ARABIAN NIGHTS REDUX (ARTHUR, RIANA / COMPLETE)

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Job Link: FREEFORM JOB (B-RANK, NEUTRAL)

Job Signup Approval Link: B-rank Neutral Freeform Job Signup Approval, Page 32, Post n°784

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It had been some time since Arthur’s latest adventure, the one wherein he had gone into the enchanted forest of Sakuramori in search of the only child of his client in that case since said child had apparently wandered deep into that bewildering magical forest and thus, Arthur was sent in after her to retrieve her safely. While solving this case, Arthur had met a rather intriguing young woman who was named “Lothric” and interacted with her as well which spiced up the events of that case greatly. Since then, he had gotten back to the daily grind of his everyday life part of which involved his ongoing psychic detective mage work, assisting his ultrawealthy and highly influential family and clan in the running of the multinational business conglomerate that they owned and ran due to his position as the sole heir to his family and clan as well as the next in line CEO of the associated multinational business conglomerate, as well as various other such tasks and obligations.

The other part involved furthering his prowess as a mage slowly but surely and he had been making great strides in this regard as of late. In this manner, time had marched on for him until the present day, wherein once again, he was relaxing in his exquisitely designed personal manor located in the heart of Crocus, the capital city of Fiore, which happened to be his current main base of operations. Naturally, as was his routine and that of his diverse group of 6 personal monstergirl maids whenever he was at home alone and relaxing, they were keeping him company and had arranged themselves at various points around him. For instance, 2 were seated on the armrests of the large, rather comfy, and ornately designed couch while 4 were sitting on the ground at his feet, and the remaining 2 were resting their heads on his lap currently. The head of these maids, a young female Dullahan named “Jeanne” who was in her mid-20s just as were the rest of her five subordinates, had noticed the footsteps of Arthur’s head personal butler, “Alfred”, heading at a brisk pace towards the room in which Arthur was currently relaxing with his monstergirl maids as his sole company

“Master Edogawa, it appears that you going to be visited by quite the distinguished client this time…for mine ears do hear the footfalls of our dear Alfred heading this way as we speak…so perhaps it would behoove you to ready yourself for whatever adventure this case is sure to take you upon?”

Upon hearing this Arthur sighed softly in exasperation as he realized his seemingly eternal quest for rest and relaxation with his beloved monstergirl maids who were his personal care staff was interrupted rudely yet again by some client wanting his services as a psychic detective mage.

She is right, of course…I do realize that…but why? O ye Norns above…why do ye consistently weave thine tapestry of fate such that my quest for leisure with my subordinates is interrupted thusly? Thou art most uncouth!!!

He ranted mentally thus while being silent outwardly and after giving this brief vent to his exasperation, he refocused his attention on his head personal maid and remarked while nodding

“Indeed, as loathe as I am to leave all of you again like this, I fear it be a necessary evil to do so…as this IS after all, the bread and butter of my chosen profession of a psychic detective magus….I shall endeavor to return with all due haste to your side as well as that of your sisters so that we may all once again enjoy some quality leisure time together, my dear Jeanne.”

With that, he gently disengaged himself from his monstergirl maids, much to their chagrin and his own as well, and after that, he headed off, got ready in short order, and headed off to his office where he was accustomed to meeting his clients and accepting their requests in the form of official contracts.

Arthur’s latest client was then shown to his office by “Alfred”, aka his head personal butler, and as he came in Arthur took a few moments to study her intensely, though outwardly, he merely appeared to have his usual air of nonchalant confidence about him as he awaited his client to take a seat across the highly expensive, fully custom-order, magitek smart table at which he was waiting, seated in his highly expensive, luxurious, fully custom designed, computer chair.

