Vol 2 Chapter 3 (2/2)
Henrietta interrupted Charasin with a clear voice
”Time?”
”That's right, ill be talking to some other people after this”
Henrietta’s caluilt and shame
”I'e since we know each other, but Henrietta insisted that we need to be fair”
”Eh, Mary-san, what do you mean?”
”Hmm”
Maryele aze and observed Henrietta This was not an act, it was real Maryele could not stand up to Henrietta when it involved spending money
”Even though they are deals on so with Oceanic Systems and The Rodrick Firm”
”Other matters?”
”Yes I should say it is a sponsorshi+p It is regarding the sale of the Crescent☪Moon franchise rights”
”Eh!”
Charasin's expression changed
8th District Shopping Center was auilds in Akiba, but it could not compare to Oceanic Systems and The Rodrick Firm Oceanic Syste Center If they joined in, Charasin would not have any say in the negotiations
”We want to live in har Center has been taking good care of us right? And we go way back, so I want 8th District Shopping Center to be a part of this But Henrietta says we must solve the supply issue first”
”Mary, instead of saying ‘solving the issue’, it should be securing a supply line first, before e correct?”
Henrietta frohen she listened to Maryele, and explained it to her like she was a kid
”Wait a moment Mary, Henrietta-san, what plans does Crescent☪Moon have? What do you mean by sponsorshi+p?” Charasin's question made Maryele nervously open her er, and turned towards Charasin
”In the eyes of 8th District Shopping Center, how much is this information worth?”
Henrietta looked at Charasin with mysterious eyes No matter how you sliced it, the co Center, with no risk of loss Charasin squinted his eyes and made his decision with this announcement:
”8th District Shopping Center is willing to accept the co deer meat, lettuce, tomato, flour, potato, sun sun fish, and thunder bird meat We will prepare 3200 sets each The first batch will arrive the day after to price will be 50,000”
”40,000”
”Deal, 8th District Shopping Center's Charasin accepts these terms”
”Wonderful! Charasin accepted it right? Right? We can invite hiht?”
”Yes, of course”
As Henrietta nodded a ring-tone sounded in Maryele's ear infor her that the next batch of visitors had arrived
4
”Incredible, aren’t these two great beauties and the young guildCenter?”
”Erm”
As informed earlier, the ones who came in were Oceanic Systems' Michitaka and The Rodrick Firm's Rodrick
”This is the first tiuild uild's er Henrietta”
”Hold on, please don't use such an old tere of accounts”
They took turns addressing the guests Maryele just loafed at home and took care of the chores, while Henrietta was an office lady with a degree in econoe of accounts, she also learned from her father As an office lady, she kne to handle h on the edges, they still reet them properly
”I am Oceanic Systems' Michitaka, my position is the boss”
With a body that looked more like a warrior's than a rip as he shook hands His arms were beefy with obvious burn marks, possibly because he was a Blacksmith
”I auild uild”
On the other hand, the younghimself as Rodrick had a scholarly air around him He was a Pharmacist
”Yes, I understandunderstood Eh, I have heard about the two of you! Both of you are famous!”
Maryele smiled passionately
In Henrietta's eyes, Maryele see earlier, Maryele was assigned to request 8th District Shopping Center to provide ingredients for this period of tinment just now
The negotiations noould be handled by Henrietta
(This means that this is my battle now)
Henrietta shtly In front of her were the biggest and 2nd biggest guilds' leaders Because their scale was too far apart, they normally wouldn't think much of Crescent Moon Alliance Before today, Henrietta would have flinched at the thought of talking to them
But Henrietta and her group had spent the last week preparing for this oods, selling in the hot day, collecting infor a moat battle, all that was for this encounter
This step was based on the previous step, and the step before, and the step before that, a long chain of steps And the ones who laid the foundation was not Henrietta, but her teammates
(If I back doon't be able to face my comrades And this is shi+roe-sama's dark scheme If we don't win this way, other on't work too Keke, to think that I a part in this scheme)
Henrietta thought of herself as a second rate player, and had never challenged any big-scale raids or high-level quests And son since this neorld began
(My strength is able to becoth)
(I can use my power to its limit)
This knowledge brought a sense of determination and excitement from within
”Erm, we also know you You are the owner of Crescent☪Moon correct? You are now a celebrity in Akiba I ate it before too, although only that one time”
Michitaka smiled as he spoke
Maryele continued to smile cheerfully in reply, unfazed by the others
”But on the other hand, Maryele-san of Crescent☪Moon, you have invited us and the other big guilds, what do you have in mind?”
