Arcana Online
According to the map, it was somewhere around here.
“Where’s the red roof?”
“Kkyu-ung.”
When I looked in the direction Yongyong pointed, I saw what looked like a house with a red roof.
Out front was the emblem of the Frey Guild: a wolf crest. When I gripped the doorknob, a message floated up.
[Only Frey Guild members may enter.]
[Welcome, Yuna.]
When I opened the door and stepped inside, the interior was completely different from the outside—like 180 degrees different.
The place was decorated in a lavish style, but the strange part was that there were plenty of rooms and not a single door anywhere.
I was staring up at the chandelier hanging from the ceiling when a voice came from deeper inside.
“Oh my, who might you be?”
A big-sister type with blue hair, golden eyes, a wizard’s robe, and a huge hat.
“Hello! I’m Yuna, and I just joined the Frey Guild!”
“Eek! So you’re the newbie I’ve only heard about!? Nice to meet you! My name’s Hecate!”
She wrapped me in an uncompromising hug with her generous chest, and wow. Wow, that was something.
After I basked in that soft feeling for quite a while, she let me go, told me to wait on the sofa for a moment, and vanished in the blink of an eye.
While I was sitting on the sofa and taking in the interior, I heard Lia-noona’s voice.
“You’re here?”
Lia-noona appeared wearing silver armor.
“Hello!”
“You must have had a hard time getting here.”
She came closer and ruffled my hair, and her hand felt just as warm and soft as it had in the real world.
“Not at all. I used the bear taxi, so it didn’t take long.”
“The bear taxi?”
We chatted a while longer, and when they said they’d throw me a welcome party tonight, I told them I’d go clear the quest Erika-noona had given me and come back. After that, I left the guild.
I headed toward the Information Guild.
As I looked over the various goods piled along the street, something caught my eye.
[??? Orb]
I had no idea what it was.
It was just an orb with no apparent abilities at all.
And yet... why did I want it so badly?
“Mister! How much is this orb?”
“How much were you hoping to pay?”
“Huh?”
I froze for a second, then held up three fingers. The vendor made a pensive face.
“Tsk. Thirty thousand is a little low, but well, you’re cute, so I’ll sell it to you.”
“Thirty thousand...? Th-thank you!”
I paid thirty thousand gold and took the orb, but my feelings were mixed.
I’d been expecting three hundred thousand, not thirty thousand. At least I saved money.
As I examined the orb and continued toward the Information Guild, it suddenly responded with a bright flash of light.
[Responding to the Shrine Maiden Robe of the Divine Dragon and the Bell of the Divine Dragon, hidden information is now unlocked.]
[You have obtained the Orb of the Divine Dragon.]
Orb of the Divine Dragon
If it meets the Yeouiju, something special may happen.
That was the information that appeared, but what the heck was this?
No, more importantly—Yeouiju?
That Yeouiju I’d gotten long ago by spending hundreds of thousands of points?!
I’d completely forgotten about it, and now this crazy coincidence had happened.
“See? I really am lucky! Right!?”
“Kkyuuu...”
For some reason, Yongyong was looking wary. What was that about?
I opened my inventory to take out the Yeouiju, but it wasn’t there!?
“What!? Where did the Yeouiju go!?”
“Kkyuu!”
“What do you mean, forget about something that small!? No, where did the Light Crystal go too!?”
Apparently I’d been neglecting my inventory cleanup so badly that a few items had vanished, and of all things, the Yeouiju was gone.
While I flailed around in confusion, rummaging through my inventory, Yongyong nudged me impatiently.
He wanted me to hurry up and go to the Information Guild.
“What’s gotten into him today?”
“Kkyuuu!”
“Fine! I’m going! I’m going, so stop rushing me!”
The Information Guild, located in the commercial city of Thalassa, was disguised as an ordinary café.
Not just any café, either, but one that sold a wildly popular limited-edition menu item.
The way to use the Information Guild was simple.
Go into the café and order an iced hot chocolate.
“Would you like the ice on the side?”
“Put half of it in, and give me the other half on the side.”
“Understood, sir.”
After they told me to wait a moment, I sat down at a table, only for a staff member to come over and say there was a problem with the order and I should follow them.
Following the employee, I went through a secret door, descended the stairs, and found myself looking at a reception room.
Inside was an elderly person.
