kscans

Chapter 260 - Information Gathering and Departure Preparations

Hayato and the others began preparing to go to the Eastern Country.

The Eastern Country was located in a place that could only be reached by ship, with a regular service running from the Royal Capital's port about twice a day. There was no problem with taking one's own ship, but there was a risk of being attacked by pirates or sea monsters, so using the safe regular service was the main option.

Since it required being on a ship for about two hours without logging out, few players went to the Eastern Country, and it had become a sanctuary for those who role-played as samurai or ninja.

Furthermore, the monsters were unique, with some being called yokai, and it was a place that had created its own unique worldview.

And in-game events rarely occurred there. It was possible to build a base in the Eastern Country, but it was inconvenient because it took two hours to return to this continent. For that reason, there were few players.

For these reasons, there was little information about the Eastern Country. So, in order to gather as much information as possible, he had called Simon to the base's dining hall and was in the middle of asking him various questions.

This was Hayato's first time going to the Eastern Country, and although he knew some of the precautions, he didn't know all of them. He was trying to get some information in advance to be prepared for anything.

And he learned of one problematic story.

"It's difficult to obtain materials over there?"

"That's right. In the Eastern Country, there is a belief that gods reside in both the forests and the mountains, so actions like cutting down trees or digging for ore require a permit. If you are caught mining without permission, you will be arrested. Of course, such precautions are strictly stated before entering the country, but still, several people are arrested every year. I would gladly arrest you, Hayato, so would you like to give it a try?"

"I have no intention of living permanently in the Eastern Country."

"That's a shame. For that reason, it would be better to bring materials from here if you plan to make something over there. Well, if you destroy the Cursed Blade for me, you will gain the trust of the country. Then you will probably be granted a permit for logging and mining. You will probably also be given permission to go to your destination."

Although it wasn't visible as a numerical value, each country had something like a trust or reputation level, and if it was low, your actions would be restricted. Just as a certain level of reputation was needed to enter the Grand Prison in the Empire, Hayato thought that there was a similar restriction in the Eastern Country.

In the Empire, he had gained reputation by completing quests for the Adventurer's Guild. Using that system, he was able to enter the Grand Prison relatively quickly, but there was no Adventurer's Guild in the Eastern Country, so it was unclear how to gain reputation.

Also, according to Simon's story, it might be difficult to enter "Sacred Peak Takamagahara" and "Ryugu" without a certain level of trust.

(So the first thing is to destroy the Cursed Blade and gain reputation. I should think of this as good timing. There's no time to be doing quests to raise reputation bit by bit, and it's clear that destroying the Cursed Blade will get me to my destination. But the timing feels a little too good...)

Infinity, which constructed this world, was responsible for the complicated situation regarding the healing medicine. Diite said it was because her instructions were poor, but Hayato thought that was somehow suspicious.

Did Infinity have its own independent thoughts different from Diite's, and was it scheming something? He had such a feeling.

He didn't know what kind of thinking Infinity used to construct this world. It was just that the reason for preparing an event that linked the real world and the virtual reality was too strange.

Diite had said that Infinity had interpreted Mist's request to heal everyone in a complex way, but he had been bothered for a long time about whether such a thing was possible.

However, it wasn't enough for Hayato to be able to say that it was clearly suspicious. It was just a hunch.

He could somewhat understand the reason that Infinity had interpreted the request strangely, as Diite had said. It might be different for an AI like Diite, but a normal program could only do what it was told. It wouldn't act on its own based on an ambiguous idea.

"Hayato, what's wrong with you all of a sudden?"

Hayato had been lost in thought for quite some time, and he had left Simon, who was right in front of him, hanging.

"Oh, sorry, I was just thinking a little. Hey, you mentioned before that there's a Princess in the Eastern Country, right? I'm planning on staying at a mansion that you're preparing for us over there, but should I bring a gift? Like a kimono or something?"

Hayato made some appropriate small talk.

However, even though it was appropriate, it was also something he had been thinking about. Since they would be active in the Eastern Country for a while, they would need a temporary base somewhere. Simon had offered to provide that place.

That place was owned by a person called the Princess. Simon had said that it was a place provided free of charge to those who seemed capable of destroying the Cursed Blade, so he could use it as he liked, but Hayato had also been thinking that something was needed as a courtesy.

"If it's not too much trouble, it wouldn't be a bad idea to prepare a kimono. But if you're going to make one, please make it of the highest quality. The kimono you made for me is of the highest quality, so if the quality is worse than that, the Princess will be upset."

"That sounds like a pain. Alright, I get it, I'll prepare a highest-quality kimono."

"A flashy pattern might be better. The Princess dislikes plain things."

"I'm not getting a very good impression of this Princess. She's not a selfish and arrogant person, is she?"

"...Well, you can think of her as a naive and innocent princess who hates boredom. She's just a little selfish, a little arrogant, and a little irritating."

"If it's that much even with 'a little,' then it's not 'a little,' is it?"

(I don't really want to meet her... Well, it's just a matter of maybe meeting her, so I guess it's okay.)

After that, he continued to hear about the Eastern Country from Simon and confirmed what he would need.

Hayato began to make various preparations in his room at the base.

He had to prepare things to take to the Eastern Country, but since he wouldn't be able to return to this base for a while, he also had to prepare things to leave behind.

The most important thing was the products to put in the shop. If these ran out, the customers who came to the shop would disappear. He had just managed to attract beginner customers thanks to Rose's suggestion, but if the shop ran out of products, the customers would leave.

Weapons and armor could be used for a long time, but food and medicine were consumables, so they had to be restocked every day. He didn't know how long he would be in the Eastern Country, but he expected it to be one or two weeks, so Hayato was busily creating items, thinking that he needed to prepare enough food and medicine for that number of days.

There were other things to prepare as well.

That was the food and medicine needed for Veru and the others to conquer Skyscraper Babel.

He couldn't just leave it to them and be done with it. Even if they were a party of dragons called Genesis Dragons, if they weren't in their dragon state, they were no different from ordinary players.

He was making various items and leaving them behind so they could be restocked at any time.

(Even an administrator like Diite-chan can't seem to just give money to players, so I'm glad I made some money.)

As an administrator, Diite could do various things, but she wasn't all-powerful and had similar restrictions to players. Some were due to the wounds she received from Hayato's AI Killer, while others she couldn't do from the beginning.

She could fly through the sky and change settings, but that was only for emergency measures, and she couldn't create items or money from nothing.

Diite had apologized to Hayato and Mist about that, but neither of them had minded.

When he said that, Diite had a troubled look on her face, but then she said that she would be active as a single NPC and left the base with a happy look on her face.

(I feel like Diite-chan has become able to make more human-like expressions than before. They were originally expressions in a virtual reality, but before, she was a little more rigid. I guess Diite-chan is also changing in various ways.)

When Hayato thought that, his mouth naturally relaxed into a smile. After becoming aware of himself feeling happy that Diite was changing in such a way, he went back to creating items.