There she was, seating near the edge on a rectangular boulder that seemed like it was perfectly cut out. We faced her back as the stranger looked out at the sun that was halfway down the sky.
Upon hearing our entrance, she turned her head to look at us. Her face, body shape, and hair colour was identical to "The Ruthless Brawler: Lily". However, those were the only similarities that she shared with the original hero Lily in appearance.
She matched the Scout's description perfectly.
Instead of letting her long yellow hair be free of any constraints, she had it tied up neatly in the form of a bun.
She wore a black kimono with a light yellow coat that almost seemed like it was glowing. Leaning against her shoulder, was the golden sheath of what seemed to be a long katana that was almost half her height. It looks incredibly rare. The pattern of a golden phoenix was wrapped around her weapon.
"Greetings," She spoke first with a gentle smile and tone. She did not reach for her weapon's handle which was a good sign. She stood up to face us, the transparent numbers '0357' was seen imprinted across the right arm, "the Scout did say you two would come."
"You talked with him?" I asked almost automatically. I could tell that it sparked the Reaper's curiosity as well.
"Yes, but he was quite shy so he did not speak that much."
It would explain how the Scout knew that she was 'friendly' but how did she...
"Oh sorry I forgot about introductions," Not even a few seconds in and my head was already close to wandering off, "umm, hello, I'm a Summoner. She's a Reaper and this is Alfred."
He waved. The stranger looked at Alfred, she was most likely intrigued by his existence.
"A pleasure to meet you all. I am a Samurai," She politely bowed her head causing me to awkwardly do the same, "I must say, you three are quite the rare sight."
"It's a pleasure to meet you to-"
"ha...haha...hahah...HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Yukari began another fit of insane laughter that seemingly came out of nowhere. She licked her fingers as she looked straight at the Samurai with wide eyes, "We could say the same for you! HAHAHAHAHA!"
Alfred and I both gave the Reaper a blank stare. Was this just how she approached all new people? The Samurai seemed completely unfazed by the hysterical laughing.
Her mad laughing came to a sudden halt and her expression switched back to a more blank yet eerie expression, "Fakes like us only seem to appear once in a blood moon, huh?"
"It would seem so..." The female Samurai answered, "but I can't blame most fakes. After all...their skill trees are the closest things they'll ever have to being like the original."
"But do you encourage that sort of behaviour?" I asked.
"No...but when it seems to be their only source of happiness and fulfilment. It often becomes quite difficult to get them to listen. Sometimes I just can not find it in my heart to try tell them." She looked up at the sky as if she was looking back at the past.
She was right about that. To this day, I can still remember the sense of immense euphoria I felt when I was first taught how to get those small little wings on my back.
"Oh dear, I apologies. I did not mean to start our very first meeting with such a sensitive topic." The Samurai's eyes moved from the sky and back at us, "So what brings you two here?"
"Umm..." I scratched my head. Now that I thought about it, we never really rehearsed what to say once we actually meet her.
"We brought food." I said nervously.
The Reaper's jacket moved and dropped a bunch of food that we got from Viridescent's forest. They had been cooked beforehand and were preserved really well.
"Aww, how lovely, thank you," The Samurai moved to the side and gestured with a welcoming arm, "please, have a seat."
The rock only had space for two people and sitting on it now were Alfred and I.
The Samurai insisted that she sit on the ground while the Reaper had already sat down before I could say anything.
Alfred and I faced the Samurai and the Reaper in a small circle as we ate. Truth to the Scout's words, she was very friendly and showed no sings of hostility. She talked with a calm composer which was always accompanied by a small gentle smile.
We started with light topics. The first topic being where Yukari and I had come from. Another light topic we discussed was the blue mountain itself. The Samurai commented how peaceful it all seemed and the different activites she would do to pass the time like enjoying the view or-
"Upside-down fishing?" I repeated.
"It's quite simple. A lot easier than regular fishing. You may have noticed, but the blue sponge and coral that grows near the top of the branches creates an atmosphere that is similar to that of an ocean. So if any outside object or person were to get high enough, it'll be as if they were swimming through water. So! All you have to do then is attached a hook onto a rope with some bait, climb up to one of the middle branches, then throw the bait high enough and wait. Once you get a catch, you simply jump off the branch and the air fish gets dragged down with you, back to the ground where it cannot swim." The Samurai explained.
