Part 24: Looking For Clues

Looking For Clues


We're finally on the way to Cellen! Aren't you excited about getting some hard clues in this whole demon-mystery? Don't be

I'm fresh off the boat, and already meet a new enemy.

As you probably expect, they can poison you. But they also die hella fast, so fuck em.





"Hot~"

"What a hot weather over here! Suddenly I don't feel like doing anything~"

A desert being hot and uncomfortable? Well, I never!

"Ah!"

"What's wrong!? Orubia!!"

"It's nothing...My foot just sank into the sand little bit, sorry."

"You have to watch out where you are walking."

"And you'll get dehydrated if you stay under the sun for long time."

"Let's start the investigation. Find any traces of the queen."



So, how is this exactly going to work? Well, this is another section where you have to find the one person that hides progress, but you also have to talk to each person in this town. Kinda tedious, mostly because none of the villagers has any clues for you. Nope, not a single one of them will tell you anything interesting! They all just say random stuff that I'm not going to transcribe. However, the girls do their own thing in town, and you can trigger a scene with each of them. Also, there will be a lot of complaining about the heat.


Even Ryle is affected

Well, let's watch those scenes before I show you the progress-person.



"Nothing. I heard many times that her majesty has no reason coming down here."

"But don't miss any details."

"You can count on it!"

"Oh, and by the way."


Everybody is crushed by the heat, so it's a common theme for some of the right choices during the scenes here.

"It's very hot here. You should not stay outside for too long."

"I'll be just fine. I can use water magic in case I need to cool down."

"But watch out!! We are not here for vacation you know."

"Oh, mm...."

"I don't want to remind you this but you are the weakest in the party. Not only that you are too kind..."

"You mean I am dragging everyone behind?"

Anybody else noticing a pattern in scenes with Orubia?

"No, I don't remember you ever done that. Besides, you saved my life."

"....."

"I don't want to see you getting hurt...but since you joined this time."

"I don't want to be left behind when everyone is going. There must be something I can help..."

"And not only that I..."

"Hey? Your face is all red! You better take a rest inside."

"......~ Sometimes guys can be so dumb. Dear Ryle..."

"Huh?"

"Nevermind. And don't worry about the sun light, I can use my barrier."

"Ok, then I talk to you later."

Att 28 >>> 30

Hayami is right around the corner.


"Sessha suspect there might be traps set by shinobis around here."

"But all the White ninjas are at Factoria you know?"

"Just in case."


I honestly would like to tell her to stop being paranoid, and do some real work around here. But that would be mean, I guess. Positive reinforcement and so on.

"You suspect other assassins might follow our tracks?"

"Not yet, but can't let your guard down, we're dealing with those who can even control dragons."

"..I understand. Continue searching."

"Roger."

Att 28 >>> 30

Onwards!



"It's too hot."

"No I meant did you find any useful information?"

"Can't you tell by just looking at my face now?"

"Your face? What about your face?"

"I said do I look like someone who just found something to you? I am hot and miserable!!"



"Arggg!! I just got hotter thanks to you~"

"Yeah...you almost gonna pop."

"I already wasted my energy on you- *trembling furiously*"


My instincts tell me to run as far as I can, but Ryle wants to encourage her.

"Caris, everyone's too tired under such hot weather, you're the only one I can count on."

"Man~ Have you forgot the fact that I am a fragile and delicate lady~"

"But if you find the clue first, I am sure everyone will respect you and admire your talent~?"

"Not good at encouraging people are you? Ryle..."

"!!!?"

"Just kiddin~ I'll be the first person to find the clues!"

Att 27 >>> 29

Next stop, Fina.


"Basically nothing. Nobody even saw someone looks like her."

"Maybe she can stealth like ninjas?"

"You're right! That's a possibility. If that's the case, there's no point of asking folks about her..."

Stop making this whole deal even more complicated

"I am afraid that's for sure~"


Since Fina takes heroing very serious, we continue to search for clues.

"Anyway, let's search for as many clues as possible, we're dealing with the Mahzoks here!"

"Yup, I'll keep looking around here. You go ahead."

Att 28 >>> 30

And here's the final scene with Latyss.


"Nothing. As I talked to more people, I doubt the queen came this far."

"I agree with you. Why would she even bother to visit the town in the middle of desert?"

"Latyss, it's too hot~ Use the ice magic pretty please~"

"But you are the Elementals!?"

"Are you kiddin? Of course I do! Don't even think about comparing us with those nasty ghosts!"

Probably lost in translation, as this makes zero sense.

"You can use your wind. You ARE the wind Elemental!"

"I lost too much strength from the sea trip~ "That girl" is gonna kill me~"


The hint tells you to remember who you are actually aiming at. So forget about Sylph, and pamper Latyss.

"I am fine. I have "React Wind" But that's not enough for Sylph."

