What Would Change Out There Anyway?
So would anything actually change if I stepped outside?
Kugugung...!
"You're all right, aren't you?"
"...Indeed. Not bad at all."
A hunting ground some distance away from Black Moon's territory. Vlack, having just cleaved a magic-stone boulder golem—famous for its toughness—clean in two, retrieved his golden greatsword. Having drunk in the sunlight, the blade now pulsed with a far deeper golden radiance than before.
"I haven't tested everything yet, but the cutting power is solid, and the special ability is quite usable."
"See? I told you it was even better than expected."
"However."
Pashishik...
The golden light embedded in the greatsword sputtered out. The blade, once gleaming like brilliant gold, reverted to dull sandstone. Even after soaking up a good thirty minutes of sunlight, a few swings in combat burned through the charge almost immediately.
"It drains far too quickly. I can't say how many times it would see me through an actual battle."
"It lasts plenty long as long as you don't use the Authority. And if you charge it for a while—or take it out to a desert to charge—you can use the Authority multiple times too."
"Hmm..."
"For the record, the charging capacity is basically infinite."
Strictly speaking, it wasn't quite infinite, but Vlack could spend the rest of his life charging the thing and never come close to filling even a tenth of the Sun's total power.
"...That is a relief, then."
"You like it, don't you?"
"If I didn't, would you kill me?"
"Oh, come on. I'm not the kind of person who goes around killing people on a whim."
"You were, earlier."
"And I brought you right back to life, didn't I?"
I revived him on the spot—that should count for something, shouldn't it? It didn't even hurt, and the risk was minimal. The only real loss was a bit of experience, and I figured that much could be written off as damages.
"...Yes. Quite right. You are correct."
"Hehe."
"Incidentally, the PK charge has been processed as PVP. Your fame stat is so high that you'd never have been branded a Pillager in the first place, but your fallen reputation will be restored regardless."
"Thank you."
"Well, then..."
Sreung.
The Black Destroyer slid out of Vlack's subspace. The weapon that had served at Vlack's side for years now had to greet a new master. Vlack held it out with hands trembling as though he couldn't bear to let go, and I took it without hesitation, smiling.
You might call it a bit excessive as compensation goes, but it had to be this way.
Vlack has to be pitiable.
In some ways, this whole affair was more his fault than Taebaek's. After all, he was the one who had recruited Taebaek in the first place. He kept sheltering him through incident after incident, and he's still keeping him around even now. So the stance Vlack had to take in front of everyone was, precisely, pitifulness.
The guild master who had fallen into misfortune for harboring a guilty vice-master. Like a parent absorbing all of a child's wrongs, he had to project the image of 'well, the guild master himself is a decent sort'—that was the only way Black Moon would survive. I had deliberately roughed him up a bit to sell that pity, and fortunately, Vlack seemed to understand the assignment, bowing his head firmly and playing along with my script.
"......"
Though the pity itself, of course, was no act.
"Have you gathered everything?"
"Yes. Once I collect what was lent out, it's complete."
All that remained was taking back the Green Hermit I'd lent to Yena, and it would truly be finished.
"Well, it might not happen just yet—the Multicolored Successor's trial is still ahead. I'll need to talk to Drak about the details."
First, collect the dagger from Yena, then go see Drak. After that, I could decide what to do.
Woong!
The Black Destroyer settled snugly into my hand and draped itself across my shoulder. Felt good in the grip.
"Then, keep up the good work. And take good care of that child as well."
"...Yes."
After leaving Black Moon, Cheonma and I went to meet the owner of yet another bracelet. The owner in question was none other than the Magician, the card-wielding ranker at Rank 70. He was the guildmaster of a magic association guild and fought with trump cards—I remembered catching a glimpse of him a few times during the Sgaredo raid.
The Magician promised his full cooperation without needing to be asked, and when I inquired whether he might need any support, he said he'd send cards whenever the need arose. Only he could use those cards, so I'd know it was him at a glance.
And so, with the one remaining owner still offline, I had now met every holder of the bracelets.
