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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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The golden girl had a dream of the past.
A very long time ago.
In the underground of the garbage dump, in the sewer village, lived a little kid who was loved by everyone.
Unlike the other children of the sewer village, who usually lost their parents and their manners at the same time they were born, the kid was born with innocence.
Even the rough vagrants who had no blood, no tears and no full stomachs.
If that kid passed by, they would place a handful of their precious food in her fern-like hands.
When the kid ran, everyone laughed.
When the kid fell, everyone worried.
The existence of such a kid was like a symbol that faith and hope were still alive in the sewer village.
For that reason, it was not so strange that the golden girl, who looked rough but was actually very tender-hearted and affectionate, had started to hang out with the kid.
Every time the kid smiled brightly with her soot-stained face, the girl felt the shadow-like darkness in a corner of her heart disappear.
But, the end came suddenly.
‘■■!’
The girl in the dream spat out the nickname of the kid that she had long since erased from her mind.
The whole world was stained with a faded gray.
The garbage dump.
The fired harpoon.
The pierced kid.
The drone, making a mechanical whirring sound, flew somewhere into the sky, taking the kid with it.
Only the red drops of blood falling along the drone’s movement had color in the gray-stained garbage dump.
The girl, who had been struggling to ignore the breath that had risen to the tip of her chin, ran after the drone.
No matter how much she reached out her hand, she couldn’t reach the drone.
And, soon, when even the red drops of blood were no longer visible.
The girl woke up from her long nightmare.
“…Hah.”
The girl, who had swallowed a curse inwardly, wiped her face with a dry wash.
Was it because she had heard the city’s hamburger advertisement?
She couldn’t fall asleep because of the nightmare.
It was then that the dream the kid had left behind came to mind.
Was it really a place worth that much?
The girl wanted to see the city that the kid had so desperately wanted with her own two eyes.
From the makeshift bed where several layers of cardboard were laid, the girl got up without a sound.
It was an earlier morning than usual.
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If I had had a status window.
A guide showing the path of the sub-quest would have appeared like this.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have such a thing.
In a word, I had to find the golden child’s whereabouts by foot.
Therefore, the first place I went was the clinic where Four-eyes stayed.
Thankfully, the children that Four-eyes was taking care of seemed to have gone somewhere to play, or to get food.
Inside the shabby clinic, only the figure of Four-eyes was visible.
I calmly explained the circumstances and the situation to Four-eyes.
“…The golden child went where?”
Four-eyes, who had heard my explanation, naturally asked me again.
…His hearing must be getting bad these days.
No matter how healthy an orc was, there was no medicine for old age. Even though he looked like this, he was the person who had taken care of me after the golden child, so I was a little worried.
I looked at Four-eyes with the eyes of looking at a pitiful old man.
Four-eyes, as if he knew the emotion contained in my gaze, took off the glasses he was wearing and wiped them here and there with a dirty cloth.
At first glance, he looked relaxed.
But in reality, the tips of his fingers were trembling slightly.
He must have been trying hard to maintain his composure.
To his question, I answered once again.
And I told him the golden child’s whereabouts.
“The city.”
Crack.
“Ah.”
A short death cry escaped from the mouth of Four-eyes, who could not accept the cruel truth.
I subtly lifted my head.
I checked the condition of the glasses he was wiping.
A crack had formed in the lens of the glasses, which had been fine until a moment ago.
Oh dear.
Glass glasses can’t even be repaired here.
Four-eyes’s hand began to tremble in a different sense than before. He threw the glasses he was holding onto a desk on one side.
Four-eyes, who had placed his hands on his eyes, let out a long sigh.
“Haa…, she really doesn’t go a day without causing trouble.”
“You can say that again.”
I nodded and agreed.
When else would I get to badmouth the golden child if not at a time like this.
I took it a step further and confessed to Four-eyes what had happened yesterday.
“Do you know what happened yesterday? She shot a pistol at the clear sky, and a drone—.”
Four-eyes, who had heard my short story, brought up a new story as if he couldn’t lose.
“For the record, it was worse in the past. Do you know what even happened—.”
They say even the king gets badmouthed behind his back.
It seemed Four-eyes also had a lot pent up.
Once I set the stage, he poured out everything, whether it was true or not.
It seemed the golden child was a golden child even in the past.
To be honest, we could have talked all day just by telling stories related to the golden child, but I didn’t know how far the golden child was going even at this very moment.
“Anyway, she went to the city, do you know which route she might have taken?”
It was about time to cut him off.
“Hmm, to talk about that part, I have to bring up something that happened in the past.”
No, I just asked you to tell me the way.
As if he were possessed by a certain pitcher from LA, Four-eyes showed no signs of stopping his story.
I was about to cut Four-eyes’s words, but I shut my mouth again.
The face that was looking at me was twice as grim now that he had taken off his glasses.
