Chapter 14. The Overturned Train II
Episode 14.
The Overturned Train II
The overseas FoS community I was active in was called For’ever.
The apostrophe in the middle was supposedly the key point, but as far as I remember, there wasn't any particularly grand reason behind it.
Since the game was old and insular, the community did have some cliquishness that was generally frowned upon, but it wasn't exactly hostile to newcomers either.
-CHRIS: Hey. Chek.
-CHRIS: You gonna raise a Necromancer again this time?
When was that?
One day, a user on FoS asked me.
The nickname was Chris.
On a board crawling with all sorts of bizarre IDs, he was one of the few who, along with me, had a relatively normal nickname.
-Han River Water Check Master: Probably.
-CHRIS: Hm.
-Han River Water Check Master: Why?
-CHRIS: If my memory's right, this would be the fifteenth time you've picked a summoning-line class.
-CHRIS: The other classes not to your liking?
Summoning-line classes.
Even if you didn't actually summon anything, classes that could command an army on their own were called that in the community for convenience.
-Han River Water Check Master: I told you.
-Han River Water Check Master: Alchemists are a pain to keep supplied with materials, and catering to those spirit bastards is no different from dealing with companion NPCs.
-Han River Water Check Master: On the other hand, the Necromancer's advantages are clear.
-CHRIS: Still, isn't the penalty too harsh?
-CHRIS: You're bound to get caught by the kingdom eventually. You can't hide your identity forever.
Well, he wasn't wrong.
But.
-Han River Water Check Master: There are workarounds, like becoming a kingdom-certified Necromancer.
-Han River Water Check Master: It wouldn't be an easy process, of course, but that much risk is manageable. Besides, I'm not even sure there's a better class than this.
After a brief pause, Chris spoke.
-CHRIS: Isn't it too early to jump to conclusions?
-CHRIS: FoS has hundreds of classes. Maybe even more than that.
-CHRIS: Among the classes that haven't been discovered yet, there might be something better, don't you think?
-Han River Water Check Master: "Might" be?
-Han River Water Check Master: That doesn't sound like you, Chris. Since when did you become an optimist?
-CHRIS: I guess so.
-Han River Water Check Master: Well, sure, maybe there's a class like that out there somewhere.
-Han River Water Check Master: But I've already been playing this game for five years.
-CHRIS: Yeah...... I guess even you've gotten tired of it.
That wasn't really it. I just wondered whether a game I'd been playing for over five years could still have anything genuinely new left in it.
-CHRIS: If that's how you feel.
-CHIRS: Then, Chek. I'll look forward to your next playthrough.
Something about that smug tone rubbed me the wrong way, so I went back to typing.
-Han River Water Check Master: Chris.
-CHRIS: ?
-Han River Water Check Master: Sooner or later, I'm going to beat your record.
For’ever was a community, so naturally it had especially famous users—big names—and the most famous of them was Chris.
There were several reasons.
First, Chris frequently posted guides and tips.
They were easy to understand at a glance, yet still technical, and were even translated into multiple languages.
But that wasn't the decisive reason for his fame.
-Title: But who the hell does this Chris bastard think he is, writing guides?
-Content: Has this bastard ever even raised his game progress? Isn't he just some asshole who doesn't even play the game and only stirs up shit?
It was an absurd piece of sophistry.
Chris's guide posts were full of details you could never know without playing the game, and even if he didn't play seriously, that was no reason he shouldn't post guides.
↳You're the one stirring up shit.
↳I'm more curious about the identity of the bastard who wrote this post.
↳bullshit lol Chris could play with his toes and still have more progress than you
The user who posted the garbage got dogpiled by the others almost immediately and deleted the post soon afterward.
Up to that point, it was a common occurrence in the community. What was surprising came next.
Chris actually responded to this absurd provocation.
-Title: Progress
Beneath that brief title was a single screenshot I still couldn't forget.
-Current Progress: 92%
That post set the record for the most views and recommendations on the FoS board.
And no wonder.
It was far higher than my own record of 69%.
"......."
At this point I should admit it: Chris was the only user on the board with a higher progress rate than mine.
A sense of rivalry? I'd be lying if I said I didn't have one.
But at the same time, I figured this guy had to be at least somewhat aware of me too.
Because I was the one with the next-highest progress after Chris.
However, that thought of mine shattered to pieces after I saw Chris's message.
His answer to my declaration.
-CHRIS: Good luck.
"Ha."
What a son of a bitch.
* * *
I woke up because of the cold.
It was warmer than outside and I had a blanket, but with no fire it was still a bit chilly.
I checked my pocket watch: around nine in the morning.
'So I slept about four hours.'
It wasn't a long sleep, but I wasn't particularly tired either.
I'd worried that the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements would wreck my condition, but that concern turned out to be unfounded.
That was probably thanks to my improved physical stats too.
That was exactly why, whatever my main Talent might be, I wanted to raise my physical Talents first.
"Haaah."
A sigh escaped me.
My body was fine, but my head was still in a fog because I still hadn't figured out why my injuries had healed completely.
