Chapter 40: SS-Clear, The Mermaid Instance Ends
"But—"
"No buts." Haruto's protest was cut short by the man holding the door.
Just as he clenched his fists, ready to argue further, King Chen's voice, raspy yet steady, came from the other side. "The fact that you would ignore your own safety to run back here… doesn't that prove my choice was the right one?"
Crack—
A fissure spiderwebbed across the wooden door.
"Do you have any other wishes?" Haruto asked, his voice tight. It was the last thing he could offer.
"I've already sent the money to my wife," the scarecrow-like figure replied calmly. "As for a suicide note or anything like that… it's not necessary." He paused, as if a stray memory had surfaced. "If you ever happen to meet my daughter… help me give her a box of the 1990 edition Silver Dragon Gundam. The little girl loves those things… I haven't given her this year's birthday present yet."
"Okay," Haruto said, his throat dry. "What's her name?"
"Chen—"
His voice was abruptly silenced.
A series of heavy, thudding impacts slammed against the door, and the cracks spread with terrifying speed. To withstand the monstrous force, King Chen seemed to retreat into himself, his presence becoming as cold and unfeeling as the straw effigy he resembled.
Haruto's knuckles turned white as he clenched his fists, but one look at the door, now on the verge of splintering into a thousand pieces, made his decision for him. He finally turned and sprinted toward the seaside.
He ran wildly, the enraged roars of the mermaids fading into the distance behind him. Yet, the alarm bells from his Boundary Youkai senses were still screaming, a frantic warning of imminent danger. He didn't dare look back, clutching two pale blue talisman cards in his hand as he surged forward.
A hundred meters… fifty meters… He could already see the dark expanse of the sea, could hear the rhythmic crash of waves against the shore. But it wasn't fast enough. A claw, covered in grotesque, greenish-gray scales, shot out from the darkness, reaching for his back.
"Eternity and Moment—"
Just as Haruto was about to hurl the talisman, a serene, almost melodic voice drifted from the direction of the sea.
At the water's edge, Kaguya slowly lowered her raised hand.
In the next instant, the fleeting moment between Haruto and the Mermaid Prince was stretched into infinity. The creature's hideous, snarling expression and the viscous mucus flying from its maw were frozen in place, captured in a bizarre, silent tableau.
Haruto seized the opportunity, launching himself into the cold embrace of the sea. The others followed suit, diving in without a second's hesitation. The familiar, disorienting wave of dizziness washed over them all.
Haruto's vision flickered, and when it cleared, he was standing once again in the dusty, old house. This time, however, he wasn't alone. Kaguya and Yotsuya Miko stood beside him. The expressions on their faces were a perfect mirror of his own when he had first arrived: a chaotic mix of bewilderment and lingering terror.
"You slacker," Kaguya began, her tone dripping with a deep questioning of her life choices. "Don't you dare tell me we have to start the next instance before we can even catch our breath." The look she shot Haruto was a clear and present danger: 'If you dare say yes, I'll fight you right here and now.'
Yotsuya Miko also stared at Haruto, her eyes wide with nervousness.
"What are you thinking?" Haruto said with a helpless sigh. "We're not beasts of burden; there's definitely a rest period. This is just the room for handing out rewards. You can think of it as the mission settlement screen."
If they truly were thrown into the next game immediately, even he would collapse. That wouldn't just be the "excellent matchmaking mechanism that won't let any cheater go" that Kaguya had complained about; it would be the Death Game blatantly trying to execute him.
Hearing that they were only here to collect their rewards, both girls let out a synchronized sigh of relief. Kaguya was mostly fine, just mentally drained from the ordeal. Yotsuya Miko, on the other hand, was exhausted in both body and soul.
The three of them hadn't closed their eyes for two full days, trapped in a high-stakes state of life and death. If someone were to present her with a bed right now, she would undoubtedly collapse onto it and be dead to the world.
If there were another round… she would probably die of sudden exhaustion on the spot.
As the relief washed over her, another memory surfaced, and Miko fell silent. After a long moment, she lowered her gaze and asked softly, "Uncle Chen… is he really…?"
