I folded the map and tucked it into my coat.

‘No need to rush.’

I would spend today shaking off the lingering fatigue from my journey, and would start making my real moves tomorrow.

Until then, I planned to enjoy a rare moment of respite.

***

After securing decent lodgings, I headed out to the streets to catch up on my skipped meals.

‘They say the food in the Northern Region is better than in the Eastern Region.’

As someone with a keen interest in culinary delights, I was searching for a restaurant with eager anticipation.

That was when it happened.

Ding-!

A notification sound chimed from my device.

A message had arrived.

‘Right.’

I had promised to contact Chasey once I arrived in the Northern Region.

Running into the desert merchants had delayed me.

Since I hadn’t reached out even past my estimated arrival time, Chasey must have reached out first.

Feeling apologetic, I checked my device, but…

The contents of the message I received were entirely outside my expectations.

– Yuuuki: It’s been a while. Could you come to the shop in front of you for a moment?

A message from Yuki.

After a recent period of complete silence, a message from her had finally arrived.

‘The shop in front of me?’

It was a chilling message.

It meant that Yuki was observing me right now.

Whoosh-!

I glanced around, but Yuki was nowhere to be seen.

‘What should I do?’

According to Ariel, Yuki—an Assassin Guild member—had approached me intentionally.

Right now, I was in no position to use Solid Exoskeleton.

Which meant I had absolutely no means of self-defense.

– Yuuuki: Just come into the Clear Forest Tea House. I’ll be waiting inside.

I lifted my head and looked straight ahead.

The sign for the Clear Forest Tea House stood right in front of me.

How did she know I would come here today?

Tension stiffened my body.

For now, the message suggested that Yuki wanted to talk.

I needed to play along with her intentions.

Jingle- jingle-!

As I opened the shop door, a wind chime hanging at the entrance swayed and rang out.

The interior was brightly lit as if it were open for business, but there was no sign of anyone inside.

Then, a voice reached my ears.

“Over here!”

Yuki’s voice.

I looked up to pinpoint the source of the sound.

Yuki was leaning against the second-floor railing, waving with a bright smile.

Swish-

Yuki pointed her finger somewhere.

Following her gesture, I found a staircase leading to the second floor.

She wanted me to come up.

Tromp- tromp-

As I climbed the stairs, I pondered.

What should I say to Yuki when I met her?

What her reason was for approaching me.

What her reason was for betraying Jake Spencer.

And I felt I should ask which version of her was the real Yuki.

Though I wasn’t sure if I could actually bring myself to say those words out loud.

After climbing the entire staircase, Yuki came into view.

Pitch-black hair and snow-white skin.

She beamed brightly.

“Welcome.”

Unable to decide on a proper opening question, I ended up blurting out something stiff and formal.

“It’s been a while.”

“Welcome to Solar, in the Northern Region of Trivik.”

Yuki welcomed me warmly, but my expression remained utterly impassive.

“So, what is this about?”

“…So curt. I was hoping we could share a more heartfelt reunion.”

She looked exactly as I remembered her, but there was an inexplicable coldness to her now.

It felt like she was an entirely different person from the Yuki I had met on the Magitech Train.

Yuki spread her arms and spun around playfully.

“How is it? I rented out this entire shop just for you, Mr. Shin. I’ve even prepared a place for you to stay for the night.”

She looked as if she had a screw loose somewhere.

I didn’t show my discomfort, however.

It might provoke her.

I carried on the conversation as carefully as if I were defusing a bomb.

“…How did you know I would come here today?”

“Aha-! You were curious about that. Ta-da, would you take a look at this?”

Flash-!

Yuki snatched my wrist.

Her hand moved so fast I couldn’t even react.

Yuki’s fingers brushed over my device.

Tap-

At that, something transparent fell off my device.

“It’s a skill I possess. I planted it on you while you were sleeping on the train.”

A chill crawled up my skin.

The fact that she had done something to my body while I was asleep.

Yuki gave me a warm smile as if telling me not to worry.

“I didn’t mean to harm you. It only has the function of tracking your location, Mr. Shin.”

A location tracking function.

Hearing her words, it clicked in my mind.

The communication with Yuki had been cut off right after I met Chasey Einthoven.

Up until that very morning, we had been communicating perfectly fine.

Which meant…

Yuki flicked her tongue out as if disappointed.

“If it hadn’t been for the Einthovens, we would have kept in touch…”

The reason Yuki cut off contact was to avoid stirring up unnecessary trouble.

If she had crossed paths with the young lady of the Einthoven family, things could have gotten complicated.

“So you were watching me meet Chasey.”

“Yes- I also watched you get into that fight with the thugs. You showed me quite an unexpected side of yourself, so I was really surprised.”

Yuki had sent me a message saying she had arrived in the Northern Region.

But that was a lie.

It meant she had been staying near me the entire time since then.

Realizing this sent a shiver down my spine.

“Why were you watching me?”

At my question, Yuki tilted her head.

“Just… observation?”

Observation?

An incomprehensible answer.

I glanced at Yuki.

She seemed like an entirely different person from the first impression she had given me.

I still had no idea what her true self was.

Feeling my gaze, Yuki smiled.

“But it is true that I went to the Northern Region to search for ruins. Well, there’s a few days difference from when I sent the message, though.”

Just as she had said, Yuki had arrived in the Northern Region to search for ruins.

