Chapter 300 Jack Remembers the Fourth Floor
Clean up didn't take very long as Jack and Tralon simply through everything in their pocket dimensions, including the rubble.
While Argyle ran through the outlying areas to make sure the jakals were extinct, he continued his mental conversation with the others. Argyle laughed, 'So, what level are you after all that, Jack?'
'I'd imagine it went well for him because I leveled up as well,' Tralon added.
'What?! Then what happened to Jack?'
Jack sighed, struggling to contain himself. 'Everyone is going to be so mad at me the next time I see them…'
'Just tell us already!' Argyle shouted.
'We're lv. 47…'
'Woooow… Your party is going to be pissed when they see you,' Argyle burst into laughter. 'I'm lv. 71 and I'm pissed at you for that kind of cheating, so I only imagine how bad they'll want to beat you after this.'
'Lv. 47? That means you already qualify for the upcoming election.'
'Wait, Jack's running for the council?'
'Yes, Argyle. He'll be joining me on the council and will soon supersede me as the guild leader,' explained Tralon. 'To do what he wants, then he'll need to be a council member. Things would be too tricky if he wasn't.'
'I get that but won't he be tied down to the city as a council member?' Argyle asked.
'Actually, no he wouldn't. Remember, the council was created by heroes so it was also created so that heroes and adventurers could hold the position while maintaining the freedom to travel. To make sure things stayed that way, I obtained a congress crystal for the council back in the day.'
'What's a congress crystal?'
'Right, you wouldn't know,' Tralon replied. 'A congress crystal is like a contact crystal but it can call multiple crystals at once and an entire group of people can converse through it instead of one.'
'Oh… So it basically lets the council hold meetings while some members are away. What's the range?' Jack asked.
'The entire content, but the congress crystal is so large we had to make it into the new council table,' answered Tralon.
'I didn't know you had a congress crystal. I would've made you an offer if I did,' Argyle joked.
'Either way, being a council member doesn't mean you're bound to the city. You can retain your position from anywhere on the continent so long as you've been elected,' explained Tralon. 'You might like it too, Argyle. Have you ever thought about running?'
'That would never…' Argyle paused, thinking a bit more before responding, 'We'll talk about that later when we discuss business, okay?'
Surprised to not get rejected, Tralon looked to Jack and nodded. 'Very well, I'll keep that in mind for later.'
Once Argyle returned from his crusading, he dumped the corpses from his storage and let JAck store them away in his infinite pocket dimension.
'So, where to next?' the swordsman asked with a smile.
'To the next circle and wherever it takes us.' Jack led the march to the next circle, happy to have saved so much time thanks to a legendary spell. 'We'll take the next level slower and camp there for the night. Since Tralon's only lv. 62, he probably doesn't have much mana left after that.'
'Right,' Tralon chuckled, stroking his beard.
The party of four trekked to the circle and calmly activated it, releasing a familiar pulse of spacial energy that took them to a new floor.
With feet back on the ground, Jack smiled as he recognized the floor's layout and it's artificial lighting. 'Welcome to the fourth floor.' But as his memories flooded back to him, the smile faded.
'What's waiting to be killed here?' asked Argyle.
'On this floor, I'd rather we not kill anything if we can avoid it.'
Argyle was perplexed, as was Tralon who inquired further, 'And why's that, remind me?'
A chuckle escaped Jack's mouth as he scratched his head in anger and nervousness. 'To be honest, I completely forgot about the storehouse for the longest time. And when you gave me the ring back at the wedding, I put it away as an afterthought that I'd come back to once I was lv. 50 or lv. 60…'
'And…' Tralon prodded.
'And I forgot about what I put in here…'
'What do you mean?' asked Argyle.
'Of all the floors… this will be the one where we'll most likely find a thriving civilization now that I'm thinking back on it. And I'm an idiot for not remembering this place sooner…'
'Just spit it out, Jack!'
'Tralon, remember that one time we got a special quest to capture shadow goblins?'
'Yeees… It's hard to forget that one. It wasn't long after I joined you on your adventures.'
Jack sighed, 'I never told you what I did with them, right?'
'No, you… Oh, that's why.'
'That's why what?!' Livid, Argyle glared at Jack. 'What is it? So you captured some shadow goblins and threw them in a dungeon. What's the big deal?'
'I captured them near the beginning of my time as a hero. All of my memories from that time are pretty jumbled up, so I forgot all about it. But now that I'm partying with a shadow goblin…'
'Ooohh… She doesn't know about this, does she? Now I get it.'
Jack thought hard about the past but it was really difficult to remember. He captured those goblins and built the storehouse during his first of ten years playing "A Hero's Tale," so he couldn't help but fail to recall it clearly. What he wanted to know was who had given him that quest, but he couldn't remember for the life of him.
'Either way, I don't want any more trouble between us and the shadow goblins,' Jack stated. 'We'll have to find a way to not only make peace but clear the way so that the council members behind us don't destroy them.'
'Hmmm… Sounds like you're stuck in quite the pickle,' Argyle chuckled.
'Thanks for the advice. What do you think, Tralon?'
'I say we play it by ear, but we'll make sure that nothing happens to them in the end if at all possible.'
The young hero sighed and climbed onto Bowzer. 'Alright… Let's head out.'
However, as the party left that corner of the fourth floor, they were soon approached by two short, humanoid figures.
"Who dares enter our floor?"
Jack looked at the speaker in the eyes as a rush of muddled emotions came over him. "We mean the shadow goblins no trouble. In fact, we mean to help them.'
"What do you mean by help?" answered the goblin scout. "We haven't had any humans enter our territory for one thousand years, yet you show up to help us with the problems you don't know we have?"
"Please, we mean no harm. We would like to meet with your chief."
"And why should we let you do that?"
"Because if you don't I may do something we'll regret," stated Argyle, pressuring the lv. 59 goblin.
"I… Fine, but we still haven't determined if you're friends or foes, so don't expect any hospitality," the leader replied angrily. "Follow us."
After following the passage for ten minutes, they reached the biggest opening on the fourth floor. They noticed a city of sorts built in the center, but it was small and nowhere near as advanced as Jack had expected.
The two groups entered the short city walls, catching the eyes of two dozen shadow goblins. Gossiping had already begun as the two scouts led the small party into a tiny castle-like structure.
Jack hopped off of Bowzer and the party members ducked their heads as they entered, Immediately, they were guided toward the main hall by another dozen shadow goblins.
When they reached the main hall it was the only door tall enough for them to enter normally. The party was hurried through it and forced to kneel upon entry.
"All bow to for Grangor, the shadow goblin chief!"