Chapter 96: Lower Realm Disappearance Case 1
The moment the spatial array activated, my vision and senses were engulfed in darkness.
“Marlang…”
Marlang, experiencing the spatial array for the first time, curiously reached out beyond its boundary, only to have her hand severed.
Though it regenerated quickly, she seemed annoyed at the fact that her hand had been cut.
She repeatedly poked at the boundary with her fingers, causing each fingertip to vanish and then regenerate.
For the record, I freaked out and told her to stop, but Marlang ignored me, as if challenging whether the spatial array or her resilience would win.
Well, it didn’t seem to hurt much, so I figured she’d do as she pleased.
‘Could I replicate this…?’
The mechanical sensitivity within me perfectly captured the instantaneous shift in our location. If my capabilities improved just a bit more, I was confident I could imitate this spatial array myself.
Not just a thought—I was sure of it.
Just a little more.
With slightly better integration, it would be possible.
Though I wasn’t yet sure what the exact criteria for integration were.
If I integrated with a goblin and got downgraded, that would be another issue altogether.
“Former Executor, attention!”
Color returned to my sight as the segmented, pixel-like space merged once again.
We had moved from the satellite city Zain to the interior of Ark.
To be precise, we were now standing in the group-residential zone of the Nine Dragons Barrier Agency.
In front of us stood Executors in uniforms that appeared to blend police and military attire, lined up neatly in formation.
The Barrier Agency, which had previously been destroyed by the effects of the Progenitor Virus, had been fully restored.
“Salute to Administrator Rilstia Frostia! Salute!”
-Clack!
As Rilstia stepped forward, all the Executors snapped to identical salute positions like dolls.
“Haha, at ease, everyone.”
“At ease!”
Rilstia casually raised and lowered her hand as she spoke.
“Chief Executor! I told you there was no need to come out to greet me! This was merely a simple vacation!”
“Even if it was just a vacation, proper protocol must be observed for an administrator, Your Excellency!”
“Hahaha, you know I don’t care much for authority or formalities! Now, go on, everyone, back to your duties.”
Despite her words, she accepted their salute graciously, her face full of smiles.
“If the Chief Executor hadn’t come out to greet her, this place would’ve been dissolved on the spot.”
The Chief Executor might have been demoted to some remote outskirts too.
Oriana chuckled and whispered to me.
According to her, Rilstia wasn’t entirely the innocent or kind-hearted person she appeared to be.
Reflecting on vague memories of my human days, I recalled officers who would say, “You know I won’t interfere, right?” or battalion commanders who always walked around with smiling faces.
It seemed plausible.
Rilstia likely had her own sly side as well.
“Alright, let’s go! Alice, now that you’re officially a third-class Overseer, there’s no need for you to visit the Outer Wall Exploration Agency for Hunters anymore!”
“What about requests or tasks?”
“The purpose of the Barrier Agency is to support the duties of Executors and Overseers in each region. Any necessary requests will be sorted and handled appropriately! You can learn more about the Barrier Agency’s functions from Oriana later.”
“Understood.”
Alice was about to reply when her words caught in her throat.
‘Still, now that I’m a third-class Overseer and officially an Ark central government official, isn’t it a bit inappropriate to keep speaking so casually…?’
Rilstia didn’t seem entirely indifferent to formality and protocol.
Continuing to speak so casually might not be ideal.
Especially now.
The Executors maintained stiff, disciplined postures whenever Rilstia passed by.
It was probably time for her to start observing some decorum.
Alice’s previous lack of formality wasn’t due to ignorance but more because she found it immensely bothersome.
Mimicking Sohi’s earlier gesture, Alice grasped her coat elegantly with one hand and bowed gracefully toward Rilstia.
“Yes, understood. I will await your orders, Administrator Rilstia.”
“Wh-what!?”
Rilstia seemed visibly flustered.
“Ha?! Didn’t I tell you to speak comfortably to me! Why are you suddenly addressing me so formally!?”
“Well, you’re my direct superior. Shouldn’t I speak respectfully…?”
“Please don’t do this! It hurts my feelings!”
“…..”
“Alice, I thought we got closer after I gifted her the blue choker, but it feels like we’ve grown distant again! I finally felt like I had a young friend again…!”
