Sheryl nodded. “I made a lot.”
“Squids, crabs, and ballista bolts too,” Shouko mused. “There were a lot of things flying across the battlefield.”
“Ah ha ha, you know how to keep things interesting, Sheryl,” Tsumugi chuckled away.
Well...perhaps this was what they called fighting smart.
“Seriously, getting stuck up in fixed notions is doing more harm than good. Maybe I should pick up some stranger side jobs myself.” Even my big sister was impressed.
Yep, this round was Sheryl’s absolute victory.
With that said...your Money Spent Ranking is also outrageous.
“You better apologize to Alto when he gets back. He was crying about how the money and goods in the treasury were disappearing en masse.”
“Uh-huh...”
It was easy to see that the culprit was Sheryl. She’d holed herself up in the workshop, cranking out all the turrets she’d used in the battle. Just how much skill experience had she gotten in the process?
She scrounged up as many resources as she could get and built whatever she could... Maybe her Machinery level had even reached the realm of Romina’s smithing.
“But bro, you’re still at the top of the overall ranking.”
“Wait, it’s not Sheryl?”
For some reason, my Overall Rank was 1, just like it had been in the last wave.
But why?
“Well, after all the money you raked in, it was bound to happen,” Shouko said with a sigh.
Everyone, apart from my sisters, looked away and gave an awkward nod.
“Seriously,” said Kanade, “this kid isn’t aware of what he’s done. It’s tragic, really.”
“What did I do?”
“Bro, think about all the usable gear that flooded the market from your crab trap fishing spree.”
“Sir Alto had a hand in it too, I daresay, but it is just as much your responsibility.”
Ah, come to think of it, is Alto’s name on there?
I took a quick glance and saw he was not listed anywhere near the top of the livelihood ranking.
He probably got exempted, I concluded. Combing through the whole list to find him seemed like a pain, so I decided to put it off.
“You’ve been the spark for entire industries, and not only that—you still rushed into battle and contributed in combat too. How could any other player hope to keep up?” Kanade explained.
“Is that how it works?”
“And that’s not all, bro.” Kanade shook her head. “Just you wearing that Pekkle buffing hat pushes your combat contributions through the roof.”
“I’d imagine so. You’re pretty much playing on easy mode. Oh my, I’ve earned some considerable contributions as well.”
Kanade had earned an Overall Rank 6. Her ranking had shot straight up from rock bottom. And as for overall battle contributions, she was Rank 3, just behind Sheryl and myself.
“You drew hordes of enemies to make it much easier for everyone else to fight, after all.”
But in actuality, she’d been scouring the battlefield in search of the players who insulted her. Pulling aggro away from the other players did rack up some points.
By the way, she barely took any damage at all, thanks to her overwhelming defenses... Her zero offense full defense build couldn’t be underestimated.
“Hmm, not bad at all. Better than expected, at least.”
“It’s a shame, though. It didn’t really feel like a fight.”
In contrast to Kanade, Tsumugi seemed disappointed.
Naturally, we all scored pretty well on Livelihood. As for my older sister’s lower marks in that area, well, that was probably because she joined late. Her time spent homeless likely dragged her down, but it was only up from here. Surely.
“When all’s said and done, the Island Lord Party stole the spotlight again.”
“No, wait! Everyone! Think about this rationally. This is no time to go all ‘hip hip hooray’!”
A single player spoke out against the situation, sounding oddly tense.
“What?”
“Something on your mind?”
“We just got outdone by the island lord again, right? Same old. That’s just how it goes with the top dogs.”
It was all a matter of perspective. At a glance, it looked like we were just playing around, and I was sure someone would bring it up eventually. Honestly, they weren’t wrong. We were just doing whatever we found fun.
Despite that, our results came from good compatibility with the game, good companions, and a good environment. Shouko looked like she was ready to protest, but I shook my head and told her to let it go.
“Makes sense. To all those folks who are working to the bone grinding EXP, we probably look like we’re messing around,” I said. “Right, sis?”
“Essentially. But they also have to learn that your group aligns more with this game’s design philosophy.”
“’Tis a matter of putting effort in the right direction, I daresay. I have yet to experience it myself, but I’ve heard it said—nothing sticks if you don’t work with a clear goal in mind. It is apparently the case for entrance exams.”
The way Yamikage put it was a bit off, but I couldn’t deny the point.
“It’s not like that, I tell you. C’mon, people, think back to the last wave. Forget about the Demon Lord’s Invasion for a second.”
“Your point?”
“That one was a complete victory for the island lord too.”
“Try to catch on. You were doing it last time, but not this time.”
“Stop beating around the bush!”
“Say it in three sentences or less!”
Yeah, they were definitely being purposely obtuse, whoever they were. What was different between the last wave and this one? Back then, we’d gotten a head start and the other players didn’t get to shine.
So, what about this wave? What were the other players not doing, and where were we getting our advantage?
“Ships?” muttered Sheryl.
Well...that gave us an advantage last time. But ships didn’t work on land.
“You talkin’ about ships? We had ’em last time, but ships don’t run on dry land.”
Someone said the same thing as Sheryl.
“Half right, but you see it already, don’t you? Last time, we all built up ships to prepare for the wave, right? But this time, we figured, ‘It’s on land, so we don’t need to do anything.’ Meanwhile, the Island Lord Party set up turrets... See what I’m getting at? The moment we know the field the wave’s on, we should be doing something with the terrain!”
What was the land equivalent of a ship? A chariot... No, not quite.
Ah... I see.
Sheryl was a shipwright, but remove the ship from the equation and she was a carpenter.