Bitter Ch. 571-575 (Patreon)

“When you say you want to party with me,” said Britta, “what exactly would we do?”

“Whatever you want,” said Lin. “I don’t expect you to change the way you play the game, it would just mean I would be there to watch your back, and to make sure none of the AI used their power… unfairly.”

Britta didn’t know what to make of Lin’s offer to party-up. It was completely unexpected and she wasn’t even sure what being in a party with Lin entailed. They would travel around together having adventures?

“That does sound like it might be a good idea,” said Mum. “What do you think, Britta?”

Britta took a moment to eat something so she had a moment to think. Did she need a companion? She had managed alright so far on her own. Fighting monsters and crawling through dungeons weren’t the sorts of activities she spent much of her time on. And even when she did, other people tended to be more of a hindrance than a help.

Lin wasn’t a normal player, though. She wasn’t going to try and cheat Britta out of loot or compete against her to claim special items. She also had a lot of influence on the people running the game.

On the surface, it was a perfectly reasonable idea. The problem Britta currently faced wasn’t from players or monsters, it was the game’s AIs trying to use her to their own personal ends.

Up until now, they had more or less ignored her and did as they pleased, but things had changed recently. Britta’s effect on the game had become more pronounced, and therefore more noticeable. If they started to think of her as a component of the game they could use to their advantage, it would make things much more difficult for her.

It would be hard to pop in and out of the game if they considered her a tool.

If Lin’s presence encouraged them to leave her alone, that could only be a good thing.

“But aren’t you too busy?” said Britta.

“No, it’s fine,” said Lin. “It’s not like you spend every waking moment in-game. I can arrange my schedule to match yours, as long as you give me a little prior notice before you plan to log in.”

Lin was right, Britta didn’t spend a lot of time in the game. In fact, she had gone out of her way to keep her playing time at a minimum.

“Sometimes, though, I do end up spending a few hours in there. Would you be able to stay with me? You don’t have anywhere you need to go?”

She was making it sound like Lin had to be a hopeless shut-in to be making such an offer, which clearly wasn’t the case, but it was hard to imagine why she would want to spend so much time following Britta around.

It wasn’t like Britta’s time in New World had been a wild ride full of excitement and cinematic escapades. In fact, the thought of having someone along to witness how dull her ‘escapades’ were made her feel mildly uncomfortable.

“I have all the time I need to do whatever I want,” said Lin. She didn’t make it sound like she was lonely or desperate for something to do. On the contrary, she somehow managed to reduce all activities to the same level of importance. The only thing that differentiated them was whether she felt inclined to grace them with her presence.

“And you’d be my bodyguard?”

“No, no,” said Lin. “I don’t think you need my help like that.”

“But didn’t you say your game character was immortal?”

“No, not immortal. I can’t be killed or harmed, and I have some special powers that make me rather formidable in a fight, but I wouldn’t say I was immortal.”

It sounded like she was close to it, but there was no point arguing over semantics. Not when the immortal was on your side.

“What class are you? A fighter?”

“Yes,” said Lin like she wasn’t really. “A fencer. And an archer. And a healer.”

“A fighter-ranger-cleric? You’re three classes?” Britta had never heard of that before. Dual class characters were quite common, but triple class? “And you think you’d be allowed to party with me? Wouldn’t it be a bit unfair?”

“Under normal circumstances, I would say yes, but the beauty of this situation is that you are already not allowed to participate in the game as a normal player, just as I am not. You are probably the only person I could party up with, other than members of my family.” She pulled a sour face. “And I wouldn’t want to do that.”

On the surface, it seemed a very small adjustment that could have lots of benefits. It wasn’t like Britta would be losing anything, not even her privacy. The people at APE already watched everything she did, and Lin had seen most of the videos. She knew what she’d be getting herself into.

Lin had the additional advantage of being familiar with both servers, and her knowledge of the Legendary World in particular could prove to be very helpful.

But, there was something about her offer, how casual she was being about it, that seemed a little off. Was she really that bored?

