Chapter 83: Errands, Training, and Conquest

"Hmm... I haven't reached 'Ancient Craftsman' yet, so fixing this thing's impossible for me, see?"

"I see... Then I have no choice but to ask Vash-aniki?"

"Fool!"

"Fire tongs!?"

A metal rod to the shin is bad...! Bad...! Even Benkei would cry!?

As I clutched my shin and writhed in agony, Bilac, radiating anger with her entire body, slapped my head repeatedly. Emul nonchalantly evacuated from my head.

"Don't rely on Dad for everything! Dad ain't got time to be dealin' with ya all the time!"

"Eh, ah, sorry."

Vash is pretty much a random encounter too. He's not always in the Rabbit Palace, and since Bilac scolded me, it would be difficult to rely on Vash to repair this immediately. My intuition for sniffing out landmines (flags), honed by trash games, tells me my affection rating will drop, and it's right about 80% of the time.

"Now then, what to do..."

"What will you do, desu wa?"

"Hmm, I could resume conquest for the first time in a while."

What should I do? For now, I'll go to the Skill Gardener to organize my skills and allocate the massive amount of points I've earned.

Name: Sunraku
Level: 78
Job: Mercenary (Dual Wielder)
Money: 4000 Mani
HP: 40
MP: 50
STM: 100
STR: 70
DEX: 70
AGI: 90
TEC: 65
VIT: 2
LUC: 104

Skills:

• Infinite Slash
• Growing Pierce
• Infight Lv.MAX
• Drift Step
• Momentary Sight
• Hand of Fortune Lv.6
• Great of Climb
• Climax Boost Lv.9
• Six-Boat Jump
• Ricochet Step Lv.1
• Hate Trample Lv.1
• Moon Jumper
• Lone Wolf [Transient]
• Off-Road Lv.2
• Vorpal Blade Arts [Water Mirror Moon] Third Form
• Ignition Lv.1
• Overheat Lv.1
• Nitrogain Lv.1
• Duelism

Equipment:

• Right: Togetsu [Waxing]
• Left: Togetsu [Waning]
• Head: Gazing Bird Mask (VIT+1)
• Torso: Lycaon's Curse
• Waist: None
• Legs: Lycaon's Curse
• Accessories: Inventory Key: Inventoria

Splendid. Stamina and Luck have finally reached the triple-digit milestone. Considering I'll be using Inventoria in the future, I tweaked MP and other values, but I can now undoubtedly be called a Luck Warrior. Senior VIT remains at a dignified single digit. I feel respect for its guts to maintain a single digit even though it looks like a stat that could easily reach four digits if reinforced with equipment. Well, I'm the one who did it.

"Would you like some Skill Secret Books to go with that~?"

"When I save up money."

"Puu."

Don't "Puu" me. This rabbit tries to sell me something at every opportunity.

I decided not to mess with my skills much this time. The only interesting thing was mixing Oppression Kick and Assassin Pierce to create a rather intriguing skill called Hate Trample. Being able to gather massive aggro if used on a flinching opponent is quite excellent from a hate management perspective. Gaining opposite hate manipulation skills like Vorpal Blade Arts [Water Mirror Moon] and Hate Trample is appreciated.

I'll raise the new skills while verifying their effects... Hmm?

"Raise... Training... Right. If I don't have it, I can gather it, obtain it, or raise it."

That's right. If I can't rely on Vash, currently the only one I can rely on is Bilac. Bilac only has the job "Master Craftsman," and without the job skills of an "Ancient Craftsman," she can't repair the Ether Reactor.

But Bilac has mentioned several times that she is still in training. In other words, Bilac is not an NPC fixed as a "Master Craftsman" character; there might be a possibility for her to grow if conditions are met.

"Emul, the schedule is decided."

"What are we going to do, desu wa?"

"I name it: 'Bilac Training Plan'...!"

"So, let's go get the 'Ancient Craftsman' Job."

"What do ya mean 'so'..."

If someone I just scolded started saying "Let's go get it if we don't have it!" with high spirits, I'd probably make the same face Bilac is making now. Shouldering a giant hammer and wiping soot from her cheeks (though it's hard to tell with black fur), Bilac looks exasperated at my words.

"Muu... If ya can't rely on Dad, makin' me an Ancient Craftsman... makes sense, but..."

"I'm not telling you to become a Divine Craftsman, but it's a path you have to take eventually, right?"

"Uumu..."

Bilac ponders while twirling a hammer as large as a short sword used by humans. Unlike Emul or Elk, who are about the same size or slightly larger than real rabbits, Bilac is half my height, so when she swings it, it looks like she's swinging a greatsword.

"...Umu, alright then. I'll ride yer plan."

"Good, truly good."

The fact that Bilac accepted, and the fact that the NPC Bilac has aptitude for "Ancient Craftsman," are both good.

