NOVEL NEXT Chapter 73: Return!
<Watcher, Apology Tutorial #486 Control and Observation Room>
The Watcher sighed, leaning back, only feeling a bit disappointed.
That had been a long-shot. Though it had not been as 'out there' as many of the hidden quests were. In truth, if Initiates even noticed one percent of the hidden quests, they'd have been made more obvious than protocol allowed.
The whole point was to seed the possibilities so that each Initiate could strive and shine in the ways that they chose, not in the ways that she or other Watchers wished.
In this case, she'd even pushed the bounds of her restrictions while answering that Formal Complaint, and she'd done so to the point that an audit might end with a demerit, if a minor one.
In that way, it was probably good that Alex had missed the cues. The rewards he might have gotten from it could have led to an investigation and her hint could have ended worse in that case. If that had come to pass, it would have meant negative repercussions for them both.
She regretted the emotional turmoil the man was experiencing at the moment, but the world wasn't kind to the kind-hearted, and even in failure, she hoped that the hidden quest would help him. He needed to grow some calluses or have that kindness slowly torn out of him. She hoped he managed the former.
But Alex and his group were hardly the only Initiates in her purview, even if they were among the more interesting.
Another, larger group was continuing their painfully slow progress toward the school, being overcautious in the extreme.
They had a death magic user for System's sake. They could have practically walked through the growing swarms with impunity, even if there were some death-squire squads who would need to be dealt with.
She supposed that their lack of a means of addressing the curse of undeath made their caution understandable, but even so, it was frustrating to watch them not progress.
She rubbed at her temples, taking a deep, calming breath.
This had happened during every initiation. It was easy to impotently yell at the Initiates for this decision or that when she was looking down on them with knowledge that they'd never have.
She knew that they only had days before the systematic cleansing of the city would reach them as intelligently guided undead swept through every building, sussing out and cracking open every hiding place where the living remained.
Only defensive locations, fortified against the oncoming hordes, would have a chance of weathering the waves, and even then, only if they were well manned and defended.
She would be pleased if even five such locations—in any part of the city—survived the scenario, but she feared that none would.
Still, the large group would arrive before the first wave reached the high school, even at their glacial pace of a few blocks a day.
She had put her thumb on the scale as much as she could justify, and despite that, those few bases that had been more northern—closer to the source—were already under duress, and many were teetering on the edge of destruction, starting to crumble under the leading edge of the first wave.
Now, it was time to watch and learn what the System would allow.
<Alex, Real - Lost Sheep Have Gone Astray, Bus Stop Adjacent>
Alex took five minutes—and two packs of candy pulled individually from his Inventory into his mouth—to pull himself back together.
Those who had died hadn't been in his charge, and while their deaths were tragic—and he wished he could have been wise enough to save them—he couldn't let their passing keep him from protecting those who were in his charge.
As he pushed himself back to his feet—creating a cup of water in his own mouth to swirl around and swallow—he took in the group that they needed to get back 'home.'
They were sporadically lit by various personal light sources, bright in the otherwise dark city.
There were the thirteen teens as well as five other individuals that the teens seemed to have gathered to themselves on their little outing, plus Phil, bringing the total to nineteen.
Natasha had used the five minutes that Alex needed to good effect, berating the teens as only a Russian woman could.
That sounds both sexist and racist… Even as he thought that, though, he remembered a family friend from his youth, and just how thoroughly she could cut down anyone and everyone who she set her sights on. Come on, Alex, one doesn't make a pattern. Personal experience matters, but it shouldn't be assumed to apply across the board.
He then looked at the flinching and shrinking teens as Natasha laid out just how foolish they'd been, detailing the situation at the bank as well as the glass building they'd chosen to hide in.
Two doesn't make a pattern either… But it was a bit more indicative. He shook his head, moving on before he wasted any more time.
He clapped his hands together, drawing all eyes—including Natasha's somewhat irritated gaze at being interupted—and Alex cleared his throat at the sudden attention. "Alright, we need to get back to the school if we're to keep you all safe. There are more and more undead about, and we do not want to be overwhelmed."
