Arcana Online
[The tip is simple: do not file scenario quest requests through the Information Guild for the number-one-ranked player.]
So far, I’d been murdered three times for my trouble. How was I supposed to beat an assassin who came for me in the dead of night? After the third attempt, I gave up and erased his name from my brain by threatening to put out a kill order if I ever heard it spoken aloud again.
[So who the hell is Yuna!!]
Who was she, anyway, that she could monopolize all the scenario quests?
Even today, posts about Yuna kept popping up without warning.
And despite me throwing every other piece of bait I could think of out there to keep people from paying attention, her influence was still this strong.
Well, I couldn’t exactly blame them. She’d taken first place in the main scenario event twice in a row.
After I finished checking the posts, I headed to the Information Guild in the commercial city of Thalissa.
After giving the password at the café and being guided to the request room, I went inside to find an old woman seated there.
“I’m Kathlea, guild leader of the Frey Guild.”
“Welcome, Kathlea. What information are you looking for today?”
The Information Guild’s leader greeted me with a bright smile.
“I’ve got something to discuss about our Yuna. You know she joined the Frey Guild, right?”
“I do.”
She handed me tea, and I thanked her before taking a sip. It was sweet.
“I know the Information Guild is controlling the use of messenger pigeons. Please lift that restriction for our guild members.”
“That isn’t your decision to make.”
The woman’s appearance shifted little by little until her true form emerged.
A forest-blooded woman with golden hair and golden eyes. An elf looked back at me.
“No one gets to decide things about my benefactor as they please.”
“Are you saying I need to get permission from Yuna first...?”
As she drank her tea, she gave a small nod.
“Hoo. Fine. I’ll come back with Yuna next time.”
“That would be wise.”
The Frey Guild leader left, and the moment I was alone with my tea, shadows appeared.
“The information has been delivered to the Black Knight Order.”
“Good work.”
Apparently your movement speed had been faster than expected, so there’d been a delay in passing along the information requested by the Black Knight Order, which caused a clash.
According to the intelligence officer I’d heard it from, it had been nothing short of hell on earth.
Even after checking the documents several times, I still couldn’t believe it.
The report said that summoning creatures numbered in the thousands had been deployed — enough to annihilate a city... no, a whole country.
And that was only a rough estimate, gathered from a distance because nobody could get close enough to count them properly.
My hands trembling, I gripped the papers and made my vow once more.
Anything that stood in the way of our benefactor’s path would be handled by us.
*
*
*
“What do I do?”
“Kkyuuu.”
The navigation was pointing at the ocean. Did that mean it wanted me to go in?
How was I supposed to breathe down there?!
“Can you breathe underwater?”
“Kkyuung!”
Our Yongyong, puffing himself up like the proud little thing he was, claimed he’d lived under the sea for a thousand years.
I patted his head and thought of another way, but nothing came to mind.
Come to think of it, what item had I gotten for clearing the last scenario quest?
I opened my inventory and checked the reward, and sure enough, there was a random box inside.
“A box containing something you absolutely need, traveler.”
You can obtain the item you desperately wish for.
When I opened the box, golden light burst out, and out came... a pacifier?
“The pacifier the spoiled child hates.”
When equipped, it lets you breathe underwater.
Yongyong stared at the pacifier in my hand, about to snicker, and then—
“If you laugh, there goes dinner.”
“......”
He turned away at once, clearly doing his best to suppress it.
With a sigh, I shoved the pacifier into my mouth, and a wave of self-loathing rolled over me.
Did I really have to go this far just to reach Atlantis?
The moment I sighed around the pacifier, it made a ridiculous noise.
“Jjukk-jjukk-jjukk!”
And at that, our Yongyong finally lost it.
I pulled the pacifier out and gave him a warning.
“No dinner.”
“Kkyuuung!”
I put the pacifier back in, lowered my face into the seawater, and tried breathing, and somehow it actually worked.
The problem was that I was a complete landlubber.
The instant I descended beneath the waves, a transparent membrane formed around my body.
[Using the treasure map's effect, bubble wrap has been created.]
