“It’s a testing ground established by a madman who captured an emperor.”
“Mad……?”
“Cheep cheep—!”
Mepisto protested in front of Gru, telling her not to use harsh language, and Kazuki, who had been listening with interest, roughly ruffled Bellark’s head.
“You should watch your words.”
“…….”
Bellark bared his teeth at Kazuki with a growl, but Kazuki just smiled and ruffled his head even more roughly.
“Did a mad person make it?”
“A kid doesn’t need to know.”
Whether he was annoyed or simply didn’t want to say, Bellark clamped his mouth shut.
“Doesn’t Mepi know?”
“Peep peep—”
Mepi tilted his head in confusion.
“Ooh, you don’t know. Mepi, you don’t know much…….”
“Cheep!?”
“……The first dungeon of Liberation Village you have just entered is a place that reproduces the first floor of the Tower…….”
Just then, Dosent’s explanation continued: ‘It was originally planned to be five locations, but due to certain circumstances, only four were opened.’
Gru opened her mouth wide.
The fifth one would never be opened in the future.
Because Gru was growing potatoes there…….
No wonder it had felt like a splendidly decorated park—it seemed it had originally been planned for something grand.
If it had been intended for this kind of purpose, the losses must have been enormous; would it be okay?
It was the moment when Gru, resolving that she would need to grow many more potatoes to make up for the losses, was about to send her grandfather emoticons once again to express her gratitude.
“They call it a tower, but it’s exactly the same as a dungeon.”
A boy who looked to be elementary school-aged crossed his arms and spat out gruffly.
At this, Dosent, who was guiding them through the exhibition hall, said with a smiling face.
“Because a tower is a kind of dungeon too. Our friend knows a lot about dungeons, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah, well. I know a thing or two. I’ve watched all the dungeon documentaries and visited the experience center about a hundred times.”
When the boy answered proudly, Dosent clapped, saying he was amazing.
“This much is nothing…….”
It was when the boy shrugged his shoulders and turned his head.
He suddenly made eye contact with a doll-like pretty girl.
The girl blinked her large black eyes, then whispered with someone called ‘uncle’ and broke into a bright smile.
He could feel that other people besides himself were also stealing glances at the girl and her uncle.
They were the kind of gazes that pretty and handsome people always received.
“…….”
From eavesdropping on the conversation, the girl’s name seemed to be ‘Gru.’
Gru……. She would have been prettier if she weren’t wearing that weird alien hat.
Then, he saw the white baby bird sitting on Gru’s head glaring at him as if wary.
The boy turned his head, his mood turning unpleasant.
They weren’t the only ones receiving attention.
Besides those two, there was one more person.
His light almond-colored hair and eyes took on a golden hue in the light.
When the boy looked at the man, he broke into a grin. A pretty dimple formed on his cheek.
He was a person whose every movement was languidly pretty. He was bowing his head and talking to someone beside him.
It was when the boy tried to look over his shoulder to see who the pretty man was talking to.
“This is the Hall of Heroes. If you stamp here, you can receive a photo card.”
It was a place where specimens of dungeon creatures seen on the first floor were lined up along a circular wall.
Photo cards!
The boy moved busily to get a photo card.
Strangely, when he tried to recall the face of the man he had just looked away from, a hazy fog rolled in.
Was he surprisingly forgettable?
But the boy’s thoughts didn’t last long.
That was because his gaze was stolen by the giant hologram before him.
In the center of the grand exhibition hall named the Hall of Heroes, light was streaming down.
Beneath it, there was Jurim, kneeling on one knee, breathing heavily, and wiping the sweat flowing down his chin.
Gru and Kazuki’s mouths fell wide open.
It seemed to be part of a practice video, but the care put into it was so great that it felt as if young Jurim was really moving right before them.
“Dad is young!”
“Young On-chan!”
Gru and Kazuki took out their phones and began filming the hologram Jurim earnestly.
At the imagination of taking pictures and showing them to Jurim, sinister cackles burst from the two aliens.
It was the moment Kazuki was about to send the photos right away.
Someone approached the hologram On Jurim and handed him a towel.
It was On Ijo.
“Wow!”
“On Ijo!”
At On Ijo’s appearance, exclamations came from here and there. Some foreigners even shouted loudly in support.
The undisputed hero of the 100th floor.
