Vol 9 Chapter 3.1 (2/2)

As they emerged from the forest, the scenery changed completely.

What is.this?

Looks like the guildhouse never changed.

s.h.i.+n reacted plainly to Tieras utter surprise at the view before them..

What surprised Tiera so much was that, signaled by a Torii gate, there seemed to be an invisible wall, beyond which the scenery changed completely.

There was not a single trace of snow in the area beyond the Torii, which instead showed an idyllic spring-like scenery.

Production facilities could be seen such as fields and rice paddies, then buildings reminiscent of smithies too. Thanks to it being located at a slightly higher alt.i.tude, s.h.i.+n and the group could see a shrines main building and prayer hall in the distance.

Mitsuyo, whats Kunitsunas direction?

Straight this way. Beyond the large building over there.

Mitsuyo replied while pointing towards the shrine. s.h.i.+n thought at first that the presence of the guildhouse in the direction they were heading could have been a coincidence, but now changed his mind.

At the very least, Suzune must have known something.

I see the entrance is still the Torii.

Theyre also dressed the same as before.

s.h.i.+baid and Filma casually commented after seeing the guildhouse. All of s.h.i.+ns support characters, Schnee included, knew the Black Priestess Shrines guildhouse from the game era.

Kuu, shrine, good.

Yuzuha, whose territory once hosted a shrine, seemed happy at the sight.

As the group followed Suzune through the gate, the stinging cold instantly turned mellower. The winter wear worn by s.h.i.+n and the group was excessive now, so they all took off their heavy coats and other gear, returning to lighter attires.

Lady Kuchinas.h.i.+ awaits here. Be sure to show proper respect.

Suzune had led them to the shrines prayer hall, as s.h.i.+n thought she would.

Only its external appearance was that of a prayer hall, though: the interior was completely different. Being a guildhouse, it contained several facilities such as warehouses, and of course traps to hinder monsters and enemy attacks.

Even under many pairs of watchful eyes, s.h.i.+n did not miss this opportunity to map the interior of the building.

After turning several corners, following a maze-like course, they arrived in the room farthest from the entrance, the guildmasters quarters.

Suzune spoke to the priestess in charge of security, and after a few seconds of silence the door opened.

The room, decorated with j.a.panese-style ornaments and objects, was immersed in silence. The footsteps and rustling of clothes s.h.i.+n and the party caused echoed louder than normal.

The rooms owner was sitting at a small table, apparently engaged in battle against paperwork.

Welcome. I thought it was someone pretending to be you at first, but I see we have the real s.h.i.+n here. Im glad to see that your support friends are well too. Two of them Im not familiar with though.

So spoke the woman as she wrapped up the paperwork: Kuchinas.h.i.+, former player and guildmaster of Black Priestess Shrine.

Her waist-length red hair gently waved as she stood up. Eyes black like the night, resembling obsidian gemstones, looked straight at s.h.i.+n from behind under-frame gla.s.ses.

Looking at her, s.h.i.+n thought that while she was originally pale-skinned, her complexion was somewhat sickly.

Kuchinas.h.i.+ Level 255 Purification Priestess

The information displayed by a.n.a.lyze was just as s.h.i.+n remembered.

Its been a long time. I did not think I would have the chance of meeting you again. Did you lose some weight?

I believe thats where you ask Arent you more beautiful than before?, instead.

Kuchinas.h.i.+ raised her eyebrows and rebuked s.h.i.+n. Her expression showed that she hadnt expected s.h.i.+n to notice.

Anyway, I know its strange for me to say this, but was it alright to let us inside? I think that you know me from when I was in a rather dangerous state

Thats rightconcerning when I last saw you. But I knew that deep inside you, there was no hate.

Kuchinas.h.i.+s judgment had been caused by her seeing s.h.i.+n before and after the change.

Even if you were an impostor, if you meant to harm me within the guildhouse, youd need to at least be on par with Schnee, as far as fighting prowess goes. In the current world, its pretty impossible for many people of that level to be in the same party. They would become famous in a flash too. And well, my womans intuition told me so too.

Raising her index finger in a told-you-so gesture, Kuchinas.h.i.+ chuckled.

Guildhouse masters abilities were powered up inside their guildhouses. Kuchinas.h.i.+ had realized that this s.h.i.+n was not an impostor thanks to the name and level displayed by her reinforced a.n.a.lyze.

Facing a fully prepared guildmaster inside their guildhouse would be very difficult without a large difference in stats.

So, I heard that youre looking for a katana?

s.h.i.+n knew Kuchinas.h.i.+ and what kind of person she was, so he briefly explained that one of the Five Supreme Blades was supposed to be in the area.

I seewhen I saw the name of the ponytail girl I had a hunch, but in this case, Ill tell you what I know. In short, we know where it is. But some time ago we made a series of mistakes andwere now undecided about what to do. Now that youre here, though, we should be able to solve this.

Leave it to us. By the way, the girl that guided us here seemed to know about Onimaru too.

Suzune had mentioned Onimarus name, showing great hostility towards s.h.i.+n. Maybe she was connected somehow.

Suzune, right. OK, Ill explain about her too, so will you stay and listen?

Kuchinas.h.i.+ motioned to s.h.i.+n and the others to sit down and ordered the priestess outside to bring something to drink.

