Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG

Chapter 395

I dropped the samples by Nael’s place. He was a bit busy, but accepted my request to dig into them once I explained they might be our only clue to finding Luna’s long lost brother. Seriously, I owed the man more than I could ever repay… maybe I should start working on some more advanced chrome, and update his foundry? Yeah, that’d be a good starting place.After going by Absolom Clinic, I stopped by the apartment to change into my Crusade gear. Fully kitted up as a squire once more, I moved directly for the BC HQ. Ligh was next stop on my list.

I didn’t want to go empty handed this time, though. I moved the Roughrider to autopilot, and pulled up the interface. My goal was an entry on the EF Shop I’d noticed quite a while ago.

[Bear’s Bunker]

[-273 yo Descen Royal Whiskey - 25,000 EF]

I lost my breath for a moment, and stared at the price tag on just a bottle of alcohol. There were more down the list, of course, with most of them being outrageously expensive and ancient. Most were so expensive I’d have to pass up on to get them. Absolute insanity. that

My eyes stayed wide the entire time I scrolled through the list.

I narrowed down the list, and eventually settled on one that was 75 EF. It was a ninety-year old bottle of whiskey bottled in 2000. It was, like, 6 times as old as I was. Even with it being relatively cheap, I didn’t immediately hit purchase. That was a giant time investment just if I bought it.

The bottle was for more than just getting him to find Kaynis, though. It was a thank you gift as well. Although I didn’t want to admit it, Hope had made it clear Ligh had known I was a fake for a long time. He didn’t just allow me to stay hidden, but he protected me as well. 

Hope said it herself—he’d messed with my files to make me look all the more real. Not to mention my current apartment was set up by him after the Circle hunted me down. Bigger than all of that, though, he helped me find Mira before anything more could be done to her.

I wasn’t an ungrateful brat… or, at least, I didn’t think I was. I wouldn’t just take and take and take without giving anything back. There wasn’t much I could do for the Commander, but getting him a bottle of super expensive alcohol like this was something.

Right, this was a thank you gift more than anything. My hesitation stopped, and I hit purchase. Just like that, 75 EF was drained out of my balance, and a dark wooden box slowly pushed its way out of the Aether. I grabbed the box carefully, ensuring it wouldn’t drop into the city below.

The wooden box was surprisingly heavy, though there was no denying it was a work of art. It looked hand carved by a claw, with a spread of runes scattered along the surface. The name was engraved into the box with fancy golden inlays, .

With my gift in hand, I sat back and waited to arrive at my destination.

— — —

I knocked on the door of the Commander’s office lightly. His secretary said he was in at the moment. Indeed, a moment later a familiar voice called through the door. “Come in!”

I slipped into the office, and was immediately hit by the chaos of the place. Paperwork was absolutely everywhere. Although he still had his usual cold and strong posture, Ligh was slightly slumped forward like he was absolutely exhausted. “Ah, Zuku… or should I start calling you Shiro?”

I winced slightly, though bravely continued on and sat down across from him. ”Hope told you?”

He nodded his head, and fished a flask out of his pocket. He sloshed the metal tin in my direction. “What bringsh you by?”

“A gift.” I pulled the wooden box out and slid it across the table to him. “And a request.”

Ligh froze for a moment, and then carefully opened the box. It slid open to reveal an ornate bottle of whiskey that glowed softly with an enchanted light. “I can’t accept thish.”

“It’s for all the help you’ve given me.” I rubbed the back of my neck, and looked away from the man. “And an apology for lying.”

”Shure beat’s Hope’s apology gift.” Commander Ligh chuckled, and ran a finger down the bottle of whiskey. “She bought me a Slasher’s hat.”

Nothing wrong with that. Slasher’s hats were cool. Even now—ah, wait, I forgot I swapped to my Crusade hat when I went back to my apartment. Nevermind. I shook my head and pulled out a map of the city I’d prepared. I unrolled it across his desk, and passed him a bunch of darts. “Would you mind throwing these up?”

”Heh. Figuresh,” Ligh muttered. He didn’t resist, though, and followed my instructions. A handful of darts went up—only for not a single one of them to land point down. They rolled across the table uselessly.

