Don Quixote's Reverie (10)
???-Grade Reward Selection Ticket.
The ticket I had obtained through a hidden quest during the last midterm exam.
Only unknown characters were written across the smooth black paper.
'This might be the rarest item I own...'
This kind of ticket had not existed in the original.
The same went for the items listed as possible rewards.
Grade Demotion Ticket, Cooldown Reset Ticket... They were items that had never existed in the original.
It had no fixed acquisition route, and whether I would ever get another chance to obtain one later was a complete mystery.
Its performance had already been proven.
[Damaged Item Repair Ticket x1], the reward I chose last time.
Back then, I had torn that ticket and evolved my exclusive weapon into an Ego Weapon.
'Lua was born then.'
Honestly, it was an absurd effect.
To think a single ticket could upgrade an ordinary weapon into a growth-type Ego Weapon...
'That breaks the balance.'
An item standing above the original system.
And two of those had been given as rewards.
'I still have one left.'
You could say I had saved it for this very moment.
So I could force a buy-one-get-one event through Lumiera's mirror.
My mouth twisted slightly.
The bug I was about to use flashed through my mind.
[Title: Bug I found today]
[Author: BugfinderForLife]
This is a bug I found today.
Successfully duplicated the SSS-grade item 'Divine Bow.'
Recording attached at the bottom of the post.
[Have you arrived... GOAT]
-> It is time for regular worship
-> Organic compound GOAT...
-> GOAT among all intelligent lifeforms created since Genesis...
-> Aah... GOAT greater even than Willis Carrier in summertime...
[My Bible is here]
-> We were waiting only for your words...
[Everyone is making such a fucking fuss]
-> Haa... what's there to see in some bug strategy post like this...
-> (frog meme with both eyes popping through sunglasses)
-> CLAAAANG!!!!!!
[???? No, how did you even do this???]
-> Isn't that mirror only able to copy up to B-grade?
-> What the fuck do you have to do for an SSS-grade item to get duplicated??
-> Does this work with other items too? Did you try it with other SSS-grade ones?
-> BugfinderForLife) Of course.
-> .....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[YoufuckinggameaddictbastardwhereareyoualwaysfindingthisshitIloveyousomuchforreal]
-> Ahem... public marriage proposals must wait in line
-> Everyone is waiting their turn, so cutting in is a problem
-> Yes, you have opened your eyes. Join the BugfinderRearEntranceTargetingGroup.
-> BugfinderForLife) Why the fuck does something like that even exist?
One of the bugs I had found in my previous life.
Among them, this one had drawn some of the hottest reactions.
'Duplication Bug.'
More precisely, it used a judgment error to copy items above the allowed grade.
I looked back and forth between the items in both hands.
[Mirror That Recreates Images]
[???-Grade Reward Selection Ticket]
Only my face was reflected on its clean surface.
I moved my hand without hesitation.
Holding the ticket straight, I slowly rubbed it across the mirror.
In this process, there could not be even the slightest deviation.
Ding!
[This is not an applicable target!]
[This is not an applicable target!]
[This is not an applicable target!]
[This is not an applicable target!]
The mirror kept rejecting the ticket.
But I paid it no mind and maintained a steady rhythm.
Squeak, squeak.
'Seven times to the left, five times to the right, then three times to the left again...'
I repeated it for a long while.
Had about thirty minutes passed like that?
A very different message appeared before my eyes.
Ding!
[This is an applicable target!]
[The mirror recreates the image reflected in it!]
It went through.
As the bug took effect, a faint haze shimmered beside the mirror.
Ding!
[Designated item: ???-Grade Reward Selection Ticket]
[Would you like to duplicate this item?]
[Yes / No]
I manipulated the screen without hesitation.
My finger clicked [Yes], and pure white light burst from the surface.
Fwaaaah!
Right after that, the mirror's form slowly collapsed.
The light lost its shape and began to resemble what it had seen.
The transparent form turned black, and its thickness thinned until it was like paper.
[Duplication complete.]
Before long, identical tickets rested in both of my hands.
The mirror had successfully completed the duplication.
To the naked eye, they were almost impossible to tell apart.
I examined the tickets for a moment, then quietly tucked both of them into my robe.
'I'll save them.'
The one ticket had become two.
Using the selection ticket just because I was excited would be something only an amateur would do.
Since I had no idea what would happen in the future, these tickets had to be used with care.
'It's about time... the original starts going off course too.'
I supposed you could call it the butterfly effect.
About five months had already passed since I started getting seriously involved in the scenario.
I had been running around resolving all sorts of disasters, so it was about time for the New Kingdom and the Cultists to make their move.
'The future ahead will be different from the original.'
A little, or maybe a lot.
That meant disasters I knew nothing about would descend on the world.
In a situation like that, I also needed to keep a few joker cards in hand.
'If I pick some random reward without thinking, I can't have a different item turn out to be necessary later...'
I would take out the tickets and use them one by one as needed.
And unless it was truly the last possible moment, I would save them.
'The mood feels wrong.'
It was not only the butterfly effect that would soon arrive.
The being I had faced here in the courtroom today.
'Delkirn.'
The Evil God, Delkirnos.
Meeting that thing had eaten away at one corner of my heart with unease.
It had left only a few incomprehensible words behind, so countless questions still lingered in my head.
'What is that thing's goal...?'
