Chapter 104
Chapter 104
After defeating Kamui-san, I made a friend call to Ness-san.
"This is Ness."
"I-it's Shiki. I'm sorry. The treasure vault was already empty. I'll send you my visual data later, so please check the details with that."
"Understood. Thank you for your hard work, Shiki-sama."
"Is it still okay for me to keep the Crime Gun?"
"Yes. The incident still isn't over. Besides, bounty hunters after you will keep coming. The Crime Gun should be useful for countermeasures."
True enough.
A plain death penalty only lets someone restart in about an hour. Take them down with the Crime Gun and they go to prison—no worry of further attacks. Once word gets out I have the Crime Gun, the number of bounty hunters will drop too.
"Thank you very much. I'll use it."
"Please do. Then, until next time."
"Yes."
The call ends.
"Temporary master~"
Solnyn pokes her head out from the treasure vault entrance.
"Finished nya?"
"......Solnyn, you were waiting until the fight ended, weren't you?"
"That person was scary nya, sorry nya."
She's cute so I forgive her.
"We're done here, so we're heading back."
"Funyaa!!"
"Whoa! What!?"
Solnyn slashes something with her claw-saber.
What she sliced was a small mechanical scorpion. Its head was a camera.
"Hidden camera nya."
Hidden camera!?
Someone was watching the fight......I can guess who.
"Good eye."
"Cats are sensitive to moving objects nya."
Beep. Beep. A notification tone rings as if to stop me.
"What's this?"
When I open the menu, a friend call is coming in. I answer.
"Ya-hoo~. Shiki-chan."
"Rabi-chan!"
When I visited the cell, I'd actually registered Rabi-chan as a friend. Contact with the outside is supposed to be impossible......but she'd either been given permission or found a loophole. Probably the latter.
"How was the treasure vault~?"
"Already empty. Someone beat us to it."
"Too bad~. But hey, was it really empty? Shiki-chan, switch the call to speaker and max the volume."
I do as told.
"La- la- la- la- la-♪"
A voice rings from my wristwatch terminal.
Rabi-chan repeats the ultra-high-pitched sound, shifting the pitch slightly each time.
As her voice echoes, the treasure vault wall crumbles with a noise, and a giant blue sphere like a globe appears.
Dozens of red icons blink at one point on the sphere.
"Wh-what is this......!?"
"A receiver showing the locations of the treasures stolen from the vault. I planted ultra-mini transmitters on everything just in case. Except for things like the Triad that have no place to hide a transmitter."
The Triad is a crystal—no way to conceal a transmitter.
"Greed makes them steal more than the Triad, so this happens."
"Then the place these icons are gathering......"
"Is the enemy hideout."
As expected, Rabi-chan is great.
Not just combat sense. She has tactical eyes and the sly smarts to never go down cheap.
I still—want her.
"Rabi-chan. Once you're released, I'd like to negotiate one thing with you......is that okay?"
"I'll listen as much as you want♪"
We let Solnyn carry the globe and exit the pyramid.
In front of the pyramid sits a lone camper.
"Shiki! Something insane is going on!!"
Ms. Eve spots us, steps out of the camper, and shows me the PC screen.
On the screen is a woman in a white coat.
"Gentlemen! Citizens of Oceanus! Greetings. I am Green Ice, one who desires the end (clearing) of this game."
I recognize her.
It's the chainsaw user I met on the seabed train! Back then she called herself Rosetta.
"This broadcast should be airing across all of Oceanus. Apologies, but I've hijacked every radio wave, television signal, and in-colony transmission."
"Hey now, what's this nut planning......"
"The organization I, Green Ice, command is named—'Mētis'. God of wisdom. As the name suggests, we possess wisdom far surpassing the current Oceanus military. Once we control Oceanus, we'll see this game cleared."
Clearing the game?
Never even thought about it......does this game even have a clear condition?
"Therefore, for the sake of clearing the game, we declare revolution against the Oceanus military!!"
A shiver runs down my spine.
I'm sure it isn't just me. The whole colony felt it.
"The operation begins at 4:00 JST on August 31—12:00 in-game. We will launch an all-out assault on the capital Ashia and every major city, seizing the colony's heart—the 'World Tree'. Those without the will to fight should withdraw now. Those with the will to fight may stand in our way to your hearts' content. If you wish to cooperate, join our forces and attack the Oceanus military. Together let us bring about the—co-lo-ny—col-lapse."
Announcing the date and time of the attack—that's how confident they are in their army.
"Now then, gentlemen, let us enjoy a fun war."
The screen goes black.
"Un—unbelievable."
"Y-yes......this is what they call a declaration of war, isn't it"
"Yeah. Total war. It's going to be an unimaginably large-scale battle... the biggest shock of the year"
"Unyaa~. This is the biggest shock of my nine lives nya~"
Ms. Eve turns around and looks at Solnyn who just spoke with a delighted face.
"Solnyn... you...!"
"Oops nya. I decided my first word should've been master's name nya"
Ms. Eve hugs Solnyn crying "Solnyn!" The biggest shock of the year just got updated.
(I should quickly relay the location data of Green Ice's base to the Six Sages.)
Colony collapse, huh...
"......You've done something interesting. Ms. Rosetta"