kscans

Chapter 423 - The Aftermath

The day after the battle, Parfait logged into AFO as soon as she got home from school.

Yesterday, she could only log in for a short time because of her birthday party and school homework, but today she had nothing planned. With tomorrow being a day off, she intended to play late into the night.

Since she didn't have a base, she would restart from the inn where she had logged out. It didn't cost any money and was free to use, making it very convenient.

Parfait got out of bed, checked that her body was moving properly, and immediately left the room.

If she went to the Maid Guild, she could get a sweet as a sort of login bonus. If she could get it for free, there was no reason to pass it up.

Thinking of sweets reminded her that she had received a one-hour all-you-can-eat ticket to a famous cake shop from her mother, Esha, as a birthday present. When she received it, she was told, "This is your chance to show your filial piety," but she replied, "I'll pay you back for my filial piety when I'm successful," and properly accepted the ticket.

Parfait resolved that she had to use that ticket soon.

She also briefly considered that she could show her filial piety by treating her parents to sweets in virtual reality. But she quickly dismissed that thought.

Right now, Parfait was rich, but she couldn't use that money for sweets.

She had sold the axe she obtained in yesterday's player battle right away. The price was 50,000,000 G. It was a fairly rare axe and had been further enhanced, but since she didn't use axes, she sold it immediately for that price.

She had obtained a large sum of money, but this was for buying land to build a base, so she had no intention of touching it. She was also thinking of greeting Maid Chief Rose and asking her about the market price around here.

When she left the inn, the atmosphere in the Royal Capital was different from yesterday. It was as if the city was on its toes, and there were many people talking excitedly.

(Come to think of it, it was like that at school too. What's going on?)

Although she found it strange, Parfait didn't pay it much mind and headed towards the Maid Guild.

The moment she stepped into the building, a single maid approached her.

"Parfait-sama, the Maid Chief is calling for you. Could you please come with me?"

"Oh? Rose-san is? Understood."

Without really understanding why, Parfait was led to the office.

In the office, Rose looked at Parfait with a somewhat troubled, or rather, exasperated expression.

And she prompted her to sit in a chair. The maid who had brought Parfait then excused herself, but Parfait became a little worried about what had truly happened.

"Parfait-chan, you've really done it now."

"Huh? Done what?"

"Yesterday, you entered the top 100 in the player battle rankings, didn't you? Since yesterday, AFO has been buzzing with that topic. A beginner girl defeated a ranker."

"Ah, so that's why people were glancing at me."

"The video of that battle was released in-game, you see. As a participant, you should receive some in-game currency at a later date, Parfait-chan."

"That's great. Oh, right, I actually have something to ask—"

"Why didn't you join the Assassin Maid course...! I promoted it so heavily...! Won't you join the Assassin Maid course even now? I'll falsify the information to make it seem like you joined yesterday."

"I've seen the dark side of adults...!"

"Of course, I'm only half-joking."

(So she's half-serious...)

However, Parfait wondered if it was really such a big deal and confirmed with Rose.

Rose replied, "Of course it is."

Lately, there had been no changes in the rankings, and the AFO management committee was thinking of doing something to shake things up, and then this happened.

Players who read too much into things were making a fuss, saying things like, "That girl is an assassin from the management," or "The Goddess of Annihilation has descended again." Moreover, because she had defeated a player with a bad reputation, there were also players who viewed her as a hero.

Including this whole commotion, the management team was at their wits' end.

If it were any other player, it would be one thing, but Parfait was the daughter of Hayato and Esha. The two were famous in AFO, so their daughter was naturally a hot topic. There was a possibility that she would be chased around.

Realizing that countermeasures for that were necessary, the management committee was frantically trying to throw out another topic to dilute Parfait's presence even a little.

That aside, everyone was convinced that this result was more befitting of Esha's daughter than Hayato's. Benitsuru was also said to have been overjoyed that the name Azuma-ryu had appeared in the video.

"Diite-san said 'Of course' with a smug face, and Lunaria-san is saying things like 'I'll teach her that there are always bigger fish' and 'I'll make her the new Demon Lord'."

"Demon Lord? Come to think of it, Lunaria-san used to be the Demon Lord, right?"

"That's right. The Demon Lord's throne is currently vacant, but she was the undefeated Demon Lord for over ten years. She stepped down because it was becoming a problem."

"She was undefeated in the territory battles, wasn't she?"

"You know a lot. That's right."

In AFO, an event called a territory battle is held regularly.

It's a system where if you continue to occupy a territory for a certain period, you get that territory and a title.

Large clans have obtained huge dungeons and islands in territory battles and use them as their bases.

The first Demon Lord, Lunaria, had occupied the Demon Lord's Castle, but she was undefeated since the territory battle system was implemented.

Part of it was that Lunaria was strong, but her allied clans, the Black Rose and the Dark Knights, were also too strong. Because of that, there was a time when no one challenged the Demon Lord's Castle in a territory battle.

Thinking that it was meaningless if no one could win, Lunaria stepped down as the Demon Lord.

But even after the throne became vacant, the Demon Lord's Castle has never been occupied, and no one has become the Demon Lord.

The condition to become the Demon Lord is to continue to occupy the Demon Lord's Castle for over a month. Unlike the rankings, anyone can challenge for it, so the occupying clan must constantly fight defensive battles.

A clan that challenges and loses once will have a cool down time, so they can't fight every day, but they can challenge as many times as they want during the period.