While that did seem like great fun, it did raised a few queries in my head. Wouldn't you sprain a leg from a height like that? And even from the middle branch, it is possible to throw a rope that high? I didn't know whether it was rude to ask or not so I ended up not commenting.
As we ate, I spotted the Samurai staring intently at the food we gave her. In fact, after she took the first bite, her chewing speed slowed down slightly as if she was trying to discern the taste. Does she dislike it? No, it seemed like it was something else. She quickly returned to a normal chewing speed and ended up not commenting on it. Instead she asked:
"Mind if I pack some for my student?"
"You have a student?" I asked.
"Yes. We live together in a small cottage on the other side of this mountain. She lacks a bit in stamina so she often prefers not to climb up the mountain."
Another reset, perhaps? The Scout didn't mention that. Maybe he just missed her. I told her she was free to take as much as she wanted since we had plenty from where we came from. In fact, our source of food back at home was practically unlimited, but I didn't mention that.
Lily looked at Alfred with curious observant eyes when he opened his helmet, revealing nothing but a dark void where Alfred would casually throw the food into.
"If you do not mind me asking, what exactly drove you two to reset your skill tress?" The Samurai asked.
"I wanted more power...and Healer just wasn't cutting it out for me." The Reaper answered with food still in her mouth.
"I see."
More power so she can protect her home. I thought to myself. But she didn't mention that.
"How about you?" She turned to look at me.
I had to give it some thought before saying, "Well I actually used to be like most other fakes... I was visiting the Original Aria's hometown, hoping it would 'awaken' something in me," I was slightly embarrassed to admit this but I continued, "But then an A-rank monster attacked. I thought I was truly going to die, but then I was saved by the original Aria. After seeing firsthand how powerful she actually was, I finally realised just how futile and narrow my view of life was. Years of pointless effort, all gone and spent on a goal that wasn't even possible to reach because I was too foolish to see it."
"Do not be hard on yourself, Summoner. There isn't a single soul on this planet who wasn't born foolish. Even the people you may see as righteous. How you choose to learn from that foolishness: now that is truly what will determine your worth. It's good you ended up making that huge leap of faith. You certainly made the right choice. "
Alfred rapidly nodded his head, furiously agreeing with every single one of the Samurai's words.
"Thank you." Was all I could say. It was encouraging to hear such kind words.
"Wait, so you actually have met one of the original?" The Reaper asked, looking at me with a raised eyebrow. That's right. I never really told her.
"Well, I wouldn't say 'met'. More like witnessed from a distance." I replied before flipping the question around them, "Have you two met any of them?"
There was a brief moment of silence that passed when I asked that question.
"A few encounters here and there..." The Samurai answered softly while the Reaper remained quiet, "The A-rank monster you mentioned...was it's name Ulbrok: The Destructive Calamity?"
That name. During that time, I thought that name was going to be the last thing I ever saw before my death, "You've heard of it?"
"Yes...you see, before the S-rank creature appeared, everyone was talking about that ogre. I heard that it was unique as it had the ability to turn anything it attacked into wood and straw meaning it could destroy any buildings regardless of what strong materials they were made out of it. Even structures that were coated in magical protection were easily taken down. Apparently it destroyed several towns and even defeated a General before it was finally slain by the original Aria. Or so I heard."
"Most of what you just said was true. Luckily for me and everyone who was there, Aria did arrive before the monster did too much damage to her hometown."
"Speaking of which, wasn't there..." The Reaper spoke, only to stop herself abruptly.
"Beg your pardon?"
"Nevermind."
From my guess, the Reaper was most likely about to mention the most recent A-rank monster that was recently killed. The Corrupted Water Nymph: Firuzeh. She probably choose not to mention it since the person who ended up defeating it was none other than the Original Lily. Both the Reaper and I weren't sure yet whether that topic would be too personal or not so to be on the safe side, we choose not to bring that up unless the Samurai herself addressed it.
I proceeded to change the subject by returning the conversation back to the S-rank monster that the Samurai mentioned. which, to be fair, was still an interesting topic anyway. Trogan: The Multiplying Mountain. It had been almost a decade since a monster was classified as S-rank. The rank is only given to monsters capable of threatening the whole of humanity from what I heard.
