An eerie darkness came into view.
It was the maw of the thing called the Inventory.
The opening was only as large as my face, yet a mountain of items was piled up inside it.
‘……Where is its body?’
To swallow that much, its stomach and esophagus would have to be equally enormous.
Yet there was no jaw, neck, or body around the mouth.
Had it hidden its body in another dimension?
Or was it using invisibility magic?
I did not know.
Only one thing was certain.
That thing was both a monster beyond my comprehension and an archmage.
And yet.
Inside that monster’s stomach was—
【Lv 20. Golden’s Wedding Ring】
The old man’s ring.
“Why do you have that?!”
SHIING-!
I drew my dagger.
The moonlight gleaming along the blade trembled violently. My hands and legs were shaking just as badly.
‘Run, fight, run, fight, run, fight.’
The incompatible commands collided inside my head and crumbled into pieces. It seemed even Mental Stability Correction was useless in the face of terror.
Nevertheless, I could not back down.
Pointing my blade at the creature, I asked,
“D-Did you take it from the Players? Or did you search the old man’s clothes yourself……?”
Perhaps it was because my voice had trembled, but the Inventory did not answer.
It might have decided that nothing I could do would pose even the slightest threat.
“……You chose the wrong person to provoke.”
I muttered as I gathered the poison staining my clothes into my hand.
“I might not be able to defeat you, but I can still fuck up your body…….”
FSSSSSS…….
I wrapped my entire body in mana, trying to make myself look as threatening as possible.
Even a tiny wasp could kill a human.
There was no reason I could not kill the Inventory.
I had to make sure it understood that.
“If you do not want us both to die, hand over the old man’s ring right now!”
The instant I roared—
DING-
An utterly mechanical and emotionless sound, like someone tapping a clear glass, rang out from within the darkness.
A familiar golden ring dropped onto the dirt before me.
【Lv 20. Golden’s Wedding Ring】
It was the old man’s ring.
It had handed it over so readily…… Had my warning worked?
No.
The Inventory had not shown even the slightest sign of hesitation.
Nor did an existence like that seem likely to fear me.
Then why had it obeyed so readily?
‘What the hell is it?’
What is this bastard?
“You…… are you not on the Players’ side?”
There was no answer.
“Or do you simply follow rules I do not understand?”
It remained silent.
“Answer me. You have a mouth. You have a fucking enormous mouth, you bastard!”
Only my agitated voice echoed across the clearing.
“……If you are going to keep your mouth shut, then get lost.”
【Closing the Inventory.】
The Guide answered instead of the Inventory.
The moment I turned toward the message, the Inventory had already vanished.
‘Were those two on the same side……?’
I had been playing.
Of course.
That made sense.
I had been playing this entire time…….
“……At least I got the ring back.”
That was enough.
No, it had to be enough.
There were too many questions to resolve right now.
And the one I needed to question refused to answer.
‘There is too much to do.’
Before the patch ended, I had to find a way to reach the village.
Once I found a way, I would kill every Player in the village, save the villagers, and join forces with them.
‘I cannot do that empty-handed.’
I could not charge in without making any preparations.
‘I need to stop by the workshop.’
Besides, I finally had something with which I could face Master again.
After taking a deep breath, I stood before the workshop door.
I had passed through it thousands upon thousands of times, yet I was as afraid to open it now as I had been on that day five years ago.
I was nervous as well.
For no particular reason, I straightened my clothes.
They were still filthy.
Still, it had to be better than doing nothing.
“……I’m back.”
I carefully opened the door and entered the workshop.
As on any other day, the cauldron was bubbling away, and the musty scent of medicinal herbs filled the workshop.
The wooden floor creaked beneath every step. The only sources of light were a few candles and the moonlight streaming through the window, leaving the room dark.
Even so, it felt comforting.
“Where have you been wandering around?”
And just as he always did, the old man greeted me with a grumbling voice.
I scratched between my brows several times before sitting down in front of him.
CREEEAK-
THUD.
The door closed, sending a gust of wind through the workshop.
The old man’s golden beard and golden hair swayed in the breeze as he sat in his rocking chair…….
“……?”
I rubbed my eyes.
The old man was still sitting in his rocking chair.
His head had not been severed.
He was not bleeding.
He looked perfectly fine.
Just as he always did.
Had it all been a dream?
Or was this a dream?
What was happening?
How was this possible?
SMACK, SMAAACK!
I slapped both cheeks.
I even pinched my thigh as hard as I could.
The pain was vivid.
What about my clothes?
They were still filthy.
I could even see the corpses of the wild dogs through the window.
Then why was the old man sitting alive and well before me?
Even his characteristic look of displeasure was exactly the same.
“If you wish to hurt yourself, use a knife. Shall I give you a well-sharpened one?”
Even his voice was exactly as I remembered it.
“Old man, why…… why are you alive?”
“What an insolent son of a bitch!”
“You were beheaded by those two Players who broke in earlier…… Do you not remember? What happened? Did your Lv increase too? Did you come back to life like I did? Or, or…….”
