Chương 58: Chapter 15 The First Safe Haven(Part 3)

The First I met was exactly like the one from the streams. Dr. Takatsuki, who happened to be her attending physician, was already acquainted with her, and the two chatted cheerfully. I had no way of telling where the performance ended and the real person began. I offered her a cigarette. She refused. I called her Chloe, which was probably her real name. She rejected that as well. More surprisingly, she somehow identified my class immediately and told me not to be afraid. She smiled constantly.

In a place where everyone knew monsters existed, she walked with an ease that felt completely out of place. Then she took a kiseru from a box she called a gift and began smoking. The cheerful image vanished. In its place appeared a calm, almost expressionless woman. To my surprise, the expedition proceeded smoothly. She followed our instructions without complaint, walked near the center with Dr. Takatsuki, and occasionally joined conversations.

When speaking normally, she seemed far older and more mature than her appearance suggested. The age listed in her file no longer seemed impossible. The contrast between her young appearance and her choice of clothing was strange, but people expressed themselves in all kinds of ways. Some dyed their hair bright colors well into old age. Others wore leopard print. Who was I to judge? Before entering the sixth Gate, we took a short break. The lieutenant and I discussed our observations.

Neither of us had found anything suspicious. The beautiful girl from the archived streams spoke in unusual ways, but nothing about her behavior seemed abnormal. Now that I possessed a class myself, I could understand. Most likely, she was a Fire Mage. The reports of flight and advanced spellcasting had sounded unbelievable at first, but now they seemed plausible. During combat she supported the team effectively with fire magic. Far more dependable than her appearance suggested.

The real problem began between the fifth and sixth Gates. She never displayed hostility toward us. But somewhere along the way, something changed. The smiling girl began slaughtering monsters with terrifying efficiency. Water blades diced creatures into cubes. Others were incinerated so completely they crystallized in seconds. As a newly awakened magic-user, I couldn't even comprehend the techniques she was using. Dr. Takatsuki later explained that Chloe disliked crowds and attention.

Apparently, before every stream she locked herself inside a vehicle and spent time psyching herself up. If that was true, then perhaps her combat persona was simply another form of self-image. Inside the Gate, imagination shaped reality. Perhaps nobody wielded that principle more effectively than she did. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"First, how much farther are we going?"

"Not much longer. My ride is almost here." She pointed behind me.

"There. Right behind you." A ride? I heard nothing. Sensed nothing. If I had sensed danger, I would have launched a water projectile immediately. Yet she looked completely relaxed.

"It's not an enemy," she said.

"It's just transportation." I turned. Golden eyes. Directly in front of me.

"Wha—?!" Instinctively, water gathered around me. Monster? Then why wasn't it attacking? The creature was jet black. Horse-shaped. Three golden eyes. Its long tongue hung from its mouth while drool dripped silently onto the ground. Yet not a single sound accompanied it.

"Mr. Horse, would you mind giving me a ride?" Without hesitation, Chloe approached it. She lowered one hand. The creature dipped its head. Then she floated effortlessly onto its back and sat sideways.

"Would you like to ride too? I'm thinking of heading over to that tree."

"I'll walk."

"Very well. Then keep pace with him." The horse began moving. No hoofbeats. It simply glided forward. Its gait reminded me of a broken carousel from an abandoned amusement park.

"Why does it have three eyes?"

"Who knows?" She shrugged.

"Being unable to see straight ahead would be inconvenient. It can actually see perfectly fine, but Sots doesn't know that. So naturally, it added another eye." I hadn't expected an answer. Perhaps conversation would make the trip pass faster. The Gates were always eerily silent. Even dying monsters never cried out.

"How did you know it was a mount?"

"Because that's what it obviously is." She patted the creature's neck.

"Seth chose to eat them. I chose to ride them. This place is huge." Then she glanced toward the horizon.

"They dislike waste. A horse solves both transportation and food requirements." She exhaled smoke.

"As I said before, this is definitely a safe zone. They spent extra resources making it. If they couldn't even make this properly, they'd destroy themselves." She spoke with unusual certainty. Safe zones had appeared in videos from overseas. Most were found around the sixth to eighth Gates. None looked quite this disturbing, but none showed monsters attacking explorers either.

"You knew about safe zones from the beginning?"

"Of course. It would be inconvenient otherwise." She smiled faintly.

"Considering how much I paid, it's nice to see the investment was worth it."

"If you'd revealed that information earlier, some people might still be alive."

"If you have influence, you can't afford to spread unverified information." She pointed ahead.

"Besides, Sots told me to find them first. Ah, we're here." The tree before us looked like something from a nightmare. Its leaves resembled swollen human lips. Inside each one rested countless seeds that looked disturbingly like human eyes.

"Let's take those." She pointed upward.

"The fruit is edible." The fruit immediately began falling. Before they hit the ground, they vanished into her ring. She kept two for herself. Refusing wasn't really an option. Then she took the first bite.

"Not bad. Want one?" I accepted. The outer layer was soft and gelatinous. The inside resembled grated yam. I chewed. Swallowed. And survived.

"Not inedible," I admitted.

"Just completely flavorless."

"Could use some seasoning." For the first time in a while, we both laughed. When she finished collecting fruit, she mounted the horse again and extended a hand.

"Let's head back. It's farther than it looks." This time, I accepted. The creature's body felt strangely soft. Elastic. Almost boneless. Yet surprisingly comfortable.

"Horses are meant to run fast." The moment she finished speaking, the creature exploded forward. The landscape blurred. I nearly fell off.

"First! Slow down!"

"It wants to run." Thankfully, she reduced the speed. As we traveled, I finally asked the question that had been bothering me.

"May I ask something about magic?"

"Go ahead."

"Are incantations useful for shaping magical imagery?" The topic had become popular within the unit. Some people claimed chants improved stability. Others insisted they were a hindrance. Few magic-users existed, and everyone was experimenting independently. But sitting before me was someone whose mastery bordered on frightening. Anyone with magical abilities could tell at a glance. She operated on an entirely different level.

"Tell me," she said.

"Would you rather own a mass-produced item or a custom-made one?"

"A custom-made one, obviously."

"Then there's your answer." She used the kiseru like a pointer.

"Incantations are useful. They help shape imagination into words." She paused.

"But they also kill the future."

"The future?"

"If you use 'Open Sesame,' a door opens." She smiled.

"But what if you use a different phrase? What if you discover another possibility?" The horse continued running through the silent grassland.

"Incantations lock phenomena into fixed forms. They're training wheels." She looked back at me.

"Use them at the beginning if you like. But eventually, freedom becomes more interesting." Then she added:"And those vague class descriptions everyone complains about? They're correct."

"Correct?"

"They aren't meant to define possibilities." She pointed her kiseru at me.

"Classes are support systems. If they explained everything in detail, they'd limit what you might become." She smiled gently.

"You already qualified for your class. That means you understand it better than you think." Her expression reminded me of a parent encouraging a child.

"Think about what you can do. What you wish to become. What kind of person you want to reach." The horse slowed.

"We're back." The return trip had taken half as long. The others had apparently encountered trouble. Four dead horses lay nearby alongside long rope-like organs. The decomposition process seemed slower than that of ordinary monsters.

"What happened here?" The lieutenant pointed at my mount.

"What happened to you?"

"According to First, it's a horse." I dismounted.

"A vehicle. I rode it. No hostility whatsoever." Meanwhile, Chloe approached the corpses. Without hesitation, she stored three of them away. Then she sliced the fourth into strips. Dr. Takatsuki blinked.

"What are you doing?"

"We turned it into meat, didn't we?" She smiled brightly.

"So let's eat it."