"That one, This Venerable One shall meet separately. You may withdraw for now."
"We have to apply the same seal either way—wouldn't it be better to meet him once yourself?"
"There is no need to wait upon one who knows not when he shall log in. Your own affairs seem busy enough. Leave it to This Venerable One and rest."
"...Hmm."
Well, fine. It wasn't as if I lacked things to do, and traipsing from place to place today had already eaten up a great deal of time.
Cheonma extended one hand, and I took it.
"This was pleasant. Our next meeting shall be on the day the calamity arrives."
"Wait—you're not resuming activity until then?"
"Can one rest while a calamity looms? Once I have met with that one, I intend to return to cultivation."
"Cultivation, again?"
She'd already been in closed-door training for three years, and now she was diving back in?
More training was always good, in principle, but shutting yourself away in one place for too long had its downsides too.
When I said as much, Cheonma gave a faint smile and shook her head.
"Thanks to you, This Venerable One has grasped much. I wish to bring this enlightenment to fruition as swiftly as possible."
"...If that's the case, then I'll cheer you on."
"I am grateful."
Thook!
Cheonma's doll sprang lightly upward and vanished in an instant—lightness of foot refined to its absolute peak, a movement indistinguishable from teleportation. Left alone, I used actual teleportation to return to Elbritte.
"Now then... shall we find the weapon and go see Drak?"
I headed for the Academy to find Yena. The moment she saw me, she opened her mouth for a happy greeting—then bolted, disappearing at blinding speed. The greatsword that had entered her field of vision was something that absolutely should not exist there.
"Eeeek...! No, no! Why is that thing already—"
"There's no such thing as 'no.'"
It was a shame for Yena, who had never once obtained a Mythic-grade item through her own hands—but the Green Hermit was mine. Where there are meetings, there are partings.
"It's time for me to go now."
"Lily, wait just a moment! Parting from you this soon is far too—"
When I playfully reached out my hand, Yena slipped free faster than she ever had in her life. In the brief pause, she vanished from my sight in the blink of an eye.
Was Yena always this fast?
"Do you awaken in moments of crisis?"
"Ugh...! I mean, why are you so fast, seriously!"
"You're no slouch yourself, Yena."
"I'm an assassin!"
I'm not that different, really.
"Hah...! Hah...!"
"Running away doesn't change the future."
If running away could have changed anything, Yena would have been holding a Mythic-grade weapon long ago. But alas—this was the limit of Yena...
"Aghh... You! But after that Multicolor... whatever thing is done with! We're combining them, got it?!"
"I'm just going to check. It might work partway through, and... who knows, right? Maybe it's not about merging them at all—maybe simply gathering them all grants a reward."
"What if they have to be merged?!"
"Then that's a shame. For you, that is, Yena."
"AAAAARGH!!"
I activated my fourth phase. I had no intention of killing her, so I just needed to pin her down, nice and gentle. White divinity wove itself into an enormous hand and teleported right in front of Yena.
The giant hand brought her sprinting form to a dead stop. As she searched for an escape route, Yena gritted her teeth, dipped her head slightly, and muttered:
"...I had sworn never to resort to this."
"?"
"You brought this on yourself, Lily."
Chaang! Chaang!
The Green Hermit materialized in both of Yena's hands. Crossing the two daggers, her eyes flashed. Was she about to show me something?
The giant hand had Yena in its grip, and then—
She was gone. Just like that.
She hadn't moved at high speed, and she hadn't leapt away.
"She logged out, didn't she?"
Deoen's supreme and mightiest evasion technique, one that even I couldn't block—she had cast Game Logout.
Normally, logging out mid-combat is treated as death. But Yena had been toying with—teased while held right on the edge of capture—she'd never technically entered combat status, and so she walked away without a single penalty.
When you got down to it, she hadn't taken so much as a single hit; it was practically a game of tag where she was never actually caught.
"Hmm... well, nothing to be done about that."
I shook my head as if conceding defeat. No matter how strong I was, there was no catching someone who'd logged out.
And yet.
So would anything actually change if she stepped outside?