1.
Right now, this choice had been made without my consent.
The dice had been thrown.
Fate had been decided.
Even if it sucked, quick reality checks and knowing your place were important.
"At least thanks for throwing me something…!"
That’s how people work.
If you toss them into hell with nothing at all, they’ll curse you with everything they’ve got.
But if you throw them into hell with something that looks like a life jacket, then…
"Still, minus ten points."
Fuck.
Then don’t make a choice system in the first place.
If you can choose, then it’s a choice, right?
If I can’t choose and I’m forced to move, that’s not a choice.
You piece of shit, Aha.
I’m talking to you.
"Why the hell would a god be trying to psych out a human…?"
What a pathetic sight. Pathetic-con.
I wondered how little he had to do, sitting there scratching his belly like some unemployed bum and watching me.
"Silver Wolf."
"……Yeah."
"If I ask you to trust me, will you?"
"You’re not about to cause trouble again, are you?"
"It’s not trouble… I’m the one who got hit by a truck."
"Haah……."
Silver Wolf let out a long sigh.
She came closer and chop! grabbed my face.
"I’m always on your side. Even if you do something I can’t understand, even if you fall into the abyss, I’ll stay on your side until the very end."
"Okay, then let’s force it through."
The conditions were hidden.
I didn’t know what I had to accomplish for the [quest] to clear.
The clue chased after the truth behind the incident and Hanabi’s story.
An unfair [quest] with only that one sentence.
Maybe the [quest] was an important turning point on the path I was walking.
A branch point that could split the timeline enough to refresh a save point.
The difficulty was officially the highest, according to the [status window].
But the fact that it also said the reward had been enhanced made it clear that the original four-star rewards had been upgraded into something else.
High risk, high return.
My favorite kind of gamble.
"Silver Wolf."
"Yeah."
"Let’s go catch that runaway stray cat Hanabi."
"……What?"
There was still a very high chance Hanabi had gone back to the troupe.
Whether I fought now and died or not, I had to find Hanabi.
There were no clues!!!
It literally said I’d die permanently if the [quest] progression got stuck!!!
"Run!!!"
"Hey!!! Adrian!!!"
- Bang!
I immediately used Sky Leap.
I had to catch Hanabi.
The [status window] would never hand out a [quest] that was impossible.
The Aha I’d heard about in stories wasn’t a god who toyed with humans just to watch them struggle in impossible trials, either.
There had to be a way.
A way I just hadn’t realized yet.
The scenery kept changing as my field of vision shifted again and again.
Since I was running and leaving Silver Wolf behind for the moment, I scanned the faces of the people around me.
There were three things that changed after I awakened the Path of Elation.
I’ll explain them clearly.
First, I didn’t get tired easily.
If I’d been just a fairly athletic ordinary person before awakening the Path, then now I was at the level of a superhuman, not an ordinary athlete.
My metabolic efficiency had risen far beyond that of normal people.
The fact that I could use Sky Leap a bit, then sprint at full speed without my breath climbing to my throat was proof enough.
Second, the use of the skill called [Acrobatics].
I could use skills tied to the concept of Elation.
Elation, clown.
When you think of clowns, you think of circuses, and in circuses people perform acrobatics that make you gasp.
Concepts that spread out like branches bind together and form associations.
Sky Leap was also a skill I’d cobbled together on the fly.
But I’d created it through awakening.
Third, dice-throwing.
A skill related to my essence and personality.
By gambling and rolling the dice, I strengthened my abilities.
If a high number came up, I got stronger; if a low number came up, I got weaker.
But right now, with my thoughts branching out like limbs, I still couldn’t properly make use of the simple, straightforward skill called dice-throwing.
It wasn’t just about strengthening my abilities.
It was about the multiplicity of forms.
I could create and use capabilities that my original self should not have been able to produce.
I was drawing out the possibility of Ether Editing, something an LV.9 should never be able to do.
"Here I go."
Even after widening the distance, I still couldn’t find Hanabi.
She was clearly someone walking a Path stronger than mine.
I threw the gold-engraved dice.
The golden numbers rolled and spun, then fell to the ground and showed their face.
[4]
A number higher than average.
The moment the number was decided, my possibilities changed.
"If ether is paint, then I’m the brush. It’s kind of like hacking reality."
Silver Wolf’s words.
Only now did I understand.
Reality alteration.
Hackers on Punklorde alter reality at the cost of ether as a resource.
The only law possible on this planet governed by Aha.
Turning the impossible into the possible.
Creating miracles.
What I wanted right now was an expansion of perception.
A clue to chase Hanabi.
My eyes burned as if they’d been scorched by fire.
"Fuck!!!"
If I’d had my way, I would’ve rubbed them like some kid with an eye infection, but I couldn’t afford to waste precious time.
"Uweeeek…."
My vision shifted.
Another field of vision overlapped with the one I was seeing now.
It felt like looking through a kaleidoscope at a world that layered itself infinitely over and over.
More unpleasant and irritating than I’d ever imagined.
"Kheh, krrrgh…."
The pain, like being seared by fire, paralyzed me.
My breath came out like metal scraping metal as I forced my eyes wide open.
Sharingan!!!
Work!!!
I heard footsteps on the ground.
Hair with a faint red sheen swayed as it left footprints behind.
"Found you, you bitch."
Ugh.
It really fucking hurts, goddamn it…!
But there was no time to suffer.
