Confirming the Objective

I checked the objective. "...I didn't expect it to turn into socket equipment."

In Academy Great War, there were pieces of equipment that let you slot gems or runes to activate special options. In the game, they activated by fitting special mana stones found only in extremely specific locations. Places like the peak of a mountain or the deepest trench in the ocean. Because of that, the special options and enhancement values on those stones tended to be pretty high.

'Still, nobody really used them that much.'

The raw specs were excellent, but every build's final gear was so perfectly optimized for that specific build that socketed items felt like a sidegrade. As a result, socketed equipment earned a reputation as beginner-to-intermediate gear—something only a "trainer build" that collected every possible companion character and led a massive army would bother with. Everyone else chased their dedicated endgame sets.

"How is it? Do you like it?"

"Of course I do."

But that was for standard builds. For a meme build like the flat-damage playstyle, this was the true endgame weapon.

"Four sockets per side, eight total across both hands."

It was an all-time great socket count. When the game itself capped sockets at three, calling this better than standard endgame gear wasn't an exaggeration.

"Just remember you can't mix them with magic stones."

"The Meister already drilled that into me earlier. Some people mix them up thinking magic stones and mana stones are the same thing and end up regretting it."

"Why can't you use them together? I've been curious about that for a while."

"Mana stones are formed from condensed natural energy, while magic stones are remnants of the Evil God created by monsters. Using them together contaminates the mana stone."

"So they only look similar on the surface."

That should let the speculation crew rest in peace. Still, one thing about the explanation bothered me.

"Then which category does the Black ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Shadow Crystal fall into?"

"It's treated as a mana stone."

"That's ironic."

Magic stones couldn't be used with mana stones because they were remnants of the Evil God, yet the jewel the Evil God personally created was treated as a mana stone.

"Then I'll explain our future schedule."

"Good."

Diana spread a map across the table.

"Oh."

Unlike the low-grade maps that only showed major cities and mountain ranges, this was top-tier. Every village the empire had identified was marked, along with precise contour lines.

"Isn't this military-secret level?"

The empire was stable and this was a fantasy medieval world, so maps themselves weren't rare, but something this detailed was on another level. Diana, however, picked up a pen as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"We are pilgrims. This much support is only natural."

"...The more I hear about a pilgrim's privileges, the more insane they sound."

"Then please focus."

Diana drew my attention back to the map and pointed at one spot.

"Solbera."

"Yes, where we are now. The other sealing sites are located like this."

Diana began marking each sealing site one by one.

"They're all in these places."

"They're spread neatly in every direction from Solbera."

It wasn't scattered randomly. The sites were positioned cleanly across the four cardinal directions. And one more thing.

"They're all in major cities."

"Yes. Starting from Solbera, the departure point, they're all famous cities."

"I can roughly see the intention of whoever created the seals."

That person refused to accept any scenario where the Evil God revived in some remote mountain wilderness no matter what. The price was that if the Evil God's remnants did revive, the damage would be catastrophic. Still—

"The bigger the damage, the faster the response would be."

They had thoroughly exploited human nature—the inability to ignore suffering. 'Is this what you'd call trust in humanity...?' The blueprint perfectly reflected the arrogance of a genius.

"And the pilgrimage route looks like this."

Diana connected the dots with lines.

"The western resort city of Altea, the southern tree city of Grada, the eastern paradise city of Chomorang, and the northern extreme city."

It formed a spiral that started at the center, expanded westward, and finished in the north—an ever-widening helix.

"Walking this path and confronting the Evil God is what we call the Pilgrimage."

"I see."

This was the quest line the regressor Diana had presented to me.

"To be honest, very few people have ever reached the end. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Including us."

"It's fine. Having a clear goal actually makes it better."

Survive to the end of this path. That was how Diana's regressions would finally stop, and how we would stop the Evil God.

"But there's one more thing I want to add."

I took the pen from Diana and drew a long line from the north back to the center. The shape looked like a lopsided circle, but it was correct.

"After it's over, we have to come back."

"...Yes. I like it."

With Diana's agreement, our goal became crystal clear. Survive, then return. That was the ultimate objective—the thing we had to accomplish.

"This is important too."

While putting the map away, Diana pulled something from her bag and handed it to me.

"Isn't that the pilgrim's token?"

What she handed me was a small horn I'd seen once before. I thought its name was...

"The Spiral of Goodwill?"

"It's the Spiral of Good Deeds."

"...Anyway, isn't it just the pilgrim's token?"

Embarrassed, I raised my voice and tried to play it off. Diana shook her head, reached into her bag again, and showed me her own.

"Calling it a token isn't wrong, but that's not all it is. It's important, so you must not lose the one I gave you."

"One per person, huh. So what exactly is it?"

"Simply put, it's an item that lets you enter the Evil God's sealing sites."

"That's actually super important!"

Startled, I quickly stored it inside my subspace bag. As long as the bag itself wasn't stolen, it should be safe.

"It won't function inside subspace, so keep it somewhere you can reach at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠any time. But please be extremely careful not to lose it."

Following Diana's warning, I adjusted its position in the subspace bag. Then I realized she was being unusually insistent.

Don't tell me...

"...Have you lost it before?"

"............"

Her silence was answer enough. I let out a sigh. No matter what, losing something like this? Helio, you were out of your mind.

"Shall we get going?"

The Evil God's sealing sites were neatly divided in the four cardinal directions around Solbera, but that was only in terms of direction. The distances varied, so it was only natural that the first destination of our Pilgrimage would be the resort city to the west.

Although it later became the original draft of a stupid post that turned into a meme template, every important point was already there. Along with Solbera, Altea was famous as a resort destination and relatively close. Naturally, the tourist route that passed through Solbera on the way to Altea became a must-do course, and the official road connecting the two cities was far better maintained than most others.

Those with money took carriages. Those ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠without walked. Either way, the journey was comfortable. On that very road, we were strolling through the grass when—

"This grass is bothering me. Could you cut it?"

"...Sure."