Chapter 106: Uninvited Guests (3)

After the meeting was over.

I finished my meal and shower, and sat down in front of my smartphone with a devout mind.

I had safely rescued Cuebaerg and finished the meeting, so now it was time to check the items in my inventory.

Tap.

When I touched the screen to activate the inventory, I saw a lot of items filling up the inventory.

The by-products of the 210 draws that started with deep sleep and proceeded without even checking the results.

Now I could finally see those by-products properly.

“First, the magic books… <Ice Arrow>…”

I started to check the magic books in the inventory one by one.

The first thing that caught my eye was [Magic Book: Ice Arrow], which I obtained through 10 draws.

<Ice Arrow> was a magic that inflicted frost damage, as the name suggested.

There were several magic books in the inventory, including [Magic Book: Ice Arrow].

The magic books that Eutenia obtained by raiding the magic tower also came into the inventory through communion.

“<Enchant: Fire>… <Enchant: Lightning>…? They are all enchantment-type magic.”

The magic books that Eutenia sent me were <Enchant: Fire> and <Enchant: Lightning>.

They were magic that temporarily added fire and lightning to weapons.

Weapons with enchantment could inflict additional damage proportional to each attribute.

Enchantment itself was a skill that was awkward for me to use, but it was a useful magic for the cult’s believers.

If I put them in the <Divine Response Device>, many believers would use them.

I didn’t hesitate to use the magic books and learn the magic.

-You have learned <Enchant: Fire (Lv.MAX)>.

-You have learned <Enchant: Lightning (Lv.MAX)>.

As the magic books disappeared from the inventory, a message appeared to inform me of the skill acquisition.

<Ice Arrow> was a magic that Eutenia had not yet acquired.

It would be better to use this magic book after Eutenia finished her learning.

After I dealt with the magic books that I received from Eutenia, I looked at the magic swords that were sleeping in the inventory.

There were seven magic swords in the inventory.

“As for the magic swords… one was a sword that handled fire, and another one was what I drew last time…”

One of the seven magic swords was a product that I had been waiting to give to Daniel.

It was a magic sword that had an effect of returning to the location where the trait was activated after 10 seconds.

And another one was [Magic Sword: Aterinus], which I checked as soon as I woke up from sleep.

[Magic Sword: Aterinus] was a magic sword that converted mana into fire attribute.

Now it was time to check out the other magic swords besides those two.

I started to look at each of the magic swords located in the inventory by touching them.

-[Magic Sword: Asilore]

-During <Ice Field>, targets within range have their movement speed and attack speed reduced.

-The ice storm of <Ice Field> continuously inflicts damage on targets within range.

The first one I checked, [Magic Sword: Asilore], was a magic sword that inflicted frost damage.

It also had an effect of applying area debuffs to nearby enemies.

It looked like a equipment that was more suitable for auxiliary purposes than for main use.

It was a magic sword that I had to think about where to use it.

-[Magic Sword: Egernot]

-During <Muah’s Time>, user’s dynamic vision is enhanced.

-During <Muah’s Time>, user’s thinking speed becomes faster.

-During <Muah’s Time>, [Magic Sword: Egernot] becomes sharper.

[Magic Sword: Egernot] was a weapon that felt like it enhanced user itself.

It gave bonuses to abilities that were not intuitive, such as dynamic vision and thinking speed.

Especially, the last effect was an effect that had no meaning unless you wore this item.

To use [Magic Sword: Egernot], you had to adopt this item as your main weapon without fail.

-[Magic Sword: Refrost]

-During <Perpetual Machine>, lightning strikes periodically occur.

-During <Perpetual Machine>, user’s all actions receive speed correction.

-During <Perpetual Machine>, all attacks of [Magic Sword: Refrost] induce electric shock on targets.

The next one I checked, [Magic Sword: Refrost], was a magic sword that inflicted lightning damage.

It also had a function of amplifying user’s abilities, similar to the previous sword.

The last item was an effect that gave status effects to targets who were attacked.

It reminded me of <Lightning> series of magic that I often used.

-[Magic Sword: Heimklopf]

-It blocks physical attacks up to 10 times.

-If the accumulated attacks exceed 10 times, <Overload> occurs and the attack of [Magic Sword: Heimklopf] is enhanced.

After the meeting, I had a meal and a shower, and then I sat down in front of my smartphone with a devout mind.

I had successfully rescued Cuebaerg and finished the meeting, so it was time to check the items in my inventory.

Tap.

