Chapter 59

Because there was no way to tell the time, Cynthia couldn’t distinguish whether it was morning or afternoon, but Segleninde informed her it was morning. Now was the perfect opportunity to go to the Spring Blossom Garden.

“It’s closer than I thought, isn’t it?”

When she unfolded the map, the door leading to the Spring Blossom Garden wasn’t far from their current rest point. Although nearly all the second floor’s creatures—except for the Ghost Rats—were concentrated in the Spring Blossom Garden, Cynthia felt reassured since Segleninde was with her.

The two immediately stepped outside the rest point.

There was a music box placed in front of the door. Taking advantage of the moment while Segleninde checked the hallway with the map in hand, Cynthia touched the music box and saved her location.

The music box’s melody changed. Now, even if she died, she wouldn’t have to worry about being sent all the way back to the sword-wielding statue. Cynthia felt relieved.

Just as Segleninde, who was a couple of steps ahead, noticed her finally coming out of the room, he turned around and spoke.

“Are you sure the key to the next floor is in this ‘Spring Blossom Garden’ place?”

“I’m sure. To be exact, the key you get there doesn’t directly take you to the next floor, but leads to the place where another key is—”

Rumble!

Suddenly, a strong tremor ran beneath their feet.

With a thunderous crack, the floor split apart, and Segleninde abruptly vanished from sight. Before Cynthia could even grab him, he dropped straight down through the floor.

“Sellie!”

Startled, Cynthia hurriedly looked down through the fissure and shouted. But only a yawning darkness greeted her—Segleninde was already out of sight.

Ding—

Cynthia read the string of notifications and felt a little relieved. She didn’t understand why the floor had suddenly split apart, but it was a relief that Segleninde was safe. It seemed to be one of those new events added after the game’s update.

In fact, it wasn’t uncommon for horror games to have events where you get separated from your companion, so it wasn’t hard to accept.

If it was Segleninde, he’d find his way back to her soon enough, so it seemed better to wait here while checking his location. Just as Cynthia selected ‘Yes’—

“……”

Cynthia’s fist trembled.

Was this some kind of joke? The location tracker for Segleninde and the quest window were flashing alternately as if daring her to choose: wait for him or finish the quest and pocket the gold.

Even when she’d completed the ‘climax through penetration’ quest earlier, she’d only received 3 Luven, but now, just entering the garden alone was worth 10 Luven. Cynthia wanted to wring the developer’s neck.

Unlike the first floor, from the second floor on, the chance of dying increased exponentially. In other words, it was far easier to encounter death scenes for things like failing a puzzle or misdirecting a statue’s gaze. And now she was being told to enter the Spring Blossom Garden alone? This was basically telling her to risk her life for some cash.

‘No, maybe it won’t be so bad. Most of the Spring Blossom Garden’s creatures are about avoidance and chase, and I do have an agility stat…’

But she didn’t really feel up to acting out a chase sequence in real life, no matter how much she’d played them in the game. Shaking her head, Cynthia chased away the sudden confidence. Waiting for Segleninde here really was the right thing to do.

Just as she tried to check his location one more time—

“Wait, at least let me think for a second!”

And before she could even blink, she was transported somewhere else.

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