Chapter 132: Chapter 91: Those Who Open the Darkness of the World Part 2

This town’s name was Eldolato. Even though the time right about now was night, the sight of crystal lamps illuminating the streets was something else to behold.

Since the crystal cliffs were nearby (trauma spot for me), the crystals were generally used here, either as crafting materials or incorporated into the architecture itself. Crystal statues were a common occurrence and some of the roofs in here were made out of crystal tiles.

Crystal pavement, crystal pillars, crystal armors in armor shops, crystal weapons, crystal accessories…… Everything in here was crystal. They must really love it here.

「If you leave some of it intact, the crystals on the cliffs eventually grow back to their original size. That is why people of this town love it so much and incorporate it in everything, since it will never run out….. At least that’s what the Boss said!」

「Hee, it’s actually nice to know that people of this world have so down to earth views on things.」

We engage in some small talk while taking a stroll through crystal town, looking at the fantastic sights all around us. I could feel some other players staring at us from the distance, but I genuinely stopped caring about that…… Otherwise I would go crazy.

「Sanraku-san, aren’t you going to sneak about anymore?」

「You know, recently I realized that there’s no point in doing that any more. It would just turn out to be a major inconvenience to me. I mean, what if we suddenly need to use some of the city’s facilities, but we wouldn’t be able to do that because something as silly as that?」

「But standing out too much is not a good thing either……」

「Fuhaha! Right now I feel like a specter cat! Also, I like the way this wind blows over me in here! It feels so nice and pleasant!」

「Just don’t go too wild in there, why don’t you?」n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

I never would have thought I would be using this thing again. I was wearing that long hood that Emul introduced to me way back in Thirdrema, with both Emul and Break riding on my back and holding Aramis in my hands. When the three of them were moving under the cloth, I must have looked like some kind of monster with bulging or swelling insides.

That must be the reason why other players don’t talk to me right now, but either way it was a good change of pace.

「Umm, how exactly did you manage to buy an item like that?」

「I’ve bought it from a suspicious street vendor. At the time when we were in Thirdrema we really wanted to stay incognito.」

「Is that so? Welp, thanks a lot for telling me that!」

There were people who would occasionally approach us to ask us about the cloth, but usually we would just answer them in a vague tone like that.

「You can get something as bizarre as that in Thirdrema? Really?」

「You’d be surprised what kind of premium items you can get from backstreet vendors in huge Pioneers communities.」

「Right, after all, there are some business opportunities!」

Now then, once we pass the city we should be just a little bit away from our destination. So from now on there shouldn’t be anything that would pose a prob……

「Ah, Sanraku…… Is that you, Sanraku?」

「…… Pardon?」

Hearing that unknown, chilly voice I stopped in my tracks and turned around. I also had to watch out for my animals to avoid bumping into anything.

I then turn around and see no one there…… That’s what I thought, but then I noticed a pink top hat that happened to be just slightly below my line of sight.

「My name is Kyuran, and I’m the current leader of the guild “Library”. You are one of the three people that took down “Gravekeeper Wezaemon”, correct? I heard about you from the other two members of your party.」

Pink hair with twin-tails. Porcelain-white skin. Long, dark eyelashes. Her eyes were red and she was wearing a cute dress with a whole lot of frills. Rather than a sorcerer, she was giving off a typical magical girl vibe.

But then it was all contrasting heavily with a voice of the middle-aged man coming out of her mouth.

「PFFFFFFF!!!!」

「Hm?」

「Please pardon me, it was just a sneeze.」

Emul, you moron! You’re lucky there is this pinkish girl here, so I’m willing to overlook that. …… At least for now.

「To think it would be possible to sneeze even inside of the game…… Well, it doesn’t really matter. Say, are you free right about now?」

「…… Not right now, you see……」

「Wow!」

But before I could even finish, I could see a certain kind of glow in the eyes of this Magical Girl. It was the type of eyes that simply wouldn’t take “No” for an answer. In a way, she was just like that bastard Pencilgton.

If I tell her that I don’t have time right about now, I might lose the opportunity to gain something out of interacting with her. So instead I opted for……

「You see, I already have an appointment with someone else, so could you tell me when you are free? We could meet then and discuss whatever it is that you want to know.」

Of course it must come to this. The conversation should naturally proceed to the promise of having a nice and long chat some other day. But that alone would not be enough.

So I resorted to my other trump card: other people.

「Ah, and when it comes down to “Gravekeeper Wezaemon…… It just so happens that Arthur Pencilgton knows a whole lot more about it than I do.」

「I see, that guy…… As long as I can get someone from Wolfgang to spill the beans, that works for me……」

Sorry, Pencilgton. But please become a scapegoat for my peaceful gaming days!

「I see, but there is also a thing or two that I would like to ask you about. It doesn’t have to be here and now, but please do let me know when you will have time…… By the way, what’s with the hood? It’s like you’re trying to hide something under it.」

「Hahaha.」

I got called out over it.

As I was thinking just how exactly am I going to get out of this mess, Kyuran hurriedly opened a window and typed something inside of it. She then smiled at me in a mysterious way, which was heavily contrasting with her overly sugary appearance.

「YOU RECEIVED A FRIEND REQUEST FROM THE USER “KYURAN”: I want to hear what you know so that I can dispel the darkness of unknown surrounding this world.”」

「Well then, see you later!」

As she started to walk away, I let out a deep sigh while staring at her back.

「With a voice like that, why would this dude even want to become a magical girl?」

But a guild like that…… Honestly speaking there was a part of me that knew that we would need to maintain relationships with other groups like that sooner rather than later.

I knew it before, but the longer I played this game it was becoming more and more apparent that this game was unlike any other games I have played before.

No matter the process of getting from one point to another, games always need to have a starting point and a finishing line. The same can be said about MMORPGs, where the finishing line would be the closure of the servers.

Consider a new area with a new boss as an example. There’s a flag that lets you know about a new area, a series of events in that area that guides you through it and culminates in a boss fight event. This is a basic structure of the story.

But ShangriLa Frontier is different. This game is all about going in blind.

In this game, all of the flags are cleverly hidden in plain sight. Either be it a certain item, area or special condition, the player needs to find it through experimentation and trial and error.

It’s like looking for treasure in complete darkness, but in order to dispel said darkness you have to get extra close to the treasure. Otherwise you won’t be able to see it.

At that moment I remembered the words of Setsuna: “Bahamut” and the “Plan’s Second Phase”…… So it seems that raising one’s level and defeating the Unique Monsters has something to do with pushing the story forward.

A Unique Monster deeply rooted into the lore of the world itself…… If I want to ever challenge Night Prowler again, I’ll need to collect as much intel on it as possible.

「You know, I’m slowly getting tired of always playing the one who gets isolated.」

I mumble that to myself more than to anyone in particular while I accept the friend invite from this Magical Girl.