Don't Touch Those
Don't Touch Those
It had happened just a few days ago.
She said a pretty major incident had occurred in some remote village.
Some young kid called a Demonkin, a murderer, had appeared and killed quite a lot of villagers.
Knights had arrived and somehow the incident was wrapped up, but they'd even put forward ominous speculation that a demon might descend if things went badly.
Thanks to that, the topic was currently pretty hot among Otherworlders, she said.
Because a lot of information had come out—Demonkin, demons, Demon's Blood, and so on. Also, the footage itself was rather shocking.
Thanks to that, the Otherworlders were saying new content had dropped and were having heated discussions on community boards... Yoo Chae-rin told me.
After hearing her whole story, my expression couldn't help but turn a little serious.
Because in a way, it was related to me too.
'A Demonkin, huh.'
I knew that topic well myself.
A Demonkin was created when a human sold their soul to a demon.
Mainly, Manifestors with Demon's Blood turned into them often.
In special cases, even ordinary people without Demon's Blood sometimes turned.
Still, from the perspective of someone who'd lived in a city until age ten, the appearance of a Demonkin was a pretty serious incident.
Because the moment you sold your soul to a demon, the odds of a demon's descent shot up. On top of that, the souls of people killed by a Demonkin could be used as sacrifices.
So for each nation, it was inevitably a very serious subject.
And the one who'd turned into a Demonkin this time had been a Demon's Blood bearer, like me.
I prayed for the poor bastard's soul.
'How pitiful...'
It was a truly rare case.
If you had to put it in terms of how often, about once every few decades.
Specifically, when a bearer of Demon's Blood escaped the nations' notice and became a Demonkin.
As befitted medieval times, the identity investigation system here was pretty lax.
It wasn't like they issued resident registration cards like in modern times, nor did an organization like the National Statistical Office go around conducting household surveys.
Of course, when you went to a big city, you needed something like an Identity Plaque... but that was about it.
Investigating every remote village was simply too much.
So naturally, gaps like that could appear.
Cases where a Manifestor accidentally appeared in a remote village and it was hidden when they turned ten.
Or cases where security was sloppy so they couldn't execute the Manifestor and they fled, etcetera.
Naturally, I belonged to the latter.
Though I didn't flee from a remote village but from an Imperial city, so my class was a bit different.
Anyway.
Thanks to her, I'd gained some pretty big information. Setting aside the Demonkin's appearance, I realized that the Otherworlders had only just learned about the information called "Demon's Blood."
"Thank you. Thanks to you, I've learned of a major incident."
Of course, I still didn't know what kind of reaction the Otherworlders would show to "Demon's Blood."
I knew the footage was provocative and the reaction wasn't very good, but that was all.
I still didn't know what those bastards were thinking.
Of course, that didn't mean I could just ask outright.
The question itself might give her a clue.
'Well, still...'
She'd said there was at least some sympathetic public opinion, so I decided to be satisfied with that.
At the very least, it was better than the people here who tried to kill you the moment they saw you.
After that, I heard many more stories from her.
Maybe because she was a streamer, her storytelling was quite skilled.
Listening to her talk for a bit like that, the sun went down in no time.
"Oh."
"Ah."
She looked outside and gave an awkward smile, as if troubled.
Probably because she'd missed her chance to head back.
As I'd seen last time too, she was afraid of the darkness in this forest.
"The sun went down fast..."
She gazed at the dark outside and murmured forlornly.
Since the time she'd come by was around 4 PM in the first place, the sun setting quickly was only natural.
Winter was over, but it was still early spring, so the daytime itself was short.
She looked at me and cautiously opened her mouth.
"Um, by any chance..."
"No."
First off, I refused flatly. Because it was obvious she was going to ask to stay the night.
Last time, I had many questions about Otherworlders, so I permitted sharing a bed, but.
This time, hadn't I already sucked all the nectar out through our earlier conversation?
There was no particular need to let her sleep over. And honestly, having someone beside me when I slept made me uneasy too.
But, regrettably, it seemed my guess was wrong this time.
"Ah, no! Would I really ask to stay over at a man's place living alone again?"
She grinned and continued.
"Would you like to watch me log out?"
*
The method of logging out in [Demon's Saga] was stupid simple.
You just turned off the game. Then the users' minds naturally returned to reality.
Even users had a real life; the game company wouldn't block logging out.
However, they'd put in a slightly unique system.
It was a system called Fatigue.
This Fatigue drained even while the user was logged out. As if they truly had two bodies, the character's fatigue accumulated.
If you logged in with fatigue stacked to the maximum?
You could taste the feeling of waking up after three hours of sleep while dead drunk.
In short, it meant you felt like death.
So Fatigue management was essential for users.
Fortunately, the management method was simple. You chose to sleep in the game instead of reality.
Or you drank a Fatigue Potion bought from the shop before logging out.
Drinking a Fatigue Potion supposedly made your body here seek sleep on its own.
What Yoo Chae-rin chose this time was the latter.
