Chapter 237: Information Power Attack!!!!!

There is a monster known as the Ascension Horn.
The defining characteristic of this monster, which looks like a haphazard mishmash of a deer and a unicorn, is undoubtedly its three horns: two extending from the back of its head, and one from its forehead.
Swinging its head can deflect arrows, and its full-power charge can send a sloppy tank flying. Furthermore, it is known as an incredibly troublesome monster because it can unleash a shockwave resembling a lightning strike from its horns......... However, even more than that, it is famous as a monster that is hunted the moment it is found for the sake of raising funds, due to the simple fact that "its horns sell for a ridiculously high price."

The primary reason for this is that the "Highest Potion," which is crafted using the Ascension Horn's horns as materials, rarely ever saturates the market. Furthermore, right now, as players are continuing to make preparations for their journey to the New Continent, the buying price for an "Ascension Horn's Sacred Horn" is skyrocketing.

That being said, because this monster's spawn rate isn't very high and its spawn conditions haven't been clarified, the general evaluation of it had settled at: "If you encounter one, you're lucky. Absolutely do not let it escape."

Or at least, that was the perception among "general players."
Lately, whether due to real-life circumstances or something else, the clan leader hasn't logged in, but "SF-Zoo," which possesses an outstanding obsession with investigating the ecology of animal-type monsters, and "Library," which gathers information at a level bordering on indiscriminate and repeats heated debates daily in a room of their home base, the Grand Library, successfully deduced the spawn conditions for the Ascension Horn. The limited number of players who are valued customers of these two guilds are currently able to grind through the overhunting of Ascension Horns...

"With this, that makes twenty..."

With a feeble dying cry, the three-horned beast—whose pale blue light illuminated the curtain of night—collapsed heavily to the ground. Its body crumbled and scattered, vanishing while leaving only its horns behind.
The Ascension Horn's Sacred Horns share the same name, but strictly speaking, there are two types. The two growing from the back of the head and the one growing from the forehead are both "Ascension Horn's Sacred Horns," but they are stored as separate items in the inventory, appended with (Front) and (Back) after the name.

The reason for this is that the back horns are primarily used for weapons and armor, while the front horn is the one bought at a high price as a material for the Highest Potion. The back horns can be sold for a decent price as well, but compared to the price of the front horn, they naturally pale in comparison. Furthermore, since the drop of these horns is completely randomized regardless of the damage dealt to them, luck is inevitably involved.

"Until I meet the quota... at the absolute minimum, four hundred of just the front horns..."

The player who stored the Ascension Horn's Sacred Horn (Front) into their inventory... Psyger-0 let out a single sigh and waited for it once again.
The spawn condition for the Ascension Horn, clarified through a joint verification between the two clans, was "to stand completely still for ten to twenty minutes or more in front of the caves scattered throughout the 'Forest of Mythology' area during the night." This "Ascension Horn Grind," deduced from an ecological standpoint of animals and verification through NPC hearsay and books, was shunned as an extraordinarily tedious task.

"............"

The condition presented by her older sister was a goal far too distant for Psyger-0 to achieve alone. But if she could break through it, she would acquire a legitimate reason to leave the clan "Black Wolf."
Therefore, she could patiently endure the dim darkness, completely alone, without even BGM. Even without anyone's help, she could fight against an Ascension Horn boasting the physique of a large vehicle.

Therefore............

"Forming a party, and grinding..."

She just wanted a little more courage.

The Serpent's Apple, Eleventar Branch. The reason we chose this place over Fifticia was primarily due to Kyou-Ultimate's screw-up.

"...So, basically?"

"Well, you see, it seems the fact that I joined the clan Wolfgang reached their ears."

"Well, I leaked that intentionally."

"While I was casually hunting... Ah, monsters, alright? Then I got tangled up with a player from the clan Black Wolf, and I ended up accidentally PK'ing them."

"Well, even that was somewhat within the plan."

"I somehow got really hyped up, so I PK'd the guy who came back for revenge, and then PK'd the reinforcements he brought along with him... and I managed to get my hands on quite a lot of their gear."

