Arcana Online

When the golden window appeared, the players surged once more with excitement.

There were still those who claimed someone would monopolize everything again, but after the countless eyewitness accounts, that seemed impossible.

Videos of an army so vast it stretched beyond sight, marching toward Talisa, spread everywhere.

The news raced through the game, and players began flocking to Talisa in droves.

[Commercial City Talisa]

A place where countless items and pieces of information gathered in a game that had no auction house.

To lose the commercial city would be a major blow to the players.

The Frey Guild set out to make their own preparations for the main scenario quest, and I headed to a hunting ground to test the new weapon I’d gotten.

Until now, I’d only been carrying it around ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠because I’d been riding around in the bear taxi and hadn’t had a reason to use it.

Where would be good? Just as I was wondering, one place came to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mind.

The famous dungeon that existed in Talisa Village.

When I walked to the dungeon entrance near the village, two soldiers standing guard were blocking the way.

As I approached and handed over my pass, they looked at me with worried eyes.

“Miss, are you really going in?”

“Yes!”

“If it gets dangerous, run away right away.”

After passing the soldiers and stepping into the dungeon, a blue window appeared.

As I went down the stairs leading underground, I met a wild rabbit on the first floor.

But... wasn’t it looking kind of delinquent?

[Delinquent Rabbit]

A rabbit that held a twig in its mouth with a thoroughly delinquent air.

When I took out the Bell of the Divine Dragon and gave it a little shake—

Ring, ring.

The rabbit dropped the twig from its mouth and came over to me to act cute?

“Kkyuung!”

So many delinquent rabbits had been hiding in the dark, and now they were all coming over to charm me that I just couldn’t let it slide.

How was I supposed to resist that?!

“You’re too cute!”

“Kkyuung!”

When I took magic stones out of my inventory and handed them over, they happily gobbled them up, and even the way they ate was adorable.

The way they ate the magic stones was just like the rabbits back in Cradle Village.

They were doing well, right? I hoped they weren’t overdoing the exercise.

After spending some time with the delinquent rabbits, I said goodbye and headed to the next floor.

When I descended to the second floor, a delinquent slime was waiting for me.

*

*

*

Passing by slimes, goblins, and orcs, I met delinquent monsters like war bears and griffons, and every time I greeted them and shared magic stones, we got so friendly that I couldn’t even hunt them anymore.

What kind of effect was this, anyway? Every time they heard the ring of the bell, they’d come running up to me and try to act cute.

The Bell of the Divine Dragon

A bell once used by a shrine maiden who had served a divine dragon.

There wasn’t any special ability attached to it, was there?

Following the secret stairs the griffon showed me, I went down until I found a massive iron door.

When I opened it and stepped inside, there was a wide open clearing.

And from somewhere in that clearing, I heard an unfamiliar voice.

“Welcome.”

“Where are you?”

“Right here.”

Something appeared with the wind.

It had horns on its head and a human shape, but there were no eyes on its face.

An egg ghost...?

“You’ve come quite far, human. My name is Viscount Amon Tennis.”

He introduced himself as a noble of the Demon Realm, a demon with the rank of viscount.

If the other side introduced themselves, it would only be polite for me to do the same, right?

“Hello. My name is Yuna.”

“Now then, shall we begin? A festival of slaughter!”

With a loud shout, a huge sphere gathered above the demon’s head and shot toward me, but I didn’t take a single bit of damage.

The demon stared at me, dumbfounded.

Another message appeared.

The entire clearing trembled, and space began to tear open.

A skeleton in a fluttering robe appeared, wielding a massive scythe.

The executioner had revealed himself.

“Executioner of the Demon Realm. I greet Duke Yuna.”

At those words, the demon was struck dumb.

“W-why is there an executioner!? No, more importantly, a duke!?”

As the demon stumbled back in panic, the executioner spoke.

“In accordance with the laws of the Demon Realm, I hereby strip Viscount Amon Tennis of his rank for insubordination and execute him.”

“I-I didn’t know! I didn’t know!”

With those final words, the demon was cut down by the massive scythe, turned to dust, and returned to nothing.

The executioner bowed to me, then vanished beyond the torn space.

That title effect is amazing.

Where the demon had turned to dust, something glittering had fallen.

Behind where the demon had disappeared, a door materialized, and with a grotesque grinding sound it slowly began to open.

When I went through it, I found stairs that had been designed to lead upward instead of downward, so I followed them up until I saw three doors glowing gold.

As I approached, their names appeared.

“Yongyong, which one should I go into?”

“Kkyuung!”

“The middle one?”

The moment I inserted the key I’d just gotten and turned it to enter the Room of Wisdom—

With a burst of bright light, I saw a library inside, packed with countless books.

[You have entered the Room of Wisdom. Select a skill book of your choice to obtain a skill.]

Admiring the library’s grand scale, I wandered around looking at the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠books, and found all kinds of skills.

Black Hole

Creates a gravitational field that returns everything within range to nothingness.

Inferno

Creates a giant pillar of fire and burns everything to ashes.

Go Get That Bastard!

Your summon chases down the target you designate.

Moon Shadow

Summons the moon to increase the stats of your summons.

“This should be good, right?”

“Kkyuu!”

A decent skill, but there was one thing I’d overlooked.

Because of the Ring of Sealing, I couldn’t use mana.

I hadn’t taken that into account, had I?

With a rather gloomy heart, I opened the newly appeared door and went back outside, only to find myself returned to the dungeon entrance.

After staring at the sunset, I turned my steps back toward the village.

Back to the guild hideout.

I’d been told that, among the guild benefits, I didn’t need to pay for lodging and could simply use one of the spare rooms as my own.

When I opened the door and stepped inside, the one who welcomed me was the stalker—no, Shasha ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Eonni.

“Our little one’s back!?”

“I’m home.”

Shasha Eonni doted on me, calling me the little one.

After dinner, I went into my room, lay down on the bed, and took out one more magic stone for Yongyong. He happily took it and ate it.

“Yongyong, then let’s meet again tomorrow.”

“Kkyuung!”

*

*

*

Back in the real world, I took off my gear, stopped by the bathroom, and went down to the first-floor kitchen, where a packed lunch Lea Eonni had sent was waiting for me.

Ever since the day I moved in next door, she’d either eaten dinner with me or, when she was busy, made sure to send me a packed lunch.

When I opened the lunch box, I found all kinds of meat and vegetables, with hearts made out of beans.

“I really hate beans...”

After finishing my meal, I sent Lea Eonni a message to thank her, then went into my room and checked the bulletin board, and it was total chaos.

They said the dungeons I’d visited had all increased in difficulty, but if I thought about it differently, hadn’t I been rescuing the monsters that had suffered all this time?

T-to be honest, it’s the players who barge into monster territory first and pick a fight, right?

Traveling with Yongyong, giving hope to monsters suffering under players, and, beyond that, waving the red flag high.

I let my imagination run wild, and then, more than I expected...

“Hey, that’s actually kind of good!”