Chapter 489: The Fourth to Arrive

"I know nothing about that desu wa!"

Emul, who had been completely left alone from the Siegwurm battle up until this very moment, seemed to be extremely furious.

"No, no, I'll admit I was entirely in the wrong for disappearing without saying a word."

But I honestly think the real blame lies with the Leviathan side for suddenly abducting me. Even if it was only the first area, it was a total Ruluiath-style setup where I couldn't go home until I cleared it.

"Carrot..."

"I'm not a cheap enough rabbit to be bought off with mere goods desu wa!!"

What's a rabbit who's always been bought off with goods up until now even saying... I swallowed the words that rose to the very tip of my throat, deciding that if she was going to be like that, I had no choice but to take a different approach.

"Well, about that, just hear me out, Emul. It was seriously rough inside the Leviathan..."

"........."

"I mean, the golems that show up are all weak, but there are just so many of them. Sure, Saina and I aren't completely lacking in AoE attacks, but it's not like we can just use them freely along the way, right? Araba is Araba, so I can't tell you how many times I thought, 'If only I had a magic user who could constantly sweep wide areas with me right now!'"

Her lop-ears twitched.
Well, in reality, the Techno-Magi-Gelus have pretty high magic resistance, so having Emul there wouldn't have made much of a difference... but there are some things in this world better left unsaid.

"Plus, our basic means of movement were restricted to just walking. If we had someone who could use teleportation, we might have been able to clear it way faster..."

Her lop-ears twitched even more.
I sighed in exaggerated disappointment with practically theatrical gestures, but that part was actually the truth.
There were times we had to take massive detours just to escape Gravity Rain or mob rushes; if we could have restarted from our base risk-free, we could have shaved a whole day off our clear time.
Well, if I were to challenge it again, my opening move would be to just grab an "Ants" and fly straight to the boss area.

"Man, you really only realize how grateful you are for something once it's gone. If only I had a super Vorpal Bunny who's currently all the rage, who mastered teleportation magic, and had absolutely no blind spots in offense or defense!"

"…………"

".........Oh my, what's this? A First-Grade Sweets Carrot straight from Rabituza?"

"It can't be helped desu wa! A forgiving heart is a sign of true magnanimity desu wa!!"

In the end, she really is just an easy rabbit who gets bought off with goods...
Emul, who apparently spent all that time waiting for me while hiding inside Skull Azuchi despite everything, climbed onto the top of my head while gnawing away at the carrot.

"Hmm... it's one thing normally, but I feel like I'm going to slip off while you're in the middle of fighting, it's scary desu wa."

"Honestly, it's just a regular helmet right now, so the True Gaze Bird Mask is way more useful anyway."

"Sunraku-san, you should pay a bit more attention to your appearances desu wa. "

"But I've got a totally rad accessory equipped right now, don't I?"

These Dragon Horns glow intensely even in the dark, so they act as a substitute for lighting. Although they're also a piece of trash that completely gives away my position even if I try to hide in the darkness.

Glancing out through the bones (window frame) of Skull Azuchi, I saw a group of Mermen gathered a short distance away from the horde of players rushing the gravity-launching bullshit road leading to the Leviathan.
Araba used the chaos of the firearm unlock and the opening of the Leviathan to slip away from the crowd, and we parted ways there... well, even a once-in-a-lifetime encounter turns into an acquaintance if you repeat it three times, so the fourth time probably isn't too far off.
Oh, the Merman who was a head taller than the rest looked over here. Guess I'll give him a wave.

"Alright then... it feels like it's been ages, but let's head to Rabituza."

"Yes desu wa!"

Calling the Leviathan was a task given by Setsuna, and simultaneously a task from Vysache. It wouldn't be strange if some kind of event triggered now.
Besides, my weapons have taken a fair bit of wear and tear. I need to drop by Bilac's place and get them repaired.

"Senior Disciple...!!"

"Wh-What in the hell do ya want!?"

I came to visit my go-to blacksmith for the first time in a while, only to find her being dogeza'd by a rugged old man. The situation was so unreadable I suddenly felt like Urashima Taro. Urashima Taro... Otoginia... Turtle Shell Shield... Indiscriminate aging via Tamatebako Bomb... Ugh, my head.

"Wait, Imron?"

