Nice to Meet You
There was a system in Silia Online called channels.
No matter how much Silia Online prized freedom, if too many players crowded into one place, the game simply stopped being enjoyable.
So when population in a given area got too high, the game created a channel system to keep things comfortable.
If you thought of the world as a room, it was essentially the same as making an identical room and splitting it off from the original.
A channel created that way normally had no effect on any other channel.
If you killed a monster in this channel, the same monster in another channel did not disappear, and the reverse was true as well.
But when something special happened—a World Alteration Event—the rule of mutual isolation broke down, and one channel began to affect the others.
For example, if the Blum Village Jerny was in was destroyed by ogres, the result would be reflected in the other channels and, beyond that, in the world itself.
In other words, what happened in one channel became official history, and that was why it was called alteration.
The exact conditions for a World Alteration Event had never been identified, but players suspected it had something to do with NPCs.
After all, every alteration event they had confirmed so far had been directly or indirectly tied to an NPC.
Still, because the mere presence of an NPC did not automatically trigger an event, it remained nothing more than a theory.
It was rare enough that most players could go through their entire gaming life without ever seeing one, but not so rare that it was legendary; Jerny knew of World Alteration Events, but she had never experienced one herself.
The problem was that when a World Alteration Event occurred, only the people who were present at that moment could participate in it.
The proof of that was the viewers who had tried to join the channel Jerny was in and been blocked from entering.
“This is a matter of the village’s very survival, so it’s not a small thing, but why now of all times….”
For a brief moment, Jerny sank into despair, then forced herself to calmly tally the village’s fighting strength.
About twenty guards who protected the village, eight mercenaries hired by the merchant caravan, and eleven players, herself included.
If you counted everyone who could hold a weapon, there were more, but if you looked at actual combat strength, that was about it.
In truth, that estimate was generous; the real fighting power was lower than that.
There was no way the guards of a small village would be of much help in a fight against ogres.
And the mercenaries probably won’t be much help either.
They might inflict a few shallow wounds or draw attention, but they would never land a deep cut or a decisive blow.
In the end, the only people she could truly rely on were the players like herself.
Having quickly assessed the situation, Jerny asked the players, “What levels are you? And, uh, what classes do you have?”
“I’m a mage. Level 45.”
“I, I’m level 35! I’m a priest!”
“I’m a level 40 warder.”
“I’m….”
At Jerny’s request, the players began introducing themselves.
As she listened silently, her face grew darker and darker.
...This isn’t enough.
She didn’t show it, but from where Jerny stood, there was no way this force could take on a horde of ogres.
If there were only three or four, there might still be hope.
But if there were more than that, they wouldn’t just fail to win—they might not even be able to hold out.
“If you say anything mean, you know what happens.”
It was true that the strength she’d hoped for was lacking, but complaining about the people who had rushed over to help her was not something a person with basic manners should do, streamer or not.
So Jerny purged the few viewers who were giving off a rotten vibe.
After that was done, she turned back to the players.
“Shall we work out a strategy? Anyone have any good ideas?”
“...”
“...”
“Um….”
An awkward silence settled over them.
For some reason, Jerny found that awkward atmosphere strangely familiar.
“That’s it!”
Yes, she’d felt this way plenty of times in college.
But knowing why the feeling was familiar didn’t change the situation.
The NPCs watching the players must have sensed, by instinct, that things were going badly, because their voices gradually died away too.
If only we knew how many there were, at the very least.
They’d asked the hunter who first spotted the ogres, but the hunter said he didn’t know the exact number either.
He’d run for his life the moment he confirmed they were ogres, and didn’t have the presence of mind to count them.
“Um… Jerny-nim?”
“Yes?”
“Couldn’t we just ask Kana-nim for help?”
The priest raised a hand and asked cautiously.
“Even if she won’t listen to us, she might listen if it’s coming from Jerny-nim….”
“...”
Jerny hesitated.
Would Kana really agree to help?
More than that….
...I didn’t want to ask Kana for help.
But there were too many things at stake to keep being stubborn.
Principle versus reality. While Jerny wavered between them, a young man who had gone out to scout burst back into the village, shouting at the top of his lungs.
“Th-they’re coming…!”
“...!”
“How many? How many?”
“Are they heading this way? Where are they now?”
“Ten of them—and earlier they were still far away, but now they must be near the flower fields!”
“T-ten?!”
The sheer number, far beyond what anyone had imagined, stunned everyone listening.
Jerny was one of them.
If even three or four would be difficult to handle, ten was absurd.
“...This is impossible.”
Jerny found herself muttering it out loud.
She couldn’t see a way to turn the situation around.
“W-we should run now!”
“It’s not too late! Load the baggage, quickly!”
“Jerny-nim!”
