Ch.20I, You, Us

# 20. Me, You, Us

Though it’s nothing special, it’s deliciously tear-inducing.

Though I didn’t say much, it’s laugh-out-loud fun.

Compared to my brother and sister, it’s so sweet that comparing would be blasphemy.

No need to attend lectures, do assignments, or take quizzes.

No need to do boring, exhausting workouts.

Above all, it’s not suffocating.

Is this what happiness is?

Is this what freedom is?

[NewAxe]

[Level 2][Title: Tower Entrant]

[Class: Barbarian Warlord]

[Strength: 12][Dexterity: 10][Endurance: 12][Magic: 10][Will: 10]

[Remaining Points: 3]

[Skills Owned: 5]

[Common Skills: 4]

– Rest(1)

– Basic Destruction(2)

– Basic Physical Combat(2)

– Robust Physique(2)

[Class Skill: 1]

– Barbarian Sense(1)

Looking at my character window again, it suddenly hit me. I wasn’t just hanging out with my raid team members—I was truly in a strange place.

I was ‘naturally’ holding an axe I’d never touched in my life.

I’m Ayuri, a twenty-year-old college girl, but I’m also NewAxe.

‘Time to forget my college days of working out.’

I don’t know what the future holds, but one thing is certain.

My first meeting with the raid leader and Senior Seyeon.

The tear-inducingly delicious food they personally made.

The gently burning campfire.

It was an unforgettable, perfect day, and I want to keep living it.

So.

“Come on, repeat after me. Yu-ri-ya—”

“Yuri-ssi.”

*Rustle*

“No way! You corrected your speech but can’t say my name properly? How does that make sense?”

*Rustle*

“Please show some respect, Yuri-ssi. Your raid leader is a dignified person. Understand?”

*Rustle*

“What are you suddenly saying? Seriously! Should I use my wish token right here?”

Don’t come. Don’t interfere. Don’t sprinkle ashes on this joyful moment.

Just walk away when you’re pretending not to notice.

“Yuri, you’re making the leader uncomfortable.”

“Wow, I never thought you’d take the raid leader’s side, unni—”

*Rustle*

Ah.

The raid leader and unni noticed it too.

How annoying.

**

They said that KillCute, who joined us as a reward for floor 0, was processed as having passed through the Room of Beginning.

And NewAxe, who joined as a reward for floor 1-1, received passage through the Room of Beginning, basic weapons, and basic skills.

Even so, NewAxe was still just a college girl who liked food and had never even seen a monster, let alone fought one.

That’s what I thought. KillCute probably thought the same.

When NewAxe, who had been lying flat with her ear to the ground, made an incomprehensible hand signal, then darted out of the campsite with her eyes fiercely wide.

When I hurriedly grabbed my sword and chased after her, and discovered what had been monsters with split heads scattered around her.

When I met her eyes as she turned around, her blood-stained axe resting on her shoulder, licking the blood flowing from a wound on her face.

For a moment, I was afraid of her. And relieved that she was on our side.

“Ha, haha. You took them all out in that short time?”

“Yeah.”

Sugoi.

I didn’t dare say that word out loud. The atmosphere didn’t allow it.

Still, there were things that needed to be said.

“Good job.”

“…Pfft! It’s hardly ‘good job’ for taking out a few forest goblins!”

NewAxe’s laughter significantly dispersed the eerie atmosphere. Maybe it was my imagination, but her eyes seemed less red too.

So, forest goblins, huh.

That gave me a hint about where we were, but considering their habitat distribution and numbers…

‘Tsk. It might be hard to sleep peacefully.’

We needed to set up more crude security devices and, first priority, clear away those corpses.

Normally, if I’d seen this scene, I would have turned 180 degrees, leaned against a tree, and vomited violently… but thanks to the Knight’s Trial where I’d seen human corpses and even cut them up myself—anyway, after all that suffering, fortunately I didn’t have an adverse reaction.

“Seyeon-ssi and I will clean this up. It’ll start smelling terrible if we leave it.”

“Yes, leader.”

“Ah! I’ll help too.”

“No. You killed them, so go rest. Clean your axe too.”

I took a shovel from my inventory and started digging the blood-soaked ground. Soon the sound of digging doubled, and thanks to our strength and endurance being considerably better than before, the forest goblins became part of the forest.

Only after setting up security devices around the campsite using branches and ropes could we return.

“I’d like to play more, but we should sleep now, right?”

