The True Uninvited Guest (1)
After the treatment was finished.
I entered the cabin and stared blankly at the system window.
4th Floor
Defeat the ???
The condition for the new 4th floor that appeared after clearing the 3rd.
It seemed like monsters would show up since it said to defeat something.
I smacked my lips lightly and cautiously knocked on the firmly shut door.
“G-Gini?”
The system said her wariness had been broken down.
But was it really true?
With my heart pounding, I waited quietly in front of the door.
“……”
No answer came back.
Was the system wrong, after all?
The moment I started thinking that—
“Wh-what is it……?”
Creak.
The closed door opened with a noisy creak from the hinges.
Her wariness really had crumbled.
Suppressing the welling emotion, I asked Gini.
“It's nothing. I was just wondering if there's anything you want to eat.”
“Oh……”
Caught off guard by my question, Gini's eyes darted around in panic.
“I'm not forcing you or anything. If it's something I can do, I'd make it happen.”
“I-is that so……?”
“We're crashing at your place right now, after all. Just say whatever.”
A half-baked excuse.
Gini, still rolling her eyes this way and that, finally spoke in a tiny voice like a mouse scurrying by.
“F-fish……”
“Fish?”
“Yes. I want to eat fish.”
Fish, huh.
This was awkward.
I had dried meat in my bag, but no dried fish.
Should've grabbed some dried shredded pollock from home if I'd known.
Hell, if I'd brought seaweed too, I could've whipped up some seaweed soup in no time.
“No fish, so that's tricky.”
“I see……”
“Oh. Is there a stream around here? Might be doable then.”
Gini nodded silently.
“Can you tell me where?”
I had the excellent guide Elpinire.
Even someplace I'd never been, she'd get me there if the directions were good.
“No.”
Gini shook her head firmly.
Grasping the hem of her clothes tightly with both hands, she squeezed her eyes shut and said,
“I-I'll guide you. It's fine.”
Gini's hands clutching her hem kept trembling.
Her head, eyes tightly shut, was bowed toward the floor.
Ah, I got it.
No idea why, but she'd really opened her heart.
Chuckling softly, I nodded and said,
“Alright, then I'll leave it to you, Gini.”
“……Yes!”
Gini shouted loudly.
Well, “loud” from our perspective was just normal volume, but still.
She startled herself with her own volume and clapped a hand over her mouth.
Shouting and then freaking out at her own shout.
What a surprising kid.
Leaving Gini panicking by herself, I turned to look at Elpinire.
She stood with arms crossed, gazing steadily out the door.
“What're you doing?”
“Master. No sunlight gets in here, right?”
“Probably not.”
Elpinire stroked her chin at my words.
“Got something I wanna experiment with.”
“Like what?”
“I'll tell you after. In the meantime, you go catch fish with Gini.”
No clue what it was, but if she wanted to, I wouldn't stop her.
I didn't want to tie her down with trivial stuff.
Nodding, I turned to Gini, who finally seemed to have pulled herself together.
“Shall we head out now?”
“Y-yes! Just a sec!”
Gini nodded vigorously.
She immediately started packing gear to head outside.
“That bell thing is for handling spirits?”
“Spirits aren't handled. They're friends. Like you, Mi-Mir-nim, and Elpinire-nim.”
“Ah, got it? Sorry, my bad.”
“N-no! No need to apologize!”
Crunch, crunch.
I walked through the dark forest with Gini.
She was two heads shorter than me—shouldn't she be behind? But her leading let me see much farther ahead.
I stared at Gini walking ahead, holding the bell high.
“Gini must be strong, huh.”
“No. I'm weak. Really, really weak.”
“Nah. You've got spirits helping, right?”
I said that while glancing to her side.
Never realized it since this was the first time sticking this close for so long.
But now I knew.
Next to Gini.
A faint shadow I'd seen the past few days was protecting her.
Gini turned toward my gaze and flinched, shoulders trembling.
“C-can you see Omen!?”
“Ah. This is a spirit? Felt it faintly the past few days.”
“Wow……! You can see Omen!”
She stopped and bounced excitedly, looking up at me.
“Omen is my friend. From the moment we met in Darkness, it's always protected me, even built my cabin!”
“……A spirit built your house?”
Was it a guardian angel or something, not a spirit?
I narrowed my eyes at the balloon-like wildly flailing shadow.
“You wildly bouncing around right now?”
“Yes! You really can see it.”
“Kinda hard not to when it's that hyper……”
At my words, the spirit called Omen finally stilled.
Couldn't see it, but it understood speech.
“So Omen is a darkness spirit?”
“Yes. An upper-class darkness spirit. One of the strongest among those dwelling in Darkness.”
Upper-class sounded beyond just strong.
Come to think of it, when I subdued Gini, she called out Omen at the end.
I'd pinned her down in time.
If I hadn't, I'd have fought an upper-class darkness spirit.
Her first friend, no less.
Good thing I moved fast.
As I thought that, Gini regained her composure and covered her mouth with both hands.
Sweating bullets, she mumbled in that mouse-like quiet voice again.
“S-sorry. You're the first to see a spirit instead of me……”
“No need to apologize. I liked it, actually.”
This was real.
Like a stray cat that finally warmed up after days of refusing food and just hissing.
If good or bad, it was very good—so no issue.
“Anyway, tell me more about spirits. I don't know much.”