Clutching my throbbing head, I was about to pick apart the bizarre phenomenon before me one piece at a time.
“I’m glad.”
I embraced the old man.
My body had simply moved before I could think.
“TSSSS…….”
The old man flinched, but he did not push me away.
He did not pat me on the back either, but I was content to remain like this.
The worn fabric.
His withered hands.
His breath tinged with alcohol.
Everything was unchanged.
I decided to hold on to that alone.
“I’m glad, old man…….”
My throat closed up.
“I really am…… glad.”
Just as my tears were about to burst forth—
【Warning : Emotional Data has exceeded the permitted threshold.】
【To preserve Object Integrity, the System is executing the Forced Stabilization Protocol.】
The Guide said something.
Right, my emotions were too intense at the moment?
I understood.
But I did not want to see it right now.
“Go hide in a corner…….”
I whispered quietly to the Guide, and it moved behind my shoulder.
It positioned itself at an angle where I could not see it unless I sharply turned my head.
I faced the old man again.
“I’m glad you’re alive, old man.”
“Stop being revolting, Akkun.”
“Please do not be like that…… Too…… too much has happened. I thought the hardship was going to kill me. I almost actually died, too…….”
“I told you to stop being revolting, Akkun.”
“F-Fine. I understand. I said I understand. This is not like us.”
I released him and backed away until I reached the wall.
Even so, I could not shake off my disappointment.
We fought often, but this was still a miraculous reunion in its own way. His reaction seemed far too cold…….
Wait.
‘Is it because of Mental Stability Correction?’
If something similar had been applied to the old man, there was no reason for me to feel hurt.
I smiled, nodded, and organized my thoughts.
“Judging by what I have seen, you seem to be in a state similar to mine. Am I right?”
“Hmm.”
“Do not just say ‘Hmm.’ Let us talk through this one thing at a time. We do not know when someone else might break into this workshop.”
“Wash yourself. You stink, Akkun.”
“Fine. I’ll talk while I clean myself.”
I threw aside my tattered shirt and wiped down my body with a wet towel, recounting everything I had experienced one event at a time.
The old man merely stared expressionlessly and offered no meaningful response.
‘Was he not even worried about me?’
I was beginning to feel angry…… No.
That was not it.
I could understand if he was still reeling from the shock of being beheaded.
However, the old man also needed to understand that this was no time to relax.
I deliberately lowered my voice.
“Old man, you remember the argument we had, right?”
“We argue constantly. You are always defying me.”
“No, not that. While we were talking earlier, that ‘Patch in progress’ message suddenly appeared, remember? We argued about whether one of us had used a hallucinogen.”
I glanced at the Guide.
【Patch in progress. 80%】
Only twenty percent remained.
“What we saw was not a hallucination. This world has been taken over by something called the System. I also found out what the patch is. They say that once the patch ends, even more Players will descend upon Amuse.”
“Players…… Beings who adventure across this vast world…… challenge mighty foes…… and sometimes fight against adversity…… the protagonists of Amuse Online…….”
“Old man, what did you say?”
“Do not be too hostile toward the Players. Bad Players are only a small minority.”
“No—”
I felt my head growing hot.
Even I could not forgive them, so why was the old man forgiving them?
If he was capable of that, then why had he never forgiven me? Why had he spent every waking day hurling abuse and personal insults at me?
‘Even considering Mental Stability Correction, this makes no sense.’
Those were not the words of a man who had been beheaded by Players.
I wanted to seize him by the collar, shake him, and scream at him to come to his senses.
But…….
‘……This is not the time to fight.’
There was something else we truly needed to fight.
I desperately suppressed my anger.
“Master. Stop talking nonsense about good Players and whatever else, and let us have a productive discussion. First, I want to check the situation in the village, but that will not be easy. It seems every NPC is given an Assigned Area.”
According to my theory, an Assigned Area was shaped by the environment in which an NPC had lived, much like a Character Profile.
Even before all of this, I had lived my life traveling only between the workshop and the mountain behind it.
I had rarely gone to the village.
That was why the area between the workshop and the mountain had been designated as my Assigned Area.
Then what about the old man?
“You probably cannot leave this workshop.”
Because of his bad leg, he spent all but one or two days of each year inside the workshop.
There was a high chance that his Assigned Area was restricted to the workshop alone.
“There are two things we need to discuss now. One. How can we leave for the village? Two. What should we do from now on? Admittedly, the first is not something we can solve through discussion.”
I would need another miracle like the one that had occurred when I killed BONBIN, whether it came through coincidence or providence.
Otherwise, there would be no way to escape the laws of the System.
“So let us discuss the second matter for now. It may even become the solution to the first.”
CLAP-
I clapped my hands.
“Traps.”
The old man looked at me.
“We are going to set traps around the workshop. We will coat the doorknob with poison, bury bottles that release poisonous fog along the path, and hide glass bottles beneath the windows that will shatter when stepped on.”
