Chapter 1
A pure white snowfield stretched out before me.
Crunch. Crunch. Stepping through fresh snow felt oddly satisfying, and the way my footprints marked a world bleached white by winter dragged up a foolish, long-buried feeling from childhood.
Most of those memories had gone blurry with age, but one remained sharp. I used to gather with the neighborhood kids and hold snowball fights back then, when I was still young enough to call it nostalgia instead of a bad habit.
Back then, though... “They were fucking maniacs.”
That place had been a battlefield. Half the snowballs had rocks hidden inside them, and there was always some bastard who jammed a boulder into the head of a snowman just to make sure somebody got hit. Then, the moment someone got hurt, they’d stage a whole victim act, as if they hadn’t been the ones to start it.
And if a kids’ scuffle spilled over into a fight between parents, they’d be cackling among themselves like nothing had happened, smug as could be, as if they’d never raised a hand in their lives. Anyway, our neighborhood was packed with wicked little bastards who could have made Satan weep.
Of course, I was one of them.
By my own reckoning, I’d been a complete lunatic. I was the one who buried rocks in a snowman’s head. I loved rocks. Heh heh.
“Goreuk. Master, what insane thing are you thinking about now that you’re grinning like that?”
An inconsiderate familiar had wedged himself into my warm little memory of childhood. I could practically feel his ugly face twitching beside me.
How dare something that ugly laugh at its master?
I was in a foul mood.
Time to stomp him flat once.
“Kuaak!”
“Quit picking fights and do your job as a guide properly, you bastard. It’s been snowing for days now. Are we even going the right way? I’m getting sick of this.”
The familiar, buried under my leather boot and half-sunken into the snow, slowly wriggled free and pushed himself upright. A contemptuous look slipped through his narrow eyes.
“Goreuk. Is it something to boast about that a goblin can’t even read a map? The master really is stupid.”
“The stupid one is you, idiot. How’s a blind man supposed to read a map?”
“Ah.”
An exclamation of realization. Then, in a voice thick with false remorse, he apologized.
“Goreuk. My apologies. The master has been so impressive lately that I forgot he was disabled.”
I’d trained him well enough, at least. He knew how to admit fault and apologize right away. Admirable. And yet, somehow, it still left me feeling filthy.
“I was sure you were trying to bully Gobra again. So I deliberately twisted our route to mess with you...”
“What did you say, you little shit?”
“Kueeek!!”
I kicked him hard, and his shriek rolled away across the snow like a snowball.
I rubbed my forehead and sighed. “No wonder it felt like something was missing.”
“Goreuk. We’re almost there now.”
The familiar, somehow back on his feet as if nothing had happened, chattered beside me. I almost punched him, but held back.
“Kuek!”
Instead, I stepped on him again.
My hands were precious. I didn’t want to touch some goblin’s head.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Half a day later, we reached a crumbling temple complex standing in the middle of that snow-covered waste. It was more distant than I’d expected, just as the familiar had said.
I’d thought he was lying, trying not to get hit.
“Goreuk. It’s quiet. Seems like nobody’s here.”
“Would there be? They probably all died or ran off years ago.”
This place had once been the Twenty-Fourth Branch of the Ten Holy Guardian Church Organization, a gathering site for the priests who served the chief deity and tried to muster a counterattack in the middle of the war. At least, that’s what I’d been told.
Not that it had mattered much. Our glorious Demon King had probably reduced the whole lot to ash with a single gesture.
“Goreuk. How does the master know that?”
“My teacher told me.”
“Your teacher, master? You mean that unpleasant bloodline progenitor?”
“Yeah. He apparently captured the heroes here with the Demon King.”
He said it was fun to grab people begging for their lives and tear their limbs off for entertainment.
Apparently they were tougher than ordinary humans, so ripping them apart felt better.
As someone who had once been human, I didn’t find that especially pleasant.
That said, I didn’t exactly feel sympathy either. It was more like reading a news report about some stranger dying in a freak accident.
“But, master.”
“What.”
We were walking along fine when the familiar suddenly looked irritated.
“If what master says is true, then this place is empty now. Not even an insect should be here.”
“Probably.”
“Then why did we come here at all? There must be a reason the master dragged Gobra here and interrupted his training.”
The training-obsessed goblin complained as he muttered his grievances.
