kscans

Chapter 806 - Interlude: The House-Sitting Chick

"It's frustrating, isn't it? Having no choice but to wait."

"Ah…"

By the side of [Green Connect], which had stirred the very earth with the simple act of lifting its eyelids as the raid began. Amidst the restless stirrings of the standby group, a massive force of several hundred players.

No, not amidst them. More like on the fringes, the very edge of the outside.

It was the usual. Although I have a fair number of friends and acquaintances, mainly among the artisans of my faction, I generally only interact with them freely in indirect spaces like the forums.

Even if I'm confident in my acting, I still have to practice at least a minimum of risk management. It's not that I never show my face at these gatherings, but I don't actively join the circle.

"I'm not exactly a war-and-festivals-loving kind of person myself, but when you're left behind like this, you feel a sense of loneliness you just can't ignore, you know?"

"……Um, well…"

And my friends and acquaintances understand that stance of mine. Because they understand, they don't try to drag me into their circles even if we're in the same place.

So, it was an unavoidable accident.

To have a vacant-sounding voice escape my lips when someone suddenly spoke to me while I was blankly staring up at the massive form of [Green Connect] without any particular thought.

"I'm sorry, but that's not me. My official job is to stay behind…"

Should I praise his skill, or glare at him with a smile and ask why? As if he were a child playing a prank, he had stealthily approached, and by the time I noticed, he was standing right beside me. I conveyed my difficulty in agreeing with him…

"You were a great help during the assault on the 'Garden of Blazing Heavens,' though."

"Oh, please stop. I was really just a fixture the whole time."

"Haha. And a truly, artistically piercing fixture you were, at that."

"Alright, that's enough, stop. This topic is over. I'm never being a backup again."

We had a connection from the past… or rather, looking back on it now, it was a connection forged by a forcefulness that was almost infuriating. About a year ago, this former ranker, with whom I had the pleasure of tackling a certain high-difficulty dungeon, smiled refreshingly.

Really, I wish he'd stop with the unnecessary flattery.

Unlike my best friend's (Nia's) thing, where she's always sleep-talking about how 'it's nothing special,' my own skills are, in fact, nothing special.

That 'Garden of Blazing Heavens' was probably the one and only place in this virtual world where I could truly shine. That's fine. I'm perfectly happy to have fulfilled my role safely—

"………………—Well, it's been two hours."

"So it has."

And so, putting aside such utterly trivial matters as truly trivial.

"Would it be safe to assume things are going smoothly?"

"Who knows. At the very least, they've already far surpassed the previous record… but there's always the possibility that the entire raid could be spat back out at any moment."

Two hours have passed since the large-scale unit, which included my best friend, my family, and my quasi-family, entered the domain of Arcadia's greatest content, the [Colored Monster].

It must be an amazing feat.

Even I can understand that much—but still. Unfortunately, this little chick, who is genuinely out of the loop when it comes to talk of raids and the like, can only grasp the current situation in a fuzzy way.

So,

"I can't seem to calm down."

"…You might be the calmest one here, you know."

"That's just because I'm so infinitely out of place that I haven't really processed any of it."

These words weren't me trying to act composed; they were, without a doubt, my honest feelings and the truth of the matter… but perhaps it's better to just accept it.

His name is Lotta, the [Insider]—a player whose very title speaks of his ' discerning eye' in various senses, and whose default mode is to test and measure both things and people.

My 'form' in this virtual world is singular. I'm nothing more than a frail little chick who became an Arcadia player just to be by my precious best friend's side.

So please, feel free.

"I hope everyone does their best."

"I agree. Your master too—"

"Hayassan? Eh, I don't really care about him."

"……And yet, he's a man who deserves to be praised."

Even if he tries to probe my inner thoughts, the only thing that will come out of this chick's belly is a top-secret secret, no joke. That's why I'm not afraid, even when that [Insider] turns his curious eyes on me.

Even in the one-in-a-million chance he saw through to my true identity, his position means he would… for his own sake, have to lock his own lips, tightly and securely.

"And what about Haru?"

"He's escorting my best friend. If he doesn't do a perfect job, I'll have to give him a piece of my mind."

"…Haha. As always, my favorite seems to be having trouble with women."

So close, yet so far. This side and that side, separated by the wall of the domain.

Here, where several hundred people—including two who were less than friends, barely acquaintances—waited for the raid's return… and hopefully, their triumphant return, each person holding their own thoughts, or perhaps sharing them.

The brave warriors have yet to return, not a single one.