Episode 020: Reconnaissance

I really wasn’t planning on trying to win against Eti with a straight fight. Or a sneak attack, for that matter. Since my buddy AI was trying to equate everything with games, it was like a noob starter character trying to KO a Level 100 Adept Magician.

I mean, talent isn’t so clearly quantifiable, in my opinion, but the elve was almost 500 years old. To me, experience will always trump beginner’s luck in the end.

Thankfully, it seemed 37 and I were on the same page. Though, considering how logical programming and processors tend to be, I shouldn’t be surprised that he weighed the situation and judged that a fight against Eti Lifeflight was not wise.

My “mission” right now was to head to the pair and help Ing.

[Eti Lifeflight has a personal guard with him. His nephew.]

I remembered that redhead from the farce of a trial. He was another Thor look-alike, only the classical mythology version.

[Ing is alone. My sensors register a state of agitation in Apprentice Ing Soulhaze-Unodhim.]

Exactly how far do your sensors reach, Thirty-Seven?

[I have a passive range of 250-meters in all directions—]

An area of 196,350-meters? I mentally whistled; impressed. It’s not like radio towers existed on Gaellia (at least I don’t think they do).

[Correct. At twice that radius, I can sense things with less detail. My own sensors reach up to 1km around Nori.]

The AI continued, seeming to catch my train of thought.

[Passive sensors need a distance of 25-meters to analyze details but I can actively scan an area. They are in a clearing; you will be seen as soon as you are within 18-meters. There is a dense area of woods that will allow your presence to be undetected if you are careful.]

I wondered how he knew it was Ing—

[I put a tag on Apprentice Ing as a Significant Individual.]

—alright then.

Are there any guard-posts in the area like the one that elve jumped down from?

[There are three. One is right at the edge of the clearing, ground-level. Another is on the opposite side, 50-meters from the group, 5-meters up. The farthest is a platform 10-meters up and 100-meters from the edge of the clearing.]

Guide me to the last one.

[Nori? There is a tree about 35-meters away from the group that might be a better location.]

But I already had a plan and, quite frankly, the others were too close for comfort. Ing wasn’t a damsel in distress; she had more power in her pinky finger than I did as a whole. I probably didn’t even need to interfere but it was that small chance—that unsurety—which had me heading into trouble.

I really was not involved in the elves’ political tensions. I didn’t lean toward one side or the other because each one had pros and cons. If you asked me which I preferred, I would say Ing’s side purely because I know I’d be declared innocent and be free to leave if the moderates won.

No, the fact of the matter was that Ing went out of her way to help me. I was just reciprocating the sentiment. I probably would have helped her even if she were in the wrong, as long as helping her didn’t put me in a SNAFU.

I like to think myself practical and realistic (even if that realism might come across somewhat grim). People die, the good guys lose, and all that jazz.

I was going to help Ing if she needed it, yes, but that didn’t mean I was going to stupidly go out of my way doing so.

Running away and not getting recaptured was still my goal.