Main Quest 2
"······ there wasn't even the slightest reaction?"
"Yes."
After receiving the women's report, Isabella sat on a chair made of lion hide and stroked her chin.
She had them wash his feet, with beautiful women that any man couldn't help but react to. It was the finest hospitality in the desert city of Faisalmer, and at the same time a trap to examine the Star Bearer.
And this trap was one no one could escape, even if they weren't a man.
Because they were trained so thoroughly they could detect changes in heartbeat and even the faintest tremor of skin. Regardless of age or sex, once their hands touched you, you couldn't help but show an honest response.
But they said there was not a single twitch.
It was a flustering thing, but a smile bloomed at the corner of Isabella's lips.
'An unshakable stillness, so it's just as I'd heard.'
Isabella had heard and looked into countless rumors and stories about Star Bearer.
Among them, the most basic was that stillness. They said a Star Bearer who devoted everything to the stars would not waver before any temptation of the present world.
"Anything else to report?"
The five women opened their mouths in turn.
"From the start, he asked to have his feet washed. He knows Faisalmer's etiquette."
"He entered the palace and climbed up without hesitation."
"Even after seeing the monster bones hanging on the walls, he stayed calm. Rather than being startled, he admired them, and praised the skill of dissection and taxidermy."
"His skin was soft like silk, but his muscles were springy, like those of a wild horse."
"Above all, he seemed to place great importance on communicating with the stars."
At the women's frank impressions and report, Isabella nodded.
Not a single detail was ordinary.
First, he knew Faisalmer's etiquette. If he had enough knowledge to ask for a foot-washing himself, it meant he had surely visited Faisalmer in the past.
Also, slaves or commoners were usually overwhelmed by the palace. If he moved about without hesitation even after entering, then his status was far from ordinary.
'A noble, or royalty?'
His confident stance and manner of speech, the way he didn't waver and even rebutted her after seeing her, definitely made one think of a noble or royal.
They say Star Bearer are born of the stars, but in the end they are still children of people. And as children of people, there is bound to be rank and class.
If he could recognize dissection and taxidermy skill, his specialized knowledge was also deep. To have come across that level of knowledge, he would need a certain status.
'Skin fine as silk, muscles like a wild horse······ contradictory, yet because he is a Star Bearer, everything is explained.'
Star Bearer, truly a word like magic.
Because there were no Star Bearers in the desert. Someone whose true nature no one properly knew had appeared here. Whatever he said, they had no choice but to believe.
After organizing her thoughts, Isabella said,
"You said he's in the middle of communicating with the stars?"
"Yes."
"I need to see it myself."
"B, but··· if he doesn't communicate, he loses his qualification as a Star Bearer······."
Isabella let out a small laugh.
"If one more person is there beside you, do you suddenly become unable to talk?"
The women clamped their mouths shut.
A conversation doesn't become impossible just because one more person is nearby.
If you want a quiet talk, you can simply watch without interfering.
A one-on-one conversation?
In any case, Isabella couldn't hear the stars' voices. The two were already communicating alone, so even if Isabella stood beside them, how could she be a hindrance?
Isabella rose from her seat.
Then she strode quickly toward the Star Bearer.
***
····· if I'd been any later, it could've been a disaster.
Isabella von Dercian. The moment I opened my eyes, she was staring right at me.
Thank goodness I connected as fast as possible.
I roughly wrapped up what was happening in reality, then logged back into Pangaenia. My calmed reason, and sharpened judgment, brought me here.
'Monsters appeared in reality, and summoned players too, in their Pangaenia characters. There's a strong chance they were also why this Grand Expedition failed.'
This game called Pangaenia, at some point, its difficulty spikes exponentially.
NPCs you were getting along with suddenly betray you, and companions abruptly turn into bandits.
No matter what possibilities you considered, it interfered in ways beyond that.
This expedition was the same.
····· but what if every "element of interference" had been a player?
Maybe not all of them, but what if there were a huge number of "trollers"?
If someone who doesn't want the ending, or who sees me as a rival, deliberately kept sabotaging things······.
'I need to cut them all down.'
Harmony? Camaraderie? We already crossed a river we can't go back over.
Hundreds of characters were deleted because of that interference. Even my strongest character, stuffed with all my essence, died and was erased.
Suddenly, I remembered what a soldier said when I was first summoned here.
—Fuck. If it weren't for the infighting, the expedition would've succeeded······!
There's a background I don't know.
I even fought the Demon King alone, but at some point I'd become one of the "8 Heroes."
That means there's a "speaker" capable of manipulating achievements on that scale. That speaker could be an individual, or a group.
No, it's a group.
