“What on earth was she trying to say?”
After the banquet ended, I returned to my room and lay down on the bed, but sleep wouldn’t come.
Because what Naira had said kept tormenting my mind.
‘Was she really just joking?’
I didn’t know.
I was far too inexperienced in this sort of thing.
But to dismiss it as a simple joke, her face had seemed slightly different at the very last moment.
It had been a little red.
Whether it was because she had been drinking or for some other reason, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
“Should I ask Miss Emily tomorrow?”
I immediately shook my head.
The two of them were friends.
Even if she knew how Naira felt, there was no way she would tell me.
At times like this, I needed to deliberately turn my thoughts elsewhere.
And as it happened, the window I had pushed aside after the raid ended was still there in my field of vision.
I should have checked it right away, but I had been distracted by one thing and another, so I’d set it aside. Who knew it would help me like this?
I immediately pulled the window in front of me.
Its contents were far more surprising than I had expected.
[Notification: You have leveled up!]
[You have acquired stat points.]
“Oh! It’s a level up!”
Even considering there had been a two-level gap, I hadn’t expected to gain an entire level.
On top of that, the purple on the experience bar was already filled by about half.
If I hunted hard all day tomorrow, level 10 wouldn’t be a dream.
And the window didn’t end there.
“What’s this?”
[You have achieved the highest contribution!]
[Notification: An additional reward will be granted.]
“A-additional reward?”
Originally, the boss reward granted all raid participants gold, the currency of Arcadia, and special materials obtainable from the Lord of the Forest.
I thought that alone was enough, but to think another reward would be given on top of that.
It was a moment when I felt that risking my life had been worth it.
With my heart pounding, I pressed the reward button.
“Ooh!”
A pure white light appeared in my hand.
A dazzlingly intense light.
It gradually faded, and at last formed a single shape.
“T-this is… the reward?”
I stared blankly at the reward that had appeared in my hand.
It was a small stick.
A white wooden stick that could easily be held in one hand.
Flustered, I opened the stick’s information.
[Forest Wand (Bound)]
A small staff made from a branch guarded by the Lord of the Forest. The power of wind dwells within it.
Magic Attack Power +5, Wind-type magic usable
My head went cold.
A staff.
Of all the countless weapons, it just had to be a staff!
“How am I supposed to use this!”
Tears came to my eyes.
I had been so full of anticipation because it was a reward, and this piece of trash came out.
Of course, judging only by the weapon’s specs, it was an excellent staff.
Any player who used staves would go crazy and pounce on it.
The problem was that a staff was useless to me.
No, I hadn’t even put points into my magic stat, and I had no proficiency, so where was I supposed to use this!
It was even a bound item. I couldn’t sell it to anyone.
Tears pricked at my eyes from the sheer injustice of it all.
“Seriously, why is everyone doing this to me… Uwaah.”
It was a night that utterly shattered my mentality.
***
The next morning.
As I was listlessly picking at my breakfast with hollow eyes, someone approached me.
“Does our Miss Ian have something worrying her? What’s wrong today?”
“Ah, Miss Kate…”
I smiled bitterly.
“I just didn’t sleep well last night.”
“For that, you look awfully sulky. Did something happen?”
But I couldn’t exactly say in front of Miss Kate that it was because my reward was trash.
I had no choice but to clutch my aching heart and force a smile.
“Ah, right. I’m leaving today.”
“Hmm… I see.”
Though she accepted it, Miss Kate’s face was full of regret.
Was that why?
She pulled over a chair and sat down in front of me.
“To be honest, I’d expected it to some extent.”
“Pardon?”
“How long do you think I’ve been running this inn? I can tell at a glance when someone’s about to leave.”
I thought I had hidden it as much as possible, but had it been that obvious?
Just as I had grown attached to her, it seemed Miss Kate had given me a great deal of affection as well.
My heart felt heavy.
While I had no idea how I should say goodbye, Miss Kate spoke to me.
“Has it been over a week since Miss Ian came here?”
“It has been a while. Maybe around ten days?”
“That is quite long.”
Thinking back on it, among the players who had stayed here, I had indeed been the one who stayed the longest.
As for me, I had stayed because I liked the village’s atmosphere and the warmth of its people. Honestly, compared to Staria, it wasn’t a good place to use as a base.
“Actually, before Lian was born, I had a daughter.”
“Pardon?”
“If she were alive, she’d be around the same age as Miss Ian now. So when I first saw you, I thought my dead daughter had come back.”
I had thought she was strangely kinder to me than others, but I never imagined there had been circumstances like that.
Besides, I had originally been a man.
The fact that she had felt I was like a daughter left me feeling unsettled.
Miss Kate continued speaking.
“I had a husband back then, too. Did you know? The name of this inn was something my husband gave it.”
Her gaze, which had been steeped in reminiscence for a moment, turned toward the forest spread outside the window.
“Actually, even ten years ago, that forest wasn’t dangerous. Thanks to the guardian deity, children often went there to play, and the villagers would offer tribute among themselves.”
I was trying hard to maintain a calm expression, but inwardly, I couldn’t help being shocked.
Was it because I was stunned by the fact that her husband and daughter had died?
No.
It was because I was flustered by the fact that the guardian deity, the boss we had risked our lives fighting yesterday, had come from Miss Kate’s mouth.
