kscans

Chapter 27 - Confirming the Main Story

The afternoon after the Clan War with the Goddess of Annihilation, Hayato went to the log house. He was there to give the sword and the base back to Ney and his former clan members.

Hayato had contacted them that morning. Considering their respective positions and circumstances, Ney and the others should have been the ones to come to him. But Hayato had told them he would go there instead.

The reason was simple. Esha, his maid, was in a bad mood. Calling Ney and the others over in this state seemed like it would cause all sorts of problems, so Hayato decided to go to the log house himself.

Hayato had a vague idea why Esha was upset. She was likely unhappy about him giving away the sword and the base, but fundamentally, she was probably just dissatisfied with his actions in general.

He had come to this conclusion because of a conversation he had with Relic, the butler, that morning.

"Hayato-sama, you say you are aiming for the top of the rankings, but from an outsider’s perspective, you lack a certain desperation. You seem to feel it would be fine even if you failed. Esha dislikes that. No, perhaps she is worried. Your last opponent was a high ranking clan, but from now on, you will face even stronger ones. The base and the sword may become necessary to win future Clan Wars, yet you are trying to part with them so easily. She believes you cannot survive with such a naive mindset, that you should have the resolve to betray even your allies for the sake of victory. That is what she is thinking. She is likely upset because this is not getting through to you, Hayato-sama."

"If that’s the case, she could just tell me directly."

"You know she is not the type of person to do such a thing, do you not? She is what one might call a tsundere. As someone who knew the old Esha, I must say I am quite surprised."

"I’m surprised to hear the word tsundere come from you, Relic-san. But I see. Esha doesn’t like my lack of desperation. That’s why she’s in such a bad mood."

"You are completely wrong. And could you please not talk about me as if I am not standing right here? I will sue you for defamation. I am in a bad mood because I have yet to receive my reward cake. Master, you will give me my cake at once. In fact, I advise you to give it to me before you go to return the sword and base."

Esha had denied it, but Hayato believed Relic’s story was correct.

It was true that Esha teased him and gave him evasive answers, but she always helped him when it counted. If she felt nothing for him, she wouldn’t help in the first place, nor would she get upset over his actions. Hayato was almost certain that Esha was worried about him.

(What does it mean to be worried about by an NPC? Still, why is Esha so desperate, so obsessed with winning? Of course, I want to win for the money too… Well, I’ll think about that later. First, I need to get this done.)

With that thought, Hayato headed for the log house, his former base.

When Hayato arrived at the log house, Ney was there to greet him.

The log house, which he hadn't seen in a while, hadn't changed at all, and neither had the furniture inside. Even though he had only lived there for about a month, Hayato felt a sense of nostalgia.

Prompted by Ney, Hayato sat in a chair, facing her across the table. Though he was the guest, he followed his usual habit and placed a coffee in front of both Ney and himself. Ney didn’t seem to mind, simply saying, "Thank you."

Hayato took a small sip of coffee and looked around, noticing something.

None of the other members were in the log house. When he had contacted them, there should have been several members logged in, but not a single one of them was here.

"What happened to everyone? I thought they’d be here."

"Well, I’m not sure myself. They suddenly said they were heading to the hunting grounds and left. They told me to say hello to you, Hayato."

"Is that so? Am I being avoided, maybe?"

"No, that’s not it. They were grateful to you when I told them about the sword and the base… Ah, maybe they went to get some materials for crafting. As a thank you gift for you, Hayato."

"They don’t need to go to such trouble. But if that’s the case, I’d be happy."

"I’m glad to hear you’d be pleased… Ah, I see, so that’s it."

"Is something wrong?"

"No, it’s just that when everyone left the log house, they were smiling. No, it was more like a grin… Anyway, they were laughing and told me, ‘Do your best.’ I just realized they must have meant for me to do my best in hosting you as thanks to you, Hayato."

"You don’t have to worry about hosting me. I got the sword back on my own accord. Right, I should return this first. It’s better if the true owner has it."

