Chapter 302: Btog 302 Kleine’S True Intentions
Chapter 302: Btog 302 Kleine’S True Intentions
“…So, what do you think?”
“She’s definitely hiding something, I think.”
After seeing off Kleine, I responded to Rin-chan’s question, her gaze still lingering in the direction Kleine had left.
<What do you mean?>
<Suddenly, what’s up?>
<What’s up? Wanna talk about it?>
<Getting all serious all of a sudden>
“Hm? Oh, it’s about Kleine being somewhat suspicious.”
The listeners seemed confused. Well, it’s no wonder they’re surprised by such a sudden turn in the conversation.
“First off, her adaptability is too quick. Sukuna skipped all the usual steps and forcefully located her, even attacked her, but she accepted everything so smoothly.”
“Yeah, normally you’d be more cautious.”
“And then, she was too chatty even before we accepted the request. Setting aside the information about the Black Wolf, why would she discuss her desire to defeat it before accepting the quest? Especially about the curse. Yet, she left without saying anything about the reward for the quest. It’s all inconsistent.”
“If this world’s common sense is like that, then that’s the end of it.”
“That’s true. We’re at a loss.”
<lol>
<Don’t just throw it in like that!>
<Somehow, I get the feeling she’s suspicious>
<No way such a cute girl would deceive us!>
<↑Now that you mention it, it kind of makes sense>
<But you’ll accept it, right?>
“Of course. Regardless of what Kleine is thinking, we initially approached her because we wanted to fight the Black Wolf.”
“I’m kind of curious to try dying in the shadows without Kleine’s help. Wonder what kind of penalties there are.”
“You might lose half your items or something.”
“Or get charged a hefty rescue fee.”
We ended up discussing such things, pondering over the warning words Kleine had left behind.
It’s true that she needs a lot of help to find the Black Wolf.
But personally, I don’t put much trust in what she says about the curse.
I’ve been thinking all this time while Kleine talked about the curse.
Could a Nocturne, capable of easily breaking a curse connected to the Seven Calamities, even the Demonic Gods, be unable to break a curse from the Black Wolf, considered to be of equal rank?
She knew about the Moon Wolf and its lunar attributes.
However, she mentioned borrowing the power of the Holy Maiden of the Holy City, but she didn’t talk about searching for the Moon Wolf or asking for help in breaking the curse.
If she had gone to the Oni folk’s village and explained the situation, I think Kokuyo and Hakuyo would have helped. There were human players in that village too, and they didn’t seem to have trouble communicating with the residents.
I’m also curious about the basis of her belief that defeating the Black Wolf would break the curse, especially since there’s hardly any information about it… Well, maybe she would have answered if I had asked her on the spot.
“Well, whatever Kleine is thinking, it doesn’t really matter much. She’s not weak, but I think we can probably win if we fight. As long as she doesn’t stab us in the back during the fight with the Black Wolf, her plans don’t bother me.”
“It’s a common thing with NPCs in this world, they treat us as people to some extent. So, there’s this tendency to think that they wouldn’t want to do something they don’t like themselves. Like how they would be reluctant to fight a named boss.”
“What we really want is to get the information quickly and rush into battle. So, if Kleine’s suspicious behavior is just about trying to get us to accept the quest, it’s quite misguided.”
<Got it>
<Not everyone wants to fight!>
<The gap between ordinary people and gamers is deep>
<Well, the difference between life and death is significant>
<But aren’t there many who think like Sukuna?>
<↑Maybe just the Oni tribe and Melty>
<Sukuna attracts battle maniacs because of her title (nervous laughter)>
Monsters who have reached levels in the hundreds in this world have, of course, defeated named bosses as if it’s nothing, and have overcome countless life-and-death situations. That’s why Kohaku and Melty share our way of thinking. They know the joy of fighting strong opponents.
But generally, entering the territory of a named boss in this world means certain death. Everyone is afraid of dying. Few would willingly accept a quest with a high probability of death. …Or so the NPCs in this world seem to think. But for us, death is just one of many failures. Especially now that the death penalty has become incredibly light, it’s just part of trial and error.
