Chapter 13: Nick And Noah

“It hurts!”

Moreover, it was no easy task to stand up on the violently shaking ground, so Paul couldn’t get up easily.

He had to go quickly, there was less than a minute left…!

“Ugh!”

At that moment, the boss monster, as if snatching him up, lifted Paul, slung him over its shoulder, and started running.

[…]

Ah, the exit was truly right in front of them.

Once they leave here, ‘it’ will gain freedom.

Nothing will stand in ‘it’s’ way anymore.

The moment the chains bound it, ‘it’ thought it would not be able to leave this place.

But it wasn’t so.

When the image of the intruder, smiling brightly and brandishing a sword that emanated a white light, filled ‘it’s’ vision like an imprint.

When the light soared and the things that bound it fell to the floor.

The moment it was led out of that place by that pulling hand, ‘it’ couldn’t help but smile a little behind its mask.

And so, ‘it’ remembered how to smile.

As it listened to the intruder’s endless chatter, even while running frantically as if there were so many things it wanted to do, it inwardly agreed.

‘Yes, let’s do that.’

Its heart pounded.

Was it because of the ceaseless running?

Its chest ached.

The heart it didn’t even know it had started to pound.

Stepping forward towards the light seeping in from the outside, ‘it’ thought that once it left this place, it would do every single thing this intruder mentioned.

<00:00:00>

Beeeep—!

[System: Time Attack ended!]

[System: Quest completed!]

[System: Please check your quest rewards!]

“Wahahaha! We escaped! Hooray!”

Along with the familiar fanfare, the quest completion message appeared.

After confirming the reward notification, Paul spun around the boss monster, shouting “Hooray!”

Wordlessly taking in the sight of him running around on the snow-covered field like a rabbit, ‘it’ slowly took a deep breath and looked around.

It was all white.

In contrast, the sky was blue.

The gentle sunlight poured down on it.

‘It’ let out a sigh like a lament.

[…]

At that moment, Paul, who had been laughing out loud and running around for a while, seemed to have had his fill and approached it again.

His pale face was flushed from the cold.

“Your name is ‘Khan’ from now on!”

And the words he blurted out with a bright smile were rather bewildering to ‘it’.

***

─ Your name is ‘Khan’ from now on!

The face of a smiling elf appeared in a close-up on the giant hologram screen.

The fingers that had been rhythmically tapping the desk stopped.

The green-eyed man, who had been watching the entire scene through ‘it’s’ eyes, laughed a little hollowly.

“Well, Noah did say so, but… he’s really lucky.”

‘I thought it would surely fail. This was unexpected.’

1. Nick and Khan.

In a room with dozens of hologram screens displayed, there was a man.

The man, with black hair reaching his collarbone tied back roughly and thick horn-rimmed glasses covering half his face, was dressed in clothes so comfortable they looked shabby, as if this were his home.

But despite his attire, he strangely drew one’s gaze.

It probably wasn’t just because of his large build.

The t-shirt with a strange, polarizing graphic probably played a part, and the sturdy body that couldn’t be fully hidden under the clothes was likely another reason.

Crucially, the face revealed behind the glasses he took off to rub his tired eyes after long hours of monitoring was one you could never forget once you saw it.

“Hmm, this is troublesome…”

Muttering softly, the man leaned back in his chair.

His green eyes, the color of new leaves, contorted as if troubled by the recent event.

He stared at the largest screen, tapping the armrest as if lost in thought.

On the screen, an elf was running around on the snowfield, excited like a puppy seeing its first snow.

At that, the man inadvertently let his thoughts slip out.

“…He’s playing cutely.”

Truly, he was playing cutely.

The man thought that Paul’s face, which possessed all the typical features of an elf, suited his childlike behavior well.

Every time he moved, his thin platinum-blonde hair sparkled in the sunlight, and the sight of his ear tips, cheeks, and the tip of his nose, flushed red from the cold air, looked quite cute even in the man’s eyes.

On top of that, as if to represent his good mood, even the way his long ears twitched was so fitting that he couldn’t take his eyes off him.

