Chapter: 373
“His Highness the Second Queen is looking for me.”
As Karia finished explaining, Heyshan lowered her gaze and fidgeted with her fingers.
Unlike Karia, I can’t read people’s emotions, but I can make a guess about what kind of emotions she’s harboring. During the game’s side story, you can hear Heyshan speak her truth.
Longing for her old friend. Regret over an unavoidable farewell. Remorse about not being able to overcome the realistic barriers.
Now that I’ve heard the story of the Second Queen, which didn’t exist in the game, I could add a few more emotions to that list, but the general framework wouldn’t change.
“What will you do? If you want to meet her, I can set it up.”
“…Do I even have a choice?”
“Do you think so? Didn’t you figure it out, being an Academy graduate?”
As Karia smiled brightly, Heyshan slumped her shoulders.
“Why? Is it awkward to meet her?”
“Because the parting wasn’t under good circumstances. What would I even say when we meet again?”
She seemed to be imagining the scene of meeting the Second Queen, her lips pursing with a subtle expression.
“Um, if you could give me a moment to prepare myself.”
‘No way.’
“You really don’t think I’m asking because I actually believe it would happen, right? I hope this Academy alum isn’t that mentally challenged.”
Normally, I’d show her some consideration, but I couldn’t do that right now. After all, I need to whisk her away before Lasha gets here.
Before Lasha pretended to be friendly and tricked me, I contemplated various ways to repay her for what she had done.
I wanted to annoy Lasha, but if I got into a confrontation with her right now, things could get troublesome. It’s not that she’s a crazy girl with half a brain; she’s strong enough that I can’t handle her as I am now.
So, I decided to return the favor to her in kindness, as she had done to me.
Strong opponents she sought? I didn’t know them. I was just fulfilling a request from Her Excellency, the Second Queen Soladin. If she ends up taking a detour because of that, it’s not my problem.
“Do I need to act immediately?”
Heyshan cautiously asked, and Karia subtly examined my expression.
Hmm. To be honest, there’s no real need to move right away. From what Karia and Kurz Newman told me, Lasha can’t utilize teleportation right now.
So many atrocities she had committed while claiming she was out to hunt strong opponents meant that the ones who set up the teleportation were refusing to move her.
Think about it. Who would take the burden of the chaos Lasha creates to achieve her intent?
Not Lasha herself. She’s a force strong enough for Benedict to acknowledge. Anyone who tries to challenge her with mere strength would just end up dead.
In the past, there were fools who thought to punish Lasha, but they only contributed to the creation of new rules by sacrificing their lives, without putting a dent in her.
Humans are creatures that learn from failure, and those who suffered disastrous losses began to hold those who helped Lasha accountable.
The culprits pleaded their case of unfairness, but their opinions didn’t matter. What was important was having someone take responsibility for the damage caused by Lasha.
This kind of incident, having occurred more than a few times wherever Lasha has passed, led people to naturally refuse to cooperate with her.
If she were a nasty person, she could have coerced others to achieve her goals, but that’s not how Lasha operated. She’s merely a madwoman devoted to hunting the strong, not a mass murderer.
Realizing collaboration wasn’t an option, Lasha decided to resolve everything on her own. The same applied this time. Having made her way out of the Terchan Empire, she was heading towards the island via her own legs.
Lasha’s very presence was absurd; her speed was faster than a carriage, but that was nowhere near the miraculous speed of teleportation.
Karia mentioned it would take her at least two weeks to get here.
‘I’ll give you about a week of leeway.’
“Because your foolish face is so amusing, I’ll give you a week. I expect even the dumbest loser would manage to sort things out by then, right?”
Thinking I’d bring her along after clearing the dungeon in the archipelago made Heyshan smile awkwardly.
“Um, would you mind showing a bit more mercy?”
‘Do you want to go right away?’
“The foolish loser adventurer wants to leave right now, huh? Since I’m kind, I could grant such a small request.”
“I apologize, I overstepped.”
However, that laughter vanished as soon as it faced my fierce grin. What could she do? She was just an adventurer with no solid backing, and I was the sole daughter of Count Alrn.
Unless they were someone like that man, an object of envy for Luca, or a strong opponent like Lasha, escaping from my oppressive behavior was impossible.
“It doesn’t seem like it’s about the Second Queen being awkward. What are you doing here?”
As Heyshan munched her lips in thought, Karia asked her question, having read her mind.
At first, Heyshan seemed to want to deny the question, but all her resistance became meaningless in front of Karia, who could read emotions with a mere hand gesture. What good were lies before such a phenomenon?
“Um, it’s because I discovered something hidden in the archipelago while exploring dungeons in other regions.”
“Something hidden here?”
“Yes. Well…”
As Heyshan began to explain, Karia’s focus sharpened, while I rested my chin in my hand, allowing her words to float by.
I knew what Heyshan was searching for. I knew how to find it, and I knew what results would come from it.
So instead of listening to Heyshan, I let my thoughts wander.