I activated the inventory and saw many items filling it up.

They were the by-products of the 210 draws that I did while I was in deep sleep.

I couldn’t even check the results before.

Now I could finally see them properly.

“First, the magic books… <Ice Arrow>…”

I started to check the magic books one by one.

The first one that caught my eye was [Magic Book: Ice Arrow], which I got from 10 draws. It was a magic that inflicted frost damage, as the name suggested.

There were several other magic books in the inventory, including [Magic Book: Ice Arrow]. They were the ones that Eutenia obtained by raiding the magic tower and sent to me through communion.

“<Enchant: Fire>… <Enchant: Lightning>…? They are all enchantment-type magic.”

The magic books from Eutenia were <Enchant: Fire> and <Enchant: Lightning>. They were magic that temporarily added fire and lightning to weapons.

Weapons with enchantment could inflict additional damage according to each attribute.

Enchantment was a skill that was awkward for me to use, but it was useful for the cult’s believers.

If I put them in the <Divine Response Device>, many believers would use them.

I didn’t hesitate to use the magic books and learn the magic.

-You have learned <Enchant: Fire (Lv.MAX)>.

-You have learned <Enchant: Lightning (Lv.MAX)>.

As the magic books disappeared from the inventory, a message appeared to inform me of the skill acquisition.

<Ice Arrow> was a magic that Eutenia had not learned yet.

It would be better to use this magic book after she finished her learning.

After dealing with the magic books from Eutenia, I looked at the magic swords that were sleeping in the inventory. There were seven of them.

“As for the magic swords… one was a sword that handled fire, and another one was what I drew last time…”

One of the seven magic swords was for Daniel, who had been waiting for it. It was a magic sword that returned me to the location where I activated its trait after 10 seconds.

And another one was [Magic Sword: Aterinus], which I checked as soon as I woke up. It was a magic sword that converted mana into fire attribute.

Now it was time to check out the other magic swords besides those two. I moved my finger with anticipation toward the remaining magic sword.

And then I was shocked by the description of the new item that appeared.

[Magic Sword: ▒▒▒▒▒] <▒▒> ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒.

The name was not displayed properly.

The letters in the item description were broken and there was no readable content. It was the first time I encountered such an item while playing the game.

Maybe it was not translated properly or there was some kind of bug. I thought so and tried to read the item description again.

But at that moment, the icon of the magic sword disappeared from my sight.

“…”

I looked at the screen with bewildered eyes as the item vanished in an instant.

Blink. Blink.

I blinked several times, wondering if I saw it wrong.

But no matter how many times I closed and opened my eyes, the item did not come back.

A question popped out of my mouth as I looked at the screen.

“What? Why did it disappear all of a sudden?”

It was what people called item evaporation. I frowned as I looked at the empty slot in the inventory where the magic sword with unreadable name had disappeared.

An item that was there just a moment ago was gone. Well, it was not in a normal state anyway, but it was an item that I got from drawing.

It was not something that I could let go easily.

“Ah…”

I had to contact the game company about this item evaporation.

I tried to find a contact button somewhere in the game.

I wanted to talk about the missing item and get it restored by the staff.

But as soon as I tried to find the contact button, a new message popped up at the bottom of the game screen.

It was a type of message that I had never seen before.

You have used [Magic Sword: ▒▒▒▒▒].

The new message said that I had used that item.

An item in the magic sword category.

It was a ridiculous story.

If I had used the item, there should have been at least some feedback.

It looked like an excuse for the item evaporation.

The situation was clearly an error. I thought so and tried to find the contact button again.

“Wait… If I used the item, there should have been some feedback, right? This is no different from losing the item because of a bug.”

I would have done that if another message had not appeared at the bottom of the screen.

Below the message about using the item, there was another message with a different content.

It was a message about the result of using the item.

-You have obtained [Contract of Regression] by using [Magic Sword: ▒▒▒▒▒].

It was a message that said I had obtained another item by using the magic sword.

I felt a little relieved then.

Maybe the magic sword itself had an effect of obtaining an item.

It was not completely incomprehensible.

The problem was that the name and description of the item were unreadable due to an error.

If the item was used normally, I wouldn’t have to bother contacting them.

My head felt a little dizzy, and I didn’t feel like thinking too much.

“Ah… Maybe it was just a name error.”

I thought so and turned off the screen of my smartphone.

I felt sleepy because my head was a bit hazy.

I decided not to resist the urge to sleep that came to my mind.

Thud.

