God's Weapon (8)
The hero-grade adventurer visit notification popped up, so I quickly logged into the game and checked the inn.
"As expected, spending real money really does pay off."
A little hum slipped out of me. Actually getting something for the cash I'd spent put me in such a good mood I was practically singing. I tapped the inn to check, and there stood a red-haired woman.
"Whoa, why is the modeling this pretty?"
They'd clearly put real work into her. Even with the slightly chibi, SD-style proportions, she was a genuinely pretty character. Every adventurer so far had their features roughly smeared over with shadow.
It showed they'd poured actual effort into this one, since she was hero-grade.
"What's her name?"
I opened the adventurer info on the inn management screen. Until now they'd all been F-grade, so I'd never bothered checking one by one, but this being the first hero-grade visitor made me curious.
"Hmm… name is Kenis, and what's this? Her class isn't Adventurer—it's Holy Knight? Shouldn't it say hero-grade Holy Knight, then?"
Another translation problem? These developers already mashed the dialogue scripts into weird paste before shipping. This level of translation error is practically cute. As long as they don't spill tteokbokki broth all over the servers, we're fine.
"If they're selling packages and making money, they could at least fix the translation."
Grumbling, I rummaged through my inventory for something to sell her. Hmm—everything was E-grade or F-grade…
"Ah. I can sell her this."
Sitting in a corner of the inventory was the A-Grade weapon, the Greatsword of the Faithful, that I'd crafted not long ago with magic-infused orichalcum. Yeah—I'd sell this to Kenis. She was a Holy Knight, so the "Faithful" modifier fit her perfectly.
"If I don't sell it now, this thing's just going to turn into trash."
A skilled gamer always knows how to squeeze out maximum efficiency. From my long years of gaming experience, selling Kenis an A-grade weapon right now was the highest-efficiency play available.
"Here. Take it. An A-grade weapon."
I dragged the Greatsword of the Faithful onto Kenis and sold her the weapon. Just like every other adventurer, she accepted it, vanished in a burst of light with a soft poof!, and the inn was empty again.
"Tsk. So I only get to see a pretty character like that once?"
These developers don't know how to do business. If it were me, I'd pull exclusive illustrations for the pretty female characters, stick them on the title screen, make swimsuit skins and sell those. That level of effort is what actually gets users to open their wallets.
Babam—!
A sudden fanfare blared.
"Whoa, shit—that scared me. What is it?"
A message appeared on the screen along with a loading window that was downloading something.
A hero-grade adventurer has visited the inn and purchased a weapon!
New content, "Beast Subjugation," has been unlocked!
The Beast Subjugation content proceeds with hero-grade adventurers who have purchased weapons!
Hero-grade adventurers will subjugate beasts at regular intervals and bring back gold!
The higher the weapon's grade, the higher the hunting efficiency will be!
"Oh…"
So it wasn't just making weapons and selling them. I could keep earning money from the adventurers who bought those weapons, too. And characters with modeling like that were going to keep showing up from now on?
Maybe this game…
"…is actually a god-tier game?"
With a flutter of excitement I started downloading the content. The file size was… pretty big.
"Ugh, seriously. Not this again."
I had no choice but to plug my phone into the charger and start putting dinner together. I roughly stir-fried whatever was left in the fridge with kimchi and cold rice, finished the dishes, and by then the download was complete.
"Took long enough, damn."
Following the sparkling indicator on the screen, I moved into the Beast Subjugation content.
What unfolded across the display was a swarm of monsters.
"Whoa, shit—what is this?"
From one end of the screen to the other, every kind of monster was packed in a writhing mass. Things that looked like goblins, octopus-like horrors, a spider fused with a lion—every grotesque face imaginable was showing off how ugly it could be.
"This place is basically a twisted underworld."
Then, walking toward those monsters, I saw the red-haired woman. Kenis—the one I'd just sold the weapon to.
"Oh. Kenis."
She strode up to the horde and began cutting them down, swinging a greatsword bigger than she was.
"Damn. She's whipping that huge sword around like it's a tree branch."
After a while of lashing the massive blade around with easy, fluid power, Kenis's expression turned weary. Then she dissolved into light and vanished from the screen.
"Huh? What—did she die?"
I checked in a panic. She wasn't dead. She'd simply run out of stamina.
"So it's a once-a-day summon for gold pumping."
Once more hero-grade adventurers showed up, I'd probably be able to summon others and keep the hunting going.
"Heh heh. Gold's basically printing itself!"
I stared at the accumulating gold and started the happy work of figuring out what to do with it next.
"…Nngh…"
Kenis opened her eyes in an unfamiliar space.
"…Hah?!"
She remembered her final moments with perfect clarity. Arms and legs frozen solid, unable to move. The blue-flamed Lich that had hungered for her soul. And the Demonic Paladin who had smashed through the cave wall.
