Nikolai stood a few steps behind C and Mouse as the party reconvened with Elfen, still flicking off some of the water that clung to his avatar's form after his dive into the lake. Thankfully for them, it seemed that the young elven girl took her loss rather well despite her initial disappointment upon realizing she had lost the game. By the time they were gathering up, she was already casually chatting away, the impromptu super soaker match clearly having done its job at entertaining her.

"Glad you enjoyed yourself. It was a fun break," he said, smiling as he took back the loaned water gun from the child.

The Longarm froze up for split second upon Elfen's casual mention of her "rat person" friend. While it was hard for Claude to imagine the rather disagreeable Tazu being anything close to friendly based on Vance's brief meeting with him, he couldn't think of anyone else that would fit the description, player or NPC. While he had seen a wide variety of character models that stretched the meaning of "Beastman" throughout his time playing R:Fusion, Tazu was the only person he had seen who was specifically modelled after a rat. This was possibly the lead that Claude had been looking for, but it undoubtedly brought up several questions. Was this relevant from before or after Vance, Douken, and Artemis had witnessed him being kidnapped by Aether and that white wolf? And just who were her parents and how were they related to him? Cernunnos, if the quest was of any likely indication, but the mother?

In any case, Nikolai would not let much of a reaction show on his face or dwell on the matter long enough to the point of it being noticeable. It seemed that he had no choice but to follow up on her words by finding this "Elfed" person, anyway. He was tempted to get her to clarify and give more details, but before he could come up with a way to subtly talk her into doing so without coming off as suspicious once more, she made her farewells to the three of them and left the area, triggering the completion of the quest at the same time.

Why this experience functioned as a tangible in-game quest to begin with was another question he wanted answers to, but no idea where to even start on that. The thought of more normal players being dragged into The World's problems under the conceit that it was all part of some hidden in-game event or questline was rather unnerving for him.

C was the first to thank the rest for helping as well as apologize to Nikolai specifically for casting doubt on him... even if those suspicions were entirely justified. He felt another pang of guilt upon hearing her apology, especially since he would probably have to confess to the ruse to her at some point. Nonetheless, he waved it off as if it were no big deal as he took back the super soaker he had lent her.

"Oh, it's fine. I didn't mind. Considering who you can meet online these days, you can never be too careful. It was nice to meet you, either way, C. And you as well, Mouse," he said as he received the last of the duplicated Super Soakers of Justice from her, nodding in acknowledgement as she thanked him for his assistance with the monster. "Glad to have helped with that. I didn't even know monsters could lurk down there. If CC Corp does gives these out again, that'd be certainly be nice of them. And I can try selling these off as first edition premiums. If you do get your own, I'll be happy to take you on anytime."

Nikolai brought a fist to his mouth as he suppressed a chuckle, thinking of the chaos that might ensue from people around town shooting each other with water guns. Of course, if either of them ever happened to purchase a legitimate one of their own, either from the rumored to of the shop or elsewhere, then it's likely that they would quickly discover that they would not function as regular toy water guns outside of battle unless CC Corp randomly decides to add such a functionality to newer releases of the item, which would likely restore any sense of dubiousness they would feel toward him. Either way, it wouldn't be Nikolai's problem, as that guise would be long retired by then.

Probably.

He waved goodbye to the Runechemist as she made her exit, leaving him alone the pink-haired Soul Eater. A sense of awkwardness lingered from his end as he stashed away the duplicate weapons into his inventory, to be deleted and scrubbed clean from the system the next chance he had to do so. Certainly they needed a moment alone to talk, but this was definitely the worst moment to do so, considering this character and its credentials were completely altered from their usual state. Though from this experience, he was glad to see that she seemed to be doing well enough. Even though, according to Chihiro, she expressed rather extreme frustration toward him by comparing him to... stinky, fermented pollack?

Momentarily looking toward the sky where New Fort Ouph now hung above, he turned to C and bowed politely. "I promised to meet an acquaintance soon, so I'll be heading out as well. Enjoy the rest of your day." Giving one last wave to her, he walked away, heading toward the direction of the Chaos Gate, but turning toward a secluded corner of town out of everyone's sight. With a sigh and a few quick glances at his surroundings to make sure no one was around, he switched displays and typed away at his keyboard as all the illegal alterations to his character were gradually undone, eventually leaving a Crusader with ash-colored hair standing in the Longarm's place.

Vance could feel the tension leaving his body as he was once again in the game as his usual self, stepping back out from the alley he had walked into and as he stood among the crowds of players. He didn't expect to be Nikolai for that long, nor did he plan to, as he still wasn't sure how safe it would be after that botched encounter with Raven and that GM. Leaning against a nearby building, a floating window appeared before him as he scanned through his text logs, mulling over what the party received from the quest.

This keyword... will this lead to Tazu? The way this quest was set up, it certainly implies that that's the case. Putting aside why this was set up like this in the first place, I can only assume that two others are necessary and are to be obtained in the same way as this one.

Crossing his arms and frowning, he couldn't help but be a little worried. Anyone could use these words if they earned them just like his party did.

I'll just have to try to get all of them first before anyone else. Hopefully, C and Mouse decide not to pursue this "questline" further... though I suppose I know the answer to that for one of them.

Shaking his head, he continued on and eventually reached the Gate, intending to transfer over to New Fort Ouph. Aether may know something, if he could catch him when he was around.