There are many large clans that are determined not to hand over the Demon Lord's Castle, so the clans are also in a situation where they are interfering with each other. That in itself is a problem, but since it's the Demon Lord's Castle, the management committee isn't intervening too much.

(If I occupy the Demon Lord's Castle, I can make it my base, right? If I opened a cafe there, would customers come...?)

It was just a thought that people might come because of the name value, or because it was a famous place, but Parfait considered it.

But more than that, she wanted a normal base first.

Parfait was about to ask Rose, but before she could, Rose spoke up.

"Oh, right, I was asked by the management committee, but it would be better for you to create a clan right away, Parfait-chan."

"Huh? A clan?"

"Yes, there are many players who are trying to recruit you, Parfait-chan, now that you've become famous overnight. You're free to join any clan you like, but if you're planning to form a clan with Natsu-chan and Chris-chan, it would be better to start your own clan."

"Recruiting... so that's a thing too."

In yesterday's battle, she felt like she was being followed for her weapon, but now she was feeling a little down at the thought of being recruited by a clan.

"There are many players who will hold back, but there are also those who won't, so if you at least show that you're in a clan, the recruitment should decrease. Of course, you can also set it so you don't accept recruitment system-wise, so it would be better to do that as well."

"Understood. I'll make a clan right away then. Also, about the land around here—"

Parfait checked the market price for land around the Royal Capital, but unfortunately, it was on a different level.

She was told that even 10 billion G wouldn't be enough for the market price around here, and that it was unlikely anyone would be willing to part with their land. Also, since you would be charged about ten percent of the market price every month as tax, it was not recommended.

(The area around the Royal Capital is impossible, I guess. In that case, I'll build it in a more remote town. It seems like I can return to the Royal Capital immediately if I have a Ring of Teleportation. Then, anywhere is fine, right?)

Since she had become strangely famous, Parfait decided to buy land near a town with fewer people.

It would be good to ask Rose, but she thought it would be more fun to see for herself, so she decided to go on a long trip.

"Alright, I'm going to go look for some cheap land."

"The land is vast, so I think that will be interesting as well. Also, it might be better not to get close to the Royal Capital until the heat dies down."

"Does that mean I can't get my daily sweets...?"

"You can get them at the Maid Guild branches as well, so you'll be fine. And if you complete guild quests and gain fame as a maid, you can get a Ring of Teleportation exclusive to the Maid Guild, so please do your best."

It was a ring that allowed you to teleport to a Maid Guild you had been to before, but only once a day. She was told she would receive it upon obtaining the title of "Ordinary Maid."

Teleportation items are important. Thinking this, Parfait intended to complete quests to obtain the ring right away.

"Alright, after I get today's sweets, I'll go look for a place to be my base."

"Okay. Please enjoy this world. If anything happens, please contact me right away."

Parfait parted ways with Rose and received today's sweet, a Mont Blanc cake. The chestnut on top seemed to shine very, very brightly.

And while eating at the Maid Guild's cafe, she thought of a clan name.

(I want everyone to decide on it in the end, so a temporary name is fine for now... I think my father's clan is called Daedalus? Was Ney-san's Kokuryu?)

She wanted to give it a cool name, but it wasn't so easy to come up with one. But then, the Mont Blanc cake she was about to eat caught her eye.

(I'll go with Mont Blanc. It looks so delicious.)

There was also the issue of whether it was okay for a clan name to be delicious-sounding, but Parfait established the clan name "Mont Blanc" without noticing it, and Parfait became the clan leader. And she set it so that she wouldn't accept recruitment, and also set it so that players she hadn't invited couldn't join.

There was a restriction that once you changed your clan name, you couldn't change it for a month, but her friends would be coming around that time, so there was no problem. The problem was that she, including herself, had no sense for naming things.

(If I leave it to Natsu-chan, it'll be a chuuni... dark side-like name or something related to donuts. For Chris-chan, it would probably be something related to muscles...)

While thinking that the name didn't really matter, Parfait savored her Mont Blanc.

And while eating, she opened the system menu and looked at the world map.

It was a map that depicted the shape of the continent, each country, and major towns. You could freely write on it, but of course, there were no writings on it now.

In the past, the map of AFO was the Earth around the year 2000, but now it had its own original shape. Although it was original, Parfait had heard that it resembled the shape of a country called Japan that had existed in the past.

The main places were the Kingdom, the Empire, the Demon Country, the Spirit Country, the Eastern Country, the Land of Demons, and the Unexplored Lands. And there were also lands that didn't belong to any of them.

There were three kingdoms, but the others existed one by one. Only the Unexplored Lands was a land where there were no staff, a place for players only. Apparently, skilled players were working hard to build their own country there.

(The Unexplored Lands is probably impossible for me. I hear it's tough even for skilled players.)

Parfait racked her brain over where the best place to build her base would be.

The condition was that there had to be a convenient town nearby, so the Unexplored Lands was out of the question from the start. She heard that the shops there were run by players and were quite expensive. Also, since there were no staff, there were no facilities. It was a place where beginners were not welcome.

(The countries other than the kingdoms have their own rules, so it's a bit much for a beginner... In that case, it would be one of the three kingdoms. Anhemudal's land is too expensive, so maybe another kingdom... Oh, but Master Benny did say to come to the Eastern Country, didn't she?)

In the past, it was a place you could only get to by boat, but now it was connected by land, and the place that used to be called Kanto was now the Eastern Country.

(I hear that many people avoid it because of its unique rules, but in that case, maybe it's a good place to aim for.)

With that hope, Parfait began to prepare to go to the Eastern Country first.