kscans

Chapter 165 - A Request for Cooperation

Hayato was gathering members to serve as combat power for the salvage operation.

As it turned out, Sonia, being the former Guild Master of the Thieves' Guild, had a narrow circle of friends. She did have strong acquaintances, but she rated them as untrustworthy.

So she had left it all to Hayato. She said anyone Hayato deemed trustworthy would be fine.

However, there was one condition. He could tell them about the airship, but they were not to tell anyone else until it was complete. And for the reward, everything except the airship's design documents would be split. The design documents alone were Sonia's reward, and they were free to do as they pleased with the rest.

Hayato was slightly troubled by this condition.

Basically, he could say that all of his acquaintances were trustworthy. Ney of Kokuryu, Cecil the collector, Noat the prima donna, the Hero Ivan, the Demon Lord Lunaria, any of them would surely listen to his request.

But, to put it mildly, they were usually airheads. There was a chance they might let it slip. In terms of combat power, they were undoubtedly strong and trustworthy, but there was a high possibility that information would leak out, even if unintentionally.

He wondered what to do, but Hayato made up his mind.

Even if the information about the design documents got out and a scramble for them began, couldn't that be called an adventure in its own right? It was a common trope in stories. He had seen plenty of it in the movies he often watched. Besides, in terms of combat power, they would definitely win.

Having seen their battles so far, he was confident of this, and so he reached out to the members.

To explain the situation, he first called Ney to the base.

For some reason, Rosalie came with her.

Apparently, they had started acting together more often, and Rosalie was practically a member of Kokuryu now. Since she served the Demon Lord Lunaria, it wasn't all the time, but they went to various places together about every three days.

"I haven't done anything related to salvaging yet. I'm mostly going to dungeons with Rosalie."

"...Well, being cooped up in the Demon Lord's Castle all the time is stressful. Besides, Lunaria-sama is currently reflecting on her actions, so I'm quite free. Oh, by the way, thank you for the Super Eclairs the other day. They were very well-received by everyone."

"That's good to hear. I made sure to set aside the ingredients Lunaria-san made. The look in the eyes of the Black Rose members was scary."

When he received the ingredients Lunaria had made, the members of the Black Rose had looked at them with the eyes of assassins. It was a look that said they would take his soul if he used them.

"I believe that was a good decision. On a separate matter, there is something I would like to ask of you, Hayato... No, please, you first, Hayato."

"Oh? Well then, about this consultation..."

Hayato told Ney and Rosalie the details of the salvage.

He had given a simple explanation when he contacted them via voice chat, but now he explained it in more depth. The two of them were quite surprised, and Ney, in particular, was very excited.

"An airship! Of course I'll help! But I can't forgive you for keeping quiet about this until now!"

"It's the kind of thing I wanted to keep secret."

"An airship... I see, an airship..."

"Um, is there a problem?"

"No, there is not. However, I would like to borrow it for a bit when it's finished."

"That's not fair, Rosalie! I want to borrow it too!"

"The airship will belong to Sonia-san, who I just mentioned, so I can't say for sure, but I'll try to negotiate. Besides, I was thinking of asking you to accompany me when I go to the floating island, since we don't know what's there either."

The two of them agreed to that as well. Furthermore, Rosalie said she would bring the members of the Black Rose along.

He could say that he had secured about twenty people in terms of combat power.

"By the way, Hayato, thanks for this Arondight Replica. I'm fighting with it and the Excalibur Replica now, dual wielding. They're really strong."

"That's great."

Hayato hadn't been able to log in much after the Stampede event ended, but he had finished giving his thanks to the players and NPCs.

For Ney, it was the Arondight Replica that Lunaria had also requested. He had given various items he could make with his production skills to the other members as well.

"Ney, please equip only the Arondight when you meet Lunaria-sama. She will sulk otherwise."

"You know, I think Lunaria has a difficult personality."

"That's what's good about her."

Neither Hayato nor Ney could grasp even half of what Rosalie was saying was good about Lunaria, but that aside, Hayato was asked to prepare for the battle at sea.

Things like equipment and items that were effective against sea monsters.

Basically, monsters in the sea used water-attribute attacks. Therefore, having armor with strong water resistance could suppress the damage, and having a performance that was specialized against marine life for attacks would be very advantageous.

(Last time, the enemy was a dragon, so I made the Dragon Eater Replica which is specialized against dragons, but the only weapon specialized against marine life is a spear-type... Do I know anyone with the Spear Arts Skill? There's probably someone in the Bandit clan, but I don't want to ask them for help this time.)

The Bandit clan had various players, and it was said to be a clan of a hundred people, formed by the union of ten clans. They had verification and investigation teams, and it could be said that they played the game the most.

Hayato felt a slight rivalry with that clan. This was a matter where he didn't want the information about the airship to leak out before he made it.

(In that case, maybe Cecil. If she's a weapon enthusiast, she might have the Spear Arts Skill. The Crescent Moon Beast, or Dragon Busters as they're called now, I want them to help too. I should give them a call.)

Hayato told Ney and Rosalie he would contact them again with a detailed schedule, gave them some sweets as a souvenir, and then contacted Cecil.

Perhaps because she was free, Cecil came to the base right away.

"Yo, Hayato. Gimme a weapon. You called me, so you must have gotten your hands on some interesting weapon, right?"

"Same as always. I told you on voice chat that there was something I needed help with, didn't I?"

"Forgot in a second. Just kidding. Well, it's just a greeting, so don't mind me. So, what is it?"

Hayato explained that he needed her cooperation in a battle at sea during a salvage operation. That itself ended with a simple "Sure." Then Hayato asked if she had the Spear Arts Skill.

"Of course I have it. It's at 100, naturally. But it's not really cool to just have a spear, so I don't want to equip one. It's gotta be swords, swords. The Excalibur Replica you made for me, Hayato, is really nice. It's so cool it almost throws off the balance."

Cecil had two two-handed swords on her back, one longsword behind her waist, and two one-handed swords on either side of her waist. She was saying that if she equipped the Excalibur Replica on one side of her waist, the balance with the other sword was off.

Hayato had an idea. The two swords on Ney's waist, who had just been at the base, were contrasting, and he thought the balance of their coolness was good.

"There's a sword that would go well with that Excalibur Replica. If I give it to you, will you equip a spear?"

"Tell me more."

"I can make an Arondight Replica."

"I'm in."

(That was easy. With this, whether it's a Kraken, a Leviathan, or a Zaratan, we can win... maybe not a Zaratan. Well, I don't think a monster of that level will appear.)

The Kraken was a giant octopus, the Leviathan a giant sea serpent-like dragon, and the Zaratan a turtle the size of an island. They were known as the three great rare monsters of the sea. There were still no reports of the Zaratan being subjugated, and some even said it might not be a monster.

Cecil promised to bring the members of the Dragon Busters and left. It was decided that they would bring as many as could fit on the ship.

Next, he sent a voice chat to Diite.

"Of course, I'll go. A lot of troublesome things have been happening lately and I'm stressed out, so it will be a good way to blow off some steam."

(So even AI can get stressed... But she seems to be in a good mood, and though she was down before, she seems to have recovered. I don't know about it being for stress relief, but taking a break is important.)

With that thought, Hayato began to prepare for the salvage.