"Since ya don't know anyway, I'll give the orders. Emul, bring the map."

"Y-Yes sir!"

A few minutes later, Bilac received a scroll from Emul—not a magic medium, but a scroll in the general sense—and spread it out on the anvil.

"Listen up. To become an 'Ancient Craftsman', ya need two things."

"Which are?"

"First is a legacy of the Divine Age... a 'Legacy Weapon (Kii-sou)'. For a job dealing with weapons, ya can't forge iron with desk theories."

Fumu fumu.

"And one more thing. According to Dad... somethin' called a 'Ma-ryoku-un-yoon-yu-nitto' is needed."

Bilac solemnly chanted the name of the necessary item, but... something sticks. Ma-ryoku-un-yoon-yu-nitto?

Ma-ryoku... un-yoo... yu-nitto... Magic Power, Operation, Unit...

"...Could that be, perhaps, 'Magic Power Operation Unit' (Maryoku Unyou Unit)?"

"........................Might be called that too."

No, it's definitely only called that. What the hell is Maryoku? A sister city of New York?

"A-Anyway! To become an 'Ancient Craftsman', ya need a 'Working Legacy Weapon' and a 'Magic Power Operation Unit'!"

"Working Legacy Weapon? Is this okay?"

Thud. On the map spread out on the anvil, a "Non-Standard Weapon: Tachi Type [Harbinger]," randomly selected from the storage space of Inventory Key: Inventoria, materializes. It's dark and dull, perhaps because energy isn't running through it, but its blue blade, though slightly different, is undoubtedly the same type of armament Wethermon used.

"Nn—... Nn? Nnn...?? Nnnn!? Nnnnna!?"

Amazing, a wondrous quintuple-take. Lightly touching [Harbinger] with trembling fluffy hands, Bilac seemingly understood it wasn't a hallucination but the real thing.

"W-Wa-Warya, th-th-th, this..."

"Got it when I defeated Wethermon. I don't know if this counts as a Legacy Weapon, and it won't work unless I repair the Ether Reactor I showed you earlier..."

"...Ya need a workin' Legacy Weapon to become an 'Ancient Craftsman' to know the techniques of the Divine Age. Workin' means 'parts remain enough to understand the mechanism'. With this nearly brand-new thing, I got no complaints!"

"I-Is that so..."

Feeling a sense of déjà vu from Bilac, who looked like she might start hopping around any moment, I returned [Harbinger] to Inventoria.

"If I dismantle it, I need their approval..."

After forming the clan, I verified a few things. The storage space of this Inventoria is "shared." At least all the Inventorias obtained in that Wethermon fight connect to the same storage space. In other words, very annoyingly, the items that were in Inventoria from the start belong to me, OiKatzo, and Pencilgon—all three of us.

Taking it out for personal use is probably fine, but selling or destroying it is a troublesome system requiring approval not just from me but the other two as well.

"Umumu... Th-The problem is the other one. According to Dad, the Magic Power Operation Unit is here... in the 'Ruins of Past Glory' (Kyoei no Zangai-idou)."

"Ruins of Past Glory..."

That name is one I cannot ignore, regardless of the Bilac Training Plan. No, strictly speaking, I have business in the next area, but either way, I needed to conquer this area.

Unique Scenario EX "Epic of Vorpal Bunny." The fetch quest imposed by Weissash to proceed to the next stage.

• Receiver Delta (Δ)
• Coordinate Device Delta (Δ)
• Transmitter Delta (Δ)

When I was told to gather these items and asked where they were, the answer was "Barren Darkruin" (Mukarakuyo no Kojogai)... In map terms, it is one of the four areas connecting to the 15th town "Fifticia," which was the forefront base of conquest until the update... It is an area challenged from "Eleventar," the town beyond "Ruins of Past Glory."

"What karma, a direct route from Fourfolkshire."

Checking the map again—detailed more than the one I saw in Thirdrema, perhaps made by Vorpal Bunnies—I planned my moves including immediate and future objectives.

"Though it's just going straight from Fourfolkshire."

It's not that I'm uninterested in other areas, but if I'm taking the shortest route for my objective, the next area to conquer to reach the destination is the area following Fourfolkshire... "Canyon of Ancient Souls" (Oukoraikon no Keikoku).

"But the problem is how to get through Fourfolkshire with two rabbits..."

I don't really feel like running through town in a white hood, and apparently, not all talking Vorpal Bunnies can use that transformation magic.

"Do the Muffler Jutsu again, desu wa?"

"Guess I'll do the Fur Coat Jutsu for the first time in a while..."

Et tu, Brute?

Author's Afterword:
Hmm, I want to include a map description somewhere, but the text would get unnecessarily long, so maybe I should just make it an illustration...