Deal (2)
Deal (2)
"I've come to make a deal."
The noisy prayer room fell silent.
Only for a moment.
[ Σ(ﾟДﾟ；) A deal!!]
[ ＼(>o<)／ What is it what is it!!]
The phone began buzzing again. Yet its sharp sounds felt oddly warm.
'We're supposed to be meeting for the first time. How strange.'
It was indeed our first meeting. But the memories stored in my head kept insisting that I accept this noisily buzzing presence before me as someone I'd known for a long time.
I raised my index finger to my lips.
A signal to be quiet.
Fortunately, the creature had enough sense to catch on, and the prayer room settled back into silence.
"Before that, I'll ask one thing."
A critical matter I had to confirm.
[ (・ε・｀) What is it?]
"Do you remember me?"
When my soul collapsed, the traces of my existence were naturally erased from the world.
I should have vanished from reality as if I'd never been born. But I twisted that outcome.
A new soul had settled in, and the flesh was slowly recovering. If that was the case, had my erased traces been restored as well? I'd come to confirm that.
After all, the beings above the sky had been watching my journey to meet Void.
The phone stayed silent for a while.
I didn't press. I waited calmly.
Exactly one minute after my question, light flickered across the dormant screen. Unlike before, it made no noisy sound.
[ (*´∇｀*) I remembered you.]
"Is that so."
That phrasing meant something had triggered the recollection, that it had been made to recall my existence.
'I'm sure it was quite the stimulus.'
To be precise, it had been Void's will, not mine. But Void and I share the same essence.
In any case, this confirmed that I wouldn't have to endure the attention of other troublesome entities for the time being.
The phone buzzed briefly.
[ (｀▽´) I've always been interested in you, you know!!]
At the statement that seemed almost to be begging for praise, I responded flatly.
"Right."
It's interested in me.
This was content that had never appeared in the game. But it wasn't hard to deduce why this being would be curious about me.
And that curiosity would also serve as the bait to move this creature in the deal we were about to make.
"The main point. I'd like you to find someone for me."
[ ∑(O_O；) Finding someone!!]
[ ᕙ(⇀‸↼‵‵)ᕗ That's something I'm very good at!!]
I knew that. That's why I'd come.
"If you find her, I will someday erase one tale from the records that you do not wish to remain."
A tale.
Myths, legends, folktales handed down through the ages.
The time lived by those who wander the sky above, rendered into written records. I was proposing to delete one entry they desired gone.
If it was shame they wished to hide—what one might call black history—I could make it as though it had never been. The tale would grow more polished, and their standing would shift accordingly.
An offer no god could refuse.
And yet.
[ (´。＿ 。｀) Ehhh.]
Sure enough, the being showed me clear disappointment.
"This is a chance to elevate your standing even further."
[ (´Д｀。) I don't need boring stuff like that. My standing is already plenty high.]
True. This creature had already climbed to a height no one could challenge through its own power.
I made a new offer. I told it to request what it truly wanted.
"Then I'll grant you one favor of your choosing."
[ （๑✧∀✧๑）For real? For real?]
A markedly different reaction from before.
"If the scales balance."
[ ۹(ÒہÓ)۶ Let me make a character of you in the game I created!! It's not that hard, right!!]
Vuar is the God of Amusement.
True to its title, it had created a game perfectly suited to this era—one anyone could easily enjoy.
'The Guild.'
A game where anyone with a mobile device could run their own guild through an app.
On the surface, nothing special. But Vuar had implemented something no one else could replicate within the game.
The appearances, personalities, abilities, and even growth potentials of actual Awakened.
In the early days, scouts from guilds and nations had raced in with burning eyes, even more desperate than ordinary players.
They could preview promising Awakened prospects inside the game. No need to spend time, resources, and risk on real-world verification. They had no choice but to dive in.
But within a day, they fell away.
The spawn locations of the Awakened were completely random.
Also, unlike reality, where money could secure a contract, the game demanded a significant investment of time to build trust first.
And the final restriction: information about any contracted Awakened could not be disclosed in the real world.
So the Awakened had no real complaints. Not that complaining would have changed anything, given who they were dealing with.
The reason this being was making me such an offer was because I was not an Awakened. Not a god, but an existence capable of threatening and checking gods. That was me and Void.
"If all information is set to private, I'll accept."
[ Σ(°ロ°) C-could we at least hide just the name part?]
"Hmm...."
I deliberately drew out the word, stroking my chin with one hand.
[ (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞ I'll throw in a service!!]
"A service."
[ (⇀‸↼‶) A service!!]
I lowered the hand from my chin and shot it a look that said: let's hear it, then.
[ (｀ε´) First, tell me the characteristics of the human child you're looking for!!]
"Characteristics...."
A girl, about twelve years old.
【A mysterious silver, as if steeped in moonlight.】
"Silver hair."
【Eyes like an untamed beast.】
"A fierce glare."
