kscans

Chapter 538 - Those the Stars Watch

I say it was long, but in the end, the trip felt like it was over in a flash. A week can pass by in the blink of an eye.

Which is why I can't afford to be complacent about this weekend's plans, thinking, "It's only Monday."

I'll report on what my 'Shadow' was like tonight, but the battle plan against [Rep=La Nobody (The Black Stain That Slays All)] is already set. No matter what form the Haru x Arshe version of it takes, the strategy is locked in—it's the only way.

In short, my job is to prepare enough cards in my hand to force that plan through. When it comes down to it, what I have to do is no different than usual.

Compared to my master and Arshe, not to mention Irori, I'm still incredibly shallow. It's no exaggeration to say that the Acrobat only exists thanks to my partner, my artisan, my friends, and all my unique armaments.

My own talent is honestly just a bonus; I truly believe that it's been one hundred percent 'luck,' starting from the day I met Sora. I still have an absolute deficit of the power and experience I need to build up.

I need to add more depth to myself. For instance, to be worthy of my rank in the Four Pillar War selection match two months from now.

And so, with that in mind—

"Hey, can I get up now?"

"Absolutely nooooot!!!"

In my quest for power, I found myself, after a few twists and turns, forced to sit seiza-style before a pipsqueak.

Why me???

"I'm a complete victim of friendly fire here... Ri-na-san?"

"She's sulking from the bottom of her heart, it's a real pain. Just humor her a little longer."

"...Alright, yeah. I get it."

"Why are you always so obedient with Ri-na-chan?! Do you like her?! Big sis won't allow that!!!"

So loud. Is her thought process that of an elementary schooler?

How did it come to this? All I did was stop by to get a lecture on new magic from those with more experience—

It's all Irori's fault. Why is he still fighting with her? He should have made up with her by now.

"Well, okay, I'll concede that it was my fault for leaving on a trip without saying anything. We're ranked members of the same faction, you know? Maybe I should have at least told her, 'Hey, I'm gonna be logged off for about a week'... but when she's throwing a tantrum at me that's clearly directed at someone else..."

What am I supposed to do? It's not like I've pried into their relationship, so I have no clue what's going on between them.

Seeing me struggle to deal with the red one, who was being uncharacteristically serious and simply in a bad mood, the blue one must have taken pity on me. She came to my side and whispered in my ear.

"Whenever you're ready, can you call him over under your name?"

"Hm, eh...? Ah, you mean Irori?"

"Yes. This is getting annoying, so I'm just going to throw them together and let them make up on their own."

"That's the quickest way, but why me?"

"She's been bugging him for a week straight with this nonsense, and he's getting pretty sick of it too. If I call him, he'll probably suspect it's a setup by Mi-na and be wary... Also, you two are friends."

"Ah... well, I don't mind, but..."

I'll probably get an earful from him later, but whatever. I'm the junior here. They're my seniors; they shouldn't be dragging their juniors into their personal drama.

"Okay, then let's consider this matter settled... Now that I think about it, I don't need both of you for this anyway. Ri-na, could you help me out?"

"Yes, that's fine. The training room?"

"That would be best. It'll be convenient if I need to test anything."

"Understood."

Things proceeded smoothly, and with that, the first of my tasks for the day would be taken care of. Man, Ri-na really is an honest, good kid. It helps that she's so easy to talk to.

—As for the other one, who had been yapping away while we were having our secret conversation, her desperate pleas for attention were completely and utterly ignored.

"If you ignore me any more, Mi-na-chan's gonna cry...!"

She looked genuinely dejected, so the two of us had no choice but to console her. A few minutes later, she started getting cocky again, so I put her in her place with a firm grip.

◇◆◇◆◇

"Whoa... You really just go around shattering every preconceived notion, don't you?"

"In terms of acquisition speed since starting the game, you're the third fastest in history. That's incredible."

"I'm honored. Who are the other two, by the way?"

After our little skit at the Round Table, we moved to the familiar training grounds. A few minutes later, I posed a question at the end of our conversation, which had begun right after I stated my business. As I had somewhat expected, both Mi-na and Ri-na raised their hands.

So, what were we talking about? None other than their specialty: Star Magic.

Basically, I had come to see them today to get their opinions on the [Starlight Magic Aptitude] skill I had acquired on the final day of the recent event.

"And after us—well, including you now, big bro—there's a huge gap. The next person took at least a year or more. Oh, but there are a fair number of players who have it, you know?"

Curious about what a "fair number" entailed, I glanced at Ri-na. The girl closed her eyes for a few seconds as if searching her memory, then told me, "About three hundred people."

I see... I see?

Wait, no. My immediate thought was, "Oh, so it's not super rare," but when you compare that to the total number of Arcadia users, it's ridiculously rare.

I'd had a vague sense that it was special, but it seems to be a rarer skill than I thought. As someone who now counts themselves among its acquirers, I felt a slight, honest sense of superiority.

—But anyway.

For example, when I acquired [Water Magic Aptitude], I just went with the flow and set the skill, unleashing a massive flood without a second thought. So why did I come all this way to seek the opinion of my seniors this time...?

"Still, it's kind of surprising. Are you actually a bit of a scaredy-cat, big bro?"

"You're more cautious than I thought."

"Anyone would be cautious. Especially when you're warned that some choices are the type you can't take back."

And that was why. On the day I got it, I was dead on my feet in every sense of the word, so I simply didn't have the energy and decided to just shelve it for later. When I finally got around to doing a bit of research on 'Star Magic' a few days later, a certain phrase caught my eye.

Something about a 'Star Magic Gacha,' a term that sounded vaguely unsettling.

A little wary, I decided to hold off on casually setting the skill... and from there, with all the chaos of the trip, I kept putting it off until now.

Because of that, I still haven't touched it here in the virtual world. In the real world, after being invited to take on the [Shadow-Infested Arena], I tried consulting with Arshe first—

Well, we decided that relying on the experts would be the wisest course of action.

"I'd never heard the exact number before, but I figured the acquirers were rare given how little and vague the information online is. On top of that, I saw some threatening-sounding phrases like 'one-time gacha after acquiring the aptitude skill' and 'you can basically only learn one spell per person'... Well, it wasn't urgent, so I decided to play it safe."

"Meh, whatever."

"Thinking things through is a good thing."

A casual response and a sincere affirmation. As always, their reactions couldn't be more different, but I trust the 'Eastern Wings' to give me their honest support when I need it.

Lately, I've even managed to restrain myself from punishing the red one about half the time.

"First, a disclaimer: we're not exactly 'Doctors of Star Magic,' okay? We're confident that we've used it more and studied it more than anyone else, but don't assume everything we say is correct. Don't come crying to us for responsibility if something goes wrong!"

"In return, if there's something we don't know, we'll tell you 'we don't know' without trying to embellish it. We won't teach you anything random, so you can rest assured about that."

"But, y'know, you gotta be a little lenient with our near-certain speculations. Otherwise, everything will just be 'we don't know,' and there'd be no point in us helping you out."

"We can't expect a clear answer from the admins or the virtual world itself, so there are limits. If it turns out later that we were wrong about something, it means we made the same mistake... so think of it as becoming one of the pioneers and accept it."

"And with that—"

"We'll do everything we can to help."

"...You guys don't rehearse that synchronized act, do you?"

In any case, their surprisingly sincere willingness to help was incredibly reassuring. As their newcomer junior, I suppose I'll take them up on their offer and rely on my seniors.