Fortune Favors (QQ) Chapter 12 (Patreon)

I sit in a tree, kicking my feet as I wait for my dearest companions to arrive.

"They are within five hundred feet." Yui whispers.

I hop from the tree, gently floating downwards as I come to rest on the forest floor, I walk towards the base of the tree and cross my arms and just simply wait.

"Oh? are they finally coming?" Tsukasa questions from the pipe at my hip.

"Apparently." I shrug.

After around five minutes, they push their way through the brush, coming to a stop just at the edge of the clearing.

A truly massive tree sits in the middle of this little flat circle of forest, waiting at my back.

Yui told me that a unique field boss spawns here, but they won't appear until the second floor is cleared, and even then, not until my quest is over.

"So, you have finally arrived. Good." I smile as I gesture to the tree. "Thank you for going out and retrieving those markings. Now we can spring the trap! Here. You should have these supplies I brought with me, you're probably going to need them."

I gaze over the group of five, taking in their levels, Argo seems to level up as the quest completes, each of them given a choice of sixty copper arrows or sixty copper throwing knives as a quest reward.

Kirito - Level 9
Argo - Level 8
Philia - Level 8
Mito - Level 7
Asuna - Level 7 ​

They get the next quest in my questline as I gesture to the large tree. "Please scale the tree. I would suggest tying yourself to the trunk with this rope as well, so you do not accidentally fall."

The five share a glance as I walk forwards, taking the four small leather sacks in one hand.

"Please, give me the signal when you are ready." I smile as I turn and just simply... wait...

Not really moving, watching them scale the tree.

I glance down to my hand, my fingernails lengthening into sharp points as I flip my fist over and gaze at the back of my hand, my tail swishes out behind me as I place a hand on my hip.

The five begin scaling the trees as I wait for about a minute then do my 'idle animation' again.

"Wow... these guys sure are taking a while..." Tsukasa boredly observes.

I don't vocalize my agreement, but... yeah...

After around five minutes of waiting, they have reached their own branches, they have tied themselves to the trunk and now wield bows and arrows.

"Oi! Argo! Do the thing!" The other Argo shouts.

I turn and begin walking away towards a small campfire, whispering under my breath. "Yui. Do the thing."

I toss the bags into the fire and cross my arms and begin slowly walking towards the large tree in the middle of the clearing.

"The wolf monarch has spawned and is rapidly approaching your position." Yui supplies.

After around sixty seconds of waiting, a truly massive wolf crashes through the bushes, it lets out a ground-vibrating howl, its fur standing on end as its gaze sweeps the clearing. It locks onto me, then snarls.

The ground practically vibrates as dozens upon dozens of wolves pour from the tree line around it.

All running forwards... right into my trap.

As the wolf monarch steps past a red line only I can see, I gently float about a foot off the ground, holding my hand towards the side.

"WHAT?!" Argo shrieks from up above. "HE CAN FUCKING FLY!??!"

A long arc of fire shoots from my open hand and rockets towards the side, it washes across the ground as I float upwards, the first of the wolves briefly pausing their charge due to the massive gout of flame.

Large walls of fire surround us on all sides as I float up out of reach, the oil Yui had placed before igniting beautifully and creating a burning arena for our wolfish enemy.

"This is... your demise!" I call out as I hold my hands out in front of me.

After this... I'll be gaining seven swords to sell in my shop.

I'm feeling... fifteen hundred Cor each- wait... five thousand after I get Lisbeth to fully upgrade them!

Speaking of money, I should probably figure out why I'm not making any more progress with the things I sell in the store... Lisbeth is still making weapons, but... no progress on my next money milestone...

With a swipe of my hands, I send a cascade of fire across the pack before me, in one moment, it's safe to say I have annihilated at least fifty wolves.

I float up into the air, folding my arms behind my back as I let out a quiet huff. "hoooh... that was tiring... I'll leave the rest to you!"

The five players raise their assorted ranged weapons, bows for most of them, but it looks like Argo has chosen to use throwing weapons. Huh. A little unusual, I would have thought that a bow and arrow would deal more damage, but whatever.

She seems to be using some form of skill with her throwing weapons... something the others aren't doing with their bows.

