kscans

Chapter 97 - Actor

Three days after Hayato's talk with Diite, a Stampede began just as he was logging in.

Hayato, along with Ash's group, the mercenaries, and Ney's group, moved to the Imperial Capital.

Since Hayato couldn't fight, he positioned himself on the roof of a building that was not a target for destruction. From there, he looked out over the Imperial Capital. The view was much clearer than the one he had seen before on a monitor.

Being a weekday morning, the number of players was small. But being logged in at such a time also meant they were quite skilled. You could call this a battle with a small, elite force.

Ash had said that fewer people were better anyway.

Their strategy was to reduce the Fire Dragon Eddy Owl's HP to the absolute limit before it could use its Flame Form, and then have Cecil deliver the final blow. With too many people, it would be difficult to judge that timing. Besides, this wasn't a strategy for all the participants, but one specifically for Ash's group, so there was no coordination with the other players.

A monster's HP isn't visible as a number, but you can check it with the so-called HP bar. It'll be difficult to reduce it to just before one-third. If they accidentally reduce its HP too much, it'll use its Flame Form and they'll be unable to win.

And this time, in exchange for giving Cecil the Excalibur Replica, they had told him over and over to stick to their plan. Cecil was certainly strong, but he was also whimsical, or rather, restless. If he thought of something interesting, he'd start doing it right away.

According to Esha, Cecil was stronger when left to do as he pleased, but since Cecil was the key to this battle, that wasn't an option.

So, to make Cecil listen, they had brought Esha along this time.

Due to her affiliation region settings, Esha was restricted from participating in the Imperial Capital's Stampede. However, that only meant she couldn't attack the Stampede's monsters. She was still allowed to be there.

And she could attack anything other than the monsters.

"Cecil, if you do anything strange, I will shoot you with this Berzerb, so be careful. The muzzle of this gun is aimed at you at all times, you know?"

"In your case, Esha, you'd shoot me even if I didn't do anything strange, wouldn't you?"

"It seems I'm understood by my old comrade. I'm so happy."

"I'm not. Well, I'll follow the plan. In fact, I'm not supposed to attack until Ash gives the permission, so I'll just be hunting some regular dragons over there. Hey, Hayato, I've been meaning to say this for a while, but how are you managing to employ Esha? You have my respect."

Cecil said that, then went down the stairs from the roof with Ash and the others.

Now, only Hayato and Esha remained.

"I think that's the first time someone has respected me."

"In the Maid Guild, you've gone beyond respect to being our savior, you know."

"Don't say that. Anyway, changing the subject, what do you think about Ash's father?"

Hayato had told Esha what he'd heard from Diite, intending to consult with her. That had been when things were slow at the real-world cafe, but then the cafe had gotten unusually busy, so they hadn't been able to talk any further.

Esha closed her eyes and hummed thoughtfully, but she soon opened them and looked at Hayato.

"I can't really say. Like you, Master, I don't have parents, so I don't understand how a parent feels about a child, or how a child feels about a parent. I sort of think that maybe a parent would do something like that, but that's about it."

"Your era was tougher than it is now, so that might be true... huh? In that case, for Ash and Ren-chan to have a father, wouldn't that have been rare back then?"

"It was rare. But Ash-sama was wealthy. Or rather, his parents were."

"Oh? Is that so? Then why did they come to a virtual reality?"

The majority of those who chose to live in the virtual reality did so because they were in despair about reality. It wasn't that money would prevent despair, but there was no doubt that money created various possibilities.

However, Ash and the others had thrown all that away to live only in the virtual reality. Hayato couldn't understand why.

"I don't know the circumstances surrounding that. However, partly because of that, the Brandle siblings were famous back then. Though their father rarely made public appearances."

"I see... By the way, do you know why Ash and the others were wealthy?"

"I don't know the details, but Ash-sama's parents were movie actors. They were famous enough that even I knew of them."

"Movie... actors? They existed a hundred years ago?"

In this era, CG was practically indistinguishable from reality. Electronically synthesized voices were also identical to human ones, to the point where one couldn't tell them apart. Because of this, movies no longer featured real landscapes or people.

For that reason, professions like actor and voice actor no longer existed. The words remained, but there was no one working in those professions now.

"They barely existed back then. At the time, a movie starring Ash-sama's parents became a worldwide blockbuster, and I heard they became fabulously wealthy from the rights. I think Ash-sama himself also appeared in some work. I don't know if it was a hit, though."

"That's a surprise. I actually like old movies. I wonder if they were in a movie I've seen? I've watched quite a few."

"It's possible. I've forgotten the title, but it was quite famous at the time."

One of the reasons Hayato had wanted to open a cafe was because of a movie. He had been so moved by a film that it had made him want to run a cafe himself. It had been a vague dream at first, but his will had solidified by frequenting his favorite cafe on Earth.

Come to think of it, when I saw Ash's father in the Royal Capital, I felt like I had seen him somewhere before. Could it be that I really saw him in some movie? I'll have to check later.

Hayato tried to ask Esha for more information about Ash's family, but she said she didn't know much.

As they were having this conversation, the number of dragons gradually began to decrease.

"The dragon annihilation speed is increasing. It must be thanks to the Dragon Eater Replicas you made, Master. At this rate, we might be able to defeat the Fire Dragon without any facilities being destroyed."

"I hope so, but I wonder."

It was only recently that the dragon annihilation speed had started to increase. The circulation of the Dragon Eater Replicas on the auction house had had an effect.

While the performance varied slightly depending on the quality, it was being traded at high prices as a weapon that dealt at least double damage to dragons. Some players were desperately searching for a way to obtain one.

In "Another Frontier Online," there was no information available online.

This was because Diite had been deleting it as soon as she found it, starting around the time the Clan Wars began. At first, she had allowed some game information to spread to attract people, but since tactics and skill compositions were crucial information for Clan Wars, she deleted it when the event started. Diite had decided that this would make the virtual reality more enjoyable.

Because of that, information secrecy had become a trend in this game. Players kept the information they discovered to themselves, treating it as a monopoly.

If it became known that Hayato was the only one who could make the "Dragon Eater Replica," players might flock to his base. To account for this, multiple members of the mercenary group had been listing the items on the auction. That was how they were protecting Hayato.

As for the sales, the profits were split between Hayato and the mercenaries, and Hayato had been able to recover about as much money as he had back when he was doing Clan Wars.

It costs a fair bit of money to make reconstruction items, so this helps. Thanks to the increased annihilation speed, fewer facilities are being destroyed. Maybe it's about time to focus solely on exterminating the hardline dragons.

Just as Hayato thought that, a giant ball of fire appeared in the sky. It crashed into the Imperial Capital's main square.

The battle with the Fire Dragon Eddy Owl was about to begin.