Chapter 34
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Invitation?
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Bang!
A rough bursting sound echoed as the kid's back slammed into the wall.
A heavy vibration traveled through my grip.
"Guh...!"
A stifled groan burst from her mouth.
Even so, I didn't loosen my hold. Instead, I hoisted her up even rougher, lifting her feet clean off the ground.
The distance between my face—thrust right up to hers—and her own was barely a handspan.
I could clearly see her pupils shaking like there was an earthquake.
"What the hell are you? Why are you following me?"
I growled low.
"This isn't a place you stumble into by accident. Cut the crap about coincidence."
This was important, so I'd been on high alert ever since leaving the carriage.
No room for carelessness.
Yet this kid had slipped right through the blind spot in my senses, perfectly.
This wasn't something luck or stealth skills alone could explain.
I narrowed my eyes to gauge her reaction.
I scanned every tiny shift in her expression, the way her breathing grew ragged.
"Your purpose."
I tightened my grip.
Her face turned blue, like she was on the verge of suffocation.
"I'm asking what the hell you came crawling in here for! Do you even know what that is?"
I jerked my chin toward the black cube hovering in the air.
Her gaze followed my motion to the cube.
But there was no greed in her pupils.
Just pure, almost stupid curiosity. That was it.
"No... I don't know..."
She gasped out her answer.
"Just... the smell... it was..."
"Smell?"
"Yeah... a really... delicious... treasure smell..."
Was this brat messing with me?
"Then what the hell are you, exactly?"
I shoved her harder against the wall.
"Monsters pass you right by like you're nothing, you ghost into locked houses, you tail me without a single hint of presence. You even human? Some other race?"
"Ugh... guh..."
She clutched at my wrist with a pained groan.
But there was no real resistance—just instinctive thrashing to endure it.
"Answer me! Don't test my patience!"
I let my anger surge, overdoing it just a bit.
After cutting down a few lives crossing stages, the other side would sense real killing intent.
And sure enough, the kid's small body in my grasp began trembling like a leaf.
But no surrender.
"...Threats... won't work."
Her voice was a crawl, but oddly steady, without a quiver.
"I'm... a child of darkness... Used to this kind of treatment..."
"What?"
She forced her head up, locking eyes with me.
Dazed, unfocused, yet carrying a hint of resignation.
My grip slackened.
Not shaken by her words.
I just wanted to hear what she had to say, in full.
As the pressure on her throat eased, she opened her mouth a little more comfortably.
"It's been like that since I was little. I was always just air... dust. No one ever noticed me."
A self-mocking tone.
"At school, at home... even when I approached first, all I got was ignored. Treated like I didn't exist... or like now, they got creeped out and lashed out with violence."
A strange rhythm crept into her voice.
Like a tragic heroine—no, a solitary dark hero's monologue.
"But I don't break. Loneliness... it's the fate of the chosen. Darkness grows thicker in the light... I just observe the world from the shadows..."
"So?"
I asked coldly, devoid of emotion.
"What does your sob story have to do with me?"
"...Huh?"
Her eyes froze for a split second.
She must've thought spilling her tragic past and lonely fate would at least get some pity or hesitation.
Wrong target.
Instead of slamming her to the floor, I shoved my face even closer and snarled.
"Whether you got bullied, play hero, or rot in your room fantasizing—none of my business."
I hissed right in her ear.
"All that matters is you're pissing me off right now."
"...!"
"Don't get it twisted. If not for the quest conditions, you'd be dead by my hand already."
Her pupils shook wildly at the brutal warning.
But I didn't stop.
"One more bit of bullshit, and then... I won't kill you, but..."
I eyed her slender arms and legs.
"I'll snap your limbs and drag you around like luggage. Keep you alive, but begging for death."
"...!!"
Her face went sheet-white.
She sensed it instinctively—this wasn't an empty threat.
Because I meant every word.
She opened her mouth, then shut it.
Real bewilderment flickered in her dazed eyes for the first time.
An opponent unmoved by her tale.
I could almost hear cracks forming in her worldview.
"Get lost. Stay quiet as a mouse till this stage ends. Unless you wanna die."
Slide.
I released her collar.
Her body slid down the wall and crumpled to the floor.
Rubbing her throat with coughs, she looked up at me again.
But.
Her eyes were different.
Not the scared look from before, nor the dreamy haze.
Like a beast spotting one of its own, she stared right through me.
"...As expected."
She muttered.
"You're... different. Not like those small fry outside... You're on another level."
"What?"
Her small frame wobbled as she stood.
Then she took a step toward me.
"You... got the [Invitation] too, right?"
"...!"
First time hearing the word.
Well, the term itself was familiar, but way too out of left field.
Obviously not some casual party invite.
'Invitation?'
The moment it left her lips, I knew instinctively.
It tied into whatever shady power she had.
Reading my furrowed brow, conviction spread across her face.
