Volume 7 Chapter 1 Part 2 (2/2)
Kagerou could have been useful in defense, but Tiera was still inexperienced as a tamer and could not use its abilities to the fullest yet. She could not have dealt with the situation as swiftly as s.h.i.+baid.
”Asking you to keep watch was the right choice.”
Elves are quite apt at scouting jobs such as hunter or s.h.i.+n.o.bi. Furthermore, the tamer job covered several roles, production, battle, scouting, etcetera; this depended on the tamed monster.
Tiera's monster, Kagerou, was of considerable high level and also proficient in detection and infiltration abilities.
As tamers are affected by the monsters they command, Tiera's detection ability was now boosted for a limited time.
It was a preparation done as a mere precaution, but it yielded an unexpectedly great result.
Kagerou and Yuzuha's detection abilities were also fairly high, of course, and could be expected to be very useful.
”They said a messenger would come, what shall we do about that?”
”Let's think about how to deal with the messenger first. In the end, we can chase down the target marked by Yuzuha whenever we want. We know that it flew away from the Church, but we don't know if it's going to the ritual site. If it's Bulk's messenger, it's certain to lead us there.”
s.h.i.+n answered Schnee's question basing himself on the information obtained from Bulk.
”The messenger was supposed to come ”pick up” Bulk, so they would surely head to the ritual site later. If we can catch it we can learn the location of the ritual.”
Alongside with a lot of other information.
”(The messenger is supposed to come 2 days from now. As long as there is a possibility that they captured Filma exists, we cannot take this lightly. We'll use mind-type skills.)”
”(Understood. What shall we do with Lilis.h.i.+la?)”
”(If I say that I'll morph into Bulk with an illusion-type skill, she won't come with us.)”
s.h.i.+n communicated the plan to Schnee and s.h.i.+baid via Mind Chat.
The great sword supposed to be in Filma's possession, Exvaine, was here.
Consequently, it was more likely that Filma was not captured, but instead being manipulated. Even now at an unknown place, she could be doing others' bidding.
This event had been caused by Bulk's and a few others' l.u.s.t for power. That is why s.h.i.+n decided not to dispose of the other people of the Church. However, the ”Summit Faction” was different.
Those who hurt innocent people and treat life as a tool do not deserve any pity.
(The world might have changed, but these kinds of people don't learn new tricks, do they?)
What s.h.i.+n had remembered was the battle against players called PK's.
There were no benefits. It was a war. A ma.s.sacre, where lives were expendable as if they were disposable items.
It was a battlefield filled with grief, hatred and insanity.
The sensation s.h.i.+n felt now was familiar.
”(What should we do if the enemies equip items that make them immune to status effects?)”
”(Nothing to worry. I can bypa.s.s the ”Age of G.o.ds Earring”'s defense now.)”
s.h.i.+n answered s.h.i.+baid's question with confidence.
The effectiveness of mind-type skills depends on the user's INT.
The mind-type skills used by s.h.i.+n, who had surpa.s.sed the limit, were now capable of penetrating the defenses of even items which granted immunity to status effects.
The only situation where they could fail was if the target equipped multiple accessories of the highest rank, such as the ones s.h.i.+n and Schnee had.
”Ehm, s.h.i.+n”
”Hm? What's wrong?”
As he was speaking through Mind Chat, a faint voice reached s.h.i.+n's ears. He turned in Schnee's direction.
His eyes found her holding the right sleeve of his clothes, a worried look on her face.
”Is everything alright?”
”Er, what.?”
”s.h.i.+n, your face just nowwas kind of scary.”
”Ahwas it showing on my face that much?”
”Yes.”
s.h.i.+n touched his own face and felt that it was indeed pretty stiff.
s.h.i.+n knew from experience that if he wasn't careful, thinking about the PK's would cause his emotions to become visible on his expression.
He was not thinking about things that Schnee should worry about, but s.h.i.+n regretted having saddened her. s.h.i.+n knew what worried Schnee the most.
”I wasn't thinking of things you need to worry about, Yuki. It's alright.”
”If so, I'm glad.”
s.h.i.+n replied with a cheerful tone, to dispel Schnee's worries. s.h.i.+n's smile wasn't forced, so Schnee, relieved, let go of his sleeve.
On the other hand, s.h.i.+baid and Tiera motionlessly watched the scene that had just transpired.
”It's pretty hard to join the conversation when you two fly in your own world all of a sudden, you know.”
”Hmm. I understand Yuki's worries, but I would prefer you would save such gestures for when you're alone together.”
Tiera was almost rolling her eyes at the couple, while it was not clear if s.h.i.+baid was reproaching them or giving advice.
s.h.i.+n and Schnee had come back to the real world because of their words, only to be struck by another unexpected ambush.
”(Kuu! Scent of peaches! Kiss her? Kiss her?)”
”Peach-colored atmosphere” was a truly fitting description. Yuzuha had talked all of a sudden, fortunately not via words but Mind Chat.
”Hahaha, no, I'm sorry. And no Yuzuha, no kissing!”
”..”
s.h.i.+n, however, replied through his normal voice.
Hearing these words, Schnee could guess what Yuzuha had said, and her whole face was stained red.
”(s.h.i.+n, what in the world is wrong with you?)”
