The three of us met Lucia in the guild hall and noticed that another girl was sitting right next to her. The girl seemed to be a teenager, but she was dressed like a rogue.
"Matthew! Over here!" Lucia waved us down as we approached the table. Once we sat down, she began to explain the mission.
"An opportunity just rose up to get a lot of XP. After you guys complete this, we'll be ready for the blazing blizzards." Lucia then put her hand on the girl's head and ruffled her hair.
"This is my daughter, Wendy!"
Daughter?! Lucia has a child?! But she seems close to my age! Unless...I just assumed her age! The girl looks about 14. If Lucia is in her late 20s, then she must've had her a a young age. Poor thing...
"Matthew, why the hell are you looking at Lucia like you pity her?" Aegis quickly caught onto me.
"Oh haha! She's not my child by birth. I adopted her back at Jericho. She'll be accompanying you on this mission. " Lucia quickly dispelled the thought and continued. "Long story short, a strange figure has been spotted entering and leaving Destra. When questioned by guards, the figure said that he must 'awaken the lesser king.'
"The lesser king?! What's the lesser king doing in the scorching sands?!" Aegis slammed his hands against the table. If this lesser king is making Aegis the lore nerd worry, then we've got our work cut out for us.
"The lesser king?" Violet asked. I'm glad she did, because I would've asked myself soon enough.
Aegis explained that every hundred years, the heirs to the demon king's throne battle to prove their worth. The most recent battle was apparently a very close one that lasted four days. Once they finished fighting, the loser became known as the lesser king. He was harassed physically and mentally for years until he finally excommunicated himself and left the demon kingdom.
"But it doesn't stop there." Aegis continued his explanation.
That's when the lesser king began his conquest on humanity. And since he was practically on par with the demon king, he surely gave humanity at the time a run for their money. Luckily, there was a human that destroyed the lesser king in one cut and locked him away forever. That human was named Manaro the hero.
"Now that I think about it...Manaro was born in Destra. It makes sense that he locked the lesser king in a random deposit." Aegis finished.
"It WAS random, but I discerned three possible locations it could be. I'll DM it to you guys after this meeting." Lucia said.
"I guess it isn't a far fetch to say that the mission here is to stop this mysterious person from awakening the lesser king." I said.
"Yup! Given that the lesser king is on par in terms of power with the demon king who we speculate to be level 100, If he is awakened it's practically GAME OVER!" Lucia made an X with her arms.
"This seems very dangerous. Shouldn't we enlist the help of others like members of Lightspeed?" Violet asked.
"No can do. The more people join in on quests, the less XP will be shared. If just the three of you do this, you'll certainly make enough XP to begin the expedition into the Blazing Blizzards. High risk, high reward." Lucia said.
"Alright that just clears up everything except for one thing: why is SHE coming along?" I pointed over to the girl and once all eyes were on her, she immediately looked down at the table.
"I want her to take part in this. I'm sure she'll be useful for something. Just be gentle with her. She's deaf, so it'll be a bit hard for her to keep up at first."
She's deaf? Wait, I don't understand. Lucia wants to send this little girl on a possible world-ending mission? This must be some kind of joke.
But when I looked into Lucia's eyes, she gave me that same knowing look she always does. I can't help but trust in her when she does that. While Violet tried to find the words to object and Aegis tried appealing to Lucia's emotions on the matter, I was the first to stand up and welcome the idea.
"If you trust in this idea of yours, I'll trust in you, Lucia."
"I knew I can count on you!" Lucia gave me her warmest smile.
"By the way Matthew, I want you to teach her everything you know about fighting." Lucia said.
"W-WHAT ABOUT ME?!" Aegis slammed his hands on the table.
"I want Wendy to be a DPS and Matthew is the closest thing you guys have to that so..." Lucia trailed off and averted her gaze, but we all understood what she was saying.
"I... guess that makes sense..."
"Perfect! Now if you'll excuse me, I've gotta do some scouting for the expedition. I have some people in mind already! Good luck!" Lucia waved before leaving the guild hall.
Great... now we just need to get past the biggest hurdle...communication.
"Hey, kid! You understand what I'm saying, right?"
Wendy began getting nervous as she tried to understand and communicate with me. Aegis then smacked me in the back of my head.
"You dumbass, she can't hear you so why would you ask her that?"
"You know you're always hitting me... are you prepared to be hit just as hard?!" I was about to brawl with Aegis right then and there, but then I saw Violet... perfectly communicating with Wendy.
