Chapter 39
Chapter 39
6. Tutorial and Status Window -3
I raised my hand toward the mage who was proposing the 『Erect Violet』 hunting bet and spoke.
"Hold on, I have a proposal."
"⋯⋯What is it?"
I'd have to think of that now.
Seven seconds.
That's how long silence takes to make an audience uncomfortable. Generally, if you keep your mouth shut this long, people catch on that you're stalling because you can't think of anything.
What could I possibly say to steer this situation the way I wanted? I ran simulations in my head.
If I just suggested we fight.
"You went on and on about R-11 and the Hunter Alliance's motto and all that, and now you want to change the event because you don't think you can win a hunting bet? Ah, I get it. You've only ever killed people, so of course you've never had to think about how to handle plants!"
If I got slandered like that, even winning would be losing.
Even now, people occasionally post trash talk about me on the system bulletin board. The [Hunter Alliance] probably has comment shills working on and off, but since everyone knows the board is basically an unreliable free-for-all, I've never actually been disadvantaged by it.
But if an incident like this left a mark, rumors could start circulating among people. Like, I saw this mentor in the tutorial, and turns out he was a murderer⋯⋯
If I didn't have debt, maybe it wouldn't matter, but with my Shop access restricted, my reputation going down the drain would be a problem. I'm still relying on barter for food supplies, after all.
What if I proposed a different bet?
But this needed justification. Since their stated reason was "let's test our skills while helping the newbies," I'd need to propose something even more substantive and educational than plant hunting to have a leg to stand on.
But in this system framework where we'd gathered specifically to hunt plants, what activity could possibly be more beneficial than actually hunting plants? Especially within the limited space of a tutorial stage⋯⋯
Damn it.
Nothing came to mind. Should I just declare that I refuse to argue or bet with someone like him? No, that would basically be surrender.
I'm not the type to cling to pride while dying. If it meant getting the Hidden Piece, I could throw away my pride. But in this situation, surrender was a real problem. Because of the android Elijah.
Since I'd already trashed the high schooler 'C' for a ridiculous reason, I wanted to build some kind of rapport with Elijah and get help with my promotion ceremony. But it's not easy for a mentor who chickens out of a contest to seem valuable. If it were me, I wouldn't want to reach out.
I couldn't let the deliberation drag on. Think fast, Noah Won.
"⋯⋯I asked what your proposal is."
"Well, you see."
Three seconds.
Let me think in a different direction.
What if I just defused the whole thing? Since the high schooler was the one who instigated it in the first place, I could persuade him that showing himself being pushed around by newbies wasn't a good look. Then probably⋯⋯
It wouldn't work.
In a situation where he was desperate to recruit 'C' into the [Hunter Alliance], saying something like that would give the mage no reason to accept.
While I was racking my brain, Elijah, standing beside me, muttered quietly.
"Environmental protection is important, isn't it⋯⋯?"
Environmental protection?
Right, shouldn't we protect the environment? In an era of severe pollution from all sorts of technological development, to prevent environmental destruction and promote eco-friendly green growth, we should cherish even small plants⋯⋯ As if. Damn it.
When was it that those plant monsters restored the Amazon rainforest and turned it into hell?
The more you destroy the environment, the better. It was a nonsensical excuse. Rejected.
"Hmm⋯⋯"
Elijah let out a nasal hum as if she'd figured something out.
I was fairly curious what that meant, but I ignored it for now. This came first. An excuse, a situation where we both had to appeal to our own strength, but not by hunting plants. Right. The mage and I actually had the same goal.
The goal was to raise each other's standing without losing face. The mage wanted to use that raised standing to tear down my opinion, which he thought was wrong.
In that case, this was a part-distribution job.
Back when I worked as an idol, every time a new song came out, how much fighting went on over who sang which part and how the lines were divided? What always got us to a consensus was saying each person should do what they're good at.
This was it.
First, I laid the groundwork.
"If we each scatter in different directions to deal with the plant monsters, there's bound to be an advantage or disadvantage depending on the situation. Since the newbies didn't come back from hunting evenly distributed. Isn't that right?"
"⋯⋯Well, roughly, sure?"
"Even if we compete, I don't want to leave it to luck. But if we move in the same direction, the person with longer reach has the advantage. A match held under uneven conditions gets disparaged whether you win or lose, so I don't think it's smart."
