Chapter 604 - Uninhabited Island Start Disparity?
"Bell-san~, I hear you have something to discuss with the two of them~."
I logged out a bit early.
Yata-sensei, who had been watching Witch Bell's Manor's live stream, called out to me, and after a moment, Seth sent an invitation to a clubroom-only live stream.
"Brother. Bell-dono has a meeting, so I will listen instead."
"Roger. Wait, don't you need to be there?"
"I leave the alliance coordination meetings to Bell-dono and Yuki-dono, who handle external affairs."
So, it's a meeting with allied guilds.
Well, I don't want Bell-senpai to freeze up because of my report, so I'll talk to Seth first.
"So, something happened, didn't it?"
"Ah, keep this confidential. No, just between you and Bell-senpai."
I prefaced it like that before telling her that Azure-san and the others had captured a demon trying to infiltrate the Southern Island.
They were going to interrogate it to find out its objective, but the question was how much of that information to reveal.
"My, such a thing was happening…"
"Is the Southern Island alright?"
"Indeed. We've had no problems at all here. Many of the players who visited had Cait Sith or Gnomes with them, and they were getting along well with the Kijimunaa."
Seriously? I kind of wanted to see that.
But well, if the fairies are there, they'll notice immediately if a demon comes.
"If things are stable there, perhaps it's better not to share too much, even if we learn something…"
"That's right. If we play it well, there might be a chance to capture a few more demons."
Seth said, grinning.
"Then, once we know the objective, I'll share it with you."
"Indeed."
That conversation was put on hold for now.
What Mion and I had both been wondering about was the scene of the Southern Island displayed on Seth's screen.
"You're currently in the gateway town of Kijimunaa Village, right?"
"It is quite bustling, isn't it!"
"It's amazing!"
Just at a glance, I could see two or three dozen figures.
Among them were not only players but also Kijimunaa, Cait Sith, and Gnomes.
"So many fairies!"
"We prioritized players who brought fairies on the first day. The Kijimunaa would feel more at ease if others also have the same kind of fairies."
Logging out in the cottages where Mion landed was also allowed.
However, access to the Southern Island is restricted from 12 PM to 12 AM, so players had to agree that they wouldn't be able to return to the mainland if they logged out when access was closed.
"Not just here, but there are also people going to the Ancient Ruins and the mining facility, right?"
"That area is also quite lively. We did mention that Mithril could be mined there during the live stream beforehand."
Apparently, the flow is to mine underground and then process it into ingots on the surface floors.
Also, I'd told them that powerful Black Digapuants endlessly spawn (???) on the 11th floor underground, but no one seems to be trying to challenge them. For now, anyway.
"What about the upper floors?"
"Those are like tourist tours. All of the books that were stored there have been duplicated and are now kept in the player guild [Library of Knowledge]."
…I remember there being a huge number of books, but they duplicated all of them.
"Hm? Can you go all the way to the top floor now?"
"No, Bell-dono ordered Hitomi-san to make it impossible to go to the top floor."
The [Transfer Elevator] goes up to the 9th floor.
The door leading from the 9th to the 10th floor is guarded by a Magic Iron Golem, apparently.
"Well, then it should be fine."
"Hehehe. If anyone tries to cause trouble, it will spread, and they will regret it."
Seth slowly began to walk, entering Armra Forest from the gateway town.
There were scattered people gathering resources here too.
"Oh, what happened to the church?"
"Indeed. We shall head there now."
We continued north through the forest and arrived at the entrance of what looked like a sacred path.
The path, which used to be overgrown with weeds, was now neatly maintained, and the [Stone Pavement] had been replaced with clean, new ones.
"Ohhh…"
"It's become so beautiful!"
"Indeed, indeed. Dimaria-dono said it was done in reflection of 'that incident.'"
What incident was that?
Perhaps my question showed on my face, because Mion said,
"Sweee-chan and the others…"
"Oh, that! She really doesn't need to worry about that."
That was something Sweee, no, Gaju, did because they wanted to help.
On the contrary, if she had pretended not to know, I might have been a little angry.
"Dimaria-dono has a request, though it's not urgent…"
"Hm?"
"There is no goddess statue in the church, is there? She wondered if the wooden statue of the Jade Goddess carved by you, Brother, could be placed there."
"Ah…"
Oh, right, I took the [Nameless Goddess Statue] from the basement to my island.
Hmm…
"What do you think, Mion?"
"If Shou-kun makes it, I'm fine with it."
"Then tell them it won't be immediate, but it's possible."
If I could just get the materials, I could quickly make it with [Self-Replication Arts], but if it's for the church, I should make it properly from scratch.
My skill level has increased since then, so I should be able to make an even better statue. …And the model is right next to me.
"Indeed, indeed!"
Seth didn't go to the church, but continued walking towards the cottages.
He waved to passing players as he climbed the stairs leading to the Ancient Ruins.
"Oh, come to think of it, Sabana-san's island was also publicly opened, wasn't it?"
"That one also has restrictions, but the island that was announced before that has been fully opened, apparently."
"Oh, that one existed too."
According to what Seth heard, that island only had some rare ores for mining and wasn't anything special in the end.
Someone had uploaded a video proudly introducing it quite a while ago, but…
"We don't hear much about it, do we?"
"Anshia's people apparently searched every corner of the island, but couldn't find any rare items not found on the mainland."
"It turned out to be a rather mediocre island, huh. Even though it's an Uninhabited Island Start…"
At my murmur, Seth let out a sigh of exasperation.
"Um, Shou-kun…"
"Hm?"
"Among the islands available for Uninhabited Island Starts, Sabana-dono's island is considered 'a hit.' Ramune-dono's island is 'a big hit.' Your brother's island is…"
"Eh? My island is?"
"It is said to be 'a goddess hit'!"
I have no idea what that means…