Her voice oddly excited as she continued.
"Right? I knew it. No invitation, none of this makes sense. How'd you spot me? How do you know every spot? How'd you find something this weird?"
She lumped me in with her.
The chosen few.
Beings granted special powers in this unreasonable world.
"We're... the same kind. That's why only you noticed me. Right?"
She reached for my arm.
Her gaze was sticky.
Beyond simple fondness—twisted belonging, obsession peeking through.
"Nice to meet you. Didn't think there was anyone else... Chosen one."
I didn't swat her hand away.
Instead, arms crossed, I looked down at her like a bug and replied.
"Never got any scrap of paper like that."
"...Huh?"
Her hand froze mid-air.
Face full of disbelief.
"L-Liar... No invitation, how are you this strong? How'd you..."
"Delusions end here."
I sneered coldly.
"Who said we're the same kind? Creeps me out."
Her face hardened.
Like I'd betrayed the one person who'd finally seen her, truly.
Anyone'd think she'd been backstabbed by her first friend after years of bullying.
That pathetic hope, the one-sided disappointment.
It flashed raw in her eyes.
Made me even more pissed.
If you want that sense of kinship, be careful from the start.
Live in your bubble forever, or at least show basic manners.
"Listen up, kid. I can't stand 4D otakus like you."
"...H-Hoe?"
A dumb noise popped from her mouth.
Her expression crumbled.
Damage beyond physical blows bombed her.
The one she'd seen as kin, the only one who'd piqued her interest, calling her 'disgusting.'
Real tears welled in her dazed frog eyes for the first time.
"So, from now on, behave or die. I said it—snap your limbs and drag you."
I drove it home.
"Last warning."
"..."
She bit her lip.
No words left, no energy to keep up the act.
Finally, head bowed, she backed away weakly.
"Yeah... Got it..."
A crawling voice.
"The shadow... will stay in the shade..."
Utterly pitiful.
But I clicked my tongue.
"Tch."
So damn annoying.
Victim cosplay to the end.
I turned my back to her and headed for the cube.
"I've got business here, so get out. Now. Out of my sight!"
Rustling came from behind.
She was shuffling out.
No shady powers. Just slumped shoulders, slow steps.
Right before crossing the threshold.
A tiny mutter reached me.
"...I just came to help."
"...?"
"Being with me... boosts item grades a ton... Idiot..."
What?
Item grades go up?
I slowly turned, glaring at the back of her head vanishing through the door.
"Hey. Stop."
"...Eek?!"
Her shoulders jumped.
Tearful face as she turned slowly.
"S-Sorry...! I'll go! Quietly, so I don't bother you!"
Shrinking like I'd hit her again.
"Not mad. Come here a sec."
"Huh...?"
I beckoned, and she crept closer, hesitant.
Suspicious glare, but no guts to defy.
"What was that? Being with you boosts item grades?"
"Oh... that?"
She mumbled, glancing around.
"Yeah... One of my [Invitation] gifts. [Absolute Luck]."
"...!"
Shock.
"W-Wait... Gift? The invitation gave you that power?"
"Yeah. Mine's Absolute Luck."
Her explanation went like this.
Limited to this dungeon world called the Abyss by people—everything tied to her gets a luck buff.
Drop rates up, random boxes spitting top grades way more often, that sort.
Cheat key much?
But I couldn't argue.
Because...
"So... I thought it'd help you... that's why I followed..."
"..."
I knew.
What a 'gift' was.
A stunned laugh escaped me.
Thought it was my exclusive cheat.
"W-Why didn't you... say that sooner?"
"Huh?"
"Why hold back?"
"Well... I needed to be sure. If you were someone I could tell..."
Suddenly, she looked different.
Black Shadow. From 4D otaku to ultra-useful luck totem, upgraded in a flash.
"No lies, right?"
"Huh? N-No... I don't lie."
"Good. Prove it now."
I yanked her shoulder, pulling her to my side.
Pointed at the black cube floating before us.
"Gonna open this. Stick right by me, and it gets higher grade, yeah?"
"Uh... Really? I can stay? You won't kick me out?"
"Ahem. The 'get out' was... well, just..."
Her eyes sparkled again.
Face brightening from the teary mess.
So simple. Just needing her perks the mood right up.
Guess those long tales were all true.
"But if it's junk, you die."
"No worries! My luck's the real deal!"
She puffed her chest confidently.
Whatever. Worst case, no loss.
I pulled out the [Golden Key].
Dazzling gold lit the dim chamber.
Do you want to use the Golden Key in your possession?
"Why ask the obvious!"
Creaaak—
What would unfold?
The key in my hand vanished on its own, blinding light pouring down.
The cube, spinning rapidly in midair, suddenly thudded dully and began to slowly open.
And in my ears, the Black Shadow's heart pounded wildly, thrumming like mad.