Parallel Vol. 1
Chapter 30: Bonds

“Owowowowow...” Kashi muttered, rubbing a large bump on his forehead.

As a result of the mass earthquake, the rusted gates of the cell had broken loose and crashed on him, forcefully waking him up. As he got to his feet, only one thought ran through his head. If I had been a little late, then I would have lost the opportunity to rescue those vixens... Lucky!

Moonlight streamed into the cell from very tiny windows situated high up on the walls to allow basic ventilation. He used the dim light to search around the floor and grinned when his hands clamped around a set of keys.

The captain’s room had been all but empty except his armor and there was nothing worth of value in the smelly fish room. This meant there would only be one more place bandits like those would stash their loot.

He checked the next cell, but it was empty. He continued until the last cell tucked away at the edge of the basement but that too was empty.

What kind of bandit has no loot?!

Frustrated, he turned to leave but halfway to the stairs, he stumbled over a catch on the floor. He swore as he stood up, but turned around anyway to see what had tripped him up.

The lighting was poor so he resigned to feel the ground with his hands. They searched and searched to no avail and would have left did he not just then remember something redundant.

<<Dark Eyes>>: It was a passive skill, but for a little MP cost, he could activate it and improve his sight a lot better. He did so, pleased when his surroundings became just a tad bit brighter. He made out a latch on the floor and grabbed it excitedly. He yanked open it with the vigor of a ten-year-old, eyes shining at the stairs leading to an even lower floor.

A small part of his mind wondered why fishermen would need a secret basement such as this, but the majority rejoiced over the potential loot stashed away. At the landing was a sturdy iron door, but after a few tries with the captain’s keys, it opened before him. The room was lit up by several torches hanging from the walls.

“Hu..hu-hu-hu-huhuhuHUAHUAHUAHUAHUA!” Kashi laughed out loud, arms spread wide like some demon king. Truly, if anyone saw his visage at that moment, they would either douse him with holy water, stake him or run for their lives.

The reasons for his ecstatic laughter were the chests of gold, armor, weapons and precious stones neatly piled away. There were also several parchments and many other materials present.

Though every cell in his body wanted to claim all of it for himself, he had two things going against him. A little part of his brain was shouting a different course of action and even if he chose to ignore it, he could not possibly fit everything into his inventory.

Live No Evil used the ‘physical loot’ system. This meant that monster drop and items did not appear on screen like other games. Their full forms were actually right in front of you. Adventurers had the ability to shrink these items and place them in their inventory, but their individual strength commanded how much they could carry.

Luckily, the game also had the Carry system. As its name implies, if an adventurer’s inventory is full, he can still carry the rest of the items in his hands; a bag; on a cart; or any other method feasible.

Still, even with those, he would not be able to carry all of these, so to start with, he went to the gold. Money had no weight and a player could carry as much as he wanted.

He counted 5000 gold (500000 Syros). “Holy Barracuda’s Balls.” The little voice in his head got even louder and more annoying, so he gave in. “Okay, okay! I’ll listen this one time.”

He pocketed 300 gold and left the rest, then ran around the room to see what he could replace of use to him. His search returned good results, some of which included: an improved set of crafting and cooking supplies; books on Gathering and Botany; a couple of rings he decided to identify later and several colorful gemstones.

Their weapons were all inferior to his, and heavy armor would be detrimental to his fighting style. The last thing he picked up was a map similar to the one he had, but with several lines drawn across it. He could not decipher it but he guessed the villagers might be able to shed some light on it.

He folded it and placed it in a storage tube which he in turn placed in his inventory.

Satisfied with his haul, he left the room, locking the door behind him. He ascended the stairs, closed the trapdoor and made his way out of the building.

“Huaa. Nice breeze..” he said once he stepped outside. The sun had long since set and there was no one in sight; The women must have returned to the village. A vein popped in his head as he realized the women must not have told their husbands who rescued them.

Kashi called for Kira a few times but there was no answer. He called again... No answer. All the joy drained away as fear started to set in. “Kira!” He ran along the coast and once he was sure she was not there, he sprinted towards the town, pissed off at his own stupidity.

