237. You Have Received 『Ring Imbued with Grianne's Lingering Will』 as a Gift
237. You Have Received 『Ring Imbued with Grianne's Lingering Will』 as a Gift
***
—Invite accepted.
Serin accepted the invite from Sua, and soon she was enveloped in light and transferred to another space.
The space where she newly appeared was a place all too familiar to her, and also the place where she had spent the most time.
A dueling ground shaped like a circular arena.
"...The Arena?"
It was the Arena Colosseum.
"Welcome, Rin."
Immediately after, a blonde woman greeting her in a calm voice came into view.
Blonde hair gleaming with a brilliant luster, different from her brown hair in reality. Seeing Sua's refined female knight appearance felt like seeing her for the first time in a very long while compared to seeing her in reality.
'Sua's character was really pretty too.'
Maybe because she had just come from a bloody battle with several monsters, seeing Sua after Eunha gave her a renewed feeling.
"Yeah, hi. Sua, it feels like it's been a really long time since I've seen you in Another World?"
When she smiled and spoke, Sua nodded slightly and smiled faintly.
"It really does, doesn't it?"
Sensing a subtle sense of unease from Sua's demeanor, Serin naturally walked closer to Sua and sat down on a rock.
Sua also sat down on a rock within arm's reach.
"Oh, you're streaming right now, right?"
"Yes. I'm streaming."
When Serin spoke, Sua nodded in agreement.
"Then I should greet them first. I'm streamer Rin. Hello to all of Sua's viewers?"
When she spoke with a small laugh, Sua's stream chat scrolled up quickly as if responding.
Watching that, Sua let out a small laugh and spoke as if answering.
"You're streaming too, right?"
"Yeah. Do you want to greet them too?"
"I'm streamer Plea. Hello, everyone!"
Seeing Sua's energetic greeting, Serin momentarily wondered if she had misread the situation.
"Oh, and Rin. There's something called a cross-platform setting. Do you want to see the chats together?"
"See the chats together?"
"Yes. When we do an online collab like this, if we each turn on our own streams, we have to look at the chats separately. Or only one person turns on their stream, or there's a system for this that lets us see each other's chat windows together."
"I'm not really sure, but if you can do it, Sua, can you? That seems more convenient."
"Yes, then, just a moment."
Immediately after, Sua gestured lightly at the hologram, and a cross-platform request appeared on Serin's screen.
When she accepted it just as it was, the existing chat window changed.
Because suddenly two chat windows appeared as if splitting apart.
[Rin-ha!]
[Someone who picked Jeanne d'Arc has appeared!]
[Hurting Plea lololololol]
[fr why did she ask to meet?]
[sun]
[She even mentioned Sua openly lol]
[myung]
[Rin's kind of weird]
[sun]
[Fraud, explain yourself!!!]
As Serin was taken aback by the chat contents that appeared, Sua, on the other hand, was also a little surprised by Serin's chat window that she could see.
And more than anything else, the number of viewers that caught her eye.
'Rin has over 50,000 viewers?'
She had definitely seen her maintaining a viewer count in the early 40,000s before she turned on her stream, but she hadn't expected the viewers to go up from there.
[What's with Plea now]
[??What kind of collab just keeps going back to back lololol]
[lolol Plea's really pretty too]
[Rin really is popular, damn]
[Pfft]
[And she only knows major streamers lololol]
[Jeanne d'Arc then Plea? What is this insane lineup lolol]
[Ple-ha!!]
Putting the contrasting chat window opinions aside, Sua turned her gaze to Serin.
Sua's expression was smiling on the surface, but her reddish eyes were calmly subdued.
'She said she gave the ring to Jeanne d'Arc, so why did she ask to meet me?'
Sua had been extremely curious about that over the past few minutes.
After openly mentioning herself and Jeanne d'Arc regarding the ring, what was she thinking when she asked to meet?
"Rin, what's the reason you suddenly asked to meet?"
So she casually brought it up and asked her intention, and Serin, who had been confused by Sua's strange chat window, turned her gaze to Sua.
"Oh, it's nothing special. Sua, did you watch my stream today too?"
