The New Gate (LN)

Some time prior to Schnee’s encounter with Hameln, Shin and Yuzuha had gone to the market, after finishing their business at the guild .

All sorts of people and species filled the market: a human girl was negotiating prices with a vendor, a male fishman was inspecting wares, a Mermaid was calling out to the passing crowd, a Beast frowning because of the pungent fish smell .

Shin looked around aimlessly, recognizing fish he knew from the game era and others he had never seen before . The great variety of foodstuffs on display also included seaweed, seafood, dried food: a collection of typical marine goods packed on the racks, a true feast for the eyes .

“(All look, so tasty)”

“(There’s some amazing looking stuff too . Can you really eat that?)”

In this world, there were many creatures with appearances barely matching their flavor, especially if they came from the sea . If they were on sale, they were surely edible, though .

“(Hungry)”

“(It’s still a bit too early for lunch . Be patient . )”

“(Kuu…)”

Yuzuha, mostly drained of all her energy, lay powerless on Shin’s head . Her front paws covered his eyes, so Shin gently grabbed her by the waist and moved her to his right shoulder .

“We took some time back at the guild, I guess Schnee’s already gone?”

Shin checked the map while walking down a street near the center of the market . If Schnee was close, he would see her name near her marker . All the markers he could see, however, were colored green, as in, neutral . No sign of Schnee .

He could probably find her if he expanded the map’s range, but if she wasn’t in the market she was probably back at Shigureya, so Shin did not search further .

Here and there, however, Shin heard men commenting things like “I saw a crazy gorgeous blonde just now” or “That was one smoking hot body!” .

He couldn’t be 100% sure, but Shin felt positive that they were talking about Schnee’s camouflaged form . Despite always trying his best not to glance at Schnee’s chest, Shin couldn’t help sneaking peeks from time to time . According to Filma, she had grown even more from the game era . It wasn’t something Shin could forget or ignore .

“…what the heck am I thinking about, anyway . ”

A men’s impure thoughts had probably affected him . Shin firmly shook his head to drive such delusions away .

The embrace at Black Priestess Shrine, the kiss at Fuji, her swimsuit figure at the Castle of the Depths .

Shin too was a man, after all: thinking of the softness of the female body and the voluptuous swimsuit figure he saw in the dungeon, he couldn’t exactly keep his cool .

“(Kuu, Shin, pervert . )”

“What!? Yu, Yuzuha, what did you just . . !?”

It was like Yuzuha had read Shin’s thoughts: surprised, he forgot about Mind Chat and reacted loudly .

“(Schnee, beautiful . Just take her . )”

“That’s… . not so simple . ”

There wasn’t anything he disliked about Schnee . His objective, however, was to return to his former world: he felt it wasn’t right to lay his hands on her .

He knew it was cruel of him to let her have hopes about him . Even so, he did not refuse Schnee’s direct shows of affection .

On the other hand, if he gave up on going back and settled in this world, the dilemma with Schnee would be resolved .

In his current situation, however, it wasn’t even clear why he had been transported to the current world . If he gave up and then was somehow transported to the former world, it would be simply unbearable .

“(Shin, you like Schnee?)”

“Of co…”

Shin was about to say “of course”, when he noticed various sets of eyes looking at him as if he were weird . From other people’s standpoint, it looked like he was walking while mumbling to himself .

“(… . of course I do . But you know, in the game there was this thing called affection level…if that is still influencing Schnee’s feelings, you could say that it’s like I have her under mind control…)”

Shin switched back to Mind Chat and continued talking .

The same could be said for Shibaid, Filma and the other support characters . At the time of their creation, support characters only have the bare minimum level of loyalty .

That wouldn’t be a problem if the player just wanted them to act as clerks, but if they were to fight alongside the player, as Shin’s support characters did, things were very different .

If the affection level was low, the range of available commands was limited .

Acting together and using items to raise affection level gradually removed such limitations .