Sure enough…this one is indeed from Desierto in perfect accordance with what that fortune teller woman had told me whilst in her trance at those Halloween festivities here in Crocus that I attended a while back…if memory serves, she is going to request that I track down and rescue her mistress and said mistress’s personal maid, aka the first princess of the legendary “Djinnistan” kingdom of the djinn…and here I thought it was all just mere fiction and folklore concocted by the local populace of Desierto…

He mused silently as he watched the client, a rather statuesque woman of clearly extremely high-born Desiertan descent take a seat across from him. As he expected, after they had exchanged pleasantries, she did indeed request him to rescue said princess and her maid from the clutches of their captors

“Mr. Edogawa, we have heard a great deal about you and your work as a psychic detective mage…and were hoping that we could persuade you to take on this request as we have been turned away by everyone else in your profession due to the nature of the locale wherein the stronghold of my mistress’s captors have barricaded themselves is located here in Fiore.”

Arthur nodded, signifying that he understood her meaning, and then asked to confirm the identity of the woman’s mistress as well as the location of this client request

“I see…and you are of the highest echelons of nobility hailing from the legendary “Djinnistan” kingdom of the djinn in the deepest deserts of Desierto…while your mistress is none other than its exalted first princess and her companion is her closest personal maid…is that correct, Lady Inanna?”

Naturally, upon hearing this, said Lady Inanna was visibly taken aback and before she could stop herself, she asked of him

“H-How did you….?”

Arthur’s thin lips moved into his usual smug smirk as he heard this tone of surprise from “Lady Inanna” and he merely replied in his usual calm, controlled fashion

“I am a psychic detective magus, milady….it is my job to be cognizant of the various forces that play a major role in this world…but to answer your query more specifically, one of your fellow countrywomen told me of your arrival and showed me some vague details about this request you are sending me to undertake….after which, I merely pieced together the salient data about your people and their leadership from the research I did thereafter upon various myths, legends, and so on from your land of endless deserts. Now then, this stronghold is somewhere mountainous and snowy, I take it…so that would mean…the Mount Hakobe Settlements in Fiore…is that right?”

“Lady Inanna” nodded fervently, her deep-seated desire to have her mistress and her maid rescued safely quite apparent on her face and she even went so far as to take Arthur’s hands in her own and bow her head to him to emphasize her desperation in this regard while remarking

“Indeed, you are right, Mr. Edogawa. Please…I…no all of us djinn from Djinnistan humbly beseech you…please help us, you are our last resort as we do not wish to be the cause of an international incident between Desierto and Fiore by taking matters into our own hands…and besides, we djinn are beings native to Desierto, the land of arid, hot deserts, and thus are ill-equipped to lead an expedition into the frozen depths of Mount Hakobe, so there is that weakness as well…we would be forever in your debt for providing our beloved princess and her maid with much need succor in their hour of need.”

Arthur nodded again and reassured her that he would undertake this request and bring back the first princess and her personal maid safely and hand them over to “Lady Inanna”. With that, his meeting was complete and after giving him the details of where to find her in Fiore, “Lady Inanna” vanished from view, presumably becoming the smoky cloud that he saw leaving his office and heading out through the window nearby. After that, Arthur used his clairvoyance spell to reconnoiter his destination and upon doing so, he realized it was a two-person job. To that end, he sent out a job request of his own for a scientific magus skilled with magitek equipment and the like to join him on this conduct of this imminent investigation and rescue operation. Little did he know then that said scientific magus would be one of the most intriguing women he had ever met in his life till then.

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Arthur had just been waiting patiently for his job partner to arrive in response to his summons when his eyes caught sight of what seemed like a metallic behemoth racing towards him with some sort of reddish-orange contrails streaming along behind it. As he watched on, this mechanical monster came to a dead stop before him after which time, he heard a voice which seemed to be strangely garbled, like it was being or had been first put through an electronic sound scrambler before being played to him. As he listened, Arthur heard the voice identify the owner as the “Riana Maren” who apparently was the one who accepted his job request for a partner in this impending rescue operation.

Good heavens…this one sure seems unlike what I pictured…this should be intriguing indeed…

Arthur mused silently thus briefly before responding aloud in acknowledgement to Riana’s remark and question as well in the same breath

“Indeed. Thank you for answering my call to action. Now, please follow me.”

