Vol 5 Chapter 1.3 (1/2)

Vol. 5 Chapter 1 Part 3

Soon after Schnee had left, since he couldnt just remain there forever, s.h.i.+n left and stored Tsuki no Hokora.

The night wind chilled the small traces of pa.s.sion that still lingered.

First, should I head back?

After climbing the rampart with Hiding, he went back inside the castle without being noticed by anyone.

As he went back to the inn, he bought a light snack at a street stall and sat on an empty bench.

Information regarding the Flood seemed to have spread well already, as he noticed people that appeared to be preparing for the war here and there. There was no sense of urgency. Was it because they had experienced the Flood several times before?

Ara? s.h.i.+n-kun?

While he was watching the pedestrian traffic, he was suddenly called out to. When s.h.i.+n turned around, Holly was walking toward him with Shadow right behind her.

Are you heading back now?

Yes, and Im going shopping while Im at it. What are you doing in a place like this, s.h.i.+n-kun?

I finished the weapon reinforcement, and Im a bit hungry now.

s.h.i.+n had met them at just the right time, and since he had already finished, he gave the two back the weapons he had strengthened.

Holly was pleased with the result, while Shadow stiffened in surprise.

Reinforcement cant result in this kind of level.

Dont worry about trivial things. s.h.i.+n-kun did his best, so Ive also decided to *whack* in the battle.

Right. Ill use them gratefully.

Shadow nodded in agreement to Holly, who was positive wherever she went.

As there was still time to spare before the war, they also had enough time to practice with their weapons.

Id like to ask you something, is it okay?

What do you want to ask?

Its about your daughter.

When he had used a.n.a.lyze on Kaede, there had been a small static interference running through the race indication.

According to what he had heard from Schnee, it was likely that the interference occurred when the child was a person of mixed parentage.

Do-Dont tell me s.h.i.+n-kun, that you would even take a beautiful child away, even though its our Kaede?!

WHAT?!

Wait a- what is with that manga-like reaction? Shadow-san, please dont take Hollys joke seriously!

While Hollys joke could be called clichd, Shadow emitted a dangerous aura.

s.h.i.+n had intended to have a serious talk, but it had lost its tension almost immediately.

Good grief, please keep the joking within bounds

But you brought up Kaede so suddenly. I dont think I should be saying something like this as a parent, but its popular phrase, is it not?

Indeed.

Shadow agreed with Hollys remark. They seemed to have acquired the t.i.tle of doting parents after having a daughter.

For now, lets leave the joking aside. What I want to ask is, whatis Kaede-chan??

When s.h.i.+n said this, the two changed completely from their playful mood immediately.

If possible, lets talk about this at a place with no one around.

Well, it isnt a story that I would like to tell people much.

I dont mind. That was my intention from the beginning.

s.h.i.+n didnt intend to keep talking there, so they moved to a better place like the two had suggested.

They went to the bar Nyan Da Land, which was located next to the cafe B&W.

For the three of you to gather at a time like this, did something happen?

I want to borrow the back roomits about our daughter.

Shadow said a few words to Hibineko and borrowed a private room in the back. With that last remark, Hibineko had understood what Shadow wanted to talk about.

What do you want to drink?

Ill take whatever you recommend.

When they entered the private room, Shadow and Holly sat across from s.h.i.+n with a serious posture.

Naturally, s.h.i.+n too corrected his posture.

Getting straight to the point, s.h.i.+n, how much do you know about Halfs?

Based on what I heard from Schnee, its a child that has either inherited the special characteristics of both parents, or inherited neither of them. Theres also the kind that has almost no changes from one parent.

Theres no mistake in what you know. Also, if anything, the first one is often calledcritical, and the second one is calledfumble.

Arent those gambling terms?

Once, there was a group of people who tried to give birth to Halfs intentionally. The names they used back then seem to have remained. It isnt just the names that are from gambling, the probability involving it should be called gambling too.

The probability of a person with mixed parentage being born was extremely low. The ones that were calledcriticalhad even lower chances.

Almost all of the ones born were born as ordinary children that were Halfs in name only. Its something that no one was able to predict the outcome of.

Its a fact that acriticalis quite superior in terms of fighting power, you know?

What happens specifically?

Fumu, though there are a lot of individual variations, the child can use the two different races native skills and bonuses. There is a famous beast that can remain inBeast Form while using the dragnilsBreath, and a lord that can use both Devil Eyes and the elves Soul Techniquesimultaneously.

Whats with that cheat?

s.h.i.+n, after hearing about the ability of thecriticals, said unintentionally.

Each of the seven races that existed in this world had their own abilities which could be called unique skills and bonuses.

Things like the humans high magic resistance, the beasts b.e.s.t.i.a.l form, and the elves soul techniques were examples of the unique skills that each race had.

How was it not a cheat to have more than one of them?

s.h.i.+n wasnt in a position to say anything, but even he couldnt use the unique skills and bonuses of other races.

