Chapter 7: [New Tales] - (24 Years Before the Original) Is It a Misalignment or Hope? No One Knows 2
Do you know the feeling of a campfire?
Or have you ever enjoyed the romance of pitching a tent alone and cooking ramen late at night?
"......"
"I don’t know if this’ll work. Here, take this."
"....I. don’t. eat."
"....."
"Nik.ke. don’t. need. to. eat. food. in. the. first. place."
".....Right, got it."
Romance was worth jack shit.
With my endless inventory management and the fact that I’d hoarded at least five hundred of every consumable item just for the sake of the "concept," I didn’t need to worry about food at all.
Besides, the portions were huge to begin with, so even if I consumed a lot, there was nothing to worry about.
The same went for the “disgusting food” I was making now.
"......It looks pretty awful, but it still tastes good."
".....Weird. guy."
It was a meat soup made with two pieces each of “Drake Meat,” which was a rare drop in Sleepywood back in the day, and “Beast Meat,” obtained from killing monsters like pigs or Ribbon Pigs.
Of course, for the broth, I’d used the “Clear Water” item and “Ginseng Concentrate,” making it something like a cross between samgyetang and yukgaejang.
The visuals might have looked like some kind of culinary disaster, but the broth extracted from the bones of the Beast and Drake meat, combined with the unique aroma of the ginseng concentrate and the properties of the Clear Water, resulted in a truly rich flavor.
I kept eating, ignoring Grave, who was shaking her head at the sight of me.
".....Hu.man."
"Hm? What is it?"
"......Why. aren’t. you. curious?"
She asked the question with clear confusion.
Her face was hidden behind that pitch-black helmet, but judging from her tone and the way she was looking at me, she was wondering why I didn't have any questions for her.
".....Because you won’t tell me?"
".....Weird."
"Why do you think that’s weird? *Slurp.* I’m following you by my own choice, you tacitly agreed to it, and on top of that, I’m genuinely trying to help you."
"......."
"But then you keep acting clueless and asking things like, ‘What’s in the coffin?’ or ‘Could you take off the helmet for a second?’ If I think back to when we first met, I can still remember how guarded you were."
"......."
"Even if I seem a little tactless and stupid, I still know basic manners."
".......I’m. not. hu.man."
It had been about twenty days since Grave and I started traveling together.
Without a calendar or any electronics.
I’d only been estimating and counting the days by the flow of nature, by the setting of the sun and the rising of the moon.
So it might have been more than twenty days, or it might have been less.
During those twenty days, Grave and I had only exchanged brief, stripped-down, purely functional conversations.
"I’m. a. Nikke. My. body. is. made. of. machinery."
"Really?"
"It. is."
"You know, the stuff you told me before. You explained roughly what Nikkes, Raptures, and the current state of this world are like, right?"
"It. is."
"A Nikke is a cyborg, a machine soldier made using a ‘human brain.’"
"That’s. right."
"And yet you say, ‘I’m not human’?”
"......"
Grave always spoke briefly, saying only what was necessary.
She refused food, and all she ever showed me was the sight of her opening the coffin from an angle I couldn’t see, fiddling with something inside.
Sometimes, when she woke briefly from sleep, she would clutch the coffin tight and mutter the name “Cinderella.”
Her body was mechanical, but her behavior was exactly like a human’s.
Even though I’d acted like I knew nothing, I understood very well how Nikkes were treated in this world, so I swallowed my thoughts and spoke.
"There’s affection in everything you do."
"....."
"I never once got curious about what you were doing, and I understand why you keep doubting me and trying to avoid me."
"......"
"But I really do want to help you, and back then... when I saw you clutching the coffin and breaking down, I sincerely hoped things would work out, even a little."
"I. didn’t. cry."
"Don’t argue. Anyone could tell you were crying."
"....I. didn’t. cry."
Seeing Grave bristle at such a strange point, I shook my head and finished off the rest of the miscellaneous meat soup.
"Slurp. To put it simply, that’s all there is to it. I’m not going to pry until you tell me yourself."
"....."
"Now then, since we’re done eating, I’ll take first watch tonight. You worked hard hunting Raptures again today, after all."
I cleared away the pots and bowls I’d scavenged from the ruins and got ready to end the day.
===========
The night sky was beautiful.
That was only natural, really. Humanity had already been wiped out by eighty percent, and the surface was entirely occupied by machine lifeforms called Raptures.
"You could practically say nature’s been purified."
Even so, I never got tired of looking up at a cold night sky packed with stars.
There had been a little friction during the process of traveling with Grave on my own terms.
[ Don’t. hold. me. back. ]
She had been distrustful of the fact that I was human, and she was a little discouraged by the “mistaken belief” — or rather the reality — that I’d be easily killed by Raptures.
But then there was my behavior, which shattered her common sense.
[ What... are. you? ]
[ Just a human, what else? ]
[ Hu.man. can’t! use. tech. like. that! ]
Her first real outburst, and then the swarm of Raptures that had attacked both of us.
Just two minutes.
I still wasn’t used to my third skill, but even with only my second skill, I’d wiped them all out in two minutes flat.
Grave, enraged by that bizarre phenomenon, that monstrous technique, and that reality-shattering display, had finally acknowledged me.
[ ....Don’t. worry. about. it. ]
...But unlike that tacit acknowledgment, the “wariness toward humans” she carried couldn’t be so easily softened.
