Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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/About 10 minutes later…/

/Sha sha sha.../

"Aha! I feel better now." Dale said as he shook his still-wet hair around

'A cold shower will always wake me up.'

Having just returned from his quick shower, Dale was as fresh as he could be.

'Now, there's much to do and see.'

'If I were to put everything in a progressive order of importance… Then dealing with the matter of our newcomers is the utmost priority.'

'Of course, many materials in my inventory have expiration dates, so I'm forced to hand them over within today or else risk a few of them going bad, but I still need to solve this issue first.'

'The rest can wait.' He thought as he walked around the Inn

"Hm… I also need to find my equipment…"

/JUMP!/

While Dale was distracted by his items, something jumped onto his back with a giggle, causing him to freeze momentarily.

"UNCLE! You're awake!" The child said eagerly as it climbed onto his shoulders

"Hey… I already said I'm not an uncle, at most a brother." Dale replied with a sigh as he helped the kid sit on his shoulders

'Little brat gave me a jumpscare...'

"You're bigger than father, and the taller a man is, the older he is!" The child said with confidence while Dale grabbed him

"Humans are not trees…" He replied as he looked at the kid

'If I'm taller than your father shouldn't I be your grandfather under that logic?'

"Anyhow, where are the others?" Dale asked as he looked around

"Hum… Everyone was dragged away by the aunties yesterday." The child said after thinking for a while

"The aunties?..."

'So their mothers came here and fetched everyone, but why is he still here?'

"What about you?"

"I didn't want to go!" The child proclaimed with a pout as it crossed its arms

"Why?"

"Because it's not right to leave you alone!"

"..."

'This kid…'

"Did you wait for me to wake up?"

"Hehe!"

Hearing the boy's childish laughs full of confidence and happiness, Dale exhaled with a smile as well.

'What a good kid.' He thought silently as he went down the stairs

"Since I'm now woken up, I'll bring you to your mother…"

"NO! Let's play!"

Dale smiled awkwardly, even if he wanted to play, he couldn't.

"Now's not the best of times, besides, I'm very tired, yesterday your brother worked pretty hard, haha…"

"Mnn… You're really an Uncle, you even speak like father, he's always complaining about his back when he's back from the fields, he also tends to complain about his hips in the morning." The kid said as he slapped Dale's head continuously

"..."

'Do I really look like an... W-Wait a minute what did you just say?!'

"W-Where's Illia?" He asked as he arrived at the first floor, his eyebrows twitching as he changed the subject

He looked around, but neither did he hear any sounds, nor did he feel any smells, making him rather disappointed.

A day without eating Illia's food? What a terrible morning.

"Auntie left to do something not long ago, I don't know what."

"... Is that so?"

'Well, if I leave with the kid, she'll get worried once she returns.'

'I'll leave a note… Wait, I can't write in their language… Urg… AHA!'

"Here, can you write for Auntie that we'll be leaving for your home?" Dale asked as he put the kid down next to the table

"Yes." The child replied with a simple expression, climbing onto the chair as it started to scribble on it

…

"Here." The child said with a? large smile

After a while, the child finished its grand scribble, creating the sketch of Dale and himself walking through the door with the words: "I left with Uncle." next to it.

"Thanks..."

'This should do anyway.'

Although it wasn't exactly what Dale expected the child to write, it did write everything he said, so he let go of it and pinned the note to the table with a small weight, making it pretty obvious to spot.

With that, he pulled the kid back to his shoulders and left Illia's Inn, locking the door behind them as they did so.

Due to his increased Reputation and Intimacy with Illia, he had the keys to the front door of her Inn, so he could come and go whenever was necessary since there were times he needed to do something in the middle of the night and Illia would be sleeping.

And he couldn't keep entering or entering the Inn through the windows like a Ninja every time.

…

/Later.../

"... Goodbye!" The child said as it waved his little arms frantically

He was so energetic the mother ended up holding him by the arms, raising him from the ground to stop the little devil from rampaging around.

