The Gold of the Kunie

by Mamare Touno

  Even major raid guilds like D.D.D. and the Knights of the Black Sword had stopped attempting the very hardest raids after the Catastrophe. In the first place, the difficulty of battle had risen following the Catastrophe. Many Adventurers pointed out the fact that, even with ordinary parties, the low visibility and the difficulty of monitoring statuses meant that the level of the monsters they could defeat had fallen from what it had been in the days of Elder Tales. It was probably only natural that the difficulty of the raids targeted by the big guilds was set low.

  …And so if he’d said he was short on raid members because their fear of death was strong, I’d understand, but…

  “Why?”

  “Shiroe…uh. Mister Shiroe.”

  “Just ‘Shiroe’ is fine.”

  “Right. Shiroe, how many times have you died since then?”

  Guessing that then probably meant “the Catastrophe,” Shiroe answered, “Not once.”

  At that, William’s cross-looking face twisted in bewilderment, and he looked away. William seemed more perplexed than irritated before responding.

  “I can’t explain it to guys who don’t understand it.”

  “……”

  “When you die, you understand stuff. All sorts of stuff. Like how you suck at this, or how you’re stingy or boring. If you die a hundred times, you see it a hundred times. That hurts, and they can’t keep it up.”

  As William bit his lip, he looked young.

  Shiroe watched the young raid master, who was harboring frustration that he couldn’t vent on anything. There was something Shiroe needed to understand there, but the moment he spent desperately thinking about it seemed to pass in the blink of an eye.

  There was a noise like an explosion, and when he turned, a man he recognized was bearing down on him, his face filled with rage.

  2

  Meanwhile, Naotsugu and Li Gan were wandering around that same Susukino.

  It was December, and the midwinter town was frosted silver under a high blue sky. The two of them walked through the wide streets, headed to restaurants and plazas, on their way to gather raid members from sources other than the one Shiroe had tapped.

  In Elder Tales, if you looked at a person steadily, their name, main class, and level would be displayed on your HUD. In addition, there were all sorts of other elements when scouting members, such as which guild they were affiliated with and their equipment, manner, and way of speaking. Shiroe said that conducting a raid by hiring individual Adventurers would be difficult, but the Tea Party had originally been made up of individual Adventurers, too. Naotsugu thought that, ultimately, it would be all right to just follow his instincts, and so he was roaming around town, acting separately from Shiroe.

  “Are we recruiting companions?”

  “Yep.”

  Naotsugu responded to the round-shouldered Lore Master who was walking the streets of Susukino beside him.

  “I doubt we’ll get twenty of ’em right off the bat, but I’d like to find some likely-looking ones.”

  “Will it go so well? This gathering of warriors for a decisive battle?”

  “When it’s gonna go well, it’ll do that.”

  Giving an evasive answer, Naotsugu looked around the area restlessly. Compared to what it had been like the last time he’d been here, the town seemed to have grown quite peaceful. It was no longer the ruined Susukino where Adventurers had eyed each other suspiciously.

  Silver Sword must have significantly improved the environment. In fact…he’d heard something about that in the news he’d gotten through Shiroe. The guild had left Akiba and come to this northern town in search of a raid environment, and it seemed to have had enormous influence. Susukino’s public order had collapsed, and it had been on the verge of becoming a city of violence, but Silver Sword had saved it. Although the group wasn’t affiliated with Akiba’s Round Table Council, its scale and strength were such that for a time, it had been selected as one of those twelve guilds. Their training was on a whole different level from the hoodlums who’d swaggered around Susukino as if they’d owned the place. Even if both were level 90, Silver Sword was a military group that drilled properly.

  Naotsugu had heard from Shiroe that simply having a first-class combat guild in Susukino had vastly improved conditions.

  A grandmotherly Person of the Earth wearing a fur coat and cylindrical hat walked by with a child, holding a big paper bag. The bag probably held groceries. Her expression was peaceful, and the child seemed to be having fun, so their situation probably wasn’t a bad one. They walked quickly because of the cold.

