Fantasy of Galicia Is... Ending Service... (2)

Se-rin stared blankly at the little girl with the shopping bag handles.

"……."

"Muih……."

It was a face she knew all too well.

Asile, the Shadow Demon King.

The very embodiment of evil who had, time and again, led her thralls in invasions meant to conquer the continent of Galicia.

— Muiii…! This great one shall withdraw for today…!

— Muak! Munyaaaak! Don't you dare touch my horns…!

…Of course, whenever they'd faced each other on the battlefield, there had always been something vaguely clumsy and half-baked about her — but her power was the real deal.

She was a textbook case of lethal danger hidden behind a harmless exterior.

Se-rin's mind spun in rapid circles.

Asile wasn't even trying to hide. Her appearance was unchanged, a pair of horns dangling cheerfully from her head.

And yet, if one were to put it in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠martial-arts terms, her demonic energy — the aura of shadow — was almost entirely absent.

No wonder Se-rin's senses hadn't properly registered her. Her eyes had seen her just fine, of course.

That didn't mean she wasn't dangerous.

Just as Se-rin could reduce an entire area to wasteland if she unleashed her full power, the Asile standing before her was no different.

First priority was figuring out why this creature had shown up here in the first place…

"Hey. You've got something on your cheek and the corner of your mouth."

"Muih…!"

When Se-rin pointed out what was unmistakably some kind of food seasoning smeared across her face, Asile frantically flapped her tiny palms and scrubbed it away.

Se-rin's cool, analytical mind whirred at high speed.

She also opened her goddess ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠senses as wide as they would go.

Unlike an ordinary human body, a goddess's senses could be amplified hundreds of times beyond mortal limits.

Sniffing with her now hyper-acute sense of smell, she could still catch the lingering aroma of grilled meat clinging to the corner of Asile's mouth.

Conclusion.

"Was it good?"

She had no idea what wind had blown this creature here, but she'd probably come out on a scouting mission… and then tasted the food.

"Th-th-there's no way…! Did you truly believe this great one could derive happiness from something as paltry as the handiwork of mere humans…?!"

Se-rin was certain.

She thought it was delicious.

She felt happiness.

But teasing her about it to her face could set off something unpredictable.

Subduing her would be easy enough, of course…

"Bread so good you'd never notice if one of you died while eating it — fresh out of the oven!"

"Come try a plate of sashimi pulled straight from Lake Barugo!"

"Daddy! I want that one, that one!"

"The Lake Fishing Festival opens soon!"

All around them…

There were far too many people.

Heroes who could resurrect after death were one thing.

But the people who had always lived on the continent of Galicia — people who had only recently reclaimed their peace and were finally living happily — were everywhere.

If a fight broke out, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shadows would devour them.

One could argue it was a necessary sacrifice of the few for the many…

But in an environment where total victory couldn't be guaranteed, there was no need to deliberately provoke an opponent who hadn't yet shown clear hostile intent.

"Don't cause any trouble. Just play around a bit and go home."

Se-rin pulled a pouch from her robes and tossed it lightly toward Asile.

Asile's shoulders flinched on instinct, but she still stretched out her dainty hands and — snap! — caught it. She opened it, and her eyes went round as saucers.

"Sparkly…!"

Inside were gold coins, the currency of the Galicia continent. Converted to real-world money, it was easily several million won's worth.

Even an evil dragon was still a dragon — Asile's pupils dilated at the sight of gold.

"Don't go around freeloading. To you it might just feel like eating shadow thralls… but they're people."

"H-hmph…!"

Asile huffed through her nose a beat too late — but by then, Se-rin was already gone.

Asile tilted her head.

"Did she leave…?"

Is she trying to trick me?

That one would absolutely do something like that.

"Boob monster!"

Even after hurling a provocative insult, Se-rin's figure did not reappear.

"Muiing…?"

Faced with a kindness she had never expected, something strange began to stir in Asile's heart.

Having completed one stack of the Seven Captures and Releases, Se-rin returned to the Celestial Realm with a sly little smile.

"This works out even better."

If Elisha had known, she would have flopped onto the floor wailing, "Why would you help that woman?!" and stomped her feet — but Se-rin was unapologetic.

The gold-coin pouch she'd handed Asile.

