Chapter 317: 6 Nights and 7 Days Digest

It happened on the third day of the sea voyage...

"Hey, Emul."

"What is it, desu waー...?"

"You're the one who said you were looking forward to a boat trip, so act a bit more, y'know, happy about it."

"Even I'm going to get tired of doing absolutely nothing but staring at the ocean for three whole days, desu wa."

"...Well, I've pretty much finished gathering my materials, so all we can do now is wait for the weapon to be completed."

From inside a cabin that could arguably be called a semi-suite, Emul and I had this conversation while blankly staring out the window.
After all, the most "Action" this ship has seen is players reeling in octopuses or seaweed monsters from the deck. Unless something absolutely catastrophic happens, this peaceful sea voyage is just going to continue as is.

If our departure time had been a little earlier, this entire ship might have been Floated (Sunk) into Ruluiath... But unfortunately, that event is strictly under the jurisdiction of those fiends.

"Still, walking around the ship right now feels like it'd just lead to a bunch of trouble..."

Even if I disguise my appearance, I can't disguise my player name. It's one thing to just pass by someone, but if I go sightseeing in the middle of a crowd, the chances of getting noticed naturally increase.
That being said, spending a highly anticipated boat trip entirely on land and only teleporting onto the ship right before it arrives just feels way too tasteless.

"Fishing... it is, then."

"Fishing, desu waー?"

Fishing. According to my father, it is a dialogue with the world itself and a challenge to the grand ocean... When I asked him what that makes river fishing, he told me, "It all connects to the sea eventually, so don't sweat the small stuff." What about lakes, huh? What about lakes?

Well, setting that aside, he also told me that fishing is a highly refined hobby where even if you're just staring up at the sky with your mouth half-open, simply having a fishing rod in front of you allows you to convince yourself, "At the very least, I'm not wasting my time."

In ShanFro, the fishing mechanic isn't exactly a heavily polished piece of content. No, it's not like they half-assed it or anything, but considering you can use an ordinary-looking fishing rod to reel in monsters the size of a light car if you mess up, I suppose that aspect should be considered a mechanical game deformation... Oh, got a good bite.

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

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

"...P-Please don't eat me."

Yeah, I don't think I can eat that... It was clearly the same race as That Guy, so I asked it to deliver a message for me and threw it back in.

Man, I'm bored. Isn't there anything interesting to do... Wait a second, I totally just threw it back without thinking, but wasn't that a Merman!?

Wait, come baaaack!!

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

.........

......

"───And, well, that's what happened."

"So that's what it was... When you were, um... raging in the chat, I was wondering what happened."

Before I knew it, it was already the fifth day since the ship set sail for the New Continent. Since neither Saiga-san nor I are involved in any club activities, we could dedicate our entire Saturday and Sunday to the game.
Akitsu Akane was lamenting that she wouldn't be able to log in on Saturday due to club activities. Honestly, considering the incredibly grueling schedule she mentioned she was dealing with, maintaining that level of vitality is genuinely impressive.

"I've recently realized just how dangerous it is to step on important flags while my brain is in autopilot farming mode..."

Well, assuming my message that I'm heading to the New Continent actually reaches Araba, I'll call it a win.

"Oh right, how's the machine I lent you holding up?"

"Yes, I've been using it without any breakdowns or issues."

"That's good to hear."

To be blunt, the moment Saiga-san... or rather, Rei-shi, successfully boarded the pioneer ship, it had basically already fulfilled its purpose. But as the person who lent it out, I'd still feel pretty bad if it broke down while she was using it.

"Come to think of it, Saiga-san, since you cleared 'Invitation from Rabituza,' does that mean you've already achieved the True Awakening for your Vorpal Weapon?"

If I recall correctly, Rei-shi was using a sledgehammer when she first entered Rabituza. I'm honestly not entirely sure what stat that weapon scales with, but since it's quite common for the weapon type to change completely upon True Awakening... I mean, my meat cleavers literally have a sword-draw function built into them now.

"I have Vysache-san enhance it for me, correct? If so, then yes."

"Did the weapon type change or anything?"

"Yes, it changed from a hammer to an Iron Whip."

An Iron Whip is a derivative weapon of the mace. Apparently, its weapon classification is defined as "A blunt weapon that allows the use of slashing-type skills." Of course, the actual damage calculation is strictly treated as blunt damage... By the way, that massive iron slab Massive Dynamite carried on her back also reportedly falls under the Iron Whip category.

"It's certainly convenient, but the difficulty in landing critical hits is..."

"Hmm..."

An Iron Whip, a Counter-Blade Sword... this game really is packed with hidden elements completely unrelated to the base parameters, huh.
Does every weapon have a derivative form? Wait, if that's the case, and assuming the Counter-Blade Sword is a derivative of dual-wielding one-handed swords, then what about the derivative weapon type for Twin Swords...? Wait, is that the Tonfa Edge? No, I heard those were classified as blunt weapons......... Mmm.