And after that…
She couldn't remember. The last thing that remained was the cold that had burrowed into her soul.
Am I… dead?
She had no lingering attachment to life. With neither parents nor siblings, she had been raised from childhood under the care of the Pantheon. The Five Gods had been her parents; the priests and holy knights, her brothers and sisters.
But in those final moments—
"Cale… Hans…"
Cale, who had thrown herself in front of her. Hans, pale with terror. Both of them frozen because of her.
Kenis clenched her fist hard enough to ache as the memory rose. Her own powerlessness. She had been able to do nothing. She could not stand against the mocking malice of that evil, and all she had been able to do was cry out.
"Haa…"
The strength drained out of her. She was already a dead body. These feelings were useless now—but the fact that she had failed to avenge the two of them against the Lich still left her aching with regret. She had died without completing that vengeance.
Forcing her heart back into order, Kenis looked around.
…If I'm dead, is this heaven?
Was this the heaven where the Five Gods were said to dwell? But the scenery around her was nothing like the heaven she had been told of. No tiny angels singing the glory of the gods. No souls playing across the clouds. Somewhere pastoral… almost ordinary, like—
Like an inn…
An inn?
In that instant Kenis felt something transcendent looking down upon her. A gaze that made a human feel smaller than an ant pressed down on her soul.
"Ghh—!"
She gritted her teeth and tried to move, but her hands and feet only trembled and refused their master's will. Her knees sank closer and closer to the ground. Her head bowed lower.
"Urgh—!!"
Kenis thrashed with everything she had. The thought that this vast presence might be a demon hungering for her soul drove every ounce of strength into the struggle.
"Fear not."
The voice reached her, and Kenis's knees hit the ground of their own accord.
"Ah…!!"
"Lost little lamb, fear not."
"I have called you to bestow grace and to grant you a mission."
"You shall duly receive that mission and fulfill your destiny."
"Ah—aah!!"
In Kenis's eyes, wreathed in sacred light, a vast being looked down upon her. A presence of rank and scale she dared not meet. She bowed her head to the earth.
"The world is shrouded in darkness and thrown into chaos, for this age requires a hero."
"Yet no single hand can dam ten rivers."
"Malice is endless, while goodwill is easily broken."
"Therefore I myself shall choose the righteous and make them my spokespeople."
Kenis trembled with awe as the god's voice resonated from the depths of her soul. This was a god. A god who had looked upon them with pity and descended to the earth! Ah—! Most merciful one!
"Kenis. You are my first spokesperson, the vessel that has received this mission."
"You must protect the good and destroy the evil."
Particles of light slowly gathered in the empty air, compressed, condensed, and changed their form.
Fwaaah—
"Th-this is…"
A massive greatsword revealed itself before Kenis. She rose unsteadily and stared, dazed, at the blade that poured out light.
The sword was just slightly shorter than Kenis herself. Given that she was taller than most women, its weight would be considerable.
The blade shone with a violet radiance—not a sinister purple, but the elegant, calm color of lavender.
Kenis swallowed hard and gazed at the sword with trembling eyes. A smooth leather handgrip. A guard shaped like a dragon's open maw. From the middle of the blade the edge split and wound together in a double helix that crowned the tip. A divine sword. This was, without question, a divine sword.
"Th-this… how could I dare…?"
Kenis could not bring herself to touch it. But the god's gaze she felt did not hurry her or push. It simply waited, gentle.
"…With this divine sword…"
She could take revenge. She would never again stand powerless and lose someone precious before her eyes. She could protect the weak from endless malice. She could guard the righteous and carry light into this world.
With a shaking hand, Kenis closed her fingers around the hilt.
Hwaaaaaah—!!
"Ugh!"
Light erupted from the sword. Kenis squeezed her eyes shut.
The voice grew more distant.
"Destroy evil, and protect the good. Kenis."
Fwaaat!
Wrapped in a brilliant mass of light, Kenis vanished.
"──!! ─s! ──!!"
Ugh… my head.
The noisy voices made her skull throb. Kenis forced her heavy eyelids open. Her whole body ached and complained of pain.
Ah… I'm still alive.
Pain was proof she still lived. She let the body she had been trying to force upright sink back into a more comfortable position.
I saw the Demonic Paladin smash through the cave wall at the end, so this must be the temple.
Her condition would be terrible; she was probably receiving intensive treatment.
Slowly she felt the shape of her body and drew a breath. A priest who had confirmed she was awake must have gone to call someone—there was no presence nearby.
Was all of it… a dream?
That vast being. That beautiful sword. Had it all been nothing but a dream of her own?
With a hollow heart she started to sigh—
—and the leather grip that met her fingertips made her forget the pain and sit bolt upright.
"Huh?"
The greatsword she had seen in the dream—
—was resting in her hand.