Chapter 3 : A Very Simple Rule

The hidden cave in the Root Mountain Range.

The deeper I went, the darker the surroundings grew, and the air brushing against my skin turned damp.

The sensations were unbearably realistic.

Step, step…

The sound of my feet treading over the uneven stone floor struck the walls and came back faintly.

“Well, I guess this is the kind of place that guy would live.”

My voice echoed several times.

I had only said it to chase away the eerie atmosphere, but it was not complete nonsense.

Reptiles liked dark, damp places, didn’t they?

It was a fitting place for the one sleeping inside the cave.

I need to prepare a defensive measure before disaster breaks out.

I had given up on the idea of doing nothing at all.

I would leave the fighting to John Doe, but I planned to support him with useful items and help him resolve the disasters.

Even so, if I wanted to provide support, I had no choice but to loiter near dangerous areas in the end.

My attack power can be boosted with medicine, but…

I could make medicine to prepare my health or defense, but I could not waste ingredients just to prepare for an attack that might come at any unknown moment.

In that case, I needed a defensive measure that would let me survive without relying on pharmacology.

As I am now, if I get hit even once, I’m done for.

I raised my hand and looked at my pale wrist.

No matter how many times I saw it, this was clearly a body that had never been anywhere near exercise.

I can’t go around acting up with a body like this.

Taking risks and throwing my life away were two entirely different things.

I absolutely needed a safety line.

Grrrr.

How long had I walked?

From far away, a sound that shook the entire cave reached me.

Grrr, grrrr…

It was a rumble that swallowed my footsteps as if they were nothing.

The breathing of a colossal beast.

An overwhelming presence that made my shoulders hunch on their own was flowing out from deep within the cave.

I braced one hand against the wall and moved my feet carefully.

“Inside.”

At the voice that seemed to stab directly into my head, every hair on my body stood on end.

I swallowed without realizing it and looked around.

“A little deeper. Who are you?”

The wall my hand was touching squirmed, then suddenly opened wide up and down.

It was not a wall.

It was an eye.

An eye larger than the body of most adults.

The crimson eye was embedded in the cave wall as it rolled around.

“I’m Ritark Methyl. And you are?”

I knew his identity, but I asked while pretending not to.

“…You may call me Lord Wer.”

Wersiculus, one of the guardians placed in this world.

A divine beast who had fought against disaster in the past and been sealed inside a deep cave.

With the carapace wrapped around his entire body, he had been able to withstand even the fierce attacks of disasters.

…Or so the initial setting went.

In the process of drastically revising the game, most of those miscellaneous settings were relegated to dummy data.

My professor had disliked scattering foreshadowing all over the game.

He had basically asked whether grand past lore like that was really necessary.

But what’s with “Lord Wer”?

In the game, it was the opposite.

Far from speaking down to the player, he was a character who practically flattened himself before them, claiming he owed them a great debt.

The creature narrowed his red eye and carefully observed me.

“To think a human body entered this cave. It seems you are no ordinary person.”

Was this happening because I was proceeding through a different route than in the original game?

Unlike what I knew, he treated me with a somewhat overbearing tone.

After saying one sentence, he closed his mouth again for a long while.

His already narrowed eye was now fully squinting.

“But you are still…”

His gaze openly radiated suspicion.

After agonizing for quite some time, he let out a deep sigh.

“You look weaker than an ordinary human. There is no way someone like you can break the seal. It would be better to wait for the next person who comes.”

For a soliloquy, I could hear it all too clearly.

It even buzzed inside my head.

He was not wrong, but stubbornness flared up inside me.

Is this because I’m not the protagonist?

Well, would an NPC who sold potions in a village satisfy him?

It was true that the current me lacked both strength and skill by a wide margin.

“I am concerned you may injure yourself if I ask you to break this wall. Go back now.”

To speak the given lines and become one axis of the story.

That was the very simple rule an NPC had to follow in a game.

But right now, this guy was thinking and judging for himself.

That meant he was not an NPC inside a game who only repeated the same lines all the time.

Even so, there was no reason to panic.

The person who knew him better than anyone else in this world was me.

Because I had made his settings.

“Wait. How do you think I got in here?”

The eye that had been slowly closing opened halfway.

As if to show him, I tapped on the wall beside his eye.

“I’m the one who broke the entrance and came all the way here. I can probably break this wall too.”

The huge eye snapped wide open.

His pupil had narrowed to a slit.

“Y-you? How on earth!”

I gave a light shrug.

“Does the method matter? I feel like right now is the time to be asking a favor, not asking questions.”

The narrowed pupil shook wildly.

Even in the voice transmitted directly into my mind, I could feel a faint tremor.

“A-as you can see, this body is sealed in the wall. If you undo this seal, you, no, if you free me, I shall follow you and help you with anything.”

Now this was more like the guy I knew.

Though his way of speaking was still awkwardly stuck somewhere in the middle.

That isn’t such an important thing.

I did not have time to argue.

It would not be strange if the medicine’s effects began wearing off soon.

Just like when I broke the entrance, I threw out my fist.

Rumble!

The entire cave trembled, and the wall beside the huge eye cracked apart.

Craaaack, crack.

The sound climbed along the wall all the way to the ceiling.

And then the cave began to collapse.

Thud! Boom!

I would not die here.

Even so, I could not help the instinct screaming that it was dangerous.

Only after the surroundings grew quiet did I open the eyes I had squeezed shut.

When I looked back, the path I had come through was blocked by large boulders.

On the other hand, there was not even a single small pebble fallen around me. It was completely clean.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

I raised my head.

Above me floated a palm-sized reptile.

He had a black body that looked soft and smooth, with a shell like iron armor on his back.

And from that tiny mouth came the manner of speech of an old elder.

Wer…

This little turtle was none other than Wersiculus.