That damn goblin was always full of complaints.
He was ugly and annoying, so I ought to step on him.
“Kuek!”
“Listen, you little punk. Everything your heaven-high master does has a reason. Quit whining already.”
The familiar, who had been face-down in the snow, got back up. He brushed the dirt from his armor and spoke in a somewhat solemn voice.
“Goreuk. A lie. Since when has the master ever had a sensible reason for anything? You just live however you feel like. Even the neighbor’s familiar knows your conduct is basically beastly.”
“What did you say, punk?”
Who was he calling a beast when he was one himself?
“Gobra is only stating facts.”
“Yeah. Only facts worth punching.”
“Kuhehk!”
I kicked him away with all the generosity I could muster and kept moving.
Before long, the goblin who’d been flung off came back as if nothing had happened and asked, “Goreuk. So why are we here? Gobra still has not received an answer.”
“Bura.”
“It is not Bura. It is Gobra.”
“Would you shut up for a bit, whether you’re Bura or brassiere? I can’t focus.”
“Understood.”
When I bared my claws, the familiar went obediently quiet.
This one really was better handled with fists than with words.
The space around us grew still.
I calmly spread my mana outward to cover the area. After falling into this world, I’d lost my sight, but now I could read my surroundings more clearly than I ever had when I still could see.
I could feel everything, from the terrain itself to the sulky goblin beside me rolling his eyes.
Mana had become another sense for me, a substitute for sight.
Nothing above us.
Underground, then?
I extended my mana beneath my feet.
“Bingo. Found it.”
“Goreuk. What exactly did the master find?”
“Just follow me quietly.”
Smiling to myself, I walked on and felt a grumpy stare on the back of my head. I was in a good mood, so I’d let that one go.
Deeper inside the temple, I found a narrow room. I shoved aside the half-torn door and stepped inside.
“Sniff, sniff.”
“Master. Have you finally decided to become an animal?”
I ignored the familiar’s disgusted comment and let my sensitive nose drink in the old scent lingering in the room.
Ah. So this was the saint’s fragrance.
“Goreuk?”
“Damn. It smells amazing.”
I almost lost my composure.
It was the kind of fragrance I could honestly smell all day without tiring of it.
It was a real shame she’d died alongside the heroes.
If she’d been alive, I would’ve hugged her to sleep.
“Master. Please do those perverted things somewhere Gobra can’t see them. Why is all the shame always his burden?”
“Shut up. If your senses were as sharp as mine, you’d pick up fetishes you never had, too.”
“That is a lie. The master is simply a pervert by nature, isn’t he? Be honest.”
That goblin bastard knew me too well.
Had we been together too long?
“Hey, enough of that. Break through this for me.”
“The master always changes the subject when he’s at a disadvantage.”
“You want to die?”
The familiar muttered as he came closer.
“Why must Gobra always be the one to do things like this?”
“Then should I, the master, do it when you’re the one with all your limbs intact?”
“Goreuk. That is not wrong.”
“Then hurry up and break it, punk.”
He would do it anyway, but he always had to have the last word. Was that some kind of goblin species trait?
I folded my arms and watched him lean against one wall. He drew the crude greatsword strapped across his back and swung it with a smooth, effortless motion.
The strike was neither fast nor slow.
Not even the faintest sound escaped it.
“Done.”
He sheathed the greatsword again and looked back just as the stone wall came crashing down.
Behind the collapsed wall, a staircase leading downward appeared. It was a secret passage.
“Hey, your sword work’s gotten better.”
“Naturally. Gobra is a goblin who never neglects training.”
Even as he said that, he glanced toward my side.
“Unlike the master, who is content to be lazy. The master is an excellent example of what not to become.”
“You little punk. I’m not a swordsman, all right?”
“Then why do you always carry a sword?”
“It’s for the look. For presentation.”
I pointed at the longsword at my waist, and the familiar gave me an openly dissatisfied look, as if he’d been insulted.
“The master should reflect on himself. Gobra cannot understand how someone with such great talent can let it rot.”
“Yeah, yeah. Long as I’m not getting beaten up for it, that’s enough. Quit talking nonsense and lead the way.”
I nudged him with my foot, and he turned around in protest.
“Goreuk. Why must Gobra lead?”
