Chapter 59: The Hundred-Pace Ceremony (1)

The blue-haired girl grinned and climbed onto the carriage.

"Great! This is how it's done!"

Without waiting for anyone to stop her, she plopped her bottom into Poppie's lap.

Then, she leaned back against Poppie's chest, looking as comfortable as if she were sitting on a fluffy chair.

It looked as if a father had placed his young daughter on his lap.

Of course, their relationship was not that of father and daughter, and the fact that they had just met today was the problem.

Startled by the blue-haired girl's sudden action, Yurie was surprised, and Poppie, even more so, turned as stiff as a rock.

On the other hand, the blue-haired girl, delighted, chattered away.

"Wow, this is more comfortable than I thought! It feels like sitting on a soft chair! If this continues... hmm?"

As she chattered, the blue-haired girl suddenly gripped something she felt on her thigh.

"What's this?"

Startled—!

The moment the blue-haired girl's hand tightened, Poppie, with a very perplexed expression, trembled.

"I'm... I'm hungry!"

Rumble—.

"Huh? What's this? It's suddenly getting bigger?"

Poppie's face, and even his scalp, turned bright red, like a boiled octopus.

"I'm... I'm so... hungry...!"

He let out a strange cry and grabbed the blue-haired girl's waist, throwing her into the air.

The force was so strong that the girl rose several meters into the air.

"What, what?!"

Landing gracefully on the carriage after a somersault in the air, she blinked in confusion.

Meanwhile, Poppie...

"I'm hungry. I'm hungry. I'm hungry. I'm hungry. I'm hungry. I'm hungry. I'm hungry..."

He hugged his legs tightly and repeated "I'm hungry" rapidly, like a song.

"What? Why is he like that?"

The girl, unaware of what she had done, tilted her head in confusion.

On the other hand, Yurie, who had watched the entire scene from nearby, realized something.

"...A pervert..."

She sensed that a new type of crazy person had appeared around her.

* * *

The sight of 100 carriages lined up and racing through the forest was truly spectacular.

Leading the procession was a carriage occupied by a one-eyed man.

He lay alone, occupying the space for four people, swinging his legs.

Enjoying the ride with his eyes closed, he suddenly opened them.

"Hmm?"

In his narrow field of vision, a black dot was rapidly approaching from the front.

As it got closer, the black dot turned into a black sword soldier, who then leaped onto the carriage where the one-eyed man was sitting.

Thud.

The black sword soldier, a woman in her late thirties with a dignified appearance, appeared suddenly.

The one-eyed man greeted her casually.

"Did you come?"

"Deputy Commander."

She bowed slightly, a subordinate of the one-eyed man.

She was also the one who complemented the one-eyed man's lackadaisical approach to work, and was known among his subordinates as "Mom."

Today, she had come to report on the tasks she had completed on his behalf, and her voice was slightly sharp.

"What are you doing here, Deputy Commander?"

"Just lying down."

"The ceremony is just around the corner, you need to prepare."

"What preparation? And can't you see I'm working?"

"What work?"

"I'm leading the rookies, aren't I?"

"...Isn't that something you can just delegate to anyone? This is much more important than that, you know!"

"Since it's so important, it's better for you to handle it. Don't you think, Mom?"

"..."

The woman's lips trembled as she looked at the grinning one-eyed man.

It was a face that suggested she would have slapped him if he weren't her superior.

Struggling to control her anger, she managed to straighten her twisted lips.

And she remembered her duty.

"Hmm... I'll report."

"Go ahead."

"The preliminary practice for the ceremony is complete, and everyone is on standby."

"Good job. Go and wait there. Oh! Are you coming with me? It's quite charming, you know."

The one-eyed man patted the seat next to him, but the woman did not budge.

She still had more to report.

In fact, she had come mainly to report this.

"...I'll report."

"Huh? Didn't you finish?"

"On January 1st, the usage record of the first-year special discount store was confirmed."

