Yet another stowaway, miladies!”
For the past three days since we’ve brought Tsugumi along in our party, we’ve been traveling back and forth between land and sea, giving our best to grind some levels.
But then, yet again, Yamikage interrupted the silence with her shouting below deck.
Oh, and by the way, there’s only a few hours left to recap until we catch up with how the six of us ended up like this.
“H-Hey, hold on!”
Name: Stowaway A. Occupation: merchant of death. Age: unknown.
The four of us—well, five now, including Tsugumi—forced yet another to walk the plank.
Three sharks would always appear below the waters whenever we did this.
Perhaps we were enjoying this a little too much.
“So, Stowaway A… or rather, Altorese… what are you doing here?”
“Don’t pretend like you don’t know me! Whatever! Just help me out of this!”
“I’d love to, but I’m busy fishing.”
“Well, aren’t you a lovely catch?! Please, I beg of you! We’re friends, aren’t we?!”
“Alright, alright. I was just joking. I’m not about to kill you.”
It’s not like it’s that big of a deal if you were to fall overboard anyway. All there is to it is a death penalty and then you get respawned at your last save point.
Maybe it’s just scary because it’s VR.
It probably feels too real, like how violent M-rated VR games caught a bit of flak from the media when they first came out.
“Tch, another acquaintance of Miss Kizuna…”
“Sorry to disappoint.”
The plank seemed to be a little too addictive to everyone besides me.
In any case, Alto was due for a questioning.
“So? Why did you stow yourself away in the cargo hold?”
“Yeah… so Kizuna told me that you guys fell overboard. Well, I’ve been real curious since then, but there’s only a handful of people who craft boats.”
“That’s why you snuck aboard?”
“Oh, I’ll do anything for money!”
Buddy, that’s not something to be proud of.
If anything, it made me want to push him over right there and then. Damn moneygrubber.
He likely found out about our seafaring escapades from the rumors—y’know, the rumors spread by the three hijackers we defeated a few days ago. Alto should’ve been able to sort through the truth from the lies though.
I guess he must’ve thought this could be profitable.
“Assuming that to be true, what are your intentions, Altorese?”
Shouko looked far from joking around.
I mean, fair enough. No one else has met Alto other than me.
“Please let me in on this!”
That’s what he’s like.
Alto’s the kind of guy to get all chummy with friends or foes to sell them arms and items.
You’d be glad to have him on your side, but his true allegiance is with the coin.
He’ll probably sell any knowledge gained from the sea since his clientele is quite broad.
He trades with the frontliners, crafters, and even the roleplayers.
Anything that he knows, the whole world will soon know too.
It was a real sticky situation. If we say no, we might piss him off. If we say yes, who knows what would happen?
Ugh, what a headache.
Well, better friend than foe.
“Alright. But keep in mind that the monsters at sea are totally different than at shore.”
“Bluefins and seabreams, right? And don’t forget the mats from Brave Birds and Blue Sharks too…”
He knew all about the monsters out here without any of us saying a single thing.
It’s fair to say he’s done his research before coming here.
With a hand to his mouth, Alto put on act for us.
“Gutting-type weapons… an unpopulated area… experience… lots of items… spirits…”
Yamikage looked at me worriedly.
He’s already figured everything out already, I’m afraid.
“I mean, I’ve known about this for a while.”
“And everyone else too, I assume.”
“As far as I know, only three including you, Kizuna, though I’m sure there probably are more people who know. Still, you’re one of the few people who wield gutting-type weapons.”
Buying favors with money, keeping people quiet, and selling information to only a select few is exactly what a merchant of death like him would do.
No, the surprising thing is that gutting weapons hadn’t become any more popular, even with the secret out in public.
You’d think every party would want at least one person with a gutting weapon.
I just can’t wrap my head around why no one has made a huge deal out of this.
… hmm, but maybe because…
The Cerberus Slaughter popped up in my mind.
If we wait until no one’s around to carve mats out of bosses, or perhaps…
Supposing that we do keep up with this plan, I’d need to learn some stealth skills. Not a low level one like Yamikage had used before, but something that powerful enough to mask my footsteps.
