Chapter 303: Mysterious Connections Smell Like Apples

Damn it, there are way too few places to hide in this shitty rural town. Damn it.

"Emul... change of plans. Registering at the guild is completely impossible in this situation."

"Kyuー..."

"Wake up!"

"Fugyu—!? G-Good morning desu wamugugu—!?"

"And, quiet please...?"

After undergoing the gender-bend effect and a high-speed change of clothes, I dove into the crowd to make my escape. Emul, who was dizzy from the chaotic scramble of our getaway, was woken up with a chop, and I quickly covered her mouth as she tried to shout.
I was currently standing in front of the exit of Firstia—meaning, the gate leading back to the Rampant Forest.

The shockwaves of the enthusiasm that had exploded behind me after my escape seemed to have already reached all the way here. So as not to draw the attention of the players who were starting to murmur and wonder what the commotion was about, I adopted an attitude that practically said, "Did something happen? That's craaazy," while attempting to slip out of Firstia.

"Listen to me, Emul... We're heading to Rabituza. Anyway, as long as we make a clean break to Rabituza, all we have to do is sleep. Right? Like a fleeing rabbit..."

"Y-Yeah..."

It'll be fine. At the very least, there isn't anyone in this town who knows about 'Sunrako'. I considered taking refuge in Inventoria until the heat died down, but I had absolutely no idea how many hours I'd have to stay cooped up in the storage dimension.
Damn it, I curse this God Game. It's the dead of night, why the hell are there so many people logged in... Is it because tomorrow is Saturday? Damn it.

"Listen, just blend into the background. We're just an everyday scene—a young lady leaving the town..."

"You're Sunraku, aren't you?"

"Pohyo—"

I honestly thought my heart was going to jump out of my mouth.

"No, no, no. I'm not Sunraku, I'm 'Sasorawa', desu wa. You have the wrong person, desu wa."

"You're copying me, bububu."

Shut uuuup!
A low, masculine voice that felt like it was gripping my heart. When I turned around with a forced smile, I saw a female avatar—who exuded a mix of roughness and dignity that completely contradicted her voice—with brown hair tied in a ponytail and a scar painted across her nose down to her left cheek. She was staring straight at me with a toothy grin.

"Ah, don't worry about it. I just have one question I want to ask. I'll see you off quietly, so don't be so on guard."

".........And? What do you want to ask?"

"I'm 'Vival' from the 'φ (Phi) Server.' Are you 'Sunraku' from the 'μ (Mu) Server'?"

"!!!!"

My heart might have actually jumped out of my mouth just now.
A friend request sent at the exact same time as the question. It goes without saying—the "YES or NO" option displayed in response to this friend request from Survival would serve as my answer.

".........So you're a 'Survivor' from the isolated island, huh?"

"Yeah... I never imagined a coincidence like this could happen...!"

Good grief. To think this is our first meeting.
This guy and I have met before. Accepting the friend request, we simply exchanged glances in silence. I've reunited with acquaintances from other games a few times before, but this is completely different.
Survival Gunman... Saba-Gan. The guys from the "Greek Letter Servers" don't share a relationship simple enough to be summarized as "we just played the same game."

"I've got a mountain of things I want to talk about... but things have gotten pretty chaotic around here... Shoot me a message once you've caught your breath."

"Okay."

We exchanged a smirk and parted ways as if nothing had happened. It seems a player who was likely a member of the "Dress-Up Tias-chan Squad" had started talking to Survival, but he managed to successfully stall them for me.

"Sunraku-san, is that an acquaintance of yours, desu wa?"

"Hmm, yeah."

φ Server... Vival... Of course I know him. In Saba-Gan, a game where firearms existed—even if they were unreliable—he belonged to the server infested with complete maniacs who insisted on surviving against giant creatures using nothing but their Bare Hands (Brawling). The player who ran the wildest on that server went by the name "Vival."

"Seriously, I just went through absolute he—"

Three minutes passed.

My disguise torso and leg equipment shattered (Total value: 900,000 Mani).

My breasts bounced from the impact of my clothes bursting open.

The eyes of the players who witnessed this became completely glued to me.

Never missing a split-second opportunity, a wild Vorpal Bunny slashed a player's neck with a kitchen knife.

"...Correction. I am currently going through absolute hell."

"...Sunraku-san, let's just go back to Rabituza, desu wa. Today was definitely just an unlucky day, desu wa."

"Ah, no. Let's go to Fifticia... No, actually, Eighthold, please."

"Yes, yes. We're going to see your Friend, right? I'll be waiting for you in Rabituza then, desu waー."

Well, there's that, but there's also one other thing.

............

.........

......

Cafe "Serpent's Apple." It is a cafe that exists in almost every single town with a setting that supposedly welcomes ruffians from the back alleys... (As a side note, all the owners have the exact same face. I seriously doubt this game would make such a boring compromise, so there's probably some lore attached to it).