"Your body is more fragile, so don't overdo it."

"As long as you don't make me to."

"Ouch, you sure know where to poke me!"

That's what she sai Sorry, I just have heard a lot of innuendos today.

"Just kidding. I came here by my own will."

"(She's become more talkative and now she even "jokes" around!)"

Att 26 >>> 28

Well, that was a whole lot of nothing. Okay, it at least had some funny moments, so it's not a total waste of your time. But I'm still a bit bummed that you do all this running around, without accomplishing anything relevant. Anyway, we've farted around long enough, let's progress.


In the middle of the village is a girl, that totally does not look like she does belong here. This would be clearer if she had fucking turned around for once, but nope.



"Y-YES?"

"I would like to ask you something...Is it ok?"

"Huh~What could it be?"


I'm gonna go ahead and say that this is a new girl for Ryle's harem. She won't join us right away though. Also, she is very special, so enjoy this short sneak peek about her.

"Actually I am looking for any information regarding the Factorian queen's visit to this town."

"The QUEEN from Factoria!? Where? Where is she?"

"Heh?"

"Ale?(Huh?) Didn't you say the queen is here?"

So I googled "Ale?" but came up with nothing aside from hits for beer. I first thought it would be French, but that also lead to nowhere. Putting Japan into the equation, lead me to the song "Ale`Japan" by Dave Rodgers, which is aggressively upbeat and as hell. I still have no idea where the word comes from and if it actually means what the game tells us.

"No I meant did the queen ever been here for last couple of days."

"Ah, right. Sorrie"

"Let me see..mmmmm, emmmm..."





"Where did he go? Oy~(Hey~)"

He left because you are retarded

"(...) (...) (...)"

"Where am I~?"


Case in point.


This was a short glimpse at Mariel, and now you know what we are in for with her.

"Better not waste any more time."

Nah, let's waste a bit more time. After you have triggered the scenes for the girls, they also say some additional lines. Most of them are boring, but there is one that I consider to be funny.



"........"

"Caris? What's wrong?"

"Ummm~Have you ever seen a Factorian royalty around here?"

"Why you asking me?"

"Oh I am so sorry~ I must be losing my mind from the heat~"

"Maybe I should tell her to stop for today, thought she was strong against fire~"



Okay, now we can end our visit at Cellen..

...except that I want to pick up this item before that.

"Mm? Eye glass? Maybe that girl dropped here?"

"But she already left the town. I can't look for her now. I should keep it."







"All I got from endless walking under the sun are tanned skin and a fried brain of mine~"

"Oh stop it Caris. I'm getting images in my head~"

"So this is the end of trail..."

"Sessha too used X-Ray Vision, but could not find any clues, not even a single trap."

"So the queen didn't visit here."

"But this information came from the Prince Dyss. So she must been here at least."

"Anyway, I am tired now. Let's get some rest, we can't fight the Mahzoks under exhaustion."

"Alright then. Let's go back to Fina's home tomorrow."


So, yeah. The whole trip to Cellen was pointless, except for the introduction of Mariel. Isn't that great? But wait, it gets better! Now we'll see a pretty long conversation full of speculation and without any real development. Yay! Well, at least we'll get a new direction at the end, so that's something right?



"But now sessha am totally clueless. Are there any other leads?"

"But none of the residents in Cellen knew the queen ever visited there."

"Now that's odd! According to the letter from Prince Dyss, her travel log indicated that she visited. So unless the prince was lying, the queen did come to the town."

"But I could not sense any hidden agenda from the town folks, so they weren't lying."

"Then we can just report to the prince, "We found nothing~" Right~"

"...If the prince really trust you, then the only way is to tell the truth."

"But I can't figure out 1 thing."

"What's that?"

"Between Cellen and Meldia, ships go back and forth at least once in every 5 days."

"That's right. I came to Volcana that route~"

"Eh? You knew?"

"It's a part of daily life to the people of Ernest."

"Hayami, now you made me a complete fool~"

"Sessha didn't mean it~"

"The Mahzoks don't need the ships, they can just warp to here'n there~"

"Oh yeah, that's right."

"Only the pure Mahzoks are able to warp..."

"A pure Mahzok?"

"Mahzoks lose most of their power once they materialize to our world. Their bodies are made of energy."

"That means they used their powers to transform their bodies from the energy form into materials?"

"That's what I used to know from my past experiences."

"If they come to this world in pure form, they exhaust most of their power and end up as weak as a little child. In some cases, they become as weak as cats and dogs."

"Cats and dogs!?"

"...That weak?"

"Maybe we can lure them all out into our turf'n bust them?"

"If they are so dumb, I wouldn't have to become the Sacred Dragoon. Because CHAOS would never come out of his realm, so I had to go there and fight him!"

"Sorry mom~ I was just saying."