“But at some point, the guardian deity stopped accepting offerings. We did think it was strange. But back then, we thought perhaps he simply didn’t want to burden us. I should have realized it then…”
The story that followed was the common sort: people continued going in and out of the forest as usual, only to be attacked by the maddened lord, and she lost her husband and daughter.
But the contents didn’t really enter my head.
‘Why didn’t I think of this?’
Most players didn’t form deep relationships with NPCs.
Because they were NPCs.
Because they didn’t give out many quests.
For one reason or another, most people instinctively kept their distance.
Unlike them, I had unintentionally formed relationships with NPCs.
And late though it was, I had been able to hear a story about the boss.
To the NPCs, this world wasn’t a game but reality.
It was only natural that they had more information than players.
If we hadn’t overlooked this fact, would a slightly different situation have unfolded?
Could we have reduced the sacrifices?
I didn’t know.
My head felt heavy under the sudden wave of information.
I needed time to sort out my thoughts, but Miss Kate’s words reached me, so I couldn’t.
“The people you went with yesterday went to subjugate the guardian deity, didn’t they?”
I nodded.
At my nod, Miss Kate closed her eyes gently, a delicate smile on her lips.
“I see… Then my husband and our daughter can finally rest in peace.”
A single tear fell from her closed eyes and rolled down her cheek.
To hide my reddening eyes from the hot tears that could not be dismissed as belonging to a mere NPC, I lowered my head.
“Miss Ian. If things get hard, you can come back anytime. I’ll always be here.”
Miss Kate gently took my hand.
After staring at that hand for a moment, I raised the corners of my mouth slightly.
“Yes.”
It was an incredibly warm hand.
***
After saying goodbye to Miss Kate and coming outside, there were people waiting.
“That took quite a while. Did you have something to prepare?”
“I was saying my goodbyes.”
It had been so hard shaking off Lian as he cried and begged me not to go.
He seemed mature at times, but a child was still a child.
I asked Emily.
“So you’re going back to Staria?”
“We need to go report that it’s been cleared. There are things to wrap up, too. Miss Ian, you said you’re going straight to Area 2, right?”
“Yes.”
No matter how I thought about it, yesterday’s victory had simply been good luck.
If not for the fluke of climbing onto the tiger’s back, that place would have been our gravestone.
So I had to grow stronger.
Because I had once again keenly realized that I needed power in order to decide my own life for myself.
“But it really feels like a waste to let you go like this…”
After thinking for a moment, Emily held out her hand to me.
“Miss Ian, why don’t you just join our party outright? What do you two think?”
“I’m in favor. Where else are we going to find a kid who fights a boss alone?”
“M-me too…”
The gazes of the three turned toward me.
I could feel various emotions in their eyes—expectation, excitement, worry, and more.
But my choice did not change.
“No. I think I’ll keep wandering alone for now after all.”
Even now, when I closed my eyes from time to time, their faces came to mind.
I heard voices filled with resentment, and I felt their gazes.
That was why I couldn’t join a party all the more.
I knew it was an illusion.
I knew I was running away like a coward.
But I didn’t want to put anyone else in there anymore.
Because I never wanted to experience someone dying because of me ever again.
“Why go that far?”
So in response to Naira’s question, I looked at Emily and smiled.
“Maybe it’s the same as why Miss Emily got angry at Arca yesterday?”
Just as she had her circumstances, so did I.
Realizing what I meant, Emily sighed and shook her head.
“Phew… Then I guess it can’t be helped.”
Instead, I took the hand that was still held out toward me.
“But I’ll participate in the boss fight. Let’s do it together then.”
“All right.”
Her hand and mine shook up and down.
“Then let’s make sure we meet again alive.”
“You too, Miss Emily. You too, Miss Mugi, and you as well.”
After shaking hands with Naira and Mugi as well, I stood there and watched until their figures disappeared.
“Well then, shall I get going too?”
Now that the farewells were over, I left the village in earnest and entered the forest.
The road to Area 2 lay beyond the clearing the boss had been guarding.
Perhaps because of the aftermath of yesterday’s battle, the ferocious beasts that had targeted players in the forest were nowhere to be seen.
Before long, I arrived at the clearing where the desperate battle had taken place, and I was able to face the boss’s corpse, which had not yet disappeared.
‘This tiger was the guardian deity Miss Kate mentioned.’
To be honest, I wasn’t particularly interested in why it had suddenly started attacking people.
Even setting aside the emotions Miss Kate had shown, I simply thought that since this was a game, it must have that sort of setting.
What interested me more was the fact that Miss Kate, as well as all the older people in the village, had known of the existence of the boss called the guardian deity.
From this, I thought that if I interacted closely with the NPCs in the areas ahead, perhaps I could quickly learn of the bosses’ existence.
Not in a month, but in about a fortnight… No, if I was lucky, perhaps I could discover the boss within a week.
I had no certainty.
That was also why I hadn’t told Emily and the others Miss Kate’s story.
But if I could prove the relationship between NPCs and bosses, it might be a great help in the strategies to come.
If so, what I needed to do in Area 2 was to raise my level higher than everyone else, and—
“This time, I should be the one to discover the boss.”
I passed by the tiger and moved my feet beyond the clearing where Area 2 lay.
Before long, the dense trees disappeared.
The fields swaying in the wind vanished as well.
What soon revealed itself was a procession of dry rock masses towering up to a dizzying height.
A massive mountain range blocked my path.