Chương 24: Chapter 23 - Seffara the Sapphire

Artificial Intelligence? Take over the Earth? Why would anyone take over Earth? Nah I think AI would see dragonslayers summoning [Meteors] and just start shitposting like the rest of us. The information is trained on us after all. @Malarkiss123 The heroic [Knight] put her gauntleted arms around the three young adults as she gave the biggest smile to Barry.

"Who are these cuties then?" Her voice wasn't much quieter with her mouth right next to their ears. Ryan was certain he'd have hearing damage if he were still a normal human. Clara and Milock were definitely dazed as their eardrums popped and they looked at a celebrity of old. Barry had his hands blocking his ears.

"Goddamnit, Seff. I'm going to have to move again if you keep standing out there."

"Ah, but what a shame it'd be if you had to move from this…" Seffara looked around and gave the surrounding neighborhood a look of disgust.

"Place." Ryan looked at the two jousting friends… they were probably friends. Seffara's face was awfully close to his, and his heart was beating a hundred miles an hour. Not out of awe but out of nervousness. A ninth realm adventurer like her could definitely hear it… could she hear the difference? Her eyes flicked to his as if confirming the fact. Barry huffed.

"I told you we would go to you." Seffara's eyes went back to her old friend as she started shouting again.

"And I couldn't wait! You refused to take my jet, and I'm not waiting for you to get through public transport." The old orc did not look happy at her answer but resigned himself to the whims of the pushy [Knight].

"Alright, fine, let's go then. Hurry before you tell the whole world you've been here."

"Hah! I'm not that famous anymore." Seffara disappeared. One moment she was leaning on all three of them, then the next she had disappeared from sight. A large truck started honking from the street. Seffara's voice echoing throughout the neighborhood, as clear as day.

"Oi! Will you guys get a move on?" Ryan turned on the orc.

"What the fuck, Barry? This was what you were preparing?" The orc picked at his ear, possibly having hearing damage himself. Then he looked down at Ryan, pretending to not be bothered.

"What? She's an old teammate. You didn't think I had any?" That wasn't a fair question, of course Ryan knew the grizzled old veteran could have team members… he just didn't think they'd be anyone he could call upon. Not to mention it was freaking Seffara. She almost never talked about her ex-squad members in the Settler generation, everyone had assumed she'd effectively washed her hands of them. It wasn't like she only had a few squad members either.

The wars during the Settler generation were a grinder that had killed most of the Trialists. It was estimated that she'd gone through over fifty squad members back in the day. Ryan's mind was still in a daze as Barry stepped through the three of them.

"C'mon, you three. Don't you want to see what Seffara's house is like?" Clara was the first to jump to Barry's side, even she knew who Seffara was. In fact, everyone knew who she was. She was a household name, maybe not in the spotlight anymore but someone whose influence was still strong in adventuring culture. That was what made him hesitate. Milock stuck with Ryan as Barry and Clara walked towards the large truck. Milock nudged Ryan.

"Is this really a good idea, you know, with A-" Ryan desperately interrupted his friend. Practically hissing at Milock.

"Shut up, she can hear you." This was a huge mistake. He'd trusted Barry, thinking the orc also had nowhere else to go. Then again, the orc had access to a custom mid-tier potion. He was an idiot. He should have asked more questions of the orc before spilling his guts to him. At least it didn't seem like Seffara was here to execute him. It didn't seem like she'd recognized him either. Surely if he explained himself, she'd empathize with him. That's who she was. An authentic hero.

Nothing like the fakes that had tried to emulate her. Maybe she'd have a solution to his mess. All these thoughts went through his head as he walked with Milock towards the vehicle. The truck was massive. It was clearly sized with people like Barry in mind. Clara, Milock and Ryan had more than enough space in the back to be comfortable. Not that he could be comfortable. Not as a blacklister [Rogue] sitting behind Seffara the Sapphire.

He was trying to figure out how to introduce himself as Seffara started her truck. It lurched forward, almost instantly reaching the speed limit. Seffara looked through the rearview mirror, meeting the trio's eyes.

"So, which one of you's the Destined?" Ryan cleared his throat.

"I am? I mean, I am. Barry, do you want to explain to Seffara what's going on?"

"Maybe." The orc looked behind and smirked at him. The stupid old orc was having fun watching him squirm. Ryan was not having fun. Seffara had no fucking clue who she had in the back of her car.

"What the hell does maybe mean?" The old orc just scratched at a tusk.

"Hm, that reminds me, we can do your after-action report now. We've got a few hours to kill, why don't you tell us what happened."

"Oh, you guys haven't seen the video?" Ryan's eyes widened in horror.

"Milock! Now is NOT the time." He wanted to strangle his friend. The callback to the video where he psychopathically killed an entire team was the last thing that needed to be called out right now. Clara looked at him, confused. She hadn't seen it yet. Seffara frowned as Ryan panicked.

