Chapter 367: The Importance of Making an Appointment

I'm completely outnumbered, and even if I just slipped up, the location couldn't possibly be worse. I was just steeling my resolve, wondering if this was truly the end... but a helping hand was extended from a completely unexpected direction.

"Everyone, could I please ask you to listen to what I have to say?"

A voice that seemed to slip smoothly right into the ears of everyone present. It held such a mysterious power that it even stopped me dead in my tracks, right when I was on the brink of resorting to my absolute last resort of escaping via a suicide respawn.
And as if to silently declare that absolutely no one would be permitted to obstruct the path of the person who spoke, a group of knights in matching armor stepped forward.

One of them stared intensely at me for a brief moment, and another practically shook upon seeing my current attire... but well, that's just how it goes.

"My name is Iristella... And that person over there is someone who accepted my request. Therefore, would you be so kind as to let them go...?"

"Umu. While I have no interest in whatever disputes you Pioneers may have amongst yourselves... that person happens to be my savior, you see."

"Kuh, state authority..."

"I guess this is what you call good daily karma?"

"But Sunraku-kun hasn't even received divine punishment yet."

How dare you say that to me, the very incarnation of good morals and proper conduct. Just you wait until the moon isn't out.
That being said, with the Saint and the King—the two absolute highest peaks of authority—taking my side, the physical restraints holding me naturally loosened. Slipping out of the full-nelson, I flashed a smug, triumphant look at the fiends before urging Saint-chan to continue... Ah, wait, I'm wearing a veil so they can't even see my face.

Putting that aside, the situation progressed. Showcasing what you might call a true dedication to roleplay, the Saint Fanclub... I mean, the Shining Knights of the Holy Shield formed a perfectly synchronized perimeter. Guarded within it, Saint Iristella, brimming with an ephemeral fragility that made her seem utterly ill-suited for the "Outdoors," took a quiet, deep breath.

"...A Dragon Calamity is approaching."

Dragon Calamity? Like, a disaster caused by dragons?
Ignoring the sudden commotion spreading among the players, Saint-chan's words continued.

"The Red Cry (Dreadhowl)... The White Mad Love (Bryreinyego)... The Green Craftiness (Brockentried)... And the Black Tyranny (Noirlind) are... coming."

The moment 'that name' spilled from Saint-chan's lips, I felt a wave of absolute zero cold—no, a wave of pure, murderous intent—radiating from a little ways off, but I'll pretend I didn't notice. I definitely did not just see a carpenter with a completely pleasant smile resting her hand on a mace that looks like its stats are entirely allocated to lethal blunt trauma. Nope.

"And answering to them, the Gold... An unprecedented disaster is about to sweep across this New Continent..."

Well, essentially this is just a recap of the Unique Scenario. Oh, so it's just an NPC event... That kind of atmosphere began to drift through the crowd, but I knew better. I knew full well that the NPC known as Iristella, the Saint of Affection, was absolutely not the type of NPC to just deliver some half-assed announcement.

"We must stand united."

I don't know what kind of mechanics govern that NPC, but she possesses words that could be described as future prediction... no, more like a future forecast. If so, you could practically call this an "Oracle" or a "Prophecy."

"The beast-people fighting in a three-way deadlock... The bird-people yearning for the blue sky... The ore-people oppressed by the Red Dragon... The lizard-people who love freedom... The dragon-people subjugated by the Black Dragon... The Giant people who defy the dragons... The insect-people who possess power yet despise conflict... And even the tainted people rejected by all of the above."

"Wait, what about the Fish-people (Mermen)?"

The moment I accidentally muttered those words aloud, the gaze of the entire area instantly converged on me. Crap, I just leaked something that's gonna get me restrained again... No, wait, I'm pretty sure I already mentioned this to Library. Meaning, if I pin this on them, I can escape!

"With those we have yet to meet, and with our brethren both far and not-so-far, we must stand united... in order to resist the ruin that will ravage this world after the Dragon Calamity."

