Chapter 297: The Half-Naked Daddy Long Legs (Bird-Head)

Silent, yet striking a full-body guts pose. The gender-bend effect wore off and I reverted back to a guy, but right now I couldn't care less. Honestly, my avatar's gender is a secondary concern.

Emul was looking at me with half-closed eyes as if asking 'what the hell is this guy doing,' but I didn't care. The Love Clock (Dating Sim Experience) I had sprinted through while trembling in fear of the pizza's shadow had finally surpassed the barriers of both language and AI!

"I'm not even afraid of Faer-kuso anymore..."

No, actually she's still terrifying. I mean, that girl will literally massacre characters with high affection ratings alongside enemies in the previous chapter, you know? And characters who get into a good mood with the protagonist are targeted with priority...
Even if she tearfully apologizes, the moment the event scene ends, she'll just spout some bullshit like, "There's no point in continuously moping around, it's just stupid!" Seriously, what kind of life do you have to live to come up with dialogue like that? Is her head broken or what?

"Alright Emul, let's go wake up a stupid, spaced-out rabbit."

"Yes, desu wa!"

And so, we triumphantly stormed into her workshop, but what we witnessed there was an utterly changed Bilac...

"Uhehehehe......"

"B-Bilac-oneechan...?"

"Byaー."

"T-This girl, she's actually smashing a carrot with a hammer..."

Wait, is she making a paste?
The sight of her absentmindedly and relentlessly smashing a carrot placed on her anvil was so bizarre I genuinely worried she might have suffered a mental breakdown.

"Is it safe to talk to her? Is there any chance her automatic defensive instincts etched into her flesh will make her attack us?"

"I really wish you would stop treating my Onee-chan like a Golem, desu wa..."

No, but look at her, she's completely acting like an AI running on a simple program. Honestly, I'm kinda curious how long she'll keep up that work if we just leave her alone... Ah, she just ate the carrot paste. I see, so she's got her nutritional supply perfectly sorted...

"What's thiiiis?"

"Nna...? What is it, war..."

Gozun! (The sound of the hammer slamming straight into Bilac's hand).

"YaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAA!!?!!?!!"

"Nbuh!"

"Nhyuh!"

I really want someone to praise the rationality Emul and I displayed by not bursting into full-blown laughter.
Looking down at Bilac—who was writhing in agony while leaking an incredibly indescribable voice—I tightly gripped the Areadbhair I had pulled out to show her, desperately holding back my laughter.
I know damn well that if I laugh here, my shins or knees are getting violently smashed with a hammer...!

"Are you ok-buhuh—"

.........

".........Wait, let's talk about this Bilac. A full swing is a bad idea. Seriously, a full swing is a bad idea."

"Die and expose yer corpse, ya bastard!"

"Oggu!?"

Seventy percent of my HP got shaved off.

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

.........

......

"If Pops entrusted this to me, I'm absolutely gonna revive this sword...!"

Receiving the Areadbhair—now lit with flames thanks to that mysterious butterfly—Bilac made that declaration while displaying a fiery spirit that rivaled the crimson flames peeking out from the decayed blade, much like when I used Scorched Bone and Crushing Flesh.

"What else do you need?"

"Nnn... I've got the 'Fire'. Next is a 'Furnace'... Yeah, I need a proper Furnace."

A furnace? I shot a glance at the furnace inside Bilac's workshop. There was some clearly futuristic-looking equipment placed nearby, but I ignored it. Considering she might end up becoming the creator of the Brilliant Scorpion Gauntlets (Gilta Brille) and the Mirror Shield of the Nether-King (Dis Pater), maybe I should be bowing to her instead?

"I may just be a humble master smith, but the moment I saw this sword, I understood... This Blade (Tsurugi) is flame itself."

"Fire attribute?"

"Well, yer not exactly wrong, but............ No, that ain't it. This sword is 'Flame' incarnate."

Grand, exaggerated metaphors are the privilege of fantasy, after all...
Regardless, judging by Bilac's attitude, she wasn't hiding anything. It seemed this weapon known as Areadbhair wasn't just a simple fire-attribute weapon.

"This sword... No, it originally seems to have been a spear, but it formed a 'Sword' by usin' 'Flame' as its core. To restore its power... my current furnace ain't gonna be nearly enough."

"I see... So what do you need?"

Fumu fumu, I see, you need high-quality ores by the dozens? I see...

Temporarily AFK

Run, hide, mine, and then die.

And then back to my seat.

"Here, is this enough?"

"Hey Emul, were the materials I asked for the kinda thing ya can just 'go and quickly grab' like this...?"

"Onee-chan, 'The golden scales are unwavering against the waves of time,' desu wa."

Wondering what the hell she was talking about, I asked for details, and apparently it meant, "It is foolish to worry about the scales of Siegwurm weathering away, no matter how much time passes." It's strange how these proverbs that don't exist in the real world manage to pique my inter... Hey wait, are you basically trying to say, "Everything I do is completely unhinged anyway, so worrying about it is a waste of time"? Eh?

