Chapter 250: The Wolf War Is Settled — In the End, It's the Language of Fists
The dilemma of coming up with prose precisely when I don't have time.
That's right. This whole negotiation is a surprise party targeting one person and one person only: Rebellius. Everything we've talked about so far, and even the other clan representatives barging in, was decided in advance. Rei-shi's treatment and all the PK-related stuff were nothing more than going through motions we'd already settled on.
The objective, requested by Schwarz Vulf's leader Psyger-100, is to separate Rebellies and his followers from the clan.
I don't know exactly what they're planning to do or how, but Pencilgon and the sharp-looking Psyger-100 seem to be scheming something, so I probably don't need to worry about it.
Rebellius: "...I don't accept this. Those people are looking down on Schwarz Vulf! Right?!"
Good temperature. He's heated up just right: not enough to notice the little inconsistencies, but not so far gone that he's completely lost it.
As a senior fellow victim, if I could give Rebelos one piece of advice, it'd be this: when you're dealing with her, either never let go of calm thought or just snap immediately and beat her down. If you try to think things through halfway, you'll fall right into her trap, you know?
Psyger-100: "Calm down, Rebellius."
Rebellius: "But this is ridiculous! Psyger-0 is one of the very best players in SLF! And you're just handing her over to Wolfgang because they pay some money...!!"
Compared with silently quitting a clan, or silently quitting the game entirely, this seems almost excessively conscientious to me. It's just a group in a game; leaving without a word isn't exactly going to carry some legal penalty.
And money-making in this game is a pretty serious pain, so only allowing someone to leave after they meet a huge monetary quota is actually rather harsh. Wait, money... money... cashing out... Ah. Oikatzo, you ready? Ready, set, go.
Oikatzo: "Th-Th-That's how it i—ow!"
Without a word, I jab my hand straight into his side. Your acting's turned completely wooden, idiot. This is why you can't trigger Uniques yourself. Unlike you, I've even raised Goldhuneenay's flag, you know.
Oikatzo: "You'd better remember that... ahem. If that's how it is, then why don't we just do some kind of rep-representative match or something and settle it that way?"
Sunraku: "Forty-three points."
Kyo the Ultimate: "Maybe fifty-eight?"
Kyotimate, isn't that grading a little generous? We should be strict here instead of coddling him.
Oikatzo's role is to propose that they "settle things with a duel."
Why did we keep Oikatzo in reserve all this time for something that simple? Well, because in the lead-up, me, Pencilgon, and Kyotimate had picked way too many fights.
It's that phenomenon where "an option added later somehow looks unusually attractive." Precisely because the three of us have drawn his hostility, Oikatzo — who's stayed silent and said nothing until now, and therefore has far less emotion directed at him by comparison — can get his words to sink in.
Basically, if me or Pencilgon, after spending all this time provoking Ririririri-kun and the Schwarz Vulf Rinrinrin faction in this room, suddenly said, "Let's settle it in battle!" they'd obviously start looking for the catch.
Watching Oikatzo's fist tremble at our harsh grading, I wonder how we're supposed to turn this into a battle-manga development out of nowhere in a way that makes sense, and whether Riblius is really going to bite on such an obviously suspicious proposal in the first place...
Rebellius: "A representative match?"
And they're all biting, including the people behind him... Come on, think about what might be underneath this at least a little.
I ignore the magical girl with an old man installed inside her, who's apparently gotten bored and keeps glancing my way like she wants to ask me something. I watch Oikatzo woodenly recite the scripted lines... Ah, no good. I'm bored. I'll mess with Inventoria.
Sunraku: "Let's see... ten 'Sleeping Jewels' were four million Mani, so if I combine this and this..."
Hmm. I'd sort of guessed from the title already, but doesn't my total asset value blow past one billion with room to spare? The jewels alone are already into four figures, and I've got mountains of treasure-type items besides those.
The question is whether I can convert all of this into Mani, but I do have one lead on that.
If I can bait Pencilgon with money and get her to broker the right connection... If it works, I'll become filthy rich overnight. I could probably even take over Rei-shi's debt.
And then I notice one gaze fixed intently on the Inventoria fused with my wrist.
Josette: "...Hey, what's that?"
Sunraku: "Whoa, close. Uh... Josette, right?"
Josette: "Yes, nice to meet you. Mm-hm. You and those other two are wearing the same thing, so at first I thought it might be some kind of clan-member badge."
Josette glances over at Kyotimate. Well, this is an item possessed only by Wolfgang's original members... the three who challenged Wethermon the Tombguard.
Josette: "So, what is it? If it can bring up a window, then it isn't just a decorative accessory, is it?"
No, you're too close. Seriously, don't bring your face that close to mine. You smell fishy, you know?
Sunraku: "Well, if I had to put it in one phrase... infinite inventory."
Josette: "What?!"