I see. In other words, what Her Holiness is actually saying is, "Stop screwing around in a place like this and hurry up with the continent's progression so you can prepare for the Unique Scenario EX, you worthless trash." But I'll refrain from pointing that out directly, since I have no idea what Josette would do to me if I did. Honestly, there's a terror there that surpasses the simple fear of getting PK'd...

"...Whoops?"

The gazes of the surrounding players are all focused entirely on Saint-chan, right? And because it's at that awkward early morning time where it's too late to log out and too early to log in, the player count here isn't actually that massive... I can do this. I'm escaping!

"........."

I carefully checked my surroundings. The two fiends are... completely glued to Saint-chan. Library's fake magical girl is deep in thought about something. The Black Sword members are... Alright, it's doable.

".............!"

Right as I was about to put power into my legs, my body froze. It was because I noticed a gaze staring Intently right at me, and there was absolutely no mistaking that it belonged to Deep Slaughter.
T-This bastard... She isn't even glancing at Saint-chan, she's perfectly locked onto me───!?

".........Fuhehe."

".........!?"

That bastard, she actually made a gesture covering her own eyes with her hand... Is she trying to say "I'll let you go just this once"!? What is she planning... I don't get it. You can't track someone's coordinates just by having them on your friend list. And since my main base is generally Rabituza, from their perspective, if they let me go here, there's no telling when they'll be able to secure me next.

Which is exactly why those fiends tried to capture me just to squeeze at least some information out of me. So I'd normally assume she wants some kind of return favor, but I haven't really needed anything from anyone recently... Well whatever, I'm booking it.

While maintaining a slight sense of caution toward the pervert who was hiding her eyes with her right hand, sticking her tongue out playfully from her distorted smile, and giving a little wave with her left, I casually brought the amber glove close to my chest in a natural arm-crossing motion.

"Saint-cha... Your Holiness! Where exactly might these brethren you speak of be located!?"

Three, two, one...

"Some of these races are... somewhere within this sea of treeeesss───"

"I just got invited by a Friend (Freedom), so I'm leaving the room now ^^"

"Ah, he ran!!"

Kuh, so you guys hadn't completely dropped your guard against me after all! But it's too late. Already cloaked in black lightning, I'm making my escape into the sea of trees at maximum speed!!

That being said, a pretty decent number of players had gathered toward the forest side when they surrounded me earlier, and the Forest-folks are in the way too. If so, even if it adds some distance, I'll sprint toward the port side first, pull a massive U-turn, and Then charge into the forest!

"What is that Speed...!?"

"Kuh, Sunraku's movements are as completely deranged as always...!"

"A black thing scuttling around at high speeds like that is literally just a cockroach."

I swear to god I'm going to smack the shit out of that Deep Slaughter bastard someday! But right now, strategic retreat is my only option. No matter what obstacles stand in my way, these legs will never st—!!

"Oh, my friend! My friend Sunraku! Come to think of it, it hasn't actually been that long in the past, yet it feels as though it has been quite a while!"

"Long time no see."

Aah!? (Body freezes due to an entrance that was entirely too unexpected)

Raah!? (Sprains ankle and loses balance from the recoil of coming to an abrupt halt)

"Babababababababaaah!!?"

Accessories crafted using Roenanva Amber Crystal are divided into several classes.
Among them, the "Hazard" class possesses power that, under the right conditions, can rival or even completely surpass the highest-tier quality. However, its defining characteristic is that it comes with demerits that absolutely cannot be ignored.

I constantly find myself almost misunderstanding this too, but the "Overflow" state is actually the Demerit side of the effect. It only doesn't look like a demerit because I manage to handle it skillfully. A car that reaches its absolute top speed the exact microsecond you tap the accelerator is nothing short of a fundamentally defective product. Public roads are not a racetrack, you know.

"Gubeh."

"S-Sunrakuuuu!?"

In short. By completely wiping out while in the Overflow state, I took a hyper-accelerated dive off the port and straight into the ocean—moving at what looked like 3x fast-forwarded knockback motion—and immediately died without ever surfacing again............ I'm never going to forgive you for this, Arabaaa......

Author's Afterword
For the record, the abdominal muscles of the smooth-talking fiend and the pervert who definitely wouldn't mind doing it with her mouth were also completely destroyed.