Chapter 742: Lost in Life Even Without Losing the Way
Well then, I mentally compiled the story I just heard from Bilac—whose brain seemed to have suddenly gone full biker-gang mode—and having done so... decided to shelve it for now.
At times like this, if you wander off onto a side path, you'll be trapped in an infinite loop and never make it back; people call it the Sub-Quest Labyrinth Phenomenon.
When you head to a location to clear a sub-quest, only for another sub-quest to trigger, and when you clear that one, it turns out to be a continuous chain triggering even more... it's said that when people get trapped in that multi-layered structure, they can never return to the main scenario... That's right, which means I was keeping one foot in the labyrinth too. Close call, close call.
First of all, without even knowing what a True Dragon species is, if I just charged into the Sea of Trees, at best it'd be Brother, and at worst it'd just be another encounter with Brother... Brother, who seems to have a lingering suspicion that its upper limit of strength hasn't even been shown yet.
At this point, I'm starting to doubt whether that guy is actually killable or if he's already stepped into a realm where player power can't do a damn thing about it.
"Alright then... my bad, Bilac, my interest in this True Dragon thing of yours is bottomless, but I'm a busy guy myself..."
"Is that so. Oh, also, Pop told me to hand this over to ya."
Rustling around to pull something out, Bilac tosses the so-called item over to me. What is this, a pocket watch? No, wait, those aren't clock hands... Is this a Compass?
"What is this."
"Hmm, it's a 'Traveler'."
"I see, got it. So, what is this?"
"Like I said, it's a 'Traveler'."
"Alright, understood. So, what is this?"
(Bilac swings her hammer overhead in silence.)
(I take an intercepting stance in silence.)
"How many times ya gonna make me say it, ya idiotーー!!"
"I'm asking for something other than the name, you moronーー!!"
I don't care if it's a Traveler or an iron spatula, what the hell am I supposed to do with just the name, you idiot! Are you still riding the wavelength of those weird brainwaves from earlier!?
"That's a 'Traveler'. Use it outdoors, and it'll show ya the direction to the location decided by the one who made it."
"By the one who made it... you mean,"
"It's Pop. Take a good look at it."
Hmm? It just looks like a regular compass to me......... Ah, look at the decorations? Let's see.........
Closing the Traveler, which resembles a makeup compact, reveals a frighteningly exquisite gold-inlaid emblem depicting a rabbit and some sort of characters shaped like flames. I've seen this before, or rather, I've seen it so much I'm sick of it... In other words, it's the crest of Rabituza.
"That's somethin' that shows yer affiliation. More than just a guide, it's probably meant to show that ya belong to us."
"Proof of affiliation......... to who?"
"To the folks gatherin' at the place it points to."
Returning her hammer to its original spot and casting a resentful glance at the melted wall, Bilac continues speaking.
"Listen here, Sunraku, the place this points to is the New Continent. On the New Continent, there's a bunch of folks who exchanged subordinate cups with Pop as their boss."
"Is that..."
What kind of Yakuza setup is that?
"Ya know, like them. Ya oughta recognize 'em. The Cait Siths are one of the races that exchanged subordinate cups too."
"Cait Siths... ah, I see."
I'm starting to get the picture. Basically, there's some sort of alliance of not-so-strong races on the New Continent. Probably small animal types capable of speaking human languages. I feel like I've heard somewhere that they supposedly exist on the New Continent too... Was it from a 【Library】 player? Or maybe someone else. Well, it's not super important.
"In short, there's a gathering of small animals, and since it'll guide the way, I should come."
"That's about the gist of it. Pop makin' a move means......... the time is near."
"The time?"
Bilac, who had been staring at the melted wall, turns her gaze toward me. Her eyes hold neither anger nor sadness... It's an indescribable look—as if she's looking at me, but simultaneously looking at something completely different; somehow inorganic, yet seemingly enlightened. At the very least, it was an gaze distinctly different from her usual one.
"Pioneer Sunraku, a great wind is about to blow. A massive wind that'll roll up the earth and swallow the seas...... We are, no, Pop exists to win against it. The reason Emul ain't showin' her face is related to that too...... That's why."
"Bilac."
"......What."
She seems to want to drop some complicated, heavy-handed hints, but unfortunately... no, actually, every single Pioneer in this game is a half-baked idiot constantly putting their life on the line, you know? Even if you speak in a serious tone, it just registers as, "Did I step on some flag?" to us.
"We're a bunch of idiots who'll keep running forward no matter how many times we get blown away by tailwinds or mowed down by headwinds."
"........."
"Whether it's a wind or a giant monster, bring it on."
Even assuming a giant monster did appear, I feel like current players could put up a decent fight, or rather, if we seriously grinded and deployed Tactical Mechs, we could probably beat even colossal monsters. Well, the devs clearly have no intention of letting us win easily, so they'd probably casually drop monsters designed with mechanics like, "If you approach in formation, it wipes you with an AoE attack"...
"......Well, fine. Ain't nothin' wrong with havin' a lot of bravado. And what I gotta do don't change either."
"Right, right. Anyway, I brought the Golden Magma, so we're talking about making a weapon here."
"I got it, I got it, honestly........."
Shoo, shoo, Bilac waves her hand, gesturing for me to leave. She slowly shuffles over to the forge, apparently ready to start working. Good grief... That was a pretty damn long conversation event. Some somewhat important keywords were dropped, but I honestly felt like skipping it about eight times. Story-wise, I'm supposed to deal with Goldunine first, right? Wait, how did it go again... Unique Monsters don't actually have a set order, do they? But then again, Siegwurm felt like a forced event...
"Take out Goldunine... I got the Golden Magma, but while I'm at it, I should get more... No, I need to mass-produce buckets for that... Ah, but I also have to search for that 'True Dragon' thing... But wait, there's also the Avenger-related stuff........."
Ehh, ahh, hmmm............
What the hell am I supposed to do in this game?
Author's Afterword
The Small Animal Summit can be attended by unaffiliated individuals as long as they harbor no hostility.
In Sunraku's case, his position is just locked in as, "This guy belongs to Rabituza."
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