Gwanaksan Gate Cleared, the Second Magical Beast
After stowing the magic stones away in Daengdaengi's subspace, Doha set back out on the trail.
'The water deer are gone...?'
Until moments ago their squealing cries had rung out from beyond the brush — now they had cut off clean. The deer might still be watching Doha's party from somewhere out of sight, but they showed no intention of barring the way forward.
With the monsters cleared out, the party made quick work of the route and soon reached its end.
There stood the great tree, just as the write-up had described — a trunk so thick that every tree around it looked like a twig by comparison. A hollow wide enough for a person to slip through gaped open at its base, and sunlight filtered down into its depths from some gap far above.
"So this is where the jackpot's hidden, huh...?"
Heart pounding, she stepped into the hollow.
"Whoaah...!"
Perhaps she had timed her visit just right — inside, a mountain of magic stones lay heaped to the walls.
Doha had just picked one up to take a closer look when—
— Monster. Danger.
Daengdaengi cut in front of her with a warning.
Chit-!
Several squirrels the size of a human head burst out of the darkness and came hurtling at Doha.
WHAM-
Chit...! Skreee...
One sweep of Daengdaengi's massive forepaw sent the whole lot of them flying. The balls of fur slammed into the wall, rolled a few times across the dirt floor, and lay still.
"Wh-what the...? They're total pushovers...?"
For monsters guarding the gate's treasure, they were astonishingly weak.
Skreeee-!
One squirrel that had taken Daengdaengi's paw head-on dragged its wobbling body upright and planted itself in his path.
Faced with a wolf dozens of times its size, it did not give back a single step.
As Doha gaped at the sight, her skill activated.
Skill Monster Understander is now active.
The tree the squirrels called home was an ancient giant so vast that the forest around it looked like weeds.
The homeland of Ratatoskr, the squirrel with the thickest teeth in his herd.
Yggdrasil, the World Tree.
That day, as every day, Ratatoskr had carried his stories down to the dragon and the nameless bird who dwelled among the roots, then returned to his nest.
He was dividing up the World Tree's fruit — his payment for the telling — among the herd when a rift tore open without warning.
The squirrels sucked inside would never return to Yggdrasil.
But they built a nest in the new world, too.
Squirrels always laid in stores for the winter. The stones pulsing with magic power were a far cry from the taste of the World Tree's fruit, but they were edible all the same.
When they crossed paths with a herd of tusked deer after those same stones, the squirrels understood exactly where they stood.
This was nothing like the peaceful embrace of Yggdrasil.
Baring their claws against the deer wouldn't leave so much as a scratch on their hides.
The scraps the deer left behind after gorging themselves — that was the squirrels' share.
And still the dutiful squirrels kept gathering food, steady and uncomplaining.
Just as their hard-won hoard filled the nest to bursting, the two-legged beasts came.
They stuffed the squirrels' food into sacks and hauled off every last morsel.
While the herd cowered, huddled and breathless in the dark, one brave squirrel reared up on its forepaws and screamed with everything it had.
Chit-!
Moments later it was crushed flat beneath the predator's foot.
The two-legged beasts looked down at the brave squirrel's thrashing and laughed.
There was nothing the little squirrels could do. Nothing but hold their breath and wait for the predators to leave the nest.
Winter after winter passed that way, and the herd that had once numbered over a hundred dwindled to seven.
And then, just now —
Ratatoskr, the squirrel with the thickest teeth in the herd, had stood before a two-legged beast and a black wolf.
Even having watched the brave squirrel die underfoot years ago, he had not backed down.
Without these magic stones, the six squirrels that remained would not live to see spring.
"O Mother World Tree, why hast Thou forsaken us?"
[This is the final memory.]
Doha looked past the squirrel blocking her way. A heap of magic stones that barely reached her knees.
Seven squirrels had collected them one by one since spring — flattening themselves whenever the water deer came through, burying the stones in the dirt to stay clear of hunters' eyes.
'So it didn't just refill itself...'
The pile in the tree hollow had been their lifeline.
Doha peered into the hollow that, by all rights, should have been crawling with squirrels.
'Better late than never... I have to give them back...'
As an apology for what hunters had done, she resolved to return the stones to the squirrels — starting now.
"Daengdaeng, bring out half of those stones you picked up earlier."