Unlike everyone else who had collapsed from the grueling practice, On Ijo’s kind and warm-looking gaze remained unchanged.
He had a face that seemed like it would never show weakness easily.
Even beyond the hologram, he was someone who gave off a sense of stability that put even the viewer at ease, and yet an inexplicable sense of distance.
Gru stealthily glanced at Kazuki, who had canceled the transmission, and quietly asked.
“Is Dad still very sad?”
“……Hmm.”
Kazuki, carefully choosing what to say, slowly opened his mouth.
“Gru-chan, some sorrows don’t disappear.”
Gru nodded, feeling like she vaguely understood sorrows that didn’t disappear.
Kazuki smiled bitterly and straightened the ribbon tied at his chin.
“But you know. Those sorrows sometimes hide deep inside the heart and rot away.”
“Then what do we do?”
“You hurt more from the sadness.”
At that, with a sorrowful expression, Gru clasped both hands to her chest and hugged herself tightly.
Had Uncle hidden deep inside Dad’s heart and rotted away?
“So you don’t have to wait until it stops hurting. Let’s take On-chan out from where he’s hiding so he doesn’t hurt more, and gently comfort him.”
Without hurting…… Gru murmured the words and nodded.
“Gru-chan, you can do it, right?”
“Ye-s.”
“Good. Shall we go get the photo cards now?”
“Ye-s!”
Kazuki and Gru slipped out from beside the hologram.
Perhaps because everyone was preoccupied watching the hologram, the line was fortunately not long, so Gru could stamp her booklet with a bang and receive a photo card.
Meanwhile, Kazuki kept getting pushed back as he yielded his place to young children.
“I-I’ll be right there.”
Kazuki laughed with an awkward expression as he was pushed backward.
“Ye-s!”
Gru answered loudly and moved out to a less crowded spot.
‘Please be the siren-eyed one!’
She took out the photo card from the paper case, took a deep breath, and checked it.
But soon her lips pouted out.
“This one’s not that good…….”
Then, a voice suddenly cut in from behind.
“Why? Isn’t this one cuter?”
“No. This one doesn’t have siren eyes.”
“Ah, I know what you mean. But this one has a sleepy gaze. Cute.”
He’s sleepy every day……. Dad wasn’t even a cute person to begin with. He’s the cool type.
Gru raised her eyes.
She met warm-looking almond-colored eyes.
“Then, want to trade that photo card with me, mister?”
The man held up a photo card with siren eyes.
At the same time.
*Ding!*
[Chk— Registered as guardian— chzz— chk— guardian— chk—]
*Ding!*
[Chk— Registered as guardian— chzz— chk— guardian— chk—]
*Ding!*
[Chk— Registered as guardian— chzz— chk— guardian— chk—]
Huh?
What was going on?! Gru blinked her large eyes again.
*Ding!*
[Chk— Registered as guardian— chzz— chk— guardian— chk—]
Hwaah!
Gru’s system had broken down!
What happens when the system breaks down?
Stats? Skills? No way…….
‘Gru, am I going to become powerless like this……?’
The fear that she might instantly become a powerless person swept over her, making her dizzy.
‘No!’
It was when she was about to reveal her flustered state, utterly terrified.
“If you don’t want to, you don’t have to trade.”
Gru shook her head.
That wasn’t it, but something more important had happened…….
As Gru’s face grew pale, Mepisto called Bellark.
“Chirp—!”
Bellark nodded and took Gru’s hand.
“It would be best to leave.”
“Huh?”
“Come.”
“Cheep cheep—”
Bellark and Mepisto urged Gru.
Why are they acting like this all of a sudden?
Do they know that Gru’s system broke?
Gru, who was about to follow Bellark, looked at the flickering system window and suddenly looked up at the man.
He seemed to have been scrutinizing her every move when their eyes met, and he smiled awkwardly, his dimples pretty.
At that sight, her head suddenly tingled.
As if something was about to come to mind but not quite.
Beside him, the hologram of On Ijo and On Jurim was moving busily.
On Ijo held On Jurim’s head and wiped his sweat-soaked back hair with a towel.
Jurim looked annoyed as he leaned into it, but much more at ease. His gaze was drowsy, just like in the photo card.
On Ijo was finding such Jurim adorable.
Gru turned her gaze upward again and moved her lips.
“Uncle?”