Come to think of it, the new Nikkes introduced in the second anniversary were Cinderella, “Old Rapunzel” — Rapunzel from the Goddess era — and...
I compared Grave’s appearance to the edited second-anniversary introduction video I remembered.
‘Hmm... main story? Or maybe a personal side story...’
When she’d introduced herself as Grave, I’d realized after a while that it was the same name as the one introduced in the second-anniversary video.
And when I carefully recalled the video and compared it to how she looked now—
‘...That’s a pretty drastic change, isn’t it?’
When I turned my head slightly, I could see her wearing a battered coat and a tracksuit-like outfit, with that helmet on.
‘No way there’s some kind of face under that helmet, right?’
Up until now I’d assumed there was a reason for it, but her drastically changed appearance had made me curious.
I’d picked up a little information from a few players who enjoyed spoilers without realizing it, and apparently Grave’s story started from Stage 29 and went on to write an emotional narrative.
At first I’d ignored it, annoyed by the spoilers, but in this situation, even spoiler-filled information like that was becoming necessary to me.
‘Was Nikke’s story roughly like this?’
It was a scribble I couldn’t really make out, but I organized my thoughts while idly scratching at the ground with a stick.
I couldn’t tell what year it was now, but at the very least, the Rapture invasion — that is, the “Red Ash” story line from the first anniversary — had already passed, and “Over Zone” from the half-anniversary had passed too.
The story I’d played was the Stage 26 story. Red Hood’s true farewell with Rapi, which led to Rapi’s return and marked the real start of the surface reclamation operation.
And the last event story I’d played was the 1.5 anniversary event, “Lost Kingdom.” It was a major event where Marian’s true identity, practically a heroine in her own right, was revealed.
".....For now, let’s not give myself a headache. Right now, I just need to help Grave and figure out the situation as I go."
I didn’t know the exact year, and I had no idea how the current situation was unfolding.
At a point where I knew nothing and had very little information, meeting Grave — who was supposed to be released as a second-anniversary character — might have been a coincidence.
‘For now, building trust with her comes first.’
I didn’t know why.
With the power I had now, I could go find other Pilgrim Nikkes, former Goddess Nikkes, or even head to Eden and become an ally who helped “her.”
Or I could hunt Raptures alone.
And yet, I kept following Grave because—
‘I just keep feeling like I have to follow her.’
I couldn’t shake the strange feeling that kept nagging at me.
I simply wanted to help her, as my heart led me to.
============
Grave—
No, the woman whose original name had been “Abe” was experiencing something that would shatter the mind she had maintained for more than seventy years.
The common sense that had never broken, even for the sake of the Cinderella she had to protect—
Was now being tested to the point of collapse.
{ Kiiiiiing!? }
"It’s your fault for standing out!"
Kwagagagagak!
The man in front of her was human.
A frail human who could die easily even under the attacks of machine Raptures.
Unlike herself, Cinderella, and the other Nikkes, he lacked strength and was a lifeform that could be killed with a single bullet.
Once the masters of the surface, humanity had been driven into the underground Ark by overwhelming losses and their tendency to die so easily, and only a small number of survivors — a few million, even if that was still a lot — remained there, struggling to live on.
‘...This is insane.’
A small purple creature like an animal brandished a huge scythe and tore the Raptures apart.
A blue deer— no, a blue beast that reminded her of the horned quadrupedal creatures she’d once seen while moving through the forest—threw a punch, and the sturdy Raptures shattered instantly.
The battle between the man and the Raptures, the first one she’d witnessed while traveling with him in a clear-minded state, was the perfect sight to completely rewrite her common sense.
"Grave! Hold the coffin steady!"
"!?"
At Hook’s shout, Grave, who had been dazed, snapped back to her senses and clutched the coffin she was carrying tightly.
Whoooosh—
At that moment, a mysterious blue aurora rose around her like mist.
Just as she was staring blankly at the eerie yet mystical sight—
{ Kiiiiiing! }
A small Rapture rushed toward Grave, and just as she was about to pull out the weapon on her back—
Bangbangbangbangbangbangbang!
"Wh-what!?"
As soon as it stepped into the mist-like curtain, a cluster of light in the shape of a fox instantly riddled the Raptures with holes.
Not only that, but the mist reacted to outside intruders other than Grave.
"It had a function like that too? Well, whatever. Good is good. Grave, I’m counting on you to intercept from there!"
"......"
She felt shock and fear at the sight of him unleashing such impossible techniques barehanded, without any equipment or special device.
"I’m going in with [Tobung]!"
Bangbangbangbangbangbangbang! Crash! Bang! Thud!
A jade-colored deer, even larger than the blue one, appeared and threw a punch powerful enough to cause shockwaves, and Hook matched it with a punch of his own.
A human fist pierced straight through a core.
Raptures were blown apart by the fist of the figure that appeared in that radiance, or had their damaged parts completely erased.
Raptures were torn apart by the sharp scythe swings of the purple creature, unable to maintain their original forms.
The mist-like veil that rose softly around him as if protecting him left the Raptures riddled with holes in an instant.
Grave, who had been staring blankly at the alien battle and the slaughter of the Raptures, finally—
"Phew~ Cleanup done! Let’s move, Grave!"
Unable to shake off her distrust, she quietly hid her “weapon.”
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