My heart throbbed uncomfortably in my chest. “Try again?”

”Look, Shiro.” Ligh sighed, and waved at the map with the flask in his hand. “I know what you’re trying to do. Whatever you’re looking for isn’t in the city.”

Was he—was he finally admitting to having some kind of ability? It was definitely some kind of luck based ability, wasn’t it? Although—I was actually able to finish the thought this time. And since I did, it made every situation where I couldn’t in the past all the more eerie. 

I shook my head, and collected the printed out map of Aythryn City. It didn’t matter at the moment. “What if I got a bigger—“

“It won’t matter.” He sighed, and passed me back the box I’d bought from Bear’s Collection. It looked like the move physically pained him. “Even I have limitsh. In thish case, it’s beyond my range.”

“Keep it.” I waved a hand. I didn’t have much use for it anyway… sure, I could sell it at my bar. That was it, though. ’Sides, assuming I even opened it in the first place, my target clientele wouldn’t be able to afford it. 

Ligh paused for a moment, and sighed softly. He didn’t refuse though. Instead, he rolled back in his chair, and pulled out two ornate glasses. Without any hesitation, he popped the cork of the bottle.

”Doesn’t that, like, stop the aging process?” I eyed him.

“Whishkey doesn’t age once it leaves the barrel. It stopped whenever thish was bottled.” He held up the bottle with a sort of reverence I didn’t expect to see from him. Then, he poured two glasses and pushed me one. “Besides, expenshive alcohol can’t compare to company.”

”I—I don’t drink.” Not to mention I still had to drive after this. That was a bad combo. Unless… would Universal Donor work overtime to clear the alcohol from my system? Probably, right?

”Just a sip won’t kill you.” He nodded to the glass and lifted up his own. The amber liquid sloshed around in it softly. “When will you get a chance to try shomething like thish again?”

“Chek.” I hesitantly reached for the glass, and held it in my lap. Then, just out of sight of the man, I summoned out Crow’s Canteen of Chaos and poured in a couple drops. Now I’d have the chance whenever.

Ligh lifted the glass up toward me. “Cheers?”

I hesitantly returned the gesture, and our glasses clanked together lightly. “Cheers.”

“Bleh.” I downed the glass, and felt fire spread across my tongue and throat. It didn’t even have a taste—it just burned. I barely even had a sip of the stuff in my glass, too. How could people handle drinking this kind of thing?

“That’sh good shtuff.” Ligh sighed softly, and took another sip of his glass.

”I-if you say so.” I rubbed at my stomach uncomfortably. As I thought, alchy wasn’t for me. Ugh, why did I even want to open up a bar?

“Shorry I couldn’t be of any help.” The commander set the glass down, and sealed the bottle once more. He put it back in its fancy box, and set it down somewhere behind his desk.

“It’s fine… not everything can be easy.” Though I sure wished it was. I stood up a bit unsteadily. It was a good thing the Roughrider had an autopilot. “Again, thank you. For everything.”

”It’s only natural a Crusader looksh after his shquire.” Ligh shrugged off my thanks, and lifted his pen once more. I watched the old commander for a moment, and then slipped out of the room. I had more meetings today to go to, anyway.

— — —

Mira, Luna, and I arrived at the restaurant I picked out. I didn't really want to fly in a dress, so I linked up with the Jade Fang and rented out one of their flyers to take us to the place. It was supposed to be some fancy smancy organic restaurant that served real beef, so I had my hopes up.

Luna got out ahead of me, wearing a dress of pure white. Her hair blended down into it, giving her a fragile and innocent look that oddly matched the netrunner. The lower half of the dress was done like feathers by the master tailor.

Mira got out on my other side. She, likewise, was dressed in white. Her dress was soft and glowing, with golden highlights intricately carving the lines of her body. The feather etched look, combined with her halo, gave her an angelic sense of beauty. The black sections of her exo-skeleton were artfully hidden under wing-like tassels that flowed off the back of her dress.

Compared to the two of them, I looked like a fallen angel. I wasn’t totally comfortable with the look, but I had on an almost pure black dress. Streaks of silver flowed down along it, matching the highlights of my hair. Every part of it was tight and covered in feather-like highlights. Telos called it something like Redemption? Not really sure what that was about. It was a bit weird to name clothes, too, wasn’t it? Although…

”Damn, Shiro.” Mira sighed lightly as I adjusted the thin strap covering my shoulder. “You look so pretty in that.”

