kscans

Chapter 200 - The Pursuers

On the third day since arriving at the floating island, all the members were gathered in the open area near the Campsite.

Today, they would split into two teams to simultaneously investigate the two buildings they discovered yesterday.

If you pictured this circular island as a clock, the Campsite in the south was at six o'clock, and the buildings were at two and ten. There was one building to the northeast and one to the northwest. They decided to split into two groups right from the base.

The members going to the northeast building were Relic, the Kokuryu, the Dragon Busters, and five members of the Treasure Hunter Guild. The northwest team consisted of Sonia, Lunaria, the Black Rose, and four members of the Treasure Hunter Guild.

In terms of numbers, Sonia's team was smaller, but since Lunaria alone was a one-woman army, this was to balance things out.

Separating Sonia and Relic was, of course, for disarming traps and unlocking doors inside the buildings. Even if there were no treasure chests, artificial dungeons were full of such obstacles.

The Treasure Hunter Guild members had originally belonged to the Thieves' Guild, so they had the necessary skills, but unlike Relic and Sonia, their skills weren't at level 100.

For that reason, they had Relic participate as well, and they would tackle each building in this formation.

"Alright, Sonia-san, here's the Coconut Juice, and some steak and hamburgers made with dinosaur meat. Since Lunaria-san and everyone in the Black Rose don't have special attack properties on their weapons, please make sure the food's effects don't wear off. And here are some medicines."

"Got it. I'll take care of managing all that. Also, I'll contact you via voice chat if anything happens. You do the same if anything comes up on your end."

"Understood. Well then, be careful."

Sonia said, "Leave it to me," and walked over to where Lunaria and the others were.

Next, Hayato spoke to Relic.

"Relic-san, here's what you asked for. They look like normal knuckles, but they have a Dinosaur Special Attack property."

"Thank you. With the Kokuryu and Dragon Busters here, I doubt it will be my turn to shine, but it is always better to have as much fighting strength as possible."

Relic said this as he equipped the knuckles Hayato had made. He then did some shadowboxing, throwing punches and kicks to check his movements.

Everyone on Relic's team was equipped with weapons and armor with special attack properties, so they didn't particularly need the food, but he handed it over just in case.

"Here are the dishes made with coconuts and dinosaur meat. And some normal food, too. And also some medicine."

"Thank you... yes, this is more than enough. Well then, we shall be off."

"Take care."

Relic headed over to where the Kokuryu and the others were.

A few minutes later, both teams wished each other luck and headed toward the buildings they were to capture.

Most of the island was covered in forest, so both teams were soon out of sight.

Alright, I guess I'll make some items with the materials I have now. I also want to gather some more coconuts. I'll have to wait for Esha for that. I don't need a guard, but I want to gather a lot.

Esha hadn't logged in yet. She had been at the girls' night until quite late last night, so there was a possibility she wasn't awake yet.

Ney and the others, who had also been at the girls' night, had gone on the exploration looking energetic, and Hayato found the difference strange. Also, the way the women had been looking at him was a little suspicious.

He didn't want to know the details, but it was enough to make him wonder what had happened at yesterday's girls' night.

However, Hayato himself had been bombarded with questions yesterday.

While he was making items, the male members had invited him to a boys' gathering. It was just the guys messing around, but Hayato joined after he finished a batch of items.

By the time he joined, the topic had turned to which of the women they liked, and it was quite lively. However, Hayato didn't have the right to speak, or rather, the right to vote, and after being asked a variety of questions, he received the unreasonable words, "You should get stabbed," from everyone.

The result was that there was no overwhelmingly popular woman, and everyone was popular across the board, which was probably a good thing.

They might have been doing something similar on their end. Well, whatever. The way they looked at me was strange, but they seemed to have had fun, and everyone looked energetic.

Whether talking about love energizes women was unknown, but at least to Hayato's eyes, they looked like they had regained their spirit. The same was probably true for the men. It felt like their desire to look cool in front of the women was stronger than usual, and they seemed full of motivation.

Today's exploration would probably yield good results. As he thought this and was about to return to his room at the Campsite, Esha was standing right behind him.

Hayato, who hadn't sensed her presence at all, saw Esha and cried out, "Whoa!" But he immediately found it strange.

Even though this was a virtual reality, Esha looked exhausted. He could surmise that something terrible had happened. She was the polar opposite of the other female members. It looked like she could collapse at any moment.

"E-Esha, if you're there, say something. I thought my heart was going to stop... By the way, what's wrong? You look kind of tired."

"...Yes, well. I'm tired from being bombarded with questions at yesterday's girls' night. May I shoot you with Destroy, Master? Don't worry, it won't hurt."

"...How about we settle this with a chocolate parfait?"

He didn't know if it was his fault or not, but for times like these, he could always make a chocolate parfait. It took luck to make a five-star one, but there was a chance to survive.

Esha pretended to think for a moment, then nodded, "Alright, then."

Hayato asked Esha a question while making the chocolate parfait.

"You said you were bombarded with questions at yesterday's girls' night. Is that my fault?"

"...No, that's not it."

"It's not my fault, but you were going to shoot me...?"

Feeling a great sense of injustice, but a promise was a promise, so he handed the five-star chocolate parfait he had made to Esha. It was probably good luck that he had made it on the first try.

As she ate, her mood seemed to improve, and Hayato felt that she had returned to her usual self.

"Um, are you calm now?"

"Yes, well. You can give me more chocolate parfaits, you know?"

"I'd like to save them for the next 'just in case' moment. I can't make the ingredients with what's on this island."

Making a chocolate parfait required a fair amount of ingredients, but basically, he bought them from NPCs. They weren't sold here, so it was difficult to gather the ingredients.

Since he didn't know when the next "just in case" would be, he wanted to use something else as a substitute.

Perhaps realizing that there would be no more chocolate parfaits, Esha seemed to switch gears and looked around.

"It seems everyone has already left. Did I log in a little late?"

"It was just a little while ago."

"Is that so? I wanted to use Destroy on all the women."

"I don't know what happened, but could you stop with the things that sound like they came out of a flashback in a mystery movie?"

A massacre on a deserted island. In mysteries, that was something that was talked about as a past event. Since this was virtual reality, no one would die, but Hayato thought that Diite-chan would probably make a scenario out of it.

"Well, I am just joking, so do not mind me—"

Esha cut herself off and aimed her Beelzebub behind Hayato. However, even though it was behind him, her aim was much higher. She pointed the muzzle toward the sky.

Just as he thought there might be a Pteranodon in the sky, a sound reached Hayato's ears. It was the sound of a propeller moving. A sound he had heard many times on the airship.

When he slowly turned around, he saw a single airship flying. It was, of course, not the one Hayato had made. It was descending toward them.

As it got closer, he could see it with his own eyes.

On the deck of that airship, Jolt from the Bandit clan was raising his right hand as if in greeting.