If Trogan was just a mountain-sized monster, then it probably would've been given A-rank at best. But as the name suggest, it had the ability to duplicate itself. Meaning if it wasn't dealt with, the world could've been facing an entire army of moving mountains. Apparently even with all nine original heroes, it took two days to finally defeat it.
"I heard that back in the day before the nine original heroes were a thing, the kingdom used to unite every single general on the planet whenever an S-rank threat appeared." Said the Reaper.
"It was an incredibly rare occurrence even back then but yes, you are correct" The Samurai then added, "and unfortunately, in exchange for saving the world, many of those lives would perish. Those were quite the dark times for the humans."
"According to some songs that I've heard from bards, there used to be exactly 10,000 generals." It was hard for me to imagine that there used to be that many people who were each powerful enough to be given that title.
"Also true, but the qualification to become a general back then wasn't exactly as harsh compared to today."
There was one notable thing that both the Reaper and I eventually picked up on about the Samurai as we continued to conversed with her. From the way she spoke, and the way she addressed certain topics, especially topics about the past... She had most likely lived a lot longer than both of us.
An interesting thing to note is that thanks to the curse that is applied to all fakes, most of our physical appearance will always still match the original. In other words, an Aria fake who has lived for 5 year will still look identical to an Aria fake who has only lived for a month.
As for exactly how old she was and whether or not she was from that time... we still didn't know. It was incredibly rare to find fakes who had lived during that time...mostly because most of them were killed.
"So what was your reason for travelling all the way here? Was it really just to meet me?" She finally asked again. We had almost finished eating at this point.
I had been slightly avoiding that question in hopes that we could maybe try get to know each other more. To maybe increase our chances. But now that she has asked the question twice, it was probably about time to address the main topic at hand. The main reason why we were here.
The Reaper and I looked at each other before nodding. The Reaper seemed oddly nonchalant about it though. The exact opposite of how I was feeling.
I proceeded to tell the Samurai about our situation and about 'Fake Town'. I explained how the fakes living there aren't like most fakes and how they're just regular villagers who want to live peaceful lives. I told her about the Reaper's desire to protect this place. How we were currently looking for as many resets who are willing to join us in hopes that we'll be able to protect our home from any dangers that may come in the future.
The Samurai listened silently with a neutral expression as I spoke.
"So we...ah... yeah...so..." I awkwardly concluded with, "what do you think?"
"Hmm..."
I waited anxiously while the Reaper casually took another bite out of her food.
"This place must be very precious to you."
"Very..." I replied, speaking for both Alfred and the Reaper.
The Samurai looked down at the ground. We waited as the Samurai thought about her answer. It was always moments like these where seconds seem to decide that they now want to feel like hours. I found myself gulping saliva while the Reaper gulped another chunk of food.
"It pains me to say this but I will have to reject your request. My deepest apologies, but...I do not think I am prepared to move to another community just yet."
Honestly, it was to be expected. I was well aware of how unreasonable it was to ask someone to just pack everything up and move. In my case, the only reason why I happily agreed to the Reaper's offer was because I didn't really have anywhere else to go. It was still slightly disappointing to know that our entire trip resulted in nothing.
But in all fairness. The only convincing reason we had to offer in order to get someone to join our small town would be that we could provide shelter, food and other allies for 'protection' or support. But it was clear as the setting sun that the Samurai didn't really need any of those things. On the contrary, if our suspicions were true, we probably need her more than she needs us. I tried hiding my disappointment with a smile, "That's okay. we underst-"
"Haha...hahaha..."
Oh. No.
"BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
That laugh. Whatever she's thinking, it's not going to be good.
"Hey Samurai..." She stood up from her spot and looked down at the Samurai, "Want to have a duel?"
I immediately got up from my seat and stood between the Reaper and the Samurai. I shot the Reaper with an alarmed glare which did not seem to faze her in the slightest. Alfred also proceeded to stand.
"Reaper...You can't just force her like that."
"Oh she can stay, that's totally fine with me. I have no interest in ripping someone away from their home...But i just really want to challenge her now." Her wide opened eyes were staring right past me and directly at the Samurai.
Naturally, I protested, "No! I won't let you!"