I land on a thick branch, looking down at the wolves who let out howls of worry and terror, they run in every direction, meet a crackling wall of flame, then turn around and rush the other way.

Arrows are rapidly fired at the wolves below, it is utter chaos.

Thank god I killed half of them before, we would have been here literally all day.

I take a seat on the branch, propping my head up with an arm.

"Argo... there is a problem." Yui begins.

"…"

I glance to the side, my ears twitching.

I don't say anything but rotate my hand as if to say 'go on'.

"In one of the other servers... Illfang the Kobold Lord has been slain. Thus... this tree will soon become a field boss. Here are the stats."

A screen opens in front of me.

Treant of Despair - Level 15
Health 2400/2400
Stats:
Average melee damage to a target with 0 Defense: 250
Defense: 100

Special Moves:
Seed Spit: Treant of Despair spits a barrage of 10-30 poisonous seeds at the foe who has gained the most of its 'Aggression'.
Each seed has a base damage of 10, with each having a 5% chance to inflict a poison that deals 180 damage over the course of 30 seconds.
The Treant of Despair will attempt to perform this move every time it has its health lowered by 10%, to a maximum of once every 30 seconds.

Drops:
Base Cor dropped: 250
Treant Sap: x1 (50%)
Last Hit Drop:
Fruit of Growth. ​

"…"

Fruit of Growth: {Consumable}
The fruit of the Treant of Despair, it has spent one hundred years conserving its energy to ripen and grow this sole fruit for its dark purposes.
Increases one of the consumer's stats by 1. ​

"…"

I need that item.

Could Yui grow that item in a farm?

I'd imagine if she could, it would take a while to grow, considering it says it took this tree 'one hundred years' to grow the fruit... but considering each farm has multiple of the plant growing, reasonably I could be looking at anywhere from one fruit per year... to twenty years per fruit.

"…"

Considering I am a youkai... that... isn't as much as it sounds.

Wait.

Oh...

Oh, that is a dangerous idea... one that hypothetically could work, but... depending on the general disposition of the person in question...

The real question is... 'could I convince her?'.

Or better yet. 'Would I be in intense danger by merely meeting her'?

I mean, just based on her general strength, yes. Yes, I would. If she wanted to kill me there is not a damned thing I could do.

But would she want to kill me, is the thing?

I can think about it later. What matters now is one single thing.

Making a quest so I can get the fruit.

I glance to the trunk of the tree, pressing my hands gently on it. "Huh? Oh... this is bad."

The shot arrows and hurled knives briefly stop.

"What? What is bad?" The brown haired girl that isn't Asuna questions.

"This tree... is alive." I ominously frown.

"Wh... isn't... that normal? As a tree... is like... a plant and those are aliv-" Argo-two begins slowly.

"Not like that, you idiot!" I scoff as I cross my arms. "I mean... it is animated. Or, at the very least... it can be. It's a Treant. a Treant which is conserving its energy in a hibernating state until the seal leading up to the second floor was broken... and it appears, that somewhere out there in another dimension, someone has defeated Illfang the Kobold Lord."

"WHAT?!" The blonde girl shrieks. "SOMEONE ALREADY GOT TO THE SECOND FLOOR?! WHO?!"

I glance to the side and tilt my head.

"Their user name is simply 'Bracket Space Space Space Closing Bracket'... and by that, I mean the symbols. not spelled out like that."

"Regardless," I continue. "We have maybe... an hour or two before this tree wakes up and tries to kill us. it seems to have been growing something that I desperately want, plus it is strong enough to make even me worry just a little bit, so I think we should just take care of it now before someone else stumbles upon it and gets killed."

--Linebreak--

I cross my arms as I stand in my room, a frown on my face. "Well, that was tedious and annoying."

It took them fucking ages to shoot all of the wolves... and, after that, they hit the tree once and I burnt it alive by getting in close, shrinking my aura and unleashing a blast so powerful it actually burned me.

A bit of a mistake on my part, buuuut I was mildly worried about the poison and the fact that I might accidentally murder the protagonist of this world- and considering my record in fantasy land it's something that is likely to happen if I had lost focus for even a second-

The blonde fox woman looking over my palm lets out a low hum. "Hnn... perhaps, but would you say that it is worth it?"