Many of the eighteen people clutched bats, golf-clubs, or other bludgeoning items in various states of disrepair.
"If something comes for you, hit it and get away, but stick close to the group. We can't help you if you run away." He looked pointedly at the teens. Some looked away with ashamed faces, but some looked back with undiminished conviction. "We will try to avoid fights where we can, but otherwise, our hope will be to blow through them as quickly as possible. Is that understood?"
That got a round of nods.
"If you are bitten, or otherwise infected, let me know. You just saw I can cure undeath. What happened with Phil is the most extreme case I've been able to affect, and I don't know why it worked. I would have bet that it wouldn't before his wife appealed to me to try." Alex took a deep breath, closing his eyes until he'd let it out. "I did not know I could heal someone once they were turned. I don't know that I'd have been able to heal anyone else. So please, don't count on us being able to be restrained and heal you after you turn. Tell us as soon as you know something is off, and I promise that I will do my best to come to your aid."
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
It looked like several of the teens wanted to give 'witty' replies, but thankfully, their companions shushed them or otherwise kept them quiet.
"Alright. If there's nothing else, we'll be off."
That was finally too much for one boy who shook his head. "No! We want to see the bank for ourselves."
Natasha took a step forward, but Alex cut across her before she could start up again. "Okay, go ahead. I wish you the best."
The boy blinked a few times. "What?"
Alex shrugged. "We came after you once, and you should have seen the truth of our warnings for yourself. You won't survive the trip there, let alone back to the school. You should know that very well. If you want to die, I literally can't stop you, not without endangering everyone else here. I don't have the ability to keep people alive who don't want to be."
The boy shook his head again. "No, you need to take us."
"No."
There was a moment of silence before Alex pointed the direction that they needed to go and started walking.
"Natasha, please take rear-guard. John in the middle. If we say 'Down,' everyone get down so John has clear lines of fire."
That got a few mutters, but as Alex was already walking, no one seemed willing to push back.
Natasha leaned in as he passed and whispered. "I'm glad you're back with us. It's sad, but don't forget: These aren't real people."
Alex hitched for a moment, but nodded before moving on. She was right, but he refused to become callous. Even if they weren't real, he wanted to treat them as if they were. But hopefully, that wouldn't matter again for a while.
The echoing sounds both from their movements and from elsewhere in the city were an eerie undercurrent to the dark and entirely creepy situation.
Most followed close behind Alex, barely giving him five feet before they followed after in a disorganized cluster.
John seemed leary of that group, so he followed the first eleven civilians, giving a bit of distance to keep at least some of his potential firing-arcs clear.
Eight of the teens seemed to hesitate, including the boy who had spoken up.
Natasha clucked her tongue and tapped at their legs with her spear before walking around them after Alex, John, and the others.
Five of the teens immediately seemed to make their decision, bolting around Natasha to follow in John's wake.
The two remaining with the boy looked back and forth between the boy and the rapidly departing group before running to join the others. The pool of light around Alex's group drew further away, leaving the single light held by the stubborn teen behind.
Phil was fully healed—from what Alex could tell—but he still seemed weak, and several of the stronger teens were actively helping him walk, one on each side. The man's wife was close at hand as well.
Blessedly, the group had gone less than half a block before the final holdout jogged up behind them, tears streaming down his face.
Alex relaxed, releasing the tension he'd been holding. He didn't actually know if he could have just left the boy if he hadn't followed them, and if he'd gone back, the teens would have used his reluctance to leave them to utterly control the remainder of the return trip. It would likely have spilled over into things at the high school as well.
Alex wasn't sure if any of them would have survived that return trip anyway.
You don't need to let anyone else die, Alex. You can keep these safe at least.
Alex's weapon wasn't in great shape. There were more chips along the edge, and he could practically see the cracks in the blade. In fact, he felt like it was a miracle that it was holding together at all.
