The Silver Arrow
About time I went and collected it—the hidden piece. The first thing I had to secure was a single strike that would work even on a monster.
"Let's go to the basement."
"The basement… why?"
"There's an old treasure hidden down there."
"A t-treasure…?"
Shan knew the orphanage had been built on top of an underground bunker, but she clearly had no idea what was inside it.
Clap, clap. The instant I clapped my hands, Shan's followers—the teachers of this orphanage—came pouring in as if they'd been waiting for the signal.
As long as I housed Shan in my body, I was something like an apostle speaking on her behalf. Which meant the orphanage teachers were, for all intents and purposes, my subordinates.
"You called for us?"
Even the Hypnosis App teacher, who'd been treating me like a child just yesterday—"little Tiss"—was now kneeling in a respectful posture, waiting for our orders.
"Teachers, please prepare equipment that can break through walls and floors."
Tracing my memories, I headed for a corner of the basement. Standing in the middle of an empty passageway, I gave the teachers their orders.
"Break through there, and there."
We smashed through the wall and the floor and pressed inward, and a secret space even Shan hadn't known about opened up before us.
"Huh…? This was here…?"
We cleared the debris, and when I shone a flashlight into the interior, a massive form lay stretched across the floor.
Found it.
"A monster!!! There was another monster besides me under the orphanage?"
"It's fine. It's just a corpse that's been dead for a long time."
The basement had been completely sealed, cut off from the air, and the monster's body had naturally mummified in that airless dark.
"Th-that corpse… is the treasure Tiss is looking for?"
"To be precise, that's what I'm looking for."
A single silver arrow, still gleaming after all these long years, was embedded in the monster's crown.
Slipping thick gloves onto both hands, I worked the silver arrow free of the monster's skull as carefully as if I were excavating a fossil.
"Got it."
Crumble. The moment the arrow came free, the monster's corpse collapsed as if every year it had held at bay had come crashing down at once, its shape giving way until nothing remained but a handful of dust.
"What a waste… If I could've absorbed that, i-it would've been nice."
Shan smacked her lips in disappointment, apparently having recognized that the dead monster had been fairly strong in its day.
"Don't worry. Most of its power is inside this."
This was the hidden piece I'd stumbled on after combing the tutorial area down to the last inch. The Silver Arrow of the Jewel Bee.
This underground bunker had been built in the earliest days of the Gates. Right after they barely managed to kill the monster that had broken in, the entrance collapsed, and the place was forgotten.
"It looks pretty ordinary…?"
"It holds enough power to paralyze even a Superior Grade monster on the spot."
I'd secured the arrow. Next was the weapon.
"You see that locked room over there? Open it, find a crossbow that can fire this arrow, and bring it here."
"Understood."
Creeeak. I had the followers open the armory door, which had been sealed shut with age.
In the tutorial, there had been a scene where the protagonist stepped into an armory with a smashed-in door and chose their first weapon before facing the boss. And true to a hidden piece of the tutorial area, there was a crossbow that fit the arrow perfectly.
Click. With that, the preparations were complete. All that remained was to load the silver arrow, saturated with the monster's potent paralytic venom. It was only a single shot, but I'd just created a trump card that would work on any of the three attackers.
"This is… the Magic Stone warehouse."
The next place we arrived was the Magic Stone warehouse. It was piled so high you could tell at a glance just how much was there.
"That's a pretty impressive stockpile of Magic Stones."
"I didn't have any use for them, so… I just told them to pile them up."
To Shan in her parasitic state, before she'd found a host, they'd been useless. She'd hoarded them like emergency savings, and they'd accumulated into this. Originally, a rampaging Shan would have eaten them all. But now that she'd contracted with me and fate had changed, we could use them however we liked.
"W-what are you planning to do with these?"
"I'm going to use all of them as fuel."
"Huh? I-isn't that a bit of a waste?"
In the game, they were items with little value after the very early stretch, just for the sake of balance. But in the lore, Magic Stones were depicted as an all-purpose energy source that surpassed even petroleum. Now that this was reality, even a short time living at the orphanage was enough to understand their worth.
From the energy that boiled water and lit lightbulbs, to artifacts that contained a monster's power itself, to elixirs that enhanced abilities and potions that restored spent mana—Magic Stones went into all of it. It wouldn't be much of an exaggeration to say that every living, breathing action required them. Monster Magic Stones had seeped into the very fabric of human life.
Even these low-grade stones would add up to a considerable sum if you put them all together.
"Come to think of it, starting with the Magic Stones—how do you even run the orphanage?"
"Ah, that teacher over there is a rich woman who owns a Magic Stone mine."
Shan pointed at the Hypnosis App teacher. To think the money behind the orphanage was one of the teachers. I'd wondered how an orphanage teacher working as Shan's follower could walk around with expensive artifacts, even Lower Grade ones. So she was rich.
"It is a waste. But it can't be helped."