“I checked a little while ago, and there are some traps ahead.”
“So that means...?”
“Be the meat shield.”
“Gobra thought as much.”
“If you understand, then get moving.”
With his shoulders sagging, the familiar trudged down the stairs. Trying to look pitiful won’t work on me, you goblin bastard. How many times have I seen through that act?
So we descended underground.
It was far deeper than I’d expected, and there were far more traps than I’d imagined.
Blades shot out like arrows, fireballs flew at us, and more than once the floor gave way beneath our feet or a giant stone started rolling in from behind.
But none of it managed to hurt us.
I already knew where every trap was, and beside me stood a familiar strong enough to break them all by force.
We moved forward like we were out on a picnic, chatting and bickering the whole way.
“Goreuk. Elixir?”
“Yeah.”
“Such a precious thing might really be in a place like this?”
“I’m not sure. But it’s possible.”
This had once been where the hero and his companions stayed. I’d heard that among those companions was the world’s only saint.
Later, I heard the Demon King and my teacher beat them into the ground, after which the hero and the saint ran away. When I heard that story, a thought flashed through my head.
Could there still be some elixir left behind?
The panacea that only the saint could create, the Elixir.
Now that the saint was dead and the continent had fallen into the Demon King’s army’s hands, it had become a rare treasure no one could obtain anywhere.
“Master. What do you want with something like that?”
“Why ask something so obvious? I’m going to drink it.”
“Goreuk. Has the master finally gone insane?”
“Hey, you might not know this, but an elixir isn’t the same as holy water. Just because the saint made it doesn’t mean it’s bad for us, idiot.”
If I downed a mouthful of that saint-made holy water, even I’d be sent straight to hell. But the elixir was a universal medicine, so it was fine.
“How can the master be sure?”
“My teacher said he drank it. He said the effects were great, aside from the taste being awful.”
“Goreuk. That bloodline progenitor really is an odd one.”
“A little, yeah.”
“Why are you nodding? The master is strange in much the same way.”
“Me and my teacher? Pfft. What a joke.”
“...”
“Hey, why aren’t you answering?”
“Goreuk. There is a door ahead. It seems we have arrived.”
That goblin bastard changed the subject because he was at a disadvantage, didn’t he?
He rushed ahead and opened the door before I could get there. Annoying bastard.
“Did you find anything?”
“Master.”
“What.”
“Is this not an elixir?”
“What?”
The familiar held something out in front of me after I followed him inside. From the shape and feel of it, it looked like a small glass vial, and a pure aura was rising from the liquid inside.
“Why is this real?”
“Why be surprised? Weren’t we here to find exactly this?”
“No. I mean, yes, but...”
Honestly, I hadn’t expected much.
How long had it been since the saint died?
Even if an elixir had been left here, I’d assumed its effects would’ve oxidized away long ago.
“Holy shit. I actually found it.”
“But master. Why drink it? You’re not sick.”
“Not sick? Can’t you see these shut eyes, you bastard?”
“Goreuk? Don’t tell me. Can it fix a disability?”
The familiar asked in astonishment.
Well, of course he would. From the moment we met until now, I’d been walking around with my eyes closed, and now I was suddenly opening them.
“I don’t know. That’s why I have to try it myself.”
I popped the cap off the vial.
My sensitive nose caught the saint’s sweet fragrance drifting out from before.
Seeing as it didn’t have that rotten holy-water stink, this was definitely the elixir.
“Master. Hurry up and drink it. Gobra is curious what the master’s eyes actually look like.”
“Don’t rush me. I’m drinking it anyway.”
I brought the elixir to my mouth and swallowed it whole.
“Uweeeek-!”
“Kahk! What are you doing?”
“Damn it. That tastes fucking terrible.”
“Then why are you spitting up blood?”
“You try drinking it yourself. Ugh. I’m going to puke.”
I’d been warned by my teacher that it tasted awful, but I never imagined this bad.
Was my sense of taste just too sharp?
“So, how are your eyes?”
“Huh? Hey, I just drank it. There’s no way the effects would kick in this fast.”
And I’d even thrown it back up right after, so there was no way I could be seeing anything...
“...”
It happened the moment I put strength into the eyelids I’d kept shut for decades and lifted them.
“What is it?”
“...I can see.”