Daengdaengi seemed to hesitate for a heartbeat — then, one glance at the tears welling in Doha's eyes, and he opened the subspace without further ado.
Rrrsh—
Magic stones — several times what the squirrels had managed to gather — came pouring out and piled up across the forest floor.
Doha walked up to Ratatoskr and held out a single stone.
"Here, take it. Spend this winter safe inside the hollow, okay? Got it?"
Chit?
Ratatoskr accepted the stone and stared up at her, blank-faced.
Doha carefully stroked his head.
"Hehe~ so soft."
Where he'd bristled at her before, Ratatoskr now let her touch him.
She was used to petting only the enormous Daengdaengi, so running her hand over a creature smaller than herself felt oddly novel.
After a while of enjoying the softness of his fur, Doha dusted herself off and rose.
"Well then, I'll be off. I'll come visit often, so if anyone gives you trouble, tell me... no, tell Daengdaengi...!"
Watching Doha recede from the tree hollow, Ratatoskr made up his mind.
— The Mother World Tree, who gives without stinting.
— I must follow her.
They hadn't gone far from the tree before Daengdaengi came trotting back with something in his jaws.
"...I told you to stay in there until winter."
It was Ratatoskr, the soft little squirrel.
Chit- chit-!
He kicked and squirmed, desperate to escape Daengdaengi's mouth.
Doha calmed Daengdaengi down and freed Ratatoskr.
"Hm? What's all this you're carrying...?"
Ratatoskr's arms were stuffed full of something.
Plop-
He set it all down onto Doha's palm.
— Offering.
"Wh-what? You can talk...?"
— Question?
"Is it the skill...?"
Now that they could understand each other, she could at last ask why he'd followed.
"So... you're giving me these, and asking me to take in your herd in return?"
— Correct.
"Hmm... and what's this...?"
Doha examined the two items he'd handed over.
A fresh green branch, and a red orb.
She couldn't make head or tail of either.
— World Tree. Yggdrasil. Branch.
"The World Tree...?"
'I remember seeing one on the gallery...'
Doha dug back through her memories of the World Tree.
◈ A potion brewed with a leaf of the World Tree, the great tree that upholds the universe.
◈ Capable of healing any wound.
"Oh... the leaf that goes into that elixir?"
— Blasphemy. Part of the Great Mother.
"Hmm... so that's a yes, then?"
— Elixir. The Mother's blessing.
At that, Doha gave the branch a closer look. Snapped clean off, and yet not one of its leaves had wilted.
'Hold on... if water steeped with World Tree leaves counts as an elixir... then how much is this thing even worth...?'
Thinking it over, the branch in her hand somehow felt heavier with every second.
Next, Doha asked about the red orb.
"Then what's this orb supposed to be?"
— The wellspring of the world.
"...?"
From the explanation that followed, Doha pieced together what the red orb really was.
An orb Ratatoskr had received from a colossal red pig as payment for his stories. The wellspring of the world — carry it out of here, and this entire realm would come apart.
"So it's a dungeon core...?"
Only then did Doha grasp why the Gwanaksan Gate had gone uncleared for four straight years.
"The gate boss gave away the dungeon core as payment for stories...?"
And the squirrel who'd received it had spent those same four years surviving without once falling into a hunter's hands.
— Red pig. Generous as he is big.
"..."
Had the hunters who stormed the gate four years ago ever learned the truth, they'd have dropped dead on the spot.
Doha tried to put a price on what Ratatoskr had handed her. It was enough to feed and shelter seven squirrels for a hundred years.
'And... honestly, it had been eating at me.'
Leaving the squirrels behind in the forest had weighed on her the whole time. She'd promised to come back and visit, but there was no telling what disaster might find them in the meantime.
"Okay — come out of the gate with me, then. There are plenty of spare rooms at my place; I'll give you one."
— New Mother. Gratitude.
"D-don't call me 'Mother'..."
She was still protesting the mortifying title when a notification bloomed before her eyes.
You have successfully tamed the magical beast 'Ratatoskr'!
Please choose a name!
Name:
Asked to name him, Doha looked Ratatoskr over.
A little scrawny, maybe, but with glossy fur and an undeniably adorable little face.
'Hmm... a stiff name like Ratatoskr really doesn't suit you...'
"Ratatoskr — mind if I rename you Squirrely?"
— Question? Forced renaming? New Mother, coercive.