I ran again.
Following the trail she’d left behind.
It hurt so badly tears were pouring down my face. It felt like someone was stabbing my eyeballs with thorns to the beat of a rhythm game. The moment I wanted to give up on the [quest] and everything else—
"Got you, runaway stray cat."
"……Adrian Servet?"
White clothes.
Black hair swaying.
Hanabi looked at me.
"Come here!!!"
"Wait, what is this supposed to mean…!"
I grabbed Hanabi before she could leave.
I seized her wrist and refused to let go.
- Paaang!
That terrifying pressure crashed over me again.
The visible fragments of Elation pressed down on me and overwhelmed me, but pain came first, fear second.
Because the pain of my eyes being scorched by fire came before any intangible fear.
For the sake of clearing the [quest], I threw politeness out the window.
I drew my sword in a flash and pointed it at Hanabi’s throat.
Then I glared at her like I’d cut her down the instant she moved.
It was swordsmanship that hadn’t even been trained at the most basic level.
Still, if a gorilla swung a sword, it could work just fine as a blunt weapon.
I swung with the resolve to cut her down the moment Hanabi moved her hand.
If I didn’t react before she made her move, my head would be gone.
"……What are you doing?"
What I’d imagined was a proper response.
I pictured Hanabi striking back, me blocking it coolly, and the two of us clashing in a duel.
But—
"You… you’re the same too… you’re no different from that person."
Hanabi curled up, trembling.
She buried her face in her knees and cried like a terrified child.
Why the hell did I feel like the bad guy?
My instincts were screaming, “Boss! If you fight that woman, your head’s gonna explode!!!”
"You don’t know the Path of Elation?"
"What is that…."
"……??"
What the hell.
She wasn’t some strong fighter, but a total incompetent errand girl?
"Hek, hek… Adrian."
From behind me, Silver Wolf finally came running up, tongue out and panting.
I didn’t know how she’d found me, but it seemed like she’d tracked me down and followed after me.
The power of Elation I’d felt had vanished, and only a small girl trembling in fear remained in front of me.
Ha… this is exactly why I feel like a bastard.
"Hanabi."
"Sniff… whaaat…."
"You’ve been kidnapped."
I hoisted Hanabi up and slung her over my shoulder like a sack of rice.
There was no choice but to pick up the orphan like I was picking up a stray cat!!!
"Put me down!"
"Silence."
The moment I pressed a blade to her neck, Hanabi went quiet as a mouse.
Silver Wolf stared at me with her mouth hanging open, like this was the first time she’d seen me act like this.
It couldn’t be helped.
It was time to become a cold-blooded resident of Neon City… Adrian Servet.
If I couldn’t clear the [quest], I was the one who’d die.
I’m in a hurry too!
After walking with dignity for a while, I finally got home and dumped Hanabi off my back before filling the sink with water.
"……My tears won’t stop. Are you sure you’re okay?"
"I’m not okay… I feel like I’m dying."
Ignoring Silver Wolf’s worried voice, I shoved my face into the sink.
Splash. Water sprayed everywhere, and I blinked underwater.
I hadn’t said anything while walking home because I wanted to keep up my dignity.
But fuck, this really hurts like hell.
No matter how I put it, I couldn’t describe the pain.
I’d tried it without thinking and paid the price.
Maybe it was because the number had come out high, or—
"Ugh… ugh……."
I walked back out with puffy, swollen eyes.
My dignity had been slammed straight into the dirt.
"I’m going to interrogate you now."
"……Hic."
"But just interrogating you would be boring, so let’s make a deal with us."
I’d suddenly pointed a sword at her, ready to fight.
But now that Hanabi had turned out to be a total weakling, I couldn’t keep doing things that would only make her more hostile.
"You don’t want to go back to the troupe, right?"
"……"
"You looked scared of the troupe leader."
"……"
"Hmm… answer me."
"Hyaaaah!!!"
As I casually drew my sword a little, Hanabi hissed like an angry cat and then answered.
What came out of her mouth was… less useful than I’d expected.
"I don’t know either…."
"Ahem."
"It’s true… I got lucky and was picked up by the troupe and brought in, but after I joined, my memories started going missing here and there."
After making Hanabi speak properly with the sword again, I listened to what had happened in the troupe.
Short-term memory loss.
After joining the troupe, Hanabi had gaps in her memory here and there.
She remembered helping people as a drudge, but as her memories kept disappearing, Hanabi had instinctively grown afraid of the troupe.
Her fear of the troupe leader came from the same place.
If I’d seen a troupe leader who wore that unreadable expression, I’d be scared too.
"……So the conclusion is that you don’t know anything."
"Sniff…."
Why she’d suddenly gotten irritated with me and left.
It was because she’d compared herself to Silver Wolf.
She’d gotten annoyed seeing Silver Wolf walking a different path and being loved, so she’d gone back.
Because Silver Wolf was an existence like family, a love she couldn’t receive.
"Hmph …."
After hearing Hanabi’s story, Silver Wolf looked at her with a strangely smug expression.
Meanwhile, I was sprawled flat on the floor, feeling like my head was about to explode.
There was nothing I’d gained for certain.
I still had no clue what the [status window] and Aha wanted.
All I’d gotten was Hanabi, a total mess of a girl whose mental state had shattered after her meltdown.
"We’re screwed."
Looks like I’d ended up having to take care of two orphans all at once.
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