"Alright, from here on out it's outside the plan."

"What a terrible story..."

I don't mean her morals. I mean the fact that Pencilgon was casually concocting a completely awful plan, and that Kyou-Ultimate was far more of a mad dog than I thought.
No, thinking about it calmly, in a game where the penalties for PK-ing are apparently getting stricter and stricter, is it just a given that anyone who is an active PKer is somewhat unhinged...?

"And we're missing roughly one person?"

"He said something about 'shaking them off before regrouping' or something."

Shaking them off?

"It's about forty percent your fault, you know..."

Speak of the devil. Katzo, looking somewhat exhausted, walked into the Serpent's Apple.
Since this is a shop in the underworld where ruffians gather, there are quite a lot of intimidating NPCs. But Katzo... rather, OiKatzo, was flashing glares with a beautiful girl avatar while pulling a chair over to the table where we were sitting.

By the way, because I have a wound on my shin... I mean, a Scar, I've never been tangled up with the intimidating NPCs. Actually, the fact that they don't actively try to interact with a half-naked pervert wearing a bird head just goes to show how smart the AI is.
Pencilgon was being spoken to in a friendly manner for some reason, and Kyou-Ultimate was being actively avoided by people looking away, not wanting to get involved. Their usual playstyles are showing vividly...

"Forty percent? What is?"

"Sylvia made her ShanFro debut."

"「............」"

Pencilgon and I quietly averted our eyes. Just recently, not even a month ago, Pencilgon and I—as a zombie female knight and a pumpkin mercenary—fought the undisputed US #1 fighting game player, and without saying a word, we both arrived at the conclusion: "We don't want to get involved with her."
If the Zen-Ichi realized that "No Face" and "No Name" were in this game...

"Right now, she seems to be stuck in Secondil because she isn't used to JRPGs yet."

"Were you busy lately even after logging in because you were on dates with Sylvia-chan?"

"...You're saying that knowing full well what you're doing, aren't you, Pencilgon? So? What did the Red Name over there screw up?"

"To summarize, she smeared mud all over the clan Black Wolf and spat on them, basically?"

"Seriously? You've got guts!"

"Hehehe... You're making me blush."

Ah, damn it. I forgot that this guy is generally a bastard too. The fact that no one, including me, is blaming Kyou-Ultimate for her actions just proves we're on the Dark Side, doesn't it...

"So? Mind telling me the reason you went out of your way to summon us to ShanFro?"

"Hmm, Kyougoku-chan did indeed screw up... but ultimately, the clan Black Wolf has basically entered a completely hostile course toward us."

Hostile... There's no reason for them to be that hostile toward us.

"I had an information broker look into a bunch of things, and it seems the current 'Black Wolf' clan was split into two factions: a faction trying to peacefully obtain Unique information from Wolfgang in accordance with the clan alliance, and a faction trying to forcefully extract information from us under the grand cause of 'providing information to all players,' and so..."

"The hardliners won."

"Yeah. It seems Psyger-0-chan's departure and her desire to join Wolfgang was the final nail in the coffin... We received an invitation for a 'discussion' under the name of Black Wolf."

I munched on some roasted mystery beans that looked like a fusion of broad beans and almonds—which I had ordered from the clerk—while thinking. Well, I can't say I don't understand why the clan Black Wolf would choose hardline methods.
If this were another top clan... say, Library or SF-Zoo... who had defeated the Uniques, they might have bitten their lips in frustration, but it would have ended there.

But the clan Wolfgang's very foundation involves the infamous Arthur Pencilgon and the collapse of Ashura-kai. When it comes to shadiness, it's top-tier, and a guy belonging to such a clan has consecutively defeated Uniques, triggered flags with Lycaon, and from an outsider's perspective, poached a top player with nothing but suspicious vibes... Oh?

"Wait, is this actually half my fault?"

"Surprise! Sunraku-kun arrived at the truth all on his own! Good boy, good boy!"

"Sunraku has really grown, hasn't he..."

