Chapter 21

"...No matter how I think about it, is this really right?"

"Just trust me."

"But..."

Muyeon raised her hand and rubbed it.

"...If I do this, I won't be able to see anything at all...!"

Her eyes, covered by the handkerchief.

You might suddenly ask what I'm doing, but this was the result of quite rational reasoning.

Muyeon is strong; she can subdue opponents with her axe in most situations.

However, Muyeon is very fearful.

Why is she scared?

It's natural to be scared when you see something.

So, let's cover her eyes.

This way, Muyeon can freely show off her overwhelming strength.

It might be a bit inconvenient for Muyeon to rely only on her hearing, but those flower-like things that were swarming Muyeon just now, and the emoticon-faced flowers that came at me, tend to rely on quantity, so it doesn't seem like something to worry about too much.

"So, you mean I just need to fight when Mr. Tanton tells me to attack, and otherwise just walk forward as guided?"

"You understand perfectly."

"...This is scary in its own way..."

"Would you rather fight while directly facing those monsters with your eyes?"

"...Ugh, fine."

Is she afraid of not being able to see?

I clasped Muyeon's trembling hands.

Strongly enough to stop the trembling.

Muyeon looked at me once as if surprised, then hung her head dejectedly.

"I betrayed you once. How can you trust someone like me...?"

Come on, over such a small thing.

Isn't it enough that we're alive?

I feel like I might be thinking too optimistically, but anyway, I've become the type who doesn't care as long as nothing bad happens.

Is this also an effect of the mode?

"It's okay. I'll be your eyes. So please be the weapon that defeats the enemy."

We held hands and took a step forward.

"So, let's go forward slowly."

"...Phew, okay."

Muyeon had the grip strength to hold the axe with one hand.

Even a two-handed axe would become one-handed before her.

"There's a branch blocking the way ahead, could you take care of it?"

As she swung the axe in her hand, the tree was instantly cut.

As expected, it's amazing, isn't it?

"Alright, friend, now it's your turn."

As I opened my pocket, the Lesser Outer God poked its head out.

"Where's the exit?"

Then it points in the direction of the Gardener, not the exit.

Until just now, it felt like an ability with a strong intention to get me killed, but I guess it depends on how you use it.

Anyway, since it was helpful, I should reward it by petting it for about an hour.

Or not.

Right, I almost died after all, so I'll just pet it for 30 minutes.

"W-who are you talking to?"

"Just talking to myself."

Anyway, all preparations are complete.

Now let's proceed with the task.

Even with the Lesser Outer God's help, I thought the process of getting to where those flowers were abundant wouldn't be smooth.

As expected, is it because she's a naturally talented knight?

Unlike me who can see, Muyeon should be uncomfortable, but she caught on instantly.

"...Ugh, tch."

"Oh, you dodged on your own without me saying anything!"

"R-really? I just felt like something was there, so I dodged..."

How on earth did she do that...?

It's getting a bit scary now.

With each step forward, our feet sank into the densely packed flowers, and each time, the flowers tickled the tops of our feet.

The scene before my eyes was truly beautiful.

If only the flowers on the ground weren't corpses, others might have thought we were dancing as we jumped and moved around.

And so we leaped over the flowers.

"Mr. Tanton!"

"What's wrong?"

"S-strange voices... in my ears...!"

Now that we've blocked her vision, are they attacking her hearing?

Should I call them intelligent, or just persistent bastards?

"It's okay! Don't worry, I'm here!"

"M-my ears...! Keep..."

I let my voice flow into Muyeon's ears to prevent her from focusing on those voices.

Only after quite some time did I realize what the cause of those sounds was.

"Ms. Muyeon, stop now."

"The sound is getting closer, I'm s-scared of the tinnitus getting worse."

"I know. So trust my words and don't worry. From now on, just calmly follow my instructions exactly."

Those smiling flowers, presumably created by the Gardener, were gathered in a crowd.

Thanks to the Super Chicken Mod, I can't hear them, but they must be launching a mental attack on Muyeon.

While doing so, they're wandering around as if looking for something.

They're probably looking for me.

They even locked the door just to catch me.

So they don't know where I am, so they're roaming the entire area?

From here on, if I make one mistake in my words, we'll be annihilated.

After taking a few deep breaths, as soon as I reached a state of full concentration, I shouted.

"Ms. Muyeon, run forward and swing your axe wildly! You must only go forward!"

"Y-yes?! O-okay!"

From now on, everything depends on Muyeon.

This is all I can do.

Following my instructions, Muyeon rushed forward, making sounds like "Uwaaa!" as if to shake off her fear.

But why isn't she holding the axe?

"Uh, huh?!"

No, why is she like that?

I'm starting to lose faith all of a sudden?

I know I'm changing my stance too quickly after just saying I trust Muyeon, but even so, that...!

Maybe because she shouted?

One of the flowers discovered Muyeon and started rushing towards her at a terrifying speed.

Now it's close enough that if the flower extends its stem, it will reach her immediately.

Thinking this was bad, I was about to raise my voice towards Muyeon when.

Swish.

With a clean cutting sound, that flower was split in two.

What happened next was relentless.

The flowers, angered perhaps by their comrade's death, all rushed at Muyeon at once.

