Chapter 37

“It was Current Sky who sent it.”

After stepping out of the cafe, Doyugeon lied to the bodyguards who were blocking his way. When the bodyguards hesitated and showed a gap, he immediately dashed and slipped out of their encirclement.

Having escaped from the cafe, he entered an alley. Since the cafe was located deep inside the alley, he had to walk further to exit it.

He suddenly stopped walking, turned around, and looked back. In the alley that was gradually growing dark, he saw a single discarded beverage can rolling around.

By now, he expected Current Sky to chase after him with an angry face, but it seemed that wasn’t the case. He continued on his way.

It was an uncomfortable place to be seated. Through the cafe music, screams could be heard, and Current Sky, nestled in his arms, was urging him to take a bite of the cream puff, making it a chaotic moment.

He emerged from the alley. The street lit by the evening glow was crimson. There was no one around. However, a severed arm rolled on the ground in front of a bench.

It was strangely unreal. He tightly clenched his empty hand and squeezed it; it felt detached from his skin but somehow also connected. He didn’t know what was going on.

He heard footsteps and took a step to the side. The sword of a hidden goblin just missed him. Glancing back, there stood a goblin. The goblin swung its sword again, but Doyugeon evaded it by taking another step to the side.

Although Current Sky had said it was dangerous outside, it seemed she didn’t really care how dangerous it was. After all, hearing an explanation from the bodyguards was enough for her. Perhaps she was monitoring the external situation using magic power, but that didn’t seem likely considering her character.

According to the bodyguards and social media reactions and news articles, the mobs currently appearing were goblins. Goblins wielding swords and bows.

By dodging the consecutive sword strikes with just a few steps, the goblin stopped attacking and instead stepped backward, remaining vigilant. This was a different reaction from the goblins he had encountered after logging in before. Those goblins had shown various responses—stepping back and being cautious, but without any noticeable change in expression, reacting mechanically.

The goblin in front of him, however, looked completely terrified, and it seemed like cold sweat was running down its face. It was the response of a living creature. If he swung his sword and killed it, the goblin would spill green blood if it were a typical one, or possibly red blood, but it didn’t seem like it would release the golden experience dust as it usually did.

In the midst of this standoff, he felt a subtle movement from behind. He swung his sword backward once, causing two swords to clang against each other, and the ambush goblin’s sword flew high and far. The difference in strength was huge, hence the natural outcome.

After composing his thoughts for a moment, he swung his sword. The goblin’s head was severed, and its body turned into experience dust, which was absorbed into him. Taking advantage of this moment, the goblin that had been standing in opposition made a surprise attack, but he easily retaliated and killed it.

“Hmm…”

There was a small sense of satisfaction mixed with unease. He had killed many goblins until now, but he wasn’t used to it yet.

“That’s good.”

Looking around the street, there were only corpses and goblins left. The people must have either fled or hidden inside buildings. Screams periodically rang out from the buildings. In a situation like this, his individual efforts aren’t enough. If he rescued one person, two more would die, and if he protected three, four more would be in danger.

What should he do? What would be the best course of action?

It seems appropriate to eliminate the goblins one by one. A goblin that was a little further away made eye contact with him, panicked, and fled. He could see a bloody, gold necklace that looked like it had been snatched from a person. A butterfly decoration. He chased it and swung his sword, killing it.

He had many complaints about Current Sky. “Stay seated because it’s dangerous?” Who doesn’t know it’s dangerous? Goblins are weak—extremely weak. He had never died from a goblin, and if you exclude minor scratches, he had never been injured. But it’s obvious that if a sword or arrow hits the wrong place, death will follow.

A goblin hiding behind a car launched an attack with a sword. He parried it and sliced off its head. Taking advantage of that moment, an arrow flew from inside a macaroon shop. He caught the arrow in his bare hands. Clenching his fists, the arrow snapped with a crack. He entered the shop and killed the goblin that fired the arrow.

Who doesn’t know about the danger? Who could possibly be unaware? Sometimes, Current Sky acts like she knows what’s obvious only to herself.

He noticed someone hiding inside the shop and helped calm them down with a few words.

“Sorry to bother you, but could you pull down the shutter outside?”

“Shutter?”

He took the lock and stepped out. Does locking it from the outside even allow people to exit from the inside? He wasn’t sure, but since he was asked, he pulled down the shutter and locked it.

In the middle of this, an arrow flew toward him, and he bent his body to the side to dodge it. The arrow hit the shutter and bounced off.

“Just now, what was that?”

“It’s nothing significant.”

He said his farewells and went to hunt goblins.

He kept killing goblins. Kill and kill. Kill again and kill again. But there were still goblins wandering the streets. It wasn’t enough. There were too many goblins.

Could this method really solve the current situation? Although it seemed like he had killed many goblins on this street already, there were still plenty around.