No matter how hard it was to read an orc’s expression, still, we had known each other for several years. Just by looking at Four-eyes’s eyes now, I could sense what kind of emotion was contained in them.
Four-eyes was ‘worrying’ about me.
Because it would be a big deal if I got hurt while following the golden child.
He was probably deliberately changing the subject.
…What a truly kind person.
Even though I would be the one to take the best care of my own life.
No matter how much I asked him to tell me, it seemed difficult to open Four-eyes’s mouth.
Hmm.
What should I do to give him the trust that it would be okay for me to go into the sewer to find the golden child.
“……”
I decided.
After a short thought, I slowly raised my index finger and said.
“Do you see this?”
“What is this, so at that time the golden child—, huh?”
Four-eyes stopped in the middle of his sentence.
His gaze turned to the tip of my finger.
Very slowly, but brightly.
Because a sphere of light was forming at the tip of my finger.
“Wh-what is that?”
Light does not come out of a normal person’s fingertip.
Four-eyes’s voice became urgent.
“Did you also get a cyberware attached to the tip of your finger like Teddy?”
What did that bastard get attached?
I shook my head and lightly denied Four-eyes’s words.
“This is called magic.”
A skill that muggles cannot use.
Certainly, it was the ‘outstanding magic talent’ guaranteed by the game.
Even though I had only watched videos all day, I was able to use magic as naturally as if I were moving my own hands.
With the passage of time, the light at the tip of my finger gradually became brighter and brighter.
“…Magic, I’ve heard of it….”
Four-eyes couldn’t finish his sentence.
He looked at my finger here and there.
He still seemed to be suspecting it was the light function of a cyberware.
“…To think that a light is floating in the air.”
Four-eyes muttered, watching the scene that defied the laws of physics.
“Anyway, you don’t have to worry so much, so if you know where the golden child went, please tell me.”
There were several sewer paths that went in the direction of the city.
Four-eyes, who had been with the golden child for longer than I had, would probably know facts that I didn’t.
“…Indeed, you weren’t an ordinary child either.”
“I was always outstanding.”
“To be honest, I thought it wouldn’t be strange if you disappeared tomorrow.”
“……”
It was true that my stamina was a bit severely trashy.
And it was also the magic talent I had gotten because of that.
Four-eyes slowly nodded his head.
“…Right, the golden child probably went to the 31st sewer line. The opposite side of where the tinkerer lives, since that’s relatively the safest.”
“Hmm, thank you.”
I bowed my head and expressed my thanks lightly.
Now that I had heard the golden child’s whereabouts.
All I had to do was follow her.
“……”
Four-eyes, whose eyes were starting to be dazzled by the light shining from the tip of my finger, raised his palm and covered his vision.
“…But, you can turn off that light now.”
“This?”
I looked at the tip of my finger.
As it absorbed the surrounding mana, the sphere of light grew larger and larger.
A while ago, it was about the size of a fingertip, now it is the size of a child’s fist.
Ugh, hmm.
I calmly assessed my situation.
In fact, I had learned up to gathering mana and creating light.
But I hadn’t learned how to get rid of it yet.
…….
Since I just gathered the mana, would it work if I just released it in the opposite way?
With that thought, I shook off the lump of mana gathered at the tip of my finger.
Then, for a moment, the light contracted.
The bright lights went dark in an instant, and a white dot remained at the tip of my finger.
“Ah.”
For a moment, I sensed an ominous energy.
I made a quick judgment.
I put the magic into an empty room of the clinic, and then closed the door behind it.
Four-eyes, who had looked at my action strangely, asked me.
“…What are you doing?”
“That’s—.”
I couldn’t finish my sentence.
Probably.
This is probably what it would sound like if a balloon larger than a human body were to pop.
Pooooong!!
“……”
I guess rumors of a bomb terror attack will be going around the sewer village for a while now.
I thought briefly.
Next, I slightly opened the door and checked the empty room.
Thankfully, nothing had collapsed.
It had literally just been turned into a mess.
This time, I turned my head and checked the expression of Four-eyes standing behind me.
The ‘worried’ expression from a little while ago was gone, and his face was full of red.
A thick vein was popping on his forehead.
Alright, let’s run.
Having confirmed that, I quietly and silently stepped back.
“Where are you going?”
“I have to go find the golden child.”
“You have to clean up the mess you made before you go.”
“Then I’m busy, so I’ll be going!”
I ran out of Four-eyes’s clinic.
I felt like I heard the roar of a giant gorilla from behind, but it was an unavoidable sacrifice for the greater good.
Since it was absolutely not intentional.
I decided I would definitely apologize next time.
…But, this.
I might be able to use it.
After that, the gangsters I met on the way (Teddy), the amoebas I met while passing through the sewer (slimes), the village vagrants who just made eye contact with me (civilians).
I defeated them all with the magic light (destruction attribute).
Ah, to me, magic is an explosion.
Wait for me, golden child! I’m coming!
I quickened my pace.
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