But following my instruction to swing wildly, Muyeon simply swung her axe in disciplined movements, and the rushing flowers were mercilessly cut down without being able to offer any resistance.

D-damn it, I actually believed in her!

Who on earth doubted Muyeon?!

Contrary to my thoughts, Muyeon's voice and body were acting separately.

"Uh, huh? What's going on, what's happening!"

Muyeon must have felt that something was being cut at the end of her axe, as she shouted in a terrified voice.

"W-what am I doing right now? S-someone is being cut...

I-I'm sorryyyy!"

Ah, come to think of it, these plants were originally corpses, weren't they?

To my eyes, they just look like flowers, so it's an absurd situation, but considering how fearful Muyeon is, shouldn't I be grateful it stops at this?

"Ms. Muyeon! To the side, come to the side! Left!"

"Uwah!"

At my instruction, Muyeon abnormally bent the trajectory of her axe that was already thrust forward and cut down the flower rushing towards her.

Not stopping there, the tree behind where it was cut split in half and fell with a rustle.

No, damn.

What did I just see?

She forcibly drags the axe from the direction with the heaviest center of gravity among the angles the axe was thrust and swings it sideways?

And in less than 0.1 seconds at that?

"...Hic."

She might be very fearful, but am I perhaps giving instructions to an absurdly strong woman?

...If she wasn't a coward, the Gardener might have been sliced up long ago.

"Huff, huff..."

Thankfully, Muyeon continued to follow my instructions, but as she was defeating all those enemies alone, her stamina was visibly depleting rapidly.

By the time the Lesser Outer God gestured that we were almost there, she was even breathing heavily.

If there's any consolation, maybe the Gardener has run out of spare flowers she can control?

No more flowers were visible.

"Ms. Muyeon? Shall we rest a bit before continuing?"

"N-no. Let's go quickly."

Does she prefer to escape quickly rather than stay in a scary place?

As a fellow chicken, I strongly sympathized with Muyeon's opinion.

The problem was that nothing looked scary to my eyes.

"Ms. Muyeon, I think we can walk now. There are no more enemies. Let's calm down and regroup for a moment."

"Y-yes. Okay."

Muyeon, with her eyes covered, trusted my words completely and instantly calmed her excited state.

After walking in silence for a few minutes like that.

As this time continued, I could see Muyeon's shoulders starting to tremble more and more.

Even with my instructions, she must be a bit scared when she can't hear any human voices at all between them.

Let's try some conversation.

"Come to think of it, things like calling someone 'Senior White Mask' and your alias Muyeon. How are such aliases chosen?

From what I know, there's someone called Mushin, and since Muyeon sounds similar, is it related to that...?"

"What?! How did you... mmph."

...Oh.

Muyeon was definitely a top candidate for someone who should never gamble anywhere.

She covered her mouth as if she had said something she shouldn't have, but it was useless as I had already heard everything.

No, if I pretend I didn't hear even now...

"Ah, hahaha. I was just guessing, I didn't hear anything like Ms. Muyeon confirming..."

"You already heard everything!"

Aha.

Unfortunately, my strategy didn't work.

Did I say it too obviously?

I could only scratch the back of my head awkwardly.

Muyeon finally seemed to give up and said with a deep sigh:

"You might not believe this, but my father's alias was Mushin."

As expected, this was what I had anticipated from her being called Mushin's daughter in the community.

"My father was amazing. He would go out and defeat Outer Gods that everyone feared as casually as if he was going for a neighborhood stroll.

As you know, Mr. Tanton, most knights died during the Snow Mountain Expedition."

Snow Mountain Expedition? That's the first I'm hearing of this.

"So the knights want me to follow that glory.

But I'm not worthy of that.

I'm a coward, a half-wit who can't face Outer Gods..."

I was about to focus on listening as she seemed to be starting the introduction to a sad story.

There might be information that could be helpful to me.

But unfortunately, I couldn't do that anymore.

Because the Lesser Outer God suddenly flew in front of my eyes, flailing as if telling me to stop.

"Ms. Muyeon, wait a moment."

"Y-yes?"

As soon as we stopped, I could see why it was making such a fuss when I looked where the Lesser Outer God was pointing.

The deer mask.

The Gardener we were looking for was standing there, leaning against a tree.

Muyeon must have immediately felt that overwhelming presence, as she spoke in a trembling voice.

"...Is the Gardener over there?"

"Yes."

Despite her scared attitude, she was gripping the axe tightly in her hand, seeming prepared.

After all, what you can't see isn't scary.

It was a moment when the fear of not being able to see was overcome by the fear of the Outer God.

"Ms. Muyeon, the Gardener is now..."

What happened next was instantaneous.

"Huh?"

Stems that rose from the ground wrapped around Muyeon and threw her far away.

Thanks to Muyeon's quick thinking to let go of my hand, I was able to remain safe.

"How curious. To be mentally sound without any protective items, do you have particularly strong willpower?"

A sweet voice reached my ears.

Right beside me, the Gardener was looking at me.

"You're still intact even when I approach this close. Even if you're her follower, you should turn into a flower just from my presence."

Her finger ran down my arm and grasped the hand that had been holding Muyeon.

"You, what exactly are you?"