Lena stretched her arms as she left the gaming chair. She didn’t have her own palace yet in Olympus, so Lifre had offered to let her stay in her room for now. “All done with the test?” Lifre asked, sitting on the bed and swinging her legs happily.
“Yup! Just some basic stuff.” Lena nodded her head. “So, what now? Any other work that I need to take care of?”
Lifre tilted her head, taking a moment to think. “You can go through some of the recent reports if you want? Usually, Tsubaki and Dale handle that, and Dana chips in at times when she’s not doing something else.”
“Right.” Lena said, turning towards the terminal at Lifre’s desk before pausing, and slowly turning back. “So, what do you usually do?”
“Me?” Lifre grinned at the question. “Whatever I want!”
Lena blinked, pausing for several moments. “No, I mean, what are your responsibilities between missions? Do you have any jobs that you have to do around Olympus, any regular errands that you need to run?”
“Nope!” Lifre shook her head quickly. “Tsubaki tried to teach me how to do maid work way back in the day, but stuff always broke when I tried to clean it, so she said I’m not allowed to do that anymore. I did paperwork for a while, but now we have the AI assistants for that! So, unless there’s some big emergency, I just either do my writing, or run off in pursuit of adventure!”
Lena… wasn’t quite sure how to take that. She thought that she remembered a sense of immense freedom when she had channeled Llifre’s identity, but she didn’t look too deeply into it at the time. “They… really let you get away with all of that?”
“Yup! Why, what did you do when you were done with missions?” Lifre asked curiously, leaning forward on her bed.
Lena simply shrugged her shoulders. “I had a special cave mansion that I needed to navigate through different traps to get in and out every day. The elders always had someone come and replace the traps with new ones that they were testing out, so I could keep my skills sharp. Once I actually got inside, I was expected to write a detailed report on my most recent mission and be on standby for my next one.”
Lifre paused, staring at Lena. “What sorts of traps?”
“Oh, the usual. Divine mist poison, teleportation traps, memetic agents, and the random patrolling ninja with a godkiller gun.”
“Are you sure that those were for training, and they weren’t just trying to kill you off?” Lifre asked with wide eyes. Lena simply chuckled, shaking her head.
“They only increased the difficulty of the traps when I got too comfortable. Anyways, does that mean I don’t technically have any duties or anything right now?” She asked, smiling brightly.
Lifre nodded her head, her own smile matching Lena’s. “As long as there wasn’t anything major that you needed to report from your last mission, you should be good!”
Lena tilted her head, thinking about that. “Well, they had me monitoring any criminal organization I could find… obviously there is a lot that I learned. What exactly should I be reporting?” She asked, flicking her finger to bring up a golden window, scrolling through the different conversations that her divinity was now monitoring.
“I’d say just anything that threatens the existence of a planet, universe, or someone from Olympus. Otherwise, local law enforcement should be able to handle it. It’s not like you can expect to just eliminate crime in one fell swoop, right? If we did something like that, it would just make them become more dangerous.”
“Right.” Lena agreed with that, looking through. “Well, there’s that one terrorist group on the seventh level of Fyor. They’re planning to shatter the mana spire in about a month.”
Lifre shook her head. “Just drop a warning to the local law enforcement. As long as it’s just a plan for now, that’s not something for us to get involved in. What was it Dale used to say…? Ah, right, mortals have to be able to solve their own problems. If they become too reliant on him, it will only lead to disappointment in the long run. It’ll become Olympus’s problem if the scale gets too big, or they target one of us directly.”
Lena nodded her head in understanding. “Got it.” She said, before focusing on sending a mental message. “In that case… want to go find something fun to do?”
Lifre’s grin widened once again. “I thought you’d never ask! There’s this new dungeon that Aurivy placed in the sixty-sixth floor of Fyor, it’s supposed to be filled with food monsters. She said that there was a burrito snake, a burger turtle, a sloppy joe slime, and even a flying spaghetti monster.”
Lena couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “Well, let’s go out to eat, then.”
The two hopped to their feet, running side by side and rushing out of Olympus, whereupon Lifre took out her travel token and slashed open a void gate. However, on the other side of the gate, they were stunned by what they saw. They had arrived on the right floor of Fyor, but… the weather had taken a turn for the weird.
It was raining heavily, a torrential downpour that crashed down like a swarm of bullets. In the upper floors of Fyor, something as simple as rain was an incredibly deadly event, given the increased gravity as well as the density of the water itself.
Thankfully, those able to come this far had their own ways of dealing with the weather of these floors. For instance, Lifre’s skin rippled with every raindrop that hit her, but Lena created a barrier of divine energy above her body.
The weird part was that this wasn’t normal rain falling, but rather a red liquid. Lena glanced over at Lifre, who absorbed a few of the raindrops. “Is this normal for this floor?”
“Nope! I’m guessing that Aznod has been experimenting with the local energies. The rain is… spicy! Really, really spicy!”
