of year, but it was a good reminder to keep in touch.
She also wrote a single letter by hand, and glued pressed flowers saved from her house plants throughout the year to it, to fill the empty space. She addressed it to her father, and then she ventured out to post it through the mail before her shift started.
When Danika logged in after work that night, she was greeted by a blank screen with an event message that read:
"12 Days of Christmas!" Although the word Christmas had been scratched through and replaced with Goblins.
"Some of you may have heard rumors that the God of War has been siding with the Goblin tribes this summer! A vast goblin fortress has been constructed in the northern plains and unseasonal snowstorms have begun sweeping down from the dark northern isles."
"Nadia have been scarce lately, and the portals to their city closed. Only those adventurers who are able to visit the northern isles by traveling beyond the goblin territories will be able to discover why."
"For the next three days (12 days within Living Jade Empire), the Jade Emperor himself has decided to step in and alter the balance between the races by offering an extra point of Karma for every goblin defeated. It is time to reclaim the north!"
Danika read the message twice before dismissing it, and returned to Windbur to find both Shrubbery and MatchlessMinion waiting. MatchlessMinion was practically bouncing with impatience as he quickly explained, "It hasn't actually started yet, but everyone else is already heading north! If we don't hurry there won't be anything left!"
Danika pointed out calmly, "People with quicker methods of travel will always arrive at game events first, but if it hasn't actually started yet, shouldn't we avoid running into goblins early so that there are more to gain Karma from? Doesn't the event sound like the key is actually getting to the northern isles to see why the water elementals are scarce? I might be able to fly there eventually, but how would you and Shrubbery get there? I think we should look for a port city and a ship."
Shrubbery laughed quietly and told MatchlessMinion, "See, I told you she'd come up with a better plan as soon as she got here."
After discussing it a little more the three of them informed the fairy weaver that they wouldn't be catching any more spiders for at least a week and closed the party quest. They'd collected over a thousand spiders and were given a bonus, that was distributed automatically like the coin they'd earned.
Each party member received a small spool of spider thread cord. MatchlessMinion unrolled his to show that its length was over 20 meters, before coiling it back up. Danika replaced the remains of the thread that she'd kept from her adventures in the beginner's vale with hers.
Shrubbery called out to her tree somehow and stepped through a nearby tree to return to the human capital first, to check that the portal to the elven capital was still open. Danika and MatchlessMinion headed down the path that the traveling merchant had used to bring Danika into Windbur as quickly as possible. MatchlessMinion wasn't as fast as Aishin but he could scurry along at an impressive pace.
The two ran into the first goblins of the night right after midnight. Three goblins were also traveling the same path, and appeared to be fleeing for their lives. Danika pulled up her menu lens and told MatchlessMinion, "Stop! They are players!"
MatchlessMinion lowered his blow dart straw and asked, "Do you think they still give extra Karma?"
The three goblins slid to a halt a few paces away and raised their own weapons. The smallest shouted, "We aren't part of the goblin event!"
Danika hovered indecisively, and MatchlessMinion waited for her decision. Danika asked the goblins warily, "Then what are you doing around here? Goblins have been cutting down trees everywhere."
One of the goblin players admitted, "We were also doing missions to collect logs recently, but we don't know anything about the fortress in the event notice, and everyone we've seen since the notice attacks us!"
They did appear to be injured, and their clothing shared the same shredded look that Aishin's often had. MatchlessMinion didn't let down his guard, but he asked, "What do you want to do Captain?"
After another tense moment, Danika said, "I was turned into a cat by eating an apple that a wizard gave me, but it was apparently a very low chance. It lasted for 13 game days though."
One of the goblins asked doubtfully, "And you want us to buy it from you?"
MatchlessMinion spoke up before Danika could and asked sourly, "Did you hear her mention money? Seriously, if she gives it to you and it works, you'd better give her something in return!"
"Fine!" The smallest goblin shouted. "We'll try this apple and if it works we'll pay you all our coin!"
Another goblin added, "It will be worth it if we can be cats for the duration of the event."
Danika removed the rest of the wizard's yellow apple from her inventory, keeping back only the furry looking seed. MatchlessMinion took it from her and split it into three equal portions and gave one to each of the goblins. Danika held her breath as the three exchanged glances and then bit into the apple pieces.
The strange chime rang out softly, and Danika wondered if it were some sort of transformation noise. MatchlessMinion jumped and gave her a startled look as all three goblins transformed into cats of different shades. The smallest one was black, the one who'd said it would be worth it was a tabby similar to Danika's own cat form, and the last became a surprisingly orange striped cat.
They meowed a great deal at first, and Danika was disappointed to discover that despite still having The Way of The Cat on her character sheet, she couldn't understand them at all.
MatchlessMinion reminded them sternly, "Your payment?"
All three cats turned and rummaged in the pouches and bags that lay around them, and began stuffing their fallen outfits into their inventories and pulling out coins. Danika wondered how they would transport their bags until the orange cat began pulling things out of the storage band it still wore and pushing them at the others. They in turn pushed the pouches and bags that they were finished with back to the orange cat.
The stack of coins that sat in front of the three goblin cats a few minutes later when they'd finished sorting themselves out was surprisingly large. MatchlessMinion collected the coins and handed them to ZipZing without a word. Danika giggled as she put them away, and said, "Thanks." She now had enough coin to pay Logical Heart the 20,000 that she owed him without selling any of her seeds.
The three cats replied with a chorus of meows and Danika thought that they looked happy as they set off down the path much more calmly a minute later. Then she and MatchlessMinion turned back toward the west and resumed their own swift travel toward the human capital to meet up with Shrubbery, who had messaged that the portals to both the elven capital in the northeast and the centaur capital in the northwest were still open.