The Dryad's Essence (2)

"It's finally over..."

Gazing at the Dryad's Essence — no longer that dingy, murky green, but glowing with a clear and luminous verdant light — Choco let out a sigh and rubbed at her eyes. Staring at the Purification Circle as it radiated for a full hour straight had left her vision aching something fierce.

"It wasn't as hard as you expected, was it?"

"Tedious, more than difficult... More to the point, you only speak to me now?"

"There's no particular reason I needed to sit there watching it with you, is there?"

That damn woman. Choco shook her head at the utterly shameless voice drifting into her ears.

The moment the Purification Circle had begun operating properly, Tara had stopped talking altogether. Apparently she had no intention of sitting through that boring spectacle together. And Yeon, who would normally have been perched beside her chattering away, had gone off in a sulk, lain down, and promptly fallen asleep — leaving Choco with no one to talk to at all.

As a result, time had seemed to crawl. Only an hour had actually passed, but it had felt like two at the very least. Which, if she was being honest, only made the exhaustion worse.

Choco scrubbed at her face, then rose and approached the still-sleeping Yeon.

"Yeon, it is finished. Arise."

"Nngh... five more minutes..."

"What is this, speaking as though it were a school-day morning?"

"...It's already over?"

"Not already. A full hour has passed."

"A whole hour? Oh, you're right..."

Whether she had checked a clock or simply glanced at the empty air, Yeon mumbled to herself, then stretched and sat up. Watching her, Choco felt a small wave of relief. She had worried Yeon might still be sulking, but it seemed sleep had smoothed things over on its own.

Choco stepped closer and held out the purified Dryad's orb.

"Here. Take this, for now."

"Hm? Oh, this is the purified one? It's pretty..."

Just as Yeon said, the Dryad's Essence glowing with that clear green light was as lovely as a gemstone cut and polished into a sphere — a far cry from the thing that had been leaking that unpleasant, dark energy just a short while ago, the kind of object you wouldn't even want to touch. Yeon held the Essence up and murmured to herself.

"Could I just... not use it? Carry it around, I mean. String it on a cord and wear it as a necklace or something..."

"Do that, and it shall be judged destroyed and vanish."

"Ehk..."

Regrettable as it was, there was nothing to be done. It had never been an item meant for that purpose in the first place.

"So how do I use it, then?"

"Swallow it in a single gulp."

"I have to eat it?"

"It shall melt the instant it is swallowed. You will not even have time to find the sensation strange."

Yeon, who had been fidgeting at those words, squeezed her eyes ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shut and tossed the Dryad's Essence into her mouth.

"How do you feel?"

"Mmm... a lot of things went up, yeah."

Yeon relayed each of the system windows that had appeared before her, one by one. Choco nodded as though she had expected exactly that.

"Save for the modest stat increase, it is as I expected. Perhaps because it is but a half-measure, as Tara said."

"You've eaten one of these before, Choco?"

"I once received one from a dryad whose life ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was drawing to a close. And it was far larger than this."

"Bigger than the one I just ate?"

The Dryad's Essence Yeon had just consumed had been about the size of a hard candy — large enough that you'd need to open your mouth a bit wide. And Choco was saying hers had been bigger than that. Yeon was still trying to picture it when Choco tossed the answer out as though it were nothing.

"Nearly the size of a tangerine."

"A tangerine?! That's huge!"

"It was not so terribly large. Once it entered the mouth, it melted away regardless..."

...In truth, it had been monstrously large. She had called it tangerine-sized, but she had needed to unhinge her jaw just to get it in. Anyone who had witnessed that spectacle would have been hard-pressed to keep a straight face — but fortunately, there had been no one else there.

Thank goodness no one had seen. Choco thought as much to herself, then asked Yeon,

"More importantly, how much time remains until the carriage departs?"

"Let me see... we've still got time. About twenty minutes."

"Then shall we set out soon? We must still retrieve our equipment, after all."

"I'm fine with that, but... will you be okay, Choco?"

"...Well. I have resigned myself to it by now."

At Yeon's worried tone, Choco muttered in a voice of utter, enlightened resignation.

She had been pretending not to care, but the moment Choco stepped outside, she drew every eye in the vicinity. It wasn't even because Ho-jin had posted about her on the internet — the outfit itself was the problem.

It was the kind of clothing that was bound to stand out. Amid a sea of people clad in drab leather armor or iron plate, she alone was wandering about in a bright, fluttering shrine maiden's robe of white and red. Of course people stared. And Choco's appearance, wearing such a thing, was hardly ordinary to begin with — so the attention was only natural. There were even people who came up to ask where she had bought the costume. Yeon's concern was entirely understandable.

But she could not keep hiding from it forever. Besides, the Defense Fortress was a beginner zone, so the crowds had not been that bad — but Nateera would be swarming with people to a nauseating degree. Better to start adapting now, while there were still fewer of them. Whether she actually could adapt was another question entirely.

With that thought, Choco let out a long, heavy sigh.