The more I learned, the more fascinating spirits seemed.
Invisible yet definitely there.
And packing serious power.
Curious, I asked—but Gini scratched her cheek awkwardly.
“Well…… I don't know much either.”
“Can't be helped then.”
“B-but I do know there are seven types of spirits in this world.”
She folded fingers one by one as she spoke.
“The most common are fire, water, wind, and earth spirits.”
“No way that gnome from first meeting was an earth spirit?”
“Yes. Gnome was a mid-class earth spirit.”
Mid-class, huh.
Elpinire's powers were its perfect counter, or I'd have struggled.
How strong were upper-class, then?
“The other three?”
“Lightning, light, and darkness spirits. Never seen lightning or light ones, but they exist for sure.”
Gini reached out to the faint shadow as she said that.
The shadow rubbed against her hand like a cat.
Watching that……
“Kkung?”
“How do you always know what I'm thinking?”
Chuckling, I patted Cheori's head popping from my pocket right on cue.
It'd been sleeping in there on the way out—who knows when it woke.
“By the way, you've only been eating our food lately. You good?”
“Kkung kkung kkung.”
Cheori ate magic stones.
Brought only a few figuring we'd farm on-site, but no monsters here.
Stones ran out fast; past two days, it'd been eating our grub.
“Magic stones are better, right?”
“Kkung kkung.”
“Hang on. I'll give you some soon as we find 'em.”
“Kkung!”
Now fully awake, it climbed my arm.
With it settled on my shoulder, I followed Gini deeper into the forest.
How much time passed?
A faint sound of flowing water reached us from somewhere.
“We're here.”
Not an illusion—the dark stream came into view, and I stopped.
“……It's black.”
“It's Darkness.”
The stream I'd imagined was clear and blue.
Here, even the water was black.
“Water's not dirty, right?”
“Probably clean……”
Yeah.
No one's around in this forest.
I rolled up a sleeve, dipped my hand in, and nodded.
“Feels fine to go in.”
Hiked up my pants and stepped into the stream.
A bone-chilling cold.
Shivering, I squinted down at the black water.
“Water's clear, huh.”
Only realized once inside.
Super clear water.
Problem: pitch-black surroundings let in zero light, so only my submerged feet were visible.
Wonder if I could catch fish here.
Sighing softly, I shrugged and casually dipped my hand in.
And—
“Huh?”
Caught a fish.
A huge, plump one bursting with meat.
I stared blankly at the fish flopping in my grip.
What the.
Was I a black bear in a past life?
Blinking, I tossed it on the bank and dipped my hand again.
“……”
Hand in water—bam, another fish latched on.
This was confusing now.
What the hell?
Couldn't see a single fish where I was looking.
Why did they just grab my hand?
“……Gini. You there?”
“Right here.”
“Don't freak out, then.”
“P-pardon? Okay.”
Swoosh.
Tossed the latest catch on the bank and clenched my right fist.
Black Dragon
Wanted to see what kinda freak stream this was.
Exhaled calmly and punched forward with all my might.
Then leaped out of the water in horror.
“What the fuck……!”
The punch briefly revealed the stream.
Packed full of fish staring right at me.
Hundreds of unfocused fish eyes fixed on me.
Scarier than most horror flicks.
For real.
“Gini. This normal here?”
“……”
“Gini?”
No reply. I quietly glanced aside.
Gini, face pale as a ghost, stared one direction.
“What? What's wrong?”
“……”
No answer.
Why?
As I tilted my head toward the darkness she stared at, the faint shadow beside her approached me.
“Ugh, what?”
Stunned briefly by the suddenness.
The shadow climbed my body and covered my face completely.
I raised a hand to shake it off—then froze at the instantly shifted vision.
“……”
The pitch-black forest now faintly shadowed.
At the edge of my now-visible contours—
“……People?”
Something human-shaped.
Gathered thick around the stream.
“P-pursuers……”
Shiver, shiver.
Gini muttered in a voice trembling like it might collapse any second.
Then I realized who they were.
“……The true uninvited guests, huh.”
Gini had mistaken us for pursuers and stayed wary.
She was a wanted criminal, after all.
No clue how long, but naturally she'd distrust approaching folks.
We weren't pursuers.
Realizing that, she'd dropped her guard.
But now.
Real pursuers tracking her had appeared in the forest.
So like our first meeting, she bristled warily again.
“R-run and prepare……”
“Gini. Fall back.”
“P-pardon……?”
“Fall back with Omen and help me.”
Crunch.
Lowering my stance, I clenched my fist sprouting thick scales.
Run.
Good option maybe.
But—
4th Floor
Defeat the Pursuers
Couldn't run anymore.
Wasn't keen on running anyway.
Grinning, I asked Gini one last thing.
“Gini. All that wanted poster stuff on you is a frame job, right?”
“Y-yes. I…… didn't kill anyone. Please believe me.”
“I believe you.”
I trust what I've seen.
No matter what anyone says, only what I've witnessed and judged.
No hesitation, I nodded and exhaled as quietly as possible.
“Forest like this means wild animals around, right?”
“……Pardon?”
“From now on, they're not getting hit by a witch and Black Dragon.”
Just.
“Ambushed by wild beasts adapted to the dark.”
I raised the Black Dragon's razor claws gleaming even in darkness, curling my lips into a grin.