'Nana, your goal from now on is to level up hard.

　The next day. The next day, as I was waking up from sleep, Rin told me about her plan for the future.

　Yesterday, there was nothing I could do even if I logged in, so I had to take a sudden break from distributing.
　Toka-chan went back to her parents' house because she was going to be busy with school.
　However, considering her commuting time, she seems to have more time to play the game at her parents' house, so it might have been easier to see her than forcing her to come here.

　I heard that Saku-chan is already in the fourth city, and we are talking about playing together when we catch up with her.
　Even though she was busy with school and her part-time job, her attitude towards the game had not changed at all.


'Do you remember the quests that Nana received?

　After receiving confirmation from Rin, I also traced my memory.
　The encounter with the drunkard in that mysterious shrine. The extra quest that occurred as a result of that conversation was 'Shrine of the End: The Ghost World of the Demon God'.

'As I recall, it's something like ......, where you have to get your Doji proficiency up to 30 or more and then head to the land of beginnings.

'Well, you can double-check the details later. The important thing is the place of the beginning and the shrine at the end. Is there anything you can associate with these keywords?'

'The city of beginnings and the forest at the end, right?

　Rin's question was one that I had known from the moment I heard it.
　In the plains south of the City of Beginnings, deep inside the Wolf Heaven where I fought Aria, there is a wide-area dungeon called the Forest of the End.
　The detection skill I possessed was originally recommended to me by Rin in order to conquer the Forest of the End.
　I don't know that there's a shrine there, but it was impossible not to associate it with the keywords 'beginning' and 'end'.

'Right. To be honest, I don't know anything about the Shrine of the End either. That dungeon is ridiculously large, but I never even knew what it was for, other than to get some powerful monsters for the area around the city of beginnings. But thanks to the extra quests you've accepted, I feel like I'm getting a better idea.

''You mean the dungeon related to the [Doji]?

''That's true, but ...... maybe that shrine has an important meaning not only for the demon race, but for other races as well. It's not for all races, but I think it serves as a kind of doorway.

　Although she didn't seem to have any proof, Lin seemed to be quite confident.
　A door. It is true that the Shrine of the End itself is treated like a door, judging from the content of the quest I received.

　According to the drunkard, the "Hairpin of the Demon Lamp" I was given is a key that connects this world to the next.
　I don't know how the "afterlife" is actually treated, but in the genre of games, it is not uncommon to be transported to another world by using certain key items.
　In fact, the last boss of an RPG is usually found in such a place.

'There is a place called "Fairyland" in a space different from this world. There's an NPC who talks about it.

　I tilted my head at Lin-chan who suddenly started talking about something else, but from the flow of the conversation, I immediately understood what she was trying to say.

'It's an old woman from Griffith. I knew it was some kind of information, but I couldn't find anything beyond that.

'I see, if this fairyland is the same as the demon's ghost world, then ......'.

'Yes, I think the shrine at the end of the world can be a stepping stone to that.



　I'm not sure if the shrine itself is the key to the extra quests, but at least it's a guideline.
　I'm not high enough to go to the shrine now, though.

　The battle with Apocalypse ended in defeat, but I got some experience because I chipped his horn, and my level is actually up to 30 now.
　I'll have to think about how to allocate my status points for future quests, including the ones I haven't allocated much since I defeated Aria.

　Also, I need to prepare a weapon. I've already used the Kugelschreiber to hit Apocalypse, and the Gold Bar got caught in a spell and disappeared.
　I got it from Haruru, and it lasted less than two hours. .......
　You have to go and tell them about it. .......

'This is just a preamble. The important thing is that the quest Nana received is not for one person. Do you understand what I'm saying?

'I'm going with you, aren't I?

'That's what I mean. In case you've forgotten, Nana and I aren't the only players in Heroes. We're going on that quest as a party. Let's use Nana's quest as a fireworks display and advertise it loudly!

'Ooooh!


☆


　It's good that we've decided on a plan, but I don't know what we're supposed to do about leveling up.
　When I said that, Rin showed me the WLO world map on her terminal.

'It looks like you're going north in a vertical line until you get to the fourth city, Feas. So Nana should be able to get through there in no time.

　The map shows a large forest at the southernmost point, which is probably the End Forest.
　Looking at the map in this way, the forest at the end, which is longer than the straight line from the city of beginnings to the third city of Trillia, can be said to be an incredibly huge dungeon.
　The distance from the city of beginnings to the fourth city is indeed almost straight.
　There is a mountain between the city of beginnings and Dualis, and a forest between Dualis and Trillia, but if you look carefully, it seems that you can get around from the east and west.

'You can go back and forth between the two cities even if you don't take the regular route. It takes a long time, so I wouldn't recommend it.

'I guess so. In any case, I want the bonus points from the dungeon bosses, so I think it's better to go through it in the shortest way possible.

'Right. There's nothing special between Trillia and Pheas, but the dungeon bosses are pretty strong. They're not as strong as the named bosses, though.''

　Hmmm, so to get from the third town to the fourth town, you'll have to fight a strong boss.
　I'm thinking again that most of the boss monsters I've fought seem to be too special.
　Not that I've been able to defeat them, but if you've fought apocalypse class monsters, you'll have nothing to fear.

'So, the problem is from Pheasus onwards. It's not going to be a straight shot from here. There's no east-west or north-south divide around the city. There are two large dungeons between Fieas and Griffith.

　According to Lin, each of the two dungeons is connected to Griffith by a different route.


　The above-ground route is called "World Tree Cave", which leads you through a huge tree.
　And the underground route is an underground dungeon called the Ancient Ruins of Flame.

'I'll leave it up to Nana to decide which one to take. The difficulty itself is not that different, and Nana should be able to clear it even solo.

'By the way, which one did you go first, Lin?

'I went to the World Tree Cave. Magic is quite difficult to use in narrow ruins.

'I see.

　In that sense, the World Tree Cave seems to be easier for me too.
　However, I'm also attracted to the idea of exploring ruins.

'As the name of the wide dungeon suggests, it will take a lot of time to conquer. Once you've conquered it, the warp will open, so you won't have any trouble moving around.

'There didn't seem to be any warps until Pheas. Didn't Kittenmaru-san run here?

'It's like a tutorial up to Pheas, I guess. But the extra quest for the demon tribe seems to be around the city of beginnings. ...... Well, if you go there, you'll see that it's a really big dungeon. I'm sure you'll be able to figure out how to use it.

　It's a really long dungeon, as Rin-chan frowned a little.
　I'd like to go around the ancient ruins. I'm sure there are traps and such, and it's exciting.

'Anyway, we should go to Trillia first. I'm not worried about you, but you seem to be prone to getting into strange situations.

'Yes, that's true. I think so myself.

　The battle with Aria, the chance encounter with Lowe, and the attack of Apocalypse. Encounters with the Drunkard, extra quests.
　It's a lot to take in in just four days.
　I feel like it all started when I defeated Aria. But then again, what was the cause of Apocalypse's attack?

　Even though I can't help but think seriously about things in the game, I couldn't figure out why a monster of the back boss class would attack in the initial field of the marshlands of Lores.
　If you say it's simply a roaming Named, that's all I'll say.

'I couldn't deliver yesterday, and I'm going to miss my listeners a bit.

'When you get used to it, it feels like you're playing with them all the time. It's good that you've gotten used to streaming.

　I was a bit skeptical at first, but now I find that delicate distance enjoyable.
　Lin-chan smiled happily when she heard my words.