What Must Come Will Come

Gu Mo noticed it too. Out of the corner of his eye, he vaguely caught a flash of crimson. More importantly, he felt a warmth that seemed almost tangible.

It was like sitting before a roaring fireplace in winter. He could clearly feel the temperature and heat radiating from the hearth, yet it was neither too hot nor scorching. Instead, it was the comfortable feeling of being enveloped and protected by warmth... He turned his head and, unsurprisingly, saw the great fox lying beside him.

It was exactly the same as the one he had seen in the "treasury" room before. So this was the randomly drawn reward?

He had actually drawn a Guardian Spirit?

Were Gold Grade rewards really this generous? The description had said that one reward would be drawn at random. When the key was used to summon the "treasury," whatever appeared inside depended entirely on luck. But drawing a Guardian Spirit...

Already showed that Gold Grade rewards were basically things corresponding to that tier, didn't it?

As expected of the Golden Key and Golden Treasury. They were truly worth their weight in gold!

He had thought it was easy to earn a B-rank overall evaluation. He had coasted through the whole thing and barely put in any effort, yet he had easily earned that rating. So perhaps it only looked impressive, while in reality it was the kind of standard anyone with hands could achieve. After all, he had encountered similar things before.

Like ratings in action games. You could practically mash your face across the keyboard and still get a B or A rating. Beginners might think that was at least an above-average evaluation, misleading themselves into believing they were rather talented.

In reality, it did not even count as passing. As long as you did not stand there like an idiot without moving, you would get that rating by pressing the attack button a few times... You just needed hands. Maybe you did not even need those. Since he also felt that his total damage throughout the entire run had not even reached one percent, Gu Mo had assumed it was the same sort of trick.

But now, it seemed that was not the case. After all, if you could casually earn rewards this good even as a guaranteed minimum, he would be laughing in his dreams.

Perhaps because the surprise had come too suddenly, Gu Mo's mind was having trouble processing it. He blinked, his expression perfectly natural and revealing nothing at all. Instead, he calmly nodded at Tokichiro by the door. "Thank you, sir. Sorry for the trouble."

He looked very polite. At any rate, he did not reveal his bewilderment at seeing a Guardian Spirit for the first time, as though this were simply something he was used to.

At that moment, the great fox lying quietly on its side beside him gradually faded away. Its outline became transparent first, then it vanished completely into the air... Yet Gu Mo could still sense its existence. It seemed that, from the very beginning, he had formed a subtle and mysterious connection with it.

The fox was still guarding his side and would not leave him for even a step. It was merely hidden from sight. This realization arose in his heart, along with an inexplicable and strange sense of reassurance.

Perhaps it was merely psychological. Or perhaps it was the influence of some mysterious power brought by the Guardian Spirit. It was like knowing that, even in this unfamiliar place where he was a stranger in a foreign land, there would always be a friend by his side from now on.

Although that friend was taciturn, and no one else could even see it. It was practically like talking to thin air...

Still, he knew it truly existed. And it would silently continue to support his future actions and accompany him down the road ahead.

"Hey, why call me sir? I'm not that old yet..."

Seeing the fox-shaped Guardian Spirit disappear, Tokichiro came back to his senses. His mouth twitched a few times as he tried hard to defend himself.

"I'm actually still very young. I'm not even thirty yet. I just look a little mature, that's all. Don't call me sir..."

"Okay, sir. Got it, sir."

Gu Mo had always been someone who readily accepted good advice. He could always quickly adopt other people's correct opinions. He reined in his thoughts, knowing that now was not the time to get distracted over the Guardian Spirit. Nodding to show that he understood, he asked in turn—

"Then how should I address you, sir?"

At the same time, he pondered the phrase "not even thirty." Did that mean Tokichiro was already almost thirty?

That did seem to be the case. He studied the man before him. Tokichiro's face looked somewhat weathered, and his beard and topknot had clearly been carefully groomed. Yet he still did not look particularly heroic. Instead, he had a crafty, rat-faced sort of look.

No wonder people called him Monkey. There really was something monkey-like about his features...

