kscans

Chapter 476 - A Familiar Name

The battle with Rhadia, the leader of the clan "Highway Star," had begun abruptly. Parfait couldn’t understand if her words were truly something that a maiden shouldn’t be seen saying, but her opponent was clearly ready to fight.

In the first place, defeating a witness in a virtual reality was meaningless, but Parfait was somewhat exasperated that Rhadia was too flustered to realize that. And the more flustered her opponent became, the calmer she grew, calmly analyzing the attacking Rhadia.

As she had heard, Rhadia fought using two guns. Perhaps because she was flustered, she was attacking by swinging the long barrels rather than shooting. That in itself seemed like it would do a lot of damage, but there was no way she would be hit by an attack that was just being swung around wildly.

And the golem-type pet with Rhadia, "Lucky Seven," was just pacing around anxiously and not joining the fight.

They had only fought for a few seconds, but Parfait could tell that Rhadia was not fighting in her usual style.

"I won’t tell anyone what you said, so calm down."

She wasn’t trying to give aid to the enemy, but this wasn’t the fight she had been hoping for, so she said that to calm her down.

Rhadia blinked a few times after being told that, then stopped her attack.

"You’ll keep it a secret…?"

"Yeah. I also think it’s weird for a girl to say ‘hyahha-’."

"...Right!? I’m not the weird one, am I!? This is why people say those in the dangerous zones are barbaric! And I mean, I’m allowed to be interested in romance too...! I mumbled about wanting a boyfriend and they asked what I was going to hunt. I'm not going hunting!"

Contrary to her appearance, Rhadia’s language became increasingly rough. It seemed she had a lot of pent-up frustrations, and she began to vent her grievances. Then she gradually started saying, as if to convince herself, "I’m normal."

Her opponent was a sensitive girl about the same age as her. Parfait imagined that it was probably natural to feel a little anxious about being different from those around her. She had never disliked being different, but she had felt anxious about it, so Parfait empathized with Rhadia a little.

However, that was that, and this was this. Thinking that Rhadia had calmed down, Parfait opened her mouth.

"So, now that you’re calm, shall we fight?"

"...Huh? Why?"

"Well, it’s an event, and I want the catnip. Besides, you’re Rhadia-san from Highway Star, right? I heard you were strong, so I was looking forward to fighting you."

"Oh, right, we were doing that. Things just kind of ended up this way after I said I wanted to see some cats... Alright, let’s have a proper fight... though I don’t think a maiden is supposed to fight... I wonder when my prince on a white horse will show up... I want to be protected..."

He isn’t coming. Parfait swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue. Almost all the adult women around her had the style of "if you’re going to wait for a prince on a white horse, go catch one yourself." Having been educated that way since she was a child, waiting was not an option for Parfait.

"Uh, well, you probably know, but I’m Rhadia. Leader of Highway Star. And this is Lucky. Officially Lucky Seven. You’re Parfait-san, right?"

"Yeah. I’m the leader of ‘Mont Blanc,’ allied with ‘Cats are God’ and ‘Cretaceous.’"

"Heeh, with those two clans. Don’t know how that happened, but it’s intere… wait, your name is Parfait-san…?"

"Parfait is fine."

"Okay? Then you can call me Rhadia. But, wait a second, the name Parfait sounds familiar…"

Rhadia said that, crossed her arms, and looked down and then up, before finally tilting her head to the side and stopping.

"The name sounds familiar, but what was it…?"

"I wouldn’t know."

"Right… Well, let’s fight. Maybe I’ll remember while we’re fighting."

Parfait didn’t know of such a novel way to remember things, but she figured Rhadia probably knew her name from the PvP rankings.

Parfait held Beelzebub and took her stance again, while Rhadia mounted Lucky’s back.

"My style is a tamer’s, so don’t call it unfair."

"I won’t. It just means your skill distribution is specialized, so it’s a trade-off."

"Nice, nice. Then, let’s have a fair… fight!"

Immediately after Rhadia said that, the distance between them, which had been considerable, vanished in an instant. Lucky Seven’s leap was that fast.

But even against such a high-speed pounce, Parfait calmly deflected Lucky Seven’s claw attack with a sword-drawing slash. However, it didn’t end there. Parfait then rolled on the ground to get away from that spot.

A gunshot rang out immediately after.

What she saw after deflecting Lucky Seven’s attack was Rhadia aiming a shotgun at her. Realizing she would have been the gun’s prey if she had stayed there, she had rolled to dodge.

"Whoa? Didn’t think you could beat that combo!"

"That was close."

With Deeger, it was his own attack followed by his pet’s attack, but this time it was the reverse, the pet’s attack followed by the master’s attack. Still, it was just a difference in order, so it wasn’t a problem.

"As expected of a clan leader, you’re strong, huh? Then I don’t have to hold back, right?"

Rhadia said that and disappeared into the depths of the jungle while still on Lucky Seven.

However, Parfait could hear the sound of Lucky Seven’s running footsteps. To put it simply, she had just gone to get a running start. The faint footsteps now gradually grew closer.

But then Parfait remembered the guns Rhadia was holding and quickly hid behind a tree, out of sight from the direction of the footsteps.

A gunshot rang out, and a tree near where Parfait had been, near her head, exploded, sending wood chips flying.

And from a distance, she heard Rhadia’s voice say, "Not bad!" This time, Lucky Seven’s footsteps maintained a certain distance, moving to circle Parfait at high speed.

And as she circled, she began her gun attacks.