There's a player group that deliberately obstructs and kills characters suspected to be me, and they even fabricated rumors about me and planted them in Pangaenia.
Eight heroes, seriously.
It's obvious they intentionally damaged the superiority, the singularity, of my last character that died.
So what I need to do first is get strong, fast.
Securing safety in both the game and reality.
And to do that,
"······ the holy land isn't somewhere just anyone can enter."
"But you can enter."
I needed her.
Isabella von Dercian.
A tragic character I created, but gave up on and abandoned.
Even though I'd never done such a thing, she'd somehow become the Snake Princess, the second-in-command of Faisalmer.
That wasn't even the nickname I gave her.
'Asuka Kirara······.'
…Somehow I felt sorry. But in Pangaenia, a nickname was treated as an "alias." The real name and body already existed, and the player possessed that body, that was the setting.
Anyway,
"If it's found out you secretly brought someone in······."
"This is your last chance to leave the desert, think carefully and answer."
Isabella's two eyes shook.
"How······ do you know I want to leave the desert?"
"The stars told me."
"······."
You've got nothing to say, right.
Of course there's no setting that Isabella wants to leave the desert.
There can't be.
But Isabella was a player character. Someone meant to roam the world and see an ending.
So how stifling must it be to be bound to the desert by a curse.
I was the same. That's why I gave up.
'It was the fourth star I obtained.'
And while raising a previous character, I found it, the supreme star hidden in the desert holy land. Among all players, only I would know its location.
Without question, that star is special. If I can get it, it's best to get it as quickly as possible.
"··· the holy land kills those who enter without permission."
"You don't need to worry about that at all."
I'd already seen the end there once.
Any traps that exist there, I'd finished analyzing long ago.
Among my hidden traits, several worked inside sanctuaries.
After hearing my answer, Isabella narrowed her eyes.
"At dawn today, when the moon begins to tilt, stay awake."
Then, expressionless, she whirled around and left.
***
At dawn.
"Kh!"
Beneath the royal palace. Following Isabella, I ran swiftly down a hidden passage. The soldiers we saw along the way, Isabella dealt with them herself.
Even to me, it was clean, decisive work. She pounced and killed them without hesitation.
Isabella had talent specialized for assassination. She was so nimble that most soldiers closed their eyes without even realizing they were dying.
'She's basically a ghost.'
My neck went cold.
If Isabella had wanted to kill me from the start, I'd already be dead. Not just me, almost every being called strong would meet the same end.
Having her as an ally couldn't be more reassuring.
After running without pause, a massive altar came into view.
With stairs leading underground at its center, rows of moai statues stood in a line.
"This is the holy land."
Her gaze asked, what will you do.
Her face looked like she didn't want to be here either. The desert holy land was that intricate and disorienting a place.
But we can't go back. We crossed too far a river for that.
Why do you think Isabella killed all those soldiers.
'Destroying evidence.'
It's her resolve not to let even the slightest chance remain of her illegal intrusion into the holy land.
The moment I say I'm going back, she'd slit my throat without hesitation.
"I'll go in first."
Shrugging, I stepped onto the stairs leading into the altar's underground.
Then countless system lines flooded my vision.
"You have entered the hidden desert holy land."
"Sub Quest: Explore the holy land."
"You can obtain rewards depending on exploration rate."
"Warning. Your level does not meet the recommended level (8) for holy land exploration."
"Warning. Poison and demonic energy overflow. If your anti-demon resistance is low, entry is not recommended."
"You are protected by hidden trait 'Giant's Magic Resistance.'"
"Hidden trait 'Mutation' is applied."
A hidden holy land, a place a level-2 beginner could not enter in the first place.
A location you could only reach after receiving permission from the queen, or defeating powerful warriors.
Yet I entered through a loophole, putting Isabella in front.
The rewards from exploring the holy land were pretty decent.
But that wasn't all. From the start, what I aimed for wasn't some sub quest.
"Main Quest 2: 'Obtain a Class' has begun."
"You can obtain a class within the holy land."
"This quest ends the moment you obtain a class."
"Reward: Granted differentially depending on the grade of the class obtained."
The second main quest.
'Differential rewards by grade, huh.'
Seeing the condition, a smile naturally formed.
That the strong take everything, that's a law of the world. There's nowhere that law is clearer than Pangaenia.
But it was subtly different from the first main quest.
To get a good class, you also need that much luck.
Even if you're skilled, not everyone can have an excellent class.
Still, I wasn't worried.
'This time too, I'll be first.'
Because I've got skill and luck, and even hidden traits that encompass both.
One of my thirteen hidden traits, Mutation.
'A hidden path is visible.'
The trait that lets you see what human eyes cannot, began to manifest.