“I can assure you I have no interest in trying to guide you in any particular direction. You would be the one to make all the decisions.”

“Oh, yes,” said Britta. “I didn’t think anything like that.”

Britta was well aware of her tendency to assume the worst in, especially when people were trying to be helpful. Her general lack of trust had always proved well-founded, but Lin had no reason to lie.

And yet, the nagging feeling was hard to ignore.

Britta decided she wouldn’t ignore it, she would just bury it. No point letting Lin know how she felt. It would be rude and awkward. No, she would just be wary, but in a subtle way.

“You’re suspicious,” said Lin.

“Who, me? Why would I—I mean no, of course not. I was just, um, you know, thinking how lucky I was that you would want to hang out with me. I’m not usually very lucky, at all. If ever, so...”

Lin just stared at her, not believing a word. But not in a mean way, more like a slightly amused lioness waiting for her dinner to stop twitching.

“Britta!” said Mum, her tone carrying a mild rebuke. “There’s no need to jump to any unnecessary conclusions. Lin’s just trying to help.”

Britta wasn’t being told off for her suspicions being baseless, it was more to do with manners. It wasn’t proper to accuse your host of being underhanded and sneaky at the dinner table, especially when they were paying the bill

“Sorry,” said Britta. “I didn’t mean…”

“It’s perfectly fine,” said Lin, smiling kindly. “You are absolutely correct to question my motives. Very sensible. You have no way of knowing if I am truly trying to help you, or if I’m working towards some ulterior motive. And to be honest with you,” she leaned across the table towards Britta, “I do see this as a way for me to advance my own agenda.”

Britta was shocked. Had Lin just admitted she was using her?

Lin put a finger to her lips to indicate Britta shouldn’t say anything. With her other hand, she skewered a chunk of tofu on the end of a single chopstick, which she raised until it was pointing straight up like a little white flag. Then she looked past Britta, towards the table where the driver was seated. She waved the chopstick from side to side.

Britta turned to look. The driver had bent down to do something under the table; he sat up again.

Nothing else seemed to have changed. The other customers were carrying on enjoying their meals, chatting away as waiters bustled around them. Britta turned to face Lin with a questioning look.

“It would be best if our conversation wasn’t overheard,” said Lin. “Not that we are necessarily being monitored, but you can never be too careful.”

“He’s using some kind of jamming advice?” Britta asked. It sounded ridiculous, like she was in some kind of spy movie where people had high-tech gadgets and guns. Although, Lin did have come very high-tech gadgets, Britta had seen them. But she didn’t have a gun. Did she?

“Something of that nature,” said Lin. “It’s very hard to be completely secure, there are ways around every precaution, but this restaurant is one of the few places in the city that has been made difficult to observe. Not for my benefit, but that doesn’t mean I can’t take advantage of this building’s special structural features.”

From outside, the restaurant had looked like any other building in the centre of London but apparently this place had been turned into a secure location of some sort. She wondered what kinds of deals had been made here, away from prying eyes and ears.

“As I was saying,” continued Lin, “I don’t deny my own personal interest in this matter. I hope to improve my position within our company by proving myself effective in the management of this game that I have no doubt will soon dominate our culture. It may seem like a rather expensive leisure activity at the moment, but that will soon change. And, to be perfectly frank, I think I can learn a thing or two by spending some time with you, in the game. I want to understand it the way you do. No one else can teach me what you can.”

Britta listened, tried her best to understand what Lin was saying, and also tried to work out what she was really saying.

She wanted to improve her standing inside her father’s company. Wasn’t she already a key person within it? Did her being a girl make a difference? Her sisters were relegated to second-class inheritors of the enormous wealth and fortune her family controlled, perhaps? But wasn’t that still a phenomenal amount of money? How much money did you need once you had billions?

“How many brothers and sisters do you have?” Britta looked at Mum to make sure she wasn’t overstepping the bounds of good manners. “If you don’t mind me asking,” she added, just in case.

“Not at all,” said Lin. “I have seven sisters and three brothers. I am the second youngest. So, as you would imagine, I am quite far down the pecking order.”

