Chapter 200 - Master Key (5)

His nickname was “Elfnunalove.” Publicly, he more often went by “Ghost Master,” a Player whose true identity was the subject of endless rumors.

He slowly opened his eyes and checked the time.

"..."

It was just past midnight. He was in his private laboratory on an upper floor of the Magic Tower.

As always, he sat in his chair for a while, gathering his thoughts.

'What will he do now?'

Today, the moment he entered the community, he had permanently banned one Player from accessing it.

The target was “Sergeant Lee,” a Korean user with that peculiar nickname.

'He must be raging right about now, swearing he'll find me and kill me.'

He had no desire to make an enemy of Sergeant Lee, either. Not only was Sergeant Lee the one closest to being the “key,” he was also the most powerful Player of them all.

... Among those from Earth, that is.

'... He's the one who wouldn't listen to reason.'

He was a little worried that he had provoked a sleeping tiger, but it had to be done.

He had made one last attempt to persuade him before imposing the permanent ban. Wasn't Sergeant Lee the one who had rejected it?

Of course, he had left him alone until now because he understood his circumstances, but he couldn't keep accommodating him forever.

Now Sergeant Lee, too, would have to make a choice.

'... Still, I feel a bit bad for that other fellow.'

As he continued mulling things over, his thoughts naturally turned to one man: the Korean user who went by “Elfnunna.”

'He seemed to be a fan of that man, too.'

Having encountered many Korean users over the years, he knew just how few of them there were.

Koreans accounted for less than one percent of all Players. There was a reason Sergeant Lee, who had been desperately searching for a fellow Korean, had begged at the end for just enough time to exchange a few words.

'When you think about it, he really is a funny man. If he misses his countrymen so much, he ought to be thinking about working together to beat the game and go home.'

The man chuckled and rose from his seat. His crystal ball was already vibrating, signaling an incoming call.

"For you to call me first at this hour, something must have happened on your end as well, SoulQueen."

["Yes. I was getting ready to finish work when I found a strange login record."]

"A strange login record?"

He straightened up. She understood this space as well as he did, so this was surely no trivial anomaly.

["There's a login record, but it doesn't say who it was. And more importantly... the login time is listed as around three o'clock."]

"Meaning they entered the community while it was already in session."

["Yes. That's what I found so strange..."]

"Could you give me a moment to think?"

Keeping the call connected, he cast a spell on himself: Meditation, his own combination spell, created by adding several formulas to Accelerated Thinking.

One person soon came to mind.

"Observer of the Round Table."

["Oh! That suspicious person you banned a year ago!"]

The user with the nickname “0720.”

He had first learned of his existence a year ago.

None of the guides who helped newcomers enter the community remembered helping him. Later, upon entering his inner world, he had found him wearing clothes from this world. Suspicious, he had banned him.

People normally wore modern clothing, after all.

He had concluded that the man was a royal spy who had somehow obtained a pill and infiltrated this place. Either that, or a Player from somewhere other than Earth.

'... Above all, he looked like an old man.'

Players were generally young. Naturally so. They were people who had enjoyed a game this sadistic, after all.

It was hard to picture an elderly man over seventy clearing it.

"Perhaps Observer of the Round Table is some sort of gathering they created to evade our notice."

["But didn't you decide the remaining members were normal back then?"]

"Yes. Back then, I did. But just in case, could you go in and check on my behalf, SoulQueen?"

["... That's a private chat room, though."]

"Don't worry about the invitation code. It will take a few months, but there is a way."

["All right, in that case..."]

SoulQueen agreed, and with that, he was about to end the call. He would need to enter again next month and investigate further before he could give more detailed instructions.

There was nothing to do for now.

But...

"SoulQueen, do you remember a Player named 'Elfnunna'?"

For some reason, that nickname came to mind, and he found himself asking.

["Oh, him? He joined a few months ago. He was unusual, so I remember him clearly. There was his nickname, but something else left an especially strong impression, too."]

"What sort of impression?"

