Forgotten Girl Quest

“Fear not, I shall sacrifice myself so that you may escape, my lady,” Pechorin said, throwing himself in-between Natsuko on the ground and the jumbo-sized zombie lawn mower bearing down on her.

This was the moment he had been waiting for. The moment where the cool, dark facade he wore cracked a little, displaying for just one ephemeral second, his tender inner core. Natsu would be struck by its rarity and know that this pure and spontaneous sacrifice came from powerful feelings boiling deep within his hard crust like coursing magma waiting to erupt at a time of peak pressure. What could be a more fitting metaphor for the entwining of Fire and Metal?

It was now or never. Pechorin would prove his devotion to dear Natsuko in one ultimate sacrifice. Knowing he could not stop their indomitable foe, he spread his arms wide, hoping to slow it for just a moment so that she could be saved.

“Ah shit. So much for our experience,” Natsuko said and yeeted her bottle at the zombie. The corner clipped its festering toe and the zombie sunk diagonally into the floor where it began its death spasms and the loud smacksmacksmack sound before it shot downwards out of existence.

“Come on, again!?” Sofiane yelled. “No wonder you’re so underleveled, you never actually kill any enemies!”

Natsuko brought herself to a sitting position and pointed at Sofiane. “Hey, if you didn’t screw up right out the gate I wouldn’t have had to use the bottle!”

“At least I was dealing damage! I’m a Control Hero and I still did more than the DPS who doesn’t do any D!”

Ignoring their quarreling, Shuixing picked up Natsuko’s bottle and walked over to Pechorin.

“How about you, Pech? Do you need any healing?” Shuixing asked.

“Only in the ball of scar tissue that is my soul,” he replied.

“I don’t think I can help you there.”

Once her healing abilities were off cooldown, Shuixing healed Natsuko up to full along with the help of some beef skewers she brought along. She wasn’t a master chef like Natsuko was, but given the miraculous healing ability of home-cooking, Shuixing tried to have a few staples on hand.

“Well, at least we got the Eye of the Cursed Demon,” Sofiane said. “Just gotta hop over the chasm and go get it.”

Pechorin started to feel a little clammy.

“I should be able to use my telekinetic grab and bring it over,” Natsuko said, rocking herself onto her feet.

Pechorin began to sweat.

“Given what was guarding it, I suspect the treasure will be worth it,” Shuixing said.

Pechorin’s sweating intensified.

Using the same ability she saved Sofiane with, Natsuko coaxed the glowing orange orb off its pedestal and towards them. Without a hitch, it plopped into her waiting palms. As it did so, its stats became visible.

Cursed Eye of the Demon - +200 HP, +12 FORCE, +5% crit rate. Tier-4 rarity.

Pechorin’s sweat reached its climax.

“Pech…” Natsuko said.

He turned his back and pretended not to hear her as he carefully examined a rock arrangement.

“Oh Pech…” she said again, approaching him from behind.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and shuddered.

“Would you like to explain to us why this accessory sucks?”

“Hmm,” he replied.

“Hmm? Hmm? Want some time to think? Need a lil’ thinkin’ time to use the ol’ noggin? Hmm?”

“I…”

“You? Yeah?”

“Hmm.”

“Oh he’s back to thinking now. Gotta think this one out.”

“It— It appears my information may have been perverted by… demonic influence.”

“Oh yeah?”

“I believe so.”

“Okay, well, are you aware your ass is about to be perverted by the demonic influence of my foot up it?”

“My sincerest apologies, Natsuko.”

After a minute of chilling silence, Natsuko exhaled. “It’s fine. You had no way of knowing.”

Pechorin didn’t turn around.

“You… didn’t know, right? I mean, you didn’t have any advanced knowledge about this because no one has found this loot before, right?”

The sweating. It was back.

“Pechorin…”

“It is not entirely inconceivable that some prior knowledge of the Cursed Eye of the Demon could have been imparted in close enough proximity for perceptive ears to have obtained certain information via auditory osmosis.”

“Let’s go back to the group,” Natsuko said.

He turned around and was surprised at her visible calm. For all the time he had adventured with her, Pechorin had always known Natsuko to go all out on whatever emotion she was feeling, and usually, when he was around, that emotion was irritation. To see calm acceptance on her face was a relief.

