Chapter 364: The Hero, Though a Puppet, Takes the Center Stage

"Now then... the frontline base is right before our eyes, but let's formulate a strategy regarding our original objective here."

"The original...? Ah, ahー, yeah, I remember, I remember. Escorting the King and Princess, right? Yeah."

This guy totally forgot...

"So you really do have the brain of a bird to match that Tottori name? Actually, considering my usual self, I might be the real birdbrain here. What's wrong, Deep Slaughter? You can laugh, you know."

".........Hahaha."

I genuinely thought peeling off this bastard's facade was going to take some real effort, but just look at her face. Do you really think someone just acting or putting on a front could manage a smile that looked exactly like a battered wife helplessly reliant on her domestic abuser, all while looking like she just bit down on the world's bitterest bug after getting assaulted?

"That being said, Sunraku-san, you've certainly had quite a few different heads recently desu wa?"

I've recently been plotting to somehow get my hands on the horse head you get from the starting equipment. If I check around Firstia, there's a decent chance someone sold theirs and it's floating around... but going back there is a bit...
It's like I only have bad memories associated with that place, or maybe my body is just instinctively rejecting it. It's a feeling similar to hesitating to use a public bathroom stall again after seeing someone leave a massive floater unflushed in it the other day.

"Well whatever. As you remembered, the two of them... ahem, Their Highnesses are currently in a situation where their lives are being targeted by the Third Knight Order, the pawns of the usurper King."

And since "Scar-red"—or rather, the former "Scar"—and I completely ruined their greatest chance for an assassination, their only remaining options are to wait for the royals to die like dogs in the sea of trees, or target them the moment they return alive.

"My initial plan was to slip them in among the Forest-folks and bring them to the new Tri-Divinity Church on the New Continent, which is our ultimate goal... but since we're doing this, I figure we might as well do it far more directly and thoroughly."

"...Oh my, this is getting exciting... So, what exactly are we going to dooo?"

"You're the key to this, Tottori."

"Me!?"

"In a certain sense, you're the only one who can pull this off."

Yeah, if I had to name it... I'd call it "Operation: Mr. Hero."

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

"Ahー, ahー... Ahem. Hear ye, hear ye, everyone! His Majesty King Torvante and Her Highness First Princess Arfiliya have returned! Clear the path!!"

A booming, resonant voice that seemed to slice through the air echoed across the frontline base.
Wondering what in the world was going on, the Pioneers operating around the base... or in other words, the gamers playing ShanFro first thing in the morning, turned around. There, they laid eyes on a single player who seemed to be the source of the voice, and two NPCs standing right behind him.

Under normal circumstances, a scene like this might draw a little attention before people quickly lost interest. However, having just heard the system announcement regarding the subjugation of a Raid Monster mere moments ago, the players were currently in a state of heightened tension... To put it bluntly, their senses were incredibly sharp toward anything resembling a special event. Thus, they turned their entire bodies toward the sudden skit, silently watching the developments unfold.

"───Oh, Your Majesty, and Your Highness. We are overjoyed to see you safe."

And right at that moment. With timing so impeccable that several players looked around wondering where exactly they had even appeared from, dozens of knights... a knight order comprised entirely of NPCs without a single player among them, surrounded the King, the Princess, and the Woman in Magician's Attire accompanying them.

"My, if it isn't the renowned Virile Sword..."

"It's the Lethal Sword."

"...If it isn't Lord Julian of the Virile Sword."

The commander of the knights... Julian, who wore a sword that was explicitly Not the famous blade acting as his very moniker, had his temple twitch visibly. Yet, without breaking his smile for even a second, he stepped closer to the royal father and daughter, and the female magician accompanying them.

"You may state your name. Your achievement of safely escorting His Majesty will surely be rewarded at a later date."