As soon as I closed my eyes, I felt the strength leaving my body.

-“The effect is wearing off slowly…”

As my eyelids closed, I checked the screen of my smartphone.

Fortunately, it was turned off.

There would be no mishap like losing 2 million won like yesterday.

I felt relieved and buried my head on the table.

Thump.

A dull sound echoed in my ears.

**

In a rural village in the northern part of the empire.

There stood a boy with a sullen face, holding a sword in his hand.

His sword, dripping with thick blood, was wrapped in a bluish glow.

The boy, who held the bloodstained sword, smiled eerily on his face.

He swung his sword to shake off the blood, and then sheathed it in his waist.

And then he started to stroll around the village with slow steps.

“…”

Thud. Thud.

Only the sound of the boy’s footsteps echoed in the quiet village.

The boy’s eyes reflected the scenery of the country village where no one was left alive.

It was a situation where only the boy remained in the village that had been quiet from the beginning.

It was all the result of his own hands.

The boy’s gaze, which had swept over the empty village, now turned to the sword on his waist.

“So you’re saying—-.”

Artifact, Clawsolas.

The peerless sword that the boy, who had nothing, had recently obtained.

It was emitting a brilliant light even when it was in its sheath, showing its beautiful appearance.

It was something that he would not have been allowed to touch in the first place.

But now it was a thing that only he was allowed to possess.

The boy looked at Clawsolas with a bright face and asked.

“So you’re saying I just have to clean up as much as I can with my own hands?”

-“That’s right. That’s the fastest way to adjust the causality rate.”

Then a man’s voice rang in the boy’s ears, who was wearing the sword.

A deep and heavy voice of a man.

It came from Clawsolas, which he was wearing, and it was the voice of the ego that lived inside the artifact Clawsolas.

It was also the being that ordered him to deal with the humans in the village after he received the artifact.

The boy spoke to Clawsolas with a curious voice.

“Causality rate… Is that so important?”

-“Yes. The evil god’s rampage is also caused by the imbalance of causality. He needs to balance it at least to move.”

“That’s what you’re saying… It’s a command that doesn’t suit the goddess of order at all.”

-“She doesn’t like it either. It’s just a temporary expedient. But this is one of the few ways to maintain order.”

A goddess who sacrifices innocent humans to restore her power.

Snicker. The boy who was talking with Clawsolas let out a small laugh.

It didn’t feel like a goddess’s command to save humans with mercy.

Thanks to that, he got the right to judge people with the name of a hero.

The boy looked alternately at the fallen villagers and his sword, and then spoke his thoughts to Clawsolas.

“But wouldn’t it be better if other heroes joined me?”

-“This is something that must be done secretly from other heroes.”

“What do you mean? It’s something that the goddesses need, so why do we have to keep it secret?”

-“Only she is willing to take risks and prepare for the evil god.”

“What?”

The boy questioned Clawsolas’ words.

Clawsolas said that this was the only way for the goddesses to recover causality as quickly as possible.

But only the goddess of order was using this method.

It was hard to accept this story.

Why would they avoid the most efficient way and go around the hard way?

Unless they were fools, it was a choice that they had no reason to avoid.

-“The other goddesses refuse to interfere with the world too much for providence. They are even more reluctant if it goes against their ideals.”

“Only the goddess of order is trying to save the world?”

-“That’s why she is wary of other goddesses. Especially the goddess of coordination who harmonizes their opinions.”

The boy stopped and crossed his arms in thought.

Listening to his story, it seemed that the relationship between the goddesses was not very good.

There was a difference of opinion between him and the goddess of order who chose him over the issue of evil god.

He thought that anyone who was a celestial god would have transcended human wisdom.

But they were even arguing over their opinions, refusing to take the most efficient way.

It was unexpected for him.

And it was also an opportunity for him.

The boy tapped on Clawsolas’ hilt and asked him.

“So does that mean I’m the only hero who can save our goddess?”

-“You’re the only one who can do this. Philun. If you show a great performance, she will reward you accordingly.”

“I got it. I’ll do it.”

Philun, who had been grumbling, started to move out of the empty village.

He was already fascinated by his own appearance, which had become a hero of the old stories.

His footsteps were very light under the setting sun, where he wielded the artifact.

Murder and evil.

Philun’s eyes, where the banner of injustice dwelled, were dyed red by the sunset.

A confession of faith flowed out of Philun’s mouth as he headed for the next village.

“I’ll kill hundreds or thousands of them for the goddess.”