The town was alight with festivities, rejoicing over the return of the women. The villagers danced a happy tune, drinks flowed and jokes cracked as every man, woman, and child shed all responsibilities for one night of endless fun.

A daeben tore through the town, upsetting the festivities, pausing in front of the mayor.

“Kashi-dono!” Elecurb, chief of Ranad greeted with a bright smile upon Kashi’s return. “I have splend-” His speech was cut short when Kashi gripped his shoulders, panic, and fear in his eyes.

“My partner.. the wolf,” Kashi said between huffs of exhaustion. All pretense of polite speech was drowned out by urgency. “Have you seen her?!”

“C-calm down Kashi-dono. I believe I saw her run past earlier today. What’s the matter?”

“I... I can’t replace her. I... bandits... asked her... lure away. She isn’t dead right? She can’t be!” He fell to his knees, his grips tightening on Elecurb’s shoulders.

“Stand straight Kashi-dono. I know you helped my people. We will join in the search. It’s the least we could do to repay your kindness.” He turned to the townspeople who had gathered around, curious over what was going on. “That’s enough celebration for tonight. Kashi-dono requires our help. What kind of people would we be if we did not assist.”

The women looked away in shame as they realized they had attacked him wrongly. “As penance for our transgression, we shall search until we replace her,” one of them said and the others nodded enthusiastically.

The villagers dispersed, each grabbing a torch on their way out of the village, calling for the missing wolf.

Kashi searched on his own, feeling a slight pang of guilt for deceiving the villagers. His acting had been a little over the top, but he needed their help if he was to replace Kira. You better be alright.

Several minutes later, shouts of “Found her!” reached his ears and he took off in the direction of the voices. They led him to a meadow where several villagers were gathered around something, mumbling to each other.

He squeezed through and stopped in disbelief.

The field was dyed in red from dried blood splattered all around. It was like someone had gathered several buckets of blood and tossed them all over. At the very center of the grotesque scene lay Kira, her fur also dyed red.

Kashi ran to her and placed his ear against her chest, smiling when he heard a heartbeat, faint as it was. He pulled the first aid kit from his inventory and treated her injuries, glad when he noticed her health had stopped dropping, which indicated he had successfully stopped the bleeding.

“Here, let her drink this. It will speed up her recovery.” Elecurb handed him a potion that temporarily increased the Rate of Health Regeneration.

“Thank you.” Kashi accepted the potion and assisted the unconscious wolf in drinking it. He noticed a slight jump in her health and smiled. Once her breathing settled into even intervals he turned to Elecurb, and bowed in a humble dogeza. “You have my gratitude, but I do not wish to damper your celebrations. If it pleases you, I shall stay by her side while you return to your festivities.”

“We could not pos-”

Kashi clasped his hands around the elder’s. “I cannot possibly fathom the horrors those fair ladies must have endured in that cage. But this has made me understand the haunting fear and pain that plagues those who lose their dear ones and blame themselves for their helplessness. Please, I implore you! Celebrate and cherish your reunion. It would shame me if I were to be the cause of a somber mood on a night as beautiful as this.”

Elecurb stared, taken aback by the daeben’s pleas. He had seen the cruelty of the Dark Elves in the war and still harbored a hatred for their kind in his heart. He had initially only planned on using the elf, hoping he and the bandits killed themselves. But not anymore; the daeben’s sincerity had erased all of his hatred.

“I understand, Kashi-dono.” Elecurb smiled and turned to the onlookers. “Our hero wishes that we celebrate tonight while he sits alone. What do the people of Ranad have to say to that?”

“Nay!”

“We celebrate together or not at all!”

Elecurb turned to the surprised daeben. “And there you have it. If you wish for our happiness, then please grant us the permission to tend to her in our village while you join us.”

Kashi looked from the chief to the villagers and sighed. “If you insist so, it would be rude of me to resist.”

The villagers cheered as two men lifted him onto their shoulders, chanting his name. He saw three more men place Kira on a stretcher and the jubilating procession marched back to the town to continue the celebrations.

The festivities continued well into the night, and a minutes before sunrise an exhausted Kashi stumbled into the house where Kira lay asleep. He sat down beside her, a sad smile on his face as he patted her on the head.

“Baka... Don’t you go doing anything that dangerous ever again.”