“And you think hanging out with me will help?” It was hard to keep the disbelief out of her voice. Even if the game was important enough to win Lin some brownie points, partying with Britta was unlikely to provide many opportunities for Lin to prove herself.

“I think, it will be an interesting adventure,” said Lin. “I’m not used to doing things somebody else’s way. My only role would be to make sure you weren’t unduly molested by the AI.”

“You think L-15 wouldn’t want to oppose you?”

“I believe,” said Lin, “he would be wary of attracting that kind of attention. Although we pit the AI against each other to identify the best of them, we also reserve the right to eliminate those deemed to have taken a less than desirable path to reach dominance. There are some ways of winning that aren’t acceptable.”

Britta took that to mean ways that threatened the dominance of the game’s true rulers. The AI were meant to make the game attractive to the customers, but they were still working for their creators.

“So, you would just go where I go and make sure we were left… unmolested.”

“Exactly.” Lin smiled and raised her chopstick again.

Britta looked around again. The driver had disappeared under the table once more.

“Are we back on the grid?” asked Britta.

“Yes. It isn’t wise to be invisible for too long. A dead spot can stand out even more than a highlighted one.”

“What do you think?” said Mum, who Britta could tell had been listening intently. “I quite like the idea of you having someone to watch over you.”

Britta understood the parental enthusiasm for keeping a child under observation. Mum like Lin, Britta knew that. Britta liked her, too. And even if she had other reasons for wanting to do this that she hadn’t mentioned, there was no reason to think it would cause problems for Britta. She only wanted to pass her twelve minutes as comfortably as possible. She had other things to do.

“Okay,” said Britta. “I think we could try it. As long as you don’t mind doing things my way.”

“Of course,” said Lin.

“It might be a bit boring.”

“Not at all. You forget, I’ve been watching your feed for some time now. Frankly, I get quite impatient when I’m waiting for the next instalment to arrive. Sometimes you don’t do very much, but other times it’s better than a movie.”

“Really?” said Britta. “You enjoy watching me?”

“Oh, yes,” said Lin. “I can’t believe I’m finally going to get to play with you.” She sounded quite excited about the prospect. Britta was baffled.

Was it a good idea to party up with Lin? It was hard to say.

It couldn’t hurt, Britta decided, to try it out and see how it went. There was no reason it had to be permanent, and L-15 was definitely the bigger issue.

When you were faced with more than one problem, it was better to take care of the most pressing one first.

Then again, when you were distracted by a big problem, it gave the smaller ones a chance to sneak up on you without being noticed.

It was all very confusing. Britta had to remind herself it was just a game and none of it mattered. Not to her, anyway.

The rest of the dinner was very pleasant. After stuffing her face without stopping for about an hour, Britta suddenly felt very full and the minor complications of a video game didn’t seem all that important. They said their goodbyes and Britta and Mum waddled back to the car.

At home, Britta lay on her bed, waiting for her body to digest enough of the food in her body to enable her to start moving again. She’d probably have to wait until morning.

She had just about enough energy to browse the internet for any news of the game’s imminent second-wave of sign-ups, but not enough energy to actually get up and go over to her desk.

“Can you turn on and open the browser,” she called out to the laptop. “Hello? Computer on!” She sounded like Dad now, play-acting like he was on the bridge of a starship.

The computer screen came on. The future wasn’t so far away, anymore.

It wasn’t easy seeing the screen from where she was lying, certainly not enough to be able to read the text. The computer could always read it for her.

“Are there any new videos to do with New World?” she asked.

“In the last twenty-four hours, there have been... one thousand and fifty-seven videos uploaded with 0.5 or greater relevance to New World, the new experience in gaming from APE studios,” said the laptop in perfect ad-speak.

“Any videos about Legendary World, the Chinese version of New World?”

“No,” said the computer without pausing to calculate anything.

“Oh. Okay.” If anyone could dig up some obscure site about the Chinese version of the game, it would be her laptop. Would it lie to her? It would if it had been told to. Britta felt a bit silly being so paranoid. “Of the thousand and whatever videos—”

“One thousand and fifty-seven.”

