After reuniting with Haruka and the others, we decided to leave Vanaheim. Given the reason why Vanaheim was sealed off, there was nothing more to do here.
Luckily, Kushina told me where the other Twelve Zodiac's Guardians who were sealing the other ouroboroses were, so if I ran out of places to go, I could just visit them. We didn't know where the Goddess could be hiding, according to Kushina, which was why she simply told me all this instead of writing it down or anything.
"Be careful, Lady Naru. The Goddess has a special power called 'Avatar'. The Goddess herself won't move. But she can make a puppet that will move as she desires and manipulate people. It's possible for a random townsperson whom you consider to be powerless to actually be the Goddess," Kushina told me.
There were three other places where ouroboroses were being sealed. First, the Ouroboros of Earth was being sealed in the underground realm of Helheim, otherwise known as Hell. As the name Hell implied, it was the birthplace of Tayuya, and it was a high-difficulty dungeon that mass-spawned demon-type monsters.
This hadn't been verified, but it was also said that the souls of evil people circulated through here before being reborn. In fact, there were evil spirit-type monsters that appeared there. And it seemed that Gyuki of Taurus Constellation was taking care of the seal there.
Next was the Ouroboros of Fire. That one was sealed far south in a scorching-hot area called Muspelheim… It was currently considered grimmfolk territory. The protector of that seal was Ul of the Aquarius constellation. She was an essential source of Water magic.
So that's where she is. Well, luckily, Haruka could use Water magic, too. Lastly was the Ouroboros of Wood. This one was sealed in the fairies's homeland, Alfheim. It was a forest of light where all fairies originated from.
Any enemy you met there would always be a fairy or a spirit.
The one keeping the ouroboros sealed there was the twin fairies of the Gemini constellation. As their title suggested, Gemini has a guardian that includes two people.
Thanks to that, some idiots had opined that it should be the Thirteen Guardians instead.
At any rate, I'll be leaving meeting up with these people until later. I can't just easily pop up where the others are sealed, and they're not causing any trouble, anyway.
For now, I decided to keep searching for the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians that were active within humanity's sphere of influence. Still, Alfheim was just barely within that territory looking at a map, so it might be nice to stop by.
"Excuse me, Lady Naru. I really do want to go with you, but as you can see, I'm dead. I won't be of any use to you like this."
"It's fine. Don't worry about it. We are thankful for your loyalty, which persists even after death."
"Those words are wasted on me. But please, be at ease. While I might not be able to go, Wendy will go in my place."
"Wha-?!" Wendy sounded surprised at Kushina's sudden announcement. It seemed this was the first she'd heard of it.
Hey, Kushina. Is it really okay to make her come with me without talking about it with her at all?
"She's still immature, but I've pounded the basics into her. She will surely aid you."
"Um, Grandma… I still…"
It was obvious that Wendy seemed against it, but Kushina pushed her into Honda and concluded the conversation herself.
"Wendy, my granddaughter, I won't allow you to stay holed up in this forest. Understand? It's all right. Go out and see the world already. It'll be good for you."
"W-whaaa…?"
Well, it was true that I was glad she was coming with us. With Kushina dead, I'd need a new Virgo guardian anyway, and since Wendy's already over level 300, she was really strong for this day and age. Also, if I trained her, she could actually get to level 1000, since she wasn't a monster. It might be possible for her to actually become the strongest of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians. She'd probably get there once I power leveled her by stopping the enemy and making her deliver the finishing blow. She was flugel, so she'd most likely be great at heaven-arts, and her base stats would be high, too. And she could fly.
Yep, she's perfect.
"Well, if she herself is okay with it, that would be great… Are you sure, Wendy?"
"Urgh… Well, with what Grandma said, even if I don't go with you, I'll just be chased out of the forest anyway… P-please take care of me from now on."
And just like that, Wendy joined us as the second-generation Virgo, and we left Vanaheim.
Seeing Kushina continue waving to us until she disappeared into the distance left quite the impression.
Like, some people are just energetic even when they're dead, huh?
It might be nice to come back and visit if we're ever in the area again.
This might come off as sudden, but let's go over my goal and what's happened so far once again. Reviewing things like this every once in a while was pretty important. If you didn't, then you might wander off course without realizing it, and you'd find yourself eventually trying to do something completely different.
Starting off, my first goal was to take a trip around the world and see the sights. But I couldn't say that anymore, given my current circumstances. I was already on a journey and seeing the world in a sense, so this was no longer a goal anyway.
Next was gathering the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians and meeting the Seven Maidens of Midgar. Currently, I had Fiona, Penny, Tayuya, and Kushina… had stayed in the forest, so I now had Wendy, the new Virgo, instead. That made four I'd gathered so far.
When we'd first started, Haruka had been aware of the locations of six members of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians. That meant there were still two more we could find using her information. But she had also said that out of the six she knew of, two had gone over to the grimmfolk. The two who defected were the Capricorn guardian and the Scorpio guardian, so that meant we already knew where five out of the six members Haruka knew of were. This also meant that there was only one more member for us to find with her current information.
