In the middle of a clearing in the forest, a lantern floated in the sky like a street light creating a warm glow in the dark woods. Phil was peering down at the corpse of the man he hunted down, he checked his uniform for any sort of identifier, but he did not know what he was looking for. After a moment, he settled on confiscating the dead man's knife, which he slid into his inventory. Phil paused and studied the man's face.
"Honestly, I'm sorry, bro. I never really thought of myself as a killer, but when push came to shove…" Phil cleaned his own blade and sheathed it, "Well, I guess you already know the rest."
Pebble put his axe away and jogged over to his scaly friend, "That was cold, but like, in a cool way. You doing okay, bud?" Pebble was concerned for Phil and Fred. He himself was still having a hard time coping with the fact that he's ended the lives of dozens of sentient beings.
"Yeah, I think I'm good. As soon as we were in danger, I didn't really feel any sense of hesitation. Was that me?" Phil looked at his hands in a way that was familiar to Pebble.
"You're okay either way. We are in a new world and it's apparently a dangerous one. One that will kill us all if we let it. You didn't choose to put yourself in this situation." Pebble's words were a surprise even to himself. 'Is this my subconscious?' He thought, as his own advice seemed to apply to himself as well.
"Okay," Phil took a breath, "But if we are threatened like that again, I'm not going to hesitate to do what I just did." Phil replied in a matter of fact tone. "I'm glad you don't blame me for it."
"Really?" Pebble was surprised by Phil's resolve. 'Am I overreacting with my own situation? If I have to kill again, I feel like I might hesitate.'
Fred stood up and walked over to Phil and Pebble, "In for a penny, in for a pound, I'd say." He patted Phil on the back, "I'm with you, snakeman! It's not the most pleasant feeling, to take a life." He looked at Phil deeply and then Pebble and finally Bard, "Knowing that you guys could have been hurt just kind of sent me. Is Bard okay in there? He hasn't moved." Fred pointed at the stone armor which looked like a jester statue.
"Oh right! Bard, why aren't you moving?" Pebble called out.
"Mmmhmmhmmm" Bard's muffled response was incomprehensible once again. Pebble jumped at the realization and quickly deactivated his Rock Throw Support Augment skill. The armor around Bard started to turn into sand and crumble around him. He came out gasping for air.
"Thank god! What the hell just happened?" Bard was panting. The wound on his back was mostly healed as Bard still had the Life Rock on him. "Was I stabbed?"
"Yes, yes you were! I watched the whole thing from above, it was crazy!" Puffy shouted from above as his legs were kicking with glee. "And you!" He pointed at Pebble, "I've never seen magic like this, you summoned that armor around your friend at such speeds! Granted he couldn't move with it on, but it completely stopped the attack!" Puffy whistled and his floating knife flew over and started cutting him free.
"Cool skill right? Also, why didn't you just cut yourself down sooner?" Pebble replied.
"Are you kidding?" The knife cut him free, "AAHHHHH!" Puffy screamed as he fell and Pebble caught the falling Gnome, "Thanks! I felt a lot safer up there after we started hearing people sneaking up on us!" Puffy replied as he dropped out of Pebble's arms and pulled out his pipe and looked at Bard, "I'm glad you're not dead!" He then looked over at Fred, "'Ey, you! Freddy! Come here, give me a light."
Fred hobbled over, it seems like the physicality required for him to swing his staff took a toll on his aged body. He leaned on his staff as he reached down and lit Puffy's pipe. After Puffy was set, Fred pulled out his own pipe and proceeded to join Puffy in post traumatic smoke. The party could have easily lost Bard just moments ago.
"You two didn't do bad either," Puffy referred to Phil and Fred as he bellowed out a plume of smoke. "I like that you didn't hesitate. My friends hesitated."
"Thanks, Puffy. We don't really want to die, but also, before Tiamat, we always enjoyed adventures." Fred said as he released a smoke plume of his own, "Seems like our adventures recently have been relegated to just video games, but that happens sometimes."
"You guys were gamers too, huh?" Puffy replied.
"You're a gamer, Puffy? I thought you said you got summoned here 50 years ago?" Phil questioned.
"Yeah, dork. They still had video games in 2021!" Puffy said with an incredulous tone.
"Dude, 2021 was only a year ago, not 50!" Pebble said pointedly.
"2021 was 3 years ago, please level up your intelligence." Bard corrected Pebble. Pebble began running numbers in his head and counting his fingers, eventually he nodded and hung his head in defeat.
"Get the f*ck out of here, they summoned you guys from the same time as me!? Did you guys go in to play the Sekaii Modern Beta?" Puffy choked on his pipe.
"Yes! Exactly!" Phil and Fred replied at the same time.
Puffy released another plume of smoke and looked at the team with bloodshot eyes "I guess we all are just fish in the cooler, caught by the same hook." Puffy laughed and slapped his leg. "Well life has a funny habit of delivering exactly what you needed but didn't want, huh?"