"S-sorry..."
Name: Ratatoskr
Met with such fierce opposition, she ended up keying in his original name after all.
But Doha's mind was already elsewhere.
'If I just keep calling him it naturally, the way I do with Daengdaengi, he'll come around eventually... right?'
"Squirrely, then — shall we go gather up your friends?"
— Question? Ratatoskr. Correct address.
"Daengdaeng... Squirrely says he hates the nickname I gave him... boo-hoo..."
Doha clung to Daengdaengi's neck, pulling her best teary face.
Grrr-
Daengdaengi turned and bared his teeth at Squirrely.
— Convinced! Nickname, Squirrely...
And with that, Squirrely decided he liked the new name just fine.
Doha's party headed back to the tree hollow to pick up the rest of the herd.
Chit- chit-!
The squirrels swarmed her legs, overjoyed to see her.
"Hehe~ this is so therapeutic..."
Doha petted each one in turn.
'I can just tuck them into the subspace and carry them along, like with Daengdaengi, right?'
Gazing at the heap of magic stones, Doha hit on a much better idea.
"Daengdaeng — could you take this entire space into your subspace?"
Daengdaengi bobbed his head in a nod, then tore open a massive rift in the empty air and wrapped it around the tree.
"Oh...!"
Once the tree had vanished wholly inside, the squirrels filed through a smaller opening Daengdaengi parted just for them.
"Good job, Daengdaeng!"
GRROWL-!
After that, Doha made her way to the gate's entrance and drew out the red orb.
"Carry this out, and the gate counts as cleared... right?"
She stole a quick glance at Squirrely standing beside her.
— Master. Purpose?
Sensing her gaze, Squirrely asked.
"Um... this is where you lived, after all. Is it really okay for us to wipe the whole thing away...? You'd never be able to come back..."
— Hometown, Yggdrasil. This place, nightmare.
Squirrely, it seemed, had no love for the Gwanaksan Gate. If anything, watching Doha hold the red orb, he looked almost relieved.
"Yeah...! Then let's go!"
The moment Doha and her two magical beasts stepped outside, the clear notification appeared.
Gwanaksan Gate has been cleared.
Clear rewards are being distributed.
Obtained a small amount of EXP.
'Hmm... figures. I'm already level 3, so no skill level-up...'
Four years of hunters had already tramped through the gate, so there was no windfall of experience waiting for her. She was still nursing a flicker of disappointment when the notification continued.
Tamed beast Ratatoskr has acquired the skill Exploration.
"Hey, this the right neighborhood?"
"You watched that video yourself, didn't you, Boss? Wait around here long enough, and they're bound to show up."
The giant was none too taken with the Black Mage's proposal of an open-ended stakeout.
"Tch... well, an S-Rank, after all. Even sinking some time into it, we'd hardly come out behind."
"Boss, but... about our hideout..."
The Black Mage faltered, hesitant to bring something up.
"What about it? You said the security was airtight."
"Haven't we been stirring things up all over the place? Enough to catch the Association's eye?"
"So what if we have?"
"What if some royally pissed-off S-Rank hunter just goes and clears the gate? A lunatic like Go Jurang could probably manage it..."
What gnawed at the Black Mage was this: however thoroughly he'd warded their hideout with spatial isolation magic, if the gate got cleared and the whole thing evaporated, there would be no finding it again.
"...Hey, punk. Do you have any idea how old the Gwanaksan Gate is?"
"I do... it's been there since before either of us Awakened, hasn't it?"
"You think it's only seen one or two S-Ranks walk in? Not one of them ever found so much as the tail end of a clue to clearing it, punk. That place was never meant to be cleared — it's a resource-farming gate."
"Oh, is that right?"
THWACK-
"Argh!"
"Which is exactly why you'll quit spouting nonsense and put your energy into finding that rookie hunter, punk!"
"With respect, there's no harm in being careful... We could at least get some men posted as sentries now, if we—"
"Are you saying I'm wrong?"
THWACK-!
"AAARGH! Quit hitting me, Boss!"
The Black Mage clutched his head and slid down the wall to the pavement. The giant looked down at his crumpled subordinate, clicked his tongue, and turned his gaze back toward the far end of the alley.
Neither the giant nor the Black Mage had the faintest idea that their hideout — slush fund and all — had already vanished off the face of the earth.