Defense specialization and quest two.
"The forest comes into view. Enter through the entrance."
"Can't I just fly past it?"
Maple descends onto the forest's edge with Shiroppu, then returns Shiroppu to her ring.
"Come, let's hurry!"
"Okay! Is this place fine?"
A narrow path stretches ahead.
The woman points at the same path—there can be no mistake.
Maple advances deeper into the path.
The woman is within the range of Cover, making protection straightforward.
Normally, combat would have occurred before reaching the forest, but Maple bypassed it through a special method.
Of course, it was Shiroppu's doing.
"Paralyze Shout!"
The woman is unaffected by Maple's attack, so Maple remains calm despite being surrounded. She simply activates the skill.
It’s fine not to knock her down now.
But Maple is unlike a normal player—she moves with deliberate slowness.
Each attack increases the number of times she is struck.
By the time she reaches the center of the forest, guided by the woman, she has exhausted her supplies.
I’ll change to a crystal shield.
She equips the large shield glowing purple and follows the woman.
That’s it—there’s the 【Tree of Life】!
The tree the woman rushes toward is half the size of the surrounding trees.
Something… different than I imagined.
Maple had envisioned a giant tree radiating a mystical light.
These leaves cure illness.
The woman plucks a few leaves from a branch and shows them to Maple.
Huh… so that’s how it works. Can I take one too?
Maple reaches out, but a barrier invisible to the eye blocks her approach.
It appears to be an event-exclusive item, inaccessible to players.
"Everything is fine now."
"Then let's go home."
Maple summons Shiroppu, levitating it gently before enlarging it.
There was no space.
"Shiroppu! Please!"
Shiroppu was too high to reach as usual.
Maple considers for a moment. Then, an idea forms.
She does not climb the tree.
Nor does she jump.
"【Crystal Wall】!"
Purple crystals surge upward from beneath her feet, launching Maple into the air with force.
Not the intended use, of course.
"Shiroppu!"
Shiroppu clamps down on Maple’s head and torso as she rises.
To onlookers, it must be a shocking sight.
To anyone watching, it looks only like a flying turtle devouring a person.
Maple settled into position as she was thrown onto the back.
“Ah… what should we do about that person…?”
At the moment Maple tried to look down at the NPC below, she saw the figure leap from the tree and latch onto Shiroppu’s foot.
“Eeeeee!?!”
“Let us go. The daughter is waiting.”
“Y-yes.”
Maple flew through the air.
As she did, she muttered a thought.
“…That person could’ve made it alone, right?”
She could not help but feel that a woman’s strength would normally allow one to travel deep into the forest.
She flew onward, passing through the woods.
“Haa… haa… thank you for protecting me. I would’ve died if not for you…”
“W-what? S-suddenly, why?!”
Maple had done nothing.
She had simply flown through the air.
No— the act of flying itself was unnatural.
Normally, a player wielding a large shield, lacking in offensive power, should have been broken apart by a powerful monster encountered on the way home.
The words spoken by the woman were words that could only be heard after first overcoming them.
The manner of the breakthrough had rendered the lines unnatural.
"Sir… you are kind."
"Er... um... I'm sorry."
Maple felt a vague sense of regret and apologized. She did not respond.
Maple could not bear the air any longer. She hurried back to the Town.
"Good! We’ve arrived!"
Maple descends from Shiroppu before the Town, returning to her ring.
The target is this woman's home.
Thank you! I’m off at once!
She hurried away.
Maple moves faster than anyone can follow.
...Go slowly.
If Maple does not arrive, the event will not occur. There is no way the entire sequence could end before she reaches the destination.
It was merely a performance.
She walks for a time. Maple arrives at the woman’s home.
The door opens. The woman is just pouring something into a cup for the girl.
A thick green liquid fills the vessel.
To Maple, it looks bitter. She would not drink it.
The girl grimaces as she swallows.
“…How are you?”
“Cough… cough… yeah… a little better… Gah… Gah…”
“Terrible cough…! Ah! What should I do!”
The woman sighs.
At that moment, a blue monitor appears before Maple.
Quest: [Knight of Benevolence 2]
A new quest has emerged.
Of course, Maple accepts it.
“Knight-sama! You will still help us?”
“Eh… yeah… I can’t just leave you like this.”
The girl still coughing—gokhokho—appeared to be worsening.
"Then… take me to the 【Purifying Spring】! It lies northwest beyond the Town!"
"Uh-huh, got it."
She turned and walked once more beyond the Town’s edge.
"Hmm… I’ve acquired a skill."
【Chivalry of Benevolence】
The skill name appeared clearly in the skill bar, yet it had no effect.
Only the name remained.
"Hmm? No effect? …Perhaps the event isn’t over yet?"
If that were so, abandoning it now was out of the question. Maple turned and headed beyond the Town.
"Northwest, yes!"
"Okay. Northwest it is."
Maple now took for granted the method of travel—Shiroppu flying through the air—and moved toward the northwest.
Players nearby, some having seen it before, others having heard of it, no longer showed surprise.
Just another day, Maple.
That was all they thought.
What once was extraordinary becomes ordinary through repetition.
There may come a day when the players think, ah, Maple is flying again today, as they do now.
"Can't end at two... there's also three..."
Maple murmurs.
She feels ending at two would be too incomplete.
The quest's content has changed little from the last.
It does not seem to end this time.
"Oh!? 【Malnourished】 hasn't recovered yet!"
Maple realizes, perched atop Shiroppu's back.
It might have been too late had the fight begun.
"Hmm... if it looks bad, I'll have to turn back..."
It would mean nothing to let a woman die.
Maple decides to first survey the area above the spring from the air, observe the situation, then proceed in the instructed direction.