I knew this from the moment I held the Cerberus Slaughter:
—This is why I can’t give up gutting weapons.
Well, whatever. If everybody knows how it works, then there’s no need to keep it a secret any longer.
“What say you, Sheryl?”
“… I trust you.”
“Gotcha.”
I figured I should let him about the potential of seas.
You know what they say about making assumptions.
“Hey, Alto. Let’s talk hypotheticals.”
“What are you saying?”
“Right. What we’re thinking is that there’s a new continent on the other side of the ocean. Judging by how powerful the enemies here are, this should be the correct path forward after conquering the first continent. Shouko managed to get quite a bit of experience during the Dimension Wave event, so we should be able to tackle on the enemies on the other side. And that means good loot.”
Most of what I had said may have been convenient white lies, but even if I don’t know what’s ahead for sure, they’re damn good guesses.
Don’t get me wrong—I’m not doing this just to go along with my lies; I’m sure there’s something out there.
Though, it wouldn’t exactly be wrong to say that my true motives lie within my dreams and the romance of sailing the seas.
Be that as it may, I can count on Alto to invest in this… even if he may have his own hidden intentions.
“So? Will you invest in this pipe dream of mine, O Altorese, the merchant?”
“Of course I would.”
“It’s almost scary how easily you’re agreeing to this.”
“Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not betting my money on a pipe dream; I’m putting my money on the discerning eyes of yours, Kizuna—the very ones that knew to turn empty cans into gold.”
His expectations were high, but the whole can thing was nothing but luck.
Well, chalking it up to luck would be irresponsible and I wasn’t about to argue about it either.
Still… Alto seemed to have got a little more jaded over this past month.
“Well, I suppose it’s a good thing a merchant of death like you would invest in us, but what are your plans going forward?”
“If I’m a merchant of death, then you’re the biggest loser, seeing how you were #1 in damage received.”
“Who you callin’ a loser?!”
“Please, no fighting, you two!”
And so, we took Alto into our party and things have been going well so far.
… that is if you ignore the dark storm clouds floating in from the east.
Yet another stowaway, miladies!”
For the past three days since we’ve brought Tsugumi along in our party, we’ve been traveling back and forth between land and sea, giving our best to grind some levels.
But then, yet again, Yamikage interrupted the silence with her shouting below deck.
Oh, and by the way, there’s only a few hours left to recap until we catch up with how the six of us ended up like this.
“H-Hey, hold on!”
Name: Stowaway A. Occupation: merchant of death. Age: unknown.
The four of us—well, five now, including Tsugumi—forced yet another to walk the plank.
Three sharks would always appear below the waters whenever we did this.
Perhaps we were enjoying this a little too much.
“So, Stowaway A… or rather, Altorese… what are you doing here?”
“Don’t pretend like you don’t know me! Whatever! Just help me out of this!”
“I’d love to, but I’m busy fishing.”
“Well, aren’t you a lovely catch?! Please, I beg of you! We’re friends, aren’t we?!”
“Alright, alright. I was just joking. I’m not about to kill you.”
It’s not like it’s that big of a deal if you were to fall overboard anyway. All there is to it is a death penalty and then you get respawned at your last save point.
Maybe it’s just scary because it’s VR.
It probably feels too real, like how violent M-rated VR games caught a bit of flak from the media when they first came out.
“Tch, another acquaintance of Miss Kizuna…”
“Sorry to disappoint.”
The plank seemed to be a little too addictive to everyone besides me.
In any case, Alto was due for a questioning.
“So? Why did you stow yourself away in the cargo hold?”
“Yeah… so Kizuna told me that you guys fell overboard. Well, I’ve been real curious since then, but there’s only a handful of people who craft boats.”
“That’s why you snuck aboard?”
“Oh, I’ll do anything for money!”
Buddy, that’s not something to be proud of.
If anything, it made me want to push him over right there and then. Damn moneygrubber.
He likely found out about our seafaring escapades from the rumors—y’know, the rumors spread by the three hijackers we defeated a few days ago. Alto should’ve been able to sort through the truth from the lies though.
I guess he must’ve thought this could be profitable.