Hayato handed the Excalibur Replica from his item bag to Ney.

Ney accepted it, her eyes welling up with tears as she gazed at the sword. She took a slow breath in and then exhaled.

"Thank you, Hayato. This was a birthday present from everyone. I really wanted to get it back."

"Ah, yeah. But you know, don’t go telling personal information to people, even if they’re allies you trust, okay? A birthday might be fine, but I was pretty freaked out when you first mentioned it."

"R, right. Everyone got a little mad at me when I received this, so I haven’t done it since… I mean it."

"Well, I believe you. Anyway, make sure you equip that sword and never take it off. That way it won’t be taken from you."

"I will, I’ll keep it equipped from now on. Oh, about the sword’s durability, would it be alright if I have you repair it, Hayato? I’ll pay you, of course."

"Durability repairs are free."

"No, we all talked about it, and we decided to stop being too dependent on you, Hayato. We agreed that if we ask for something, we’ll offer money or something of equal value as a trade. Besides, you must have a lot to prepare for the Clan Wars, right? We figured that if we take up your time and effort, we need to offer fair compensation. That is, if you’ll allow it, Hayato."

"What are you being so reserved for? We’re friends, right? I can’t if I’m busy, but when I have free time, I’ll do it for you as much as you want."

At Hayato’s words, Ney’s face broke into a smile. A huge, beaming smile.

"I knew you’d say that, Hayato. It wasn’t just me, everyone else thought so too."

"Everyone’s opinion of me is kind of scary. I hope the others are careful not to get tricked by someone, too. Alright, next is the base. I’ll just trade it over to you…"

As Hayato started to say this, Ney held up her right hand. It was a gesture to stop him, her palm facing toward him.

"Hayato, please keep using the base."

"Huh?"

"You’ve reached A-rank, haven’t you? You’ll need a proper base, and you’re the one who built it in the first place. It’s too much for us, so we want you to keep using it."

"…Are you sure?"

"Of course. I have everyone’s permission for this. Besides, there’s another reason."

The reason Ney mentioned concerned the customers who came to the base to buy items.

Previously, Hayato had sold items he crafted at that base. He sold them at fair prices, many were high quality, and he rarely ran out of stock. He also made custom equipment to meet customer requests, so he had a decent number of repeat clients.

However, after Hayato left the clan, they were no longer able to meet those customer demands. They could prepare a certain amount, but they couldn’t keep up with the volume of items Hayato had provided. Once the stock he left behind was gone, the customers almost completely stopped coming.

"We’re sorry that we drove your customers away. I know you must be busy with the Clan War, but I think you can build it back up again, Hayato. So please, keep using that base. We’ll take this log house. No, not take, we’ll buy it. Please tell me the price you paid to build it. And the price of the furniture and everything, too."

"No, it’s fine. If that’s the case, just use this place. Besides, I built it with the money I got when I left, so you could say this log house belongs to the clan. You don’t need to worry so much."

"…I see. Then we’ll gratefully accept. But I’d like to give you something in return."

"In that case, I’d like you to tell me about the main story, just as I mentioned when I contacted you."

"I believe you said you wanted to know about a character that appears in the story?"

"Not just the characters, but the history as well. I haven’t really done any quests, so I don’t know much about that stuff."

"Then ask me anything. I’ve cleared most of the quests up until before the Clan Wars started, so I know pretty much everything."

Seeing Ney’s confident expression, Hayato felt a little worried. Still, he figured she wouldn’t give him incorrect information, so he decided to ask.

What Hayato wanted to know most was the main story of this game.

The game had been running for a little over two and a half years. Hayato had been playing since it launched, but he had aimed to be a production character from the start, so the only quests he had done were delivery quests that required him to provide certain items. There were other types, like subjugation quests, escort quests, and puzzle quests, but Hayato had never done any of them.

The main story was just another one of those quests, but in its case, clearing one quest would trigger another in a chain, so it was known as a chain quest.

Ney told Hayato about the quests that occurred in that chain quest.