Rodrick said as he gazed at Charasin, trying to guess why Charasin was here before they arrived
”That the , that is, erm”
”Before this, letCenter here before the others”
Henrietta said after counting her breaths
Explaining word by word, wary of talking too fast, trying her best to sound at ease, carefully choosing her words, controlling her tone, and explained
”We coredients”
This sentence made Michitaka's kind expression and Rodrick's wise eye suddenly fill with tense e to progress
8th District Shopping Center had about 700 members
Oceanic Systems had 2500 h their levels and expertise were different and their influence was as big as the number ofCenter supplying theredients, they would tip the balance in their favor
Crescent☪Moon started a food revolution
But because of its suild size, their supply was also s 1000 meals a day was far from adequate to meet the demand
But if they linked up with 8th District Shopping Center's 700 members, they would be able to satisfy the city's need, and the profit would be enormous
Because it was food
Different from clothes, furniture, weapons, armor, accessories, these types of equipone after you ate it, and even if it were cheap, the total expenditure would still be an astronoure Since it was consu Center who controlled the food supply would be able to absorb more members Over time, they would be able to overturn the current situation, this was easy to see
Henrietta understood Michitaka and Rodrick's thought process Food as a weapon, depending on hoas used, could be a nuclear weapon capable of upsetting the balance of the production guilds
”YouCenter?”
Michitaka beat Rodrick in asking the question
His nature was straightforward, just like his appearance This aly all led by players like that
”No, if that was the case, there would be no need to invite us This enda correct?”
The skinny entle voice
Henrietta thought he was silasses, but his neuroticisative trait Even if his schemes were better than shi+roe's, he wouldn't have the courage to harbor such schemes
Until recently, Henrietta thought that shi+roe was an introvert and his low profile nature was like Rodrick's That hy she could feel hoide their potential difference is; the only thing they had in common was their similar appearance
”Yes, as you said, our guild has another agenda We hope Oceanic Syste Center can listen to our request on equal grounds”
Henrietta bowed slightly
Negotiations were a series of probings for truths and falsehoods
By this definition, Henrietta was in a perilous position
The topic was raised by Henrietta If she did not provide infor the details wouldher trump card
Her advantage was that the other party wanted to reap soh-yield piece of meat
On top of that
(As long as we control the negotiations, that willany information will be up to us)
Henrietta organized information that could or could not be shared like a chess player
shi+roe set a restriction for this , that was not to lie
When probing each other, you were banned fro sht Henrietta knew that she has to keep to this restriction since this could becoe in the future
(shi+roe-sa inconsiderate If I don't borrow Akatsuki-chan from him, this will not be worth it Ah ah, Akatsuki-chan, black and smooth hair just like a doll)
Henrietta's face turned red as she started to fantasize Maryele coughed twice in a hurry to warn her
”Ah, sorry, let's get straight to the topic Crescent Moon Alliance is planning a big cauild alone is not enough to take up this challenge, so we need help from all of you”
”Er a quest?”
For Rodrick's question, Henrietta did not answer yes or no She kept her gaze down, her lips beco the shape of the crescent moon
(He is mistaken)
Quests were an event in Elder Tales where you acceptedto a series of events and adventures, with a variety of content
For exaer to look for her daughter in the forest; to clear the goblins in a cave; head to the lion scorpion swainable event could be included in quests
Elder Tales was not like single-player RPG where there was a ame Players could choose which level they want to take up the quest But when Elder Tales was just a game it claimed to have tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of quests, and no player could grasp all of the content
With a variety of quests there were also a variety of rewards It e, or even so and recipes for producing items
Rodrick interpreted Henrietta's challenge as a quest That n that this was a quest that could not be done alone It roups that were bigger than a party in order to challenge it
Right now they were negotiating the knowledge of preparing food with taste in exchange for funds But Henrietta's method was more like an idea or an inspiration
The production guilds' leaders had sharp instinct If there were so, they would be able to infer the technique In fact, soht have the same inspiration one day
Considering this, Henrietta chose the tactics of baiting the other party Making use of the other parties' doubt and co them to say what she wanted them to say
Not lying But not letting them know the truth, this was Henrietta's scheme
”So, what kind of support does Mary's side need?”
