Chapter 86 — The Road to the West (3)
Chapter 86 — The Road to the West (3)
A brief flash of light flickered and vanished.
This warm and gentle sensation was an energy similar to what he had encountered upon arriving in this world.
Roan opened his eyes.
"...It worked."
Roan laughed to himself.
No one was around.
The stone floor Roan stood upon was etched with the traces of the ancients.
A waypoint.
Having confirmed with 'Detection' that nobody was near, Roan let out a satisfied laugh as if a weight had been lifted.
So moonlight meant mana.
The sun and moon symbolized many things, but the most representative were physical power and magic power.
A riddle always felt a bit deflating once you solved its mundane secret.
'To think the condition required using holy power and mana together.'
A disappointed Roan laughed by himself for a long while.
This was actually his first time stepping onto Merde's soil.
Though he stood alone, he wasn't afraid.
It was a landscape so familiar from countless visits that it was almost nostalgic. The scenery differed from the outskirts of Basel. The land once lush with green had now turned brown and fallen dormant for the winter.
As Roan savored the outskirts of Spros, the capital of Merde—a view he had seen ad nauseam as in-game CG—a sound effect interrupted him.
[Message: Unofficial Quest 'Waypoint Unlock' complete! Congratulations!]
[Message: Presenting a special gift that will prove useful for your survival☆]
So it wasn't just about sex.
The fact that he received a reward for unlocking a waypoint the hero could use...
Maybe whenever he unlocked something the hero used in the game—something the player saw as a system feature—he got a reward.
For example, successfully forming a party for the first time at the guild, visiting a tavern to meet NPCs, or upgrading weapons.
Though all of that was in Merde.
...How petty. It was way too hero-centric.
[Unofficial Quest Reward — One-time magic 'Save Point Slot 1']
[Message: Find other unofficial quests to prepare for ■■!]
"...Huh?"
Roan let out an involuntary cry upon seeing the reward.
Only his voice echoed through the silent forest.
Startled by his own voice, Roan reflexively used 'Detection' before examining the message again.
"Save Point...?"
Wasn't that name too modern to be called magic? Slot 1?
Of course, there would be no record of a spell called 'Save Point' in any reference material.
Irritation surged within Roan.
Unhelpful bastards...
They had rigged it so he could only understand by actually using it.
Roan focused his mana and murmured.
"Save point...?"
Because he wasn't certain what kind of magic it was, his voice trailed off into a question.
But perhaps that was enough, because another semi-transparent window popped up before Roan's eyes.
[Message: Save the current progress to Slot 1?]
Roan's expression twisted.
A message truly identical to the game.
Literally saving the current point somewhere, just like saving a game...
Would there be a load function later?
If he experienced it in reality, he could consider it regression. The fact that he could select the point, and that it was called Slot 1, might mean Slots 2 and 3 could appear later.
His feelings grew complicated.
Was something besides the hero targeting me, to the point where I'd need to revert or redo the present?
Feeling a vague sense of sorrow, Roan tried to close the message window. Then a new message appeared.
[Message: Slots not saved with information will be invalidated. Continue?]
"...Ah, damn..."
Roan covered his face with one hand.
He'd screwed up.
It was literally a one-time-use magic. Using it as a test apparently consumed the spell.
He supposed he should be grateful it at least asked him before the magic went poof.
Though he felt rage boiling up from his core, Roan had to grit his teeth and suppress his anger.
Fine... if he saved now, when he hadn't achieved all that much yet... it was still a bit of a ways until autumn when he'd potentially meet the hero...
But it gave him a chance to undo something.
Rationalizing his decision, Roan used the first 'save point.' Getting angry would be pointless anyway if he didn't.
"...Augh..."
Having released his deep-seated fury in a massive sigh, Roan only managed to calmly inspect the waypoint after the message window vanished.
When he focused mana and holy power separately on the waypoint, there was no change.
Only after he gathered both forces did the waypoint activate, emitting a soft light.
'This is the same map as the game.'
A minimap appeared before Roan's eyes.
Two waypoints flickered on the minimap.
Basel, the capital of Evirgio,
and the outskirts of Spros, the capital of Merde.
If the story proceeded exactly as the game, Rauka would probably give him the approximate locations of the waypoint ruins, making the rest of the waypoints appear on the minimap.
But activation would require visiting each one in person.
He could quickly activate the ones in Evirgio and maybe even as far as Arteala.
On the other hand, activating the waypoints in Merde would take some time. But it wasn't impossible.
'I've done it dozens of times already, so whatever.'
Unlike the hero, he didn't have a map floating in the air, but he had memorized the routes over dozens of playthroughs.
He just needed to use a disguise tool, take a day at a time from Spros onward over the memorized routes, and activate the waypoints one by one.
"Alright. Let's head back."
Roan rubbed his hands together in satisfaction.
Spros was where the hero's story began.
He had spent the early game there, met many people, and completed many memorable quests.
'And it has plenty of good restaurants.'
Later, sneaking into the city to check out his favorite eateries wouldn't be a bad idea.
Following his audacious plan, another thought popped up: the real hero might be inside those walls.
Because Roan already knew the hero's guild, favorite bar, and inn.
'Maybe... I could even meet him.'
Thinking that made his tension rise.
After staring toward the Spros castle for a moment, Roan decided to return to Basel first.
Grünent might have fainted by now.
"Your Majesty! I was so surprised, so surprised that I just...!"
Grünent hadn't fainted, but she was crying enough to. Neither Rauka nor Helen had been able to invoke the ruins' power.
