Ch.240[Chapter 240] Speed Runner

“How on earth are you able to run around so quickly?”

“It’s nothing special. If we say forward speed is 1 and sideways speed is 1, then moving diagonally covers a distance of √2. So my diagonal speed becomes √2, and this speed transforms again into forward and sideways velocities, making the diagonal speed 2, and so on.”

“Hmm! I don’t understand.”

“That’s natural. Even in Gachaland, only people like me who specialize in speedrunning pay attention to these mechanics.”

Sir Dominic conversed with Aaa while the latter hopped around in figure-eight patterns.

Aaa was already moving faster than any ninja or kunoichi, but to match Sir Dominic’s pace, Aaa circled around him.

“There’s also backward jumping, but that’s only possible in Retrograde. Can’t use it here, so I’ll skip the explanation.”

“Retrograde?”

“It shares origins with Gachaland, but it’s more like… a city steeped in nostalgia.”

“Though it does harbor an unusual amount of hostility toward Gachaland,” said Aaa, finally stopping at a wall.

“Well, here’s our first fork in the road.”

“Fork? This looks like a dead end to me.”

Sir Dominic looked around briefly, but where Aaa stood was a dead-end alley with three walls closing it in.

The only path was the one they had come from.

However, Aaa waved dismissively at Sir Dominic.

“This is Glitchburg. Don’t expect Gachaland’s common sense to apply here. Now, watch carefully and follow my lead.”

Aaa strode to the corner of the alley.

Then, with arms, neck, and waist fixed in position, Aaa began rubbing against the corner.

“What are you doing?”

“Just a moment. This technique only works about once every three attempts. If I do this and then—”

Sir Dominic watched with surprised eyes as Aaa suddenly started rubbing against the wall, repeatedly sitting down and standing up.

“See? This is how you do it here.”

Aaa’s voice came from beyond the wall.

Sir Dominic stared in amazement at the corner where Aaa had disappeared.

He approached the wall and touched it with his hand to find any trick, but there seemed to be none.

“Try following me. Don’t be afraid.”

Aaa’s voice came from beyond the wall again.

Sir Dominic took another step back and looked at the corner.

Finally, as if resolved, Sir Dominic walked steadily to the corner and began rubbing his body vigorously while repeatedly sitting down and standing up.

“I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“It’s okay. Everyone thinks that at first. Don’t hesitate. It actually takes longer that way.”

Aaa encouraged Sir Dominic with those words.

After rubbing against the corner for quite some time, Sir Dominic finally managed to pass through the wall.

“Good. That’s how you do it. Well done.”

Aaa began clapping, genuinely celebrating Sir Dominic’s success.

“Thank you. But this place… it’s even more bizarre than before.”

Sir Dominic accepted Aaa’s praise and looked around.

Beyond the wall was an endless black space. A pebble caught under Sir Dominic’s foot slipped into the black void.

No matter how much time passed, there was no sound of the pebble hitting bottom. When Sir Dominic leaned his head out slightly to check how far it had fallen, Aaa pulled him back as if warning of danger.

“Dangerous!”

Having pulled his head back due to Aaa’s urgent action, Sir Dominic soon saw the pebble falling downward at a terrifying speed right before his eyes.

Sir Dominic felt dizzy for a moment.

The pebble’s speed was no joke.

“What on earth is this phenomenon?”

Sir Dominic asked Aaa, blinking his eyes in amazement.

“It’s respawning. To prevent endless falling into that abyss, it’s programmed to reappear from above after falling a certain distance.”

Aaa, sighing with relief that Sir Dominic was unharmed, smoothed his shiny head and cautioned him.

“This path is the fastest route out of Glitchburg, which makes it that much more dangerous.”

After saying that, Aaa was silent for a moment before speaking again.

“I’d like to guide you through a safer path, but unfortunately, the only routes I know are for speedrunning, so we’re stuck with paths like this. But if you follow my instructions exactly, nothing serious should happen. Probably.”

Aaa repeatedly emphasized that Sir Dominic must follow behind him and absolutely not take any actions other than those instructed.

“Now, let’s go through here. Normally it would take 3 hours and 30 minutes, but this way we’ll arrive in 10 minutes.”

