kscans

Chapter 46 - An Unexpected Weakness

Before the Clan War began, the members gathered in the dining hall as usual.

There was Esha, Ash, Ren, Relic, Mist, and the newly joined Maris with her Griffon, Lancelot.

Lancelot was Maris's pet, but to participate in the Clan War, he had to use a clan slot. Including Hayato, they were using eight slots, so the remaining two were filled by members of Ash's mercenary group.

The opponent was the "Blood Knights."

After logging out on the day he was offered the fixed match, Hayato had sent an email to the administration about it. But the reply he received was this.

"Actions possible within the game are all permitted at the player's own risk."

Hayato had a feeling he would get such a reply even before sending the email. In other words, it meant that as long as you took responsibility, you could fix matches or make threats.

The game's NPCs would probably judge what happened. The Clan Management Committee and others existed for that purpose. To put it extremely, as long as the NPCs didn't find out, you could do it.

He had contacted the Clan Management Committee through Mist. They were currently investigating. If it were proven, they might have been able to win by default, but unfortunately, the Clan War began before that could be proven.

However, Hayato didn't feel disappointed by that. He had no direct combat power, but as a clan, he wanted to defeat the "Blood Knights."

This time, Hayato was also quite angry.

Being threatened was part of it, but the main reason was being told to hand over his items.

Furthermore, they had been subjected to various kinds of harassment after that. Members of the clans under the Blood Knights had loitered in front of the headquarters, preventing customers from shopping.

They had also come in as customers and made unreasonable demands or loudly intimidated Esha. Esha said she didn't mind, but even if she was an NPC, Esha was a woman. Hayato was quite indignant.

When the game administration was no help, he had appealed to the Royal Capital guards, but their response was slow.

When he had the Maid Guild investigate, it turned out that some of the guards had received bribes from the Blood Knights and were overlooking a certain amount of trouble. He was surprised that bribes worked on NPCs, but he was also a little impressed that anything was possible in this game.

Because of all this, Hayato had accumulated a lot of frustration over the past week. Even when he was preparing for the Clan War in his room, there was noise outside, no customers came to the shop, and there were rumors being spread in the Royal Capital about the poor quality of the shop's goods.

Hayato rarely got angry, but this made him furious. His creations had been unfairly evaluated. There was no way he could forgive that.

Perhaps because Hayato's feelings were showing, the atmosphere in the dining hall was a bit tense.

"Master, please calm down a little."

But Esha, who didn't read the room even in such a situation, said this to Hayato while pointing the muzzle of her Beelzebub at him.

"...I don't think it's possible to calm down with a gun pointed at me, though?"

Her action was so outlandish that Hayato calmed down a little. The atmosphere became more like usual, and he replied to Esha in that way.

"I understand how you feel. A weak woman like me was being intimidated at the shop. I know you can't forgive it, but that doesn't suit you, so let's just take it easy as always."

"I don't really care that you were threatened, Esha, but I can't forgive them for unfairly evaluating the things I made. Why did you raise your gun again?"

"I can't forgive those words of yours, Master. May I shoot? It's fine, you'll just wake up in your bed in your room for a bit."

"I'm sorry. I was joking. I'm also angry about the intimidation towards Esha. Just because it's for winning a Clan War doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. It doesn't have to be fair and square, but going that far is too much. Everyone, I'm counting on you more than usual today."

Everyone nodded at Hayato's words.

Immediately after, they were transported to the battlefield.

Everyone decided to go to the roof of the fortress first. It was to check the field for this battle.

Looking around from the roof, it was a vast desert. The sun was also strong, and it was extremely hot. There was no concept of sweat in this game, but Hayato was hit by the illusion that he was sweating profusely.

(A desert, huh. A place with almost no cover, but I've heard that movement speed drops considerably. And I think random scorpions and snakes appear and inflict poison bad statuses? Burns should also occur due to the heat. What a pain.)

