59 – A Brief Respite (2)
“More than expected.”
I opened the heavy money bag.
Countless gold coins piled up and glittered.
Every time I heard the jingling of gold coins, I smiled involuntarily.
A whopping 100,000 gold. It is more than double the amount compared to the success reward.
This is money earned through hard work.
It won’t be a problem to eat and live right now.
I felt extremely proud.
“Can I get a house at this rate?”
Erina looked at her purse with her expectant eyes.
Contrary to her expectations, however, I shook my head.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to buy a house.
“It’s too much to buy a house yet.”
“I see…”
140,000 Gold, including the quest success reward.
Of course, the large amount was right.
Still, I needed at least 200,000 gold to buy a house.
“I can’t help it. Houses are so expensive.”
“I don’t want to go back to the inn, though.”
Erina was the most stressed person during her stay at the inn.
She was, in fact, not only her, but also me.
Even if he didn’t say anything, Kyla would have felt uncomfortable inside.
I couldn’t adapt to living in an inn that was suddenly crowded with people.
Norton Village is underdeveloped in terms of facilities, but in terms of inns and open-air baths, conditions are better than those in the capital.
It was difficult to adapt to living in an inn with many people.
I rather missed the inn in Norton Village where no one was there.
“I’d like to live in a two-story house at least. And a big bed.”
A house of that size would have to have at least 400,000 gold.
You have to do the snow mountain quest one more time to collect the amount.
If it was a small house, you could get it right now, but it wasn’t a good choice considering the future.
‘Because there are two more people going to be together.’
From now on, I had to prepare for the future.
From now on, it is a different point of time after passing the beginning and reaching the middle.
In the future, you will pass many options.
Among them, there was a future right before the capital was destroyed and the world was occupied by the demon army.
On the other hand, there was also a future in which the capital gradually grew and drove out the Demon King’s army.
We had to prevent the capital from collapsing somehow.
To do so, it was necessary to establish a base in the capital.
“Let’s check the plan for now. Everyone sit down.”
Kayla, who was packing her things, hurried over and sat down at her table.
The same goes for Erina, who was rolling around in bed.
The first topic that came up was, of course, housing.
“Right now, my goal is a house. I need to save money to buy a house.”
“About how much will it be?”
“At least 400,000 gold. That should get you a decent house.”
Requests were the most efficient way to raise money.
Above all else, since Erina and Kayla were there, the probability of failure for intermediate level quests was extremely low.
However, I had no intention of going around doing stupid requests.
“I’m thinking of doing another expedition request.”
There was a limit to making money near the capital.
No matter how far away they were, the level of the monsters was still high.
In the second half, the situation changes as the demon army advances, but it is still in the future.
On the other hand, as you go up north, there are many strong monster dwellings and bases where the demon army is stationed.
Even though the risk increased, the chance to become stronger and the chance to collect expensive loot was high.
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And there was an expedition request that was already marked.
‘Helen village.’
This is the village where Erina’s former party members and the companions I am looking for are located.
He was one of the most recommended characters in the game community and was a must-have companion.
Still, there was no need to rush to prepare the request. I still had free time.
“For now, let’s stay in the capital and rest.”
It has only been two days since I returned to the capital.
Now is the time to take a break.
Since the expedition request from Helen Village hasn’t come out yet, I decided to rest comfortably while waiting.
“Erina.”
“Yes?”
Hearing my voice, Erina looked at me.
A question mark was drawn over her head, and her bright eyes focused on me.
“It’s not a big deal. I’m going to have a lot of trouble in the future, so I’ll ask you.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you no matter what.”
A deep arc was drawn on her face.
Her eyes were filled with the will to protect me somehow.
The same was true of Kayla, who was quietly listening to the story.
He held her hands together with a firmer expression.
She glanced at me and clenched her fists.
It seems that Kyla has also made up her mind.
“Then, the meeting is over. Let’s rest comfortably for the time being.”
Still, it’s time to enjoy a little break.
***
“It’s been a while…”
As the goddess said, it’s been a while.
A ruined temple. A goddess hanging from a collapsed pillar and throne.
It has not changed even after a month has passed.
She noticed that my expression was not good, and the goddess laughed helplessly.
“I am fine.”
Even the smile on her face was full of sorrow.
My heart felt heavy when I thought that he would have endured painful times while I was gone.
Should I interrogate Erina and save the goddess?
However, it is impossible until you reach the heavens.
And in order to kill the Demon King, Erina’s help was needed.
“I can live like this for the rest of my life, as long as I can see you.”
Even when her limbs were restrained by her miserable appearance, the voice of the goddess did not waver.