“Very well,” he said, as they walked back towards where Sofiane and Shuixing were waiting at the edge of the chasm.

“Hey, Pech?”

“Yes?”

Natsuko kicked him over the ledge into the bottomless pit. Pechorin decided screaming would ruin his persona and elected to fall to his death in stoic silence.

“Merde! A little harsh, non?” Sofiane said, folding his puffy sleeved arms.

Natsuko shrugged. “He’ll respawn tomorrow morning. Now, let’s go make up for the drinking I could've been doing instead of Pechorin trying to set up another dramatic sacrifice.”

“Another?” Sofiane said.

Shuixing gave a sheepish smile. “I believe this is attempt number three.”

“Four,” Natsuko said.

“I don’t owe you this time, so I’m not paying for your drinks again,” Sofiane said.

“I figured. That’s why—” Natsuko tossed the Cursed Eye of the Demon in her palm. “—I’m pawning this little guy first.”

Back in town by sunset, Natsuko headed to Lawrence’s pawn shop. He was less than amused when Natsuko walked in through the door for the second time that week.

“No more candelabras,” he said. The ones from the abandoned dungeon were still where she had slapped them down on the counter a few days ago.

She grinned. “Nah, I’ve got something useful this time.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Behold! The Demon’s Cursed Eye!”

He looked at the glowing orange orb with a raised eyebrow. “What’s the curse?”

“One of its previous owners ended up falling into a pit.”

“How am I supposed to re-sell it then?”

She laughed and plopped it down on the shop counter. “Come on, you know I’m kidding around! It’s just a stupid accessory. The name is just to make it sound more badass. It doesn’t do anything.”

“Uh-huh. So again, why would I buy this orb that doesn’t do anything?”

“Cuz I-I— I don’t know, it’s got stats! Who doesn’t love stats? I know you love stats, Lawrence, come on, man,” she said, batting her eyelids. Natsuko was not, by any means, skilled in seduction.

“I’m running a business here, Natsuko. No one's gonna buy that any more than a candelabra.”

“I’d buy it,” said a voice from behind Natsuko.

She turned around to face a girl wearing a bright blue-and-red coat and trousers lined with fur, a pair of heavy fur boots, and a pointy felt cap with two rabbit ears sticking through them. She looked up at Natsuko with adorable, steely blue eyes. Tucked into the belt cinched at her waist was a baton with horse-hair sticking out of it. In her hands was a weird-looking book bound in black leather.

Natsuko grinned. “Huh, you’re a Hero, right? Haven’t seen you around before.”

The girl stuck out her hand. “I’m Koyon. I was summoned a week ago by the Yishang. It’s nice to meet you.”

Not a girl, then. This was apparently Sofiane’s replacement as the newest, most popular femboy archetype. He didn’t look like much in Natsuko’s opinion.

“A week ago, huh? I guess you’re about to wrap up with defeating Völsunga and move on to Tianzhou?” Natsuko asked.

“Oh no, I’ve already done all the mainline quests up through Shikijima. I just have a few little side quests I didn’t get around to here that I’m cleaning up."

That same amount of adventuring had taken Natsuko and her party two years. And it was after Shikijima that they had gotten stuck and started to lose their place on the Use-Number charts to Heroes with more innate power and base stats. No wonder Sofiane had been so desperate. He was being replaced at record pace.

“Sounds like you’re already way ahead of this dinky little thing,” Natsuko said, tossing the orb in her palm.

“I can sacrifice it for accessory experience,” Koyon said cheerfully, his wrists, ankles, waist, and neck weighed down with equipment stronger than anything Natsuko had ever worn. Buying the stupid Cursed Eye seemed like a waste of money, but she wasn’t going to turn down the chance to skim a little money off a new hero who didn’t know any better.

“How’s a thousand sound?” Natsuko said, getting ready to haggle for 500.

“Sure!”

The bunny-boy handed over a sack with a thousand Ying in it without a thought and took the orb from her. “Thanks!”

“Name’s Natsuko by the—”

“Don’t care, sorry,” Koyon said, turning on his heel. “Not really worth learning the names of obsolete Heroes I'll never see again. No offense.”

He was already out the door before Natsuko could even get a word starting with the letter “F” out of her mouth.