When affection level is maxed, as proof of such bonds the player obtains a 『Drop of Erathem』 fragment . One per support character for a maximum of five, so five support characters total .

When put together, they were still not enough to forge an Ancient-grade weapon, but they were still very rare items . Some players turned them into earrings or rings and gave them to their support characters .

“(Could I be twisting Schnee’s feelings? …is what I think, sometimes . )”

In the past, he had given her great quantities of affection-raising items at once, in order to increase it quickly .

In the game, it was just a stat going up, so nothing to worry about . To remove the command range limitations, to gain rare items . It was all for himself .

But this world was real . If Schnee was influenced by his actions during the game era or from the game…

Looking at Schnee, Shin was starting to have doubts .

“(Schnee likes Shin . She’s not controlled . )”

“(Well, I sure hope so . )”

Shin answered Yuzuha without much conviction, his shoulders dropping . Whether he returned to his former world or not, he wanted to make that clear .

“(No matter what happens, Yuzuha is with Shin . )”

“(You can’t be sure of that . If I go back to reality, you won’t be able to…)”

“(Yes . I come with you . )”

Shin objected, stating something he thought was obvious, but Yuzuha interrupted him, fully confident .

“(Yuzuha wants to be with Shin, so I do . I didn’t get any items . Kuu!)”

Yuzuha wrapped her tails around Shin’s neck and pecked at his cheeks with her front paws . Her light, padded strikes tapped him repeatedly .

Yuzuha expressed that she wasn’t with Shin because she was manipulated .

“(…well, do as you want . It’s not like I have proof or anything . )”

There was no way of finding out if someone was influenced or not by affection level .

Schnee said that she even remembered the first day that Shin logged in THE NEW GATE .

If so, it wouldn’t be weird that she really liked him . There was the possibility that her present affection level was true affection .

It was a problem that couldn’t be solved, no matter how long he thought about it .

“Well, enough wandering around . Time to go back, I guess . ”

No sign of Schnee . As soon as Shin turned around, towards Shigureya, he received a Mind Chat message from her .

“(I saw Hameln . We will come in contact soon . )”

Schnee’s voice echoed from afar . It was a mass transmission, a message sent to all registered users .

“Hameln? He can’t be trying to unleash a pack of monsters here, can he!?”

Shin slipped in a nearby back alley, activated 【Hiding】 and kicked the ground hard . Jumping straight above the buildings, enlarged the map, confirmed in which direction Schnee was and started running .

Contrary to his predictions, Schnee was on top of a hill near the town . Near her there was just one more marker, colored neutral green . It had to be Hameln .

“There are presences of monsters around Barbatos, but it’s not a pack large enough to attack the city . So I guess that it’s not his objective this time?”

Shin ran, slicing through the wind .

He tried to guess what Hameln would be trying to do, but in the end Shin did not have enough information about him . In the game, Shin had exterminated the monsters and delivered the final blow, but until the end he did not learn exactly what it was Hameln wanted to do .

A few seconds before Shin reached the hill, Hameln’s marker changed to red .

“What’s going on now?”

The map couldn’t show the markers’ behaviour in detail . What was clear is that Schnee had brushed right next to Hameln, then stopped .

Schnee and Hameln were on a hill of moderate height . Thinking it would be a waste of time to go around, Shin jumped down from the roof, then kicked the ground again to boost himself up, hard enough to leave a crevice .

What Shin saw on the hill was Schnee collapsing and Hameln missing an arm .

“Schneeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!”

As soon as he saw her, Shin found himself screaming .

His desperate call managed to barely reach her before she fell .

Smoothly, Schnee’s body rose again, and without a sound moved behind Hameln . Her hands gripped 『Blue Moon』, the weapon she had dropped moments before .

“!?”

Hameln had been distracted by Shin’s shout and noticed Schnee’s approach only at the last moment, moving away instinctively .

She had apparently been damaged enough to cause her to collapse . Schnee’s attack lacked sharpness: it only managed to wound Hameln’s chest .