"Emul, we're doing the Aspiring Blades of the Hero (Duxram) Experience Event later."

"Wait... Are you going to throw me, desu wa? You're going to throw me, aren't you!?"

"It won't be a parabola. It'll be a straight line."

"A straight line!?"

It's convenient, therefore it gets overworked. Today, just like any other day, Duxram-kun is going to have to work hard for me.
Honestly, the fact that its durability doesn't decrease as long as I don't miss a critical hit means it might be even more convenient than the Isana Togetsu in some ways... Well, it lacks any real offensive abilities, so from an attacker's perspective, it's probably the tamest weapon in my entire arsenal.

"...Well, whatever. It's gonna take time to upgrade the furnace too, so yer gonna have to wait about two weeks."

"Got it. Ah, and separately from that, I need you to upgrade this and this too..."

Also, while I'm at it, I should probably restart the Emul Enhancement Project as an apology. Let's go Emul, I'm sparing no expense!

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

.........

......

That's right, I am a man who spares no expense. In real life, I'm definitely a petty citizen whose only choice is to stash everything in savings, but in games, whether it's hundreds of millions, I'm the kind of guy who splurges it all when the time comes!

After deciding to delay my trip to Firstia until a later date, I visited a certain trading company in Fifticia.
It was a connection secured using the influence of a certain someone in the clan I belonged to, but if I just showed them a little bit of my "Wealth," even a half-naked bird-head would get VIP treatment.

"Well if it isn't Sunraku-sama. To think you'd visit at such a late hour..."

"We Pioneers lead a nocturnal lifestyle, after all... Is that guy here?"

"If I inform him that Sunraku-sama has called for him, I am certain he will come here immediately."

"I see, please call for him then... May I wait here?"

"Of course. Sunraku-sama is a valued VIP of our Golden Scale Merchant Guild, after all."

A short while later, inside a room in the trading company... apparently a room "rivaling even the VIP rooms of the Royal Castle." While I was feeding carrots to my Muffler, there was a knock on the door.

"Sunraku-sama, I have brought him."

"Please, let him in."

"Sunraku-san, the discrepancy between your appearance and your actions is hilarious, desu wa... Pugyuh!"

Mufflers don't talk, you know? Hmm? Just stay quiet for a bit, alright?
Opening the door and entering the room was a very exhausted-looking Young Man (NPC) wearing soot-stained clothes.
The young man, who was muscular but somehow couldn't shake a 'round' impression, timidly looked around the VIP room. But the moment his eyes landed on me, he frantically tried to bow... and then did a double-take.

"Eh, why are you naked..."

"Please don't mind it, it's just the result of a little bit of history... You're Norman, correct?"

"Y-Yes............ Um, I heard from the people at the Golden Scale Merchant Guild that you might be willing to provide financing..."

Dozun! The heavy, high-quality desk placed in the VIP room shook. The young man... Norman's eyes widened at the item I had pulled out from my inventory.
Perhaps he hadn't even heard my words, the round-faced young man stumbled forward with the gait of a zombie, approaching the beautiful... and massive jewel placed on the desk.

After all, this was the exact item this young man had been seeking, even if it meant pouring massive amounts of financing into it. It was a jewel that could only be obtained by conquering the Crystal Nest Cliff, an area currently synonymous with absolute hell on this continent.

"A Lapisteria Star Crystal... This is what you've been looking for, isn't it?"

"A-Aaaah... To think it's this huge... Is this a joke...? Don't tell me, a First-Magnitude Star...!? Impossible, unless you're royalty... eh... eeh...?"

"May we continue our conversation?"

"Y-Yeess!"

Pencilgon-style negotiation tactics. In a negotiation, it's highly recommended to either hide your hand to the absolute limit, or aggressively flaunt it more than necessary.
By presenting max-level information right at the start, you seize the initiative of the situation and force the opponent to make concessions.
Feeling like a wealthy Daddy Long Legs exuding a mysterious "strong character" aura, I recalled a certain rumor I had overheard a while ago when I was negotiating with this trading company—dropping Pencilgon's name left and right—to somehow get access to the "Scale of Compensation"... I definitely want a piece of this action.

"Norman-kun, I am incredibly interested in what you're... yes, what you're building... I'd very much like to hear the details...!"

I am a man who spares no expense. I can throw down up to five billion! Fuhahahaha...!!

Author's Afterword
Lycaon's Scar (Intimidation +50)
Overwhelming Financial Power (Intimidation +20)
Trading Company VIP Treatment (Intimidation +10)
Overwhelmingly Half-Naked (Intimidation +80)
Bird-Head with Unnecessarily Intense Eyes (Intimidation +40)

"Let's get along, alright...? (Intimidation 200%)"

By the way, the Crystal Scorpions have an Intimidation level of about 300.