GLOW—.
Soon, Paradise's sky glowed brightly with the evening sunset.
Eternal Sky greeted us.
"They really went all out making something like that."
The old man heard me muttering to myself and smiled.
"You mean Eternal Sky?"
"Hm, yeah."
The old man gave a bitter smile.
"People are remarkably pure."
"In what way?"
"People like you go to the surface to see the real sky."
Uh...... that wasn't exactly why I went up there.
"But powerless people spend their entire lives inside the prison called Paradise, using weakness as an excuse."
The old man looked up at the sky and continued.
"That sky is like a single rope for the weak to cling to."
"......."
"It makes them feel, 'People live here too.'"
I didn't really understand.
The old man looked at me and smiled.
"Is that not terribly pitiful and sad?"
"Haha......."
What's with this old man?
That's starting to sound like a death flag.
***
Before long, we reached the Quest House and stopped talking as we went inside.
'Reports were on the third floor.'
If the first and second floors were where you accepted requests.
The third floor was where you reported the results after completing them.
"I'll be right back."
I went up to the third floor alone.
"Excuse me, I'd like to report the result of a request."
"Of course. What is your request registration ID?"
I gave a brief explanation.
After typing on the keyboard for a moment, the employee's expression turned strange.
"......Where is the Pentatech Android that accompanied you?"
"Here."
I handed over the memory chip I'd already finished altering.
After seeing it, the employee looked troubled and called someone over.
"Hello, sir."
A friendly-looking male employee approached.
I glanced at his name tag.
[Pentatech Representative]
[Hans Kedric]
It was only a D-Grade request involving a D-Grade Android.
And yet a Pentatech representative had come out personally?
While I was thinking that.
CLICK—.
The Pentatech employee inserted the chip into his wrist and began checking its contents.
'There's nothing for him to find anyway.'
The alterations were already perfect.
D-Pal arrived at the subway and finished reporting in.
I had stitched together parts of my fight with the old man so that the moment D-Pal went down onto the tracks.
It was killed by an unidentified monster there.
Then I cleanly edited the rest so that we barely escaped after retrieving the memory chip.
It would be difficult to notice anything strange.
"Everything checks out. That must have been very difficult."
"Yes."
"You've been through a lot."
For some reason, the employee's syrupy voice made me uneasy.
"The request failed, but because a large part of the fault lies with us, we will compensate you with twenty percent of the reward."
"All right."
"After fees, that comes to a total of 20 Gold. We'll provide it on a chip."
"Thank you."
I took the chip containing the money and went back down to the first floor.
That was one thing taken care of.
Now I needed to go to the workshop.
"Did you wait long?"
I dropped into the seat beside the old man.
"Not at all. I was watching something and lost track of time."
The old man gestured with his chin toward someone.
"Hahaha! I'll give you an autograph, so line up!"
Off to one side stood a huge, muscular man with enormous drills attached to both arms.
Countless people stood in front of him with sparkling eyes.
"Who's that?"
"Jensen the Driller. Among the current Expedition Members, he is considered the one most likely to become a legend."
'No idea who he is, but what a naming sense.'
Successful Expedition Members like that usually had a modifier attached to their names.
Most of the time, they gave themselves the title.
Rarely, something other people called them became their title instead.
For reference, my last character, P, was the latter.
He was called the Surface Liberator.
That aside.
"Sir, both his hands are drills. How does he give autographs?"
"Uh......? W-Well......."
Snicker—.
I laughed and stood up.
"Let's go have dinner with Berry."
"Sounds good."
***
"Th-The mission failed."
Inside a dark room somewhere in the Quest House.
Kedric was communicating with someone.
-The accompanying personnel.
A low-pitched voice came through the communicator.
"They were ordinary Miners. No unusual points were discovered......."
-Nothing was discovered, you say.......
Kedric trembled and hurriedly made an excuse.
"B-But we obtained something else!"
-What.
"During the Paradise 100th Anniversary event, when the king appears......."
-I know.
Flinch—.
Kedric immediately continued.
"We received intelligence that on that day, he will visit Sector 5 to stabilize public welfare."
"......."
When the person on the other end fell silent.
Kedric took it as an opportunity and hurriedly added.
