Vol 5 Chapter 1.3 (2/2)

One couldnt imagine the ghastly figure he had been in the past after seeing the Shadow who talked with Holly while smiling.

I found this man in a village I was dispatched to at the request of the guild. I heard him fighting the group of monsters that had attacked the village, so I chased after him in a hurry.

I am indebted to that village in a lot of ways. Because the monsters had no special features aside from their numbers, I was able to stop them.

NO! You werent able to stop them. The people of the village were panicking.

Now, now, Holly-san. Shadow-san wouldnt go without knowing the probability of success either.

s.h.i.+n calmed down Holly, who began to get angry after remembering those times.

Shadow was an a.s.sa.s.sin of a higher job cla.s.s, a s.h.i.+n.o.bu. Moreover, his average stats were more than 600. Though he didnt remodel his equipment randomly like s.h.i.+n had, if he used the equipment he possessed, which were above the Legend grade, he could wipe out some of the tougher monsters instantly.

Sigh, so I was looking for Shadow in a hurry, and when I found him, he was turning mountains of monster corpses into cards. The other adventurers were stunned. Because they were A ranked, they were somehow convinced of the explanation that he was a Chosen One.

After that, I went to visit several places together with Holly. Along the way, I received a report from Gold Company, and met Hibineko again here.

Beretts messenger, who was searching for former players, seemed to have had contacted him.

As Shadow and Holly had been a.s.sociated with s.h.i.+n in the game, they seemed to have judged that there would be no danger even if they came into contact. If it was only Shadow, they may have had chosen to wait.

After this and that, I decided to open a shop here.

Both of them had their cooking skill at level VII, so their business seemed to be thriving.

They also seemed to partnering up with Hibinekos shop, and both issued coupons that could be used at each others shops.

Come to think of it, how much time has pa.s.sed since Holly-san came here? You said a while ago that there was a difference between when the two of you arrived.

s.h.i.+n suddenly spoke what came to his mind.

There was a time lag of approximately one month between Holly and Shadows deaths. s.h.i.+n thought about in what way it influenced the time they arrived here.

Ive been here for 30 years as of this year

As for me, I came here about 10 years after Holly.

If thats the case, is it about 10 years per month?

But the person who had almost the same time of death as me came here more than a decade before me. This seems to be different for each individual. Some came here more than 100 years ago, and there are people who have already reached the end of their life span, too.

Though s.h.i.+n had calculated the approximate conversion from their story, his hypothesis was denied by Holly. By the way, it had been about 40 years since Hibineko had arrived here.

s.h.i.+n, do you think Marino-chan will come here?

Holly!

s.h.i.+n stopped Shadow, who tried to scold Holly.

Its okayTo be honest, its a fifty-fifty; I feel like I want her to be here, but I also feel like I dont. Of course, I want to meet her again, but then I would completely lose my intention to return to the former world.

There were many things that s.h.i.+n had left behind in the real world.

His parents who had raised him, his brother and sister, his close friends; the list could go on forever.

Even though he had no relatives in this world, he wasnt terribly unhappy.

Still, although he had come to this world that looked just like the game, the real world was not something so unimportant for s.h.i.+n that he could discard it easily.

Therefore, if there was a scale between the choices of Stay or Return, he still inclined toward Return for now.

He must pa.s.s on the messages entrusted to him by the people who had died in the death game to their bereaved families; it was a promise he must fulfil if he returned to the real world.

But, as he spent time in this world, the scales in s.h.i.+n slowly, but surely, moved. They were slowly moving away from the choice to Return.

There were so many charms in this world. He had overwhelming power that separated him from others, Schnee, who loved him, and former Rokuten followers who still showed him loyalty.

Even if the dangerous living conditions were extremely different from the real world, it was not a great threat to s.h.i.+n.

He desired to travel freely around the world that had undergone a great change; it would be a lie if he denied that.

In addition, it was possible to reunite with the players who had died the more he spent time in this world, the number the bonds he had with its inhabitants increased.

If he found out that Marino was here, the scale would probably sway greatly to one side.

Well, in the first place, theres also the problem of whether I can return or not.

Youre right. But you were able to come here, so there must be a method, no?

As I expected, the gate of the dungeon is the matter of concern. Although it doesnt necessarily mean that youll have to pa.s.s through it again, its possible that youd be able to return if you find yourself in a similar scenario.

The two people replied seriously to s.h.i.+ns words.

From the contents of their discussion, they seemed to agree that s.h.i.+n should return to the original world.

There are stories that the Ley Lines may be related to it, but its still not enough information. From now on, Ill go around looking up more information here and there. (T/N: changed Earth Pulse to Ley Line)

Let us help when possible.

I wont be reserved then.

Shadow and Holly expressed a gentle smile.

Afterwards, s.h.i.+n left the shop after hearing the tales about the two, the countries they had been to, and so forth.

s.h.i.+n has left.

Yes, though we met again, s.h.i.+n has completely returned to his former self.

After s.h.i.+n left the shop, Shadow answered Hibineko, who put away the gla.s.ses as he spoke, with a look that seemed somehow relieved.

Was he that terrible?

Yes, though its not my place to say, all I can say is that he has changed. Its because in the past he had no hesitation to cut down a person.

I also heard the storieshe didnt seem like someone who would do something like that.

Among the three people, only Shadow had known the desolate s.h.i.+n. Hibineko and Holly, on the other hand, could not imagine that s.h.i.+n wouldnt have hesitated to murder like Shadow had said.