I look to the sole fruit sat on a nearby table and the seven greenish longswords strewn across the floor. "Well, yes, but now I might be doing something a little... risky."

"Risky?" She questions as I gently tug my hand from her grasp with a small wince as my burn get slightly irritated.

I lift my other hand, a golden aura exploding around my body as the pain soothes.

I finally regained enough mana to heal a bit more of the damage.

Earlier my hand looks a bit like charred leather, but now? Just a little tender and red.

I let out a sigh as my energy bottoms out again. I give my hand a gentle prod then shake my head.

"Well, at least it isn't charred and agonizing anymore." I note. "Now... the next thing on my to-do list... figure out why I'm not making any money from Lisbeth's swords anymore."

"Oh, I might be able to answer this." The black haired girl sat towards the side begins slowly. "It appears that the materials that you yourself have secured for Lisbeth have run out. The weapons sold have been generated by the shop."

"…"

"Ah. I had the understanding that you couldn't generate enhanced weaponry..."

"That is incorrect. It is possible... excluding unique weapons. If you were to gain the drop of a floor boss, you wouldn't be able to sell copies of it in the shop." The girl supplies.

"Hn. I see." I scoff with a small frown. "I suppose I should get this out of the way now, but do you think it would be possible to grow more of that fruit?"

I gesture to the 'Fruit of Growth' sitting on the nearby countertop. It looks a little bit like a plum, but instead of the normal colors and texture, it has shiny skin that makes it look as if it is made of gold.

Yui tilts her head and think on it for a moment. "My systems are telling me, 'No'. As that would be horribly unbalanced for the players. The Treant of Despair is supposed to be a one time only boss per server, which would allow a few select people to become slightly more powerful than the rest. At most, there would only be forty of such fruits... ever... and while forty fruits would allow someone to be treated as being thirteen levels higher than normal, it would be almost completely impossible for someone to acquire more than a single fruit."

"However." She continues. "It is a fruit, thus logically... It can be planted and grown."

"I'm not a player character though." I announce with a small shrug. "That sort of brokenness would be something you limit for a player character. Not a simple NPC."

"Well... maybe?" She shrugs. "Either way, the fruit supposedly took that treant one hundred years to grow, so it's unlikely you'll get a fruit for a year at the very least."

"Do farming plots grow better the higher up in Aincard you go?" I question.

"Well, technically yes, if it took you one year for a single fruit on floor five's farming plots, one on floor ninty five might drop it to... possibly a month? Maybe once a week?"

"And hypothetically... how much would this cost me?" I hum.

"fifty million Cor for a rental of one month."

I let out a small choking noise. "A-And... what about a farm at floor five?"

"Five thousand per month." She answers.

"Son of a-" I cup my chin, glaring past the small girl. "If I ever meet Kayaba I'm going to beat the shit out of him for not making my life easy."

I let out a self loathing sigh. "Is there any way to permanently purchase something?"

When this game ends, I'll lose out, but if the total cost isn't that much-

"Roughly ten times the basic rental amount." She states.

"…"

I tilt my head, letting out a low hum.

That is... not bad...

Original SAO lasted two years, right? Of course, that was with a mere ten thousand. It took them a month to reach floor two, and the game ended early on floor seventy five.

Clearly... things have changed.

One of the other servers have already cleared the first floor boss and it has only been like two weeks.

Will their progress stay the same?

Unlikely.

But will they go through the entire game... up to floor one hundred instead of calling it quits at floor seventy five?

That is a good question.

Regardless, I don't have any form of rare or valuable plant I could be growing as of this moment- besides the fruit, and I have other plans for that- so there's no real reason to purchase a farm quite yet. nor do I have enough money.

I look to Tsukasa. "Hn. Hey, Tsukasa. Do you know any powerful plant youkai back home? The stronger the better?"

"Stronger?" She questions. "And here I thought you didn't want to meet anyone powerful in Gensokyo until you had better foundation for your own strength."

