A Fateful Meeting
Four hours had passed. Or was it three? I couldn't be sure. All I knew was that I'd been crawling through this godforsaken forest for what felt like an eternity, inching forward while carefully avoiding the roaming zones where monsters prowled. Thanks to that caution, I'd managed to cover a surprising distance without a single fight. But my plan hadn't advanced at all. Not a single adventurer in sight. Not even a strand of human hair. By now I should've crossed paths with someone. What the hell was going on? The Shady Forest map was large, sure, but this level of rotten luck was absurd.
This is fucking bullshit.
On top of everything, my body was in absolute ruins. Every step left me gasping for air. I wasn't even sure I could hold out until I reached my destination. Honestly, my head was spinning so badly the world kept tilting. Drowsiness kept creeping in too. Maybe I should just sleep for an hour?
Slap!
I smacked my own cheek with what little strength remained. You idiot. What the hell are you thinking? If I closed my eyes now, that was it. Game over. I was standing in the middle of a monster-infested forest. Whew… okay. Focus.
I'd already come this far. Just a little more. Just push through a little longer.
I staggered onward like that for a long while.
Ah, this really is the limit.
I had nothing left. No matter how hard I gritted my teeth, my body refused to take another step. Fuck. This was really the end. My ancestors' faces were already flickering before my eyes.
Then, at that moment—
Whoosh—
Light poured in from the far side of the forest. For a second I thought I was hallucinating on the brink of death, but no. It was real light. Not the artificial glow of the lantern bugs that drifted through the Shady Forest, but the warm radiance that only nature could produce. I knew it instinctively. That was an exit.
I crawled toward it like a man possessed. They say even a turtle sprints in an emergency; my body, which had refused to move moments ago, was now surging forward faster than ever.
“Guh… huff, huff…”
Overcoming pain that defied all reason, I plunged my body into the light spilling out from beyond the trees.
A hazy gray sky. Warm pillars of sunlight piercing through the gloom.
I had finally escaped that cursed forest.
But the four-meter-tall Meeting Stele was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, massive mountain ranges blocked the horizon, and at their base yawned the pitch-black entrance to an enormous cave. What lay before me was the Wailing Cave—one of the four starting environments of Stage 1.
Yes. I had failed the probability gacha.
Ah…
Of course. There hadn't been a single trace of adventurers passing through. There was no way this path would lead to the central area where the Meeting Stele stood.
The backlash from pushing myself too hard hit all at once. Muscle pain and chills stabbed through every inch of my body. My limbs grew impossibly heavy, dragging me down toward the earth as my eyelids slowly fell.
If I pass out now, it's really over…
I have to stay conscious somehow…
“_____. _____.”
As I desperately clung to my fading mind, an unidentified sound reached my ears. A monster's cry? Or a human voice? If it was a person, I needed to let them know I was here.
“_____.”
The sound was getting closer. Was it coming this way? Please don't let it be a monster.
“_______. _________?”
I strained to make out the words, but they were too muffled. Then suddenly the voice was close enough to echo inside my skull. When I regained my senses, roughly fifteen people were standing over me, staring down.
Whoa, that scared the hell out of me. When did they get here? There was no one a second ago.
It wasn't a hallucination, was it?
“___.”
A fully armored man knelt in front of me. His helmet hid his face, making it impossible to read his expression. He quietly scanned the surroundings before speaking.
“A prisoner, huh.”
He was so close that if he fell forward his nose would touch me. Unlike before, his voice came through crystal clear. It stabbed like a dagger. Even without seeing his face, I could guess exactly what he was thinking. Thick disgust dripped from every syllable.
“What will you do?” another voice asked.
“No need to waste time. We're moving.”
Wait, hold on. Why were these people always in such a hurry? Just listen to me for one second.
“Ugh… guh…”
Fuck. My voice wouldn't come out. I needed to negotiate, to say something—
“Please wait.”
While my body twitched helplessly, a blonde woman in white robes stepped into the conversation. That outfit… the garb of a practicing priestess. A cleric?
Made sense. A group of fifteen was probably moving as an organized clan. They'd naturally have at least one healer. This was good news. If she belonged to the church, she might actually help me.
I looked up at her with the most pitiful eyes I could muster and sent out a silent SOS.
“Could you give me a moment?” she asked.
Yes. I'm saved—
“Do you intend to treat him? It's pointless.”
Shut the hell up and stop interfering. It's not like you're the one doing the healing, asshole.
“Still, since we've come across him, we can't simply abandon him.”
“He's not worth the effort. Please don't waste your divine power.”
“Under the name of Luinas, all people are equal. That is no reason to refuse.”
