Side Story: Pato's Party, After The Quest

Bodies healed but spirits still beaten, Pato and the rest of his party walked home with the end of their quest, their thoughts heavy with how it had turned out.

While none of them had died in the end, that felt more thanks to luck than anything else, surviving the attack of a demonic contender not through any of their own efforts but thanks instead to a member of the larger group they’d been working with, the other summoned among them being the only reason they weren’t dead or worse, still controlled, being forced to fight on the invader’s behalf in its quest for power and to slaughter the world.

And we don’t even get a break. Pato sighed, knowing that the real point of that quest wasn’t even done as he turned to face the others.

“Alright, I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m looking to put this behind me as fast as possible so I’m going to try and get this stupid report done tonight. Meet back up at the guild in the morning?”

Nods from the rest of them as they split up, the girls having enough on their minds as well as the fact that they wanted to finish their own reports quickly, meaning none went back with him as he went home, leaving a quiet night with nothing but pencil in hand as he scribbled out his thoughts, small flashes of memory that had come through while he was being controlled making its way through that he tried to stamp down to focus on the task at hand.

The chimeras had performed exceptionally. Far better than he’d been expecting even when they’d been given the rundown of what they were and what they were for. In the majority of cases, they’d been able to tear through any demon they’d come across, practically guaranteeing their performance for the third wave ahead with only a few major concerns, with dark magics being the biggest.

He was far from an expert in that field of magic, when he’d come to the world and decided to make his way on his own he’d devoted his attention to learning about the ones he could use and that was it but he knew enough to be able to tell that willpower was as an important of a factor for managing any sort of mind spell as a person’s natural resistances and it was one that they were lacking, leaving a blatant weakness to be exploited, even if it left the question of to what degree it could be utilized.

Sure, in any expedition there was a good chance for them to be taken advantage of but he’d seen the chaos of the waves and had his doubts about the degree the same things could be utilized in an endless battlefield, at least at the scale he’d just watched it apply.

“But we’ll be getting second tiers in that one so it’ll probably be a lot worse than the first-tier magic I saw…”

He trailed off in his muttering before writing all of his little thoughts on the topic down to submit in the end. The entire point of the reports was to get his opinions after all, their employer could decide what was actually worth anything after reading it and as pages piled up the night passed before finally ending in some restless sleep, the feeling of the invader throughout his mind touching his dreams.

---

His sleep was restless but with morning came the chance to grab some distractions for himself as he made his way to the guild, finding the other four already there as he put on the brightest face he could before walking over.

“Well, aren’t you all here early,” He said, forcing cheer in the face of the exhaustion he saw, their tired looks being enough to tell him that he wasn’t the only one to get little in the way of rest. “You guys finish up your reports?”

“Ugh, no,” Twee said, flopping down on the table and looking like one of two who hadn’t. “I don’t know how any of you could’ve after all of that.”

“A job’s a job,” Azeezol shrugged. “It didn’t sound urgent but don’t leave it too late, it’ll reflect badly on the rest of us.”

“Mmh, I just need to fix it up a bit,” Buwth muttered. “This really isn’t my strong suit. Galda, you mind giving it a look over for me after?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Oh, me too then?”

“Twee, you need to actually start writing something first.”

“Ugh, I’ll get it done tomorrow.”

“Alright, and Pato, what’s the plan for the day then? Maybe something easy after all of that?”

“God’s above, I could go for a gathering quest,” Buwth muttered. “Something nice and simple and not traumatizing.”

“Alright, well give me a minute,” Pato told them, waving his own stack of papers. “I’ll hand this in and see if they have anything for us.”

“Not traumatizing!” Buwth yelled again as he walked over to the counter and found his favourite guild employee waiting, with Caxy batting her eyes at him, an already bad sign that she had a quest in mind that none of them were going to like.

“Caxy, great to see you, beautiful as always. I’ve got a report to submit and whatever you’re gonna ask me to do, no. Got any gathering quests instead?”

“Oh, don’t be like that, Pato,” She told him with a laugh on her lips as she took his papers. “Don’t you wanna at least hear me out?”

“Nope, gather quest please.”

“Even if I promise to let you wine and dine me sometime after it’s done?”

“...Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to hear you out a bit.”

“I knew you were a sweetheart,” She giggled. “And for you, it would be a simple quest. Escort-slash-investigation; should be able to finish it before the end of the day instead of forcing a couple weeks of travel on someone else.”

“...What sort of investigation?”

“Something was found in the untamed lands-”

“Nope, pass. We’ll take that gathering quest please.”

