Continue Online (Book 1, Memories) (43 page)

“
Really?”
I said.

“
Yep.
The first princess was actually trying to abolish the kingdom's
slavery. My guild officers think the kingdom would have been better
off had those first players failed.”

“
The
hidden trick to this one?” My eyebrow went back up in question.
Beth had started this entire conversation to explain how these quests
might have several layers or odd connections.

“
Players
could have probably reconciled the two groups into one kingdom and
made things idealistic and heavenly. Angels would descend and shed
rainbows all over those involved! For glory and fame!” She
dropped her silverware and waved both hands around.

“
Bet
that would have taken some skills.”

“
Probably,
like a Rank twenty on a negotiator path, or some other people skill.
Probably could blackmail them too.” Beth waved a hand in the
air. She clearly did not follow any sort of negotiator path. My niece
seemed far more inclined to fight things.

“
Wait
are there actually angels in this game?” I watched Liz bring
over another round of food for her daughter and scrape it onto the
teenager's plate.

“
Probably?”
Beth said. She looked away for a moment then shrugged.

“
How
does anyone figure this stuff out?” That was like five layers
of silly double crossing that anyone would get lost in.

“
Most
secret resolutions require an approach way outside the box. If it was
something the NPC's skills could handle, then there’s no
point.” Beth downed half her glass of water and kept right on
eating a second helping.

“
Makes
sense.”

“
Yeah.
You think outside the box, what skill does the NPC have, what do you
have. Apply pressure!” She ground a thumb into the table with
entirely too much glee on her face. “Sometimes you find really
cool stuff.”

“
That’s…”
I paused and set down the stack of papers she’d shoved at me.
“actually really good advice.”

“
Better
stop there, she’ll get a big head. Then I’ll never hear
the end of it.” Liz had been listening, even if she professed
dislike at the topic.

“
Next
stop, Queen of the World!” Beth pretended to give a mad cackle
at Liz, then slurped down the last of her food before rushing off.
“Oh, Uncle Grant!” Beth had popped back in and was
hanging off the door frame. “My guild's planning a war in about
a month of real time, find me by then okay?”

“
Okay!”
Too late, my niece was already gone, leaving behind a whirlwind of
thoughts in my brain.

Liz
and I made idle chit chat for another thirty minutes, but my brain
wasn’t really in it. Opening the guidebook would be tactless,
though. My sister deserved a more invested conversation. Eventually,
we both realized it was going nowhere, and I felt okay again. My
brief bout of ‘what if’ induced melancholy had faded
during our game infused conversation. For now, eventually it always
came back. This last year had been easier than the one before it.
Which was easier than the year before that. Sometimes I lost track of
the moment and forgot that she'd passed away nearly three years ago.

“
Mh.”
Lost in thought I started the farewell procession.

“
What’s
up?”

“
I’ll
need to buy flowers.” The thought made me clench my eyes for a
moment longer than normal. Liz smiled then shook her head sadly.

“
Are
you going to be okay?”

“
Yeah.
This game is actually a good distraction.” A year in reality,
four years in game. Time and distance would help heal all wounds, or
so my therapist said. My expression must not have been reassuring
enough for Liz.

“
The
game looks nice but don’t forget us here in reality, eh baby
brother?”

“
By
like two minutes,” I grumbled.

“
And
I’ll never let you forget it.” She gave me the same smile
I’d been subject to for decades now. The grin was pure
mischief, but the eyes held a tint of worry at the edges.

“
Thanks,
Liz.”

“
Anytime,
Grant, be safe.” She paused and tried not to look worried. Only
Liz and those in my meetings knew how bad it’d really been. We
hugged briefly and her hands stayed on my shoulders for a moment.
“You sure you’re okay?”

“
I’m
okay, Liz.” I gave a tired smile, the only one that was really
available to me when thinking about the past and waved goodnight. The
porch light stayed on until I got into the van and set the Auto NAV
for home.

Family,
for me, was the last safety net of a rock bottom life. They were
everything. If Liz or Beth ever needed me, I’d do anything to
repay their kindness. A college fund and ARC for Beth was just the
start. Liz was harder to pay back. She’d always been the strong
one.

But
not me.

I
distracted myself on the ride home by reading through the guidebook
Beth had printed for me. Continue NPCs were real, but the world
itself had some strange setting situations. Dungeons were one of
them. Did Haven Valley have any? Would making it to a boss constitute
a great adventure? I had no other good leads. Then there was the
whole question of Mister Carver's skills.

