Chapter 65: Dedicated to a Moment Part 12

"Emul-san is seriously cool, desu wa. A perfect bunny combining wisdom, prettiness, and strength, desu wa."

It was clearly a half-hearted compliment, but with Emul—who had turned into a slime-rabbit—perched atop my head, I proceeded through the Rabbit Palace.

"Hey, Choro-Emul-san. Come on, wake up, wake up. We're going to see your dad."

"Fwehehe... Hah!"

I set down Emul, who had returned to her senses, and entered the large room where Vysache was waiting.

"Oh, it's you."

"Osu. Tonight is finally the night, so I came to offer a brief greeting."

This kind of small consideration is the basics of gal games; a single choice could determine a route split, after all. Vysache nodded once at my visit and opened his mouth.

"I see... You've got a good look on your face... In that case, there's only one thing I can say to you."

"......"

"Don't forget your Vorpal Soul."

"Osu!"

If I asked, "What is a Vorpal Soul?" right here, I feel like I'd get beaten to death. No, that's a joke, but I somewhat understand the nuance, and that's probably enough.

"Well then, excuse me."

"Yeah. Give it your best."

I bowed to Vysache and left the room. Equipment check: OK. Communication: OK. Items: OK. Now... I've done mostly everything I should do. Is the only thing left to skip the event (sleep until night)? Log out and good night...

Sleep events are meant to be skipped! Skip!

Evening... or rather, it's already night. After waking up, I took a bath to refresh myself and prepared the final real-life preparations before the decisive battle. I pasted a paper saying "Critical Phase: No Visitors Until Tomorrow Morning" on my room door, and among the various things prepared, I cracked open the pull tab of the one with English labeling. It's a cheat technique not highly recommended for Full Dive VR, but consuming caffeine before playing increases in-game performance. In exchange, you feel more fatigue than usual, so it's a cheat that can't be overused, but if I don't use it now, when will I?

"Ufufuhehehe... Energy drink from 'Murica that I ordered just for today... It's harsher than the Japanese ones, but it kicks."

The caffeine power crushing the slight remaining drowsiness makes the corners of my mouth twist eerily. It's coming, it's coming! Caffeine is filling my entire body...! Furthermore, with vitamin supplements, nutritional cookies, and various other things stuffed in, energy charge is complete. In other words, the current me is a fighting game character with a MAX gauge; truly in peak condition. Time-wise, I need to meet up with OiKatzo soon.

"Now, to the world of the decisive battle... or something like that."

Login.

My self (Rakuro) is replaced by my self (Sunraku), and the me lying on the bed in reality wakes up from the bed in Rabituza. My body is light; right now, I feel like I could catch a fly buzzing in mid-air with my bare hands. It will probably take about thirty minutes for the caffeine to fully circulate through my body, so for now, I'll meet up with OiKatzo. Since a fierce battle is inevitable, Emul will stay in Rabituza, but she offered to see me off to Thirdrema, so I decided to take her up on her offer.

"Sunraku-san, Sunraku-san."

"Hmm?"

"I'll lend this to you, Sunraku-san, who is challenging Wethermon the Tombguard!"

Me and Emul transferred to a small space in a back alley of Thirdrema where players rarely visit. Before parting, Emul handed me a small necklace while saying that. Looking closely, what hung from it wasn't a jewel or a ring, but something like a fragment reinforced with a metal frame.

"This is my charm! Father brought it back as a souvenir a long time ago, and I had it made into a necklace!"

"Hmm... Well, even without this, we won't lose to Wethermon, though."

Emul looked like a "GONG!" sound effect should be playing in the background, so I smiled wryly and placed my hand on her head.

"But well, since the already hyper-invincible me is holding a charm, victory is certain. I'll accept it gratefully, and I'll make sure to walk back to return it."

"Y-Yes! Please do your best, desu wa!"

Receiving the encouragement from the hopping Emul, I gave a thumbs-up and ran from the back alley of Thirdrema toward the meeting place.