According to her, the story was about defeating an evil cult that worshipped the Demon Lord, and it ended happily with the defeat of the cult's leader. He asked about other details, but unfortunately, there was no information that Hayato was looking for.

So Hayato decided to ask directly.

"Does a dragon called Death Dragon Ash Brandle appear in the main story?"

Hearing Hayato’s words, Ney tilted her head. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, said, "Hmmmm?" and then looked at Hayato.

"No, he doesn’t. Dragons aren’t even involved in the quests at all. The only characters who appear in that series of quests are humans. I’m pretty sure the story didn’t even involve Elves or Dwarves."

"Huh? Is that right? Um, in that case, are there any quests that involve dragons? It doesn’t have to be a main story quest."

"No, I don’t think so. There’s a quest to deliver a dragon’s fang, but I’m sure no dragon names ever came up. By the way, what’s a Shiryu-whatsit?"

"Shiryu is written with the characters for ‘death’ and ‘dragon.’ Ash Brandle is the name. He said something about the dragons having factions and fighting amongst themselves."

"Factions…? Oh, are you talking about the Dragon Soul?"

"Dragon Soul? Is there a quest for that?"

"No, it’s not a quest. It’s a story from the Monster Encyclopedia."

The Monster Encyclopedia was a game system where you could obtain information about monsters when you defeated them. By defeating a monster, its information would be registered in the player’s encyclopedia, allowing them to learn about the monster’s background and lore. Many players tried to defeat every monster to complete their encyclopedia, thinking there might be a reward for doing so.

According to Ney, a story like that was in the Monster Encyclopedia entry that registered when they defeated the Tyrant Dragon Agres Berion.

The story was that there were ten dragons in this world called the Genesis Dragons, and the dragon factions were fighting over a dragon treasure called the Dragon Soul. Tyrant Dragon Agres Berion was one of those Genesis Dragons, and it was said to have existed since the beginning of the world.

"They haven’t identified all ten of those dragons yet. I think they only know about three, including the Tyrant Dragon. This is the first I’m hearing of a Death Dragon. Since Agres Berion is a rare monster, people say the other dragons probably appear as rare spawns somewhere… Did you see that dragon, Hayato!? I get it, you want us to help you subjugate it, right!?"

"No, don’t subjugate him. I just happened to learn about him, and I wanted to know what kind of dragon he was… Please don’t look so obviously disappointed."

Hayato thought Ney’s battle-crazed side was just as it always was, and he took a sip of his homemade coffee.

(So it’s not part of the main story. She says there aren’t any quests like that, but maybe it’s possible I’m the one who triggered the quest. Still, I don’t have time to do that quest. The Dragon Soul might be a rare item with incredible stats, but… for now, I’ve learned about Ash and the others. Next, I’ll ask about the Clan War.)

Hayato finished his coffee and looked at Ney again.

"Alright, next, can you tell me about the Clan War? How does it tie into the main story? I didn’t really get it from what you said earlier."

"No, the Clan War doesn’t tie into the main story. Well, it comes up as information, but it’s mostly unrelated."

"You mean the Clan War is just a game system that suddenly appeared? I thought it was started in relation to some quest or story."

"I don’t think it just appeared out of nowhere. Apparently, in the game’s history, Clan Wars have always existed. They seem to happen every few years, and I’ve heard that there’s an NPC who was a member of the clan that won the last one."

Hayato remembered Esha’s words. She had said that she won the Clan War three years ago.

"Is the name Esha Crown, by any chance? Or maybe Relic Barbatos."

"No, I don’t know the names. Have you met a member of the last winning clan?"

"Well, sort of. More like I know them."

"Wow, that’s amazing! You’re acquainted with a member of the Hero’s Clan!"

Ney’s words made Hayato freeze. He had heard something he couldn’t ignore.

"What clan did you just say? I didn’t quite hear you."

"I said the Hero’s Clan?"

"The Hero’s Clan?"

