Chapter 588: What the Hidden Bullet Grasps

"Kiyeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!!!"

A crazed Gatling gun that had cast aside money, HP, and incidentally its wielder's sanity along with them, tore a hole in the captain's quarters. Watching the owner of the beehive attacking us in an attempt to turn her own beehive into Swiss cheese with a Gatling might provoke laughter if viewed from a safe distance, but right now, all of us—including our enemy, Deer Horn—were in a state where our frustration, rage, and toxicity had accumulated to their absolute maximum limits.

There is no longer anyone here to stop this banquet of madness. The light of sanity has faded from the eyes of Deer Horn, the apex of Hornet's Nest, who spent several days doing nothing but continuously remodeling the ship. With an unfocused expression spinning in circles, she is currently unleashing a hailstorm of Gatling fire to bury us along with the NPCs in the helm room, completely unbothered by the concept of showing consideration for replaceable pawns.

"Kiyeeeeeeeeeeeh!!"

"Even crows caw with a bit more elegance than that... Just die alreadyyyyyyy!!!"

But we aren't backing down either. While we obviously can't take a Gatling head-on, everyone here is the kind of person who won't feel satisfied until they land at least one clean hit on that Gatling-grandma.

Each of us continued to repeatedly counterattack while evading the Gatling fire, and no matter how effectively Deer Horn's custom-made captain's suit blocked our attacks, its limits eventually arrived.

"Excuse me."

"Wha— Since when were you behind—"

I mean, come on, you were entirely focused on Rhino, who switched to acting as a decoy halfway through. As long as I'm out of your line of sight, Gazelle-san is free to move however he pleases. I might struggle in a one-on-one, but if I couldn't handle myself in a chaotic melee, I never would've survived on that isolated island... Take this, German Suplex!!

"Hmph!!"

"Gofuuh!!?"

Obviously, she isn't using an avatar that matches her real age, but even so, chucking a slender, lightweight female avatar is child's play for stats heavily skewed toward close-quarters combat. And I'll throw in a strike to the head for good measure...

"Aaand, captured."

"What a sight."

"No matter how you look at it, we're just humanitarian space pirates."

"Let's avoid factoring 'space pirate' into our future life plans, alright?"

Why not? If we have no money and nowhere to return to, we might as well revel in pleasures lower than space debris until we rot away.

"Ah— Cutting Board-shi? We've captured her as requested."

『Excellent. To suppress her so precisely amidst that blind firing is splendid.』

"Well, I can mimic everything from Lucha to Boxing on a surface level, so it was a piece of cake."

"Wait, you can do Lucha? Show us a move."

"You want me to hit a Castigo? Come on, Rhino, stand up."

"STOP WITH THE TORTURE HOLDS!!"

Then how about a Frankensteiner? That one's hard to pull off without the cooperation of the person taking it, though. Well, with the Iai Fist modifiers, I could probably manage it out of sheer constipation; nobody ever said Iai Fist doesn't include leg techniques...

"...So? Why go through the roundabout trouble of capturing me alive?"

『Ah, well... Ah, Python-kun, bring the device a little closer.』

"Eh? Like this?"

『Yes, yes, that's a good spot. Hey there, Deer Horn.』

".........What is it."

『.........I winnnn〜〜』

Uwaa.

No way, was it that? Did he go out of his way to have us capture her alive just so he could say that? The word "insidious" feels way too mild for this. When a person acquires wealth and leeway, are they truly capable of dropping such a magnificent, petty flex? I should take notes... well, whether a day will ever come where I can actually put them to use is another story entirely.

Deer Horn-shi's body is twitching in a somewhat alarming manner after taking a direct hit from that Ultra-Capitalist Galaxy Flex; in fact, it's the kind of twitching that makes me worry she might get emergency-logged out by the VR system.

"I can't believe you lot sided with such a piece of shit human being!?"

"Well, you know, money is money."

"...Ours is a business connected by money and obligation, after all."

You can't earn money with obligation, but you can buy obligation with money. What a harsh, one-way street.

"Kh, so this is what it means to adapt to the post-update changes, Cutting Board... Fine, I'll simply use this as a lesson for next time........."

