Chapter 412: What I Want to Know Is Not the Result, but the Process
Psyger-0: "That sounds like it was rough..."
Sunraku: "Ah, well... I started having fun halfway through and got a little carried away too..."
Garufunos: "Muu. If you had said from the start that you were Lord Psyger-0’s friend, none of that would have happened..."
The grasshopper Bugman, Garugagafunononogas—way too fucking long. Strip out the repeats and you get Garufunos—looked at me and sighed.
Garufunos gave off the aura of someone who had left for a trip, suddenly remembered the gas was still on, and rushed back home.
Garufunos: "To stumble this many times at the very beginning of my journey..."
Apparently, just as Garufunos had set out to broaden those horizons, Garufunos found Rei-shi and... Imron? That sent Garufunos straight back, and just as the journey was about to resume, I showed up.
Yeah, I honestly felt a little bad.
That bee woman had looked like an overpowered character at first glance, and every part of her fighting style had been overflowing with murder intent. As a PvP opponent, she had been pretty damn satisfying to fight...
But no, I did not want to fight her again for a while. She had the vibe of a boss that got more annoying the longer the battle went on—one of those bosses whose stats rose when their health dropped.
Garufunos: "You showed that you could fight Kokorukokokoreko as an equal and made us acknowledge you... Was that your aim?"
Sunraku: "Huh?"
While I was thinking, Garufunos had apparently come to a conclusion.
No, I had not played the villain because I had some kind of plan. I had come here with roughly the same mindset as stopping at a service area to use the bathroom...
Sunraku: "Heh... You’re pretty sharp."
I was not agreeing with Garufunos. I was merely praising Garufunos’s intelligence.
Even if Garufunos took it some other way, that was not my fault. Pencil-style negotiation tactics.
Garufunos: "I see. As expected of Lord Psyger-0’s friend."
Sunraku: "You’re getting praised a lot. What did you do?"
Psyger-0: "I-I mean... I was just clearing quests, and somehow..."
Ah, there was probably some parameter like Vorpal Soul involved here.
Going by what Rei-shi had told me and the information I got through our fistfight-based communication earlier, bravery was probably the trigger.
Unlike Vorpal Soul, reckless and stupid courage seemed like it might count positively too.
Sunraku: "Hmm... Oh, right. I actually wanted to ask Rei-shi something."
Psyger-0: "Ask me something...?"
Sunraku: "I was hoping Diale could send me to Rabituza."
Psyger-0: "Diale... But Sunraku-san..."
Sunraku: "Yeah, there’s a reason. I don’t want to update my current save point, so I can’t respawn and return to the frontline base."
Psyger-0: "Ah... I see. Diale is with Imron at this village’s forge."
Sunraku: "Imron... Uh, is that the one Pencilgon is plotting something with?"
Psyger-0: "Um... Well, yes. Ah, but..."
...?
She was being weirdly vague.
Psyger-0: "Sunraku-san... Imron is a blacksmith, and... she is extremely interested in Gratefuls and things like that."
Sunraku: "...Oh?"
Meeting her sounded like it could be annoying.
But...
I smelled an opportunity.
Bugman Child: "Whoa! It’s a weird one!"
Sunraku: "Hello, weird one here."
I unleashed my ultimate stiff-upper-body shuffle-walk, and several unusually memorable-looking Bugman kids scattered with shrieks.
The kids looked like swallowtail caterpillars... Did Bugmen turn into cocoons?
It did not seem like the Bugmen had fully accepted me, but the fact that I was Rei-shi’s companion—and that I had fought the bee woman evenly—seemed to be working in my favor.
Rei-shi had somehow become the Post-Tottori type: someone a particular race fussed over.
Now then, I had gotten the location of the forge from that cicada elder who had called me a calamity or whatever. His name was too long, so I forgot it. It had probably been something like Buzz-Buzz-Grampa.
I made a point of equipping Gilta Brille and walked into the forge.
Diale: "Hmm... It handles a little better than the one big sis Bilac made... But this one has better durability..."
Imron: "Heh. Durability matters, but burst damage matters more. As long as it doesn’t break, I, the blacksmith, can repair it. If losing a negligible amount of durability raises its damage, you should be actively shaving it off."
Diale: "No, but Imron, I am considering close-range combat too. If I am going to be hitting things directly, losing durability would hurt."
Imron: "Come on. I’m not saying you have to stop committing to one weapon, but a mage who fights by throwing out lots of attacks has no business obsessing over one staff. Whether you swap between them or keep backups, variety never hurts."
Diale: "Hmm... You have a point."
So that was Imron.
All right, then...
Sunraku: "Hey there. Sorry to interrupt, but could I borrow that rabbit for a moment?"
Imron: "Huh? What—"
Imron turned around.
Maybe she had no interest in roleplaying. Despite looking like a huge, rugged old man, the player spoke in a woman’s voice. Then the instant she saw both my arms, her face went completely blank.
Imron: "...W-what..."
Imron: "Y-you’re Sunraku!? D-don’t tell me Emul is h-here too!? Ngh, did she find out I was training...?"
Sunraku: "No, Emul isn’t here. That’s why I came to see you."
Heh heh heh.
Somebody who went on about how important the wood was for a magic staff had just had a super-future weapon appear in front of them. Her eyes were completely glued to it.
Initiative was what mattered...! Strong equipment intimidated people all by itself. You had to flex your resources.
This had been the optimal answer whenever I had needed to negotiate with someone before.
That was why I thought it would work again this time.
But maybe I had underestimated the obsession of a production-class player who had been denied new systems for so long.
Imron: "Oh? Is this what I think it—"
THUD!!
Sunraku: "Eek."
W-wall pin!?
Wait, should I change my gender?
Imron: "...Its performance."
Sunraku: "Huh?"
Imron: "Tell me its performance."
Not how I obtained it?
Well, whatever.
Sunraku: "This gauntlet fires bullet-sized crystals and uses vibrations to make huge crystal pillars. The other one charges mana with moonlight... Oh, and that mana charge is also needed to create crystal pillars."
As for its overlimit mechanism...
Whatever. I would keep quiet about that for now.
And apparently, just that information had satisfied Imron-san.
Imron: "Fist weapons come in pairs, so they usually have the same ability... A special case? No? Ah! Because they use different materials? No, but even then, having each side do something different is..."
...Yeah.
The longer I stayed here, the more troublesome this felt, so I quietly held my breath and started slipping away.
Come on, Diale. Over here...
Imron: "Ah! Wait!!"
Sunraku: "Shit."
Imron: "I’m not saying you have to give them to me, so you don’t need to be so guarded... y’hear. What I want to know is the process that made them... y’hear."
She really was asking for a whole list of questions.
Well, whatever. From what I had heard, she was one of the best blacksmiths among players. There was no downside to making a connection.
Her roleplaying was sloppy, though.
Sunraku: "Fine... What do you want to know first?"
Imron: "Everything."
Do not say shit like some fake magical girl from Library...
◇
From the outside, it looked like nothing more than a rugged blacksmith talking to the half-naked object of her affection.
But despite knowing Imron only briefly, Psyger-0 knew something important.
In real life, Imron was a slightly worn-out office lady—and the kind of person men found easy to talk to...!
Psyger-0: "...Should I join them? No, but..."
Rugadododo Ru Dodododo: "Hm! Is that not my rival, Psyger-0!?"
Psyger-0: "Rugadododo Ru Dodododo-san... Please be quiet."
Rugadododo Ru Dodododo: "Hm. Oh... Understood."