First I cherry-picked a few Magic Stones that looked immediately useful, then ordered the teachers to move the rest to the ritual chamber.
"H-how are you going to… do anything with Magic Stones from low-tier monsters?"
"Remember that chunk of flesh you set aside before transferring into my body? I'm going to combine it with these to boost the firepower."
Shan couldn't stand not knowing; she kept asking.
"C-combine? What are you g-going to do to my body…!"
"I'm not going to do anything weird. And it's not your body anymore, anyway. It used to be."
Shan tilted her head, clearly unable to figure out what kind of trap I was planning.
"I said I was going to make a trap, didn't I?"
"You did?"
"I'm going to use that to make a fake Shan."
In my time living at this orphanage, I'd figured out exactly what ability each of the teachers who used their powers in daily life possessed. The orphanage teachers, as people living in this other world, each had their own esper abilities.
"Teacher, I'm going to need your help."
"M-me, you mean?"
The person I pointed at was the Bakery Teacher, who usually handled the children's snacks—bread, and the strawberry tart cake that Siwoo and Sia loved. Even this faithful follower hadn't expected to be called on here; she looked a little flustered.
"All I can do is make things like molds for bread dough, or simple shaping… Will that really help?"
"That's exactly it. I need that ability right now."
We returned to the ritual chamber and brought the teacher over to the body Shan had abandoned. Once she filled in the hole Shan had crawled out of with her shaping ability, then flipped the body over and tidied it up just enough to look like it was asleep…
Ta-da! And just like that, a booby trap made from Shan's body was complete.
"Ooh, recreating the majesty of this body! It is… rather convincing. What are you going to do with it?"
"I'm going to blow it up."
"B-blow it up?"
Their target had been Shan from the start, after all. Using a corpse like this did feel a bit like desecration, but if we converted the piled-up faith and offerings into energy and detonated it, it would definitely unleash tremendous firepower.
Next, under the Bakery Teacher's lead, we mobilized all the teachers to grind the Magic Stones we'd brought into powder, then mixed in every bomb left in the armory and kneaded it all together into a makeshift explosive. After that, we wrapped the remaining Magic Stone powder in fiber. String that out long enough, and you had an improvised fuse.
"I'm going to lure the Disguiser in there and—boom!—blow it up. The ritual chamber door is thick, so we should be able to handle it safely."
Whether it would kill them was uncertain, but it would definitely deal damage.
"R-right. If Tiss says it's a sure method…"
Shan gazed at the dummy with distant eyes, as if she were bidding farewell to something precious. It was a crude method I wouldn't have used if I were following the proper route, but to punch through the Disguiser's hard armor and neutralize it, we had to go this far.
With that, the preparations were done. All that remained was how well I could deceive the trio.
By the time we'd finished everything and emerged from underground, the morning sun was rising. Just as I was sneaking into the bedroom to lie down, the two siblings came running at me.
"Tiss Unnie!"
"Tiss!"
They lunged. I was a little startled. Sia came first, then Siwoo too—they both threw themselves at me and clung on.
"Tiss, are you okay? Where've you been this whole time?"
"I got up early to help the teachers."
"The teacher said we're going on a picnic nearby today! Tiss Unnie's coming with us, right? Right?"
"Is that so? We'll get to go on an outing for the first time in a while."
"Sia's been super excited—she said it's the first time she's going out since we came here. Honestly… I'm a little excited too."
I'd decided to send the children on a picnic so they wouldn't get caught up in this. When they heard about it, they were so excited they latched onto me. Their eyes were damp as they waited on my answer with bated breath, and something in my chest gave a sharp little ache.
"I don't think I can leave with you. I have to help the teachers."
I've got a lot on my plate, after all.
"It's okay if you're late. We'll wait, so let's meet there later!"
Siwoo and Sia nodded, saying they already knew the patron had been calling for me often lately, and that someone was visiting today too—so being a little late was understandable.
Hehehe. All I could do for Siwoo and Sia as they hooked their pinkies with mine in a promise was smile.
"Tiss Unnie! Then we'll see you at the park a little later!"
"See you later, Tiss."
"Yeah. See you all later."
After that, I watched the teachers and children bustling with picnic preparations from a step behind.
"Did Tiss want to go on the picnic too?"
"What…?"
A picnic with Siwoo and Sia.
"It'd be nice if I could…"
Had I gotten attached in such a short time? Even if I was a little late, I'd finish this business and then hang out with them as much as they wanted.
Yeah. Back then, I still thought I'd be able to.
It was about time those bastards arrived.
I changed into the neat clothes the teacher had prepared, then stepped out of the orphanage with the teachers. I waved to Siwoo and Sia as they receded into the distance, and kept my eyes on the three approaching from ahead.
With a bright smile and a loud, cheerful voice, I was the first to greet the hunter trio.
"Welcome to the orphanage!"
"C-can you do this? No—can we? Tiss, even now, m-maybe we should run…"
"It's okay. Trust me."
Watch from in there. See just what kind of host you chose.