<Hmm>
<Difference in values, huh>
<It’s kind of cute to think they’re overthinking>
<Hope there’s no betrayal like ‘just kidding!’>
<Maybe Kleine is just a cute, clueless girl?>
“Let’s just be careful not to get stabbed in the back.”
“She didn’t seem like an enemy, so I want to believe we’ll be okay.”
“Anyway, let’s reconfirm what we’re going to do from now on.”
Instead of pondering over Kleine’s intentions, which we can’t do anything about, it’s more important to prepare under the assumption that we’ll find the Black Wolf.
“One. Surveying the field information of Dos Orca Active Volcano, two. Preparing items and equipment for the volcano, three. Gathering companions for reconnaissance and the boss battle, and four. Strategy meeting for the boss battle. That should cover the basics, right?”
“Right. Arthur will probably come on her own, but Dragos seems unlikely this time. The Dragonfang is currently engaged in a large-scale campaign aimed at the 8th City, Oruocti Neutral District.”
“Oruocti… is that the town in the large forest you mentioned earlier?”
I remember talking about Zeronoa being the center of commerce, and that the 8th City is a gathering place for demi-human races. The Oruocti Neutral District must be that place. The large-scale campaign is intriguing, but Drago is originally a clan leader and leads the forefront in campaigns. She made time for us for the Nocturne battle as a special favor for the apostle extermination. It’s unlikely that she can accompany us for both the search and battle against the Black Wolf, which probably won’t be resolved in a day. Even if she compromises, it would only be for the campaign.
Other people that come to mind are…
“Rou… but she probably hasn’t caught up with leveling yet.”
“Right. Looks like we won’t have the same team as we did for the Nocturne battle…”
The Murder Princess, Rou. Having sacrificed her levels down to 50 to activate her Dead Skill in the Nocturne battle, Rou must be busy recovering her lowered level. After all, she’s a major criminal in this game. With a mountain of enemies holding grudges against her, leveling up while avoiding their pursuit is an extremely difficult task. I haven’t heard about her getting caught, so she must be managing to escape, but I can somehow infer that she’s not in a state to be called upon now.
“The only people I can think to ask are Shuya and Meguru.”
Shuya, the dual greatsword user from Arthur’s clan, [Knights of the Round Table]. And Meguru (Mememe Mememe Mememeru) from the same Oni tribe, who was very helpful when I went to the Oni folk’s village or lived there. That was the limit of my connections.
“Well… Alright, then I’ll gather people from my side this time.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. For now, Sukuna, you should bring Arthur along. If it’s the two of you, there’s someone I have in mind, so we should have at least five people.”
I honestly don’t know who Rin-chan means by “someone I have in mind.”
(But I can’t gather anyone with my connections…)
<Maybe>
<Ah… (I get it)>
<Well, if it’s Nana, it should be fine… probably>
It seems like not all of the listeners understand either, but some of them seem to have guessed something. I’ve never been particularly interested in Rin-chan’s social connections, so I don’t know who she might know.
“We can’t call them immediately tomorrow, so let’s start the actual search the day after tomorrow.”
“So, tomorrow is mainly about gathering information about the volcano and preparing items!”
“That’s the plan. Well, it’s getting late, so let’s wrap up for today.”
“Got it. Okay, everyone, we’re ending a bit early today. I’ll be streaming tomorrow too, so I’ll announce the time later in the Liverz community.”
<Getting better at using the site>
<Nice lol>
<Impressive growth!>
<Did the explosive notifications on SNS stop?>
“SNS has been manageable lately.”
The SNS, which was heavily burdened since the BATTLER days, no longer gets jammed with too many notifications.
“Well then, good work today!”
<Good work!>
<Thanks>
<Good job>
<Thank you〜>
<Thanks thanks>
<Bye〜>
The two helpers mentioned are new characters.