033 – My Lime Golden Apple Tree #4
Coexistence with the monsters inside a rift is impossible─.
So concluded a rift scholar of the 5th Industry era.
And in truth, monsters were violent creatures — monsters pure and simple, untamable to the core.
It would be no exaggeration to say that I, who once had to fight my way through rifts without so much as proper equipment, understood the terror of monsters better than anyone─.
━Zzji.
━Zzji.
━Zzji.
Watching the Assassin Scorpions chattering away among themselves as they led the way, I felt my entire worldview shifting and shaking at its foundations.
What judgment would Yu Ari — a doctor and former ace — make of this scene?
"Ari, what do you think they're saying to each other? What does it sound like to you?"
"...Zz... Zzji...?"
"What on earth could 'zzji' even mean?"
"...I really... have no... idea."
Even as she said it, Ari's face flushed red.
Apparently some embarrassing thought had crossed her mind. Maybe her panic when the monsters first appeared had come back to haunt her like an embarrassing old memory.
"Can I really trust you on that?"
Lee Jina, who was following behind the scorpions, asked me.
Ang-ang-i and the scorpions' behavior was certainly suspicious. But I trusted Ang-ang-i.
"Ang-ang-i is trustworthy."
The little guy was learning how to run the washing machine these days, you know.
If I can't trust the one who washes my clothes, who exactly am I supposed to trust?
Shwick—.
At last, a dead-end wall appeared.
The scorpions began swarming up the wall in a clump, and just as the sight was starting to feel both grotesque and strangely majestic, Yu Ari reacted.
"L-look at that. Doesn't it look like some kind of pattern?"
The scorpions clinging to the dead-end wall. Just as Yu Ari said, they had arranged themselves on the stone in the shape of an uncanny pattern.
"...Runic script?"
For a moment, I waited for something interesting to come out of Yu Ari's mouth─.
Flash—.
The assassin scorpions' bodies blazed with light.
Gooooooh—.
At last, a door none of us had ever seen before appeared in the dead-end wall the scorpions had been clinging to. It happened in the blink of an eye, and it was such a wondrous thing that all I could do was stare in astonishment.
Zzzzz—.
As the scorpions filed through the newly formed door, I asked Lee Jina, who was checking her watch.
"How many minutes left? In a Fixed Rift, if we don't get out within 10 minutes, the rebound hits our bodies too when the rift resets, right?"
A time attack — we had to leave within ten minutes. If we didn't, our bodies would be forced back to the state they were in ten minutes earlier, a process so agonizing that everyone had drilled into us: never, ever miss the deadline.
"Seven minutes left."
Lee Jina called out the time.
Just then, Yu Ari approached the door.
"I thought this rift had already been fully studied. I had no idea a mechanism like this was hidden inside. Though I suppose with a rift that restores itself every 10 minutes, research isn't easy — maybe that's why it stayed hidden, or maybe it was concealed on purpose─."
"Let's go in."
Exploring an unknown rift. It was a familiar thing to me — and a nostalgic one.
Back in my first-generation days, when I'd had to lead the charge into every rift, virtually all of them were unknown territory, brimming with secrets.
It felt like adventuring through a dungeon. Like I'd been thrown back to those old days, and honestly, my blood was starting to stir a little.
"Let's check it out. Jina, keep a close eye on the time — we should always have a comfortable three minutes or so in reserve for getting back to the entrance. Ari, you take the rear."
Fortunately or unfortunately, beyond the newly opened door there was only a single room.
Inside, grass was growing — most un-ruin-like — and at its center, a fist-sized pebble glowed brightly. It looked like an exceptionally warm and wonderful stone.
"What is this? Some kind of glowing rock?"
I picked the pebble up.
The instant I did, the grass growing across the floor withered in a heartbeat, crumbling into powder that scattered on the air.
It was an astonishing phenomenon, and while I was still reeling from the warmth of the stone, Yu Ari spoke up.
"That stone seems to have the power to make plants grow! According to elven records, Baldr is a god of light, and with his wife Nanna, the goddess of plants, he cultivates crops together."
Shwick—.
Yu Ari took the pebble from my hand.
As the owner of Super-Sense, Ari had an extraordinary knack for intuitively grasping the value and nature of all sorts of objects better than anyone else. She was what you might call a human scouter.
After examining the stone from every angle for a while, she said,
"It seems like an ordinary rock. And yet it also feels similar to relics that have been discovered before. You know, the items on display in museums."
Relics.
At that word, my head swam.
"Relics, as in things like Gungnir? Items only S-Ranks are allowed to use?"
Rifts occasionally yielded 'extraordinarily precious objects.' Most were bought back by the state at enormous cost and put on display in museums, or else used as pollution-free power sources for things like power plants.
Such objects were generally called relics — or artifacts.
And S-Rank awakeners had the right to borrow those artifacts from the state for a time. Well, it was a privilege granted on top of the obligation to close T-Rank Rifts.