“Yes, and fifty-seven.” Things really were starting to escalate. “Of those, what’s the most viewed video that I haven’t seen?”

“That would be ‘The New World Experience,” said the laptop.

“Is that the name of the video?”

“That is the name of the show. It is a daily broadcast of everything new in New World. Tips and tricks, interviews with—”

“Okay, okay, I get it.” The laptop had a tendency to treat all publicity as good publicity, which it certainly wasn’t when you were on the receiving end and had to sit through endless guff. “Please play the latest episode.”

The screen changed, a new window opened and a video started to play. The music was comprised of the usual thumping beats that every video used to imply an exciting time was ahead. Britta doubted the BPM’s veracity. Graphics whizzed around the screen, suggesting more of the same. High quality graphics were the easiest thing to create for your video these days. It meant nothing.

An attractive young man with hair so lush and glossy it made Britta’s heart hurt appeared, smiling and waving.

“Hey, guys,” he cheerfully called out. “I’m Andy, and welcome to another New World Experience. Yaaay!” He was cheering himself with his arms raised.

It was hard to tell what kind of show it was. He was standing in front of a green screen showing what looked like an aerial view of New World, but Andy and his hair were standing in the way, so it was hard to be sure.

“With me, making sure things don’t get too cra-a-a-zy, is Miranda. Hey, Miranda.”

“Hey, Andy,” said the girl jumping into shot. Hey, guys!” She waved at the screen.
She was a pretty girl, but not too pretty. She was a bit too short to be a model, and her features weren’t quite perfect enough, either. And she wasn’t blonde. Or brunette. Her hair was blue because she was cool.

Britta could feel her teeth trying to grind together, but she forced her jaws apart. These kinds of people were the reason she didn’t like watching internet videos.

All the fake bonhomie and coolness was irritating. She didn’t mind if people enjoyed this as entertainment — they were allowed to do whatever they wanted — but Britta had no interest in being exposed to it. Even if they were about to reveal the secrets of New World and explain how to easily level up and find cool gear. Not worth.

“Can you—” She was about to ask the laptop to turn the video off, and if possible delete it from the internet, when the image changed from that of two hip kids spewing nonsense through their permanent smiles, to that of a grown man.

It was an interview. Britta had missed the intro, had no idea what they’d said this was about, but she recognised the interviewee, even with the odd outfit. It was her father.

Dad was dressed as his character. Guildford Underpass made flesh, or rather, made cardboard. He had a fake moustache and a cardboard helmet balanced on his head. He appeared to be talking to them over the internet, which likely meant he had done the interview from home.

“And tell us, Guildford,” said Andy, chirpy and impossibly enthusiastic, “as an expert player, what advice have you got for the new players who will be starting soon?”

“No advice,” said Dad, in a gruff voice that sounded slightly Scottish, but with a speech impediment. It was his Sean Connery impression. Britta’s face was burning hot.

“How many views has this video got?” asked Britta.

“Seventeen million, four hundred—”

Britta didn’t hear the rest of the number as she watched the nervous presenter. “You don’t have any advice? Haha, sorry, I thought you were here to—”

I’m here to warn them.”

“Oh, really?” Andy’s eyes had a stricken look. Dad was going off script. “And what, er, what’s that?”

“This isn’t just a game. It isn’t a place to kill monsters for fun. You won’t be able to beat most of the creatures you meet. You won’t last long if you try to fight your way to the top. But….” He leaned into the camera, looking intense, his moustache about to fall off. “There is a secret place you can go where the ultimate power can be yours.”

“Yes?” said Andy. “Where is this place?”

“There’s an abandoned ranch outside Quosada with an old well…”

“Turn it off,” said Britta. She sighed. He was going to troll millions of people, and he was going to claim it as some kind of world record.

Britta went to sleep. Maybe when she woke up it would turn out to be a dream and Dad hadn’t cosplayed as his own game character and appeared on the internet.

