Discussions

Being stuck in this world certainly had been a weight on Elmo's mind. Not only was there no indoor plumbing, but he missed his computer. While having the system and using magic was fun, he wished he could return home. Although, he wouldn't mind it if he could continue to do this from time to time.

Not that he expected to be able to return if he ever did get back to his home. While he'd like it, he doubted things would, or could, ever be that convenient.

"What would be required to not get stuck here?" Elwin asked.

The king shook his head as he held up his hands helplessly, almost in a gesture to indicate he had no answer for the question. "The announcer always indicated about who had completed so many challenges, but he never said how many were needed to win. The most number of challenges that I'd ever even heard of someone completing was nine. Yet, even that didn't seem to be enough."

"So, no ideas of how many more it would take?" Kim asked. "Like if we'd need to complete all the set challenges in addition to that or something?"

"I'm sorry, but one, even if you complete all the set challenges, or are credited for assisting in doing so, then you're not necessarily going to win. My wife, my brother, and I were all able to do that, so we know for a fact that it's something more."

There wasn't any more immediate questions and Elmo couldn't' think of anything to ask either. Even though he wished he could just make the king explain everything in a way that he'd be able to understand and dispel all the confusion he had about how the competition worked. Yet, he knew that wasn't likely to be possible. Even if he could find the words to use to express all the doubt that filled his mind about it all, he seriously doubted that the king would be able to satisfy his doubts and worries about it all.

"I don't mean to be rude," Owen said, pulling Elmo out of his thoughts, "but would you mind if we discussed this without you here?"

"Of course," the king answered, nodding. Then he turned and left.

Elmo sighed as the door closed behind the king. He wasn't sure what would happen now, but he couldn't help but suspect that Owen didn't fully trust the king. Which made him wonder if it was just that Owen didn't trust him in general, or if he was able to pick up something in regards to his thoughts.

"So, what you think?" Patrick asked a minute after the king had closed the door.

"Should we really trust him, you mean?" Owen asked.

"Well, more in regards to what he said about challenges and all that," Patrick said.

Owen sighed. "He wasn't lying about any of that. Or at least from what I could tell," he replied. "But even so, There were times when I couldn't see into his mind, so I don't know if that's because of his system or because I'm more tired than I thought."

"Or because there could be something else going on that either might disrupt your system or protect against it," Kim remarked.

Owen looked at Kim, surprise evident on his face. "You know, I hadn't even thought of that."

"What if we accepted his help?" Elmo asked, thinking of what they might be able to do with even just financial support to get the supplies they needed while in this world. Such as food and shelter if nothing else.

"Ah, but if we accept it, what else are we accepting?" Elwin asked.

"What do you mean?" Elmo inquired, feeling confused as he couldn't follow Elwin's line of thought.

"It's simple," Leon answered for Elwin. "He's offering help, but at what cost? I've never found someone, especially a king, who offered something like that without hoping to gain some king of benefit. Even if it's just the recognition of being such a great and charitable guy, there's always some kind of ulterior motive in my experience."

"So you're saying he's not doing it to help anyone but himself?" Elin asked, having just swallowed a mouthful of food before stuffing it again.

"Pretty much," Elwin answered. "I mean, maybe he does want to help but us, but he also might be just wanting to get rid of us as quickly as he could."

"Yeah, I'd imagine that might be the more likely 'ulterior' motive you mentioned," Jonas remarked.

"If that's the case, what should we do?" Patricia asked, sounding like she really didn't care what everyone else did. Which Elmo wouldn't be surprised if that really was the case.

"That's a good question," Owen replied thoughtfully. "Do we accept his help and hope it doesn't come back to haunt us? Or do we decline his offer and hope he doesn't take that to mean we're his enemies?"

"Why would he think we're his enemies if we don't accept?" Elin asked. "Aren't kings supposed to be concerned for the wellbeing of those in their country?"

"To an extent," Kim answered. "While he has to consider the wellbeing of those in his kingdom, he also has to be wary of powers that might bring chaos to the kingdom as well. If we're not willing to accept his help, then he might take that to mean that we either might have designs on deposing him as the ruler of this country or that we might not care about his people and didn't care if we laid it to waste in dealing with the challenges."

"That sound a bit extreme," Patricia remarked. "I mean, I can understand what you're getting at, but I think it'd be more likely that he would worry that we might ally with his enemies if we didn't accept his help."

"Ugh, politics," Kim muttered.

"Well, like it or not, we're stuck with it either way," Owen commented.

"Regardless of whatever we decide in the long run, I think we should accept the king's offer," Patrick said. "If nothing else, it'll help us with access to information. If the next challenge is something that involves magic, he might have people who can help us research that. If it has to do with hunting something down, like a few of the secret challenges that some of us have managed, then they might be able to help us in that way."

"You sound like you fully trust what they tell us will be accurate," Kim accused.

"It's not that I trust them, it's more that if the information proves to be misleading and/or deliberately false, then we'll know not to trust it later on. However, turning down the king's offer could make him an enemy. If he does become our enemy, then that might make completing challenges more difficult than they would be otherwise. If we find he isn't to be trusted, then we can always distance ourselves from him and maybe make it seem like we died on a challenge or something."

"Not a bad assessment," Jonas remarked. "Although, I doubt it'll be easy to convince the king we died unless he sees our bodies." Jonas paused as he sighed. "I'm also hesitant to bring in other participants to get help from the king, even ones who I personally don't trust, because I can't say that the king is really on the up and up."

Jonas then looked at Elin and smiled, pausing what he was saying. Elmo glanced at her and was surprised to see that she'd started leaning against Kim and had fallen asleep.

"Is that all you had to say?" Bart asked, sounding a little surprised.

Jonas returned his gaze to the others and shook his head. "No, just something else crossed my mind for a moment, but its not that important," Jonas answered. Then he took a deep breath and let it out. "If nothing else, I've found a few people who can at least be trusted, but I have a feeling that if push comes to the king or us, they'll pick the king. So, it would be best to try and not create a situation where there would be divided loyalties. That said, I think Patrick is right. We should accep the king's offer and only look for an opportunity to get out if it appears he's not as much of our ally as he seems right now."

"Well, if that's what both of you think then I'm in," Patricia said, smiling. "Could also be good to have somewhere to rest where we're not in danger while we try to improve our skills. I mean, it's been a real pain up to this point."

"Not a bad idea," Owen commented. "I guess that means we'll all probably be seeing more of each other for a while."

"Guess I don't have much of a choice then," Kim said in a serious tone. "Although, I doubt we'd be able to do much research on our won, since while we can speak the language, I doubt it extends to reading it."

"Fair point," Patrick replied. "However, I'm sure we can learn more than we would without the assistance."

"You know, as I think about it," Jonas remarked. "If the king really isn't someone we should trust fully, then he probably would help us out without any issues at first. Only later would he then start to try to deceive us." Jonas paused for a moment. "Or at least he would if he was smart about it."

Elmo wasn't sure what to make of what had been decided in front of him, but he didn't feel like arguing. If nothing else, he was glad at the idea of being able to work at leveling up his spells. He was sure that it probably would help him out more than trying to just complete the challenges had been.