kscans

Chapter 252 - Reassessing Our Strength

When Hayato contacted the Maid Chief via voice chat, she arrived at the headquarters in just a few minutes.

Normally, Simon, who was also at the Maid Guild, would come with her, but seeing as Simon wasn't there, she must have rushed out as soon as she got the message.

"Hayato-sama, good morning. I have a proposal. Since Gil-sama is a member of the Demon Lord's Army, let's take him hostage to disperse the Demon Country's forces. We can say it's for world peace."

"What are you saying, coming here so suddenly? I understand how you feel, but please don't tell such obvious lies."

"It has been said since ancient times that a wonderful man pretends not to notice a maiden's lies, even if he knows."

"That's the first I've heard of it."

She was probably worried that she wouldn't be able to meet Gil easily if he returned to the Demon Lord's Castle, but he couldn't keep Gil at the headquarters for such a reason.

Besides, Hayato had no reason to go that far.

"Maid Chief-san, instead of doing something like that, why don't you just slowly deepen your friendship with Gil-san? Like exchanging letters or something."

"Letters? Ah, you mean I should send a marriage registration form with them to make my appeal, right?"

"That's terrifying. What's the point of appealing that you're a psychopath?"

(And does this virtual reality even have marriage registration forms? I know there's a marriage system, but...)

"I learned from the last time. In love, a preemptive strike is victory. To bring them down without giving them a chance to counterattack. It's a basic principle of battle."

(That's not the first I've heard of it. Ren-chan said something similar. Maybe it's common knowledge that I just don't know...? But I think it's less of a preemptive strike and more like issuing a surrender ultimatum before even declaring war.)

Hayato was attending a study group on the female heart hosted by Ren with Ash in the real world. Ren had said something similar to the Maid Chief there.

After the study group, he and Ash would always drink coffee with a strange taste while saying, "I don't understand the female heart."

"I understand that your feelings are genuine, Maid Chief-san. However, I can't do anything that would restrain him, so please do your best to make progress on your own. I will cooperate as much as possible."

"Understood. Then, once you've decided on a house for the two of you to live in, I would like to request its construction..."

"Sometimes the process is more important than the result. Just how far have you thought this through...?"

"I've thought as far as being surrounded by my grandchildren, but?"

(I thought Maid Chief-san was a more sensible person, but she's hopeless. I hope she's only hopeless when it comes to romance...)

Hayato shooed the Maid Chief up to the second floor where Gil was and sat down in a chair with a tired look on his face. He drank some coffee. He pushed the Maid Chief out of his mind and thought about the future.

From now on, Hayato would support Mist's search, his search for the manufacturing method of Panacea.

In the game, Panacea was an item that woke one from the "undying sleep," but it was also an item that could cure illnesses in the real world.

This situation had come about because Infinity, the god of this world, had misconstrued a request from the administrator, Diite.

Even though it was an illness that could be cured right now, they had to search for the knowledge of the cure in the virtual reality, and Mist had to create the manufacturing method for Panacea based on that knowledge.

In this virtual reality, new items could be created based on the knowledge of humans who were considered NPCs. It was the same logic by which Esha had created the manufacturing method for the "AI Killer."

Mist would also create the manufacturing method for Panacea with the knowledge he had gathered. This would be necessary to save his comrades.

Since the location of the knowledge had already been revealed through information from Infinity, what was important was the strength to conquer that place.

He had been counting on the members from the Necropolis raid, but the NPCs had jobs or roles within this virtual reality. Since they thought this virtual reality was the real world, he couldn't hold them to his own convenience.

Ivan was expected, as he had heard the story, but losing Gil was a significant drop in strength.

Not only was Gil's strength gone, but if Gil left, the Maid Chief would inevitably not participate either. Their strength would decrease all at once, so he would need to ask someone to make up for it.

Hayato was thinking about who he should ask.

Just then, Mist, Damian, and Ruth came down from the second floor. After exchanging greetings, the three of them sat at the table just like Hayato.

Hayato served coffee to Mist and Damian, and orange juice to Ruth.

Mist, who seemed to be in good health despite being a vampire, smiled and looked at Hayato.

"I'm going shopping in the Royal Capital today. I thought I should get some souvenirs for everyone at the mansion."

"I see. Do you need any sunscreen?"

"No, no, I'm not going to be fighting, so it's fine even if I'm weakened. I actually invited Noat-san along as a thank you, but she turned me down. She did say she wanted donuts for a souvenir, though."

"Noat-san is almost always sleeping, you know. And even if she's awake, I think it would be difficult to get her to go outside."

Noat had given Hayato the money and items she had obtained from clearing the Necropolis without a second thought. It was enough to cover her lodging for nearly a year. She probably intended to occupy that room with three meals a day and a nap for that period.

Hayato didn't consider Noat as part of their fighting force. She was as whimsical as a cat. Hayato wasn't that knowledgeable about cats, but from what he had seen in videos, the word whimsical seemed to fit them well.

According to Esha, that was the charm of honorable cats. And she had been agonizing for some reason that she couldn't give up on obedient dogs either. When he asked why, she said it was because you couldn't have both.

That aside, Noat was a support class that would definitely increase the party's strength, but he had decided to think of it as good luck if she helped, and not to have excessive expectations.

Before even thinking about her strength, she was a person on the level of wondering how to get her out of her room. It was reckless to expect anything from her.

"That's part of Noat-san's charm, though. There's a gap between when she's singing and when she's not... I was happy that someone like her came to the lowest floor of the Necropolis for me. Not just Noat-san, but I'll be punished if I don't properly thank everyone who helped clear the Necropolis."

"I think that's a good idea. But everyone knows you'll be busy, Mist-san, so I think it's fine to do it after everything is over."

"Yes. I plan to thank them again after various things are over. Oh, right. We'll be moving our base to the mansion in the Demon Country tomorrow as well. For a while, we'll need to bring our comrades who are based in other dungeons to the mansion."

The members of Mist's comrades, the Undead Ten, were each based in a dungeon and were in the undying sleep at its deepest part.

Before they started searching for the manufacturing method of Panacea, they were going to gather those members at Mist's mansion, but Hayato had heard that only the three of them, Mist and the others, would be going there.

"You did say that. I asked before, but do you not need any forces for that? I heard that the three of you, Mist-san, Damian-san, and Ruth-kun, would be enough."

"Yes, there's no problem. I heard from Damian that the places where everyone is are not as difficult as the Necropolis, so the three of us will be fine. Besides, we can't make a high-difficulty dungeon our base."

"That's true. You can't sleep soundly in a dangerous place."

"That's fine, but I'd like to borrow your connections, Hayato-san, when we gather the knowledge for Panacea. I imagine the places I heard about from God are quite difficult."

"Understood. I'll reach out to my acquaintances. Please tell me the locations later. I'll gather some information on my end as well... Oh, right. On a different note, the scapula stretching stick you requested is ready. It looks like just a regular stick, though."

"Thank you very much! I was really looking forward to it!"

Mist's love for health goods was apparently from his real-world days, and Hayato had heard that his favorite time was using various health goods while listening to Noat's songs.

However, he rarely had time in the real world, so after starting to live in the virtual reality, that feeling had exploded. And he was spreading it among his vampire friends.

Stretching in the virtual reality had no meaning whatsoever, but it probably made him feel like he was doing something. Mist immediately started stretching.

Damian and Ruth were looking at Mist stretching with exasperated faces, but their faces also contained smiles.

Mist, who seemed satisfied after trying out all the health goods, nodded with a smile and said, "We're going shopping," before leaving the headquarters.

Hayato saw them off, then drank his second cup of coffee and began to think about what to do first.