"You can sense it too, right summoner? HAHAHAHAHA..." A grin had found its way back to her face. A grin filled to the brim with pure excitement. This wasn't good. She didn't seem to be listening to me.
"My apologies Reaper, but I would rather not," The Samurai politely declined, "I am not really fond of using violence as a form of sport."
"See? She's not interested!" I was glad that at least the Samurai was being mature about this.
"As long as no one here intends to kill anyone, it should be fine right?"
"NO! We are NOT fighting in any shape or form! Have you learnt nothing from our battle with Viridescent? You can't go challenging every soul on the planet!"
"Listen Summoner, she doesn't want to join us. That's fine. But that also more of a reason to challenger her right now, isn't I? We may never meet again in the future."
"Have you listened to any of Eve's lectures?!"
"Well we don't have to tell her."
We went into a brief back and forth argument filled with noisy bickering. Meanwhile, the Samurai silently walked away a bit to look back at the beautiful view of the mountain.
"You said you were a Reaper correct?" She asked, interrupting our little fight.
"Yeah, why you ask?"
"On second thought... I accept your duel."
I swung around to stare at her with the same expression I used on the Reaper, "Eh? Why the change of heart?"
"Curiosity. That's all. In fact, I'll like to take both of you on, if you don't mind, of course."
Wait what? Why am I being dragged into this? I looked to Alfred for some support but now even he seemed slightly excited.
"You two are helpless." I sighed. Although now that we had the Samurai's consent, I would lying if I said I wasn't curious as well. I have never met or seen a Samurai class before.
"BUT STILL!" I continued to protest, "That's no reason to get unnecessary injuries for."
"Sorry Summoner, but there's no way I'm wasting such a rare chance like this."
The last time she said those words, we literarily almost died.
"Look! It's almost getting dark," I waved my hand at the sky, my last desperate attempt to stop things, "We can't-"
Once again, we were both interrupted when the the Samurai let out a soft chuckle before claiming, "Do not worry about that...I will make it quick and gentle."
It went quiet. Gentle winds blew past loudly as if even the air itself was offended by what was just said. The Reaper and I both slowly turned to look the Samurai as if checking to see if she was joking. While she did have a soft smile, her expression showed that she was quite serious.
If I didn't know any better, the Samurai was now encouraging this fight.
"Oh? You sure sound hella confident." She brought out her scythe, spinning a few times and coasting it in dark energy.
Alfred turned to look at me. I sighed. I wasn't sure how this escalated so fast but there was no stopping this. I brought out my stone sword and shield. My knight went to join our side before taking out his large great sword.
"I have to admit. It is quite refreshing to see other fakes use weapons that are different to the originals."
The Reaper grinned even more as dark shadows gathered in her weapon, "Oh, trust me, the feeling is very mutual."
The three of us raised our weapons. The air fish around us all went hide deep in the blue bushes.
"Go whenever you feel comfortable to begin..." Despite her words, the Samurai's posture did not change in the slightest. In fact, her hand wasn't even on her weapon's handle.
Yukari bolted. She attacked with scythe. Lily ducked underneath the swing, before kicking Yukari's leg.
Parts of her shadow jacket made several shadow fist. Two of those fist stopped Yukari's fall while the rest went to attack. Lily dodged every single one of them through ducking, side stepping and moving her head every so slightly. Her movement was graceful almost. With speeds that seemed unnaturally.
"Shield Dash!"
I thought I had timed it perfectly.
But I missed. Not only that. I overestimated how big this area was and didn't stop in time before hitting the edge. The Samurai grabbed my shirt and pulled me back before I fully fell.
"Oh dear, do be careful, it's quite the fall."
Alfred and Yukari came sprinting forward, swinging their weapons. She swiftly reacted by doing a front flip over the pair, her yellow hair gracefully flying through the air.
"Tch! You better not be looking down on us!"
"My apologies. That was not my intention... very well, I'll end this now."
We both felt our bodies tense the moment we saw the Lily fake's hand gripped the handle of her katana for the first time. She slowly pulled it out by about a single centre-meter before stopping, only revealing a small glimpse of her blade.
The Reaper sprinted with a powerful swing of a scythe, "Death Swing!"
Alfred followed. Great Divide!
