Chapter 24

“I knew it! You’re a magic knight build…!” shouted Kenk, doing a poor job of hiding his jealousy. “How’d you manage that in a three-hour playtest? Raising magic skills on a Warrior is like pulling teeth…” “Nah, my build sucks. Seriously, my only skills are one-handed swords and wind magic,” said Niki, trying to act humble. He checked the time again. “Anyway, I’m glad we managed to find each other. And thank you for trapping Watamaki alive. I…was worried we might be forced to kill her. Yuuma, Sawa, Kondou, Shimizu—honestly, thank you,” he said, bowing deeply. He truly seemed relieved. Yuuma felt a lump growing in his throat. While it was true that he’d captured Sumika, she wasn’t inside a Caliculus capsule like Niki assumed, but rather inside one of Yuuma’s tiny summoning cards. And she wasn’t bound by ropes—she was Yuuma’s familiar. That was a big difference. Kenk glanced at Yuuma as if there was something he wanted to say, but Yuuma pretended not to notice. Why not just tell Niki the truth…? That was probably what Kenk was thinking. Niki would understand that Yuuma just wanted to get Sumika back to normal. Yuuma doubted Niki would suggest anything crazy, like destroying the card right then and there. Nor would Haizaki, the leader of the fourth-floor shelter. However, if they could secure a safe route between the first and the fourth floors, the two groups might be reunited soon—maybe even before the night was over. Once that happened, if Niki and Haizaki told the others the truth about Sumika, someone was bound to insist the card be destroyed. After all, Sumika had killed Yukihisa Miura and seriously injured both Tomonori Tada and Shinta Aida. It was still too early to let Niki in on Yuuma’s secret. Yuuma tried to communicate all that to Kenk with just his eyes. He waited for Niki to finish bowing. “You saved us, too,” said Yuuma. “I feel bad asking you to deliver items for us now, on top of everything else… Besides, we don’t know if the staircase is safe yet. You’re aware that there are other dangerous monsters besides Watamaki roaming around Althea, aren’t you?” “Yeah… There was a pretty dangerous one toward the back of the fourth floor. If Shin hadn’t gotten us all to awaken as soon as we ran upstairs, we would’ve been goners.” A shiver traveled down Niki’s spine. Yuuma was curious to know just what kind of monster it was that they had encountered, but they’d never get anywhere if Yuuma stopped to ask every question that crossed his mind. “In that case, you should know how reckless it would be to travel from the fourth floor all the way down to the first on your own,” said Yuuma. “You’re probably right…” Niki nodded, but then he stopped and shook his head. “Wait a second—you guys already checked everything from the third floor down. The only area that might still be unsafe is the stairwell between the third and fourth floors. I’ve got an idea: After you give me the stuff, I’ll log out immediately and then check that the coast is clear. If I see any sign of monsters, I’ll just come straight back. How’s that sound?” “…” Yuuma made eye contact with the other three before answering. “You’re the one doing us a favor, so if you’re really willing to do this, we won’t stop you… But don’t take any risks. I mean it.” “Of course. Just gimme five minutes. If I’m not back by then, you can assume that I continued down to the first floor.” Niki flashed Yuuma a confident grin. Yuuma opened his inventory and transferred twenty onigiri, twenty bags of snacks, and ten bottles of mineral water into the now-open trade window. They both pressed OK, and the trade was complete. “Okay, I’ve got the stuff. I’ll deliver it to Teruki and the others. Don’t worry, you can count on me,” Niki said decisively. He suddenly seemed to think of something else. “One more thing… You said you were diving in from Playroom 02. Do you remember what number capsules you used?” “Let me see… Um, numbers 226 to 229, I think. Why’s that important?” “I figure if I need to tell you something from the other side, I can leave a note on one of your capsules for when you get back.” He fiddled with his open menu window, navigated to the System tab, and placed his right hand over the LOGOUT button. “If there’s any danger, come straight back,” Yuuma reminded him. “Got it,” Niki replied, grinning. “Thanks for the information. It was exactly what I needed.” When he pressed the button, his avatar was enveloped in white light and then disappeared.