”You’re not half bad either.” A shiver went down my spine. I missed my poncho. I’d gotten way too used to its temperature control. “Oh, and you look great too, Luna.”

”Gee, thanks.” She rolled her eyes lightly, and held the metal fox robot tightly in her arms. She’d given up her deck for the night, but she refused to go entirely defenseless. Not that I blamed her. I had a dozen knives hidden just below my dress. “A-at least me and Vox can third-wheel together.”

“Oh, c’mon.” Mira tossed her arm around the much shorter girl’s shoulder. “You’re not a third-wheel an afterthought. Right, Shiro?”

”Right, totally.” I set up instructions for the flyer, and the taxi whipped out of the flyer bay behind us. 

The three of us headed for the elevator down to the restaurant, and exited out into an ornate white hallway. Etched pillars lined the hall, and were covered in highlights of gold. The short hallway led it into a massive three story hall with the entire back wall a window looking out onto Aythryn City. The view was stunning.

”Reservation?” An android asked politely at a stand just outside the elevator. It was styled up to look like a human attendant, though the mechanisms underneath its transparent skin were undeniably inhuman. One of Raijin’s products, probably. They had a death hold on the android market.

I stepped past the other two, and approached the man. ”Shiro Tsukuyomi. Party of three.” 

“Please, follow the drone.” From behind the desk, a perfectly spherical drone drifted into the air. “A waiter will be with you shortly.”

”Thanks.” I habitually called, and the three of us followed behind the drone toward a table in the back of the second floor. 

“I thought you said the tables here were reserved.” Mira shifted, and her soft white dress flowed with her. Her lips pulled into a soft pout that made her angelic styling all the more heart-wrenching.

“They are.” I looked up—and froze midstep at the familiar face sitting at our table. The startling blue eyes and sharp features instantly gave her away. My heart wrenched for an entirely different reason, and electricity sparked just below my fingers.

Brunhilde, the Valkyrie that’d promised to hunt me down and then fell off the face of the planet, waved elegantly to us with a cheerful smile on her face. “Happy Birthday, Mira! Shiro, it’s good to see you again.”

Mira must’ve sensed my discomfort. She stepped in front of me the moment Brunhilde smiled, and her soft angel looked instantly turned to an avenging one. Her voice dropped low and defensive, “who are you?”

“Ah, I’m hurt.” Brunhilde sighed sadly, and her hand flopped down onto her lap. “You didn’t tell your chums about me, Shiro? We had such a connection that night.”

”Stop making it sound weird,” I spat out. I felt eyes on me, and the attention of the room turning on us. We already stood out, but with the added scene? Discomfort surged through me instantly.

“Now now…” Brunhilde wagged a finger. “I’m just here to talk a bit. I’ll be out of your hair shortly. I wouldn’t want to the celebration, anyway.”

”Too late,” Mira muttered.

The Valkyrie pretended not to hear and waved a hand toward the table. “Please, take a seat. Dinner’s on Sentinel. Consider it a… attempt to make amends.”

”Shiro…” Luna softly spoke up behind me. “There’s a dozen runners staring at us. S-should we ghost?”

“No…” Ghosting Sentinel wouldn’t work very well. It was a surprise it took her this long to track me down in the first place. As for how she knew our names? I wasn’t too surprised, though it did make me uncomfortable. Sentinel wasn’t one of the Big 7 for no reason. Their intelligence network was likely so vast I wouldn’t even be able to comprehend it.

”So?” Brunhilde asked. 

Fuck! Fine—I stepped past Mira and slid into the seat across from Brunhilde. The other two followed my lead. Although we were all sitting amiably, there was a strong hostile air making the entire area feel chilly. “Make it snappy.”

”’Course, ‘course.” The Valkyrie grinned, and leaned back in her seat. “So, where do we begin?”

— — —

AN: I bet none of you saw this coming! Yeah, it’s finally coming back around. I was kinda hoping this would hit on Friday, but you guys lucked out.