“Grandma!? So I’m seeing you here!”
Could the grandma I’d spoken with before be the master of the Thalassa Information Guild?
Then, in that instant—
With a flash of light, her appearance changed. An elf?
An elf with blond hair and golden eyes rose from her seat and introduced herself, bowing deeply.
“I greet the benefactor who saved the World Tree.”
“W-wait a second!?”
Startled, I told her to lift her head, and only then did she look up at me, smiling brightly.
“Thanks to you, the World Tree was able to remain safe. Thank you so much.”
“It was nothing.”
“Nothing? Without the World Tree, elves cannot be born.”
But then a question suddenly came to me.
“If elves are born from the fruit of the World Tree, doesn’t that make the World Tree their mother? Why don’t you call it Mother?”
“The World Tree itself serves the role of a mother. We do regard it as one, but the World Tree is still the World Tree.”
She answered with a radiant smile, but I had no idea what she was talking about.
“It is similar to how humans are not born through a natural childbirth process, but rather emerge from fruit...”
She kept mumbling on and on, and I just nodded and smiled because, honestly, I had no clue. But she still wasn’t done explaining.
“An apple’s biological parents are crabapple trees or wild apple trees, but genetically...”
I took the mail out of my inventory and handed it over, and only then did she stop talking and accept it from me.
She opened the envelope, checked the contents, and burned it right then and there.
“Thank you, benefactor. If you have any trouble living in the city, please don’t hesitate to contact us.”
After I finished the greeting and went out through a different exit, I found myself coming out of a general store instead of a café.
An employee spotted me and guided me to the exit.
When I stepped outside, the sun was already setting, and I started walking back toward the guild.
I followed the road and headed to the guild’s hideout.
The moment I reached the hideout and put my hand on the doorknob, a firework exploded.
“Pababang!”
“Welcome to the Frey Guild!”
Everyone was there to greet me.
At the head of them all stood the Frey Guild’s guild master, Lia-noona, along with the stalker Shasha-noona, Hecate-noona, and...
The pervert with red hair and his upper body exposed. No, wait— the tsundere.
“A tsundere!?”
I pointed at him in surprise, and the tsundere looked surprised too.
“You’re that little kid from earlier. No, who are you calling a tsundere!?”
He introduced himself as Balac and flexed his muscles proudly.
Balac, the very symbol of manhood, showing off his body.
Whenever I saw someone built well, there was a question I absolutely had to ask.
“What’s your SBD!?”
“In real life I hit 600. In the game...”
We were in the middle of talking about muscle matters when a big-sister type in a nun’s habit hugged me from behind and pulled me away from the tsundere.
“Gross. Talking to that muscle maniac isn’t good for your emotional education.”
“Who are you calling a muscle maniac!? You cult fraud!”
“I’ll say it again: the words of the Lord...”
After the two of them bickered for quite a while, a big-sister type with silver hair and blue eyes introduced herself as Aria.
Excluding me, there were five guild members in total. Was that everyone?
“So there are five guild members total?”
“No. There are two more, but they’re out on a mission. We got word they won’t be able to make it, which is a shame.”
Then that made seven in all. No, counting me, eight now.
It really was a small elite guild.
“All right, now that Yuna’s here too, shall we start the welcome party!?”
With those words, they all grabbed the cups in front of me.
“Drink up!”
“Soak it down!”
“Pour it out!”
Led by the stalker—no, by Shasha-noona—and the generous-chested—no, by Hecate-noona—a drinking party broke out.
But why was I the one with apple juice...?
*
*
*
“Where are you, my darling?”
After leaving the dragon’s lair, I looked up at the sky and then down upon the earth.
The ground below was teeming with monsters.
An army of monsters so vast it easily numbered in the hundreds of thousands.
“Last time, there weren’t enough of them, so I couldn’t find you. But this time will be different. Just wait a little longer, my darling.”
With a single wave of the hand, countless monsters began to move.
The order was only one thing.
Find our darling.
As for what happened to everything else, it didn’t matter.
A mark had been left behind, but since it hadn’t activated, someone must have been meddling.
To think they’d try to steal our darling.
Even dying a thousand times—no, ten thousand times—wouldn’t be enough.
It would be easiest to search the places where humans gathered in large numbers.
The first one, yes.
The city humans called the commercial city.
Thalassa
Until the invasion begins.