kscans

Chapter 261 - Before Departure

On the day they were to leave for the Eastern Country, Hayato and the others gathered at their headquarters early in the morning.

The ship departing from the Royal Capital's port was scheduled for an early hour, so they had to match its schedule. If they missed it, there wouldn't be another ship until around evening. For Hayato and Esha, that was when they had work at the real-world cafe, so being late would mean waiting a whole day.

Esha looked incredibly sleepy, practically draping herself over Ren from behind. She wasn't actually getting a piggyback ride, but was rather just leaning against her back.

Considering their ages and builds, one might expect their roles to be reversed, but thanks to her STR, Ren didn't seem to find it heavy in the slightest. If anything, she looked like she was enjoying it.

The two of them had grown quite close. To an outsider, they might even look like sisters. Hayato thought as much but kept it to himself. If he were to say something like, "You two get along so well," Ren would surely retort, "You and Esha-san get along even better!"

It was a common exchange in the real world, and he wouldn't make the same mistake in virtual reality.

With that thought, Hayato scanned their surroundings.

There was still time before the meeting time, but some members were missing. Mist's group and Diite. The plan was to depart once those four arrived.

Hayato himself had just come down from his room to the dining hall, so he figured he should say his greetings.

Hayato approached Veru and Ash.

Veru had come to see Ash and the others off. After exchanging greetings, Hayato bowed his head to Veru.

"Veru-san, I'm counting on you for the assault on Babel."

They could see each other in the real world, so there was no need to make the request here, but Hayato bowed as a matter of courtesy.

"Yeah, leave it to me. But are you sure about this? I never expected you to prepare dishes and medicine for us to use in the assault."

"It's fine. I've been saving up money just for this. Besides, Ash and the others have been defeating dragons to get their feel back and have gathered plenty of high-grade materials, so there's no problem at all."

"I see. In that case, we'll gratefully accept. Ash, you do your best over there too."

"Ren and I will be fine. We've gotten our touch back. I'm actually more worried about you guys. Are Agres and Suien-san going to be okay?"

"Well, they should be fine. They seem to be telling themselves it's just a virtual reality. Actors need a bit of that self-suggestion, after all. So leave things here to us and focus on your own job, Ash."

Although it was a game in a virtual world, it had real-world implications, so Veru viewed it as a job. It was likely his way of reminding Ash that this wasn't just for fun.

Veru continued to talk with Ash about various things, so Hayato bowed once more and then approached the spot where Rose and Noat were.

These two were staying at the headquarters. He had thought it was rare for Noat to be out of her room and in the dining hall, but it turned out she had just come down because she was hungry, not to see them off.

"Well then, I'm leaving the headquarters in your hands."

"Leave it to me. With donuts, I am invincible."

"I wasn't talking to you, Noat-san."

"No, Noat-san will fight for us when the time comes. That said, I don't think anyone will be attacking this place anymore, so we should be fine. The real question is whether you'll be back before the merchandise runs out. That's my only concern."

"Rose-chan makes a good point. Exactly. Come back before the donuts are gone. At the very least, send donuts."

"Are you two indirectly telling me you're not worried about me personally?"

It was a virtual reality, so there was no real danger, but it was a little sad to feel so completely unworried about.

But the two of them just sighed. It was as if they were saying Hayato just didn't get it.

"Why would we worry about you, Hayato-san, when you're going with a team like this? If anything happened, I'd be wondering what on earth the Eastern Country is. They should probably stop ships from traveling there if it's that much of a danger zone."

"I agree. Ivan-sama may not be with you, but with Esha, Ash-sama, and Ney-sama's group, there is no need to worry."

"Now that you put it that way, I guess you're right, but could you at least pretend to be worried?"

The party for the Necropolis assault had been quite formidable, but this time's party was also a considerable force. It wasn't as large a formation as when they went to the floating island, so it was inferior in that respect, but their strength was still more than sufficient.

Since they offered no particular concern for him, Hayato approached Ney and the others. It was a slightly intimidating group, but he couldn't just avoid them. And he couldn't put off the issue any longer.

"Everyone, and Rosalie-san."

Hayato called out to the members of Kokuryu and Rosalie.

Ney looked happy, but Rosalie seemed a bit weary.

"To be honest, I've only been to the Eastern Country a few times, so I'm pretty excited. I was so keyed up last night I could barely sleep!"

"Ah, yeah, well, I'm looking forward to it too. By the way, Rosalie-san, you're here to see us off... no, that's not it, is it?"

"...Regrettably, I have ended up accompanying you to the Eastern Country. It is truly regrettable."

Whether it was truly regrettable or not was unclear, but Ney had probably invited her and she had come along. Hayato felt a bit of sympathy, but her presence was a definite enhancement to their fighting strength, so he actually welcomed it.

Still, it was unusual for Rosalie to come alone. He had expected the Demon Lord Lunaria or other members of the Black Rose to be with her.

"Are you on your own this time, Rosalie-san? And you look a bit tired?"

"It is just me this time. I appear tired because a number of things have happened. Yesterday, when I reported that I was going to the Eastern Country, Lunaria-sama declared she would go too, so the Black Rose members and the Ten Dark Knights joined forces to lock her in her room. Lunaria-sama has been playing around too much lately, so we are making her organize documents."

(This time the Black Rose and the Ten Dark Knights worked together to lock Lunaria-san up... did they get a little closer?)

"We managed to placate her by promising to buy souvenirs, but it was all very tiring..."

"...Want a Potion?"

"...My HP is not depleted. If you would, please give me something sweet later. A large quantity of it."

"Come on, come on, Rosalie, let's just forget about the Demon Lord's Castle for a bit and cut loose! Being a middle manager is tough!"

"I did get leave for this, but we are not going just for fun, are we?"

Hayato thought she must have had a rough time at the Demon Lord's Castle, enough to forget about what she'd said to him before, but if that was the case, it was a relief for him, and he took his leave.

He then headed toward a rare pairing.

"Maris and Simon talking together, that's unusual, isn't it?"

"Aye, Maris here was asking me a few things about yokai, so I was just answering them."

"Oh?" Hayato said, looking at Maris.

"There are monsters called yokai in the Eastern Country. At the Tamer Guild, there's a lot of speculation about whether they can be tamed, and I was thinking of trying my hand at it."

"Speculation? Hasn't anyone tamed one?"

"Apparently not. To begin with, yokai are pretty rare, so it's hard to even find them. This is also just speculation, but based on what Simon-san told me, the ones that seem tamable are Kamaitachi, Nekomata, and Kyubi. Of course, helping Mist-san is my priority, but I thought I'd look for them when I have a spare moment."

(So animal-type yokai might be possible...)

From what Hayato knew, a Kamaitachi was a weasel with sickles, a Nekomata was a cat with two tails, and a Kyubi was a fox with nine tails. They were yokai, but still animals, so taming them seemed possible. Other yokai, like Kappa, probably wouldn't work.

"Yeah, I feel like it might be possible. You won't be searching all day, so if you find one, give it a try."

"I will! I'll do my best to rebuild Siegfried's kingdom!"

"So that's your reason?"

Seeing this exchange, Simon started to laugh.

"However, to make a yokai your companion? The people of this country think of some amusing things. Well, the ninja folk capture giant frogs, so perhaps it's a similar thing."

(So the image of a ninja is someone who rides a giant frog... There's no Ninjutsu Skill, so I wonder how they manage that? Maybe they substitute it with magic skills...)

Just as he had finished his rounds, Mist's group and Diite arrived.

Hayato confirmed everyone was present, then said, "Alright, let's go," and led them all away from the headquarters.