Judging from the weapons he had seen scattered around the field, he could draw a rough estimate of what had transpired.

Several hours Earlier

Humans are too slow. Kira thought to herself as she controlled her pace to match those of the bandits chasing her. She was always just an inch away from their arrows and on occasion, she would ‘stumble’ allowing the swordsmen to try and get a strike in, but they would just nearly miss.

The purpose of this was to give them false hope that she would run out of stamina soon and would be at their mercy while whittling away at their stamina.

Once they were a fair distance from the village, she noticed they had slowed down even more and realized they had run out of stamina. Weak. If only the daeben were as weak as they were, she would have killed him long ago.

She swiftly lost them and doubled back to the harbor. She got there in time to see the two-legged females run off towards the village and waited for the signal from the daeben. Time passed and the signal did not come.

She was considering entering the building when familiar smells caught her attention. The bandits were returning. Luckily, there was a strong wind blowing towards the harbor so their strong scent had traveled towards her.

She did not know what was keeping the daeben, but she instinctively knew if the bandits saw the females, they would rush to the harbor to investigate. After a brief wait for the daeben, she left her hiding spot in the shrubs and ran back, cutting through the town to shave off time.

The smell grew stronger and she knew she was getting close to them. Judging by the rate at which the smell drew nearer, they were leisurely strolling back to base. “You need patience if you’re going to succeed.” The annoying daeben’s advice played in her head and she reluctantly did as instructed. ”Stay hidden...”

Kira searched for a place to hide, annoyed by the lack of trees in the surrounding region, but there were tall grass and shrubs little ways off the roadside. She ran into one of these and crouched low. Take your time...

She watched with bated breath as the bandits walked by her, one of them lagging a few steps behind from apparent exhaustion. Once the last had passed, she exited her hiding spot. “Approach carefully...”

Her paws made not the slightest sound against the earth as she trailed her target. “Then wait. When your target is least prepared....” She struck!

She dashed forward using her incredible body size to knock the straggler to the ground, then before he could shout she bit down on his throat and gouged out his jugular.

The remaining six whirled around weapons drawn, but she was able to dispatch the nearest in a similar fashion before the rest entered formation around her, weapons drawn.

Growling she circled around the body of the rogue she just dispatched, eyes on the men around her.

Four to go: Three archers and a swordsman. Should have killed the archers first. She had seen the humans around Kerta adopt a similar formation. This was called a ‘party’ if she recalled correctly.

Good. You’ll all serve as practice.

She lunged at the swordsman but was forced to retreat because of his swing which would have slice her no matter how she tried to dodge. An arrow pierced through her left leg, but she refused to fall and alternated her attack between the bandits to disperse them.

However, they had fought by each other’s sides for long periods of time and easily covered for each other when one messed up.

So far, she had only managed to graze them, but in turn, none of their arrows had done any fatal damage. The stalemate continued until the sun began to set on the horizon. As the field lit up in its fiery hue, an image of an elf throwing himself into flames entered her mind and she halted, teeth gnashing in rage..

She was running. So far, she had not really put her all in attacking because she had been too afraid of getting cut by the humans. How could she think of killing the daeben when she was too afraid to face her own enemies in a fight to the death.

Back then too. If she had left that tree trunk instead of cowering in fear, her mother would not have had to perish.

Her eyes burned with anger as her countenance completely changed, dark misty aura radiating off of her. Never again! She would never back down ever again! As if in agreement with her newfound burning resolve, the earth began to shake vigorously beneath her feet.

“St-stay back!” The swordsman cried, waving his sword back and forth in front of him, completely terrified by her. He really thought she was the one causing the earthquake.

Pathetic. I was scared of that?! She lunged at him, ignoring the arrows that dug into her flesh and his sword that cleaved away her life. If I am stabbed twice.. her fangs tore through his protective helmet and ripped away at his face. I will simply kill you once.

With bloodied teeth she turned to the remaining archers who dropped their weapons and attempted to flee, hindered greatly by the shaking earth. She granted them no mercy, as she ripped them apart one after the other.

After the execution, she stumbled to the center of the massacre and howled at the moon, swearing to never run away again.

