It was getting pretty bothersome to answer her, so I just gestured for her to follow without a word. She reluctantly walked with us.
“No matter what anyone says, even if you’re C-rank, I won’t let you take this! The receptionist will surely have a thing or two to say about that, but...”
I placed the flyer and my ID card on the desk when we got there.
The receptionist perked up immediately. “Oh, my deepest apologies. I’ll prepare the meeting room for you. Please, come this way.”
“The meeting room?” Ms. Mimi echoed. She tilted her head and glanced at my ID card. Her eyes became round circles, as did her mouth.
“You’re...an A-rank adventurer?”
If I had to be ranked, I’d actually be considered S-rank based on ability, but saying that would just throw more things out of whack.
“That’s... That’s...impossible... Absolutely impossible. That card must be fake!”
She desperately looked toward the receptionist, who picked the card up, turned it over a few times, then shook their head.
“This was created directly by the guildmaster of the headquarters of the Adventurer’s Guild. It’s a special identification document indicating special treatment. Not many of these exist in the world. This man is, without a doubt, a first-rate A-rank adventurer.”
“What...?”
For a few seconds, Ms. Mimi looked stunned; then her expression changed. She stood up straight and extended her hand out in an attentive stance, followed by a swift, deep bow. The highest form of respect.
“I’m terribly sorry for being so rude to you this whole time. I misjudged your abilities and, moreover, tried to order you to stay away from my people because of the danger.”
I paused for a moment, then shrugged to let her know I wasn’t bothered. My ID card really was fake, after all.
“And so...” She straightened up. “If you’re A-rank... Then, what level are you?”
I’m level 125. If I actually answered that way, I’d likely just get called a liar, so I chose to avoid the headache.
“Uh... About level 30.”
“That’s incredible! No wonder you’re an A-rank!”
I could only meet her reaction with a wry smile.
†
After talking with Ms. Mimi for a while, I promised to relay the details to the others at a later date, and then we parted ways.
Alice and I then walked around the city to avoid getting tailed. Going in and out of streets and alleys, I ensured that we weren’t leaving foot traces behind us while using see-through Stealth Magic.
Under my fake name, I also met with the leader of the Merchant’s Guild. Those who worked at the Adventurer’s Guild knew Ms. Kaori had made the ID card as soon as they looked at it, as they reacted when they saw her insignia on it.
However, it wasn’t like this was enough to really hide my identity. I’d purposefully been moving to be discovered. Not guarding against potential trackers would be too risky, so we did what was necessary.
After walking for about an hour, we entered a dark alley.
“All right,” I grunted. “No one’s around.”
“Yes sir, I don’t sense anyone.”
“Let’s go back to our bodies, then.”
We’d been using Tsukuyomi’s doppelgängers to be careful. Even though things turned out fine in the end, it was better to be safe than sorry when stepping into enemy territory.
“You told me to count to ten in my head to go back, right?”
“Yup, that’s the way.”
I began counting to ten in my head. Alice must’ve finished counting already, because her body was swallowed up by her shadow and vanished.
My own consciousness rapidly ran down into sleep.
†
Five days later, a moonlit night was upon us.
I’d been busily roaming the city and surrounding areas with Gabriel and Cerberus for the past five days; secretly meeting with Ms. Mimi, and scoping out the movements of the slave merchants without even a proper break.
All that work paid off, since I found the institution the princess had been taken to. All that was left was to raid it, though that was just something extra in addition to my real goal.
The real reason I’d been walking around Abrasil with my summons out was to give the bastard a good show. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to move freely, even with Tsukuyomi’s powers. Not to say that searching for the girl who looked like Megumi as well as the bastard’s whereabouts wasn’t important.
Having settled into the room at the inn, I nodded at Alice’s signal.
“Master Shinobu,” she started. “Our countermeasures with Grade 4 magic are perfect.”
She was now over level 50, making her able to use Grade 4 magic. I’d left this job to her as a form of practice for her. She was using Spatial Cut-Off Magic to soundproof the room in my stead, and I’d had her cast anti-spell-type magic to block off any potential eyes and ears.
“Just checking, but there aren’t any magic items in the room either?”
“I checked when we first received this room, eight hours ago, four hours ago, and then ten minutes ago. At no point in time has there been anything suspicious.”
