NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 61
A new Assistant coming was nothing short of a miracle!
Who would have thought there would be someone gullible enough to believe the contents of a letter?
But sadly, the chances were high that this new Assistant and I were total strangers.
The one who sent the support request was someone connected to me, but that connection could be incredibly broad.
Yet, yet again, a miracle occurred.
The Assistant assigned number 005 called me Gauntlet.
Gauntlet was the name I used in the Other World.
In other words, it could be seen as my second name.
Since 005 knew my name,
It meant he wasn’t just a fleeting acquaintance; we must have at least introduced ourselves.
And since he recalled my name upon seeing me,
It was clear that we shared a deeper relationship.
‘Probably not a gaming buddy.’
I often used the nickname Gauntlet in various games.
But I don’t think that Assistant could be a gaming friend.
After all, gaming friends don’t make eye contact.
‘It seems like he’s someone I crossed paths with in the Other World.’
That Other World I once immersed myself in.
Planet, Elemenzia.
Assistant 005 must be from Elemenzia?
As I pondered this,
005 revealed his identity.
This time he called me by my real name, Kang Geon.
I briefly ignored the other Assistants’ chat.
Anyway.
Alice.
This name is pretty common in the Other World.
But out of all the people I know who also know my real name, there was only one Alice.
“Could you be… the Devoted Warrior Alice?”
It was shocking.
Who would have imagined that Alice would be among the ten who received the letter?
Alice’s chat kept coming in.
First, I needed to slowly explain my situation.
“Dan-bi… no, Pururu.”
“I need you to explain everything about my situation and this Labyrinth… just anything that the new Assistant would be curious about.”
“Yeah. You’re in charge of welcoming the new Assistants.”
“Since forever.”
“Alice, just listen to Pururu. She’ll explain everything kindly.”
Pururu’s explanation began.
*
How I ended up in the Labyrinth.
The place called the Ancient Labyrinth.
The roles of Explorers and Assistants.
And so on.
I explained everything we knew to Alice.
Of course, Pururu was surprisingly kind in her explanations.
Not like some tsundere.
Anyway.
Alice was quick to accept what she heard.
Well, accepting things quickly was a given.
She was a human who grew up fighting Monsters, unlike humans living on Earth. In Elemenzia, there were powers like Magic and Psychic Ability.
Alice, who changed her nickname in the meantime, adjusted quickly.
She attempted to change her entrance phrase three times but eventually gave up when nothing changed.
“Yep. To be precise, they were nerfed and classified as S-Class.”
For reference, the danger levels I assigned and those assigned in Elemenzia were based on the same criteria.
After all, my current standards were set according to Elemenzia’s.
“I was shocked at first too.”
Alice.
No, Boglebogle’s chat suddenly stopped.
She seemed to be organizing her thoughts for a moment.
After a little while,
Boglebogle’s chat floated back up.
“Never seen a monster above SSS-Class yet.”
While chatting with Boglebogle,
I manipulated Iris’s screen to show Team 2.
I had already finished explaining about Iris.
The Assistants explained everything they hadn’t been able to clarify before to Boglebogle.
As if talking to a young child.
The newly joined rookie Assistant seemed quite adorable.
I pulled out a notebook from the box and called out to Alice.
“Alice.”
“How’s Elemenzia these days?”
It was a mere formal question.
Just checking in on how things have been going.
And I expected a response like, “It’s peaceful here.”
But instead…
“What?”
An unbelievable reply made me doubt my ears.
*
I heard from Alice.
Fallen Heroes allied with Monsters.
The War Between Humans and Monsters broke out.
Although the war ended in humanity’s victory,
It resulted in the collapse of every nation in Elemenzia, and most of the famed strong fell.
And that the First Hero and the Grand Sage also met their fate.
“They died…?”
In a way, it could be seen as a small miracle.
After all, the First Hero and the Grand Sage were also S-Class.
‘Still, it feels unsettling.’
The deaths of people I knew.
And the fall of a world I once immersed myself in.
Hearing that news unsettled my heart for no reason.
“Perhaps… I should have returned a little later…”
Seeing that my expression was grim, Alice sent messages one after another to comfort me.
The person who should be comforted wasn’t me but her.
Truly, she was a woman worthy of her title, the Devoted Warrior.
I cleared my complicated thoughts and calmed my troubled spirit, then spoke.
“So all the Fallen Heroes and SSS-Class monsters are dead?”
“Are there still alive Fallen Heroes?”
“…If no one has seen them die, it’s only natural to have suspicions.”
Even if the world was nearly obliterated,
Alice was still walking the path of a hero.
At first, she must have helped others to grow stronger through her missions,
But having lived her life that way, it’s likely she naturally developed a conviction to protect the weak from evil.
And she still hadn’t given up that belief.
She continued to move forward for the future of Elemenzia.
*
After finishing my conversation with Alice,
I opened my notebook and began to draw.
To keep my mind calm.
“A Guidebook.”
“It’s not a Monster Index; it’s an Assistant Index.”
【Mysticism】─
At the tip of the brush was Alice’s figure.
‘Hmm… Is this how she looked? I don’t remember her face that well…’
I kept moving my hands to draw.
Veiled by the mists of time, her appearance had faded, but fragments of memory began to gather and take shape on the paper.
Thus, a vague impression came to life through the brush.
The shadow of the past settled on the current white paper.