“So, I have to ask…were you ever actually in danger of losing?” Tess asked. “It didn’t feel like it, but I’m guessing you were trying to downplay any moments of weakness.”
“Sort of?” Atum said, spearing a piece of stake with a fork. “In any individual match, no. The four of us are reasonably confident that we can beat any party registered with the guild, but if we were off in our calculations, we could have used too many of our resources in the first few rounds and run out of steam later.”
“The format wasn’t exactly ideal for our opponents.” Ava said. “It sounds fine on paper, and for a lot of parties it would work fine, but our examiners severely underestimated the extent of our regeneration. Of course, Alberich and Kane wouldn’t make that mistake, but they probably didn’t have enough sway in the group to fix that.”
“Eh, I’m sure they could if they really wanted to, but I’m betting they chose to not reveal that they knew more about our abilities than everyone else.” Eyfura speculated. “They probably used that effort to try and make the simulation harder, not that that worked out well for them.”
Eyfura flashed everyone a grin. “I haven’t had an opportunity to rampage like that in ages, not as myself, I’d forgotten how good it can feel. Did you see the look on Elara’s face when she realized that we’d started regaining more than we were spending? It was priceless.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask, but how were The Rumors?” Maven asked. “Do you think they’re going to rank up?”
“They’ve been on the cusp of a promotion for a while now,” Gramps replied, “and they’ve grown a lot since the last time we sparred. Don’t tell them I said this, I wouldn’t want to put ideas into their heads and influence how they do things, but I think they’ll finally hit rank ten this exam.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Ellie said, “I’m sure they’ll be ecstatic. Uh, changing the topic a bit again, but do you mind telling us more about Elara? I heard a bit about her from Amara, but she took a pretty prominent role in narrating things, so I’m curious.”
“I’m sure we have nothing to say about her that Amara hasn’t told you.” Ava replied. “She’s a war hero who works as a fight commentator now. The only reason she talked so much was because that’s her job; she needed to make sure normal people could have even a slight understanding of what was happening. That’s not to say she didn’t have a hand in other parts of the process, I’m sure she did, but all those examiners probably had a tacit understanding that she’d do most of the explaining to the public during and those sections of the test.”
“She seemed surprised by your abilities.” Tess said. “Did she not work much with you in the war?”
“We showed off some stuff we haven’t shown in public before.” Gramps explained. “We’ve gained some new abilities since the war, and we don’t often fight publicly. We aren’t very close, so she had no real way of knowing what we’re capable. Only Alberich and Kane really did.”
Their conversation was interrupted as the server came to take their orders. Once he left, they resumed. “So, do you have a guess as to where they’re going to place you?” Tess asked. “Rank-wise, that is.”
“Yeah, we’re assuming somewhere in the realm of rank fourteen or fifteen.” Atum replied. “The idea with the new ranks was to spread out the top of rank ten to ranks eleven to thirteenish, and our performance was hopefully a step above theirs. Plus, I don’t think a lot of the higher-ranked parties would be happier if we were lower, since we feel almost unattainably strong to a lot of them, and having us lower makes those ranks feel out of reach.”
“But you’re opening the ranks all the way up to twenty now, right?” Ellie asked, frowning. “How will people know when it’s time to start applying for the next ranks?”
“It’ll be as levels rise and as we introduce new initiatives.” Gramps said. “Savage dungeons will definitely be one of those, but other than that it’s a process that’s going to take hundreds or thousands of years.”
“Ah, right. To tell you the truth, I sometimes forget the time scale we’re working with now.” Ellie admitted. “Somewhere in the back of my mind I still expect to be dead in eighty years, you know?”
“I would certainly hope you won’t be!” Maven said, reaching over and grabbing Ellie’s hand. “Though I suppose I can’t really understand the mindset. Natural lifespan just…isn’t really a factor for a lot of people, as long as they’re willing to put in the effort with running dungeons and leveling up. I always assumed that I would only permanently die if I was careless or a sudden monster surge happened or there was a rebellion or something and people couldn’t resurrect me in time. But…those are the sorts of things that don’t happen often.”
Tess couldn’t help but be reminded of her parents’ deaths, how, if things had been slightly different, they would still…be here. If they hadn’t crashed over the ocean, or if Gramps had been allowed to use magic to retrieve them, or…any one of a number of things. She hoped that, if they had gone to the afterlife instead of being reincarnated, that they were happy, and that they were proud of her. She’d…have to ask her mother or Amy about it, and see if she could just…talk with them one more time if they were still around.
Tess only realized she had become lost in her thoughts when Maven laid a hand on her thigh. “Oh. I…forgot about your parents.” She said embarrassedly, looking down. “I didn’t mean to make things awkward.”
“It’s fine, I’m about as over it as I can be.” Tess said. “I just get lost in thought sometimes, you know?”
“There’s no point in walking on eggshells around every topic like this.” Ellie added. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Gramps gave Maven a sad smile. “Unfortunately, this is the nature of life.” He said. “Tragedy happens, and none of us are immune, as much as we might wish we were.”
“But, when it does happen, remember that you have us, and as much as some people might wish, we can’t die permanently so long as we haven’t done something to revoke our status as Appointed.” Amara added. “Us and the gods. We’re all in this together, so –”
Tess winced as there was a sudden unpleasant sensation that, blessedly, was gone as quickly as it had arrived, leaving only a window in its wake.
There was a couple minutes of silence as everyone read the windows. “You know…” Tess began, “I always wondered what exactly the limitations on the gods coming here were. I don’t think I ever actually asked.”
That question answered, the conversation drifted to other subjects, and the food came shortly thereafter. All too soon, the lunch had finished, everyone said their goodbyes, and the members of Maelstrom began their trip home. On their way, they received the promised message from Amy.
“Well…about our appointments…” Ellie began, “I have an opening on Friday, so I was sort of thinking about getting it done then.”
“I was angling for tomorrow.” Tess said. “But I’m pretty flexible, I only have a few things this week.”
“Likewise.” Maven added. “You take tomorrow, then, and I’ll take the day after.”
“Deal, let me ask Amy now.” Tess replied.
“Alright, I’ll be leaving at eight in the morning tomorrow.” Tess relayed. “Amy said it’ll take twelve or thirteen hours, so I won’t be back until late. Also, I let her know that you two have days in mind and that you’d be messaging her, so feel free to get that hashed out whenever.”
Maven nodded. “I’ll get on that.” She said.
She and Ellie took turns messaging Amy, and then the three of them began to chat for the rest of their walk home. Tess couldn’t help but be a little nervous about tomorrow, but she trusted in Amy, and it wasn’t like she would even be awake for most of it. So, there was nothing for it but to put it out of her mind and enjoy the moment.
something to say about this chapter, but for the life of me I can't remember what. I think it was just that I struggled with the ending? I'm sure I've said this for before, but finding a good way to end the chapter (and the title) is often one of the hardest parts for me, and often I'm not super satisfied, but...oh well.
