Gacha Harem System

They set off from the cavern, the pond’s scattered light fading behind them as the tunnel swallowed the group again.

The sun balls drifted into their spread formation overhead, and Percival fell into step near the middle of the group, entirely at ease.

He lasted about ten seconds before he started talking.

"So, how are you finding the caves? First visit?"

"Yes," Lukas said.

"I could tell. Not in a bad way! You just have that look. Everything’s still new, and everyone’s still checking the ceiling." He gestured upwards cheerfully.

"Good instinct, by the way. Keep doing that. Most people stop checking the ceiling after the first week, and the ceiling is exactly where the real dangers are."

Nobody responded.

"The trick with the bats," he continued, undeterred, "is the sound. Everyone thinks they’re silent, but they’re not. There’s a little click before they drop. It’s very faint, like two coins tapped together, once. If you hear that, you move."

"Hm," Karrakas grunted lightly.

"A hunter taught me that. Wonderful woman. Terrible cook though. She could hear a Shard Crawler through solid rock, but she once served me soup that I genuinely believe was trying to kill me."

He shook his head fondly. "The caves attract interesting people. You’ll see. Everyone down here is running towards something or away from something. Sometimes both. Which are you, if you don’t mind me asking?"

"We’re hunting," Akira said.

"Towards something, then. Excellent." He nodded as if she’d shared something profound. "And the weapons! I noticed immediately. Bludgeoning, all three of you. Someone did their reading. You’d be amazed how many first-timers come down here with beautiful swords and leave with beautiful bent swords."

"Mm," Melody said.

"The flail especially. Bold choice." He looked at Akira with genuine appreciation. "Most people can’t manage a flail. The chain has opinions. And it usually creates damage against crystals. Whoever sold you that knew what they were doing."

Akira said nothing at all.

"And the poleaxe." He glanced at Lukas. "Axe, spike, and hammer in one piece. A man who likes options. I respect it."

"Thanks," Lukas said.

"You’re very welcome."

And on it went.

Percival needed nothing from them. Their single-word answers and noncommittal noises would have starved any normal conversation to death within minutes, but he simply carried the entire thing himself, hopping from topic to topic like a man skipping stones.

He started from the best food stall in Fort One, moving to a rumor about a flooded gallery to the east.

Soon, he was talking about the correct way to sleep in a crystal cave, which apparently involved never lying with your ear directly against the floor, because the crystal carries vibrations and you’ll hear the whole cave system grinding all night.

As he kept talking, Lukas watched him.

He watched the man’s hands, which stayed loose and open and nowhere near a weapon.

He watched his eyes, which wandered with apparently genuine curiosity but never lingered on their gear, their spatial rings, or their backs.

He watched his pace, which matched the group’s without effort, never drifting behind them, or moving ahead into a position that would split their formation.

He watched for the small things, trying to find anything suspicious, but there was nothing.

Either Percival was exactly what he appeared to be, a strange, friendly, overwhelmingly talkative man taking a swim in a monster-infested cave system, or he was good enough that nothing showed.

And that second possibility was exactly what kept Lukas’s grip easy on the poleaxe as they walked.

"...and that’s why I no longer eat anything sold near the east gate," Percival concluded happily. "Anyway. Lovely tunnels through here, aren’t they?"

"Lovely," Lukas agreed with a nod. There was a brief moment of silence and he seized it. "Percival."

The man turned to him, his smile widening happily. "Yeah?"

"Have you noticed anything strange with the beasts down here?"

It was the first real question any of them had asked him, and Lukas watched closely for the reaction.

Percival’s cheerful expression faded into something more thoughtful. He frowned, and the frown looked genuine.

"Actually," he said slowly, "yes. Or rather, no, and that’s the problem." He glanced at Lukas. "I’ve been a little worried about it, truth be told. I’ve been wandering these tunnels for some time now, and I haven’t found a single beast. Not one."

"Not one?" Lukas frowned.

"Nothing at all. Not even a rat. I’d chalked it up to luck at first. Bad luck, from my perspective. I came down here to hunt, same as everyone." He spread his hands. "But at some point, luck stops being the right word for it."

Karrakas had a strange look on his face.

He turned his head, looking at Percival properly for the first time since the pond. "How long, exactly? How long have you been in the caves?"

"Two days," Percival said. "Give or take a few hours."

Karrakas said nothing.

The silence stretched long enough that even Percival seemed to notice the tension in the air.

"What’s wrong, Karrakas?" Akira asked.

Karrakas exhaled slowly.

"Two days," he said. "Two days of wandering, and not a single beast encounter. That’s not luck. That’s not possible as luck."

He gestured around them at the dark tunnels. "These caves are populated. Heavily enough to be a constant source of beasts. There are E-rank packs and bat colonies in every lower passage. A man walking alone through this section for two days should have been attacked half a dozen times. Frankly, a man swimming alone in an unlit water source should have been attacked while he was in the pond."

He shook his head. "For that matter, we’ve been walking for almost two hours now. The four of us, with our lights up, and Percival here making noise. We should have met something by now. Anything."

The group had slowed without anyone deciding to.

"First, we met the injured party." Melody said quietly. "And now this."

"Coordinated bats," Karrakas said softly. "And empty tunnels everywhere else. Beasts behaving in ways they never have, and beasts not being where they’ve always been."

He looked down the dark passage ahead, his voice dropping. "Separately, either one is strange. Together, it means something is wrong down here."

Percival’s grin was gone entirely.

"Well," he said. "I was rather hoping you’d all tell me I was being paranoid."

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