  A look at this avenue showed that the places where people walked had been cleared, and about fifteen centimeters of snow remained on either side. It was cold, but to Naotsugu, the scene seemed like a gentle one, relatively well harmonized.

  Sparkling icicles hung from the eaves, and the town was like a work of art, decorated with crystal.

  Once they’d passed through the residential district, where there were lots of People of the Earth, the avenue grew wider; it was apparently an artery that led to the center of Susukino. Just as when he’d come here before, the abandoned buildings looked rough, like fortresses, but to Naotsugu, they seemed to blend much better with the scenery now than they had during the adventure in May. That might have been because, rather than being built to intimidate as their appearance suggested, these snow-country buildings were intended to shut out the cold.

  “You ever been to Susukino, mister?”

  “I’ve visited a few times.”

  “We’ll probably have to stay here for a bit, y’know.”

  “Yes, I’m prepared for that. When you explore the depths, I’d only hold you back.”

  There was a little regret in Li Gan’s response.

  In a zone designed for parties, the monsters that appeared would be the sort meant to be defeated by five or six Adventurers. For Naotsugu and Shiroe, whose levels were far different from Li Gan’s, it was possible to explore while protecting the sage. However, it definitely depended on the difficulty of the situation: they’d guarded him while investigating the Depths of Palm, but in a raid zone meant to be challenged by twenty-four high-level Adventurers, the battles would be severely violent. As they’d discussed beforehand, Li Gan would wait in Susukino for Naotsugu and the others to return.

  “You look like that bums you out.”

  “Well, a little. It is the secret of the Kunie clan, after all. All the information one could see and hear there is truly worth a fortune.”

  “We’ll bring you back as many stories as possible, all right?” Naotsugu told him.

  “No, no, don’t trouble yourselves. This, too, is the role of the Sage of Miral Lake. Besides, there are lots of unusual things in this city as well. It’s being developed by the Adventurers even as we speak. While you and the others proceed with your conquest, I think I’ll spend my time learning about Susukino. Just thinking about what sort of new things are being created in this northern country is terribly thrilling.”

  As he spoke, Li Gan looked around, smiling.

  He really must be bursting with curiosity. Naotsugu was using polite speech with him, just in case, but the guy looked as if he might be about his age; he seemed a bit like a science-minded grad student who spent all his time in the lab. To Naotsugu, who wasn’t shy with strangers, he seemed like an interesting guy, the sort he could have a good, frank conversation with. He also thought he understood why Shiroe hit it off with him.

  “Yeah, that’s true. There’s lots of good stuff in Susukino, too.”

  “You’re right. I may take this opportunity to investigate your intercity gates—”

  “Dbweh!”

  Abruptly, a voice interrupted their conversation.

  When they reflexively looked toward it, they saw someone’s upper body stuck into a huge bank of snow that had been piled up beside a cottage-style house. From the looks of the indisposed person’s position, if they had fallen to get there, they must have done it
with serious flair. They were stuck diagonally into the huge pile of snow, and Naotsugu couldn’t see their face. All that protruded was a slim, well-shaped derriere in hot pants.

  “Nice panties!”

  Naotsugu grinned and flashed a big thumbs-up.

  The line from the small hips to the ivory thighs was fantastic.

  “I’m compelled to agree with you there.”

  On seeing Li Gan smiling next to him, Naotsugu thought, Oh yeah, I can totally be friends with this guy. He was a scholastic type, like Shiroe, but if he was able to join in without hesitation at times like this, he was probably more of a guy’s guy than Shiroe was.

  Li Gan gave Naotsugu an intellectual response:

  “That said, although I’m not well versed in the customs of the Adventurers, aren’t those generally referred to as ‘low-rise hot pants’? In other words, isn’t it unsuitable to eulogize them as ‘panties’ in the truest sense of the word?”

  “Nah, it’s fine. I’d feel bad about leaving ’em out, wouldn’t you? If they’ve got panties in their heart, then they’re panties.”

  “Well said.”

  “Help me!”