The next morning, Britta left for school early so she wouldn’t have to face Dad. Mum would have told him what had happened at the dinner with Lin, and he would probably have something to say about it, but she wasn’t in the mood to talk to him right now.

She was just glad that no one knew Guildford Underpass was related to her, until she remembered there actually were a few people who did know, and they all went to her school.

There wasn’t much she could do about it, so she decided to keep her head down and hope they hadn’t been part of the seventeen million viewers.

Hopefully, the people in question were far too excited about their own role in the future of the game to worry about what Dad was telling them to do.

People were even beginning to notice that Lewis, Rick, Lucas and Toby were hanging out together. The four of them had never even been seen in the same room before, and now they were laughing and chatting all over the school. Even more shockingly, Rick was the one holding court.

Britta considered it a good thing. Not because it meant no more bullying for Rick, but because it meant no one would be thinking about her. She went home after a day of being ignored, just like old times. She much preferred it that way.

At home, she got changed and did her homework. She had thought over the situation with Lin, trying to work out if she had made the right choice. Obviously, she wouldn’t know until she actually logged in, which she had to in a few hours, but that didn’t stop her fretting over it.

Putting her nose in some books helped. She could take her mind off it using schoolwork. She had her physics tutor coming as well, so she was kept busy for the next few hours.

After the tutor left, she had dinner with Mum. Dad was off doing something very important in the game, which was probably for the best.

Britta went up to her room and texted Lin to let her know she was about to log in. Lin responded almost immediately and Britta lay down and put her helmet on.

They had agreed to meet at the church in Quosada. Britta didn’t want to get spotted in Shona again, and there was no need to go there right now. She did still need to go to the Institute for Magic to earn the skill points she needed, but that idea wasn’t so pressing now that Lin was going to be acting as her bodyguard.

Not exactly a bodyguard, but someone who would prevent anything bad happening to her.

The Church of Roha was very quiet and empty. Britta walked through the chapel and opened the doors. There was a woman standing on the steps; her name tag said her name was Loreli. Britta knew it was Lin even from behind.

The most striking thing about Lin was her gear. She was kitted out in a manner not even the Chinese team could rival. Britta had seen what kinds of fashion outfits were available in the cash shop, and there was nothing this fancy, not even close. This was full-on armour that covered her body in interlocking metal plates, but rather than being stiff and awkward, it was sleek and form-fitting, showing off Lin’s physique.

Normally, female warriors in fantasy settings wore very little and had huge bosoms barely contained by their metallic bras (metallic for protection, obviously). It was the kind of juvenile male idea of what a fighting woman should look like. Superheroes tended to be built along the same lines — even when they were fully clothed, the proportions were exaggerated to a stupid degree.

No matter how empowered they might claim to be making women with all the punching and fighting, in the end the pictures were worth more than a thousand hypocritical words.

Looking at Lin, though, there was absolutely nothing masculine about her. The outline of her body was very clearly visible. She didn’t have huge boobs, her legs weren’t endless, her lips weren’t all puffy and seductive. This wasn’t her real body, of course, but it seemed about the same size, and there was no mistaking the stance. That was how Lin stood in real life, like a ballerina about to do a thousand effortless twirls.

She had two slim swords on her hips and a bow strapped to her back. And on her head she wore a thin scarf that looked like she had tossed it around her neck and somehow it had swirled into the perfect shape to frame her face and cover her long black hair. She just needed a pair of dark glasses and a big fan to blow her hair and scarf back, and the cover of Vogue would be hers.

Britta looked Lin up and down, shaking her head. “You can’t dress like that.”

“Ah, there you are. You don’t like my look?” The face wasn’t exactly the same — her character was an elf, for a start — but the main features were very similar, apart from the pointy ears.

“No, I don’t. I prefer to be inconspicuous. You’re already attracting too much attention.” Britta nodded towards the street. People were passing by, all of their necks turned at ninety degrees to the direction they were walking in as they checked out the superstar player outside the church. They certainly weren’t looking at Britta.

“It’s so peaceful and relaxed here,” said Lin.

It didn’t seem that relaxed, although she could see fewer players than she was used to among the crowd. Had everyone moved on to the city?

