Chapter 246: Wolf Conflict / Skillful initiative Part 1
Translator: Kurehashi Aiko
An alliance was formed between the members of the four guilds: “Wolfgang”, “Black Wolves”, “SF-Zoo”, and “Library”.
Instead of having the other three guilds extract the information from us by force, we would vow to pass any information that we know about the Unique Monsters willingly to others…… As well as the promise that no side would take action to push the quest of Nightprowler Luukan or any other Unique Monster without the approval of others. So my action of pushing Luukan’s quest further as well as defeating Kutanid of the Abyss stood in direct violation of the rules of the contract.
「Good grief, just whose fault do you think it is……?」
「Well, yours, obviously.」
「Nuoooh!?」
Don’t you suddenly hit on my chest like that! Goodness gracious…… Oh well, as long as the matters will keep on circulating about Luukan and Kutanid, my testimony here will be that of the greatest importance. And also that of Rei, by an extension, since she was there with me on both occasions.
「At the very least, we the “Black Wolves” have been respecting the rules that were put in the contract. That is why we have nothing but one question to the other party…… Why? Why did you proceeded forward without permission or informing anyone about it?」
No matter what your size or gender is, there is always a certain amount of “power” that emanates from the person who was elected to be the Guild Master by all of the other members.
And it was not about the skills of the player itself, or the strength of its avatar. It was all about the charisma and leadership abilities.
And in this game, in ShangriLa Frontier, Saiga-100 was the leader of the most powerful guild in the entire game. So it was not an exaggeration to say that if she would look at you in a nasty way, it could possibly mean your doom.
「……… Huh.」
Alright, glare at me as much as you want, challenge accepted. For the time being, let us take this here head piece off…… There we go.
「Oh well, before we get to explaining stuff, let me do something real quick, just so we can avoid the “Wait a minute, Sanraku-kun, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” questions later.」
「Umm, look, I do realize that the thing have been running rather smoothly here, so do you mind explaining why did you have to put that strange fish thing on your head?」
Why, you ask……?
「Before the important match, you always pump yourself up by tying a headband on your head, right?」
「Yeah, yeah.」
「So that’s why. This is exactly that kind of action.」
「Yeah, look, sorry about that, but I have no idea what are you getting at.」
It is said that the ancient tribes would make masks for themselves and would wear different ones for different occasions. Like a mask especially for battle and a mask especially for the time of festivities.
Alongside that, you could say that the intentions, or rather the personality of the ones wearing the masks, would change according to the symbols and expressions that the masks were depicting.
At least that is the narrative that I have created to back up my current actions, and I intend to stick with it.
「If you can have bonito, who said that salmon was completely out of the question?」
Here, with that my face is all set.
「If that’s what you say, Sal…… I mean, Sanraku……」
「Fufu……」
If I had to put a score at that snicker I did right now, I would give it a solid nine out of ten points.
「Right, so getting back to the topic at hand. While it is true that I have managed to push the Unique Scenario for both Luukan and Kutanid of the Abyss, it was nothing more but a pure accident. And we talk here about that kind of accident and low probability like finding a buried treasure right under your basement or meteorite falling down on top of your head while on your way to school.」
「If that sort of excuses would make sense, the world would be a much better place than it is now, don’t you think? Besides, I thought that between allies things like reporting, counseling and contact are a mandatory thing. Am I wrong in thinking that?」
「But if the communication is not swift and without issues, the organization as a whole cannot function properly, right? Or rather, doesn’t that mean that the organization was bad in the first place?」
Ah, no good, no good, that way the conversation will go in the direction that’s rather dangerous for me. Alright, time for plan B! Let’s explain all the facts for the time being.
「If you would like to ask someone here to confirm my testimony, Rei…… I mean, Saiga-0-san can do that. But truth to be told, it all happened as an accident while I was on my way to meet with some friends I have made in another game. I asked Saiga-0-san for help in getting there, since it was a dangerous area and I had to get at the designated place overnight…… Could you stop giving me looks as though I am some sort of parasite?」
The least I can do for now is to hide the fact that I had some clues regarding Luukan at that point in time.
「On my way to the meeting, I happened across the members of SF-Zoo, who unilaterally slandered me with accusation that I have cracked the code regarding the Luukan’s appearance. And they absolutely refused to listen to any form of reason……」
Yes, yes, yes, I know that I’m trying to shift the blame here on someone else. However, judging by Pencilgton’s reaction that thing the SF-Zoo did was something that was typical of them, so there was probably nothing wrong with me using them here.
「Well, I guess that you can all imagine what was the result of their leash-putting attempt, seeing how their Big Shot is not here for the current moment…… Sorry, I digress. Anyways, after it dealt with SF-Zoo, Luukan targeted Saiga-0-san and myself.」
What followed was a huge mass of random things happening: the sudden help from Akitsu Akane, two Bunnies doing their very best, War Machine “Suzaku” acting like a giant flame fan, but to make a long story short……
「It took as the whole night, but we eventually managed to take it down, that’s it.」
「Oh , like hell it is!」
「Hmm?」
The one to raise his voice so suddenly like that was one of the Black Wolves players, the one who up until now was silently listening to my story.
He looked to be a rather skilled swordsman, and apparently he was far from believing in the story I was telling everyone in here.
「There is just no way that Nightprowler Luukan could be defeated so easily, and not with mere party consisting of two people! You cheated! You must have cheated! Now, spit it out! What kind of cheat did you used!?」