["I couldn't see any of his inner world at all. In all my time doing this job, I'd never encountered anyone with mental barriers that thick."]

"... I see."

Something felt off to him.

Unusually thick mental barriers could be explained by individual differences. SoulQueen hadn't been working as a guide for very long, either.

And yet, he felt he was missing something.

Meditation also raised his Intuition stat, so he did not dismiss the feeling as mere imagination.

"Please excuse me for a moment."

After asking her indulgence, he examined the text recorded in his mind. Specifically, the records of everyone he had sent letters to around the time SoulQueen said Elfnunna had joined.

'They're all newbies.'

Thinking he might have taken the pill later, he widened the search in three-month increments, but the results were the same. None of those Players had even reached the fifth floor.

Could someone like that really have such strong mental barriers?

"... Bjorn Jandel?"

As he expanded the search further, one name stood out.

A barbarian who had made the rare choice of a shield.

He had sent that explorer a letter in case he was “that man,” but had dropped his suspicions when he failed to join.

"SoulQueen."

He issued a new instruction.

"Investigate the user named Elfnunna. What posts he made, how much GP he has, what information he purchased. Restore everything that was deleted if you have to."

This needed looking into.

* * *

The morning after the community opened, Amelia woke me up.

"... What's going on? This early in the morning?"

"Morning? It's already noon."

Come on, even a barbarian could sleep in.

I downed a glass of water to clear my dry throat and asked, "So, what do you need?"

Amelia usually showed up in the evening. When we parted yesterday, we'd agreed to meet around then, too.

So why had she come to see me in broad daylight?

Her answer was simple enough.

"Somehow, I felt I should tell you before I go."

"You're leaving, then."

"Yes. You can stop the search now."

Judging by her tone, she didn't seem to be leaving because she'd found Auriel Gabis...

I casually probed.

"Something else must have come up."

Amelia gave no answer, but that was enough for me. She had been going into the city every day, busy doing something.

["Just before the blockade, Noark sent several people up to the surface. Apparently, their objective is to kill a single explorer! Surprising, isn't it?"]

Perhaps the assassination operation Clown had mentioned was starting today.

I had no intention of getting involved for no reason. It wasn't something I could stop even if I tried.

No, rather...

"Will you come back later to look for him? If you need me to, I could leave instructions here."

I made a well-meaning offer. She was sensitive to debts and grudges, after all. I figured having her owe me would come in handy.

"There's no need. I doubt we'll find him this way anyway."

"I see."

When she declined, I didn't press the offer. That wrapped up our conversation neatly.

"Then I'll see you again sometime."

I gave her a brief farewell, but Amelia stared at me silently.

"What do you mean, you'll see me again?"

Oh, so that was what she was wondering about.

Fair enough. I was the one who had recoiled at the idea of getting mixed up with her again and begged that we never cross paths. To her, it probably sounded significant.

I answered honestly.

"I just feel like we'll meet again."

How many times had we already run into each other by chance?

I had no idea how long it would take before I could go home. Surely we'd cross paths at least once more.

"... Strange fellow."

With that, Amelia slipped out of sight as she always did.

Now it was time for me to start my day, too.

DING!

First, I firmly pressed the call bell I'd installed beside my bed.

"You called?"

True to his role as my right-hand man, Whiny Jin appeared in less than a minute.

After first ordering a halt to the search, I ate a quick lunch and went out with him for my daily after-meal walk.

There wasn't much else to do in Bifron.

"Let's go to a distribution center."

"A distribution center... sir?"

"Is there a problem?"

"No. I'll take you to the nearest one."

Today's destination was one of Bifron's twelve distribution centers.

When we arrived, I saw a long line of people waiting to receive the food supplied by the city every morning.

It was a sight you would hardly have seen a few days ago. The various factions used to occupy the distribution centers and monopolize the supplies.

"As you instructed, we've made sure that minors, at least, can take their share without any conditions."

"Good. Keep it that way."

After gazing contentedly at the line of young children, I turned away and wandered around the town wherever my feet took me.