『Hmm......... Well then?』

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

What's going on? Silence has fallen between Deer Horn-shi and Cutting Board-shi. Or rather, it feels more like Cutting Board-shi is waiting for Deer Horn-shi to say something.

『If it were me, that is what I would do.』

"Tch, sharing the same thought process as you pisses me off to no end, but I have my own grievances as well. Fine, I'll take you up on that."

I don't understand, but did Deer Horn-shi make some sort of decision during that silence, and did Cutting Board-shi push her toward it? And exactly what did Deer Horn-shi decide...? It was immediately executed in the form of a completely unexpected order from our Employer-dono: the release of the prisoner.

"Are you sure about this?"

『There is no need to worry. There's no way that Deer Horn would throw a wrench into something so perfect.』

"...Hmph, the Home Appliances King is right. Now that you've pressed a blade straight to my neck like this, I have no intention of making a disgraceful scene."

Home Appliances King? Whatever could that mean? It's not like that ultra-dreadnought trolling-trash Cutting Board-shi, who casually drops hundreds of thousands of yen just to flex on an acquaintance, could possibly be related to a high-ranking executive of the domestic home appliance giant "Saudade"... Hahaha... Yeah, really, let's just pretend I didn't hear that. I lack the strength to fight in the dark voids of capitalism.

"You lot. Tomorrow... for the first five minutes of the final day of this war, Hornet's Nest will cooperate with you. So restock your equipment while you still can today; I'll lend you the facilities."

"Eh, seriously?"

"If you let yourself get looked down upon for petty change, clenching your fist in retaliation is the Rokkaku way... It pisses me off that this will benefit him, but if I'm going to die anyway, I'd rather face a meaningful death."

Is this the absolute pinnacle of negotiation in a manner-game...? The core of their conversation is progressing entirely on "reading the room"......... However, it's also true that our equipment was at its absolute limit thanks to the muscle-brained forced march it took to get here. Even if she was armed with a Gatling, the only reason it took us this long to subdue a single player was because we completely lacked the ammunition to overwhelm her, regardless of equipment quality.

Being able to restock is a godsend, but... precisely because we've been enemies for the past few days, I can't completely wipe away my suspicions.

『Ah— To sum it up......... If she's going to die anyway, rather than dying here, she wants to get one solid hit in on G-Cup Breast Meat and the others who ordered the torpedo disposal of her ship before she goes out. That's what it means.』

"Ah, makes perfect sense!!"

"Ehh, you're actually satisfied with that explanation, Gazelle...?!"

"It's a hundred times more convincing than being offered cooperation out of pure goodwill."

"If you ever develop a knack for business, you could easily join us on this side."

An invitation to a demon's den that makes Pencilgon look mild is a little... However, the final day of this war is finally upon us. It feels like it's been long, yet also short... I've been away from ShanFro for quite a while now, all things considered. Once this fight is over, I'll head back to ShanFro and... No, wait, that's a death flag! That was close, to think humans are creatures that naturally construct death flags with such seamless flow.

But what do I do now? Having built it, if I don't break it, I'll die. I need to supply myself with a different flag—no, not a flag, but a hidden bullet or a trump card............ That's it.

Sunraku: Rei-san, Rei-san.

Sunraku: I have something I urgently need to consult you about.

Sunraku: ......Ah, I completely forgot about the possibility that you might be asleep, my bad.

Psyger-0: I'LL WAKE UP!!!!

Psyger-0: No

Psyger-0: Wait

Psyger-0: I'm awake

Sunraku: Ah, you were awake... Sorry for messaging so late at night.

Psyger-0: Y-Yes.

Sunraku: Can we meet up tomorrow?

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

"Rei, why are you trembling in the hallway like a newborn foal? Even if you're holding in the urge to urinate, there's such a thing as moderation..."

"That's not it!!!"

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Author's Afterword

・Aren't the mass media or journalists going to show up in GalaTra?

You mean writing off heavy cash-shop microtransactions as business expenses for the sake of an interview? I'm pretty sure their bosses would smack them senseless.