Arcana Online
A cold, creeping feeling slid down my spine, and a terrible thought surfaced in my mind.
W-wait. Had the chicks sold me out!?
“Piiik! Piiik!”
“Piiiik!”
No, that wasn’t it.
They spread their tiny wings and glared at me, trying to protect me.
“Come here.”
The words were blunt, the voice grim and unpleasant.
When I flashed a grin at him again, the chicks got scared and hid behind my legs.
Weren’t you just saying you’d protect me a second ago?
“Hello? Why are you here?”
“It is the will of Heaven.”
“Huh? The will of Heaven?”
“That’s right.”
What on earth was that supposed to mean?
I asked why he was here, and he answered that it was the will of Heaven. What was I even supposed to say to that?
Was this some kind of cult…?
“Then do you happen to know anything about the strange sound I keep hearing?”
“That too is the will of Heaven.”
“What?”
“The time has come.”
He motioned for me to step back, then began preparing something.
Like he was setting up a ritual, he pulled all sorts of things out of subspace.
When he finished and knelt down on one knee, he started muttering strange words in a booming voice.
“Our Father, who art in heaven…”
The sound was so loud it felt like my eardrums might burst, and I clapped my hands over my ears and squeezed my eyes shut, crying out in pain.
Then, in an instant, everything went silent.
When I opened my eyes again, nothing remained, as if a massive whirlwind had swept through and carried it all away.
An empty clearing.
Yongyong belching.
A blue window floating in the air.
You have increased your affinity with the forest residents.
Staring blankly at the blue window, then looking down at the chicks hiding against my legs, I found that both of them had passed out.
After hugging the two fainted chicks, I crawled back out of the passage, only to find that the sun was already setting.
It felt like I’d only been in there a short while.
As I brushed the dust off myself, Melin nuna appeared.
“Where did you go!?”
“I just went in and solved the noise problem.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
Once I told Melin nuna where the hidden passage was, she was startled and said she’d report it to the village.
When I said I’d tell the elder about the noise issue, she guided me back to the village again.
Come to think of it, Melin nuna seemed fine?
“Melin nuna, are you okay?”
“Once I’m asleep, you could carry me off and I wouldn’t notice.”
When we arrived at the elder’s house, I explained everything that had happened today.
After hearing the story, he thanked me repeatedly.
“Thank you so much. We’ve suffered terribly from not being able to sleep.”
“Noise from upstairs… no, noise problems are seriously stressful.”
“We’re a clan that lives quietly, so it’s truly been hard on us.”
He even had tears in his eyes as he thanked me.
Since it was getting late, he told me to stay the night in the village, and Melin nuna led me to the guest lodging.
When I stepped inside, I found a bed along with the necessities I’d need.
She closed the door behind her and told me to rest comfortably.
I lay down on the bed, which looked stiff at first glance, only to find it surprisingly comfortable.
Then what had happened earlier suddenly came back to me.
What on earth was that?
*
*
*
“Here, Elder.”
“Thank you.”
I led the elder to the place the traveler had described.
It was such a tiny hole; was that why they hadn’t found it all this time?
The elder summoned a spirit and sent it inside, and after a while it returned from somewhere else.
“There’s an entrance over there.”
Following the elder to the entrance, the reason it had gone undiscovered all this time finally became clear.
“A barrier.”
“To think there was a barrier there and we never knew…”
“We were only able to discover it because the caster is dead. If they were still alive, we still wouldn’t have found it.”
With the elder’s power, the barrier was shattered, and as we went deeper along the passage, we found the clearing the traveler had spoken of.
The moment I tried to step into the clearing—
“Stop.”
“Why, Elder?”
“It’s dangerous if you go any farther.”
At his words, I looked more closely at the clearing, and something felt wrong.
The concentration of mana here was on a completely different level from anywhere else.
It was like the density you’d find when a dragon used its breath attack.
And not just any dragon, either—a lord-class one.
How had he even survived in a place like this…?
We couldn’t approach any farther, so we ended the search and returned to the village.
Then the elder called to me in a low voice.
“Please hand ‘it’ to the traveler.”
“Are you serious?”
“Think of it as an investment in the future.”
“Understood, Elder.”
*
*
*
When I woke up and straightened the bed, something felt strangely off.
What was missing? When I checked, the two chicks weren’t there.
I looked at Yongyong, and he tilted his head.
“You didn’t eat them, did you?”
