CH 142

Chapter 142 – Quick escape

“Hey, I just want to talk to you for a bit!” The girl exclaimed.

“Unfortunately, nobody has had an actual small talk after saying such a line.” Lolita replied.

“Don’t mix me with others!” The girl said.

“We don’t know you at all though.” Lolita told her.

“Mukii!” The girl exclaimed. *

Perhaps because Lolita was on full-refusal mode, the girl seems to be getting heated up.

I mean, I have never seen someone say ‘Mukii’ before.

“Lalalu, people are gathering…” Lulu muttered.

“Oh, understood.” Lolita replied.

The people who were sightseeing the castle and other passersby were gradually starting to pay attention to us as the girl’s voice became louder due to anger.

People who seemed to be players were creating a bit of a commotion, so it probably won’t take long for a big crowd to gather… This will become troublesome if it keeps up, so Lolita started a Call with us to decide on the timing of the withdrawal… And it’s right now!

“I said I have no business with you-!” The girl started screaming again, but she was interrupted by Lolita’s action.

Lolita stomped her foot firmly on the ground and slammed an item right in front of her foot.

And then, a momentary cloud of white smoke spread.

It was an original item made by Mii and Muu for fun, Escape Smokescreen.

Within Frontiers, the only ways to end a battle against a mob, are to defeat it, or to run away from its aggro range.

Naturally, if you’re facing an enemy that is too strong for you, running is the only viable option.

It’s impossible for the system to make the monsters surround you when you’re trying to escape, but even then, there are some items that can assist you when fleeing.

One of those items is the smokescreen. In the field areas, the smokescreen lasts a decent amount of time and greatly helps one’s escape.

However, as it could be a nuisance if they were used in cities, the effectiveness of smokescreens is drastically reduced in safe areas.

However, this Escape Smokescreen is different. It’s an Original item made by Mii and Muu, so its duration is quite long even within a safe area.

Of course, it would last even more in a field area, but we’re in a safe area right now, so that’s the duration that matters.

A normal smokescreen would only last two to three seconds in a safe area, but the Escape Smokescreen lasts a whole ten seconds.

Since a crowd of people was gathering near us already, it was easy to slip into the crowd and escape with the ten seconds that the smokescreen bought us.

******

“We were able to make a quick escape easily.” I said.

“Thanks to Mii and Muu.” Lolita nodded.

“Looks like people are already talking about it on the forums…” Lulu commented.

I gave a troubled laugh, “Well, you can’t do that with a normal smoke ball.”

“In any case, another troublesome person has appeared.” Lolita said.

“Well, it’s not like we’ll be coming to the Tabarist Empire often, so I think it’s alright. If they try bothering me on my store, I can just ban them anyways.” I replied.

“Indeed.

“In any case, I’ve already seen what I wanted to see, so I think I’m going home. What about you two?” Lolita asked us.

“Same… I was just thinking that I wanted to go back to making sweets…” Lulu replied.

“Ah! I want to eat your new products!” Lolita exclaimed.

Thanks to the Escape Smokescreen, we were able to escape successfully.

I feel like I caught the eye of someone troublesome, but we already expected that to happen when going to other countries anyways.

I mean, even in the Zabrina Kingdom there were some troublesome folks, so it can’t be helped that this might happen more often now that the number of countries we can go to has increased.

However, we already have accumulated experience.

Like this time, we had already prepared the Escape Smokescreen in advance, and Lolita served as a wall between me and the bothersome person as soon as they appeared.

Up until now, since I spent most of my time shutting myself in my workshop, only going back and forth between my store and the workshop, I hardly had to directly deal with annoying people.

Instead, my clerks were the ones that handled them, and a store ban usually solved the problem right away.

However, when going shopping, it’s not that easy to handle it.

But well, we already finished sightseeing, so unless I get a special errand to fulfill, I don’t really plan on coming back to the Tabarist Empire any time soon.

And even if I do come, I can always disguise myself anyways.

“Then, let’s go to the temple.” Lolita decided.

“If there isn’t a big line there, should we go see the priest?” I suggested.

“… I hope there isn’t one.” Lulu nodded.

“That would be nice too.” Lolita agreed.

We gave up on the Skill Points Conversion Priest because the line was too long, but a while has passed since we last went there, so maybe the line disappeared.

Well, I don’t think that happened, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

******

I decided to forget about what had just happened and went to the temple while chatting, but… It seems like we were ambushed.

Or rather, if she knew who I was, then I suppose she should know that we were going back to the Zabrina Kingdom, and that we were not going to waste all that time on the carriage, so it was natural to expect us to come to the Teleportation Gate.

So, even if we ran away, it would be easy to ambush us in front of the temple.

Well, things might have been different if we ran here immediately after escaping, but we didn’t do that.

“Don’t you think you can escape from me!” The girl exclaimed.

“By the way, how many Magic Stones does it cost to travel to Capital Sabrina, again?” I asked.

“… It’s a bit farther away than the Ljungsmelis Republic, so it’s a bit more expensive.” Lulu replied.

“This me is the Clan Master of Dollhouse!” The girl said.

“I’ve brought a lot of Magic Stones with me, so if you don’t have enough, I can lend you some.” Lolita told me.

“Can’t you give them to me for free?” I asked.

“You’re the one who makes the most money out of us all, so no way.” Lolita said.

“Hey, wait a minute! Don’t ignore me!” The girl exclaimed.

However, the Gate is just one stone throw away from us, and there are temple knights NPCs inside the temple who are stronger than the guards patrolling the city.

Inside the temple, the temple knights will kick you out if you’re not polite enough.

And going on a rampage is out of question. Even being too loud is troublesome enough, actually.

In other words…

“Listen to me- Hyah!?” The girl exclaimed.

“Be quiet in the temple.” A temple knight said.

“I-I’m sorry…” She apologized.

It’s certainly pretty scary to be surrounded by three fully armed and armored temple knights.

They seem to be quite strong in terms of combat strength, and no player Pioneer that has challenged them so far has been able to win.

They’re so strong, that there was actually a dedicated thread just for them on the forums for a while.

As in, a thread with people’s reports about their battles against the temple knights.

About thirty percent of the posts were filled with people lamenting their losses, while the rest were analysis on their attack patterns and skills.

What intrigued me the most about them though, was their gear.

It seems to have better defense than steel gear, but it also seems to give a strong magic resistance. Moreover, their weapons are strong enough to kill a heavily-armored player in a single blow.

Or rather, that happened once at least, but it seems to have been a critical hit. More often than not, they defeated their opponents in two to three hits.

That’s why the strength of the temple knights is well known.

And even if you don’t know about it, it’s still pretty scary to be scolded by a giant person in full plate armor.

Especially because the girl that they ambushed was a bit shorter than Mii and Muu, so the knights were almost two times her height.

“As expected, she was captured by the temple knights.” Lolita commented.

“Ignoring her and entering the temple was the correct decision.” I nodded.

“… Let’s hurry… The sermon only lasts about two minutes.” Lulu told us.

“Let’s.” Lolita agreed.

“Guess we won’t have the chance of checking the Skill Points Conversion Priest.” I muttered.

Even though the girl was being scolded by the temple knights, her infraction was only shouting, so her sermon won’t be long.

Creating a ruckus or challenging the temple knights would lead to bigger punishments, on the other hand.

Still, she still has to sit through the sermon, as the sermon itself seems to be a special skill that you cannot escape from.

If you logout, your body will remain here in a collapsed state, and you’ll be thrown in jail for a whole day, so trying to escape is not worth it.

Due to that, it’s a well-known rule that one should behave politely and quietly while in the temple.

It’s thanks to the temple knights that there is a single orderly line leading to the Skill Points Conversion Priest, otherwise people would surely be rioting by now.

After all, the line was really long.

Well, I’m sure many people must have sent complaining e-mails about the amount of available skill points to the management team, so it’s no wonder that the line to the priest is so long.

“Well then, shall we go home?” Lolita asked.

“There was some trouble, but I really enjoyed seeing the shrine and the cherry blossom trees.” I said.

“… The Ljungsmelis Republic was also quite beautiful.” Lulu said.

“Alright, then let’s-

“Oh, and if you two change your mind, please do take the Master and Disciple quest.” Lolita told us.

“I’ll take it if I feel like it.” I replied.

“If I feel like it… Maybe…?” Lulu muttered.

Lolita giggled, “Well, only if you feel like it. That’s fine too.

“Let’s go home.”

“Sure.” I replied.

“Okay…” Lulu said.

Taking a disciple… Should I do that?

————–

* Translator’s Note: “Mukii” is basically an SFX for someone being angry. There is no direct translation to it. I could try using something like “Grr” or “Rawr”, but those would feel even more absurd to see someone actually exclaiming than just “Mukii”, so I decided to keep it as is.