Status Window!

Status windows. So what, exactly, is the main point of DeoEn?

Your average person would say it's for relaxation. Gamers who love a good fight would say PVP.

But neither of those is what the game company is truly after.

The essential goal of DeoEn—its grandest purpose of all.

"Dungeons, of course."

A vast, sprawling open world. And scattered across it, dungeons still wrapped in mystery, their depths unexplored.

Strange races dwelling within countless dungeons, the stories they carry, the thrill of treasure-hunting adventure.

DeoEn is, at its heart, a game about dungeon exploration.

The chat window was already in full riot mode. It made me a little dizzy, so I shrank the box that had been hogging twenty percent of my field of view down to almost nothing.

How does anyone keep this thing open all the time?

When I watched other streams it never bothered me, but now that the chatter was all about me, it felt oddly strange. Familiar and unfamiliar all at once.

Yena and I tore a teleport scroll together and arrived somewhere that looked like one endless grassland. A cool breeze drifted over a forest where the sounds of monsters could already be heard.

"You said you accepted your class advancement quest, right?"

"Yes."

"What is it?"

"Hunting 3,000 monsters."

Well, that caused an uproar.

Was it really that hard? I'll admit it was a lot, but difficult? Not really.

"...Three thousand of them?"

"Yes. I've already gotten a fair way through, though."

"How many?"

"About two hundred seventy."

"...Oof."

Yena, who had been pulling out equipment left and right, froze mid-motion. Then, as if coming to terms with it herself, she nodded and handed a few pieces over to me.

A spear, an assortment of accessories—and a bracelet that glittered and shimmered. A translucent, emerald-hued band. The Sylphid Bracelet.

"The expensive Legendary Tier equipment has level and class restrictions, so you wouldn't be able to wear it. These are the best-in-slot for your current level."

"Thank you."

"...You're surprisingly quick to accept these things, aren't you?"

When Yena prodded at me with that remark, I gave a small laugh and slipped the bracelet on.

"We made a deal, haven't we? Then I should take everything I'm owed."

"Got everything equipped?"

"Yes."

I took stock of myself. Two rings now graced the slender, snow-white fingers peeking out from beneath my white holy maiden's robe. On my other arm sat the Sylphid Bracelet, and around my neck, a necklace set with a crimson ruby. Finally, in place of the plain, effectless spear I'd been carrying, I now held a green one with a keen, tapered point.

"No real difference in how it feels, actually."

"Most gear is all about stats and skills. Unless it's cosmetic equipment, you can basically assume there won't be any physical sensation to it."

"Everyone~ Please refrain from the wild speculation. Before somebody gets banned~"

A bug? What bug?

"What bug, exactly?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Your movements were just so fast that people thought it looked like a bug."

Fast, huh. Was that... fast?

I fell into grave deliberation.

'...By my standards, I'm actually pretty slow.'

Angels were, above all else, a race of terrifying physical might. I'd inherited that blood—I excelled at raw strength and the spear—but speed had never been my forte.

If anything, the demons were faster. Even a mid-tier demon could cross an entire nation round-trip in mere minutes.

'It's a form of magic, granted.'

When I went quiet for a moment, Yena spoke up as if to tell me not to worry about it.

"They're all just really interested in you, so don't read too much into it."

"No, no. It's a fair thing to wonder."

Descendants of both angel and demon blood were vanishingly rare in DeoEn. I'm sure a proper search would turn some up, but judging by the general lore—and by how angels and demons had vanished without a trace after the Heavenly Demon Tournament—it was probably true.

"A trait, you mean?"

"So I just say 'trait window' and it opens?"

"......Is that true, Yena?"

"Yes."

Yena nodded with a perfectly shameless face.

"I said it quietly my first time and it wouldn't open, but when I said it loudly, it opened right up. So go on, say it."

I shot Yena a sideways glare. She just waved and whistled, playing innocent.

Unbelievable.

"St-status window?"

"Your voice is too quiet. Louder!"

"......."

So the day would come when I did this again. I'd thought I'd never have to after twenty years ago.

I stretched my arm out wide. Somewhere behind me came an "Ooh."

"STAAAATUS WIIINDOOOW!!!"

Pfft.

Damn it.

"...Um, Lily, I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

"Would it be all right if I banned some of them for this?"

Yena felt a twinge of awkwardness watching Lily step forward on the viewers' behalf for no good reason.

She had played along with the audience's prank, and Lily had gone along with it to a reasonable degree herself. Otherwise there would have been no need to ham it up quite that much.

And yet she felt she'd laughed too loudly, and guilt was creeping in.

Besides, it was Lily's presence that was carrying this collab along, wasn't it?

What should I do? She probably wouldn't appreciate getting more money.

Should I hunt down some expensive gear for her instead?

"We're here."

"Then first, we'll... hmm?"

"I said, we're here."

Lily rested her spear across her shoulder and pointed at the dungeon with her usual calm expression.

The forest before them was a distinctly deeper shade of dark green than the woods they'd walked through. An eerie aura seeped out of it, and at the entrance stood a small signpost—a little wooden thing, brown and weathered, bearing a crude drawing that symbolized the hobgoblins. Below it, in crooked, jagged lettering, was written:

Hobgoblin Forest.

As they drew closer, a message popped up before their eyes.