"Well, I mean, that fruit took a treant one hundred years to grow... what about an incredibly powerful plant youkai with plant manipulation?" I hum. "Besides. Isn't Gensokyo supposed to be relatively peaceful? With laws to prevent wanton murder? Surely they can't just murder me because of their whims, so I'll be forced to do something really stupid to piss them off... right?"

The girl stares at me for a long moment, then lets out a single breath. "I believe I know someone. However. You must show them respect. She is typically rather calm, but if you give her a reason to hate you... she can be one of the most violent- and powerful- youkai in all of gensokyo."

"Oh... Oh boy."

It seems like she's going to introduce me to the youkai I was thinking of earlier.

"Her name... is Yuuka Kazami." Tsukasa finishes with a small smile.

--Linebreak--

I slowly walk along a path that cuts through a field of sunflowers. plant life goes as far as I can see.

My hands are at my sides, a mildly panicked expression on my face as I glance around the sea of endless yellow.

Oh god. What if I accidentally use fire magic? What if I step on a sunflower? What if she's in a bad mood and my mere appearance pushes her over the edge?

W-what if someone else has been destroying her flowers and she assumes that I am the person doing it?!

A wave of calm is pushed through my slight connection with Tsukasa, causing me to take a deep breath.

I slowly exhale.

"N-Now..." I whisper under my breath. "If I was an incredibly powerful plant youkai... where would I be?" I whisper under my breath.

"Flower youkai, actually." A voice right behind me corrects.

I let out a quiet shriek as I flinch forwards, whirling around and bringing a hand to my chest.

Standing before me is a tall green haired woman with scarlet red eyes, she wears a red plaid jacket with a white shirt underneath she also wears a long plaid skirt of the same color which goes down to roughly her knees.

She looks over me with a bemused expression, her eyes sharpening suddenly. "So... who are you and why are you looking for me."

I take a deep breath to calm myself, then exhale. "My name is Argo Naut. I am a simple merchant. I am looking for you because I was hoping to build a business relationship with you."

"A business relationship?" She echoes, seemingly briefly caught off guard.

"As a merchant, I'm always finding unusual things, and, recently I found a fruit... I was wondering if you would grow more of it for me."

"Oh? And where is this fruit?" The woman questions.

I pull the golden plum from the pipe on my back causing the youkai's eyes to widen slightly. "Hn... that little plum has quite the potent energy. What is stopping me from simply taking it? You are pathetically weak. I could easily kill you and take it from your corpse with little to no issue."

"I believe that would be a poor decision." I frown. "You could kill me, yes. Every fucking person in this damned dimension could do so easily. However. If I die... who will bring you flowers you have never seen before?"

"Flowers I have never seen before?" She echoes, one of her brows quirking slightly. "That is quite the claim."

"As a merchant, I do come across some fairly unique things, this fruit merely being one of them. If I die, you'll miss out... also you'll definitely piss off my wife who will probably stop at nothing to either kill you or just in general make you miserable."

"And what if I take it anyways... and if you don't bring me further flowers I will hunt you down and kill you?"

"Then I will leave Gensokyo and you will never be able to follow me." I frown, glaring into her eyes. "I am not very attached to this damned place... where every other person has the ability to manipulate concepts... Time. Space. Fate. Death. I would honestly lose nothing by just leaving."

Her red eyes bore into my own for a long moment.

The corners of her mouth turn upwards. "Hn. You have guts. Very well. I agree. May I see that fruit of yours?"

I offer the golden plum to her, she looks over it briefly, letting out a low hum. "How interesting..."

Her fingers sink into the flesh of the plum, dragging out a sole seed.

My eyes widen as she tosses the fruit aside, seemingly without a care in the world.

My aura of control rapidly shrinks, I hold out a hand, then an illusionary plate- that rapidly becomes physical- appears in the path of the fruit and stops it from hitting the ground.

It floats towards me as I look between Yuuka and the mangled mound of plum flesh.

'Ah well, I can't sell this now... and I did offer thirty vials of poison for it. Waste not want not.'

I quietly chew as the green haired woman in front of me gestures into the distance, causing a truly massive tree to shoot from the ground, it seems to grow taller and taller, eventually coming to a stop at heights which wouldn't look out of place on a redwood tree. "My my... that is certainly quite the sight... beautiful."

