Chapter 56: Dedicated to a Moment, Part 4

Do you know what a bard is? In fantasy works, they're usually the ones singing heroic tales in taverns with an instrument in hand. Sometimes they appear as a player job—a magic class that specializes in buffs and such—but what's important here is the setting aspect. When telling a story to someone like that, the important point is, "How much should I embellish the truth?" If you inflate it excessively, it will burst and fall apart. Therefore, discerning the boundary between "No, that's obviously impossible" and "Impossible... no, but maybe a hero could do it" is crucial for expanding the story.

Therefore, if I am to tell Vash something in this situation, it must be based on the truth but made more dramatic, more romantic, and more dynamic. And I have one strength: Vash is an NPC, and a not widely known Unique NPC at that. In other words, there is no problem if I leak Pencilgon's plan.

"...I'm not challenging it because I'm certain I can 'win,' Aniki."

"Hoh?"

"As I said before, I am merely a sub... a support. The main force is an acquaintance of mine."

First, explain my own position. Show that challenging Tombguard Wethermon is not for self-interest but to assist a friend.

"Do you know what state Tombguard Wethermon is in right now, Aniki?"

"No? It's been quite a while since I met him."

"Right now, he is being treated conveniently as a tool... to train a group of murderers."

I wasn't sure if "PK" would get across, so I used a different metaphor, but maybe that was a bit too harsh? No, but there's no other way to describe it... Ah, maybe I should have said "ruffians."

"The initiator of this raid is one of those ruffians... but she intends to seriously defeat Tombguard Wethermon. She is doing everything in her power for that purpose."

Otherwise, neither I nor ModoruKatzo would have gone along with the plan. At the very least, the "Plan Document" handed to us by her, which is now on my portable terminal as a text file, was not something made as a joke or a meme. If this turns out to be a grand prank, I'm cutting ties with her.

"Even doing everything possible, the winning rate is... well, at best forty percent. No, maybe thirty percent."

"Isn't that what they call reckless? I don't recall ever calling 'going to your death' the Vorpal Soul."

"You are absolutely right. However, my friend... no, neither I nor the other person intends to lose."

This is the climax. Make the performance dramatic, the words romantic. Stretch the explanation, which could be summed up in the single word "Challenge," as thin as possible and decorate it with toppings (presentation) like a pizza.

"Both I and the other person... are lending our strength to her spirit of wanting to win. Even if we die, we just return to our beds, but that's not the point. The opportunity is once only. I believe it is a matter of honor (Jingi) to lend a hand to that guy who declared that, win or lose, this is the end."

"I see... If you bring up honor, I'm weak to that too."

It's heeeeere! This is a good flow!

"But the fact remains that you are weak. What about... that part?"

"Two weeks. That is the grace period until we challenge Tombguard Wethermon. Both I and the other collaborator are still greenhorns, mere scraps of wood... but we will make it in time. We will turn the insolent recklessness of greenhorns... into the courage of challengers facing the strong."

Personally, it's a passing grade for roleplay, but how about the result...? In extreme terms, I don't really need Vash's permission, but to achieve both raising affection with Rabituza and challenging Wethermon, I must trigger a success flag here. The only bottleneck is that Vash's background—specifically why he is suspiciously close to Unique Monsters—isn't fully clear. In my mind, it's almost certain he's one of the unrevealed ones, but if he has some sense of camaraderie with them, I might be checkmated. In that case, I'd have no choice but to spam the Dogeza command, or at worst, the Seppuku command?

"......I understand your point."

"!"

"When I heard the story, I thought you might have misunderstood the Vorpal Soul... but the Vorpal Soul inside you hasn't dulled. Your resolve... we have certainly witnessed it."

Inside my heart, "Inner Me" is on standby with a decorative kusudama ball and party poppers. Is it coming? Is it coming...?

"There is also my cute daughter's request. We will lend you a little bit of help too."

Pan-paka-paaan! The kusudama split open, revealing a banner that read "Congrats! Good Communication!", and party poppers echoed amidst the confetti. Alright, did you see that, Faeria!? Unlike you, who required tributes of food or money just to raise affection, a God Game understands if you just talk properly! Did you get that!?

"Thank you very much, Aniki!"

I feel like I'm forgetting something, but for now, let's bask in the afterglow of succeeding in Good Communication & the Assistance Flag. Vash stood up and started walking somewhere with heavy steps. He motioned with his hand... ah, follow him?

"That guy, you see, is a clumsy one."

That guy...? Ah, Wethermon. If I can get information about him from a lore perspective, that's huge. Keys to solving gimmicks are often hidden in conversations that aren't direct walkthrough info. I braced myself and listened closely to words that seemed like Vash's monologue.

"Because of a clumsy lie, he lost his wife. And because he's damn serious and doesn't know how to hold back, he's standing in that place even now, in a body that can't die even if he wants to."

Can't die even if he wants to... is the possibility an Undead? "He died but isn't dead" might be more accurate, but neither meaning would be wrong.

"When we met, he was still upright, but now he's a living corpse moving only on a clumsy oath..."

"...Even so, I will challenge him, you know?"

"Oh, go do it. He can no longer fall down on his own. So someone has to smack him down and lay him to rest... We decided not to interfere with them, but if you say you're going to do it, I won't stop you."

"......"

