Arcum sat up from his bed, tired from the previous night. His joints ached from training in the chambers, not to mention chasing Sparkle across rooftops and roads.
The previous night, Sparkle had dropped a bombshell on Arcum—she had just came from a village.
However, before he could act on this information, everyone, besides Arcum decided that it was time to clock out for the night and promptly left.
He looked around the room. Stelle was sleeping beside him on a different bed while other beds were empty, presumably the others beds that were empty after they woke up.
Their group, out of the kindness of General Jing Yuan's heart and Fugue's persuasive skills, they had been graced with a room inside the main building to sleep in for the night.
"I wonder if the others are okay," Arcum thought as he sat up and got out of bed. "Hopefully they're doing okay at the base."
Stretching his hands above his head, Arcum headed for the door and stepped outside, leaving Stelle alone in the room to sleep some more.
As he popped his head out of the door, he spotted both Fugue and Hysilens. The two were engaged in conversation, unaware that Arcum had woken up.
"Good morning," Arcum greeted as he made his way out of the room and to the two. "Is everyone alright?"
"What do you mean?" Fugue asked, tilting her head to the side.
Arcum's foot tapped the ground as he thought how to articulate his words.
"Did anything happen last night while we were asleep?" Arcum finally voiced. "The General said that there was a raid the night prior."
Hysilens shook her head. "Not that we heard."
Arcum nodded, thankful that nothing happened. Today would be a big day, and he certainly did not want to waste it on fixing mob attacks from the previous night.
"Where's Sparkle?" Arcum questioned, looking around for the troublemaker. "I need to interrogate her."
"I haven't seen her," Fugue answered, her tail swishing behind her. "Perhaps she's making trouble elsewhere?"
"When I woke up she wasn't there," Hysilens added.
Arcum gave a curt nod, thanking the two before walking to the bedroom to wake Stelle up. If he couldn't find Sparkle, then Stelle would have to do the work again.
He entered the room, noting Stelle still sprawled on the bed. Her head was tucked under the pillow, her leg outstretched off the bed.
As he walked over, Arcum's ankle was suddenly grabbed by a petite hand, coming from under the bed.
"... uh."
Despite the quick scare and shock from the moment, Arcum didn't react very verbally. He wasn't very vocal when it came to scares—something that came from playing horror games. Too many horror games.
"Aw~ You're no fun," Sparkle chimed as she let go of Arcum's ankle and rolled out from under the bed.
"... how did you fit under there?" Arcum questioned, kneeling to look under the bed at the tiny gap between the frame and the floor.
"I manage," Sparkle sneered, making a face at Arcum. "Your scream could have been an alarm clock for the Nameless~"
"Stelle?" Arcum asked, turning to look at her sleeping form. "Tough luck. But you didn't tell me about the village."
"What's there to say?" Sparkle asked, putting both her hands on her hips. "It's a place that I was at, and got booted from. Is that so hard to understand?"
"Can you bring us there today?" Arcum requested. "I think it'll be useful."
"I don't know~" Sparkle said with a teasing tone. "What's in it for little ol' me? There's not much fun, going back there again..."
Arcum paused, thinking long and hard. "You want fun?"
"That's right, pretty boy~"
Arcum ignored her response, trying to put together a response that would satisfy this... gremlin.
"If you bring us there..." Arcum started, slowing his words, speaking as he came up with the idea. "You can have more fun. Villages are beacons for people, as they're useful—if we stay at the village, different people come, and you have more people to prank."
Sparkle bobbed back and forth, making a face as if thinking about his offer.
After a brief moment, her shoulders shrugged and she broke out into the smile that had adorned her face since he saw her the first time. "Eh, sure~ Why not~"
"Great," Arcum said quickly, not allowing for any takebacks. "You can wake Stelle and tell her. She can inform the others, I'm going to go tell the General."
Not waiting for an answer, Arcum darted out of the room into the main room of the building.
He rushed past Fugue and Hysilens, who slowly turned to look at him as he passed, a small squint in their eyes as if questioning what he was doing.
Arcum, after rushing around for a few moments, finally found Jing Yuan's room.
Knock Knock.
"Who is it?"
Jing Yuan's voice came out muffed from the room.
"It's me," Arcum shouted back to the door. "I wanted to talk."
"Come in," Jing Yuan said.
Opening the door and stepping into the room, Arcum saw Jing Yuan, his back turned to the door as he stared out glass panes to the main square of the base.
"What did you want to talk about?" Jing Yuan asked, turning back around to face Arcum.
"We were planning to go to a village," Arcum explained, trying to explain it in a non-technical way. "It's a native structure to this world. It holds potential for good loot, and it's a popular place to go to for many people."
Jing Yuan nodded, noting and listening to everything that Arcum said about villages.
"Do you need to take anyone with you?" Jing Yuan asked. "Or are you planning to take just a select few?"
"Definitely Stelle and Sparkle," Arcum listed, using his fingers to count. "I don't know about Hysilens..."
Thinking back on what Sparkle said, the iron golem had thrown her out. If the iron golem was still hostile—which it very well could be, thanks to the highly intelligent mobs now, it could attack Sparkle on sight.