“Kkyu-uuung!?”
“Sorry for suspecting you! I know you didn’t, but snakes do eat chicks, don’t they?”
“Kkyu-ung!”
“I’m really sorry!”
He got angry and insisted that he only ate magic stones, and since I was the one in the wrong, I got him to forgive me by promising him twice as many magic stones as usual.
For the record, I was told that the two chicks had left at dawn.
After Yongyong finished eating and opened the door to leave, Melin nuna was waiting right outside.
“Were you waiting until I got up!?”
“No, that’s not it. I just got here.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Three hours ago.”
“That’s not ‘just now’!?”
I stared at her in disbelief, and she gave a little snort before handing me a box.
When I asked what it was, Melin nuna told me to open it.
I opened the box, and inside was a tiny seed.
Seed of ???
I had no idea what it was.
I felt like I’d received something like this before, too?
I asked what it was, but she wouldn’t answer.
With a vague reply that I’d know when the time came, she said she’d guide me out of the village.
Following Melin nuna, I headed outside the village and saw the other elves. It looked like they’d all slept soundly for the first time in ages, because every one of them had bright faces.
After Melin nuna saw me off with a wave at the village edge, I waved back and headed toward the city.
On the road to the city, a familiar bear came charging from far away.
“Kraaaang!”
“Bear! I missed you so much!”
“Kraaaang!”
“You want me to honor my promise? O-okay.”
I took a magic stone from my inventory and handed it to the bear, and his expression somehow changed…?
“Kraaaang!”
“A bigger one!? I don’t have that, you brat!”
This guy was picky about his tastes.
He grumbled as he ate the magic stone, then told me to climb onto his back.
Still, the little guy had some affection in him.
“Kraaaang!”
“You want two more when we arrive!? Are you a thief!?”
“Kraang!”
“If I don’t like it, get off!? You’re really a thief!”
We compromised on one, and he agreed to carry me to the city.
It was pretty comfortable, really, like riding a taxi.
Coming here, I’d spent half a day walking myself to the bone, but on the way back it took hardly any time at all.
Near the city, I handed over one more magic stone, and the bear clamped it in his mouth and vanished.
He sure knew how to settle the bill.
As soon as I entered the city, I headed to the Information Guild to report in.
I went into the general store, followed the employee’s directions, and entered the request room, where Erika nuna was waiting for me.
“Did our pretty girl have a good trip?”
Your reward has been Payment.
Other than the magic stone I’d taken as an advance, only the experience points were added.
Then I took out the item I’d received from the forest resident.
“Do you happen to know what this is?”
“Hmm? Let me see.”
She examined the seed, and her expression grew unusual.
“You got this from the forest tribe?”
“Yes.”
She stared at it for a long moment before handing it back to me.
“So what is it?”
“I don’t know either!”
“What!? Then why were you looking at it so seriously?”
“Because I wanted to seem impressive!”
She laughed and said that since she was the head of the Information Guild, how could she possibly just admit she didn’t know something the moment she saw it?
Just as I was about to head back to the hotel—
“By any chance, are you interested in the black market?”
“The black market?”
“We’re also holding an auction.”
“An auction!?”
At last, the back-alley event had triggered!
A black market and an auction?
It smelled illegal, and how was I supposed to resist that?
“I’m in!”
“Then take this.”
Black Market Ticket
A ticket that grants entry to the black market.
“You can use one ticket to access both the black market and the auction, so don’t lose it.”
“Thank you, Erika nuna!”
After thanking Erika nuna, I stepped outside and checked the schedule, only to find out it was tomorrow.
With the gold I’d saved up, I should be able to buy at least one decent thing, right?
*
*
*
Erika tapped the table in the request room, tap, tap.
What on earth had the forest tribe been thinking, giving that to her?
Well, when had those pointy-eared people ever done what she expected them to do?
She was the first being she’d ever met who was entertaining just to watch.
And given how interesting she was—and how she always seemed to drag trouble in her wake—it looked like Erika had caught hold of the right line.
As the head of the Information Guild, she always had to eliminate threats and make sure she held the right rope tight.
In her eyes, this wasn’t just any rope.
It was a rope of gold.
She organized the information while sipping a cup of sweet cocoa.
“Classify every piece of information related to Yuna.”
“Understood, Master.”
“And make sure the bugs can’t get near her.”
CHAPTER 1: Protect the World Tree.
Time remaining until the invasion begins: 719 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds.