kscans

Chapter 302 - The Top 8 Clans

The airship Angra Mainyu flew steadily toward the Floating Island.

The sky was clear, the wind was calm. It was a perfect day for flying. Everyone was enjoying themselves as if on a picnic.

Piloting the ship was done in shifts. The men, in particular, had many volunteers who wanted to take the controls. Hayato gave them a lecture on how to operate it, then left to serve snacks and drinks to the women.

After serving the food, Hayato moved away. He felt a little out of place being in an area with so many women.

It wasn't that he disliked women, but seeing the members getting so excited was intimidating in various ways. It was probably a wise decision.

He noticed a group of men gathered a short distance away and was about to head toward them when Surya approached him.

"Surya-san, do you need some food? I can make anything."

"Ah, it's not that. I just wanted to talk for a bit."

"With me? I don't mind, but what about?"

"Don't be so defensive. It's just a casual chat. Besides, I wanted to thank you."

Hayato was puzzled. He couldn't remember doing anything that warranted thanks.

He was letting them stay at his base, but he was receiving rent and payment for meals. In fact, he often learned things about tamers from them, so he felt he was the one who should be grateful.

Regardless of Hayato's thoughts, Surya bowed her head.

"Thank you, Hayato-san. I've been able to talk with Maris quite a bit, and it's a huge help that you're taking us to the Floating Island."

"So that's what this is about. I didn't actively intervene in either of those things, but if you insist, I'll accept your thanks."

"Please do. For now, it's only words, but I'll thank you in some other way too."

There was no need for her to go that far, but Hayato figured if he received something more than necessary, he could just return the favor in some way.

Surya glanced once at the excited group of women, then looked back at Hayato.

"I'd heard stories, but you're really something else, Hayato-san."

"Um, what is?"

"The Demon Lord's Army, a Genesis Dragon, and members from the clan that won the Clan War two tournaments ago. A party like this going on an adventure is just not normal, you know?"

"Doesn't that mean everyone else is amazing, not me?"

Surya sighed. She then gave Hayato a look that said, what are you talking about.

"The amazing thing is that you can gather them all. Normally, they wouldn't come even if you asked. I thought Cecil's stories were half-exaggerated, but here are the Demon Lord's Army and even Demon Lord Lunaria-san herself."

"Well, she was originally a member of our clan. As for the Demon Lord's Army, or rather, the Ten Black Rose Saints, they came through that connection."

Demon Lord Lunaria was a member of Hayato's clan, Daedalus. The same went for the Genesis Dragons, Ash and Ren. Esha had also been a clan member from the beginning, so it was true that almost everyone here had come through that connection.

"I wonder if humility is a virtue. If so, that's fine, but honestly, this is a huge help. My acquaintances, aside from Cecil, are mostly tamers, so the places we can go and the monsters we can defeat are often limited. With this group, we can probably take down all sorts of monsters."

"It's not like I can get their help all the time, but as long as our schedules line up, I think they'd go anywhere. By the way, have you decided where you're going after the Floating Island?"

"I spoke with Maris, and we want to go to the Eastern Country next. We can tame yokai there, and the variety of monsters is rich."

"The Eastern Country, huh."

Simon had contacted him to say that tamers had started visiting the Eastern Country frequently. This was influenced by Maris reporting her Kyubi, Max, a yokai, to the Tamer Guild.

Additionally, the start of an event had drawn many players to the Eastern Country. It had many unique monsters, which was a good way to fill up the Monster Sealing Encyclopedia.

Hayato had been thinking of visiting the Eastern Country again soon anyway. For some reason, he had been receiving frequent invitations from Simon, asking, "Won't you come visit?"

Lunaria had also become friends with Benitsuru through letters, so she would probably come if invited. That would, by extension, confirm the other members would come too.

Hayato himself hadn't been to many places in the Eastern Country, but there were many interesting spots. As long as they had enough fighting power, Hayato was even thinking of tagging along to various places this time.

"Got it. In that case, let's head to the Eastern Country after we're done on the Floating Island. We should be fine strength-wise, and there are people there who can help us, so I think we can defeat anything."

Even if Benitsuru couldn't, Simon would most likely help them. They could surely defeat even boss-level monsters. Hayato was counting on it.

"You have connections in the Eastern Country too. You really are amazing, Hayato-san."

Even as she said he was amazing, Surya's face looked exasperated.

"You think so?"

"I do. It's an island nation, and they have an isolationist side, so I hear it's difficult to even make friends there, you know?"