"If you could deploy the S-Grade Android we developed this time to this location......."
-Enough.
"I-I'm sorr—"
-Shut up and keep your head down.
"Y-Yes!"
CLICK—.
After confirming that the communication had ended, Kedric smiled faintly.
"Soon, Paradise will have a new king.......!"
The Paradise Founding 100th Anniversary Commemoration.
Eighty-seven days remained until that day.
When it came, a new monarchy would be established.
Of course, the throne would be stained in blood.
Human blood.
***
After finishing our meal, we returned.
Berry fell asleep, while the old man and I sat at the table.
"I'm going out for some air."
I stood up as I spoke.
Strike while the iron was hot.
I planned to stop by the workshop.
"The air is cold, so come back early."
"I will. But don't wait up for me. Go to sleep first."
I headed toward the workshop.
BANG, BANG—.
I knocked on the door.
"What is it, some drunk troublemaker?"
CRASH, CLATTER—!
I heard the employee muttering to herself and bustling around inside.
"We're clos...... huh?"
The employee opened the door, then looked startled when she saw my face.
"Come...... in."
I stepped inside.
"Why are you already......?"
The employee asked cautiously in a trembling voice.
"You think I'd fail?"
THUD—.
I placed the storage case on the table.
"The D-Grade Core you asked for."
"Already?"
"I brought it back intact."
The employee's expression filled with disbelief.
She seemed unable to believe I'd already destroyed an Android and brought back its Core.
CLICK—.
When she opened the case, the Core shone brightly inside.
"Wow......."
"What? You thought I couldn't do it?"
"N-No!"
I sat down and gestured with one hand.
"Get the boss. I have a lot to ask."
Looking at myself like this.
I really did seem like an obnoxious customer.
"I said get the boss."
"Y-Yes!"
She hurried deeper into the workshop.
A moment later, the masked owner rushed out.
"Already, back?"
"Yeah."
"Thank, you!"
Her expression was hard to see behind the mask.
But the excitement in her voice made her joy obvious.
"Wait."
The masked owner quickly took the Core and went back inside.
BZZZT—!
A considerable amount of noise came from within.
Step......
About twenty minutes later, the masked owner came back out.
"Words aren't enough, but thank you. Truly."
"You can talk normally now."
"It was difficult to speak with a Core that was reaching the end of its lifespan."
Now she was much easier to listen to.
"What about removing the bullet fragments?"
"A hospital might be able to do it, but here......."
"That makes sense."
Paradise hospitals could bring back even people who were nearly dead.
What were a few bullet fragments lodged in the neck compared to that?
Of course, not just anyone could use them.
"Should we get to the point now?"
"All right. I'll tell you about the Pilgrim."
As she spoke, the masked owner unfolded a holographic map of the surface.
It was a fairly detailed map.
At best, it was good enough to compare with the map I'd drawn for this game, which didn't even have a minimap.
"The place where I met the Pilgrim was here."
She pointed to one spot.
"A canyon."
"Do you know the surface well?"
"So who did you meet?"
"I don't know the name, but I know what they looked like."
She drew a picture on one side of the hologram.
It looked like a small alien.
Hm.
Looking again, it was a person.
"They looked like this and carried an enormous gun."
"An enormous gun?"
"It was white. Judging by the structure, it resembled a Railgun."
[Guide to Every Pilgrim on the Surface]
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I thought for a moment and recalled a post I'd written on the community.
'A white Railgun.'
There was exactly one person who carried a weapon like that.
But he looked completely different from the drawing the masked owner had made.
That guy had been a large man.
Of course, there could be differences between the game and reality.
But this was too different even for that.
"Gender?"
"Probably female."
"Probably?"
"The voice sounded female."
"What did she say?"
"She told me to get the hell out of there."
Was it because twenty years had passed?
Some of my information differed from the present.
First.
The original owner of that Railgun was a man.
And talking? Bullshit.
He was a lunatic who simply blasted his Railgun at anyone who came near him.
Second.
He never stayed in one place and constantly wandered around.
Even if you met him in a canyon, he didn't tell you to leave.
He was basically a randomly roaming disaster.
'How many characters did I lose after getting unlucky and being shot by that bastard?'
