13 Chapter 13 : "Consensual" Assistance

the day before

"did you hear? Midnight woke up and gave the go ahead to the plan that girl made. what was her name again?"

"Really? if your talking about the new girl I think her code name was Diverse Winds.

Did you hear any details about it?

"not much but from what I heared it seems like she is planning to challenge her to a duel to try and get close to her.

apparently her ability only works on people she touches so a duel is probably the only way she can get close enough to the Guardian."

"Sounds like a death wish if you ask me."

it had been a few hours since Midnights duel with the guardian and the camp had only recently been set up.

Despite this the group had been left to there own devices and were all spread all through out the camp.

About a hour or so after the camp was finished Midnight woke up causing a large part of the group to gather around outside his tent.

Despite giving a brief summary of the duels rules before starting Midnight shared everything he knew about the duels rules that he was told by the dungeon.

A few things he didn't mention before were that if anyone were to attempt to attack the guardian without having entered a duel the dungeon would interfere and penalise the aggressor by denying them access to the shrine grounds permanently.

Not only did this stop them from being able to harm the guardian it would also make it impossible for them to ever be able to challenge them therefore forfeiting their chance of obtaining the Primordial wish.

Another thing was that one had the choice after entering the shrine grounds to challenge the guardian meaning that it was still possible to enter the shrine grounds without having to fight.

This was good news as it meant that if intial communication with the guardian went smoothly then they could further interact with each other without the need to fight one another.

However it Never said anything about the Guardian being restricted in attacking others so their was still alot that was unknown.

Lastly the Primordial Wish granted for defeating the guardian was limited and only 1 individual could obtain it.

After the wish has been obtained the guardian will cease to be a boss and they will no longer be able to be challenged.

According to Midnight there were a few more rules listed but he couldn't remember them as it was a large list and quite detailed.

After awakening and getting the rundown of everything that had happened while he was out cold Midnight resumed role of acting commander and decided that considering it was almost already Dusk that the party would wait until tomorrow to take any further actions.

While everyone was resting Gentle informed Midnight of Diverse Winds plan and so he gathered Pulse echo and diverse winds to discuss the details.

"Trying to talk to the guardian does sound like a good idea but it is very risky. she beat me without even breaking a sweat and so I doubt you would be able to last that long if she went on the offensive."

While his primary concern was trying to find out as much information about the new boss as possible the Groups safety was always top priority.

"I'm well aware of the danger involved in this but if this works then this might be our chance to pull ahead of the others clans.

After learning that we don't have to challenge the guardian when we enter the shrine grounds it means that I might not have to duel them to activate my affinity but im prepared if it comes to that."

Despite knowing that she wouldn't stand a chance in a duel against the guardian if it came to that She was confident that she would still be able to activate her affinity as the only requirement for it is to make contact with the other person.

"But even if you do activate it what if the guardian keeps attacking you? then what will you do?" Midnight said with a concerned expression.

while this was a great opportunity it was simply too risky after seeing the power of the guardian compared to himself combined with them knowing barely anything about their affinity.

"If that does happen then I'll leave the shrine grounds. from what we know that will make me forfeit the duel and it will keep me safe from the guardian incase they keep attacking me after the dual ends"

"...ill approve this on the condition you stay near the perimeter of the the shrine grounds at all times incase of a emergency. Alright?"

"yes sir, I wont let you down!"

Not long after the decision was made the 4 of them all left the tent and separated to do as they pleased for the rest of the day.

however Echo tailed Diverse Winds untill she saw that she was relatively out of sight of the others in the party before approaching her.

walking by she dropped a small folded piece of paper at Diverse Wind's feet before heading towards her tent as if she was just passing by.

. . .

Diverse Winds Pov

"I cant believe that plan got approved! this might be my chance to make a name for myself here as I'm basically just treated like a translater by most.

I guess I should run maintenance on my equipment tonight just incase worse comes to worse"

Despite being a competent vanguard, due to her affinity being useless in combat she was generally considered to be below average.

most affinities could be used even in a minor way in combat but due to her affinities unique use case it was completely useless in combat against both people and monsters.

Even Midnight who has a extremely low amount of mana was able to use his affinity for gravity to make himself and his sword lighter.

