Chapter 489: Resound, Grateful Legacy — The Fourth to Arrive
Emul: "Don't care, waa."
Emul, who had been left completely neglected from the Siegwurm battle all the way up until now, was apparently extremely pissed off.
Sunraku: "No, no, I admit disappearing without saying anything was my fault. I'll give you that."
But I think the real blame belongs to Leviathan for suddenly abducting me.
And even if it was only the first area, it used the Ruluiath-style setup where I couldn't leave until I'd cleared it.
Sunraku: "Carrot..."
Emul: "I'm not some cheap rabbit you can buy off with stuff, waa!!"
You've been bought off with stuff plenty of times before...
I swallow the words just before they escape my throat.
Fine. If that won't work, let's approach this from another direction.
Sunraku: "Actually, about that—hear me out, Emul. Things were rough inside Leviathan..."
Emul: "........."
Sunraku: "Sure, all the Golems that showed up were trash mobs, but there were so damn many of them. Look, it's not like Saina or I have no way of hitting a wide area, but those aren't exactly things we can casually spam while traveling, right? And Araba is... well, Araba. I can't tell you how many times I thought, 'Man, if only there were a mage here who could consistently blast a huge area at once!'"
One of those lop ears twitches.
Now, Technomagigelus actually has pretty high magic resistance, so whether Emul had been there or not would've been...
Well.
There are some things in life that simply don't need to be said.
Sunraku: "And our basic means of transportation was restricted to walking, too. If only we'd had somebody who could use teleportation, maybe we could've cleared the place a lot faster..."
The lop ears twitch again.
I let out an exaggerated sigh of regret, complete with equally exaggerated gestures, but that part is actually true.
There were times when Gravity Rain or a mob rush forced us to detour, and if we'd been able to restart from our base with zero risk, we probably could've shaved an entire day off the clear time.
Though if I ever challenged it again, I'd grab an "Ants" immediately and make a straight shot for the boss area.
Sunraku: "You really don't appreciate what you've got until it's gone, huh? If only I'd had a dazzling Super Vorpal Bunny who'd mastered teleportation magic and had no openings on either offense or defense!"
Emul: "............"
Sunraku: "...Oh my, what's this? A first-grade sweet carrot grown in Rabituza."
Emul: "W-well, I suppose knowing how to forgive is part of having a generous heart, waa!!"
In the end, she's still an easy little rabbit who gets lured in by stuff...
Apparently Emul had been hiding inside Skull Azuchi waiting for me this whole time. Gnawing away at her carrot, she climbs onto my head.
Emul: "Hmm... Normally it's fine, but during a fight I'm scared I'll slip off, waa."
Sunraku: "Honestly, it's just a helmet. The True Eye Bird Mask is way more useful."
Emul: "Sunraku-san, you really should care a little more about how you look, waa."
Sunraku: "I've got the most totally groovy accessories imaginable, don't I?"
These dragon horns shine like crazy even in the dark, so they can double as a light source.
They also make me a perfect glowing giveaway even if I'm trying to hide in the dark, which is absolute shit.
I happen to glance outside through one of Skull Azuchi's window frames—which is made of bone—and see a group of Pescorians gathered a short distance away from the players swarming the gravity-launch shit-road leading to Leviathan.
I slipped out of the crowd amid all the chaos from unlocking the gun category and opening Leviathan to everyone, so that's where I parted ways with Araba.
Still, repeat a once-in-a-lifetime encounter three times and you're basically acquaintances.
A fourth probably won't be too far off.
Oh?
Did that Pescorian who's a head taller than the others just look over here?
Might as well wave.
Sunraku: "All right... Feels like it's been forever, but let's head to Rabituza."
Emul: "Hai na!"
Calling Leviathan had been a task from Setsuna, and at the same time, a task from Vysache.
It wouldn't be strange if that triggered some kind of event.
Besides, my weapons have taken a fair bit of wear.
I need to stop by Bilac's place and get them repaired.
◆
Imron: "Senior Disciple...!!"
Bilac: "W-what the heck d'you want!?"
I finally came back to see my usual blacksmith, only to find some rugged-looking guy prostrating himself in front of her.
The situation was so impossible to parse that I felt like Urashima Taro returning home after years away.
Urashima Taro...
Otoginia...
Tortoiseshell Shield...
Tamatebako Bomb causing indiscriminate aging...
Ugh, my head.
Sunraku: "Wait, Imron?"
Why the hell is she here?
The tour isn't supposed to let you enter the Rabbit Palace.
Which means...
No way.
Did she trigger the invitation scenario on her own?