"Bladed Mitigation! Shield Enhance!"
The Samurai then slid her blade back into the sheath with a gentle click.
Attacks were deflected.
Something touched my neck.
Everything turned black.
...
-I-I-I-I-
...
At first the Reaper's eyes were also whiting out. But then, her eyes forcefully rolled themselves back into consciousness.
"Was that a passive skill?"
Yukari didn't answer. Instead she-
"Bloody Reaper!"
Lily looked up at the new monstrous form that appeared before her. She grabbed the katana's handle once more and pulled it back about two or so inches out of its sheath before stopping there.
"What kind of Samurai doesn't fully release their katana out of the sheath?" The monstrous hooded Reaper asked as she prepared an even more powerful swing.
"I...would rather not."
"Hollowing Death Bringer!"
She slid the katana back in the sheath with a gentle click.
...
-I-I-I-I-
...
I woke up with the strange sensation of laying on something soft. Was this... a bed? Wool?
My eyes opened to see that I was now in a completely different place.
A small, simple cottage made of logs.
The entire house consisted of only one room. In the middle was a wooden table with lit up candles, accompanied by two chairs. It had a single door made of logs. On one side were several drawers and a counter to prepare food and on the other side were two single beds each placed on opposite sides to each other. I was laying on one of them and I spotted the Reaper laying in the other one. She was awake and sitting up against the wall, staring at the ceiling.
The beds themselves were made of wood and wool. Nothing fancy of course. They seemed handmade. There was even a window that showed the blue forest and told me that it was currently deep into night time. It was dark, with the candles and the stars in the sky as our only light source.
This was the first time I had ever laid on top of a bed. It was one of the many thing I thought I would never get the chance to feel. It was so soft. So this is how it felt. I'm afraid that my body might not be able to return to mats now that I've experienced this. I should enjoy it while it last.
"Oh hi there!" It sounded exactly like Lily's voice but this one seemed more cheerful and jolly, "Sensei really did a number on you two huh?"
Standing near the wooden counters was a Lily fake, wearing a similar kimono to the Samurai but her coat had a different light blue pattern on it.
"H-hello."
"Here, have some tea!" She handed me a small metal cup.
"Thank you so much."
"No worries! I made it myself so sorry if it doesn't taste that great." She said before swiftly going back to pick up another cup of tea on the table.
It was then I spotted Alfred standing outside, near the door. He was scanning the area in front of him as he stood in front of the house like a watch guard with his large claymore stabbed into the ground. The Lily fake approached him.
"Umm, sir? Hi, would you like some tea?"
Alfred must've looked quite intimidating to her. It didn't help that Alfred only stared silently back at her.
"It's ok Alfred," I called out to him, "come inside and have a drink."
It must've been cold outside.
Alfred's weapon disappeared as he bowed his head slightly to the Lily fake as a form of thanks as if copying the Samurai. He then took a seat inside with the tea.
The Lily fake watched in utter bewilderment as Alfred opened his helmet before proceeding to pour the tea into his faceless void of a head.
The tea was green and warm. I had never tasted tea before. It tasted bitter yet sweet. Two forms of flavours that I never knew could go so well together.
As I drank, I turned my attention to the Reaper who was still being oddly silent, "What happened?"
"We lost. Badly. By a long shot." She didn't seem angry nor frustrated. In fact, it was hard to tell what she was feeling about our overwhelming defeat.
It's also crazy to know that neither the Reaper or I had any visible injuries on us. She really was quick and gentle.
Lily puffed up her chest with her arms proudly stationed on her hips, "Sensei is amazing isn't she! Hehehehe."
I'm assuming she was referring to the Samurai whenever she said 'Sensei'.
"She really is." I agreed which reminded me, "Where is she now?"
"Fishing." The Reaper answered.
"This late at night?"
"Don't worry, she'll be fine. She wanted to repay you two for the food you brought which was delicious by the way. Thank you so much!"
"No worries. We just thought it would be rude not to bring anything. Nice to meet you by the way. I'm a Summoner." I was so taken away by the bed and tea that I had forgotten about introduction.