  A figure burst violently out of the pile of snow and regained its feet, directing a protest at the two of them. Its head had been stuck very deeply, to the point where it seemed to have fallen off the roof rather than simply fallen over, but the only sign was that the tip of its adorable nose seemed to be a bit red. Adventurer toughness was at work here as well.

  “Sorry, sorry city.”

  “We saw a very callipygian posterior, so we simply…”

  The two didn’t seem at all apologetic, and the small shadow howled as if it meant to bite them.

  “If a gorgeous girl like me scars up her face, it’ll damage all the guys who are crazy about her!”

  Naotsugu gazed at the self-proclaimed victim, who came up only to his chest.

  She was petite and cute. Her overall silhouette was slim, and she wore a blouse and vest, hot pants that made her pure white legs look longer, a necktie, and knee socks that accentuated the dazzling area between their cuffs and the hem of her pants. The way her outfit looked like some sort of uniform on the top but left as little to the imagination as possible on the bottom was terrific.

  It was a style that would have made any guy’s heart beat faster, even if he didn’t want it to. As a matter of fact, Naotsugu’s cheeks were growing hot. Just a little, because he felt guilty about it. However, the expression under the coquettish little top hat betrayed it all.

  It was the proudest, happiest, smuggest face Naotsugu had ever seen—in other words, an expression of sheer triumph. The expression was splendidly radiant, so cute that it would be devastating for any watching guys, and it looked as though the girl herself really believed in what she’d said.

  Cute.

  She certainly was cute.

  As frustrating as it was, if he’d said she wasn’t cute, he would have been lying.

  However, Naotsugu thought that saying it would “damage the guys who were crazy about her” had been a blatant exaggeration. He thought it, but he kept it to himself, thinking that only an ogre would hit a girl with a comeback like that when she was smiling with such lustrous, jellylike lips.

  “I’d say that’s a blatant exaggeration, wouldn’t you?”

  Li Gan the ogre didn’t keep it to himself.

  Li Gan’s stock just went up again.

  Naotsugu couldn’t have been more impressed.

  “Uuu… You can’t bring me down.”

  “Ah, she’s back.”

  Li Gan kept teasing the girl, who’d staggered but recovered. He looked entertained. At his easygoing comeback, the girl’s face went red and she got mad.

  The fact that she still wore a vaguely cheerful, proud expression, even then, might have meant she was a bit lacking in grace for a beautiful girl. However, that seemed to be part of her unique charm as well.

  She had an expressive face, and as the girl herself said, she certainly did seem attractive.

  “Hmm… Yeah, you’re cute, but you look so smug about it that I-really-don’t-want-to-say-you’re-cute city… If I’m taking this, that, and the other thing into consideration and making a general call, or actually, obviously, in terms of both volume and panties, Miss Mari wins! In-other-words city!”

  “Huh?”

  Naotsugu, who’d crossed his arms, had let the words slip out by accident, but fortunately neither the girl nor Li Gan seemed to have caught on. Waving his hands to camouflage where he’d been looking, Naotsugu took a towel out of his belongings and tossed it to the girl.

  She was dressed lightly, and she didn’t seem to have a magic bag.

  “Hrrn, all right. I’m kind to my fans, you see.”

  Without hesitation, she used the towel to brush the snow away. She seemed clumsy, and there was some snow left on the brim of the little top hat. Removing it with his fingertips, Naotsugu looked at the girl’s status display.

  “Tetora, huh?”

  “Call me Tetora-ra-rah!”

  Her expression was resolute, and it left Naotsugu nonplussed. Her level was 94. The same as his. Apparently she was an Adventurer, with lots of real combat experience, who’d fought repeated battles even after the Catastrophe. Her guild was Light Indigo. Her class was Cleric.

  “All right, this guy seems easier to win over.”

  “Stuff like that has zero effect if you say it yourself.”

  Even as Naotsugu retorted, Tetora latched on to his left hand with catlike agility, practically hanging from it.

  “Really? No effect? None? Don’t I have a hug effect?”

  Her question was delivered with the boastful, self-important expression that seemed to be her default. No effect! It would have been easy to deny her that way, but at that point, his lamentable male nature came into play: Even though he knew he was just being teased, having a beautiful girl clinging to his arm in a companionable way felt pretty good. Tetora even smelled sweet, like oranges.