Coincidence?
No. She'd hit it off with Diale back in the Bugman village...
Had she already figured something out back then?
And Imron, you've got some guts continuing that full dogeza even after noticing I'm standing here.
Can't say I dislike that.
Bilac: "S-Sunraku... You know this one? She barged straight into my workshop outta nowhere and started beggin' me to put in a word with Pops so he'd take her as an apprentice..."
Imron: "Please!"
Sunraku: "Okay... Okay, hold on. Calm down, Imron. First, how about lifting your head?"
So she has absolutely no intention of stopping the dogeza.
Fine.
I place Emul on Imron's back while she's still prostrating herself, then turn back toward Bilac.
Emul: "H-huh!? What exactly am I supposed to do up here, waa!?"
Sunraku: "All right, here's what I know... Remember that time we gave you both the same material and had you compete to see what you'd forge out of it? This is the person you competed against."
Bilac: "Hm? ...Ahhh, the one who made that sword."
Sunraku: "Yeah, her... Wait, tell me how the hell this happened. I can't put in a word for you when I don't even know the story."
...
......
[Understanding the circumstances...]
......
...
Okay.
A few things are clear now.
First, Imron really did trigger the invitation scenario.
Part of it came from information she'd gotten out of Diale, but apparently the fact that both Rei-shi and I possess Vorpal weapons had also given her a rough idea of what the conditions might be.
Then, during the decisive phase of the Siegwurm scenario, Imron put on one hell of a performance against Blockentreed and apparently crossed the required Vorpal Soul threshold.
So, full of excitement, Imron was invited to Rabituza under the guidance of an "R" rabbit.
Using information from Diale and Rei-shi—and above all, what she'd learned from the job I'd brought in—she was about to make a beeline for Rabituza's "Master Craftsman"...
When she encountered him.
Yes.
A miraculous combination of top-tier Job and top-tier Job.
Vash, holder of the Divine Craftsman Job—arguably the absolute pinnacle of SLF when it comes specifically to weapon production.
I don't know exactly what happened while I was busy clearing Leviathan, but after piecing together the fragments of Imron's explanation after her vocabulary apparently reached its limit...
Basically:
"Saw him smithing. Mad respect."
That's the gist of it, I think.
Part of me wants to say, "No matter how incredible he is, he's still an NPC," but the instant I touched on that subject Imron started talking at machine-gun speed.
After extracting only the important bits, apparently what she's trying to say is:
"The motions are insanely evocative."
...
I have no idea.
I listened to the explanation and I still have no idea.
So I decide to ignore how we got here too and focus entirely on the conclusion.
Sunraku: "So basically, Imron was blown away by watching Vash forge and wants to become his apprentice. But barging straight up to him and asking is way too intimidating, so she wants Bilac to put in a good word for her..."
This is weird...
I've definitely reached a conclusion, so why does it still feel completely unsatisfying?
It's like there are question marks permanently dancing around inside my head.
Sunraku: "So what's the deal there, Bilac?"
Bilac: "I ain't Pops's apprentice."
Sunraku: "Wait, you're not?"
Strictly speaking, Vash is basically a free-spirit.
Or, put less kindly, hands-off as hell.
Apparently Bilac learned almost all of her smithing techniques on her own, with Vash occasionally giving her advice.
Bilac: "He's been doin' a lot more smithin' lately, but until a little while ago he hardly ever even went into the workshop."
From a meta perspective, that's probably because of stuff like player visitation rates, but there's no particular reason to say that out loud.
Imron: "Ghh... So those insanely good smithing animations were actually a rare sight...!?"
Sunraku: "Hey, don't move. Emul's gonna fall off."
Emul: "I'd rather get down, waa..."
Now then.
What do I do with this...?
It's not like I've placed everyone under some gag order or forced them to keep quiet, but...
Imron has connections with a lot of crafting-class players.
Apparently information on Re-Legacy Weapons spread almost instantly too...
Maybe keeping this scenario hidden is finally getting difficult.
Sunraku: "I've suspected this for a while, but it looks like Vash stops appearing if a player with low Vorpal Soul is inside the Rabbit Palace. If more people start coming here, his encounter rate might drop too..."
Imron: "I'll keep this off the message boards and stay quiet about it, so as the one who got here before me, teach me the best way to handle things around here."
Emul: "Can I please get off her back first, waa?"
I'm not the bad guy here.
I'm fundamentally a being of order.
It's just that the evil demon living inside my heart—the one wearing either Pencilgon's face or Deep Throater's—is whispering to me with the sleaziest grin imaginable.
So really, this can't be helped.