Chapter 763: Manifesto (With Screenshot)
On that day, along with a single screenshot, a severe tremor ran through ShanFro───
◇
"Ah, hey! What do you mean you're suddenly going to the New Continent, Aku-chan!"
A single woman equipped a pair of gauntlets—which had reached a performance worthy of being called a masterpiece through grinding, forging, and relentless enhancement—just to check their condition, and then stowed them away in her inventory.
Her destination was Fifticia...... and beyond the isolating vast ocean, the New Continent that remained untamed.
"......Don't try to stop me, something's come up that I have to do."
"Something you have to do...... no, what are you going to do about the Kingdom Turmoil, man!"
"Yeah, even though you said you could fight the Former King's faction for four days straight without sleeping!"
The all-nighter squad. That is a term referring to the terrifying warriors who fight through 24 hours straight in content involving PvP elements.
If one of them suddenly declared a complete withdrawal from the content, the people around him couldn't exactly just say "oh, alright, see ya."
"Eh, it's not some real-life circumstance, right? The New Continent?"
"Ah......... right, I have to go to the New Continent."
"I'm telling you, just repeating that doesn't explain the reason!"
Principles, ideology, desires, promises, friendship, or perhaps Bushido.
It is far too complicated to explain the detailed breakdown of the reason. But if forced, yes, if forced to express it in a single sentence───
"───A beautiful girl is asking for help."
"Wait, Aku-chan!? That explanation isn't an explanation at all!"
"Ah, by any chance, Aku-chan-san, is this New Continent thing about this?"
"The BBS?"
"What the heck is this......... um? An albino beautiful girl Goldunine on the New Continent is............ Goldunine!?"
If you're going to risk your life through the night, it is definitely more worthwhile if it's for a beautiful girl.
◇
"An email from Saba-san?"
There was a Player Killer who received it. Looking at the email opened by the very hands that had just snatched a Pioneer's life a moment ago, she pondered for a while.
"The New Continent......... huh............"
A Player Killer, a PK, is a criminal even under the laws of Einwurf, a nation governed by NPCs. Naturally, it was nearly impossible to board a kingdom-led New Continent exploration ship through official means, and to begin with, due to the influence of the Kingdom Turmoil scenario, ships bound for the New Continent didn't even exist right now.
"I wonder if he has some kind of connection? He's even specified the date and time......"
A specific date and time, a specific location; if there wasn't a single shred of a lie mixed into the information written in the email.
It meant that the "Bikini Idiot" respected even by active Player Killers—rather, the PvP powerhouse Survival—was intending to pull off something massive enough to even invite PKs...... and at the same time, it meant he had prepared some sort of means to transport PKs to the New Continent.
"A Unique Monster, huh......... I'd given up about halfway since I couldn't even participate in the Siegwurm battle, but if there's a chance, maybe I'll join in."
A place where you can punch others purely following your desires without it affecting your real-life evaluation whatsoever. Seeking such stimulation, the girl who debuted as a Player Killer decided it would be a waste to throw away such a rare chance, choosing to accept the invitation from the person who was, in a way, her mentor who taught her the basics of PvP when she first started.
"Ah, right. Since I'm going, maybe I'll invite Chi-chan and Sora-chan too."
If you liken the connections between people to threads. Pulling one might cause three or four others to be dragged along with it.
Just as not every invitation guarantees a favorable reply. Sometimes you might obtain an unexpected bonus.
Ripples shaking the surface of the water spread more violently and wider the larger the stone thrown in.
◇
"Overtime, again........."
As civilization develops, the burdens borne by humans decrease. Thinking of the mountain-high responsibility he had to bear, piled up as if to shatter such an illusion, the gloomy sighs spilling from his mouth knew no end. The ultimate resort of using paid leave that he had barely touched required a courage bordering on recklessness to use during this year-end season where everyone was busy.
Being a member of society doesn't mean you only have to fulfill the duties imposed solely on yourself; in order to turn smoothly as a single cog in the massive mechanism called society, consideration for the adjacent cogs is also necessary.
