Markets and Multiverses (A Serial Transmigration LitRPG)
Chapter 275: Illusory Deaths

The two of us were a little closer to the blast than I had thought we would be. The gouts of flames and crackling booms were quite a bit more spread out than expected. Clearly, the worldstriders had tried to prevent my illusion from teleporting out of the explosions.

Luckily, we’d been overcautious. Anise and I had stayed at the edge of the valley, and we were quite a ways away from the Worldstrider camp. The explosions were still unpleasant, but nowhere near deadly.

Even so, my ears were ringing as the explosions ripped the world asunder. I completely lost control of my illusions, and the collapsed into flickers of light. At the same time, I started to feel the distinct presence of manifestation essence. The worldstriders had done something to boost the explosions, although I had no clue what.

After the rattling of the world started to slow down, I saw the worldstriders fly higher and start to examining the area. Unlike us, and the now-charred prairie, they were completely safe from the explosions. They went to work putting out the fires they had started with their explosives. More concerningly, they started looking for something else.

It didn't take much though to realize they were looking for my illusions, or their corpses. Anise and I took out a few animal corpses, and then used magic to shred the corpses to pieces. We had originally planned for the illusions to die in a different way, but we could make adjustments.

After about thirty seconds of prep, I teleported several bits of rabbit bone and flesh into random parts of the valley. I sincerely doubted the worldstriders would expect an intact corpse after the explosions, so this would do well.

Then, we turned around and left. My illusions had already harassed this camp for days. Now seemed like a good time for them to make their exit. Besides, the Worldstrider camp was almost out of soldiers. There wasn't much left to do if we wanted to keep our moral code.

We spent the next half hour sneaking away from the camp. The dimensionally prolific creatures didn't notice our exit, and so we didn't run into any trouble. We also got a few System notifications as we departed the area.

I looked at the unpaid Achievement total and shrugged. I wasn’t worried about waiting another year or two to get my reward. I was happy that we now had confirmation our actions had done something. And we had managed to stick to our moral code and still impact the war a bit. Figuring out which Worldstriders were soldiers took up a lot of extra time… but we had still accomplished something. I felt much better about our actions, and we had still succeeded.

I started to think about how much time we had spent fighting this camp, and how much time we had left. We had originally started with about two weeks of break. If we wanted to return to school on time, it was a good idea to leave Verne within the next five or six days.

That was still plenty of time to hit another camp or two, but not enough time for more than that. As we walked and searched for another camp, I decided to call Felix. I missed talking with him. It only took a minute before he responded to my communication bracelet call. I smiled as I felt Anise join in.

<Hey Felix. How are things going over there?>

<Not great but not bad. The railroads are still underway, but our group hit a funding problem. Some of the investors have started to question whether railroads will ever outclass airships, which is… annoying. Airships don’t even haul goods, just people. The lifting capacity of an airship is too abysmal to actually matter for shipping purposes. Whichever investor asked that doesn't seem to really understand what we're doing...> said Felix, before he sighed at us. <It’s a little infuriating. It’s mostly something the team leader deals with, luckily. If I had to deal with people asking dumb questions all day I would go crazy. On the bright side, we have most of a working engine now, and I think we’ll have a proper proof of concept within a year or two. If we’re lucky, we’ll see trains start to spring up everywhere within a decade. The prosthetics team is also making good progress. The country is paying a lot of attention to some specific hand modifications the team has made.> I could hear pride in Felix’s voice, and it made me smile. Inventing trains in a new dimension was no small feat, and Felix had every right to be proud of himself. 

For a moment, the conversation fell into an awkward pause after that. I waited for Felix to say something else, but it took him almost a minute to continue speaking. When he spoke next, he sounded uneasy.

<What about you two? Run into anything dangerous?>

<So far, most of our fights have been under control,> I said. <Anise hasn’t gotten the keyword she wants yet, but we have gotten some promising System notifications. Oh, the worldstriders also blew up my illusions,> I said, trying to inject a bit of humor into the conversation. <To stay safe, we haven't actually fought the worldstriders head on once. That saved us last time, since the shadowy blobs decided to light up a whole valley. They stole a bunch of gunpowder, and then spruced it up with old Zelyrian tech.>

<Sounds dangerous,> said Felix.

