kscans

Chapter 472 - A Veteran's Old Tales

"Parfait-kun, are you eating well?"

"Ah, yes. Thank you for all this food and ingredients, Deeger-san."

"Not at all, it's the least I can do. You've allowed us to join your alliance. Providing food and ingredients for a banquet is only natural."

After Chris finished off Deeger, Parfait and her friends were about to leave when they were stopped by the members of Cretaceous. Then, Deeger, who had resurrected at the base, proposed an alliance.

It was less an alliance and more a matter of them joining under Parfait's clan, "Mont Blanc", with "Cretaceous" serving beneath them.

Parfait aside, Orion had been hesitant at first. But the deciding factor was when Deeger said the reason he came to the island was "to meet Siegfried", and so Orion agreed.

Although they were a tamer clan specializing in dinosaurs, the name of the calico cat Siegfried came up in various tamer-related quests, including one where she had been active on the "Floating Island" where dinosaurs lived.

While they did need the cat pictures for the event, their primary reason for coming to the island was the information that they could meet the legendary cat Siegfried here.

However, if their catnip was taken, that wish would not come true. So they requested to have an audience with her together, even if it meant joining under Parfait's clan.

He then proposed that they use their current base jointly, and now the players from "Cats are God" had moved to the "Cretaceous" base, which had a water source, and it became their new headquarters.

However, Parfait's group's camouflaged base remained as it was, and the condition that the catnip would be managed there was still in effect. Deeger agreed to this.

So far, there had been no major issues, but a small problem had arisen.

The fact that Deeger wandered around the base in a realistic Tyrannosaurus costume was bothering everyone, so they had him take it off.

Deeger readily agreed and revealed his face, but from inside the costume emerged a handsome older man in his fifties. Moreover, once he took off the costume, his passionate energy vanished, and he became quite calm, confusing everyone around him. According to him, wearing the costume made him feel like a dinosaur and got him excited.

He had well-groomed hair, a mix of black and white, a rugged face, and a solid build for a man in his fifties, giving him a very intelligent look. For some reason, even the players from his own clan, Cretaceous, were surprised, and the base was in an uproar.

"Huh? What's with that deceptive appearance?"

Orion was the one who said it, but it wasn't wrong to call it deceptive when such a handsome middle-aged man emerged from that surreal costume. Ginny was excited, saying, "Life is all about the gap moe!" and Parfait figured something must have struck a chord with her, so she didn't press the issue.

Despite the confusion, a banquet was held to celebrate the alliance. It was originally thought that they wouldn't get along because they favored different animals, but once they started talking, that wasn't the case. It turned out that many of them were secret cat lovers or dinosaur lovers, and the clans were getting along well.

Natsu also performed a song that was pure dark side, and everyone showed off tricks with their pets, making for a very lively atmosphere.

Only Parfait, Orion, and Deeger gathered in a quiet place to discuss their future actions. They had decided on most things after talking it over, but the question of what to do about the clan "Highway Star" remained.

However, they decided to deal with that tomorrow, and Deeger brought Parfait and Orion some additional sweets.

They started talking again, and Deeger looked at Parfait's sword with interest.

"Could your swordsmanship be of the Azuma-ryu, Parfait-kun?"

Orion looked puzzled, and Parfait looked surprised.

"You know it well. Yes, it is the Azuma-ryu sword style."

"Any veteran player like myself would know of it. It's that famous."

"Um, I don't know it, but is it famous? Ah, I mean, is it famous?"

"Hahaha, Orion-kun, I appreciate you showing respect to your elders, but you can speak as you usually do. We've clashed in events before, and although we're of different ages, I consider you a friend who loves animals, even if our favorites differ."

"A-A friend... It's, it's difficult, but if that's the case, then I'll try. I wonder if I can...?"

Orion had thought Deeger was older, but he hadn't realized there was such a large age gap, he said. So he hadn't been interacting with him as he had during the battle, and during their discussions, he had been as meek as a lamb.

"Yes, please do. I may have gotten old, but I like to think I'm young at heart. Now, as for whether the Azuma-ryu sword style is famous—where should I begin?"

Deeger said, stroking his chin with his right hand before speaking.

"This may take a while, but let me tell you in order. It's an old story, but when the territory dispute system started, most of the specific areas were initially controlled by the major clans from the Genesis era. The Demon Lord's Castle is famous in that regard, are you familiar with it?"

"I heard that the clan of Lunaria-san, the Demon Lord at the time, controlled it for so long that the developers had to force them to give it up because no one could beat them."

"That's right. However, there are other famous areas. There's the imperial castle 'Glory Castle', which has been under the long-term control of the clan 'Imperial', the demon castle 'Pandemonium', controlled by the Demon King Mikan, and 'Avalon', the holy land in the Spirit Country, controlled by 'Kiss of Death'."

Parfait thought the clan names sounded familiar, but she continued to listen to Deeger.