"Yes, I watched until before I turned on my stream. You revealed your hidden class, right? It's Moon Dancer, isn't it? I watched until before you encountered the Arch Lich."
As Sua answered in a calm voice, Serin raised the corners of her lips as if pleased and got straight to the point.
"Oh, then it'll be easier to explain. After I caught the Arch Lich, I got an item as a reward."
As Serin continued and was about to say her next words, Sua spoke first.
"Ring Imbued with Jeremian's Lingering Will. That's what you're talking about, right?"
As Sua spoke first as if she already knew the answer, Serin blinked for a moment and stared at Sua before nodding.
"Yeah, you knew?"
"Actually, I've been streaming while communicating with viewers, and I've been hearing all sorts of news about you."
'Even the fact that she gave the ring to Jeanne d'Arc...'
Sua held back the words that rose to the tip of her tongue.
"Huh? Don't tell me my stream viewers messed up the mood of your stream again?"
When Serin said that with a slightly angry look, Sua smiled and shook her head.
"No. It's nothing like that. I was the one who brought you up first. The viewers only spoke freely after I mentioned you."
"Well, that's a relief, but..."
Serin, who had been trailing off, stared quietly into Sua's eyes.
'Did something... bad happen to her?'
Serin found herself thinking that without realizing it.
She met Sua often, and Serin, who was skilled at reading other people's moods, immediately sensed that Sua was not in a good mood.
Her expression was definitely smiling, but her eyes looked subdued.
But that was only for a moment, and Serin spoke.
"Sua, do you like gambling?"
...At Serin's sudden words, Sua frowned and looked at her.
'Is she messing with me right now?'
If it was gambling, she had already done plenty of it with Jeanne d'Arc, so why was she bringing it up in front of her now?
Contrary to such thoughts, Sua smiled and answered.
"If it's light... without any pressure, I don't dislike it either."
"Oh, then that's good."
Serin smiled slightly at that and suddenly grasped at the empty air.
When Sua turned her gaze at her sudden action, Serin, conscious of Sua's gaze, opened her hand just like that.
"Ah?"
At the something that appeared, Sua blankly opened her mouth.
Sua's gaze was fixed on Serin's hand as if locked there, staring at what was in her hand.
Right now, Serin was holding two rings in her hand, a ruby ring and a sapphire ring, and from the appearance of the rings alone, Sua could tell exactly what items they were.
'...Grianne's and Jeremian's rings?'
How did Rin have those in her hand?
No, the viewers had definitely said that Rin had handed the ring over to Jeanne d'Arc.
Didn't they even say that the options rolled well and Jeanne d'Arc had donated ten million won to Rin?
"Sua, if it's you, you know the options on these rings too, right?"
As Serin spoke playfully to Sua, who was staring intently, Sua nodded blankly.
"Yes... The pair of rings in your hand—they're Grianne's and Jeremian's rings."
"Since you seem to know them well, I guess I don't need to explain."
Having said that, Serin reached out her hand just like that.
The ruby ring emitting a red glow was held out right in front of Sua.
When a notification appeared with the message 'Gift', Sua stared blankly at Serin.
"Are you really... giving me this ring?"
As if she couldn't believe the situation, Sua asked, and Serin smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, I intended to give it to you from the start."
Hearing that message, Sua pressed accept with blank eyes.
*
————
You have received 『Ring Imbued with Grianne's Lingering Will』 as a gift.
Due to the item's properties, the item is bound to you, 'Plea'.
————
*
Sua, who had received the ring along with a small message notification, stared blankly at the ruby ring that had come into her hand.
"The viewers told me that if you have these rings as a pair, you can gamble with a hidden option attached. And since I happened to have both rings, I figured it was worth doing."
Serin, who had been speaking casually while looking at the ring in Sua's hand, caught sight of Sua's expression, which had changed in an instant.
Sua's mood had definitely seemed quite bad just moments ago. But now her expression was so blank compared to before that Serin felt like laughing for no reason.
'So it does have value as a gift, I guess.'
Even though it was a random-option gambling ring, Sua's mood seemed to have improved a lot, as if she considered this a gift too.