"Hey, hey! This is no time to be standing around chatting. We're out of time!"
Only three minutes remained to us. It was time to head back outside.
"Shame. I wanted to explore more. If we wait for our turn, can we come back in?"
I felt like a little kid getting off a fun amusement park ride and immediately lining up to ride it again. Just as I was wondering whether this rift might let us re-enter the same way─, Lee Jina scrunched up her face.
"What do you think this is, an amusement park? You can only enter a Fixed Rift once a week."
Thinking of an amusement park when it came to re-entry, huh. Lee Jina's sensibilities were more similar to mine than I'd realized. Probably because we were both from ordinary backgrounds, raised in the same kind of neighborhood.
Grow up in similar places, and you end up thinking similar thoughts, I suppose─. I marveled at it even as a deep disappointment settled over me.
So we could re-enter in a week, sure — but I was supposed to stew for an entire week with my heart swelling with adventure like this?
But it wasn't as if there was anything to be done about it. That was the law, so what could you do.
That was when it happened.
Yu Ari gently poked me in the side. Poke—.
"W-well, appearances aside, I am a civil servant. If I put in a good word with the rift's administrator, I think we might be able to manage one more entry."
"Oh, seriously?"
Civil servants really are the best!
Before the 5th Industry era, everyone and their mother hadn't studied themselves into the ground to become one for nothing, after all.
# # #
We picked up the wonderfully warm relic pebble and made it safely out of the rift. Even just that much had been a blast.
Relics, as a rule, belonged first and foremost to whoever got their hands on them.
"A warm pebble. With this, our heating bill this winter is saved."
Gas prices had climbed sky-high lately, and it was a real worry. Oinoi was the type of nymph to hibernate through winter, so she hated the cold.
Keongkeongi also slept through winter on account of the chill, didn't he?
And even Ang-ang-i, being an ant, had apparently said his movements slowed in winter and that he slept through it too!
"Now that I think about it — my whole household is nothing but creatures that sleep through the winter."
But if we kept this stone at home, we wouldn't have to worry about any of that.
"Hee hee."
Of course, there was still the matter of splitting the stone into three. We were a three-person party, after all. Fights over loot division were a time-honored tradition.
"Will re-entry really work? I doubt it."
Just then, Lee Jina narrowed her eyes as she watched Yu Ari's back, talking with the administrator. She seemed skeptical about the power of civil servants.
We waited about thirty minutes. Then Yu Ari waved at me.
"Senior! They say we can go in!"
"Oh."
Civil servants really were the best.
And so we entered the Fixed Rift one more time. But unlike before, the door wasn't hidden this time — it stood wide open, and beyond it was nothing but an ordinary stone-walled room.
Ten minutes had passed and the rift had surely reset, yet the relic pebble apparently didn't fall under the rule of 'reset' at all.
"Too bad. It would've been nice if there'd been one in every room."
Just as I was tucking away that disappointment, Lee Jina asked,
"So how are we splitting it? Honestly, if it weren't for that ang... ant of yours, we never could've gotten this thing, so I'm out. I'm not that interested anyway."
Was she bowing out of the bidding for this relic-grade pebble? In that case, the rights to it belonged to me and Yu Ari.
Soon Yu Ari looked at me and spoke.
"Jina, was it? Jina's right. We never would have gotten this on our own, so honestly... I'll leave my share to you too, Senior."
Everyone was being so reasonable about it that it warmed my heart.
In exchange, Yu Ari raised one finger and said,
"But it is a fascinating subject, so may I come by now and then to look at it, or touch it? And if any crumbs flake off the pebble, please seal them up and send them to me."
"That much? Anytime."
I granted her request gladly.
Anyway. That's how our Fixed Rift exploration came to an end.
My only regret was that I never got the chance to swing my Beam Saber around─.
━Keong-keong...!
━Zzji...!
Well, thanks to these guys we finished the adventure without a single fight, so maybe I should call it a blessing?
Keongkeongi in particular was absolutely thrilled.
━Keong-keong...!
"You like this pebble, huh?"
━Keong-keong...!
Still couldn't tell you what he was saying, though. No matter how far science advances or how sophisticated AI becomes, it seems translating animal speech is simply an impossible task.
"Jina, you're even giving me a ride home? I don't know how to thank you."
On the way back. Two of us had come, but three were returning, with Yu Ari along.
With the three of us, it somehow felt like the ride home from a school picnic, and we chatted away merrily about things like the game cards and stickers we used to buy at the old stationery shops.
"Oh! Did you collect cards too, Senior? I collected tons of those rubber ones! I saved up my allowance to buy them, but all I ever got were Carp Kings, and I cried!"
"Really? I liked Carp King, though. Evolve it and it turns into Gyaradlos, you know."
"Honestly, Eevee was my favorite. With just a stone, you could evolve it into all sorts of different things however you wanted! And it looked like a little fox, so it was adorable too!"
