The forest of [Planarium].
I'm walking with Soliette, sipping coffee.
"Where do you think the ticket is, Shion?"
"I'm not sure."
「Treasure Hunter」 isn't working either. Well, achievement points aren't exactly treasure.
"I've been scattering my senses around."
"I see. Show me."
Soliette has been in Magic Body activation mode since earlier. So, it's hot being next to her. It feels like an egg or potato could cook if placed near her.
Gurgle────!
"...."
Gurgle───!
"...."
Perhaps due to that, her stomach growls are even louder.
"Didn't it sound like two wild boars just appeared somewhere?"
I was joking.
"...Shion thinks so too? I thought I saw them as well."
Somehow, this doesn't seem like a joke.
In the meantime, we arrived at the farm.
"Let's eat first and think... What's this?"
I looked at the sign of the [Ascal Farm]. There was a reservation board hanging on the corner that wasn't there before.
"It looks like a reservation board. Someone must have made it and left."
On the paper drawn on the corkboard is my face. Names are listed below it.
It seems like Layla did this on her own.
Surely, Layla is the first in the reservation order.
[Ascal Farm Reservation Board!!]
[It would be nice if the owner wrote the business hours here!! When do you make money if you're always off?!! When do we eat?!!]
[If you don't follow the reservation order, there will be a big problem!! << Seriously!!! << Real fact!!]
[1. Layla]
[2. Kain]
[3. Asher]
[4. Mel]
[5. Elise]
When did Elise come and go?
I opened the farm gate. But there was a person lying on the ground.
"...Oh, you startled me."
It was Gerkhen.
"What are you doing? I thought you were a corpse."
Like a larva in a sleeping bag. He sluggishly got up, looking at me. I narrowed my eyes.
"Are you trespassing?"
"You seem to have forgotten. I have a stake here. 10%."
"...Oh, right."
I stood in the kitchen of the farm. I turned on the faucet that Grawl had installed. As I washed my hands in the running water, I asked.
"Hey Gerkhen. Have you eaten?"
"No."
Gerkhen quickly shook his head as if he had been waiting for this.
"Wait. I'll make something."
"...Do I have to pay?"
"No. You have a stake, and Soliette is a party member, so it's free."
"No, I will pay. I've received too much from Shion already."
Soliette quickly waved her hand.
"Alright then. It's 300AP."
She's strangely stubborn about things like this. There's no need to try to persuade her unnecessarily.
"Yes. Thank you."
This is the first time I've heard someone say thank you for letting them pay.
I opened Gerkhen's refrigerator. There was quite a lot of large meat inside.
"Oh. You've stocked up on meat?"
"...."
Gerkhen silently clenched his jaw.
I'm so good at this job – what a face.
"Right. If you keep the ingredients stocked, I'll keep cooking for free-"
"Confirmed."
"..."
He's very quick to respond when it benefits him.
...
Salmon salad. Mushroom soup. Wild boar tomahawk steak. Mango ice cream.
We indulged in four generous dishes.
"Shion. It was really delicious."
Soliette placed her hand on her belly with a satisfied face. Gerkhen was still savoring the mango ice cream.
How long is he going to eat that one thing?
"Shall we go find the ticket now?"
I got up. Then, Gerkhen placed a ticket on the desk.
"Consider it the cost of the meal."
"Oh?!"
I quickly reached out and picked up the ticket. It was no ordinary ticket. For starters, its size was almost like two cellphones put together.
"Where did you find it?"
"..."
Then Soliette suddenly rummaged through her belongings. It seemed like she was looking for something to give.
"I found it luckily here and there."
He spoke modestly, but he probably found it using 「Scrying Perception」.
I carefully examined the ticket.
It looked more like a small map than a ticket. The surrounding radius was marked, and a green dot in the center was twinkling.
"Isn't this a map?"
"It seems so. The green dot represents the location of the person holding the ticket. If you move with the ticket, the displayed map also moves accordingly."
"Hmm..."
Gerkhen, who was explaining smoothly, left me speechless.
"It wasn't free for nothing. From here on, you can't figure it out alone, so let's find it together, right?"
"..."
He shuts up when it's not in his favor.
But it doesn't matter. It's not a loss for me; if it's beneficial, it's a gain.
"Alright. Let's see."