"And there is one more famous area. A place that, like the Demon Lord's Castle, has never changed hands since it was first controlled. The reason being that they were too strong for anyone to beat."

"Is that..."

"It's 'Azuma Castle' in the Eastern Country. The clan that controlled it was the 'Ten Holy Demonic Swords'. But that clan had only two members. Nevertheless, no clan could defeat them. After all, no matter how many people they had, they couldn't even land a hit and were defeated in return. They were truly a force of one thousand."

Parfait realized something, but she didn't interrupt, only nodding along.

"So the swordsmanship those two used was the Azuma-ryu sword style—is that right?"

Orion rephrased his question in a more casual tone, and Deeger nodded with a smile.

"That's right. The two were feared by the names of Sword Princess Benitsuru and Ogre Simon—Parfait-kun, what's wrong? You suddenly seem to be choking. Are you alright?"

"Cough, cough, n-no, I'm fine..."

She knew the two of them played AFO, but Parfait felt sorry for them, wondering if they knew they were called by such names and feared.

"So that's how Azuma-ryu became famous?"

Orion asked in place of the choking Parfait, and Deeger shook his head.

"It was much later that we found out they used that style of swordsmanship. Around the time when everyone had given up on the territory dispute for Azuma Castle and stopped participating, a mysterious Demon Lord joined the territory dispute all by herself."

"A mysterious Demon Lord? Is that Luna—"

"Whoa there, Orion-kun, some things are better left unsaid. She was wearing a mask to hide her face, after all, so no matter what anyone says, she was a mysterious Demon Lord. She had no relation to the real Demon Lord."

"...There's only one Demon Lord, but the players in this game really love that kind of stuff, don't they."

"Yes, that's the kind of thing they love. Anyway, the mysterious Demon Lord and the Sword Princess fought one-on-one, and I was there with other players, watching it directly. It was an intense battle. There were movements that used game skills, but even without those, they moved in a way that didn't seem human. It was during that battle that the swordsmanship the Sword Princess used was identified as the Azuma-ryu sword style, and it became famous overnight."

"And what was the result?"

"The mysterious Demon Lord won. Thanks to that, Azuma Castle temporarily became the territory of that mysterious Demon Lord, but it was eventually abandoned, and that's how it is today. The clan that controls it now is 'The Sixth Heaven Demon King', I believe. I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but it's a place that changes hands frequently now."

Parfait had been listening to Deeger and Orion's story while choking, but she was a little happy to learn this information. She sometimes heard about AFO directly from the two of them, but there were many things they wouldn't tell her, so she was glad to learn about this side of things.

(Maybe this is why they didn't want to talk about it. I probably wouldn't want to talk about it either if I had a weird nickname.)

As Parfait was thinking this, Deeger turned his sharp gaze on her, still smiling.

"Well, this has been a long story, but Parfait-kun, you use the Azuma-ryu sword style. Who did you learn it from? It's a style that no one could learn because it was too difficult for ordinary people. And for the past ten-plus years, no one but the two of them has used it."

"Well, actually, I'm learning from Benny-sensei—from Benitsuru-san and Simon-san."

Deeger took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled. Then he broke into a wide smile.

"I knew it. I've been hearing talk of the Azuma-ryu sword style again recently. And when we fought, your stance and fighting style were different, but for some reason, it reminded me of that time. I thought that no one in this game could perform a quick-draw like that except with the Azuma-ryu sword style... Ah, how nostalgic. I wonder if they are both well?"

The two of them were more than well. They were so energetic that even Parfait couldn't keep up with their sparring matches. She had fought Deeger with the thought of keeping up with them even a little, but as expected, he was far inferior to Benitsuru and Simon.

However, it wasn't that she hadn't gotten any practice out of it. She felt that he was just the right opponent for her. If anything, it was a good discovery just to know that those two were abnormally strong.

She thought this, but first, she decided to answer, and she replied to Deeger with a smile.

"Yes, they're fine. We sweat together every week doing practice swings and such."

"I see, I see. I haven't seen them in AFO recently, but I'm glad to hear it's not because of injury or illness—ah, of course, I won't pry any further, so don't worry."

In AFO, names and appearances were used as they were in the game, but it was considered good manners to separate reality and the game. And since the Libra Foundation, which governs justice, said so, the effect was immense.

That aside, Parfait was grateful to be able to hear stories about her acquaintances from a veteran player. In the first place, she wanted to know more about her parents as well.

"Um, if you don't mind, could you tell me about the old days of AFO? The adults around me have been playing AFO since the Genesis era, but they don't tell me much about it."

"Oh, I want to hear that too. I only started about five years ago, so I don't know much about what happened before that."

"Hahaha, I'm happy to hear that you want to listen to an old man's stories. Of course, I don't mind, but in that case, let's call the other veteran players too. AFO is a game with a decent amount of history and plenty of events. There are probably many things I don't know."

Deeger said this and called over the other veteran players. The younger players were drawn in as well, and they all got excited listening to the old tales of the veteran players.