And then, as if belatedly becoming conscious of Serin's gaze, Sua avoided her eyes and moved her lips slightly.
"Rin, thank you for the gift..."
At Sua's voice, speaking a little shyly with her head slightly bowed, unlike before, Serin shook her head as if to say it was nothing.
"No, it's random gambling anyway. Honestly, even as I'm giving it to you now, I don't really feel like it's a good gift... Anyway, Sua, to activate the hidden option, do I just need to equip this ring now?"
As Serin fiddled with the sapphire ring in her hand and spoke, Sua smiled slightly.
"No. There's a separate condition for activating the hidden option."
"There's a separate activation condition?"
As Serin tilted her head as if she didn't understand while looking at Sua, Sua naturally extended the hand holding Grianne's ring toward Serin.
When Serin gave a puzzled look at the suddenly extended hand, Sua spoke again as if it were nothing.
"You do it first."
"...Do what?"
"What do you mean, what? Put the ring on me yourself."
At Sua's casual strange request, Serin made a dumbfounded expression.
"Wait... don't tell me the hidden option activates when we put the rings on each other or something?"
"Yes. That's right, but you knew that...? Didn't you read the ring description?"
"Description...?"
Serin, who had muttered blankly, absentmindedly opened the detailed information of Jeremian's ring that she was holding.
*
————
Ring Imbued with Jeremian's Lingering Will.
Grade: Legendary
- Description: A sapphire ring received from a lover with whom one pledged to spend a lifetime. The tender soul of a high knight, devoted to his beloved, dwells within the ring, granting it a mysterious power.
*The moment a user equips this ring, its options are randomly determined.
- Can only be sold at a 'Major-City Jewelry Shop.'
- Sale Price: 30 million Silver Coins.
- Listing on the Auction House incurs a massive fee.
————
*
"A ring received from a lover with whom one pledged to spend a lifetime together?"
As Serin blankly muttered part of the description, Sua burst out laughing with a 'pfft'.
"Rin, don't tell me you're reading the description and attaching meaning to the ring right now?"
As Sua looked at Serin with a peculiar expression, Serin hastily shook her head.
"That's... don't say ridiculous things."
"Then hurry up and do it."
At Sua's calm gesture of extending her hand again, Serin, flustered, picked up the ruby ring.
Maybe because I'd been the one to give it to her, the way she calmly took the ring struck me as funny, and all sorts of thoughts ran through my head.
'What kind of weird system is this?'
Even as she picked up the ring, she felt a bit strange.
Putting a ring on someone's hand herself.
Then, when she thought that she might have done this with a viewer without knowing anything, Serin was dumbfounded.
Soon, as Serin personally put the ring on Sua's finger,
*
————
The current 『Ring Imbued with Grianne's Lingering Will』 has been personally equipped by the gift giver.
If the gift recipient personally equips 『Ring Imbued with Jeremian's Lingering Will』 on the corresponding user within 5 minutes, the 'Hidden Option' will activate.
————
*
A hidden option notification appeared in Sua's view.
Sua examined the ring worn on her left index finger as if fascinated. The red ruby, emitting a brilliant glow, was prettier than she had expected.
'...What in the world happened?'
The ring she had thought would definitely go to Jeanne d'Arc was being put on her by Rin herself, so she felt both good and strange.
Because she hadn't thought it would be her.
She felt chosen, even if belatedly.
"Doing this with a viewer would feel really weird, wouldn't it?"
At Sua's casual remark, Serin nodded.
"Of course it would be weird. Seriously, what kind of condition is this?"
"Right? Though I guess it follows the item description? The activation condition is really interesting."
While agreeing with Sua's words, Serin idly wondered who had discovered this condition.
'Was it an option discovered when actual lovers gave each other gifts and put them on each other?'
While she was thinking that, Sua picked up the sapphire ring from Serin's hand.
When Serin turned her gaze, Sua smiled.
"Which finger should I put the ring on?"
"Just anywhere..."
As Serin answered absentmindedly, she saw Sua wearing a playful smile in her field of vision.