NewAxe, poking at the nearly extinguished campfire, greeted us with a tone of lingering regret.

“Today isn’t the only day.”

“…That’s right. Today isn’t the only day!”

NewAxe put down her cleaned axe and stretched.

“Ah! I’ll take the first watch. The raid leader and unni worked hard too.”

“Yuri-ssi.”

“Ugh, I told you that sounds creepy—”

“Yuri-ya.”

“—said… Huh? Eh?”

She seemed so nonchalant that I overlooked it, but thinking about it again, this was NewAxe’s first kill.

KillCute and I had overcome the trials together, comforting and encouraging each other through the aftereffects. After the first trial, KillCute had embraced me, and after the second, I had comforted her.

But NewAxe’s first kill, though brief and sudden, was experienced alone.

“Get a good rest today.”

“Why? Oh. Because of the goblins I killed earlier? Come on, it was really nothing!”

“Seyeon-ssi.”

“Yes, leader. Wake me at the appropriate time.”

“Alright. Sleep well.”

“Huh? Wait, unni! Just a moment!”

As expected of KillCute. She understood my intention and dragged NewAxe, who was struggling to insist on taking watch, into the tent.

– I’m really fine, I tell you!

– It’s an order.

– This isn’t even a raid, what order?

– Yuri-ya. Let’s listen to the leader. It’s all for your sake.

– I know, but… I just feel bad.

– There’s nothing to feel bad about.

With the conversation of the two college girls from the tent and the sound of the rekindling campfire as background music, I gazed at the sky.

Even here, the sun rose and set, and stars twinkled.

‘I wonder if there’s a star like Polaris.’

Are we heading in the right direction?

If we continue like this, will we, will I, reach the outcome we desire?

– Did you really feel nothing?

– I really didn’t.

– The feeling in your hands, the smell, the blood. It was so hard for me. Actually, it still is.

Making these kids, barely twenty or twenty-one, get blood on their hands and bleed themselves…

The tower is unkind; I wished there was a star like Polaris, always pointing in one direction.

– Pretending to be okay, hiding it isn’t everything.

– ….

– Whether it’s as the leader suspects—an awkward fusion with your character—or the influence of skills… you’re still you, Yuri-ya.

You are you.

Yes, I am me.

Instead of commuting to work, I wander a strange world; instead of filling out documents, I swing a sword; instead of being called Mr. Sunghyun, I’m called leader; and instead of lying in bed staring at my smartphone, I’m burying goblin corpses and sitting by a campfire, pathetically looking up at the night sky—even this me is still me.

– Don’t get intoxicated by it, don’t get used to it. We overcome it together.

– Yeah.

– This place is like a game but not a game, so we need to take better care of ourselves and be more careful.

– I understand what you mean.

– Sorry if I sounded nagging. I’m not anyone special.

– No, really. You don’t even know what nagging is. Real nagging is like my sister—Ah! No, no, no! Not you, I meant my actual sister…

Thank you, Seyeon-ssi. For doing what I should have done.

Thanks to you, I feel stronger too.

**

[You have defeated Dimensional Lord Mensima!]

[You have acquired the achievement ‘Conqueror of Dimensions’!]

[You have acquired the item ‘Mensima’s Dimensional Armor’.]

[You have acquired the item ‘Mensima’s Staff’.]

[Item …]

“Whew~ That was intense, seriously.”

– Urgh… What place did we get?

– Obviously outside the top 5. We cleared it a day late.

– Still, looking at the achievements and drops, it was worth it.

Was it because we approached the raid with less pressure and burden? We were able to clear it at an even faster pace than usual.

We missed not just first place but even second, but this raid was fun too. That was enough.

“Everyone really worked hard.”

– Anyone want to do dailies?

– I’m too tired.

– I need to check my achievements and go to bed too.

– Well, then I guess I’ll sleep too.

Despite the rest, yesterday’s aftermath was significant. Like the raid members said, I thought I should just check my achievements and go to sleep.

[(New) Conqueror of Dimensions: You made the Dimensional Lord Mensima kneel.]

[…Perhaps you might even manipulate dimensions someday?]

But then.

[This is the lowest floor of the tower, Floor 0.]

“…Huh?”

Ridiculously, my first thought upon being dragged to this strange place was not:

‘Where am I?’

‘What? What on earth happened?’

‘Where are the other raid members?’

‘Is this a dream?’

But rather:

‘How am I going to go to work tomorrow?’