Transport Station

The man tilted his head with a slightly confused look. "I'm Ethan… I'm guessing your system didn't notify you of our presence?" When he saw the blank expression on Abby's face, he continued. "Then, nice to meet you, Abrielle. I knew—"

"My parents," Abby finished his sentence. She was looking out the glass walls in deep thought.

"Y—yeah… They were great people! You know how much they uncovered, right? It was such a shame they were—"

"So, do you have anything to talk to me about?" Abby interrupted Ethan again. Her face was serious, but through her cold glare, I saw a faltering force.

"L-listen, I'm so sorry about what happened to your—"

"Well, if you don't have anything, we'll be on our way. We have this antidote to deliver."

Abby turned her back to Ethan and started to increase her speed. Em, Ari, and I followed her. However, the man quickly caught up to Abby and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Abrielle, that antidote, it's the problem," he told her.

Upon seeing this, Ari rushed up beside Ethan and pushed his hand away from Abby. "Can you just stop bothering her, old man? First, you go off muttering sensitive topics, and now you want us to give up on this quest? Stop acting like you're all familiar with Abby."

"Oh, and who are you now? How about you stop acting like you know who Abrielle is just because you've been traveling together for what? A few days?"

"Oh, so you wanna fight, old man!?" Ari leaned close into Ethan's face. The two were evenly matched in both height and build. Ari raised his hand in a fist, but Abby stopped him from continuing.

"This isn't a place to fight, Ari," she said, motioning to our surroundings with her head. People around us had backed away worriedly. The lady at the Adventurer's Guild's outpost had told us to hide our weapons, so this was probably what she meant.

"I—I just want to tell you…" Ethan said after Ari calmed down, "…about the other people your parents contacted."

Abby looked up at the man, now interested. "Other people? How many are there?"

"Well, there are a total of 20 people, including you and me. We've all been told to come to this time point, so we've been waiting for everybody to gather."

Abby's expression told me she was becoming more and more interested. "Where are you guys staying? Are you guys planning our next steps?"

"Yeah, we're planning to continue to follow your parents' work. Do you want to come with me to meet the rest of us? I'm sure you'd love to."

Abby took a moment to think about it, but when she glanced at her companions, she responded, "I still have this quest to complete. I'll join once my friends and I finish it."

"But, you're the last person! And this quest… it's about that antidote, right? You know why your parents chose this world for us to meet up? You know what's going to happen here, right?"

"A pandemic," she said with a shrug. "That's as much as they told us. Is there something wrong?"

"A pandemic!? That's what they think it is? No, it's something much worse…"

"Then all the more reason we have to deliver this cure quickly, right?" Ari butted in.

"No, it's more complicated than that…" Ethan trailed off and looked at the people around us. "This… I think it'd be better to tell you about it in private with everybody else."

"Does this have something to do with…my parents'…work?" Abby asked. She was starting to become curious about Ethan's story.

"Yes," the man replied. "We've analyzed the data your parents had left. We know what's going on in this world and why they sent us here. I think it'd be best to make a decision once you've—"

"Old man," Ari cut in again, "you know we're dealing with the lives of millions, maybe even trillions, if we count future generations, here, right? And you're saying we shouldn't save them?"

"No! You just…you need to understand the full picture—"

"I think we understand the entire gallery of pictures here, okay? We send the cure, nobody dies. We don't send the cure, then everybody dies. Abby, you get that, right? You couldn't possibly side with this random stranger just because you got matching outfits!"

Abby was conflicted, glancing between Ari and Ethan. Just what was this information this man was holding? And why was he keeping it from us? But at the same time, what if there would actually be consequences if we did deliver this cure?

In the end, it was a glance towards me that settled the decision. "Sorry, we need to finish this quest. I made a deal, and I have to follow it through."

Yes, it was the deal with me. If I could help them get to this world, they would help me finish the quest and jump to an A rank. I had already fulfilled my part of the promise, so if she were to join the man and give up on the quest, then she would be breaking the deal.

Ethan stared into Abby's determined eyes for a long minute before speaking. "I see… this is something pretty important to you… I won't stop you from continuing, then."

Just then, I felt the walkway begin to slow. We were closing in on ground level, with a large plaza scattered with people right below us. Up front, the airport-like building stood larger than I had imagined when I first saw it.

At the end of the long tunnel, the ground came to a complete stop, urging us to continue by walking. This placed us, along with people coming out of many other tubes, at an inconveniently long distance from our destination. But the denser part of the crowd just about reached this exit, so the design was probably to ease traffic.

"The train station is quite something, isn't it?" Ethan exclaimed, trying to lighten the mood.

I gazed up at the large building. It might even look like an Olympic stadium, too, though it stretched far longer than one. So this was a train station? Those walkway tubes were already as fast as a metro line, so I wondered how quickly these trains would be.

The inside of the station still gave off the atmosphere of an airport, though. Rows and rows of reception desks were lined so far into the long chamber that the last desk was a mere speck in my vision. The ground was made of slick marble, and the ceiling of clear glass, reminding me of the temporal jump station back in the previous world. Of course, this building was much, much larger.

Behind the reception desks hanged large signs with rows of movable letter cards arranged into names of destinations along with costs. I couldn't pinpoint whether it felt more like the list of available films at a movie theater or a fast-food restaurant menu.

The lines, though, were…long. Even with the sheer number of check-in areas, the number of travelers was even more immense. Thankfully, we continued to stroll past the reception area without going into any of the lines. We already had our tickets, so that must be why we didn't need to stop here. That wasn't the case, however, with Ethan.

"Guys, Abrielle, can you wait for me for a while?" He asked as we left the reception desks behind us. "I need to buy a ticket."

Abby didn't even react to Ethan's request. We continued to walk at full speed, following the scattered travelers who had already bought their tickets. Seeing that we wouldn't be waiting for him, Ethan hurriedly left us to make his purchase.

The place we were heading to now was another long line. Each row of reception desks had a corresponding corridor through which people streamed in, so naturally, this line would be much longer. If this place was like an airport or train station, then was this the security check? I peeked at the front, and sure enough, officers were searching through people's bodies and belongings.

We were about to enter the new area when Ethan caught back up to us, breathing heavily from a short run. When I looked behind him, I saw where he just came from and how he could get that ticket in his hand so quickly.

It was the last reception desk of a row, where only a single person stood, receiving his travel pass. Above the desk was a large sign.

[Fast Lane]

[Pay to skip the wait]

I was still watching that sign when Abby called from behind me. "Day, do you still mind having me keep hold of your dagger?"

I swung my head around in surprise, my hand going to my knife, which was hidden under my shirt. "I told you, didn't I? I'm not part of your team—"

"Read the sign, idiot," Abby said, motioning to a board beside her.

[Note]

[The following items are not permitted beyond this point]

[Flammables or explosives]

[Toxic or corrosive chemicals]

[Weapons or sharp objects]

[Please dispose of these items before continuing]