“Assuming that to be true, what are your intentions, Altorese?”
Shouko looked far from joking around.
I mean, fair enough. No one else has met Alto other than me.
“Please let me in on this!”
That’s what he’s like.
Alto’s the kind of guy to get all chummy with friends or foes to sell them arms and items.
You’d be glad to have him on your side, but his true allegiance is with the coin.
He’ll probably sell any knowledge gained from the sea since his clientele is quite broad.
He trades with the frontliners, crafters, and even the roleplayers.
Anything that he knows, the whole world will soon know too.
It was a real sticky situation. If we say no, we might piss him off. If we say yes, who knows what would happen?
Ugh, what a headache.
Well, better friend than foe.
“Alright. But keep in mind that the monsters at sea are totally different than at shore.”
“Bluefins and seabreams, right? And don’t forget the mats from Brave Birds and Blue Sharks too…”
He knew all about the monsters out here without any of us saying a single thing.
It’s fair to say he’s done his research before coming here.
With a hand to his mouth, Alto put on act for us.
“Gutting-type weapons… an unpopulated area… experience… lots of items… spirits…”
Yamikage looked at me worriedly.
He’s already figured everything out already, I’m afraid.
“I mean, I’ve known about this for a while.”
“And everyone else too, I assume.”
“As far as I know, only three including you, Kizuna, though I’m sure there probably are more people who know. Still, you’re one of the few people who wield gutting-type weapons.”
Buying favors with money, keeping people quiet, and selling information to only a select few is exactly what a merchant of death like him would do.
No, the surprising thing is that gutting weapons hadn’t become any more popular, even with the secret out in public.
You’d think every party would want at least one person with a gutting weapon.
I just can’t wrap my head around why no one has made a huge deal out of this.
… hmm, but maybe because…
The Cerberus Slaughter popped up in my mind.
If we wait until no one’s around to carve mats out of bosses, or perhaps…
Supposing that we do keep up with this plan, I’d need to learn some stealth skills. Not a low level one like Yamikage had used before, but something that powerful enough to mask my footsteps.
I knew this from the moment I held the Cerberus Slaughter:
—This is why I can’t give up gutting weapons.
Well, whatever. If everybody knows how it works, then there’s no need to keep it a secret any longer.
“What say you, Sheryl?”
“… I trust you.”
“Gotcha.”
I figured I should let him about the potential of seas.
You know what they say about making assumptions.
“Hey, Alto. Let’s talk hypotheticals.”
“What are you saying?”
“Right. What we’re thinking is that there’s a new continent on the other side of the ocean. Judging by how powerful the enemies here are, this should be the correct path forward after conquering the first continent. Shouko managed to get quite a bit of experience during the Dimension Wave event, so we should be able to tackle on the enemies on the other side. And that means good loot.”
Most of what I had said may have been convenient white lies, but even if I don’t know what’s ahead for sure, they’re damn good guesses.
Don’t get me wrong—I’m not doing this just to go along with my lies; I’m sure there’s something out there.
Though, it wouldn’t exactly be wrong to say that my true motives lie within my dreams and the romance of sailing the seas.
Be that as it may, I can count on Alto to invest in this… even if he may have his own hidden intentions.
“So? Will you invest in this pipe dream of mine, O Altorese, the merchant?”
“Of course I would.”
“It’s almost scary how easily you’re agreeing to this.”
“Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not betting my money on a pipe dream; I’m putting my money on the discerning eyes of yours, Kizuna—the very ones that knew to turn empty cans into gold.”
His expectations were high, but the whole can thing was nothing but luck.
Well, chalking it up to luck would be irresponsible and I wasn’t about to argue about it either.
Still… Alto seemed to have got a little more jaded over this past month.
“Well, I suppose it’s a good thing a merchant of death like you would invest in us, but what are your plans going forward?”
“If I’m a merchant of death, then you’re the biggest loser, seeing how you were #1 in damage received.”
“Who you callin’ a loser?!”
“Please, no fighting, you two!”
And so, we took Alto into our party and things have been going well so far.
… that is if you ignore the dark storm clouds floating in from the east.