“Come on, at least hear me out.”

“Well, the last time I was told that has left me with nightmares to this day and the quest I just finished up is probably just as traumatic so no thanks. Now come on, there’s gotta be some herb somewhere that needs collecting, just tell me what gate to go through to get it.”

“It’s really not so bad. The expected danger level is baseline for what would normally be found in the woods, all it is is a quick and simple investigation.”

“Baseline now meaning filled with demons and invaders,” He sighed. “But okay, I’ll hear you out. What exactly are we looking for?”

“Alright, so that I can’t say-”

“And we’re back to looking at gathering quests. If you don’t have any then maybe a day off instead.”

“But, that’s not because we don’t know or because of some unexpected danger,” She rushed to tell him. “We don’t want to pollute opinions for the investigator we’re sending. We want them to form their own opinions without being influenced by preliminary reports. Not only that, the pay is good and we have the exact coordinates you’ll be looking for, no fumbling around to find it.”

“Mmh, I still don’t know…”

“Alright, tell you what then, do this for me and I’ll be the one wining and dining you,” She told him, looking confident. “Not often you’re on the receiving end, is it?”

She fluttered her eyes at him for good measure, hamming it up in a way that couldn’t help but make him laugh as he gave in. “Fine, fine, I’ll do it but I’m expecting a hell of a treat for this.”

“My next day off is in three days, you can look forward to it.”

---

“Pato, you’re literally the worst,” Twee groaned as they went through the gate. “How is it you still think with your dick when you have the four of us?”

“If it helps, one of the bigger factors was the promise of an easy job with good pay.”

“I just wanted a gathering quest after all of that,” Buwth sighed, with Azeezol patting her arm in support.

“Alright guys, after this we’ll take tomorrow off for some rest and recuperation, promise. Today’s just a good day to have something to distract us, that’s all. I know I sure as hell could use one.”

“And I’m sure that will go great unless this mystery quest manages to be as psychotic as some of the others we’ve dealt with,” Galda muttered before raising a hand to stop anyone else from responding. “But I get it. Finish today and enjoy tomorrow. If it ends up being a nightmare though, you just need to make it up to all of us in a big way.”

“Okay, fair, will do. Still, I’m sure it will be fine, I’m confident.”

Nobody got the chance to comment on just how much his confidence was worth before they spotted the one they were escorting, an older man who caught their eye as Pato raised a hand in greeting.

“Hey there, we’re the transportation and protection.”

“Ah, lovely, you’re the party leader?”

“Yeah, Pato. You’re from the mages’ guild?”

“Stalt,” The man said, offering a hand. “Charmed.”

“Alright, well if it’s all the same to you we’re looking to get on our way and fast but first, if any problems pop up, will you be able to hold your own? We were hired to protect you and that’s what we’ll do but given you’re a mage and all, along with these uncertain times, there’s always the chance of running into a bigger problem than expected.”

“Oh, you shouldn’t need to worry. While I prefer my research, I’ll be able to help if the need arises. I hold a high earth magic at the zeroth level and life at the fifth so should luck not be on our side and we find more demons than any of us are hoping, I’ll be able to help with attacking and healing.”

“Alright, sounds good,” Pato nodded. “In that case, follow me.”

He opened his first portal as he said it, taking a step through and leading the others behind him, drawing more mana into himself as he did while dealing with the experience it caused. Far from pleasant, the bracelet he’d received through the guild was too helpful to not use and reduced the travel time all the more, even if it left him needing a distraction to deal with the unnatural experience that it created within his soul.

“So Stalt, you must’ve worked hard to get where you are. Mind if I ask, what was it that pushed you into awakening your magic?”

“Ah, I wish I could say it was my own efforts but I’d been stalled at the ninth level of earth for decades,” He chuckled. “No great stimulus to push me forward in my progress I’m afraid, I’m sure you’ve heard about it by this point as well but I was one of the fortunate to participate in the mass awakening.”

Pato felt his eyes widen. “Wait, seriously?”

“Ha, you seem surprised.”

“Ah, I’ve heard about it like most people but I thought it was more of a rumour than anything else, or at least crazy exaggerated. Then were a couple hundred people really awakened?”

“If not over a thousand, it was quite the crowd at the time but more than worth it.”

All of them had heard about it. Something like that, who wouldn’t? But Stalt was making it seem far bigger than any of them expected. Usually, rumours were exaggerated and that was what they’d been expecting, that in reality, someone had somehow managed to help awaken tens of people but if what he was saying was true, it seemed more like the facts were planted firmly in the opposite end of the scale.

