Chapter 471 - Feeding (By Brute Force)
“Nnnngh…”
“Still no good?”
“Doesn’t look like it, does it?”
“That makes seven failures in a row…”
“We haven’t found any Dragon-types, and as for the ones we can test… well, I guess we’re out of ideas.”
“Hmm… I’m ab-so-lute-ly sure there has to be another condition besides combat.”
“……………You know… I’ve said it over and over, I’ve really said it over and over again. Even if there are other conditions, I am absolutely certain that this isn’t one of them.”
Turning my head toward the exasperated voice, I was met with a gaze from my partner filled with one hundred percent pure exasperation.
Catching her indigo stare, I exchanged a look with Nono-san, who I’d been tossing words back and forth with. After confirming her shrug as she dangled a small [Stardust Relic] before our target’s eyes, I too gave up and let go.
Instantly, the struggling “Rabbit” we had captured didn’t even try to retaliate… Perhaps having its prized close-quarters combat completely sealed off and being taken prisoner was enough for it to raise the white flag. All hostility vanished as it fled for its life.
What a shame. Our attempt at feeding it was, once again, a failure.
The strategy meeting we held after the morning’s raid concluded in less than ten minutes with the decision to ‘stick to the original plan.’
With my ability to completely cover for everyone finally stretched thin, I couldn’t just boast “Leave it to me” this time either. But, well, you know how it is.
When every single group member tells you they’ll “risk their lives not to be a burden”… setting aside the whole leader thing, as a man, I had no choice but to step up.
It’s not that I’ve ever once thought of them as a burden. In fact, if you look at the population ratio of ‘Rankers’ to ‘Other Players,’ I’m the foreign object here, having ended up among them by some one-in-a-million-chance.
I’ve tried to act with the stance that I’m the one who should be considerate, so I’m incredibly grateful to each member for sensing that and showing me respect.
At this point, I can’t afford to say something as lukewarm as just trying my best.
I’ve been getting my adjustments in order through some fairly all-out battles, so it’s probably time I stopped holding back and unveiled my “limit break”——
And that’s pretty much how it went.
Our group ultimately reached the elementary-school-level conclusion of ‘just do our best,’ but we couldn’t risk further increasing the difficulty by getting too fired up, so we continued to lay low. And so, just like yesterday, I found myself serving as the escort for our two lovely ladies.
That said, it wasn't as if we were just aimlessly strolling around.
Yesterday, the forest was mysteriously quiet and we couldn’t find any Stardust Beasts, forcing us to give up. Today, however, we could spot the figures of the starry creatures here and there if we looked carefully.
That’s why we were now verifying our ‘taming’ theory.
By the way, Tetsu-san refused to join us, saying, “I don’t need a pet.” He seemed to have something on his mind. I wonder if he has some bad memories associated with pets.
Anyway.
“It’s not impossible. In fact, can you even think of a way for non-combatants to tame them other than feeding them like this?”
“I’m not saying ‘feeding’ is wrong. I’m saying that pinning them down, restraining them, and forcibly shoving a rock in their faces is wrong.”
As Nia placed a hand on her forehead as if nursing a headache, Nono-san and I looked at each other again.
“Even if you say that, you know?”
“If you didn't hold it down for me, I'd get knocked out in one hit, you know?”
No offense, but Nono-san’s stats are fundamentally just as frail as Nia’s. Unlike a typical girl in the real world, she has enough status to sprint through the forest's beast trails, but she lacks the physical prowess to grapple with an enemy.
That “Rabbit” from before might look small and cute, but in terms of pure combat ability, it ranks fourth among the currently confirmed zodiac series, after the “Dragon,” “Tiger,” and “Snake.”
If its deadly somersault kick caught you in the chin, it could easily be a one-hit KO.
“Th-that’s why there has to be another, more reasonable way…”
“Is there…?”
“Basically, they attack us the moment they spot us, you know.”
Nia’s complaint had a point, but if I’d had a better idea from the start, I wouldn’t have tried such a brute-force method—but still, there absolutely has to be another way to tame a Stardust Beast without fighting.
It would be strange if there wasn’t. Because Arcadia is a game.
There’s no way the main content of an event that opened its doors to combat and production classes alike would be designed so that the latter couldn’t participate.
“Maybe it’s a compatibility issue? Like the four types that haven’t appeared yet are non-combat types.”
“That could be a possibility, but then it wouldn’t make sense that you have to accumulate [Stardust Relics] through combat just to draw out those new types.”
“Ah, but I don’t know. Artisan types are incredibly busy at the start setting up a survival environment, so having their corresponding types appear later… that seems plausible, maybe?”
For a second, I almost bought into Nono-san’s theory—but then…
“I can’t say for sure since we have no idea what’s happening elsewhere, but our group has probably, most likely, definitely been making amazing progress.”
Thanks to our skilled chef, morale was always high, and our base evolved again and again into a respectable fortress. We wanted for neither food nor shelter, so we were able to focus entirely on hunting in the early stages, wiping out every Stardust Beast that spawned during the repeated night raids.
If the theory that the stage progresses based on the amount of accumulated relics is correct, then our group must have been advancing at a considerable pace.
When you think about it that way…
“Mm, that’s certainly true.”
“Right?”
If the remaining four types were all exclusively for artisan players to tame, the difficulty would be far too skewed. No matter how much Arcadia’s game design kicks ‘MMO-like fairness’ to the curb, I have a lot of faith in its sense of balance.
This virtual world, which grants everyone an equal possibility of becoming a protagonist, would never betray its players in this regard.
Therefore, when the correct path is unclear and you’ve hit a dead end…
“““I wonder if our whole premise is wrong…”””
We naturally realize that we’ve fundamentally misunderstood something. In that respect, this game is quite mercifully game-like.
Well, even if we realize we’re on the wrong track, whether we can find the right answer is—
“Should we just try disarming and lying down with our arms and legs spread?”
“A display of harmlessness, I see. Hmm, that’s not out of the question.”
“No, it’s totally out of the question. What happens if we get attacked?”
“Relax. For me, being unarmed is the same as being fully armed.”
“That’s so convenient. I wish I could use quick-change too.”
“Oh, come on, I’m not supposed to be the straight man here…!”
—a whole other story.
You ask if I also held down the giant “Boar” and “Tiger”? Of course. I pinned them to the ground with the brute force of my [An=Ru Galta (Provisional Theory: The Armor that Sings of the King's Road)], while holding my [Parabellum Bullet (Rabbit Short Sword)] in my right hand and my autonomous [Alv Stella] right in front of their faces.
Nia-chan is right.