"Bro, wait. You're from Japan in 2021? F*ck yeah man, I love anime!" Pebble offered a fist bump.
"F*ck you bro, my culture is more than just anime…" Puffy paused and took a massive hit from his pipe, "But yeah, I'm also a huge anime fan." He fist bumped Pebble.
"Jokes aside, killing isn't something that should be taken lightly. Is everyone feeling okay?" Pebble said, looking around at his friends. His team met him with a curious look.
"They were going after us. What choice did we have? We aren't babies, Alain. Are you afraid of killing?" Fred replied in a serious tone. "This was my first human, hopefully the last, but let's be realistic with ourselves and our current situation. It is different from killing an animal, but I grew up with hunting trips and stuff. Oh, I get it, this is completely new to you!" Fred's face lit up, "Are you okay, Alain?"
Pebble grabbed his head, "Can you guys really please stop calling me Alain? Yes this is new to me too, kinda. I just want to make sure we're good. Sorry, maybe it really is me who has the problem."
Bard approached with a sympathetic face, "Hey bro, I would have died if you didn't save me there. Thank you."
Phil spoke, "I do feel a little weird about my lack of guilt here. I actually feel totally fine. You guys were all I had in the last world, and you're all I have in this world. You don't need to worry about us, but if you're having a hard time, it's okay. We will do the killing for you!" Phil spoke with a confident tone, but his words were just a shot in the dark. He hoped the effort would at least register to his friend, and it did.
Pebble smiled, "I'm not going to lie, I was worried." Pebble rubbed the back of his neck, "We've always been a great team, but there's just been a lot that's happened in the last 24 hours. I must have gotten in my head." Pebble pondered on the competence of his life long friends. He was so focused on what happened to all of them, but he underestimated their adaptability. All things considered, he was faring well and so were they. "You know, I'm really glad you guys are here with me. I'm sorry if that sounds selfish."
"Why would that be selfish? I'm stoked to be here. Do you really think we would be happy if you just disappeared one day? We've always been a team and it's fitting that we continue that tradition in this world as well." Bard said with certainty.
Puffy released another plume of smoke, "Sheesh, real sausage fest vibes right now." He coughed as he laughed at his own joke, little puffs of smoke came out in bursts with each cough. "I'm glad you morons fumbled your way into my bar," he continued to laugh.
"Alright, what's the plan? We should report this to the King, right?" Phil refocused on the situation.
"Yeah, I'll do that." Pebble nodded.
"Loot your kills, it's a norm in this world," Puffy said. "Then after we take what's ours, we will continue south. There's a small township named Kris just a little while away. We should get there and rent a room."
"Just one room?" Bard's eyebrow raised with concern.
"Just another norm here. Space can be tight. I remember some inns would place my old party and I into a room with two other teams that we didn't know. Always a pain in the ass to sleep with one eye open, but it's the price you pay if you don't want to camp out in the woods." Puffy replied bluntly.
"We should definitely learn to set up our own camp soon, but tonight we will crash at an inn." Pebble determined.
Fred, Phil and Puffy split up to loot their individual kills. Now that Phil heard this was the norm in this world, he dug through the bandit's pockets and looted the man's coin purse. Its contents left a lot to be desired, but he slipped it into his inventory anyways.
Fred was rummaging through the robes of the man that was on the receiving end of his fatal bonk. He found a pendant located inside one of the inner pockets on the robe. The pendant had a stone carved into the shape of a spear. He held up the pendant, "Hey Puffy, does this little spear mean anything to you?"
Puffy finished looting the man that was killed by his flying knife and quickly walked over to Fred, "Eh, it doesn't mean much to me. I've played it safe for a long time, so I'm not really in the know of the events that go on down here nowadays." He held the spear up to the lantern light, "It would still be worth it to hold on to this and perhaps you should mention this to the King." he looked at Pebble.
"Alright," he took the pendant and flicked his coin to notify the King.
—
Somewhere, in the deep of the woods, lay a small cabin with a roaring fireplace. Inside, two men kneeled to a man attending to a map that was pinned to the wooden table before him.
"Captain Hudson, we're here to report." Rori said as he continued to kneel before his leader.
"Speak, Rori." Hudson responded without any flavor or tone.
"We believe the Heroes may be in the woods, at this very moment." Rori stood as he spoke, "We was about to take on an elderly man and his formidable attendant, but then, there we were, watchinging, as the warrior summoned forth a weapon from no sheath. It simply appeared."
"Hmm." The captain replied.
Lue stood up, "Sir, the wizard then mounted the warrior like a horse. The man galloped away at speeds that would rival even the kingdom's fastest steeds! The memory of a wizard riding a man into the shadows will haunt me." Lue shivered as he kneeled back down.
"If what you are saying is true, then you need to go retrieve my son. Zachariah is still on the prowl with J and T'zal." Captain Hudson looked at his men with a fierce determination, "Bring them back alive, or you're both dead."