Fragment of Identification Necklace No effect. It is a remnant, a wreck, a fragment, and a shard. It is impossible to know who it proves or where it was used. But once, it certainly proved the existence of a certain person.

"Yo."

"Hey, Sunraku. How's the doping going?"

"That energy drink you recommended is crazy. That's not something to use often."

"Probably. I drink it occasionally because an American pro gamer recommended it to me, but it's not something I'd want to drink regularly."

We met up at the Cafe "Snake's Apple" and headed for the Prismatic Forest Grotto, trying to avoid public attention as much as possible. It seems OiKatzo is also in peak condition; not too tense, not too relaxed... Well, he's not the type to let his hands shake from nerves anyway. The guts of a pro gamer who plays under thousands of gazes wouldn't be that timid. Although I think the chances of being discovered are low, we entered the hidden area "Secret Garden" while paying attention to our surroundings.

"Ah, right. A new bug technique was found in Benpi. If you sandwich a Guard Cancel, you can Pile Bunker a Gauge Move."

"Eh, seriously!?"

"Seriously serious."

"Guard Cancel, huh... I hadn't thought of that. Or rather, why does it derive from a Guard Cancel...?"

He's saying the exact same thing as me. Since we had nothing to do, we sat down in the flower field and chatted, but the moment a crack ran through the middle of the Red Spider Lily field, we tightened our expressions and stood up.

"......This is it, right?"

"On the night of the New Moon, a tear appears in the barrier... was it? So it feels like this. How should I put it... bu..."

"Don't say something stupid like 'It looks like a bug caused object collapse,' okay?"

"......Id-Idiot, there's no way I'd make such a lame joke at this juncture... desu wa?"

"Your eyes are swimming, Shitty Gamer."

Setting that aside, all that's left is to wait for the organizer, Pencilgon. As we gazed at the crack generated in space, the sound of running footsteps came from the direction of the cave.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!"

"From the looks of it..."

"Man, it took more effort to slip away than I expected. I didn't think the Attack Holder (Max Firepower) would unleash an opening nuke."

How pitiful... Although I don't have a very good impression of the Ashura-kai, they must be in a terrible state right now. Pencilgon downed a liquid that looked like a potion in one gulp, then turned her gaze to me and OiKatzo once more.

"We only have one chance. If we fail... well, getting mobbed by the Ashura-kai is a certainty."

"Throw thoughts of failure into the gutter."

"Exactly. We're here to win against such a grand opponent as Wethermon the Tombguard. In that case, there's only one thing to say, right?"

We looked at each other, flashed fearless smiles, and bumped fists.

"Then, as the organizer, let me take the lead............ Let's go beat that Robo-Samurai Bastard!"

" "Osu!" "

Releasing our fists, we accepted the party invite that flew from Pencilgon at the same time. Once again a three-person team, we dove into the tear in space formed in the center of the garden. OiKatzo jumped in, I jumped in, and finally Pencilgon.

And the world inverted.........!

Sunraku jumped in, and when it was Pencilgon's turn to jump, she looked up at the withered... yes, the cherry blossom tree. Under the setting where the light of the full moon reveals her form, one cannot find her figure on this day of the New Moon. But that is only a matter of appearance.

"Set-chan... No, Setsuna."

Her existence is certainly present in this place. Bound by the pure feelings of her lover, she continued to wait in this place even after death. You could call it a coincidence. It's just that her own real name and the game NPC's name were antonyms; that's all there is to it. But... No, because of that, Pencilgon—Amane Towa—decided to seriously immerse herself in the game.

"Your wish... No, we will grant it."

The withered tree merely swayed its branches slightly in the night wind. But for an instant, Pencilgon saw the figure of a woman there. Then, smiling, Pencilgon herself dove into the field of the decisive battle where her comrades had gone.

They were severely exhausted. A sudden raid on a base that had never been discovered by anyone until now. And a surprise attack by a player alliance of four clans—"Black Wolves," "In-Tiger," "10 PM Army," and "Tempura Knights"—something not even seen in raid boss battles, brought massive chaos to the PK Clan Ashura-kai. No, normally they would have been able to defend to some extent... if not for that person.

