Another World Story

Day Sixty-Five: 8 Arrays

Inside a candle-lit room, seven people of varying origin sat around the circular table. Their images were illuminated by the flickering light of the candle.

Each of them wore a distinct mask of their own.

"He's taking quite a long time..."

A man wearing a black mask with two horns as its design spoke. Leaning on the backrest of his chair, he eyed the other six.

"He already informed us to start if he took longer, right?"

A woman wearing a blazing mask spoke. Contrary to the intense heat of the flames on her mask, her voice was calm like a serene lake.

"Then, shall we?"

The man sitting to her right chinned-in. He wore a cracked golden mask, not bothering to look at the other six, he fiddled with the quill in his hand.

"I think we should wait for a bit. Five minutes shouldn't be long, right? What do you think, 2nd?"

A man taller than anyone in the room said, his mask covered his whole head and only his right eye could be seen. His aura was calm, yet his single eye that could be seen showed fierceness so extreme it could be said to be that of a dragon's. He looked at the woman sitting opposite of him as he spoke.

"Hmmm... It would not really bother me if we began now, 4th. But I think 1st should be arriving soon, so we should wait a bit" Wearing an elongated emerald-green mask, with vines as its design, she looked at the other people inside the room, then stopping her gaze at one person, the man wearing the cracked golden mask, she spoke.

"You're not opposed to it, right, 3rd?"

"Of course. Waiting is one of my greatest traits after all"

"... If you say so"

Aware or not of the displeasure on 2nd's voice, a new person spoke.

"Quite the narcissistic personality as always, huh, 3rd?"

He wore a wolf mask with a single ear. Using his palms as pillows, he rests his head on the circular table.

"It is not narcissism, 5th. I was just stating the facts."

"Yes, yes. Oh, fallen King"

"Hahaha!"

3rd laughed as if amused. With his laugh, the other six turned silent and focused their attention on a single empty chair. And moments later...

Tak-

...With that sound as the signal, the seven people inside the room stood up and saluted. Even the laughing 3rd wore a serious face as he did so.

"I'm sorry, it took longer than expected"

The voice of a man was heard, it was so gentle and soft that you could mistake it for a woman. The seven earlier people took their seats as they gazed at the empty chair before. Now sat a man wearing a plain white mask that only had two holes for the eyes.

"We were just about to start. Anyway, why were you late?" 5th spoke the moment he took his seat.

"I had some errands to do. By the way, 7th, did you send someone to go after the Second Princess of the Memphis Kingdom?"

"Hmmm? As far as I can remember... No. Why did you ask?"

"A believer of Darkness abducted her. I thought you had some hand in this as you are one yourself. My apologies for jumping to conclusions"

"It's fine. I'm one of the top figures there after all. But... It seems someone instigated a believer, huh?"

"Can you look into this matter? I'm afraid that that person won't be able to handle this yet."

"I'll order someone right now," after saying those, 7th disappeared from his seat, then after a few seconds it was occupied once again.

"It seems someone from the Urman abducted her. The firstborn of the Urman... Hmmm, he's quite obsessed, isn't he?" As if troubled, 7th fiddled with the horns on his mask.

"Urman... You mean that brat, Greg Urman?"

"You know him, 3rd?" 6th asked. The flames on her mask flickered in curiosity.

"Well, this great me was assigned to monitor him after all! Isn't that right 1st?"

"So, do you have any information about who instigated him?"

"Of course! It was I!"

Pok-

"i***t"

With his declaration 3rd flew a few meters away from where he was sitting, his chair in flames.

"Ouch... Why did you hit me?!"

"Oh my? My hands moved on their own."

3rd glared at the woman wearing the flaming mask, she was swinging a morning star in her hands and glaring back at him with a smile of intense euphoria. He unsheathed the golden sword at his waist as he stood up, but before he could take his stance a voice interfered with them.

"6th, 3rd." With those words, the two glaring 'Arrays' stopped and went back to their seats.

"It was her who attacked first, you know..."

Grumbling as he sheathed his golden sword, 3rd sat down, crossing his arms.

"You're the i***t who made our work harder."

6th said as she hides the morning star to who knows where.

"You two are always in quarrel... Haaa..."

Sighing, 2nd put a hand on her forehead, then looked at the man wearing the plain mask.

"1st, what do we do now? The a*******n was earlier than before. Should we send someone to save her?"

