kscans

Chapter 328 - Onigashima and the Major Clans

Upon arriving at Onigashima, Hayato's group immediately decided to head for a place that could serve as a campsite.

According to the captain, there were two potential campsites. One was near the port, and the other was near a mine a little to the west.

Without hesitation, Hayato decided to make the area near the mine their campsite.

While fishing at the port could yield materials like fish, what he wanted was ore. His thinking was to set up camp near the mine and replenish their ore supplies.

Everyone agreed with this idea.

On the way, they encountered some oni, but they were no match for Hayato's group. There were red oni who were mainly physical attackers, blue oni who were mainly magic attackers, and black oni who did both, but there was no chance they would lose.

However, it was fair to say the fights were difficult.

All the oni were nearly two and a half meters tall, and although their movements were slow, their blows were heavy. Their weapons were giant iron clubs, so taking a hit with a weapon or shield would greatly reduce the item's durability.

Furthermore, the oni had a lot of HP, and they wore samurai-style armor, giving them considerable defense. Their magic was also mainly of the weakening type. They wouldn't lose, but there was the problem that it took a long time to win.

(This is bad. Our weapon durability is dropping at a considerable rate with every fight. Most of everyone's equipment is Adamantite or Orichalcum, so it won't last at this rate.)

He still had ingots for repairing weapons and armor, but given the speed at which they were being depleted, it seemed they would run out soon. They could go back to the Royal Capital to buy more, but that would be far too wasteful.

He had no choice but to pin his hopes on the mine at the campsite, but if other players were there, he wouldn't be able to mine as he pleased. What's more, there were no members with a mining skill of 100, so they would have to dig by boosting their skill values with rings and bracelets.

(If we can dig up various things at the mine, there won't be a problem, but even if we can, I don't think we'll be able to get that much. We need to conserve as much as possible… I wonder if this is also part of the event?)

Hayato glanced at Diite, but he couldn't read her expression. Or rather, she was smiling so much he couldn't read it. Hayato surmised that she was probably just happy about the first implementation of this event.

As he was wondering what to do, they arrived at the campsite before he knew it.

The campsite was an abandoned mining town. Although it was abandoned, it wasn't in a state of decay. It was just that no one lived there, and the houses were still usable.

A considerable number of players had already arrived, and the desirable locations near the mine entrance were already taken.

However, something bothered him.

The world announcement had been made in the morning. To get to the Eastern Country from the Western Country, you had to take a boat that departed from the Royal Capital either early in the morning or around three in the afternoon.

To arrive at Onigashima earlier than Hayato's group, you would have had to have been in the Eastern Country from the start. Considering that, there were too many people.

In terms of clan numbers, Hayato had thought there would be ten, and in terms of people, less than a hundred. But here, nearly twenty clans had already arrived. What's more, they were either allied with or under the umbrella of famous clans that even Hayato knew.

(The main clans themselves haven't arrived, but these are clans related to Imperial and Over the Top… I don't know the others well, though.)

Originally, there was no system of alliances or vassals for clans. It was just something players said, but since that was confusing, it had become mainstream to add a mark to the clan name to make it easier to identify.

Basically, it was an emoji. Placing one at the beginning of the clan name served as a mark of alliance or vassalage.

For Imperial, it was a castle mark. For Over the Top, a flexing bicep. For the Bandit Clan, two crossed axes. The main clan's name had no mark, but many clans used it as their banner.

There were marks Hayato didn't recognize, but most of the clans here were either allied or vassal clans.

(So these are clans that were originally here to investigate the Eastern Country. I guess they're claiming spots before their main clans arrive… The ship from the kingdom should arrive in the Eastern Country in the evening, so until then, they might have priority to explore Onigashima.)

"Hayato, Lunaria says she wants to set up camp over there, is that okay?"

Brought back to his senses by Ash's voice, Hayato looked at the place Lunaria was indicating.

It was far from the mine entrance, but it was in a fairly conspicuous spot. And since it was a house standing all by itself, there was nothing around it. Since Lunaria and the others were with them, Hayato thought it would be better not to be near other clans, so he immediately nodded.

