kscans

Chapter 19 - The Goddess and Sadaharu

"S, Sadaharu! Hey, Sadaharu!!"

"...Geez, what is it? I was in the middle of a pretty deep dive."

Sadaharu, who had been focused on an important adjustment, turned to the Goddess with a look of annoyance.

"Sorry. But this is bad! H, he's already here!!"

"'Here' as in, what is?"

"A dungeon clearer! He's already at the mid-boss!!"

"What. Seriously?"

Not much time had passed since he had been told that a Grade 2 dungeon had been cleared.

The Grade 3 Spring Dungeon was larger and more complex than the previous dungeons. He was surprised that there was a clearer who could climb it so quickly.

"The mid-boss can win, right?"

"I think it should be fine, but... can you see any footage of the clearer?"

Sadaharu was only checking the dungeon's status on the system, he wasn't watching the actual movements of monsters and humans on video. But this time, the clear was just too fast, and he became curious about the person.

"Okay. I'll show you now."

Saying so, the Goddess materialized a translucent board.

Displayed on it was the figure of a young man in the same stance as the mid-boss that used the strongest four-sword style. Sadaharu recognized that stance.

"Is that... by any chance, Hayate-kun?"

"You know him, Sadaharu!?"

"Y, yes. Well."

So that more people would use the four-sword style, Sadaharu, who had been a developer for FWO, had collaborated with Hayate to investigate the trick to moving the third and fourth arms that humans don't normally have. The result was something that even professors at famous overseas universities couldn't understand, though.

"That kid is super strong!"

"I'm sure he is. He's the one I modeled that mid-boss after."

"What? Is that the strongest player you were talking about? B, but you said that kid was a child, so he couldn't enter the dungeons because he's not an adult."

"That's what I thought. Why is he here? He should still be only 16."

"Eh."

"What."

"S, sixteen is an adult, right? Because this 'Heian Era Dictionary' says 'A boy comes of age at fifteen...' Coming of age is being an adult, right?"

"...Goddess-sama. Modern Japan is not the Heian era. Adulthood starts at eighteen."

Sadaharu suppressed the urge to ask where on earth she had found such a dictionary and turned his thoughts to how to deal with the problem at hand.

He didn't like it when a game he was partway through had its specs drastically changed at the whim of the management. What he didn't want to have done to him as a player, he wanted to avoid doing as a developer on the management side if he could.

It was Sadaharu who had developed the four-sword style. And it was he who had resisted to the very end as part of the development team when its discontinuation was decided.

"Since it was my mistake, maybe I should just make this kid leave the dungeon."

"No. I will absolutely not allow that."

"Why!?"

"If you nullify the efforts of a young man who has worked so hard to get this far, you'll become an evil goddess, Goddess-sama. Besides, you are a Goddess. You can't admit you made a mistake. Let's make it so that the rule is that you can enter the dungeon if you are 15 or older. But those under 18 need their parents' permission."

"So adding to the rules is okay..."

"It can't be helped."

"But. That doesn't solve anything, does it? That kid is the strongest, right? Won't the mid-boss lose?"

"It might lose."

"See! This is bad!! I did a mock battle with that mid-boss, and I got totally wrecked, you know!? The original of that mid-boss is here now!"

Sadaharu suddenly found himself wanting to see Hayate completely wreck the Goddess.

In FWO, with its over one hundred million players, Hayate was one of the few players Sadaharu could still respect. He was acquainted with him through tests for the popularization of the four-sword style and promotional deals, and knew he was a fine young man. He was also happy that he genuinely enjoyed the game they had made.

Sadaharu had no lingering attachments to his original world. Still, he felt a little hatred for the Goddess who had made dungeons appear in his homeland of Japan and ruined so much of its beautiful scenery and national treasures.

He wanted Hayate to give the Goddess a sound thrashing.

That feeling was beginning to sprout within him.

First, he needed to get the Goddess motivated.

"Even if you enter the dungeon boss, Undine, fight him, and lose, you won't be erased or anything, right, Goddess-sama?"

"Like I would ever fully synchronize."

"Then it's fine. Please fight him."

"Why!? If I get hit, it'll still hurt!"

"I'll implement a few major techniques you can only use when you're controlling it, Goddess-sama."

"What. Really!?"

"Yes, really. Besides, because you said you wanted to do it, Goddess-sama, I haven't set up Undine's automatic combat program yet. You'll have to fight at least this once."

"Ugh... Okay. B, but in exchange, you have to implement three ultimate moves for me!"

"Three instant-death level skills for a boss... If this were a game, we'd be flooded with complaints."

Even so, he couldn't help but think that Hayate might be able to clear it. He wanted him to overcome this trial if he could.

"Understood. I'll implement three major techniques."

"Yay! Thank you, Sadaharu!!"

Just as the Goddess said her thanks, the sound of a monster core shattering, parin, echoed.

Hayate had defeated his own copy. He was unscathed, with no damage to his weapons.

What Sadaharu had traced was Hayate's movements from a year ago. In the time since, he had continued to play in the game and train in the real world, and it seemed he had become much stronger than Sadaharu had anticipated.

"W, wait! The mid-boss was defeated!? Will you be able to implement the ultimate moves in time!?"

"I'll do my best. I won't be able to test them, but... More importantly, Goddess-sama, get into Undine right now! The boss's lines will be spoken automatically!"

The two of them rushed to prepare in a panic.

Completely unaware of what was happening, Hayate was in front of the door that wouldn't open, going over weapon-swapping procedures and other preparations so he could handle whatever kind of dungeon boss it was.