Mr. Tadokoro went silent. There was no doubt that he could see Ms. Kaori had a point, that this was evidence enough. He most likely saw the bastard as an unlikable deviant too.
“Whatever the case, our only option is to close in on Mr. Imabayashi and render him powerless. I can’t think of anything else.”
“That’s true. We wouldn’t have a way to fight back if Mr. Imabayashi placed many level 125 players at the entrance of Agartha. And even without Agartha, his ability to power level is indeed dangerous. Once the update is finally applied, we won’t be able to suppress him in the fight for hegemony of Agartha.”
“You understand, then. He’s the closest to monopolizing it at this point, that much I’m certain.”
“Knowing his personality, he wouldn’t let any of the other guilds release the level cap and begin to treat them like he does the natives.”
“For sure. My guild would come first as his main enemies. Next in line would be Dragon’s Roar, since you’ve been in the most neutral position up until now.”
“Shinozuka, are you threatening me?”
“You can go ahead and think of it as such. To me, I’m just telling you about something that’ll come as naturally as flowing water.”
Mr. Tadokoro took a long pause to think, then spoke again. “Previously, even before knowing about this, I considered joining forces with you because I’d decided that Mr. Imabayashi was dangerous. I suppose that really is the best option.”
From beside us, Mr. Murashima came wobbling over to Ms. Kaori. “But Shinozuka, why did you hide that this kid was that very same Iijima we’d heard about?”
He’d struck where it hurt. This time it was Ms. Kaori’s turn to stay quiet. She’d had proper reasons to, wanting to form a proper alliance by speaking with them on equal terms rather than showing off my strength. My powers from Agartha having come from irregularities was beside the point. She’d really been intent on the basis for her argument being that Imabayashi’s leveling methods were dangerous. But as Mr. Murashima said, the fact that I was here was enough for them to wonder what was up.
“To demonstrate,” Ms. Kaori broke her silence.
“Demonstrate what?”
“The Lions may be able to access Agartha, but we have Shinobu on our side with the same abilities as our trump card. Doesn’t that have the same effect?”
“I suppose it does. Iijima really does have the power to take on many level 99 players at once. I admit that.”
“If we form an alliance, I have to show you what we have to offer, right? I kept quiet about him to show you his powers in the most simple way possible. I didn’t think we’d run into an accident in the dungeon like this.” Her defense wasn’t perfect, kind of a complete one-eighty from her original intent, but it wasn’t that bad either.
“Gotcha. I get that part. We’re shocked at Iijima’s powers too. You sure showed us.” It was clear that there was a but to Mr. Murashima’s words. “Doesn’t that make it his fault that monsters from Agartha are showing up here, though?”
Ms. Kaori’s eyes widened. “What?”
“We’ve seen the black drop before, but never that purple light.” Mr. Murashima glared at me. “I’m saying he triggered that purple light for this drop dungeon. The devs might’ve prepared a patch full of monsters over level 100 for this data to be applied after Agartha.”
“Ah...” Ms. Kaori couldn’t stop herself from reacting.
Mr. Murashima looked satisfied with himself. “The conditions for the dungeon appearing were either someone arriving at Agartha, or players getting over level 100. Doesn’t that seem plausible?”
It really did. For a game on this scale, preparing data in advance was common sense. Screenshots of unreleased game events accessed through hacking often made the rounds.
At present, normal players couldn’t get to level 100. Let’s say the devs set that as the condition for this purple drop dungeon to show up. In that case, they wouldn’t have a reason to hide the dungeon data prior to the reveal date. In theory, it shouldn’t have been a problem for them to just leave it in the game as is—the level cap prevented the level 100 condition from being fulfilled in the first place. Mr. Murashima was claiming that this previously prepared data showed up because of something the devs hadn’t anticipated.
“But you can’t say that for sure.”
“And you can’t say the opposite for sure either.”
The two of them glared at each other before Mr. Tadokoro stepped in to mediate. “Stop that. We don’t have time to fight.”
Mr. Murashima didn’t listen and doubled down. “You guys go and defeat the boss yourselves so we can all go home. That’ll wrap things up nice and neat.”
“Just us? Why?” Ms. Kaori sounded confused.
“Why do we have to cross such a dangerous bridge with you? I’m gonna camp out here in the safe zone. This is your fault, after all.”
The other members of Dragon’s Roar nodded in unison. As fearful as they looked when observing my reaction, they didn’t seem like they’d relent.
Mr. Tadokoro seemed troubled. “I’m sorry to you all, but I’m going to have to agree with Murashima here.”
“Wha—?! You too, Mr. Tadokoro?!” Ms. Kaori yelled, obviously offended.
Mr. Tadokoro bowed his head. “You all were the ones who wanted to form an alliance because you are the ones who are in danger. There’s no impending danger for us.”
“That’s...true, but...”
“This is the best chance for you to indicate your sincerity. Don’t you think, Shinozuka?”
“Before we know it, all of the guilds will be usurped by Imabayashi! Didn’t you agree with me because of that?”
“I did. I’m not going to put up a front anymore—I’m scared.”
“Scared?”
Mr. Tadokoro held his right hand holding a coffee cup out to her. It was subtly shaking.
He let out a dry laugh. “Ha ha... Remember the man who was shot with an arrow earlier? I can still see his face. I can’t stop thinking about it. I’m just scared. So scared that I can’t leave this safety zone.”
“Then, what will you do if we die and don’t come back?”
All he responded with was ragged breaths.
“Will you stay in this area until you die?” Ms. Kaori pressed further. “As long as Shinobu is our best warrior, now is the time for us to work together.”
Her words seemed to stir something in him. He looked off into the distance for a bit, then sighed quietly. “I have my opinions about this alliance as well.”
“Which are?”
“Opportunist, wait-and-see-er, fence-sitter. You know those are how they describe me, yes?”
Ms. Kaori’s face turned sour and she bit her lip.