Honestly speaking, Im surprised, too. The last time I saw s.h.i.+n, he would never have laughed with such an expression.

When he didnt show his power, s.h.i.+n currently looked like an ordinary young man who could be found anywhere.

He had retorted to Hibinekos and Hollys way of calling him, and was surprised when he had heard that Shadow and Holly had a child.

That was a natural reaction.

However, he didnt have such a natural reaction before. The s.h.i.+n whom Shadow had seen at that time had hardly ever changed his expression. Even when he had killed PKs, even if he had eaten delicious food, even if the player who had a.s.sisted him had died in front of him.

He had searched and killed PKs just like an a.s.sembly-line operation. If one were to say that he was a machine of that kind of purpose, one might understand how dangerous he truly had been.

Had this person changed before coming here only by chance? This was merely what Shadow believed.

Did something happen?

Im not sure, but there something certainly might have. Something that pulled s.h.i.+n here.

The three people could only guess. However, it was a good thing, or at least, they understood it to be a good thing. It also concerned the woman whom s.h.i.+n loved.

Marino-chan, will you come here?

I wonder. According to the story we heard from s.h.i.+n, her circ.u.mstances seemed slightly different from ours.

The two people didnt know the main reason behind why they had arrived here, except that it had to do with their death in the game, so their question couldnt be concluded.

If Mari-nyaa-san isnt here, what would the two of you want s.h.i.+n to do?

Hibineko asked Shadow and Holly while skillfully wiping the table with his short paw.

I guess he should return.

Agreed, I think so too.

The two people answered the casual question with the same response.

To the reply without hesitation, Hibineko stopped wiping the table. Because there were only three people in the shop at the moment, they could afford to talk a little.

Fumu, from our viewpoint, I think he should return if possible.

Why the hurry?

For now, s.h.i.+n still wants to return to the other side. But, will he be able to make the same choice after he has spent a long time here?

If Hibineko had came to this world without much company, he would probably have been able to return without hesitation.

However, Hibineko had already spent more than 40 years in this world. Even if he could return to the original world with s.h.i.+n, he would no longer choose too.

If he didnt have much longer to live in real world like we do, then the choice to spend the rest of his time here is not bad even if it possible for him to return. But s.h.i.+n is still young. I dont think I want him to remain in this world where the end is unknown.

Youre right. If he had been here for a long time, he would likely not want to go home.

But unlike us, s.h.i.+n is not dead. There should be something he left behind, right?

Still, you can also say that, unlike us, s.h.i.+n is the strongest in this world. Besides, I wonder if hell be able to turn down the love of a woman as beautiful as Schnee.

The current age was called the stress society. People wanted to be bound by no one, and do whatever they wanted. But at the same time, as people who lived in the real world, they also had to consider everyone elses feelings. There were many people who wished to live while doing the things they liked and forgetting the unpleasant things.

This world is indeed really convenient for s.h.i.+n.

Shadow and Holly couldnt deny Hibinekos words because what he had said also applied to themselves.

In the end, it depends on s.h.i.+n, huh?

Indeed. Personally, I want his parents to feel relieved.

Its because he carried everyones expectations all by himself. I wonder how things will turn out if Mari-nyaa isnt here.

Since the beginning of the death game, the three knew that various unreasonable things had been forced upon s.h.i.+n; they recalled s.h.i.+n had suppressed himself because of that power at that time. His stats had been high by chance, but because of that, he had been forced to clear the game. It couldnt be helped that s.h.i.+n had laughed with a tired look on his face.

It might have ended up differently if everyone had begun from the same starting line. However, with the exception of s.h.i.+n, the best stats of the advanced players had only just began to exceed 800 in those days. s.h.i.+ns stats was about 200 points above theirs.

200 ability differences in THE NEW GATE would only cause other players to become a hindrance to s.h.i.+n, even if he made a party. The difference in damage dealt, movement speed, defense, and so on was obvious. Only a small number of players reached advanced levels in the first place.

The story was different when he fought against big armies of monsters and cooperated with multiple parties, but there was not enough s.p.a.ce for many players to fight together in dungeons. This had especially been true in the last dungeon.

In addition, in the situation where it wasnt possible to revive after death, it would take over a year to train other players to s.h.i.+ns level. The players who had wanted to log out as soon as possible had ganged up and demanded that s.h.i.+n quickly cleared the game.

I hope we can be of help to him in the case of an emergency.

Its frustrating, right?

They couldnt do anything for the young man who had fought the death game in solitude.

The adults were worried.

Now then, shall I return to the inn soon?

s.h.i.+n, who had left Nyan Da Land, muttered and headed toward the inn.

Although his talk with Shadow and the others had diverted his mind to some extent, he still didnt know what he would do when he met Schnee.

He opened the door of the Red Tail while feeling a little depressed, received the key, went to his room without meeting anyone on the way, and arrived at his room.

A short time later, someone knocked on his room door. When he had received the key earlier, he had also asked for water. He then received a bucket of water from a woman. The bucket looked heavy, but the woman had carried it with ease.

He soaked a towel after using magic to warm the water, and wiped down his body. Toilets were becoming popular, but baths still seemed to be difficult to reproduce. s.h.i.+n, who didnt understand the technical side of things, couldnt do anything but hope it was built quickly.

I should sleep.

He had nothing else to do in particular, so he decided to go to sleep.

Did the matter with Schnee have a lasting effect on him? He wasnt able to bring himself to do anything.

He crawled into the futon. s.h.i.+ns consciousness faded into sleep unexpectedly smoothly.