CH 90

[To Greater Heights!]

“Coming in!”

The day after I got attacked by the assassin players.

After logging in cheerfully, I visited an izakaya in ‘Gorgeous City Nakatsukuni’.

I had received a message from Zansword telling me to come here.

And so, as NPCs in kimono scrambled out of my way, I wandered around the place wondering where Zansword was when…

“Haa.”

“Haaa.”

“Haaaa…!”

……I found Zansword, Yario, and Crutteruo sighing in harmony at a table in the remotest corner of the izakaya.

Uwah, what’s with the depressing mood? I don’t want to get close to them.

“…Now that I think about it, I’m underage so I can’t drink. Welp, I’m going back, adieu~.”

“Muh, stop, Yuri! Don’t leave after you’ve come all the way here!” Zansword suddenly stood up and stopped me.

Ugh, he found me. Guess I couldn’t leave now.

“So, what do you want to talk about, Zansword? There’s Yario and Crutteruo too… wait, hmm?”

I felt a sense of incongruity the moment I directed my gaze to the two top players.

I didn’t get the chance to talk to them in person at the last event, but there was something different about them that I couldn’t put my finger on.

Even if I factored out their depression, they seemed kind of… how do I put it… unassuming…?

“Hehe, hey there Yuri-san…! Did you hear? I got the shit beaten out of me by an assassin player, hahaha…” Yario laughed weakly as he sipped his sake.

Wait, aren’t you supposed to be more… uh, heroic?!

“Fufu… at least you got to put up a decent fight before you died, Yario. Me, I was sniped by a guy named Kidd while I was desperately running away from another assassin player, Ange, who swung a scythe around and died a dog’s death. And it was broadcasted to everyone, I can’t hold my head high in public anymore…!” Crutteruo, on other hand, drank hers in one gulp.

Wait, you’re acting weird too?! Aren’t you supposed to be unable to speak and can only say “Ou, ou, ou”?!

“H-hey, what happened to your characters?!”

““Threw it out the window!””

“Eh~~~~?!”

W-what was with these two… what the hell happened to them?!

“Hey Zansword, something’s strange about these guys. Did they become like this because they got shocked after being killed by the assassin players?”

“Ah~, no. These guys actually abandoned their strange characters because they had their asses handed to them by the real crazy girls from your guild at the last event…”

Real crazy girls?! Was he talking about Seele and Grimm?!

Wait, they weren’t crazy! I’d never recruit crazy people into my guild, I got common sense!

――When I shouted so, the three of them said, “““You’re the craziest”””. I didn’t understand.

“You guys are mean… Well, whatever, let’s get into the main topic. You guys aren’t just going to sit around and suck your thumbs, right?”

“Of course. We aren’t going to let this humiliation go unavenged…!”

With that, Zansword pulled up several windows in front of me.

Yario and Crutteruo also showed me windows with some text written on them with furrowed brows.

When I read them…

“This is… information on the assassin players!”

“Indeed. Since they came from other games, we knew almost nothing about them. This is all that we found after extensive research.”

The data collected by the three included not only the appearance and fighting style of the assassin players but also the impressions of those who had fought them.

This was amazing. It must have taken a lot of work.

“I did the interviews. Though I lack in combat power, I’m still the top scout player. When it comes to gathering information and speed, I’m your girl.”

“I plan to challenge assassin players with various combat styles and find out their weaknesses… I may be plain and a master of none but I’m a jack of all trades.”

Crutteruo and Yario laughed. Sheesh, they were really dependable.

“Now that’s the spirit. You guys aren’t the top players for nothing, after all.”

“Fuh. That only sounds sarcastic coming from someone who’s the top of all of us.

“–The reason I invited you over this time was to ask you about your impressions of Pendragon. After we gathered the data on all assassin players, we plan to create a highly accurate ‘strategy guide’ and distribute it to everyone.”

“I see, that’s a great plan!”

They were planning to overcome this attack event with everyone.

Alright, let’s show off the strength of us BSO players to the top players of other games!

“You guys are amazing, after all. I was only thinking about getting stronger…”

“Har har, actually that’s all you have to do. Because ‘Demon King Yuri’ is now the face of this game. Hurry up and get stronger and then take down Pendragon!”

“I will!” I replied with a thumbs-up to my reliable comrades-in-arms.

And so, my desire to become stronger burned fiercer–!