<It wasn't too bad. We've decided to 'play dead' for that group. The illusions are keeping us safe. It's working surprisingly well so far.>

<As long as you two are safe,> said Felix, after some hesitation. <I admit, a part of me feels bad for not being there to support you two.>

<Don’t worry about it. Focus on the railroads. Right now, you should focus on building yourself up!>

<Yeah, Felix,> Anise said. <You don’t need to feel bad for not being with us. Someday, you’ll find a way to make Alchemy work well in combat, but right now, you should focus on your research! Every tool you polish now will serve you well for the rest of your life! That's what my teacher last life told me about magic!> Then, she hesitated. <Also, something you might want to know. Miria and I decided on a… code of sorts. For what enemies it’s okay to hurt and which ones it’s not.>

<Even after what happened last time we met them?> Asked Felix. He didn’t sound scandalized, but he also didn’t sound happy about it. He sounded almost… confused?

<It’s because we shouldn’t let hate control us,> said Anise. <And because killing noncombatants is wrong. That’s what we decided. It’s okay if they’re soldiers. But if any sapient enemy isn’t a warrior, we should try to avoid hurting them.>

<The Worldstriders have noncombatants?>

<We found a lot of smaller ones zooming around the first camp we found. As well as a few… farmers? And a few carvers. Not quite sure why the Worldstriders have such a specific need for lots of carvings, but I’m guessing culture or religion. Either way, they weren’t military,> I said.

<I see.> Then, Felix sent a wave of confusion through the bracelet. <Wait, they brought kids to a warzone? That doesn’t make any sense.>

<I’m also baffled. I can’t figure out if it’s due to some sort of… biological quirk about their reproduction… or some sort of culture thing. I don’t know,> I said. <They looked like children. I have no good explanation for why they're here. Ask the worldstriders.>

Felix sent me a sigh. <That is… odd. Do the two of you plan to keep up the code in future worlds? I don’t think I’d mind that, actually.>

<I intend to keep following the code in the future,> I said. <I kind of like having a code to keep our heads straight. I don’t want to become like the old Market. They did some awful things for the sake of Achievement, and I don’t ever want to become like that.>

<I like it,> said Felix. <Being able to revive after death makes death less... scary, I think. We know what's coming after death. We know that most of the time, it isn't truly the end. But that doesn't mean that we should treat death casually. It's still a full memory wipe most of the time. Anytime people die, they lose all of the connections they've built over their lifetime. They lose everything but their continuity of self. I don't mind trying to respect that as much as possible.>

<Can you think of anything we should add to it?> I asked.

<I’ll have to think about it,> he said. <I’ll let you know if I come up with anything new. For now, stay safe. And Miria,> he said. <I’m glad that you and Anise made the code for combatants and noncombatants. Sallia’s death hit you the hardest, so I’m glad that you’re starting to move past it. I know she isn’t really dead - after all, we can still talk to her, and we’ll see her again when we die. But you don’t seem to like being away from any of us for too long. Or being unable to hug us.>

<I’m a very physically afectionate friend?> I said sheepishly. <Besides, if you don’t hug someone, how will they know how much you care about them?>

<I don’t mind that Miria hugs everyone a lot,> said Anise. <It feels nice.>

I smiled. Anise got it!

<My point is that I’m glad your moving forward,> said Felix. I could almost hear him projecting laughter through the bracelets. <As for hugging people all the time… I’ll take it under advisement. I gotta go. Research team meeting soon. But I'm glad you two called me for a bit. Stay safe out there!> Felix disconnected.

I turned towards Anise. <Well, I have seven days left before school starts back up. We should leave in five or six, to make sure we get back in time. Are you ready?>

Anise nodded.

<Let’s make the rest of our time count.>