His smiling face, his actions, and even the way he was holding the hands of the boss monster, just named [Khan], and spinning around in place.

Everything made the person named Paul look lovely.

In the end, the man chuckled and raised his hands as if to say he had lost.

“You win, Noah. I’ll give up on withdrawing the quest.”

At that, the round sphere called ‘Noah’ spun around the man once and replied.

─ ‘Nick’, what did I tell you? I said it would succeed!

At that, the man called Nick let out a sigh mixed with a hollow laugh.

“…You’re right. How can he be so lucky? I can’t believe it even after seeing it with my own eyes. Truly… amazing.”

Stopping his monologue-like words, the man turned his gaze back to the screen.

“But this quest was a bit reckless, Noah. It wasn’t originally like this, was it? Suddenly releasing a hidden boss outside the dungeon…”

─ Oh, are you doubting my decision now? That’s too much. You shouldn’t doubt your friend, Nick! Shouldn’t we be grateful to the player who allowed us to proceed with a quest that was about to be discarded?

Noah, as if excited, spun around in place again and rattled off words.

─ Following a player’s path opens up countless possibilities. We predict the future based on that, don’t we? Just like always. It was the same this time!

By combining the given elements in various ways, I considered countless possibilities. But an unexpected variable appeared in the middle! It was like a bug!

Oh, Nick! I hadn’t considered a situation where that boss monster would initiate a conversation with a player on its own. That was a truly novel reaction.

It was a pattern that had never occurred before, even after encountering countless players! Of course, I expected Rasis’s intervention. That boss monster and Rasis have a very close relationship.

But what I focused on was that boss monster’s behavior. So this result is only natural. Isn’t that right, my friend Nicholas?

At those words, ‘Nicholas Wood’ covered his face with both hands and let out a ground-shaking sigh.

“…But if ‘Didi’ finds out, she’ll surely grab me by the collar. She might even slap me.”

To the utterly dejected Nicholas, Noah played Beethoven’s Fate as background music and cackled.

─ You should have been prepared for that much when you caused trouble, Nick!

“Turn off the music, Noah!”

But despite Nicholas’s words, Noah only turned up the volume.

“…How did it come to this.”

His head throbbed as he listened to the sound of the piano keys being slammed violently.

Nicholas could only sigh at this situation.

So, the beginning of all this happened about a month ago.

***

─About a month ago.

This is Manhattan, New York.

This is where the headquarters of <Eve Company>, which developed the world’s best virtual reality game <Arcana Chronicles>, is located.

A cloudless blue sky stretched over the forest of buildings.

Someone said it was the perfect weather for a picnic in the park just ahead.

At that time, Nicholas, due to a troublesome schedule that had been set earlier, was polished from head to toe, instead of his usual shabby hoodie and shorts.

Frowning as if tired, he loosened the tie that was choking his neck and entered the company building, immediately capturing people’s attention.

Instead of the clothes his family usually called a beggar’s rags, he was sharply dressed in a suit with his handsome face fully revealed, so it was only natural that he drew a lot of attention.

Employees passing through the lobby stole glances, pretending not to.

Although he was frowning, Nicholas was in a relatively good mood.

Was it because the weather outside was fantastic?

Was it because he had a good dream that night?

The fact that his annoying schedule had ended quickly probably also played a part in improving his mood.

The reason he was frowning was largely due to the burden of the gazes that had been on him on his way here.

As he entered the company building with long strides to escape quickly, his expression relaxed a bit, perhaps because he felt at ease in a place that was like his own home.

Anyway, to say it again, Nicholas was in a good mood.

He was in such a good mood that, unlike his usual introverted self, he even greeted passing employees first, and he even bought drinks for the employees he met at the cafe on the first floor of the company building.

Even humming a tune, Nicholas, who had gotten a sweet cafe mocha with plenty of whipped cream to go, headed to his office located on the top floor of the company.

That’s right, this very man was one of the developers who developed the world-renowned AI ‘Noah’, and furthermore, created the virtual reality game <Arcana Chronicles>.