"Alright, let's go there. First, let's put down our luggage and decide what to do from now on."

As Hayato said this, everyone headed toward that house.

The building was much larger than it looked, about the same size as the mansion they were using as a temporary base in the Eastern Country. Hayato surmised it must have been the house where the town mayor lived.

After putting down their luggage, the question of what to do next was easily decided.

Lunaria, the Black Rose, and Benitsuru decided to explore the island. They would check the island's situation and search for Shuten Doji's location.

However, that was only for the ground. It was decided that Maris and Surya would investigate from the air, with Cecil and Noat riding tandem with them.

"Are you okay with that, Noat-san? I mean, I'm surprised you came along without complaining."

When Hayato asked, Noat nodded with sleepy eyes.

"Find him fast, beat him fast, sleep fast. And when Cecil-chan is with me, I can't indulge in idle slumber. I realized it's better to get it over with quickly."

"Ah, yeah, do your best. I'll give you donuts later."

"Next time, a Donut Kingdom, please."

"A kingdom after the castle… how far does that repertoire go? Is the next one a Donut World?"

"Next is a Donut Big Bang."

After that exchange, Ney and the others from Kokuryu, Pat and the other Genesis Dragons, and Diite decided to go mining.

"We mined a lot with Hayato before. We still have those rings and bracelets, so leave it to us."

Ney said cheerfully, and the members of Kokuryu also nodded.

"We're counting on you. Oh, right, I'll give these to Pat-san's group too. They increase your mining skill, so you can sometimes dig up rare ores."

"So there's stuff like this. Thanks, we'll dig up a lot, so leave it to us."

Pat took enough for everyone and passed them to Agres and the others.

Suien, who received a ring and bracelet, let out a sigh.

"If it's a ring, I would have at least wanted a handsome man to give it to me…"

"Sorry for being the third-rate comedian. But you should save that for the real deal."

"I don't dislike that positive side of you, Pat. Alright! I'm definitely getting one from a super handsome guy for the real thing!"

Hayato wondered if that was really positive, but decided it was better not to say anything unnecessary and kept his mouth shut.

"Alright everyone, good luck. We'll be in town gathering information and making production items."

Hayato, Esha, Ash, and Ren had work at the cafe in the real world, so they would be logging out in the afternoon. He gave this reason as an explanation for their absence.

Everyone nodded, and then they all departed from the house to do what they had to do.

At night, Hayato and the others logged in after finishing work at the cafe.

Hayato was the last to log in, as he had preparations for the next day and other things to do. Awakening in his room in the house, Hayato was about to head to the great hall to share information when he received a voice chat request.

"Rose-san? What's wrong?"

"Ah, thank goodness. I finally got through."

Although she sounded relieved, it seemed strange to be that relieved just because a voice chat connected. Hayato braced himself slightly, wondering if there had been some kind of problem.

"Was there some kind of trouble at the base?"

"Trouble is one word for it… I thought I should ask for your policy."

"Policy?"

"Yes, actually—"

According to Rose's story, the products at their base were about to sell out.

The reason this was happening was that due to the event in the Eastern Country, players had bought up large quantities of food and potions in preparation.

Hayato understood the situation, but he found it strange.

The number of production items he had made as merchandise for the base was considerable. He had prepared enough that there would be no problem even if sales were double the usual amount. He couldn't believe that they would be worried about selling out on the first day of the event, even with high sales.

"Did we really sell that much?"

"Actually, there's a reason. Do you remember the base next door?"

"I remember they were preparing to open."

"They opened on the very day you all departed, Hayato-sama, and started selling the same products as us for a thirty percent discount."

"That's something… but what about it? I don't see how that's related to our products selling out."

"Today, they suddenly closed their shop."

"…Huh?"

"All the customers who had been lining up since morning for the thirty percent discount next door came here instead. And with the world announcement, sales were even better than usual. The reason I wanted to confirm your policy is whether it's okay to sell off all our stock, or if we should limit the number of items sold per day and keep the shop open every day."

