Marigold-"You... you don't know what the demon lord is?"
Julius-"Am I supposed to?"
Joe-"You know, super powerful entity, appears once every 1,000 years. Wreaks havoc on the world wiping out most of its population before disappearing again"
Julius-"Oh that's right, you mentioned him a minute ago. You said the guild ranks were based on him and his soldiers"
Adam-"Why didn't you ask what it was a minute ago?"
Julius-"Well truth be told, this world is pretty similar to the fantasy stories we had back in my world. Demon lord's are a pretty common thing so you mentioning it before just kind of didn't phase me. It was only when you brought it up again that I questioned it"
Damion-"That reminds me of something. Julius, how long will you live?"
Julius-"What?"
Damion-"Your lifespan?"
Julius-"How did what I say to remind you of that?"
Damion-"The demon lord is coming back in less than a century. I wanted to know if you would be alive for that"
Joe-"Oh yeah will you actually live long enough to see the demon lord return? I know I probably won't since I would have to be around 120"
Julius-"Well I'm a particle of Oxygen-16 isotope. It's the most common oxygen atom. And it's a stable atom with no radioactive half life. So I would think that I don't age"
Damion-"So you're immortal?"
Elise-"He gets to be immortal without even becoming an S rank that's unfair"
Julius-"That's right, you did say that most of the S ranks are several hundred years old"
Marigold-"We've gotten off track"
Adam-"I still don't think it's a good idea"
Julius-"I think we should go to the Kaiju Archipelago"
Joe-"You do?"
Julius-"Like Marigold said, we can get stronger there. Plus with the name being words from my world maybe I can find some clues to somebody else reincarnating from there"
Marigold-"Do you, want to go back to your world?"
Julius-"I- well I mean, preferably I would like to be able to jump between the two"
Adam-"If you really are from another world and were given the choice to permanently return there, would you?"
Julius-"I- I would stay here. Back in my world there was no magic. And I feel like I have a responsibility to this world, I can bring technology here to make people's lives better. And I won't just abandon you guys."
Elise-"No need to get all emotional. Besides I already wanted to go to the Kaiju Archipelago anyway. This whole "language from your world" thing just gives us another reason to go there"
Adam-"We're not ready yet"
Elise-"We're going and that's that"
Joe-"It's not up to you. In fact it's not up to any of us, only people with permission from the guild can go there"
Elise-"We've all gotten stronger haven't we, let's go get our ranks re-adjusted and then we'll get their permission to go. In fact, Julius is still placed at E rank!"
Julius-"Yeah, I forgot about that. I should have A rank level power by now. Do you think I'll be upper or lower A rank?"
Marigold-"Probably lower A rank. That was an upper A rank monster we just fought. And it was stronger than you are"
Julius(in his head)-"Wait, are the letter ranks also the Roman alphabet?"
Voice-"No, they are translated from this world's alphabet"
Julius(in his head)-"Than what does the S rank stand for here?"
Voice-"The letter I'm translating S to is actually just the first letter of the alphabet. I translate it to S instead of A because that's the letter they used for the highest rank in your world"
Adam-"Okay listen, we're gonna go to a guild office to take a rank up test. If our ranks are high enough, then, and only then will we go to the Kaiju Archipelago"
Julius-"Well let's head there"
Joe-"Okay, how do we get out of these caves though"
Julius-"I've recovered enough mana for a simple gravity spell to get us out. It will be easier with Archimedes making a big hole in the ceiling. Gravity skill: levitation"
The group is lifted off of the ground by Julius's gravity skill and pulled up to the surface.
Marigold-"What happened to Julius's robogolems?"
Julius-"They got destroyed when Archimedes launched his spear through the ceiling"
The group continues floating upwards. Eventually they reach the surface.
Adam-"The forest..."
All of the trees and plants in the forest began to wilt away.
Elise-"It's all gone"
Joe-"That's a sad site"
Marigold-"This forest was created through dark magic. Every leaf of a plant and every stick from a tree was corrupt"
Julius(in his head)-"I forgot Adam and Elise are specifically forest elves. It makes sense that seeing an entire forest destroyed like this would be disheartening. Even if it was a forest created through dark magic"
Julius-"Alright everyone, let's head to the nearest guild office"
Adam-"So, you gonna make another car?"
Julius-"The same car should still be here"
Joe-"But where?"
Julius-"I don't know, I'll go find it"
Damion-"Just make a new one"
Julius-"I'm not gonna go around leaving cars everywhere. I'm not a litterer"
Julius still using his gravity magic has himself and his team fly over the decaying trees to the edge of the forest to find their car that he created.
Damion looks down through the wilted tree line. He sees multiple buildings that seem torn down.
Adam-"Hey Damion"
Damion-"Hm"
Adam-"Back during the fight"
Adam flashbacks to Damion yelling out for Desmond during the battle.
Damion-"Yeah?"
Adam-"Um was that... or, is there something you want to talk about"
Damion looks back down at the torn down buildings.
Adam-"Because I'm here"
Damion-"I'm good"
Adam-"Right..."
Elise-"What are you two talking about?"
Adam-"I was just-"
Julius-"Found it!"
Julius spots the car in the distance and continues to fly towards it. The group lands in front of the car and begin to walk to the doors.
Elise-"I call front seat"
Adam-"Why?"
Elise-"Because I sat in the back last time"
Adam-"So? Why do you care?"
Elise-"I don't know, it just feels right"
Elise hops in the front passenger seat. Damion gets in the driver seat while Joe, Adam, and Marigold get in the backseats. Julius hops back onto his tiny pedestal.
Julius-"So where is the closest guild office"
Adam-"It should be southwest from here"
Julius-"One of my goals is definitely to create a GPS system over the course of the next few years"
Marigold-"What's a GPS system?"
Julius-"It tells you the directions on how to get somewhere"
Joe-"Let's just focus on getting our ranks reassigned. I hope I'm finally going to be C rank"
Elise-"Oh yeah, I forgot you were that weak"
Joe-"Shut up"
The car is turned on, the autopilot mode is activated and the car starts heading southeast.
Julius(in his head)-"First I get my new rank and then, it's off to the Kaiju Archipelago"
End of chapter 98