And the results she had achieved here were remarkable.

“And I found a place where ruins are likely to be.”

“…You found the ruins?”

An unbelievable statement.

Hearing the rumors of ruins, countless people had flocked to Trivik.

All those people had scoured the Northern Region, but no one had discovered any trace of them yet.

I hadn’t expected the woman in front of me to accomplish what others couldn’t.

“It’s not certain yet. But I found the most likely location. How about it, would you like to go check it out together?”

“… …”

If her words were true, it was an opportunity to gain tremendous benefits.

The first discoverer of ruins was granted a 24-hour exclusive access period.

But I couldn’t trust her words.

I didn’t expect the truth to come from someone whose entire demeanor was woven with lies.

Perhaps sensing my suspicion, Yuki pouted.

Then she grumbled.

“You don’t trust me. Do you know how hard I worked for you, Mr. Shin…”

Yuki trailed off as if she were genuinely hurt.

I couldn’t understand it.

All Yuki and I had done was meet on the Magitech Train and exchange a few words.

A melancholic atmosphere settled around Yuki.

I couldn’t even begin to grasp how to react.

That was when it happened.

Swish-

Yuki pulled a sheet of paper from her coat.

“I read the article. You explained the Hardcore Assassin deck in detail.”

The letters at the very top of the paper read ‘Rorte Newsletter’.

That meant she knew I was the one who had sold the information to the Rorte Newsletter.

“Should I call you player ‘Meta’? It doesn’t matter either way, though.”

“… …”

I kept my mouth shut to the very end.

There was a huge difference between giving a definitive answer and remaining ambiguous.

Then, I asked.

“What is your reason for approaching me? And Jake Spencer…”

“Shh-“

Yuki held up her index finger, cutting me off.

“It would be best not to say that person’s name. Walls have ears, you know.”

Tap- tap-

Then, Yuki tapped on her device.

Ding-!

A new message arrived.

– Yuuuki: Would you like to know about me?

She wanted to converse via device rather than speaking aloud.

Sensing the need to comply with her intentions, I nodded.

Smiling at my response, Yuki tapped her device again.

– Yuuuki: Yuki grew up in the Assassin Guild since she was little.

– Yuuuki: The Assassin Guild put a lot of effort into raising Yuki as an elite assassin. It was because her innate talent was so exceptional.

– Yuuuki: Perhaps because espionage requires extensive knowledge? Yuki read a lot of books from a young age. Thanks to that, Yuki was able to grow into a cultured lady.

Yuki had participated in the Einthoven Private battlefield as a player.

The fact that an orphan like her possessed player qualifications meant she had received a massive investment from the guild.

It meant she was a talent they had painstakingly cultivated.

Which made it even harder to understand.

I couldn’t fathom why she had betrayed the Luteran Assassin Guild.

Based on what she had said so far, I wouldn’t have any words to say if I considered her an ungrateful person.

Yuki tapped her device again.

– Yuuuki: But all Yuki could do was follow the orders of her superiors. Morally, it was the right thing to do. They gave the orphan Yuki a place to sleep, fed her, and raised her.

– Yuuuki: The books Yuki read depicted a beautiful and vast world, but it was disappointing that Yuki couldn’t experience it freely.

– Yuuuki: Then, a certain phrase came to mind. It was the teaching that freedom is something you must seize for yourself.

– Yuuuki: A perfect opportunity arose. It was an opportunity that began with the death of a player.

Yuki’s face looked brighter than ever as she sent the messages.

As if she were narrating an entertaining fairy tale rather than her own past.

Yuki was…

somehow twisted.

Looking at the environment she grew up in, it was somewhat understandable.

She had received indoctrination education from childhood, learning about the world only through books while her access to the outside was restricted.

The geography of surrounding cities, information on champions, data on battlefields, and intelligence on players.

She had invested all her time in acquiring information.

She learned the world through text, coming to know more than anyone else.

However.

No matter how smart or talented one was, the surrounding environment was crucial in shaping one’s humanity.

Humans are social creatures.

A human who hadn’t gone through the process of socialization was no different from a beast.

The investment the Assassin Guild had made in Yuki ended in failure.

The hunting dog they had so carefully raised had bitten its master.

But the hunting dog wasn’t even aware that it had bitten its master.

It was simply rejoicing in the fact that it had slipped off the leash that had tormented it.

– Yuuuki: It would have been impossible if Mr. Shin hadn’t immediately reported it to the Imperial Investigator.

– Yuuuki: The appearance of the Adjudicator in Luteran was also something that deviated greatly from expectations.

– Yuuuki: A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity came to me.

Tap- tap-

After finishing her final message, Yuki locked eyes with me.

Then, she flashed a grin and opened her mouth.

“The Mana Blocking Magic Field is complete. Our conversation won’t leak outside now.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means we can talk with peace of mind. It means we don’t have to worry about what we do here.”

It seemed she had done something to the tea house during our conversation.

Since I couldn’t sense the flow of mana, I had no idea what had changed.

Perhaps her wrists were stiff from tapping on the device, as Yuki massaged them.

“Are you curious about how player Hans died?”

“…!”

Hans’s death on that day.

A backstory I hadn’t heard from either the Imperial Investigator or Ariel.

“Actually, I didn’t intend to kill Hans from the start.”

I was able to hear the full details of the incident from Yuki.