“You look pleased, Akkun.”
“I am not, particularly…… Anyway, we will begin by coating the doorknob with deadly poison. Of course, that will not be enough. Let us also create something like a land mine that releases poisonous fog the instant someone steps on it. It should be possible as long as we find the right catalyst. A suitable item might─”
“Poison.”
The old man cut me off.
His face crumpled like a sheet of paper.
“Poison, poison, poison! I am sick to death of poison! I am utterly disgusted by it! Never utter another word about poison in front of me, Akkun!”
CRAAASH!
I swung my fist, splitting the table beside me in half.
Red mana seeped from my entire body like mist.
“……How long are you going to keep this shit up, old man?”
My voice sank low.
“Do you really think this is the time to argue about poison?”
I pointed a finger at him.
I knew it was disrespectful, but I had to do this.
The old man was not in his right mind.
“What did you say earlier? That there are good Players? Old man, there are no such things. The Players I met were demonic bastards who murdered my master before my eyes and manipulated Aunt Mari’s corpse however they pleased.”
To kill a demon, one had to become a demon.
“Do you understand? We are not in a position to worry about our dignity! We need to use every possible method to teach those Player bastards a lesson! Fuck, am I wrong?!”
“You have gone completely mad, Akkun. Completely mad!”
“Do you not realize which of us is acting insane? Old man, answer me if you have a mouth. Why are you defending the Players? Do you need to be beheaded and killed again before you come to your senses?!”
“You have gone completely mad, Akkun. Completely mad!”
“Just stop-!”
When I roared, the old man fell silent, breathing heavily.
His expression was more vicious than any I had ever seen.
“……Anyway, fuck it. That is what I am going to do, so remember it. If you refuse to help, then at least stay out of my way. I have to kill the Players.”
The instant I made what should have been an obvious declaration, disgust and contempt surged into the old man’s previously unfocused eyes.
His face turned red in an instant, like heated steel.
“So you were a Red Player! Now I can see it! I can see the red aura around you!”
Spouting incomprehensible nonsense, the old man began hurling books, pencils, sheets of paper, glass bottles, and anything else he could reach.
“Get out of my workshop! Get out of my workshop-!”
“……Please stop.”
I seized both of his wrists.
“Release me, you filthy bastard-!”
“Please stop…… Please, just please……!”
“Release me, you filthy bastard-!”
“Please-!”
The moment I raised the old man’s wrists, a flash of light struck my eye.
The golden ring on his hand gleamed in the moonlight.
“……What?”
I thrust a hand into my clothes.
The exact same ring was there.
“Old man, where did you get that ring?”
“You brat, why would you ask when you already know? It is the symbol of the love between Mari and me.”
“Are you wearing Aunt Mari’s ring? It should not fit─”
“Ah, Mari. I miss you all the more today. How could you leave me behind? Did you not say you would wither away with me, you cruel woman…… my cruel love…….”
The old man suddenly suppressed every emotion and began speaking like a minstrel.
That was not the only strange thing.
Only ten seconds earlier, his eyes had burned with fury. Now they were unfocused, like those of a dead fish.
His face, which had been flushed bright red, had also returned to its usual complexion.
‘…….’
Since earlier, there had been a thought I had desperately suppressed with the words, ‘It cannot be.’
I had tried to ignore it until the very end.
I had continued pushing it away.
But now, there was nowhere left to retreat.
I pressed a hand firmly over my heart.
“……Old man?”
“What is it, Akkun?”
“What do I look like to you?”
“You look like Akkun.”
“Sorry. Let me ask again. Do I look like an NPC or a Red Player?”
“NPC, an abbreviation of Non-Player Character. A Red Player, a Player who kills other Players. They are creatures as vile as cockroaches.”
“So…… when you look at me, do you see that Non-whatever thing or a Red Player? Just answer that.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“Old man, do you not understand? I.”
My throat went dry.
“……I am asking what you see when you look at me, the person standing in front of you right now! Am I your apprentice and the second-greatest Apothecary in Arche? Or am I a Red Player who kills other Players? That is what I am asking. Do not say anything else. Choose one of the two and answer me. Do not answer anything else. Quickly. Hurry. Right now! Answer me-!”
Golden stroked his beard and answered calmly.
“I cannot understand that command.”
“Ha, ha. Hahaha!”
Breathless laughter escaped me again and again, while a red light flashed violently behind my back.
【Warning : Emotional Data has exceeded the permitted threshold. To preserve Object Integrity, the System is executing the Forced Stabilization Protocol.】【Warning : Emotional Data has exceeded the permitted threshold. To preserve Object Integrity, the System is executing the Forced Stabilization Protocol.】【Warning : Emotional Data has exceeded the permitted threshold. To preserve Object Integrity, the System is executing the Forced Stabilization Protocol.】【Warning : Emotional Data has exceeded the permitted threshold. To preserve Object Integrity, the System is executing the Forced Stabilization Protocol.】【Warning : Emotional Data has exceeded─