"Ah, so that's it. What should we do…"

He was curious about the neighboring shop, but first, the base's shop.

In terms of securing customers, it would be better to be open every day, but limiting daily sales seemed rather pointless. However, now that the event had started, he couldn't just go back to restock.

After thinking for a moment, Hayato decided to take advantage of the situation.

"I understand. In that case, it's fine to sell off all the stock, so please sell as much as you can."

"Understood. Once we sell out, my shopkeeping duties will be over, but I will make sure to thoroughly clean the base."

"About that, could I ask you to do another job?"

"Another job?"

"I don't know if this is something I can ask for as a maid's job, but I'd like you to deliver the ingredients and ore from the base's warehouse to Onigashima in the Eastern Country. We're having trouble gathering materials over here."

"To Onigashima, during an event."

"The job of protecting the master's castle is also important, but if possible, I'd like to ask."

"Understood. In that case, I will check with the Maid Chief to see if there are any issues, so please wait a moment."

"I'll pay extra, and if it's not possible, that's fine, so please don't push yourselves."

"Yes, I will relay that as well."

After hearing that Rose would contact him again, he ended the voice chat.

Afterward, Hayato left his room and headed toward the great hall.

In the hall, everyone was talking and laughing. This was normal, but they all had cheerful faces, so Hayato figured something good must have happened and began to gather information from everyone.

First, the exploration team.

Through exploration from the ground and air, they had identified the location where Shuten Doji was.

Onigashima was a roughly triangular island, and he had set up a base at the foot of a volcano in the northern part of the island.

Shuten Doji was a red oni nearly five meters tall, carrying a giant iron club. Normal oni had one horn growing from their forehead, but Shuten Doji apparently had two.

His equipment was different from the other oni. He only wore a tiger-striped loincloth, so the reconnaissance team's opinion was that his defense was likely low. He was also equipped with a giant gourd, and it seemed that sake gushed out of it endlessly, as he was seen drinking from it many times.

Other people were already fighting him, and he was using a wide-range shockwave-like attack by slamming his iron club into the ground. It also seemed that drinking sake increased its power. They had confirmed almost no magic attacks, and the information was that the fire breath he occasionally used after drinking was a fire attribute attack.

Rosalie explained this information, while Lunaria, who was next to her, had a smug look on her face.

"This time, I was careful and only did reconnaissance. I got excited and wanted to fight, but I held back. Praise me."

"You did a great job."

Lunaria seemed satisfied with just that, and with a smile, she went over to Benitsuru.

Other information included the possibility of gathering in a forest further west from this location. Also, it seemed there had been a message from Simon, and the town's defense was going without a hitch.

Next, the mining team.

The mine was quite large, but the mining points near the entrance were already claimed by other clans, so they had to go quite deep inside to mine.

As for the ore itself, they could get almost all types. They had confirmed that they could dig everything from iron to Adamantite.

But that wasn't all. There was something Ney showed Hayato with a happy expression.

"This is what we dug up at the deepest point of the mine."

"…Hihiirokane!"

Hihiirokane was said to be rarer than Adamantite. They knew it existed, but its location was completely unknown.

There had been a Hihiirokane treasure chest on the floating island, so he had thought its existence was plausible, but he had never imagined they could mine it here. Hayato's excitement was greater than he let on.

"It probably doesn't appear near the entrance. There are monsters inside the mine, so the deepest mining points are all ours for the taking. Well, none of us have 100 skill, so the probability of digging it up is quite low. Even with everyone digging, this is all we got."

"Just knowing we can dig it up is a great help."

If it wasn't during an event, he would want to dig all day, but that wasn't possible. Hayato decided in his heart to dig after defeating Shuten Doji.

"That's all for the mining, but there's something else."

"Huh? Something else?"

"At night, more players crossed over to Onigashima, and the leaders of Imperial, Over the Top, and Starkest arrived. They said they wanted to meet you, Hayato. Are you acquainted with them?"

Hayato knew of the major clans mentioned, but he wasn't acquainted with them. The only major clan acquaintance he had was Jolth from the Bandit Clan.