Charasin asked, which was the assist Henrietta expected She did not answer iuild masters
Creating an indecisive atotiations
She knew her ally Maryele was still displaying her s men looked at the two ladies
(Mary is a beauty after all, she would beher ho pillow Ah, Charasin-sa for Mary, so pure)
In reality, the three of the at Maryele as like the sun and Henrietta as like the azes repeatedly between the two ladies But Henrietta did not realize her charht that way
Henrietta suan:
”Before saying e need, I will explain the operating systeht not believe us This can will be led by shi+roe-sama”
Henrietta decided to gamble
This was not shi+roe's instruction, and was not approved by Maryele Henrietta did not knohat the name shi+roetime, had very deep level of experience, and knew some incredible people But she did not knohy shi+roe was so close to a suild like Crescent Moon Alliance, and why he was not in any guild
Henrietta spoke to shi+roe before and thought he was a special player, but was that the truth?
Henrietta heard froriffons Fro a normal experienced player will have
”Black Heart shi+roe is in command?”
The voice was soft, but Michitaka did say these words
”The power forward is Naotsugu-sauard is Nyanta-sauard is Maryele and me There are also other volunteers as well as Crescent Moon Alliance who carry out this can”
Henrietta stopped momentarily to peek at Michitaka's reaction
Michitaka reacted to the name of shi+roe and some others He suppressed his emotions, so others could not tell what the reaction meant But he did react
(shi+roe-sa chance of success)
shi+roe's na
”These are the core , so everyone please lend us your aid We lack funds, we need 5 old”
The three of theasped in unison
That was quite a large sum of money
In the game, there were some quests that needed money to complete Maybe it was needed for bribes in the process, or the fee for training Some quests required specific items, which you needed to buy from the market If you took into account all of this, a quarter of the quests required funds
But 5 e a sule player quest to request so endary level, or if it covered a large range of areas, then it was hard to dise funds
Since no one had heard of this type of quest, did that mean it was a new quest? If it was an unknown quest, it was possible that it was added with the Novasphere Pioneers expansion pack, which no one knew about But since it was announced that the level cap would be increased, the quest eted at players above level 90
Or it was a long story quest of a big scale But if that was so, you would receive some monetary reward as you reached each checkpoint
This was to motivate the players with rewards as they coive up midwayThat hat the 3 of the
Humans, by nature, wanted to believe information was real, as Henrietta often heard her father as a broker, say The 3 of therand-scale mission
Henrietta asked Maryele to present the goods
Maryele presented red tea and custard pudding
”Please have a taste! This is a new product, it is very tasty, okay? It's !”
With Maryele's service with a smile, the 3 of them were stunned by the delicious food and her words A roc was a high class monster with a level of 85 and above; if you wanted to use its egg that her than level 90 who had to have created this with a hidden recipe
”We are not asking for you to sponsor for free After we con with you all In addition, ill also share our current food preparation method, and any recipe we find out in the process of the ca skill of our Scribe”
According to what Henrietta and Maryele understood, this caht to improve the atanization The two of them did not know the details or the execution ue on this part
But if it were this type of activity, there was no need to know the information in detail If it worked, the situation would be transparent, and it had to be this way shi+roe judged that security could not be maintained with a black box syste the information public And the inforn succeeded
But to the production guilds, if Crescent Moon Alliance was challenging an unknown grand-scale quest, the starting point of the quest, requirements, and how to solve the puzzles were all top secret Since there was no access to ga the same quest would take time, maybe even years
Not only that, since Henrietta said that ”our current food preparation method, and any recipe we find out in the process of the can”, there was a recipe reward, and the quest should be linked with production From Crescent☪Moon's activity, this eted at Chefs, but not other production lines, the value was also hard to gauge
The 3 of them believed the story they deduced
Henrietta was confident that she has passed the biggest obstacle
Her terms were so fantastic, they would have to be morons to reject it
If she were rejected, it meant they still had doubts about the story But the 3 of them were totally trapped in the ”unkno quest” story they came up with
(It is about time to throw them life jackets)
”We have done all we can to raise the e bank as well as the profits from Crescent☪Moon, and we have 05 million, but we still need 45 uild would upset the current balance That's why I wish for each guild to come up with 15 million What do you think?”
