Chapter 330: The Villainous Malice is Not Confined Merely to the Brain

Author's Preface
Updating for now.
Also, setting into motion the "Why don't I just split Faer-kuso up and have the heroine she played be from SpellCre?" plan.

"Tottori the Shimane... I feel like I've seen that name somewhere... Ah, I remember. The guy who discovered the Forest-folks (Elves) and has been escorting them with zero deaths."

"Sunraku... That Sunraku!? Seriously, the real one? Not a cosplay account?"

"If there's a roleplayer out there capable of perfectly replicating the exact two curse marks inflicted by Lycaon, I'd probably send them a friend request..."

On one side, a player hailed on the ShanFro BBS as the "Elves' Last Hope," "Our Hero," and "The One Forbidden From Death."
On the other side, a player branded on the exact same BBS as the "Unique Hunter," "Suspected Dev Account," and "Perverted Exhibitionist Parading Around a Bunny Girl Slave"... Hey, wait a second, what the hell is that last one? There's a massive difference in perversion levels between a Female Bunny (Bunny's Girl) and a Bunny Costume (Bunny Girl)! Plus, she's not a slave, and being half-naked isn't optional...! Seriously, who the hell spread that rumor!?

"Wow... You really are half-naked all the time. I'm actually a little moved. Being unequipped on the New Continent is basically suicide..."

"Well, I kind of make up for it with skills... No, wait, that's not important. Anyway, could you hear me out for a second?"

"Eh? O-Oh, sure."

Alright. If my deductions are correct, Tottori is the irregular element in this situation, but he's also the only one here who will understand things from a meta perspective.

"I'm currently escorting Former King Torvante and First Princess Arfiliya on a Quest from the Saint-chan."

"Torvante... that's the Kingdom's King, right? Wait, did the throne change hands?"

"Who knows. He said his son overthrew him."

".........???"

Honestly, the story behind that old man getting downsized doesn't matter. The problem is the current situation.

"This is just a guess, but... I'm thinking the King getting stranded on the New Continent and encountering the Elves while stranded aren't coincidences, but events built directly into the quest. What do you think?"

"........."

Falling silent as if deep in thought, Tottori glanced at the edge of his vision... staring at the non-human individuals—the Forest-folks—who had suddenly become much noisier after my party with Emul and the royal father and daughter merged with theirs.
Surrounded by a group of Forest-folks who perfectly fit the textbook template of "slender beauties and handsome men," the King and Faer... First Princess Arfiliya, as well as Emul—who was being inexplicably, bizarrely feared by the Forest-folks—caught Tottori's eye. Glancing at them, he finally opened his mouth as if resigned.

"...I'm on a Unique Scenario myself. The scenario name is 'Great Migration of the Forest-Folks' (Immigrant Elves), and the condition is to 'escort the Forest-folks to the frontline base'... but now that you mention it, considering the flow of the story, making contact with King Torvante doesn't seem that out of place."

A Unique Scenario... I've already experienced an EX Scenario and a standard Unique Scenario being linked, but is it actually possible for a regular quest to link up with a Unique Scenario in real-time?
That being said, according to Tottori, the Elf... Erina? The Forest-folk I pinned down earlier apparently suddenly dashed off for vague reasons like "a revelation" or "a premonition."

"So, here's my proposal. Since our goal and your goal are the same, why don't we team up?"

"...I can understand why you'd want to increase our numbers for stability. But what's the merit for me?"

Fufufu. It seems he hasn't realized that the initiative is already completely in my hands. This isn't an equal negotiation. We are going to let Tottori and the Forest-folks Protect us.

"Those two are from the pro-demi-human faction. But the current King—the First Prince—is a hardcore supremacist."

"Ah............ Don't tell me... if we don't protect that father and daughter right here, the Forest-folks are screwed?"

"Well, assuming you consider being treated like slaves or pets 'friendly,' then you probably don't need to worry about it."

Tottori the Shimane. Name aside, just looking at him, I can tell he has the guts and motivation to stubbornly maintain a zero-death run just to escort these Elves... If so, he definitely wouldn't want to do anything that increases the likelihood of crushing one of the few factions capable of opposing the current royal administration.
Exactly. Unlike his group, which can handle scouting and combat even if they are NPCs, my group consists of an old man pushing metabolic syndrome and a frail, evi... I mean, a frail princess. Even if a pure tank like Rei-shi had accepted this escort quest, relying on a solo player would still leave plenty of anxiety.

"...I literally have no choice. In what world are you Arthur Pencilgon's puppet...?"

