[Inorin's Note:
Hey everyone, so sorry for the lack of updates these past few days! Four days ago, I randomly got the idea to build my own novel website, and I immediately hyperfocused on it. I got so caught up in the process that I completely forgot to queue up the scheduled chapters on Webnovel and only just realized it now. The good news is, my 78-hour coding binge wasn't for nothing—the website is already 50-75% done!]
Chapter 53: You Don't Just 'Borrow' Yukari's Umbrella
"He... he just died? Just like that?" a woman's voice trembled uncontrollably.
No one answered.
Several players with weaker constitutions had already lost all color in their faces. Everyone subconsciously squeezed toward the center of the rain pavilion, as if being an inch further from the edge would grant them a sliver more safety.
Being killed by a ghost was terrifying enough.
But being dissolved alive, without so much as a bone fragment left behind, was a horror on an entirely different level.
From the moment they were teleported under this pavilion instead of into the castle, everyone had realized there was something terribly wrong with the rain. Perhaps it was poisonous, or corrosive, or maybe a single touch would mark you for some spectral hunter. The game never made pointless arrangements. Still, none of them had expected the penalty for stepping out to be so immediate and absolute.
Yotsuya Miko found herself unconsciously leaning closer to Haruto.
"Haruto, this rain... what do we do?"
"Was that guy just insulting me?" Haruto asked, completely ignoring her question.
Miko blinked, startled for a moment before she processed what he was referring to. She nodded weakly. "I... I think so. Probably."
"Damn it, he really was! That kid must have played too many online shooters; a pure-bred toxic player! I didn't even do anything to him!" Haruto began to grumble, genuinely put out.
If the man hadn't already dissolved into a puddle of nothing, Haruto would have been sorely tempted to pull out the parasol Kazami Yuuka had given him and, just as she would, give him a couple of sharp thwacks to bury him directly in the ground.
Faced with this bizarre point of focus, Miko, fortunately, was already used to it. A hint of helplessness flashed in her eyes. "Perhaps... it's because we're a little too conspicuous?"
Her choice of words was a masterful understatement. This was far beyond "conspicuous"; it was downright flamboyant.
"Haruto, the person is already gone, don't be angry..." she tried to steer the conversation back on track. "The most important thing right now is figuring out how we get across."
"He'd better pray he's not from my side of the veil," Haruto muttered. "Otherwise, I'll have Komachi charge him ten times the ferry fee to cross the Sanzu, and then I'll have Shikieiki sit him down for a nice, long chat about his life choices."
He was, of course, just venting. The first part might be doable, but even if Shikieiki Yamaxanadu were willing to grant him face for the second, he wouldn't dare seek her out. After she was finished with that guy, the one getting a lecture would most likely be him.
Their conversation wasn't intentionally quiet. The gazes from the surrounding players grew increasingly strange, and many were silently screaming in their own minds.
What time is it for this?
He's still hung up on that?
As long as you could survive, what did a few insults matter?
Combined with the fact that this man had actually brought his own folding chairs and tea set... the same conclusion surfaced in everyone's mind: lunatic.
Of course, not everyone thought so. A select few still felt that Haruto's casual behavior was simply a case of having the skill to back up the audacity.
Click... click, click...
The strange, rhythmic footsteps sounded again from the wilderness. Miko couldn't help but feel a knot of panic tighten in her stomach, but seeing Haruto and Kaguya still looking completely composed, she frowned. Turning back to look out at the misty fields, she listened carefully. Suddenly, as if understanding something, her furrowed brow relaxed.
Snap—
The sound of an umbrella opening rang out abruptly, instantly capturing everyone's attention.
A slightly chubby man held up a blood-red umbrella. In the dim, gray light, the surface of the umbrella looked indescribably eerie.
A cursed artifact.
The answer surfaced in everyone's hearts. No one would believe this was just an ordinary umbrella.
"Brother Tao! Take me with you!" A woman wearing a flowered hat quickly scurried over, squeezing under the umbrella with the chubby man.
"Even if your umbrella can block the rain, what about the puddles on the ground? You can't possibly keep your feet from touching the ground, can you?" someone couldn't help but call out.
The chubby man, Brother Tao, merely shot the speaker a disdainful glance. Without a word, he led the woman in the flowered hat out into the rain.
They walked slowly, cautiously, terrified of being touched by a stray drop. But after a full thirty seconds, they were still perfectly fine. The rainwater pooled on the ground seemed no different from an ordinary downpour.
The player who had shouted the warning was filled with astonishment. His teammate pointed to the surrounding flowers, plants, and stone architecture, none of which showed any signs of corrosion, and whispered a few words of explanation.
At that moment, the chubby man successfully reached the entrance of the ancient castle. He turned and shouted back to the crowd under the pavilion.
"One cursed artifact per person, and I'll bring you across."
"You're robbing us!"
"Exactly! The instance just started! Can you even handle that many artifacts? This is practically asking for our lives!"
"This is a team dungeon! If you're so capable, try clearing it by yourselves! See how long the two of you last alone!"