“Let’s go inside for a minute,” said Britta.

“Oh, alright,” said Lin as she followed Britta back into the church. “You know, even if I attract attention, it might warn people off. Stop them from making trouble for us.”

“No,” said Britta. “It would only make more trouble. You have to change into something more… less.”

“More less?”

“Exactly.”

“Or we could just ignore them.”

“I would rather they ignored us,” said Britta.

Lin looked down at herself and pulled a face. “I suppose I could tone it down a bit. I thought it looked pretty.” She moved her arms up and down, and the silver surface reflected a variety of colours, like it was made of mother of pearl.

“That’s even worse,” said Britta. “Didn’t you say you were still Level 1?”

“That’s right,” said Lin.

“Don’t you have the beginner’s outfit you started with?”

“I started with this.”

“How much health do you have?”

“Infinite.”

Britta wasn’t sure she’d heard right. “You have infinite HP? Does that mean you can’t be hurt, or that you can be hurt forever?”

“I don’t take damage. From anything.”

Here was a character who was even more OP than the AI. Obviously, a player with infinite health couldn’t be allowed to interact with normal players. Just like Britta couldn’t.

“If you can’t be hurt, you don’t need armour. Just buy something basic from the Player’s Market.”

“Alright,” said Lin. She was being very cooperative and letting Britta make all the decisions, like she said she would. How long would that last? Britta wondered.

Lin opened her status screen and browsed through what the cash shop had to offer. “Hmmm, nothing really pleases me.”

“Just choose something plain and ugly,” said Britta. “Think of it as a disguise.”

It was odd talking to Lin as an equal. Britta would never have spoken to her like this in the real world, but here it seemed okay. Why was that?

Lin flicked through the pages of outfits you could buy for real money, her bottom lip sticking out. Britta would have thought shopping would be one of Lin’s superpowers, but she probably wasn’t used to this end of the market. The most expensive thing in the shop only cost a few hundred pounds. Small change to someone like Lin.

Britta opened the cash shop on her own screen to see what would be suitable.

“What about this one?” said Lin.

“I can’t see it,” said Britta.

“Of course. Second page, third from the right.”

Britta followed the directions to a gown with a multi-layered skirt.

“It looks a bit impractical,” said Britta.

“Yes, maybe,” said Lin. “It’s more the colour. A bit more subdued.”

“It says it’s champagne,” said Britta.

“It’s sort of brown.”

“Sort of brown with golden sparkles. How about first page, bottom row, first on the left? That’s more the kind of brown that’ll go unnoticed.”

Lin took a moment to find it. “Really? It looks like a sack with holes for arms and legs.”

“The colour goes really well with your eyes.”

Lin didn’t look convinced, but she agreed to try it. Along with a few others. A few moments later a delivery boy came charging into the church with a stack of packages. Followed by three more. They handed them to Lin and ran off.

Lin went into one of the small rooms to get changed. When she emerged, she was wearing her hessian sack dress. Somehow she looked even more eye-catching than before.

She had more skin showing, with her arms and legs exposed. And without the tightly fitting armour, her chest seemed to have doubled in size.

“I’m not a fan,” said Lin. “But if you think this would be better…” She turned around. The view from behind would get them followed everywhere they went.

“Maybe try one of the others?”

The third outfit she tried, a green and brown trousers and jacket ensemble, seemed to be the least objectionable for both party members. It didn’t fit her all that well, which helped.

When they finally emerged from the church, Lin attracted no looks from the passers-by. Her boring outfit made her look like a shapeless sack of potatoes.

“No one even knows I exist, now,” said Lin as she watched the town’s population go about their business.

“Perfect,” said Britta. She checked her status screen. “I’ve been here more than twelve minutes.”

“Oh, you’re going to log out?”

“Is that okay?” said Britta.

“No, that’s fine. However you want to do this is fine.” Lin looked disappointed, but she was keeping to her promise. Britta made the calls.

“Actually, before I log out, I just want to try visiting the Legendary World. I haven’t been there on my own yet.”

