But, you just told me we’d never meet again, Mikagami!
I wanted to bludgeon him with that rebuttal so bad but managed to suppress it.
“What is this?” I fought to keep my voice level.
“I told you I’d give you a reward, but it totally slipped my mind. It’s not quite a give-and-take situation, but keeping things fair is important to me.”
Right. He did mention something about that. Suspicious as he might have been, I was always open to receiving good stuff.
“So, what’re you gonna give me?”
“Well, what do you want?”
“A Key to Agartha.” I took no time deciding. Keys to that dungeon had been periodically delivered to my Present Box up to that point. Losing that advantage would seriously put a damper on my plans.
“Those will still be sent to your Present Box every so often, same as always.”
“Wait, what? I thought the whole reason you attacked me was to prevent that from happening!”
“I was just trying to purge you because you weren’t receiving them through an official method. But any player I bother for similar reasons, even just once, will be given the Keys officially from then on. And since you finished the tutorial...or rather, since all of the players have logged in, that rule can start coming into play.”
“All of the players? But Megumi still hasn’t logged in!”
“My position won’t allow me to explain.”
There it is. His catchphrase. Not that I’d expected him to explain anything.
“Whatever. At the end of the day, I get the Keys, right? Then give me Clear as Still Water and the Evil Eye of Liquid Wisdom too.”
Mikagami might have been thirty levels higher with an evasion rate of one hundred percent, but I predicted I’d get similar parameters with the same skills. I’d be able to defeat the bastards who’d captured Ms. Kaori too. Getting these skills would give me an undeniable advantage.
“Hmm. Giving you those doesn’t seem very fair to me. You’re not supposed to be able to equip them both at the same time, anyway.”
“Ugh, you’re so useless. What will you give me, then?”
“Let’s see. If you really want something nice and broken, then I’m able to give you items and skills with limited uses. For example, one that can make you almost invincible in certain regions undersea, or one that will make you unable to die within a set one-meter field.”
“Seriously useless.”
“That’s what being fair is all about.”
Okay, then. What should I do...? Huh? Wait a second. He’s making it seem like he’s on the flexible side when it comes to requests. And he is telling me that he’ll give me broken items, even if they can only be used in specific conditions. Maybe...?
“Um, Mikagami? Will you be giving me this reward as soon as I ask for it?”
“I mean, the fairness of the reward is guaranteed, after all.”
“Then...”
Having heard my request, Mikagami chuckled playfully. “You really are interesting. Good choice.”
†
A couple days after I received my reward from Mikagami, we finished our preparations and launched our attack on the headquarters of the Adventurer’s Guild, where the Crimson Moon Brigade had made their base.
“The guildmaster of the Crimson Moon Brigade is confirmed to be safe,” Tsukuyomi reported. “Location secured. Ready when you are, Shinobu.”
It seemed they still hadn’t handed Ms. Kaori over to the bastard yet. Thank god, because I wouldn’t have been able to handle it if she’d been hurt while we weren’t able to help her.
Tsukuyomi had released five shadow clones for recon in advance. They took about half a day to discern the situation, finding out that twenty level 99 otherworlders were in the building. What made it even more strange was that no humans of any other level were in there.
Twenty level 99s wouldn’t be a problem for us at this point, though.
I’d stationed Alice some ways away in the watchtower of Amrogild, so she was ready at any moment to snipe the headquarters. For the record, thanks to Mikagami’s EXP sharing, Alice was now level 53.
Where were we at the moment? Right at the front entrance of the Adventurer’s Guild, of course. More precisely, the plaza with the fountain near the center street that faced the guild.
They’d beaten us, so now it was our turn to beat them. Punch or be punched, that’s my creed.
“Get ’em, Alice.”
As soon as I raised my right hand, the front doors of the headquarters were blown to pieces, fragments of wood and splinters spilling everywhere.
The anti-materiel rifle was apparently originally intended for use against tanks, and in modern day was used to blow up trenches. Destroying doors was a piece of cake for it.
“What was that? What was that? What the hell was that?!”
A reincarnator fumbled out to inspect the calamity—a tank in heavy armor, at level 99. No idea what his name was.
Gabriel stood directly in front of him.
“You’re...?! Gabriel, the summon?!”
“Yes, my name is indeed Gabriel.”
“Did that brat finally come back for revenge?! You’re just some summon for solo players. You’ll never be able to break my level 99 defense. I specialize in it!”
A single uppercut. That was all it took to send the man flying into the air with a mischievous whew that echoed around the plaza.
Whoa... He’s really flying...
The man rose about a hundred meters up before gravity brought him all the way back down. Gabriel was right where he’d left her, and with one kick, she launched the man straight into the guild.
“Lots of bracken staaarch!”