Chapter 24 (1/2)
Volume 3: Let’s Make a Clan!
Chapter 24: The Three Cards
「That was absurd! There was a crazy scramble whenever a Lizardman sp.a.w.ned you know!? Could you believe it!? I’m jealous of the Lizardmen for being so popular!」
「…… I understand so you don’t have to go shouting it」
They were atop a hill that had a clear view of Crescendo’s coastline. A soothing ocean breeze drifted through the air, and mixed in with that aroma… was the anger-filled voice of Megu.
The reason behind Megu’s rage was within Edgar’s expectations; the compet.i.tion over Lizardmen and Crab Scissors had evolved into a full-blown disaster──
From this hill that overlooked the coastline, you could easily see the players forming a giant black cl.u.s.ter. The sea-sh.o.r.e was filled to its maximum capacity.
「But anyways, why did Yos.h.i.+ hafta to do all this to us?」(Andou)
「To get in our way by using money… that sorta thing really suits his pighead personality」(Yamabuki)
With their noses flaring up, Andou and Yamabuki expressed their anger just like Megu did.
According to Yamabuki, Yos.h.i.+’s family is pretty wealthy, so he was able to boost his level with a ton of cash shop items.[1]
If he’s loaded with real world money, then it isn’t strange that he turned to using RMT.
「An’ so, what will we do? At this rate, Suzu’s gonna be taken away by that lan-tard! Do something, Ed!」
「It’s all right, Megu. I… I will never make a clan with Yos.h.i.+-kun」
Suzu spoke in a decisive tone.
But, Andou didn’t look too happy when he heard that.
「No, even if you say that…… If we break our promise then we’ll become the bad guys, right? If that happens…」
「……Yes, that is true, but……」
Suzu was unable to come up with a response to Andou.
What Andou said was true, but the whole story wasn’t that simple.
Because of his nasty personality, Yos.h.i.+ was able to come up with this evil plan to sabotage us. If we ended up discarding our promise, then rumors filled with half-truths will surely spread both in this world and in the real world. The pressure from our surroundings will likely drive us into a corner.
If that were to happen then even if we reported Yos.h.i.+ to the admins for Hara.s.sment and using RMT, then we’ll only be subjected to bad rumors and people would talk about us behind our back.
「Andou, how many ingredients did end up with from the Mob hunting?」(Edgar)
「After we came back from resupplying our items we didn’t get to hunt a single Mob you know? All we have right now are 10『Lizard Skins』 and 14『Crab Claws』」
「…… So the amount of Animal Hair and Leather Straps we have is 0. And we only have 40 minutes left, huh…」
While confirming their current situation, Edgar began collecting his thoughts.
The money we have amounts to about 5,000 manila in total. There are players gathered in the plaza who are willing to sell the items we need because Yos.h.i.+ put out a notice for them, but it will be very difficult get those players to sell to us instead.
The material stores don’t reset until after the 40 minutes are up, so the only place to buy the ingredients would be the auction. However, considering that the prices are currently inflated, it’s almost impossible for us to buy all the ingredients we need.
And then there’s Mob hunting.
Considering that the coast is flooded with players blinded by the prospect of money, there is a high probability that there are also a lot of players at the Rabasta Woodlands where Mobs dropped Animal Hair.
In order to break this deadlock, we either need a considerable amount of money, or we need a highly organized combat strategy so we can defeat Mobs before other players got the chance to.
The way things are, I guess I have no choice but to log into Aran when I get the opportunity.
It was many times easier to hunt as Aran; plus he has plenty of in-game money as well.
It will be troublesome having to come up with an excuse for Suzu and the others though.
「Hey, Edgar. How about we try asking the rest of the cla.s.s if they can help with ingredients? It seems like quite a few of them are logged in already, so they might have the items we need if we manage to contact them, right?」
Thus, while Edgar was deep in thought, yet another unexpected plan came from Andou of all people.
「OOH! That just might work!」
「I see… Friends, huh」
Yamabuki followed up, and Edgar also gave a nod.
If we asked random players for their ingredients then they probably wouldn’t help out.
But, if they were Friends…… Or rather, if they were cla.s.smates of ours then it might work out.
「Alright then. Andou and Yamabuki, can I ask you two to get in touch with our cla.s.smates? As for me…… I’ll try something else」
「Something else?」
Because he was a loner, Edgar couldn’t help in that regard.
However, after hearing what Andou had to say, Edgar realized that he had a few「Cards」 he could rely on.
「There was a really persistent Player who sort of “forced” me to be her friend, you see. I’ll go ask if that child can help out」
That girl who so shrewdly earned herself a place on Edgar’s Friend List, her response to Edgar’s plea was so instantaneous that you would think she was monitoring their situation this entire time.
『s.h.i.+SHOOUu~! IT’S TIME, it’s finally timeee! Just leave everything to meee!』
「……」
Reading the reply Usa sent, Edgar had a slight headache as he easily imagined her jumping for joy when she saw his message.
The first person who Edgar called for help was Usa.
If Usa was not completely dimwitted then she wouldn’t be at the Saradin Basin again, so she should be somewhere near Crescendo instead.
If we’re lucky, then even if we can’t go hunting in the Rabasta Woodlands because of the other players, we could still making it through with the Animal Hairs that Usa has stockpiled.
If possible I want as much Animal Hair as we can get, and we can sell the surplus to Yos.h.i.+ and use that money to buy the rest of the ingredients we need.
In the worst case scenario where Yos.h.i.+ has enough b.a.l.l.s to say,「I won’t buy any ingredients from you lot」, then we could just put the Animal Hairs up for auction and I’m sure they will disappear in the blink of an eye.
「”Usa-san”? Is that an old acquaintance?」(Suzu)
「No, she is just a player who I helped out when I was investigating the Samurai Hunter incident」
「Does that mean…… Is Usa-san perhaps, a Girl?」
Suzu was interested in Usa for some reason, and she pressed Edgar for answers about Usa’s true ident.i.ty.
Huh, what?
Even though you showed no interest in the Moon Step?
「She is a female Mohm. Her cla.s.s is Samurai and apparently she started playing around the same time we did」
「…… Hmm~, that so」
「？？？」
Suzu seemed to have latched on to a particular part of his reply. Above Edgar’s head floated several large Question Marks.
Why are you looking at me like that.
Did I say something that offended you? Did I?
「I-In any case, there is the possibility that the people I and Andou contacted won’t be able to bail us out completely…… We can’t be too optimistic」
Our cla.s.smates might be of no use, the Rabasta Woodlands might be filled with players, and we might not be able to hunt Mobs, anything is possible.
That’s why we need 2 or 3 countermeasures.
「So~, What should we do? Do we all go somewhere far out to hunt Mobs?」(Andou)
「No, let’s do something else. Andou and Yamabuki, please go with Megu-san and head for the coast one more time. Suzu-san and I will stay at the auction」
「Huh? Again?」
“Will that be alright?” Megu looked apprehensive.
Megu-san is right, the possibility that they will be able to hunt Lizardmen and Crab Scissors is extremely low. And it’s not very likely that we’ll be able to buy any ingredients from the auction either.
No, from a normal standpoint, our chances are nonexistent.