With that said as succinctly as possible for him and yet in his usual cordial, perfectly even businessman’s smile on his thin lips, Arthur led Riana over to his magitek smartmobile which he had driven in to meet Riana before heading off to the job in question and after getting into the backseat, he awaited her to get in as well.



Once that was done, he inquired of her regarding the job details, his face being completely and naturally inscrutable as he spoke to her in the same perfectly calm and measured tone from before along with that smile of his as well

“So, Ms. Maren, if I may ask…did you peruse the job details for this task of ours before accepting it, perhaps? Or would you like me to provide you with the summary of the most salient details?”

After that, he fell silent and then awaited her response and reaction, whatever those may be and, in the meantime, he began to review the various plans of action which he had prepared for all the scenarios he was anticipating as possible occurrences over the course of this job.

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After he saw Riana get in, Arthur began to drive his magitek smartmobile from the Errings Rising guild hall to the road that would ultimately lead them to the foot of Mt. Hakobe. Shortly after commencing their sojourn, however, Arthur noticed Riana had doffed her powered suit and revealed what was presumably her true form, if for no other reason than the fact that her exoskeleton would not fit into the confines of the vintage design of Arthur’s smartmobile. So, he was led to remark in a tone that indicated both great curiosity and equally great amusement whereas his facial expression was still completely inscrutable in appearance

“Aha, so is that your true form then, Mademoiselle Maren? Something tells me it is a great honor and a rather rare treat for me to get to witness such a thing first-hand.”

He was about to say more, but then, Riana remarked about how the details he had provided on the wanted ad which led her to respond to his call for assistance were a tad spotty, so he put his smartmobile on autopilot with the usual command-phrase

“’FRIDAY.EXE’, please engage autopilot henceforth until destination is reached successfully. Also, please set the GPS navigational coordinates to the Mt. Hakobe Settlements.”

To that, an electronically generated and yet pleasant to hear female voice responded accordingly and then, light humming was heard briefly in the background as the smartmobile’s systems switched over to autopilot in the next split second

“Understood, Master Solmes. Commencing shift to autopilot now…Control shift of all systems to autopilot is now complete. GPS navigational coordinates have been successfully set to the Mt. Hakobe Settlements.”

To that, Arthur responded accordingly and then activated the teleporter built into the smartmobile’s driver seat which then caused him to disappear and then reappear across from where Riana was sitting in the passenger compartment of the smartmobile

“Acknowledged. Stand by for further instructions as and when necessary.”

With that, the conversation between Arthur and his AI assistant was over and then, he turned his attention to Riana’s remarks to answer them

“My apologies for that brief delay in my response to you, Mademoiselle Maren. Now then, regarding this task we are about to undertake…it is a rescue mission which I have been hired to complete by a foreign client. The rescue targets are a certain foreign princess and her personal maid who have been captured by our enemies in this case. They are being held inside the fortress that is the Fiore branch of the enemy headquarters and this is located deep in the Mt. Hakobe Settlements area.”

Arthur paused there to ensure that Riana was following his narrative without issue and then resumed explaining

“Unfortunately, these enemies are far too heavily armed for me to infiltrate their fortress alone and stage this rescue of said princess and her personal maid thereafter. Alas, I am a detective magus by trade and while I do dabble in magitek research and development and am conversant to some extent with the various workings and advancements salient to this field, I am still just a mere dilettante in comparison to a true profession in this field such as yourself. Thus, I do not possess the requisite scientific expertise and knowledge to successfully navigate their technologically advanced fortress once inside. That is why I have sent out a wanted ad for a professional scientific magus to assist me in this endeavor, and thus I am grateful that you have answered that call to action, Ms. Maren.”

With that, he fell silent and waited to see what Riana would say and do in response to his explanation and to see if she had any queries on her end to pose to him regarding the rescue operation which they both were about to undertake once they reached the foot of Mt. Hakobe.

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Arthur nodded to Riana’s remark about how her specialty was weapons and then remarked in return, keeping it brief and to the point since he knew he was dealing with a scientifically inclined partner

“Indeed.”

