Maple was getting regular shield-handling lessons from Chrome, but today she was
free, which gave her a chance to spend some time on the sixth stratum again.
"Hmm. I've already given Sally her things, so what else should I do?"
She wandered aimlessly for a while but concluded that she didn't really have anything
she had to do before the next event started.
"I suppose I should just relax! Fighting ghosts is hard."
Maple plopped down on a town bench, watching ghostly apparitions fly overhead.
Then she received a message.
"Hmm? Who's it from…? Oh, Mii!"
Maple read it over.
It was a basic suggestion that they go hunt monsters together—if Maple had no other
plans today, of course.
"I'm definitely not doing anything, so… Okay, looks like we're meeting up at the east
exit."
Maple hopped to her feet and headed to their rendezvous.
When she arrived, Mii was already there.
"Sorry! Was I too slow?" Maple asked.
Mii glanced around, making sure no one here knew her.
"Nah," she said. "Thanks for joining on such short notice."
"Oh, I had nothing better to do, so…"
"Yeah? But even so—thanks. Let's get going."
"Sure!"
Maple followed after Mii.
The farther they got from town, the fewer people they saw, and Mii could finally relax.
"You sure I don't need to use Atrocity? I know you can walk faster than me."
"It's fine! I'd rather enjoy the company."
And so they continued their casual stroll, catching up as they walked to their
destination.
Along the way, they traded stories from the last event and discussed various enemies
they'd fought on the sixth stratum.
Mii wasn't the biggest fan of the town's general vibe. She and Sally had that in common.
They were still talking when they arrived.
"Hmm. That is a grave."
"That it is. Supposedly wisps spawn here and you can get a skill that boosts fire
attacks. But they use a lot of powerful area attacks."
"I've got you covered! Martyr's Devotion! Heaven's Throne!"
Maple's wings unfurled, her hair turned gold, and her eyes turned crystal blue.
A glittering halo appeared above her head, and a gleaming white throne stood behind
her.
Maple took a seat and smiled at Mii.
"Whenever you're ready. Oh, just make sure to not get too far away."
"Um. O-okay… got it."
Mii forced herself to stop gaping and focus on the wisps spawning around them.
"Flame Empress!"
Two spheres of fire appeared around Mii, and they started swallowing up the nearby
wisps.
But these things seemed to have high elemental resistance—they did give a skill that
enhanced fire, after all—and even with Mii's flames, one hit was hardly enough.
"That's what I was afraid of. And this is the buffed version!"
Mii waved an arm to attack again—and the swarm of wisps all belched flames as one,
blanketing their area in blue fire.
"...! Oh! Right."
Wreathed in those flames, Mii glanced over her shoulder.
Maple was on her throne, bathed in fire, soaking all the damage for her… and still at
full HP.
With an impervious fortress protecting her, no mere wisps stood a chance against Mii.
"Wow. I can refill my MP whenever I want!"
Mii downed an MP potion and dived back in, holding nothing back. It did not take long
for her infernos to abolish the wisps.
After polishing off a few dozen wisps, Mii joined Maple at her throne.
"Thanks, Maple. Huge help."
"All done? That was amazing! I couldn't see anything but blue fire! It was real pretty."
"That's… nice? I guess? You're about the only person who'll see it from that vantage
point."
"Oh? Well, then, I must be lucky!"
"That's one word for it. Hmm… I'd like to thank you somehow… Oh! I know." Mii
knocked her palm with a fist. "You're still raising your defense, right?"
"Mm? Oh yeah! I've gotta keep going until I never take damage!"
"Ah-ha-ha, I figured as much. In that case, the info broker in town was talking about
two related skills. Iron Body and Heavy Body. Something to do with VIT or resistances
—the price for the intel was pretty steep, but all they said was they're located 'down
south.' I assume that means they're pretty good skills…"
"You can buy info on new skills?!"
Maple gaped up at her, but Mii looked every bit as shocked by this response.
"Y-you didn't know that? It isn't cheap, but it can lead you to good stuff."
Mii filled Maple in on the sixth stratum's info broker's location.