A chorus of displeasure erupted from the pavilion.
Brother Tao seemed to realize his demand was excessive. To avoid becoming a public enemy, he amended his proposal. "How about this, then: one cursed artifact for every two people."
This condition was far more reasonable, and the previously incensed players could reluctantly accept it. Brother Tao made several more trips, bringing over those willing to pay the price.
Soon, six people were standing at the castle entrance. He looked back at the remaining eight under the rain pavilion.
"Are you sure you don't want to come over? If you don't have any artifacts, I'm not against letting you pay later. You can settle the debt after you find something midway through or when you get your rewards for clearing the instance."
Those who had already crossed over chimed in.
"Brother Tao is even offering credit! He's a veteran player who's been through several instances; he's looking out for you newbies. What more could you ask for?"
"Exactly. No matter how precious an artifact is, you have to be alive to use it. The priority is getting over here and surviving this first hurdle."
"And don't forget, there's that... thing approaching from the wilderness behind you..."
Faced with the continuous persuasion from the group at the castle, most of the people under the pavilion remained unmoved, showing no panic even as the footsteps behind them grew closer.
A muscular man covered in tattoos couldn't stand it anymore and finally roared at the chubby man. "Can you stop your bullshit? I don't care if you want to trick them out of their artifacts, but don't treat everyone like an idiot! That thing behind us has been making noise for ages! It's clearly just trying to scare us into leaving the pavilion!"
The crowd under the pavilion remained silent, tacitly agreeing.
As soon as these words were spoken, Brother Tao's face froze. Sensing the shift in the gazes of the people around him, he immediately became defensive. "How was I supposed to know the footsteps were just a scare tactic? Wasn't I just rushing to bring everyone over to safety?"
A student-looking player asked timidly, "Then... can you return our artifacts to us?"
The chubby man's eyes immediately turned cold. "And how should I account for the wear and tear on my umbrella? As you all know, every cursed artifact has a limited number of uses. Including the trips I just made, I can only go back and forth three more times at most."
He paused, then added, "Besides... even if the thing behind them won't hurt them, how are they supposed to cross? This castle is clearly the objective. If they don't enter, waiting there is just a matter of time until they die."
Hearing this, the people who had just spent their precious artifacts to cross felt a little more balanced, their buyer's remorse slightly assuaged.
"Wrong."
Under the pavilion, a man with gold-rimmed glasses spoke calmly. "Although there are no windows here, you can see light through the crack under the door, which means someone is definitely inside., the surrounding flowers and plants show signs of being trimmed, which can only mean someone lives here. And an ancient castle of this nature cannot exist without a butler."
He adjusted his glasses. "The game won't set up an unsolvable situation, nor will it favor anyone. Therefore, I believe our role is that of guests. All we need to do right now is wait for the castle's butler to come out and greet us."
As soon as he said this, Brother Tao's expression became even uglier. The players who had paid to cross over felt as miserable as if they had just swallowed a fly.
Hearing this analysis, the man with a broken eyebrow, who had been hesitant, finally let out a sigh of relief.
The man with gold-rimmed glasses then turned his head to look at Haruto. "Actually, we weren't the first to notice this; it was this young man. At first, I thought he was just posturing, but now it seems he understood the situation from the very beginning."
Immediately, everyone's attention focused on Haruto.
Haruto couldn't help but be stunned.
Wait, he thought. I discovered it long ago? That's not right. Why didn't I know that? I genuinely just wanted to sit here, drink some tea, and wait for someone else to figure out a way across.
After all, even in a crisis, with his current reserves of talisman cards, he could kill gods, slay buddhas, and obliterate ghosts. There was absolutely no need for him to rush to solve a puzzle.
But faced with the admiring "so-he's-a-mastermind" gazes being thrown his way by everyone, including Yotsuya Miko, Haruto decided he rather appreciated the attention. He gave two dry coughs.
"Keep it low-key, low-key. I'm not that amazing."
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Haruto decided to put on another act. He stood up and simultaneously reached into a gap in space, pulling out a parasol.
Everyone was surprised, not having expected Haruto to also possess an umbrella-type artifact.
Unlike the chubby man's eerie blood umbrella, Haruto's parasol was pure white with delicate lace edges. Far from being sinister, it exuded an elegant, almost fragile beauty.
"Is that a cursed artifact?" the man with gold-rimmed glasses frowned.
Haruto opened the parasol, and a faint, sweet floral fragrance drifted out. "Kind of. It was given to me by an older sister of mine."
"Kind of?" The man didn't understand.
But Kaguya, standing nearby, recognized it immediately. Her expression was a mixture of shock and excitement. Few people in Gensokyo used umbrellas, and only one used a parasol of that design—Kazami Yuuka.
"This couldn't possibly be her umbrella, could it?" Kaguya asked, her voice laced with disbelief. She knew Haruto was quite familiar with the Tyrant of Flowers, but she had no idea they were close enough for him to casually borrow the one item she carried everywhere.
