The Child of Fortune
"So now you've also started kidnapping children?" Lua asked in a neutral voice, though she raised one eyebrow as she stared at the panel in front of her with such methodical suspicion it looked like she was studying it piece by piece.
"Boss… it was important. She was all alone there. I couldn't just leave her behind. She's so small and cute," Sia said, a faint note of guilt in her tone, as if she were afraid Lua would reprogram her for breaking protocol.
"Alright. Is she okay?" Lua asked, keeping any obvious emotion out of her voice, though there was a different glint in her eyes—one that only Sia, after so much time by her side, could recognize as genuine concern.
"Yes. She found a safe place. Although… she might feel a little lonely," Sia replied quickly.
"Then it's fine," Lua said without hesitation. She knew too well what loneliness felt like. If the girl was comfortable in her shelter, it wouldn't be so terrible. Perhaps she would have done the same at that age.
Without adding anything else, she walked toward the light illuminating the entrance to the village—a battered old lantern powered by a mana core that occasionally sputtered—to welcome the little visitor.
…
The girl stood on the dusty ground, looking around with wide eyes, hardly blinking. Her gaze jumped from the sky streaked with violet clouds to the distant forest swaying in the wind, then down to the dry grass beneath her bare feet. She slowly moved her hands, then her feet, as if checking that they were still there. When she did, she noticed a pair of small white wings fluttering gently on her back.
"I… I'm dead," she murmured in a thin voice that cracked before a sob burst out of her all at once. Tears welled up as she remembered the stories her grandmother used to tell her about angels. Stories that always calmed her when she woke up crying in the middle of the night, aware that her grandmother was already so old, and that one day she would leave—promising they would meet again in heaven.
"You're not," Lua said calmly from behind her. Her voice was so quiet and low that the girl flinched and spun around at once, her heart pounding wildly.
Her eyes landed on Lua's dark horns and red pupils glowing like embers.
"I… I wasn't a bad girl…" she whimpered, more tears spilling as she trembled like a small, frightened animal.
"Pfff… I think she's mistaken you for a demon from hell," Sia commented with a mocking tone, barely holding back laughter.
"I don't know what that is, but it doesn't sound friendly," Lua replied with her usual serenity, before tilting her head slightly toward the girl.
Liora–Level1–GoddessofFortuneLiora – Level 1 – Goddess of Fortune
"She has the same title as Loli," Lua thought, sending the observation to Sia through their mental link.
"Yes, but unlike Loli, she already had it active before she even entered…" Sia replied, surprise and dawning understanding mingling in her tone.
Lua stepped closer, stopping about a meter from the child. Her tall, imposing figure in the dark cloak contrasted with the girl's delicate frame—she could hardly be a meter tall herself. Lua slowly knelt down until she was at eye level. The posture felt unnatural, but she made a deliberate effort to soften her expression. For once, she allowed her face to show something other than indifference.
"You're not a bad girl. And I'm not a demon. I'm an Oni," Lua explained in a calm voice, making sure it sounded gentle. "This place is called Drunai, a world you can enter using a machine called a computer."
"Another… world?" the girl asked, bewildered. Her tears had stopped, replaced by a confused wonder.
"Yes… but—" Lua lifted a finger to her lips in a conspiratorial gesture she could barely remember how to do. "—don't tell anyone. It's a secret."
Inside, it felt absurd. She was sure at least the first three players had figured out the truth from the start. She had never been good at hiding it.
"Will grandma… be here?" the girl whispered, her eyes shining with a hope that was already starting to crumble.
Lua felt something like a dull ache in her chest. She lowered her gaze for a moment before replying.
"I'm sorry… she's not here," she said, her voice carrying a sadness so heavy she didn't even try to disguise it. She knew that emptiness too well—the one that came from losing someone and not knowing if you'd ever see them again. She had spent two hundred years searching for a way to bring her own mother back, and she still wasn't ready to give up.
"Come… I'll show you this place," she said at last, her voice regaining a little steadiness. "Maybe you'll have more fun than just staying in an empty room."
"How do you… know?" Liora asked in a small voice.
"The person who brought you here… didn't want you to be alone," Lua explained, turning her head slightly toward Sia, who was watching silently from her panel.
"That person… who is it?" the girl asked, recalling the door that had opened by itself, with no one inside to push it.
"…She can't show herself," Lua said, shaking her head slowly.