Well, I had reached a conclusion.
The conclusion that continuing to agonize over it was pointless.
"Ugh......."
Kazen let out a pained groan and tossed in his sleep.
True to his delicate looks, he still didn't seem used to sleeping rough.
I watched him for a moment, then grew puzzled.
Because his younger sister was nowhere to be seen.
'Did she not come back all night?'
Surely nothing had happened to her.
Slightly worried, I stepped outside the train, and the weasel that had been sitting on the roof came hopping over.
Squeak.
This little creature was the reason we'd been able to sleep soundly through the night without a watch.
In return, I gently scratched its head with my index finger, and it let out a sharp little cry of annoyance.
Since it seemed to dislike being treated like a pet, I just patted it lightly on the shoulder.
"Good work. Get some rest now."
Only then did the satisfied weasel nimbly climb onto my shoulder and close its eyes right there.
Purrrr.......
Did it really have to sleep here?
The thought crossed my mind, but it was warm, so I decided to leave it be.
With the weasel draped around my neck like a scarf, I looked around and found Kria almost immediately.
"......."
Actually, I didn't even need to look.
She was in the same place as yesterday.
Over where the archer's corpse had been.
The puzzling thing was that the archer's corpse had already disappeared.
"......Oh."
Sensing my presence, Kria flinched and looked at me.
Her face was still hard to see behind her shaggy hair, but she seemed fairly startled.
"Didn't sleep?"
"......I slept."
After a short pause, her voice continued.
"......I woke up early."
"I see."
The conversation died.
Unlike Kazen, who was timid but talkative, Kria was extremely quiet.
I studied her appearance for a moment, then spoke.
"Did you bury the corpse?"
She nodded.
I'd wondered, since there was dirt on her hands.
"That must have been hard alone......."
"......Not really."
Fine. If she said so, then whatever.
She seemed reluctant to talk at all, so I closed my mouth too.
Just then, I felt something damp on my shoulder, accompanied by a purring sound from beside me.
"......."
I looked to see what it was, and the weasel was sprawled out asleep, drooling.
......This little bastard really was something else.
I wanted to hurl it away immediately, but since it had stayed up all night for us, I left it alone.
"......It wasn't hard."
"......?"
What did she mean?
I was confused for a moment, but after thinking it over, I realized "It wasn't really that hard" had been one sentence.
Wondering if she had more to say, I waited quietly, and about ten seconds later her voice continued.
"Corpses don't rush you."
"......Is that so."
It sounded a little chilling...... but maybe everything that had happened had fried my brain, because my only reaction was basically, 'I see.'
Anyway, was she always this slow of speech?
Just in case, I waited quietly, and as expected, I was able to pick up a few more pieces of information.
"......I don't think a person killed the archer."
⁝
"......A Magical Beast. Probably some kind of bird of prey?"
⁝
"......The corpse had marks not just from claws, but from being pecked at by a beak."
What flashed through my mind at Kria's words was the image of the owl that had been locked in the cage.
'Clown Owl.'
Its level was low, but it had strangely bothered me.
At some point it had disappeared, so I'd assumed it had been caught up in the chaos of the derailment and died.......
'If that wasn't the case.'
Just in case, I left Kria and headed toward the train wreckage....... It took a while, but I found the cage.
"......."
As expected, the cage was completely empty.
Right, I'd expected that much. What I hadn't expected was that the cage was still locked.
Tap.
I nudged the cage with the tip of my foot.
A cage that, despite all that chaos, was astonishingly intact, with no bends or breaks anywhere.
'......This little bastard.'
How the hell did it get out?
* * *
Once day broke, I began exploring the train in earnest.
First, cars 1 and 2.
I couldn't find even a shadow of a person here; they had apparently already entered the forest.
The notable thing was that these two cars were in remarkably good condition compared to the other train cars.
As if they alone had avoided the disaster of the train overturning.
'Fucking bastards.'
Actually, it wasn't strange.
The people in cars 1 and 2 were powerhouses with companion assessment ranks of B-grade or higher. There were occasional small fry like Dorman's party mixed in, but that was the average.
With that level of skill, they could avoid being swept up in the disaster of the train overturning, and even perfectly protect the car they were riding in.
What pissed me off was that such strong people had simply been too lazy to kill the octopus bastard and had left it alone.
'I understand the judgment, though.'
<Shadow> was an annoying enemy to deal with regardless of how strong you were.
In other words, the higher a Delver's grade, the more likely they were to avoid fighting a <Shadow> at all.
'The ones in the front cars have probably already finished most of their farming too.'
In other words, the reward for eliminating the Shadow wouldn't be all that appealing to them.
Anyway—
Since there were no casualties, I couldn't loot any corpses, but there was still something to salvage.
'......Thankfully, this still works just like it did in the game.'
Car 1.
In the storage compartment at the very front of the train, I found the item I'd been looking for all along.
"Th-that's an <Exploration Crystal>, isn't it?"
When I brought the salvage back to the siblings, Kazen exclaimed in surprise, clearly recognizing it.
As expected of a mage.
"......Exploration Crystal?"
