I, of course, ignored all these trinkets which could be deleted out of existence at any moment. Now it was time for the main event. The path I followed was slightly inclined downwards. Here and there were a few drops from monsters which had been felled by Nanashi, Eilis and that lucky Populares member.
Finally, I reached the inner chamber, a large garden with trees, grass, and a single path leading forward. Floating in the air, there were platforms covered in grass from which water flowed down from the walls into a lake at the centre of the room. At the centre of the lake stood an obelisk serving as a memorial to World War I soldiers who died in battle, regardless of which side they fought for.
Eilis and the others stood at the Obelisk. At their feet, there were some bags full of treasures they had grabbed, their inventories being full. Obviously, they couldn’t see me or sense my presence, and I was keen to keep it that way, so I didn’t call out to them. Above the obelisk, there was a large source of light: a giant egg hanging as if balanced on the tip of the obelisk, pulsating light throughout the room and dimming intermittently.
The egg was partially enveloped in two white wings. There was a crack at the top right of the egg from which a giant hand had partially protruded.
The crack in the egg suddenly extended as whatever was inside broke free of the egg. Eilis, without any hesitation, attacked the giant which emerged from the egg, but the wings which had been covering the egg suddenly opened and blocked her ranged attacks. The giant figure gently floated down and knelt down next to the group. Then once the dust had settled the wings were nowhere to be found and the egg shell’s pieces were floating on top of the lake. Where the egg had been floating was a familiar pure looking figure who looked at the group in a voice which echoed all around us to the point where it was hard to say which direction the voice was coming from. The figure was semi-transparent and ethereal. She had white hair, pale skin and delicate features and looked no older than 14 years old. On her head there was a thorny crown made of ice which contrasted with her innocent looking white sun dress. Her eyes were closed too behind thick white eyelashes.
The figure also flew down and stood in front of the kneeling giant. She briefly smiled in my direction, meaning that she could see me. I wanted to ask her many questions, but I had no choice but to remain hidden now unless I wanted to explain to the others how I had beaten the dragon and made myself invisible.
In her arms, she was holding a blue sword, which she held up with both her hands for Nanashi to take it from but Eilis stood in front of Nanashi.
“Wait! You just shouldn’t trust some watery tart because threw a sword at you!” Eilis protested.
Nanashi walked Eilis in a rare sign of insubordination towards his “partner,” and accepted the sword. The Saintess disappeared after looking at me one more time, holding up the hand with the matching blue ring we had bought together, her mouth silently forming shape to the words “Well done, god expects much from you as do I, my chosen one,” confusing the Populares member who couldn’t see me.
The sword glowed and became as small as a key. Now that things had settled down, they finally had a time to have a good look at the “giant.”
“Here, there’s something there. The saintess was looking there while talking.” The Populares guy said, but was ignored. “Maybe I was mistaken.”
Idiots can be surprisingly perceptive but Nanashi and Eilis were observing the giant robot which had come out of the egg.
“Do you want to pilot it?” Nanashi offered the “sword” which was now obviously the key to use the mech.
“No, I would rather fight with my own strength, besides it wouldn’t be right for my partner to not at least be as strong as me.” Eilis looked away and Nanashi had already climbed into the mech. “Hey, don’t ignore me!”
This robot was large enough to carry Eilis and the other Populares members, one in each of its hands along with as much gold coins, silver chalices and weapons and loot that they had collected after having filled whatever space they had in their “inventory” through the stat menu. It was boring to wait until they had collected everything but I decided to wait just in case something else unexpected happened. Sometimes I wished I had the ability to have my consciousness in more than one place like Rina, but then again I wouldn’t be a human at all if I could do that.
As for the robot, it had a white dragon-like head, and could in-fact transform into one but in order to carry as much loot as possible to the surface they had to use the slower humanoid form. The humanoid form had sleek white armour plates with gold accents, giving it an almost knightley appearance, so Nanashi named it the “White Dragon Knight Frame.”
“That’s too long! Also the white knight? Do you know what that means? Has someone told you that you have a horrible naming sense?” asked Eilis.
“Yes, you have.” replied Nanashi.
“Shorter, huh?” chimed in the Populares member while sorting through his treasures. “How about just the Sword Knight Frame? That big-ass sword is pretty noticeable, I don’t think anyone would complain.”
“That’s still three words! One too many!”
“See, Nanashi, this is why I rejected the system’s offer for a partner. There’s no satisfying them.. It’s a trap.”
“What did you just say! Did you just call me a trap? Do you want us to leave you here that badly!”
“By the way, shouldn’t we check what happened to Raphael Raynar already. If it wasn’t for his sacrifice then we wouldn’t have gotten here, lady.”
“Yes, if it wasn’t for him I would have killed you already. I promised to take at least one Populares member here. By the way, what’s your name, old man?”
“Old man? Young people these days. I am no one of any importance, that you would need to know my name. Within this game, I go by the nickname of, The Farmer.”
“What a weirdo,” Eilis made that disgusted face that women are so good at making. “Are you a farmer?”
