Ch.238[Episode 238] Oh God, Another Bug?

Sir Dominic raised his shield, peering through the viewing slit to observe what lay beyond the gap.

The unsettling gazes across the gap appeared and disappeared repeatedly in the darkness.

Whether due to the darkness that had settled over all of Glitchburg, or simply because Sir Dominic’s vision wasn’t good, or perhaps both, Sir Dominic couldn’t discern any pattern to those gazes. Noticing this, Unryu Hime pulled a flare from her inventory.

“This should help.”

Hime threw the flare with all her might toward the other side of the gap.

The red light of the flare, which began to burn with a crackling sound, instantly illuminated beyond the gap, allowing Sir Dominic and Hime to see exactly what was on the other side.

“…What is all this?”

“I’m not sure. They seem to be… bugs…”

Sir Dominic and Hime blinked, unable to hide their shock.

The place was filled with mannequins. Some mannequins would disappear as if teleporting with each step, then reappear several steps ahead or behind.

Some mannequins repeated the same action at 0.5-second intervals, appearing choppy as if there was a beginning and end but no middle.

Some mannequins simply stood with their arms spread in a T-shape without moving, while others hung upside down with arms spread in a T-shape, slowly rotating their heads 360 degrees.

It was truly a scene beyond human comprehension, but Sir Dominic and Hime were only slightly surprised before regaining their composure.

“It seems these things have no aggression.”

Sir Dominic strode through the gap and tried touching the mannequins.

However, the mannequins only continued repeating the actions they had been performing, as if executing programmed commands, showing no reaction to Sir Dominic’s actions.

“Still, they’re quite creepy.”

Hime also crossed over the gap and looked at the mannequins.

The mannequins appeared quite eerie, perhaps due to the red light from the flare.

The mannequins’ faces had no nose or mouth, but they did have eyes—apparently the same eyes that had been glowing in the darkness moments ago.

“They give me an unpleasant feeling for some reason.”

The mannequins’ eyes were subtly realistic, glassy and shining yet with mechanically fixed irises that would make anyone feel a chill when looking at them.

“This place doesn’t seem particularly dangerous.”

Sir Dominic tried touching the mannequins a few more times before sheathing his sword.

He had determined that the mannequins were simply doing their own tasks and posed no threat whatsoever.

“I want to get out of here quickly.”

Hime hugged her arms as if feeling goosebumps.

Her tail was stiff and bristling.

“For some reason… it’s scary.”

Sir Dominic nodded at Hime’s words.

He too found this place unsettling.

“Very well. Let’s move on. Do you have any more flares?”

“I don’t have flares, but I could make torches. I have cloth, oil, and wooden sticks.”

“…Why do you carry such things?”

“Oh, recently on a mission… never mind. I just put them in my inventory and forgot about them.”

Hime almost mentioned how she had recently brought down a hostile ninja faction but closed her mouth.

She thought it probably wouldn’t earn Sir Dominic’s favor no matter how she considered it.

Instead, as if trying to change the subject, she took out cloth, oil, and wooden sticks from her inventory and made improvised torches.

Then she held the torches to the still-burning flare, and they began to burn with adequate light.

Though Sir Dominic and Hime’s field of vision was still narrow, the situation was certainly better than before.

Sir Dominic nodded as if this was sufficient and said to Hime:

“This seems adequate. Now that we’ve solved the lighting problem, let’s find an exit.”

Sir Dominic raised his shield again and moved forward.

Hime followed behind Sir Dominic, holding the torch high.

“…Huh?”

Feeling an eerie sensation crawling up her spine, Hime turned her head to look at the mannequins.

However, the mannequins were still just performing their tasks, with nothing unusual about them.

“That’s strange. My instincts are never wrong…”

Hime stared at the mannequins for a moment.

She still couldn’t find anything unusual about them.

After staring at the mannequins for quite some time, Hime tilted her head and turned back to follow Sir Dominic.

She thought her senses must be off today.

…

Sir Dominic and Hime had been walking through the darkness for quite some time.

