Lyngvi was sitting alone in his room and staring outside the window. He was back here again. The same view. The same people. Although he was glad to be freed from the prison, he didn't feel completely relieved.
He thought about Lyria. How did she react when she saw that he was gone from his cell? Did he hurt her by leaving just like that?
A faint sound came from outside. Like an animal that fell off a tree.
"Hm?" he stood up from his bed and walked to the window. He examined the snowy view outside, but saw no creature in sight.
Was it his imagination?
Suddenly, a knock came. One of the subordinates was behind the door. "Vi, the leader sent me to inform you that we are surrounded from all sides by approaching armies. He requests your assistance in defeating the ones coming from the left while he attacks the one from the front."
"What?" Lyngvi was surprised. There's no way they could have rallied that many people. It had to be a trick. "Tell him I'm on it."
Lyngvi quickly dressed in his winter armor and prepared to head out for battle.
***
"That was a close one...!!" Jasmine said in relief. She accidentally slipped from a tree branch and fell while they were looking for a place to stay put.
"Be careful, Jas. The snow is slippery," Sphinx warned.
"Tell me about it."
Jasmine, Sphinx, and Epsilon were camped outside the enemy headquarters, waiting for the right moment to infiltrate without being detected. They happened to end up at the side of the building where Lyngvi's room was.
Sphinx took out his binoculars and observed the enemy movements. Lyngvi and his group of subordinates hurriedly marched to the west. Cecil's group had left a few minutes earlier. At the very least, that's two people who weren't going to get in their way. "They're starting to move out."
"Should we start heading inside?" Epsilon asked.
"Let's go."
The three went inside through the window to Lyngvi's room. It was surprisingly easy to break in and enter. There was a desk in the room with a bound journal. Epsilon's eyes were keen to spot important belongings that had blackmail potential. She immediately snatched the notebook from the table and read its contents.
"This is Lyngvi's room," Epsilon announced.
"What's that?" Jasmine asked.
"His diary."
"Hey, isn't that invading his privacy?" Sphinx was a little concerned.
"We're already invading their territory. We might as well invade his privacy too."
Epsilon scanned through the entries for anything interesting until she came across one about how Lyngvi met Cecil:
Today while I was doing Tank a favor and delivering a bottle of the rare Vanilla Dandy Perfume to Frisk (I have no idea why he wanted it so much. He has been begging Tank for days to bring him a bottle if it ever dropped from the labyrinth bosses), I met an interesting man who had incredible world views. Little did I know... I was talking to the guildmaster of Jupiter all along! He enjoyed our little chat that he invited me again this Thursday for some tea and biscuits.
"Oh? This is an interesting bit," said Epsilon with a satisfied smirk.
"What did you find?" Jasmine looked over her shoulder. Sphinx did the same.
The three of them read the next entry:
Cecil told me that artificial worlds were merely an escape. He pointed out how unnatural these new worlds were and what consequences we might face the deeper we get into them. The way society works has changed considerably, but not always for the better. There will always be people at the top of the pyramid with absolute control. This time, it's the ones who are skilled at world development. He was right. I couldn't stop thinking about his words. He said he would tell me more when we meet again on Wednesday.
Epsilon closed her eyes. "I see. It all makes sense to me now..." She paused dramatically. "It's all Frisk's fault!"
"What!?" Frisk reacted. "Why me!?"
Jasmine nodded. "If Frisk hadn't asked for some Vanilla Dandy Perfume, Vi wouldn't have met Cecil and helped him. Cecil's plan wouldn't have succeeded."
Sphinx nodded in agreement. "True, true."
"How was I supposed to know my need for Vanilla Dandy Perfume would lead to this world's destruction!?" Frisk defended himself.
"Why do you even need Vanilla Dandy Perfume?"
"To attract girls... duh!" Frisk's voice suddenly became a little dramatic. "The Vanilla Dandy Perfume is rumored to be the best smelling perfume in Aries! They are only obtainable through the rare locked box dropped by the labyrinth bosses. Plus, the chances of them dropping are 0.001%! They were insanely expensive on the market and the bosses are too powerful for me to farm alone, so I had to beg Tank for it. He often raided that dungeon with his guild to get expensive stuff to sell."
Jasmine shook her head in disbelief. "Frisk, you don't need a rare perfume to attract girls. You already have your own charms."
Frisk was caught by surprise. "You... really think so?"
"Ok, enough about that weird perfume. Let's get moving before we're discovered here," said Epsilon as she stuffed Lyngvi's journal into her inventory.
Successfully obtained Lyngvi blackmail material #1!
Sphinx carefully opened the door while staying invisible. The halls were empty. Lyngvi and Cecil probably took with them almost all the subordinates. He gestured the others to follow. All of them carefully snuck across the hallway and scouted for areas to plant the bombs they brought with them.
"This feels like a terrorist plot," Epsilon commented.
"I feel like I'm playing Outerstrike," said Sphinx.
They proceeded to hop from one important looking room to another to plant bombs. So far, they were able to avoid detection with only a few people around at the base. Once they planted the last bomb in their inventory, they searched for a way out and quietly slipped out of the window.
"Frisk, tell Wen that the bombs are all in place and ready to be activated," Sphinx said.
"Got it," Frisk replied.