So Grünent had apparently slumped onto the bare ground and wailed. Her face was frozen bright red from the biting wind.
Roan soothed her and guided her into the carriage. As he watched Helen comfort and heal Grünent, Roan re-examined the waypoint.
The ruins that had once been invisible even to Roan now clearly remained in the form of a stone floor.
But it still seemed invisible to Rauka's eyes; even after hearing Roan's explanation, she looked incredulous.
"You mean to say... you see a floor engraved with patterns?"
"Mm."
"Then we could assume something like this is hidden at every place with a monolith."
"Perhaps, Rau—... you."
Rauka frowned slightly at Roan as he trailed off.
But now that he knew the meaning of her name, forcing himself to call her that felt a bit awkward. Just as Roan was about to ask something, Rauka blurted out.
"Aina."
Roan stared blankly at Rauka.
As he heard the 'ding-ding' sound effect playing like background music.
"...My name. It's Aina."
"...Mm. Aina."
Seeing her affection score rise by +25, Rauka sighed.
"...Just call me Rauka. I don't want to explain myself at length to Grünent or Helen either."
"Understood."
"That name..."
Rauka's profile as she examined the waypoint's lines turned a faint shade of red.
"...use it when there's no one else around."
Roan broke into a grin.
"Hm. Hmph. What were you trying to ask earlier?"
Rauka asked, puffing out a white breath.
"Do you happen to know where monoliths in other regions are?"
"Hmm. For starters, at the edge of Evirgio's Dark Forest, and in Zeno."
The moment Rauka finished speaking, the minimap appeared before his eyes. The waypoints near Zeno and the Dark Forest she mentioned were marked tiny on the map.
"Merde. Sie Lake."
Each time Rauka named a city or landmark near a monolith, waypoint marks appeared here and there on the minimap.
A total of ten waypoints.
So this was how Rauka told the hero about the waypoints.
Rauka was a party member the hero couldn't romance.
Her true feelings and related circumstances couldn't be seen in the game.
Learning these detailed specifics in reality brought the joy of peeking behind the curtain.
"Wh... what is it, Your Majesty."
Under Roan's steady gaze, Rauka shrank back, her face flushing red.
"Hm. Thank you. ...Aina."
He had finished marking the waypoints on his minimap for now, and two locations were usable.
"Now, it's time for some experiments."
"Experiments?"
"Yes. Come closer. Rauka."
"...Eh?"
Rauka's face instantly turned bright red.
"Wh, why...?"
"Don't be startled."
Then he concentrated mana and holy power in both hands.
In his case, mana was the power that had originally flowed within him in small amounts, and holy power had appeared spontaneously the moment he solved a quest and obtained divine magic.
Or rather, unless one was the hero, who could obtain divine magic via skill duplication, no one else could use this waypoint.
However, in the game, the hero traveled all across the Moira Continent using these waypoints with party members, not alone.
So, what was the range of a party?
How many people could he transport at once?
Could hostile people also be included in a party?
Was physical contact or a separate mana-based mark necessary?
There were many little things he needed to investigate.
"Eeek!"
In an instant, her vision flashed and the scenery changed.
Even though he had warned her beforehand, Rauka involuntarily burst out with a gasp of surprise.
"Hmm."
Several memos were added to Roan's mind.
— Transport possible without physical contact.
— Preliminary result: two people (myself included) succeeded.
— Rauka screams even with a prior warning.
'For the next test, I should bring Helen.'
Suddenly, Rauka dropped to her knees, startling Roan.
"...Aina?"
"Ugh... I'm dizzy..."
The space between Roan's eyebrows twitched.
Motion sickness?
Another memo line was added in his head.
— Forest fairies get motion sickness.
After returning to Basel with Rauka once her dizziness had barely subsided, this time he brought Helen and four other knights for a test.
The four knights had their eyes hastily blindfolded. No matter how much he trusted them, it was better not to give gossip any chance to spread among the Central Knight Order.
If word got out that an express route to Merde had opened, the entire continent would be in an uproar.
From the test results.
— Party members who directly travel via waypoint become able to see the waypoint.
— Transport possible without physical contact.
— Up to eight people and four demon beasts can be transported. Need to confirm the maximum allowable limit.
— Rauka screams even with a prior warning.
— Everyone except me seemed to experience motion sickness. The demon beasts also slowed their movements and seemed slightly nauseous; the forest fairy was most severe.
Only after sealing a non-disclosure agreement with the knights and Rauka via Grünent's magic did they depart again for the palace. Before they knew it, the sun was setting.
"This is incredible, Your Majesty."
Grünent chattered in an excited voice.
With her face still puffy and swollen from the cold wind.
She was adorable.
While Grünent, Helen, and Rauka were simply marveling at the mysterious ruins and Roan's ability to activate them, Roan was lost in thought over a different question.
Parties were originally limited to four members.
Hence the hero, Rauka, a mage, and the heroine.
That was the typical four-person setup.
Since they were riding horses, that meant four horses.
But if additional personnel or animals could be transported, the hero could theoretically have sneaked an entire army onto the outskirts of Basel one night to launch a surprise attack.
Why hadn't the hero done that?
If he'd come intending to have an honest showdown with the Demon King, then there was really no choice but to regard him as a true hero.
At any rate, one thing that had been eating at him was resolved today. The new year was off to a good start.
Tonight, he ought to be especially sweet to Grünent. She had worried and cried so much because of him.
Unaware of the fate that awaited her—a night of more crying—Grünent looked at Roan and smiled bashfully.