"Benny-chan... I mean, Benitsuru-san was very friendly, though."

Benitsuru was the type to step into your personal space from the very beginning.

She had a somewhat precarious air about her, but now she was apparently studying under Simon without complaint. Simon had reported this to him with great joy. Hearing stories like that made one want to see her. You could also call it curiosity.

"Benitsuru-san is the princess of the Eastern Country. I'm surprised you've even met her. And you called her Benny-chan...?"

"Come to think of it, she was a princess."

"'Come to think of it'? Don't tell me you have acquaintances among the Ten Holy Demonic Swords too?"

"Hm? Didn't you hear from Maris? I'm acquainted with a woman from the Ten Holy Demonic Swords named Simon. I know the other members too, but they've been captured. I haven't heard what happened to them, though."

Surya's face was half-hidden by a clown mask, but even with just half a face visible, Hayato could see her expression was quite complicated. He thought she looked like she had just found a biologically impossible animal.

"You really are incredible. Does this mean you're acquainted with all the clans that made it to the top eight in the Clan War two tournaments ago? I heard Mist-san of the Ten Undead is in your group, and I saw Gil-san of the Ten Dark Knights earlier. Is this due to your good character, Hayato-san?"

Hayato thought that was indeed the case and recalled it in his mind. But on second thought, that wasn't quite right.

Of the clans that made it to the top eight, Hayato only knew seven.

There was "Blackjack," where the Hero Ivan and Esha were; "Ambrosia," led by Demon Lord Lunaria; Ash's group, "Dragon Soul"; Mist's group, "Undead"; Simon's clan, "The Samurai"; Gil's clan, "Nightmare"; and Rosalie's clan, "Black Rose."

Those were their names back then and were different now, but he had heard about it from Esha and Mist.

When he asked Diite why they had changed their names, she said it was a measure to prevent them from regaining their real-world memories.

But items like the Dragon Soul's treasured artifact stated it plainly. Hayato suspected they just wanted to change to cooler names. Whether they were actually cool or not was a separate matter.

Putting that aside, the last one was the tamer group "Circus."

He had heard they were the clan defeated by Blackjack, composed of five tamers and their five pets. However, he didn't know their current name.

It was then that Hayato finally realized.

The woman in front of him, dressed as a clown. Hayato had never seen Circus, but he knew of them.

"Could it be, Surya-san, that you belonged to one of the top eight clans?"

"That's right. But didn't you hear from Esha-san or Cecil? My clan lost to the one Hero Ivan-san was in."

"I hadn't heard about you, Surya-san, but perhaps it was too obvious for them to mention. Was Maris in your clan too?"

He had never heard about the clan Maris had belonged to. In fact, the topic had never come up, so he wasn't even sure if she had been in a clan at all.

Surya shook her head.

"I invited her once, but we didn't get along back then even more than we do now, so she turned me down."

"So that happened. By the way, did you not call your clan members? I'd think having more tamers would be more efficient for taming dinosaurs."

"I didn't call them. The clan is disbanded, anyway."

"Oh, I see..."

"Just so you know, it wasn't a falling out or anything like that. The members from back then are now running the Tamer Guilds in each country. They all love animals and monsters, but now they seem to be dedicated to working behind the scenes. Maris and I are more hands-on, though."

"Wow, that's the first I'm hearing of it."

He had heard that the members of Blackjack, where Esha was, now held positions like Grand General in the Empire and were Cecil's superiors. He had also heard that a person called the High Priest was from the same group.

He had once asked Esha why she was a maid, but her answer was that she had no idea. For some reason, Diite had been grinning while looking at Esha.

He didn't know if it was her own request or Diite's preference, but it seemed the NPCs had been given various roles, and now they were living those roles as their reality.

He didn't know if that was happiness, but at least Lunaria, Rosalie, and the others looked like they were having fun.

He didn't know what was right, but Hayato felt it was boorish to criticize the decisions they had made to live in this world. Still, a small part of him wanted to see what Lunaria and the others would be like if they regained their memories.

"Hayato-san? Is something wrong?"

"Ah, sorry. I was just thinking about a few things..."

As Hayato started to speak, someone shouted, "It's a Pteranodon!"

A smile spread across Surya's face upon hearing the voice.

"There it is! I'll try taming it right away!"

"Be careful, it breathes fire."

"...That's different from the Pteranodon I know."

He hadn't coordinated that detail with her, but he figured it would be fine and evacuated to a seemingly safe location.