"So, what. What are you getting at?"
I tapped my shield and spoke.
"I'm confident in defense, and you're a mage, so you must be confident in the offensive side."
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
If he'd been a support-type mage, he wouldn't have proposed a bet on who could kill plants faster in the first place. He had to be a ranged damage dealer with attack options ready.
"You attack, and I'll block. We'll leave judging the outcome of that exchange to the other three mentors. Wouldn't that be clean and good?"
"Are you serious? Telling a mage to hit you however he wants—that's either overflowing confidence, or you're looking down on me."
"I believe in my technique."
"⋯⋯Fine, I don't know what your angle is, but I'll accept."
Done. I got it through! I cheered inwardly.
I'd successfully protected the Hidden Piece⋯⋯
We took positions about ten meters apart in the clearing. The spectators kept their distance, forming a semicircle and scattering in small groups as they tried to predict the outcome.
The high schooler 'C' and Elijah were also predicting the winner. I hadn't meant to listen, but even though they were quite far away, their conversation naturally drifted into my ears.
"Who do you think will win?"
"Our mentor."
"Ah, was that too easy a mock exam? I marked the same answer. Still, I'd like to hear your reasoning."
"Because their gazes are different. That mentor over there still has his eyes wandering around, but our mentor was carefully scanning the 'enemy' before we even started. But⋯⋯ could you please stop talking to me now?"
Meanwhile.
While the audience was having this and that conversation, over here the mage was chattering away. Not trash-talking before the fight or anything.
"You really want me to shoot?"
"Yes."
"Really shoot? I'm really strong? Really?"
"Yes. Shoot."
This person was the fretful type. She'd been asking over and over since earlier.
"Then I'm really going to shoot⋯⋯"
I wondered if she'd stack her modesty up to three times, but before that, she extended her staff and took aim—looked like she was finally going to fire. I raised my shield and thought.
She seemed like a decent person, if a bit impulsive.
At the very least, she was more of a person than Sergios. That bastard fired Whirlwind Thrusts without even asking.
So had I only ever encountered the dark side of the [Hunter Alliance]? Or was this person a pearl in the mud? No, no matter what, they were people who robbed newbies of their support funds.
"⋯⋯Don't get distracted with other thoughts—you'd better block properly!"
"Excuse me, but your name?"
"You're asking my name at a time like this⋯⋯? What, if something goes wrong, you want to remember the name of the person you killed or something⋯⋯ For now, it's Rachel."
Somehow the name fit her behavior perfectly.
"I asked because I've come to acknowledge you in my own way. The [Hunter Alliance] is suspicious, but the person named Rachel within it turned out to be trustworthy. If I'm going to go around saying that, I need a name, don't I?"
"That doesn't mean I'll shoot weak!"
"⋯⋯Right, don't shoot weak."
The concentration of magic power I sensed dropped slightly. Her words and actions were completely at odds.
But whether it dropped or not, it was all the same to me. I could tell. That attack was below Sergios's Whirlwind Thrust. I'd blocked it even back in my newbie days when I'd just entered the system, so now that I'd grown my weight class considerably, there was no question.
Somehow the situation felt similar to last tutorial, but the person was different.
Huuuh—
I drew in a breath. Focus.
"O 『Master Binder (主縛)』, I shall wield the power you have granted── 『Degradation (劣化): Straight Serpent Whip (直蛇箠)』!"
Twang—!
A sound like a longbow firing, tension releasing all at once. And an arrow-shaped projectile flying straight and honest. Its speed was slightly slower than Whirlwind Thrust, but a strange energy coiled around it.
A feeling that if it hit, it would cling to my body.
『Master Binder (主縛)』⋯⋯ The Puppet Whip used by the Hunter Alliance sniper—she'd said it was a skill bestowed by him. Even if once could be dismissed as coincidence, twice was enough to use as evidence.
Was that higher hunter watching over the Hunter Alliance?
Now.
No need to use a skill. My eyes had already captured the attack's trajectory, so I just needed to move my body. And I had the martial art 『Quick Flash』—the technique of rapidly thrusting and recovering a dagger.
And by forging that 『Quick Flash』 into the form of 『Quick-Flash Inner Core』, I could use its essence without being bound to a dagger. That function being temporary acceleration.