Meanwhile, Kria tilted her head and looked at the object in my hand...... the mysterious crystal.
It was a bit larger than my palm, and faint light crisscrossed inside it.
When the crystal was tilted or shaken, that cluster of light rippled like a night sea filled with starlight—
Lowest-Grade Exploration Crystal
A tool that records Exploration Progress in <Eternal Forest>.
Current Exploration Progress: 0.0%
Time Remaining: 29 days 21 hours
......Honestly, it was my first time seeing one in person too, so it was fascinating.
"It's an artifact that records exploration progress in the forest. If you <register> rare discoveries from <Eternal Forest> with the crystal, you can raise that progress!"
"What happens when you fill it?"
"You can exchange it for money, and depending on your results, you can receive rewards from the royal palace! And you can also use it to return to the Royal Capital!"
"......Really?"
Kria looked at the crystal with surprised eyes.
'To be precise, it's the Guild, not the royal palace.'
Other than that, he was mostly right.
Of course, there were some issues.
As Kazen said, the <Exploration Crystal> had Return Magic built into it, but there was a prerequisite for using it.
Filling the crystal's exploration progress.
'What an insane setting.'
Of course, there was a plausible reason for it.
To find the <Fruit of Immortality> said to be somewhere in <Eternal Forest> as quickly as possible.
That was the kingdom's goal.
To be precise.......
'The king's long-cherished wish.'
Clearly, one of the developers had been deeply moved by the story of Qin Shi Huang.
Anyway, thanks to the king's madness-driven policy regarding immortality, the kingdom's treatment of Delvers wasn't bad.
Of course, there was still risk.
'Once a Delver, always a Delver.'
There was no system of resignation for Delvers. Unless it was resignation in the sense of death.
As long as both legs moved — no, even if they ended up unable to move — they had no choice but to devote themselves to exploration.
"I'm going to enter the forest today."
I knew that already, but I deliberately said it aloud anyway.
Feeling the siblings' gazes gather on me, I continued.
"Now that the train's been smashed to pieces, there's no physical way to return to the Royal Capital. Our only option is to fill the exploration progress and activate the <Return Magic> built into the crystal."
"B-but if we keep waiting here, won't the next train come eventually?"
It would come.
According to the setting, the kingdom constantly sends new Delvers into the forest.
But.
"That cycle is once a month. Are you confident you can survive here for a month without entering the forest?"
"That's......."
There was no need to hear the answer.
It was impossible.
Because without entering the forest, we couldn't even secure basic drinking water.
Even if they somehow scraped by, the kingdom had no reason to treat Delvers who abandoned exploration kindly.
In the end, my conclusion was that there was no option other than entering...... but I didn't know what these two thought.
Kazen spoke up.
"......I've heard people exploring the forest usually form parties of at least five, or six or seven when possible. But there are only three of us. Isn't that too risky?"
So that was what he was worried about.
Come to think of it, it was a natural question to have.
They might look like dead weight, but before joining me, these two had at least been in a properly rounded-out party.
Even so—
"Yeah."
I said it with certainty.
Of course, three was a grim number.
It might be woefully few for exploring an unknown place like <Eternal Forest>.
But I had knowledge.
I had experience.
Even if it was nothing more than indirectly experiencing a virtual world shaped from polygons and textures.......
That experience had saved my life.
"Of course, it depends on what we do. But I always move in whatever direction I judge gives us the best chance of survival."
At that moment, unexpectedly, Kria made the call first.
"I'll go."
"Kria?"
"Kazen, let's go too. You know, right? We have no choice but to go into the forest eventually."
"......."
At Kria's words, Kazen's pupils shook violently.
Seeing that, I grew curious too.
'Why did these two come to the forest?'
Those who seek the forest each have their own reasons.
Some simply want money, and some seek honor.
Some were more or less forcibly conscripted by the kingdom, while a rare few were eccentrics who wanted to find rare discoveries with their own hands.
But these two?
They didn't seem to fit any of those cases. Though it was a baseless guess.
"Understood."
Having made up his mind, Kazen looked at me with resolute eyes.
"Kaindel. Let's go into the forest together."
"Good. But let's make one thing clear."
I looked at Kazen and spoke.
"This is a contract. I'm not asking us to become comrades who share everything. We only just met; that wouldn't make sense. And we certainly don't owe each other the kind of loyalty that means dying for one another. If things get dangerous, protect your own life first. In any situation, act rationally."
It might sound cold at first glance, but in fact, most Delvers who form parties have this kind of relationship.
On the contrary, the more inseparable a party was, the less likely they were to survive long in this forest.
I held out my hand as if testing them.
"Still okay with that?"
"......Yes. Of course."
Kazen took my outstretched hand.
[You have recruited 'Kazen' as a companion.]
[You have recruited 'Kria' as a companion.]
[From now on, you can view the status windows of 'Kazen' and 'Kria'.]
The status windows were finally unlocked.
[Your current trust level with the targets is low, so the information you can view is limited.]
I knew that.
I dismissed the familiar message and immediately checked both of their status windows.