"No. We can't interfere now. We, The 8 Arrays, already had a hand in this. If we move once more, things might go badly"

"But, can he save her? It's still too early for them to meet, right? And he might not have enough power to go against a Believer of Darkness"

"... Should I send someone?" As 1st and 2nd talked, 7th chimed in. Proposing sending someone unrelated to the Arrays.

"That could work..." 1st replied.

"Then-"

"That could work, but we're too late. They have started confronting each other"

"Tsk. 8th, can you show us what's happening there?"

With 7th's question, all eyes gathered on the seat opposite of 1st's. A woman with long black hair, wearing an intricately designed violet mask that only covers the mouth up to the nose. Although her eyes were closed, she turned her head to where the 1st and 2nd 'Arrays' were before nodding her head. A second later, a screen appeared in front of them all at the very center of the table. It showed the house that Kaiser infiltrated, then it zoomed in, showing the inside of the house. Then it zoomed once again to the basement and showed the numerous headless corpses and pools of blood.

"... This looks like a one-sided beat down" 2nd said, her voice showed her discomfort at the sight.

"They are all weak. So, it isn't surprising..." 3rd said, still crossed arms as he looked at the screen.

"... Still, that doesn't look like the work of a sword, magic? No, the amount of mana used was not small, but there's no other trace made. Such fine control of mana... isn't the work of a newbie "

"Hmm. There's no one left alive, huh?"

"1st, don't you think that that fellow does not need our help?"

"... So, it seems. I didn't think that he would be this strong early on. Just what deviated from the plan?"

Everyone turned silent at 1st words. So, they focused their attention on the screen in front of them. It now showed the dimly lit room where only the light of a single sun-stone illuminated a bed that had broken chains, and the people inside the room. One is a young lady wearing nightwear, leaning on a corner of the room. She has platinum-blue hair, amethyst-colored eyes, and small lips.

"That the princess of Memphis?" 5th spoke, looking at the young lady.

"Yeah. But her condition doesn't look good. What happened to her?"

"It seems she's being drained. Her life-force is being sucked by that vessel"

The Arrays turned their gazes to the tall man inside the room. He wore a black robe and on its back was the design of skulls scattered in front of a faceless woman. He's swinging his sword with no particular pattern at all. But everyone in the room could tell that he had quite the skill at the sword.

"3rd, you said you were the one monitoring him, right?" 4th spoke, looking at the screen.

"Yeah. I was also the one who taught him the sword."

"...Bastard. You're really trying to make us 'repeat'?"

"He was pitiful, weak, and arrogant. I just taught him some manners."

"Bastard..."

"6th that's enough. 3rd, what is that human's job-class?"

"Hmm? It's a 'Warrior Job' Dark Swordsman"

"An advance class, huh. Well, that kid is doing quite a fine job of not getting killed immediately."

With 4th's words, they looked at the person confronting the robed man. He has black hair and eyes, wearing a black tailcoat, white long-sleeved inner-wear, a black bow-tie, black pants and shoes, and a pair of brown gloves on his hands. His fingers moved whenever his enemy move, he stepped back and dodged with minimal movement, but with the disparity in strength and skills, the butler-like young man was wounded all over.

"I wonder how much their level difference is."

"That Urman kid is above the 100th level. He should be around 200~250 by now if he doesn't slack off"

"And I guess you’re the one who helped him reach that, right 3rd?"

"Of course! If I didn't, things wouldn't be so exciting as now!"

3rd answered, proud of what he did.

"1st, do you mind if I kill this 'Fallen King'?"

"... Do that later, 6th. 7th, contact the Memphis royalty and inform them of the location, and tell them not to be hasty and evacuate the surrounding nobles first. If they ask questions, tell them it's an order from me. 3rd, 4th, and 6th, return and report to me what changes have appeared in the continents you are on. 5th, report to the shrine maiden, tell her that there are changes on the plan. 2nd, I need you to protect those two for now, and 8th, return, I want you to stay as far away from any enemy country. I think it's about time."

"1st, we haven't given our report though?"

"I need updated reports. A lot of things have changed; we need to find answers. Go. now"

"Ha!"

The 7 Arrays, understanding the situation, stood up and saluted, 1st saluted back and moments later there was not a single trace of the other Arrays left. "Haa... If there are changes this great, I think it's safe to say that the others are still alive... or dead by now..." Sighing, 1st looked at the still active screen, the fight between the young man and the robed man continued. He slowly took his mask off, showing his long, white hair, gentle heterochromatic eyes, red and gold emitting extreme pressure. He leaned on the back of his chair and spoke.

"John Kaiser. You must protect them all without fail."