“Kira... such a wonderful name.” A familiar voice said and Kira whirled around, tears in her eyes at the sight of her mother walking towards her. Her body seemed to fluctuate and she knew it was her spirit. “It would seem the Circle has been restored. Now, I and many others can return to the flow. Say, can you see them?”

Kira looked to the sky and noticed several petals floating towards a greenish stream of stars. She turned back to her mother, and watched helplessly as she too slowly broke down into petals.

“I am proud of you my child and you have grown splendidly, both brave, strong and kind. But never forget: There is a time to fight and a time to run. Watch over the young elf, for he needs you just as much as you need him.”

Kira raised her head to the stars, howling a requiem for the thousands of souls returning to the circle. As the greenish stream disappeared from view, she succumbed to her injuries and collapsed.

Present time

Sunlight streamed into a house in Ranad, showering a sleeping wolf in its warm rays. Kira yawned as she woke up from her slumber. She felt a weight on her abdomen and looked down to see the elf she was to watch over. Sometime in the night he had fallen asleep and was using her as a pillow.

She noticed the bandages on her body and smiled in spite of herself. What kind of doctor uses his patients as a pillow? She settled in, deciding to sleep for just a little longer... at least till he woke up.

Restricted Sector

Building 4

Level 4

Administrative Offices.

The office had been renovated to suit its new owner’s tastes. Games crowded the room, and the walls were filed with either hoops or dartboards. The sole table in the room was placed close to the main window overlooking the park outside. Akari stood, while James Shouyou sat on opposite sides of the table engaged in a heated conversation.

“What are you planning?” Akira asked. His calm voice carried underneath it, a heavy current of suspicion and anger.

“Whatever do you mean?” Shouyou asked, feigning ignorance.

“I mean this farce” Akira slid an envelope across the table. It contained an invitation to a ball on Friday, to be held in one of the buildings.

“Do you not like the invitation Seki-sempai? I personally wanted to go with teal b-”

Veins popped on Akira’s forehead. “Hey, just what do you think we are trying to do here? This is not your playground!”

Shouyou rose sharply, his eyes narrowing. “I believe it is you who does not get what we’re trying to do here.” The younger man relaxed and patted his senior on the shoulder as he walked past him. “Well, just watch. I promise the results will be satisfactory.”

Just as Shouyou reached the door, a shadow crossed Akira’s face. “What is your true objective?”

Shouyou paused, his hands on the doorknob. “You already know that don’t you?”

“No. I do not believe for a second what you told the boss.”

“Why the suspicion? You already know who I am.”

“But I do not know what you are, half-breed.”

A shadow played across the younger man’s face, but it was gone as soon as it came. “Well, why don’t you just watch and see?” He opened the door, and smiled at who he saw. ” Yuki-chan!”

“Shouyou,” she replied. She had none of her usual buoyancy about her.

“Che. Why are you only so cold to me?” He sighed, shrugging as he walked past her.

Yukino watched him leave, eyes glaring menacingly at his back like it would spontaneously implode if she stared hard enough. Once he rounded a corner, she turned to Akari who was closing the door behind him.

“Are you alright, Seki?”

Akari sighed, then smiled as he patted her on the head. “It’s nothing. Just an argument between friends.”

“You’re friends?”

He stared at her blankly like she had just asked the most ridiculous question. “Of course. There’s no one I value higher than him. Why? We don’t seem that way?”

No... no matter who you ask, you’re sworn enemies! She wanted to scream, but kept it to herself, instead opting to shake her head.

“Hmm.. I guess that is my fault. Anyway, what brings you here?”

Her eyes brightened as she remembered her purpose for searching him out. “Did you hear about the ball on Friday?”

“Yes. Shouyou and I were just discussing it earlier. I bet he’s planning something underhanded again. What of it?”

She hesitated, playing with her hair as she mumbled, “Um..that is.. well... if you don’t have anyone to go with.. I.. you.. could.. go together?”

“Sure, why not,” he said and she beamed with joy. “It’ll allow me to keep a close eye on him.”

She froze, turning to stone as it felt like someone had someone had tossed her right into the Atlantic ocean. “Seki-no-Baka!” She fled down the hallway, crying at the top of her lungs.