By now, Joy must have delivered the rabbit ears to Arthur, right? I’m sure Arthur would have worn them, trembling, while trying to keep his dignity. He’s surprisingly uptight about things like that.
Joy probably suppressed a laugh watching the scene. Frey… Hmm. Honestly, I’m not sure how he would react. He’s such an unpredictable character. It’s a shame; if I didn’t have to meet Heyshan, I would have loved to witness it.
“This is the map I found in the desert dungeon.”
“Doesn’t look like much at first glance?”
“I thought the same initially.”
When we return to the lodging, Arthur will surely question me about what this is. And then I’ll tell him, does he really think the bet is ending today? There will be penalties every day.
Continuing to push him, I’m willing to bet Joy will say I’m going too far. At that point, I’ll assert joint responsibility; I’ll offer to teach him dungeon strategies, as long as he participates in the bet too.
At this point, it’s clear Arthur is just bait. What I’m really after is Joy! I want to see that clueless fool getting flustered!
Hehehe, just imagining it is already fun. I can somewhat understand the feelings of that clumsy fox…
“But if we pour some divinity on this, the true value of the map will become evident.”
The moment I saw the divine energy emanating from the map Heyshan was holding, I realized that the map wasn’t just an item from the game.
I mean, game maps didn’t have gimmicks like this. Didn’t they even try to implement it?
Unlikely. I was obsessed with the Soul Academy and did crazy things to recover all the clues.
There wasn’t anything fancy like this in the world beyond the monitor. Therefore, this map was a variable unique to this world.
A variable.
Under normal circumstances, I would have been petrified to hear the word “variable.” Usually, any “variable” that came to me was meant to take my life away.
But this variable wasn’t of that dangerous sort.
“I’m sure there’s tremendous treasure in this archipelago.”
A new content that didn’t exist in the game and the new rewards waiting beneath it. I could feel the rotten blood boiling within.
Seeing Heyshan, who looked eager for an adventure, I snatched the map and frowned at the faint images on it.
Since Heyshan was no priest, she must have infused this tool with divinity herself. That said, it wasn’t a problem; we had the apostle of the Lord here.
The moment I infused my divinity into the map, the images sharpened while the alert sound filled my ears.
[Find the treasure of the archipelago!]
[You’ve been given the chance to uncover the hidden secrets of the archipelago. Don’t miss this opportunity; find the treasure with your own hands!]
[Reward: ???]
[Failure: ???]
In principle, the quest was not much different from what existed in the game. However, with the map’s content altering, the progress would also change, and the rewards would differ.
Perhaps besides the treasure, that pathetic god might throw in some additional goodies.
Either way, since I had already made up my mind, I grinned at the prospect of both the treasure and extra rewards and examined the now sharpened drawing.
Then, I realized that for someone with an intelligence of 58, interpreting a treasure map was an overwhelming task.
…Whoa. Well, this looks like a map of the archipelago, but what are the clues? And what is that text here?
Feeling like my brain was spinning like mad, I wiped my face and presented the map back to the two.
Humans have survived as animals because they’re not solitary creatures. If one lacks knowledge, they must seek help from others!
Karia and Heyshan’s eyes sparkled as they looked at the clear map.
“This is a proper map. It was just half-formed until now.”
“It reveals itself only with divine energy high enough to rival our employer. Now I’m a little interested, you know?”
“Definitely the mark here stands out. It’s near Asara Island…”
“And there’s something here too…”
I leaned back and half-listened as the two engaged in excited discussion. It wasn’t that I wasn’t interested; it was just that they were moving too quickly for me to keep up.
If only the scum of the swamp could show some consideration for noobs, but instead, they shun newcomers entirely. Thus, I could only expect to meet scummy types.
I really wished they would explain things in a way I could grasp. I didn’t want to know only the results, but the process too.
Ah, right. If it were Grandpa, he could translate this for me. He’s smart enough.
‘Grandpa.’
[…]
‘Grandpa? Are you sleeping?’
[Oh. Oh, yeah. Little girl. What’s the matter?]
‘Is something wrong? Why are you acting so flustered?’
I questioned the old man, who maintained an old-man demeanor as a sign of his age, but he didn’t answer. This guy is acting weird again.
‘Grandpa, it’s really annoying when you interrupt me in the middle of speaking. I’ve told you that so many times.’
[No, no. I wasn’t planning to. I was just choosing how to phrase my explanation.]
‘What’s all the fuss about? What’s on that map?’
[Do you see the text written in the bottom right corner of the map?]
‘Yeah. It’s scribbled in such a way that it’s unreadable!’
[That was written by those who served the ancient gods. Back in our day, it had already become a code used by those with positions of power.]
‘You can read it?’
[Of course, why would you doubt that? I served as the leader of the Holy Knight Order before standing next to that hero kid.]
‘What does it say?’
[I’m not sure if my interpretation is right, but the gist is as follows: The Lord has left behind a miracle. When a qualified person reaches the trials, the miracle will once again illuminate the world.]
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