“Were you older than me?”
“Hah!? Not at all! I’m the same age as Alice!”
At that, I glanced at Oriana.
The same age?
No way.
Oriana silently shook her head.
When I looked back at Rilstia, she puffed her cheeks like a sulky little girl.
Fira and Sohi were like this too, but Rilstia, who looked young, might also be sensitive about her age.
“Ah, um. Then Oriana… you? You always maintain such formality…”
“Indeed! Alice, along with Oriana, you should feel free to…”
“I’ll refrain.”
“Ugh! Oriana always acts like that, even when I tell her to relax! She builds such an impenetrable wall, I feel like a returning senior who confessed to a freshman on the first day and got rejected!”
“Yes, yes, I’ll try harder next time, Administrator.”
“See that? Oriana is so unfair! That’s the 52nd time she’s promised to try harder, yet she still won’t relax around me! This is so unjust. Alice!”
As she said that, Rilstia clung to me tightly.
“Ah, um. Okay. Sure. I get it. I’ll speak casually…”
“Haha! Wonderful!”
Leaving behind a delighted Rilstia, I took in the scenery of Guryong, which I hadn’t seen in a while.
Guryong.
A residential area for the Ark’s collective population and the first place I established myself.
“It’s been a while.”
Unlike the clear and pristine exterior, the stuffy air, heavy with dust and exhaust fumes, greeted me.
Above, the artificial sun’s faint ultraviolet rays shone down.
The oxygen inside was artificially supplied, far from natural, and slightly suffocating.
The smell of wax, detergent, and air fresheners used to combat pollution stung my nose.
Judging by my sensitivity, I must have become more human-like after absorbing Gaia.
【It’s been exactly 27 days since your return to the Ark.】
‘It’s already been that long?’
【You spent 15 days in Satellite City Jain, 9 days on the northern front, and 3 days in the Demon Territory.】
Time flies.
I thought I’d been relaxing, but before I knew it, that much time had passed.
“Ma, Marlang!!!”
I preferred the outside, but Marlang, who quietly followed us, seemed overwhelmed by the Ark’s sights for the first time.
Her pupils transformed as they sparkled into star shapes, showing genuine excitement.
When I first saw the Ark, I found it fascinating too.
Especially Guryong, whose immense scale and grandeur were overwhelming at first glance.
Buildings and staircases extended endlessly, blurring the distinction between the sky and the ground.
The densely packed residential areas embedded like bricks resembled a massive skyscraper from afar.
Bridges connecting roads and staircases intertwined more intricately than spiderwebs and mazes, and a chaotic array of neon signs and artificial lights outshone the stars, with countless people weaving into this web day and night for work and life.
Even though Marlang was born in one of the Ark’s undead factories, her life with Sohi had been spent outside, so her awe wasn’t surprising.
“Marlang!!”
“Ah, that’s the Barrier Agency.”
“Marlang! Marlang! Marlang!”
“Yes, yes. We’ll go there later.”
“Marlang! Marlaaang!!”
“Ah, that’s the Chainsaw Tavern. Hunters often visit there to celebrate successfully completing outer wall missions. They have amazing butter beer.”
“Ma, Marlang!!!”
“Oh, you want to try mint choco beer?”
“No.”
Well then.
She had strong likes and dislikes.
“Haha, sorry to say this as soon as we arrive, but I have something for Alice to take care of!”
With a cheerful expression, Rilstia handed me what looked like an undeniably luxurious request or mission order, as if it had been prepared in advance.
“What’s this?”
“Now that you’re a third-class Overseer, it’s important to enjoy and celebrate, but first, we need to test whether Alice is fit for the role!”
“Didn’t you say the northern front’s achievements alone were enough to qualify for first-class Overseer?”
“Haha! Achieving results as an Overseer successor and achieving them as a third-class Overseer are entirely different matters!”
I glanced at Oriana, who nodded slightly.
I’d heard even first-class Overseer Oriana was quite busy.
In fact, Oriana personally going to the northern city of Jain to conduct human integration inspections of demons was probably solely because of me.
Well, I’d had a decent rest anyway.