"No, I don't know them at all. I've never even heard of the clan name Starkest."

"Starkest is a clan whose creed is to defeat powerful monsters solo. They formed the clan after the Clan Wars, but they've now grown to a size that rivals the major clans. I think their leader, Lutz, was famous even before that."

"Lutz… ah, I do remember hearing that name. But he's not an acquaintance."

"I see. The three of them were talking like they would come again, so maybe they'll come by later."

"Did they say what they wanted?"

"It seems they just want to greet the famous Hayato."

"Famous, huh…"

Hayato recalled the words Jolth had said.

It was apparently well known that he was playing around with powerful NPCs in his clan, and he was being watched, especially by the major clans. Many clans wanted to form an alliance with him or bring him under their umbrella.

In fact, Shooting Star had meddled with him. It had been an invitation to an alliance or to become a vassal, but it was closer to an abduction, so if it hadn't been for Maris's quick thinking, Hayato might well have been taken away.

He thought that something similar might happen this time, so he decided to refrain from acting alone.

"I hope it doesn't turn into something troublesome… Alright, thanks."

Ney nodded with a smile and headed toward where Rosalie and the others were. Hayato smiled, thinking they were probably going to play cards again.

But inside, he felt a little dark.

The clan that had moved in next to their base had unclear intentions, and the arrival of the leaders of major clans also felt troublesome.

Just as he was thinking he might have to seriously rely on the prestige of the Bandit Clan, a voice chat request came in. It was from Rose.

"Hayato-sama, thank you for waiting."

"It's fine. So, how did it go?"

"Yes, we received permission. Once the shop's products, the food and medicine consumables, are almost sold out, we will take the materials from the warehouse and head to the Eastern Country."

"Thank you, that's a big help."

"Ah, um, about that. There's a small request I'd like to make…"

"A request? What is it?"

"The Maid Chief and Gil-sama's group have said they would like to go as well. I think the more people we have, the more materials we can bring, but what do you think?"

Originally, the Maid Chief and Gil's Ten Dark Knights were at the base to serve as Rose's guards. If Rose was heading to the Eastern Country, their guard duties at the base would no longer be necessary. In fact, they would need guards for the journey.

"I'd be happy to ask for that myself, but while the Maid Chief is one thing, don't Gil-san and the others need Lunaria-san's permission?"

"That's apparently fine. It seems a message came from Lunaria-sama, saying that since she caused trouble in the Eastern Country, she wants the entire Demon Lord's Army to make up for it, and there was an inquiry about whether they could come to the Eastern Country."

He glanced over at where Lunaria was.

Seeing Lunaria on the verge of tears after drawing the joker, it didn't seem like something she would do, but just like with the reconnaissance earlier, she was probably seriously thinking about how to make up for her mistake.

It required preparation, but she had essentially done what Hayato was planning to do anyway. He thought he would give her a delicious dessert later, but for now, he had to deal with Rose and the others, so he answered through the voice chat.

"In that case, please have them come."

"Understood. We will probably sell out by tomorrow. I will contact you again when we depart."

"Roger. I'm counting on you."

Hayato said this and ended the voice chat with Rose.

There was still time until he went to bed at night. Hayato decided to start maintaining their weapons and armor using the ore they had dug up today.

About thirty minutes later, there was a visitor.

Thinking it might be the people from the major clans, he went to the entrance with Ney to greet them.

"Sorry to bother you this late. I'm Keith, the leader of Over the Top. Nice to meet ya!"

Keith looked like a man in his early twenties, with his slightly reddish-brown hair cut short. He was wearing bright red armor, and like Ash, he had a two-handed sword equipped on his back. The blade of this sword was also red, and you could say he was red all over.

"I'm Hayato of Daedalus. This is Ney of Kokuryu."

Although he thought Keith was quite energetic for this time of night, he greeted him normally.

"I heard you came to greet us…?"

"Don't be so guarded. I'm not here to eat you or anything."

"Right."

"Actually, Jolth asked me to."