  “Luh, luh, lemme go!”

  “Ha-haaa. No can do, Mister Naotsugu.”

  She must have read his status at some point. In this world, it was only natural for people to know each others’ names, even when they first met.

  “I love nuzzling flustered, panicking guys. Parenthetically, I hate being nuzzled, so keep that in mind!”

  “I said! Let! Me! Go!”

  Tetora had twisted away, slipping around behind Naotsugu’s back, then climbed up to his shoulders, clinging to his neck. Possibly due to her Adventurer agility, he didn’t even feel her weight all that much.

  As Tetora hugged Naotsugu’s head and giggled, she was truly as cute as she’d declared herself to be.

  Due to corrections from the system, beautiful men and women weren’t unusual in Elder Tales, but that was true only for appearance, and it couldn’t camouflage the atmosphere the actual person gave off. Tetora was radiating a showy, cheerful atmosphere, and in terms of standing out, she was far and away the best of all the Adventurers Naotsugu had ever seen.

  “You look like a tree-climbing pika.”

  “This skeleton guy is pretty harsh, isn’t he?!”

  “Skeleton…?”

  Li Gan seemed entertained by Tetora’s response.

  “This is a major incident. You should have saved me, you know? If a lovely girl like me scraped my nose, my fans would cry. And really, the mere fact that I made such a spectacle of myself back there could end my life as an idol.”

  “Yeah, the upside-down panties.”

  “They’re not panties! They’re hot pants!”

  Li Gan was keeping up with her. He seemed to have instantly registered the scandal the girl was concerned about, and was attacking her weak point.

  “‘Hot’… Warm pants… Oh… In other words, you wet yourself a bit, due to the shock?”

  “A-a-as if I’d ever wet myself!!”

  “And the truth is…?”

  “Stomachs get cold in the s
now country, and everyone knows a cold stomach means diarrh—”

  “That’s what I thought it was—”

  “Wait! What are you making me say, you rascally skeleton?!”

  While Tetora—who clung to him as if she were hugging him—and Li Gan squabbled, Naotsugu was at his wit’s end. He raised both his big hands, caught Tetora’s sides, and lowered her lightly to the ground. He’d felt Li Gan’s eyes on him.

  The meaning had gotten through to him right away. In short, he was asking, Why not invite this girl?

  With the raid in mind, Naotsugu looked Tetora over.

  In raids, Clerics were frontline healers. They were expected to recover the main tank while relying on their heavy armor. To that end, they had the advantage of being able to use the heaviest equipment of the three recovery classes.

  Further, of all twelve classes, they were one of the three classes allowed to wear full-body metal armor, along with Guardian (Naotsugu’s class) and Samurai (Soujirou’s class). They were also able to equip shields, and of the twelve classes, in terms of equipment, their defensive abilities were second only to Guardians.

  Clerics’ duty was to rely on this equipment while using recovery spells to support the main tank’s HP from the front line. Since the main tank was the first to take monster attacks, it had the roughest position in violent raid battles. Naturally, in addition to sword and ax strikes, those attacks also included wide-range spells like Dragon Breath.

  These attacks were aimed at the main tank, but since they were ranged attacks and Clerics were so close, they often got pulled in. Of course, they were that close to begin with because they were able to use more powerful recovery spells that way, but even then, the front line was a terrifying place. Clerics ended up having to bear great responsibility without flinching from the risk, and in Elder Tales, they were sometimes called the staunchest defenders.

  When he took another look at Tetora’s equipment, it seemed very light.

  Of course, it was possible that Tetora’s current equipment was meant for wearing around town instead of for combat, and he couldn’t really count on that judgment. Shiroe might have been able to tell what sort of magical abilities lurked in the chic vest she had equipped, but that was a stunt Naotsugu couldn’t pull off. His conclusion was, in the end, that he simply didn’t know. Her level was perfect, and when it came to raids, he wanted an excellent healer badly enough to kill for it.