When his name disappeared from her friends list, she’d thought he was dead, and she’d run in a panic to the Crest headquarters to ask what had happened to him.
“While we cannot be sure that he’s alive…when players die, their names get grayed out, and their status changes to offline. If he disappeared from your friends list…he might have simply unfriended you.”
Her nagging suspicion had been proven correct, and yet she’d stayed in Allistras. She still loved her boyfriend even though he dumped her.
“You complained about my cooking, stole my money, drank too much, and never kept promises…but you were my entire world.”
She started deleting everything that reminded her of Keisuke—an outfit he liked her wearing, a staff she bought to support him in battle, the screenshots they took together. She was erasing all traces of him, along with her lingering love for him.
Afterward, she felt lighter. Her mind felt clear; it was as if she’d been living a lie.
“I’m going home…”
She stood up to go, but then she noticed a blade in the store window. It reflected the golden rays of the setting sun at her like some sort of blessing.
She read the sword’s name aloud: “Calendula.”
With her palms pressed against the store window, MagNe stared at the weapon in a trance. The scabbard and the hilt were decorated with orange flower motifs, and the blade itself was adorned with elegant temper lines.
Price: 1,200G
She’d risked her life to earn that money, and her boyfriend, who didn’t appreciate her efforts, wanted to take it from her. If she had to put her own life on the line to make that money, she’d use it for herself.
MagNe knew that in the language of flowers, marigolds—a type of calendula—symbolized despair, disappointment, and the sorrow of separation.
“I don’t need anyone to protect me anymore.”
MagNe had a feeling that this sword would help her become a new person. She pushed open the door to the store.
Gallarus wasn’t making much progress.
“They all waste my time asking for money or weapons,” he grumbled.
He was still sitting in the central plaza, asking passing humans if they had any problems, but most of them demanded that he give them money. Gallarus had no cash to distribute to the needy, although he could potentially get some weapons from Theodore.
“Why don’t they ask me for something I could actually help with…?”
Getting bored, the giant clenched his teeth to stop himself from yawning when a man walked up to him.
“You, big guy!”
It was Crimson Knight, the player who’d had his date with MagNe ruined. He’d only started fighting monsters recently.
“What do you want?” Gallarus demanded.
“Er… Help me level up!”
“…”
Gallarus didn’t like the man’s attitude, but he was getting frustrated with his inability to achieve either of the tasks Bertrand had challenged him with. He stood up heavily and decided to give the man a chance.
“…Will leveling up make you happy?” Gallarus asked.
“What? Of course it will.”
“Hmph. Leveling up makes humans happy…,” Gallarus said to himself, taking out his notepad to write something down.
“Hurry up! A human gave you an order, monster!” the man yelled impatiently.
“Hold on. Can’t you see I’m taking notes?”
Ironically, a massive disparity in levels made the weaker players unable to gauge others’ power. Anyone who’d fought on the front lines would’ve sensed Gallarus’s overwhelming power, but Crimson Knight saw him just as a harmless monster NPC.
They left Allistras, and the man pointed toward the woods. He looked up at Gallarus.
“Take me there! I want to train there until I’m level ten! MagNe will be so impressed when I come back—”
Gallarus ignored the man’s irrelevant comments. Instead, he picked him up with his hand and carried him to the woods. When they arrived, he tossed him down.
“Ow! What the hell?!”
Perturbed, Gallarus stared down at the man. “What do you want me to do?”
“…Go into the woods, then come back here. You’re just a monster, so it doesn’t matter if you get killed, but I gotta be careful.”
“You want me to walk there and back? That’s it?”
“No, you oaf! Lead the monsters that attack you back toward me! Then I’ll kill them while you’re tanking. And then we repeat that.”
Gallarus seemed to understand the instructions. He walked off into the woods.
Those who knew a thing or two about Gallarus would remember that his unique skill automatically reflected damage dealt to him, with his own attack power added to the damage.
“Good, that’s it! Frost Edge!”
The man took a comically exaggerated swing at a hornet monster, which flew toward them. When he struck its wing, the hornet turned toward him and started attacking.
“The hell?! Keep the aggro on you!”
“Why are you giving a fancy name to a regular attack?” Gallarus asked.
“I… That doesn’t matter right now! Hurry up and do your job!”
Gallarus sighed and swatted the wasp, which shattered into pieces as soon as his hand came in contact with it.
“What are you doing?! I won’t get any EXP that way!” the man griped.
“What do you want me to do then?”
“Don’t kill the enemies yourself!”
“I’ve had enough of this. I’m going back.”
Gallarus turned on his heel and started walking away.
Monsters intimidated by his presence came out of hiding to attack the weak-looking player.
“Hey, you can’t leave me here… Huh? Aaargh!”
The man waved his sword around frantically, but a beast repelled the blade with its fangs, and all the other monsters chomped down on the defenseless player.
It was pointless trying to understand humans, Gallarus thought, ignoring the screams behind him, perhaps because the man’s attitude had riled him up.
“Power Enchantment: Leg Strength! Power Enchantment: Weapon!”
Someone zipped past Gallarus, speeding like a bullet toward the group of monsters. Red flashes accompanied a graceful flurry of strikes.
The man was dumbstruck.
“…M-Mag?” he stammered.
It was her, with a sword in hand.
“Crimson Knight,” she said.
“D-did you see my Frost Edge earlier? Pretty cool, huh? It’s so fast, enemies freeze in fear…”
He waved his sword around in a last-ditch effort to impress MagNe.
She smiled at him. “You’d better call it ‘Thaw Edge,’ because there’s nothing cool about it.”