"Anyway the Mahzoks can take over a low-class monster's body and reduce the power lost. We call it "Contact Mahzok", like the elves can "contact" with the Elementals and merge."

"Which means...all these time we were fighting with Pure Mahzoks with reduced power!?"

"That means the one we fought back in the elven mine too!?"

"Correct. They were using only half of their strength during the battle."

"You gotta be KIDDIN-!"

"Even with the power of High Valkyrie, it wasn't easy to beat that Raymah, but what if he uses..."

"It can't be..."

"Hold on for a second...Then how come all pure Mahzoks aren't taking over monsters?"

"They would have conquered this world very easily by just becoming the Contact Mahzoks!"

"Good observation, Latyss. Taking over other bodies has 1 critical flaw."

"?"

"If the host can't withstand their big power, both the Mahzok and the hosted monster will die."

"I see..no matter how powerful the Mahzok, it can't just take over any body."

"So only the weak Mahzoks can become Contact Mahzok."

"So you see, unless they are 100% positive about the safety, none will dare to engage contact."

"That means the Mahzoks are plotting to search for the ultimate body or even creating one!?"

"No! We are doomed!"

"But they even chose NOT to take over dragons, the strongest race. I think nothing in this world can."

"But if not the bodies, then what else they're looking for? Something even worse?"

"Hey, Ryle. What's the real purpose for taking over Factoria then?"

"Hm!?"

"I don't remember seeing any Mahzoks when we were fighting with the White Ninjas..."

"Besides ninjas, all we saw were a bunch of regular monsters."

"The queen could have sent the Mahzok force to easily overpower us."

"That's very true! Xaktor lured us into the castle so he could eliminate Ryle Dono! If she was indeed Mahzok, then she could've just easily knocked our heads off by herself..."

"Are we being manipulated by the Mahzoks then?"

"Being used?"

"Or there's a traitor among them."

"...!"

"Inside conflict among the Mahzoks?"

"That's possible...they are not really good at uniting force."

"...."

"At any rate, we can't continue our mission like this."

"Arg! Then those green Dragons died in vain!!"

"..."



"From...me?"

"I want you to deliver a letter to Meldia Castle."

"But we have to report back to Factoria."

"If you contact the prince now, the queen will definitely pull some strings to trap you. In worst case, it might involve another major kingdom like Meldia into a messy situation."

"Dear Ryle, let's go to Meldia first. In case something happens, you can just warp to Factoria instantly."

"You got any idea how FAR from here to the capital of Meldia?"

"The map indicates couple of towns before the capital. You can just warp back after that."

"Caris is right. That's one of my reasons to send you there."

"I agree. We need to warp access as many places as possible."

"She's right. We can't just wander around the world indefinitely."

"So come on. Dear Ryle."

"Then sessha can go report to the prince while Ryle Dono is going to Meldia..."

"Don't! It's too dangerous for you to go alone suppose the queen is really a Mahzok. What if she brainwashes you and turn against your own friends? That's quite a possibility."

"Mom's right on that. Just being a hostage will be a huge disadvantage to us."

"That's for sure..."

"Since we know the Mahzoks are involved, there's no guarantee that even Meldia is safe..."

"But Factoria is the worse for sure, the queen is behind everything and nobody can stop her."

"I agree. There might be others involved as well."

"Other Mahzoks besides the queen?"

"They are very realistic, they would not come to this world unless they're very confident. Not only that this time they even expose their activity on surface..."

"I bet something else much more powerful is ordering the queen!"

"Mom...it might be CHAOS?"

"No, not CHAOS this time. I should have sensed its massive power if it's involved."

"Maybe something other than CHAOS, a new threat..."

"So you better notify Meldia to get ready for possible Mahzok invasion."

"But I'm not sure if they would believe us, they might kick us out before we even reach the gate?"

"Current king and queen of Meldia used to be my old comrades. I'm sure they will help you."

"King Zestrum and Queen Meldyss? so they too fought along with Flare!"

"Would you accept my request?"

"Yes, in that case."

"Thank you."




"Oh, be careful at the place called "Gold Bar Tunnel". The place is full of undead..."

"Eek-!!"

"Although I can just skip the place with Teleport, you better go without Fina or she'll freeze."


Aaaahhh, so many words

Okay, we have learned a bit about the Mahzoks and have a new goal, but the majority of those words were pointless bullshit that just kept circling around itself. In fact, this whole update was pretty much pointless except for Mariel and our new goal. Couldn't this have been trimmed down? Fuck, my brain feels like cotton after transcribing, and I'll sure as heck will hit the town later and get drunk. I also didn't comment on anything during the last scene, despite there being a few points where I probably should have. But I really didn't want to heap more words on that mountain, you understand, right?

Well, fuck this. I'm kinda mad about the insignificance of this update, so I'll leave the closing words to Caris.