"Yes. I will really try my best."
Soliette, who apparently had nothing to give, widened her eyes. She stared hard at the ticket.
I also pondered while looking at the ticket.
"...Map."
Ticket.
Map and ticket.
Map inside the ticket.
Just as the three of us were concentrating as if using some superpower.
A red dot appeared at the edge of the map.
"Phew."
Soliette raised her hand, letting out a sigh of relief as if she had accomplished something.
"Shion. I think I found it. When I focus my magic on the pupil, I see a red dot."
"I see it too. It just seems to have appeared."
"Ah."
The red dot seemed to be approaching us. It blinked threateningly.
I followed the movement of the dot.
Suddenly, the words of the stone statue this morning came to mind.
──It's a game of hide and seek! Now, let's find it! The lucky ones might even get an 'exit pass'!
"...Wait."
I rewound part of the stone statue's words.
──It's a game of hide and seek!
"Stone statue. You said it's a game of hide and seek, right?"
"Yes. That's what it said. It's a game of hide and seek."
Soliette chimed in.
The red dot and hide and seek.
──It's a game of hide and seek!
"Hide and seek..."
Hide and seek.
The red dot slowly approaching.
The seeker.
"...This."
I held up the ticket.
If the goal was to find the ticket itself, it would have been a treasure hunt, not hide and seek.
"It seems to be chasing the ticket."
Then, this red dot is not simply getting closer.
It's pursuing us.
"Hey, Gerkhen. If you have this ticket, that is, just having it means…"
"─You're participating in the test."
Gerkhen finished my sentence for me. I nodded in agreement.
"Right. So, it seems like if you have this ticket, you're being chased by 'it'."
"'Destination' must be a place you can enter with this ticket. It means you're safe once you find that place."
"Exactly."
Gerkhen and I completed the hypothesis together.
Soliette muttered in a base tone.
"I should also get a ticket soon."
"But who is 'it'?"
I looked outside the vinyl house.
If 'it' is easy, we should be able to handle it to some extent.
"...Let's see."
I slightly opened the farm door.
The location of the red dot marked on the map. I activated the SZX-9500 while looking in that direction.
Zzzzzzzz──.
The view stretched out in an instant.
Passing through the grass, trees, and squirrels in the forest.
Some entity moving forward with a creaking sound was detected.
"...What."
I was taken aback.
Is that it?
"What is it, Shion?"
A black full-Plate-mail wrapped in chains. A knight gripping a sword in one hand, covered in armor from head to toe.
"Soliette. You know 'Death', right?"
"'Death'?"
The Knight of Death.
"Death Knight."
"...We usually don't shorten it to 'Death'."
"Let's move for now. We're in big trouble if we get caught."
The monster-class beast, Death Knight, is definitely not a beast to deal with at the senior level. The farm could be destroyed for no reason.
"Let's go. To play hide and seek.... But before that."
I took out my bag.
"Just in case, let's take all the food here."
* * *
We ran through the mountains of [Planarium].
"Keep looking at the ticket while running."
But it's meaningless to just keep running. The red dot is still pursuing us, so we need to find the 'destination' quickly.
"I can't see the ticket. I can't see it."
Soliette, the only one without a ticket, responded anxiously.
Anyway, while Gerkhen and I were running, looking at the ticket.
"...Wait."
Suddenly, something caught my eye.
I stopped in the rocky area. Gerkhen and Soliette also stopped.
"Hey. This is the ticket."
While leaning my hand on the huge rock, I flicked the ticket.
"Isn't it somewhat translucent?"
Then Soliette muttered while looking around the terrain.
"Ticket...."
"Gerkhen. Isn't it?"
I didn't notice when I was in the farm, but outside in the sunlight, slightly translucent parts are revealed.
"Give me your ticket."
"Here."
I took Gerkhen's ticket.
I overlaid that ticket on top of my ticket.
"...As I thought."
I clapped my hands.
"Here. I found it."
"Where? Show me too."
Soliette and Gerkhen peered in.
When two tickets overlap at the exact same location, a specific part of the map is marked with an 'X'.
"So it is."
"Oh, right. There's more than one."
To be precise, there are four.
"We should go to the closest one. Let's go."
I just nodded, and suddenly, the eyes of Soliette and Gerkhen widened.
"…!"