That being the case, he began to pour health into the blade to repair it. Given he was healing at 6 HP per second, he didn't mind using up a bit of that. The MP cost was a bit irritating, but he decided to use the time to experiment a bit. He wasn't in a rush, so he did his best to make the transfer of health as magically efficient as possible, trying to build up a connection to funnel health to his weapon, rather than having the magic carry each discrete bit over into the steel.
As it worked, the dadao coming back from the edge of disaster, Alex felt like he was missing something that should be obvious. Even so, he couldn't devote too much attention to the task, not while he was escorting civilians through such a dangerous area.
Fix the weapon, Alex. This isn't a good time for deep thought or true experimentation.
Things went rather smoothly for more than two dozen blocks, his Detect Life only showing those with him, and his Detect Unlife revealing any potential ambushes or otherwise hidden threats as they slowly made their way home.
He dealt with all he could—pausing his repairing of the dadao each time—only occasionally needing Natasha or John to help him keep the way clear, given he wasn't willing to use his weapon.
They had considered taking everyone down into the understreets, but none of them trusted the supposed safety of those tunnels. It just made no sense that there would be no enemies in them.
If nothing else, the very fact that they'd never found or even sensed any living down in the tunnels seemed to indicate that something was off about them.
They took a different, slightly longer route home, first moving west before heading north toward the high school once more, hoping to shelter in the 'lee' of the high school's undead energy absorption. Though, that assumed that the source was to the far north as they'd sensed and seemed to experience.
Regardless of whether they were exactly right, the plan seemed to work as they actually encountered fewer undead on the way back than on the way out.
Still, Alex's commitment to a quick trip back was tested when they came upon a magic shop that hadn't been known to them. Whether it didn't have an internet presence—leading it to not come up in his pre-apocalypse search—or if he'd just missed it, he didn't know.
Or if the System added it as a potential stumbling block…
He conferred with John and Natasha only briefly before they passed it by as too-good-to-be-true.
Even if it was exactly what it seemed, the three did not feel confident in defeating whatever 'boss-monster' the System might throw at them after partaking in such a reward cache, and that didn't even factor the nineteen civilians that they'd have to protect.
All told, it would have been incredibly foolish to duck in and try to grab anything. This was confirmed by Kaylee as the wise choice when they called her to pass on the location for potential later return.
And that was that.
They returned to the school to excited cheers and happy reunions between friends. There were tears as the teens confirmed the deaths of those they'd gone to help, and commiseration in the loss.
Alex and the others got the System Notice that they needed.
Quest Completed
Lost Sheep Have Gone Astray
Some of your most vulnerable citizens have snuck away in the night. Their departure will cause dissension in those who remain, and cause them to question your group's ability to lead and keep them all safe.
Either lock down your base and squash the descent with power and overt competence
OR find the missing citizens and present them before the others alive
OR others solutions may exist.
Reward:
Based upon results achieved
Base Stability and greater assistance from non-Initiates
Experience
You have returned with all the departed and then some. Good for you. Though you might have saved more, those you did save are more than sufficient for this quest.
Reward:
Experience
Social Stability within the non-initiates of your Base is increased. Expect greater assistance from the non-initiates.
Alex also accepted the experience that he'd gained from all the kills and other sources.
…He didn't level.
He might have been confused, except that they'd all been noticing diminishing returns with the opponents that they'd been fighting. It seemed that base XP gained wasn't just a factor of level—his and his opponent's—but also with danger of the fight, or at least his familiarity with a given opponent.
Maybe…
They still didn't know enough to be sure exactly how all of that worked.
Blessedly, John and Natasha each leveled, and that was an absolute win for their group as a whole.
All told, it had been a rather profitable excursion, and that didn't even factor in the glass-like boxes filled with treasure that they might still be able to claim.
Unneeded deaths aside? Alex was quite happy.
That, of course, was when Kaylee suddenly jerked, eyes unfocusing. "What the plot-twist?"