“This is your first expedition, Priestess, so you may not understand, but I've seen countless men like him. Even if you heal him, he'll die soon anyway.”
The argument went back and forth. The armored man clearly didn't want to yield, yet he was strangely deferential to the priestess. Well, a cleric was basically nobility. He couldn't push too hard. The matter involved the entire church, not just personal feelings.
“Sigh… This debate is only delaying us further. Let's finish this quickly and move on.”
“Thank you for your understanding.”
“However, if this interferes with our combat capability, we will hold the church accountable.”
The armored man shot me one last murderous glare before turning and walking away.
“I'm sorry for the wait.”
The priestess approached and began a soft prayer.
Miracle
A pure white light flooded into my body, spreading gentle warmth. It was a supernatural incantation that drew forth divine power through prayer.
The severed leg regenerated. Vitality surged back into my broken, mangled frame.
Wow. This actually works.
I'd assumed it was just game logic. Regrowing a completely severed limb shouldn't be possible. It defied modern common sense. But experiencing it firsthand, I felt the true weight of that power. It really was a miracle. There was no other word for it.
“How does your body feel now?”
While I was still touching my newly grown leg in disbelief, the priestess asked with a bright smile. She looked to be in her early twenties, a blonde woman with a youthful, innocent face. I owed her a debt I could never repay in this lifetime.
“May the holy light be with you. Thanks to you, I've survived.”
I gave a short bow and traced the distinctive holy symbol they used.
“Oh my, you have ties to the church? Then perhaps our meeting here really is fate.”
The priestess smiled, clearly pleased.
Hmm. I'd simply copied what I'd seen in the game, but the reaction was better than expected. Since things had gone this way, I decided to push the favorability gain a little harder. I wanted to leave a good impression on my savior.
But first, I had to do what was right.
“It's not much, but please accept this.”
After receiving help, it was only proper to offer something in return. I presented the bundle of rune stones I'd guarded like a precious treasure. It was a pitifully small amount, but it represented my entire fortune.
Yet the priestess shook her head.
“We serve the same god. How could we treat each other as strangers? Please don't concern yourself with it.”
…Was this woman actually an angel? I'd never seen an NPC treat a prisoner with such kindness, not even in the game. It almost made me want to convert on the spot.
“Priestess.”
While I was building rapport with her, the armored man interrupted and gave her a meaningful look. Business is finished. Let's move.
Sigh… Why did this guy look like he wanted to devour me alive? If you thought about it, the original owner of this body was the one who committed the crimes, not me. It was so unfair I could cry. Still, I had no right to speak. They'd saved my life. What more could I possibly demand? I wasn't that shameless.
So I kept my mouth shut.
“This is as far as we go. I hope my prayer was of even the slightest help on your journey. Then, if you'll excuse us…”
They formed up with professional speed and vanished beyond the entrance to the Shady Forest.
Tsk. I wanted to at least ask her name, but that armored bastard kept glaring like he wanted to kill me. Opportunity ruined.
It was a shame, but nothing could be done. In the dungeon, time was money. The fact that they'd spared any time at all for someone like me—a mere prisoner—was already an enormous act of goodwill. Other parties might have simply walked past whether I lived or died.
“Whew…”
Sudden exhaustion crashed over me. When I'd first realized I'd arrived at the Wailing Cave instead of the Meeting Stele, I'd thought I was finished. But in the end, this had been the best possible outcome. I hadn't lost my rune stones, and I'd even regained my life.
Looking back, even if I had reached the Meeting Stele, there was no guarantee kind adventurers would have helped a prisoner. It really was an exquisitely timed encounter.
What if I'd taken a different route? What if I'd arrived even a little later? What if I hadn't endured the pain and died? What if our paths had missed each other?
The result wouldn't have been the same.
And the blonde priestess who saved my life. From the conversation, she clearly served Luinas, the goddess of fate who governed light. A religious order that valued connections and meetings while holding fanatical faith in destiny.
Of course, not every member of the church was as gentle as her. Even devout believers gradually abandoned idealism after experiencing the dungeon's harsh realities, becoming pragmatists who pursued efficiency. Most priest NPCs in the game had been that way.
But she was a newly dispatched practicing priestess. Still inexperienced with the dungeon, still passionately immersed in doctrine. If she had been a battle-hardened veteran… would she have reached out so readily?
Her words kept echoing in my mind.
Perhaps our meeting here is fate.
“Fate, huh…”
I sat down on the ground and quietly closed my eyes.
“The performance is solid.”
Whether it was fate or mere coincidence didn't matter. Thanks to it, I had survived. That was enough.