I only muttered it, but the one who reacted most strongly to an accessory that solves this game's carrying limit wasn't Josette, who'd asked me. It was Team 10PM's "paid leave dying of overwork"... no, P.T. Overwerke.
P.T. Overwerke: "Wait, seriously? Unlimited means weight too? Ah, we'll be dealing with each other from now on, so it's a pleasure to meet you."
Sunraku: "Uh, likewise."
He flows seamlessly from a magnificent ninety-degree bow into moving right up next to me.
I do notice Josette smoothly take one step back at the same time as the male avatar approaches, which catches my attention a little, but whatever.
P.T. Overwerke: "Wait, is this from a Unique Monster? I want one so badly... I know, but I've gotta ask: trading it is impossible, right?"
Sunraku: "Answering in order: there's no weight limit, and no matter how much you stuff inside, its weight doesn't change. I got it as a reward for beating Wethermon, but it seems like a general-purpose item. The moment you equip it, you can't take it off, so you can't trade it in the first place. That's about it."
From the Wethermon fight, there was "a secret manual for a technique Wethermon uses," "a reactor from what was probably an out-of-spec Tactical Machine Beast Wethermon had in storage," and "an accessory that looked like it had some hidden effect."
From the Ctarnidd fight, there were "the eight Grails Ctarnidd uses" and "a bell Ctarnidd uses to alert players to some kind of danger."
Both examples are "items connected to the Unique Monster," but Inventoria alone doesn't fit that pattern.
It might be connected to Wethermon in the sense that it's from the Divine Era, but it feels more like the treasure chest used to store Wethermon's items can simply be reused after you take the contents out.
That led to the hypothesis that "the items inside Inventoria are Wethermon-battle exclusives, but Inventoria itself may be a general-purpose item."
And if that's true, then somewhere in SLF's world there should be an enemy that drops Inventoria, or an area where it's placed as an item. Which means the most suspicious place is still...
P.T. Overwerke: "Unique Monsters really do look profitable... That said, our clan decided our main focus is going to be World Quests, so the next time you're going after a Unique Monster, I'd like you to let us know beforehand."
The World Scenario, huh... The world's progression advances each time a Unique Monster is defeated, and at the very least it's confirmed that something happens at the "Fourth Stage."
P.T. Overwerke: "The information's probably already spread around, but a huge dragon showed up over in the New Land, and the advance group is in total chaos."
Sunraku: "A huge dragon?"
P.T. Overwerke: "Yeah. One of our guildies... no, clan members ran into it for the first time while in a pickup party. It looks like it appeared because the World Quest progressed, so if possible, I want to know in advance when the next Unique Monster is going to be defeated."
I see. Other than the Library, what bait did they use to lure the clans into joining the alliance? In Team 10PM's case, it was the timing of Unique Monster defeats — the progression of the World Quest.
If the World Quest progresses through defeating Unique Monsters, then what we did is basically the equivalent of advancing someone else's save data without permission.
Given the nature of an MMO, you can't favor one specific individual. That means knowing when the situation is going to move is a huge advantage. It's like being able to detect a tornado before it suddenly forms. Time is money, after all.
Professor: "A talking black dragon appeared in the New Land, and it displays intense hostility toward Siegwurm, one of the Unique Monsters. What exactly is that creature? We of the Library also have high expectations for Team 10PM, with the head start you've built up in the New Land."
Ugh. Now even the fake magical girl is joining in.
Professor: "Putting the eyewitness accounts together, it appears there are several other 'dragons' that regard Siegwurm as an enemy. And then there are the various offshoots of the human races living in the New Land... This could potentially become a disturbance that embroils the human races across the entire New Land."
P.T. Overwerke: "You're as fast as ever at compiling information..."
Professor: "Organizing fragmentary information is my job."
Professor lightly brushes off P.T. Overwerke's remark while making absolutely no attempt to hide the "so give me more information, please" aura shining from the expectant eyes of a magical girl who's cute in appearance only. I turn my face away from him and happen to look toward Kyotimate.
Kyo the Ultimate: "...Heh."
The way she rubs the pommel of her katana looks like she's delighted about the battle coming in the not-too-distant future. And that means Pencilgon's silver tongue has successfully wrapped Ribaribari around her finger.
A representative match between Clan Wolfgang and Clan Schwarz Vulf.
If we win, every unreasonable demand of ours goes through. If they win, we disclose all our information. High risk, high return? More or less exactly according to the scumbags' plan. What a truly awful deal.
The date is one week from tonight. Five-on-five, apparently... Hm? I heard everyone's schedules yesterday, then slept for a bit, and now it's today, so...
One week from now?
A duel, by natural progression.
Q. Do people really fall for steering this obviously suspicious?
A. In real life, maybe not. But right now, even if it's digital, they're inside a fantasy world.
- Shining Knights of the Holy Shield