"Everyone, put on sunscreen. That will help you avoid the burn bad status. Also, keep antidote potions with you, they can quickly cure scorpion and snake venom."

"U-um, Hayato-san, I'm sorry..."

"Mist-san? Is something wrong?"

Mist approached Hayato looking extremely groggy. She looked like she was about to collapse at any moment, and her complexion was pale. Her complexion was always pale, but today it was particularly bad.

"The-the sunlight is so strong, even with sunscreen, I can't avoid being severely weakened... I can't handle being outside or on the roof, so can I stay inside the headquarters and defend...?"

Mist, being a vampire, was considerably weakened by the stronger-than-usual sunlight. Vampires, who boasted near-invincible strength at night, were fine to some extent during the day, but it seemed she couldn't withstand the direct sunlight of a place like a desert.

And it was currently daytime. It wouldn't become night even an hour later when the Clan War ended. It would be tough to consider Mist as a combat force.

This was a very difficult situation for Hayato, but since defending the headquarters was also necessary, he consulted with Ash and decided to leave the internal defense to Mist.

Mist nodded when she heard this and staggered down the stairs.

"Mist-san's situation was quite unexpected, but will it be okay?"

"Well, it can't be helped. It'll be the same as always if she's defending inside the headquarters, so I'm not that worried. Besides, this time we have Maris and the Griffon. Having a tamer who can fly in the desert is a considerable advantage. According to the Maid Guild's information, the opponent has three dragons and two Fenrirs, right? Then we should be able to manage, don't you think? And with this, I can unleash my Dragon Breath at the start. If it goes well, that could be the end of it."

In a place with no cover and no uneven terrain, Ash could transform into a dragon and unleash his Dragon Breath. Furthermore, this was a desert. Their movement speed was slowed, so even if they charged, they wouldn't reach Ash, and depending on the location, they wouldn't even be able to escape to their headquarters. This would be the same even if they were riding the fastest pet, Fenrir.

"I hope it turns out that way."

"Pray that it goes well. Well then, we'll get into position."

Ash took his squad members and went down the stairs.

"Then I shall also get into position."

"Will you be okay, Relic-san? Moving in a desert like this must be difficult, right?"

"Please do not worry. There are various convenient movement skills in Hand-to-Hand Combat. Besides, I have this Requiem that Hayato-sama made for me. I will surely be of service."

"I understand, I'm counting on you. Please be careful."

Relic bowed and went down the stairs.

The ones remaining were Hayato, Esha, Ren, and Maris with Lancelot.

"Maris, I'd like you to act as a skirmisher. It might be difficult for Ash and the others to keep up with the Fenrirs' speed, even if they can handle the dragons. Could you start by feinting and observing the enemy's movements?"

"Understood! I'll show you Lancelot's cool side, so please look forward to it!"

"I am. Lancelot will be able to play a big role here."

It might be tough in a place like a forest with poor visibility, but in a desert, Lancelot could dominate.

"Esha and Ren-chan, I'd like you to defend the headquarters. I'll have you move around depending on the situation."

"Understood. Please leave it to me. I'll curse them a whole lot today, too! Uhihihi...!"

Ren happily took out a five-sun nail and a straw doll. As Hayato wondered what a cheerful sorcerer was, Esha had a slightly sour look on her face.

"Um, Esha, is something wrong? Are you perhaps not good with the heat?"

"No, that's not it, but this time, I might have to expose my weakness."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't quite explain it at this point. Even I don't know what will actually happen. But let me just say that even if my weakness is revealed, I will not yield to you, Master."

"You're deliberately saying things in a misleading way, aren't you? Ren-chan and Maris, stop whispering over there."

Esha's weakness. Hayato tilted his head, wondering if such a thing existed. But if he could find out, he wanted to know for the future.

Just after he thought that, a request for a voice chat came from the opponent.

Hayato accepted the request. A voice came through immediately.