“Right…” Lena blinked, not wanting to see what the slime considered as spicy. “Either way, lead the way to the dungeon before meatball comets start to fall!”
It took Tsubaki three more attempts, but she was able to clear the trial that she had set, after which she could reliably clear similar missions. She wasn’t quite able to abandon the tools altogether as Lena had done, but she could reliably clear the ‘outer space cargo retrieval’ mission.
After that, she had Cici design new mission types for her, that way she had a wider range of scenarios to test herself against. With each of these trials, she had to take a brief adjustment period, after which she could gradually clear each mission.
After she managed to clear five different trials, Tsubaki considered herself ready to stop, thanking Cici and exiting the game. After stretching for a long moment, Tsubaki closed her eyes to synchronize her memories with those of her various clones.
In doing so, she learned of Lena and Lifre’s departure, letting out a small sigh. In truth, she didn’t particularly have any extra assignments for Lena to do at the moment. There wasn’t anything major that required her immediate attention, so long as she had suitably completed her previous mission.
Besides… it is probably a good idea to let her unwind for a while. Tsubaki thought back to what she had seen of Lena’s past. Giving her some free time would probably do her good. Though, there were a few things that she needed to take care of before their return. Lord Tubrock, how long would it take for you to arrange another palace for Olympus?
Aye, for the new fox lass? Tubrock responded in a gruff tone. I’ve got ‘bout a dozen spare palaces in my forge. Do ye want any customizations to this one?
Tsubaki thought about it for a long moment, before shaking her head. No, just something standard. I’ll take care of the extra decorations myself.
Tsubaki hadn’t just been training her combat classes with the various clones that she had created, but also various craftsman classes. As such, she decided to put those skills to the test, sending messages to the relevant clones on what she wanted.
After which, she sent out another message. Aurivy… can you bring me Lena’s clone?
Lena hadn’t taken a break from her mission to speak with the elder of the ninja clan. Nor did she sneak out of her mansion or missions any time the White Shadow was called. Instead, Lena had a dedicated identity clone of herself, one that was always waiting to be called upon as the White Shadow.
It took a few moments for Tsubaki’s request to be completed, but soon golden mist began to spread out in front of her. When the mist dissipated, Lena was standing there. Only… this wasn’t really Lena. Tsubaki could not feel the same identity brand on her that was placed on Lena.
This Lena looked at Tsubaki, tilting her head. “I was called to Olympus?” She asked in confusion. Tsubaki could sense that she was… bored. As if she had spent ages just sitting around and doing nothing. “Are you relieving me of duty?”
Tsubaki let out a sigh, moving to sit on a nearby chair. “I’m aware that you are Lena’s backup identity, the one that handles tasks such as impersonating the White Shadow, and keeping an eye on your main body’s information networks. I’m also aware that you don’t have a constant mental link with your main body, sharing your memories. If I’m correct, you instead have a similar monitoring ability placed on each other as the one you used for those networks?”
Lena nodded her head, agreeing to Tsubaki’s comments. “That’s right. Now that my main body has been given a name, I suppose I’m not needed anymore?”
Tsubaki felt something tug at her heart when she heard that. She thought back to Lena’s description of her identity clones. In this Lena’s mind, she was no different from the main body. She had her own sense of self, she had her own instincts. “You are still needed.” Tsubaki said in a firm tone. “I will not allow any talk of being discarded, so long as you are in the Keeper’s service. Is that clear?”
Lena’s eyes widened slightly, and Tsubaki thought she saw a bit of life returning to them for a moment, so she continued. “Your main body has already explained to me what her identity clones are like. You are not just a pawn to be discarded, and neither is she. The two of you, together, are Lena. Even if she is the ‘Golden Shadow’, and you are the ‘White Shadow’, you are both Lena. That is the name that the Keeper gave to you.”
Lena hesitated for a moment, before nodding her head. “Then… what do you want me to do, senior? I’ve always lived off on my own, so that I can keep out of my main body’s way and stop everyone from realizing…”
Tsubaki smiled, standing up and walking over to give Lena a soft hug. “I know, Lena. I saw it all. There’s no reason for you to hide who you are anymore. In fact, I would like you to apply the same identity brand to yourself that she has. It would make it much more convenient for you to operate in Olympus.”
“You want me to stay here, senior..?” Lena looked up at Tsubaki, who nodded her head.
“This is your home now. I may not be the best person to say this, but we are all a bunch of misfits here, with nowhere else to go. I’d say that you fit right in. I’ll speak with your main body, and we can arrange something. You can either set up a distinction between the two of you, like Dana has done with her familiars, or you can both accept the identity of Lena. In that case, the two of you could take turns going off to play with Lifre, while the other stays here and helps Dana and I with our work.”
Lena’s eyes widened a bit more at that, nodding her head more energetically. However, Tsubaki wasn’t done yet, a rare, mischievous smile on her lips. “But first… let’s work on a surprise for her. You’re going to help me design the furnishings for your new palace. Since she doesn’t have a constant link with you, that means that she won’t know what to expect.”
