242 # 229 Empire Movement and Yellow Ossa Timber Collection.txt (1/2)

The next morning at school, Kaito is complaining about it.

'This quest, you're putting too much priority on Freetia...'

I'm the wrong person to talk to. What?　Is that the way it works on the board?

'Oh... there's a lot of noise about the management being biased or something... there's nothing good to fight for, so the number of people logging in has dropped dramatically...'

I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get away with it.

But I don't want people like that to say that I'm favoritism towards Freetia.

I've heard a lot of talk about how the Empire is so rich that other countries are sending help.

Then Kaito jumped on the subject.

'Wait a minute!　What's that story?　I'm not listening to you!

'How would I know what's going on in the Empire?　It's just that our kings have been talking about it.

'So the Empire is going to have reinforcements from other countries to defeat the zombies?

Maybe. There's no way Freetia is the only thing we can capture, right?

Then Kaito comes up with an idea.

''Eh... because I haven't heard anything from those guys, right?　Well, no way!　Those guys!

What's going on?

'Maybe the information was kept under wraps... there are other players in the Empire like Seigo who have close ties to the country, but they didn't say anything about reinforcements.

So you're saying that he deliberately hid it... for what? It would be a reward.

If reinforcements from other countries are coming in and the win is confirmed, then everyone will be working diligently on quests for their country. Then there's a risk that the good ones won't come to them after they complete the quests.

''But I have a feeling that if we do nothing too much, we'll fail the quests...''

I think they know what I'm talking about.　That's why he should be posting about reinforcements on the board today.

I see... we'll do plenty of quests ourselves, then release the information and complete the quests...

I'm sorry for your loss.

'd*mn it!　They're disgusting!

Kaito, shut up!

All of his classmates warned him about it. Kaito tried to put the information up first on the board in a bad way, but it seems it was too late.

Kaito says that no one will believe him if he fusses over one person that he was keeping the information secret after all this time.

It's tough on the Imperial side. Let's let Freetia all work together and complete the quest.

When school ends, Kaito dashes out of class in a mad dash and bumps into the life guidance teacher and is taken away.

That guy...not so lucky.

I log in to the game after shopping at the supermarket.

I'm going to break through the Yellow Ossa forest before nightfall. Because we're in danger of being attacked by the Orca Tengu.

First, Setia and Mir will collect at the spring. Then it's time for the felling of trees as promised by Setia. While looking for a tree, we found the famous New Year's tree.

Pine: Rarity 6 Material Item Quality C-.

Wood that is considered a symbol of longevity and contains high levels of flammable resin. This makes it ideal for bonfires, and charcoal is used for blacksmithing. It can also be used to make paper, and if you collect soot from bonfires, you can make ink from it.

Wha, what? Was pine that good of a wood? Oh, perfect for a bonfire, perhaps the torches are about to come? As I was thinking about this, Setia made a noise.

'Ta, Mr. Tact!　It's a pine tree!　I can't wait to get it!

I knew it was a good material.

'Of course!　With a wand, you can expect to get a fire magic boost, and best of all, the resin is used as a non-slip tool!　My hands won't hurt as much to use the bow and strings!

Oh... come to think of it, I've heard that bows and such often hurt your hands. I'm sure Setia and Rian would love to have something to prevent that.

So I'm going to start the felling process!

A memorable first blow will break the axe. Huh...I knew it. I got an intermediate axe before I even got here. Still, I wanted to give it a try.

So I start the logging process and go, the resin is wasted all over the place, so Setia and Mir rush to collect it, but I don't have enough manpower. I call Aeon and Rian and we all gather it together. We decide that it's too much to get out of the bottle, so we go back once we decide it's too much.

Since Hugues wasn't there, Moch tells me that he doesn't know where the empty barrels are sold. It's just as well he was born and raised. So we got a lot of barrels and went back.

We were able to identify the resin.

Matsuyani: Rare Level 6 Material Item Quality C-

A natural resin from pine trees. It is used for fuel, adhesives and non-slip products.

I can't help but notice the ”fuel” section. Well, for now, let's just focus on harvesting.

Two hours.

I managed to take one down.

'Zee...zee...nah...do you have a count of how many times you've...swung the axe?'

'Well... it's been over a hundred times, I think.

You're right! It helps that Aeon and the others praise me so hard. But Mir's unexpected word is announced.

'Tact-sama, there's another tree over there!

Where? That one... can be appraised.

Maple: rarity 6 Material Item Quality C-

It is a hard, dense and impact-resistant wood. It is also known for its sweet sap and its edible qualities.

”Mir...am I imagining things?　It's the same rarity and quality as a pine tree, okay?

Um... but good luck with that!