“...”
The scale in Jerny’s heart tilted heavily toward reality.
Overwhelmed by helplessness and humiliation, she lowered her head.
“Kana… I need your power. Would you help us?”
“...”
“...?”
Kana said nothing.
She did not reluctantly agree, nor did she cut her off with a flat refusal.
“...Kana?”
Thrown off by the complete lack of a response, Jerny slowly lifted her head.
The little bird’s eyes were not on her.
They were outside the village—and farther still.
Following the direction of Kana’s gaze, Jerny looked as well and murmured without thinking, “...The mountain?”
* * *
Jerny seemed to be saying something.
But I had no time to pay attention to that.
This is strange, I thought so.
Ever since the ogre horde appeared, there had been signs.
For creatures that had supposedly grown too numerous and gone searching for new territory, they were in far too good a condition.
Thinking about it now, their destination must have been an evacuation route.
A journey to find a new nest, fleeing from an enemy too powerful to face.
And the ogres heading toward this village now were probably the same.
“...”
I could feel something from the mountain.
Had they instinctively sensed danger, given that they’d already fled in advance?
So they could sense Dimensional Beasts arriving? At this rate, who knew who the real Canaria was here.
“Kana?”
Jerny called my name again.
What had she said…?
Right. She’d asked for help.
“Move.”
She probably meant for me to kill the ogres that were coming in.
Not even knowing that there was something behind them I couldn’t dismiss as mere ogres.
If they had quietly dug in on the mountain and stayed there, that would have been one thing, but unfortunately the Dimensional Beast that had appeared there didn’t seem to have that intention.
Maybe, just as I had sensed it, it had sensed me too.
It was certainly moving toward me.
If you want to die that badly, there’s nothing I can do about it.
“I’ll kill it.”
“Huh? O-oh! Thanks!”
I looked at Jerny, who bowed her head gratefully, with mild irritation.
I wasn’t talking to you.
There was no need to correct the misunderstanding.
There wasn’t time for that anyway.
Sching.
I drew my sword.
“What? Are you serious? You’re going to fight?”
“Why are you just standing there? Stop her!”
“They’re asking a kid to fight….”
Noisy.
People were talking all around me, but I couldn’t make out a word of it, so I ignored them.
“Ah.”
Right.
Just as I was gathering strength in my legs to launch myself forward, I paused and took off my cape.
“Hold this for me.”
I didn’t want to see it get torn again like last time.
Besides, this fight looked like it was going to be a little rough.
Without waiting for Jerny’s answer, I shoved the cape at her and stamped off the ground.
Fwoosh-!
The things around me stretched long and thin.
People, buildings, fences, fields, road.
Ogres.
“One down, for now.”
Moving at a speed that was less running than being fired from a cannon, I leapt lightly and swung my sword.
The blade passed through the ogre’s neck without the slightest resistance.
The next one was tearing into what looked like animal flesh, and since it seemed awfully hungry, I simply shoved my sword down its throat.
Again, there was no resistance. Again, there was no sense of resistance.
If you were a Master and still couldn’t easily handle something as basic as an ogre, you’d be a joke.
If I had been that weak to begin with, my body would probably have ended up rolling around on some battlefield somewhere.
Or maybe I would’ve been captured by the empire and ended up fawning over some rich noble.
...Ugh. Just thinking about it made me feel sick.
...This is all because of you.
Making me imagine something so disgusting.
That sin alone deserved a hundred deaths.
With a sword lightly wrapped in mana, I severed another ogre’s neck and sent it tumbling down.
By the time I had killed four in total, including the first two, the stretched-out world around me finally returned to normal.
Fshh.
Thud!
The ogres whose necks had been taken finally collapsed, shaking the ground.
Blood spurted in a red fountain from the severed cross-sections.
“...Krwah?!”
“Yeah. Krwah.”
From what I knew, ogres weren’t particularly big on loyalty or fellowship.
That said, if they saw a companion die with their own eyes, they could at least be expected to seek revenge—but the ones who hadn’t even realized their companions were under attack were only staring dumbly at the bodies that had suddenly dropped.
It made sense. A comrade who had been perfectly fine a moment ago had suddenly died.
I answered the ogres’ cries politely and hunted down the rest.
One strike, one ogre. Simple, but effective.
It took less than a few dozen seconds to bring all ten ogres down.
Even if they’d regained their wits and fought back, they still wouldn’t have stood a chance, and the shock of losing their comrades in a surprise attack seemed to have been enough that they couldn’t even think of lifting their weapons.
As for catching and killing such creatures? That was easier than eating cake while lying down.
I casually flicked the blood from my blade and spun around.
Well then….
“Hello. Did you come to see me?”
Nice to meet you.
I waved at the gleam shining in the darkness.
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