Lets you move freely underwater.
If you had that, say it sooner!
Following the navigation’s directions, I moved through the sea, and everything down there felt strange and wondrous.
I was looking at all kinds of sea life while following the path when something far ahead caught my eye.
A city sunk beneath the ocean.
Atlantis was there, but the problem was that a giant octopus was guarding the entrance to the city.
It was so enormous that even at a glance, I could only make out part of its body.
I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t because I still had the pacifier in my mouth.
How was I supposed to sneak past this? Just as I was agonizing over it...
A massive eye turned to look at me, and goosebumps prickled all over my skin.
A voice thundered in my ears.
“Jjukk-jjukk-jjukk!”
I was wearing a pacifier, so the only thing I could say was some stupid sucking noises!
I waved my hands and feet around, begging to be let inside, but Kraken’s attitude didn’t budge.
With Kraken repeating the same thing over and over, I was just about ready to give up when...
Yongyong lifted his head and looked at Kraken, and the two of them locked eyes.
[You are... ]
“......”
Kraken, who had been silent for a long while, slowly began to rise.
[Enter. I grant you passage for the sake of an old friend.]
An old friend...?
Our Yongyong!?
He’d only just been born, so was Kraken confusing him with someone else?
Ah. Dementia, then.
Feeling sorry for him, I took a magic stone from my subspace and held it out close to him, but one of the enormous tentacles reached over, plucked the stone from my hand, and swallowed it in one bite.
[I shall repay this kindness.]
The moment I stepped into the city, it felt like I passed through a barrier, the bubble wrap vanished, and I suddenly became aware that there was air here.
[You have entered Atlantis for the first time.]
Reputation gained: 100,000.
I pulled the pacifier out of my mouth and, for the first time in a while, filled my lungs with fresh air as I looked around the city.
There was nothing left.
The city had become a ruin.
As I let out a sigh and touched a nearby wall, I heard a faint clicking sound.
'Drdrdduk.'
Bricks sank inward, and a passage leading underground appeared.
Following the stairs down into the depths, I found a hidden place beneath the city.
[You have discovered a place hidden within Atlantis.]
Reputation gained: 100,000.
[Your reputation has exceeded the limit.]
[Your reputation has exceeded the limit.]
[Your reputation has exceeded the limit.]
“Use reputation points.”
《Reputation Point Shop》
[Equipment]
[Accessories]
[Consumables]
[Other]
After checking the alert telling me to use reputation points, I opened the reputation shop, but nothing had changed since last time.
There wasn’t anything I especially needed either, so maybe I should try the random draw again?
[Other]
Random Draw - 10,000P
“Kkyuung.”
“Don’t worry. I trust myself, and I trust our Yongyong, who believes in me.”
“Kkyuuung!?”
*
*
*
[You have purchased a random draw.]
Congratulations! You have obtained Ice Hot Chocolate!
Hot chocolate with ice cubes in it.
[You have purchased a random draw.]
Congratulations! You have obtained Mint Chocolate Bungeoppang!
Mint chocolate filling inside a fish-shaped pastry.
[You have purchased a random draw.]
Congratulations! You have obtained ??? Box!
??? appears at random.
A box from the gacha giving me another gacha!? That’s cruel!
What I got for several hundred thousand points was a pile of junk, plus a ??? Box.
With desperate hope, I opened the ??? Box, and inside was a single magic book.
You can obtain a skill suited to your class.
“Jackpot!!!”
“Kkyuung!”
Yongyong, who was cheering me on, urged me to use it right away.
With a nervous heart, I opened the book, and it vanished into light.
[You have used the job-exclusive magic book.]
You have obtained the passive skill: Pure Love.
Pure Love
The more the summoner loves the summons, the more the summons love the summoner.
[I can do anything for you.]
After getting the skill, I looked at Yongyong, and he tilted his head.
“How is it? Do you feel anything?”
“Kkyuung.”
Our Yongyong was already pestering me to hurry up and search the place.
Was my love not enough...?
“I love you!”
“Kkyuung!”
He told me to stop saying nonsense and get back to searching already.
“......”