Chapter 22

"Huh, I kicked another trivial thing."

"……………"

"Are you alright, Mai!? Pull yourself together!"

Mizuki, who had thrown her limbs in all directions and was embedded in the ground, did not move a muscle. Keena, facing the already lifeless Hornbear, ran her fingers through her hair and delivered a line reminiscent of a samurai.

Mai, who had witnessed Keena, who had just finished off a monster that required two knights to handle, in mere seconds, was dumbfounded. Ronti, who had seen Keena walk on water before, regained his composure and called out to Mai to bring her attention back.

Keena used a wind spirit to search for the Hornbear and guide it to a wider area. To use the fur as a processed item, Keena, as usual, used [Combat Skill: Charge] to kick it without causing any cuts or punctures. This time, learning from the previous failure, she had the wind spirit lift the Hornbear into the air to avoid damaging the trees. In short, the Hornbear was finished off by a double combo of being kicked to death and falling to its demise.

Mai regained her senses when Keena started to disassemble the Hornbear on the spot, and the smell of blood began to spread around. Keena had the wind spirit control the wind to prevent other monsters from gathering, so the smell concentrated in that area. With a pale face, Mai, who was covering her mouth, was led by Ronti to leave the area and run into the forest outside the wind barrier. The Zeawolves also followed the two, obediently following their orders.

Keena quickly disassembled the Hornbear. She froze the sliced meat, tanned the fur, and processed the bones, then threw them into her item box. All that was left was to cast a purification spell on herself and disperse the stagnant air, and the mission was complete.

Since it took a lot of time to find it, the sky at the horizon had already turned orange. Keena decided to spend the night in this square.

She ordered the Zeawolves to pull the two over and thanked the wind spirit before dismissing it, then used [Summoning Magic: White Dragon: Lv.5]. A dragon, as large as a five-story building and covered in pure white feathers, appeared before Keena.

Before long, the two, who had returned on the backs of the wolves, saw the dignified figure of the white dragon standing there and fell off the wolves, rolling on the ground with their eyes wide open.

Since the monsters they encountered on the way to this place were mostly low-level and could be prevented with a simple curse, this was a safety measure. There was also the reason that sleeping wrapped in the feathered wings would make for a very fluffy and sound sleep.

After somehow calming the two down, Keena pulled them into the inside of the white dragon's spread wings and started preparing for camping on the spot.

Keena smiled wryly at the two, who were looking at each other in silence.

"Is this the first time you've seen a dragon, both of you?"

While munching on the bread, cheese, and skewers Keena made, the two glanced up at the dragon's jaw, illuminated red by the campfire, which blocked the night sky. When Keena asked, they looked at each other and nodded after a moment.

"It's just something I've heard from others. A long time ago, the Knight Commander talked about it," Mai said, recalling old memories.

"I've heard of it too. There are still dragons guarding some old ruins..."

"Knight Commander? Has he been around for two hundred years?"

"Probably, since he's a dragon person."

"Hmm, is he strong?"

"Yes, he's strong. He can easily break rocks."

(Perhaps he's a player?)

There were questions, but she couldn't tell without seeing him in person. Switching her focus to the academy, she entertained the two with stories of her failures and experiences until they relaxed. She continued until they stopped caring about the white dragon and laughed together.

---

The next day, while Keena and the others were spending the night in the forest with the white dragon, a man in the adventurer guild muttered to himself.

"Hey, that girl hasn't shown up for about three days. Did she go somewhere as a bodyguard again?"

This was the party "Triumph Armor" that frequented the guild. They were the men who had talked to Keena on the day she accepted the mission. Having received a lucrative mission a few days ago, they were not wasting their money and were loitering in the adventurer guild, looking for profitable missions.

The party's mage, who was in charge of mental labor, responded with a mix of speculation.

"Maybe she accepted a hunting mission. She's probably doing well."

"But she looks so dangerous. Is she really okay?"

"Maybe we should introduce her to some party."

The only one in heavy armor shook his head.

"Only if there's someone who can stand on equal footing with her..."

His solemn words made the party members fall silent. After a moment, he smiled and apologized to everyone.

"Sorry, I just had a feeling. It was a slip of the tongue, forget it."

"Hey, Coral. That was a pretty deep comment. Are you in love?"

"What!? Who would fall for a girl like that!"

Coral, who was speechless, lashed out at the party member who was teasing him. The party member, who was the shield and the one who delivered the decisive blow, couldn't stand up to Coral's anger and fled outside. Coral, who stopped chasing, shuddered at the strangeness of seeing Keena for the first time.

---

Once, there was a VRMMORPG called Ria Deil.

Coral was created as a human in his twenties, and the character named Coral was born. Through the character, he met people he didn't know, worked together to overcome difficulties, and grew together in a fun dream world. However, an unexpected event caused the world to decline, and on the last day of service, Coral, who had stayed until the end, found himself standing alone in his guild's fortress.

The fortress had already stopped functioning. He searched the fortress from corner to corner, but no members were left. The map function was also not working, and he somehow managed to make his way to a village. There, he found himself in a time that had passed nearly two hundred years since the players' heyday.

