kscans

Chapter 442 - Strolling in the Dark

Wrapped in the familiar blue light of teleportation—a few seconds later, my vision cleared to a scene that even my inhuman memory from the virtual world couldn't recognize….

Well, to be fair, I've never tried to memorize the details of a dense forest landscape. And also, can I say one thing?

"It's so daaaark…!?"

"Tell me about it."

My partner stole the thought I was about to murmur, and the words that left my half-open mouth became ones of agreement. Just as Nia, clinging to my sleeve, had said, it was ridiculously dark.

It was a garden of great trees that seemed to have no end in sight, reminiscent of the forest around the Safe Area. It's natural for a forest where countless trees block the light to be dim… but still, the darkness felt unnaturally deep.

The clock function—is it locked? In its place, at my command, a countdown from 126 hours appeared at the edge of my vision, ticking down every second.

How considerate, or maybe not. To roughly tell the current time during this event, it looks like I'll be looking up at the sky a lot… or so I thought….

No matter how deep the forest, if you look up, you should at least be able to see the sky—with that in mind, I casually tilted my head back. The moment I did, the 'strange thing' that jumped into my vision caused an immediate error report to flood my brain.

What in the world is going on up there?

"…Nia, look up."

"Eh, what—"

Whether she was scared of the dark or the forest, I decided to share the 'abnormality' with Nia, who was clinging to me and refusing to let go. Following my pointed finger, she too looked straight up… and had almost the exact same reaction as me.

"…Did the sky… disappear?"

"…Well, the parts in between could be called the sky, I guess?"

Lushly growing and overlapping in countless layers, the tree leaves formed a curtain. Peeking through the gaps, what lay 'beyond' was—a tiny, tiny image of the ground.

"It's like my common sense and perception are conflicting, and my brain is about to turn inside out."

"I know exactly what you mean…"

Right after the event started, this full-throttle fantasy unfolded. As I gave my favorable opinion, Nia swayed as if she were dizzy—

"Wah-hya!? W-What, what… what was that!?"

Startled by the feel of a large leaf falling on her head, she shrieked and jumped into the air.

—For now, let's stick to the original plan and start by looking for other participants.

Without any particular discussion, we walked through the forest for a while with that intention. We still haven't seen the end of the forest, or even a break in the trees, but… this is surprisingly fun.

Not flying or jumping, but walking side by side, has a nice atmosphere to it. On top of that, the artisan clinging to my side,

"Ah, the blue berries over there."

"Hmm, these?"

"Yep, yep. Those are ingredients for potions, the MP ones."

"Huh."

Is pointing out and explaining all the 'materials' I've never paid attention to before, one by one, so there's no room for boredom.

We can't see the full picture, or even a part of the event field 'Alvnikuro,' but for now, the vegetation and everything else seems to be the same as in the [Garden of Divine Creation].

Therefore, the materials that catch her eye are mostly things she knows, and the smug look on the indigo-haired girl's face as she explains is adorable. Maybe I should take another screenshot and send it to her.

"By the way, you can eat them as is for a tiiiny bit of recovery."

"Oh, really?"

Pluck, pop.

"Urgh… ghh…!!!"

"…But they're so astringent it's like hell on earth."

"Could you have… said that first?"

"I didn't think you'd just pop it in your mouth without any hesitation…"

I mean, it's a game, so I thought it would be silly to worry about hygiene….

"Also, by the way, you can get an upset stomach and even debuffs from that. Just like in the real world, no more thoughtless eating off the ground from now on, okay?"

"You're kidding me, Arcadia…"

The more I learn, the more I realize how ridiculously detailed this game is—oh, what a magnificent tree root. It's protruding so much, it's practically a wall.

"Being carried, being pulled up, or being thrown. Which do you prefer?"

"I'll be angry if you pick the third one."

More likely to cry than get angry… ah, yes, yes. Understood, my lady.

"…You really do things like this so casually."

"I don't do it for just anyone. And from now on, even less so."

Nia held out her arms like a small child asking to be picked up. I scooped her up, and with the strength of my main 'front' form, though not quite as much, I leaped over the massive root wall.

Even with this transfigured body, this much is nothing… well, to be fair, the effect of 《Luna Nobody, Guardian of the Shimmering Moon》 completely nullifies the burden of carrying Nia anyway.

After clearing the obstacle, I looked down into my arms to put her down—

"…When you react so honestly, it makes me feel a bit embarrassed too, you know."

"Shud… up! I'm tired of all these beast trails! Just carry me like this, come on, hurry up!!"

Her face flushed to a color unbecoming of her title, Nia thrashed about in a full-blown attempt to hide her embarrassment. The 'crimson' of the bracelet shining on her flailing right hand was the only thing that seemed to perfectly suit her right now.

"I mean, I don't mind, but… you know, the sight of this is pretty backwards, don't you think?"

"Being princess-carried by a beautiful girl acting all cool isn't so bad, in fact it's kind of hot, and to be honest since it's you inside that body it's a different kind of heart-pounding than usual, I mean—"

"Not listening, not listening, too long, too long. Good grief, just for five minutes, okay?"

"Ten minutes!"

"This one's really stopped hiding her desires, huh…"

—See? I told you so. Even though we're just walking through a dark forest, it's already so much fun that I don't know what to do.

I can't predict what will happen in the survival life that awaits us… but I had no doubt that it would be constantly lively and cheerful.