Chapter 520 - The Continuation of the Continuation
She may have said her lecture for the day was over, but of course, there was no way that Ashe would just say her piece and then bid me goodnight.
Still, she must have been being considerate of my fatigue. An hour or so had probably passed as I kept her company while she chattered on, her energy a little more subdued than usual.
"...I see. So it's that tough to just keep running."
"At the very least, it's not just tough, it's impossible with your Status maxed out. If anyone could do it, that tower would have been conquered long before you came along."
It was a rare topic, now that I thought about it. The conversation was about the virtual world... well, it was normal for Ashe and me to talk about Arcadia, but our discussions usually revolved around much grander schemes.
Things like aiming to clear the game, and to do that, we had to exterminate the Colored Monsters.
So, talking like this—
"But then, couldn't you do it, Ashe? If you were solo, you'd have your unique title's constant thought acceleration, and you can easily adjust your stats with a change of clothes."
"If I could have, there would be no reason for me not to have done it. I was certainly blessed with a 'Gift,' but I am not infallible."
"I heard yours finally got its own name the other day, something like 'Almighty.'"
"I resent that. If I were truly almighty, I wouldn't lose to anyone. ...Yours, on the other hand, was given a name like 'Recollection,' I believe."
"Doesn't it get super embarrassing the moment they add ruby text to it?"
"Really? I don't dislike this 'culture.' It makes the special feeling easy to understand."
"Calling it a culture just makes it even more embarrassing as a Japanese person..."
—from a different, smaller perspective, just two players talking about 'the game,' might have actually been a first for us.
"...In any case, I couldn't conquer the [Spiral Crimson Tower]. The last time I tried was about a year ago, but I'm sure I still couldn't do it now."
"Is that... so."
"Hehe, you don't look convinced."
And so, as we bounced from one lighthearted topic to another, we'd landed on the subject of an unconquered dungeon. Or rather, a formerly unconquered dungeon.
To be honest, she was dropping a lot of eye-opening information and insights, and I found myself genuinely engrossed in our conversation.
"The act of a person running at a speed that defies human comprehension while maintaining a human form is far more advanced and difficult than you think. The balancers humans are equipped with by default become completely unreliable, and the situational awareness required from moment to moment easily surpasses that of high-speed close-quarters combat. A single step, where control is only needed for an instant, is one thing, but a run is difficult."
"Hmm."
"That's why you normally rely on Skills. As you said, thought acceleration and auxiliary skills that automate posture control and other actions are the main ones, but..."
"Well, since you're relying on skills, you can't keep it up indefinitely, right?"
"Exactly. And I'm no exception. My [Braver] certainly grants me the cheap trick of constant thought acceleration, but the acceleration multiplier itself isn't that impressive... so it's not enough to handle the processing for a long-distance run on its own."
"I see...?"
So then, why can I normally do something as simple as running with my Status maxed out? That's probably where my 'Recollection' talent comes into play.
I mean, in the beginning... or rather, even now, I still occasionally end up as a stain on a wall or the ground. I've had my fair share of accidents with superhuman high-speed maneuvering.
And my avatar, apparently, remembers every single one of them without exception.
And as my publicly given name so aptly and essentially describes, I unconsciously trace the optimal solution for every action using my talent for 'Recollection' the memory, 'Recollection' the reminiscence, and 'Recollection' the recall.
Therefore, in the virtual world, my body does not make mistakes. Be it success or failure, once I've experienced something—thinking about it again, this is so broken it's almost apologetic.
"On top of that, you're required to deal with the murderous rabbits' bullet hell. Impossible."
"Ah... those guys don't just use targeted shots, they have spread shots too."
"That's where your 'Recollection' fits in as a perfect meta. 'Remember everything and run at full speed' is, in a way, the orthodox method for a head-on assault."
"...It feels weird for me, the one who cleared it, to say this, but I think the settings for that place are all wrong."
Incidentally, it's a secret that I can now clear it with no thought and at a full sprint, without needing to remember anything.
The borderline is a top speed equivalent to roughly 700 AGI. If you can build up that much speed and race through without crashing, you can leave that rabbit hell straight out of heaven in the dust and put on a proper winning run.
So, if anything, I feel like that's the orthodox method. Stack every skill you can, and the player who eventually reaches that speed threshold was probably supposed to be the one to earn the honor of 'First Clear'—
"Oh, by the way."
"Hm?"
I can accept Ashe's own account of it being 'impossible,' but another person comes to mind when I think of 'one who embodies inhuman speed.'
"My maste... Ui-san, I mean, has [Sword Saint]-sama ever tried—ah, wait, did I just step on a landmine?"
"...Have you never asked her yourself?"
"N-No, I haven't..."
In an instant, her tone of voice dropped noticeably.
I was cowering before a reaction I'd never seen from Ashe before, but the [Sword Queen]-sama, looking more chagrined than displeased, let out a single sigh.
She must have realized her own uncharacteristic reaction. She rubbed her cheek with her fingertips as if to admonish herself—another uncharacteristic gesture.
"I got sixty percent. She got seventy."
"...Um."
"With my 'Extra,' my 'Anima,' all my skills, and my title unlocked, I went at it with everything I had and reached sixty percent completion. The [Sword Saint], with everything sealed and just her own body, reached seventy."
Perhaps she's fundamentally an extremely sore loser. The girl spoke dispassionately, a hint of an undisguisable pout in her voice.
And well... we still hadn't even turned on the lights. Her composed face, illuminated by the moonlight streaming through the window, just wouldn't register as expressionless to my eyes, no matter how hard I tried.
"...Haru."
"Yes."
"What are you smiling at?"
"N-Nothing, it's just your imagin—Yep, here it comes, I knew it! I object to this use of force to hide your embarrassment! H-Hey, stop, stop, the time and place make this not funny at all!"
She saw through my leaking, amused smirk in a second, and this was the inevitable result.
And as Ashe, with the masterful first move of an expert, soundlessly swept aside both my arms and pushed me down, I tried to put up a desperate resistance to defend my reason, beliefs, chastity, and all the rest... or at least, I meant to.
"—...Hehe."
A type of expression I had never seen before.
A genuine smile, like that of a child playing innocently, rained down from above.
"... ..., ..."
After hesitating on whether or not to shove her away without mercy, I, having been thoroughly had, turned the dial on my struggling output down to 'weak'.
I mean, well, you know.
Against Ashe, I tend to be a wimp, or rather, I'm simply no match for her, so the number of times I've allowed physical contact is extremely low compared to Sora or Nia. When she gets close, it's clearly dangerous, so I have no choice but to keep my distance. But then, is it fair for her to be the only one treated that way? I've been reflecting on that lately, not that I haven't, but then again, is it right for me to act like I'm in control of what's fair? But then again, I've already declared my stance as a villain, so I'm prepared to disregard common sense and public opinion and put the three of them first in my thoughts—in short...
As long as it stays within the category of 'being doted on'... the option of pushing her away simply doesn't exist for me right now.
Alright, Reason, you're up. Do your job.
—Thirty seconds later.
"..."
"...U-Um, Ashe-san?"
"..."
"Hey, w-what's wrong? Stop that. Stop staring at my face like that."
"..."
"Ashe? Iris? Alicia White-san?"
"..."
"...Okay, don't move, that's far enough. Stop right there, raise your hands, there's a line for these things—Wait, wait, wait, I didn't approve that! I didn't approve going that far, sto—?!"
The result of accepting her playful advances.
The fact that the princess got carried away and went on a rampage, leading to a desperate struggle where I had to fight for my life, is another story entirely.
It was all part of the joke, so the protagonist is fine. Don't think you can resist if she's serious.