But with Kushina's new info, we now knew where the Gemini guardians, the Aquarius guardian, and the Taurus guardian were. And the Leo guardian is in the middle of a fight with Ruby, I believe. In other words, with four Guardians already with me, I now knew the locations of a further five Guardians.
I suppose if I listed it, it'd look like this?
Guardian retrieval complete: Aries, Libra, Capricorn, and Virgo.
Guardian location known: Gemini, Aquarius, Taurus, Scorpio, and Leo.
Guardian location unknown: Sagittarius, Pisces, and Cancer guardians
This is going to be a long process…
As for the Seven Maidens of Midgar, I'd met Juvia and Hinata already, so that only left Ruby. But Ruby would be a real problem. Apparently, she'd retained her peak strength, and I also heard that she hadn't participated in the fight against the Grimm King. On top of that, she seemed to completely see me as an enemy. She was extremely dangerous.
Well, it's not like I didn't expect this.
The Seven Maidens of Midgar once defeated me in the first place, so of course they'd be starting from the standpoint of an enemy. Being friendly would actually be more unnatural.
The first two Maidens were quite friendly to me, so I'd let my guard down. But in a sense, Ruby would be more 'correct' in her attitude towards me than they were. At the very least, she was much easier to understand than someone who regretted defeating me after the fact. She was easier to understand… but still dangerous. She was probably the most troublesome enemy so far.
The fact that she'd retained her strength meant that she was still level 1000, and that meant something different for one of the Seven Maidens of Midgar compared to your regular level 1000 character. She was part of the stat-boosting faction, who'd forced their stats higher by eating bits and pieces of monsters. Also, Ruby's stats had been a close second to mine in the game, so along with the advantages that came from being a vampire, she was exceptionally strong. If we were to fight during the morning or daytime, I'd win almost every time, but she'd probably come out on top during the night.
On top of that, the fact that she was aiming for my neck probably meant she wasn't a player. The ruling was only tentative, but that meant that it was probably safe to assume that all of the Seven Maidens of Midgar were residents of this world. That meant Haruka and I were the only people from the 'other side'.
So, that brings us to the one Ruby is currently waging war with—Sienna of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians.
The worst part about this situation was the fact that she viewed me as an enemy, too. If I carelessly got too close, I'd be double attacked by both Sienna and Ruby.
Of course, that'd be impossible to deal with. No joke.
…For now, let's stay far away from Ruby.
Next: the hero.
I had gone back to Laevateinn once, since I'd thought the hero would be killed. But actually, the Grimm King didn't even think the hero was worth thinking about. He was aiming for me, which had been a surprise. So leaving the hero alone for a while should be fine.
There was still a possibility of him being targeted by the Seven Grimms of Destruction, but he had a dog beastmen at over level 100 with him, along with another two who were decently strong. There had also been several others hiding in the shadows who seemed to be Rangers. As long as multiple Grimms of Purgatory didn't gang up on the hero and his party, then they should be able to fight through it.
Well, it still might be a good idea to make some security golems and send them over.
Then, lastly, there was the main dish, that being to look into the original Naru's goals and intentions and put a crack in the Script of the Goddess who selfishly involved me in all this. Then, I'd drag that Goddess out into the open and ask why she'd grabbed me.
I didn't know just what the Goddess had been thinking when she put me inside Naru. And what she wanted me to do was still a mystery. But… Yeah, that's why I want to know. I needed to know. If I didn't find out, I'd never be able to move on. I'd just be stuck here. I was tired of having no foothold in this world. I was tired of not being attached to anything and just wandering around without a destination.
So first, I'll fall to the ground. And I'll be at the starting line. That's why I'm rebelling against the Goddess.
I was now grateful that I'd resonated with Naru so strongly ever since I arrived in this world. If I was still just 'me', I'd certainly never have reached this conclusion. If I'd stayed as just myself—all optimistic, foolish, thoughtless, and aloof—I'd surely still just be thinking something like Woohoo! I'm in a game world! I wouldn't have had a doubt in the world, and I'd have just been enjoying the place for what it was.
Even though I had just been dropped into an MMO world all of a sudden, I had still been delighted, even while being bewildered. And even though I clearly possessed someone else's body, I'd accepted that without any sense of guilt. It might have seemed as if I were facing reality, but I had just been running away. I hadn't even tried to find a way to go back.
If I were to do anything, I'd just put myself on display. And if I were to set anything as my goal, I'd just surround myself with convenient people. I'd happily stick my nose into trouble while claiming I didn't like to be involved with anything troublesome, and even while complaining about it, I'd still wish for trouble deep down. I'd basically been waiting for a stage to look cool on. I'd wanted to be praised, acknowledged, revered, worshiped, put on a pedestal, and respected… I'd wanted to be drunk and heady with how cool I was and hang around in this dream world for as long as I'd wanted.
Aghh, how preposterous.
It was crazy to think I'd rather be in a game world than boring Earth when modern Earth would be the stuff of dreams to the people of Midgar. It was peaceful, all your needs were met, and you even had the leeway to play games. It was as if I wasn't even looking at what was right in front of me. I was just such a person.