Hidden inside it was one very tiny grain.

"In my world, secrets cannot exist…"

Quoting the line of a certain hacker named Mexicana, Se-rin activated the system she had designed on the spot.

And then, with a cheerful little pling!, a hologram bloomed in midair.

The twenty-four-hour close-contact real-time Demon King tracking system was complete.

While Elisha sat in the Pradera Temple, cooing and giggling amid the throngs of devoted fans who adored her with suspicious intensity, farming their faith…

And while rumors of a suspiciously wealthy little horned cutie wandering the continent scattering gold coins began to trickle through the community…

Se-rin steadily prepared for the end.

There was room for a slight misunderstanding here: the ones facing annihilation were not the continent of Galicia or its NPCs, but exclusively the heroes.

Looking at past precedent, there had been a game that prepared a full hour and thirty-eight minutes of ending credits and announced its service termination through a catastrophe called the "Seventh Calamity."

Se-rin wanted something similar.

To present the heroes — the players — with a close-beta conclusion they could accept, and then prepare an even grander open beta next.

In short…

A reboot.

"Ugh, my head…"

After briefly nursing a headache of unknown origin…

Se-rin began laying the groundwork, piece by careful piece.

The overall framework wouldn't be all that different from a world event.

They would fight to stop a fallen goddess's rampage, the heroes would join forces and charge in — udadada!

But this time the fallen goddess would be powered up far beyond last time, and she would go down in mutual destruction with an Elisha who had absorbed every last ounce of the heroes' strength!

And so a thousand heroes would die on that spot, leaving their great names etched into history…

"Hmm. A bit bland."

Stimulation always raised the threshold the more it was repeated.

She'd already used the Spirit Bomb meta once — would people really get that same high off a similar structure?

Well…

She could always change the presentation, so it wasn't unusable — but it was, admittedly, a little dull.

As Se-rin sank into thought, a sound reached her ears.

"Muhahaang!"

A vacant little laugh floated up out of nowhere.

Wasn't there a saying about a thief who learned late and didn't notice the night slipping away?

Watching Asile — who had far too late discovered that a tongue existed not merely as a vocal organ but to experience the thing called taste — Se-rin felt an exclamation mark pop into existence above her head.

What had the final boss been planned as from the very beginning?

The fallen goddess Se-rin?

Of course not.

It was that ridiculous-looking, dim-witted little girl right there.

The Demon King, Asile.

If she could make use of her…

Se-rin's scheming mind began to spin at high speed.

Unlike NPCs, whose actions could be freely controlled through "divine oracles," Asile was a complete irregular entity.

Unpredictable enough that Se-rin had deliberately set up surveillance in the first place.

And based on the monitoring data accumulated so far…

Behavioral principles:

One — she eats.

Two — she hears a rumor that something delicious is somewhere.

Three — her ears go twitch-twitch.

Four — she charges off in that direction — udadada!

Asile was moving purely on instinct.

And if that instinct could be exploited…

She could be guided wherever Se-rin wanted.

The scheduled closed beta test period for Fantasy of Galicia was two weeks.

The players who had been enjoying it all this time had only one wish.

Open the doors wider!

Extend it! Extend it!

Before launch, some people had predicted that two weeks would be enough to chew through, tear apart, and savor everything worth experiencing.

Their expectations had been betrayed.

In the best possible way.

"I've only managed to hit level 30…"

"I'm this close to Blacksmith Rank 3…!"

"The wiki's completion rate is still too low. We need to recruit more scribes."

"Has anyone gotten Elisha's affection to Stage 3?!"

"Spice prices just crashed hard… sigh."

It was a shame.

Ending this adventure already was far too much of a shame.

The dream of leveling up to stand upon the Celestial Throne.

The dream of forging a unique-grade weapon.

The dream of cataloging this entire world into a wiki.

The dream of marrying a soft, adorable goddess.

The dream of becoming a merchant prince and holding the economy in the palm of one's hand.

The players hadn't properly achieved a single one of them.

So of course they felt the ache of it.

Of course two weeks felt too short, and of course they wanted it extended.

But regrettably, the final moment drew steadily closer…

Alongside the service termination (not really) notice…

Unlike the previous world event, which had erupted without warning…

An official World Quest had been announced.