Rilstia giving me a mission would definitely be easier than causing chaos between Mega Corp and the Northern Front.
And if you think about it, fighting Gaia, the Humanoid Calamity that ordinary people rarely encounter in their lifetimes, could be considered a stroke of bad luck already dealt with.
‘There’s no way another calamity like Gaia will pop out in Ark, right?’
[Did you call for me?]
‘I didn’t, so shut up.’
[Ahaha, so cold. That’s why I like you even more. Hah…]
【Human, I recommend reducing resource allocation to Gaia to zero.】
Ignoring the verbal bickering between Gaia and Theresa for now seems like the best choice.
Honestly, I can’t toggle Gaia on and off as I please, and with more of my body consisting of human elements, including flesh, it’s entirely up to Gaia to bear that burden.
“This time, the mission I’d like to assign Alice is in the Lower Realm.”
“The Lower Realm? You mean the lower levels?”
“Haha, that’s correct. How much do you know about the Lower Realm?”
“Just that it’s a chaotic place?”
And that electricity there tastes like mint chocolate.
A truly vile mint chocolate flavor.
“Well, that simplifies things! Multiple disappearance reports have been filed from the Lower Realm.”
“The Lower Realm is a place where people die pretty frequently anyway, isn’t it?”
Oriana interjected casually.
The areas known as the Lower Realm, including the Magrid Steps where I had previously been, are rife with crimes, murders, and robberies.
It’s the kind of place where even if someone dies, those above wouldn’t even notice.
“Haha, the problem is that the missing individuals aren’t ordinary people.”
“Then…”
“Executors, Hunters, and several students from the Central Academy. They were all engaged in field training at the time.”
Well, that’s troubling.
“But! It’ll be fine! Alice successfully completed that shady request from Sohi, that despicable woman. There’s likely no third-class Overseer stronger than Alice, so this shouldn’t be a dangerous mission!”
Rilstia spoke as though she had personally witnessed every fight I’d been in.
Though I never showed my combat prowess in front of her, she seemed to have her own means of surveillance.
“Here, this is your mission order.”
Rilstia projected a holographic document into the air.
Investigation of Academy Student Disappearances.
Third-Class Overseer or higher required.
There were no detailed instructions, no eyewitness accounts, no evidence, and no witnesses.
It was the perfect mission for an Overseer tasked with maintaining Ark’s order and dealing with unruly elements.
“There will also be a personal gift for you at the designated location on the request form!”
“Marlang!”
“Hm? Do you want to go too?”
“Marlang!!”
“Alright then, you may come!”
Marlang hopped on the spot before clinging tightly to me.
Not that I wasn’t planning to bring her anyway.
“Alice, if you need help, I can—”
“No, Oriana! You have a mountain of tasks piled up as punishment for daring to treat me as an equal…no, as a peer!”
“…Tch.”
Oriana sighed.
She gave me a look, as if watching a child being sent off alone to the water, but I wasn’t her child, and I could swim just fine.
Didn’t I handle things well enough in Zain?
There was nothing to worry about anymore.
With that, Rilstia seemed to be done speaking to me. She grabbed Oriana’s wrist and began reactivating the spatial array.
“Well then, good luck on your first mission as an Overseer, Alice! I wish you success! Shoosh!”
“Make sure to contact me if you need anything. Got it?”
“Yeah, got it, Oriana. Rilstia, Administrator… No, Rilstia, goodbye.”
“Haha! Very good!”
-Zap!
A black sphere swallowed Oriana and Rilstia before vanishing completely.
Now then, let’s see.
【The mission order indicates you should head to an inn in the Magrid Lower Realm. Marking the point now.】
Theresa, having absorbed Rilstia’s electronic document, activated a navigation trajectory in my field of view.
【Activating magnetic field gliding mode.】
Metallic tendrils extended from my spine, forming magnetic fields at their tips, causing my body to levitate.
Cradling Marlang in one arm, I leapt over the precipice-like steps.
“Let’s go.”
“Ma-Malaaaang!”
.
.
.
.
[But Alice, don’t your bad feelings usually turn out to be correct? After all, wasn’t it ‘coincidence’ that we met outside?]
Stop with the ominous remarks.