During the four days remaining until Christmas, my level went up
once more, to 70.
During this time, I did not sleep at all. This would be the price.
Sometimes I get these piercing headaches, as if I was being struck by
nails, but I think that even if I were to lie down, I wouldn't be able to
fall asleep.
Since that encounter, Cline's guild Fuurinkazan has never been to the
ant's valley again. I continued to mix in line with the other guilds,
hunting the mechanical ants alone. The expressions of those players
who saw my eyes had also finally turned from ridicule to disgust.
Although sometimes there are still players that respond to me, as soon
as anyone met with my line of sight, the face would immediately turn
away from me.
Among of the group of players whose target was the Christmas gift,
the biggest question was where exactly was the giant fir tree that
«Nicholas the Apostate» would appear under—regarding this question,
I took advantage of the wait time in the ant valley, and obtained a
very likely answer.
I had gone to the coordinates that I bought from various intelligence
businesses, but even though the exteriors appeared to be Christmas
trees, they were in fact not fir trees, but pine trees. The needles on
pine trees are not the same. The front end of fir leaves has a thin and
elongated oval shape. Because in the real world I have these two types
of trees in my back yard, I know this.
A few months ago, I was on the thirty-fifth floor's training area where
there was a random transfer dungeon called the "Lost Forest", and in a
particular corner I found a giant curved tree. I thought that there had
to be some hidden meaning to the shape, possibly the starting point of
some unknown task and so carefully investigated, but nothing was
found. In retrospect, that giant tree was a fir tree. On Christmas – that
is, tonight, special Mob «Nicholas the Apostate» should appear there
under the tree.
I listened to the calling sound that indicated I was now up a level to
70 without any feeling, and after the ant mob around me was dealt
with, I took out from my bag a teleport crystal. Without greeting the
players currently in line, I went straight to the frontline floor where I
was lodging, to the main street area of the forty-ninth floor.
I raised my head to look at the transfer gate plaza's clock tower, to see
that it was three hours away from midnight. Probably because they
wanted to spend Christmas Eve together, around the square was full
of players in couples. I quickly crossed them to go back to the hotel.
