New Guild War for Territory

"An annoying story indeed! As for spaceships, you can, in a special way, seize and use them after the guild territory war."

Of course, it wasn’t really stealing so much as finding something someone had left behind. Hee hee, look what I found!

"They probably set it aside to use when they invaded our guild hideout. Thanks to my surprise attack, they never even got to use it once."

"Seriously, this worked out great. I was already wondering when I’d have to roll for a spaceship, since mine’s just an F-grade basic ship. Moa Guild, are you watching? Thank you for the warm support. I’ll make good use of it."

The reason I’d been worried about the spaceship was Hard Black Fox, the place we’d head to after the new guild territory war ended.

The weird thing about that guy was that the boss itself was a nebula. Which meant we had to fight it in spaceship combat, from ship to ship. But that worry vanished in a single stroke. Honestly, now I was more excited to try out the SSS-grade Ceres.

Right. I’d have to find someone to handle spaceship flight again. It would be amazing to leave it to me or Mone, since we were already veterans, but I couldn’t. Someone flying the ship also had to deal with incoming meteors and monsters, after all. High-combat-power people shouldn’t be the ones piloting.

"For now, there’s nothing we need to go do this very second, so let’s think it over slowly."

That was when it happened. A guild alert message rang out across the entire area.

So he had left already after all. Turns out he hadn’t left yet? The guild members who’d been watching this whole time filled me in on the earlier situation.

"No. It’s useless. That guy was a spy from the Ruin Guild."

"But in the end, he helped us. I turned him against himself. In this new guild territory war, where schemes and plots fly everywhere, if you use a spy, you should’ve expected to get burned by it in return."

"For the tuition fee of this territory war, I’ll take payment in this vast planet, a spaceship, and a Black Golem."

There were currently 29 guild members, including me. Since the guild level had gone up, the maximum member count had increased too, so there were, what, 21 open slots? Maybe I should look for one person through a special spaceship-flight screening ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as well. Hm. Let’s think a little more.

I took the SSS-grade spaceship and headed toward the land that would later become the farm. Several guild members, including Muchaenamul and Imda, were busy cultivating the fields.

"How’s it going?"

"Why are you reacting like that? Our guild is so close-knit, isn’t it? Right, Imda? You like our guild too, don’t you?"

"Those mischievous viewers are just messing with you. Don’t take it too seriously. What were you working on?"

If you build a reservoir next to the farm, water supply becomes much smoother. Up to this point, it’s similar to real life, but the water quality changes depending on the combat power of the user with a water attribute. What a cursed pay-to-win mess.

Still, as always, games like this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠are the most fun when you happen to own everything.

"Step back for a moment. I shall handle this."

I drew my sword and layered water attribute power onto it. Then a blue light rippled around the blade like flowing water.

Thunk.

I gripped the sword reverse-handed and drove it straight into the ground.

"I guess S is the best I can do for now, since I still don’t have enough items. A little disappointing."

"An S-grade, though, whoa."

"With so few items, and it still managed that."

"In a place with no water, that’s still some serious water-style jutsu."

"Man, if you round out the setup just a little more, you could probably hit the minimum for SSS."

"Still, an S-grade reservoir should be enough for all the farming you could want."

"No, no. Guildmates are supposed to help each other out."

If we were going to farm anyway, it’d be nice to have something like a cow plowing the field for us. Then, all at once, something occurred to me.

"Hold on. Don’t start farming yet. Let’s make use of the Ultra Black Golem we got."

It was a guardian relic that could only be used inside the guild hideout, and it also happened to be absurdly useful for plowing fields. This thing was a model child through and through.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

It did nothing but walk across the field, yet somehow the earth turned over perfectly behind it. All that was left was to sow seeds and scatter fertilizer.

Fertilizer can be made from monster loot, and seeds and the like can also drop at random while hunting mobs. Since the crops grown that way are used in all sorts of potions, tending the fields is going to become just as important as acquiring items from now on.

"So, how is it? Muchaenamul. Your expert opinion?"

"See that? Praise from a former farmer! Start Unknown Universe right this instant. And now that our guild count has increased, I’m starting a surprise recruitment drive."

"You all were saying just the other day that you’d never do anything like Unknown Universe, and now look at you. The body really is honest, isn’t it?"

The sense of satisfaction when public opinion flips like this, as it did just now, is honestly impossible to put into words.

The capital of Unknown Universe, Planet Pupuri. Together with Mone, I formed a party and started the surprise recruitment drive. The first applicant looked plain enough, completely unremarkable in a good way.

"Please give us a quick self-introduction."

"Hello. I’m HaruruDanNaPo. My class is mage. I’ve specialized in training water attribute."

Water attribute, one of the most versatile after light. And the combat power looked decent enough too. Nothing seemed to be wrong with this one. Still, you never know what life will throw at you, so I used Insight.

Man. Someone who picks up trash for other people in this day and age? That’s basically a saint, no joke.

"You’re hired."

"Oh! Thank you very much. Um, then could you place me more in the farming division than combat? I trained water attribute for that reason, actually..."

"Good. Let’s make Shining Parade’s farm something amazing."

While waiting for the next applicant, Mone and I chatted.

"I wonder if any more Ruin Guild spies will show up. Let them come."

"I just checked the community. The Ruin Guild is in complete chaos right now. Apparently they’re all suspicious of each other."

When I heard that, I couldn’t help but snort. So it really had gone exactly according to plan.

"That’s funny. The next guild territory war will be starting soon after the new guild war ends, too. The Watercolor Guild is going to snatch a few planets from them."

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I’d expected Mone to answer with something else, but she smiled brightly and said, "That’s right. The Watercolor Guild would never let this chance slip by. Haruru, your snowball really did roll this far, didn’t it?"

"I hope we get some good news out of it."

"We certainly will."

She was the Watercolor Guild master originally, and from the sound of it, she really was sharpening her blade and preparing for this.

Idiot-genius.

That means idiot.

"Why would I be an idiot-genius? Just listen to me for two seconds and you can tell my brain works fast. Anyone can see I’m a genius, right?"

"The next applicant is in. Hello there~"

This interviewee looked quite unusual. Everything about the way he spoke was bewildering.

"Yes. Hello. I’m NotMayflyDan. I came here for the special acrostic-poem screening."

"Pardon?"

"If you like my Haruru acrostic poem, please let me join."

"...Understood."

I had no idea what kind of person this was, but he didn’t seem like a bad one, so I played along.

"Ha."

"Haruru, ever since the first moment I saw you, I’ve always been thinking about you. I kept hesitating over whether I should say it, but now I’m finally saying it. I want you to listen carefully to what I’m about to say."

What kind of person is this? With the situation this absurd, I moved on to the next line of rhyme for now.

"Ru. Can I say Ru-..."

"Our Tama is the best!"

"Hey! That wasn’t even an acrostic poem! I got completely played!"

"Ahaha. If that person had stayed longer, I might’ve invited them."

Next, someone with a very startling kind of trait appeared. Startling in a good way.

What on earth? Aircraft piloting ability? If it’s A+, doesn’t that mean he’s at captain level? Why would someone like that be in Unknown Universe? No, okay, maybe they can play the game.

But why my stream, my guild...?

Why, why would such a precious person come to this shabby little place?