"Yo, how ya doin'? I thought you'd be scared and forfeit."

The voice belonged to Gardel. He probably sent the request to provoke him. But that was what Hayato wanted. Letting them get away with it would only make them cocky. It surprisingly affected the battle.

Enrage the opponent as much as possible to cloud their judgment. Hayato had no combat power, but in that kind of fight, status didn't matter.

"I'm doing great. How about you? Were you stamping your feet in frustration because your harassment didn't work? Oh, by the way, I heard the Thieves' Guild told you they won't work for you anymore. How does it feel to have your money taken? I'd like to hear for future reference."

The Thieves' Guild was run by an acquaintance of Relic's. They had withdrawn for that reason. However, they wouldn't return the money even if they withdrew. There was no such thing as a contract in the first place. There might be a matter of the guild's credibility, but it seemed the Thieves' Guild didn't care about such things.

"You...! Let me tell you, don't think it's over just because you lose, okay? You defied me. The harassment will continue from now on, you hear? Until you quit the game!"

"Oh, is that so? Then, if we win, will you stop the harassment? You don't have to quit the game, but if you lose after doing all this, it'll be so embarrassing you won't be able to play the game, let alone harass people, right? Or are you going to continue playing while showing your shame?"

"You little brat...!"

The provocation battle was probably his win. Hayato thought so and cut off the voice chat. Then he set it to reject voice chat requests.

(Now, that should have made them nice and angry. But am I a bad person? Words like that just come out so smoothly...)

Feeling a little shocked at himself, Hayato waited for the Clan War to begin.

A few minutes later, the Clan War started.

In the opponent's area were five players and five tamed monsters, just as the Maid Guild had investigated. All five were riding their respective tamed monsters.

And perhaps they were testing the waters at first, they were positioned near their fortress and showed no signs of moving for now.

(I thought I had made them angry, but they're surprisingly calm. I thought they would charge right away... If they had come close, Ash's Dragon Breath would have been a one-hit kill.)

"Hayato, can you hear me?"

"Ash? What's wrong? I'd like you to use your Dragon Breath if they come close to our camp."

"Yeah, about that, we've run into a bit of a problem."

"A problem?"

"Yeah. Those dragons are from the moderate faction. I can't take them down with my Dragon Breath."

"What?"

"Sorry. I can't attack dragons from the moderate faction, even in a Clan War. It's not just me, Ren and the squad members are the same. I'm really sorry."

Hayato panicked. He hadn't anticipated that.

"Um, can you attack the Fenrirs?"

"That's possible, but considering the possibility of the dragons intervening, I can only defend."

As long as the dragons were there, they could only defend. They had plenty of potions to recover HP. But it was impossible to win a Clan War without being able to attack.

"Master."

Esha spoke to Hayato while looking at the field.

(That's right, Esha can attack. I'll have her take down the dragons.)

"Esha, I'm sorry, but could you take down the dragons—"

"I apologize. It seems I cannot fight this time."

"What?"

"That magnificent fluffy creature. I cannot possibly bring myself to defeat it. I thought I had cast aside my conscience, but it seems a human part of me remained... Please laugh at me for being such a soft woman."

"I can't laugh at any part of that."

Magnificent fluffy creature. Hayato thought she was probably talking about the Fenrir.

"Um, then could you shoot the dragons?"

"What if I hit that honorable dog-sama!"

"It's a wolf. And you shot me before, right? Am I lower than that Fenrir?"

"That was accidental. But if you insist that I shoot that fluffy creature, Master... I will shoot you, Master."

"Don't say that with such clear eyes. And this is your weakness? It's different from what I expected."

She couldn't shoot the fluffy creature. That was Esha's weakness. There was nothing he could do about it now that he knew, but more importantly, the situation was dire.

His main combat members were all unable to fight.

It seemed the only ones who could fight properly were Relic, Maris, and the Griffon.

This might be impossible. Hayato thought so and held his head in his hands.