She didn’t know where the hell her mental strength was coming from.
Above all, it was ironic that I was the support for her perseverance.
“Rather than that, can you tell us what happened?”
“…I get it.”
She told the goddess everything from the murders in the capital to the snowy mountains.
There were so many things that it was hard to believe that it had happened in just one month.
Throughout the story of the Goddess, her expression changed moment by moment.
“The snow woman woke up…?”
“Yes. Fortunately, I won.”
Looking back, it’s amazing how we won.
Snow Woman was overwhelmingly stronger than me.
If she hadn’t teamed up with Erina and injured her, she surely wouldn’t have won.
“Are there any injuries…?”
“Who cares about whom.”
There was no reason for her to worry about me, bound by her mess.
However, as the goddess said, worries piled up.
Why did the snow woman wake up? And why did the dragons appear?
Even when I met Alfred. What happened on the snowy mountain this time. Everything was unpredictable.
I had doubts about the knowledge I had of the story so far.
I could move on to the explanation that the last time was a special event.
However, there was no excuse for what happened in the snowy mountains.
It went in an unexpected direction from beginning to end.
“Maybe it’s affected by rounds.”
Did you say there were changes in the second round?
But common sense wouldn’t have changed much.
However, as the situation continued to go against my expectations, doubts about knowledge arose.
She was quietly listening to the story, and the goddess told her an unexpected fact.
“Actually, I noticed one odd thing.”
“Huh?”
“Check under the crystal.”
As she said, I went to the back of her throne.
As usual, there was a crystal that emitted a brilliant light.
However, there was a little difference from before.
“The cracks are more cracked.”
There was a time when the goddess gave a word before.
The more the power of the system is abused, the more difficult it will be to fix.
But she didn’t use much power this time.
Still, the crystal was engraved with clearer gold than before.
The crack, which was merely incontinence, had grown to the size of an arm.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know either. Judging from the scars, there seems to be a reason…”
Have you ever had something to abuse the system?
No matter how much I looked back, nothing came to mind.
“Could it have something to do with the snow woman’s awakening?”
“I have no idea. I have no clue.”
What will happen if the crystal collapses? That’s something no one knows.
The obvious fact is that I will lose my way back to the original world.
And the goddess will lose her power to control the world.
Somehow the crystal had to be prevented from collapsing.
“Can you guess anything?”
“…I have one guess.”
For a moment the goddess shut her mouth. Anguish was evident on his hardened expression.
The answer that came after a brief silence was quite shocking.
“There are things I realized while defending the system for a long time and looking at the world.”
“What is that?”
“The fact is that this world flows into a pre-determined future.”
“…!”
What the goddess said was not wrong. This world is a game.
No matter how much freedom you have, the episode and ending are fixed.
“How did you know…?”
“I can handle some of the power of the system. And through the system, I was able to guess a lot of the future.”
Perhaps the goddess figured out the concept of choice.
She didn’t think she would notice that far.
“But this is a future we have never seen. I thought that going to a non-existent future would strain the system.”
“…Do you have any proof?”
“No, but I think there are circumstances.”
There was confidence in the words of the goddess.
And to some extent, the right guess was right.
I also played the game for a long time in my own way.
Even though time has passed, I still remember most of the episodes and strategies.
But what has happened so far has gone in a direction I have no idea about.
Come to think of it, it was the same when I first met Kayla.
She was captured by Alfred and had to become the Demon King’s subordinate.
But I showed up and killed Alfred myself.
In the original story, the person who was supposed to be the Four Heavenly Kings died too quickly.
And the person who was originally a subordinate of the Four Heavenly Kings became my colleague.
It was also strange that the snow woman woke up in the snowy mountain.
And killing two dragons also bothered me.
Couldn’t the change that I thought was the change in the second episode was actually a future that couldn’t happen?
“We must prevent the system from collapsing.”
“…But I can’t figure out what to do.”
As she said, there was nothing special about it.
Even if we tried to act according to the set story, the story went in a completely different direction.
My head was dizzy. It was as if a large boulder had landed in my heart.
“I need to hurry as much as possible.”
In the end, the game ends by killing the demon king.
Before the system collapsed, I had to somehow kill the demon king and save the goddess.
And I had to return to the original world.
“What do you plan to do next?”
“First of all, I’m thinking of gathering my friends.”
“Are you going to join those two?”
Even the goddess remembers her previous episodes.
Of course, Erina’s former colleague also knew.
A nun who lives in the monastery of Helen Village and one of the strongest healers in the game.
“Serica.”
Erina is going to find her first colleague.