Slave Origin Playthrough [Grimdark Gamelit]

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"I…"

L'teya hesitated. I could see her face going through a multitude of emotions.

And I waited.

Situations like this were rare, even in the game. Recruiting a former comrade that turned enemy? Recruiting an enemy? It would come down to the affection meter. How many choices you made that gained their 'approval', what kind of dialogue choices you made, all those things were taken into account.

Depending on the points you racked up, the answer was a 'yes' or 'no'. An immediate result from the computations done behind the screen.

Back then, I'd have a spread sheet with a running list of the approval events. Those that I knew of anyways.

Here, I had no idea.

After all, it's not just a game anymore. It's life.

And it didn't take L'teya a split second to give me a computer-generated answer.

She was thinking. Confusion swept across her face, turning to other emotions that I couldn't put a finger on.

I was fine with that. So I settled in and waited.

As for my reasoning…

There was no logical basis.

I just felt that it was the right thing to do. Like many of the choices I made in this world, it was instinct. Simple.

"You are asking me to betray my comrades." L'teya said at last.

"Yes."

"I…" She hesitated.

The L'teya I knew would never have hesitated like that. Which meant this might not play out the way I wanted it to.

...Was she going to say no?

I held up a hand. "You don't have to give me an answer now, Lety."

Lety, the old nickname we had for her. What Clover still called her. What I used to call her.

"When the time comes, you can give me an answer. You're free to choose who you want to stand with in battle." I said, "But let me ask you this. Did you ever find Altan, your brother?"

Her eyes widened.

Of course, she forgot about him.

Would someone like Arione and Clover, engaged with quests that determined whether things like War happened or not, would they care about the brother of an individual?

"When we first met, you told me you're looking for your brother who became a battle slave. Are you closer to finding him?"

"...No. I am not, Slaveborn."

I nodded. "Then after this is all over, come with me to Turina."

She stared.

Not with hostility. No. Something… less. More akin to wariness. The expression of someone who'd just remembered something they'd long forgotten.

"They will have records. If your brother was a battle slave, and you didn't find him in Jayu… I'll help you look for him in Turina."

"You're asking me to betray my comrades." She repeated, a bit more urgently.

"No. I'm telling you how things are. What your options are." I replied, "I'm going to kill Arione, and Clover. There is no doubt about that. They've done too much."

The scene on the boat…

That betrayal.

It was the last straw.

But even before that, I knew it would come down to this.

"Clover's too deeply involved with Oung. Arione is… too much. Whatever they do, they'll try to get me involved in the goddess' struggles. They're going to constantly put me, and my comrades in danger." I said, "I need to end them here."

"They're my comrades."

"Then leave tomorrow morning, L'teya. Wait outside of the Spire for us. I can find you after, and my offer will still stand."

She was quiet.

"And if I don't want to?"

"Like I said, you don't have to decide now." I pushed myself off of the wall, standing, and signaling the end of our conversation. "You can keep traveling with me. I'll even give you the courtesy of standing with Arione and Clover, if you desire, when the time comes. But at that time… once more, I'll have to treat you as an enemy."

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L'teya stared down at her hands.

I pushed a little more. "L'teya, you should know this by now. I never turn my back on a comrade."

And leaving her to think, I returned to the little opening we were using as a camp for the night. Once more, the huge chest in the middle caught my eye but I forced myself to ignore it.

Kyrian had started a fire. He was poking at it with a stick.

"Lock?"

I grunted. "I invited her to our party."

I expected him to be surprised. To my own surprise, he just shrugged and returned to staring at the fire. "Good."

"Good?" I said after a pause, taking a seat across from the mage.

Kyrian gaze turned towards the tunnel entrance where I had just come from, where L'teya still was. "...I always felt a little bad for her."

He did?

"She never looked happy there, Lock." Kyrian explained, "She… reminded me of how I felt during my time with the Akka Xaluds."

I gestured for him to continue.

"Like there's no real place for you in the party. That you're always fighting to keep your place." Kyrian shook his head, "Clover Weinport has created a powerful party. Arione. The young mage, Scarlet. Maria Akka Xalud. But they all bring something to the table. That elf barbarian on the other hand… it always felt like she was there, just because." He shrugged a shoulder, "Because she was friends with you and Clover."

He was right.

I thought about Kyrian's words, remembering my claim to Arione. That if L'teya had traveled with me, she'd be way stronger than she was now. My personal take was that the Cores he fed her weren't top-grade Cores. Which was a fool's choice; she was a tank-oriented bruiser. The lifeline of the party. If the tanks couldn't do their jobs, the whole party's life was at risk.

That's why I always made sure that Aurora got her Cores.

L'teya on the other hand…

I always assumed that Arione didn't have the talent, or the game knowledge of building a proper, powerful tank. Could it be that Kyrian was right? That Arione didn't really care about L'teya and didn't want to spend resources on her?