In this world in which the existence of individuals became reality, there would be individuals who is Halfs.

By the way, our Kaede-chan is acritical, you know?

Seriously?

She can use both Soul Technique and Devil Eyes. I dont know if its because shes acritical, but her stats also average out at around 400.

I thought so. Isnt that just a natural cheat?

From the viewpoint of a commoner, acriticalwas an existence that could make fun of even the upper cla.s.s Chosen Ones.

So please dont spread it in the public, okay?

I wont. Come to think of it, if she is that strong, why wasnt she chosen as one of the front-line members?

The coming of age for elves is 20 years old. I cant send a minor off to the battlefield. Because its certain that she will become part of the battle force, she will be placed in the reserves in case of an emergency.

This time, since s.h.i.+n was around, Kaede didnt have to partic.i.p.ate in the war and could remain on standby in the castle.

The reason for this was because she was too young and inexperienced in controlling her power on the battlefield during the last Flood. But, as a result of Shadow and Hollys continued training, there would no longer be any problem even if she was counted as part of the fighting power now.

By the way, s.h.i.+n, I have a question, is it okay with you?

I dont mind. What do you want to ask?

What did you do after that, s.h.i.+n?

To s.h.i.+n, who was thinking about what kind of question was coming, Shadows question was quite unexpected.

Certainly, because time had been limited earlier, he didnt get to tell Shadow and the others.

Right, not much changed as for what I did. I was hunting PKs every day. But, after that, there was a small incident. I was going to return to dungeon capturing, but

As for that incident, it was also something that was related to Marino.

Without it, s.h.i.+n wouldnt be here today.

Shadow listened to s.h.i.+ns story without saying anything. His expression was somewhat melancholic.

thats why I crushed the big PK guilds first, before setting out on a quest and dungeon a.s.sault. Because the last boss was a solo-type, I somehow managed to defeat it.

I see. No matter how powerful it is, if its a solo-type, you can defeat it.

Shadow, who had finished hearing the story looked amazed.

The fact that s.h.i.+n had defeated the last monster Origin all by himself, even if it wasnt reckless, it was absurd.

You could say the premise of MMOs was to cooperate with other people. Though there were also active solo players, most gained the social disposition of either forming a party with somebody or entering a guild.

Above all, party cooperation was essential, as the real thrill of adventure was in killing the boss. Basically, a boss monster wasnt an opponent that could be challenged solo.

Parties formed, cooperated, and backed each other up to win against monsters that couldnt be defeated by a single person.

Among the high-level boss monsters in THE NEW GATE, bosses who could be defeated by a single person were called solo-type, and bosses who could only be defeated by a party were called raid-type.

Though Origin, which s.h.i.+n fought at the end, was a solo-type, it had originally been a raid-type boss.

Thats because I did every kind of reinforcement I could think of: foods, items, equipment and so forth. One might say that if the opponent was a raid-type, I would normally lose.

Even if it was s.h.i.+n, if the opponent monster was impossible to be conquered without a party, he wouldnt think of challenging it solo. He would only challenge it if he knew that the opponent was a solo-type.

As for a solo-type, even if it was a boss, from the size and the attack method and so on, defeating it was possible depending on the luck, equipment, skills, and level of the player alone. Of course, it goes without saying that normally, even if a player was defeated, they still had the choice to return.

The winning rate wasnt always 100% even if s.h.i.+n fought against a monster of the same solo-type more than once.

On the other hand, raid-types were different from solo-types. Their bodies were enormous, and they had many places that had to be attacked at the same time.

s.h.i.+ns partner Yuzuha, also known as an Element Tail, was a raid-type boss. Though it was different for s.h.i.+n now, he didnt know whether he could have won once in 100 rounds against one as a solo player or not in the game era. Even then, it would have taken an extreme amount of luck.

If you only thought about hunting down a raid-type Element Tail regardless of the resulting sacrifices, you could understand just how strong it was just by saying that you would have needed at least three members of Rokuten, who were of the stat-capped cla.s.s.

I wonder why was it a solo-type.

s.h.i.+n said after remembering his fight with Origin. He thought that a raid-type of the highest difficulty would be waiting as the final boss. If the monster was at least Element Tail-level, it would have been almost impossible to clear.

Shadow shook his head calmly.

Maybe it was intended to be cleared, or was deemed sufficient? Either way, if many people were saved, that would be fine, I suppose.

Youre right. That reminds me, I also wanted to ask you something else. How did Shadow-san come here? From Holly-sans story, you dont seem to have initially arrived here together.

Though it was unimaginable for the present Shadow, the Shadow, when he and s.h.i.+n had acted together, had been an a.s.sa.s.sin through and through.

s.h.i.+n remembered Shadow crying while he disappeared after he and Hollys enemy had killed each other at the same time.

Oh well, as for coming here, I seem to have arrived earlier. I was surprised when I met Shadow again.

Thats my line!