Fine.
I had to stop taking this game so seriously and maybe be entertained
with trying unexpected things. After all, my life was infinitely less
depressing if I only looked forward.WWCD? The real Carver, not the
[Guide]
Carver.
He would be proactive! He would chase a lead until the adventure was
over. Then chase everything that resembled a female. I planned to
skip that latter part. Even after all these years, the idea of being
with another woman felt wrong.

Session Twelve
- Questions, Mister Legate?

William
Carver had completed a day without me and was asleep again. According
to the monitoring method players could use before logging in, he had
made it back to the tiny shack. Logging in shoved my character into
the darkness of the Ultimate Edition trial room. Hopefully, I could
reach one of the Voices here, James or Maud preferably.

“
Hello?”

There
was a pause.

“
Grant
Legate. You’ve returned. How was your time away?” James,
good, starting with him would be best.

“
Enlightening.”
I think. “I had some questions if our deal is still in effect.”
Asking ‘is our bargain still on?’ would have been a
question.

“
Of
course, Grant Legate.” Soon I would shed the Voices annoying
usage of my first and last name.

“
Is
William Carver related to Mylia?” I said. There was no use
hiding around the biggest question in my list.

“
No.
Why would you suspect that?” James responded.

“
William
seemed to get around a lot.”

“
A
man after my own heart. But there were protections in place for that
sort of thing, at least during his day.” There was the
Temptress, red skinned, scantily clad, more a lingering promise than
anything else. I could feel her eyelashes flutter.

“
Of
course now, even with the corrections from Mother, there’s
still too many rug rats being rolled out. Kill ‘em all, let us
sort them out!” In whirled the Jester. This time it dancing
with a brunette who was clad in shimmering crimson liquid. I tried
not to put too much thought into it.

“
Lust
does that. The ladies say it’s worth the effort.” The
Temptress was not one to let a simple Jester detract from her
presence.

“
Enough,
he is my charge.” James' deep voice cut across my brain.

“
But
he’s entertaining.” Which Voice was that? Not one
recognized.

“
And
deliciously depressing, his mood swings are more fickle than
Selena's.” That voice was something itchier. Whatever it was
felt like mice crawling across my skin.

The
aloft Voice on a pedestal, Selena, didn’t make an appearance.
Instead, she graced us with a clap of thunder and a rush of raindrops
pelting into the dark room.

“
Someone
is going to have a bad day out fishing.” The Jester's words,
clacking and ever amused, came in.

James
scowled.

“
Mister
Grant Legate is only trying to complete the tasks assigned.” A
tiny set of words came through, which belonged to the younger Voice,
a small girl who had been sitting in a library corner reading. Even
now she hid behind a book as she faded in and out of existence.

“
Then
he should ask about those instead,” James said.

“
I
don’t want to cheat.”

“
Admirable.
A true hero paves his own way!” The giant beefy man who had a
sword from my first experience in Continue popped into existence. He
seemed to be fighting some scale ridden monster. He huffed and swung,
dodged and stepped in again. The enemy wasn’t completely clear.

“
Is
that guy Carver's Voice?” I asked.

“
We
all had a hand, but ultimately, Leeroy there was closest to William
Carver.”

“
Leeroy?”

“
Ask
him about his shoulder pads, if you want to be bored to death. His
idea of a joke that’s far too old and tired.” The
Temptress was on her chair again, this time filing her nails while
her tail wagged. Then as soon as she was done talking, she faded out.

“
They’re
fantastic. Plate chafes like you wouldn’t believe. Cloth armor
is the way of the future.” Leeroy, or whatever throwback to
shirtless sword wielding caveman he might be, seemed upset as he came
into being. He manifested enough to flip off the Temptress.

“
That's
confusing,” I said.

“
Remember
where you are.”

I
nodded. James had explained this earlier, here, in this room, I was
like the only fish in the sea. So the Voices were all too present.
Eventually, perhaps, I might learn all their names and roles. For
giggles, I tried to use Identification on James but still came up
with an excessive amount of question marks.

Using
it on the space previously occupied by the Temptress gave a
completely different feeling. A wave of lust that set my body to
attention and a pass of pleasure that nibbled along the neckline.
Teasing sensations lingered and swelled. Unceasingly they kept going
while driving mental coherency down a few notches.