The player known as Absolute Defense Jin — Ho-jin, for short — sat waiting at the relay station. Beside him, a blue-haired woman with a cool, sharp impression sat with her legs crossed.

Pretty Cute. Se-jin.

The two of them had started traveling together after clearing the kobold colony and parting ways with Yeon's party. Unexpectedly, it had been Se-jin who proposed forming a party, not Ho-jin. After exchanging messages over the forum incident, she had been the one to casually suggest they party up.

Of course, Ho-jin had hesitated. She knew he had been a ranker, and there was always the chance she was angling to make the game easier for herself — demanding gold or items, asking him to carry her, that sort of thing. But he had accepted soon enough. They had only partied together for a short time, yet he had a genuine sense that Se-jin was not that kind of mercenary person.

And if she had not proposed it, he might well have done so himself, eventually. He had already been thinking it would be nice to party with her. Setting aside that she was beautiful, he considered her a talented beginner — a promising prospect he wanted to raise. In other words, he had been planning to do what players ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠called newbie-babying.

Ho-jin had created this alt account specifically to help new players, so perhaps that was only natural. The reason he had not proposed it to Se-jin right away, however, was a personal trauma.

In the past, a female player who had left their party for personal reasons had gone on to accuse Ho-jin of cyber sexual harassment. Of course, people who knew his character — and the testimony of the other party members — had put the matter to rest before long. But for a while, the forums had been in an uproar.

It later came out that she had fabricated the accusation out of spite, resentful that he had simply let her leave instead of trying to stop her when her schedule no longer allowed her to stay. She had been buried under a mountain of criticism and quit the game entirely. But for Ho-jin, the memory was still lodged in him like a thorn.

He had grown reluctant to party with female players at all, avoiding even getting close to them, conducting himself as carefully as possible so that no similar rumors would start circulating. He was much better now than he had been then, and no longer behaved quite so extremely — but he was still cautious.

He had been halfway to giving up on the idea when Se-jin had so readily proposed it herself. And unlike the player who had made that accusation, Se-jin's temperament was as cool and composed as her appearance. She spoke mainly about the game rather than personal matters, which actually put him at ease. It made him feel that she, too, was serious about playing.

Even now, no words passed between them, yet neither found the silence uncomfortable. A comfortable silence. That was the scene that suited them.

"About ten minutes left now."

"So it is."

Se-jin answered Ho-jin's time-check with her usual indifference. The tone might have sounded cold at first glance, but after two days of party hunting, Ho-jin knew she was simply speaking normally. They lapsed back into silence, waiting out the remaining time — when a commotion of some kind began to stir. Wondering what was going on, Ho-jin turned his head.

"Hm? Those people..."

Familiar faces. A girl with a brown bob and dark eyes who looked like she had barely customized her appearance, and a slightly shorter girl with golden hair and golden eyes. The girls named Yeon and Choco — the ones he had partied with just the other day. Ordinarily he would have been the first to call out a greeting, glad to see them. But his gaze was fixed elsewhere.

And what is she wearing now?

Choco, approaching from a distance, had abandoned the white robes she had been wearing since they first met and was now dressed in something that looked like a bizarre shrine maiden cosplay. She walked with those wide sleeves swaying as though they might brush the ground, her gaze locked firmly downward, trailing behind Yeon as if trying to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hide. She clearly knew how embarrassing it was.

But if she was that embarrassed, why was she wearing it in the first place? Ho-jin could not understand it. And given the Choco he knew, she was the type to tear such a humiliating outfit to shreds before she would ever put it on.

Of course, she looked like an ordinary girl on the surface, so perhaps she had harbored some secret desire to wear something that excessively cute... but looking at her now, that did not seem to be the case at all.

Ho-jin decided to let the matter drop. From the looks of it, they had also outleveled this area and were heading for Nateera. If he acknowledged them, it might just make things awkward. Especially Choco, with that fiery personality of hers — she might explode from sheer embarrassment.

He had teased her plenty when they partied together, but Ho-jin was a man who understood consideration. He was not so cruel as to call out to someone he knew would be mortified.

What he had not accounted for, however, was that Se-jin would turn out to be the sociable one.

"Yeon!"

"Cute?!"

Ho-jin was startled by Se-jin suddenly raising her voice to call Yeon's name, but it was already too late.

"Huh? That voice... Se-jin unnie? And Ho-jin too?"

"What? That Ho-jin fellow is here as well?"

Startled by Yeon's words, Choco lifted her head and looked their way. Being called "that fellow" was a little irritating, but the sight of her face flushed with embarrassment dissolved the annoyance on its own.

Someone once said that cuteness was justice. And looking at her now, even knowing Choco's personality, it was hard not to find her adorable. People called it a cosplay-like outfit, but when the right person wore it, was it really? Choco was exactly that person.

Ho-jin considered how to respond, then simply gave up, flashed a grin, and waved.

"It's been a while. Yeon — and Choco?"

"W-what."

"That outfit suits you wonderfully."

"Grr..."

As he gave her a thumbs-up, Choco trembled with humiliation and glared daggers at Ho-jin.