Penguin and I packed everything while Llewellyn went to get some rotisserie chickens for Gléonwon, then we all teleported to Mount Dalrin.
I had the weird thought that I'd always imagined fighting an actual apocalypse would be less… domestic.
I mean, we'd just survived a brutal fight on an infinite salt flat, gotten targeted by a drone, suffered massive internet backlash… And now we were going to deal with it by bringing rotisserie chickens in plastic bags to a literal god, a friendly dragon, and a grumpy Magic genius trapped on a mountain in silk pajamas.
I supposed that, just like other people still had to deal with their own nine-to-five despite the Knots and everything going on, we also had to eat and live our lives.
In fact, apart from losing my flat, my home life had exponentially improved.
Anyway.
Damn, all my muscles ached, though. Maybe I should get a Potion later.
Since Gilded had been in the cave behind the temple the last time we'd seen him, we avoided using the waypoint he'd created in the caves and just teleported outside the temple.
"Finally!" Gilded said when we materialized. "You took your time!"
"We weren't exactly playing around," Llewellyn said.
"Yes, yes," Gilded said. "Your System contract and so on and so forth." He took everything out of our hands and flopped himself down on the temple floor, unpacking the food and trying to keep it out of Lumos' way. "Did you bring cutlery?"
Penguin chirped helpfully, pointing him toward the right bag.
"Where are Gléonwon and Caerwyn?" I asked.
"Out flying," Gilded said. "They'll be back."
"You didn't go with them?" Llewellyn asked, mouth twitching.
"Ha ha," Gilded said. "You want me jumping off a mountain on my first day?"
Before Llewellyn could say "Yes," I coughed and asked him to pass me the stuff we'd set aside for Gléonwon.
"Any progress?" I asked.
"Of course not!" Gilded said, irked. "I can't fly the way Caerwyn expects me to! They dropped me from those platforms and I almost hit the ground twice!"
Llewellyn hid behind a forkful of noodles.
"That's… unfortunate," I said, swallowing my food. "But I meant the books."
"Oh," Gilded said. "Not really."
He wiped his mouth daintily and put his container down.
"I don't understand what we're looking for," he said. "That whole spiel from Caerwyn earlier—what's the point? What are we trying to do?"
"I'm trying to stop the Knots before they kill more people," Llewellyn said. "That hasn't really changed."
"Things have been escalating," I explained, "so we've been looking for ways to stop the Knots at their source. Whenever we try to investigate something, we keep bumping into Yoon Juhyung."
"And, apparently, you," Llewellyn added.
"Me?!" Gilded said. "I have nothing to do with the Knots appearing! My only interest in the Knots is figuring out where a Dungeon will pop up and modding it. I'm not responsible for anything here."
"There's also the Alliance escalating their threats," I added. "We don't know where they fit in all this."
Gilded frowned, reaching for a can of lemonade we'd brought with us.
"But what was the point of Caerwyn's speech about Magic and Reality, then?"
"I think—" I started. Well, this was just my conjecture, but it seemed to track. "I suspect the System is hinting at the idea that to stop the Knots at the source we need to understand what that source is. But I still don't see how that helps us—"
"Mmh," Gilded said, thoughtful.
"—or how old Innishaean gods are supposed to fit into this."
Not to mention Gléonwon or dragons in general.
Or that whole conversation I'd had with Queen Seolene in the void and how she had my Authority.
In fact, the more I thought about it, the less any of it made sense.
"So what's the plan?" Gilded said.
"The plan is not dying," Llewellyn said. "And I don't see how our plans concern you since you refuse to sign."
"The fact that I don't want to sign a contract that allows the System to randomly kidnap me and drop me into combat zones doesn't mean that I don't appreciate that the Knots might devolve into a full-blown apocalypse if this keeps going," Gilded said, annoyed. "I would have hoped that, by now, you'd know I don't fuck off leaving people to die."
"You'd totally fuck off," I interjected, "but not in an emergency, point taken."
Gilded grumbled something.
"If I have to die, I'd prefer dying sipping Destabilized Whiskey rather than fighting," he said. "But I'd rather no one died at all, thank you very much. Also, for your information, while I do what I do for my own interest and enjoyment, it's not useless. If I can reliably figure out how to sense and change Dungeons before they manifest, there's a chance I might be able to sense Distorted Realms too and manually prevent those by channeling that Magic buildup into Dungeons in those cases where the System fails to do it itself. So, see? Not useless."
Damn, that was— I could see why the System really wanted this guy.
"I guess you need to free yourself from this domain first, then," Llewellyn said, sipping his lemonade. "Seems like not signing with the System didn't prevent you from being kidnapped and dropped here."
Gilded narrowed his eyes at him, clearly gearing up for a Penguin-like tantrum. However, before he could reply, Gléonwon came bounding into the temple, excited.
"You're here," he said. "You're back! And you brought food!"
"We have plenty for you too," I said, grinning. "Where is Caerwyn? Does he eat?"
"Haven't smelled anything this delicious in a few hundred years," Caerwyn's booming voice echoed a moment later as he came striding in, looking intrigued. "This is a picnic, I gather?"
Penguin chirped, tapping the containers with his beak, offering Caerwyn the extra food we'd packed for him.
He seemed to like this guy— I mean, god. Well, so far his instincts had never been wrong.
That, or he really wanted those flying lessons.
Speaking of which…
"You're going to have to spend the night here, then?" I asked Gilded.
Gilded groaned.
"Ugh. Don't remind me."
"You can use my bed," Gléonwon said, tail swishing. "It's very soft. Llewellyn got it for me! I can sleep on the floor, my belly is very comfortable anyway. Or you could sleep on my belly!"
"Please no," Gilded said. "I can't imagine how much you'd charge for that. And what if you forget I'm on it and crush me to a pulp! But I'll accept your bed, thank you. As long as you don't charge me for it."
Gléonwon's tail kept swishing. I had a feeling this didn't bode well for Gilded's finances, but… one step at a time.
"You're already in your pajamas," I said, grinning. "I guess I could buy you a blanket, though," I added after a moment, opening the System Shop to take a look at what we had there.
"Hope you're ready for more flying classes tomorrow morning, my boy," Caerwyn said cheerfully. "Is Penguin going to join us too?"
I had absolutely no desire to wake up at any reasonable time tomorrow, but… Penguin clearly wanted to come.
"We could do it at around noon?" I said. "Would that work?"
"Wonderful," Caerwyn said. "And you're welcome to come earlier to spectate this young lad's progress too."
"Ha ha," Gilded said. "Please kill me now."
I stifled a laugh.
Okay, maybe we could come a bit earlier.