"Damn it... Damn it...! How is that anything but a skill combo you'd use against a Raid Boss...!"

"Golems"—one of the few monsters players can command, craftable under specific conditions. A player who annihilated (.....) ten of those level 70 equivalents in a single blow... Psyger-0. The Ashura-kai, shown vividly that the title of Attack Holder was not merely due to being carried, collapsed completely. Although the Clan Master and a few members barely managed to escape, most members were taken down by the PKKs... that is, the raiders.

"O-Orcelott-san... what should we do?"

"...For now, retreat to the Secret Garden. Only we know about that place. It's frustrating, but we have no choice but to hide there until morning."

Fleeing into large-scale maps like Thirdrema is an option, but since they don't know where the raiding clans have eyes, there is no place safer than a hidden area where they can completely escape those gazes.

Repeating teleports and travel, Ashura-kai Clan Master Orcelott thought while heading to the Secret Garden.

(Why were we exposed? Where did the information leak from...?)

The location Ashura-kai used as a base was the hidden area "Glorious Shipwreck Glory Ellis" in the 15th town, Fifticia. How did they find a safe zone that even information brokers couldn't know about? The highest possibility is, naturally, a traitor. The image of a single woman came to Orcelott's mind, but she also had a look of astonishment at the raid.

(...Wait a minute.)

Words began to connect within Orcelott. What day is it today? Update implementation day? No. Today is the New Moon, the day when the challenge to the Unique Monster, Ashura-kai's greatest secret, is possible. Where did Pencilgon go? According to the survivors, she ran somewhere the moment the raiders flooded in. The person known as Pencilgon is, frustratingly, superior to himself. In that case, she must naturally understand that the hidden area known only to Ashura-kai is a safe place. If so, then, could it be, no way, it can't be.

The hypothesis was reinforced and began to emit reality. The speed of his legs increased, and before he knew it, he was running at full speed toward the Secret Garden, ignoring even the voices of his clan members.

"Wha, a...............?"

The Secret Garden presented a fantastical scene even to Orcelott... a scene as usual. But the person who should have been there did not exist, and even the entrance (.......) that should have been there did not exist.

"Ah, ga........."

Because he knew Arthur Pencilgon... knew Amane Towa better than anyone, Orcelott arrived at the worst prediction. He arrived at the truth. Whether lie or truth, "I once had all players under my control in a certain game"... he hallucinated the figure of his own biological sister (....) bragging about such things—a mockery that looked as if she were eating people, the complete opposite of her business smile in magazines.

"Sh-She did it..."

"Orcelott-san?"

Just for this single moment.

Just to prevent Orcelott and the others from challenging Wethermon the Tombguard tonight.

Arthur Pencilgon sold out the Ashura-kai.

Having arrived at the exact correct answer, Orcelott... Amane Kuon unintentionally forgot even game manners and screamed.

"THAT SHITTY BIG SISSTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRR!!!!!"

Author's Notes & Lore

• Correction Report: I received a lot of information that "Japanese paper (Washi) is stronger than regular paper," so I changed the description from "Washi Armor" to "Tissue Armor." In my mind, the durability of Washi and tissues were equal. I wonder why...?
• Orcelott (Orusurotto): The plan: "Let's modify the name of the strongest Knight of the Round Table (Lancelot) to make it Orcelott!"
  • The Reality: His sister was playing with a name based on King Arthur.
• Heroine-chan's Enthusiasm: The reason Psyger-0 was so hyped up was:
  • "Couldn't play with the protagonist because of the update" × "Remembered the incident in Thirdrema" × "It's a PK clan targeting the protagonist, so no need to hold back, right?" = Opening Nuke meant for Raid Bosses.

Translator's Remarks

• Choro-Emul: "Choro" comes from "choroi" (easy/simple). Sunraku calls her this because she's easy to manipulate or tease.