Gulp, gulp.
Her Adam's apple moved as she downed the bottle that looked like Bacchus in one shot.
After that, she looked at Yor and said,
"Then I'll see you tomorrow!"
Fwip—!
And just like that, she vanished. As if teleporting. In the blink of an eye, her body was gone.
Seeing that, Yor let out a hollow laugh for a moment.
"...Heh, really."
Well, I'd naturally assumed there was a logout function, of course.
But seeing it with my own eyes right in front of me like this, it couldn't help but be fascinating. At times like this, I felt it anew. That to them, this place really is just a game...
At times like this, I got confused whether this place was really reality, or virtual.
Perhaps even my fiercely lived life was fake...
'Well... no way that's true.'
Of course, since it was a thought bad for mental health, I didn't dwell on it deeply.
Yor watched the spot where she'd disappeared for a moment... then went into the cave and fell asleep.
...Meanwhile, Chae-rin, who'd returned to reality, didn't fall asleep right away.
She still had a few things to do in her real life.
Hissss—
The capsule opened and Chae-rin rose. A hazy consciousness and groggy sensations greeted her.
The game itself was fun, but she could never quite adjust to this sensation of returning to reality.
"Urrrrgh..."
She stretched lightly once and then immediately picked up her phone.
She had happy news to deliver to her editor.
[Chae-rin: Hey!]
[Chae-rin: I got accepted for YouTube!]
[Black Kitty: bragging i see]
[Black Kitty: so now you just gotta edit right?]
Of course, her editor was cool as ever.
Like that, Chae-rin lightly browsed the internet for a bit and then fell right asleep.
*
After time passed like that, the next morning.
Chae-rin, waking from sleep, immediately got into the capsule and connected to the game.
Fwip—!
"I'm here!"
She entered and lightly gave a greeting.
Yor, as if he'd been waiting, was already pacing near her.
Confirming she'd returned, Yor said to her,
"Let's go, I'll take you near the entrance."
Hearing that, Chae-rin couldn't help but be a little surprised.
She'd been planning to head back anyway, but she hadn't expected him to even escort her.
An escort from a 'man'... it felt somehow peculiar.
At the uncharacteristic kindness, she asked Yor,
"You'll escort me? What's going on all of a sudden?"
"You're going to be coming here in the future anyway. Then you should at least know what's dangerous."
He said this forest had rules you had to follow, in its own way.
That if you wandered around the forest without knowing them, you could end up in trouble.
At the same time, I also got a warning not to spread the information elsewhere.
Since those things also sort of played the role of guarding my home, if people swarmed in because a strategy guide got spread, I'd get tired.
Hearing that, Chae-rin felt a faint joy.
Still, telling her that meant he at least considered her a guest, didn't it?
Like that, Chae-rin received explanations from Yor.
The content was about the territories of the monsters living in this forest.
"That tree over there with claw marks on it is usually an Owlbear territory, so be careful. See that mound of packed earth over there? That's Mutated Boar territory. And it's not visible now, but sometimes there's a red cloth hanging on trees, you know? It means there's a Goblin Village nearby, so avoid it as much as possible..."
As expected of a high-level zone, everywhere was a bundle of danger.
To think that most of those traces she'd passed by without much thought were monster territories.
On the other hand, her curiosity about him also grew.
Just how long had he been here, to have all those detailed things down pat?
Unable to hold back, she asked Yor,
"Do you avoid all those things too when you go around?"
"Me? Well, sometimes I avoid them, sometimes I just pass through..."
He answered indifferently. Chae-rin could feel his composure and confidence there.
She thought to herself,
'Just what level is he...?'
First, seeing him toss items last time, it was definitely clear he was strong.
Living in this forest in the first place was also unusual.
But even that was just conjecture; she'd never seen his skills firsthand.
Normally, most 'men' were usually weaker than 'women'.
Of course, there were occasional exceptions, but generally things related to combat were mostly the women's domain. So she couldn't easily shake the stereotype.
Of course, she wasn't denying his strength.
He'd shown too much indirectly for that.
She was just curious. What would he look like fighting? That was all.
Of course, she couldn't outright ask him to fight for her, so Chae-rin just left it as curiosity. Well, a day to spectate would come someday.
Listening to Yor's explanations like that, she reached the Surface Layer before she knew it.
Like that, after parting from Yor, she returned to the city.
*
A few days after that.
"Yuha! Hello, everyone!"
A certain streamer came to the front of the Forbidden Forest.
A woman wearing plate armor so lavish it looked drenched in money.
And behind her, a party that looked quite high-level.
They were her party members gathered for today.
[hi hi]
[what u gonna do today lol]
To the chat window asking what she was going to do today, she answered.
"What am I going to do today? Don't be surprised!"
She pointed at the forest and said,
"We're going to conquer the Forbidden Forest!"
Her nickname was Kim Mari.
"Fair and square, with power!"
She was a streamer belonging to a high-level Ranker team.