She was doing a bunch of gestures with her hands towards her. When Wendy saw those gestures, her eyes lit up and she returned those signals right back at Violet.
"Violet, what are you doing?" I asked her.
"Oh, I'm doing American Sign Language. My roommate is an elementary school teacher and she has a deaf kid in her class. She kinda shoved the language down my throat but I enjoyed it." Violet laughed it off.
I did not expect Violet to pull out such a niche skill like this. This is actually gonna make this quest way easier than I thought!
"Can you ask her what weapons she's good at? I was just gonna buy whatever she felt comfortable with."
"What weapons are you good at? Matthew is going to buy whatever you're comfortable with!" Violet said as she signed the phrase.
Wendy responded. As she did, Violet translated for us. "Mom taught me how to use daggers."
"Ah... so like a rogue build." I snapped and pointed.
"In that case, you guys can take her to a weapons shop and buy her some things. I'll start looking for the deposit. I already have a couple of ideas where they could be, so I'll send a DM when I a find it, and another if I need any help. Take your time training her."
"No problem. You can count on me, Matthew." Violet gave me a thumbs up and I returned it.
When I left the kingdom, I looked in three different locations that Lucia DM'ed me and found some interesting things. The first deposit had an underground magi-racing track. Faye would've loved this...
The second thing was a small room with a treasure chest. Turned out to be a mimic. I dispatched it with no issue whatsoever and went onto the third deposit.
Bingo. We have a winner!
It was a large stone gate with a circular indent right at the middle of it. I circled the area multiple times and I couldn't find any entrances so this is it. This one entrance is the only way in, so I'll just sit here and wait for this "mysterious figure" to show up.
I looked up at the clouds and thought while I waited: what's Lucia's plan with this girl? What could she possibly provide? I don't understand, but I'll follow her word anyway. It she hasn't led me wrong since the day I met her.
That's when I heard weighted footsteps approached me. I looked forward to see a hooded man in a drab and tattered robe that covered his body. This must be the guy that we're looking for. I might as well just ask just in case.
"This is a warning! If you're an ally of Diligence, you can't go past this point. Walk away and find another deposit to explore."
The hooded figure stopped in place and spoke in a robotic, monotone voice "commencing attack 44. Begin." The hooded figure then dashed toward me. I readied my labrys and brought it down on his head, splitting it open. No blood or anything. Just the end of his life.
"That...was worryingly easy." I said as I took off the person's robe to reveal its red skin tone and horns. On the back of its bald head was the number 44. What could that number mean? Is this guy a clone or something? Are more people like him going to be raiding this deposit? Because if so, I can honestly do this all day.
And just when I was thinking that, the tattoo on the back of his head started to glow a bright red. This made me disengage quickly with the body. After all, It could've been ready to blow up for all I know. But it didn't blow up. The figure just got back up very sluggish-like.
"So is there something I should call you or..."
"commencing attack 45. Begin." He began to rush at me with no remorse.
"I guess I'll call you 44..." I brought down the labrys down on him once more, but he side-stepped it with ease and went to try to punch me in the face, but I used the flat side of my labrys to bring him to the floor and used my diverging claw to finish him off. When I hit him with my skill, it split his body into three parts. I took a few step backs and sat on the floor, waiting to confirm my theory on the nature of 44.
After about a minute of waiting, 44 got back up and put his fists up.
"commencing attack 46. Begin." 44 rushed at me with his fists raised. I brought my labrys down and he side-stepped it with ease. I looked towards him and swung the flat end of my weapon once more. He slid under the incoming attack and prepared to uppercut me. That line of attack would definitely work for him if I decided to hold onto my weapon after that missed swing, but I let go of it to take a more brutal approach. I tackled 44 and brought him to the floor with a grapple. On the floor I held the creature in a choke hold.
This settles it. I'm sure of it. This things some kind of robot that improves with each death. I don't know how many lives he got, but I'm sure if I kept fighting him, he'd improve enough to kill me at some point. Speaking about fighting him, did I get any XP from this? Nope. I'm level 19. Same as I was when I finished the second Gornwell quest. Not much use for this guy then...
Wait! I just got a genius idea!
"Matthew, are you alright?!"
I looked over and saw Violet running towards me with Aegis and Wendy. She was brandishes two new daggers. That's good, because we're gonna put her to the test!