Julian extended his hand, his gesture practically screaming "Now, hand them over to us." The knight order also directed a silent, heavy pressure entirely onto the female magician.
Knights protecting their King. It was an utterly standard situation, one that shouldn't evoke any sense of incongruity whatsoever. However, anyone aware of the Third Knight Order's true scheme would have easily noticed the glaring anomalies in this scenario.

For instance, the fact that the royals, despite having already been targeted for assassination once, showed absolutely zero signs of anxiety or fear in this situation.
For instance, the fact that the strangely dressed Pioneer who had originally saved the royals was nowhere to be seen.

Or above all else, the fact that the female magician confronting the knights... a player with the highly suggestive name of Deep Slaughter, had already taken a stance ready to initiate combat at a moment's notice against the very knight order that should theoretically have been their final destination for escorting the King.

The longer the bizarre silence stretched on, the more the surrounding players began to realize that "Something is wrong." However, despite noticing the anomaly, not a single person was willing to jump into the confrontation between the knights and the royals to confirm their suspicions.
After all, if this situation turned out to be completely "normal," any interloper from the crowd would simply be branded an "Annoying busybody"... That very fear held everyone back.

"Hey... Should we interrupt?"

"Nah, barging into a quest belonging to someone else when you aren't even in their party is a bit..."

And because of that, a bizarre double-encirclement formed: a ring of knights surrounding the King, entirely enclosed by a ring of Onlookers (Players) surrounding the knights. Everyone was frozen in place, desperately trying to gauge how the situation would unfold next.

"I'm going to have to ask you to wait right there!!"

In that case, the one capable of firing a single arrow into this suffocating tension would undoubtedly be hailed as a Hero.

"Who goes there!?"

Julian had been slowly but surely inching closer to Deep Slaughter and the King behind her. At the very edge of the toe of his extended right foot, a single arrow pierced the ground.
As Julian drew his blade and raised a sharp voice condemning the insolent scoundrel who would launch a surprise attack—an act entirely unworthy of chivalry—a single voice answered him.

"E-Erm... Base knight! If you don't wish to have your hands—which are stained with... villainy?—shot clean through, then back away!"

"...Show yourself!"

"Eh... But my surprise attack advantage... What? Come out? Okay, okay, I get it... Ah, Hesh, don't run away. Alright......... Very well!!"

Despite hearing some indistinct muttering, the perpetrator who fired the arrow agreed to Julian's demand and emerged from the sea of trees that harbored countless monstrosities.

"You bastard... Who are you? You appear to be a Pioneer, but... you do realize the consequences of drawing your bow against the Third Knight Order, don't you?"

"............Alright, I remember now... R-Ridiculous! To those who have become puppets of a usurper King and point their blades at the very royals they ought to serve... ah... what is wrong with drawing my bow against you!"

A sudden interloper. Aside from the unfamiliar slingshot equipped on his arm, it was a young man wearing the standard archer gear that any player who had reached the frontline base would easily recognize. He stepped forward slowly, delivering his speech with unnaturally disjointed pauses.

"My name is Tottori! Tottori the Shimane! E-... Kuh, I'm gonna curse you both for this... The name of the one who takes up his bow as the Hero of the Elves!!"

"Fuu-fuuu! Lookin' cooool, Mr. Herooo!!"

Although he glared at Deep Slaughter with enough intensity to shoot her dead for tossing in that brief heckle, Tottori immediately snapped his gaze back to the knight order, raised the slingshot on his arm, and floated a fearless smile.
And then, exactly as the Masterminds who orchestrated this situation had drilled into their puppet hero, the final spark to ignite the fuel was dropped.

"My apologies, but I have absolutely no intention of obeying a usurper King who plans to treat the demi-humans of the New Continent as slaves. And... that goes exactly the same for you lot, who plot to assassinate the King and First Princess to achieve that goal!!"

A commotion far greater than before rippled through the players. The sudden cascade of information Tottori had just dumped on them, and above all else... the NPCs emerging one after another from the sea of trees, possessing traits unmistakably different from players or the NPCs of the Old Continent.

"Y-You bastard... and those people, don't tell me...!"