Chapter 4

"Is it really okay to have 16 favorites for such a poor article...? Oh, can I read it?"

"Are you really sure it's okay to go out with just that light equipment?"

"Well, I do have a certain level of skill, so don't worry."

In front of the inn, the exchange between Marell, who was concerned about Kena's safety as she was about to leave the village, continued. The reason was her attire, which included no equipment or even a tool bag. Kena, who couldn't reveal that she had an item box that could store a vast number of items in a different dimension, was pondering how to get out of this predicament. Unexpected help came, however.

"Then, miss, at least take this with you..."

"Eh, Ritt?"

Ritt was offering Kena a leather water flask she had. Kena, moved by Ritt's sincere concern, took it with a broad smile.

"Thank you, Ritt. I'll take it gratefully. I'll look for souvenirs, so look forward to them."

"Be careful, miss."

"Ha, really... Listen, Kena. I'll get the master to prepare a hearty dinner, so be back by then."

"Understood, Mr. Marell."

The parent and child who saw Kena off, waving energetically until she was out of sight at the village entrance, turned back when she was no longer visible on the road. They were puzzled by her change of plans from searching for the Silver Tower yesterday to gathering herbs today. However, they thought she was probably safe as long as she didn't encounter a particularly dangerous monster, given that she could use magic, as they had heard from their daughter.

In reality, the monsters in the vicinity were far more at risk from her than she was from them. They had no way of knowing this, however.

"Is it safe to come this far?"

Kena had been walking along the road for a while, but once she confirmed that the village buildings were no longer in sight, she changed her course to the forest along the road. She stepped into an open meadow in the forest, seemingly guided by something. She had heard whispers that seemed too clear to be just tinnitus, probably due to her natural High Elf abilities to communicate with trees and flowers. This made some of the technical skills seem particularly difficult to use.

She raised the "Guardian Ring" high and recited the keyword. This keyword, which all the ring owners had to recite, was a spell devised by all the Skill Masters after a heated discussion. The aftermath of the meeting was a real eye-opener.

"O guardian of the chaotic era! Save the fallen world from chaos!"

Silver light danced around Kena as she recited the words. Silver bands rose from her feet, forming a cylindrical shape around her, glowing brightly. The remaining bands intertwined in the air above, creating a complex magic circle similar to a mandala. The silver powder danced like snowflakes, creating an icy landscape that shimmered. This effect was specific to Kena; the owner of the Dragon Palace was said to be surrounded by a majestic waterfall.

"Every time, the effects are unnecessarily elaborate..."

A black space opened in the center of the mandala above her head, rotating and gradually approaching Kena. The cylindrical veil was also absorbed, and Kena emerged from a moment of darkness into a room surrounded by plain stone walls. She sighed deeply and lowered her shoulders, pointing the ring at the stone wall in front of her. The wall creaked loudly as it opened to the sides, revealing a plain stone corridor with no decorations.

"Why is the inside so simple? The design by the management is hard to understand..."

The door behind her closed again, leaving no trace of the room's existence.

To the right was the main stage of the trial leading to this place. The tower was 500 meters tall, but the internal stairs increased infinitely as the visitor climbed. The stairs would stop rotating after the time limit, leading the visitor to the top floor. To prevent visitors from using flight magic to reach the top, the floors except the top were enchanted to nullify magic. However, the enchantment on the stairs itself would forcibly transfer anyone who stopped walking to the outside of the tower. This was the Silver Tower, managed by Kena as a Skill Master. The trial continued without a break for 24 hours, and if the visitor did not reach the top, they would be ejected from the premises and have to start over.

To the left was the grand hall where visitors were welcomed. When Kena approached, a balcony in the Baroque style with a clear sky overhead came into view. It was designed like a stage without a ceiling, but in reality, a high-density barrier prevented wind and rain from entering. The only remaining wall behind her was adorned with a mural carved in brick, depicting an ugly sun with a bumpy surface. The eyes, which should have been carved, moved and followed Kena's movements.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh! Long time no see, Master. Where have you been for two hundred years, leaving me all alone?"