"Oh, you looking for a fight? I'll shatter both your jaws, so line up side-by-side."

I threw some shadow-boxing jabs with a swish-swish to keep the two bastards in check while pondering future developments.
If you ask whether the three of us are going to swallow Black Wolf's conditions exactly as they want, the answer is a resounding 'no.' After all, there's absolutely no benefit for us. The grand cause of spreading information to all players provides practically zero merit to us in Wolfgang.
If we hand over information for free, Wolfgang's advantage drops to zero. In fact, it's almost guaranteed they will demand the disclosure of the information I hold.

To begin with, I'm the one who will suffer the most damage. I've got way too much information on my hands... If things like the "Divine Craftsman" or the "Cait Sith Jeweler" get quietly leaked, the pursuit regarding Rabituza will intensify. If things go poorly, they might even tell us to report to the allied clans before doing anything. The absolute worst-case scenario... would be Wolfgang getting absorbed by Black Wolf.

It's not like I hate party play, but I absolutely refuse to play while being bound by the "quotas" and whatever else of a hardcore clan. If that's the case, it's highly reluctant, but when people with mentalities as similar as mine, Pencilgon's, and OiKatzo's gather together, it becomes the Wisdom of Scoundrels.

"So? What do you want us to do?"

"Hmm, to be completely honest, I didn't plan on going this far, but if we're going to fight the clan Black Wolf, I want to gather some numbers."

"Are you planning on recruiting members right now?"

"No, no. We are proud citizens of a democratic nation, so we simply want to secure the Numerical Advantage."

I see. The intention is to align with clans that will become our allies and keep Black Wolf in check. Even if we're gathering allies, we'll probably need to disclose a certain amount of information, but it's better than being thoroughly interrogated, so we should be able to keep some of our cards hidden.
The clan Wolfgang is, after all, a weak clan that barely has five members. We have to use whatever we can.

"Ah... I'm sorry, but you guys only ever talk in main points, so could you summarize it in a way I can understand?"

"We've become practically entirely hostile toward the clan Black Wolf. A portion of the responsibility lies with you, so feel responsible. We're going to buy out other clans and silence Black Wolf."

Currently, "Wolfgang" is nursing three wounds on its shins.
First, we are roughly half-ignoring the alliance condition of "Providing information on Unique Monsters."
Second, there's the rather severe interpersonal relationship aspect involving "Psyger-0 wishing to transfer," which also includes the Ctarrnid battle.
Finally, third, there's the "Kyou-Ultimate aggressively PK'd them" incident, which, if handled poorly, is a seppuku-level offense.

She wants us to skillfully paper over these wounds and silence the barking Black Wolf. Furthermore, we'll neatly redirect the bad attention other clans are pointing toward us, Wolfgang.

"...It's not really my place to say this, but isn't there nothing we can do?"

"Because we manage to somehow pull it off, PvP is fun, isn't it, Kyougoku-chaaan?"

"The PvP you're talking about isn't an action game, it's a simulation game..."

Well, in short, to ensure we can play the game enjoyably, we'll fight to protect our vested interests, even if it means dipping into our savings.

And so.

"Well now, to think you would be the one to contact me... Is your business with me? Or... is it with the 'Library'?"

The fake magical girl that even Pencilgon acknowledges as troublesome. He likely understands perfectly well what I've come here to do, having grasped our current situation and Black Wolf's current situation. Yet, he plays dumb with a composed face. Standing face-to-face with the leader of the clan Library, The Professor, I...

"Well, how should I say this..."

Record, playback.

『We did it! We did it! I've finally reached the root!』

"I'll give you some bait for your lore-hunting, so I'd absolutely love it if you could cooperate with us."

Right from the opening move, I landed a full-swing Uppercut (Information Disclosure) square on the jaw of this lore-junkie.

Author's Afterword
"Give us the information practically for free" vs. "We'll throttle the information, but pay tribute to us."

What the heck is this awful showdown...

They say "A smart character can never exceed the intelligence of the author," and that's so true... I wonder if my INT will go up if I read Death Note...