However unlike Midnight's affinity which was deemed to have alot of potential her affinity wasn't considered to be very useful apart from being a on field Translator and even then a Translator was rarely needed.

while every race is taught their respective language at birth such as Elves learning Elvish and Orcs Learning Orcish most people also learn to speak Common aswell.

Common is the language Humans mainly speak and due to Humans being easily the most common race to come across Common is often learned as a way to communicate through all the different races.

While finishing up her final check of her equipment she Noticed Pulse Echo walk by and drop a small piece of paper.

Looking towards her face they both locked eyes for a second as Echo continued walking by without stopping

Seemingly understanding her intentions she subtlety used her foot to bring the piece of paper over to her while pretending to stretch.

opening her daggers sheath she stretched to the side causing it to fall out and land near the piece of paper.

using this as a distraction incase anyone was watching she bent over and picked up her dagger while also making sure to grab the note.

"whatever this is about must be pretty important if she is needing to tell me it like this. I'll read this back in my tent just in case"

picking up her equipment and made her way to her tent which she had set up earlier near the outside of the small clearing where they all made their camp.

Entering the tent she made sure to close the piece of cloth behind her before putting her gear down and pulling out the note.

"Something is up with the guardian so we might need to do your plan a little earlier than expected. meet me at my tent ASAP"

"The guardian? what does she mean by that?

Well Echo isn't exactly known for her jokes so ill humor her a little" she thought as she rolled her eyes.

leaving her tent she scrunched the piece of paper into a small ball before tossing it in a nearby campfire.

Walking towards echo's tent she waited nearby until no one was around before entering quickly closing the cloth behind her.

While her tent wasn't very different compared to her own it was definitely bigger as most of the tents were a little cramped inside.

sitting on the floor drawing a magic sigil Echo hadn't acknowledged Diverse Winds entering her tent.

"You called? What was that note about?"

putting a finger to her lips she continued working on the sigil by moving mana to her fingers and drawing onto the dirt leaving behind a dark shade of purple that glowed slightly.

quickly finishing the sigil a purple pulse was sent throughout the tent as the walls seemed to darken as if the shadows had thickened.

"Alright that will stop sound escaping the tent.

The reason I needed to meet you in private is because I need your help with something."

"Ok... and what would that be exactly?"

"The guardian somehow is going to infiltrate the camp tonight and I need your help in setting a trap"

"What? that makes no sense a guardian can't leave their site of worship and the camp is outside the shrine grounds. there is no way for her to get to us" Diverse Winds said obviously doubting Echo.

it was common knowledge that no guardian had ever left a site of worship without the gods of the site having interfered so it was no surprise that Echo's words were hard to believe.

"I Dont know how either considering we don't know the god this shrine belongs to but I do know for sure that she will come here tonight"

she said with a unchanging expression.

"How can you be so sure? we have been monitoring her since we came here and she hasn't even come close to approaching the border of the shrine grounds"

"I... Got a vison from my deity. they informed that sometime after midnight she will infiltrate the camp. I dont know how or why but I doubt its a good reason"

Echo said after a moment of hesitation.

"Your deity?!? if a god is watching over this dungeon right now then thats got to mean something is up! Your deity is Dread right? the god of shadows and darkness?"

"yeah... you definitely seem to have done your research" Echo mumbled to herself just quiet enough to not be heard.

"Anyway I presume you have a plan?

While Diverse Winds was definitely surprised by suddenly finding out that a god is currently watching over the dungeon she realised that considering Echo only brought her here she must have had a reason for not involving the others.

"Somewhat yes. I'm going to set a a magic array with multiple sigils to activate it where it will bind her. After she is immobilised you will activate your affinity and attempt to touch her so we can hopefully talk things out.

if worst comes to worst i will activate another smaller array to wake up the camp so we will have back up.

also we will be sleeping outside to act as bait so you might want to set up your sleeping bag by the campfire nearest Your tent."

"your not giving me a choice in this are you?..."

Diverse Winds said while considering making a run for it.

"Nope. and by the way ill know if you leave the camp and I will not hesitate to drag you back if need be." she said as if reading her mind.

"Fine... but if you get me killed I will haunt you for the rest of your life!"

she said while internally crying at the situation she had been forced into.