I nodded in approval. To be on the safe side, I went ahead and cast my own Grade 4 spells. Doing so wouldn’t double the effects or anything, and it wasn’t that I didn’t trust Alice either. I was simply covering all my bases. It would be the worst for us if the Lions of Patriotism found out about any communication between us and Tsukuyomi. Magic concerning information leakage only existed up to Grade 4. I’d checked to see that setting in the game had persisted even now, four hundred years after I’d played.
With this, I’d done every possible thing I could think of to prevent disaster. To further supplement this, I’d told Tsukuyomi beforehand to speak in code. I also checked the room for magic items myself.
“Okay then, let’s get started.”
I put my hand on the communication crystal that was on the table. Tsukuyomi in Izanach showed up on the surface. Gabriel was next to her, bowing with a cool face.
“It’s been a while, Tsukuyomi.”
She smiled at me, while Gabriel just bowed again silently. She’d probably figured that I’d mainly be speaking to Tsukuyomi this time around.
“It’s a beautiful moonlit night, Shinobu,” Tsukuyomi spoke, as loftily as ever.
“It really is. There’s not a cloud to be seen; it’s really pretty.”
“Me, Tsukuyomi, on a moonlit night...” She began giggling, and just when I started wondering what was so funny, she burst out laughing. She’d always been a weird one, so maybe her sense of humor was weird too.
“How’s the plan going over there?”
“I finished the investigation you tasked me with. There have been many instances of mysterious disappearances within the Lions of Patriotism’s domains, but it’s been particularly bad recently.”
“I heard it’s normal for entire villages to go missing.”
“Indeed, especially in the last ten years. It’s not just ten or twenty thousand people either. I was able to collect documents that confirmed the occurrence of human hunting since the Merchants’ Alliance took over. That’s about where I’m at right now.”
“Good. I’ll have Ms. Kaori go and pick them up from you, so give them to her.”
At present, Ms. Kaori was contacting Dragon’s Roar, who were in control of the Holy Church. We didn’t have the numbers to face off with the bastard’s guild and those who sided with him. So we decided to alert Dragon’s of the danger, since they seemed the most likely to understand. Dragon’s Roar had apparently been the most moderate of all the grand guilds. We were hoping that even if they didn’t side with us, they’d stay on the sidelines during this war.
We had a few things to appeal to them with: First, reminding them of the number of level 99 players I’d defeated. Twenty people was unbelievable, so the Lions of Patriotism possibly had a crazy leveling method up their sleeve. Second, many people had been going missing around Abrasil, and third, because of the first two points, the Lions were surely trying to grow much more powerful before the Agartha event was implemented. Throw in the bastard’s penchant for violence and we had a solid argument against him.
If he really was expanding his forces before Agartha, then it spelled bad news for the other guilds. Once he monopolized the power-ups from the event, they would no longer stand a chance against him. Anyone could predict how perilous things would get once he had the strength to suppress all the guilds. Everyone knew he was insane, so Ms. Kaori had determined it best for us to use that to our advantage.
We wouldn’t be able to touch on him having Keys to Agartha, though. Nothing above level 99 had existed for the past four hundred years in the world of La Vita Online, after all. Mentioning this without any proof would just be absurd. Sure, we could use me as an example, but I had my own reasons for not doing so.
“Understood, Shinobu.”
“Aside from that, keep working with Gabriel and Amaterasu. And of course, don’t do anything out of line for now.”
“You’re working us to the bone. My sister was only just released and yet this is how you treat her?” Tsukuyomi didn’t look pleased, but without her, we’d be out of luck. Not Gabriel, not Cerberus, not even Amaterasu—we wouldn’t be getting anywhere without Tsukuyomi.
“I’m sorry, but I’m going to have you work at full force until I have that bastard howling.”
“You should really treat ladies more nicely.”
“This was bound to happen after we gained access to the Transport Gate.”
“Time is money at the end of the day... But still.”
“How’s Amaterasu doing?” I asked.
“She keeps whining about wanting to see you. I’m sick of it.”
“Not that, I mean her abilities. Is she as broken as ever?”
“As broken as you remember.”
“Yeah... Her abilities are so fucked up, they obliterate the whole point of being a summoner.”
All kinds of players called for her to be nerfed because of this. The devs listened and actually did it, so now there was a limit to how long you could use her for. Couldn’t be helped, since letting her use that repeatedly would be actual cheating.
“Checking to make sure, but has there been any interference from the Lions so far?”
“None. No shadows or physical ones.”