Wer.

Originally, he had been so enormous he could be mistaken for a rocky mountain, but after being sealed for a long time and losing his power, his body had shrunk this much.

From now on, you’re my helper.

In the game, his role was a helper character who followed the protagonist.

Once his seal was broken, he would trail after the protagonist, giving information or holding onto items.

His most useful ability was his barrier, a convenience feature added because every person who tested WoIn died far too often in the early game.

A beginner support system, basically.

A translucent red membrane unfurled from him and wrapped around me as if protecting me.

It was the power of his shield.

“I am ashamed of my own poor judgment. I had no idea you possessed such power.”

The salamander-like head lowered deeply.

It seemed he was bothered by having looked down on me.

“You don’t have to go that far.”

“…I must apologize.”

Was it because he had shrunk?

I could not feel the pressure from earlier anymore.

Should I say he was much easier to deal with now?

“It’s fine, Lord Wer. I’m planning to milk that shield of yours for all it’s worth from now on.”

“Milk… y-yes. I shall support you with all sincerity.”

“How much can you do if you’re giving it your all?”

Wer looked down at his own body.

Was it my imagination, or did his face seem to crumple like he was about to cry?

His voice became even gloomier.

“…With a body like this, the number of times I can protect you is, for the moment, limited to about three.”

“That’s enough.”

It was exactly the number of support charges I knew.

Wer’s shield had three layers.

As long as any shield remained, I was practically invincible.

On top of that, even if they were used, the number of layers would recover after a certain amount of time.

Reliable extra lives.

I had taken several long steps away from death.

In satisfaction, I patted my shoulder.

“Are you going to stay above my head the whole time? Why don’t you sit here?”

“May I impose?”

After hesitating, Wer settled down on my shoulder.

Isn’t he too depressed?

Without thinking, I stroked his little head with my index finger.

He smacked my finger away with the sole of his foot.

“…I shall remain in the air.”

“Well… suit yourself.”

So prickly.

Whatever anyone said, he was a character I had created.

I could not help feeling attached.

But to him, this was our first meeting, so it must have felt burdensome.

With my awkwardly suspended hand, I took out some ingredients instead.

“Medicine Crafting.”

Since the path I had come through was blocked, I had to move forward.

The road I had entered through had collapsed, but if I kept walking ahead, I would find an exit.

However, monsters were stationed along that path.

I have enough ingredients.

With the extra Passion Fruits I had stocked up and the remaining Sourleaf Herbs, I made Strength-Boosting Sticks.

Flash!

When I used the skill, light burst from my hand.

Wer’s sharp eyes turned round.

“What a strange power you use!”

He made a fuss.

From my perspective, Medicine Crafting and shields were both equally strange powers.

Chew, chew, chew…

The Strength-Boosting Stick was still bitter.

But when I thought about the medicine’s effects, I did not feel like complaining.

I felt power surging through my body.

“Hold on tight.”

“W-wait. Up ahead…”

“I know. I’ve been hearing a creepy sound for a while now.”

“…You have good ears for a human.”

In truth, it was a sound most people would not be able to detect.

I only said that because I knew what was up ahead.

“Right. Since you broke the seal as well, the path ahead should be easy enough. If the need arises, this body shall protect you.”

Wer nodded as if determined.

His claws, curved like hooks, latched onto my shoulder.

He won’t make holes in the gown, right?

It did not matter anyway, since the clothes were already shabby, as if medicine had been splashed all over them.

I shoved aside my useless thoughts and ran forward.

Skitter, skitter, skitter!

The sound that had been difficult to hear even while concentrating gradually grew louder.

An unpleasant noise like the legs of a crustacean brushing together.

The cave bugs revealed themselves.

“There you are.”

Monsters with long bodies like centipedes and countless bent legs like crane flies.

The bugs, each the size of a human forearm, were insanely fast.

If I killed them, I could obtain useful ingredients for facing the first disaster.

…But aren’t they too disgusting?

They had been horrifying monsters even when seen as graphics.

And they were as viciously dangerous as their appearance was revolting.

Seeing them in person made me want to give up on ingredients and everything else right away.

Kiiik!

A bug leapt toward my face.

There was no time to hesitate.

My fist moved before my thoughts did.

Pow!

The cave bug’s body burst apart cleanly.

Before I had time to shake the bodily fluid off my hand, another bug charged in.

“Annoying little pests…!”

Each cave bug was nothing special on its own, but if they bit you, things became troublesome.

Because the swarms of them carried paralyzing poison.

However, as long as I did not get careless and dealt with them one by one, they were also monsters I could hunt without much difficulty.

Thud! Thwack!

I continued swinging my fists and moving forward.

I did not even count how many bugs I had killed.

And the moment I saw light from outside—

“Strength stat has increased by 1!”

At the same time I killed the last bug, a congratulatory voice rang out.

It was a notification that washed away the unpleasant feeling of my sticky hands.

My stats can increase!

Ritark Methyl’s Strength stat was rock bottom even without needing to check a status window.

But if growth was possible?

I could see possibilities.

Squeeze.

I clenched my fist.

Was it just my imagination?

My fist felt much harder than before.

“Amazing! This body did not even need to deploy a shield!”

“What, this much?”

Wer bounced around as if excited.

He patted my shoulder with his little palm.

It seemed we had grown a little closer.

I stroked Wer’s little head too.

“Ritark, you…!”

His shell trembled.

Had I acted too familiar after all?

“Did you just wipe bug scraps on this body’s head!?”

“Ah.”

Before lightning could strike, I started running toward the village.

I resolved that once I arrived at the healing shop, I would scrub the head of my shield clean first.

But before I could even open the shop door, I sensed it.

This was not the time to be cleaning Wer’s head.

[End of Chapter]