【Within them, a blue gleam.】
"Blue eyes. A girl around twelve. I don't know her name. Or rather, she probably doesn't have one. She's likely in a Korean orphanage or a mid-sized guild training facility—"
[ ( ´∀｀)b Found her~]
I shut my mouth and glared at the glowing screen.
"Are you certain."
[ (¬◡¬)✧ There are a few children with similar traits, but only one in Korea, and only one in an orphanage. I'm certain.]
"I see."
[ (≧∀≦)v And here's the service!!]
[ (｡•́︿•̀｡) As it happens, that child is scheduled to be put up at an underground auction tomorrow.]
"Is that so."
An underground auction.
It's definitely the Wolf girl.
[ (｡ŏ_ŏ) I can dispatch my children right now to bring her here. What do you think?]
I read the message on the screen and shook my head.
"I'll see for myself."
I knew about the girl. And yet I knew nothing.
She had died 999 times. But the girl was alive.
Not the girl inside the thin monitor, but the one breathing and alive in this world right now—I needed to learn about her.
And so I intended to see with my own eyes the environment she faced and endured.
"You said tomorrow."
[ ( ´･ω･) But, you see.]
"Prepare a guide. That much service is sufficient."
[ (´･_･`) Is that really enough?]
"Yes. That's more than enough."
Because I had absolutely no intention of letting anyone else take the role of breaking the girl's chains.
**
Claire Vin Asen.
Among the clergy who serve the God of Amusement, she possessed the greatest martial strength. She was the sole Executor granted the right to carry out summary judgments in the name of the god Vuar.
She had been dispatched to the Arena Academy branch exactly two days ago.
The entrance ceremony was next month.
Each year, before the new students enrolled, Arena Academy held a special event: the Ring Scramble.
The rings, divided into three ranks excluding the Chairman, dictated a professor's standing.
For two days, professors fought within the academy grounds to claim a ring of a higher rank or to defend their own.
A primitive yet intuitive event: within 48 hours, by any means necessary, seize an opponent's ring or protect your own.
Clergy serving the God of Amusement were invited to such violent events as mediators, guarantors, or judges.
It was not free, of course.
Claire's price was so steep that Arena Academy allocated ten percent of its annual budget just to invite her.
And yet here was this high-value asset Claire, sitting idly near the temple entrance, her eyes closed as if in prayer.
'A Black Ring.'
But her mind was not filled with prayers. It was filled with the man who had visited the temple minutes ago.
'The Black grade does not exist.'
Unless it had been newly created yesterday or today.
'He looked young, but he is stronger than me.'
Even standing face to face, she had sensed no presence from him. The only thing that revealed his existence was the sound of his footsteps.
'And even those seemed to be deliberate on his part....'
When walking through the second-floor corridor, the footsteps had sporadically cut out. Yet the man had always followed her at a constant distance.
The more she thought, the more inscrutable he became.
She had memorized every face of every ranked Awakened. If he had not altered his appearance through a special ability or artifact....
Click. Click—
At the steady footsteps descending from the second-floor stairs, Claire opened her eyes and rose.
She could hear the sound, but no presence reached her. She knew at once that the one coming down was the man in question, and she acted accordingly.
Before long, the man descended.
Claire inclined her head slightly and spoke, confirming once more the ring encircling his index finger.
"You received your answer, I take it."
"I did."
"It must have been a matter of considerable interest to him."
The man did not reply. He walked past her and out of the temple.
Even watching with her own eyes, Claire felt as though his existence itself was an illusion. She kept her gaze on his back until he completely vanished, then turned away.
She headed for the second floor.
To tidy the prayer room the recently departed man had used.
Right now, she was not the high-priced Executor. She was a priestess managing a temple.
She stepped into the only prayer room with its door open.
'......Gold?'
The first thing her eyes caught was the fine, hairline crack that had formed on the statue.
—Click.
The moment she stepped inside to examine the statue, the door, which should have remained open, shut by itself.
"......."
Claire stared at the statue for a moment, then knelt on the spot. She closed her eyes and drew up her holy power.
The warm light flowing from her body filled the prayer room.
【Hello.】
A clear, pure child's voice resonated inside Claire's mind.
It was a voice she had heard many times before. Vuar's voice.
Vuar was an eccentric who enjoyed conversing through electronic devices created by humans, but for important matters, it preferred to communicate directly with its voice like this.
'What must I do?'
【I do like that about Claire. No need for long-windedness. The other children, oh, how they quibble. Hah.】
'They are all children you chose yourself. You must endure it.'
【I'm going to spread a rumor that Claire hums strange songs every night.】
'Spread it if you wish. In exchange, tomorrow morning I will hang myself and die.'
【You actually look like you'd do it, so I won't. No fun at all.】
'Please get to the point.'
The one believer it could never sway.
That was why Vuar, even while calling her no fun, cherished Claire.
【Tomorrow, please clean up after some man.】
'When you say a man.'
【Claire saw him too. The man wearing the strange glasses.】
Strange glasses.
The man who had been wearing that Black Ring.