“Goreuk?”
“I can see the front of me.”
The uniform darkness I had always known took on a gray tint.
A thread of light, so faint it was almost imaginary, seeped in and slowly thickened until it began to show color.
Red. Yellow. Orange. Beyond those spreading colors, faint outlines gradually gathered into shape.
I raised my hand in front of my face.
My pale, fragile hand and the black-tipped claws on its fingers slowly sharpened into focus.
Drip.
“M-master? Are you crying right now?”
Tears spilled from my eyes.
One hundred years.
That was how long I’d been abandoned in this strange world, blind.
The beam of light sweeping away that pitch-black age felt so warm.
“Shit. This feels fucking amazing.”
I was happy. So happy I felt like dancing right there.
It had been the first time I’d ever felt an emotion this intense since the day my teacher saved me.
The tear-blurred view felt sweet.
To think that simply being able to see could feel this intoxicating.
I couldn’t hide the grin spreading across my face, so I just kept smiling while the familiar came over and looked me up and down.
“Master. Are you all right?”
“Yeah. Completely.”
“Gobra thinks that is not the case. Could that elixir have gone bad?”
“Does elixir spoil like milk? It’s old, so it’s spoiled?”
I laughed softly and looked at him. In the quickly sharpening view, the ugly goblin wore a face like he’d just seen something bizarre.
My master finally overcame his disability, and he can’t even congratulate me?
I was just about to kick him out of spite when...
“Huh?”
As my sight returned almost completely, I saw a great many things.
For example, the cramped room we were in, or the familiar standing beside me.
And...
“Uh...”
There, filling the edge of my vision, were messy rows of translucent messages I’d never seen before.
“Master?”
“...”
“Master. What is it?”
“...Fuck?”
“Goreuk?”
I couldn’t hear a word of what the familiar was saying.
All at once, heat surged straight to my head.
The pupils beneath my raised eyelids shook without pause.
User Information
Entity Name: Cynthia
Gender: Female
Level: 724
Race: Vampire
Traits
Blind [Inactive]
Insomnia [Inactive]
Hyper Senses
Super Regeneration
Indomitable Will
Peerless Beauty
Pervert
Abnormal
Extreme Mania
Mutant
Madness
Bloodflow Dominance
The thing flickering before my eyes was unfamiliar, yet unmistakably something I knew. It was the same screen I’d stared at over and over from inside a monitor before I fell into this world.
It was the game status window.
“M-master?”
“Hahaha, fuck.”
“Why is the master acting up all of a sudden! Blood! You’re bleeding!”
“A status window? You’re telling me there’s a status window right now? For me?”
All tests have been completed.
Congratulations. You are the last remaining tester.
Would you like to return to Earth?
Bang!!
I couldn’t hold back the rage surging through me.
“It’s been one hundred years. Not ten, not twenty, but more than a full century, you fucker.”
“Kak-kak! P-please, calm down, master!”
“Calm down? How the hell do you do that? Huh!?”
It felt as if the blood in my entire body had rushed in reverse.
“So what, you’re saying I spent a hundred years not knowing there was system support just because of one fucking Blind trait? A hundred years?”
The translucent windows filling my sight were not just the status window. Things about my race changing, achievements earned, and more kept stacking up endlessly in layers.
They were system messages piled up over more than a hundred years while I’d gone blind and never once been able to see them.
“Stop talking bullshit! Don’t make me laugh!”
What did they think I’d been through?
I clawed my way up with everything I had and stood here on my own two feet!
I’d thrown away even my humanity and survived in disgrace, and now what? A system?
Hot blood trickled down from where my nails had dug into my flesh.
I was so wronged I felt like I might go mad.
My eyes, twisted with fury, hurriedly scanned the floating system text.
There was more than the status window. I could see inventory, a shop, and various other tabs.
There were billions of whatever those karma points were stacked up there.
I was about to clamp my eyes shut again because looking any longer felt like it might drive me insane, but then I saw it.
“Hey. Hey, this is wrong. No matter what, this can’t be right.”
My voice shook violently.
It had to. Because right in front of me...
[All tests have been completed.]
[Congratulations. You are the last remaining tester.]
[Would you like to return to Earth?]
There was a return button.
“Aaaagh!!! You fucking bastard!!!”