"Is… is she God?" Liora asked, her eyes so wide and round that Lua had to try hard not to laugh.
"No. Not at all. She's just… a busybody with a good heart… though I'm not sure she actually has a heart," Lua said, letting a small, almost clumsy smile appear.
"How rude," Sia complained in her mind.
Lua extended her hand toward the girl. For a moment, Liora hesitated. She looked at the large hand, then at the smile that, for how rare it was, seemed almost awkward. Maybe it was the first time Lua had managed to smile sincerely in a very long while. Finally, Liora reached out her small, trembling hand and took it gently.
To reassure her, Lua allowed her whole expression to become warm. It felt uncomfortable, as if her muscles were rebelling, but she vaguely remembered her mother looking at her like that when she was little.
Together, they began walking toward the center of the village. Lua had to slow her steps, matching the tiny, cautious ones of the child who could barely keep up.
Liora looked around with wide eyes, taking in everything: the half-ruined houses, some burned to their foundations, others reduced to patches of earth marked by the traces of buildings long gone.
"Do you… live here alone?" she asked, her voice tinged with curiosity and a need to find something in common that would make her feel less alone.
"I did before," Lua replied calmly, her voice sounding just a little softer than usual. "But then players like you arrived. Now they're exploring the forest."
"The forest? What's in there?" Liora asked, eyeing the dark mass of trees that rose against the sky with apprehension.
"Beasts, plants… many interesting things. But it's also dangerous," Lua explained, as if she were talking about the weather.
"Dangerous… like the hungry dogs?" Liora asked, her voice trembling.
Lua stopped. She looked at her carefully. She didn't really know how to comfort someone who shook like that. As a child, she'd had no choice but to harden herself and keep moving forward.
"Don't worry," she said at last, lowering her voice. "Here… you can't really die. Nothing will hurt you permanently. Even if you die, you'll come back here."
"R-really?" Liora asked, not quite believing it. She looked up at Lua with suspicion and a flicker of hope that reminded her of Loli, when she pretended she didn't care about anything.
"It's true," Lua added. "Here, you're only using a body they call an Avatar. It's not your real body. That's why you have wings."
"Oh… right. I have wings…" Liora whispered, carefully touching the white feathers that quivered under her fingers.
"That's right. And if you want, you can level up by hunting beasts or… change to another race. If you prefer, you can stay in the village. The other players are quite friendly," Lua explained with a calmness that almost sounded like tenderness.
"But… I'm really scared of the hungry dogs…" Liora confessed, shaking her head hard, as if she could shake out the memory.
Lua stood still. She pressed her lips together slightly. She didn't know how to help her overcome that fear. She herself had had to learn to silence her own trembling… to keep walking without expecting anyone to save her.
Yet, in that moment, she decided that if she could help it… this child wouldn't have to learn it the same way.
"Why don't I show you… and then you can decide?" Lua finally said in a quiet voice, though in her mind she was remembering how she herself had faced her fears: head-on, with no one to soften the world's sharp edges. At least, this girl wouldn't really be in danger, especially with her close by.
"Are you strong?" Liora asked, looking up at her with that seriousness only children have when they think everything is black and white. "In the story my grandma told me, strong people aren't afraid."
"Yes, I'm strong," Lua replied, letting a small—slightly stiff—smile form on her face.
"If you die… do you come back here too? Is that why you're not afraid?" the girl insisted, with that unfiltered curiosity that could dismantle any mask.
"No. Only you players can come back," Lua said without hesitation, though her voice dropped a little.
Liora fell silent for a few seconds, studying her gaze intently.
"Then… you're not afraid because you're strong," she murmured at last, as if she'd just solved a puzzle, and Lua felt a faint, uncomfortable tingling in her chest. She'd never thought her lack of fear could look like that.
"Come. I'll take you," she finally said. She bent down a little and lifted her gently, holding her securely in one arm. She was so small she hardly weighed anything, her little body light as a memory.
Lua bent her knees and, without much warning, jumped hard. The ground of the village center vanished beneath them in the blink of an eye.
The girl's eyes went wide in silent astonishment. She clung to Lua's chest with both hands, her breathing short and quick, but she didn't scream. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, as if that would make everything less frightening.
"Boss, I think you're scaring her…" Sia said with an exasperated sigh through the mental channel.
