บท 19: 4.4 Sequence Break?

A Level 60 dungeon?! Right in the middle of the actual hub city?!

"We shouldn't stay here for too long, Stranger. We have more places to go to!"

No duh, we have more places to go to! This was way above my current level! "Y-Yeah, we should go."

"I know, right?! Isn't this exciting?" Shizu smiled with the innocence of a bright kid. "These places are hidden right underneath our noses. I just wish that we could explore a bit more of it soon."

"I-I don't think that's a good idea at the moment," I vehemently shook my head as I already walked ahead of my tour guide. "Can't we see a bit more oddities that are a bit, y'know, safe?"

The green-haired girl looked at me funny as she beamed, "Isn't this safe though?"

No! No, it wasn't! "People won't be forbidden from entering this place if it was, Shizu."

The NPC placed a finger on her chin as she seemingly pondered on my words. She was actually acting as if this was normal! "I suppose you're right there, Stranger. Father did tell me not to stray too far before..."

At least her father had a lick of common sense then. "That's right. We should go before something bad happens."

"Sure thing."

Watching Shizu finally take the lead again, I let out an honest sigh of relief the moment we stepped foot outside of the [Eld Alley]. I let out a nervous laugh, shaking my head at the ridiculousness of what just happened.

To think that I somehow unlocked a Level 60 dungeon in hour freaking one? I wasn't even Level 10 for crying out loud! Why in the world would Guidance place something so dangerous in the starting city?! And speaking of Guidance, where was she even? It honestly already felt like ages since she last showed up.

I let out a frustrated sigh as I let myself get dragged around again by my excitable tour guide. If all else, this was a decent pastime as opposed to me just walking around like a bright-eyed idiot around the place. Who knows? Maybe this side quest would give me a ton of [EXP] since it was clearly meant to be taken way later into the game. Wait...

Wouldn't this mean I'd be ridiculously overpowered after all of this?

"And here we are, Stranger."

Shizu's voice took me out of me thoughts as I found myself in yet another part of the massive city. We were still on the ground, of course, but [Yagokoro] wasn't looming over our heads as much anymore. Well, it was still there, but we were pretty far from the city center right now.

"This is... Err... It's kind of hard to explain, really," my tour guide struggled with her words as she pointed at... What is that.... "I guess you could say that it's the weirdest out of them all..." she hummed in seeming frustration.

No kidding. "I can see where you're coming from. I mean, I don't even know how to describe what I'm looking at."

It was no exaggeration. Currently, we were standing in front of... something that was sandwiched between two typical food stalls. It... looked like a stall? But it also wasn't? Damn... My head's starting to hurt just from trying to describe this to myself.

"Some Imperial researchers went mad after studying this place for prolonged periods of time," Shizu revealed with a disappointed pout. "Truthfully, I honestly think they're just faking it to escape punishment."

The implications of what she just said flew right over my head as I found myself focusing on the immediate anomaly in front of us. Shizu said that people went mad just from looking at it? Then why in the world was it still outside and in clear view of actual foot traffic?

"Well, it's something, at least," I heard Shizu mumble beside me. "Now that I think about it, this place is pretty boring."

I blinked, "Boring? How is that boring?"

I voiced out my well-meaning concern. How was that.... thing... boring? It was like I was looking at something that constantly changed its shape every half a second or so.

"It's just a curiosity, Stranger," my tour guide replied. "Like the fountain, but at least the fountain is one of its kind."

My eyes widened in disbelief, "You mean there are more of these things?"

Shizu huffed, "You really don't want to see them all, Stranger. They all only have a small variation of the same thing."

Okay? Weird dialogue, but I'll chalk that up to Guidance's writing. That, and this being my actual world right now.

{CHIME!}

[Side Quest: Princess Escort!]

[Quest Progress: Oddities Observed: 3/10]

As usual, the progress on this weird side quest announced itself with a chime as it tallied up my current so-called oddities observed. Looking at it now, I was honestly getting miffed that I got this way before what should be a decent tutorial. That, and skipping over the beginnings of the story Guidance actually wrote for her game. This was still an RPG, after all, and no RPG would be caught dead without a decent story.

"Should we get going, Stranger?"

Huh? "O-oh, sure," I absently nodded as Shizu returned to her usual duties of dragging me around on my feet.

"You're starting to space out," my tour guide frowned before flashing her now trademark smile. "I guess I should take you to some of the better spots to get your blood going again!"

I let out another sigh... "Lead the way, Shizu."

The energetic woman seemed to freeze at my response, her steps pausing mid-step as she turned to look at me. Why? Did I say something wrong?

"You... You're not annoyed?"

"Eh?" Where the hell did that come from?! "Should I be?"

...

.....

The silence between us seemed to stretch on for far longer than I wanted it to go. Flocks of NPCs passed us by, seemingly uncaring of the awkward pair parking themselves right in the middle of the street. All the while, my eyes kept on avoiding the earnest gaze that she was determined to give me.

"I... Never mind," Shizu broke through the stalemate, her current smile looking so fake that it was impossible to not take note of it. Not that I'd ever point it out, of course. "Let's just continue with the tour!"

"Ookay?" That was highly out of character. I wonder what that was about...

{CHIME!}

Another notification? What would this be about then?

[INSIGHT GAINED]

...

....

"What?!"