Astral Online: Cursed by the Demon Lord to Become the Strongest Beautiful Girl, I Rapidly Grow and Dominate with Cheat Skills Despite Being the Weakest Profession - Chapter 45
Chapter 45: Unknown
“A search for a child who disappeared during hide-and-seek?”
The quest details made Sora’s face twitch.
From what she heard from Giorl, it seems that one child, who was playing hide-and-seek, hasn’t been found.
They’ve already searched the entire base thoroughly.
That naturally leads to the most likely possibility—the child is outside.
How the child managed to slip past the guards and get outside remains a mystery, but given the situation, there’s no other explanation.
Of course, outside is now a dangerous place, with monsters becoming more aggressive.
If the child happens to encounter a monster while wandering around, there’s no doubt that the small child’s life would be in grave danger.
Although a search party has been sent out from the base, the quest also asks me to search for the child.
It’s understandable, but whenever I see quests like this, I can’t help but wonder what the adults, the guardians, were doing.
That thought just crosses my mind.
Well, in reality, this usually happens because no one was properly watching… That’s why it comes to this.
Sora sighed inwardly.
Well, there’s no point in complaining about a quest that’s been crafted.
The wind spirits here aren’t at fault.
No matter how hard they try, the child getting out of the base is unavoidable due to the scenario’s constraints.
Receiving the quest automatically, without even the option of ?Yes/No?, Giorl handed Sora the second map, marked with four locations where the child is believed to be.
Considering that the outcome might change depending on how fast she moves within the time limit, she quickly left the office to begin the search.
…………………
Using her long-honed instincts, Sora quickly chose two of the marked points and ran toward them by the shortest route.
An hour had passed since the search began.
The first location was a miss, and now she was on her way to the second checkpoint.
There had been only one encounter with monsters so far, but it was just 20 units of the Leviathan Army.
…It didn’t even take two minutes.
Sora thought to himself, reflecting on the situation.
Normally, such a fight would be a struggle, but with my bestowed skills allowing me to take them down in one hit, even if a hundred of them gathered, they wouldn’t stand a chance.
In fact, it felt more like a bonus round, with the monsters bringing a lot of experience points and El (currency) to me.
As she watched the second empty magic potion in her hand dissolve into particles of light, Sora pulled out a third magic potion.
Tilting it toward her small mouth while running, she muttered, “Hmm, not good.”
There were two meanings behind this.
Aside from the sickly sweet taste of the potion that restored 50 MP, the sun was gradually setting, and night would fall in about an hour.
She could hear monster-like growls from all around.
This environment was far from one where a child could survive alone.
Especially at night.
At night, monsters become even more active than during the day.
Praying silently that nothing terrible would happen, Sora continued to push forward as quickly as possible.
Before long, she detected an NPC within 10 meters using her ?Perception? skill.
Hey, hitting the mark on the second try—this might be my lucky day!
Having mentally prepared herself to check all four locations, she was so happy that she could almost jump for joy.
Thanking the gods, Sora arrived at her destination.
There, she found a flower field with a young girl sitting quietly in the center.
Wearing a green dress and with jade-colored hair, she looked to be about elementary school age. When she noticed Sora, she smiled.
“Oh, it’s Sora-sama!”
The girl stood up and ran toward her.
Her HP, as far as she could tell, hadn’t been reduced even a millimeter.
Just to be sure, she used her ?Insight? skill to check her status and confirmed that she wasn’t suffering from any status ailments.
From every angle, she seemed perfectly safe.
Relieved by her healthy appearance, Sora caught her as she ran up to her.
“You shouldn’t wander out to such a dangerous place.”
“I’m sorry. I was hiding within the grounds, but before I knew it, I ended up here.”
Ah, so the quest must have forcefully teleported her here.
She must have been scared.
Thinking this, Sora smiled warmly to reassure her.
“But it’s amazing that you didn’t get attacked by any monsters. I was attacked by one on my way here.”
“Well, I was attacked by a monster too, but a really strong knight saved me.”
“A strong knight…?”
When the girl pointed in a certain direction, Sora looked that way and saw a knight standing there, about 180 centimeters tall.
The knight was clad in ornate, high-rarity black armor.
It seemed that he was carrying a large sword on his back.
Though his face was hidden by his helmet, the shape of the armor suggested that he was male.
Seeing this, Sora was covered in goosebumps.
A yellow cursor.
Neither a player, an NPC, nor a monster.
Moreover, the fully equipped knight, who showed no reaction to Sora’s sensing skill, slowly approached as he looked in their direction.
Sora’s ?Insight? skill revealed the mysterious figure’s name, level, and class:
—– —– —– —– —– —– —– —–
?UNK? Hart
?Level? 156
?Profession? Dark Knight
—– —– —– —– —– —– —– —–
Wha—156!?
At this point, he was overwhelmingly stronger than the Leviathan.
Why is such a monster in a place equivalent to the early stages of the game?
Moreover, “UNK” is an abbreviation for “UNKNOWN.”
It means unknown or unfamiliar in English.
An unexpected appearance of a fourth type of being.
Although he had no visible hostility, Sora was intimidated by the strength hidden within the approaching knight and instinctively gripped the hilt of her ?Silver Sword?.
The knight stopped right in front of her.
The knight stared intently at Sora, who looked tense, and then muttered,
“…Ku… no?”
After murmuring someone’s name, he shook his head vigorously.
“No, though you resemble someone, you are not that person. I am Hart, the leader of the Dark Knights of Helheim. Silver-haired girl, what is your name?”
“I’m Sora the Adventurer.”
“Sora… I see. You are the one chosen by Yggdrasil…”
Sora was puzzled by what the knight had been saying and tilted her head. Suddenly, the knight patted Sora’s head and said in a somewhat tearful voice,
“Ah, you resemble her so much. I wonder if she’s doing well…”
“Who are you talking about?”
“…I had a daughter, about your age. I haven’t seen her for over half a year, and I’m very worried.”
“If you’re worried, why don’t you go back to her?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t know how to return. On top of that, I got separated from my wife. To find my way back, I first need to find my wife.”
“I see, that sounds tough…”
Is this character part of some kind of setup?
No, the emotions conveyed in his words are far too vivid for an NPC.
To put it plainly, he feels more like a player, similar to me, rather than a resident of this world.
But a level 156 player? It’s absolutely impossible to reach such a level in a game that was released just the day before yesterday.
Unless you started playing six months to a year ago.
Who exactly is this person?
Seeing Sora’s confusion, the knight reluctantly pulled his hand away and turned his back.
“Sorry, this is something that doesn’t concern you. I couldn’t leave this child alone, so I stayed to protect her, but with you here, she should be safe now.”
With that, the knight began to walk away.
Normally, it would be a cause for celebration when an unknown and potentially dangerous strong opponent leaves.
However, seeing his back, Sora couldn’t help but call out,
“Mr. Hart!”
The knight stopped and turned back.
Seeing the lonely aura surrounding him, Sora said,
“…I hope you can reunite with your wife and daughter someday.”
“…Thank you.”
The knight expressed his gratitude and walked away.
For some reason, Sora felt a sharp pain in her chest.
As she watched the direction in which the knight had left, Sora tightly pulled the wind spirit girl’s shoulder.
“Sora-sama?”
“…Everyone is worried, so let’s go home.”
“Okay!”
I wonder if they received some kind of blessing from that knight.
Afterward, Sora and the girl managed to return to the base without encountering any monsters.