Isn't This Way Too Broken?

Bihyung read the message hanging before his eyes and judged the demand impossible.

Hm. In short, this is telling me not to get any ideas?

No. These are yokai that barely even show up in the game. How am I supposed to build a faction out of that?

This time had simply been luck. He couldn't say the days ahead would look anything like today.

Even so.

Well. Whether it works or not, an opportunity walked up. I ought to try.

Bihyung turned his head and looked at the shadow dokkaebi.

"You. Want to join my Night Parade?"

It was an offhand question, but the shadow dokkaebi's eyes grew wet at the sound of it.

"Hwaaaaaah!!"

Unable to hold it in, he burst into tears like a waterfall. Startled, Bihyung hurried to wave him down.

"Wh-why are you suddenly crying like the world's ending? Stop. Hey? Let's stop. Stop crying."

"T-to think you would place one so lowly as I into the Parade... it is the glory of three lifetimes, my Lord!!"

He hadn't known how yokai would take the Night Parade. Seeing this, it seemed to function as a kind of rank.

The feeling of walking around with your shoulders squared, under a powerful yokai. Not that joining his Parade would let anyone square their shoulders. Awkward.

"So. You in, or not."

"I-I shall, my Lord! I will shatter these bones to dust and devote myself to attending you!"

Bihyung nodded.

Poof!

A small burst of smoke erupted before his eyes, and out of it dropped two cups and a jar of wine.

"What is this?"

"You receive your subordinate's cup, my Lord, and your subordinate drinks the wine the chief of the Parade bestows! In that way a bond of the Parade is tied between subordinate and chief!"

Fortunately, the shadow dokkaebi knew more about this than he did.

Boss, though. What was this boss business.

I'm not a yakuza. I'm not some street thug.

He gave a short shake of his head and dropped down where he stood.

"Fine. Let's start."

"Yes, my Lord!"

The rite of the Night Parade began.

The shadow dokkaebi poured, and after a brief hesitation Bihyung drank it straight down. Then Bihyung poured for him, and the creature tipped his head back and emptied the cup in a single shot.

Srrk...

Something connected. It felt like an invisible thread stretching out from him and tying a knot around the shadow dokkaebi.

...So this is how you know. That the shadow dokkaebi has become my Night Parade.

Still. Calling him a shadow dokkaebi forever does feel a little off.

Now that the creature was one of the Parade under him, he ought to give him a name.

"M-my Lord, do you truly mean it?!"

"Yeah. Let's see... you're all dusk and dim, so—Eodugi."

Eodugi, plainly delighted, stayed on his knees and offered another full prostration.

"That my Lord would bestow even a name upon one so base... I don't know where to put this body of mine!"

Bihyung waved that off and moved to tuck him into the Night Parade's space. Eodugi seemed to understand; he lifted his head and grinned.

"My Lord! May you live ten thousand years, forever unwaning!"

He finished with a plea to be called the moment he was needed, and stepped into Bihyung's shadow.

So the Night Parade can be kept like this.

No yokai power could be felt. His Dokkaebi Gamtu was hiding all of it.

Time to head out?

Then, abruptly, a clever idea struck him.

Would it work?

Glancing at the Demon Blade in his hand, Bihyung walked on as if something had taken hold of him.

When he reached the entrance they had used to step into the anomaly, Mina was already there waiting. The moment she saw him she broke into a bright smile and came trotting over.

"Bihyung!"

If she'd had a tail, it would have been spinning like a propeller. That was the kind of energy in the smile, and in the girl wearing it.

"Oh. You made it too, Mina?"

"Yeah! Look at this!"

Mina drew the fan worn at her side and snapped it open. It was white overall, stitched here and there with gold thread, and three golden bells hung from the handle.

Looks like she found it.

The Fan of Extending Splendor.

Plenty of people called that one a balance-breaker, too. A support ability was built into it from the start, and beyond that, the force of fanning the energy of the Five Elements was strong enough to make offense and defense one and the same. Of the two, the support ability was endgame-tier. And you could get an item like that at the start of the game. It had been so dominant that farming it early was practically the law. Well—players pickled so deep in the game that they could swing whatever they liked and still stumble up near the ending were the exception. Bihyung had been one of them, which was exactly why he had yielded the Fan of Extending Splendor to Mina.

"But Bihyung... is that the weapon you picked?"

Her question trembled. She had seen the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠enormous spear slung at a diagonal across his back. The shaft alone ran past six and a half feet, and the blade looked longer than twenty inches.

Strange, though. The first weapon Bihyung had obtained was the Demon Blade.

This actually works.

A hollow little laugh escaped him as he felt Eodugi waiting inside his shadow. In the creature's arms rested a single Demon Blade.

Have Eodugi hold one, and I pick up one more.

That was how he had come away with two weapons in all.

"...I don't think I can see a seam. Is it because it's black?"

"No. There just isn't a seam."

Faced with that brazen calm, Mina lost whatever she'd been about to say. How did he look so at ease with a thing like that on his back?

The weight alone... has to be somewhere around a hundred and ten pounds.

She didn't need to lift it. The weight announced itself, and so did the oppression of its shape.

...But it's Bihyung.

He must have chosen it because it was a fine armament. Holding to that thought, she asked what power the spear held.

"This? 'It's sturdy.' That's the whole entry."

"...What? Why? You told me where to find something this good, and—hk! D-don't tell me your bloodline trial was conditional? Like, because you told me, you couldn't pick a good one for yourself...!"

Her imagination was truly abundant. Leave her alone for a minute and she'd have a whole volume of fanfiction drafted.

Before guilt could bury her, Bihyung hurried to explain.

"No. It's not like that."

"...Then?"