My thoughts took a sinister turn. What if he had done it on purpose, to get L'teya killed?

…No. I didn't know the internal party dynamics. That was something I couldn't assume.

But what if?

"Lock?" Kyrian said suddenly.

"Yeah."

"What are you planning to do with the Player?" He nodded across the room, to where Freier's tent was.

"What do you mean?"

"When this is all over. After we find everyone."

I didn't think that far ahead. "I don't know. Probably have to kill her."

Something unrecognizable flashed across Kyrian's face. Worry? Disapproval? I couldn't tell.

"I see." He poked around the fire some more.

In the following lull, I blurted out a question. "Kyrian. After this… we're going to go to Turina."

The young mage looked up. "Truly?"

"Yeah. There's some dealings I made with Zenom and we'll have to figure some things out with the Church."

"Be careful, Lock. The Church is powerful. Even more so in Turina, their homeground." Kyrian said, "But it does make me happy to hear that we'll be visiting Turina. It's… it's been awhile."

"When's the last time you visited?"

"Never. Not since I left to become a Mage."

"Is there something you wish to do once we visit?"

"I reckon I should visit the family estate." He took a breath, "I should…" He didn't finish.

I knew what he wanted to do.

His mother. The one who'd been passed along to the Akka Xaluds for his 'failure' and promptly been executed.

The one who he never visited once.

You see, Kyrian Tricilan is a bastard; evidenced by the usage of double -an endings in his name. It's a Turinan custom, much like Aurora Candrian Vetilian. If I remembered correctly, it was his half-brother, the legitimate Tricilo Heir, who handed his mother over to the Akka Xaluds.

"When we get there," I ventured, "Let's make a grave for her. We can all visit her as a party."

Kyrian stopped, looked up and then smiled. "I think I'd like that."

"Alright, let's get some rest. We have a long day ahead of us."

***

The next day, we all woke up ready to continue the expedition.

But first thing's first…

It was time to do something about the treasure chest in the center of the room. Kyrian and Freier couldn't sense anything magical about it. Then again, trap rooms in dungeons rarely give off magical vibes unless they're easy to solve. And even if they do give off magical energy, that's part of the trap.

I had the rest of the group stand far away from me, just within range to back me up.

A calculated risk. But that's the name of the game for MSS. No risk, no gain.

To find my comrades, I had to take some risks.

"Ok, I'm going to open it now." I said, "Everyone ready?"

I looked over my shoulder and they all gave individual signs. A quiet nod, an absent face and so on.

L'teya was stil here. She'd decided to keep traveling with us.

Apparently, she was still thinking. She was unsure but she said something to me this morning.

"I feel that continuing the expedition with you, Slaveborn, would give me the answer that I'm seeking. Leaving right in the middle… that's waiting for you to make the choice for me. Like Clover did, before. Besides… if I'm not there, who's going to take care of you, Slaveborn? Ahahaha! Surely the frail mage isn't enough!"

A hint of who she once was had returned. Maybe too many things had happened to her brain and it reverted back to a barbarian's default settings.

Back to the treasure chest.

The treasure chest came up to my chest, made of wooden boards and a metal band around the middle. As far as I could tell, there was no lock on it.

Without ado, reaching around, I opened the chest.

And inside…

Nothing.

My chest lurched.

"Lock?"

"You can all come here."

They approached.

"It's empty?" Lety said and reached her hand inside.

It was Freier, the Elf Player, who grabbed the much stronger barbarian's forearm. "Don't, L'teya dughter of Agda."

Lety scowled. "It's empty." She repeated.

"It's empty, yes." Freier looked to me. "But it's not going to be, any longer. Slaveborn, am I correct?"

"Yes." I said simply.

Kyrian looked back and forth between us. "What do you mean?"

"This isn't a treasure chest at all." Freier muttered.

"It's not." I confirmed and pointed at the wooden case. "It's not a different type of chest."

"What is it? Stop stalling and let us know." L'teya's eyes were shining with excitement.

Of course. Even back in the Samak desert, she always liked dungeons.

"To be specific, it's an alchemical type of chest." Freier explained. "I'm sure I don't need to continue."

Freier had overestimated L'teya; because the Elf Barbarian made no indication that was the case. The priestess shot me a frustrated look instead. Did she not deal with barbarian NPCs when playing the game? This was a very typical situation to be in. She was lucky L'teya didn't ignore her outright.

"It's a type of chest where it'll transform the item you put in." I dumbed it down. "But if you can put in a specific combination of items, you can get something specific."

In [Player Terms]...

Vending Machine.

"It works with gold, weapons, armor, even monster parts." Activating the [Dimension Ring], I took out a couple of gold pieces. "Everyone, I'm going to need you to take out everything in your [Dimension Ring]."

I had the whole loot table memorized.