The area where Sir Dominic was currently walking had a large photo of a bearded man printed on the floor, and a sign nearby read, “You’ve found Easter Egg #2! Next, try to find Easter Egg #4.”

“I just can’t get used to this place no matter how I look at it.”

Sir Dominic shook his head as he looked at the giant photo that seemed like the ultimate self-indulgence.

The man in the photo was smiling brightly with an awkward feeling, and his eyes were looking in a specific direction.

“I’ve heard that coders sometimes leave their photos or names as pranks here and there… but I never expected to find such things in Glitchburg.”

Hime also sighed as if she thought this was really inappropriate.

“By the way, shouldn’t #3 come after #2? I don’t understand why it’s telling us to find #4.”

“Well, this is Glitchburg. It could be a bug, couldn’t it?”

“I suppose so.”

Hime tightened a faucet that was behind the sign for no particular reason.

Neither Sir Dominic nor Hime commented on why there was a faucet behind the sign.

This was Glitchburg, after all, where nothing would be surprising.

“Anyway, we can use this as a landmark to check our path.”

Hime said, looking at the sign.

“Indeed. The mannequins from earlier or the maze made of green cloths could also serve as reference points.”

Sir Dominic nodded at Hime’s words.

In truth, Sir Dominic and Hime were gradually losing their sense of direction.

Beyond the walls of Glitchburg was a seriously vast space, so large that no matter how far they walked, it remained wide open in all directions.

In this dark and enormous space where it was becoming increasingly confusing to know where they were walking and where they were going, the only things that helped Sir Dominic and Hime gauge their direction were these errors and Easter eggs that appeared intermittently.

“We need to decide which way to go from here.”

“Well, is there anything to worry about? The gaze in that photo is pointing that way. Let’s go there.”

Sir Dominic pondered Hime’s suggestion for a moment.

It wasn’t really something that needed consideration, but for some reason, Sir Dominic was bothered by the direction of the gaze in the photo.

“For some reason, it looks like it was painted over… May I have the torch?”

Sir Dominic took the torch from Hime and examined the eyes in the photo.

The eye area was quite seamlessly and elaborately done, but Sir Dominic noticed that it had been painted over with oil paint.

While the surrounding photo was slightly pixelated due to quality issues, the eye area looked natural, as if it had been painted over.

“…It seems there might be others here besides us. Or perhaps there’s a bug where paint doesn’t dry.”

Sir Dominic touched the eye area with his finger to check.

Given that the paint had not yet dried, there might be someone else here besides Sir Dominic and Hime.

“Wouldn’t that be a good thing? We could help each other.”

“Hmm.”

“Even if they’re hostile to us, I don’t think we’d lose. Above all, what’s in front of me is… Sir Dominic, whom I trust the most.”

Hime subtly revealed her inner thoughts and blushed.

However, Sir Dominic, who mistook Hime’s blush for the flickering of the torch, soon realized that her suggestion made sense.

“Very well. Then let’s follow the gaze as Lady Hime suggested. If we’re lucky… we might meet someone who can help us.”

Sir Dominic handed the torch back to Hime and began walking in the direction of the gaze in the photo.

Hime, who had received the torch, also took a step to follow Sir Dominic, but suddenly turned her head sharply as if sensing something behind her.

However, there was still only the sign with the tightly closed faucet.

“…Am I getting a bit sensitive?”

Hime tilted her head and followed Sir Dominic again.

She thought she must be getting a bit sensitive due to being unfamiliar with Glitchburg.

…

In the darkness after Sir Dominic and Hime had disappeared.

A silhouette appeared from the direction Sir Dominic and Hime had come from and carefully examined the photo.

Seeing the fingerprint on the eye area, the figure frowned, then began to fix the eye area of the photo with a brush and paint that had been produced from somewhere.

The eyes in the photo had been looking to the left until just now, but the newly fixed eyes were looking to the right.

After correcting the painting for quite some time, the silhouette nodded with satisfaction, and then began walking in a third direction—neither the direction Sir Dominic and Hime had gone, nor the direction of the newly painted gaze.

For some reason, it kept its mechanical gaze fixed in the direction Sir Dominic and Hime had gone.