Diablo in A world of infinite possibilities

Hunting trip

We'd accepted the request of the boy named Louie who was searching for his dad. However, it didn't even count as a quest. Not only did the guild not process it because of its special rules, but it also didn't appear in my log as an event quest. 

I didn't know whether that was some sort of accident, or whether the control AI that calculated quest difficulty just didn't recognize this as a quest. Still, even without a difficulty rating, I could tell that a quest to find a person in real life would be, in a way, harder than any other quest in Infinite Dendrogram.

We were now at a diner adjoined to the adventurers' guild, where we had Louie tell us about his dad. We asked for his name, job, and anything else that could help lead us to his real-life self. None of what we'd learned was much help, but at the very least, we'd gotten his avatar's name: Ichiro Shijima. 

If, as the name implied, he was really Japanese, our search would become somewhat easier. The difficulty would drop again if that was actually a modified version of his real name, since it would limit our search to names such as "Ichiro Ishijima" or "Ichiro Ushijima," among others.

And, if we were to be greedy...

"It would really help if that's his real name..." I muttered.

"I don't think that's possible," said B3.

"This isn't the president or the vice president we're talking about."

"Yeah, we can't expect everyone to be like the aberration or the KoA," I agreed.

"Indeed, the only people who would play with their real names are people such as myself, Lady Tsukuyo, and our Society's adherents."

"True..." I said, before realizing who I was talking to and replying with a sarcastic tone.

"Ah ha ha... And why might you be here, King of Secretaries... nay, King of Assassins?"

Before we'd realized it, the KoA, Eishiro Tsukikage, was sitting at one corner of our table with a tea cup in hand, all smiles. He reminded me of Marie. 

They're similar in more than just jobs, I thought. 

Now that I think about it, the aberration did a similar thing yesterday.

"I've been sitting here since halfway through the questioning, but since no one noticed me, I took the liberty of asserting my presence," he said.

"And why did you sit here?" I demanded.

"Lady Tsukuyo is still prohibited from logging in, so she had me deliver a message to you."

"Which would be?"

"It's a proposition. 'Now, I'll help you with anything if you only join CID.'"

"Hm..."

That... was actually worth considering. The college headmaster won't mine me helping out a club since me and him were on good terms, plus it be like a hangout with friends anyway since the club did not do anything big like other clubs. 

Also you would never see me become a part of The Lunar Society, but I wasn't too averse to joining the aberration's college club. I now knew why I was so afraid of her, not to mention that CID had B3, who would keep her in check. The conditions were definitely attractive, but...

"I'll give my answer after the weekend," I said at last.

"Very well."

Yesterday's memories were just too fresh in my mind to let me accept the offer so nonchalantly. With his business done, I expected Tsukikage to leave, but he showed no intention to stand up from his chair. I glanced at him and noticed that he was looking at Louie.