Parfait carefully dodged the attacks. Thanks to the footsteps and the glimpses of Rhadia through the trees, she could generally predict where the attacks would come from.

However, all she could do was dodge. It was difficult to attack from her side.

(Unlike Deeger-san, is she going to attack without getting close? This might be a pain.)

Benitsuru or Simon would probably be able to read her movements and get in front of her, but Parfait had not yet reached that level.

In that case, there was only one thing she could do. Parfait transformed Beelzebub into its rifle form. She took a few more gunshots after that, but when the shooting subsided, she surveyed her surroundings.

(That spot looks good.)

Parfait crouched down and moved to a location that would be hard to target, but easy for her to take aim. Considering the distance to her opponent and the arrangement of the trees, it was a position where her target’s location would be fixed. There, she knelt on one knee and raised Beelzebub.

(Here!)

Then, timing it with the speed of the footsteps, she fired Beelzebub.

(Did I miss… She might get cautious.)

In fact, after hearing a voice say "Uwa," Lucky Seven’s footsteps continued, but moved slightly farther away. This meant she had widened the circle she was making around Parfait. It was an act to reduce the probability of being hit by increasing the distance.

However, after that, there were no more gunshots.

(...She moved farther away but isn’t attacking? It’s more like she’s being cautious than…)

Parfait strained her ears further and heard a sound as if something was moving above her.

Parfait immediately rolled away from that spot and pointed Beelzebub’s muzzle upward.

"Whoa, crap!"

Rhadia was on a tree branch above, aiming at Parfait from an inverted position with her feet hooked on the branch. Parfait thought that was an inappropriate thing to do in a dress, but she immediately switched back to her combat mindset.

Rhadia seemed to have been taking aim, but since Parfait suddenly moved, her aim was off.

Parfait pulled Beelzebub’s trigger while still lying on the ground, aiming at Rhadia.

Rhadia somehow managed to dodge the attack, but due to the recoil of her forced movement, she wasn’t hit by Beelzebub’s shot but fell to the ground.

Even though she fell, it would be more accurate to say she landed on the ground while regaining her posture. Since Parfait was also lying down, they both quickly stood up.

Rhadia was the first to stand up. She pointed the gun in her right hand at Parfait.

Instead of dodging, Parfait rushed forward in a low stance. In that time, she returned Beelzebub to its sword form, and before Rhadia could pull the trigger, she unleashed an upward sword-drawing slash from a low stance toward the gun barrel.

The deflected gun pointed upward, and Rhadia ended up firing into an empty space.

This all happened in an instant. Parfait didn’t think it would work either, and her face showed the same surprise as Rhadia’s.

After a brief pause, Rhadia tried to turn the shotgun in her left hand toward Parfait. Parfait deflected the gun barrel in another direction with a sword-drawing slash, just as she had before. Immediately after, the shotgun fired, and wood chips flew spectacularly from the surrounding trees.

"No way!?"

Ignoring the surprised Rhadia, Parfait tried to follow up with another attack, drawing her sword from its sheath to unleash another slash.

This time, Rhadia interrupted the slash by tackling Parfait before she could unleash it. Then they both fell to the ground.

"Close one! Made it!"

(My sword…!)

Rhadia’s tackle was fierce, and she fell to the ground on top of Parfait. Since Rhadia was on top, Parfait was holding Beelzebub’s hilt but was in a state where she couldn’t draw it.

The next moment, thinking she was in trouble, Rhadia released the guns in both hands and took out a knife hidden in her boot. Then, in a mounted position, she raised the knife.

Parfait thought that being stabbed with something like that would be traumatic, even in a virtual reality. She let go of Beelzebub and used both hands to hold down both of Rhadia’s hands, preventing the attack.

Rhadia trying to stab with the knife and Parfait trying to prevent it. From here, it was a battle of strength… which isn’t how it works in a virtual reality.

"Crap! My STR!"

Even though she was mounted, Parfait was able to easily reverse their positions due to the difference in their STR, which could be called strength in the game. She was a little grateful for the benefit of stats.

"Ah, geez, I lose. I kinda figured it was over when you spotted me up there."

"I would have lost in real life."

"I wouldn’t do that in real life, I’d get in trouble."

She hadn’t delivered the final blow, but the outcome was decided. It seemed neither of them had the will to fight anymore, and the atmosphere was that Parfait had won the match here.

Just as she thought about standing up, she realized that something with different footsteps from Lucky Seven was approaching.

Parfait and Rhadia turned their faces in that direction, and a man riding an ostrich-like animal appeared. He was a bit of a sight, with leather clothes, a mohawk-like hairstyle, and goggles, but the man started shouting "Ojou!" in a panicked manner.

"Stop calling me Ojou…"

"This is no time for that! That person there, that’s Parfait-san!"

"Huh? Me?"

Parfait was perplexed at suddenly being called by name by a strange man. Rhadia seemed to know the man, but she was a little taken aback by his extreme panic.

"Why are you in such a panic? I thought the name sounded familiar, but do you know who she is?"

"She’s Hayato-san and Esha-san’s daughter!"

"...Lee-neesan’s benefactor!? Then the Parfait is their daughter Parfait-san!?"

"That’s what I’m saying! We found out from Parfait-san’s friends who attacked our base! This is no time to be fighting!"

"Oh no! Lee-neesan will be mad at me!? Keep it a secret that we fought!"

Parfait had no idea what was going on, but she nodded her head up and down anyway.