Fundamentally, the sense of taste is intentionally dialed down in this game, but as an exception, the things you order at this cafe actually have a proper taste.
That being said, if it's sweet, a cake and a literal lump of sugar taste exactly the same. And according to Pencilgon, "The drinks are just non-alcoholic carbonated water with the name of alcohol slapped on them." So basically, the game is just telling you to eat in real life instead. Yeah.

"...Welcome. What's your order?"

And, the words Bounty Hunter Lutia left behind alongside a certain item just before she left pointed exactly to this place.
So, let's try going along with it by tossing in a bit of appropriate roleplay.

"I was invited by the scent of apples, you see. Do you have any apple pie?"

"...Our 'Hidden Menu'. Who referred you?"

"A person named Lutia. It was a hot, intense night..."

It really was intense. It forcefully reminded me of the sheer terror of an NPC specialized in PKK who would carve you into six equal pieces if you let your guard down.
While making such lighthearted banter, I slid the item Lutia had handed me... the "Letter of Introduction with the Stag Beetle Crest (Stag Emblem)" across the counter.

"............I see, it is authentic. Then, esteemed customer, please wait in the private room over there until the apple pie finishes baking."

"Got it."

Just a few seconds of silence, but as if nothing had happened, the owner tucked the letter of introduction into his breast pocket and gestured toward the private room.
Perhaps his intimidating aura couldn't be fully hidden by his clothes, but despite the fact that I was currently in the form of a delicate young girl, none of the ruffian NPCs even attempted to mess with me.
Hah? What the hell are you looking at? I'm not a sideshow, you bastards, I'll blow you away.

"Well then, let's see what happens..."

Leaving the NPCs who had averted their eyes behind, I walked toward the private room the owner had pointed out. Opening the door while thinking that a private room in such an underground place only conjured up all sorts of shady imagery...

Unlike the "Gates" Emul uses, my vision plunged into pitch black accompanied by an incredibly rough physical shock.

"...Nwhoops!?"

It was a sensation of floating, exactly like the moment right after unknowingly stepping on a banana peel and slipping—as if the balance my body had been maintaining to stand upright had been forcefully reset. Fortunately, there was actually a floor beneath my feet, so I managed to brace myself and barely avoid falling over.

It felt similar to the moment you get blown away by a large monster, a sensation where your semicircular canals get shaken up for just a split second... In other words, teleportation magic.

"Well that was an incredibly rough..."

"Oh my... I heard from the rumors that you were a man...?"

A female voice. Too deep to belong to a young girl, but far too vibrant to belong to an old woman.
When I raised my head, I saw a woman wearing a dress that differed entirely from aristocratic attire... How should I describe it? She didn't give off a noble vibe, but rather the aura of a boss managing a high-end hostess club or something similar.

"I've got my reasons for being gender-bent right now, but I'm the same guy on the inside... So? When's my apple pie arriving?"

"...Fufufu, you've got quite the nerve. Very well, you certainly seem worthy of Her (Lutia's) invitation."

She smiled, nimaa.
It wasn't like the sadistic smile of the fiendish model who was technically my superior, but it was slightly closer to the smile of the ultimate bottom fish or the human-TAS woman when they were anticipating a fierce battle.
Sensing a slight sense of déjà vu from her indescribable, purely amused smile, the woman stated simply:

"Welcome to the Cafe 'Wandering Sword'... Let me present you with the choice to become an 'Avenger'."

『Do you wish to begin the Hidden Job Quest "The One Who Grants Feeble Wishes"? Yes / No』

Unemployed-Me-Shi. The chance for employment has arrived.

Author's Afterword
Q: I feel like I've seen that face somewhere before.
A: It's the exact same face you make when staring at a shelf lined with trash games.

• Avenger
  A hidden job designed as an Advanced Class from the very beginning. Strictly speaking, if you consider "Unaffiliated" as a base class, this is just a standard Advanced Class.
  Right up until I was about to update this chapter, I was debating whether to call it "Hitman" or "Proxy", but the former has too strong of an assassination vibe, and the latter makes me think of a certain bespectacled priest [*1], so I settled on the current name.
  The "Bounty Hunters" are a specific faction among the Avengers who strictly target only "PKers".

In this world, there are cries that go completely unheard by anyone. Is it because of money? Power? Or some other reason?
That is exactly why a Wandering Sword with no Ties (Master) is needed. Motives are not questioned, though past records are scrutinized to a certain extent.

In short, it's basically a bounty hunter. Taking on dangerous jobs gathered in secret... exactly as the job name implies, acts of "Revenge."
After all, in the world of ShanFro, humans aren't the only things that can be the target of vengeance.

Translator's Note

• [1] Could be Fate/Tsukihime. Idk