It would not have appeared before me for no reason.
On top of that, the message that had appeared in the status window last time also bothered me.
When I entered Raziel's Library and searched for a book related to Delkirn, these phrases had appeared.
[Tip. Child.]
[Tip. Whose po҉̨̜̰̳͉̳͓҇͌̇̑ͅwer҉̲͈̣̬͙͎̽̈́̅̿̅̓̑́̕͢ͅ do you think that is?]
Looking back, the tone was strangely similar.
I was not certain, but there was a high chance it was a message sent by Delkirn.
'Power? The power I use...?'
If it was a power specific to me, only one thing came to mind.
Bug.
The thing called [Windfall] within the system.
But that was just an error from the original game...
'What did that mean?'
Had it not all been an error?
Were the bugs I had used so far one authority called [Windfall], and did the origin of that authority lie with Delkirn?
'No way.'
Then what would that mean?
Was it all right to keep using this power?
Also, could I trust the status window that displayed Delkirn's message?
No, to begin with, by what principle did this status window exist for me?
'Is it connected to the fact that I suddenly fell into this world?'
Maybe.
Maybe Delkirn was behind all those questions.
"......"
That was quite a leap.
Still, it was worth putting up as a hypothesis and thinking over.
'I'll have to think about it.'
If I did not reason things out, I would only get swept along by the situation.
I always had to understand things and try to control them.
I cooled my heated head.
I stood a little farther away and looked down at the situation with a wider view.
First.
The premise I had to figure out above all else.
'Is Delkirn really hostile to me?'
Because of the title Evil God, and because we had clashed until just now, I had missed something.
Something was strange.
Assuming every deduction I had made up to now was correct, that was.
Why had Delkirn given me the system known as the status window?
Why had Delkirn allowed me to use that authority?
In a strange way, did that not look like Delkirn was helping me?
'The attack earlier was strange too.'
Had Delkirn really been trying to kill us?
Was a being with the name of a god attached really only able to produce that much power?
'If Delkirn couldn't use full strength because the judge's body was borrowed, then I can't say it makes no sense...'
It did not sit right.
Without thinking, I touched my right cheek.
A fairly large scar bloomed all the way down below my jaw.
'If... this is still only an assumption, but.'
What if Delkirn was not my enemy?
If that was true,
'......Then what am I fighting?'
My thoughts stretched on for no reason.
But this was not a subject that would give me an easy answer.
I set aside the deductions I had been chewing over and decided to leave the courtroom for now.
'It won't be too late to think after returning.'
I had stayed up for two whole nights, so my mind was not in a normal state.
First, I needed to return and get some rest.
I steadied my steps when I almost staggered.
With Ranne, who had been lying in one corner of the courtroom, on my back, I stepped onto the stairs leading to the exit.
"Haa..."
One last long breath left me.
Soon, pure white light wrapped around us.
Fwaaaah!
Then the familiar mechanical sound rang out.
My vision grew distant, and a blue screen appeared.
Ding!
[Hidden space 'Lumiera's Temple' has been cleared.]
[Chi҈̧̰̤̣̓͛̈́̌̊̃͝ld.]
[I will be wa҈̢̛͈̠̱͉͙̈́͋̉̊̆͐̎iting҉̨͇͍͚̊̊͝ for you in the da҈̛̱̣͚͔͍̍̓̐̌̀̈́͑͋͜ys to come.]
And so.
The long, long two-day clear came to an end.
***
Meanwhile.
Kihano County was in a state of emergency.
Two days since Viktor had gone missing.
One day since Ranne had gone missing.
The count's household had launched a large-scale search to find the two of them.
Even amid the raging snowstorm, search party tents had been set up across the North.
The girls were there among them.
"Still nothing visible in that dream of yours?"
"No... I can't connect to Viktor or Lady Kihano."
"Where the hell did those bastards get dragged off to? I feel like we've searched every suspicious place already..."
Carmilla.
Alice.
Caitlin.
The children had likewise stayed awake for two straight nights.
Every one of their faces was full of exhaustion.
The search across the North had continued without rest.
Yet they had not even found a trace of the missing two.
Deeply rooted anxiety gnawed little by little at the group.
"......Sniff."
Alice suddenly held back a sob.
The worst possible outcome had been circling inside her head the entire time.
And though they did not say it, the other children felt the same.
"......"
"......"
Silence settled inside the tent.
Time made thoughts stretch longer, and lengthened thoughts reached out like nightmares.
The longer the search for the two dragged on, the more anxious the children became.
"......We should search again."
Caitlin rose from the rock she had been sitting on.
Following her, Carmilla and Alice moved as well.
Just as they were about to set out on the search again.
Srrk.
Someone entered the tent.
The children's eyes turned toward the entrance.
"......"
"......"
"......Huh?"
Then their dazed pupils widened.
A familiar black-haired boy stood there.
"Ahem."
The boy gave a light fake cough.
A mask covered his face.
Golden hair rested across his back.
He paused for a moment, then waved at the girls.
"Um, well... should I say, I'm back?"
It was a greeting so playful it was almost silly.
Viktor smiled awkwardly.
One hand was pressed above his forehead like a salute.
"Affiliated with the Slayers. Garulik, and Unnieon. We have just returned safely from the Cultist Branch."
A survival report.
The children rushed at the boy a few seconds later.
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