"It’s not like there was a clan with that actual name. It’s just that the main story mentions a Hero and a Demon Lord, and the story goes that the clan the Hero belonged to won the last Clan War. Why are you making such a complicated face?"

"…I just want to confirm, is the Hero a woman?"

"No, a man. Why do you look so relieved all of a sudden?"

"I’m just deeply relieved that my acquaintance isn’t the Hero. By the way, is the story that the clan defeated the Demon Lord?"

"That’s not what happened. The story is simply that in the Clan War, the Hero’s clan and the Demon Lord’s clan fought, and the Hero’s clan won. At that point, neither the Hero nor the Demon Lord were aware of who they were. The story says they awakened after the battle."

"Um, what are you talking about, not being aware and awakening? And for that matter, can the Demon Lord even participate in the Clan War?"

"The setting is that the Hero and the Demon Lord are constantly reincarnating as humans and repeating their endless battle. The current Hero and Demon Lord met for the first time in the Clan War, regained their memories, awakened, and learned of their respective destinies, or something like that. The leader of the evil cult said something to that effect."

"I see."

(I don’t really care about that setting, but it’s amazing that Esha and Relic-san were comrades who fought alongside the Hero. Wait a minute. But they both joined my clan, right? Does that mean the Hero’s clan has already disbanded?)

Hayato confirmed various details, including that information.

The story was that the Demon Lord, who lost the Clan War, took their clan members and disappeared. The Hero then disbanded their clan and went after the Demon Lord.

This information could be obtained from the main story quests, but apparently, the characters involved never appeared, not even their names. Nothing had progressed since the defeat of the cult leader, but Ney’s opinion was that it would probably be revealed in a future update.

Hayato processed this in his mind while drinking another cup of coffee.

(So that’s what the main story is like. I’m sure they’d answer if I asked them directly, but I get the feeling Esha wouldn’t say anything. She never mentioned a word about being in the Hero’s clan… Oh well, at least I got the information. I think I’ll call it a day.)

"Thanks, I understand a lot more now, that was a big help."

"Are you sure you’re done? I know a lot of other lore, so I can answer anything. Like the Ten Dark Knights, or the Ten Undead, or the Ten Holy Demonic Swords. I recommend the Ten Black Rose Saints, though."

"…Why are there so many tens? Aren’t there any Four Heavenly Kings or something?"

"I don’t know much about that, but most of the groups are made up of ten people. Maybe the management, or the scenario writer, just likes the number ten? But all these groups are just names, none of their members ever appear. I hear people say they’ve seen them, so I think they’re out there somewhere."

"Huh. Well, you can tell me about that later. I’m interested, but I’ve stayed for quite a while, and I have things to do, so I’m heading back."

"Is that so. I was hoping you’d stay a little longer, but I guess you have to prepare for the Clan War. Well then, Hayato, thank you for the sword. I’ll never forget this. If you ever need anything, just say the word. You’ll be my top priority, I’ll do anything!"

"…A girl shouldn’t say she’ll do ‘anything,’ you know? Most guys will get the wrong idea."

"Hmm? Now that you mention it, did you scold me for that before? But it’s you, Hayato, so it’s fine! So don’t hesitate to ask me for anything!"

Hayato let out a small sigh before saying goodbye to Ney and leaving the log house.

(Alright, now I have to get back to the base and make a cake for Esha and pudding for Ren-chan. Still, Esha and Relic-san were in the Hero’s clan, and Ash and Ren-chan are Genesis Dragons. I’ve ended up with some pretty amazing NPCs.)

Thinking this, Hayato used the Ring of Teleportation and returned to his base near the Royal Capital.

After teleporting back to the base, Hayato saw something strange at the entrance. Something like a powder had been scattered in front of the door.

(What’s this? Powder… or is it very fine ash?)

Hayato decided to go inside and tried to step over the ash.

But the moment he did, a hand shot out from inside the ash and grabbed his right foot. Hayato lost his balance and fell.

"Whoa! W, what was that!?"

"…H, help me…"

From within the ash, a faint male voice reached the ears of the fallen Hayato.