Murayama cocked his head at me. “What do you mean?”
“We sent twenty level 99 players to Shinozuka’s place all at once. How do you think the other guilds would’ve viewed that?”
“...They’d suspect you of power leveling.”
“It’d be better for us if that were the only thing. In reality, we’ve been taking advantage of the bug in the Friend’s List that keeps players from showing up as Dead in order to overtake the other guilds. We’re obviously using wild leveling methods, yet seemingly no one has died. There’s nothing more suspicious than that.”
“Yeah, that’s super suspicious.”
“Then, we have Shinobu’s example. He proves that there’s a way to use powers from Agartha in the current world.”
Murayama gasped. “That would be a terrible sign to the other guilds! It would clue them in to us doing things behind the scenes!”
“I mean, we are. If they find out, they’d form alliances out of fear, and Shinobu would be able to suggest ganging up on us.”
“I didn’t realize how dangerous this situation was.”
“We could always call back the attack team and show the other guilds how strong we’ve become to threaten them into not betraying us, but the situation itself would still be quite perilous.”
“You’ve been thinking about this a lot, then, Mr. Imabayashi.”
“In the end, we’re just up against the small brain of a child. Instead of conspiring with the other guilds, he wasted his precious time freeing the slaves in this city, which is under my control.”
What we had to focus on at the moment was getting through Agartha. The Keys were a limited resource that could only be obtained over time. So long as that was the case, the number of things we had to do in there was endless. Truth be told, looking at the photo of the girl who looked like Megumi made me want to rush things, but it was obvious that prioritizing Agartha was the right choice at the moment.
“What will you do about the location of the blood contract signing with Shinobu? He’ll probably agree to it in a few days’ time.”
“As I’d said, the most convenient place would be one where all five grand guilds have gathered, so make it the auction venue two weeks from now. And of course, be sure to invite Shinozuka as well.”
I rose from my throne. According to Kagura’s report, they’d found a safe way to defeat the boss of Floor 7 that would release the level cap.
“I might as well go get the level cap off me,” I said and slowly began walking forward.
†
Shinobu Iijima
I answered the bastard broadcast on the ball in the most fake polite voice I could muster. “Mr. Imabayashi, it’s very helpful for me that you’re allowing me to take some time to think things over. Thank you very much.”
“You don’t have much of a choice in general here, but go ahead, consider it well. Bye then, Shinobu. Ah, one more thing.”
“Yes?”
“I prefer the way you’re talking to me now much more than how you were before.”
“...Is that so? Thank you very much.”
“Ha ha. I raised you well, didn’t I? Bye now.”
His image vanished from the crystal ball with a pop. I gazed at the empty surface with a deep sigh. After a moment, I turned to Alice and signaled with my eyes. She nodded and took the ball with her to the next room.
Once the door closed, I looked at the crystal Ms. Kaori was shown on. “Is it safe now, Ms. Kaori?”
“Yes, I’ve shut off the communication link with him and blocked off all potential lines except for the one we’re using. No one will find out what we talk about now.”
No issues, then. “Then let’s begin,” I said after a cough.
She nodded at me. “How did you feel about that conversation?”
“I’m not going to agree to it. I pretended like I would, but it’s clearly a one-way ticket to destruction.” I grinned.
The bastard was doing exactly what I wanted him to. There was no way his lackeys wouldn’t be able to tell that I was doing “undercover” work in Abrasil. Knowing his personality, as soon as he believed his prey was dancing in his hand, he’d get cocky and let his guard down. There was no doubt about it—I’d been living with him since I was a child.
Sure, I’d taken measures to ensure no one would find out, but if I’d really wanted to go undercover, I wouldn’t have left so many obvious holes in my actions. I wanted to create a situation where the bastard felt like he’d seen through my sneaky movements because he wasn’t that stupid, and it all went exactly as planned.
“You’re so patient,” Ms. Kaori mused. “Mr. Imabayashi laughed when talking about what he did to your father. I may be a third party, but even I wanted to punch him after that...”
She was right. It was unbelievable that he was joyfully laughing about a person who ended up committing suicide. My blood boiled hearing him.
“I’ll make sure to get back at him for the pain he’d caused my father. I’ll even lick the bastard’s shoes if that’s what it takes. And about what I asked of you...”
“Don’t worry. I’ve been talking with the Holy Church’s Dragon’s Roar behind the scenes.”
“Imabayashi said he was confident that he could form an alliance with the other guilds, but...”
“The truth is, they’re all over the place. Twenty level 99 players being taken down at once is unheard of. The fact that he had that many to begin with is already suspicious, and since Mr. Imabayashi attacked the Crimson Moon Brigade, the other guilds are now afraid that he’ll do the same to them.”
“No matter how you look at it, he seems to have a quick leveling method at his disposal.”
“Dragon’s Roar is also feeling threatened by him, thankfully. Everyone already knows how reckless he is too.”
“Then I’ll get to the important part. Can we trust Dragon’s Roar?”
“We’ll be able to reason with them. They’ve always taken a neutral stance between me and Mr. Imabayashi. I think that’s the easiest way to explain it.”
The bastard’s advantage was that he could get to Agartha, same as me. In addition to that, he had all the other grand guilds aside from Ms. Kaori’s on his side. The first order of business for me was to break that part up. Thankfully for me, Ms. Kaori was able to help me get a lot of things done. But on the other hand, the only one of the guilds that seemed likely to join us was Dragon’s Roar.
“So my direct confrontation with Imabayashi is planned to be at the auction venue two weeks from now, right?”
“That’s right. We have to end things now, before they monopolize the skills from Agartha.”
“It would seriously be the end for us if he got them to himself.”
“Sorry to say,” Ms. Kaori began, “but while Dragon’s Roar seemed interested in cooperating with us, they put conditions on it.”
“Conditions? What are they?”
“There’s a problem within the Holy Church’s domain right now.”
Problems aren’t good, that’s for sure.
“A drop dungeon appeared in the Church,” she said.
“A ‘drop dungeon’?”
“One of the ones that would change every day in the game. They rarely appear in this world, though.”