Henrietta's monetary demand was split in 3
In this world, level 90 players had wealth between 10,000 to 40 or 50,000 Fro their et of 15 million
For the biggest guild, Oceanic Systeuild old
600 gold was the price of a ed into that of determination, which is just as planned
”The Rodrick Firn”
”8th District Shopping Center agrees as well”
”Understood, Oceanic Systems will also provide monetary support But we can also be the exclusive sponsor if you wish”
”That is not okay you want to hog the deal?”
Maryele stopped the coet along well for my sake”
Since Maryele, who had been sive in The agenda was still controlled by the Crescent Moon Alliance anyway
”Then the payment time four days later, is that okay?”
”Understood, what about the recipe in exchange?”
”The food preparation method will depend on how fast our Scribe works But if it is possible, ill provide it on the day of the payment, the latest will be the day after shi+roe-sama himself is a Scribe”
After bidding fareith these words, the trio left the rooy Henrietta felt that theits direction, but she still felt more pressure than she expected
Thewas short, but the two of them were mentally exhausted Their backs were so weak that they could not even sit straight, collapsing on the table
”Henrietta sorry”
Maryele said with exhaustion and guilt
”What's the matter, Mary?”
Henrietta's usual high-class lady's tone became lazy
”I wanted to help, but I didn't do anything, negotiations are hard”
Maryele was embarrassed froh Henrietta was very tired, she still couldn't help laughing out loud
”Mary, what are you saying? If you did not s”
Henrietta was grateful of Maryele's smile Without her sunflower-like smile, they probably couldn't secure the funds from the 3 experienced businessed to raise the money
5
The ht
The heat of the day left behind a dry and hich blew across the abandoned train station where the fireflies danced It was situated on the overhead bridge which overlooked the Akiba central square, over 200 round
In the real world, this was the platform of the Akiba train station
The tracks and pillars were completely rusted and covered eeds and ns of heavy crushi+ng dazag edges to form at its peak
Theon the platfor shadows stood in this picture
It was shi+roe and Nyanta
”The wind is starting to blow nya”
”Yes, it is”
shi+roe raised his hand to his forehead and looked towards the moon
The wind blew his fringe over his face He squinted the eyes behind his round glasses and said slowly:
”It's getting late, and it will be some time before Soujirou comes Chief Nyanta, want to sit down somewhere?”
”No no no, thank you for your concern, but this old man has not become that frail yet nya”
”I a you like an old man”
shi+roe shrugged
”shi+roe-chi, do you not wish to meet Souji-cchi nya?”
”Ah, eh”
shi+roe considered the query
”It's not that I auilty Soujirou invited uild, so it is a bit aard”
”So that is the case nya”
”He didn't invite Chief Nyanta?”