"Once again, thank you for bringing him back, we tried to be understanding and leave him in the Inn, but we were getting quite nervous." The father said as he gave Dale a nod

"It's nothing, but I can ask you something? Why did everyone take their children back?"

""...""

The parents looked at each other for a moment as their expressions grew a bit tense.

"It's due to the people you brought from the forest, we… Decided to watch for now." The mother replied as she grabbed the hands of the child

"We don't want to sound condescending, but this time it's just too much."

"They outnumber us and they're stronger, armed, and their expressions aren't welcoming."

"Until the situation is settled properly, most if not all of us decided it would be for the best to remain collected within our homes."

"As for the Crops, we left them for the other Outsiders, it'll be just for today, hopefully." She said as she patted her son's head

"I see… I understand, I'll go to them and see what sort of conclusion they've arrived at." Dale said as he gave them a nod

'Is this perhaps the effect of my previous choice?'

'After all, these people are considered Outsiders so they could fit within the Apprehensive Welcome... Though I think that's a bit of a stretch.'

'If I were to try and draw connections, then it's just expected that the Villagers feel pressured by them after everything that happened.'

"Thank you, from what I understood, they're all pitiful people who have been trapped within the forest for generations, they deserve the outside just as much as we do."

"It would be too much for us to compete over this already bountiful space, on the contrary, we are already overwhelmed by what we have." The father said with a laugh

"If we can come to terms with one another, even if not immediately, we can slowly come to understand each other, we just need to see each other eye to eye."

"That's what I believe."

…

After exchanging a few more words with them to try and understand the situation more, Dale turned around and left, waving back at them as he turned around the corner of the old streets of Resko.

With a new perspective on the issues surrounding the people, he bee-lined towards his next target, the Mercenary Guild where the Elders usually did their meetings.

And if they were not there, then he would find them where they were and discuss the next course of action for everyone.

Just like he did before.

"..."

'There is a high likeability that this will end up with an Event disclaimer like last time.'

'Maybe I'll be given choices regarding the interaction between both sides.'

'With my current Reputation, it shouldn't be hard to convince them into whatever I find proper at the time, however, considering how numerous they are, there may be some complications.'

'Hopefully, they'll be resolved without issues, but even if some arise, will it matter?'

'For their own well-being, they should mind their words, because now, their freedom is immense…'

'They can choose to remain and stick to the rules, or they can leave and brave the desert.'

'Maybe even return to the forest…'

'I would prefer if they remained, we need everyone, after all, the Optional Requirement of the Quest needed me to save everybody, so it would be counterproductive to have some of them leave after everything they went through.' .

'And although it would be too much to have Resko's rules change for them, as long as whatever they propose is reasonable, then I wouldn't mind going with it.'

'But of course, the other Elders would have to agree with it first.'

…

/Later.../

Eventually, Dale arrived at the Mercenary Guild, but today, something was different about it.

There was little to no traffic around its entrance, Dale could barely see anyone around, only a few people here and there talking to each other.

Some of them looked at him, pointing and whispering in his direction, but he paid them no heed.

For the first time in a while, the Guild was empty.

"?"

He saw a small message on the large doors of the Guild, it read as follows:

[Due to unforeseen events, the Guild will be temporarily closed for /To be determined/ days]

[The Quest Board has been temporarily moved to the nearby training fields, Quest rewards shall be processed at once upon the reopening of the Guild]

[Your cooperation is appreciated]

"..."

'I see, I didn't expect this.' He thought as he scratched his chin

'But this is good, if the Guild is closed, then it should be possible to hold a larger meeting with dozens of people or at least use the place temporarily as a shelter.'

'The Guild is large enough to contain over four hundred people at once only on the first floor due to the way it was built.'

'Not including players as they have their own rules regarding this…'

'I can hear some voices coming from within, they must've already started.'

"Do I look fierce?" He asked out loud as he touched his face

'Maybe I should've worn my armor... But at the same time, if I need my armor to make them obey, then there is something in their minds.'

'And I would prefer that they shared it with me face first.'

/Push... Creak!/

Without much left to do, Dale pushed the doors open.

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Notes

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