"No, no, I'm totally her puppet. A massive puppet. This is aaaall her fault."

Just blaming everything on Pencilgon usually works out fine; that's the common consensus between Katzo and me. In exchange, we're constantly defusing the massive bombs she drops on us, so we're basically even... Wait, are we getting hit with counter-bombs Because we keep shifting the blame onto her? Hmm... well, whatever. Damn you, Pencilgon.

"Understood. A lot of players have been eagerly anticipating interactions with the demi-humans, and if we can prevent this from turning into an R-18-esque development, all the better."

Contract established. Emul and I temporarily disbanded our party and joined the party with Tottori, the Elf from earlier... Erina, and another Elf who looked like a mage, distinct from the other Forest-folks... Hesh.

"Still, this has been bothering me for a while... There are a ton of Forest-folks here, but how does the party system handle them?"

"Anyone not directly added to the party members becomes completely useless. If we encounter monsters, they prioritize fleeing, so it's entirely up to us to draw the aggro."

W-What an incredibly cowardly race... No, wait, from a community survival perspective, it's actually completely rational... But look at Emul-san! She's getting angry because the Forest-folks' Vorpal Souls are too low!

"Muuー... These guys seriously lack Vorpal Soul, desu waー!"

"Now, calm down, Emul. Isn't it natural to avoid unnecessary combat to survive in a demonic frontier like this?"

"Then what would you do if you were in their shoes, Sunraku-san? Would you flee (nigeru), desu wa?"

"Meat, materials, EXP... As if I'd let them escape (nogasu)."

"That's exactly what Vorpal Soul is, desu wa!"

Yay, we high-fived. Sweating coldly as Arfiliya entered my field of vision, I turned back to Tottori to discuss our itinerary moving forward.

"Well, since we've reached an agreement, I'll be blunt. They are currently being targeted by assassins... specifically, the Kingdom's Knight Order (State Power)."

"...Oi."

"No, wait, hold on. I don't have any intention of throwing the Forest-folks at the Knight Order. I have a way to disguise our faces, and they always say the best place to hide a person is in a crowd or behind a texture, right?"

"Texture...? Well, whatever, I get what you're saying. You want to blend them into the Forest-folks and slip into the base, right?"

Exactly. My goal isn't to use the Elves as combat power, but to use them as sheer numbers. In ShanFro, countless players have been eagerly anticipating—literally waiting and hoping for—an encounter with demi-humans other than standard humans.

If Elves suddenly appear at the frontline base, it will inevitably cause a massive uproar. And if the Knight Order attempts to harm the Elves right in the middle of a massive crowd of players, they won't be able to avoid a backlash, even if they are NPCs.
Yes, this is the scheme of the Noisy Majority, not the Silent Majority! War is a numbers game! Even a hero worth a thousand men can be trampled to death by two thousand trash mobs...!!

"Well, honestly, if I can just ignore the Red Name penalty, annihilating them wouldn't be that hard... No, just a joke, a joke."

Come on, don't look at me with the exact same eyes I use when I look at Pencilgon... Honestly, if I was allowed to use 【Seiryu】 and 【Rising Waterfall】, it would be pretty easy. Mr. Die Hard's effective range seems to cap out at mid-range, after all.
That being said, if I carelessly accumulated aggro, I might get my Avenger job revoked and get forced back to being jobless, which would be the worst possible scenario. If I'm going to eliminate them, indirect methods are best. In that regard, the scarred Three-Headed T-Rex was incredibly useful. I wonder what kind of materials it drops?

Just then, as if remembering something, Tottori clapped his hands together with a pan and turned to me.

"Ah... I probably should have mentioned this earlier. We actually weren't heading for the base via the shortest route."

"And that means?"

"The Altar of Awakening. It should be somewhere nearby. Since I belong to a mapping clan, I wanted to map out the route."

The Altar of Awakening... The facility that removes the Level Cap!? Wait, seriously? Is it really nearby?

Author's Afterword
The Gods playing around before the servers launched:

Genius focused on worldbuilding: "I'm going to put the level cap release facility in the Elf Village."

Genius focused on game balance: "Well, fine... But if they get wiped out, it'll be a massive problem, so make sure to buff their defensive facilities."

Genius focused on worldbuilding: "It can't be helped. It would be a problem if the Forest-folks got wiped out, so I'll buff their defenses and restart."

(The Forest-folks proceed to abandon their village in three days and become a nomadic tribe.)

The two geniuses burst into uproarious laughter and decided to leave it exactly as it was. An additional order of stomach medicine was placed.