Yotsuya Miko, standing nearby, didn't know who this "sister" of Haruto's was, but seeing Kaguya's reaction, she knew she was definitely no ordinary powerhouse.
"Of course," Haruto said, spreading his hands with feigned helplessness. "Sister Yuuka was worried about my safety, afraid I'd run into danger, so she insisted I take it. I didn't even want it at first, but she kept begging and coaxing me to accept it."
If Kazami Yuuka herself were to hear those words, she would most certainly reclaim her parasol and then "gently" give Haruto a couple of smacks, letting him experience firsthand what it felt like to become flower fertilizer.
"Are you sure you want to cross now?" the man with gold-rimmed glasses checked his watch and reminded him. "The butler should open the door in ten minutes at most. It won't be too late to cross then if there's really no other way. There's no need to waste an artifact's use now."
Haruto shook his head. He first tentatively extended the parasol out of the rain pavilion. The fabric was thin, almost translucent, but when the corrosive rainwater fell upon it, it was repelled by an invisible aura, scattering like mice before a cat.
Just as he'd thought. Even if it had once been an ordinary parasol, after being used by Kazami Yuuka for so many years, it had naturally become imbued with extraordinary properties.
"Take me with you!" Kaguya swiftly moved under the umbrella, her dark eyes flashing with excitement. They were almost certainly the first people in history to stand under the parasol of the Tyrant of Flowers. She turned to Yotsuya Miko. "Miko, wait for us. After Haruto and I cross over, we'll come back for you."
"Okay," Miko nodded.
"No need."
Haruto took another umbrella from the gap.
This one was an antique, long-handled parasol of deep purple, its surface adorned with hazy, white butterfly patterns.
"Sister Yuuka only gave me one, but don't we still have Yukari's?"
Everyone was shocked again. They truly hadn't expected Haruto to possess a second umbrella-type artifact. If he had two, three, or even five artifacts of different types, they wouldn't have found it strange. But items of the same type... the difficulty of owning more than one simultaneously was astronomical.
Kaguya became even more excited. "This is Yakumo Yukari's parasol? She gave you her umbrella, too?"
"No," Haruto shook his head. "I just borrowed it casually. Anyway, she spends all day sleeping at home and peeping on people. It's not like she ever goes out."
"Borrowed...?" Kaguya's expression turned strange. It was painfully obvious that Yakumo Yukari was completely unaware of Haruto's "borrowing."
Haruto opened the parasol. On its underside, a multitude of hideous, staring eyes were clearly visible.
The moment the other players saw those eyes, their bodies involuntarily trembled. An intense wave of primal discomfort and fear surged into their hearts. Everyone averted their gaze, unable to believe it. They were, at the very least, players who had cleared three instances. They had seen every kind of terrifying scene imaginable, and their psychological fortitude far exceeded that of ordinary people. Yet, these ordinary-looking eyes made them feel a long-lost, bone-deep terror.
Yotsuya Miko had just taken the parasol and was about to examine it more closely when a figure suddenly darted out and snatched the umbrella from her hands.
She was stunned. When she finally reacted, she tried to snatch it back, but her strength was far inferior to the other party's. In her haste, she only managed to pull off a single strand of the person's hair.
The one who had snatched the umbrella was none other than the man with the broken eyebrow, who had been hesitating in the crowd.
"What are you doing?! Give the umbrella back now!" Miko panicked.
"Stealing artifacts right at the start of the instance? Aren't you afraid of incurring public wrath?" The man with gold-rimmed glasses narrowed his eyes, speaking up for Haruto's group. "Besides, I just made it very clear that our role is that of guests. In ten minutes at most, someone will likely come to greet us."
"You yourself said 'likely'!" the man with the broken eyebrow shouted angrily. "And you people all have your own life-saving methods, right? Even if the butler doesn't come, you can get to the castle yourselves, but I can't! So I'm not going to gamble with you!"
He then turned to look at Haruto and Yotsuya Miko. "I'm not an unreasonable person. Once I safely reach the other side, I will naturally return it to you."
Hearing this, Haruto merely said indifferently, "What if I refuse?"
"Anyone who doesn't give me a way to live, I will kill them!" the man with the broken eyebrow said, his voice chilling.
"Haruto doesn't owe you anything!" Miko was furious. "It's his kindness if he helps you, and it's his right not to! If you don't return it now, don't blame me for being impolite!"
She took a small doll from her pocket—the cursed doll Haruto had given her previously. Stealing an item Haruto had given her and threatening Haruto himself had both crossed her bottom line. She wrapped the strand of hair she had just pulled from the man around the doll's neck and was about to stab it with a needle, but Haruto grabbed her arm.
At that instant, the man with the broken eyebrow stepped out into the rain, holding the purple parasol.
Yotsuya Miko turned her head, only to see Haruto and Kaguya both wearing relaxed, theater-watching expressions. Noticing her confusion, Kaguya spoke playfully.
"You couldn't possibly think... that the belongings of Yakumo Yukari are that easy to take, could you?"
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