"Hngg… there's still so much I don't know! Thanks, Mii."
Maple wrote it all down.
"I should be thanking you!" Mii grinned, stretching. "It sure is nice only having to
worry about offense."
"Well, since we're already partied up and everything, wanna go anywhere else?" Maple
asked. "Obviously, only if you have time."
"Sure. You turned this into a breeze, so… wanna grab a bite to eat somewhere?"
"Sounds great! Let's get going. I know a good place!"
"Ha-ha, you know more about restaurants than the map, huh?"
"...Maybe."
Talking about this and that, they returned to the sixth-stratum town. Maple led Mii to
a cafe on the outskirts.
Mii looked around, making sure there were no other players here.
"Looks normal enough," she said. "Good place to relax."
"This stratum has lots of shops that look like ruins, but the insides are all way nicer."
Maple had been relieved to find their Guild Home was the same way.
The two of them took a seat by the window and ordered.
"How'd that last event go for you?"
"Not bad. I was lucky enough to bump into Misery, so we got pretty far. Also we worked
with Chrome and Kanade for a while… They're definitely getting strong."
"Heh-heh-heh! Everyone in my guild is great."
"How'd you do?"
"I only made it to the jungle once! The tickets were so hard to find—and I'd rather play
with my friends. Sigh… I hope they add a new stratum soon so I can play with Sally
again."
"I thought I hadn't seen her around—is something up?"
On previous stratums, Mii had regularly caught glimpses of a blue streak destroying
all monsters with freakish dodges.
"Um… she's just not a fan of the whole vibe here, so she's skipping this floor."
"Oh… wait, really? Huh. I always thought of her as the kind of person who can handle
anything."
"She can deal with just about everything except this. She's spent the whole time
grinding on floor five. I've helped out some, but…"
"That's nice of you."
"Eh-heh-heh… We're always together outside, too!"
Maple looked pleased as punch. Sally might have strong-armed her into playing, but
these days Maple was actually having more fun than Sally.
"You don't go exploring with your guild members, Mii?"
"Ah-ha-ha. No, I definitely do. It's just… easier with you sometimes. But Misery's also
on to me, so I can relax around her now, too."
Mii had an image to maintain, and fighting alongside anyone else necessitated a lot of
acting. That was making her less than enthusiastic.
"If I'd known it would end up like this, I never would've tried role-playing…"
"Mm-hmm. It does seem exhausting."
"It really takes a lot out of me! I just got these really cool skills early on and thought
I'd have a little fun, but now I'm stuck being an empress all the time. I was such an
idiot…"
Mii collapsed on the table, rubbing her forehead against it.
At first, it had been fun—the performance had gone hand in hand with her combat
style. But things got steadily out of hand, and before she knew it, she was running one
of the biggest guilds around.
"Well, feel free to call me anytime you need a break!"
"Mm, I will," Mii said, not even sitting up.
As she spoke, the door swung open—and Maple waved.
"I knew it! Maple and Mii! Yoo-hoo!"
"Frederica and Kasumi? Since when do you two hang out?"
Mii yanked her head off the table, sitting bolt upright.
"Just doing recon. I swung by your Guild Home, but Sally was out again!"
"Ah-ha-ha, she always is."
What Frederica called recon was really just her usual challenging Sally to yet another
duel. She insisted she wasn't giving up until she emerged victorious, but Sally always
won, and these days, Iz was offering her a cup of tea before she left.
"So I figured I'd blow Kasumi up instead!"
"And I just finished cutting her down."
"…True," Frederica admitted, sitting down next to Kasumi.
"Iz was out today," Kasumi explained. "I've had my fill of exploring, so I thought I'd join
her for a breather."
That was when they'd spotted the two of them through the window.
"We were out hunting monsters! Mii was amazing! She burned everything up. The
flames were so pretty."
Maple went on at length about the dazzling inferno a few moments longer, eyes
sparkling.
"I, too, continue striving to improve," Mii growled. "I've acquired yet more powerful
spells and skills."
"Oh… r-right. Almost forgot."
