Episode 66

The screen, which had been showing the forest for a while, slid straight down to reveal military boots striding unhesitatingly through the grass. As it traced upward from the toes and along the legs, Abrea’s face appeared, a spirit perched on his shoulder.

In every place he passed, tiny lights—spirits—peeked their heads out between the blades of grass like meerkats, watching Abrea. The spirits, staring intently at his back, all flew after him in a line.

Abrea, who had been quietly lost in thought, slowed his steps and stopped before a flower bud not yet fully ripened. When he reached out and stroked the bud, the spirits beside him flew over and quickly made the curled-up flower bloom. Seeing that, Abrea’s face remained so expressionless that it was impossible to guess what he was thinking.

In the brief moment the camera held on Abrea’s face, the fresh flower withered and a golden fruit formed. The spirits looked up at Abrea with faces full of expectation, but he still showed no reaction at all.

Just then, from behind, a member of the Jeop-a people dressed in Eideas attire flew over and lightly set foot on the ground. The moment that scene appeared, someone in the audience cried, “Flight!” in a fuss. Their voice was a little loud, so the people who heard it burst into laughter.

It’d be nice if this really were an area where flight was possible. Then I could have aerial combat with Gang Jegyeong. Fighting on the ground and fighting while flying were quite different. I’d also get to see him flounder since he’d never properly done aerial combat before.

― “Abrea.”

While I was lost in other thoughts for a moment, the Jeop-a who had just flown over called Abrea. But Abrea only tilted his head slightly, still fiddling with the fruit the spirits had swiftly brought to bloom.

It was an attitude that could have been offensive, but the Jeop-a dealt with Abrea as if he were used to it.

― “Adam has summoned you.”

― “……The little house? Or the research hall?”

― “He is at the little house.”

― “I’ll go at once.”

Abrea, who answered without hesitation, was about to walk away when he stared intently at the golden fruit the spirits had made. Soon, he plucked the fruit off with a rough hand, tossed it to the Eideas Jeop-a, and strode off.

The researcher, who had received the fruit in a daze, stood there holding it in both hands. Then the spirits that had made the fruit cautiously approached, made the golden fruit in the researcher’s hands vanish in an instant, and fluttered away as if they had planned it in advance.

― “He could’ve just brought a bastard like me along, really.”

It seemed the reason he let Abrea’s dismissive attitude slide was because it had not happened only once or twice.

Near the Jeop-a, who stood there alone grumbling, there was a faint rustling sound. The Jeop-a turned his head toward the source of the sound, then discovered someone and bowed his head in a respectful greeting. With that as the last image, the video’s point of view returned to Abrea without revealing the identity of the person who had approached.

The place Abrea headed to was a cabin sitting alone in the forest. They called it a little house, and it really was small.

After passing the entrance and going underground, a study appeared that looked incredibly spacious compared to the size of the cabin. Paper documents were scattered here and there, and all sorts of drawings and memo sheets were plastered over the walls. In that cluttered place, Adam sat at a desk, staring fixedly at something, while Abrea frowned and crept toward him, careful not to step on the papers strewn across the floor.

Adam lifted his head and opened his mouth without even asking who had come.

― “I told you it wouldn’t work, didn’t I?”

― “I haven’t even brought up that I failed yet.”

― “Then did you succeed?”

― “……No.”

I didn’t know what subject they were talking about, but whatever they had underway didn’t seem to be going well. Abrea plopped down into an extra chair near the desk and vented his dissatisfaction.

― “Those old geezers. When I go and talk to them, all they do is make a noisy fuss. They don’t even think about helping.”

― “I told you to give up on the hard-liners. Those guys are the type who get their stomachs twisted just from a Sina showing up.”

― “I can’t. Without the elders, I can’t meet the Jiju people.”

― “I told you I’d open a path for you.”

― “How many times have I told you I’m not accepting your help?”

Even if only for Howa. At Abrea’s firm attitude as he muttered that, it was Adam who raised both hands in surrender. He merely let out a deep sigh and did not repeat the same words any further.

Instead, he brought up something else.

― “Now that even the Eideas of the Bia people has been coming in and out of this place, the Witerahit bastards have caught the scent too. In a few months, they’ll break through the maze and discover this place.”

