Chapter 677: Oh Newborn World, Take a Seat on the Scales, for Here and Now Your Value Shall Be Judged

Now then, what should I really do?

The mystery of Orchestra remains in the fog, and the hand I thrust into that fog ended up grabbing hold of a Conquista Doll event. Like, why.

"Hmm......"

I had been thinking about it almost all day but couldn't figure it out. Normally, this is where I'd switch gears and focus on my studies... but I have this sensation that I'm just about to grasp something. Like there's something catching just beyond my fingertips in the fog, right at the tip of my nail... Like I already have all the puzzle pieces, but I forgot which pocket I put some of them in.

The "main body" of Orchestra is the music player. Its owner is Andrew Jitterdoll, but strictly speaking, it was a gift, so the original owner is unknown. Or rather, since it predates humanity's journey into space, does that mean it's genuinely a product of Earth?

Which means...... I don't know how many years they wandered space, but I think it was around several hundred, so by simple calculation, that music player is an ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra retro antique dating back three thousand and some hundreds of years, or perhaps even four thousand years. Four thousand years... in real-world terms, wouldn't that be around 2000 BC? Are we talking about the era of clay tablets?

"......No good, I'm just one step away."

This isn't something that can be resolved just by thinking about it anymore. It's the type of mystery that will remain eternally unsolved without a dash of inspiration to act as a detonator. Come on, inspiration... At times like this, thinking about something else occasionally leads to a sudden realization.

Let's see... Ah, right, the Bakumatsu bug. From what I heard, due to some weird reference to the past logs, avatars that aren't being controlled by players are appearing in places they've visited in the past.

Rumor has it that rankers, starting with Raid Boss-san, are being heavily duplicated, turning the whole place into a chaotic hellscape...... Thinking it's a duplicate avatar only to realize it's the real deal is more terrifying than a cheap horror movie.

"Hm...... seriously? I think something just hit me."

I feel like something just grazed the tip of my nail! Are you serious, Bakumatsu? Did the truth lie just beyond Divine Punishment......?

Divine Punishment, duplication, avatars...... which one caught my attention? Crap, the inspiration is slipping away. Ah, it's no good, I lost it again. Damn you, Bakumatsu. Because it demands all my mental capacity just to execute Divine Punishments, it's completely useless at times like this. I guess the only thing I'm curious about is whether the duplication bug is reproducible. This doesn't seem like the kind of issue that will be left alone, so it'll probably get patched......

"Hm?"

It's Rei-san. She seems to be talking with someone, but it's hard to see from here. It doesn't look like they're having a particularly friendly chat, though. Well, whatever, I should head home......... Ah, Rei-san noticed me.

"I'm sorry, please excuse me......... R-Rakuro-kun, are you... heading home now, too?"

"Eh, yeah, well."

"Umm, regarding ShanFro...... err, talking about it and stuff."

"I don't really mind... but it looked like you cut that conversation off pretty forcefully. Is that okay?"

The person she was talking to is...... already gone, huh. Did they go in the opposite direction of me heading to the entrance to go home? Maybe they have club activities?

"Umm, it's fine. It was just... err, umm, regarding my post-graduation plans...... getting some advice, I guess. N-No, um! Raiou is my only choice, really!!"

"No, isn't having only one choice kind of bad?"

Shouldn't you at least have a second and third choice? Or is it because she's so confident she'll pass on the first try that she doesn't see it as a problem?

"Well... it's more like they were strongly pushing me to study abroad, so to speak......"

"Study abroad?"

"I've told them countless times that I have no intention of leaving Japan, though."

Rei-san laughed it off with a troubled "Hahaha," but well, I can't say I don't understand why. To put it mildly, this person is ridiculously smart...... For as long as I can remember, she's always been near the very top of our grade in exams.

But overseas, overseas huh...... Takeda-shi also brought that up as a candidate for me once. Well, I shot it down since it would make getting my hands on trash games harder, though.