After much deliberation in the first village he landed in, he decided to live as Coral. He left the village where he had been taken care of and went to the capital of Felscayro with aspiring adventurers, where he became an adventurer.

Of the seven members who were originally in the party, only four remained after ten years. Some had died, and others had left. They continued to travel, searching for other players who had remained in the world, but by the time they realized they had aged, it had been ten years.

In the capital of Felscayro, where they had re-established their base, they met a new adventurer named Keena.

When Coral saw the female elf who knew nothing about common knowledge, he was stunned. He couldn't see her level or stats with [Special Skill: Search]. The "unknown" display was familiar to him. In the VRMMORPG Ria Deil, you couldn't see the values of someone with a higher level than yourself. If this woman was one of the players he was looking for, there might be others. When he gathered rumors about Keena to confirm, player-like actions kept coming up.

For example, "She walked on water." Since the spell to walk on water had been lost in the current world, this was a definitive piece of evidence. Another example was, "She is the mother of the famous trio in Felscayro." When he went to check, he only met the harbor district workshop leader, Cartatsu, whose level was 300, so the other three might also be players.

The party members, seeing Coral's deep thoughts about Keena, laughed, thinking that even the stern man had finally found spring.

Just then, unexpected visitors entered the guild.

A knight of the Felscayro Knights, clad in white armor with a griffin emblem on his shoulder, and a silver dragon person carrying a giant sword as large as his body, entered. The human knight looked around the guild and approached the receptionist, saying something. The dragon person, who had stopped at the entrance, asked a few adventurers, including Coral.

"Excuse me, have you seen a well-dressed woman with light pink hair?"

Since most knights were arrogant and disliked by adventurers, the dragon person's polite attitude was appreciated. However, no one had seen her, and almost everyone shook their head.

Coral, on the other hand, was staring at something else. He couldn't read the dragon person's level with [Search]. The silver dragon person with a giant sword reminded him of the sub-leader of his former guild. He remembered the name...

"...Shining, Saber...?"

"Yes, that's my name... Wait, did I tell you my name?"

"'Silver Moon's Cavalry'...?"

"What? How do you know that name!?"

Their eyes met, and the dragon person's eyes widened in shock.

"Are you Coral!?"

"Sub-leader! It's you!!"

After two hundred years, or however long it had been, the former guild members shook hands firmly and rejoiced at their reunion. Coral's party and Shining Saber's colleague knight just stared at the two, who were laughing together.

---

Rops Harvey was in a dilemma. In one hand, he held a bucket. Inside, a brownish liquid emitted an unusual odor. It was a failed experiment, the result of an all-nighter. He was captivated by the glow and wanted to make it himself. The cause was the 'Ancient Skill' performed by his wife's mother.

When he consulted his wife, Maymay, she suggested that if he wanted to make something, he should ask his younger brother, Cartatsu. When he asked Cartatsu, he learned that he needed a 'craft skill,' which could only be obtained from Keena, who possessed it.

"Can you get it from Lord Keena?"

"...It's difficult. My mother manages such skills. I don't think she would give it to us just because we want it. The only way is to pass a trial."

The trials varied widely. Some took a long time, and some were highly lethal. It was said that you had to go to a place called the Guardian's Tower to find out. If he wanted to meet the person and confirm, the timing was always bad. Either the person was on a mission, or he couldn't find the time to talk.

Out of frustration, he tried to make the same thing with the same materials, but the path was endless. No matter what he made, it was never satisfactory, and the waste products piled up. He was particularly disappointed because some of the materials were sourced from far away.

In a state of despair, he came to the garbage dump at the edge of the academy grounds and poured the failed experiment from the bucket.

If anyone could see, there would be a dancing arrow and a speech bubble with "???" displayed. It was a meaningless thing that only players could see. If it weren't for the presence of Oksore's root, Logga's eyeball, and Nueb's tongue in the waste...

A light burst behind Rops as he turned away from the hole. Surprised, he covered his face from the brightness but saw several thin beams of light rising from where the hole was.

The light drew lines in the air, higher than the school building. It formed a plump, round body with fin-like arms and sharp claws, short legs with thick claws to support the heavy body, and a long bird-like head with a beak full of teeth. The light disappeared after completing the drawing of the unknown creature.

Students inside the school and Rops, who was looking up from the ground, couldn't take their eyes off the monster drawn by the light.

Then they were shocked by the next event. Bones suddenly appeared inside the lines. Not just bones, but internal organs inside the ribs, muscles to cover the bones, and skin to cover the entire body. Feathers grew, and eyeballs formed in the empty eye sockets, glaring around. To the onlookers, it felt like an eternity, but in reality, the monster was completed in less than three seconds and landed with a thud.

To describe it simply, it had the legs of a lizard with hooked claws, the body of a penguin, and two white claws protruding from the degenerate wings that were not suitable for flying. On its head was a dolphin with a long, toothy mouth. Standing about ten meters tall, it took a step forward and stumbled into the wall, then fell into the river, creating a large splash.

People navigating the river at the time were caught off guard by the sudden wave, capsizing or being thrown overboard, and the river echoed with screams and shouts.

---

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