"Oh that's right!" The Lily fake's eyes lit up, "We haven't met yet. Sorry, I completely forgot. Don't worry I've already met Alfred and Reaper. But anyways, hi! Oh dear where do I start? I'm a Lily fake- oh wait, I guess that's obvious, haha. My number is 4339 and…as for my role, well at the moment I'm a tank."
"A tank?"
"Yeah. At least I think it's a tank role. It's called berserker but I'm pretty sure its a tank, judging from the first skills I got. Anyways, as for why I choose tank well I was thinking about the different ways I could support Sensei in a fight. Then I thought, 'what If I could absorb all the attacks while she defeats all the enemies?'. That way Sensei doesn't have to risk getting injured. We would make such a good combo right? So yeah, that's what I'm working on currently."
"I see... Umm, if you don't mind me asking but is "sensei" the Samurai's name?" I asked out of curiosity.
"OH! Sorry, that's right! I forgot most people don't know that word. Well you see, a long time ago we met an odd adventurer who was passing by this mountain. Long story short, he ended up training as the Samurai's student for a few years. During that time, he kept calling her 'sensei' so I started doing the same. The word just had a nice ring to it, don't you think? He was quite an interesting person. Very fun. Anyways, he told me that apparently it's another word for 'teacher'."
"Is that so?" I had never heard of such a word. But then again, my internal dictionary isn't that vast to begin with.
"Hang on..." The Reaper spoke up, grabbing both of our attention, "did you say earlier that you were a berserker at the moment."
"Yep! That's right."
"What do you mean by ...'at the moment'?" The Reaper asked.
Ah, she did say that didn't she. That's a good point. That's not usually a word you would use with something like skill tress. Now that she pointed it out, I became curious as well.
"Well..." She looked up at the ceiling to think for a few moments before speaking, "A few months ago I was trying out this class called "Boomerang Thrower", I didn't really like it though. Before that I was an "Archer" but despite the name, most of its skills were close range attacks which was soooo weird. And way before that, I tried "wizard" but it was so complicated for me. As for now, if "Berserker" doesn't work out well, there's this role called "Mechanist" that I wanted to try cause the name sounded cool."
That was...way too much information to process, especially for something said so casually.
I saw the Reaper's eyes widen slightly.
"But h-how do you reset?" I asked with a slight tremble in my voice.
"Oh, I have this universal skill that just allows me to reset whenever I want to." She answered casually.
"And that doesn't have any limitation?"
"Nope, in fact, sometimes I like to switch constantly between two roles to see the difference between the feeling of it, you know."
I was lost for words at that point. The Father of the church I went to for my reset did tell me that there were other ways but I never even imagined there being an actual skill that allowed you to do that.
"And just how many options do you have?" The Reaper asked.
"246."
Silence fell upon the house faster than rain can hit the ground. It was as if thunder has struck our ability to talk for that exact moment. By now, the Reaper's jaw had opened as wide as it could. I probably had a similar expression on my face.
"246 what?" I asked gently.
She titled her head, wondering why we we both suddenly went quiet. Alfred seemed just as confused as her. "Options. I got 246 roles to choose from."
I choked on the tea I was drinking and coughed a few time. Once I cleared my throat, I breathed in and- "EEEHHHHHHH?!" I screamed before covering my mouth.
Lily recoiled slightly, "Is it that weird? Sensei said she had 658 options."
"WHAAAAAAT!?" The Reaper screamed next, "I ONLY HAD FOUR!"
"HHUUUUHH!?" Now it was Lily's turn to scream. I swear her eyes almost left their sockets.
"And mind you, one of them was the original Yukari's healer class so I technically only had three options!" She added, she then suddenly glared at me, "How many did you have?"
"Eight in total." I said, still shaken by the fact that it was possible to have that many choices. Was each of those choices a completely different skill tree?
All three of us engaged in a triple back and forth. I just begun barraging questions everywhere, the Reaper started complaining about how unfair it was while Lily just kept repeating phrases like "ONLY 8?! That's so tiny!". Poor Alfred was left completely flabbergasted by all the screaming.
We all had to take a moment to recover from that revelation. By the time I finished my tea, we had all calmed down.
"You must be pretty weak then."
I saw Lily flinch.
"Lily..." I spoke slowly before the Reaper continued, I tried to put as nicely as I could, "You do realised that every time you reset, all the stats and skills that you spent time training to get...they all get erased."