So Vash won't interfere with other Uniques. Regardless of their individual settings, maybe there's a mutual non-aggression pact or something? That said, since he's helping me when I say I'll defeat Tombguard Wethermon, it doesn't seem like he's completely uninvolved... Hmm, at times like this, I wish I had an acquaintance who was a Lore Theorist. Both Katzo and Pencilgon are hardcore gameplay types, after all.

"Oh, we're here. How long has it been since I used this place... Oh, oh, it's properly cleaned, isn't it?"

"Well, if I left the cleaning to Dad, the furnace would be clogged with dust and left alone."

"Oh, Bilac."

"Bi-nechan!"

We arrived at a small... smithy? Compared to the smithy of the old man who made the Swamp Daggers in Secondil, or the smithy in Thirdrema where I only got weapons repaired, how should I put it... I feel an indescribable sense of wrongness, but anyway, there's a furnace, an anvil, a hammer... this is definitely a smithy. And judging by the reactions of Vash and Emul, a black rabbit named Bilac—Vash's daughter and Emul's older sister—welcomed the two rabbits and one human at the smithy. wait, Bilac, Emul, Peeps... does Vash have children from A to Z...? That's a bigger family than I thought. Vorpal Bunnies are amazing.

(Actually, does that mean they all have different sentence endings or accents...?)

Suppressing the urge to voice that thought, I made eye contact with the black rabbit, who was larger than Emul but smaller than Vash.

"You the Sunraku that Dad and Emul were talkin' 'bout? ...I see. You got eyes like Yves."

Stop! Don't introduce any more new names! At least let me take notes! Or let me make a wiki! Uh, B, E, P... Yves... my head is starting to hurt.

"Bilac, we're doing True Awakening (Shinka)."

"! ...Dad's gonna hold the hammer after so long?"

"Yeah. Since he said he's challenging that 'Failed-to-Die,' we gotta do it."

"Heh... Wait a bit. I'll light the furnace now."

Leaving Bilac, who started working on something, aside, Vash turned back to me.

"Oh, bring out the Vorpal Weapons."

"Eh, ah, both of them?"

"Yeah."

As told, I took the Vorpal Choppers out of my inventory. Vash received them and stared intently at the Vorpal Choppers as if examining something.

"Oh, oh... You've been properly recognized by the weapons, haven't you? With this, it'll work. Oh, do you have any materials on hand... materials from a guy you struggled to defeat?"

What immediately came to mind was the Black Wolf that bit off my legs and then forced a nasty curse on me. But I wouldn't call that a "struggle"; at best it was a "good fight"... or rather, a futile resistance. Next, if we're talking about monsters I struggled with, the Mud Dig comes to mind, but unfortunately, I sold the Mud Dig's material, the "Diving Mud Dorsal Fin," to raise money when buying the [Festa Meje Caffieh]. If that's the case... there is no other material than that of the guy who, despite being 99% near death, never ran away until the end and came at me with the serious intent to defeat me.

"Whether it was a struggle... is subtle, but if you want materials from a strong enemy..."

"Hmph... Quad Beetle's shell (Gawa), huh? Not bad."

I took the Quad Beetle's Heavy Shell from my item list and handed it to Vash. Even in item form, it should have considerable weight, but Vash held it lightly as if holding a kickboard. I chose the shell instead of the horn or jaw because when I fought it, I felt the most troublesome aspect was its stupidly high hardness and the charging attacks that utilized it.

"Bilac, how's the furnace?"

"It's gettin' warm, gonna take a lil' more time."

"Then let's just finish the prep first."

Leaving Vash, who was lumbering around selecting various tools hanging on the wall, I turned around at the sensation of my belt being tugged. A black rabbit with a fearless smile very similar to Vash's spoke to me.

"You're a lucky guy. Dad hasn't held a hammer in years."

"Is that so? Uh... Bilac, was it?"

"Nn. Big Bro inherited the Rabbit King? or whatever title, so I inherited Dad's Smithing."

Smithing? Apparently, it showed on my face, because Emul, who had climbed onto my head at some point, explained while patting my forehead.

"Come to think of it, Sunraku-san doesn't know, desu wa! Father... ahem! The Boss is a Blacksmith, desu wa!"

"And not just any Blacksmith. A 'Master Craftsman' (Meishou), a title allowed only to those who have mastered smithing; and an 'Ancient Craftsman' (Koshou), who forges lost weapons of the Age of Gods... The one who has mastered both is a 'Divine Craftsman' (Shinshou). That's our Dad."

Bilac and Emul's eyes sparkled. And where I looked, in front of the furnace where the fire had turned into a blaze, Vash let the sound of his hammer ring out.

Author's Notes:

The Job "Divine Craftsman" is a Hidden Job that players can acquire, but the acquisition conditions are insanely troublesome (not Unique).

• • Step 1: Take the Job "Blacksmith" and class change to the highest tier job, "Master Craftsman."
  • Step 2: Take the Job "Archaeologist" as a sub-job. With "Main Job as Blacksmith or its advanced tier," obtain a specific item to class change to the Hidden Job "Ancient Craftsman."
  • Step 3: Clear an event that occurs only after acquiring both jobs to finally acquire the Hidden Job "Divine Craftsman."

To summarize very simply: "It requires hardcore-level effort just for a production job," and "It's a path of thorns so insanely troublesome it puts end-game content to shame, but if you achieve it, you are guaranteed to be a winner."

Translator's Remarks:

Bilac: Speaks in a Hiroshima dialect (or a "fake" version of it, per the author).