Hameln, now at a certain distance from Schnee, saw his coat tear in half . There was no blood, though: the slash likely failed to reach his body .

“Schnee!! Are you all right!?”

“Yes, no problem . ”

Shin checked Schnee’s condition, while glaring at Hameln . She did not appear injured anywhere . Her level and status were the same as always too .

“Quite the speedy arrival, my friend . I must say I did not think we would meet again, though . ”

Hameln spoke to Shin in a cheerful tone .

“I couldn’t care less . What did you do to Schnee?”

“Oh, it’s hardly something worth mentioning, really . I just used an affection-resetting item . Honestly speaking, I doubted it would actually work, you know . I thought you would have reset it already during that event, to collect items . It only works once, as you know . ”

“… . the 『Cursed Tag of Crippling』!”

“Yes, exactly . ”

Hameln’s smile widened and Shin materialized 『Moonless』 . He was worried about Schnee’s condition, but it would have been much more troublesome to let Hameln go .

“Where did you get it? It should be impossible for players to create them . ”

“The Kishimi clan, was it? They’re in this world too, you see . The item I used is something I found in their settlement, after wiping them out . Oh, do not worry: the one I used on Schnee was the last one I had . I have no other items to reset affection level . ”

Hameln continued talking in a whimsical tone, but Shin did not hesitate and attacked him with 『Moonless』 .

He would not kill him, as there was information to be extracted .

Before Shin could strike, however, a shadow appeared between them .

“Tch!”

Shin clicked his tongue as he swung down 『Moonless』 and cut the intruding shadow in two . Because of the unexpected mass of the target, however, Shin’s sword slash did not have its usual speed .

The shadow’s identity was a monster with damage-reducing capabilities, Mad Shadow .

As the name said, its damage reduction ability allowed it to decrease the damage it received to one third, and worked both on physical and magic attacks . In addition, it could also wrap itself around swords and lances to make it more difficult to fight .

As it just happened to Shin, the monster could also slow down attack speed: it was hated by players especially when encountered in time attack events .

Its level was fixed at 100 and it had no offensive capabilities at all: on the other hand, its VIT was said to be over 800 .

The Mad Shadow didn’t manage to completely wrap Shin’s 『Moonless』, but lowering Shin’s attack speed allowed Hameln to move away from his attack range .

“You probably wanted to capture and draw information out of me, but I had no intention of hiding anything from the beginning, so I guess I’ll have my say and go . It’s possible to make items to return affection level to what it was . Whether the item works or not, however, is all up to luck . Of all the times I’ve tried it on support characters until now, it worked about half the time . Other choices would be event bosses that are not confirmed to exist here too, but you could always try looking for them, I suppose . ”

“… . why did you tell me all this?”

“What effect would it have on a High Human’s support characters? Will it really go back? That’s what I’d like to see . I did not have the smallest inkling of wanting to erase Lady Schnee . The exchange just now took me by surprise, but it would have been boring to continue . I am sure you will understand that I am speaking the truth, dear Shin?”

Just as he said, Hameln probably just wanted to see the results of using the item . His words and actions seemed exactly the same as they were during the game .

For better or worse, Hameln did not seem to particularly care about anything other than his own objectives .

He frequently acted as MPK (Monster Player Killer) because he enjoyed looking at people struggle: whether his targets survived or died as a result, it was of no concern to him .

Considering his past, it did not seem like he was lying .

“Well then, I shall take my leave now . I’m looking forward to the next time we meet . ”

Hameln had been talking behind a large quantity of Mad Shadows he had summoned as a barrier, but his presence now vanished . His way of disappearing did not make it look like he had used high-speed movement or 【Hiding】: he had probably used teleportation . Without a marker, there was no way of tracking a teleported target .

Shin took care of the remaining Mad Shadows, then talked to Schnee .

“What exactly happened here?”

