kscans

Chapter 137 - Labyrinth Castle Revisited

The day after the victory celebration, Hayato and his friends made their way to Labyrinth Castle.

The reason was to obtain equipment that would increase Ren's firepower. It would be cursed equipment, but nearly every player and NPC knew that undead monsters had a high chance of dropping such items.

With that in mind, they set their sights on the Phantom Knight residing in Labyrinth Castle.

The Phantom Knight was a knight-type undead monster, half corporeal and half spectral. It was treated like a boss monster, requiring a battle in a dedicated field. Once defeated, the game would eject them from the castle.

It wasn't particularly strong, so they decided to challenge it multiple times in what was commonly known as repeated runs.

The party consisted of just four members, the same as their last visit, Hayato, Ash, Ren, and Relic. The other members had been up late celebrating the previous night and were unavailable for the morning.

Hayato's group walked through the corridors of Labyrinth Castle, defeating monsters along the way.

"Are you sure you're okay, Relic-san? Weren't you talking with the Maid Chief and your former clan members until late last night?"

"I am quite all right. Besides, as an old man, I require very little sleep."

"Well, if you say so."

Relic and the Maid Chief seemed to be getting along well. At least, that was the Maid Chief's personal opinion, so there was a high probability it was completely one-sided. Hayato didn't say anything, not knowing what would happen if he pointed it out. But something else was on his mind.

I'm sure Relic-san is single, but that woman who was his opponent in the last Clan War, she looked like the guild master of the Thieves' Guild. He said she was his partner from his thieving days, but she looked quite young for that. I don't think there's anything romantic there, but I wonder if the Maid Chief will be okay?

He wasn't exactly worried, but Esha's situation was influenced by the Maid Chief. Esha had been delighted that she was being scolded less recently, but what might happen if something upset the Maid Chief was in God's hands.

Nothing would likely happen immediately, but it could prove dangerous if it affected their battle with Agres Berion.

As the organizer of the Agres Berion subjugation, Hayato was in a position where he had to be mindful of many things. Everything had seemed fine at the victory celebration, but he couldn't deny the possibility that their relationship had soured without him noticing.

He approached Relic to check on the situation.

"How have things been with the Maid Chief recently?"

"Ah, she has been very good to me, as always. She has been actively serving as a bridge between the Maid Guild and the Butler Guild. If this continues, the friction between us may disappear entirely."

There doesn't seem to be a spark. It feels like a purely professional relationship. Well, I guess that's fine.

"By the way, you attended the after-party too, right? How were your old clan members? Were there any problems?"

Relic smiled at Hayato's words.

"There were no problems at all. It may not appear that way to an outsider, but we trust one another, which is why our words can be a bit blunt. Not everyone was there yesterday, but it had been a long time since so many of us had gathered, and it seemed everyone was feeling nostalgic. They were planning to meet with the others soon as well."

"Is that so? Old comrades are certainly a good thing."

Hayato had been kicked out of the Kokuryu clan due to Ney's somewhat out of control behavior, but he was still on good terms with them. Good enough, in fact, to have an offline meetup.

I used to think it was just a relationship within virtual reality, but back then, I never imagined we could become friends in the real world too.

"By the way..."

As Hayato was thinking about the Kokuryu clan, Relic spoke up.

"I heard from Ash-sama that Diite-sama visited your headquarters yesterday. It seems she wasn't at the victory celebration. Did something happen?"

"Oh, no, there wasn't any particular problem. Diite-chan is doing a lot of research for me, and she just came by to deliver some information. I wish she would've taken the day off for the celebration, though."

"Indeed. Work is a noble thing, but overdoing it is not wise."

It was actually Hypnos who came, but he probably wouldn't understand if I told him. Still, what is her objective?

Hayato thought back to Hypnos.

Her ultimate goal was likely to replace Diite. But her methods were so careless, or rather, roundabout.