After that, he listened onwards to her remarks about how all she needed from him was the path to the target location and so, he obliged her

“’FRIDAY.EXE’, please generate a full-color, 3-D hard-light, fully-interactive, and holographic reconstruction of the enemy’s base of operations along with the surrounding area to within 4-5 clicks away from this mission’s target structure. Also, please include a detailed scan of the interior of the structure from the reconnaissance data that has been gathered thus far.”

To that, the pleasant and yet clearly computer-generated female voice of his custom A.I. answered back, confirming his request

“Understood, Master Solmes…now commencing processing of given request…processing complete…now commencing generation of requested construct...generation of requested construct complete…now awaiting further instructions.”

To that, Arthur replied, giving the next set of instructions for his custom AI as per the needs of their conversation and situation then even though he realized a partner of Riana’s caliber probably did not require his assistance in navigating the enemy’s stronghold

“Excellent. ’FRIDAY.EXE’, now please display generated construct on screen.”

To that, the pleasant and yet clearly computer-generated female voice of his custom A.I. answered back, confirming his request

“Understood, Master Solmes…now commencing display of generated construct on screen.”

A split second later, the soft hum of the display hardware was heard briefly signaling it was booted-up and ready to run the task at hand. Then, from the space in between the seats on which Arthur and Riana were sitting, there arose a small black cube-shaped projector and from the lens on the top face of this projector, the holographic construct he had requested his A.I. to create and display could be seen, complete with annotations of the important points throughout it. Then, Arthur began his explanation, making sure, as he had been doing till now, to keep it brief and to the point

“Apologies for the brief delay, Ms. Maren. Now then, as you can see, this structure is built into the mountain and possesses a heavily guarded and reconnoitered main entryway, an equally heavily guarded and reconnoitered rear entryway…but the side entryway is the least guarded and reconnoitered of the three…since it is naturally guarded by being positioned above a sheer cliff-face with a ledge that is too narrow for most common intruders, whether supernaturally talented or not, to access safely…and also due to the presence of various deadly predators, both magical and otherwise, that prefer to make their nests higher above on this face of Mt. Hakobe…”

Arthur said, tapping the relevant points on the electric blue holographic display, which highlighted the entryways he had just described in neon green and then, he tapped on the defenses and surveillance equipment, highlighting them in neon red. Then, he traced a path highlighted in jet black within the interior of the display from each of the three entryways to a point deep in the bowels of the structure. Here, there could be seen a smaller free-standing structure floating in midair and this was highlighted in neon purple, indicating that it was the destination for this mission and two humanoid heat signatures could be seen therein.

“…and these are the three shortest routes to take for us to reach this structure shown here…my attempts at reconnaissance indicate that this isolated structure is where the targets are being held captive…and it is they who need rescuing in this mission of ours.”

Then, he paused to ensure that she was following his narrative and then resumed his explanation

“A hammer-and-anvil approach should suffice for the purposes of this mission. Specifically, please proceed inside from either the front or the rear entryway. I shall enter simultaneously from the side entryway and then both of us are to meet up again after making our individual sojourns through this stronghold at this structure highlighted in purple.”

After that was done, he addressed her final point upon which she had inquired of him, the one regarding his stance on eliminating the opposition

“None whatsoever, Ms. Maren. All I ask, is that you avoid damaging the target structure and its contents I have indicated as our destination as far as possible and that you be as thorough as possible in the enemy elimination process such that it would be impossible for any third party to discern what will have transpired during our mission here. Naturally, I shall do the same as well on my end as this matter is a rather delicate one.”

Before falling silent, Arthur trailed off with this one final remark about the irony of the situation

“Ah, and in case you were curious, the specific irony that we have come all this way out only to return deeper into the territory which we had just come from is not lost on me at all, Ms. Maren. However, it is completely by design as it is necessitated by the demands of the situation, I assure you.”

After that, Arthur fell silent and waited to see what Riana would say and do in response to his explanation and remarks.

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