Chapter 23: The Boss Rabbit and His Half-Naked Underling's Affection Level
I originally meant to write this as one chapter, but it got pretty long, so I split it in two.
Because of that, I think I'll post two chapters this time.
Emul: "Oh... Boss! I brought that human with the Vorpal Soul, waa!"
Vysache: "Yeah, Emul. Good work."
Beyond the gate was a Western-style throne... no, scratch that—a strangely Japanese-style audience chamber. And there he was. Surrounded by female rabbits as though proclaiming, This is what you call a harem, was a single rabbit who gave off considerable power—not as much as Lycagon the Nightslayer, but still plenty.
Unlike the other rabbits, he was about the same size as a human. His round eyes and the white fur covering his whole body seemed like they should clash horribly with that intimidating baritone voice... and yet the scar carved across one eye and the coarse, rough-looking fur somehow made intimidation and charm coexist without feeling the least bit strange. And the fact that he was gnawing on a thin carrot like a kiseru pipe really drove home the passion of whoever designed this character.
Vysache: "Name's Vysache. I'm the boss here in Rabituza."
SLF may be built on medieval fantasy at its core, but this yakuza boss rabbit was so wildly out of place it was almost impressive. Vysache broke into a grin. Come on, man. You're a herbivore, but you've got a scarier face than plenty of carnivores.
Vysache: "Heard you went at it with that mutt and got pissed on (marked). You've got some real Vorpal Soul in you."
Am I allowed to ask what the hell "Vorpal Soul" even is?
Vysache: "What I didn't like was how you lot got strong so damn fast and lost that Vorpal Soul. But if there's somebody with this much promise around, I figured trainin' you myself might be a good time... So, whaddaya say? Feel like entrustin' some of your time to me?"
Sunraku: "Hmm..."
So basically, this was what you'd call a training quest. I was already looking forward to seeing what kind of perks I'd get when I cleared the scenario. Still, I just couldn't shake the yakuza image. And if I was going to ask the boss to teach me... yeah, I knew what to do.
Sunraku: "No reason to turn you down. Lookin' forward to learnin' from ya, Aniki."
I bowed my head with a bit of deliberate goofiness and answered like a proper underling. Vysache's mouth fell open and the carrot he'd been chewing slipped right out, but after a little while he started laughing so hard that even the rabbits lounging around him backed away.
Vysache: "UHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Now that's rich! Yeah, that's right! If you're askin' me to teach you, that puts me above you and makes you my underling! UHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
Going by the words alone, it sounded like I'd be perfectly justified in decking him once. But there wasn't any contempt or ridicule in Vysache's laughter. If anything, there was something almost respectful in it, like he was applauding a first-rate clown.
Vysache: "I like you! I like you a lot! Call me Vash! I let the ones I've acknowledged call me that."
Sunraku: "O-oh... right. Gotcha."
Apparently I'd just hit the jackpot on an affection-choice prompt. I'd only meant it as a little joke... W-well, maybe all that experience sucking up to NPCs in Fuckaria finally paid off?
Vash: "Emul! You like this guy, don'tcha? Show him around."
Emul: "Huh!? Oh, yeah! I'll work super hard!"
With Emul hopping up and down after Vysache... no, Vash put her in charge of showing me around, I spent a little while lost in meta-level thought. I had no intention of revealing this scenario, but it's a gamer's nature to want to understand what conditions make something happen and how it progresses.
For starters, the trigger probably requires fighting an opponent stronger than yourself and fulfilling some additional conditions. The fact that both high-level players and players with low player skill become less likely to discover this Unique Scenario at that point really makes me feel the developers' malice.
Emul: "Sunraku-san, Sunraku-san! I'll show you around the Rabbit Palace, waa! Come with me!"
Sunraku: "Hm? Oh, sure."
Emul: "And this is the Rabbit Colosseum, where we train our Vorpal power, waa!"
Sunraku: "Whoa."
The sight of huge numbers of rabbits wielding all kinds of weapons and practicing critical hits on scarecrows was pretty damn terrifying.
Most of them had kitchen knives or daggers, but there were even Vorpal Bunnies using sledgehammers to send scarecrow heads flying like pieces in a daruma-drop game.
(So Vorpal Bunnies like that show up in later areas...?)
It wasn't just sledgehammers, either. Saws, spiked maces that looked like nail bats... The lineup of weapons was overflowing with murderous intent in total contrast to their cute appearances, and I felt a cold sweat run down my back.
Emul: "Da—Boss is always saying he wants to do something about everyone thinking us bunnies are weak monsters, waa. That's why we're all training like this with the goal of taking down a dragon!"
Sunraku: "You're already plenty of a grim reaper to beginners... Whoa, is that thing scissors...? Scary."
Those giant shears looked like something straight out of a horror game. There was no way that design wasn't meant for use against people... Wait, what, they split apart!? Dual swords that combine into shears!? I want them so bad!
Emul: "You're really curious, Sunraku-san, waa. You need a whole lot of technique to use that thing."
Sunraku: "Seriously? Then I'm becoming a technique warrior."
Luck? Who cares. Let me reallocate my points.
I hadn't even received any benefits from the Unique Scenario yet, but I was already convinced there was an enormous advantage sleeping inside it.