“I do not know anything more than what Hameln said . He said he used a Cursed Tag, but I do not feel anything wrong with my condition . ”

Schnee answered matter-of-factly to Shin’s question . She did not seem to be in a serious condition, nor to be enduring anything . It was probably true that there was nothing wrong with her .

Her matter-of-fact behavior, however, was a stark contrast with the usual Schnee . She was far too expressionless when talking about her condition .

“… . do you remember me?”

“I remember that you are my creator and the lord whom I should serve . ”

“… . just that?”

“It has been less than an hour since I appeared on this location and begun my activities, so I would say that there is nothing more to add . ”

Schnee answered Shin’s somewhat upset question without changing her expression a bit .

Her gaze did not have the usual warmth anymore: it was simply observing the being known as Shin . Shin felt his blood turn cold .

“Like that I left you in charge of Tsuki no Hokora for all that time . ”

“Do you mean the base?”

“We went to Falnido, Hinomoto, lots of other places too, didn’t we?”

“I do not remember, but…”

“… . even Filma and Shibaid?”

“Who would they be?”

Schnee’s expressions clouded after Shin’s barrage of questions . It was not an act, she really did not know .

“Are you serious… . ?”

Finally, Shin sighed .

Judging from her words, it looked like Schnee had returned to the stage just after a support character has been created, her memories reset . She could use her equipment without problems, so her level and stats must be unchanged .

Affection level rose little by little as the player stays logged in: if the support characters acted alongside the player or certain items are used, it can increase by large amounts .

If affection level is reset, related memories and memories experienced when affection level was high are probably erased along with it .

Schnee was Shin’s first support character . They were together most of the time since he started playing, so her affection level was pretty much constantly growing .

Thing would have probably been different if he just had her manage the store, but it was likely that for Schnee resetting affection level also meant erasing all her memories .

“Do you have any other questions?”

“Well, let’s wait for Filma and the others to arrive first . Let me tell you first that Filma is a support character, like Shibaid . ”

“Support characters other than me? I am supposed to be the first in order of creation, though . ”

Schnee seemed puzzled to know about other support characters being created all of a sudden .

With her memories reset, it was no wonder that she did not remember about the support characters created after her .

For Schnee, the time spent in that world was almost zero . She probably found it bizarre for multiple support characters to exist .

“I don’t know if you will believe me, but you have actually lost your memories . Once Filma and the others learn about it, they will probably ask you the same questions I just did, but please bear with it . ”

“Understood . I will be on standby, then . ”

Schnee said nothing else and fell in complete silence . It seemed she had no intention of actively engaging in conversation .

She stood upright, her hands lightly resting on her skirt, not the smallest movement . If she didn’t blink, she could be passed for a very well done doll .

“Kuun…”

Yuzuha, to whom Schnee had not paid the slightest bit of attention, emitted a lonely growl .

(Memories disappear, huh . )

Shin could have asked more questions to grasp Schnee’s current situation, but he didn’t find himself able to . He was more shocked than expected at hearing Schnee call him “lord” with that blank tone and expression .

He could feel a sort of respect from her, but nothing more . The smile she had just a few hours before was nowhere to be seen .

(The 『Cursed Tag of Crippling』 . To reverse its effects, I need the 『Blessed Tag of Bonding』, if memory serves me right . )

The item that resets affection level, officially named 『Cursed Tag of Crippling』, had been implemented in the game during the 『Depths of Oblivion』 event .

It was used by enemies which targeted not players, but support characters, forcing their affection levels back to zero .

In more precise terms, however, their memories were not lost, but only taken away .

During this event, alongside with the 『Cursed Tag of Crippling』 an item called 『Blessed Tag of Bonding』 was implemented as well . Using it would restore the lost affection level .

If something disappears, it can’t be brought back . But if it’s taken away, it can be taken back, and memories will return too…or so the event’s description said .

Other than using the Blessed Tag, the way to restore memories was to defeat the evil god the Kishimi clan venerated, the event’s boss . In the game, the tags had 100% success rate, but if Hameln had been speaking the truth, it was now a gamble .