As I swallow my treat I gaze up to the large tree that nearly blots out the sun.

A warm feeling seems to spread throughout my chest, one that rapidly dissipates as the extremely powerful youkai looks back to me as she lets out a low hum. "Hn. I accept your proposition... if you bring me flowers that I have never seen before... I will give you fruit from that tree... the more I like the flowers you bring, the more fruit I will give you."

She waves slowly. "Bye bye, now."

Ah yeah, I should follow her wishes and get the fuck out of here... but, on the way back I could stop by that one place that has outside world goods!

--Linebreak--

A bell quietly jingles as I push open a door, entering a homely little establishment.

Honestly? It looks more like a home on an episode of 'hoarders' than a true business, but I can tell there's potential treasures locked within the messy little stacks of seemingly random items!

Spoiler

A white haired man with rectangular glasses glances up from a nearby desk, he looks positively bored, his yellow eyes glancing over my form briefly.

"Welcome to Kourindou... my name is Rinnosuke... can I get you anything?" He intones blandly.

Spoiler

"I'm just looking around, really. I heard you had items from the outside world, and it peaked my interests." I announce as I slowly walk forwards, eyes skimming the numerous items that have been cleared to the side to allow a small path between the piles.

There's not much I can see that I want... some batteries that probably don't have any charge in them... there is a sewing machine... one of those pedal powered ones... I'll probably pick that up, honestly.

There are a few wines here and- IS THAT A FUCKING GAME BOY?!

I blink owlishly and reach out to the device.

It floats into my hand as I create an illusionary band around it and guide said illusion into my hand.

"How much for this?" I question as I approach the countertop.

The white haired man's eyes narrow. "Why... do you want that?"

"What do you mean?"

"That item is dangerous. Why do you want it."

"D-Dangerous?" I question with a raised eyebrow. "It's just a gameboy. I mean... I confirmed that much with my ability."

"That item has the ability to create and destroy worlds." He ominously intones.

"…"

"Are you- is this some sort of prank?"

"I am deathly serious. My own ability tells me the name of whatever I see and its general function. That 'Game Boy' has the power to create and destroy worlds."

I stare at him, utterly dumbfounded.

"Dude. It's a children's plaything from the outside world." I begin slowly. "Like, there are hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of these. Your power is wrong."

"My power is never wrong." The man frowns.

"Yes, it is. Or, at the very least it misleads you. It doesn't tell you a single thing about how the item functions or its general purpose, right?" I frown. "I lived in the outside world up until very recently. I know what I'm talking about."

I flip the gameboy over and open the back. "It has no batteries, and, hell, you let it get wet, so it doesn't even work in the first place."

I let out a slightly annoyed huff. "The only way I can think that your power would ever be right, is if it thinks that this turning on 'creates' a fictional world. It's like a book that you can play through and control."

"I-"

A rip in reality forms next to me, causing my words to die in my throat, my ears flatten atop my head as my tail poofs up.

The top half of a blonde blonde woman in a mob cap leans through the rift, her eyes lock onto the item in my hand and her gaze trails up my arm.

She reaches down and takes the broken console from my hand, the corners of her mouth turn upwards as she stares into my eyes, seemingly daring me to object. Seeing that I'm not, she looks to the white haired owner of the shop. "I would like to purchase this."

I'mgoingtoletmyselfout-

I slink to the door, open it, and come face to face with another blonde, this one in a witch's hat.

'SON OF A FUCKING-'

She was reaching to the handle and gives me a confused look, then her gaze strays past me and into the shop itself.

Seeing the rift in reality and the woman it contains, her eyes widen and she wisely turns around, hops on a broom, then flies away.

I myself conjure a pipe in the air, aimed roughly at youkai mountain, then jump into it and rocket forwards at high speeds.

--Linebreak--

"Fuuuuuck." I mutter under my breath. "That was beyond stressful!"