”(Yuzuha asked me if I was going to ”kiss her” via telepathy! Ah, darn, I spoke out loud)”
s.h.i.+n explained what happened to s.h.i.+baid via Mind Chat. The latter then understood the situation, but behind him stood Lilis.h.i.+la's group, who was unable to use Mind Chat.
s.h.i.+n's sudden ”no kisses” declaration attracted their glares towards him.
”Excuse me, s.h.i.+n-sama? You said something about kissing?”
”Hahaha, of course not. I did say ”missing” though, maybe you heard wrong?” (T/N: Chiyu: Healing, but the words are omitted thus changed to missing. And Chiyu: Kissing, they are said the same way in j.a.panese.)
”But just now, I'm sure that”
”Surely just your imagination, milady.”
s.h.i.+n tried desperately to change the subject.
Kissing and missing, it would be pretty hard to mistake words like these, but not impossible. They did come out of the blue, though.
s.h.i.+baid whispered a word of advice to Yuzuha.
”Yuzuha. Please save such words for when there is no one else around. Timing is an important factor as well.”
”Kuu?”
Yuzuha c.o.c.ked her head to one side, apparently finding it a concept difficult to grasp.
”s.h.i.+baid! Hey! What kind of advice is that!?”
”You see, such things should be allowed to proceed while they can.”
”.where's the serious atmosphere from a few moments ago?”
Their serious discussion had been blown away by Yuzuha's one line.
”How can I say it, s.h.i.+n's comrades are all pretty peculiar.”
Tiera spoke with a small wry laugh, while looking at s.h.i.+n and his party.
Having lived together with Schnee, Tiera knew more than the average person about Rokuten and its members. She felt that the other members she hadn't met yet would surely be out of the ordinary.
”Not exactly, Ms. Tiera. Remember that you too are one of those comrades.”
”Eh?”
s.h.i.+n pointed out that Tiera seemed to consider herself as not included in the ”peculiar” group.
A remark that painted a shocked expression on Tiera's face.
When s.h.i.+n asked Tiera to act on her own, they explained to Lilis.h.i.+la that Kagerou was a monster that possessed abilities on the same level as an upper cla.s.s chosen one. There was no way for Tiera, the mistress of such a monster, to be a normal person.
From Lilis.h.i.+la's party's standpoint, s.h.i.+n and Tiera were in the same category.
”Thatcan't be”
”Why are you that shocked?”
”I can't be expected to be on the same level as you. A normal person might think I'm incredible, but s.h.i.+n, you guys are on a whole different level.”
From someone at level 1, both level 150 and 255 appear equally high-level.
Yet from Tiera's standpoint, who had barely reached level 150 without reincarnation, a level 255 with reincarnation bonuses possessed power far beyond hers.
In addition, Tiera was a high-level user thanks to Kagerou. To be considered on the same level as s.h.i.+n, who could take down Kagerou by himself, isn't something she could simply agree with.
From s.h.i.+n's standpoint, however, Tiera was incredible enough; she had tamed the divine beast Gruef.a.go without fighting, after all.
”You would make us lose face, if you were able to match us so easily. But you are still growing, in more ways than one. You'll become much stronger.”
”I do think that I grew a little stronger, but I honestly can't imagine matching you all in strength. All this time I've been admiring master and s.h.i.+n, but I can't even jest and say 'I'll be as strong as you one day'”
Tiera replied with a sigh to s.h.i.+n's comment concerning her future growth.
”Well, let's continue this conversation another time. First, let's do everything we can till the messenger arrives. Yuki and I will go search Bulk's residence. s.h.i.+baid, go help Lilis.h.i.+la. Tiera, please keep an eye on Millie. ”
s.h.i.+n stopped the conversation for the time being and gave orders to s.h.i.+baid and the others.
Lilis.h.i.+la was now going to arrest the people who had colluded with Bulk, so s.h.i.+baid would act as her escort. He asked Tiera to look after Millie because he felt it would not be good to have Hermie, the one venerated as Holy Woman, continue to act as caretaker.
The two nodded to s.h.i.+n's proposal.
””Understood.””
Lilis.h.i.+la, who had been listening too, nodded in agreement.
With s.h.i.+baid on her side, even if the opponent was an upper cla.s.s chosen one there would be no trouble. Her confidence was reinforced by having witnessed his fighting prowess not long ago.
”I'll have Millie sent to Vizzy later. Can you relay this to Wilhelm too?”
s.h.i.+n whispered to Tiera as to avoid being heard by Lilis.h.i.+la.
He wanted to send Millie back as soon as possible, also to soothe Ras.h.i.+a's worries, who was waiting in Bayreuth. However, if it was at all possible, he wanted to keep the fact that they rode Elder Dragons to Sigurd a secret.
Vizzy, support character of Rokuten member Cashmere, had tamed the Elder Dragons, and s.h.i.+n could use it freely. If this information spread, trouble was very likely to arise.
That is why he whispered to Tiera the message to be relayed.
”Understood. Don't worry about it Anyways, you be careful too, s.h.i.+n.”
”We'll go perform our search now. If we find anything, we'll report later.”
”Thank you very much. We shall go remove all the infection festering within the Church.”
Lilis.h.i.+la had already investigated before hand, in order to stand against Bulk; her eyes now burned with red-hot flames.
This was expected. Not too long ago they were not able to deliver a crus.h.i.+ng blow to the other party. Now, they are able to pa.s.s judgement on those people.
There was no reason not to be fired up!
s.h.i.+n caught himself thinking that Lilis.h.i.+la's smile was almost scary.