But if this were normal history, he did not know exactly how old Tokichiro would have been at this time, though he should indeed have been rather young. Gu Mo thought seriously about it, but unfortunately, when playing the game, he had only looked into some information about Hidechiyo.

Of course, this Dungeon World did not follow normal historical conventions. It had been altered to a considerable extent, so it could not be generalized. Some discrepancies were hardly surprising.

"Hehe, just call me Tokichiro. Or Monkey, if you like. People who know me all call me that. As you can see, that's just how it is..."

Tokichiro walked over in front of him and, without minding the mess on the floor, plopped down. As he set down the bundles he had been carrying, he chuckled. The bags clinked crisply as they bumped into one another, and gold and silver glinted through openings that seemed deliberately left untied.

Gu Mo casually glanced at them before losing interest. Instead, he looked behind Tokichiro. As Tokichiro spoke, specks of golden light gathered over his shoulder, and a dazzling golden ape poked its head out, staring fixedly at the young man opposite it.

It lacked the usual restless energy of an ape. Instead, it radiated a cold and lofty divinity. It was Tokichiro's Guardian Spirit. The man, who had once made a living peddling spirit stones, had somehow become possessed by the Divine Ape.

"That's right, exactly. So a lot of people just call me Monkey. If you find that more convenient, you can call me that too..."

Tokichiro studied Gu Mo's expression and found that he seemed completely unconcerned by the gold and silver in the bags. Tokichiro was slightly surprised, though he kept speaking with a cheerful grin.

—This ape-like Guardian Spirit was Sanno Gongen, worshipped at Hiyoshi Taisha. Its divine messenger was known to people as the "Divine Ape."

Protected by this Guardian Spirit, Tokichiro had not only escaped danger time and time again in this age of war, avoiding harm from demons, ghosts, and conflict, but had also developed greater ambitions. After all, not everyone could receive the protection of a Guardian Spirit. Whether Wa-Spirits or Aramitama, in Shintoism's animistic worldview, they could all be called "gods."

Without anything exceptional about them, ordinary people naturally would not receive a god's protection—the exclusive one-on-one VIP service.

Having understood these matters, Tokichiro, unwilling to spend his entire life peddling spirit stones, came to believe that he too was extraordinary by birth. He should not keep settling for the drudgery of daily life, but begin pursuing poetry and distant horizons. Simply put, he wanted to accomplish something great...

Nor had he simply slapped his forehead and decided he could achieve it alone. He had also begun trying to find like-minded people with whom he could mutually benefit.

But truly capable people were not so easy to find. Either they had already risen to prominence and were beyond the reach of someone at his level, or they were indeed capable but had not stepped forward because they genuinely lacked such ambitions, making them difficult to persuade into joining him.

So Tokichiro had wandered about for quite some time without finding a suitable partner, until he came to this area in recent days—

He heard that there was a famous demon slayer living nearby, someone with exceptional skill. That gave him an idea, and when he happened to discover that Thirteen Cherry Blossom Village was plagued by demons and ghosts, he simply sent out an invitation...

There had been some twists along the way. For example, after sending the invitation and ostentatiously declaring that he would wait beneath the cherry blossoms at night, he had somehow gone off to slack around elsewhere. He did not return until dawn, when the entire village had already been cleared out... But the result still satisfied him greatly. It was even a delightful surprise.

This was no ordinary skill. Terrifying demons like the Ox-Head Demon and Horse-Headed Demon would not have been easy prey even for an army, yet they had been chopped down so cleanly...

And there had not been one demon slayer, but two!

And both of them were protected by "gods." No matter how he looked at them, they were people born extraordinary, destined to achieve great things and attain unimaginable status in the future!

This was wonderful. They were exactly the best partners he had been looking for!

Tokichiro suppressed his excitement and did not immediately voice his request. Instead, he pushed over a small bundle by his hand and said with a smile, "Oh, right. I found some food, though it's all just dry rations. Sorry about that. Make do with it for now... You two worked hard all night."

"Mm, not really. I barely did anything the whole time..."