Along the way, I spotted a familiar kid: the very one who had offered to guide me on my first day in Bifron and taken me to that inn.

"Come here."

"Yes, sir!"

The kid, who had started edging backward the moment our eyes met, came over and stood at attention in front of me.

"Where are you headed?"

"I-I'm on my way back from the distribution center..."

"You've put on a little weight since then."

"Yes..."

Was it because I'd effectively become the most powerful person in Bifron?

I hadn't hurt the kid that day or at any time since, yet the little thing was trembling.

Tsk. I'd only called out because I was glad to see a familiar face.

Was this the loneliness of absolute power?

"How have you been spending your time lately?"

"I-I read books in my spare time. At the library you built, M-Mr. Jandel..."

I hadn't built a library, exactly. It was more that I'd revived one that had been gathering dust.

So many books had been used as kindling that most of the shelves were still empty. But I'd ordered them to gather every book they could find and fill them up, so things would improve with time.

"I-I swear I don't do anything like that anymore! If I need money, I register at the labor office and earn it honestly!"

My silent stare must have made the kid nervous, because excuses started spilling out before I'd even asked.

"Come to think of it, you said you wanted to be a scholar."

"Y-Yes!"

I chuckled and offered a word of advice.

"Keep living that way. Make money by stabbing people in the back, and you'll start having trouble with your head. Then one day, you're bound to lose it."

"... Pardon?"

"You can't be a scholar without a head, can you?"

"Pardon? Oh, yes..."

The kid clearly hadn't understood a word, but I didn't bother elaborating. I had no desire to become a preachy old barbarian.

"Let's go."

I continued my walk with Whiny Jin.

Distribution centers, the library, housing, the labor office, and so on. With nothing to do besides search for Auriel Gabis, I'd started fixing various unreasonable practices. The town was definitely livelier than when I'd first arrived.

The biggest factor was putting an end to the factions' tyranny.

'Well, things will go right back to the way they were once I'm gone.'

With that in mind, I led Whiny Jin toward the sewers.

"Um, why are we here...?"

He looked at me, trembling, his voice strange.

Come on. Anyone watching would think I was planning to kill you and bury you here.

"I'm going into the city for a bit. Need anything?"

"... Pardon?"

Whiny Jin, who rarely made me repeat myself, stared blankly and asked again.

"Y-You're g-going into the city...?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you? There's a passage connected to the city."

"Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th... That can't be?"

"Why are you stuttering? Something wrong with your head?"

"N... no, sir."

Whiny Jin lowered his head, looking utterly devastated. He must have been thinking only of how he'd be free in a few more days.

But perhaps it belatedly occurred to him that I might be bluffing.

"Anyway, since you don't need anything—"

"No! I do!"

"Really? Tell me."

He made one request of me for my trip into the city: skewers from a certain shop in District 9.

"They'll be cold by the time I bring them back, you know."

"That's fine!"

I chuckled and nodded. What he was thinking was obvious. He wanted to check whether I really had a way to visit the city.

"Then head back now."

"Yes, understood."

After sending Whiny Jin away, I entered the sewers and headed toward the secret passage Amelia had shown me.

That was when it happened.

BZZZZ.

The message stone I always kept tucked inside my clothes rather than in subspace, just in case, vibrated.

It was the one I'd received from Mister Dragon.

He had promised to contact me once they decided whether to grant me the Dragon's Blessing I'd demanded in exchange for the Dragonslayer Sword.

'He said it would take a month or two. It's been exactly two.'

So, what had they decided?

I pressed the button protruding from the bottom, and a voice came through.

["Tear up the paper I gave you back then."]

"I'd rather hear what the decision was first."

["The elders have decided to meet you in person before making their decision."]

"I see."

As instructed, I tore up the paper I'd stuffed into subspace.

'They've decided to meet me in person first, huh...?'

It wasn't the “YES” I'd hoped for, but I wasn't particularly worried.

Even if they said no, I'd make it a yes.

That was the spirit of a K-barbarian.