Let's Give Her a Name
Where exactly had things gone wrong?
In a proper game-possession story, I should have been stuffing myself with hidden pieces at the Academy right about now, growing stronger by the day.
Look at me instead.
I had nearly been swept away by an Ether Storm in a late-game region that wasn't even open yet, and now I was stuck face-to-face with a monster of a woman who had just smashed a giant beast's skull with her bare fists.
"…Bread."
Her expression remained as unchanging as a doll's. Her voice was flat, utterly without inflection. Maybe it was the way she spat out short, clipped answers, but she somehow came across as a little airheaded.
Which only made her more terrifying.
If she could be reasoned with, I might have argued my usefulness or watched for an opening to run. But she looked like she simply wasn't thinking at all, and I had no idea how to react.
I wanted to restrain her with alchemy, but the identity of the monster she had just killed made that impossible.
Looking closely… that's a Torbidus.
A monster named after the Latin word for something savage or terrifying. True to that name, it was a king-lizard beast whose sheer bulk screamed "monster" at a glance. Its temper was filthy and ferocious; anything that entered its sight was killed on principle, and it even attacked terrain features like boulders whenever the mood struck. As if a body hardened by Ether into steel weren't enough, it sprayed deadly poison from every sweat gland and from the saliva glands in its mouth.
I knew the creature well—one of them appearing had once triggered a city-collapse-level event in the story.
She was one-sidedly thrashing it, then blew its head open with a punch?
It wasn't impossible. The problem was that every person capable of such a feat sat squarely among the absolute strongest in the entire setting. In other words, this woman possessed at least world-class combat power.
The silver lining was that she seemed to have taken some interest in me.
"Please, eat. If you need meat or water as well, I can make those too."
"…You can make them? Food… from dirt and stones?"
Instead of answering, I used alchemy once more. Thanks to the effects of Universal Transmutation, knowledge of material structures and chemical formulas simply poured into my head, making the feat possible. I transmuted a large rock into a perfectly cooked steak, then took a pinch of soil, turned it into salt, and sprinkled it over the meat. I plated the result on a dish I had also transmuted from stone and held it out. The woman's emotionless eyes sparkled.
"This is your ability?"
"It's a technique called alchemy."
She murmured "alchemy, alchemy" a few times under her breath, then took a huge bite of the bread I had given her. Fortunately it seemed to suit her taste. She finished the entire loaf in an instant and polished off the salted beef steak just as quickly.
I transmuted a porcelain cup from the dirt of the ground, filled it with soil I then turned into water, and handed it over. She smacked her lips like someone who had just enjoyed a satisfying meal and looked at me. For a second I worried she might decide to eat me next, but thankfully she appeared to feel genuine goodwill toward the person who had fed her.
"Going to the Cradle?"
"The Cradle?"
It was a place name I had never heard. When I looked at her blankly, she offered a brief explanation.
"Survivor group. Safest place in this country."
So the survivor enclave in the Destroyed Kingdom mentioned in the game's story was called the Cradle. But I hadn't been heading there. I had no intention of spending the rest of my life in the Destroyed Kingdom.
"I was going outside the Destroyed Kingdom."
"…Outside the Destroyed Kingdom?"
"I was on my way to Arca."
Curiosity rose in her expression as she stared at me. Apparently the idea of someone trying to leave the Destroyed Kingdom was genuinely novel to her. Then, after studying me a moment longer, she said something unexpected.
"I'll take you."
"Pardon?"
"Payment for the meal. I can take you to the border of the Destroyed Kingdom."
She pulled the sword that had been stuck in the ground free and turned her back.
"And… I'm curious about a lot of things."
That was all. She began walking in silence along the trail left by the Ether Storm I had been trying to follow, and I hurriedly fell into step beside her.
It was a little disorienting, but when I thought about it the offer wasn't bad at all. I had been one ambush away from dying in a ditch; having a companion who could one-sidedly thrash a Torbidus to death was the definition of reassuring.
"By the way… may I ask your name?"
She was terse and laconic, but if we were going to travel together I at least needed something to call her. I couldn't keep saying "hey" or "you" forever. The answer I received, however, was not the one I expected.
"…Don't have one."
"You don't have a name?"
"I have a name. But… it's not mine."
She had a name that wasn't hers? I had no idea what that was supposed to mean, but I didn't press. She didn't look particularly skilled at explanations, and I figured she had her reasons for putting it that way. I absolutely was not backing off because I was afraid of getting stabbed if I kept digging.
"Then… shall I give you one?"
"…You?"
"It's inconvenient not having a name, isn't it?"
I glanced at her carefully in case I had offended her. She lowered her head slightly, lost in thought for a few seconds, then turned toward me and nodded.
"Okay."
Thank goodness. I let out a long internal sigh, relaxed my tense body, and started turning the problem over in my mind. What name would be good? Since I was the one naming her, I wanted something she would actually like—something cool. Names carried power, or so they said; if she liked the one I gave her, she might develop even a little fondness for me. I wasn't angling for a romantic relationship, but right now her goodwill toward me was directly tied to my survival rate. If she suddenly changed her mind and walked off, I would be back to crossing the Destroyed Kingdom alone.
"Albedo. How does that sound?"
Albedo. Latin for "whiteness," and also the name of one of the stages in the famous process of forging a Philosopher's Stone. Considering her mysterious aura, her beautiful appearance, and the sheer force she wielded, I couldn't think of a more perfect name.