Out of nowhere, Current Sky appeared from the sky. Her wizard robe billowed in the breeze.

It felt like some time had passed since they parted ways at the cafe, and he wanted to ask where she had been, but he refrained from doing so.

When their eyes met, Current Sky shivered and looked away.

“I was delayed while assessing the situation.”

He was glad she wasn’t angry, as he had expected.

Without asking, Current Sky requested the assistance of the bodyguards and began inspecting the area while turning around.

“Don’t worry. You’re not hurt, are you?”

“Right, I’m fine.”

She took off her wizard robe and offered it to him.

“It’s a relief to hear that. At least put this on.”

[C-grade/Melophin Royal Workshop’s Marphigna]

It’s just a poorly designed wizard robe, but it’s a C-grade item. It is said that acquiring it through gacha requires over 100 billion credits, and since it’s not a tradable item, it can’t be bought even if you have the money. During the last offline event of the Explorer Guild, this robe was said to have blocked bullets.

“Nah, you should wear it.”

Although he refused, Current Sky ignored him and put it on him anyway. It smelled sweet. He tried to pull it off, but she glared at him harshly, leading to his failure.

The hood of the robe was also pulled over his head.

“This will narrow your field of vision.”

“It doesn’t matter much.”

Current Sky took a step back and swiftly scanned him from head to toe. She then made a disgruntled face, seemingly dissatisfied.

“Umm…the size is a bit too small-”

Before she could finish her sentence, the Marphigna automatically adjusted to a perfect size. He had never heard of an item changing size to fit the user.

“When was this patched?”

“Exactly.”

The system undergoes many submarine patches, so it’s understandable. It would be better if the system were more straightforward, though, but it’s disappointing every time.

While checking the fit of the Marphigna, he noticed a white hair on the robe. Current Sky had said the Spellbook Skill disappeared, so it couldn’t be Schroedinger’s hair, but he removed it anyway.

At that moment, an arrow flew and hit a magical barrier, falling off. Current Sky frowned and hurled magic power somewhere. Experience points flew towards her.

Easily handled. With the help of the bodyguards, they will be able to eliminate goblins faster.

But will this be sufficient?

You won’t see it from here, but if you climb to the top of a tall building and look down, you will see it—the Rift through which the goblins continuously emerge.

Current Sky subtly treats him like a child placed on the brink of a pond, but he is not a suicidal person. Thus, although the existence of the Rift has spread across social media, suggesting it might be the root cause, and it is obvious by this logical assumption that it should not be approached due to the danger, and Current Sky might say, for instance, that a dragon might suddenly appear, he stays away from the Rift.

Even though he doesn’t want to watch people die, neither does he intend to die for strangers he doesn’t know.

But then again,

Shouldn’t he check it out?

There’s no guarantee that only goblins will appear just because only goblins have come out of the Rift so far. What if a dragon suddenly appears?

Since he can’t assume anything nor prepare adequately, if his luck is bad, he’ll die, and if it’s good, he’ll survive.

Then, shouldn’t he check it out? After all, if he had an unlucky life, he wouldn’t have met Current Sky, right?

Even though he has no intention of dying for strangers, it’s worth checking out if it’s not too risky.

He moved his steps.

Then, Current Sky followed him.

“Rest a bit more.”

“I’m not even tired.”

“Still…”

He started running, and Current Sky flew to follow.

“Why are you following?”

“Do you have complaints?”

Indeed, he has many complaints. Once he starts approaching the Rift, it’s obvious she’ll try to stop him again.

“…No.”

“Then where are you heading?”

“To somewhere else?”

“Why the question form?”

While killing the occasional goblin on the way, they had approached the Rift without realizing. Though named a Rift, it looked more like shimmering heat haze to the naked eye. The only difference was the goblins that kept bursting out from it. Luminous particles like fireflies in the Rift floated upwards briefly before scattering and turning into goblins. There must be over a thousand goblins visible right now. It’s too many, continuously appearing, making them impossible to kill entirely.

Suddenly, Current Sky overtook him, standing between him and the Rift, her back to it.

“Where do you think you’re going now?”

Her voice was cold.

“Wait, watch out behind you!”

More than a hundred arrows flew. And every single one of them was blocked by a magical barrier invisible to him and fell to the ground.

Eh…

Current Sky didn’t even look at the falling arrows.

“Don’t change the subject.”

There was no intention to change the subject.

“Never intended to change the subject.”

“I know that too.”

He was speechless at her straightforward answer.

Current Sky’s mood must have improved during that brief moment, for she gazed at him peacefully for a second and added,

“Let’s move to another spot. It’s dangerous here.”

With that, he stopped her from going back and instead entered a nearby alley. Although they should relocate, he had no intention of taking the slow route.

Current Sky looked sullen.

“So where were you heading?”

