Chapter 485 - Unreasonable Demands
Friday
"'Sup."
"Shou-kun."
I headed to the Virtual Club Room today, intending to finish my summer homework.
As usual, Mion was waiting for me, but,
"I've been waiting for you."
"Brother, hurry up!"
Not just Bell-buchou, but Seth was waiting too, it seemed.
Huh? I thought we'd discuss Azure-san's matter after homework yesterday?
"What's wrong?"
"Bell-buchou's group apparently has something to discuss with you."
Mion told me this as I took my seat.
As for Bell-buchou, she was watching some video… Ice Princess Anshia's video?
"Could you watch this?"
She fast-forwarded and the video began. Ice Princess Anshia was in a tower that looked familiar. From there, she entered another room. Inside, there was,
"Huh?"
"A Transfer Magic Circle…"
Anshia walked purposefully and stepped onto the Transfer Magic Circle. Where she teleported to was somewhere inside ancient ruins?
"Where is this?"
I thought the color of the walls was subtly different from the ancient ruins on the island I was used to.
The ceiling glowed faintly, providing light, which was the same, but it felt somewhat dim.
Leaving that small room with the Transfer Magic Circle, she proceeded silently down what looked like a passage, which was unnerving.
She navigated several forks without hesitation, and eventually, the light from outside became visible…
"It looks like an island where you can use the Uninhabited Island Start."
She seemed to have emerged on a small hill, and below, a settlement, too small to be called a town, was displayed.
Beyond that, a river flowed, visibly connecting to the sea.
"I don't think it's our island. And I don't think it's the Southern Island where Mion started either."
"Yes. The color of the sea is too different from both."
"Ah, that's true."
The sea in this video was dark.
Around our island, the Sandy Beach starting area was light blue, and the port area where True and his group were, or the northern tip, was a slightly darker blue.
The Southern Island's sea, though I'd only seen the inland bay, was closer to emerald green.
"Hm? Is that the end?"
"Could you watch a little further?"
She slowly descended a small path leading from the high ground towards the settlement.
Along the way, there were several players (?), but Anshia passed by, and they bowed deeply, a thorough display.
Eventually, she arrived at the settlement and stopped in the central plaza, where,
"This newly discovered island has been added to the Marsis Republic, Anshia Territory. In the future, it will be opened to everyone under certain conditions."
She said with a smile.
The video ended there.
"Wow…"
"For now, I'm relieved it's not the island where Shou-kun's group is…"
"However, something troublesome has occurred…"
Seth showed me the Official Forum, where it read:
――――
[Against Monopoly] Seeking the opening of remote islands to mainland players [Equal Opportunity]
This thread is for advocating that late-starting players also be able to visit remote islands, which were only selectable by initial players.
――――
"Huh?"
Reading through it, the gist was that if players who started on Uninhabited Islands found Transfer Magic Circles, they should hurry up and make them accessible to mainland players too.
"…………"
And because Ramune-san's island was already opened, albeit with conditions, and now, with the recent video, Ice Princess Anshia had done the same, the discussion was heating up about whether our island should be opened too…
"Brother?"
"Are you kidding me?! If they're going to complain about that, I'll stop streaming! Is that okay?"
"Y-yes!"
"Why do I have to be considerate of players I don't even know?! It's ridiculous!"
"Calm down, Brother!"
"Ah, sorry… I'm sorry…"
Mion and Bell-buchou both looked surprised… yeah.
And just as Seth was about to continue,
"Hello~. Have you finished your homework~?"
Yata-sensei appeared, reminding me that I still had homework to do.
My blood had completely rushed to my head, yeah. I need to calm down…
"I'm sorry. I got caught up discussing IRO…"
"What happened~?"
My, Mion's, and Seth's gazes converged on Bell-buchou, who sighed deeply before beginning to explain.
Hearing her explanation, Yata-sensei said,
"I see~. Well, such opinions are bound to come up~, but it's useless to worry about them~."
"Ah…"
"If they were able to come to Shou-kun's island~, next they'd demand to meet Lupi-chan~, or the Fairies~, their demands would just keep escalating~."
Seth nodded deeply at Yata-sensei's calm analysis. And then,
"As Sensei says. Therefore, I believe it would be best to publicly announce that all such unreasonable demands will be ignored in future live streams, and will be absolutely refused."
"That's right~."
"But Shou-kun has already stated that you won't use that Transfer Magic Circle, haven't you?"
"Yes."
Mion also nodded in agreement beside me.
Do I have to declare this every time I do a live stream now?
Sigh, what a hassle…
"Speaking of which, you said you also had something to discuss, Brother?"
"Hm? Oh, about the Southern Island where Mion started using the Uninhabited Island Start…"
The White Dragon Princess wanted to secure the island, and also wanted me to become the administrator of the ancient ruins there, the Southern Ocean Seabed Resource Mining Facility…
"You're trusted, aren't you?"
"Naturally, by my brother."
"No, I told them I couldn't manage all that, and that I wanted to entrust it to someone else."
I was interested in the fruits and seabed resources on the Southern Island, but that didn't mean I could manage everything.
"The Dragonkin can't dispatch personnel?"
"It's more like they want to, but can't? There was talk about the Winged Folk, but that was a no-go."
"Those guys…"
"Ah, those people definitely won't do…"
Seth and Bell-buchou made bitter faces.
I did, however, convey that El-san, who came to the island, was a perfectly normal and sensible person.
"By the way~, what happened with the piano repair request you mentioned in the last live stream~?"
"Oh, um, we finalized the details for that."
The location for the piano repair was arranged over there, and Grad-san's group agreed to observe. They probably wanted to know how it would be repaired, but it was incredibly helpful.
All the preparations were in place, and I had also decided on the reward for the request, planning to announce it in the next live stream.
"Then~, how about Bell-san's guild accepts that piano repair request~?"
"Huh? I don't mind, but…"
I looked at Bell-buchou.
"We have no problem with it either. It's not strange for the first request to come to me through my connection with Mion-san."
"That's right. It was a high-difficulty request, so it seemed difficult for others to step forward."
If Seth also had no problem with it, I figured it was fine, but why would Yata-sensei suggest such a thing?
"Then~, let's make the reward for that request a Transfer Magic Circle!"
""What!?""