"Ah right, speaking of weapons, that reminds me. Have you met Bilac yet? The black, scruffy-looking rabbit. Since Vash is basically a random encounter, she's practically the main blacksmith of Rabituza."

"Bilac... you mean that person who seems rather difficult to please...?"

"Difficult to please?"

Images of Bilac flashed through my mind... When Vash does blacksmithing, she usually loses a few screws in her head... When I bring her materials, her eyes usually bug out of her skull... And she also uses camouflage magic to disguise herself as a cloak...

"...Difficult, to please?"

I guess she could be considered difficult to please during normal times... maybe?

"Also, there were two other things..."

"Hm?"

The highly enigmatic "Sword of God and Demon," categorized internally by me as a "Saiga Incident." It seems to be something entirely different from Hero Weapons, Champion's Weapons, or Legacy Weapons, despite sharing their unconventional acquisition methods.
How should I put this, even with just fragmented information, the aura of "I can swing it around for now, but this weapon is fundamentally dangerous" strongly emanated from that greatsword. And as expected, it seems Vash had some more comments regarding it.

"What did Vash say?"

"───'There is none who knows the origin of that sword. Ye must find the truth with yer own hands'... or something to that effect."

Saying, Wait, if you're dropping a line like that, it obviously means you know something, is probably a taboo thing to say, right?
However, there is at least one thing I can discern from this.

"That means the trigger for that sword's quest line isn't tied to an NPC, but rather to a specific location or item somewhere."

"Is that... so?"

"If he says there is 'No one' who knows of it, it strongly implies that there is a 'Somewhere' or a 'Something' capable of revealing it."

"I see..."

When it comes to restricting strategy information to completely 100% all the hidden elements, this kind of deduction is the absolute basics of the basics. It's much better than something like, "Collect all 10 hidden items to challenge the secret boss! (Actually, the official team made a typo and there were 11)." Witnessing the official team publicly Apologize (post spoilers) for a hidden boss they had so thoroughly concealed in the main game was a truly melancholic sight.

Well, when it was discovered that the secret boss you unlock by collecting those 11 hidden items was completely bugged—instead of the intended mechanic of "Enduring its fierce onslaught while selecting the Pray command 11 times to progress the event," it was discovered that "Using the Taunt command exactly once instantly kills it for some reason"—I couldn't help but let out a dry laugh. Your resistance to being provoked is way too low, man...

"In that case, was it actually incredibly lucky that Rei-shi managed to secure a fast travel point...? It's not like anyone explicitly stated it was on the New Continent, and given the existence of that underground facility, it's not like the Old Continent has been completely explored either... Hm?"

Come to think of it, didn't Saiga-san say she had two things she wanted to tell me?

"Was there something else bothering you?"

"Something bothering me, or rather... it's a bit difficult to ask while logged in..."

Difficult to ask while logged in? Wondering what on earth it could be, I looked at Saiga-san. She showed a slight moment of hesitation, but then opened her mouth as if having made up her mind.

"...Are you familiar with the Unique Scenario 'Diale's Secret Special Training'?"

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

.........

......

First things first, let's interrogate the primary rabbit of interest.

"Big sister Diale is my idol, desu wa! Big sister is the greatest mage in all of Rabituza, and my magic master, desu wa!"

"Uh-huh."

"But, but, recently she seems to be really busy, so I hardly get to see her, desu wa..."

"I see......... I pretty much understand everything now."

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

.........

......

In short, if the Veteran (Older Sister) gets effortlessly surpassed in pure strength by the Newcomer (Younger Sister), she wouldn't be able to maintain her dignity.

This is about 50% my fault, isn't it?

And so, the seventh day arrived...!

Author's Afterword
Sunraku the War Criminal, magnificently snapping the contact flag with the Mermen in half.
Sunraku the MVP, setting up an encounter flag from a completely different direction by securing an appointment with the Hero of the Mermen.

In short, it's a 50/50 split, so he's not guilty.

Diale: "...Yeah, well, it's not like I'm embarrassed that my sister might find out my power no longer reaches that guy's level. I'm not so shameless as to resent my own sister's growth. But seeing how much she's grown truly makes me painfully aware that my own efforts have been lacking. That's exactly why I believed that by accompanying you—a guest of our father whose Vorpal Soul has been officially recognized—I could elevate myself to new heights. No, really, it's not that I'm too embarrassed to let Emul see me training, or anything like that. Eh? Then wouldn't accompanying him or Akitsu Akane-dono have been fine too, you ask? Well, um... you see, Brother Ceecrue has a rather loose mouth, so he might end up spilling the secret... And besides, what are you supposed to think of a gentleman who is constantly half-naked, even if he is of a different species? Or rather, in the first place... No, you've got it all wrong! It's not like I'm terrified of traveling with the Bird Man! I just want to look cool in front of Emul... Hah!? W-What I just said was a mist... It was just a figure of speech, um, that is... Kuh, just kill me!"

A new frontier: The Suspiciously Wordy Document Female Knight Rabbit (Almost Pure Mage).