During this event, many players reset their support characters’ affection levels on purpose, to then raise them again and obtain more 『Drops of Erathem』 . The Cursed Tags could reset affection levels only once per character . Considering the reward, it wasn’t a big loss .

Shin too was no different: he had reset the affection levels of all his support characters from number 2 – Filma – onwards . Schnee, however, was different .

Clearing the event with a support character not affected by the Cursed Tag awarded a special reward . Shin thus did so with Schnee, his strongest support character at the time .

(Shit!! How could I have expected this!?)

Schnee, the only one among Shin’s support characters that could be affected by the Cursed Tag, encountered Hameln and had the Cursed Tag used on her . Shin could have never fathomed such a possibility .

Shin knew what materials were needed to create the Blessed Tag, but the Cursed Tag was not something players could create . Shin scratched his head, desperately trying to recover any useful information . He could not come up with anything, however, and eventually Filma and the others arrived .

Even after looking at Shibaid and Filma, support characters like her, or Tiera, with whom she used to manage Tsuki no Hokora, Schnee’s behavior did not change at all .

“… . it really looks like you forgot all about us . ”

“So it seems . All I have is the impression of meeting you all for the first time . ”

“Looks like you act and speak a bit different too . ”

Ever since Shin came to this world, Schnee always had a warm atmosphere, so as Filma said, her personality could have changed too .

“Master… . ”

“I have no recollection of ever taking any disciples . ”

“You simply forgot . Please remember!”

Tiera kept pressing, with tears in her eyes, but Schnee was simply confused .

If Schnee hadn’t saved her, Tiera wouldn’t be who she is now . Having lived for so long together, it was a real shock for her to be forgotten .

“Calm down, Tiera . It’s not like there’s no way to bring Schnee back to the way she was . ”

Shin told the others the information he received from Hameln . The source was an enemy, but concerning the Blessed Tag, Shin had used them too during the event, so there was no mistake .

The problem was that even using the Blessed Tag, there was just a 50% chance of it working .

In case it failed, they would have to go look for the event boss, which they were not even sure existed .

“Is it really true that I have lost my memories?”

“Yeah . According to your memory, you just woke up in this world and fought Hameln, right? If so, it would be weird that your non-combat skills are leveled up too . Your Cooking skill is as high as IX, isn’t it?”

“…indeed, I do possess many skills that I have no recollection training . So it is true that I lost my memory . ”

Schnee checked her status and nodded, convinced .

Her expression barely changed, just like before, so Shin was not sure if she was really convinced or not . At the same time, he wondered if she always was so deadpan .

Filma then asked him a question .

“So, do you have the item that could recover her memory?”

“… . I don’t have all the materials . I’m missing something called 『White Scent Nectar』, anyone heard of it?”

Shin checked his item box, then replied to Filma’s question .

Event item materials normally couldn’t be used to make other items, so there was no point in gathering them in large quantities . He had something remaining from when he made Blessed Tags for Filma and the others, but it wasn’t enough to make another one .

“Why don’t you try contacting the Golden Company’s Berett, first? I suppose that’s our best chance for finding it . ”

“Yeah, that’s right . I’ll ask anyone I can contact first . Players like Hibineko could be carrying some too . Filma, guys, you’ve never heard of this item, right?”

“Nope . ”

“Nor have I . ”

“I would have said it already if I had . ”

Filma, Tiera and Shibaid did not seem to know either .

Filma and Shibaid, however, seemed to remember about the event, so they knew what kind of item it was .

“In Tsuki no Hokora…wasn’t there a box materials come out of? Couldn’t there be some there?”

“That doesn’t create event-only materials . Checking the storehouse is a good idea, though . Let’s take a look in Celciutos’ and Rashugum’s store too . ”

Thanks to Tiera’s mention of the material creation device, Shin decided what they would go next . He would only go visit Zigma at a later time .