「I see, so this is the capital.」

「It sure is….vast.」

The Town of Beginning, Dualis, and Tria. Even having seen those three big towns, it was a huge city that we could only describe as vast.

That was….our first impression of the city called Fias.

「It looks like there isn’t any real inspection.」

「That crystal on the top of the gate, it seems it functions as something like a security camera. And the people who are gatekeepers are absurdly strong or something, that even a level 50 criminal player couldn’t hold anything against them, I heard.」

「The matter where NPCs are way too strong.」

Waving my hands toward the security camera just in case, we entered the capital city Fias.

「That’s the Melstive Empire’s castle, right? It looks similar to the castle I saw when Rin-chan brought me overseas, but it sure is big.」

『Hae~』

『That looks exhausting thinking going to the top』

『Pointlessly big』

『Is it physically possible?』

「Well, it’s an impossible structure in the real world, but in this world there is magic so it can work after all.」

「I see?」

Aah, magic sure is a convenient word.

Putting the jokes aside, even though it was nearing evening, the capital was still quite lively.

To the sides of the very spacious roads, there were shops and carts set up, and there were quite a lot of foods that really tempted my appetite.

I could also see player-like people. As expected, the number of players here compared to Tria were on entirely different tiers.

Well, yeah, that gorilla was, for some reason, quite troubling. If you defeated that, then you must have been quite strong. I thought that laser was unfair.

「We safely arrived at Fias, but what are we gonna do after this?」

「Let’ see…..If I can, I want to sell the materials of the mysteria rabi I guess.」

After what happened earlier and before arriving at Fias, thanks to hunting three mysteria rabi, my wallet was quite swollen.

Furthermore, if I sold the materials, I probably wouldn’t have any trouble with money for a little while. And if I used it carefully, the metal club most likely wouldn’t break.

「After all, if you just sold it to a general shop, it would just be bought cheaply. So while sightseeing, should we try looking for a shop for a bit?」

「Yeah, let’s do that.」

「Onee-chan, can we talk for a bit~?」

When I was talking to Touka-chan about what we planned to do after that, I was suddenly called out to by a young NPC girl that was passing through.

With light-brown hair that was a bit unkempt, it was a young child.

「N? what’s the matte-…!」

「Nee-sama?」

I nearly took out my weapon reflexively because I felt a very clear aura of death.

What was…this…this chill?

The girl before me, just from a glance, was a normal girl.

Her looks and even the atmosphere around her was that of a normal girl.

There was totally nothing strange about her. However, conversely, because of that I couldn’t help but feel that it was weird. My senses have been getting irritating.

「…Who?」

「……………….Aha.」

After a long silence, the girl gave a conspicuous and repulsive smile. In the blink of an eye, her figure changed into that of a girl with blonde hair and crimson eyes.

Even though it should’ve been my first time meeting this girl, her figure was a little bit familiar.

Illusions? Magic? I didn’t know, but could it change this quickly?

The premonition of death that felt as if something had grasped my heart had still not yet disappeared.

She was just too superior to me. I could even feel power of such magnitude that it forbade me from perceiving its extents.

「How nice to meet you, kijin-san of the Red Wolf attire. You did well noticing it, I shall praise you.」

「Well, thanks.」

I didn’t even have the leisure to feel animosity towards her eyes that were looking down on me. She could kill me whenever she wanted. And she was not the kind to hesitate to do so, even in the middle of a city.

Facing this genuine bloodthirst, a cold sweat emerging, all I could do was choose my words properly.

「Your name is?」

「……Sukuna.」

「Job?」

「It is Douji.」

「Ara, it seems like it’s the real thing. Though, I already knew it.」

“Runrun.” Humming in a tone as if she were really about to sing, the girl just smiled.

Someone I met for the first time knowing about me, that itself was not unusual. It was just that, for something on this level to have their eyes on me was something I hadn’t predicted.

「Your willpower is a pass, your wit has a perfect score. Your power is still inexperienced…..oh well. Those eyes of yours. You really are strong in enduring, or rather your trigger has just not been pulled yet. Although, it looks like you are not conscious about it…..it has been a while since I have seen a child holding this deep, deep darkness. Fufu, that itself is the highest of high talent to kijin, you know?」

「Just what…are you saying…?」

「You will someday know it. You are a kijin, after all. If you awaken that slumbering emotion, I shall come and meet you again.」

As the girl said that, putting a little bit of the rouge on her own lips on her fingertip, after sliding that finger on my cheeks, she turned away.

「W-wait.」

To the girl who said such suggestive words, as she was about to leave, I unintentionally called out to her.

「What is…your name?」

Though she didn’t have any obligation to answer me.

Leaving with such words, while the girl gazed into my eyes with her crimson ones, she sang her name as if she was enjoying it.

「Melty. I shall permit you to call me that.」

At that familiar name, I reflexively held my breath.

Melty.《Heavenly Eye》 Melty.

That was the name of the hero Kohaku had told me about.

It was obvious why she was familiar. After all, she looked the same as Melty from Cloclo.

Why right here? Why was such a big shot here?

「Let us meet again. Oh young, young kijin-san.」

Leaving me behind with only those words, the phantom-like girl had completely disappeared. What was left was…just me, who was standing still, with no idea what had just happened, and Touka-chan who looked confused.

☆

「Nee-sama, what are you talking about?」

「Eh?」

After those few seconds of contact and meeting a monster way beyond imagination, what came from Touka-chan was a curious question.

「What is-…」

「I saw Nee-sama talking to an empty space, you know?」

「Huh….eh…?」

I didn’t know what Touka-chan was talking about.

Just now, if what that person had said was the truth, I had been talking with Melty the 《Heavenly Eye》…..I should’ve been.

Since Touka-chan was right next to me, she should’ve been looking around where I was too, so she should’ve seen Melty’s figure. Or maybe, if she hadn’t seen through that illusion-like appearance, she should have at least seen a light-brown haired girl….

「Hey, those who are watching, did you see it?」

『?』

『??』

『I thought you just suddenly started doing a play』

『Nothing』

『Was there something?』

『Dunno』

「I…see.」

Did I see a daydream? Inside a game?

Rather, if they have seen me in such a situation without the other, then it might have looked like quite realistic acting.

「Fu, kukuku, ahahahahahahaha.」

Thinking so, I laughed for a bit and exhaled out the tension in my body.

「It’s nothing. I was just talking to some ghost.」

「? I…see..?」

Tricking the system. I didn’t really understand how deep this level of story was, but really, these superior people sure did all sorts of things.

Melty Bloodheart. The strongest vampire and the hero of mankind.

My impression from that confrontation was that she was not someone who was purely on the good side. Though, that could also be said of Kohaku.

“If I’m fine then it’s all good.” Melty felt like quite a mischievous person, but that might also be my own misunderstanding.

If I were to give my full impressions, they were that I didn’t know. Rather, it wasn’t like something that could be understood like that.

「Now, let’s sightsee. I wonder if the smith in Fias also sells metal clubs?」

「Suku-neesama sure likes metal clubs.」

「They’re easy to use, after all.」

Just arriving here I had already gotten worn out, but in the first place, we had defeated the boss and walked all the way here, so it was only natural.

Let’s change the mood and do some sightseeing. Thinking that, suddenly I saw myself reflected in the glass of a window, and for some reason, I was really relieved.

After all, on my cheeks, I could see a little trace of rouge.

「So, it wasn’t a dream….」

I believed that someday, we would meet for sure.

However, the me at that point didn’t know that it would be sooner than I thought.