That would include Arcum and the group too, given they were with Sparkle. Hysilens would most likely... obliterate the golem like she did the enderman.
But Arcum didn't want to kill the iron golem—not if he wanted to get on the villagers good side and be able to trade with them.
"So is it just going to be you, Miss Sparkle, and Stelle?" Jing Yuan asked. "If you'd like, you could ask Miss Lingsha to join."
"Definitely not," Arcum instantly denied. "She's busy. Very busy."
That wasn't the real reason Arcum said no. He didn't want to see her—not after Sparkle did shenanigans—he would clear it up later. He was a procrastinator at heart.
"If you insist," Jing Yuan nodded, not pushing the matter further. "Are you planning to come back, or will you be heading off?"
"We'll probably come back for one more night," Arcum answered. "I want to make sure everything I set up works fine later."
Jing Yuan nodded yet again, affirming that he understood Arcum's intentions.
With most of the conversation done, Arcum bid Jing Yuan farewell and went back to the group, passing by Fugue and Hysilens yet again.
"Did Stelle wake up?" Arcum asked.
"I think..?" Fugue said.
"Definitely," Hysilens said. "There was screaming coming from the room."
"Oh," Arcum thought.
"Well... you two are staying here while we go to the village," Arcum explained. "It might be better that way."
"We're coming back tonight anyway," Arcum added. "Hysilens, you can stay in case something happens. Fugue—if everything goes right, I might ask you to come to the village with us the next time we go."
Fugue was an Luofu Sky-Faring Commission merchant guild, or so Arcum was told. Trading was something a merchant did. Maybe Fugue could be something like a 'Hero of the Village' trading effect for him.
"That's fine," Hysilens said. "I can stay here."
"I suppose that's fine," Fugue nodded. "I have some things to do here, anyway."
Another scream came from the room, causing Arcum to slowly turn. "Is that Stelle I'm hearing?"
"Probably," Fugue and Hysilens said at the exact same time.
"Okay," Arcum said hesitantly. "Guess I'm checking it out."
Leaving the pair, Arcum briskly walked towards the door and opened it, peaking his head inside.
The room was a mess now—beds overturned and random blocks like cobblestone and dirt placed, making the room seem like a griefed base.
Sparkle was seen, terrorizing Stelle using the blocks and beds around.
"So that's why everything is messy."
"Why... no, what are you doing?" Arcum asked, making sure he could pull his head out of the doorframe in case of a stray bed.
"I'm waking her up~" Sparkle responded with a cheerful tone, looking at Arcum and ignoring Stelle.
"No," Stelle said. "She's definitely trying to murder me."
"I think she could have done that without waking you..." Arcum pointed out. "You sleep like a bum."
Finally gathering the courage to walk into the room, Arcum clapped his hands. "Let's leave this cleanup duty to... not us. I don't want to clean up."
"Agreed," Stelle nodded, her eyes gleaming.
"I wasn't planning to clean anyway~" Sparkle added with glee.
"I told General Jing Yuan about our plan," Arcum brought up, bringing the team up to date. "It's just us going to the village, and we're going to make GOOD... connections with the villagers. And make sure Sparkle is forgiven by the villagers."
"So... that's uh..." Stelle questioned, seeming to not understand anything.
Sparkle, at Stelle's confusion, let out a loud laugh, wiping a tear from her eye with a finger.
"Okay," Arcum sighed out.
He took a deep breath in, and another breath out, figuring out how to explain the plan.
"We're going to the village. The goal is to form connections and become friends. This includes getting Sparkle forgiven by the iron golem. We'll also trade there, and we'll try to establish a small base there in case other people also go there."
Stelle nodded, but Arcum had a slight feeling she still didn't understand.
"Okay~" Sparkle said. "Are we going now?"
"I feel like we have to prepare, no?" Arcum asked. "I'm almost ready. I don't know if you're ready, or if Stelle is ready."
Stelle raised her hand, looking at Arcum.
"Yes?" Arcum said, pointing to Stelle. "This isn't a classroom, by the way. You can just speak up."
"Well," Stelle said. "Why aren't we bringing the others?"
"If I'm not mistaken," Arcum explained his theory. "The iron golem is probably going to attack Sparkle. On sight. Yes, it's on sight, before you ask."
Sparkle cackled. "I didn't do that much, you know?"
"Anyways," Arcum interrupted, continuing. "Hysilens might kill the golem. So that would make forming good connections a no-go. Fugue... maybe? But she said she had some things to do here, so we can't bring her."
Stelle gave a thumbs up. "I'm done with questions. I'm ready to go whenever."
"Me too~" Sparkle agreed.
"Okay."
Arcum acknowledged his group and their readiness, gesturing towards the door.
Sparkle skipped out. Stelle stood up, brushing herself off before following Sparkle out the door.
"Welp. I'm sure this won't go poorly."
Arcum followed promptly after them, hoping that nothing would go wrong on their journey.
"Well, at least the worse that can happen is an aggressive iron golem, right?"