Yeah, I'll admit it. I was a convenient, easy-to-manipulate person for the Goddess. So I was probably pretty suitable to act as a lid for Naru.
But too bad that lid (me) was a little too weak to hold Naru in.
Well, that was only natural. After all, Naru had been fighting night and day in Midgar while I spent my days playing games without any hardship. The strength of our egos and the tenacity of our wills would naturally be completely different. You didn't even have to think about it that much to come to that conclusion.
The lid was already open. I could tell. I guess that means this situation won't be continuing for much longer.
…Wow, I'm going to have to find the Goddess quickly, get her to take me out of Naru, and send me back to my world, or this time, Naru is going to be my lid.
That would be… Yeah, I'm going to take a hard pass on that. Right. That's the end of the review.
Thinking about all of that again like this, it really did drive home how hopeless I was. The fact that Naru and I had been resonating with each other for so long, and I'd only realized I was in trouble when things had gotten this far, was really bad.
But thanks to that, I was finally looking forward. It's kind of hilarious how ironic that is. I'm actually smiling right now.
"…Lady Naru?" Fiona, who was sitting next to me, called out to me hesitantly.
I turned to look at her. "What is it, Fiona?"
"No, uhh… Were you thinking of something?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Your uhh… face…"
"Face?"
"Yes.… Umm… recently, you've been much calmer and gentler than you used to be, Lady Naru. It's like you've been more carefree and at peace or something. But the expression you were making just now looked like the old you."
"…We see."
Huh. So now 'Naru' is showing up in my expressions as well. I really am in trouble. I can still feel my own consciousness, but I might actually disappear soon.
I didn't know just how much time I had left, but there was no doubt that I'd shortened that time greatly by visiting Vanaheim. My sense of self would most likely only continue to fade as I delved into Naru's memories and desires.
But, if I didn't do that, I'd never be able to discover the clues I needed in order to find the one who'd involved me in all this. By fearing disappearing and not doing anything, I'd be doing exactly what the Goddess wanted, too. That was probably what I'd been meant to do originally.
Why is this such a shitty game? The closer I get to completing it, the closer I get to the game over screen, too. And I might stay and enjoy the game for a long time, but that would only be for the mastermind's benefit.
This game really is shitty.
At any rate, I needed to concentrate on getting the remaining Twelve Zodiac's Guardians back right now… especially the Scorpio guardian, Anko.
…I guess what I needed to do didn't really change all that much in the end.
"Tayuya, which country do you think Anko will target next?"
"Right! She has told me she plans to destroy Blutgang next."
Blutgang… the country that Jenny founded.
That country was missing its founder, one of the Seven Maidens of Midgar, of course, so it would probably be easier to attack compared to Svel or Gjallarhorn. It was also known as the country that many craftsmen took up residence in, as well as the country that handled most of the world's industrial needs. It was quite an important target.
Given that she'd already brought down Hrotti, which had been founded by the deceased Celica, it seemed that Anko was attacking her targets in ascending order of difficulty.
"Haruka, what about the last of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians which you know of?"
"That would be Jaune of the Cancer constellation."
Jaune, huh? The only male member in the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians. He was the one with the best defensive abilities among them. His endurance was stupidly high, his defense incredibly rock-solid, and he had the 'Covering' skill to defend allies. He was a complete defense-type, made to become a shield for others.
But on the other hand, he only had one skill for attacking, and even that one was a counter ability, so he was terribly inefficient. His singular attack skill, 'Acubens', returned half the damage an enemy had dealt to him back to the enemy, so it was quite strong. For example, if he were to activate Acubens in response to Brachium, he'd then be dealing over 50,000 damage in return. It dealt more damage the stronger the user's enemies were. Putting it like that, it might be a really strong skill.
But its compatibility with Anko was awful. Damage from the poison status didn't count as damage from the enemy, so Jaune's counter wouldn't work. He'd just be one-sidedly shaved away. Of course, poison damage also didn't care about a person's defenses, so Jaune wouldn't be able to stop it.
For better or worse, Jaune was a really polarizing fighter.
"Where is he?"
"In Blutgang."
"So they've overlapped. We suppose this is good fortune."
"It might also be bad fortune."
Jaune and Anko were both in the same place. No, Anko is only targeting Blutgang, so they aren't yet, but they will be.
It could be said that this was a great chance for me to sweep up two Guardians without having to move anywhere. But I'd also be dealing with two Guardians at the same time, so it would be too optimistic to assume that nothing would happen.
Even just by considering what happened with the previous Guardians, Kushina was the only one who wasn't stirring up trouble. Fiona and Tayuya caused lots of trouble, and they'd started a fight as soon as they'd met each other, too. In other words, even seeing another member of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians might end in a bloodbath instead of a simple exchange of pleasantries.
No. In this case, it would also be terrible if they hit it off. If Anko and Jaune both teamed up, they might take Blutgang down in a single day. With Jaune who wouldn't let any damage from the enemy through, and Anko who would then be free to spread as much poison as she wanted…
Just imagining this awful combo gives me the shivers. We're going to need to hurry to Blutgang, aren't we?