Tsukasa gently pets my head as I lay down on the couch, using her lap as a pillow, she gazes down at me, a reserved and content smile on her face. "You seem to have quite poor luck, hn? Meeting the lady of boundaries while doing the equivalent of going to buy groceries. She very rarely leaves her home, so it was perhaps one in one thousand odds."

"Yeah..." I sigh as I slowly sit up. "Ah well... I'm done moping about my poor luck. Want to go see if we can collect some more items?"

"Why not?" She hums as she rises to her feet, stretching her arms above her head.

I stand alongside her and turn, making my way into the pipes and quickly finding myself back outside in the original bedroom I had received.

I have really moved up in the world... mostly as a result of Tsukasa, I suppose.

I crouch down, looking towards the door. 'it has been a while since I took a little look in the fantasy world... let's see what I can find.'

The door creaks open as I crawl through the now open tear in reality, Tsukasa right behind me.

I tilt my head back, taking in the scent of the forest, the quiet chirping of birds, it's refreshing in a way. Utterly different than Gensokyo, but good in its own way.

A small smile rests on my face as I glance to my second half, reaching over and pulling her into a one armed hug.

My ear twitches slightly as I can hear faint music in the distance.

"Hn. Music. Shall we go see?" I question, with a small smile as she rubs her face against my own.

"Mhn?" She hums mutely.

My ears twitch slightly as I turn and begin walking, heading in the direction of that enchanting melody.

My tail swishes back and forth as I walk, through the brush, the music grows louder and louder as we push our way through the tree line.

Both Tsukasa and myself are rooted in place by sheer horror as we exit the forest, my hands shake as we gaze out towards a massive lake.

Standing at its edge is a man, quietly playing a flute... however, that is not what draws our attention.

What draws our attention is the mound of floating children in the lake just before him. Eerily still, their bodies purple and blue in color.

They range in age... the eldest possibly being sixteen... the youngest... barely even a toddler.

What's even more shocking... is the sheer amount. Thirty. Forty. There's well over fifty.

'What- w-what the hell?!'

Before I can even blink, Tsukasa has lunged forwards, the man, seemingly hearing her rapid approach, turns around slowly, but she is already upon him.

With one swift motion she slashes her hand across his chest, fingernails lengthening into claws.

A spray of blood showers her as the piper is knocked back into the shallow part of the lake.

She lets out a feral growl as she pounces down at him, looming over him and pulling him up slightly by grabbing his shirt, the wooden flute in his hand is flung aside as she punches him in the face hard enough to send several of his teeth shooting from his mouth. "YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT! I'LL KILL YOU!"

She repeatedly hammers him with a series of bone cracking punches, eventually switching to her claws, rending large pieces of flesh from his probably corpse.

After around thirty seconds of brutally savaging the man she abruptly drops him, letting out a shaky breath.

I slowly walk over to her, as she gazes out across the lake which has been decorated with bloated corpses and now is steadily being tinted red.

Her normally white clothes have been dyed red, and her arms are absolutely caked in blood.

She looks over slowly, a splatter of blood on her cheek, she looks dazed, tears brimming in her eyes.

"Argo..." She whispers, letting out a quiet sniffle. "Why... why did he do this?"

"If... if my memory is correct... the pied piper story... he got rid of a bunch of rats, the town didn't pay him, so he took the children of that town... and drowned them just like the rats."

"He did this over money." She hisses, eyes narrowing as her sadness is briefly replaced by more unyielding anger.

Her hands shake as she takes another deep breath, glancing down at her body.

"I... hate getting my clothes dirty." She whispers before casting a sad glance over the lake.

"We... should leave." She whispers.

"Fuck this fairy tale bullshit." I growl under my breath. "I'm getting rid of this damned world. This is, what, the third time I have been just too late to save someone? This shit is cursed. When I get home... I'm replacing this..."

Tsukasa lets out a quiet hum of acknowledgement as she stands.

She glares down at the man just below the water's surface, lets out a growl and repeatedly stomps his head, presumably hard enough to crush it, but the water is already too murky to see through.

She seems to get her anger under control as she turns and walks back the way we came.

I let out a quiet sigh, feeling empty and just generally being shell shocked.

I pick up the flute, then turn around and follow after her.

'Fuck. Why... why am I always late?!'