Some unpleasant old game memories surfaced.
Anyway.
"Anything else different about them?"
"That's everything."
I frowned.
"That's really it?"
"I was the only person who escaped that place alive. Are you curious about that too?"
"Forget that. Is that where your neck was injured?"
"No."
The masked owner suddenly turned serious.
"Whatever."
"Nothing else you're curious about?"
"Doesn't look like you know much."
I gestured toward the employee standing behind her.
"Money."
"Ah, yes!"
She handed me a chip containing 85 Gold.
"I made sure the amount was correct."
The information had mattered more to me than the money.
But the quality of that information wasn't very good.
Anyone could've made up something like that.
"What about that sword?"
"Hm?"
The masked owner carefully examined the sword beside me, wrapped all over in bandages.
"Want to buy it?"
"No. Do you perhaps need a sheath?"
"I do, but why?"
The masked owner fell silent for a moment, then stood up.
She went to a corner of the storage room and brought back a sheath.
"Here."
"What's this?"
Why is this here......?
"This is the sheath of Paradise's faded legend, P the Surface Liberator."
What the fuck?
Why does she have the sheath from my previous character?
"It's probably a fake."
"How did you......."
I muttered unconsciously.
The masked owner heard me and answered casually.
"Because I'm a fan of his."
"Huh?"
"Twenty years have passed since his death, but no one stronger than him has appeared."
Her voice took on a dreamy tone as she continued.
"He was a one-man corporation and the strongest."
"Uh, right."
Why the hell is my character being mentioned here?
Every playthrough of the game started over from the beginning.
'What the hell is going on?'
Complicated thoughts stabbed through my head.
"You're the person who saved my life. That's why I'm giving you something extremely valuable."
"Uh...... thanks?"
"Of course, whether it's genuine or not can only be known if he returns."
I took the sheath.
Then I slid my sword, Black Lotus, into it.
CLICK—.
I hadn't expected it, but it fit perfectly.
My hand slowly moved toward the sheath.
SWISH—.
I touched the engraved markings.
A large initial, P.
Then I touched the tiny trace of 'DH' engraved beside it.
'It's really mine.'
The initials of my name.
Park Dohyeon.
If those were there, this was definitely the real thing.
"Consider that compensation for the lack of useful Pilgrim information."
"Sure. I'll use it well."
'Now I can use their synergy ability, Black Flash too.'
My combat power had shot up in an instant.
Still, I hid how pleased I was and asked.
"Do you know P well?"
"Of course!"
As though she'd been waiting for that question, the masked owner immediately started rambling with excitement.
Enough to make me wonder if this was really the same person from before.
"And then P destroyed an entire megacorporation!"
"Uh-huh."
"That corporation eventually collapsed completely!"
'Yeah, that happened too.'
As I listened to her explanation, I sank into thought.
Had I really caused this much trouble?
A faint sense of anxiety crept in.
'The corporation I destroyed isn't going to come looking for me, right?'
Of course, they wouldn't know I was P.
"His belongings are scattered all over Paradise. I've collected two of them myself!"
Fortunately, the Nanomachine was a Relic P had never used.
In other words, the others should still be sitting untouched on the surface.
It looked like I wouldn't need to worry about information on the remaining Nanomachines.
"Wait."
"Hm? What is it?"
A sudden question occurred to me, and I interrupted her.
"P is dead."
My character had died to the monster that destroyed Paradise.
Then how was this Paradise still perfectly intact?
Questions poured out of me.
"Do you know why or how he died?"
"I heard he died during a mission."
"What about the body?"
"How would anyone find it? It was on the surface."
"Then he might not actually be dead."
"If that were the case, P's belongings wouldn't have started flowing into Paradise."
I silently organized my thoughts.
My character died when Paradise was destroyed.
Then the 1,000-Day Perk dropped me into this world.
But twenty years had passed in between.
And Paradise, which had been destroyed, was perfectly intact.
'What the hell is this game.......'
Who made it?
Why?
And for what purpose?
"All right. Thanks."
Asking more questions probably wouldn't change anything.
"I won't forget what you've done for me."
"Sure."
I opened the door and stepped out onto the street.
A bright moon hung in Eternal Sky.