Extend quickly—and deflect it as if pulling.
Clang—!!
The arrow projectile dropped at a right angle and embedded itself straight into the ground. It writhed as if clawing at the earth, then scattered into black fragments.
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
The Hunter Alliance mage Rachel went pale at the sight. She'd felt the gap in skill between me and her. Then she dropped her head and admitted defeat.
The match was over.
"Good work."
I approached first and extended my hand. Rachel stared down at my hand for a moment, then grabbed it with a soft thud and said this.
"⋯⋯I lost. But I still oppose that martial art power of yours. You can't risk being expelled from the system framework."
"Is becoming an 『Elf』 really that dangerous?"
"Don't state the obvious. It means the entire system becomes hostile to you. I've heard the system even creates stages for hunting elves⋯⋯ And the [Hunter Alliance] also issues kill-on-sight orders against elves without exception."
Just hypothetically, I'd wondered what would happen if I racked up a huge debt to the system, swept every listing in the Shop window, and ran. But if all of these things turned against me, it would certainly be dangerous.
I spoke to reassure Rachel.
"『Martial Arts』, once they pass a certain level, are formally registered in the Status Window. As skills. Doesn't that mean the system acknowledges martial arts?"
"⋯⋯Is that really true?"
"Yes."
Honestly, I wasn't sure if it really was. If the system truly rejected martial arts, wouldn't there have been some other safeguard in place?
She nodded, half doubtful and half convinced.
"Fine, I can't believe it until I see it with my own eyes⋯⋯ but I'll try to confirm it if I get the chance. And next time, I won't lose so pathetically."
She turned away, cleanly promising a next time. Though I wasn't sure there would be one. Having turned away, Rachel clung to recruiting 'C' before the time ran out.
I also shared some small tips and system usage pointers, held a brief Q&A session, and then gradually created an atmosphere of wrapping things up.
Now I should⋯⋯ try striking up a conversation with Elijah.
I have good eyes. It's a big advantage in combat, but it's also no small help in handling emotional matters, since I can read people's inner thoughts to some degree through the movement of muscles and expressions.
But maybe because she was an android, the person called Elijah was hard to read. It felt like looking at a well-crafted statue.
So I was about to open with something cliché, like asking if she was interested in martial arts. But Elijah spoke to me first.
"Um, I think I need some additional instruction. If it's all right with you, could you go over a few more things, Mentor?"
"⋯⋯The tutorial time is almost up, Miss Elijah."
I took a step back first.
Then she lowered her voice and spoke almost in a whisper.
"Then we'll have to meet outside the tutorial. Or we could see each other in the tutorial again. This stage—I found out you can access it even when the tutorial isn't open⋯⋯"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
"I'll be waiting."
The android Elijah smiled faintly and returned. Wrapped in light, her figure vanished in an instant. I had to furrow my brows and sink into thought. What was her angle? Coming at me so openly suspicious made my mind race.
She already knew how to access the tutorial stage. Was that all? What was the reason for calling me out separately? She wasn't actually a disguised Hunter Alliance assassin, was she?
I didn't get a bad feeling, but⋯⋯
One thing was certain: right now, I was stronger than her. In that case, even if the situation went sideways, I could respond in kind. Let's go back first. Then, after preparing, I'd re-enter the tutorial stage.
And so my second tutorial officially came to an end.
I re-entered. When I opened my eyes, I was in a clearing with the sun blazing down.
In the middle of the empty tutorial plain, Elijah, who had been quietly gazing up at the blue sky, sensed my presence and turned. She smiled and spoke.
"On my planet, you don't get to see a blue sky very often. Because of the solar collectors installed above the lower-tier zones, it's hazy even in broad daylight, or covered in dizzying, provocative advertisements."
"⋯⋯On my planet, you can see it just fine. The Gate incident broke out before science and technology could develop further, and after that, we only regressed—never improved even a little."
"It's probably better to get straight to the point, right? That way we can build rapport too. The reason I called you out separately, Mentor, is⋯⋯"
Elijah pointed at the forest and spoke.
"There's a Hidden Piece here, isn't there?"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
"Hehe⋯⋯ You're not a very good actor, Mentor."
I'd been caught.