"Video?" Seffara's brows were furrowed as she tried to make sense of his panic. She met his eyes. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"You guys have a video from the Realm?"

"No, it's nothing." Ryan said quickly. Holy shit, I really am bad at lying.

"Musta caused a ruckus." Barry chuckled, blissfully unaware of the video himself, and not helping the situation at all.

"As expected, I guess."

"New Destined, video, Barry's asking for a favor…" Ryan felt the noose start to wrap around his neck as Seffara started trailing off her mental list. He could see the gears turning in her head. He turned to the handle of the door, wondering if he'd live longer by jumping out. It was too late. Seffara slammed on the brakes in the middle of a street, cars behind honking as they came to a skidding halt. She turned around with fury in her eyes. Her brown irises turning to crystalline blue.

"Don't tell me you're Artigan."

"Barry! You didn't - urk" One second she was looking at him, the next she had him by the throat and pulled until he was between both front seats. Seffara the sapphire glared at her old teammate. Barry had a hand on her gauntlet.

"Ryan!" Clara yelled in a panic. Milock, bless his heart, tried to jump the ninth realm adventurer, grabbing her hand to get him free. Seffara didn't budge an inch. Her glare was still dead set on the old orc.

"What the fuck, Barry? What are you doing with a team killing bastard?"

"Goddamnit, Seff, I said the situation's complicated. Listen to his story first." Seffara glared at Ryan and then threw him back into his seat. He went flying back, somehow missing both Clara and Milock with the throw. He coughed as he felt at his throat. Clara and Milock were panicking, looking him over.

"I'm okay guys. it's fine." He was actually more worried about accidentally hurting his friends. Even when he was getting choked out, he was pretty confident Seffara wasn't going to kill him. Now that the metaphorical [Fireball] had gone off, he was oddly calm. He guessed that his tolerance for danger had shot up these past two days. Maybe it was the fact that he was getting choked by one of his idols. Seffara, unaware of what Ryan was thinking, just kept glaring at Barry.

The orc seemed unhappy with what had happened, at least. Barry crossed his arms and raised a bushy, judgemental eyebrow.

"I thought you trusted my judgment."

"You haven't seen the video, have you?" The orc turned to Ryan as the [Rogue] sank into his seat. This was not how he wanted to introduce himself to one of the most famous adventurers in the world. Seffara activated the big screen on the dashboard, and the Dawn of Artigan began to play. – When the video was done he had sunk further, to the point he was on the floor, staring at the ground and not meeting Clara's eyes. When the video stopped, Clara blinked a few times in shock.

"Wow, that's… is that really you, Ryan?"

"That's not what happened, not exactly." Milock tried to help, once again, quite unhelpfully.

"Yeah, it's not like he had a choice, anyway. He gave them a chance." Ryan elbowed Milock's leg, hard. His friend yelped. Ryan tried to look Clara in the eyes, and she just looked away, unable to meet his eyes. He started to curl up, feeling horrible about himself. Clara, looking at Ryan's pathetic state, bit her lip.

"I mean. You did let them go… it's uhm, I mean I guess you didn't have a choice?"

"Don't Clara. I get it. I look psychotic." Barry was moving through the scenes, stopping and fast-forwarding to different bits. He was looking at a more explicit version of the video and giving the scenes more of an analytical eye.

"We're going to do an after-action report. Good stuff."

"What!" Seffara slammed her fist onto the dashboard, completely furious.

"What's wrong with you, Barry? You saw the video. He also killed Zedart, stabbed them in the back." Barry just unrepentantly scratched at a tusk.

"You're just going to have to trust me on this one, Seff. I did tell you that kid has a story to tell. It's up to him to tell it." Seffara turned around to give Ryan a cold glare with her sapphire like eyes. She ignored the honking in the background. Her look said that he wasn't walking out of here alive if he didn't tell her the truth. For the third time in two days, Ryan began to tell his story. …

Seffara was incredulous about his encounter with the Manager, she didn't seem surprised at the soldiers but stopped him when he got to the Witch Tyrant.

"Oh, Manager's abode. Stop talking."

"I'm not lying."

"I didn't say you were. Just shut up." Seffara stepped out of her truck and closed the door behind her. The cars that were going around her truck stopped honking at her as they realized who she was. Then Seffara leaned down and lifted her truck. It went up one side, then leveled as she stood underneath it. Then, the truck started moving. Seffara the Sapphire started sprinting down the highway with her truck over her head. Ryan turned to the old orc.

"What the fuck, Barry?! Why didn't you tell her beforehand?!" The scenery outside the truck was moving at speed. Possibly, probably as fast as a plane. Barry gripped at a handle above him.

"That's why I wanted to meet at her place. Goddamnit Seff."