We chattered on and on like that, and before we knew it, we'd arrived back at the neighborhood where I lived.
Lee Jina dropped me off first in my yard, then called out through my half-open window.
"Next time I'll drop you off at the stationery store, so tell me when you've got time."
"Sure, why not."
Vroom—.
The delivery truck pulled away with a rattling old-engine groan. Thanks to that, every dog-squirrel in the neighborhood started barking up a storm.
━Keong-keong...!
━Keong-keong...!
"She's juggling two jobs and raking in plenty of money — why won't she replace that thing? Anyway. Oinoi! I'm home! Have you been behaving yourself?"
I stepped inside, and Oinoi, who had been at the computer, sprang up from her seat and flung both arms wide.
"Aah, the master of the house...! Welcome home, it is...! More than that, this Oinoi senses a wondrous energy from the master of the house, she does...! A most excellent object, it is...!"
"Oh yeah? You mean this?"
I showed the relic-grade pebble to Oinoi.
Her already-round eyes went rounder still, and she pressed both her cheeks with her palms in utter astonishment.
"Aah...! Even this Oinoi has never seen an object so magnificent, she has not...! It brims with the energy of light and sun... but this is surely a divine relic of the long-eared fairies, it must be...!"
A divine relic — did that mean an object connected to the gods?
"This Oinoi knows little of the gods the long-eared fairies worship.... But she acknowledges that this object is most exceedingly fine...! With this, we could raise the Marmelo tree plump and strong, we could...!"
Todododo—.
Oinoi grabbed the stone and dashed off, then flung it down in front of the golden apple sapling.
Thud—.
Why fling it, if it's such a precious thing?
Sarururur—.
But then something astonishing happened.
The moment the pebble settled into the flower bed in the yard, the grass began growing even lusher. It grew fast as rampaging bamboo — you could practically watch it happen.
"Oh."
"It grows splendidly, as expected, it does...! A most nymph-friendly stone.... And with this, the evolution of Keongkeongi, the Prime Dog-Squirrel, will surely become possible as well, it will...!"
"Wait, Keongkeongi can evolve?"
I was stunned.
Evolution. I'd always thought that was something only possible for the manga heroes I'd watched as a kid.
Soon Oinoi continued.
"Muh-heh-heh, as this Oinoi understands it, dog-squirrels who have accumulated a certain amount of experience... will sometimes eat a wondrous stone and evolve, they will...! This Oinoi has even seen a Thunder-Squirrel before, she has...!"
A Thunder-Squirrel — what on earth was that? Something like a squirrel version of Pikachu?
Anyway, the fact that Keongkeongi could evolve was absolutely astonishing.
"So that's why he's been so taken with this pebble since earlier."
Amazing news on every front! My fingers were already itching at the thought of announcing to all the dog-squirrel tamers of Korea: "Dog-squirrels can actually evolve!"
This was guaranteed to hit the Best Recommended posts, no doubt about it!?
"Aah, fruit has already set, it has...!"
Just then, Oinoi hopped up and down, pointing at the golden apple tree.
Just as she said, the apple tree — which had somehow already grown to Oinoi's height — bore fruit: two golden apples, each about the size of my fist.
"Master of the house, eat it quickly, you must...! If the fruit of the golden apple is not eaten within three days of blooming, it rots and gives off a stench so foul as to be tremendously nymph-phobic, it does...!"
She wanted me to pick and eat it right now?
I plucked one of the fruits. A dazzling, gleaming golden apple.
"Oinoi, aren't you going to eat any?"
I asked. After all, it was Oinoi and Ang-ang-i who had tended the tree, and Keongkeongi who had chased off the bugs. But was it really okay for only me to eat it?
Soon Oinoi replied,
"Now that it's come to this, this Oinoi will confess: she actually hates golden apples, she does...! Ang-ang-i and Keongkeongi both enjoy growing the tree, but eating the fruit, they despise, they do...!"
What a peculiar bunch.
Oh well, nothing to be done about it, I thought — and bit into the golden apple.
Crunch—.
And then — a sourness that shocked the back of my skull, an astringency that squeezed tears from my eyes. My stomach churned, my head throbbed, and even my backside went numb.
"Ugh, w-what on earth is this flavor...!"
"Eating the seeds too makes the effect better, it does...!"
Oinoi cackled. Muh-heh-heh—.
Out of respect for the care these little guys had put into growing the tree, I forced myself to finish the whole thing, one apple down.
And sure enough, I could feel strength flooding into my body and my mana surging.
"Good effects, though. But there's no way I can eat two. This is honestly the worst thing I've tasted in my life since the pebble-fish freshwater stew I had on Mount Jiri. Ugh, jeez. Ugh—."
"The golden apple only works on the first dose anyway; from the second one onward, the effect is negligible, it is...!"
Oh, I see.
So what was I supposed to do with the one remaining fruit?