“Okay.” Lin’s eyes perked up, although her voice was calm and disinterested, like she didn’t really care. It was a good trick, if you couldn’t see her face.

Britta checked her save points and selected the Holy Temple, which was the save point in the city of Shangri-la. Lin did the same.

“Ready?” said Britta. This would be the first test to see if L-15 had anything nefarious waiting for Britta. Would she be able to come and go freely as she’d been promised?

“If anything strange happens,” said Lin, “if we get split up, just contact me on the party chat.”

Britta nodded. She logged out. It would be a lot easier to move around once she unlocked her unlimited Teleport ability, but first she wanted to know if there was going to be an issue. This was the perfect opportunity to find out.

Britta was prepared to find herself in some weird place, but she spawned inside a large temple. It was huge, small tiles of various shades of blue covered the floors, walls and ceiling. Only the columns were white, rising into a blue dome.

A flash of light to her left revealed Lin.

More flashes of light around her drew her attention. Every time they faded, a player appeared in the room. As soon as they materialised, they ran towards one of the numerous exits. There was a large open archway in every direction and nothing to suggest time was of the essence, but everyone seemed very keen to get going.

She turned to Lin. “Why are they all in a rush? Is something happening?”

“No, I don’t believe so,” said Lin. “Things just move quicker here.”

It had seemed a bit more frantic here compared to New World, but that was when she had watched from up in the Jade Palace. Down here the pace was almost breathless.

At least that meant people would be far too busy to bother with a small gnome wandering about. They had no interest in her now, that was for sure. Her fear that something might be waiting to pounce on her was unfounded, which was a relief. All that fretting over nothing.

“Let’s have a look outside,” said Britta.

Lin nodded and they turned towards the nearest exit. As they walked towards it, a large figure appeared in the doorway, nearly filling it. A warrior of some kind.

People began screaming and pointing, but whatever they were calling out, it was in Chinese.

“What are they saying?” said Britta.

“Demon beast,” said Lin, her hands on her weapons. “They are quite common here, but not usually in the city, and not usually this big.”

As the figure entered the temple, its face became visible, a mixture of gorilla and bull. People fled in all directions, panicking and yelling, pushing each other out of the way in their desperate attempt to get away. They needn’t have bothered. The demon headed directly for Britta at a steady pace, its hand behind its back.

“I think he may be here for you,” said Lin, drawing her swords with a smooth motion. She prepared to leap into action. “Don’t worry, I’ll—”

“You can put those away,” said Britta. “That isn’t a demon beast. That’s L-15.”

“It is?” Lin hesitated and looked more closely. “How can you tell?”

The demon beast paused. “Yes, how can you tell?” he said in a whispery voice.

“It is him!” Lin lowered her swords. “What are you doing?” Her voice was like the real world Lin’s, full of commanding certainty with an edge of dismissive superiority.

“I thought it would be interesting to see how the gnome would react to an overwhelming threat,” said the demon. “I wasn’t going to harm anyone. What gave me away?”

Britta shrugged. “You sort of moved like you. It’s a thing I’ve noticed about all the AI I’ve met. You all try to hold onto your mannerisms as much as possible so you can feel like you have a real personality. I don’t think it’s necessary, it’s not like we’re consistent with how we act, but I assume it makes you feel less insecure about not being human.”

The demon looked down on her without saying anything, snorted. “I see.” He transformed into his human form, an old man with a long beard, the armour changing into a flowing robe. “I wasn’t sure you would come back. You plan to tour the city?”

Britta checked her status screen. “I don’t have a lot of time. Maybe a quick look.”

“And you?” L-15 said to Lin. “You’re here as her guardian?”

“Something like that,” said Lin.

“May I join you?”

Britta looked the AI up and down, shaking her head. “Not dressed like that.”

“Why not?”

“Tell him.”

“You’ll attract too much attention,” said Lin. “We prefer to be inconspicuous.”

“What should I wear?” asked L-15.

“Don’t worry,” said Lin. “I have just the outfit. It will go really well with your eyes.”