Chapter 774: A Certain Day in December: Abandoned Reins, the Festival Burns White and Hot

Author's Preface

A main story break from the main story.

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Where there is light, there is shadow. And a city where this is visually prominent......... would undoubtedly be Fifticia.

Using the wreckage of massive ships as a roof, a large-scale, no mere back alley but shadow cityOutside…… Too vast, therefore even the hands of justice cannot sweep away its darkness.

To speak of its actual circumstances, due to the judgment of the leader of Fifticia, who chose to coexist with rather than destroy the public order of an underworld that had bloated to the point of possessing enough power to...... lay down a certain level of "lawsrules" over the ruffians and outlaws, Fifticia stands today as a city with two faces: light and shadow.

And not every player is guaranteed to walk the royal road. Naturally, if a "certain kind" of setting like a back-alley underworld exists, there will be those who prefer to roleplay within it.........

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The tavern "Shadow-Swimming Shark" in Fifticia's underworld. "I want to make this tavern a hidden gathering place for figures of the underworld who share a common goal"...... Driven by such an ambition, an eccentric player bought out the entire establishment, including the owner, and now players gather at this location that actually fulfills that exact role.

"............Welcome, what'll you have?"

"Umm...... 'I wish to enter the Tsuchinoko Cup'......?"

"......The restroom is over there, customer."

"Woah, I actually got guided just like you'd expect......... I love this kind of stuff."

These were individuals who had received an invitation from a certain former PK player. Opening the door to the restroom with the password, they arrived at a hidden room inside the "Shadow-Swimming Shark," an establishment whose exterior is unnaturally large compared to its interior space.

Inside the hidden room sat a single person. It didn't take long to realize he was a player from the display floating above his head.

"Yo, the fact that you made it here means you're one of the guys who got an invite from Saba-san, right?"

"Ah, yes. I heard there's a way to get to the New Continent......... But what exactly does that mean? What's the Tsuchinoko Cup anyway?"

"Explaining that is basically my job......"

A suspicious man with an eyepatch, whose overhead display read "Black Curtain," began explaining to the newly arrived "participant."

"You probably already know about the plan to go hit Goldunine in the New Continent, so I'll skip that. In short, there's an event on the New Continent so you all have to get there, but it's not like every single one of you is a returnee from the New Continent."

"Ahh, right, the returnees can just use teleportation to get there."

In Shangri-La Frontier, Teleportation magicFast Travel requires both the magic user and their companions to have previously visited the destination. Therefore, players who have never been to the New Continent cannot fly there using teleportation magic.

"That's where the Tsuchinoko Cup comes in."

Perhaps he prepared it specifically for this, but Black Curtain continued his roleplay while chugging directly from a wine bottle. The newly arrived player found themselves drawn into the atmosphere created by his behavior.

"You know about Tsuchinoko-san, right?"

"Yeah, well, if you're even somewhat invested in this game, you've heard the name at least once."

"What about the rumor that Tsuchinoko-san defeated Siegwurm using a massive ship on the New Continent?"

"No......... That's a first for me...... I mean, with a ship? Huh?"

"Well, those details don't really matter. The main point is that Tsuchinoko-san has connections with shipbuilding NPCs, and that ship is absolutely sick."

The unknown vessel the player "Sunraku" unveiled on the New Continent. It wasn't the scale of a luxury cruise liner dedicated to New Continent surveys, but rather a small cruiser-sized ship equipped with armaments capable of shattering Siegwurm's horns, and rumor had it that the ship alone was capable of intercontinental navigation.

Its name was the "Seafaring Ship." A large player base naturally meant there were many who poured their passion into production jobs, and even after filtering down to those who directed their passion towards the highly niche field of shipbuilding, a decent number still remained.

"It's not being heavily advertised, but right now, Fifticia is experiencing an unprecedented shipbuilding boom. And the guys who painted this picture set their sights right on that."

An unprecedented shipbuilding boom. It is human nature to want to operate what one has built. And if an element of competition is introduced, the ignited fire will only burn more fiercely.

"The Tsuchinoko Cup...... In short, you're all literally going to hitch a ride on a user event where people race the Seafaring Ships built by production classes to get to the New Continent."

The Tsuchinoko Cup. It originated when the player "Sunraku"—a name those passionate about shipbuilding could never ignore—suddenly appeared at the shipyards in Fifticia and proposed a set of "conditions" to the players.

───I want to transport a massive amount of players to the New Continent right now. You guys want to build ships. These two goals can coexist...... don't you think?

The conditions presented to the shipbuilding players. It was an offer to provide a "reward" in exchange for transporting players who wished to head to the New Continent. And the shipbuilding players further twisted that into a sort of boat race...... or rather, a triathlon-esque project.

That was the first-ever Tsuchinoko Cup. The "Owners" would race their Seafaring Ships across the intercontinental stretch from the Old Continent's Fifticia to the frontline base on the New Continent, with the winner receiving a first-magnitude "Lapisteria Star Crystal" provided by their sponsor, Sunraku. Combined with the information that it was used as the power source for the half-legendary "First Seafaring Ship," the fever among the shipbuilding craftsmenplayers continued to rise without any known limits.

"That sounds...... how should I put it, like it's going to be a fun trip."

"Right? Except............"

"Except?"

Black Curtain......... the mastermindBlack Curtain wannabe who went out of his way to save up money just to buy out a tavern in Fifticia for this specific roleplay, thoroughly enjoyed his role as mediator while dropping his act just a bit to inform the pitiful participant with a hint of sympathy.

"The guys building the ships are completely losing their minds and going overboard across the board, so my bet is that a few of those ships are gonna blow themselves up halfway there."

"Zero safety guarantees!?"

Players resurrect even if they die. That meant that no matter how inhumane or safety-margin-ignoring the monster shipsmachines they built were, no one's conscience would suffer any pangs of guilt whatsoever.

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A certain shipyard.

"I'm tellin' ya, we definitely need to install interference gimmicks. How about we launch an anchor to rip a massive hole in the side of enemy ships?"

"Nah, it's better to solidify our defenses here. The other guys are probably thinking the exact same thing."

"I don't know about that, the guys in Dock 3 are planning to max out their speed, you know?"

"The players boarding this thing just need to be tied down to the hull, anyway...... Hey, how about we set up a save point inside the ship and physically launch the players themselves to interfere with the enemy ships?"

"Whoa, whoa......... Are you a genius?"

"Looks like victory is guaranteed to be ours......"

"Then it's settled! We gotta start building the human artillery cannon right now!!"

There was no one to stop them. The sponsor who should have been in the position to stop them was currently on the New Continent.

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Author's Afterword

Wacky Seafaring Ship Races. [*1]

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Translator's Notes

• [1]: Reference to the famous cartoon Wacky Races, known in Japan as Chiki Chiki Machine Mou Race (チキチキマシン猛レース).