Why the hell is she here? You can't enter the Rabbit Palace just on a tour, which means... don't tell me, she triggered the invitation scenario on her own?
Coincidence? No, she hit it off with Diale back in the Bugman Village... Did she already figure out the gist of it back then? And Imron, you bastard, the sheer guts to maintain your dogeza even with me standing right here... I don't hate it.

"S-Sunraku... is he an acquaintance of yers? He just barged into my workshop out of nowhere asking me to put in a good word so he could become the old man's apprentice..."

"I humbly beg of you!"

"Ah......... wait a sec, calm down Imron. Let's start by having you raise your head, yeah?"

No intention of stopping the dogeza, huh... With no other choice, I placed Emul onto the back of the still-bowing Imron and turned back to Bilac.

"Eh, what exactly am I supposed to do here!?"

"Well, giving you what little information I have... remember that person you did that forging contest with using the same materials before? That's him."

"Hmm? .........Ah, the one who made that sword."

"Yeah, exactly......... wait, tell me the context here, I can't even try to put in a good word without it."

...

......

Context currently being grasped.

......

...

Hmm, alright, I've figured out a few things.
First, it's true that Imron triggered the invitation scenario. While she did get some info out of Diale, it seems she deduced the general conditions based on the fact that both Rei-shi and I possessed Vorpal Weapons.
And apparently, during the decisive battle phase of the Siegwurm scenario, Imron put on a massive show against Brockentried and managed to meet the required Vorpal Soul threshold.

So, having triumphantly been invited to Rabituza under the guidance of the "R" rabbit, Imron gathered information from Diale and Rei-shi—and most importantly, armed with the project I brought her—marched straight toward the "Master Craftsman" of Rabituza and............ encountered him.
Yes, the miraculous combination of supreme-tier job and supreme-tier job. The man who holds the "Divine Craftsman" job, making him quite literally the absolute pinnacle of Shangri-La Frontier when it comes to weapon production: Vash.

I don't know the specifics of what exactly happened while I was busy raiding the Leviathan, but after piecing together fragments of information from Imron—whose vocabulary had reached its absolute limit—it basically boiled down to: "I witnessed his forging and have massive respect for him."
I mean, sure, no matter how amazing he is he's still an NPC, but extracting just the key points from Imron—who started speaking at hyper-speed the moment I asked about it—it essentially meant "His animations are so emotional."

.........I don't get it at all. Even after hearing it, I still don't get it. So I decided to ignore the context and focus purely on the main points.

"So basically, Imron was so deeply moved by the sight of Vash forging that he wants to become his apprentice, but directly storming in would be way too presumptuous, so he wants you to put in a good word for him through Bilac..."

What is this feeling... I've technically reached a conclusion, but I don't feel convinced in the slightest... It feels like question marks are permanently dancing in my head...

"So, what's the deal on your end, Bilac?"

"I ain't exactly pop's apprentice neither."

"Eh, really?"

Strictly speaking, Vash is basically a free spirit—or to put it less kindly, entirely hands-off. As a result, Bilac's forging skills are essentially entirely self-taught, built off occasional advice she received from Vash.

"He's been forging a lot more recently, but up until a little while ago he barely ever even stepped foot in the workshop."

From a meta perspective, that's probably due to player visit rates or something, but there's no need to point that out out loud.

"Guh......... so those emotional animations were a rare sight...!?"

"Hey, don't move around, Emul is gonna fall."

"Actually, I'd rather get off desu wa..."

Now then, what to do about this... It's not like I've laid down a gag order or anything, but... Imron has a lot of pull among the crafter players. Even the info on the Re-Legacy Weapons seemed to leak instantly......... Guess it's finally getting too hard to keep this scenario hidden, huh.........

"I've kind of suspected it for a while now, but it seems like Vash stops spawning if there's a player with a low Vorpal Soul hanging around the Rabbit Palace. If the number of people increases, the encounter rate might drop too..."

"I'll keep my mouth shut and not post about this on the BBS, so as my senior, teach me the best way to handle things around here."

"Can I please get off now desu wa?"

This isn't my fault. The wicked devil (wearing the face of Pencilgon, or perhaps Deep Slaughter) that nests within the heart of an originally orderly existence like myself just started whispering with a scummy look on its face, so it really can't be helped.

Author's Afterword

My schedule management is so utterly trash that the main story casually references things before I even have the chance to write the interludes for them. Are you telling me to write even faster...?

There were a few people who guessed it correctly in the comments section, but the correct answer is Imron. After meeting with Sunraku, she challenged Brockentried and, through various events, managed to fulfill the conditions.