A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

"You want in?" Henry asked with his brow raised and each word spoken individually as though doubting that he'd actually heard them.

"Yes," Eloise answered with a nod.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Henry said.

"Why not?" Eloise asked with her brows furrowed.

"Well, it's dangerous and you have a standing here. You stand to ruin all you've worked hard for by getting involved," Henry explained as he bit into the cake he was holding before chasing it down with a sip of beverage.

Eloise chuckled,

"I think I'll do better than any of you three could," she said, "Not to brag but I am stronger than either of you."

"You are," Henry agreed with a nod, "But you also have more to lose. We have no roots in Alvareen and can be as consumed by the creed as we want to be. Can you?"

"I can," Eloise said with conviction and when Henry opened his mouth to work out another argument, she raised a hand to tell him to stop before she continued,

"Listen, I've been in Alvareen for years and I've lived in Valaeren all my life so I've seen this slave traded and other ways the strong have subjugated the weak without being able to do anything about it.

I threw myself into religion and realized it was used far too often to justify it and while I remain devoted to my faith, I found no help there. Not for this issue at least.

So I armed myself with the strength to help. Became a Squire, became a Knight, became a Squad Captain, and still nothing can be done. It's legitimized and made the very culture so that it's hard to make any change.

Your way is dangerous but it ignores the bureaucracies to just attack some part of the problem like a vigilante and I want to be a part of that.

In the long term, this won't do much to change how things are fundamentally but it's an outlet for this anger and frustration I have inside me so I can at least assure myself that I'm, for the time being at least, doing the right thing."

A silence descended upon the common area. How could Henry hear all that and say she should have no part in this?

He was about to relent in his previous stance when his brain seemed to finally pick up on something Eloise had said.

"What do you mean by 'In the Long term, this won't do much to change things'?" He asked.

Eloise sighed and closed her eyes,

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"Slave culture has been a part of Alvareen for far too long for the acts of three well-intentioned foreigners to change. I'm afraid if you got rid of Ralph Gribbo, there is already a long line of successors to take his place.

If you take out the successors, and their entire line, you can buy at maybe half a decade of silence before it all starts up again."

"That's demoralizing," Andor said with his lips pressed hard into a frown.

Eloise shrugged,

"Many have tried and they've failed. But for as long as you intend to try, I will be by your side and I will help you as best I can."

Henry's became sucked into his thoughts.

Did he care that the slave trade would still prosper even after Ralph Gribbo was taken out? Ralph was his target and Henry wasn't sure he cared what came after that for the rest of Alvareen. And yet, he wondered if he'd be able to just leave things as is. Or if he should work on giving the trade a more stringent end.

"So, will you have me?" Eloise asked with her pretty face pushed closer to Henry. Her scent was so close, it pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Sure," he said.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Henry nodded. He had no reason to turn away help. Besides, the fact that Eloise had a standing in the City was to their advantage. She could deliver important information of the type that had sent them to the ridge between the Brieme mountains in the first place.

"Nice," Eloise said and rubbed her hands together with some delight and then her expression became more intense as her eyes bore into Henry's face,

"So what are we doing first?"

"Well—" Henry started to say when he suddenly paused. His senses were detecting something. He could tell instantly that the epicenter was far off but the wave that was spreading and slamming into the radius of his Perception was so powerful, that he had to pay attention.

It took him a second to realize he wasn't the only one who had detected it. Eloise had reacted to the wave faster than him with Andor a step behind the three.

If Andor had detected it, being the least magically sensitive of them, Henry had a feeling the wave was felt by everyone in Alvareen.

"A Dungeon Gate has appeared," Eloise said.

"This happens often?" Henry asked as this was unfamiliar to him.

Eloise shook her head,

"Never before. Not from a Dungeon of this Floor," She said with furrowed brows.

"You can tell what Floor the Dungeon is from the wave?" Henry asked and he sounded impressed.

Eloise nodded. She seemed so engrossed in what she was detecting that she didn't note the impressed tone Henry used.

"It's not too accurate and further tests are needed but that's a Fifth Floor Dungeon. It's fairly strong but that reaction seems far too crazy to have originated from that."

Eloise stood to her feet then.

"I have to go," she said, "I have to reach the Citadel. We'll talk later."

Eloise turned away and was in the Elevator and descending from their floor of the Inn before Henry could think to say a word. Although to be fair, he had nothing to say. Maybe a few questions but he doubted Eloise had the answers to them.

"What do you think is happening?" Andor asked.

"I have no real—" Henry started to say when the door of Louis' room swung open and he stepped out with beads of sweat dotted across his forehead.

"Louis," Andor called out and was on his feet to support the Mage before he fell to the ground.

"You should be resting," Henry told him.

Louis' wide blue eyes were unfocused,

"Something woke me up," Louis said.

"The wave?" Henry guessed.

"Yes," Louis said and then gulped, "It felt bad, Henry. It shook me from my very insides. Couldn't sleep if I tried."

"Do you know what it is? Or what caused it?" Henry asked questions he doubted Louis could answer.

And sure enough,

"No. No, I don't," Louis said and shook his head, and then he gulped even harder,

"But It's bad, Henry. Something bad is coming."

-

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***

Gates.

Ever since they had begun to appear all over Valaeren like chaos-heralding dots all over a map, they had been a mystery. Much research had been done and still more was to come because there was always something new to learn.

One of the first things, and most important things, that were learned was that, over the decades of their appearances, Dungeons were getting stronger; The energy of their portals was becoming more volatile and the creatures within continued to evolve. Faster than the raiders who stormed in to clear it.

But this phenomenon in which a Gate would announce its appearance with a powerful wave across a massive radius was very very new and so far, Alvareen had not faced such.

Until now.

Eloise arrived at the Citadel as fast as she possibly could and saw her fellow Knights —some clad in Armor and some dressed as casually as she was—, hurry up the stairs and through corridors toward an emergency meeting that had just been called.

"Good afternoon, Eloise," Aurelius said when he caught sight of his partner.

"Afternoon to you too, Aurelius," Eloise answered simply.

"I heard you took a trip out of the City last night. I'm hurt you didn't think to invite me along," Aurelius said.

He didn't sound like he was teasing as he might have if he was trying to flirt. He sounded upset and Eloise guessed he had learned whose company she had been in last night.

She hoped it was only that he knew she had been with Henry, Louis, and Andor and that he had not yet pieced together what those three had been busy with before that.

Of course, she didn't ask. She acted like she hadn't detected the tone.

"I'll keep you in mind for next time," she said.

"There'll be a next time?" Aurelius asked, his tone getting a bit cold.

"Maybe," Eloise said offhandedly. She wasn't paying all that much attention to what he was saying. Her mind was far too occupied by the uneasy feeling she had gotten after that wave touched her.

The Knights all trooped into a massive Hall with a long, grand table at the very front. Seated behind the table were the higher-ups of the Citadel.

Almost as soon as Eloise arrived and found her way to the front, so she was not too far from the table, one of those seated behind it stood to their feet.

He was a tall, muscled, bald man with a handle-bar mustache above his lips. He placed his fingertips on the top of the table and when he spoke, his voice was grave,

"Welcome all to this impromptu meeting. As for the reason for its conveying, you all must be well aware. After all, you all must have felt it on your way here…" he paused and his voice grew graver still when he continued,

"… The Wave of Challenge is upon us!"