"......Ha. What a rude transformation..."

The guardian, who was supposed to be a more formal NPC responsible for managing the game's base, had unexpectedly turned into something like a punk or a delinquent, leaving Kena speechless.

"Did anyone pass the trial while I was away?"

"Nope. It's been peaceful and boring without anything to do."

What could this misbehaving guardian have been trying to do, unable to move?

"Oh, by the way, about sixty years ago, Scargot came. He wanted to contact you, but you ignored my call back then. What's up with that?"

"Ah, well, I was a bit busy at the time."

When a visitor came while the master was away, the guardian was supposed to contact the master through the ring. Kena could wander around outside because of this function. However, Kena, who had no memory of what she had been doing for the past two hundred years, gave a vague answer.

"......Hey?"

"What is it?"

"Scargot came. Did you hear that?"

"I heard it, but... who is he?"

"Huh!?"

If he had a torso, he would have looked up to the sky and covered his face. The guardian, sighing deeply, muttered to no one in particular.

"You've finally gone senile, you old hag..."

"What? What did you say?"

Hearing a word she couldn't ignore, Kena instantly pulled out a staff from her item box. It was a two-meter-long staff with three dragons intricately intertwined, each with a red, blue, and gold gem in their mouths. The staff, named the Staff of Supreme Jade, was a highly dangerous weapon capable of launching the maximum-level fire, ice, and lightning spells with a single action. However, it could only be used once every 24 hours.

"Hey, Master? What do you plan to do with that staff?"

"I'm thinking of knocking some sense into this rude guardian. How about freezing you for two hundred years?"

"I'm sorry, Master, I'll behave."

It was a half-hearted apology that lacked any sincerity, but Kena thought, "Well, it's fine," and put the staff away. In reality, the entire tower was supposed to be a special artifact, so it was unclear whether the magic would have any effect.

"......So, who is Scargot again?"

"Hey, hey, that's a pitiful guy. He's your son, don't forget, okay?"

"Eh...? Ha? Son!?"

The guardian, seeing Kena's shocked reaction, muttered, "This is hopeless," and Kena, tilting her head for a while, seemed to be thinking deeply, muttering, "Son, Scargot, son, Scargot..."

"Aaaahh!!"

After about ten minutes, she finally seemed to realize and clapped her hands, shouting.

"Oh, right, the foster system. I remember, I remember."

"......What's that?"

The official name given by the management was NPC Supplemental Staff Recruitment. Players called it the foster system. It was an unprecedented announcement for recruiting used sub-characters due to the initial designer's "I got tired of coming up with names for NPCs" request. In Riedale, players could create two characters with a single subscription, and many used one as a storage character for important but rarely used items. With a base, they could use it as storage, leading to the sad fate of being forgotten.

The management's plan was to buy these characters to use as key NPCs. The benefit was that if the character had useful skills, they could take on high-ranking positions, and half of their salary would go to the provider. Many beginners registered, thinking, "How can I earn money in the game?" Registering didn't take up a character slot, making it safe for both beginners and experts. The provider and the provided character were required to have some connection.

Some of the connections were odd, like "My sister has 108 forms" or "They're all my wives."

Kena's sub-character, Scargot, had been sent to the church after learning healing magic through scroll creation. As an elf male, he was likely still alive. Kena had set their relationship as parent and child, and had given him a degraded copy of the Guardian Ring, allowing him to come directly here without going through the trial.

"Unmarried at seventeen and over two hundred years old with a child...?"

"Aah? What are you talking about?"

Well, maybe this has its own charm?

Kena, thinking this, walked to the edge of the stage, ignoring the guardian's gaze, which seemed to have something to say. She overlapped the ring in a depression on the floor and rotated it 90 degrees. With a click, a stone coffin large enough to hold an adult rose. She opened the lid of the coffin, which served as the base's storage, and checked inside.

In reality, it looked empty, but in Kena's vision, her item window opened on the right, and the contents of the storage were displayed on the left. This was similar to the game, which raised many questions, but she decided to think about it later. While carefully checking what to take and what to leave, she responded to the guardian, who spoke to her.