”During that tiularly, so I do not remember his invitation nya”
”I see”
They aiting for Soujirou Seta
He was an old friend of Nyanta, shi+roe, and Naotsugu
He was in the Debauchery Tea Party as a Samurai with subclass Sword Saint, one of the 8 Debauchery Tea Party members trapped in this world
In a way, Soujirou was influenced the most by the Debauchery Tea Party Not only was he earnest and hard-working, he also had a kind nature When the party disbanded, the one most reluctant to leave was him
Sath lied in swords There were a variety of swords, such as the traditional tachi(cavalry sword), the smaller kodachi (a short tachi), or wakizashi+ (companion sword, a very short back-up blade, could be used for suicide) meant to complement other blades, and their iconic katana weapon Elder Tales called fierce warriors focusing on daility and speed, requiring high level of skill to control were known as 'katana'
Soujirou was an expert 'katana'
His techniques were not only fast, he could also use graceful oing to do even if you concentrated on hiiants that could knock down a tree The armor of sand worless before him
Soujirou always said with a shy smile, ”Senpai, there is a trick to this”
When Naotsugu left the game, several others also left Elder Tales due to personal reasons Chief Nyanta was half-retired for a period of tiularly
Of those that were still playing Elder Tales, Soujirou was the pseudo-representative He expressed ”I don't want the Debauchery Tea Party's existence to be wasted” and started his own guild
He also invited the other Debauchery Tea Party uild, just a nauild
Some of theroup
”I feel that there is no need to feel any guilt nya, everyone ry just because of this nya”
”You have a point, but”
shi+roe stammered
He was not concerned about declining to join, but the reason behind declining
He was declining to be bound by these things called guilds
And yet he now assisted the Crescent Moon Alliance in the Susukino quest, and was frustrated by Akiba bowing to the influence and control of the big guilds He was ade for his help to change this situation shi+roe was changing with the times
Back then he was a neat freak and found guilds and their co, but it was different now It was just that shi+roe didn't think he could explain exactly as different and convey that to Soujirou
Soujirou for the Debauchery Tea Party, so he ht understand this better than shi+roe
West Wind Brigade
Its scale was not big, but it was one of theto have 120 members, but in reality there were less than 60 With these lirounds with big guilds like DDD, Black Sword Knights, and Honesty
Although their scale was small, they had been successful in famous raids such as 'Rhadamanthys' Throne' or '9 Prisons of Heroes' They had consistently raced with other big guilds to be the first to complete raids
If you considered the results, they probably shone brighter than guilds with plenty of reserves and huge resources
”Don't worry too n you have to keep your head up shi+roe-chi is now the owner of our porch nya”
Nyanta's words e his mindset and think that is really the case
Just as Soujirou started a place to call his own, shi+roe was also building his new home, and he could not continue to be upset about this
”Evening shi+ro-senpai, Master Nyanta, it's been so long since we last met”
The approaching figure greeted them from a fair distance away Soujirou's child-like expression reer, and it had been a year since they last met
”Soujirou, it's been a while”
”Long ti nya?”
Soujirou shrunk his neck shyly fro
Standing here s back to those times
Soujirou dodged the overhanging vines agilely as he approached as the fireflies took to the sky
Soujirou earing a hakama with tords at his waist, like a Bakumatsu (End of Edo period) patriot
He would wear arht, but in the city this was fine
”I heard you started a guild, how is it nya?”
”Yes, it is doing very well, but the Catastrophe hit soon after”
Soujirou shrugged
shi+roe noticed so from his expression
Thinking about it carefully, including hiu, Nyanta, and Soujirou, all of them were not depressed by the Catastrophe No matter how harsh the situation, theymood, probably because of the Debauchery Tea Party
”Are Nazuna-chi and Saki-ojou still with you?”
”Nazuna is with ed in during the Catastrophe”
The two people Nyanta was asking about were the Debauchery Tea Party's excellent healer teammates This reminded shi+roe the other reason he did not join Soujirou's guild
”Soujirou is still popular with the ladies?”
”Hmm? Ah please don't say that”
Soujirou started to panic Nyanta squinted his thin eyes into a thin line and asked ”So nice to be young How many nya?”
Soujirou raised one hand with his thumb folded in
(Still in his hareivesWhat is this deal with 4 people? Other than Nazuna and Saki, there are 2 rand formation)
shi+roe feel exhausted
”Let's not talk about this Why did shi+ro-senpai contact ht Senpai hated me”
”Ah? Why do you think so?”
These unexpected words made shi+roe reply seriously
”Nothing really, but, because I am a harem character”
Soujirou sta shi+roe speechless Nyanta laughed heartily at this, if Naotsugu was here he would probably give him a chop immediately as the