Aaa clapped again, seemingly trying to lighten the tense atmosphere.

Just as he was about to turn and move forward, Aaa turned back toward Sir Dominic as if something was wrong.

“Wait a moment.”

Aaa frowned and looked around.

After looking around for a while and checking something by crossing through the wall again, Aaa returned and suddenly began sighing.

“Um, Sir Dominic?”

“What is it?”

Sir Dominic looked at Aaa as if asking what was wrong.

Aaa made a troubled expression and said:

“Well, it seems your companion has disappeared?”

At those words, Sir Dominic suddenly looked around.

As Aaa said, Hime was nowhere to be seen.

Sir Dominic tried to remember when he had last noticed Hime’s presence and realized he hadn’t sensed her for quite some time.

“Good heavens.”

Sir Dominic turned his head to look at the path they had traveled.

Of course, having just passed through the wall, all he could see was the wall itself, but Sir Dominic wasn’t looking at the wall but imagining Hime lost somewhere beyond it.

“Is, is this an important companion? If they’re important, shouldn’t we go back and find them?”

Seeing Sir Dominic’s reaction, Aaa judged that Hime must be quite an important companion.

And so Aaa suggested going back to look for Hime.

Sir Dominic looked at Aaa with a dejected expression.

And silently nodded.

He was too worried to continue without Hime.

So Sir Dominic and Aaa began to retrace their steps, passing back through the wall.

To find Hime who had vanished somewhere.

…

So where exactly had Hime separated from Sir Dominic?

To know that, we need to go back to about 5 minutes after Dominic and Hime began following Aaa.

Hime was following closely behind Sir Dominic, who was following Aaa.

Naturally, if they continued like this, there would be no reason to get lost.

Of course, this would have been true if they were in Gachaland.

But Sir Dominic and Hime were moving through Glitchburg.

A place where common sense didn’t apply, where unmanageable bugs and errors were isolated.

“…Huh?”

While following Sir Dominic, Hime suddenly felt something catch her foot.

It felt like a rock or a rolling can, but Hime couldn’t see the obstacle in the dark space and tripped over it.

As she staggered, losing her balance, Hime suddenly saw an intense light flashing in the distance.

The light was so intense that Hime’s thoughts momentarily froze, and she lost her balance completely, falling to the ground.

“Ugh, what did I trip on?”

Despite being a kunoichi, Hime was so embarrassed about losing her balance that she immediately got up and dusted off her clothes.

“Sir Dominic, are you okay…?”

Thinking of the flash of light, Hime called out to Sir Dominic.

Since the light was intense enough to blind her momentarily, she worried that Sir Dominic might not be well either.

However, Hime realized that Sir Dominic, who had been right in front of her until just now, was nowhere to be seen.

“S-Sir Dominic? Is this a joke? It’s not funny!”

Wondering if perhaps she couldn’t see him because of the darkness, Hime took out a new torch and lit it.

The torch she had been holding seemed to have fallen and gone out.

As Hime urgently lit the torch, her field of vision widened.

But even with the improved visibility, there was no sign of Sir Dominic or Aaa anywhere.

“That can’t be…”

Hime hypothesized that Sir Dominic might have moved quite far while she was down from the flashing light.

Hime quietly closed her eyes and used her trained hearing to search for Sir Dominic and Aaa’s footsteps, but strangely, she couldn’t hear any footsteps anywhere.

“W-what on earth happened?”

Only then did Hime realize that she had become separated from Sir Dominic and lost her way.

Her ears and tail drooped and began to tremble.

Being left alone in this dark world full of bugs and errors was that frightening.

“There must be a clue somewhere. Or maybe it’s better to just stay put? Sir Dominic will surely notice something strange and come looking…”

As Hime sat down miserably, contemplating her situation…

Far away, in the darkness, unpleasant eyes, gleaming eyes, were watching her.

“…”

Those eyes stared at Hime without making a sound for a long time, then disappeared back into the darkness.

“M-maybe if I walk in the direction Sir Dominic was heading, I’ll meet him again…?”

Hime, seemingly unaware of the presence, was pondering how to reunite with Sir Dominic.