Can You Follow?
Mocking, yet expectant. It had been waiting for me to arrive.
────Can you follow?
What a joke.
My vision burned. I poured every ounce of heat into my jelly body, which had felt nothing until now.
The jelly form sliced through the air like a greatsword swing.
You follow me────!
With all my might, I broke through the red slime.
Chirp chirp─
“……?”
Saint Lymea Kreina opened her eyes.
An unfamiliar ceiling. She'd had a vision like always, but the uncomfortable bed made her memory hazy.
Something about... a blue slime and a red slime...
“Was that a vision too...?”
When she was in poor condition like this, she sometimes couldn't tell visions from wild dreams.
She tidied her disheveled hair, freshened up, and stepped outside.
As soon as Lymea emerged, an elderly nun who'd been waiting attached herself like a shadow and spoke up. She seemed to know the saint well.
“Saint... please give us a heads-up next time... You startled us showing up out of nowhere.”
“Sorry, Melanie. I had no choice─moving officially draws too much attention.”
“You could've at least told me... And why didn't you bring any attendants? What if something happened to you...”
Lymea snapped her fingers at the nun's words.
Templars hidden throughout the building appeared silently, like ghosts. The nun jumped at their sudden presence.
“Th-these people...”
“Don't worry, Melanie. As you see, I'm always careful about safety. That's enough, everyone.”
At her word, the templars faded like heat haze and vanished completely. Lymea kept walking.
Stunned by the templars' abrupt appearance, Melanie paused to calm her racing heart before quietly following.
“So, Saint... what brings you here?”
“Just a whim. Business wrapped up last night, so I'm heading back now.”
Luna probably wouldn't listen no matter what she offered anyway.
“I see. If you don't want a fuss, I won't try to keep you...”
“Thanks, Melanie.”
Lymea paused at one spot as she walked. Her eyes caught a building isolated even within the grounds─the ward for severe burn victims from flame monsters.
Even after ten years, it was probably still hell in there. She'd plunged them into agony herself.
Right before the shelter migration, a dream had made Lymea keep them lingering in that state.
A dream of uncertain origin. In it, the flame victims miraculously recovered, living new lives.
Even knowing it was just one thread among countless branching futures, she couldn't abandon them. Her stubbornness had damned them to hell.
'Maybe it would've been kinder to let them go painlessly,' I'd thought countless times.
She believed they'd one day heal like in the dream, but...
'Ten years slipped by before I knew it...'
As time dragged on, she withered. Her choice had been wrong. Believing an uncertain future had mired them in suffering.
Visions could be near or distant futures. That branch might've already diverged elsewhere, never to come.
With futures as countless as stars, steering the present to one required controlling every variable─a god's domain.
No mortal could do it.
'No... there was one, wasn't there...?'
“Saint? Something wrong? If it bothers you, want to check the ward?”
“It's nothing.”
Snapping from her reverie, Lymea walked on.
Her steps felt light despite the heavy thoughts.
She'd confirmed it yesterday. The dream was close to reality.
Unlike present Luna, the future Luna in the vision bore no burn scars.
The Dungeon Master's influence, no doubt.
“...Pity I couldn't recruit her...”
But coming in person had lightened her shoulders. The path she'd chosen wasn't fully closed.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Raid experience day was two days away. Applications had closed; only announcements remained.
“Hmmm...”
Indeed... as some posts predicted, the new raid dungeon experience would be way easier than the slime raid.
The vet explorers like Dragon Mask Padak agreed.
“But if it's too easy, something feels off...”
As a dungeon creator, it sparked my pride. Not too hard, but not a cakewalk either.
They need to feel their growth, so easy once is fine.
I dropped that thought after hearing the vets' opinions.
“Yeah... keep it balanced this time.”
Did I ever make dungeons without aiming for chaos? Trouble brews on its own.
“...?”
LunaSuperGirl opened the trade window. A mirror sat there.
Community trades mark famous items as authentic to prevent scams.
This mirror... was real.
One of the 108 Mirrors of Fate from the Goddess Church.
If it was a true church relic, the seller was...
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
And so raid experience day arrived...
Raids proceeded sequentially: Giant Spider, Giant Mud Crab, Giant Rock Lizard.
Applicants gathered for Giant Spider raid...
Goseongji started his broadcast and entered the dungeon.
“Ugh!”
So bright...!
Was the dungeon extra sunny today? His eyes stung.
Goseongji squeezed his eyes shut against the glare, then squinted to reduce it.
Then he saw it.
Countless glowing sources everywhere.
Like suns fallen to earth.
No way... new gimmick?!
As his eyes adjusted, the sources sharpened...
“What...!!”
Goseongji couldn't hide his shock at the sight.
What he'd mistaken for suns... were the explorers!!
More precisely, their heads!!
Their sleek scalps reflected light like polished mirrors in all directions.
“Wh-what the...”
> Aaa my eyes!!!!!!!!!! Turn off the lights!!!!!!!!!!!
> Too sparkly waaahhh!!!
> Wtf so blinding!!!!!!!
> Goseongji... screen's flashing can't see...
> What's happening...?
> Don't mock bald guys you bastards-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> Look at Goseongji's reaction lol is he screwing with us? Elf, don't get cocky time catches up
> Not mocking... legit can't see screen from glare...
> Huh...? That light's from bald heads reflecting? Fr?
> Shut up shut up SHUT UPP!!!!!!!!!!!
Hundreds of explorers' heads reflected sunlight like mirror balls, scattering it everywhere.
A majestic sight unlike any other.