"From Jolth?"

"Yeah. There was a clan meeting today, and Jolth complained about Shooting Star messing with you, but it seems they didn't listen."

It was a bit ticklish to have things concerning him happening without his knowledge.

First of all, clan meetings were gatherings of major clans. He had heard that he was occasionally the topic of conversation, but he was a bit surprised that Shooting Star could even participate.

He thought he had been noticed by a troublesome group, but he didn't quite understand why Keith had come. He had said Jolth had asked him, but he didn't know what he had been asked to do.

"I understand that, but what is the reason for your visit, Keith-san?"

"You don't have to be so formal. And you can just call me by my name. I'll call you Hayato too."

"Um, got it. Then, why did you come, Keith? What did Jolth ask you to do?"

"He asked me to protect you guys if Shooting Star tries to mess with you. I've known Jolth since the early days of the game, but this is the first time he's ever asked me for something like that, so I was surprised!"

Keith laughed as he said this.

It was unclear why Jolth would go that far, but Hayato became wary that Jolth was trying to box him in from the outside.

"That's a kind offer, but why would Jolth do so much for us?"

"Who knows? I don't know either, but maybe he sees you as a rival since he lost to you in the Clan War. It's probably like sending salt to the enemy. But I don't know for sure."

While wondering if that was really his personality, Hayato decided to thank him for now. He didn't think he would lie about something that could be easily confirmed with Jolth.

"That's a big help. Nothing is happening at the moment, but if something does, I'll rely on you."

"Yeah, just let me know anytime. Well, even if nothing happens, let's work together to subjugate Shuten Doji! Sorry for bothering you so late at night!"

"Thank you for coming all this way."

Keith said, "It's no problem," and left without any particular reluctance.

After his figure disappeared from view, Ney spoke up.

"He was quite friendly, or rather, a pleasant person."

"He seems like someone who doesn't have a hidden side."

He was so friendly that it didn't feel like they had just met for the first time.

Hayato had heard that the clan "Over the Top" was a fun-loving and free-spirited clan.

They had made a name for themselves as a clan full of romanticism that valued firepower, so he interpreted that one probably couldn't serve as a leader without having such a clear-cut personality.

"By the way, I just found out now, but are you being hassled by a clan called Shooting Star?"

Ney asked Hayato with a serious expression.

"Didn't I tell you? That clan proposed an alliance, but they were quite forceful. They tried to take me away, so we ended up fighting in the diner run by the NPCs."

"That's unforgivable. By the way, what kind of people are they?"

"I don't know the leader. But a female butler and maid came. I think their names were Ronios and Cremola?"

"Ronios and Cremola…?"

Ney crossed her arms and tilted her head.

"Are they famous? I don't know them."

"Ah, no. They're not famous in the game, but they have the same names as acquaintances of mine in the real world."

"Could they be related to the ‘Foundation’? They seemed to have a master they were loyal to."

Just in case, he lowered his voice when he said "Foundation." Even if he was speaking informally with a Foundation member right in front of him, it was something that had been ingrained in him since childhood, so it couldn't be helped.

"A master? Loyalty? Then maybe they're different. I can't say for sure without meeting them, but it's probably a coincidence. Besides, I don't think they would play a game like this. But…"

"But?"

"If it's who I think it is, then you've been marked by someone very difficult. It's like, their way of talking is complicated, or rather, tiring. They've been coming to my house to visit often recently, but I've been turning them down by saying I'm in the middle of a game."

"It's amazing that you would go that far, Ney…"

"Well, if it's my acquaintance, I'll do something about it, so don't worry!"

"I'm counting on you. Now then, I've finished most of my preparations, so I think I'll log out soon."

"What are you talking about? The night is still young. We're going to have a girls' talk now, so let's have fun! Our talks are fun and not tiring, so we can stay up all night!"

"If you stay up for too many nights, you'll be forcibly logged out, so be careful… No, before that, I'm a guy, you know?"

"I don't mind!"

"I'm the one who minds."

Hayato went back inside the house, thinking he would at least drag Ash and Agres into this.