She looked down at the ground and began fidgeting with her yellow hair. She definitely knew.
"I just... Sensei told me to choose wisely and I wanted to make sure I don't regret my decision and I just...there's so many to choose from you know, what if there's a better role for me among those choice and, and, and..."
"Listen Kid-"
"You know, I'm pretty sure I'm older than both of you." She murmured with a pout.
"Whatever, just listen. All skills trees are unpredictable. You are never going to one that perfectly suits your taste. Each tree has its pros and cons. That's just how it is. It's less about the skill tree and more about how much a person develops it. You have to pick one now and commit to probably could've been just as strong as your sensei by now. But instead, you've spent most of your life half-heartedly choosing whatever roles you want like a spoilt child, abandoning them without unlocking their full potential, you're ironically more weaker than most fakes in this world. "
Lily made no response. While her words were unnecessary harsh in some points, overall, I had to agree with the Reaper on this one.
"I'm surprised your 'sensei' didn't tell you that." She added.
"She did...but she wasn't such a big fat meanie about it." She murmured the last bit with a childish tone and pout.
"Oi." Yukari got slightly annoyed by that last comment.
I couldn't help but give the Reaper a raised eye brow as I recalled her doing to the exact same thing to Eve9654 who lectured us the other day.
"246 roles huh," I chimed in before it got too quiet, "I never imagined that there could be that many different types. Surely there's some unusual ones mixed in there, right?"
"Yeah!" To my surprise, Lily's mood immediately lit up as if nothing had happened, "There's actually so many of them! Like there was this one skill tree that..."
Ask her one question and it seems she can go on forever. To be fair, I admit that it was quite fascinating to listen to her go on and on about the different roles she had tried out. She told me about a skill tree called "pyromancer" that, instead of the usual wooden started weapon, only gave her a mask to wear. There was another skill tree called "Climber" but couldn't actually climb anything. A another skill tree called "Botanist" whose primary weapon was a gun for some reason. I continued listen to the many skill tress she had tried out over the many years. Although deep down, it also proved the Reaper's point on just how much time Lily had wasted.
Eventually the conversation shifted to a different topic. The topic of why the Reaper and I had come here in the first place.
"Oh I would LOVE to move to your village!" She said without the slightest of hesitation after I told her about Fake Town.
"Wait what? R-really?" I was quite surprise to hear that. This caught Yukari's attention as well.
"Yeah! To be honest, even with Sensei, it does get a bit lonely out here... Wait, did Sensei decline your request?"
"Yes. She didn't tell you?"
She shook her head, "No she didn't... but if Sensei doesn't want to move then neither do I."
Lily went silent with a melancholy look, looking aimlessly at her tea. It was second time I had seen her cheerful mood drop down so low during this meeting.
"Do you think you have an idea why she declined?" I asked softly.
"Yes...Many years ago, Sensei and I used to be a part of another community of fakes, very similar to the 'fake town' that you've described. Things happened and ah...well...yeah...it probably has something to do with that. You know what, maybe it's better if I just start from the beginning. A long time ago, Sensei and I were-"
"Sorry not interested." The Reaper went up to exit the cottage, "Mind if I go out for a while and-"
"WAIT! I WAS ABOUT TO MONOLOGUE ABOUT OUR SAD EMOTIONAL BACKSTORY! DON'T YOU WANT TO KNOW?!" She pouted like a child.
"Come on Reaper, let's hear her out." I said.
She sighed before closing the door and leaning her back against the wall, "Alright..."
I remained on the bed while Alfred and Lily sat at the table. All our attention was now on her.
She took in a deep breath, "...Sensei and I... have existed since the 'Demon Hunts' after the war. It was around the time that those hunts began...when I first met her."
To be continued.
...
A/N: Two things:
Firstly. I will be making a few changes to previous chapters soon. Like changing a character's hair colour, adding monster names and taking things out. Nothing significant but just letting you know.
Second. I apologies for the slow updates. I have been occupied with life and university lately so I can't update as fast as I did during my holiday. I did enter in the writathon (which I think is really cool, by the way), don't think I'll actually read the goal, I completely missed the first deadline, but hopefully it'll motivate me to write move.
This chapter was finished on 16/04/2022.
ns 18.68.41.141da2