After the priestess brought tea with sweets and left, Kuchinas.h.i.+ started talking.

First, we confirmed the presence of Onimaru Kunitsuna, one of the Five Supreme Blades, around 5 years ago. It was in the depths of Cadaver Realm, a dungeon that appeared close to our guild house. Its a dungeon with an entrant limit, only 4 people are allowed inside at the same time.

In the game era too, dungeons that could be explored only by obeying specific conditions (limits on party members, weapons, etc) existed. The dungeon where Onimaru was located appeared to be of this type.

Kuchinas.h.i.+ continued by saying that when the Black Priestess Shrine members explored the dungeon, they didnt know about Onimarus presence.

s.h.i.+n, do you know the word Chosen One?

Yes, it refers to whoever has a resurrection bonus, right? The stats change from person to person though.

Exactly. The members who explored the dungeon that time were all Chosen Ones. The War Priestess Kotone, especially, had STR and DEX over 700. It was supposed to be a party of considerable fighting power, and yet

Despite this, only one member returned alive.

According to the survivor, although they suffered casualties they managed to defeat the boss that wielded Onimaru, but the boss corpse released a black mist-like substance, which swallowed both Onimaru and Kotone.

After that, I chose other members and had them inspect the boss room again; they reported seeing Kotone, Onimaru in hand, standing in the middle of the room. It looks like she has been made part of the dungeon and acts as its boss now. When they tried to talk to her, they were attacked.

Kuchinas.h.i.+ had ordered the scouting members to come back as soon as anything happened, so they retreated right away.

Defeating her could probably bring her back to her senses, but because of the combination of Kotones abilities and Onimarus stats, no one could best her.

Kuchinas.h.i.+ could be considered an advanced player, but because of the large difference in equipment, she didnt have enough confidence to step up to the challenge.

Furthermore, there was also the possibility that what happened to Kotone could affect Kuchinas.h.i.+ too, so many were against the idea of the guildmaster facing Kotone in person.

Some members tell me that they would like to try to face her, but only 3 of them could be suitable, ability-wise. Suzune, the girl who guided you here, is the most able of the three. Suzune is also Kotones younger sister, so she trained desperately to hone her skills, in order to save her..

I see. When we were surrounded, she was the only one to show a kind of excessive reactionso that was the reason.

Freeing Onimaru meant defeating Kotone. s.h.i.+ns party, ignorant of her circ.u.mstances, could have dealt with Kotone thinking she was just a monster.

s.h.i.+n thought that Suzunes concern about this risk had been expressed through her reaction.

This is all the information I can tell you. And so, there is something I would like to ask you to do, s.h.i.+n

To recover Onimaru and save Kotone, I guess?

Yes, exactly, but I would also like you to bring Suzune with you. She is one of the Chosen Ones with the highest abilities here and can also use Dispel Omen, so I am sure she can prove herself useful for the rescue.

Being an Onmyoji, she could prove herself useful in various ways, commanding spirits both to locate enemies and in battle. Kuchinas.h.i.+ rea.s.sured s.h.i.+n that, at least against the monsters in the dungeon, she wouldnt be a burden.

If possible, I would like for all 4 members to be from my group though.

s.h.i.+n, obviously, then the all-purpose type Schnee, Mitsuyo from the Five Supreme Blades, then Tiera, who succeeded in purifying Yasutsuna. These would have been the best members.

I thought that the Supreme Blade counted as weapon, though.

.I wonder. I dont know how that works either. If Mitsuyo is not counted as one of the 4, we can take Suzune with us. After all, someone under foreign control could wake up if a family member calls to them. Thinking about our current situation, I dont think that things like that can be disregarded.

s.h.i.+n was experiencing a real world created exactly like a video game after all.

No one can tell what might or might not happen. Thus a miracle like that was very possible.

Let us verify if Suzune can come with you or not first then. If its possible, we can discuss how to work together later.

Kuchinas.h.i.+ called to someone outside the room, ordering them to lead s.h.i.+ns group to the dungeon.

The priestess in charge of guiding them, Ayame, exited the guildhouse grounds via a Torii gate located opposite from the one s.h.i.+ns party to used to enter.

Taking a long time just for a confirmation seemed pointless, so they started running and arrived at the dungeon in about 15 minutes.

In the middle of the forest lied a run-down fort. Possibly to contain the effects of the miasma, the trees all around the fort were tied together with votive rope and blessed charms were attached to their trunks.

If you enter the fort and proceed straight you will find the entrance to the dungeon.

Ayame informed the group in detail about their destination and they headed towards the entrance.

In order to check what Mitsuyo would be cla.s.sified as, s.h.i.+n, Schnee, Tiera, s.h.i.+baid, and Mitsuyo tried to enter the dungeon together.

.doesnt look like there are any problems, right?

Indeed, it appears lady Mitsuyo is not counted as a person.

s.h.i.+baid looked around and answered s.h.i.+ns question.

They were 5, Mitsuyo included. Yet the dungeon supposedly identified them as 4 people and 1 weapon.

So this means that we can take Suzune with us too. Well well, lets see what happens next.

s.h.i.+n mumbled to himself as they traced back their steps out of the dungeon.

The entrance to Cadaver Realm remained fully open, as if inviting s.h.i.+n and the party inside.