"I picked this because it's what I wanted."

That was the truth.

The Demon Blade can put ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out immediate, explosive power right now. The spear, by comparison—Hnn. I'm sure there's something hidden in it. Something kept poking at the instincts of a man who had played the game into the ground. This isn't even in the developers' notes. I can't tell. The trouble was that nothing in the settings the developers had written touched on it either. And yet Bihyung was certain the spear carried a buried secret.

And no wonder. This spear is a single mineral. More precisely, an ore. Drop its durability below a certain point and it lost its true shape, melting down like liquid; what had flowed would clump together again and become one ore. Inside the game, no method could smelt it, and none could put it to use.

Except.

Leave them in storage, and they merged with each other.

Bihyung had made use of this spear plenty of times, and just as often he had shoved the resulting ore into storage under miscellaneous junk. Hundreds of them, by a rough count. Those ores had clumped and clumped again, until somewhere along the way they had turned into something like a massive pillar.

If I complete that... if I'm lucky, maybe something happens?

Maybe nothing would. It was the sort of thing the studio had never bothered to write down. But the Demon Blade was already in hand, and he had been given one more chance, so chasing the curiosity seemed worthwhile. He could use storage now, besides.

"Anyway, Mina. Can I see that fan for a second?"

"H-huh? Okay."

She handed over the Fan of Extending Splendor without a word of protest. Absolute trust that he would never do her harm. Bihyung felt it, and smiled faintly.

Then he drew a glass bottle from inside his coat.

"Huh? What's that?"

Her head had barely tipped when he poured the bottle's contents over the fan.

Splash!

Moisture sank in, and at the same time a halo of light settled and died. The colors around them thinned by degrees; the radiance dimmed. Through all of it, only the Fan of Extending Splendor shone in a color that stayed vivid.

"It's Lunar Clarion Water. It brings out an item's worth, lets you choose the ability you want, and pushes that worth past what it was."

"W-why would you use something that precious on me..."

"It's fine. I got it from over there, too."

And it wasn't all that precious. Well—if you had to obtain it in this world, it did belong among the rare things.

But I can use storage. Things of a higher order than Lunar Clarion Water existed in there as well. This much, he could spare as a gift for a future party member(?).

Raise the growth ceiling by a wide margin. Enough that she can still use it in the extreme late game.

The Five Elements are leaning too far to one side. Balance the Water attribute so the cycle comes into harmony. Right. So that later, when Mina can wield all five, she can draw out the absolute peak.

The bells are tied to illusion arts? Erase that, and spend the potential on raising the other abilities. Let wind charged with energy trigger multiple spells at once, and when she buffs someone else, let the principle of mutual generation lay a finer power over them.

And so, before either of them quite noticed, Mina's Fan of Extending Splendor had changed into something she would never have recognized.

"Here."

"......"

Mina took the fan with a blank face and lifted her head. Tears welled in those large eyes. A single track ran down her cheek—and she threw herself at Bihyung.

"Bihyuuung!!"

"Ghk—!"

Two mountain peaks came crashing in at once....

No. That wasn't the right thought.

Anyway. Mina's ridiculous physicality hit him undiluted, and Bihyung could not get his head back together.

"Thank you! Thank you, really!!"

Waaaaah—!

Only when her full-throated sobbing reached him did Bihyung settle. Right. She was this grateful. If he let his thoughts turn filthy now, what kind of trash would that make him?

He patted her head, as if to say it was nothing.

"I told you it was fine. I got one for myself, too. So stop. No more ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tears."

Was it just him, or was today unusually full of telling crying people to hush?

Mina sniffled in his arms for a long while. Then she realized the spectacle she had made and scrambled backward. Her face went red enough to burst.

"I, I, I..."

Ah. Mina had gone and short-circuited.

"S-sorry... I didn't mean to do that on purpose... and I'm not the kind of girl ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠who just throws herself at anyone..."

Her fingers fidgeted, and her voice came out small as a creeping ant. Cute, honestly. She couldn't even meet his eyes, and a fond smile rose on its own.

"It's fine. When feelings run high, that happens."

"...Thank you for understanding."

"More importantly, why aren't the supervising professors here? If we want to get out, those fine gentlemen have to come in."

The Old Relic was an anomaly the Academy had long since subjugated. Put to their own use, its method of clearing had gradually warped.

Originally there was a single Old Relic, and passing its trial completed the exorcism.

Now they had set multiple weapons in this place and turned it into an examination ground for first-year cadets. Unless you cleared the trial of every weapon, you could not escape the space.

The Escape Talisman. Not unless you used the talisman the supervising professors carried.

Which was why they needed these people. What, were they off somewhere day-drinking? Why weren't they coming?

Bihyung was tapping the floor with the sole of his foot, letting the irritation out, when Mina hit on a theory.

"Maybe we cleared it too fast?"

"...Ah. Maybe."

True enough. They were first and second in the class, but they were still freshly hatched. And the first and second would normally go far afield in search of a superior weapon, so the professors could not have dreamed they would be back this soon.

Time spent... about five hours.

The weapon trials had barely been trials at all. Only the trip there and back had eaten that much time.

"Mmm. Nothing else to do, then."

Bihyung made a request of her.

"I'm going to test the bloodline I awakened this time. If people start gathering, could you keep the area under control?"

Mina pressed her lips into a firm line, her expression oddly grave.

"Yeah!"

She even rolled up both sleeves and clenched her fists into adorable little knots. Reassured by that confident figure, Bihyung brought the Gamtu forth at once.

Fwoosh!

Blue ghost-fire surged, gathered at his brow, and became horns.

The moment he used that power in earnest, Bihyung's eyes flew wide.

This was way too broken, wasn't it?