“To resolve the situation at the Rift.”

“Why go there?”

“It’s worth it.”

Although there are many goblins, it didn’t feel like he’d die.

“You want to know why it’s worth it? If you enter the Rift and end up in a blank expanse of the universe where you can’t breathe and there’s no gravity, how will you return?”

He was somewhat startled by her very unexpected statement.

“The Rift leads to the universe?”

“It could.”

“Then it doesn’t?”

“Not necessarily. It could be the universe or could not be.”

“Then it’s not.”

“You shouldn’t conclude it that way. You haven’t gone in yet.”

He pointed at the magic book floating around Current Sky.

“You also said before that tampering with the Magic Book’s magic circle could cause either a massive explosion or an incurable infectious disease, right? Something cosmic horror-like. But nothing happened.”

“If it did, it was due to good luck.”

“When we killed the first slime and obtained experience points, you said something about the experience dust being pathogens or something, but nothing happened.”

“That’s something you really shouldn’t have thought about. The slime is an alien life form, and you shouldn’t have thought of killing it that way. Didn’t you know that natives died from infectious diseases during the discovery of new continents?”

“But we killed the slimes and nothing happened.”

“Because you were extremely lucky.”

“Even though you say it’s luck, but anyway, the Magic Book and the slime are all managed by the system in the end. Why would there suddenly be an incurable infectious disease at a place that has both Magic Books and slimes?”

“Because it’s fantasy, anything can happen.”

“If it’s fantasy, it must comply with common sense.”

“How can fantasy be realistic?”

Current Sky glared at him for a while before continuing.

“Fine. Since my mentions of the universe were somewhat detached from reality, let’s change the example. Do you really think walking into the Rift right there is a good idea?”

“Huh?”

“Does it look like something meant for someone to walk into? It’s just heat haze.”

“Why do goblins emerge then?”

“Goblins are alien beings. They could have a constitution resistant to any kind of atmosphere or something. Or what if the foggy phenomenon isn’t giving birth to goblins but rather fracturing, creating goblins in the process? Sounds very fantasy-like, doesn’t it? Definitely plausible.”

Current Sky hummed and nodded her head.

Watching her, he couldn’t help but wonder about something.

“First off, I didn’t say I was going to enter the Rift, and actually, I had no intention of entering it at all. I just thought there might be a magic circle nearby that I could destroy, you see?”

“Huh?”

Current Sky seemed momentarily perplexed, then flustered, and coughed nervously.

“Is that so? I must have assumed you were attempting something dangerous. Seems I got too carried away.”

Normally, when Current Sky lies, it’s easily noticed, unless she specifically prepares to lie, in which case she becomes untraceable. But, as childhood friends, one can feel a subtle discomfort. Right now, for instance, although Current Sky usually behaves shy when flustered or gives a pretense of calmness when lying, her actions right now feel forced. That makes it easy to assume she was lying.

If he thinks about it, something specific comes to mind.

“Didn’t you say earlier that you were delayed because you were assessing the situation?”

As he left the cafe to fight goblins, Current Sky had arrived later than expected.

“Uh? Yes, I said that…”

“So, you checked out the Rift too, right?”

“Uh… sort of?”

“And you figured out you could enter it?”

“No.”

Current Sky shook her head, but the more she did, the more obvious it was that she was lying. The moment she was caught off-guard, her acting skills faded away.

“So, what’s inside the Rift? Goblins?”

“I don’t know.”

While looking at her, Current Sky averted her gaze and continued with an irrationally expression.

“Until now, it’s been just the goblins I’ve caught and a magic-using Orc—one, I think.”

An Orc that uses magic? He’s never encountered one, so he has no idea how strong it might be.

But still, if there’s such information, it suggests that investigating the mobs emerging from the Rift and escaping it is possible. He doesn’t feel like he’ll die unexpectedly; if it looks dangerous, he can always run away.

“What’s with the perhaps?”

“This is a trustworthy source that I believe in but whose credibility cannot be totally relied upon.”

That’s quite a harsh evaluation. Still, since she trusts it, she would say it.

“Great! Let’s go catch it.”

“What? Why?”

“One Orc—that’s practically a boss monster placed there for the taking. If it’s placed there, it must be there to be caught.”

“Lightning magic won’t miss.”

“So I need to be careful with lightning magic, huh.”

“Don’t be careful—just don’t catch it.”

“If it’s dangerous, I’ll run away. Don’t worry.”

“Of course you’ll run when it’s dangerous, but—wait, what?”

Current Sky’s expression darkened and her voice became scary.

“I’ll run away when it’s dangerous.”

“That’s not what you just said.”

“I said I’ll run away when it’s dangerous.”

“Did you say you were going alone?”

“You hate stuff like this, don’t you?”

Current Sky looked genuinely shocked. He had no idea why.

…

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