"Albedo… Albedo…"
She repeated the name I had given her a few times, then looked at me with a faint smile. For the first time, something that could actually be called an expression appeared on her blank face.
"Albedo. My name. I like it."
"…I'm glad it suits you."
The corners of her eyes curved like crescent moons and caught my gaze. Even when she had been as expressionless as a doll I had thought she was pretty, but damn—she really was ridiculously beautiful.
"Shall we pick up the pace a little, then?"
"…Mm."
"No! We don't need to go that fast!"
I had only meant we should walk a bit more quickly. She suddenly took off faster than a car, and I had to shout in panic to stop her. Our standards of speed were clearly different. Well, anyone who could pulp a Torbidus bare-handed would naturally have physical abilities far beyond an ordinary superhuman.
Only after I carefully explained the limits of my own body did we start moving again. If she shot off alone like a bullet, the life left behind would be in serious danger. As a result I earned myself a full helping of her silent grumbling—something about a distance she could cover in a day or two alone now taking a full two weeks. Since I was a frail alchemist without even an Ether cultivation method, there was nothing I could do about it. I simply averted my eyes.
That evening I had to transmute some rather luxurious food.
Time passed faster than expected. Or more accurately, we simply moved faster than planned.
"…Hungry."
"Then shall we rest here for a bit?"
Albedo, who had been racing across the desolate land of the Destroyed Kingdom at high speed, came to a stop. Her voice and expression were still flat as she complained of hunger, but the timing felt about right, so I let out a small laugh and stretched a hand toward the ground. Two chairs and a table appeared beside her. Albedo, who had been carrying me in her arms, set me down; I naturally took a seat in one of the chairs I had just made.
This was the secret to our rapid travel. Albedo, with her superior physical abilities, simply scooped me up and tore across the Destroyed Kingdom at speed. The only real flaw was that a full-grown man ended up being carried princess-style in a lovely woman's arms—or rather, the reverse of the usual prince-and-princess arrangement. A little embarrassing, sure, but so what? No one was watching, and the ride was surprisingly comfortable.
I had worried about how she would handle monsters while both arms were occupied holding me, but then I watched her leap up and kick a creature's head clean off. After that I simply stopped worrying. Albedo's leg strength could probably give siege engines a run for their money.
"Seojun. Meat. Meat sandwich."
"All right. I'll make one."
Still, the past few days had been surprisingly productive. We would reach the border of the Destroyed Kingdom—our destination—tomorrow, and more importantly, exchanging names had brought Albedo and me quite a bit closer. I was now confident that if I screamed in a dangerous situation, she would come charging to my rescue without a second thought.
"Here you go."
"…!"
Albedo tore into the sandwich I had transmuted with desperate haste. No one was going to steal it from her, yet for the past several days she had been devouring food as if possessed by a starving ghost. I could roughly guess why. The Destroyed Kingdom was a country in name only; in reality the land had been seized by monsters and the Abyss. Farming—anything that required settling in one place for long periods—was impossible, and even basic consumables like seasonings had long since become luxury goods.
She basically never gets the chance to eat normal food.
Even someone as strong as Albedo would inevitably end up eating tasteless meals. Monster meat from the Destroyed Kingdom was tough and generally foul, and there was no way to find salt or sugar in terrain this hostile.
There had been one bright spot, though.
"Seojun. Teach me alchemy."
"…Are you serious?"
A brand-new alchemy newbie. A powerhouse who could live perfectly well without ever learning the art had voluntarily requested a class change. The sad part was that even though I taught her with genuine sincerity, the results had been more modest than expected.
"Tomorrow we part ways, then."
"…Mm."
"Are you lonely, by any chance? Hoping I might stay with you?"
We had grown close enough that I tossed out a light joke. She had been quieter than usual all day and seemed to be in a foul mood; I wanted to open a conversation and find out why.
"Mm."
"…What?"
The answer that came back was completely unexpected. Albedo, whose emotions were usually so faint, nodded with a clear, almost tangible sense of regret.
"Arca… do you have to go?"
She had guided me all the way to the border, yet in her heart she truly wanted me to remain in the Destroyed Kingdom. I couldn't grant that wish. This was a matter of my own survival, and the Destroyed Kingdom was far too dangerous for me right now. Once I finished growing strong enough in the early-story hub of Origin Academy it might be different, but at present I was nothing more than prey here.
So I tried to convey my firm resolve that I had to reach Arca.
"I do."
"…!"
The moment the words left my mouth, Albedo's face hardened. Her already expressionless features turned even stiffer. Guilt prickled at me, but she needed to hear the rest.
"But I'm not leaving forever."
"…?"
"You can come find me yourself, Albedo. And once I'm strong enough, I'll return to the Destroyed Kingdom someday."
It wasn't a lie. With Albedo's power she could easily travel all the way to Arca to see me, and someday I too would follow the main story back to the Destroyed Kingdom. If the Abyss at the kingdom's deepest heart was never cleared, this entire world would eventually be eaten away and crumble.
"So… let me give you a gift."
I used alchemy on dirt and rock. The act itself was something I had repeated dozens of times and grown completely used to, but the result was something I had never made before: a black backpack. I transmuted what people commonly called a hiking pack, then filled it with plenty of preserved rations—jerky, hardtack, and drinking water I also created through alchemy.
"When you finish all of this, if you need more… come find me."
"…Mm."
Albedo nodded and stood. The meal was over; it was time to clear the area and prepare a place to sleep. The last night I would spend in the Destroyed Kingdom had arrived.