Lua looked down and saw the small head buried against her cloak. She sighed softly and decided that next time, she would just walk. Just before landing at the edge of the forest, she dropped to one knee to cushion the impact so Liora wouldn't feel it.
"There… We're here. I'm sorry. I didn't know you wouldn't like it," Lua said very softly, as if she was afraid her normal voice would break something.
Liora opened one eye first, then the other, and raised her head. Her expression shifted from fear to absolute wonder.
Before them stretched a clearing full of trees whose leaves looked like crystal dyed turquoise and violet. Enormous flowers glowed with a soft light. Faceted rocks rose here and there, covered in luminous moss. And moving calmly, there were dozens of creatures that looked like giant bison, their horns streaked with threads of electricity that crackled in the air.
"…W-wow…" the girl breathed, her voice so faint it could barely hold the emotion. It was something she'd never imagined, not even in her stories.
The sound of her amazement made several of the bison lift their heads. For a moment, everything fell silent. Then, as if some invisible signal passed through them, they charged all at once, thundering across the ground.
Lua didn't move. She didn't even seem to react. She simply raised one hand slowly and began tracing runes in the air, lines of deep green lighting up with every motion.
When she finished, roots and vines burst from the earth with sudden violence, wrapping around the bison's legs until they were completely trapped. Some bellowed, but none advanced another step.
Lua looked down at Liora, who was still clinging to her neck, her eyes huge.
"Send an invitation," she ordered Sia mentally.
A transparent panel appeared in front of the girl.
[Lua wants to invite you to a party. Accept?]
[✔ Yes] [✘ No]
Liora looked at the trapped bison, then at Lua, who was patiently waiting, her expression as calm as if this were all perfectly ordinary. Finally, with a trembling finger, she tapped "Yes."
"Good," Lua murmured. Without putting her down, she pulled her sword from her dimensional bag. The long, pale blue blade seemed to emit a faint icy vapor. With a single motion, she swung it through the air. A cutting wave shot forward and passed clean through all the bison in an instant. Blood sprayed like a crimson mist across part of the clearing as the bodies collapsed with dull thuds.
Liora didn't scream. She went completely still, frozen, as if the slightest sound would bring the creatures back.
"Boss…" Sia said with a tired sigh.
"…Sorry," Lua replied quietly. "Convert everything quickly."
The bison corpses glowed with white light before vanishing, leaving behind piles of materials, large mana stones, and several objects that clinked softly as they fell to the ground.
"Eh…? Where did they go?" Liora asked, lowering her gaze to the loot on the ground, clearly confused.
"They… turned into this. It's loot," Lua explained, leaning down a little so she could see better. "When you kill beasts, they give you useful things. Like this dress… this sword… these recipes…" Her voice trailed off as she inspected each item, until her gaze settled back on the girl with an expression that bordered on disbelief.
"Boss… I think Loli being the goddess of fortune was always a lie," Sia commented in an amused tone.
Without answering, Lua opened a panel and reviewed Liora's status.
───────────────────────────────
STATUS PANEL
───────────────────────────────
Name: Liora
Level: 1
Race Level: 0
Race: Half Angel (Legendary Initial Class, Hybrid Type)
Title: Goddess of Fortune
───────────────────────────────
STATS
───────────────────────────────
Health: 200 (base)
Mana: 222 (200 base + 7.5 × 3 intelligence)
Damage: 1
Defense: 1
Strength: 3
Endurance: 3
Intelligence: 3
Speed: 3
Dexterity: 3
Luck: 20 (fixed) (max)
EXP: 0 / 1000
───────────────────────────────
ABILITIES
───────────────────────────────
• Blessing of the World (Passive)
Permanently doubles luck.
Legendary Race (Passive)
This passive trait doubles the number of stat points gained each time you level up. Minor Healing – Level 1 (0 / 1000) Sacred Purification – Level 1 (0 / 1000)
───────────────────────────────
EQUIPMENT
───────────────────────────────
• Magic Dress
───────────────────────────────
Available Titles:
– Bearer of Fortune
– Daughter of Luck
– Favorite of Destiny
– Otherworldly Player
– Little Light of Hope
───────────────────────────────
Lua stared at the data in silence, her brow just barely furrowing.
"…I think I've just figured out why you appeared here," she finally murmured.
Sia, for her part, remained speechless. In all her processing capacity, she couldn't find any explanation for so much luck concentrated in a single being.