"Haha! holy shit we're going so fast!" Milock sounded like he was having the time of his life, he watched the ground zip past them as they moved at terrifying speeds. Fast enough that if they crashed, Ryan would be dead, realm enhancements or not. Not that it was likely. Fifth realm adventurers could break the sound barrier. A ninth realm adventurer running with a truck below the sound barrier wasn't too impressive. That confidence lasted until he took a closer look at Barry.

The orc was holding the top handlebar so tightly that his muscles flexed. The orc, who had only looked angry when getting shot at, now looked like he was worried about his own life. Clara's eyes followed Ryan's gaze. Her eyes widened at the same realization. She moved forward to tap the orc's shoulder.

"Uh, Barry, we're safe, right? She's in the ninth realm, right? Doesn't that mean this is super easy for her, right?"

"Sure." Now Ryan panicked.

"That did not sound like a confident 'sure'!" Ryan hurried back into his seat and put on the seatbelt. The orc turned around and gave the most stoic look he'd seen from the orc.

"Seffara's an old [Warrior], we'll be fine." Ryan just continued to stare at the death grip the orc had on the handlebar.

"We'll be fine." Barry repeated. Even Milock started catching on as his enjoyment melted into sudden fear for his life. Clara started screaming.

"I need to go to the toilet. Seffara! Seffara!" She went to try to pull down the window to yell at the [Knight]. Ryan had to pull her back before she tried to open the window. The retired heroine owned a personal compound near San Jose, closer to where one of Earth's System portals was located. It was a huge farmstead, one with a large manor, enormous warehouses and even a forested section nearby. All of it belonging to the ninth realm adventurer. Seffara put her truck down in her garage.

She had carried her truck from LA to a little before San Jose. Traversing over half of California in over an hour. Helicopters had chased her and she had to shoo away nosy adventurers wondering if there was an emergency. Hopefully, they hadn't recognized the look of fear on her face. The only girl in the truck burst opened from the door, eyes wild.

"Toilet? Where's the toilet?"

"Through the hallway, four doors to the right." The girl crashed through the door in the garage and started sprinting.

"Why is your house so big!?" The girl screamed. Seffara shrugged, not in the mood for laughs as she looked at 'Artigan', the runt, no, rookie had a hopeful look in his eyes, like he was hoping she could solve the mess he was in. She sighed and shook her head. The young man gave her a look of disappointment and looked away. That was better.

"Alright, c'mon in. We can talk shop after I have the privacy bubble up." Seffara led the trio to the dining room. She didn't have butlers or caretakers. Just the minimum contractual hires to maintain her farm and keep it tidy. They came to a dining room on the ground floor and all took a seat. She took out a box from her storage pouch and pressed the button in the middle. A bubble appeared from the box and started expanding outwards until it enveloped all of the party.

Then, she took out a large bottle of golden wine from her pouch.

"Should we wait for the girl or get started?" The rookie, Ryan, retold her his story. She'd been thinking while she had been running with her truck. The Manager deceiving a trialist? That he wasn't some impartial entity offering guidance? Madness. That the boy had been screwed over and set up to come across the daughter of the Witch Tyrant? That said daughter was a secret Legendary [Mage] running around forcing rookies to fight each other to the death? Unbelievable. She turned on the old orc.

"When you said there might be trouble, I thought you meant some sort of rogue kingslayer or dragonslayer at the worst. Manager's abode, Barry, I have a husband now!" The orc snorted.

"Shouldn't have forced the kid to tell you. I told you it'd be dangerous."

"Dragonshit Barry! No–this is Tyrantshit Barry." Her friend raised an eyebrow.

"Would you rather I not have told you?" Seffara opened her mouth, then closed it. Then she glared at him. It was true, she'd have been even angrier had he kept this a secret from her. It was just… She snorted and shook her head.

"Of course, the first time you ask for help in decades, and it's for something like this." Her friend gave her a piercing eye.

"So, do you know anything?"

"Not in front of the runts." Seffara said.

"Manager's abode, why'd you bring the others along?" She was talking about Artigan's two little friends. The girl had managed to find her way into the dining room in the middle of the story. Both ordinary humans realizing what Artigan had. She didn't have the answers to any of this.

"Because I wanted them here." Barry said simply.

"They can help him with some of the rookie training." He gave her a look that only she'd recognize. The wily old orc was scheming something again, she scoffed. The familiar look from her friend at least told her he hadn't gone senile. He was still the same stubborn bastard as she'd known before. She took a huge swig of her wine.

"Fine. What did you have in mind?" Barry looked at the rookie.

"What I've been saying from the start, we do an after-action report. Then talk skill selection. I'm assuming you have some good skills lined up?" The rookie [Rogue] looked at Barry as he sheepishly nodded. He glanced at her, then looked away when she glared at him. She still didn't like the rookie. He reminded her of some of the slimiest [Rogues] she'd had to deal with.