"But overseas, huh......"

"R-Rakuro-kun...... umm, do you... have any interest in that?"

"Not really. It's just that I kind of want to stay as far away from America as possible."

I feel like...... they'd try to capture me! Lately, there have been a lot of patterns where people track down my address through weird connections, and Katzo even told me I'm getting some pretty serious invitations from across the ocean!! Please stop trying to hand me free first-class tickets!!

"C-Come to think of it, you logged out suddenly yesterday. What happened after that?"

"Eh? Ah, right. After that, a few of us headed down to the Ninth Layer, but......"

If it follows the same format as Leviathan, the bottom-most layer of Behemoth is the goal itself. Meaning, the Ninth Layer would be the final trial.

Just as expected, according to Rei-san, the Ninth Layer was indeed where the final "exam" of Behemoth was given, but apparently, its difficulty is even more perplexing than the shopping basket elevator on Leviathan's Fourth Shell Layer.

"Ah, so it's basically, 'You get thrown into a pseudo-reproduced natural environment with a time limit and absolutely zero explanations'?"

"Yes...... We couldn't even figure out what we were supposed to do, and we just ran out of time......"

What they know so far is at least:

・ The goal is not to survive until the time limit ends.

・ The goal is not to defeat the monsters inside the pseudo-environment.

・ The possibility of needing to find a specific item is not zero.

・ But there's not even a hint of that being the case.

...Or so I'm told. So it's not a simple condition; it means we have to accomplish something somewhat complex.

"If possible, umm, well. If Rakuro-kun could also help us out, it would, umm...... be a huge help, I think."

"Hmm. Well, I've finished what I needed to do, and to make up for suddenly logging out yesterday......"

BAM!! CLANG!! BAM!!! GAGGGIIIIIINNNN!!! (Ringtone)

"Hyaa!?"

"Mu."

The person who has their ringtone set to "I tried playing Beethoven's 'Fate' using metallic strike sounds"...... No, there is only one such man!!

"Excuse me for a second."

Subject:【URGENT】Requesting Cooperation

Sender: Takeda Ingen

To: Sunraku

Body: I care not for the details, I merely wish for you to play this indie game and judge whether it is a Trash Game or not de gozaru.

I am currently having a bit of a dispute with an acquaintance regarding the merits of this game.

https://xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"..............."

"Umm......... Did something happen?"

"Ah, no. It's not like it's a huge deal or anything, but......"

If the Master tells me to do it, I have no choice but to do it. The fact that Takeda-shi is asking for a judgment means this is a game that hasn't reached a consensus even within the community. It means there's someone among the veterans who judged, "This isn't a trash game, is it?"......... In which case, I have no choice but to do it. Based on what I checked after clicking the URL, it's an indie game, and an early-access or trial version meant to gather funds at that............ For an indie game, and a beta version at that, to be brought up as a topic of debate in the trash game community, I sense some pretty funky power radiating from it. The title is......... "Death Game Rebellion Online", huh.

Hmm, I'd give the title 35 points! However, depending on the content, that could be a plus 40 points!!

"Or rather, is this an online game......? An indie beta version......?"

Are they insane? Are they completely insane? Aren't you gathering funds because you don't have money!? Why would you set up a server......... No, wait. Could it be...... do they have absolute confidence that "This game only truly shines online"? Do they have so much confidence that they believe just letting people play it online will make them want to throw money at it?

But it's currently on trial for being a trash game............

"Is it... some kind of game?"

"Ah, yeah. An acquaintance wanted me to give them my evaluation on it............"

"Umm, well......"

............He needs an evaluation, right? And on a game that "might not be a trash game" at that.

"Say, Rei-san. Do you want to play this game with me for a bit as a change of pace?"

"Dehyomo!?"

Dehyomo?

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Author's Afterword

Originally, I intended for Rakuro to do this alone, but the heroine-chan's roundhouse kick broke the plot's bones, so the heroine-chan will be doing it too.