If the hardline faction won the event, she could create a Veru strong enough to defeat Diite. According to Diite, he would be able to trigger unlimited Stampedes and would possess an AI-killing ability. There was also the setting she mentioned before, which added emotions to a character's stats. If Veru held any anger toward Diite, his stats would become immense.

And yet, despite all that, she didn't seem particularly rushed about the current situation. She even spoke as if she didn't mind if Ash and the others won.

Hypnos also called it a battle between herself and Diite-chan. She's scheming to make Veru-san get serious and to direct his anger at Diite-chan. And yet, she seems uninterested in the fight between Veru-san and Ash. She even gave us that information... Could it be that the result is the same no matter who wins? If Ash wins, Ash will try to defeat Diite-chan...?

Hayato considered various possibilities, but he couldn't come up with a single reason why Ash would want to defeat Diite. So he decided to ask him directly.

"Ash, what do you think of Diite-chan?"

Ash's expression seemed to freeze for a moment, and then his brow furrowed.

"What's with the sudden question? What do I think? I don't really think anything in particular. She's a very skilled user of Holy Magic, I'll give her that. And having Hand-to-Hand Combat skills makes for a novel skill composition. I hope you're not asking about romantic likes or dislikes, are you? Sorry, but I'm not interested in that sort of thing right now. Yesterday was tough enough..."

"I certainly wasn't talking about romance. I was just wondering if, you know, you hated her or anything."

"Why would I? Did something happen to make you think that?"

"No, nothing at all. You know, Diite-chan will be joining us for the fight against Agres Berion, so I just thought I'd check to make sure there wasn't anything like that."

"Don't worry. There's no one among the members we'll be fighting with that I hold such feelings for. Everyone is a comrade who will fight alongside us."

"I see. Sorry for the weird question."

Ash waved his right hand back and forth in a gesture that meant, 'don't worry about it.'

That's right. There's no conceivable reason for him to dislike her. The idea of Ash attacking Diite-chan is impossible. In that case...

Just then, Hayato noticed that Ren was walking while staring intently at him.

"Um, Ren-chan? Is something wrong?"

Ren approached Hayato and spoke in a voice even quieter than usual.

"Is this it? The legendary technique of getting a confession by asking a romantic rival, the 'So, you like her, don't you?' strategy? The person who's asked almost always says they don't think of her that way."

"That's a new one on me."

"Huh? So you did it naturally, not as a calculated move? You're going to follow up with 'Well, I like her,' to warn him off, right? Even though you have Esha-san, Hayato-san, you're going after Diite-san too...!"

"Your imagination is so active, Ren-chan, it makes me worry about your future. And what kind of person am I in your imagination, anyway?"

"That's a secret, but I'll tell you secretly. I think you're kind of a womanizer."

"I wish you'd kept that a secret until the very end."

Ren smiled. "I'm just kidding!" she said, then added, "Come on, let's hurry!" and started walking energetically.

Seeing this, Ash cautioned her not to get too far ahead. Relic said, "I will stay with her," and moved closer to Ren. The two of them looked like a grandfather and his granddaughter, which made Hayato feel a little warmth.

It's even more impossible for Ren-chan to be hostile to Diite-chan than it is for Ash.

As Hayato dismissed his own idea, Ash sighed.

"Honestly, Ren is getting too carried away. She's probably just excited at the prospect of adding to her cursed equipment collection, but it makes me a little worried."

"Relic-san is with her, so she should be fine, right? I doubt they'd try to fight a monster on their own."

"Ah, no, it's not that kind of worry. Ren was physically weak in the past. I still have that image of her, so when I see Ren getting too excited, it makes me nervous. Is something wrong?"

"Oh, no, it's nothing. I can see why that would make you worry."

Hayato said this, but his mind was racing.

Ren-chan was physically weak? He must mean in the real world, right? In virtual reality, there shouldn't be a 'physically weak' state... Something about that catches my attention. But if there were a health issue, Diite-chan would've said something. It's probably not a problem anymore.

With that thought, Hayato followed after Ren and the others who had gone on ahead.