"What!"
They stepped back, looking at me.
"What?"
"Sh, Shion. Your head. On your head…."
I looked up.
There's nothing there.
"It's your scalp, your scalp."
"Scalp?"
I pulled out my smartphone from my pocket. I looked above my head in selfie mode.
"…What is this."
A tree trunk had grown on my scalp.
Upon closer inspection, it was hair.
My hair had grown like a tree trunk… and was bearing some sort of 'fruit'.
Thud-
A fruit fell from the end of the trunk. My hair returned to its original state.
"…Ah. So that's how it is."
It must be the 「Enchantment: Good Fruitful Body」. An enchantment I brought from [Bethune].
"What are you."
"…Is it really Shion?"
Thanks to that, Soliette and Gerkhen suddenly doubted me.
Especially Soliette, who bit her lip with a base expression.
"Could it be… 'The Abyss'?"
"What are you talking about. I'm Shion… Oh shit!"
I casually looked at the ticket and was startled.
The red dot was rapidly approaching. As if it had teleported.
Boom───!
An ominous vibration rang out.
I quickly turned around.
…Clink!
The rattling of chains. The resonance of the fading magic was on a different level from other monsters.
It's a Death Knight.
"Run!"
Whoosh────!
Something like a scythe flew and cut the rock like tofu.
We ducked and ran. I even rolled the dice.
[2]
Added to Agility!
Whooshhhhh───!
The destination is the 'X' marked on the ticket. We ran as fast as we could, and the Death Knight pursued us fiercely.
Is it that fast when it detects an enemy with its naked eye? It's too good at playing tag.
"There it is!"
The location marked on the ticket's map.
Between the bushes in the mountains, a door was cleverly hidden.
We barely made it. We quickly opened the door and rushed in.
"I thought I was going to die."
"Phew…."
"…."
The three of us exhaled heavily.
"Shion. Are you okay?"
Soliette asked.
"Yeah. For now."
I tried to calm my heart and close the door, but something was wrong.
It wouldn't close.
It didn't budge at all.
"…What's this. Why is it like this. Hey, this won't close!"
"What? That can't be!"
Soliette grabbed the doorknob. No matter how much she pulled, it didn't move.
Roarrrrrrr───!
Beyond the horizon, the Death Knight was coming, scattering a crimson aura. A persistent pursuer.
In that urgent situation, I suddenly looked above the door.
I found some numbers written there.
[2]
2.
2 people.
Only 2 people.
It wouldn't close because three people had entered.
"Grrrr…!"
I looked at Soliette in front of me, her red hair tied up, struggling to close the door with the knob clenched in her hand.
"…Soliette."
"Yes. Trust me. I'll close it!"
Soliette was trying to pull the door closed, even activating her Magic Body.
It was about to break.
I put my hand on her back.
"No. That's not it. You're fine because you don't have a ticket."
"What do you mean I'm fine… Ah?"
Soliette, who seemed to have realized something, turned to look at me.
"Take a break outside."
I'll handle this.
"…Wait, wait-"
I pushed her back hard.
Very hard.
Losing her balance, Soliette fell forward, and bang-!
The door closed on its own.
"Phew."
I turned around, wiping my sweat.
"…"
Gerkhen was standing there.
His subtle eyes were somehow piercing.
"People without tickets are safer outside. You know that."
"I know. I would have done the same if I were you."
See? Even Gerkhen agrees.
I looked around the interior.
"There's nothing here, is there?"
It's a very small cave. A cave that would be packed with 4-5 people.
That's it.
"It doesn't seem to be the destination."
After all, the door opens even without a ticket. It's just a hideout where you can catch your breath.
"No. There's a passage over there."
Gerkhen pointed somewhere.
"Oh, really?"
There was a hole-like passage.
As I approached to look inside.
Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump───!
The sound of knocking on the door echoed from outside.
"…That's a surprise."
"…"
Gerkhen was also taken aback.
We silently looked at the door.
"Well… nothing will-"
Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang──────────!
"…"
"…"
Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang──────────!
Watching that inexplicable phenomenon quietly, I spoke to Gerkhen first.
"It's the Death Knight, isn't it?"
Gerkhen nodded.
"Yes. It must be the Death Knight."
Soliette couldn't be like that.
…Let's think that way for now.