Gu Mo glanced at it and saw that the clean cloth bundle indeed contained some rough dry provisions. But he was not hungry at all right now, so naturally he had no interest in them. He merely answered casually.

What he said was true. From beginning to end, he had been coasting. There had been a dangerous little incident in the latter half, but aside from that, nothing worth mentioning had happened. He was just a hanger-on following an expert.

But to Tokichiro's ears, it meant something entirely different—

The man froze for a moment. Barely did anything? Once he understood, his smile immediately became even more eager. As expected, this was a true powerhouse. Killing ordinary demons was already beyond most warriors, let alone defeating demons this formidable—and without even needing to "put in much effort."

Listen to that. That was the composure of a true expert!

Tokichiro beamed and glanced again at the black-haired girl sleeping quietly nearby. If he could gain the help of these two, it would be like growing wings to a tiger. He would definitely accomplish something in this war-torn age!

He took a deep breath, then looked at the bundles on the ground. They were things he had just scavenged from the ruins throughout the village. They included valuable objects, jewelry, and a small amount of gold, silver, and gemstones. Thirteen Cherry Blossom Village had once been so prosperous that its villagers had naturally accumulated considerable savings.

Moreover, the village had been destroyed by demons and ghosts, not slaughtered and looted by bandits or mounted raiders who would have left nothing behind. Most demons had no interest in valuables.

Since these things no longer had owners, someone else would take them if he did not. Tokichiro naturally would not pass them up. He wanted to accomplish great things, and this was exactly when he needed money... Originally, he had planned to give these valuables directly to them, tempting them with profit and bringing them onto his chariot.

But now, he abandoned that idea. Vulgar methods would not work on people like these. He had already noticed that Gu Mo genuinely did not care much about such things.

Taking another deep breath and working to gather his emotions, Tokichiro looked at the young man opposite him and spoke loudly. "By the way, I still haven't asked your names."

"My name is Gu Mo. She's Hidechiyo," the young man answered calmly.

"Huh? You... you're from Ming?"

Tokichiro's eyes widened in surprise, and the words slipped out.

"...Yes."

Gu Mo fell silent briefly, then nodded. He considered the question and felt that he probably did count as someone from Ming, even though he was not actually from this world at all.

Tokichiro opened his mouth, excitedly wanting to ask more, but promptly stopped himself. He was full of curiosity, yet he misunderstood Gu Mo's silence. He thought Gu Mo had recalled some unpleasant memory and did not wish to discuss it, perhaps because there was something difficult to speak of—

It would be far too tactless of him to press the matter.

"Ahem, so that's how it is. I thought so..."

After laughing awkwardly a few times, Tokichiro's gaze traveled over the other man's strange clothing. He wanted to take the initiative to change the subject, but for the moment, he did not know what to say.

Just then, he saw that the black-haired girl behind Gu Mo seemed to be waking up. She was slowly sitting up, still somewhat groggy and disoriented, so he hurriedly asked—

"By the way, have you two always been partners? I heard from people nearby that there was a very powerful demon slayer in this area. I didn't realize there were actually two of you..."

"...Yes, Axiu and I have always been very good partners."

Gu Mo blinked, then decisively nodded in confirmation. "We've worked together for many years."

He knew that once he told one lie, he would have to keep telling lies to cover it up. It could not be helped. Fortunately, when he had misled Hidechiyo earlier, Tokichiro had been off somewhere else. And now that Tokichiro was asking about it, Hidechiyo was temporarily unconscious again.

Although things had not gone as he had hoped, with the ideal outcome being that he had already cleared the dungeon and run off with his bucket, he still had to face all this. At least he would not be exposed on the spot and could continue to muddle through.

Besides, it was not exactly wrong to say so. In the game, the span had been a full sixty years. Axiu and he had indeed worked together for sixty years... He comforted himself with that thought.

"I see..." Tokichiro looked at the girl behind the young man, who had likely just woken up and was therefore still slow to react. He nodded enviously and sighed. "Then you two must be very close."

"Yes, Axiu is someone very special and important to me..."

Gu Mo nodded repeatedly. She was the heroine he had personally created. In a sense, he had participated in her entire life.