"Well, I didn't have any plans in the first place, but it looks like I'll be spending Christmas at the office too........."
It was at that moment. A single notice arrived for the man......... not on his work desktop. It was on his personal mobile terminal, and furthermore, it was addressed to his "other name" completely unrelated to work.
"Ah............ It's Jakuzan-san, huh......... the end of the year has a hellish schedule, if I can barely log in, maybe it'd be better if I just............ had Jakuzan-san take over as Clan Leader........."
The man was half-seriously muttering about a backward-looking delegation, but as he read through the arrived message, the direction his brain's resources were focused shifted from backward to forward............
"'Scar-red' was......... subjugated.........? Y-you're joking, right.........? No, wait, information, there's too much information. Goldunine? New Continent decisive battle? Wait, hold on a sec, let's calm down............"
The Draculus Dinocerberus "Scar-red" had been subjugated...... for the time being, the man's mentality was shattered by about forty percent just from this point. The subjugation of that terrifying dragon of scarlet flame was one of his motivations, and if it had been subjugated, he couldn't help but engage in the fruitless pursuit of finding out whose fault it was.
───It would be a little while later before he learned that the one who subjugated that terrifying three-headed dragon was a single person.
"Gu, ku, ko, ku............"
A bizarre sound leaked from the man's throat. It was almost like the sound leaked by someone whose body moisture had decreased, leaving their throat completely parched.
"The subjugation battle for Goldunine the Inexhaustible............ U-Unique Monster............"
Unique Monster. Singular existences, numbering only seven. The Only-One x7 special content in Shangri-La Frontier.
He wasn't even allowed to get involved with the Tombguard, barely managed to participate in the Abyss, participated in the Heavenly Sovereign, got scattered twice by the Night Raider and that was it, the Reverberating Nether was still far out of reach......... and excluding the remaining one whose details were still unclear, this was the "Inexhaustible" Unique Monster whose existence became clearly known through the Library's announcement.
The man had preached to his comrades daily. It's true that you'd want to participate in Only-One content, but since the daily accumulation is fundamentally the most important thing in this game, it's better to pursue grinding efficiency rather than searching for Uniques...... he had said.
But he would dare to say it! Of course he wanted to get involved with Unique Monsters! If he had to state his true feelings, he wanted to monopolize one of the Raid Monsters! Or rather, all that talk about grinding efficiency was partly a grand pretense to drag those around him along since grinding solo with his job was endlessly brutal!!
In conclusion, if he could participate, the man also wanted to eagerly jump at the Unique content. But he had no time, no leeway, and above all, he even lacked the mental stamina.
".........nguh."
He unconsciously swallowed the saliva that pooled in his mouth. It was a reaction much like showing a Manchu-Han Imperial Feast to a starving person.
"Ch-Christmas......... paid leave......... no, but...... work is............ if I pull three all-nighters, how much can I get through? If I prioritize and only whittle down the parts that I absolutely have to handle myself....................."
Reckless, absurd, impossible......... the impulse of a starving beast bit into the reality screamed by his rationality. The duty he must fulfill as a cog in society, the thirst for the unknown he must challenge as a Pioneer, and time. Yes, everything was the fault of time...... why did he alone have to suffer daily agonizing over how effectively he could utilize a lifespan of 24 hours.
"I can do it, I'm going to do it............ I-I'm doing it!!"
An unprecedented three-all-nighter march. Dreams for Christmas! Aim for a one-week paid leave! If I work as if my life depends on it, I can take paid leave without inconveniencing anyone───!!!
......
............
Three days later.
"Department Chief. As requested the other day, I will be taking my paid leave."
"Roudou-kun, taking paid leave during this busy end-of-year rush is just........."
"Department Chief, while I'm on paid leave, my PC and mobile terminal will probably break, so I won't notice even if you contact me."
"No, listen here, Roudou-kun, that means everyone else's burden will increase......"