"Hey, Master, did you just come to get items?"

"Um, it seems there are few plant materials... Yeah, that's the main purpose. Also, do you know anything about the current situation?"

"Yeah, Scargot said a lot. Something about the seven countries being unified into three."

"Eh? Why are there so many of these novelty weapons? Maybe they were someone's deposit? I wonder what happened to the players?"

"I don't know. Half of your companions were human, and they're probably six feet under now."

"Right, that makes sense..."

After organizing the items, the sun was high in the sky. Kena closed the lid of the stone coffin and pushed it back into the floor.

She approached the mural of the guardian, placed her hand on the wall, and transferred about 90% of her MP to the guardian. World management and quests were the responsibility of the management, but maintaining the guardian itself was entrusted to the Skill Master in charge of the tower. Kena, who had once won the highest MP value award in Riedale, always kept the guardian's magic tank full. This was why the guardian had managed to function for two hundred years while she was away. However, it was almost depleted when she checked it. She wanted to fill it up, but even with her constant MP recovery skill, it would take until morning to do so.

While she was thinking about what to do, the guardian spoke up.

"Hey, Master, I have a favor to ask."

"Huh? That's unusual for you. What is it?"

"It seems that the other guardians' towers have stopped functioning. Could you check them out if you have time?"

"......Ah, you've been neglecting them too. Alright, I'll look for them if I have time."

The guardians' towers could communicate with each other, but if one of the guardians was down, that function was useless. The ring applied to all the guardians' towers, so at least traps could be avoided. However, she would have to dive into the sea...

This meant she would have to regularly patrol the thirteen towers, right? Her immediate goal was that, but in reality, Kena didn't know the locations of all the towers. The world map wasn't reliable, so she would need to gather information in a populated area to put her plan into action. She pointed in a certain direction from the balcony and told the guardian.

"I'll be in the village in that direction for a while. Call me if anything happens."

"Got it. Thanks for the earlier request, Master."

She signaled to the guardian in the center of the stage, and a bluish-white pentagram appeared at her feet, emitting a bright light. When she checked her surroundings again, she was outside the forest, looking up at the Silver Tower. After gazing at the tower for a while, she turned and headed in the direction she had pointed.

"Hmm, I should have left something to target for the transfer..."

According to the distance measurement spell she had cast before leaving, the village was over 40 kilometers away in a straight line. On foot, she would have to take a slight detour around the mountain, making it a bit longer. She was a bit worried about whether she would make it back in time for dinner at the inn.

"Heh... Zeh, haa... hi..."

After much deliberation, Kena decided to run. It was a showcase of her abilities as a magic-specialized, fully-optimized High Elf, but it was sad that no one was there to see it.

She activated the active skill "Increased Running Speed" (1-minute duration) and chose the magic skills "Increased Agility" and "Increased Movement Speed." She kept recasting them as she ran.

The forest made it easier to move with the support of the trees compared to flat ground, and since she wasn't used to running, by the time she reached the village, the sky was turning orange.

If her guild mates, who knew her well, saw her in this state, they would probably say, "Are you an idiot?" There was also the option of using flight magic, but with her MP consumption, she could only fly for about five minutes, so she decided against it. In any case, once she reached the road, it was only a few minutes to the village.

She moistened her throat with the water flask Ritt had lent her and caught her breath. After a deep breath and a stretch, she was ready to go.

Gooaaaaaah!

A beast's roar echoed through the forest.

"Huh? Eh? Where!?"

"It's coming from the road, Kena-sama."

Startled, Kena assumed a strange posture, thinking she was being attacked, but then realized someone else might be in danger and rushed off, blushing at her own appearance.

Kena, cutting through the forest, came upon a scene of a hunter in fur clothing, who had been baptized by the Bon Festival due to her unnecessary comments to Marell the night before, sprawled on the road. A bear, about four meters tall with twisted horns extending from behind its ears to its mouth, was about to attack him. It was a Horn Bear, a monster known as a "Tsumar" in the game, which was tough for beginners but considered a minor threat by intermediates.

The Horn Bear froze as soon as it saw Kena, who had