The rumor that the Jeop-a Eideas and the Bia Eideas had joined hands would spread in an instant too. As Adam continued speaking, he did not look worried about that problem. Rather, the one clutching his head was Abrea.

― “I haven’t even met the Jiju people yet, and already……”

― “It’s fine. You’ll manage it.”

― “……Why are you praising me for once?”

Abrea’s expression turned odd, but Adam was the same as ever.

― “No, it’s not praise. I’m saying you will manage it.”

Abrea fell silent, as if he had realized what Adam was saying. Abrea, who had kept his mouth tightly shut with a grave air, spoke with difficulty.

― “Even so, I can’t just sit still. I have to move, if no one else will.”

― “And that personality of yours is probably why you’re being used.”

― “Conversely, I’m using god too.”

……I had absolutely no idea what this part was about. The conversation was difficult to understand. Abrea would manage something, and even knowing that, Abrea would move, and Abrea and god were using each other.

I couldn’t get a feel for it. Was it because I only knew the story halfway, or was this something I’d understand only after clearing the main quest that would proceed in the next update?

Thinking that to myself, I shifted my eyes and looked at Gang Jegyeong. Did he understand? I wanted to ask, but seeing him still focused on the video, I couldn’t easily speak to him.

While I was looking at Gang Jegyeong for a moment, faint footsteps sounded from the trailer video. Hearing that, Adam and Abrea paused their conversation.

The light sound of shoe heels, as if someone were coming down the stairs, drew closer and closer, and Abrea’s expression gradually hardened with wariness.

By the time the sound had come right up to them, the familiar-looking purple spirit sitting on Abrea’s shoulder rose into the air and transformed into a massive scythe with two blades.

He snatched up the weapon as if accustomed to it and brought it down on the door with all his might. At the same time, admiring screams burst from the crowd. I also focused on the scene of Abrea swinging the scythe with all his strength.

It was a new class.

― “Hey, wait……”

Before Adam could stop him, Abrea swung the scythe again, and the door, gouged and ripped by the blade, slammed into the wall. In front of the basement door stood a person with a hood pulled over their head.

― “What are you?”

With his wings fully bristling, Abrea asked in a growling voice. However, the outsider who had suddenly appeared did not answer the question and merely muttered in a low voice that was hard to hear.

At that moment, a golden spirit appeared, and a golem larger than Abrea was raised up. Unlike the blunt, sluggish-looking golems we had seen before, it was slender and angular, giving off a sharp impression. Once again, exclamations of wonder, high and low, filled the stadium.

― “Hey, hey, wait……!”

Adam seemed to have realized something and hurriedly tried to stop Abrea, but Abrea, already seeing red, spun the scythe dazzlingly and rushed at the golem. Then a transparent shield formed in the golem’s hand and blocked the sharp attack. The impact sent the papers scattered around flying in every direction.

― “Ah, damn it!”

Abrea and the outsider were fighting seriously, but Adam, the actual owner of the house, was the only one making a fuss off to the side, snatching at the papers flying around. He moved frantically and gathered the papers into a neat stack, but another shock wave from the two attacking and blocking each other sent more papers scattering.

Neither of them showed the slightest sign of holding back as they displayed dazzling techniques. Abrea’s heavy attacks hidden within his flexible movements and the golem’s sturdy yet sharp, versatile skills drew the eye. In the stadium, whenever a skill that seemed strong or overpowered appeared, all sorts of exclamations burst out. No one had the slightest interest in Adam’s suffering.

Only after a paper finally tore did Adam grind his teeth, grab every vial on the desk, and throw them between the two. Abrea, who had shown not the slightest interest in Adam picking up papers, noticed the attack with ghostly precision and retreated to avoid the vials filled with an unknown liquid. The only one hit by the vials and drenched in the liquid, its form melting away, was the golem.

The golden spirit that emerged from the vanished golem fluttered weakly like a drained mosquito and flew back to the hooded outsider.

Once the fight had come to an end, Adam yelled in fury, veins standing out on his neck.

― “I can understand Abrea! He doesn’t know you!”

Fortunately, Abrea did not get scolded. Abrea, who had no idea what was going on, looked back and forth between Adam and the outsider with a strange expression.

― “What are you doing, Dia? Why are you suddenly showing up and picking a fight?”

― “……Dia?”