Maple was not very good with subterfuge and was clearly flustered by Mii's abrupt
shift in attitude.
Frederica frowned at them for a second but clearly decided it wasn't worth thinking
about.
"Cool. We wanna go up against you again sometime, too, Maple! We haven't clashed
since the fourth event."
"I won't go down easy! Everyone says I'm getting stronger."
"Well, Pain is, too."
"Not gonna take her on yourself?" Kasumi chuckled.
Frederica made a face. Clearly, she would if she thought she stood a chance.
"If you want to beat Maple, you'll at least need to beat me."
"Teleporting behind me isn't fair!"
"Sally foiled that first try."
"Ugh, that's even less fair."
"Eh-heh-heh! Sally's amazing."
"Next event we get… I dunno when that'll be, but we'll win this time! You feel the same
way, right, Mii?"
"Mm? A-ah, indeed. As the Flame Empire guild master, I cannot allow a loss to stand."
The indomitable grin on Mii's face was no performance.
Maple raised a fist high. "Come one, come all! Oh, but if you don't have piercing attacks,
that's way better for me."
"We can't win without 'em!" Frederica wailed. "And there's a lot of weirdo Maple
sightings lately—I've seen you summon crazy stuff with my own eyes!"
Maple wondered what that meant.
"Wh-which stuff?" she asked.
Quite a lot of her move set seemed to surprise people, and even she could recognize
that a few of her recent acquisitions were pretty out there.
"Mm? How much is there?!"
"I imagine even we don't know it all." Kasumi sighed.
"Just standing near Maple makes anyone mad powerful…," Frederica grumbled. She
alone could not hope to penetrate Maple's area defense.
"I sit down to fight now! Um, because I have a throne."
"Huh?! Argh. Of course you do."
Frederica looked rather stunned, and Kasumi chuckled.
"I thought I was used to this side of Maple, but when she first showed us the throne,
even I couldn't believe it."
Mii nodded emphatically. Clearly, she shared the same opinion.
They all ordered drinks and desserts and chatted for a bit. But Kasumi and Frederica
both had things to do, so they didn't stay long.
"I've been looking for a pet monster like your turtle. I was wondering if the sixth
stratum had any pet ghosts," Frederica said. She was watching Maple's face awfully
closely… and then started looking a bit shifty.
"Hngg, don't you dare use that against Sally!"
"Ha-ha-ha, gave myself away?"
"You better not! Or I'll come bite your head off in the next event!" Maple said, snapping
her teeth. She made it sound like a joke, but in a real battle, she'd be in Atrocity form.
It would not be nearly as cute then.
"You can actually do that, so… it scared the absolute crap out of me."
"After today, you'll be wanting to duel me again, right? I'm sure we'll see you around
often enough. You should take a run at Maple sometime."
"Ugh… no, thanks!"
Frederica more or less ran out, and Kasumi followed, waving good-bye.
Mii and Maple were alone once more.
"…They gone?
"Yup, coast's clear!"
Mii let out a long sigh and slumped back against her chair.
"That was close… I should have known someone might stop in."
"I had no idea how to react when you suddenly got all badass."
"Oof. It's extra mortifying having to act in front of someone who knows the truth…"
Mii mussed up her hair, then took a deep breath, regaining her composure.
"Next time, let's go somewhere more off the beaten track. Sally and I are still checking
out previous floors sometimes, so I know a lot of places!"
"See, you're a regular guide. And you're having fun with it, right?"
"It's all places that are new to me, so of course it's fun!"
Maple started listing off places she planned to head next with such obvious delight Mii
couldn't help but smile, too.
"That's great. Sounds like a blast. Maybe Misery and I should try a tour like that."
"Yeah! If you spend all your time grinding levels, you'll burn yourself out."
Maple promised to join Mii anytime she asked, happy to have more sightseeing pals.
"Well, if I uncover any more good info, I'll pass it on. You keep an eye out for anywhere
I should check out."
"Got it! Will do!"
Once they parted ways, Maple headed south, hoping to stumble upon the skills Mii had
mentioned.