Paranet Says He's of the Golden Race...
The one Paranet had singled out as a member of the Golden Race cut a peculiar figure. He was no angelic player of the sort who made up most of the event's participants, but a dwarf who had joined the war in Heaven as a mercenary.
"You really think one of the Golden Race would turn himself into a dwarf?"
When Yujun let the doubt show, Paranet raised a single finger and wagged it from side to side.
What's with him. I want to hit him.
"The scent is not a perfect match, yet the difference is trifling. That one is he. I am quite certain."
"Then why do they keep swarming around in a pack? Looks like they lost the fake Golden Goblin completely."
"They have no clue whatsoever, so what else are they to do? They do not even know the thing is a fake to begin with."
"Well. Works out for us."
The event had no time limit. The further the other players fell behind, the better it was for Yujun. The one problem was the war between the moderate faction and the hardline faction.
According to Sertiphs, the Great Archangel seemed to regard their clash as little more than a war game, which meant he would not allow either side to spring a surprise attack. Most of the angelic race, then, had to give themselves over to the event—and that was precisely what they were doing.
If it goes bad, I can always run. So long as I collect the event rewards properly, I can live without something like a griffin brain. No need to worry about the war.
The thought left him considerably more at ease.
First things first. Let's see whether that dwarf really is Golden Race, the way Paranet says.
For some reason the dwarf had failed to mix with the other mercenaries and kept himself apart. If players often looked down on him for his short stature, and he was the sort of dwarf with no gift for talk, there was nothing especially strange about it. Dwarves were usually too proud to tolerate a situation like this, yet this one showed no discontent at all.
Yujun seized the nape of the dwarf's neck as those short legs carried him along at a scurry.
"Ghk!"
The force was so great it erased even the momentum of his run. Yanked roughly backward, the dwarf tumbled across the ground.
"Who's there!"
He scrambled up at once, glanced wildly about, and found Yujun.
"...A human?"
"Humans must be rare as anything in Heaven. I hear that every single day and I'm sick to death of it. My ears are growing calluses."
The players who had been running level with him paid the dwarf no mind at all and raced on ahead. In a blink he was left alone, and fear and confusion settled over his face.
"Aren't you the human who missed the Golden Goblin earlier? Then why me...? The Golden Goblin isn't here."
"I know. There's no Golden Goblin. There is one of the Golden Race, though."
The dwarf went rigid with shock.
"How... did you...?"
"What? You're not even going to try hiding it?"
"Hiding it doesn't look like it'd do any good. You came here already knowing, didn't you?"
"That's right. Sharp of you."
Yujun drew his sword. The dwarf did not give ground either; he hefted his axe and charged. The result was a foregone conclusion. The keen edge came to rest a breath from the dwarf's throat, and the color drained from his face.
"I've got something to say!"
"Unless you know where the other Golden Race are, I'm not letting you live."
"I know! I know!"
"Both of them?"
"All of them."
"Doesn't look that way at all."
The dwarf let out a heavy sigh and dropped onto the ground.
"I'll give you the information, so kill me as close to last as you can. And don't go running your mouth about me. Those are my terms."
"You're dead either way. Now or at the end."
"I know."
"And you're this calm, knowing that?"
"This is an event for players. Dying here doesn't mean I actually lose my life. I'm doing this because of the penalty I'd take if a player caught me too fast."
"Worse than the other Golden Race?"
"Yes."
"Caught last, and there's a big reward?"
"There is."
"And you definitely know where they are?"
"Not... definitely."
At that, Yujun lifted his sword.
"Wait! No need to be so hasty! I said I'd give you the information!"
"Didn't you just say you don't know for sure?"
"In a place this huge, how long do you mean to hunt them down one by one? With the clues I give you, a powerhouse of your caliber ought to find them quick."
"Even then, I'd have to be able to trust you."
The dwarf had nothing to say to that.
"I've got a good idea. You come with me."
"...With you?"
"Who else would you be traveling with?"
Yujun bound the dwarf's body with Space Domination. The magic cinched tight. Straining did nothing. Unable to so much as twitch, the dwarf gave in and nodded.
"Fine. We'll do it that way."
"Talk. Now. Where the next one of the Golden Race is."
"I can't know where they are at this moment."
"...What?"
"W-wait. You have to hear a man of the Continent out to the end. I do know what they turned into."
"Oh. Do you?"
"One of them is an angel. Turned himself into a very handsome man."
"I can't do anything with just that. There are far too many angels."
"Th-that's why you need me. See his face, and I'll know him at a glance."
"Fair enough. And the other one?"
"A Golden Goblin..."
"Huh?"
"He's going around in the shape of a Golden Goblin."
"I don't get it. Why bother walking around as a Golden Goblin?"
"Because this Golden Flower Garden is full of them. The longer time goes on, the more fakes there'll be."
"Darkest right under the lamp. That the tactic?"
"What's that?"
"You don't need to know. So there are only four of the Golden Race?"
"That's right. But didn't you already catch one?"