“How could something like that even be possible?” Twee wondered aloud, with the one they were escorting left to sigh.

“The principle through which it was managed was simple enough in theory but executing it… Even with the soul mages helping him, to accomplish something like that does have myself and a few of the others I know who went through the same thing wondering if the one we stood before wasn’t truly an apostle but instead a god themself.”

An apostle or a god, huh?

It was the sort of statement that immediately made Pato want to ask more but he never got the chance. The next gate he opened brought them to the heart of their destination, stepping through it instantly revealing what they’d been sent out there to investigate and making all of them freeze up.

“Oh, you are absolutely going to have to make up for dragging us out to this,” Galda muttered and Pato couldn’t find it in himself to disagree. Surrounding them on all sides were demons, likely over a hundred, with each of them frozen in place.

At first, they thought they were swarmed, Pato’s instincts opening a new gate at their back to make a quick escape as best as they could, right until the truth of it came out as he muttered.

“Statues?”

“Well well, not what one expects to find in the middle of nowhere, is it?” Stalt muttered as he went out from the group to look, examining the closest one and then moving on to the next without another word, leaving his escorts to try and understand what they were seeing.

“Do demons make statues?” Buwth asked, walking to the nearest one and tapping on its face, feeling solid stone beneath her touch.

“Never heard of it before,” Galda answered, going over to look at one herself. “Of course, if it happened on any past worlds then the answer’s been lost to time and since proper invaders only started showing up with the second wave this could be one of the first reported findings.”

Was that it? Demons engaging in some leisurely arts and crafts between instances of their slaughter? It was possible but he doubted it, the look of the statues surrounding him the cause. Each detail was too perfect, they felt like they could spring to life at any moment to lash out at them, the only thing holding them back being the falsehood of their forms and it forced him to turn his eyes to Stalt who was nodding at the side.

“What is this?” He asked the other mage. “What have we been sent here to look at?”

“To see if these are simple statues or something more,” He answered. “With the second seeming to be what we’ve found here.”

“Meaning?”

“These aren’t statues. I’ve confirmed that every one around us is in truth a proper demon.”

The guards of the party were raised with the answer but the mage chucked, waving them down. 

“Harmless, I assure you, though whatever caused this isn’t.”

“Meaning?”

“Every demon here is the victim of a petrification spell.”

“What, on this scale?”

“It seems they ran into something they were better off avoiding, much to our luck. Which only leaves the question as to what out here could have caused it?”

So that was the answer then? Some monster deep in the woods going around petrifying demons? If that was so then it was all the better so long as none of the people of the world ran into it, even if it was likely to be marked as a target of extermination if the war ended in their victory, but despite the answer, Galda only looked more worried as she touched the frozen face of the demon before her, unable to take her eyes from it as she spoke.

“Stalt, how long does it take for a petrification spell to fully activate? To completely change flesh to stone?”

“In general, you can expect it to be a couple seconds. Longer if the target has a decent resistance or the caster has a weak mana pool.”

“More than enough time to react then,” She muttered, keeping her thoughts in her head and forcing Pato to just ask.

“What are you thinking there, Galda?”

“None of them look like they're being petrified.”

“You mean aside from the part where they’re stone?”

“Obviously. Actually look at all of them. If your flesh was turning to stone, how would you look?”

How would I…?

It was then that he saw what she was getting at, Stalt too with the older mage’s face growing pale. If he had found himself in their position, he would have ended up petrified looking one of two ways. Fearful or panicked, understanding what had been done to him and unable to escape its effects, or else running away once he understood that he couldn’t deal with whatever was causing it, with neither being what he was seeing. All of the demons surrounding them were standing firm, not one looking like they knew they were on the losing end of an attack which implied a single thing. All of them, the entire swarm of demons had been petrified at once, the effect of the spell being carried out too fast for any one of them to react to.

It was enough to make his blood run cold and he wasn’t alone in that fact but as their leader he tried to remain calm, instead turning to address Stalt.

“You said you’ve confirmed they were petrified?”

“Um, yes, I have.”

“And was that all you were here to confirm?”

“It was.”

“Good, then as the party leader I officially declare this quest over,” He told them, opening the farthest portal he could to begin their journey home. “Everyone, get moving, we’re done here.”

None need to be told twice, they were all moving without another prompt and as they did, Pato cast one last look at the statues filling that empty forest before closing the portal behind him, a single thought in his head as he went.

Gods above, I’m never going to get used to this world.