The man tensed up at the biting criticism. MagNe was no longer the woman he knew, who couldn’t survive without relying on others for everything.
She turned away from the man.
“Could I ask you for your help one more time?” she said to Gallarus, who was waiting in the distance. “I’d like to learn to fight solo.”
Her eyes gleamed with resolve. Gallarus was intrigued by how this woman, whom he thought could only lead a parasitic existence, had changed to such an extent in a short span of time.
He laughed heartily. “Now this, I like better!”
“Maybe it was you with your cold attitude who pushed me in a new direction,” MagNe teased.
Gallarus started walking again.
“The way to becoming strong is through battle. Come with me, MagNe.”
She happily followed the giant.
“A monster in the city?!”
An emergency had been reported to Crest—a giant was hurting people in the central plaza.
As if things weren’t bad enough, now a monster has broken through our protective barrier…?!
Lumia and Candy quickly gathered up capable fighters and headed with them to the plaza. And there, they saw the giant in question right away.
“It’s your face that’s the problem,” he told one man.
“Are you saying I’m ugly?!”
“? Was I not clear enough?”
“Sh-sheesh! Rein it in a little, would ya?!”
The man stormed off in anger, and a woman started chiding the giant. As far as the Crest members could tell, the monster was giving people advice on personal problems.
Ah… It’s only emotional damage he’s inflicting through brutal honesty…
Lumia was relieved that it wasn’t an actual emergency, but Candy was tensely eyeing the monster.
“We can’t do anything about this one,” he said to Lumia.
“It doesn’t look like we need to. He’s not causing any real harm.”
“Lumia, it’s not an NPC; it’s a monster! And it’s stronger than any of the invasion bosses we’ve encountered!”
The Crest members were instantly on guard. Gallarus scowled at them, sensing their hostility.
“Don’t.”
With one word, the giant intimidated everyone in the plaza. Not only Candy but every armed player also realized they weren’t equipped to fight someone like this.
MagNe stepped between Gallarus and the players.
“Leave him alone! He doesn’t mean you any harm!”
Her sincere appeal calmed everyone down. They realized there was no way the city’s barrier could’ve been broken without Crest noticing, and nobody had seen the giant cause any damage to the city.
“If he’s an ally…lucky us,” said Candy, watching Gallarus closely.
“I will not cause you any harm,” Gallarus assured the players.
Candy reasoned that, seeing as Gallarus had AcM displayed before his name—which meant he was a member of somebody’s party—he was presumably someone’s tamed monster or a summon.
“Is this your summon?” Lumia asked MagNe.
“No, he said his master is somewhere else.”
For a moment, Candy wondered if the giant’s master might be a certain boy he knew, but he quickly banished the thought.
He’s already got two monsters like that. It’d be too game-breaking for him to have even more.
Gallarus remembered that he was supposed to be the guardian of Allistras, defending everyone who lived there as per Shuutarou’s wishes, and he thought he should let the humans know.
“I will be protecting this city for a while. My master ordered me to annihilate any threats. You humans can rest easy.”
While the Crest members were positively surprised by this, some players in the plaza felt a chill run down their spine—the latter were the former frontline fighters who had been acting as if they were above all rules.
“What exactly counts as a threat to the city…?”
“Um, player killers, maybe?”
“If it means anyone who disturbs public order, I’m screwed…”
The former frontline fighters were acutely aware of Gallarus’s powerful aura, and they feared him. The giant’s proclamation was about to have the unintended effect of improving public order.
“! While you’re at it,” MagNe said to Lumia, “can you tell me which quests are safe but give good money?”
“Oh, um… For advice on quests, you should come to our headquarters.”
“Of course! If only I’d thought about getting advice from you guys earlier…”
After a while, the Crest members dispersed. Lumia and Candy thanked Gallarus and went their way, too.
I don’t quite know what to expect from that monster, but I guess him being here means our defense has been bolstered, Lumia thought, glad to finally have some good news after the string of misfortune.
“MagNe!” someone shouted angrily from across the plaza.
It was none other than MagNe’s beloved.
“What the hell?! You never showed up!”
He strode toward her in big, furious steps.
“I came back to you, didn’t I? And you frigging ignore me?!”
He raised his fists into the air threateningly, but MagNe didn’t even twitch.
“You’re too late, Keisuke. Things have changed.”
Keisuke had never seen MagNe acting confident before, and it unsettled him.
MagNe used to be a convenient girlfriend to have around, since she’d always done what he said, but in this game, she’d begun to feel like a burden. Keisuke wanted to become a frontline fighter so that he could live as he wanted and enjoy a feeling of superiority. He’d given himself into the fantasy of becoming a strong, high-level player surrounded by women in awe of him. Things didn’t go as planned, though—he got stuck on Kiren Graveyard and couldn’t find a single woman in Calloah who’d be impressed by him. Only then did he reflect that MagNe was indeed valuable.
Now, even here, only the ex-frontline fighters get to throw their weight around…
But there was his MagNe, completely disinterested in him, turning to walk away…
“Y-you bitch! I know what this is—you found yourself another dude to leech off, and you think you can dis me! Just wait, and he’s gonna dump you too, like the piece of trash you are!”
His abuse really stung MagNe. It made her doubt whether she had truly evolved if she was still relying on Gallarus’s help. If Gallarus refused to have anything to do with her, would she go back to living as before? She was almost in tears.
Suddenly, Gallarus stepped in between her and Keisuke, who fell over, overwhelmed by the giant’s presence.
“She’s not leeching off me,” Gallarus said. He looked down at MagNe, who had tears in her eyes.
“We’re helping each other out. We’re partners.”