"I did. Three left. Take you out of it, and it's two."
"Can you promise you'll kill me last?"
"If what you're saying is true. If it isn't, you die first."
"Obviously."
Only then did a trace of a smile find the dwarf's face.
"In a way, this worked out. Means I get to clear out the competition first."
He seemed to have decided to look on the bright side. Better than moping, so Yujun left him to it.
"What's your name?"
"Dolf."
"You a dwarf to begin with?"
"Yes."
"Good. One more thing. Are the four of you competing with each other? Fine to expose each other's identities however you like?"
"It's fine. But if Golden Goblins start being born too fast, all four of us take a heavy penalty. Looking at how things are going, though, I don't think we need to worry about that. You're the only one who knows the Golden Race is here, and the Golden Flower Garden is vast. Doesn't seem like Golden Goblins will be born anytime soon."
"We'll see."
Yujun's confidence put a flicker of unease on Dolf's face.
"If it looks like it'll end too quickly..."
"No."
"That answer came a bit fast, didn't it?"
"I've already made plenty of allowance for your situation. Asking for more would be shameless, wouldn't it?"
Yujun's gaze shifted to Paranet.
"Master. What is it?"
"I think I'm going to need you a great deal in this event."
The Golden Flower Garden placed almost no restriction on spatial movement, and it was enormous. Without Paranet's Space Movement, they would waste dozens of times as much time. He felt it often enough, but he was glad the fellow was here. Using a Death Knight not as a guard or a fighter, but as a ferry for spatial magic, was a little ridiculous. Paranet himself must have resented that a great deal, yet from the moment he obtained the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, the complaints seemed to have vanished entirely.
"I have known all along, from the very hour I became Master's summon, that Master holds me dear."
"No? I only started thinking that relatively recently."
"...What?"
"At first I thought you were useless."
Paranet went silent.
"Don't take it too hard. I'm saying that's not the case now."
"Th-that is so, is it not?"
Yujun turned back to the dwarf.
"So you don't know where they are."
"We were sent at random. No way to know where the others landed."
"A messenger?"
"We don't have anything like that."
"You're not a player?"
"I can't tell you that."
"Well, I wasn't all that curious anyway. If we don't know the location, we judge by looks alone... Hmm."
Yujun played his companion card. He opened his messenger and asked several people. Nothing came of it.
Figures. Hardly any time has passed. No way they'd have found anything.
He had already turned up two of the Golden Race. His progress was, at present, remarkably fast. No need to rush.
We'll look slowly.
Yujun pushed his senses to their limit and asked Paranet to search as well.
"The best odds are wherever the players have gathered in numbers..."
Dolf agreed.
"Probably so. Stand alone, and you're easy to suspect."
"Unlike you, they might be holding some important post. One of the Four Archangels, even."
"That's right. You know your business."
"So why'd you decide to be a loner?"
"I didn't decide anything. The players ignored me to my face, that's all."
"Ah. Sorry. Shouldn't have asked."
"Appreciate you understanding."
Yujun cast a flight spell and hauled Dolf up on a current of mana. Dolf grimaced, plainly uncomfortable.
"You don't... have to do it like this. I can fly too."
"You don't have wings."
"I learned Fly."
"Did you?"
A dwarf casting Fly. Unusual. In the Tower of Infinity, race carried enormous weight. Orcs and trolls, for the most part, gained abilities tied to close combat, while elves were agile and deft with bow and spirit. That was no stereotype. It was simply how things were. What race one belonged to could change the abilities a player later obtained, which made a dwarf using flight magic a considerable rarity. Of course, the higher a player's level, the more such tendencies faded.
"You handle magic and the sword well enough yourself."
"How would you know that?"
"I don't. You just handle magic well."
"I never showed you the sword."
"Hmph. A man ignorant of blades might have missed it. I am not that man. You wouldn't carry a sword of that quality around for decoration."
"Good eye."
"Not a good eye. I've always had a great interest in equipment. Hmm. Hmm."
"You wouldn't happen to have a crafting skill or trait, would you?"
"You see through a man. How'd you know?"
"Because you keep talking like you want me to notice."
The dwarf looked faintly abashed.
"Since it's come up, I'll ask. Who made that sword?"
"Huh? Made it? You don't think I just got it?"
"To get a sword like that, you'd have to kill something on the level of a god, wouldn't you? Someone making it is easier to believe."
"I think so too. But nobody made it for me. They brought it to me."
"You got it? For free? That cheat of a sword?"
"Yeah. I've got a friend who likes me a lot. Hand him two beads like kids' toys and he starts shoveling items at you."
"A friend like that... I'm envious."
"Work hard, and you can have one too."
Yujun smiled brightly and breathed a perfectly empty hope into the dwarf. He flew on without pause until he spotted a gathering that had to number over two hundred. Eyes that had been sweeping the ground without rest lit up.
Be nice if he's in there.
The Golden Race, Paranet and the dwarf could find on their own. The one he was looking for was someone else.
Reban. Where the hell are you.