"What? So, it's supposed to be used, and of course, there should be records... Wait, what?!"

The one-eyed man, who had been about to dismiss it, suddenly sat up in surprise.

"First-year, you said?"

"I said first-year."

"...A first-year used the special discount store on the mainland that day?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"..."

The one-eyed man was speechless.

The first-year special discount store.

For decades, no one had used it, and it existed for one reason.

To serve as a hidden quest.

The quests given by the Cradle come in many forms, and among them are various hidden quests not officially provided by the Cradle.

The first-year special discount store was one such hidden quest.

Discovering the existence of the hidden first-year special discount store and using it.

The "First-Year Special Discount Store Quest" had been around for decades, but no one knew who proposed it.

And until now, there had been no record of a first-year using the special discount store.

Not once.

'Perhaps this quest wasn't meant to be completed.'

Thus, the Cradle had designated the "First-Year Special Discount Store Quest" as "impossible to complete."

As a result, it might soon disappear.

But someone had just completed it.

'Who could it be...?'

At that moment, a name suddenly came to mind.

The one-eyed man asked in a low voice.

"By any chance, is the first-year who used the special discount store... Yurie Holland?"

"How did you know?"

"..."

The "what if" turned into "indeed."

As they say, "fear attracts."

"...It's that kid again."

What on earth is he up to?

He went to the mainland and then returned to the Forest of Beginnings.

Not only that, he even raided the black sword soldier's base, and even his tent?

He was curious about how the kid had traveled between the mainland and the Cradle.

But more than that, he was curious about what was in the kid's head and how he thought.

The one-eyed man, who had been shaking his head, suddenly remembered something and asked with a stiff face.

"Did you... put that in this year's first-year special discount store?"

The woman nodded as if she had expected the question.

"Are you talking about the Golem's Vision?"

"Y-Yes! That!"

"Yes, I did."

"Why?"

"Why? Because you told me to. I asked you three times if it was really to be included."

The deputy commander was speechless at the blunt answer.

It wasn't wrong, so he nodded with a grim face.

"...I did, I just told you to fill it in as one of the items."

The better the quest's difficulty, the better the reward.

Usually, the best rewards come from high-difficulty quests performed by fifth-years.

But this first-year special discount store quest was designated as "impossible to complete."

The reward was the ability to buy items from the store at an extremely low price.

Here's the problem.

A first-year, especially a probationary member, wouldn't have many points.

So, the items in the first-year special discount store had to be cheap enough for a first-year to buy.

And, as a reward for an "impossible to complete" quest, they had to be good items.

It was difficult to meet both conditions, so the first-year special discount store had always included both low-quality and high-quality items.

But one of the high-quality items included this time was a problem.

It was added to meet the required number of high-quality items, but it wasn't really a high-quality item.

The one-eyed man sighed deeply and asked.

"...How much?"

After so many years together, the adjutant understood the deputy commander's mumbled question and answered.

"300,000 points."

A considerable amount of points.

For a typical probationary member, it would be out of the question.

But for the kid who had collected points through strange means in the Forest of Beginnings?

Swallowing hard, the deputy commander asked again.

"Did it... sell?"

"..."

The woman remained silent in response to the incoherent question.

But it wasn't hard to guess what her silence meant.

"Heh heh..."

The one-eyed man, Duran Vico, one of the deputy commanders of the Black Sword Regiment, laughed heartily.

"...Heh heh heh."

The Golem's Vision, included in this year's special discount store.

Its effects were so legendary that it even inherited the name of the elixir.

"...That kid got lucky."

* * *

Yurie lifted the pendant around his neck to the sky.

The emerald green liquid, sparkling in the sunlight, looked incredibly appetizing.

Swallowing hard, Yurie wondered.

"What does this taste like?"

Like a green apple?

Or a green grape?

The elegant appearance, like a high-end dessert, stimulated Yurie's appetite.

Yurie suppressed this with superhuman patience.

'Hold on... hold on.'

If it were poison, he would be saying goodbye to