"Department Chief."
"Yes, what is it?"
"Don't you think it would be more of a burden to work alongside a colleague who endlessly spews vomit, tears, and words of resentment until New Year's Eve?"
"........................"
"I have already looked over every single part that I needed to look over personally. The rest is for the other personnel in charge...... Well then, Department Chief, have a good New Year."
Sacrificing his social and emotional evaluations, the sleeping beast with muddy eyes from fatigue now descends upon the world of ShanFro embarking on an all-nighter fueled by the guarantee of perfect sleep time and a fulfilled mentality.
◇
For example, a connection built on bearing the same sins.
For example, a connection from instructing someone on how to fight.
For example, a connection from having punched each other in the past.
Not dragging out hostility, flaunting victory only in that moment, and washing away defeat with praise and a rematch. Regardless of their true nature, the strange and wondrous karmic connections piled up through such a straightforward impression often prove useful in unexpected places.
"Now then......... I wonder how many will come."
What the woman did was extremely simple. She leaked the information on the BBS, sent emails to her acquaintances, and sent a manifesto along with a single screenshot to every major clan she had ever seen. That was all.
What was captured in the screenshot. It was hard to tell if she was angry, crying, or embarrassed, but a girl with white hair, white skin, and red eyes holding a signboard that read "Recruiting Combat Power! Shake my hand at Skull Azuchi!" with a face that was, at any rate, cute, though it was unclear whether the sign conveyed any sense of tension or not.
And attached were words explaining that her true identity was Goldunine, and that she was recruiting people for a battle against "Goldunine the Inexhaustible," a major boss completely separate from her.
"Alright......... Oh, Sunraku! Including acquaintances, it looks like we'll gather a decent number!!"
"Oh, you have a pointlessly wide circle of friends, don't you........."
"Even like this, I've established a good-natured big brother character, you know......"
"You mean the big brother of a bunch of deranged savages. Even if everyone on the letter-servers forgets, I'll never forget the time you ate your allies' corpses and waged guerrilla warfare on other people's servers."
"Kwah! Bringing up nostalgic stories now, are we? Sure, that was definitely an extreme situation and we acted like the cannibals of λ, but...... thanks to that, you guys on the μ Server had fun too, right?"
In this place, there were only two women: one who prioritized mobility outside of the armor protecting vital spots, and another clad in a battered mourning dress. The other members, along with the girl hoisted up on a portable shrine as their figurehead, were probably arriving at a different location by now.
Both of them trusted the Pioneers they had sought help from......... for better or worse. It would be an absolute disaster if, by some one-in-a-million chance, someone ruined their figurehead out of short-sighted greed, thinking "She's a Goldunine too, so she'll probably drop something if we beat her."
"Writing that off as 'good' is a seriously deranged memory filter......"
"No doubt about it, but well...... it was fun."
"I'll pass on massive hordes of cannibal gorillas for the next few years, thanks......... And? How are things on your end?"
"Waiting for replies, how about yours?"
"Ah......... well, five minutes?"
They didn't ask "what." One woman had asked what was coming, and the other woman knew.
They were gathering people, but simply being strong wasn't enough. They needed nightless people who could run all night, bathe in the morning sun, and keep running until the sun went to sleep again.
The woman had an idea: maybe if it's that guy, he can take a few days off and manage somehow? He's got money and status anyway......
The other woman also had an idea: I have no intention of prying into their real life, but if they're around at almost any time of the day, they're probably here now anyway......
The answers would arrive in five minutes, and in thirty minutes.
Author's Afterword
The craziest thing in this chapter is that "the guy who made a weapon that required a ridiculous amount of effort in the little free time he had from his shitty work environment took consecutive days off right up until the New Year."
Obviously he couldn't actually break them, so he packed everything into cardboard boxes and shipped them out so they'd be delivered to his home on New Year's. After pulling three all-nighters, he had been possessed by madness.
Comments
Post a Comment