"Yes." Haruto nodded, his expression somber.
The confirmation was like a dam breaking. Miko's eyes instantly turned red, welling up with tears she could no longer contain. Ever since the first instance, she had told herself she couldn't cry, couldn't show fear. From that point on, she knew she could only rely on herself, that she absolutely couldn't be a burden to others or to Brother Bai Liu.
In this second instance, she had truly done it. She had held her own.
But now… how could she possibly hold back something like this?
Large, crystalline teardrops finally broke free, rolling down her cheeks one by one. Neither Haruto nor Kaguya spoke a word of comfort. They simply lowered their heads in shared silence, the weight of King Chen's sacrifice heavy in their hearts.
Only after Miko's sobs subsided did Haruto take a deep breath. He was the first to approach the large wooden table in the center of the room, placing his hand upon its worn surface.
"You just need to put your hands on this table to see your rating for this instance and the rewards you've obtained."
A panel of light materialized before him.
[Player Haruto has cleared the instance — Mermaid Pension.]
[Mission Completion: Survived for four days, unearthed four-fifths of the buried past of the Deformed Man and the Mermaid Prince, and completely blocked the Mermaid Prince's twisted path to freedom.]
[Clear Evaluation: SS]
Seeing the first two rewards on the list, Haruto couldn't help but stare, dumbfounded. Fish Communication Master? Unbreakable Fishing Rod?
What in the world was this for? Was he supposed to use this rod to go fishing, then use the 'Fish Communication Master' ability to politely ask the fish to bite the hook themselves?
No, seriously. Was this really the kind of reward an SS-rank evaluation should grant?
A flicker of existential dread crossed Haruto's eyes. He seriously suspected that the Death Game had either skimped on his rewards or secretly swapped them for gag items.
At least the 10% increase in physical strength seemed like a decent reward, and there was a second item that looked like some kind of summoning skill. Unfortunately, his base constitution was pitifully weak. Over the past two years, aside from a slight improvement after getting thoroughly beaten up in the Sunflower Field, it had mostly just grown naturally.
Now, if he had just 5% of a certain Little Flower Youkai's physical strength added to his own… The mere thought made Haruto swallow hard. There was only one word for it: invincible.
"Hmm? What are you smiling so happily about?" Kaguya's sharp eyes caught the grin spreading across his face. She immediately leaned in. "What good stuff did you get?"
"Good stuff? There's nothing," Haruto said, quickly schooling his expression. He deflected, "What were your scores, and what did you two get?"
"I got an S," Kaguya announced, proudly slapping a thick grimoire onto the table. "Not only did my physical strength increase by 10%, but I also obtained a magic book left behind by a witch."
Haruto turned his gaze to Yotsuya Miko, who whispered with a hint of embarrassment, "I only got an A… My physical strength increased by 10%, and I got a mermaid pill that can temporarily turn me into a mermaid."
As she mentioned the second reward, she couldn't help but shudder. "If I eat this… I won't turn into one of those… those mermaids dragging human skin behind them, will I?"
"Probably not," Haruto said, shaking his head. "Yours is a temporary acquisition of mermaid abilities. If it turned you into one of those incompletely evolved monsters, the reward would be far too useless. I'm guessing it grants a more complete form. Of course, I can't guarantee it. Just in case, you'd better hold onto it and give it to someone else when needed to let them go berserk."
As he spoke, he took out the mermaid pills he had obtained from his own reward list. "I have three mermaid pills here, too. But mine just says 'mermaid pill' without any time limit. These… most likely would turn someone into one of those skin-dragging mermaids for good."
Hearing this, Kaguya and Miko both felt a sudden chill. If they really ended up looking like those half-human, half-ghost abominations, they would rather just die. Haruto, for his part, was already planning to give the pills to Yagokoro Eirin or Patchouli for research once he returned to Gensokyo, just to see what their actual effects were.
"What about you, Haruto?" Kaguya pressed, her curiosity piqued. "You still haven't mentioned your rewards."
"Me?" Haruto's lips curled into a sly grin. "I barely scraped by with an SS. Just managed to snag five rewards, is all."
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